About once every two months I get caught in a situation where it's late- close to 6AM- I need to start my workout and my Apple TV is not connected to my media server (a mac pro).
That's what happened today, so rather than waste time fixing the problem, I just did a simple, but hard, workout.
I set iTunes to shuffle my collect of Nickelback songs and started up my spin. here's what I did:
1 song warm-up in small ring 15
shift up to big ring 23
1 song per gear, starting with 23, shifting down to a harder gear 7 times (8 songs total) at race pace tempo
then shift back up 23 and sprint for one song
shift back to small ring 15 for 1 song cool down
This whole workout is under 45 minutes and really makes you work while taking you through all your gears. It doesn't have to be Nickelback, but you should do a random mix. It's nice as you go from gear to gear to have that variability of 3:30-5:00 per gear. Each time you do this, it will be different and I think that was the point this morning, to get something different.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Hartford Marathon- Praying to the Plastic Gods
It's a lot easier writing up these blog posts when you have a good race, but hey, if you are going to blog your racings it really isn't fair to just blog the good ones, is it ?
Racing for the six straight weekend, I really had five good weeks. Even Firmman, where the time was a little slow, the overall result- second in my age group- was not bad.
I got up to Hartford almost 90 minutes before the marathon yesterday. It was a perfect day- the air was already warming up from what had been (for this year anyway) a cold night. I didn't want it to be cold- I'm not particularly subject to the cold anyway and I'm not one of those people you're going to see with a plastic bag and gloves when it's in the 50s (or ever. The day you see me with a plastic bag covering my torso at a road race, kick me in the knee and shove me off into the grass. If I try to get back up, kick me again...)
I was able to get about 6 rows deep from the start. For those of you who don't know the (latest) new course, it now starts up in the same area as the 5K and you blast down a hill. While this certainly is a fast way to start (and creates a course that probably has a very slight net downhill, might not be the start that everyone wants. I was back and forth early with Maureen Terwilliger, a great runner and a teammate of mine from Hitek. We went through the first mile under 6:40- a little too fast for me.
This would start a pattern. I ran the first 5 miles in the 6:40-6:45 range, which was a little too fast for me.
I was back and forth with a tall guy at this point in the race and a few times I settled in behind him and let him break the wind, but I don't really like running that was. At three miles a guy tried to pass me on the right just as we were about to make a right hand turn. I squeezed him off- the first of several times. I think I'm been doing triathlon too long because I cannot tolerate someone trying to squeeze by on the right hand side at a curb (or kerb).
I took a cliff shot at 4 miles and kept sipping at my heed. I recently got a container of Strawberry Heed and after doing two races with it I can say that the flavour or something simply doesn't mix with Cliff Shots or Gu. More on that later. At Mile 21 or so...
The miles ticked off pretty quickly. Five, six. I was back and forth with a tall guy at this point in the race and a few times I settled in behind him and let him break the wind, but I don't really like running that was. So I pulled even with him now and then and finally I dropped him.
Around mile 8, after going back over the overpass and heading out towards the out and back, I told Maureen that I was going to drop off a little bit. The pace was too fast. the conservative thing to do would have been to go out running 6:50s and then hold them.
Instead I ran a bunch of 6:40s and then had to take it down a notch.
My other long running races have been successful because I held back until late.
By mile 9, I could tell I was going to really be cutting it close on the three hours. The math isn't that hard to do. It's the same as the Ironman. The math becomes a sort of hostile entity when you aren't going fast enough, but you have to put it out of your mind because otherwise you have 'the thought'.
I only had 'the thought' once during the run. Around mile 11 I thought to myself 'Why did I want to do this?'
This is the killer question. Get this in your head and you might as well go home and stick pins in your feet. Why am I out here, why did I want to do this, etc...
In my defence, I did not spend a month or two training for the race. I did not, to be fair, train for the race at all. I had run 90 minutes outside of races only once in the preceding six weeks and that was the day before the New Haven Road Race 20K.
I had literally signed up for the race the day before. I mean, who does that ? This was a marathon after all, not a 5K or something. So I had to bin the thought a lot more forcefully than usual, because I didn't have the usual 'I've spent months getting ready for this, this is my big day, etc' to call on.
Fortunately, a fellow triathlete came up along side me and asked me which raced I'd done this year. I told him Lake Placid and then he told me that he was doing it in 2011 and that he really needed to work on it because the bike was his week leg. I gave him some advice based on what he said his weaknesses on the bike. We ran together for about a mile and then I let him go. I was definitely struggling as I went through miles 11 and 12. I took my Cliff Shot at 12 miles and ran through to 13 right on 7:00, which was a bit slow. But the miles were still going by.
However, I was not feeling good, and I knew why. It was ironic because I'd just read the article in ESPN magazine about intestinal distress. The brain does not want the body to stop at moments like this, but the body functions less and less efficiently the long you go without relief. And the brain can be a powerful thing- the inclination to never stop is so strong. It's a race. The idea that you'll spend race time sitting in a porta-potty praying to the plastic gods while people are burying you is so poisonous that.
I ran like this, debating it for about 40 minutes, then finally after downing my 16 mile Gu, I pulled into a porta-potty. It took me twenty seconds, and let me tell you, it was worth every second. I'll spare you the gory details.
After that I ran well. Yes, a lot of people had passed me but I quickly started reeling people in and I had three really good miles after that.There's no question that the plastic gods answered the prayer my bowels prayed that morning.
Mile 20 was the deciding mile of the race. I was starting to slow, but ironically, I was still passing people. As the wreckage accumulated around me- one guy running the wrong way with a number on, another woman sitting on the side of the road, her boyfriend urging her to get back up- I just kept that forward progress up.
I'd decided the day before that mile 20 would be a fuel-optional nutrition point. I wasn't sure I could take five gels- that's pretty aggressive. But it seemed like all my fuel stores were either exhausted or just off-line. I needed the calories, so I opened the gel and squeezed it all into my mouth. I immediately gagged. However, like I've done in numerous races, like I will never do again, I swallowed the gel. I am a stubborn human being.
I'd forced myself to go the bathroom. Good move. I forced myself to eat.
Bad move.
I continues to blunder forward. I was running pretty crappy, but I was still amazingly passing people, and I was basically not being passed. I couldn't believe it. I started thinking about visiting the loo a second time, but that well was dry. That wasn't the problem. I kept moving. I kept running. I-
I got two steps away from vomiting, and that's when I stopped running and started walking. Look, I never want to walk. Ever. Never. It cuts me to the bone just to admit that I walked. But if I hadn't stopped to walk I would have almost immediately stopped to vomit, and that would have ended my race.
I walked about 400 meters. People encouraged me by name to get moving again. Lee Bradley ran by me going the other way. Jamie went by me. I started running again before the on-ramp- or off-ramp, it's some kind of frakking ramp. I wasn't running hard and got passed by some more people and dropped by others, but as I ran back into the city and towards Bushnell Park I started passing people again.
I finished in a 3:07 something. As always when I'm embarrassed, I have not looked at the results. So yeah, I'm embarrassed at not breaking three hours, for walking a quarter of a mile.
I also recognise that I ran a 3:07 with no training at all, raced six straight weeks ending with this marathon, and hey, I got a big ass medal and a decent shirt. And I didn't have to wear socks thanks to my Zoots.
Verdict: It could have been worse.
Racing for the six straight weekend, I really had five good weeks. Even Firmman, where the time was a little slow, the overall result- second in my age group- was not bad.
I got up to Hartford almost 90 minutes before the marathon yesterday. It was a perfect day- the air was already warming up from what had been (for this year anyway) a cold night. I didn't want it to be cold- I'm not particularly subject to the cold anyway and I'm not one of those people you're going to see with a plastic bag and gloves when it's in the 50s (or ever. The day you see me with a plastic bag covering my torso at a road race, kick me in the knee and shove me off into the grass. If I try to get back up, kick me again...)
I was able to get about 6 rows deep from the start. For those of you who don't know the (latest) new course, it now starts up in the same area as the 5K and you blast down a hill. While this certainly is a fast way to start (and creates a course that probably has a very slight net downhill, might not be the start that everyone wants. I was back and forth early with Maureen Terwilliger, a great runner and a teammate of mine from Hitek. We went through the first mile under 6:40- a little too fast for me.
This would start a pattern. I ran the first 5 miles in the 6:40-6:45 range, which was a little too fast for me.
I was back and forth with a tall guy at this point in the race and a few times I settled in behind him and let him break the wind, but I don't really like running that was. At three miles a guy tried to pass me on the right just as we were about to make a right hand turn. I squeezed him off- the first of several times. I think I'm been doing triathlon too long because I cannot tolerate someone trying to squeeze by on the right hand side at a curb (or kerb).
I took a cliff shot at 4 miles and kept sipping at my heed. I recently got a container of Strawberry Heed and after doing two races with it I can say that the flavour or something simply doesn't mix with Cliff Shots or Gu. More on that later. At Mile 21 or so...
The miles ticked off pretty quickly. Five, six. I was back and forth with a tall guy at this point in the race and a few times I settled in behind him and let him break the wind, but I don't really like running that was. So I pulled even with him now and then and finally I dropped him.
Around mile 8, after going back over the overpass and heading out towards the out and back, I told Maureen that I was going to drop off a little bit. The pace was too fast. the conservative thing to do would have been to go out running 6:50s and then hold them.
Instead I ran a bunch of 6:40s and then had to take it down a notch.
My other long running races have been successful because I held back until late.
By mile 9, I could tell I was going to really be cutting it close on the three hours. The math isn't that hard to do. It's the same as the Ironman. The math becomes a sort of hostile entity when you aren't going fast enough, but you have to put it out of your mind because otherwise you have 'the thought'.
I only had 'the thought' once during the run. Around mile 11 I thought to myself 'Why did I want to do this?'
This is the killer question. Get this in your head and you might as well go home and stick pins in your feet. Why am I out here, why did I want to do this, etc...
In my defence, I did not spend a month or two training for the race. I did not, to be fair, train for the race at all. I had run 90 minutes outside of races only once in the preceding six weeks and that was the day before the New Haven Road Race 20K.
I had literally signed up for the race the day before. I mean, who does that ? This was a marathon after all, not a 5K or something. So I had to bin the thought a lot more forcefully than usual, because I didn't have the usual 'I've spent months getting ready for this, this is my big day, etc' to call on.
Fortunately, a fellow triathlete came up along side me and asked me which raced I'd done this year. I told him Lake Placid and then he told me that he was doing it in 2011 and that he really needed to work on it because the bike was his week leg. I gave him some advice based on what he said his weaknesses on the bike. We ran together for about a mile and then I let him go. I was definitely struggling as I went through miles 11 and 12. I took my Cliff Shot at 12 miles and ran through to 13 right on 7:00, which was a bit slow. But the miles were still going by.
However, I was not feeling good, and I knew why. It was ironic because I'd just read the article in ESPN magazine about intestinal distress. The brain does not want the body to stop at moments like this, but the body functions less and less efficiently the long you go without relief. And the brain can be a powerful thing- the inclination to never stop is so strong. It's a race. The idea that you'll spend race time sitting in a porta-potty praying to the plastic gods while people are burying you is so poisonous that.
I ran like this, debating it for about 40 minutes, then finally after downing my 16 mile Gu, I pulled into a porta-potty. It took me twenty seconds, and let me tell you, it was worth every second. I'll spare you the gory details.
After that I ran well. Yes, a lot of people had passed me but I quickly started reeling people in and I had three really good miles after that.There's no question that the plastic gods answered the prayer my bowels prayed that morning.
Mile 20 was the deciding mile of the race. I was starting to slow, but ironically, I was still passing people. As the wreckage accumulated around me- one guy running the wrong way with a number on, another woman sitting on the side of the road, her boyfriend urging her to get back up- I just kept that forward progress up.
I'd decided the day before that mile 20 would be a fuel-optional nutrition point. I wasn't sure I could take five gels- that's pretty aggressive. But it seemed like all my fuel stores were either exhausted or just off-line. I needed the calories, so I opened the gel and squeezed it all into my mouth. I immediately gagged. However, like I've done in numerous races, like I will never do again, I swallowed the gel. I am a stubborn human being.
I'd forced myself to go the bathroom. Good move. I forced myself to eat.
Bad move.
I continues to blunder forward. I was running pretty crappy, but I was still amazingly passing people, and I was basically not being passed. I couldn't believe it. I started thinking about visiting the loo a second time, but that well was dry. That wasn't the problem. I kept moving. I kept running. I-
I got two steps away from vomiting, and that's when I stopped running and started walking. Look, I never want to walk. Ever. Never. It cuts me to the bone just to admit that I walked. But if I hadn't stopped to walk I would have almost immediately stopped to vomit, and that would have ended my race.
I walked about 400 meters. People encouraged me by name to get moving again. Lee Bradley ran by me going the other way. Jamie went by me. I started running again before the on-ramp- or off-ramp, it's some kind of frakking ramp. I wasn't running hard and got passed by some more people and dropped by others, but as I ran back into the city and towards Bushnell Park I started passing people again.
I finished in a 3:07 something. As always when I'm embarrassed, I have not looked at the results. So yeah, I'm embarrassed at not breaking three hours, for walking a quarter of a mile.
I also recognise that I ran a 3:07 with no training at all, raced six straight weeks ending with this marathon, and hey, I got a big ass medal and a decent shirt. And I didn't have to wear socks thanks to my Zoots.
Verdict: It could have been worse.
Tuesday, October 05, 2010
When the Season Ends
Every year I reach a point at the end of the season where it hits me. I'm not going to win a race this year...
I'll be in the middle of some workout one day and it will just come to me. I'm not exactly an epic planner- I sort of just plod along through the season, especially after my a-race is gone- so it's not about knowing that I'm planning to do races I can't win (besides Christopher Martins of course), but rather just a sort of intuition. That was last Saturday. I went riding with two of my Force 5 teammates and the weather had just turned colder. I had an OK ride, but not great and as always happens when the temperature first takes a 15-20 degree drop, I felt winded at the top of the biggest climbs.
But it was on the brick run afterwards that I had the thought. I was running easy, either because I was half-planning to race the next day or because I just didn't have much- I'd gone hard when I was sick earlier in the week, an unusual cold. But as I was running down along the water backwards on the Branford Road Race course I thought about how I just wasn't going to win any races this year. I'd come short at Brian's and really not even had any races that I'd had much of a shot at- I'd hardly raced before Placid and after Placid I'd run three USATF championship races- one a National Championship- and done three triathlons.
I'm not sure what I expect anyway. i'm 45 years old. Why am I even thinking about winning races at this age ? And what difference does it make. Maybe I'll never win another race...
Sunday I had two options, running 75 minutes at 0700h or waiting and running a 3.5 mile 'trail' race at 10AM.
I got up a little after 6, read my email, looked at the weather, played some games and decided that the race was better option. But I wanted to be good and warmed up, and Margit was going to meet me at the race about half an hour before the start so it wasn't going to happen before the race, not with day of registration and so on. So Itried something I had never done before.
I did Spinervals, Aero Base Builder III, an hour long aerobic-effort spin session from 0715-0815. I got a good spin in- my muscles were warm and loose, and I finished the workout ready to go.
I got to the race about half an hour before the start, registered, exchanged Ian, and started warming up.
Because of the spin I was in good shape. I just needed to do strides. I walked my stuff down to Steve Surprise's house and started doing strides. This gave me a chance to evaluate the other people that were there. While it wasn't a deep crowd- just about 150 people, there were two guys I were pretty sure I didn't have to worry about because I would have no chance of beating them, younger guys, taller, leaner, the right type of equipment. That took a little bit of the edge off.
The race started though, and it didn't go the way I thought. Right off the bat, I got an idea exactly how the race was going to be. There was one guy ahead of me- grey-haired, probably around 50, and me.
I settled in behind him as we ran away from Tommy Sullivan's and towards the park.
I didn't want to take the lead early, so as we followed the police car into the Supply Pond, I hung right on him. It was a good pace, I was running hard but I felt like there was room for more.
Then we turned off the road to the left, running across the field that leads to the trails just inside the Supply Pond. For some reason the other runner took the left hand side of the field which I didn't understand because the righthand side was the shorter path. I decided it was time to make my move.
I went by the guy guy on his right and burst into the trail in the woods.
I run well on trails, especially trails like the ones in the Supply Pond that are not technical. After attending Eric Hodska's Lake Placid Camp in June and picking my way over rocks, stumps, and running in stream beds, the flat lazy trails in the Supply Pond are not a challenge. I opened up my stride and started running with as much authority as I could, because that's all that trail running really is. It's running confidently.
I established my lead right away and put the hammer down. Now that I was out in front, just a day off knowing- knowing- I wasn't going to win any races this year, I knew there was only one approach that I could take, and that was to take the lead and run with it.
At about a mile, I got some bad directions and started down the wrong path. The volunteer blocking the path I was supposed to take seemed a little bit offended that I went the wrong way, but it was no harm no foul and I was able to get back on course without giving the lead up. After that I was on trails I know pretty well and I expanded my lead steadily. I never looked back, never listened for the other runners, but I could tell I was comfortably off the front. I still ran as though the rest of the field was bearing down on me though.
I made the two mile mark up a hill and started back towards the way we'd come in. I was feeling good, running hard in in control of the race. Then on the way back out a rotund runner who a late mid packer still only at about a mile said 'You're going the wrong way'. While it was true that I was going the opposite direction of the way the people headed out were going, the course is an out and back, and therefore I was not going the 'wrong way', I was just a lot faster than this guy. Still, having never done the race, I stopped, panicked.
That lasted about one second. Then my brain caught up. Was I running the wrong way ? Probably not. If I was, could I fix it by turning around ? No. I started running again, harder to make up the lost time and also because I was a little mad.
As I wound my way back I knew I'd made the right choice. I broke out of the woods back into the field. There was a van waiting for the first runner- me- and I followed it back onto the tarmac.
I went through 3 miles in 18:07. I then hit the 5K mark and from that point it was uphill. I moderated my effort until I could see the finish line and then I went for it.
I won the race by 25 seconds.
I got a nice trophy and a big shoutout is owed to @soundrunner as they provided a 100.00 gift certificate.
The lesson I learned is you can't make assumptions about the direction of your season until December 31st.
To re-inforce that, I decided to run the Hartford Marathon. Today- just 24 hours before the race.
Time to get some sleep. i have a marathon in the morning....
I'll be in the middle of some workout one day and it will just come to me. I'm not exactly an epic planner- I sort of just plod along through the season, especially after my a-race is gone- so it's not about knowing that I'm planning to do races I can't win (besides Christopher Martins of course), but rather just a sort of intuition. That was last Saturday. I went riding with two of my Force 5 teammates and the weather had just turned colder. I had an OK ride, but not great and as always happens when the temperature first takes a 15-20 degree drop, I felt winded at the top of the biggest climbs.
But it was on the brick run afterwards that I had the thought. I was running easy, either because I was half-planning to race the next day or because I just didn't have much- I'd gone hard when I was sick earlier in the week, an unusual cold. But as I was running down along the water backwards on the Branford Road Race course I thought about how I just wasn't going to win any races this year. I'd come short at Brian's and really not even had any races that I'd had much of a shot at- I'd hardly raced before Placid and after Placid I'd run three USATF championship races- one a National Championship- and done three triathlons.
I'm not sure what I expect anyway. i'm 45 years old. Why am I even thinking about winning races at this age ? And what difference does it make. Maybe I'll never win another race...
Sunday I had two options, running 75 minutes at 0700h or waiting and running a 3.5 mile 'trail' race at 10AM.
I got up a little after 6, read my email, looked at the weather, played some games and decided that the race was better option. But I wanted to be good and warmed up, and Margit was going to meet me at the race about half an hour before the start so it wasn't going to happen before the race, not with day of registration and so on. So Itried something I had never done before.
I did Spinervals, Aero Base Builder III, an hour long aerobic-effort spin session from 0715-0815. I got a good spin in- my muscles were warm and loose, and I finished the workout ready to go.
I got to the race about half an hour before the start, registered, exchanged Ian, and started warming up.
Because of the spin I was in good shape. I just needed to do strides. I walked my stuff down to Steve Surprise's house and started doing strides. This gave me a chance to evaluate the other people that were there. While it wasn't a deep crowd- just about 150 people, there were two guys I were pretty sure I didn't have to worry about because I would have no chance of beating them, younger guys, taller, leaner, the right type of equipment. That took a little bit of the edge off.
The race started though, and it didn't go the way I thought. Right off the bat, I got an idea exactly how the race was going to be. There was one guy ahead of me- grey-haired, probably around 50, and me.
I settled in behind him as we ran away from Tommy Sullivan's and towards the park.
I didn't want to take the lead early, so as we followed the police car into the Supply Pond, I hung right on him. It was a good pace, I was running hard but I felt like there was room for more.
Then we turned off the road to the left, running across the field that leads to the trails just inside the Supply Pond. For some reason the other runner took the left hand side of the field which I didn't understand because the righthand side was the shorter path. I decided it was time to make my move.
I went by the guy guy on his right and burst into the trail in the woods.
I run well on trails, especially trails like the ones in the Supply Pond that are not technical. After attending Eric Hodska's Lake Placid Camp in June and picking my way over rocks, stumps, and running in stream beds, the flat lazy trails in the Supply Pond are not a challenge. I opened up my stride and started running with as much authority as I could, because that's all that trail running really is. It's running confidently.
I established my lead right away and put the hammer down. Now that I was out in front, just a day off knowing- knowing- I wasn't going to win any races this year, I knew there was only one approach that I could take, and that was to take the lead and run with it.
At about a mile, I got some bad directions and started down the wrong path. The volunteer blocking the path I was supposed to take seemed a little bit offended that I went the wrong way, but it was no harm no foul and I was able to get back on course without giving the lead up. After that I was on trails I know pretty well and I expanded my lead steadily. I never looked back, never listened for the other runners, but I could tell I was comfortably off the front. I still ran as though the rest of the field was bearing down on me though.
I made the two mile mark up a hill and started back towards the way we'd come in. I was feeling good, running hard in in control of the race. Then on the way back out a rotund runner who a late mid packer still only at about a mile said 'You're going the wrong way'. While it was true that I was going the opposite direction of the way the people headed out were going, the course is an out and back, and therefore I was not going the 'wrong way', I was just a lot faster than this guy. Still, having never done the race, I stopped, panicked.
That lasted about one second. Then my brain caught up. Was I running the wrong way ? Probably not. If I was, could I fix it by turning around ? No. I started running again, harder to make up the lost time and also because I was a little mad.
As I wound my way back I knew I'd made the right choice. I broke out of the woods back into the field. There was a van waiting for the first runner- me- and I followed it back onto the tarmac.
I went through 3 miles in 18:07. I then hit the 5K mark and from that point it was uphill. I moderated my effort until I could see the finish line and then I went for it.
I won the race by 25 seconds.
I got a nice trophy and a big shoutout is owed to @soundrunner as they provided a 100.00 gift certificate.
The lesson I learned is you can't make assumptions about the direction of your season until December 31st.
To re-inforce that, I decided to run the Hartford Marathon. Today- just 24 hours before the race.
Time to get some sleep. i have a marathon in the morning....
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