tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-355811122024-03-13T07:27:28.976-07:00This Blog is About What ?Triathlon and road racing ? Yeah, that's here. The NFL ? Sometimes. Politics- well, I do own meforpresident.org...alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02062495927451723939noreply@blogger.comBlogger523125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35581112.post-39134415614886237992013-09-11T17:21:00.001-07:002013-09-11T17:21:48.903-07:00Untappd: Quest for 500<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Any one who knows me well knows I like beer. With so many beers out there, so many breweries and styles, I think it's never been a better time for the beer <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px;">c</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px;">onnoisseur, or as I see myself, the beer adventurer. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">So in April of 2012 I joined a new social network called Untappd, so I could track the beers I'd tried. 18 months later, several trips around the country and a lot of diligent shopping later I am on the verge of my 500th unique beer - and I'm taking suggestions.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">I was at 493 when I got up this morning, so I took a trip to the local package store (it's a New England thing) and picked up 6 beers.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">Robinson's Trooper- This English bitter is probably best rememberable because it's got an Iron Maiden-themed label. Colour, texture, balance and flavor are all spot on for an english bitter. I'm actually drinking it right now and it's good enough that I don't regret buying it. An ESB for the masses that want to ROCK ON!</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">Harviestoun's Ola Dubh 1991- Pricey. Ola Dubh 1991 is the first in our annual Vintage Limited Edition Series (we only produced 20,000 bottles). It is aged exclusively in Highland Park casks from 1991 and is bottled at full strength – a mighty 10.5% abv. I'm looking forward to this one.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Tusker Finest Quality Lager- is very light, almost too light. If you are looking for a flavorful beer, then this might just need to sit on the shelf while you make a different selection. Though the beer isn't all that bad, actually it is refreshingly crisp. Highly carbonated with hints of lemon and subtle green apple accents are evident to the smell and taste's end. I have a feeling I won't enjoy this one much, but hey, I've never had an African beer before.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fffffe; color: #2b2117;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">Imperial Extra Double Stout 2008- If you like Russian Imperial Stouts and the name Albert Le Coq doesn't sound familiar to you, it should. The style and the name are essentially synonymous, since legend has it that the Belgian Le Coq began was invited to Tsarist Russia to brew the beer there to avoid import tarrifs. In 1912, Le Coq released the first Imperial Extra Double Stout from his brewery in Tartu. But the Russian Revolution and World War brought it all to an end. This beer adheres to the original recipe, paying hommage to the father of Imperial Extra Double Stout and a beer hero in our hearts. I have no question I am going to devour this.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fffffe; color: #2b2117;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">Olde Expensive Ale- </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Olde Expensive pours murky, dark copper, exuding toffee, banana bread and sherry smells while spicy, peppery accents tickle the nose. This highly carbonated brew spreads out on the tongue with biscuity malts slathered in aged sherry flavors that unite in the middle of the tongue. Light vanilla blends with a flash of chocolate before spicy hops peak in the back of the mouth. Finishing dry with lingering sweetness, this brew’s an ale worth savoring. I expect to like this but I am reserving judgment.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">Harviestoun's Bitter and Twisted Ale- </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Bitter & Twisted is a superbly-balanced, refreshingly-lively beer. It has a malty-sweet aroma with a floral, fruity hoppiness and a zingy, zesty flavour. Complex, rounded, sweet and dry; this is the connoisseurs' session beer par excellence! A session ale ? Well, I'll probably like it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So here's the thing- I need suggestions for beer #500 and I want them from you. Check out my profile at http://https://untappd.com/user/cyberdyne and help me decide how to terminate my quest for my 500th unique beer.</span></div>
alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02062495927451723939noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35581112.post-53322609385271689952013-09-02T20:41:00.001-07:002013-09-05T20:51:04.591-07:00Ironman Louisville 2013 Race Report<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So this was my second go at the Ironman Louisville race. After having such a disappointing race last year, I really wanted to have a better race. In fact, the truth is, I wanted to have a good race. Definitely under 11 hours, and really get as much of the race as right as possible.</span><br />
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It was a tough trip. Work was never really very far away from me from the time we left on Wednesday to the moment I got on the airplane to come home the following Monday night. I'd done the race last year and work had been a minor inconvenience, but this year it was a constant thorn in my side. We had major issues with one of our contractors whose inability to provide good service or delivery had caused disruptions in every area of our ID card operation. We also have been struggling with the data that is in our student information system. The result was a constant stream of emails. I'm a professional. I can't turn the phone off and pretend that issues don't exist, and leave things unresolved. Still, some of the requests that I were getting were, as they are at the start of the semester, mildly irrational.</span><br />
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I'm not going to blame work for my race though. I'm a firm believer that once you get on the line, that is your only job, to race and race well, and everything else except your family can be damned until you cross the line. </span><br />
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But to race well, you need to sleep. Last year, I did the pre-race swim on Saturday and it made me sick- high fever, congestion, delirium. This year I kept to the hotel pool, doing a few hundred meters each day. Despite the work emails and calls and whatnot, we'd had a bunch of good meals, good weather, great beer. It was a good trip, even if there was some stress. I like Louisville. I like the Galt House. </span><br />
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But in 2-3 years when I go and do the race again- and I want to do this race more right now than Florida or Arizona, we are staying on the other end of the Galt House, the city end, not the highway end.</span><br />
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I went to bed at 2030 and the family was watching some football movie with a little girl and the Rock. The little girl was not on steroids. I put headphones on and thought I was falling asleep, but I wasn't. Finally around 2130 the lights went out and I tried to sleep in earnest. Saturday nights is apparently motorcycle drags trip night on 75 or 64- the highway outside the hotel. The traffic noise was terrible. My mind was racing with a particularly troublesome work issue- one of my coworkers had deleted some files from a course by mistake.</span><br />
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I was sweating, I was thinking. I'd had one beer with dinner and hardly touched my food and just drank water after getting back around 1900. I was out of my routine.</span><br />
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My bad. I slept 2-3 hours before the biggest race I'd had since the Disney half-marathon back in January 2012. I would pay later.</span><br />
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I got up at 0400. You have to get up early at this race because it uses a time trial swim start off dual docks. The order you start in is the order you line up in. So you walk to the start, which is about 1.4 miles from transition, which is a mile or less from the Galt House. It cuts the edge of the nervousness but then it magnifies it as you trudge in the dark. I thought morning clothes bag was my last chance to catch some Evanescence but this year they let you drop your morning clothes bag just before getting in the water. That would have been awesome.</span><br />
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I spent some time talking to the two people in front of me in the line. I'm a tabula rasa kind of guy. I have no inherent desire to talk to other people in that hour before a race. But I'm happy to talk to people if they want, and having done the race last year, I had a few tips to offer. I did talk to the two people in front of me, and they had good positive energy, probably more than I did- I tend to be more of the 'let's get this thing started'. Excitement is rarely one of my emotions.</span><br />
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The amazing thing is that I ended up in exactly the same place I'd been in last year, and I got in the water at just about the same time, 0720.</span><br />
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I stuck close to the island on the way out. It was a little more crowded this year than last year, but not much and overall this is a good Ironman swim course. Definitely more people had the same idea as me- hug the island until you get out into the channel. Still it was a pretty simple swim until we hit the first bout past the island. The great thing about the ironman is the buoys are gigantic. This is also the sucky thing about the ironman. Getting too close to the buoys invariably is a bit like getting into the meat grinder. You have to avoid getting 'under' the buoys because you can't swim through them and the cluster of people makes it interesting. </span><br />
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I wasn't actually sighting. My theory on races that go counter-clockwise is that I don't need to sight very much. First, I absolutely can swim a straight line. I might suck, but I can put my head down and swim buoy to buoy on a good day. My plan is like this- I only breath on the left, so I watch the people on my left. If there are a few of them and when I peak right most of the field is on my right, I'm right on line.</span><br />
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I'm also where I want to be, which is in a dead zone between the people who are on a tight line and the bulk of the field, which- at my skill level anyway, seem to be wide for most of the race. I don't understand why so many people swim wide. I don't care either. Maybe I should be trying to be on someone's feet but that's just not a comfortable place to me.</span><br />
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It was a pretty calm swim. There was a lot of rough play at the terminal buoy out, after which you hook a 180 and swim back to transition. Somewhere around the halfway point I did have to shove one guy who seemed to be convinced the shortest distance back to his bike could be carved out of my head and shoulders.</span><br />
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I fixed on one woman who was a meter to my left and tried to stay with her. She would lose ground when she sighted, then pick it back up. After we started back in, I had a little problem staying left- I was able to do it, but I had to make some adjustments. At about 1.6 miles I was done with the swim, ready to get out, but I was still calm. My longest open water swim of the year had been a mile, but I believed- and do believe now after doing it twice- that I am capable on any day, with any amount of swim training, to swim 2.4 miles. Those hundreds of times I've gotten panicky in the water? Silly. Just silly.</span><br />
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The water got a little less settled near the bridges. I did get a foot in the googles at one point but they didn't dislodge. I finally saw the swim exit, but it was still far away, like what I imagine the moon must have looked to Neil Armstrong on approach. Swimming is a cruel endeavor. When I sight something running or biking I am soon there, soon past it. There is no rearview mirror in swimming though. For me my goal hangs in front of me, tantalizing yet unreachable. Will I make it or will the water claim me?</span><br />
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No, no it won't. I know that now, as sure as my bike will carry me across 112 miles, or my feet will find a way to traverse that last 26.2.</span><br />
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Regardless of what else Ironman Louisville will ultimately be to me, it has given me the one gift I needed most as a triathlete. I have conquered the water.</span><br />
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I climbed out, sure my swim had been in the 1:20s. The time on the clock said 1:55. I started my watch (it had not started as intended when I went in the water) and did the match, which indicated a 1:35 swim. No way. I knew that was wrong. I had gotten in later or something else happened. I didn't care.</span><br />
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I went and grabbed my own gear back. When your number is 2500 your bag is easy to find. I did the swim with a bib over my speed suit (no neoprene, not a cheater's suit). I stood at the edge of transition, avoiding the tent. I peed while I out my cycling jersey on, just standing there in my bib. When I was done, I put my socks and shoes and helmet and gloves on and ran through the tent, yelling 'make a hole, make a hole, make a hole'. I got my bike and ran out of transition and then I ran up the little hill while people tried to mount their bikes while going up hill. I find a little alcove in the barriers past all the carnage and mounted the bike and I was off.</span><br />
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I headed out on the bike and as expected, the first 10-12 miles, that stretch out from the venue on River Road to 42, was kind of treacherous. Significant portions of the road, which is pretty narrow in places, is dug up with construction projects, general use wear and tear and so on. It was a lot rougher this year than last year. Then you add in the fact that it’s one of the most densely packed areas on the course and it’s just a tough start. Like all IM courses, it’s about patience and already in that first few miles you see the guys that want to race the entire course, battling everyone that tries to pass them, and generally making your pace their pace.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I’ve also found, and I hate to say this because it’s pretty negative but, over the course of the 12 Ironman races I’ve done the bike etiquette has declined dramatically. There’s always been drafting, and that’s more about cheating than etiquette but I feel like the majority of people in the Ironman used to know how to handle a bike, knew the rules, and worked hard to at least leave room for other athletes on the course.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">That’s less and less the case. One of the most basic rules that’s been left behind is staying to the right. And probably nothing is more irritating. I hate being drafted, but I can turn around, look at you, and then drop you (probably). I cannot get people out of my way. After telling people to move right 2-3 times I simply snuck over the yellow line to make the pass, which is itself a violation of the rules but where there isn’t 2-way bike traffic, I think it’s venal nor a mortal sin.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Finally just before 42 I came up on three athletes. One was on the yellow line, one was in the middle of the lane and one was drafting the one in the middle of the lane. People were steadily passing in between the two, which is crazy dangerous, but I took my turn doing the same after ‘on your left’ got me nowhere and I didn’t want to be overtaken by more passers- not to mention you only get 15 seconds to make the pass.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As I went by I turned to the woman on the yellow line and said ‘Move to your right.’ She responded with a strong, twangy ‘I’ll move to the right when you-‘</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I cut her off. ‘Move to the right and stop your bitching.’ It’s probably one of the harshest things I’ve ever said in a race, but she was just kind of hanging out there on the yellow line and now she was going to explain to me how it was my fault? I have to be honest and say I’m pretty much a stickler about the rules out there in an Ironman race because it’s about safety and fairness. I feel like a few athletes feel entitled to the entire road and to help from other cyclists getting through 112 miles.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My bike computer wasn’t working. This is my backup bike, and I’d grabbed a computer from the pile and some magnets but I wasn’t able to get it working and to be honest I didn’t expect it to. However 14 miles or so in, I got the cadence up on the fly and that was awesome. I’ve done a couple of ironman races without a bike computer, once when it failed in heavy rain at IMLP and at least once at IMFL. My goal was to ride as close to 20 mph as possible and I had time on my watch. I knew my transition has been 7:30 and it was easy to keep track. At 20 miles I was averaging 21 mph or so, which was OK because the first 20 mph are fast.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Pretty soon I was on the out and back. I’d ridden the out and back Thursday with a friend, Scott Casper and was reminded of how much work it was, how you had to be patient on that part of the course. I drained my first bottle of infinit at about 1 hour. The plan was to drink a bottle an hour for 3 hours, switch to water for an hour and then get another (4th) out of special needs. This was a change because I hadn’t used any special needs in the last 4 races. I should have put two bottles in special needs. But the point was I knew I’d be out of bottles an hour or so before I got my special needs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Back to the out and back. Two of the steepest hills on the course are on the out and back, with a giant roller in each direction. It's really important here just to stay relaxed. They had signs and paint on the road that said 'Caution, slow' but the truth is there is nothing technical about these rollers and you really should get as much speed as you can because that's free time, unless the conditions become unsafe. The middle of the road does sometimes get clogged with people going up and people going down but to me it's not that hard to work it out.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I got a great head of steam going down the hill and passed a lot of people. I passed a lot more climbing up towards the turn around. On the way back, I started down the hill, again getting up a huge head of steam, and then in the middle of the downhill there was an ambulance and an athlete on a back board. That's always a scary moment. I hit the bottom and started back up and about halfway I ran into a woman that was close to the yellow line. Bikes were streaming down the other side and I had the oddest thought as I called for a pass on the left, which was that it sounded like a battle scene from Battlestar Galactica, that high-pitched wheel whine, the buzz of the rubber on the road, and the incredible speed of it all, dozens of bikes caught in this potentially deadly dance.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">She acknowledged that she was going to move, but then immediately lost control of her slow-moving bike and swerved left to the yellow line. Bikes were coming at us at I know I just had to avoid hitting her and going down. I stood up and slowed down, waited for her to right herself and went on.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The course has a lot of rollers, and I was amazed at how many people I saw throw chains, off their bikes going up hills. They would roll into the downhill in a big gear and not shift quickly enough.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The next big landmark on the ride after the out and back is the double loop. It was there I really started to see people blowing up derailleurs and standing on the roadside trying to fix tangled chains. The double loop is hard in that it starts out with a set of stair-steps, definite climbing and I think the aid station I look forward to the most is the one there. You're hot, sweaty tired, and there's water to pour on yourself.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The two loops are the best part of the course. You still have your energy, you feel pretty good, the roads are prettier, and hey, two loops, so you kind of know what you're doing by the second time round.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The two times I went through La Grange I threw up my hands, yelled to the crowd, really tried to get them pumped up to get us pumped up. They responded. La Grange is nice because you get some energy and a bit of downhill after battling with the rollers and it's kind of the spirit of the Ironman- music, people dancing and making noise, racing through an area with barriers so it looks like those bike races you see on TV. Good stuff.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The only problem I had during the bike ride occurred on the second loop. It was on 153, at a water stop near that steep little hill- which I saw someone get off their bike and walk up. I went through the aid station and grabbed a pair of waters- one to dump on my head and one to dump on my crotch. (I wanted to pee, but I never really needed to). I'd gathered my supplies and was about to speed up again when the guy on my left decided to take a nature break and started to veer to the right. I'm not sure what he was thinking or if he was thinking.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">He rode me off the road and my options were hit him or go into a ditch and I used pilot logic- it's not a crash until you hit the ground. So I went into the ditch. And somehow or other I came out of the ditch. A volunteer helped my by moving people out of the way and I was was back in the traffic flow without even getting off my bike. I didn't yell at the guy- he just spaced, I'm sure. But it was a little nerve-jangling.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And then I was back on 42- rollers. Yes, rollers. They just keep coming. You keep thinking it's the last one, or at least the last one for a while and it just never is. To me, this is also the worst area for drafting, and there were two people on my short list. I mean, I was kind of back and forth with a few groups that would pass me, then slow down, then I would pass them, etc. But two people stood out. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The first was a guy with 51 on one calf and a big smiley face on the other. And this is how my mind works- all I could think was 'When you asked for that smiley face where you planning to come out and draft people the entire bike ride and if so, how could you have that smiley face put there?' Yes, my mind actually works like that. There was also a woman in black with a pink helmet. In both cases they were not just drafting me, they we drafting everyone.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I treated both of them to 'the look' followed by a sprint away from them. Just to say 'Please stop.' As always, it had no effect but to stroke my sometimes infantile ego. Yes, I proved to them that I could a) get mad and b) waste energy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Again, you spend miles and miles thinking you are finally going to get to the end of the rollers and hit that long downhill before River Road. And you don't. You finally get past the loop and even then it's more rollers. I did finally hit that downhill and I decided that I would take it easy on River road for the last 112 miles or so.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And I did. With a few miles left the the guy with the 51 on his calf went by me one more time. Then the woman with the pink helmet. And a bunch of other people. I didn't care, I had my plan. Ride the course at around 20 mph.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I averaged 20.2. With no computer. That to me is pretty good.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I came into transition and I didn't make the mistake I made last year. I took my time. I took the bib off and put on tri shorts with no pad in them and a singlet. I changed one sock because I was getting a blister. I went to the bathroom. I mixed a bottle of fluid.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And when I started running I felt really good. And if it hadn't been for one mistake, I might have had a great ironman.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My bottle was full of Infinite, which is calories + electrolytes. I ran 5 miles in the 7:30 range, although the first two were 7:15. That's greedy and I know it, I should have started out at 8:00. Because I was being greedy and trying to run faster than I should have, I thought I better take some endurolytes around mile 5. I got a few of them and maybe a race cap, washed them down with the Infinite and about 30 seconds later I threw up. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This is not a place you want to throw up into.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I ran for as long as I could after that, but it was kind of like I'd been punched in that place where all you energy flows from. I didn't want to stop running. But what my body wanted to do was stop entirely. Not walk, just sit on the damn side of the road.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I walked. Then I ran for a while. Then I walked again. I tried drinking more infinite but it was making me sick now because it was reacting with the electrolytes. I tossed the bottle. I was taking water at the aid stations drinking a little, pouring the rest on my body. Somehow I made it to the turn around and started back towards town. At ten miles I was walking again and I saw John Hirsch sitting there cheering people on. I traded a few words and not long after got some running going for a while.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The worst part of the race was the turn around back out to the second loop. I couldn't run through here. I expected to see my family and I was worried my wife would tell me to just stop before I really hurt myself. There's a point where you can see people headed to the finish. I went past that and kept wondering where the family was but I didn't see them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Then I started running again and by running I mean an 8 minute shuffle and man, it shows something. I am the planet's slowest walker. But even a half-assed run is 8 minute style. Then it clicked. I started talking coca-cola. And with that I could just keep running and now I know, when I do Placid next year my plan will be to just use coca-cola on the run. Keep it simple.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I missed it at one station and within a minute I crashed and I was walking again. So at the next rest, er, aid station, I took twice as much. This made me gag and I nearly threw up three times. And then I started running again anyway because I keep the soda down. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I looked at my watch and it was 1821. I knew that I had to finish- to be safe, by 1915 to break 12 hours. I had 6.2 miles to go and I ran all of them. I did around 8s for most of them and I think I crossed the finish line at around 1914. I had my cushion and I finished in 11:54. I even beat several other people I'd been back and forth with the entire run.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I was disappointed. I was also done, and somehow, I'd looked inside and found something inside myself, dug deeper than I'd dug, and adjusted within the race to find a new goal, and achieve it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It wasn't a good race for me, but in the end, I crossed the line, I doubled over and almost threw up some more. That tells me I gave everything I had. That's all I can ask.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Thanks to everyone that sent me emails or tweets or checked in on Facebook- it means a lot to know you're out there. Most of all, thanks to my family for putting up with me and not be as honest as they could have been on a day that was way off perfect but still had a lot of great moments.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Number 12 is in the books. Now let's get #13 right.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02062495927451723939noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35581112.post-42956932448684700532013-08-04T20:49:00.002-07:002013-08-05T08:18:06.080-07:00Lake Placid 2013 Recap<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So, I didn't race this year, but yes, I think the race is still worth a recap. I haven't raced since 2010 there and to say that I've missed it is an understatement. I ran the LP marathon in June twice and attended a training camp there this year, so there's been no shortage of time in my favorite home away from home, but still...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I take spectating the race <b>very</b> seriously. I've done the race a number of times, and I have tremendous respect both for the race course and the people who manage to cover it in 17 hours or less (or more). But spectating the race is also a lot- a LOT- easier than doing the race. I got up at 6, made some coffee, drank it and half a banana and then headed to the start. I was disappointed because I could not get to the area I usually stand in just behind the athlete coral outside the barriers because of the corralled start.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I saw Chrissy and snapped a pix on the way:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It didn't take long to come to the conclusion I was going to have to wait until after the start to get near the beach and I did as soon as the last athletes were in the pond- they were ALL off before 7 AM.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I took tons of pictures of people exiting the water, which you can see on my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ironpunk. I also took this picture when I was standing on the beach about 10 feet from Mike Reilly watching the swim finishers battle to beat the time limit for finishing the swim, which is in my opinion pretty generous. I can't believe that numerous people were asking Mike Reilly to pose for pictures while he was still bringing athletes in. I did not. I probably could have shot a selfie of the two of us, but that would have been rude. You're there to get these last people over the line and out of the water, after all.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I headed back to the condo on Mirror Lake Drive, finished my breakfast and charged my iPhones, grabbed my HP Slate 7 and headed right back out onto the road by the condo because I knew in 10-15 minutes Andy Potts would be coming by. I got some great close ups without getting in his way, and then the other athletes started coming in fairly soon, first in dribs and drabs, and then in earnest. Margit went out on her run, and she missed the excitement.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Here's Dave Ellis coming through on the bike:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I had mentioned the tents (you can see one in the picture above) to Margit the night before, how I hoped they were all staked down- last year we saw one blow up onto the road with no injuries. This year was not so lucky. We were watching people go by when suddenly one of the tents blew up and onto the road just past we were standing towards town, maybe 70 meters up ahead. One cyclist miraculously avoided it but another slammed right into the tent and went down, the bicycle all mangled up in the tent legs. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I started running immediately, tossing aside my iPhone and an orange. This was bad.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The guy was scraped up but still road worthy. I think the wet road helped him skid not stick to the pavement.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">His 10K electronic shifting bike? More problematic. The right break lever was tangled up in the tent. Three other guys had come to the rescue as well and we immediately started to try and gently work the bike out from the tent legs- the bike had hit the upper corner and the legs had collapsed around the horn and break. After about 30 seconds it dawned on me that we were wasting valuable time, so I grabbed two legs in each hand and just started bending. Tent ruined, bike saved.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The control hub for the electronic shifter (as far as I can tell) mounts under the aerobars. It was hanging off the bike. The brake lever was bent 90 degrees off angle inside and the chain was off, also we'd had to remove the front wheel to get at the break lever and get it out of the tent. I asked someone else to reset the wheel and went to work on the shifter. I have zero exposure to bikes with electronic shifting so I had no idea what I was doing, and I was looking at the mount, half-detached, trying to understand the set-up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Mike Bergstein is the guy- he's a doctor in his fifties. He was super, he kept his cool, he didn't get insanely mad the way he really had a right to. But as I'm fumbling with this assembly, he asks 'Are you a bike mechanic?' and all I could think was 'I'm yours now.' I didn't say anything, but the question made me focus and the next thing you know the shifter was in place. Then I got the chain back on and he looked at the brake lever and I think right then he was ready to say 'Thanks but it's over.' I grabbed the lever, twisted it back to the right position, and he tested the shifting.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It worked, so we got him on the bike and he was off.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The guy was so solid. He could have quit. Most people would have quit. He put up with me putting his bike right when I'm just a crazy guy in a polka dot jersey.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Margit came back so I went on my 16K run out onto the bears in the reverse direction with Ed Vescovi. I was yelling and cheering the whole way, including admonishing people to break up the packs. I came back hoarse, but I had a great time on the run- coming up the bears you can run with the bikers and cheer them on while dropping them! I did run across the road at one point and ask a rather large athlete who'd stopped on a hill if he was OK- he looked like he was going to get ill and I was pretty worried.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VcfwjNOwTsE/Uf8WoM6fGGI/AAAAAAAADXg/rT1bDKcfV1g/s1600/me.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VcfwjNOwTsE/Uf8WoM6fGGI/AAAAAAAADXg/rT1bDKcfV1g/s320/me.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">On course (opposite side of the road), running uphill.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I love running that section of the bike course. When my son was small I pushed the baby stroller up those hills- that was awesome. But enough about me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">After I got back, it was that weird mix of pros who had already done a lap of the run and bikers still coming in. I actually caught Andy Potts running back at 12 miles as I was returning from my own, much shorter run. That's the start of a great time as a spectator on Mirror Lake because you have runners in two directions, bikers in one and you just kind of see everyone (except Ginny- sorry Ginny).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Andy Potts in the middle of Mirror Lake drive. I can't even tell you exactly where this shot was taken.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Because my run was over, I was now making a dent in my stock of Ubu.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I had a blast cheering people on the rest of the day, minus my short trip to the Lake Placid Pub and Brew to catch some veggie burger. I saw a lot of Eric Hodksa's athletes, Team Spinervals people, Connecticut athletes, people I know randomly, and John Hirsch, who kicked some serious ass out there and looked tough as nails doing it. Just look at the massive effort in this picture:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I spent the afternoon and evening trading fist bumps, electrolytes, quips, high fives and taking pictures. We're well on the far side of the water stop and I frequently gently encourage people to 'get their nutrition in and then start running when you are ready.' One woman responded 'You start running.' Little did she know that shortly David Smith would be running by and I would indeed have to start running to catch the follow pix of him with a smile on his face. He'd had some nutrition issues on the bike but he was a trooper and he gutted it out and gave me a great smile:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cheering, and in some cases, running along with people had me shifting between beer and water all night. I saw Bruce Goulart, who's done LP like 10 times, Kramer, Raphael, all the regulars, and lots of people I had never seen before, all working hard, all enjoying the day or at least give the day everything they had. I went in the house once in a while to charge devices, but other than that I felt guilty leaving the road for long, because these athletes deserve 100% of what you've got.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I went to the Pub and Brew a second time and they were out of veggie burgers, although I met Josh of Josh's Fire Fish.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I ran into Mike Bergstein again. He was finishing- running past the pub. He stopped to give me a great big hug before heading to the oval, telling the people with him I was the guy that fixed his bike. Man, that felt good. I talked to his coach for a few minutes and then headed back to the condo. It was his first ironman, his goal was to finish, and he was. His hip was killing him but he was about to be an ironman. I felt lucky to be a small part of that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Finally we got to about 11:20 and although I felt guilty leaving those stragglers who are at 24-25 miles up on Mirror Lake Drive, I was desperate to be down on the oval, cheering people on, to be banging on the boards, making a shitton of noise as Mike Reilly egged us on to make them hear us on Mirror Lake Drive. I can't explain it. I want to be there, and I will be there next year again, pounding the damn boards and just wanting to make so much noise the whole world can hear it because it's as close as I ever come to crying from the sheer overwhelming emotion of something, down on that oval is just a special place.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Mike Reilly and your race director, cheering them home.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I spent over half an hour down there because the last official finisher was at about 12:01:26 or something, but I had a blast. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Hopefully I'll have finished, showered, had dinner, and cheered people on Mirror Lake Drive for about 5 hours before I make my own way to the oval next year to bang on the damn boards until they are so scuffed up they have to be replaced. And hopefully my smile will be as big as John's.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02062495927451723939noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35581112.post-74253899084113458292013-04-14T20:31:00.000-07:002013-04-14T20:31:13.415-07:00Digging a Little DeeperI much prefer to have really good races. I like to be in good shape, be well, be rested, and go out and just crush it.<br />
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Then there are days like today.<br />
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The Boogie start time was 0900, but for all practical purposes, my race started at 0645. I sat down to relieve myself, and decided I'd blow my nose (I know, TMI). It was a little crusty up there from sleep, and I wasn't really thinking, so I gave it a little poke (I'm not ashamed to admit it), which dislodged whatever was there. And immediately my nose started to bleed.<br />
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I've had nose bleeds. Ever since my nose got broken in college playing deck hockey, the nose has been a little flaky. But this was unusual. Blood started pouring out my nose. I was pretty disappointed. I'd given myself a good half hour to get ready, and I spent all of it and another 15 minutes trying to get the nose bleed to stop.<br />
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I wasn't panicked. At this point it wasn't worry about whether I could race, but whether I could just get it to stop because hey, a guy with blood all over his face and in his goatee is gross. I piled my son in the car, grabbed a roll of paper towels, and explained to him why I had paper stuck in my nose (which I needed to change about once a minute).<br />
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I thought at one point on the way to the race I had it stopped, but no...<br />
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I got to the race and it was kind of like a gusher. To the point where it was freaking people out, they were telling me to go to the hospital. I couldn't stop it- there was blood all over me, all over the ground outside my car<br />
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Long story short, this is not how you want your race prep to go. Michael D'Addetta gets credit for keeping me calm. He said the same thing happened to him, he finally got something frozen up in his nose. Someone gave me some Aquaphor, which is just basically vasoline and that really seemed to slow things to a trickle.<br />
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At least Robert Bove, a friend of mine who I'd signed up for the race and brought a bike to race on, listened to my advice to stop worrying about me and start getting used to this bike he'd never been on. The last thing I wanted to be was a distraction.<br />
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Finally at twenty to nine I decided to run half a mile and see if started to gush again. It did not. So I did some strides and shut everything out. I would either be OK or I wouldn't.<br />
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The first run started out and I settled in to around seventh place and then moved up into fifth by a mile in. My nose was still bleeding but nothing bad. I was right where I wanted to be, I felt fine. I knew if I got through the first mile and didn't feel dizzy I would be fine.<br />
<br />
I ran back into transition and hopped on the bike and passed one guy right away. The early part of the course is technical because the sand has clogged the paths after the storms, fine beach sand. I overcooked a turn and nearly ate a tree, and then soon after I got passed. I waited for the road section and when I got there I opened it up and got down on the aero bars and just hammered at 21 mph, which is what I do at this race. My nose had go back to a free flow of blood. I just kept blowing it out or wiping it on my arm warmers. My face was caked with it.<br />
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I made it through the whole first loop and the dodgy part of the second and to be honest I thought I had it made. Not only was I holding fifth place, but I had opened up a gap on the people behind me.<br />
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1.5 miles from transition (I measured it when I was helping to break down the course after the race), I took a stick up into my drive chain. I powered through it and my reward was a shredded derailleur hanger. I looked down at the bike, hopped off, and started running. I was on a very back section of the course with no one around me, but all I could think was 'I have to run as fast as I can'.<br />
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This was the real moment of the race. I honestly had lost at least a pint of blood, probably more, but that was not even a consideration. I'd wrecked my bike and that wasn't a consideration. It was how fast can I run in my bike shoes while pushing my bike. My friend Charlie went by me, knowing exactly what had happened and he said 'Bad Luck'. The first woman went by me. I kept running. I got passed 6 or 7 more times, but one stands out.<br />
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After I'd been running for a mile I came to a turn, I cut inside the flags to stay out of people's way, but one guy tried to cut the turn on the same angle as me- I was pushing the bike on the right side of my body. He hit me.<br />
<br />
He didn't go down. I went over my handlebars and landed on my elbow and hip.<br />
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Think about this. I was running in a straight line and ended up going over the handlebars.<br />
<br />
Sigh.<br />
<br />
I got back up and keep running. One guy went by me and said 'Way to stay with it Starbuck.' That would have been all the motivation I needed.<br />
<br />
I finished my second bike, changed my shoes, and ran down three people, one just out of transition.<br />
<br />
This is how it's supposed to be, me closing people out.<br />
<br />
I still finished 10th and 3rd in my age group and Charlie Hornak got a much deserved win. And Bove won his age group in his first race.<br />
<br />
It wasn't a day where things really went my way. At the same time, I stayed focused on the race, the whole race. Adversity came knocking. I decided not to answer.<br />
<br />
The big kudos still go to Robert Bove- winning his age group in his first duathlon. And his goal was to not finish last. How awesome is that?<br />
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<br />alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02062495927451723939noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35581112.post-71834361773368861022013-03-07T20:14:00.000-08:002013-03-07T20:16:50.401-08:00Two Threshold TestsThis morning I did a threshold test on the bike. I'd done my last one on January 10th, almost 2 months ago and it didn't exactly go the way I wanted. The end result was pretty good, with a peak HR of around 170, but the 20 minute time trial was basically a steady, and slow build from 140HR. It was a great workout, but not exactly what was intended, and it was pretty clear why- the opening segment, the warm-up, I followed the workout I had, but just didn't really get my HR where it needs to be.<br />
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I knew I wanted to do a threshold test to do again today, so I decided to wear my heart rate monitor at a 5K and see if I could engineer a better threshold test. For a typical 5K I run about a 1 mile warmup and then start doing strides, maybe 8-10 of them, running out from the starting line for about 10 seconds at above race pace, walking back, resetting. It's part ritual, part staking out the best line, part warming up.</div>
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Some people question 'wasting' that energy. Why would you expend a faster than race pace effort right before a race? I think this comes from a fallacy that you can somehow magically burn 100% of your energy during the 5k- it would be awesome if you could, of course, but it doesn't work that way. It's actually a great way to open up the cardiovascular system and the muscles. It also lets your opponents know you're serious.</div>
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Notice the spikes into the 140s from a standing HR below 100. That's a good target for me, 140 peak then a nice drop. Rinse, repeat.</div>
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On to the race.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D03N-iKl_aA/UTlcZuJMNWI/AAAAAAAABTI/mieq7s3bMBw/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-03-07+at+10.26.13+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="141" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D03N-iKl_aA/UTlcZuJMNWI/AAAAAAAABTI/mieq7s3bMBw/s400/Screen+Shot+2013-03-07+at+10.26.13+PM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Now, it's hard to tell from the image, but it took me a full three minutes from the start of the race to reach an HR of 160, after which I held above 160 the rest of the race and averaged 162 with a peak of 169. Does that mean I was slacking in the first three minutes? No. I ran my fastest mile, around 5:50, in the first mile. The first mile is always the fastest. I try to get out ahead of comparable athletes and then hold them off. I don't go nuts, but I do start strong and finish on strength, not speed. So that just indicates my heart rate does not immediately spike out- which is good.</div>
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Two takeaways from the 5K. I had to attack the warm-up for the threshold test more aggressively. If I was using the gears and achieving the cadence intended and getting only an HR of 120, I needed to push harder and get the same kind of HR I was seeing doing my strides before the 5K. My goal- a much flatter curve on my threshold test.</div>
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Well, the curve is a lot flatter. So, is that mission accomplished - did I get a better threshold test ? I'd say the answer is yes. The truth is, I hit the same terminal heart rate in both workouts, indicating that 166-167 upper ceiling is just that. But in the first workout I had to drive myself the entire 20 minutes to reach that level, whereas in the second test, I actually reached a 150+HR in about 4 minutes, similar to the 5K. So it was a better test of my threshold, because of just reaching a terminal HR, I actually maintained that HR for a long period.</div>
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But how do I know that's the case? If you look at the short effort after the end of the 20 minute threshold- it's the same workout, and those are three short 20 second sprint efforts- the HR curve is identical.</div>
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Lesson: Warm up hard before a TT. But you probably knew that.</div>
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<br />alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02062495927451723939noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35581112.post-64691863389536565722012-11-04T18:27:00.003-08:002012-11-04T18:30:01.198-08:00Why I'll never run the NYC Marathon<br />
Wow. Let me say this after reading the email letter from the NYRR (below, from the Gothamist at http://gothamist.com/2012/11/03/nyrr_blames_marathon_cancellation_o.php) about canceling the NYC Marathon. I will never run the race as long as they are in charge of it:<br />
<br />
Letter from the New York Road Runners:<br />
It is with heavy hearts that we share the news that the 2012 ING New York City Marathon has been canceled.<br />
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The decision was made after it became increasingly apparent that the people of our city and the surrounding tri-state area were still struggling to recover from the damage wrought by the recent extreme weather conditions. That struggle, <b>fueled by the resulting extensive and growing media coverage antagonistic to the marathon and its participants</b>, created conditions that raised concern for the safety of both those working to produce the event and its participants. While holding the race would not have required diverting resources from the recovery effort, it became clear that the apparent widespread perception to the contrary had become the source of controversy and division. Neither NYRR nor the City could allow a controversy over the marathon to result in a dangerous situation or to distract attention from all the critically important work that is being done to help New York City recover from the storm.<br />
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NYRR, in partnership with the Rudin Family and the ING Foundation, has established the "Race to Recover" Marathon Fund to aid New Yorkers impacted by the storm. Over $2.6 million has been raised, including a $1 million donation by NYRR. We are asking you to join us by making a $26.20 donation, or whatever you can afford, to help bring recovery and hope to those communities and families most affected. Proceeds will go to Hurricane Sandy Relief, administered by the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City. You can also donate to the relief effort through NYRR's fundraising platform, CrowdRise, which includes the American Red Cross and other charities.<br />
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NYRR will redeploy the marathon resources and materials toward the recovery effort. We will share the details of this project as they are finalized in the days ahead.<br />
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We all recognize this has been a very challenging time in New York City that has impacted so many people, including you, our runners. Please know that this is one of the toughest decisions we have ever made, and that we deeply appreciate your support.<br />
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My take: Two things here- the resources being used and reserved for the marathon (including desperately needed generators and gasoline) were by default not being used for the recovery effort. And blaming the media for basically asking a very common sense question that was not antagonistic is- wow.<br />
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When John Hirsch wrote a note explaining his reasoning for the race going on, it really gave me pause. He was talking about charity and things like that and I thought 'maybe I'm looking at this the wrong way thinking the race should be cancelled'.<br />
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Then I read this letter. I was ready to hold NYRR blameless and chalk this whole thing up to Mayor Bloomberg, who isn't always willing to reverse decisions, especially high-profile ones.<br />
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The donation is great. But this letter should have been a mea culpa, not an ode to the media misunderstanding the poor NYC marathon. Just my take, but I really am just not impressed.alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02062495927451723939noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35581112.post-71843295907880198442012-08-10T20:29:00.000-07:002012-08-10T20:29:54.041-07:00Guilford Sea Legs Shuffle 10 MilerYou know it's hot, like crazy hot and humid, when 4 miles into a 10 mile road race, a state championship no less, you set your goal to be to run under 70 minutes.<br />
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I'd ridden 101 miles the day before and then run 40 minutes and the only goal of that run had been to avoid heat stroke. I weighed myself after that Saturday workout, which I finished at 2:30 PM, and I was under 130 pounds for the first time in- forever. So that lead me to drink everything that wasn't nailed down to the inside of the fridge. Beer, water, Pelligrino. I knew if I was going to race the next day I needed to get back about 5 pounds of water weight.<br />
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Still, I had moderate expectations. I got up in the morning and felt my overall recovery from the ride had been moderate at best, but that's how it is with this race, which I'd run more than once the week after doing IM Lake Placid or the day after the Block Island Tri.<br />
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We started out and where it was pouring rain last year, it was bone dry so when we turned into the fairgrounds- there's a 90 degree tight turn inside a wooden fence post maybe 100 meters from the start. Runners around me were complaining about the dust JB's van was kicking up, but what are you going to do, have him lead the race out on a bicycle ?<br />
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It's a tough first mile because it's a state championship, so you have fast young guys that know what they are doing, fast young guys that don't, and some really fast older guys. We all know you have to take it out easy, but there's a lot of adrenaline out there. I went through a mile in 6:03 and I was at best in 30th place.<br />
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We hit the first water stop and there were two people at it. Trying to pour the water into cups and hand it out to everyone going by. Two people cannot adequately staff a water station when it's like 90 and 100% humidity with the sun blazing. I reached for a cup, and it wasn't even close- the guys in front of me got water, and I got nothing. I said 'Damn it' out loud, not yelling at the volunteers- it wasn't their fault, but still, I needed to pour that water on my head. Jim Zoldy heard me and told me all he could think was 'I know that's going to show up on alan's blog...'<br />
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Probably it's just a hangover from being at IMLP, where they know how to handle water stops.<br />
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What really was surprising to me was how hard some people were pushing it. The way most races start out, I get out there pretty fast, then I get passed by people in the back half of the first mile that are going to crush me- like Jim Zoldy as an example. That's OK. But there were people I was not sure would be finishing ahead of me really taking it out and I just shut it down a little because I wanted to run the 10th mile closer to the what I ran the 2nd.<br />
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There were some traffic issues but in a race you're going to have to a) wait b) drive around me. I really want to run the tangents during a race, especially one that's ten miles long. I don't have a ton of patience with traffic and the way the race is set up there is only one or two places where there would be any chance of conflicting with oncoming runners (faster) unless you are well towards the middle or back of the pack.<br />
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There are some rollers in the first two miles and then the race gets as hilly as a race in Guilford near the water can get. The truth is in a road race a 50 or 60 foot elevation gain is a serious hill that will start to break people and sure enough even before the fourth mile some of the same guys that had passed me and that I questioned (in my own head) passing me started coming back to me. I passed one guy who- I swear- was weaving up a hill, not going in a straight line but climbing at angles back and forth.<br />
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My focus was really totally on me though. I was really fighting the urge to run hard up these hills and the downhills on the other side. But when I hit the 4 mile mark I reset my goal of under 65 minutes, which was not a very aggressive goal- to breaking 70. It was that kind of day- I only had my 24-25 runners ahead of me, and I was bleeding time like a stuck pig, running 6:40+ a mile mile after mile.<br />
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The back part of the course is a loop, and it's where the biggest hills are and that's where a lot of damage that gets done. I was really running with two guys. Now when I saw with, they were running 50 meters in front of me and no one was any closer, but for me, that's close. I tend to run in the deep space between the packs, like the dark matter physicists are always looking for.<br />
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They were back and forth with each other while I watched both of them get closer to me. Towards the end of this back loop we came up on a guy who had been in that top 15 group and he was walking. I tapped him on the shoulder and told him to stick with it, and then went back to watching the wheels come off one of the guys in front of me, who I caught and passed.<br />
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It's a real relief to head down the long sloping downhill back towards Guilford and you can also see well ahead of you- I was passing the second guy now and setting my sights on a group of three further up the road. At this point I was getting good water. At one stop I told them to just hit me with the water and got three cups in the torso, and yes, that's exactly what I want.<br />
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I got back into town and because I'm an idiot who'd forgotten the course despite running it last year, I was confused as to why I had not yet hit 8 miles. At this point, I was already having trouble holding it together. I'd passed several more guys on 146, but now the only two guys still within range were down the street as I made the corner and the heat was like a giant hand pushing down on me. I was thinking that no, they couldn't possibly have us run up over the bridge- a giant hill really, in both directions before the turn home.<br />
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Yes, yes they could.<br />
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You run into a little neighbourhood in that mile 8 area and there was- I kid you not, the nicest 80-year old woman handing out cups of water at a water stop.<br />
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Alone.<br />
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Her attempt to get me a cup of water was- unsuccessful.<br />
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The first guy to pass me in at least 5 miles, and the last one that would- went by and said something to the effect of how ineffective the water stops had been. I agreed.<br />
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I was glad to be carrying my own bottle.<br />
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Heading towards the hill I could see two guys in front of me, one with a familiar freckle pattern on his back. I knew who it was and it's someone I never beat, but I passed him going up the hill and then I passed another guy. I kept thinking the turnaround was coming but it wasn't...<br />
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The turn around was actually that you run around the old Stone House. Brutally far away. I made that turn and passed another guy in the parking lot and then just ran as hard as I could to the bridge and just kept running hard. No one was going to catch me. Going the other way, people, lots of people, were walking up the hill.<br />
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I made the second to last turn and saw a 5K athlete in front of me. I had to run her down- I was about to pass a 5k running after running 10 miles. I got the pass, turned into the fairgrounds and had gapped the people I passed, so I just finished, grabbed a bottle of water, poured it over my head and then grabbed another, mixed up some recoverite, and sat by my car exhausted drinking it.<br />
<br />
I got a chance to talk to some friends, but the whole thing was sobered by watching an ambulance pull in to deal with one of four athletes who collapsed after the race.<br />
<br />
Four. None serious affected but still, something like that reminds you that all you achieved or endured, or whatever, it's small. It's secondary...alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02062495927451723939noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35581112.post-36475911275215527752012-06-28T19:37:00.002-07:002012-06-28T19:37:24.734-07:00Fairfield Half-MarathonI signed up for Fairfield only after pulling a wrong-way at Lake Placid. Running a half two weeks after a marathon is not the smartest move, but I was well-trained, felt I'd kept up my volume without pushing too hard- I ran 11 miles Friday but then just spun for 90 minutes Saturday morning so I'd be fresh for the race.<br />
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Fairfield is an interesting half. I've run it more times than any other half-marathon, to the best of my knowledge anyway, and most of then have ended with me struggling in the last few miles to keep my dren together. I hate that and that's really been a focus this year for longer races, to hold it together and not fall apart at the end of races. This was my 3rd half-marathon and I'd held up OK at Disney and really well at Chesire, so I knew Fairfield would be a test. The course is definitely the hardest of the three, and it was going to be hot. I may like the heat, but it does effect everyone, no matter how acclimated they are, and I felt after running in last week's heat, I was ready.<br />
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I didn't need much of a warm-up with the heat. The starting line is packed, even though men and women have different starting lines (and different first miles of the course) I was right on the line at the start. Yes, it's a big race with a lot of good people, but 20-30 men fit on the starting line and I have a reasonable chance of being in the top 30 men. The press of bodies was a little much, but I was able to get off the line hazard-free.<br />
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I'd seen Don Gustavson before the race and he asked me what I wanted to run and I said I thought I'd run around 1:24 although in theory I was capable of 1:21. He was coming off a monster Friday of swimming, biking, and I think running, so he was aiming for 1:29 or so.<br />
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The start was cramped but not difficult. I was able to get off the line with no issues. It's a tough start because the first mile is extremely flat with about one turn. So the tendency is to cook that first mile, which in this race, is a really bad idea. I've run some 5:40s there and come back and been over 7 the last two miles....<br />
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I went out and ran over 6 minutes the first mile and that was actually about what I wanted. I didn't feel overcooked after a mile. I like that<br />
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At the next turn we merged in with the women. There were eight women in front of me right off the bat- Mary Lynn Currier- who I passed but never saw, and two other women that were in visual range. I hit the second mile marker feeling like I was running a good pace but the clock said 12:30 and that meant I'd run a 6:20. So I was off the pace in the second mile. Huh ?<br />
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There's a hill then, and experience tells me at this point in this race that this hill is not to be charged up, but rather handled a little bit carefully.<br />
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Al Metro was there and he yelled something out that really stick with me the whole race and I'll thank him for when I see him. 'You have experience on this course.' I thought about that the whole race, about how yes, I do have experience on the course and as I watched people racing each other this early in the race, breathing hard and struggling to stay with each other, I really questioned their judgement. There was one guy, running in shorts and a bandana, that would keep surging like this, getting caught and then chasing people, pulling ahead of me and then getting caught by me, for more than six miles. He was breathing so hard while I was mostly thinking about maintaining my form. Eventually he went off the back. The two women that I could see I also passed. I'd had a brief glimpse of the lead<br />
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The real big moment in the race was just after the 6 mile mark for me. I'd been watching people running all crazy and thinking I'd let them have their moment, because in the end a race is about minutes, not moments. I got swarmed by a guy and a woman that I thought must be running together. We were going up a hill, I'd established the inside line, the exact line I wanted and then went around me on both sides and totally cut my line off. I was pissed.<br />
<br />
I actually said 'You took my line'.<br />
<br />
I think sprinted around them, and took the line back. I was thinking that these two were definitely going to beat me. They'd caught me from behind about halfway through the race, this woman had someone pacing her. Therefore sprinting around them was stupid.<br />
<br />
I did it anyway.<br />
<br />
At the top of the hill there's a turn and we went around that and they tried to pass again and this time I was towards the middle of the road because that's where the tangent was. The guy bumped me. I looked at him and said 'Really ?' and then picked up my pace again.<br />
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This really was the most critical part of the race. The next thing I knew we were heading to a water station. The guy ran in front of me and cut me off- again.<br />
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That was it. I was running at another level now, the same way I ran at Disney. The guy picked it up and eventually separated from me. By the way he was responding to questions from spectators, they were looking for her to be with him. He turned around and looked for her and gestured in my direction because she was, for a few miles, right on my heels.<br />
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After that, the increased pace brought people back to me. I was not passed by anyone else after about mile 7 and started picking people off.<br />
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Going up the hill in the 10th mile, there were some cyclists riding right at me, and this was right after I passed the guy that had repeatedly bumped and cut me off. I was frantically waving them out of the way. The guy said to me 'You're wasting a lot of energy.' I didn't respond. Instead I cranked up the engine and separated on the hill, got a gap, and then at the top of the hill blistered down, catching more guys. I didn't see him again until the chute.<br />
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I ran those flat last two miles really hard, never backing off and not feeling like crap like I usually do at the end of the race.<br />
<br />
At 12 miles, I could clearly see Wantuil Souza. He looked like the heat had gotten to him- he'd been far out ahead of me and I just set my sights on him and caught him before the turn and then took that last turn and really ran as hard as I could the last half mile or so.<br />
<br />
When the guy that had told me I was eating energy crossed the line I put on my hand and shook his and then asked him what he'd been saying about 'wasting energy...'<br />
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I was surprised a few hours later when I got home- Ian wanted to leave right away so I was gone before the race was even two hours old- that not only had I won my five year age group but I was first master- that was a pleasant surprise. Although it was my slowest half this year, I felt like it was one of my better races.<br />
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And I enjoyed running it...<br />
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<br />alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02062495927451723939noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35581112.post-82120124571044541562012-06-21T21:13:00.000-07:002012-06-21T21:13:35.340-07:00Running in the HeatIt's 95 degrees here in the heat today and I have to say that unlike most people, I love it. I can't wait to get out and run on these hot and humid days. But it's not easy, and you have to do it the right way. So here are some tips humbly offered.<br />
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<b>Throw the GPS in the drawer </b><br />
It's so easy these days to track every step, analyse the distance and speed of every workout, and of course, when we do that, we start to develop specific expectations. Despite being the first person to post his routes and times to facebook, let's face it, you're the only person that cares how far or how fast your workout was. Don't get me wrong, self-expectations can be great, but on an extremely hot day you should always run for a set time, not a set-distance. Why ?<br />
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<b>Lower your expectations</b><br />
It's important to moderate your expectations, especially this time of year when you might be running in extreme heat for the first time. The heat will affect you because it's not physiologically possible for you to completely ignore it. When it's 80 and you go out and start your run you'll feel the heat eventually. When it's 95 and you step out the door it will hit you in the face the first step. And keep hitting you.<br />
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I recommend picking either a different route that you usually run or doing a strict out and back with the goal of turning around halfway through the run. Don't try and negative split. I went out today and picked a route I knew I could normally easily run in under 75 minutes with the goal of running it in 75 minutes. You are not going to run as fast. Accept it. Start the run with the goal of surviving the run.<br />
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That may sound lame but 95 degree weather, especially humid 95 degrees is no joke. It's more than most people can handle. Add the fact that this kind of humid heat invariably drives down air quality and you have every reason to reduce your expectations.<br />
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<b>Carry a full-sized water bottle, not a fuel belt</b><br />
I'm a big advocate of a full-sized water bottle under all circumstances, but in the extreme heat, I think it's a must. This is just a question of mass and um, kinetic energy (?) 4 small bottles with 6-8 ounces of fluid will heat up very quickly, where as a single 20 ounce bottle will stay cool longer. Keeping your fluids cool as long as possible helps provide maximum benefit when you drink them. Drinking 85 degree sports drink is not cooling to help keep your core body temperature regulated.<br />
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I know for a lot of people, carrying a water bottle is not something they like to do, but my advice is to do it anyway.<br />
<br />
<b>Stay in the shade</b><br />
Try to pick a route with a lot of shade. Shade is 5-10 degrees cooler (or more). Every minute you spend in the shade improves your chance of success. It's not wimpy or anything, it's common-sense smart.<br />
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<b>Relax</b><br />
The first 10-20 minutes of the run may not feel very good. You are going to run slower. Live with it. Settle in and run steady- running fast is not what you are looking to do. Don't think about the heat, don't think about the low air quality. Getting panicky will raise your heart rate 5-10 beats a minute and by far the most important thing is keeping your heart rate down. Don't push, don't time your miles, ignore any other runners out on the road.<br />
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<b>Concentrate on Your Form</b><br />
One of the best ways to stay relaxed and get the most out of your run is to work on your form. I'm not a very zen type of guy, but with the heat, your muscles and joints are going to be lose and it could be your best chance to run with really good form. Really good form in turn makes you more relaxed. Being relaxed in turn keeps your heart rate down. This is especially important on hot days. Cardiac drift is going to work in an accelerated fashion on hot days and keeping your heart rate low is essential. If your form is good you will run strong, and if you run strong you'll feel confident.<br />
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<b>Back off on the hills</b><br />
Your heart rate is always going to elevate on hills. In the extreme heat, you have to be especially careful not to let your heart rate get away from you. If you push a hill, your heart rate will soar, and you may not be able to get it back down. In the heat, your heart rate will stay elevated longer, perhaps significantly. Don't charge up a hill only to have to walk after you crest it, or spend the entire rest of your run with an unproductively elevated heart rate.<br />
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<b>Don't let the fact you're feeling good goad you into anything</b><br />
15-20 minutes into your run, even if you felt like crap at the start, you may start to feel really good. That's great. Don't start pushing hard. That's your body settling in. If you start pushing as soon as you start feeling good, you will stop feeling good. Again, cardiac drift will occur. That good feeling, at the same intensity, will leave you in the dust later. Keep your intensity level the same, run and enjoy the fact that for a few minutes, you feel good. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that if it doesn't hurt it's not hard enough.<br />
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<b>Listen to your body</b><br />
Normally I am the first person to tell my body to go frak itself. But on an hot day it's essential you listen to what your body is telling you. If it says you need to walk, walk. Heat stroke is not some kind of weird joke, it's incredibly dangerous. Runners and triathletes sometimes get a little superman complex going. Don't. If your body says slow down, even walk, it beats an ambulance ride to the ER.<br />
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<b>Replenish, then reward</b><br />
It's essential that you replenish as soon as you get done runner. I recommend two scoops of Recoverite in a glass with cold water.<br />
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My rewards are: Red Bull, @stepehenathome's American Dream, or a Root Beer.<br />
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Get some calories in right away. Then sit back and put your legs up and rest and relax.<br />
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You earned it.<br />
<br />
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<br />alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02062495927451723939noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35581112.post-8007600322327098732012-06-17T20:39:00.001-07:002012-06-17T20:39:39.914-07:00The Marathon that Wasn'tSometimes you go to a race, and something goes wrong. It happens to everyone. It can be a 5K in the middle of nowhere with 100 people where they don't really mark the course right, it could be an Ironman where your tire blows up in transition 15 minutes before the race starts.<br />
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It could be a race that's a throwaway or the race that you spent six months training for and at the end of the day, random chance, your own penchant for the occasional mistake or something else can step up and bite you in the ass.<br />
<br />
I'd been training for the Lake Placid Marathon, well, since the day after the Disney Half Marathon. I started out the year with a 1:21 there, trimming 5 minutes off my last half-marathon in September, went on to win 3 races in the spring, and then got in the type of training a lot of people can only dream of finding the time for- a 22 mile run in the middle of the week, 5 10-plus miles runs in 10 days. I was ready to run this race, my legs were in good shape, mentally I wanted to be in the top 5.<br />
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I don't know that I'll ever write the actual race report for this race, because well, I didn't run it.<br />
<br />
I ran most of it. Over 25 miles of it, but that's not a marathon.<br />
<br />
Due to an odd fluke of the course the turn-around is not at 13.1 miles but at around 12 miles (or something).<br />
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I had it in my head exactly where the turn-around was, and when I got there, I turned around and headed the other way. There were some super-sized cones at the turn-around, I saw the lead runners going the other way.<br />
<br />
I had a brain fart. This was an epic one, the biggest race-day mental error I have ever made.<br />
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I didn't know it, really know it, until I ran past the actual turn around.<br />
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Wow. I finished the race, I talked to the runner closest to me when I made the turn, I sat on the bumper of the timing truck for a minute, and fought back a few tears. I'm a bit of neanderthal, I don't guys should ever cry, but that was pretty close.<br />
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I went to the timer, gave the my pull tag, and told then I'd missed a turn. They wanted to really check it out and make sure I was wrong. I told them I was sure, and went back to the hotel.<br />
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I don't deserve a pat on the back or anything for that. I totally frakked up out on the race course. Plain and simple. I made a mental error you just can't make. This race has three turn-arounds and you have to get all three right. Going to the timer and disqualifying myself wasn't something I could decide whether or not I wanted to do.<br />
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Physically, I felt like I'd run a marathon. Mentally, I'd faced the same challenges, the fatigue and the self-doubt. Emotionally, there was no satisfaction.<br />
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I can't say it didn't suck. I can't say it didn't remind me that this was the same place where I'd passed on what is probably the only Kona spot I'll ever earn. I can't say I wasn't stupid embarrassed.<br />
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I can say that I got showered and took Ian and played 18 holes of Pirate Golf (I won). I can say that the next morning I signed up for the Branford Road Race and the Fairfield Marathon.<br />
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I can't get that race back. I can't forget that what I did was stupid, but I can't let it affect me either. I have raced before and now, after this morning, I have raced again.<br />
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And that is all you can do.<br />
<br />
<br />alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02062495927451723939noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35581112.post-61249828438557240402012-05-31T20:21:00.000-07:002012-05-31T20:21:26.386-07:00Durham 10kThere's last minute race decisions and there are last minute race decisions.<br />
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My season started with one- the New Year's Day 5k, then went to the ultimate in pre-planned, the Disney Half-Marathon. I feel like I am repeating that pattern, running the Durham 10K today and then going to Lake Placid to run the marathon on the tenth.</div>
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That's because after debating about what to do this morning, it ended up that I'd be going to the race alone, I thought I had plenty of time to get there, and in the end I did, but not without some serious misadventure. I decided to go up 22 to 17 to Durham, only there was a detour in North Branford/Northford, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, for a parade.</div>
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Without getting into too many details I went to Durham via Wallingford, which if you are from the area you may know is not a way you'd ever intentionally go. I got to the race 27 minutes ahead of race time, which is not kosher at all. By the time I got through the registration line, the bathroom and dropped my stuff at the car it was 9 minutes to race time.</div>
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9 minutes.</div>
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I did some strides, some knee lifts, then I got on the line. After last year's kid-choked start that saw one runner (not me) take a kid out, I pushed my way into the spot I wanted, intentionally walling off a couple of kids behind me. It's great to see young boys interesting in keeping the sport alive. It is not great tripping over them at the start of a race that beats you silly coming out of the gate.<br />
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It was hot and humid, which is fine with me, but I was coming off a long string of workouts- 6 hours on the trainer in 3 days, followed by a 12 mile run the day before the race at 6:36 a mile.<br />
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I knew that I'd be hard-pressed to accomplish much and to be honest, I felt like my goals for the race should be moderate. The run the day before was the real prize- after turning in some 12 milers at 7:15 or 7:30 I was starting to worry that maybe I was overtrained, or mis-trained, or just didn't really have the energy left in the tank for the marathon.<br />
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Pounding out those 6:30s and feeling really good when I got done was everything, so adding the race the next day was really just a nice way to get in 10K.<br />
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Yeah.<br />
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The start of the 10K has you blast up a hill, and there's always a couple of fast youngsters in the mix, and I'm always looking to get as much separation from the field in this part of the race so the whole thing comes together. Pretty quickly it was just four of us blowing up this long hill. I could feel my heart rate spiking and I didn't care. We made the turn, finished the climb and then we were on a straightway on 17 and I was starting to lose contact with all three of the other guys.<br />
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I've done the race so many times that i spend the whole race anticipating the next turn, the next hill, the next mile marker. I'm not sure if this is good or bad, but it completely changes the perspective. You are evaluating what's going to happen as much as what is happening. I could tell as I went through the back part of the first mile that I was flagging slightly and that was verified when Chris Schulten went past me. I thought right then there was a chance he could win.<br />
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I knew there was no chance I could.<br />
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Honestly, the next 5.2 miles was about hanging on, about survival.<br />
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We turned off the main road and the run to the next turn seemed to take forever and a day. Then it was down hill all the way to the next turn and after you take that you get to look at where you'll be going at the finish. But you run by it and start climbing again, and now the climb is for real. I was taking water when I could get it (some volunteers are better than others).<br />
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You climb until the halfway point, then blast down another hill. Chris moved from 3rd, to 2nd, while I hung at fifth.<br />
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We went down hill and then the fun begins. The toughest hill in the course, and it's a doozy, is in that 4th mile. It's .75 miles long, it's steep, and you cannot overcook it without melting down, especially when it's 80 degrees, sunny with 100% humidity. I could see the guy leading Chris out and I was thinking either this guy is for real, or he's going to break on the hill.<br />
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He broke on the hill.<br />
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Chris went by him, the guy in second went by him, the guy in third went by, I went by him. He started trying to run, but it was a weak jog, and in road racing, there is no mercy. I went by him and I didn't even look at him, because I was in enough distress of my own.<br />
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We went down the hill, hit the fourth mile mark and I just couldn't close on the guy in front of me. Usually I blast through the last two miles as fast as I can and I feel really good, but the truth is I was just hanging on. There was no movement in the field. I wasn't gaining on anyone, and as far as I could tell, no one was gaining on me.<br />
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The girl doing the five mile split time had driven to the spot, but then set up, I kid you not, at about 4.9 miles. I didn't listen to what she said. I knew there was one more climb, and I got up it, not quite shuffling, (and feeling a little sickish) but also not quite really running.<br />
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Then it was downhill and I felt good but I had this idea that someone was bearing down on me. We turned back in- the same place we'd run by earlier- and headed for the finish line and sure enough, I got caught at 6 miles. The guy went by me and in a very sportsmanly way asked me to go with him- 'Let's take it in', but truth be told, I was already thinking about my marathon in less than two weeks, and I let him go and finished fifth.<br />
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Chris won the race, and our age group, but I was still second overall and 5th in my age group, running 38:59 in a race where the winner didn't break 37. I did pick it up a tiny bit to get under 39:00.<br />
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And that was good enough. Now I'm ready to run a marathon...</div>alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02062495927451723939noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35581112.post-79773015471769364412012-05-24T21:11:00.001-07:002012-05-24T21:11:57.695-07:00Cheshire Half-MarathonI wasn't planning on running this race. In fact, this race was not even on my radar until JB called me on Friday to ask me an insurance question. That was when I looked into the race and realised that 1100 people had pre-registered to run the half, which is just a crazy number, considering it was the first year for it.<br />
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But when JB offered a free entry, I kind of had to take him up on it. I had been planning to do a long run Sunday morning anyway, and the idea of running a half at race pace month and a half before my marathon seemed like a possibly good idea.<br />
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I went out Saturday and did 30 (road) miles on the mountain bike, hard but not too hard, so I went into the race only a little bit tired. I really had no clue what the course was going to be like so it was going to be one of those races that could really go just about any way.<br />
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We got off to a late start. The race was a 1/2 marathon and a 5k, with the 5k start at the back of the pack of the the half marathon, basically the same set-up as the New Haven Road Race, with the two races starting on the same street but going off in opposite directions. Given the overwhelming response to the race there's not really much surprise that the race start area was overcrowded. Still, there's nothing worse than being all warmed up for a race and then having to wait to start. The only bad thing I can really say about the race as it affected me was that the start was delayed probably about ten minutes, and standing around surrounded by athletes better than me was not bringing any happy thoughts.<br />
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We got off to a fast start. At the start you go up a little hill, and frankly with some of the actual talent at the race I was concerned about a fast start. It was fast. As always happens in a race this long, fast is relative, so we started out running maybe 5:45-5:50. That doesn't really feel 'fast' until you've gone about half a mile, at which time the alarms start going off in your brain and you accept that you're going to have to back it off to around six minutes flat. At my skill level trying to bust out less than a about a 5:55 mile isn't a good way to go.<br />
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I settled in by around a mile and a half with two other guys and we ran 6:05s for three miles. The course had us out on the canal path by three miles, and I was running right behind or at times aside these two. They were clearly working together, but they were pretty relaxed about me semi intruding. No one said anything.<br />
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By around 3 and half miles, I knew that they were running too fast for me and although I didn't want to let them go, I did. They slowly pulled away and pretty soon, as so often happens in longer races, even when 22000 people are in the race (Disney), I was running alone. At about 4 miles, I saw one of the race favorites on the side of the road. He wasn't running, in fact, he was trying to stretch his quad or calf or something. One of the guys that was now running ahead of me stopped and talked to him for a minute and I actually ran by.<br />
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This is one of the reoccurring themes in races like this- carnage. Guys that drop out from injury or meltdowns or whatever and the one thing I believe is that you have to ignore that and focus on yourself, unless it's one of your own friends, in which case you stop.<br />
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By 5 miles, I was starting to get passed by people. This is another staple of long races. I was really trying to be disciplined and run 6:15s, because at this point the mile marks seemed, well, fairly accurate. Sticking to your plan means getting passed, and of course that's never fun, but it's part of the game. The run seemed to be on a downhill as we continued on the canal path and the miles just ticked off.<br />
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Five and six came and went and the sun was bright now and the run was still downhill.<br />
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Then I got my next time check and I knew it was wrong because at the 7th check I was under 42 minutes. The two girls with the stopwatch yelling out times and the actual 7 mile mark were in no way associated.<br />
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I love the 7 mile mark of a half-marathon because you are officially on the backside, but in the case, the fun was about to start. It wasn't long before we finally left the canal path and started running on roads, including finally doing some climbing, which is more to my strengths then a long downhill run. I still wasn't gaining on anyone, but I'd pretty much arrested any slide against other runners, save one, who was slowly closing. More on that later.<br />
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Around 8 miles, I saw a guy ahead of me that didn't well- he didn't look like he should be in front of me. True, he was wearing a hartford half-marathon shirt, and yes, he'd been ahead of me for miles, but he has an awkward running style and he looked beyond his limit. At one point he pulled off and quickly peed, allowing me to close the gap.<br />
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Then he stopped a second time to- I don't know- vomit ? He didn't, but it was a near thing. Then he started running again but he was struggling. I wanted to feel bad for him.<br />
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I didn't. I do what you do. I passed him.<br />
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Shockingly, he picked himself up, dusted himself off, and passed me.<br />
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Stupid stupid stupid. I was running well. I was not trying to hold in the orange I'd eaten at breakfast. But he was determined to turn up and be heard and he went by me and I didn't alter my stride in any way. It took me 15-20 seconds, but I passed him again. No kick, no effort to demoralize him because he was in no way a threat. I felt sorry for him. He was trying as hard as could but he was letting his ego get in his way.<br />
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After that was some more climbing. We hit 9 miles and then-<br />
<br />
I'm not exactly sure where the 10 mile marker was. When I got to it, two things happened. First, my brain which at 9 miles had calculated that I was on 1:22 pace, recalculated that I was at 1:25 pace. Almost immediately after that, my brain rejected the location of the mark, deciding it was at possibly 10.35 or so.<br />
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Now I was running well too. Rejecting that mark was key to my race. I went after the guy in front of me, who had passed me maybe in mile 6. He was coming back to me and I caught him and passed him going pretty fast. But behind me was the first woman and of course you always know when the first woman is behind you because it's all 'go girl' and 'first woman'. She drew to within maybe twenty meters.<br />
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Then we hit the 11 mile mark and we were back on the canal path. I really opened it up here, and so did she, but she never got any closer. Guys in front of me were coming back to me though. I'd sunken to about 20th place at one point, but now I was coming back, pushing for top 15. I went through the 12 mile marker and I had two guys in my sites.<br />
<br />
I passed the first early in the 13th mile, but the last guy, the guy in 14th place was harder to reel in. We entered the track and had to do about 3/4 of a loop. I waved to John Bysewicz, passed the guy, and then, as I was running down the straightaway, he passed me back. Really ? I couldn't believe it as he tried to cover over my right shoulder, outside me in the next lane. I could hear Mark the announcer saying the first woman was on the track and catching the men.<br />
<br />
Not me.<br />
<br />
I sped up and the guy on my shoulder dropped off. In under 200 meters I put 3 seconds on him and beat the first woman by 7 seconds, and I pulled away from both of them in that last two hundred.<br />
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That felt good.<br />
<br />
So did running a 1:22 half. It wasn't the 1:21 I'd pulled at Disney, but I hadn't trained for this race at all.<br />
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I took 3rd in my age group, had a very solid run. Overall, I was unusually happy with the effort. I might even want to go back and do this one again next year...alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02062495927451723939noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35581112.post-84063613985925278232012-04-28T21:02:00.000-07:002012-04-28T21:02:10.316-07:00Brian's Beachside BoogieThese race reports will be coming out of order for a while. 6 days before I ran the Feed the Need 5K, it was a cool but sunny Sunday morning in Hammonassett.<br />
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I always look forward to Brian's, not because I've won the race- I'm pretty sure those days are gone- but because I like duathlons and this one supports Myelin research and is put on by some great people. I had a new bike this year too, so expectations were a little higher- on the other hand, with the long running I've been doing helping Maureen prepare for Boston runs of up to 22 miles), it was suggested to me that I hadn't seriously or properly trained for the race.<br />
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I had put about 100 road miles on the mountain bike, including riding it out to Madison and then posting up a stinker at the Madison 5 miler (30:18). So I had a brick under my belt, but nothing to write home about and I hadn't raced on a bike since Florida in November.<br />
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I rode about 3 miles warm up, on the sand towards Meigs Point and the road back to the start. It was cold and I had on riding gloves, and they seemed like the right call. Until I started doing strides to continue my warmup. I go through this every year- the gloves are perfect for the bike but too hot for the run. I've run with them and gotten so overheated I toss them off at the end of the run and then suffer.<br />
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It seems like a small thing, but these are the small things you obsess about before your first multi-sport race of the season. So I looked at the tope men there, I looked at Coach Kelli. They were all wearing gloves like mine so I decided to stop worrying about it.<br />
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The race is different each year, depending on how many pure runners are there. Some years a large pack bolts out at the start of the race, making thing difficult, other years, most of the athletes seem to understand they are at a duathlon and you can't just blow up the first 2 mile run. This was one of those years were no one really went out and ran above their ability level.<br />
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That is to say, two of the guys were crazy good- the race winner was Yale and a guy that's run on Hitek USATF team, and they took off right away, leaving Dave Ellis, myself, a guy named Graham and one or two others running in the B group. And Kelli Montgomery, initially. I wasn't really sure exactly what Kelli was doing as I watched her running ahead of me. I thought it was an aggressive first run for her, and imagined that she would fade, still, I put in a little bit extra to pass her.<br />
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We got out on the back part of the run and I have to say that it felt good. I was worried that it was going to feel extremely hard running like that. But it didn't. I felt good- ready to get on the bike. But I have to say in the bike of my mind I'd heard a lot of chatter about the sand and I was thinking about it as I ran in 5th on the 1st run.<br />
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I'd decided to go with bike shoes this year and the change was quick and easy.<br />
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I made it out of transition no problem. And then, within 30 seconds, my race was off the rails. There was a lot of sand on the course, and I tried to dodge some. Instead I went right into it and as I tried to torque my way out I threw the chain off front ring. This was not a good thing. Assuming it was the back ring I tried to reset it without getting off. Between the wasted time trying to torque it back on and the time actually getting off and resetting it, I lost 30 seconds, lost any contact with the guys in front of me, got passed. I was then tentative all the way to Meig's point, after which I was on the road. I was able to attack again on the road and claw my way back into 5th from 7th.<br />
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Then we got in the woods and I dropped a place again. I was on the aerobars almost the whole time- that's just how I ride. If it's flat grass, well then, why not stay efficient. I did pass the guy that was second on the first run and if was a tiny bit tentative, he was flat out tentative.<br />
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The worst part of the course for the sand was the very back of the course, just before transition. The sand was deep and I kind of had to baby my way through it. Then I was riding by transition.<br />
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My second loop was definitely better than my first. I lost a little ground out to Meig's Point, absolutely screened my way down the road to the woods, and then lost only one place again the entire way back. However, when I got close to transition on my second loop, I was coming up on people who were just completing their first loop, and some of them had gotten off their bikes and were walking. This pretty well sucked, trying to pick my way through the heaviest sand on the course, riding, while other people were walking, and not leaving much of a hole.<br />
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I still managed 5th on the bike, but I've been fastest bike there on maybe 2-3 occasions, and this was not one of those days. I give my bike effort low marks.<br />
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I came into transition, swapped my shoes for my running shoes, and headed out. Graham was just ahead of me, maybe 5 or 6 seconds, and that was nice to be honest.<br />
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The second run at Brian's is a monster. It's dead flat, it's two miles, and except for the twists and turns it's super easy. But, if you went hard on the bike, you're shelled. When you go out on the run alone, and I've done that both leading and not leading the race, you don't run well. I had a man to chase down and that was incentive.<br />
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I worked the catch patiently. I knew my only options were 5th place or 6th place and I wanted fifth, so I took my time and made the pass when it made sense to do it, and then I tightened the screws and ran as hard as I could. For the next mile I felt pretty confident, but about half a mile from the finish I started regretting not taking a gel at the start of the run.<br />
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The wheels did not come off, but they sure as hell wobbled a lot. That last half mile was hard work. But I got the gap I needed and inched out Graeme by a mere 17 seconds. I have a feeling that once he gets into full race shape, he's the one that will be inching me out at races (or maybe yarding me out).<br />
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Despite the bike mishap I cut 36 seconds off last year- trimming 12 off the run and 24 off the bike. I could have cut a full minute off the bike I think.<br />
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After the race I had a chance to talk to the race winner and Graeme, among others, and I have to say, this race might be small, but it draws some fast guys and a lot of nice people, all supporting a great cause.<br />
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I really love this race...alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02062495927451723939noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35581112.post-75622366416666432582012-04-09T03:13:00.000-07:002012-04-09T03:13:29.436-07:00Feed the Need 5k- 3 for 3 !I prefer to plan ahead for my races, kind of have a plan during the week, and certainly I like to get up in the morning and know I am going to a race.
Such was just not the case. <br /><br />I got up late for a Saturday morning- almost 7 am, and instead of heading right for the bike I settled in, had a banana and some coffee, then got on the computer. Maureen Terwilliger imed me and asked me if I was going to do either of the races at Hammonessett. I was confused because as far as I knew there was just a race at 11:00 sponsored by Soundrunner. That didn't work out with the scheduled egg hunts for the morning, and in fact, no workout plan seemed like a good one.
<br /><br />So I looked the race up on line and it was at 9:00 and the entry fee was 25 cans or boxes of food. It was 8:00 AM.
This is what a bad plan looks like. I got dressed and got my stuff together. That took 15 minutes, making a bad plan worse. Bolted out of the house, stopped at Walgreens and bought 24 single-serving boxes of cereal and drove at high speed to the ark.
<br /><br />I managed to get there about 25 of 9 and it was windy and cold and there was a long line for the porta-potties. It was kind of odd, being in exactly the same place as my last race just 6 days earlier, but instead of an off-road duathlon, I was running just a 5k. There was no time for a proper warm-up so I just went over to the starting- where I was alone- and started doing strides. The wind was definitely going to be a factor and I was trying as much to stay warm as get warmed up. Finally people started coming over, first the wheelchair athlete and a few stragglers, then the other 300 people doing the race. The crowd was big- a lot bigger than I remembered from the other two times I'd run the race.<br />
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I was listening to Evanescence as usual. But I decided that I was going to put the music away for the race. I had some small hope of winning the race- I'd won it twice before and although last year's winning time was 16:55 which let's face it, I will never see again, I didn't see that guy. People lined up fairly quickly and they started giving instructions. When they described the course the wheelchair athlete said 'Don't worry, I'll be in front', and I have to admit, based on my my recent experiences, including Disney, I wasn't sure that was going to be the case.<br />
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The race starts in the opposite direction from Meig's Point- you run all the way to the end of the road for the east pavilions, hook a left and head back. They gave the wheelchair athlete a minute head start, and with the wind blowing it just got colder and more raw, but finally, we were off.<br />
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I didn't waste any time. I got out in front and started running hard, not crazy hard, but hard. I had control of the race right from the start and my first fear was that I would not be able to maintain a steady, hard pace. It's easier for me at this stage in my racing to run under 18 minutes chasing people than it is being chased. I reached the turn around and took it massively wide, too wide, sloppy running, but I didn't care. I re-established my line and went for it....<br />
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The wheelchair had come back to me right away- I was going faster than he was, and I ran him down not because I think it's cool to out-run a guy in a wheel chair (it's not, although it is cool to outrun someone on a bicycle), but because he was in front of me.<br />
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I could hear the footsteps behind me...<br />
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While most of the field had already separated, there were a few guys on my heels and I tried to settle in as I ran back by the pavilions headed west. This was that dangerous time in a 5K, the first maybe half mile where you can simply blow your race up and end up wishing you actually had a brain in your head... so I found my stride and really just pushed it. I was almost to the round-about when I got caught from behind, run down and passed...<br />
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I hate that... I rarely have a chance to win a race, and when I think I do think I can that moment where I realise I am wrong is a bitter one.<br />
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The guy that went by me was wearing a Coast Guard Academy cross-country uniform. However, instead of thinking how I was up against a college kid- a college cross-country runner- I looked at his form. It's slightly uphill to the round-about and as soon as he passed me I felt like he slowed a little. With the wind mostly in our face I considered tucking in for about two seconds. The I just attacked again.<br />
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I was able to re-establish my lead, and hold it. I made it through the roundabout and was running hard. They had told us to stay right and I was on the yellow line, running as steady/hard as possible. I heard his footsteps and he was cutting the tangents through the curves, so I let him lead from behind in that respect and did likewise. It was hard running, there was no lead car or lead bike, just me hauling as much as I could and his incessant footsteps.<br />
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While I like to lead, there is something nerve-wracking about being in front and having someone so close behind. We reached the tear drop and I was still holding a few seconds. One of the volunteers said 'You're almost there' as I went through the drop and it always amazes me how the perception of the course they have and you have could be so different. I felt like the finish line was a forever away.<br />
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I ride my bike in the park a lot, time-trialing from the entrance around Meig's Point and back out, and I'd just done Brian's last week, so I know the road and it's an advantage. As I went through the point Brad, the Coast Guard runner, was close enough that I didn't see him at all. I burst out through the point and started right down the middle of the road.<br />
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There were people everywhere, headed out as I was headed back and they were cheering but some of them were also in the way. No worries. I just picked my way through the crowd, most of whom seemed to be in a half-mile stretch, then just ran as hard as I could. The road finally splits with a median and I stayed on the left side until we got close to back to the roundabout, when I crossed because I knew that we'd have to go right around it. I plowed through the median starting to feel like the gas tank was nearly empty.<br />
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On the straightaway, pavilion in sight, I finally looked back. I loathe looking back and think it sends the wrong message, but I needed to know if I was going to have to make a tactical decision.<br />
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I wasn't. He wasn't in contact.<br />
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I heard 17:28 and I was getting close to the final turn into the parking lot, maybe 20 seconds from winning the race. I hit the turn, went through, saw the clock, and knew I could beat 17:50 so I keep pushing and got a 17:49. I waited for Brad in the chute, who finished 7 seconds back, we talked for a few minutes and then warmed down together.<br />
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I know it was small race, and not the most competitive field, but I was pushed the entire way, I ran my fastest 5K in a long time, and most of all, had fun with a last-minute, unplanned and slightly crazy decision.<br />
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Plenty to be happy about...<br />
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<br />alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02062495927451723939noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35581112.post-57430174353662188982012-01-31T20:45:00.000-08:002012-01-31T20:45:55.718-08:00Winter Wonderland 5 Mile Road RaceI haven't raced since Disney, and I was really on the fence about doing a 5 mile race instead of stick to my long Sunday run.<br />
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I emailed Maureen Terwilliger, who was having the same thoughts as me. The long run is definitely always the best option, but if you never get in any real speed work, you have to race, both to keep up your confidence and to well, build your speed. It's one of those balancing act things.<br />
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For me, I'd just come off three days of training in Florida, running about 40 minutes a day in the heat, with two runs the middle day, so I was feeling pretty good, because I've come into a January race off three days of training in Florida, well, never. Add in Eric's strength training regimen every day and the fact I'm a good seven pounds under my normal winter weight and well, I wanted to race.<br />
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So Maureen and I agreed to race rather than do a long run It is a USATF championship race after all...<br />
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Racing on a Sunday is such a mixed bag. The race was going to start a good hour after my long run is usually in the can, and with a bib-timed race, who knew when I'd get to leave. It was also the opposite of the carefully planned Disney Half-Marathon. I'd done about 2:15 on the bike the day before and was just going to jump into a race at the last second.<br />
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Fortunately I got Eric's strength training and was able to get that done before I jumped in the car and drove out to Milford. My plan was to run in shorts and singlet, with arm warmers, but it was still a shock how cold it was.<br />
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After warming up by myself and running a little with Maureen I was ready to go. The wind and the cold was interfering with my plan to be warmed up and ready to run, especially because unlike all the hardcore runners, I had no gloves on. But a few strides fixed that and eventually we were off. I had no real plan, except to switch my iPod back on as soon as we'd gone a few hundred meters, which I did. One guy jumped way out in front.<br />
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Then one guy jumped out into second. That guy was me.<br />
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So there I was, running frak all, just going hard but not crazy hard or anything. Knowing that there were still maybe ten guys behind me that had the wheels to leave me eating their dust. I threw my hands out as if to say where is everyone but I didn't back off. We were running into the wind and I just didn't care. I was waiting for the swarm, and it came, and it included a woman training for the Irish Olympic Marathon team and I just kind of weathered it.</div>
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I went from second to about 15th, but I ran a 5:38 first mile, so I was happy with that. If I can be happy. Which I can't.</div>
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Anyway. Some people went by me, but I felt like I was running steady. The goal was now to run the next 4 miles in under 20 minutes.</div>
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The course seems to have a lot of downhill in the first 1.5 miles or so and then you hit a hill up and that was when I really got a look at the people in front of me and an idea what to tuck away for later. The @Evanescence was pounding away in the headphones and I felt like I was suffering a little bit.</div>
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I went through two miles at around 11:30 or so. I was already reeling in some of the people who passed me, and although I was running alone, there were people in front and behind me that were in contact. I felt like I was really racing, not just out there running. I felt the same way at Disney, but overall it's been a long time since I felt like I was in the thick of it, really not until I came back from Florida in November after the Ironman and really started racing more seriously.</div>
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I went through three miles at 17:18 and that's easy math. I had to take one headphone out of my ear at each marker to hear the the call out, but I knew I just needed to hold to around 6 minute miles just as the fun began. I mean, I wasn't planning to drop off to 6s or let anyone by me but with the hills there was no question of a drop off.</div>
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I didn't change my cadence. But when we got to the hills I didn't attack all out. Maureen and I talked about this during our warm-down and I think we both have the same strategy. Station-keep going up the hill, a nice steady 90%, and then hit people cresting and going downhill. I mean, you spike your heart rate up the hill, max out at the top, and you will get beat coming down.</div>
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I hit four miles at around 23:24. I'd fallen back to 15th but then I surged and as we crested the hill and hit the turn towards the finish I really tried to pick it up. I felt like the last mile was short, because I was running hard, not because it was actually short. I knew this guy from BRanford who is in his 30s was hot on my heels, so I really tried to focus. I pulled the headphones out of my ears as we hit the Platt Tech parking lot and managed to hold the guy off by 4 seconds.</div>
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13th overall, but a disappointing 4th in my AG.</div>
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Oh well.</div>
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Maureen finished soon after and we did a nice easy warm down while finding her husband Gary, then a bunch of us shared training advice for our upcoming Ironmans.</div>
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Fun times. Glad I went.</div>
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<br />alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02062495927451723939noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35581112.post-12455135647897618022012-01-15T20:42:00.000-08:002012-01-15T20:42:32.173-08:00Disney Half MarathonSome races are automatically an adventure and I'd say the Disney Marathon weekend races definitely fall into that category. Let's face it, you have to travel to Disney to do them, and you don't simply go to Disney to race, then go home.<br />
<br />
And that's not it. The races start at about 0530 AM, and my 1/2 had 22K+ finishers (who knows how many started).<br />
<br />
So I got up at 0310, which is the earliest I've been up in a very long time and two hours earlier than what I am used to.<br />
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I couldn't get a banana at the cafe in the resort the night before so I went with an orange, because the three things I eat every morning are, in order, a banana, 1/2 to all of a grapefruit, and then an orange. Now I had never raced after eating an orange, but then again, I have never raced after getting up that early.<br />
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You have to get up so early because although you're probably only about 2.5 miles from the start, it's very difficult to get to the start on foot. You have to take a resort bus to the race, and they come only every 5 or 10 minutes. It was cold in the morning, under 50 degrees at the time I went out to the bus stop, around 0330. I'd decided no throw away shirt, no gloves, just the EH kit, arm warmers, my IM Florida finisher's cap and my Tifosi sunglasses with the red lenses.<br />
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They have transportation coordinators at each stop. This helped us not get a bus in a timely fashion. The first bus that stopped was empty and was supposed to be going to the race, however, someone from a previous stop had gotten off the bus and left a bag. Rather than taking the bag off the bus and letting us get on, one of the two coordinator sent the bus, empty, back to the previous stop to deliver the bag. We were all waiting at the designated event stop, which is purposely separate from the little cabana bus depots where you wait for buses to other parts of the resort. Some people who arrived at the back of the line we were in decided they didn't want to be at the back of the line and went on to the depots and when the next bus came, half full, the coordinator waved it past us and to the depot, rewarding us for staining by the Run Disney sign with more waiting.<br />
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The next bus was empty, but the driver he wasn't sure if was supposed to be going to the starting line, so the coordinator waved him on. The people in front of me said something to one of the coordinators, who responded with a law enforcement style 'Excuse me, what did you say to me ?' that conversation did not go well, and included the coordinator telling the people that a bus was guaranteed to come every 5 minutes even though we'd now been waiting twice as long. We all walked sullenly to the depot.<br />
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I was sitting cross-legged at the depot, eating my orange, willing myself not to be cold. Two buses came. One was full. The next one fit up to the four people in front of me. Finally I got on the bus after waiting half an hour.<br />
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It took the next 50 minutes to drive two and a half mile. Yeah. I spent the entire time from 0330 listing to Evanescence's latest album. As the bus pulled into the parking lot I slipped into the bathroom to, well, TMI. you know. I wasn't in there long but as I opened the door the bus jerked and the lights went out. It was the hydraulics being bled out. I went right to the front of the bus and sure enough the door was locked.<br />
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Long story short I think I was the last guy off a bus at this year's Disney half-marathon. The buses park a good mile from the start so I started running, and I passed about 5K people just too get to the A corral.<br />
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They started the wheelchair people, allowed the elite athletes to get right on the line, then let the A corral get right behind them. So I was within a second or two of the start line when the fireworks and the flames shot up from the starting arch. I went out hard. I had an ambition goal, to finish 3rd or better in my AG in a race with 22K people.<br />
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I worked my way up through the other A corral people and locked on to one of the elite women. I was soon well out in the front, maybe 40-50 people total plus the wheelchair athletes. The wheelchairs were kind of in the mix and at one point to hold my line with this woman, one of the two who would ultimately beat me, i had to execute a somewhat dicey shaving pass around 5 of them that had me about six inches from the wheels and accelerating hard.<br />
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I was right at 6:00 for the 1st mile...<br />
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Of course, no of my other miles would be anywhere near that. By two miles I was at 12:05 and that progression would continue for the entire race. My 5K, 10K and 15K splits are part of the result so even if I want dot exaggerate about what I accomplished, I couldn't.<br />
<br />
The course starts out pretty straight forward. You're running on an highway and you run for quite a while. The miles are marked with nice big signs that make your life easy. I was back and forth with people a bit but I was trying not to lock in an compete with anyone because as my coach says 'Your job is to do your job.' I let the elite woman go. I let a few other people go as well. Because I went out fast, every once in a while someone would pass me. At five miles I was still under 31:00 minutes and I really felt like I was running fairly well. I took a cliff shot and actually drank some water from the aid station rather than just dumping it over my head.<br />
<br />
I was running farther outside my comfort zone than usual but this was good because I was planning on that.<br />
<br />
I kind of got into a little bit of a back and forth with one guy but in general I was running alone, in fact, in a race with twenty-two thousand people I was running in a large gap (50 meters in each direction) for at least three full miles, which more than anything tells me that I was truly running my own race. At some point we wound our way into what I think was the Magic Kingdom and the thought came into my head that I had no idea where in the Kingdom I was- and I didn't give a frak. All I cared about was the back of the guy in front of me and running my ass off.<br />
<br />
I do remember running through the Magic Kingdom. The truth is the in theme park areas were the most treacherous. Because they don't turn off the sprinklers, the pavement is wet in a lot of spots in the parks and that where all the twists and turns are.<br />
<br />
Back out on the highway, I just ran, hard and steady. I took more gel at 10 miles and really, there's not a lot to tell. I was chasing other people's back, being passed by someone every two miles or so. I had my sunglasses on and the Evanescence was keeping me in such a groove, such a steady sort of raw emotional frenzy, that I was able to just keep running with no real stress. Yes, it hurt, and yes, I was berthing hard, but I wasn't in any distress. There'd been a point where about half a mile in I was struggling to stay calm, one moment where I thought about the thousands of runners behind me, but then I reminded myself this wasn't a swim.<br />
<br />
Somewhere around 11 miles a spectator yelled 'You can do it' to me and I have to admit I wanted to stop and scream at her. I can do it ? I was trying to run in the 1:20s. Doing it wasn't a question. Crushing it was the question. The idea that I would see a half-marathon as some kind of challenge that I might or might not conquer, or that I would need positive affirmations just to achieve, was as laughable as it was infuriating. I reminded myself that person was trying to help and maybe didn't relate to my motivation.<br />
<br />
We hit an off ramp and then we were headed toward Epcot. I got passed by two guys and I knew instinctively that I was not going to hold with them. I hit 12 miles at 1:14:52 or thereabouts and knew my chance of breaking 1:21 was slim. I was chasing these two guys, one of whom I was afraid was in my age group, and we were winding our way back through Epcot's parking lot to the finish.<br />
<br />
I caught the time in the arch and it was high 1:20, way too high so I started running my ass off, like you can see it in the pictures, in my face that I was giving everything I had, and I cherish that because in that moment I cared, so much, about how I was running, well, you cannot beat that. I crossed the mat at exactly 1:21:00 chip time, a big fat 1 second disappointment but hey, I busted my ass for 13.1 miles.<br />
<br />
I was 52. I was beaten by 49 men and 2 women. I placed 3rd in my age group out of 1215 men, and how can I complain about that.<br />
<br />
I want to go back next year, and if I do, I'll be second in my age group and in the top 30.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
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<br />alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02062495927451723939noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35581112.post-66773725519385911382012-01-02T07:14:00.000-08:002012-01-02T07:14:55.704-08:00Spinervals Challenge Finish/Frosty 5KSo I'd been planning since Christopher Martins to run the Frosty 5K, but then I started backing off the idea based on the feedback I was getting from people around me...<br />
<br />
I also was determined to get that last spin in the set in and what I had left was Have Mercy, a 2 hour compilation of some of the 'best' (hardest) sets from spinervals 1-8. Acceleration sets ? Both the 4 second on, 4 second off variety (joy!) and the 10/10 second variety (rainbows and unicorns). Sprints, tempo builds, plyometric squats. You name it.<br />
<br />
I'd had one too many beers on New Year's Eve so I was not hungover but I was a little under the spell, definitely dehydrated. I was no longer doing the 5K. I was 'maybe' doing the 5k.<br />
<br />
I had to go there, back it down to a maybe. Have Mercy is a hard spin and if I was going to do it right I could not have the certainty of a race- which started an hour and ten minutes after the spin finished- hanging over my head.<br />
<br />
There were a few points during the spin where I really had to dig deep to go at the effort level that Coach Troy was demanding, largely because of the Hardcore 100 the day before. I really felt like this was one the best day of the challenge for me because I really had to go to a higher effort level, and I did. My legs were pretty toasty when I got done.<br />
<br />
I hopped off the bike, downed some Recoverite, put on my racing kit, and the family headed to Guilford.<br />
<br />
I got to the 5K ten minutes before it was supposed to start, registered, and then benefited from a 10-minute delay in the start...<br />
<br />
I could tell I was pretty drained. But I was listening to Evanescence and trying to amp myself up for whatever I was worth. I lined up alongside the Guilford Cross-Country team kids, thinking I might benefit from their initial pace.<br />
<br />
Finally the race started and right away it was obvious who the race winner was going to be. I latched onto his wake and ran my ass off for as long as I could, until about the first turn, after which he started to separate easily. No surprise as he was going to run in the 16s. I was not. I was back and forth with the kids and all of the sudden a woman went by me.<br />
<br />
Like I was standing still.<br />
<br />
Damn.<br />
<br />
Then JT (running as Juan Tolberto) went by my. Again like I was standing still. I kind of thought I must be running like, well, shit. But I didn't go into a hole at that point like I have in the past. I tried to minimize the damage as much as possible, watching JTs back, but I felt like I settled in really well, went up over the bridge, down to the turnaround, and headed back.<br />
<br />
We humped our way over the same bridge going back and I pushed the downside as much as possible, worried I was going to be run down. But that never happened. Not only did no one catch me, but I managed to reel in one guy at the Fairgrounds.<br />
<br />
Back after the turn I heard someone call out the time- 17:30. I had half a minute to run maybe hundred meters. Not really sure.<br />
<br />
I ran my ass off, but then I saw the clock turn over to 18:00 and oh well, I wasn't there. I ended up running an 18:06. And while I was bummed that I ran over 18:00, let's face it, I started the day with a really hard workout, and had done another hard workout the day before.<br />
<br />
After the race I shared some music with Kerry Arsenault, talked to several friends, and hung out long enough to pick up my and Juan's trophies. I had a chance to push myself to just a crazy level, see friends, and hey, beat 119 other guys in my ten year age group.<br />
<br />
Not the worst way to start the New Year.alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02062495927451723939noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35581112.post-70094249798293107942012-01-02T05:26:00.000-08:002012-01-02T05:26:53.617-08:00Eric's Strength Challenge/Spinervals Day 31New Year's Eve.<br />
<br />
I started the day the way anyone would. I got up at 0520, made some coffee, ate 1/2 a banana, and took a bunch of food and honey stingers downstairs to my bike. By 0540, I had started the Hardcore 100.<br />
<br />
I'd done the Hardcore 100 one other time, prior to IM Florida, on a Saturday morning when Margit had a swim meet and I couldn't get out and do a long ride on the road. It was a little harder than I had expected to spend that long on the trainer. So I was prepared for it to be difficult. Still, starting in what still seemed like the middle of the night and being a little stressed out that I was kind of abandoning the family for the entire morning was a little stressful.<br />
<br />
The workout starts off with a lot of SR15 work, which is good because it is a long day in the saddle. About an hour in, a stray cat came to our back slider and started antagonizing one of our cats so I had to get off very briefly to encourage it to leave. I also hit the bathroom. Then it was right back on the first bike. I was watching Facebook and waiting for the strength training workout to come in, and when it did, it was the 100 sit-ups and 100 pushups we knew were coming.<br />
<br />
So I formulated a plan. I knew there was no way that I would want to do 100 sit-ups and 100 push-ups after finishing the hard core 100, so starting with 2nd break I used the 3 minute break to d0 20 sit-up, 20 push-ups, and meditate for 90 seconds. I know the idea of me meditating probably bring tears of laughter to everyone's eyes, but I actually do after long workouts sometimes sit down, close my eyes and just unfocus.<br />
<br />
In this case I was simply trying to bring my heart rate down and allow my muscles to relax. The truth was that I was really feeling this workout and I wanted to actually give it a good showing.<br />
<br />
Around the 4th hour parts of my butt cheeks started to get a little irritated and I did what I could to keep moving around on the saddle.<br />
<br />
By the last hour, I was really, really looking forward to the soon being over.<br />
<br />
And then I got to the end, hopped off the bike, jammed my way through 40 more sit-ups and push-ups and finished up Eric's challenge!<br />
<br />
Let me say that the challenge was very good for me. I needed it.alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02062495927451723939noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35581112.post-9516485847158184912011-12-31T19:43:00.000-08:002011-12-31T19:43:59.086-08:00Eric's Strength Challenge/Spinervals Day 30Started the day with the Warrior workout. This is a pretty good spin in my opinion. You warm-up, you do some superspinning, and then you do some near-threshold work. Talking about a straight forward workout, it's simple, it's just under an hour and when you're done, you feel pretty good. This was a good way to come back from a rest day, and I had a good sweat working during it.<br />
<br />
Then it was time for the strength workout. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Planks w/ Leg Lift (see Dec 24th), right into 20 reps of Woodchoppers, right into 20 reps of Double Crunches. Nothing overly challenging here. The planks were the hardest part, but 4 circuits of this was pretty easy, considering EH was going to be dropping the 100 double hammer on us.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Then I went out and ran 50 minutes, but at a lower intensity. Had a good run.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">This was definitely a meat and potatoes day, even though I don't eat meat.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span>alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02062495927451723939noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35581112.post-7291670218340044552011-12-29T19:11:00.001-08:002011-12-30T17:04:00.441-08:00Eric's Strength Challenge/Spinervals Day 29Not much to tell today as it was a rest day.<br><br>
I hate the rest days with a passin, especially rest days that are also days off from work. What a sub-optimal combination...<br><br>
Today was curl/press combos, lunges, and supermans. Curls are easy. Lunges are not. To take twelve stes in my basement and not just lunge, then back, I have to do a circle around the place, dodging the underfoot kitten the whole time. Then it was on to supermans, which I always find tiring. I have no idea why. I didn't rush through the four sets because it was all the exercise I was getting today.<br><br>
More than ready to get back at it tomorrow.alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02062495927451723939noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35581112.post-71870113592267950602011-12-28T20:51:00.000-08:002011-12-30T17:03:50.412-08:00Eric's Strength/Spinervals Day 28 ChallengeStarted the day with my strength training. I had the day off, and was a bit unsure how to get going with my workouts because I didn't have the workout I was meant to spin to.<br />
<br />
The strength training was box jumps, squat-shoulder presses and V-ups. I hate the box jumps. I just don't have anything to use as a box and I'm sure that every last box jump is going to end in a face-cracking face plant because I use- the stairs. Yes, the stairs in the basement. I know. Sounds harmless. Try it. Try doing a set of box jumps up onto stairs. See if you don't end up thinking your teeth are going to eat step. The shoulder presses and the v-ups were easy, and just as I would get relaxed it was back to the stairs for the face-threatening jumps.<br />
<br />
Then I took Ian to school. On the drive home it finally hit me. Since I couldn't do the Ray Lewis Team Fitness (oh, the irony John Hirsch), I would do Muscle Breakdown, one of the oldest Spinervals (4.0). Not only are some of the rest intervals in this meat-grinder short, it's got isometric squats and what is simply the sickest spinerval set ever. Imagine BR 15, 5 minutes, 4 seconds on, 4 seconds off. Yeah. Imagine you do some tempo work (by which I mean 5 2 minute tempo sets with 30 seconds rest).<br />
<br />
Now let's do that 4 seconds on, 4 seconds off rep AGAIN, and yes Coach Troy, slip in an extra rep at the end just to make sure the hammer is well and truly applied.<br />
<br />
Awesome workout. I loved it.<br />
<br />
Then I rested for a couple of hours and went out and ran 7 miles in 45:30. That is a good day for me.alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02062495927451723939noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35581112.post-2114574002269203232011-12-27T19:47:00.000-08:002011-12-30T17:03:35.783-08:00Eric's Strength/Spinervals Day 27 Challenge90 push-ups. 90 sit-ups. There's no way around it. I did this after my ride, and it was f'ing tough. I am not a big man, and I've been losing weight steadily during the challenges, not a lot, but I'm getting leaner, almost ten pounds lighter than the same point last year. Push-ups, well, I kind of suck at pushups, and I'm determined to do them well, and not have my belly hanging down or my ass pointing in the air.<br />
<br />
I did six sets of 15 of each, with 15-15 being a set. Maybe that makes me a girlie man, but I was coming off a two hour spin.<br />
<br />
On sit-up 89 I went back down and smacked my head on the cement floor. Finally- I'd been waiting for that. Now I've got it out of the way.<br />
<br />
The spin was one loop of the IMAZ course, and I'd been looking forward to it because I've done the race (poorly) twice, so that alone is six loops of the course. It started out with about 10 minutes of small ring 15, which was easy, followed by the rest of the ride at an 85-95 cadence. By rest of the ride I mean like over an hour and a half before a short colldown.<br />
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It probably sounds boring, and maybe it is for most people, but I enjoyed the workout. I used the music less track and listened to Evanescence the entire ride and I enjoyed it. And when I was done I was drenched in sweat.<br />
<br />
Another good day in the virtual saddle.<br />
<br />
<br />alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02062495927451723939noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35581112.post-88662565840253206682011-12-26T19:05:00.000-08:002011-12-30T17:03:22.526-08:00Eric's Strength/Spinervals Day 26 ChallengeI had the day off from work so I slept in until around 0625 today. I only was looking at a one hour spin, so it was easy to get that in.<br />
<br />
I didn't have the recommended Spinervals 34.0, so instead I fired up 37.0, Suffering Along the Chesapeake. This is a pretty good workout. After the warmup you do some high cadence spinning, then some long intervals (5 minutes) near threshold, then 2 minutes at threshold, the one minute over threshold. This progress is definitely a good one.<br />
<br />
My legs were a little tired from lack of sleep but I thought I really nailed today's workout.<br />
<br />
I followed it up right away with Eric's strength training, which was lateral stepping squares with front shoulder raises, followed by plank rows and bicycle crunches. 4 sets. I kind of struggled with form on the first exercise and the other two are downright easy now. Still I was breathing hard when I got done.<br />
<br />
4 hours later, I was back at it again, running. I did 6.75 in 48 minutes so I felt pretty good about that because I ran hard the whole time, kept the intensity up, and felt good.<br />
<br />
Overall, a very good day.alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02062495927451723939noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35581112.post-65329682324449917432011-12-26T16:32:00.000-08:002011-12-26T16:36:32.455-08:00Eric's Strength Challenge/Spinervals Christmas DayThe strength challenge was 80 double crunches and 80 super mans. Easy day, this was Eric's Christmas present to us. I did 80 and 80, all at once, because otherwise I'd have ended up late for company.<br />
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I got a mountain bike for Christmas- which is just an awesome gift- thanks Margit- probably the coolest thing I've gotten ever.<br />
<br />
I tried sticking some aerobars on it, but neither pair I had available would fit. I then considered whether to stick a pair of too small toe-clips on the bike or pedals. I put real pedals on, even though I though my feet would end up getting cold in the bike shoes. I went with my usual two pairs of socks and got out the door, jamming Evanescence.<br />
<br />
The new mountain bike is great- it weighs half what the one I've been racing on does, has a great big wheel-base, that while twitchy, is super.<br />
<br />
On the negative side was the pedals. It's amazing how even a decent bike from a totally great bike shop ships from the manufacturer with crappy flat pedals that your parents would use on a bike they rent in Cabo. So I went into the basement, found some pedals and those where what I used.<br />
<br />
Note to self: if there's a pair of pedals that has been lying around unused in your basement for three years, there may be a good reason.<br />
<br />
I headed out and it seemed like I was doing pretty well. Despite the lack of aeros I was having a good ride. The seat's a little low, but overall everything was going well. Until the pedal fell off.<br />
<br />
Well, not the whole pedal. The pedal actually fell apart, with the clip still in my shoe, but the shaft still attached to the crank.<br />
<br />
I did what anyone with an iPhone would do. I pulled over, took a pix, and tweeted it. This gave me time to think. I was about 5 minutes from home so obviously not much to think about. I screwed the pedal back together by hand and- kept going. Good thing I had the chance to think about it. I went up some hills and down some others, and going down a big hill at about 25 mph, the pedal came off again. My foot shot out and hit the shaft of the pedal scraping the crap out of my ankle.<br />
<br />
I started pedaling with one leg.<br />
<br />
Yeah, that was my reaction the second time. Let me put all the one-legged Spinervals drills to good use as I ride to Guilford and back on one leg. It had become a testorone-fueled man vs. bike parts story...<br />
<br />
Two or three minutes later I turned around and went home instead, like a normal person, threw the pedals away and put on toe clips. I started out to do a Hammerfest loop and immediately threw the chain. I sorted that with a strategic re-shift, most of the rest of my ride was safe.<br />
<br />
What a blast! At least I have a decent story to tell of my first ride...<br />
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<br />alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02062495927451723939noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35581112.post-28614718529201716492011-12-25T09:54:00.000-08:002011-12-25T09:54:25.258-08:00Eric's Strength Challenge/Spinervals Christmas EveWell, Saturday was the workout I was most looking forward to on the whole schedule, the Lake Placid Virtual Reality DVD.<br />
<br />
I've done LP five times, and I've ridden the course many more. Two of the absolutely best workouts I had last year was the loop of the course I road on my mountain bike in 90 degree heat, and the loop I rode the next day on my race bike- backwards. I love everything about that course- the race memories, the awesome backdrops, the massive downhills and the climbs.<br />
<br />
The DVD doesn't of course capture all of it, you can't smell it, or breath it in, but the workout is very solid and the video certainly is a great reminder of all the places you see on that ride.<br />
<br />
The workout also starts out pretty easy. In fact, you spend a LOT of this workout in small ring 15, which might have you thinking you're getting an easy day.<br />
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You aren't. The whole point of the video is to try and prepare you for how to ride the course on race day, which is all about backing it down and letting the complexity and difficulties of the course push your effort up, and up and up. You can can either ball on the easier parts of the course and cry on the hard parts, or you can keep the intensity down and ride the course in a solid and productive way. Guess which one sets you up for a good run.<br />
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I'll admit that I was flagging a little bit coming back from Hazelton, however, once we got on the last segment the energy game right back and I really felt the final climbs went well.<br />
<br />
The workout was like an early Christmas present.<br />
<br />
It was on to Eric's strength training after that. The one arm snatches were easy, the lateral squat jumps were not and the plank leg lifts- well let's just say I was glad there were only three sets.alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02062495927451723939noreply@blogger.com0