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Winter Wonderland 5 Mile Road Race

2012-01-31T20:45:00.000-08:00

I 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.

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.

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.

So Maureen and I agreed to race rather than do a long run It is a USATF championship race after all...

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.

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.

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.

Then one guy jumped out into second. That guy was me.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

13th overall, but a disappointing 4th in my AG.

Oh well.

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.

Fun times. Glad I went.

Disney Half Marathon

2012-01-15T20:42:00.000-08:00

Some 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.

And that's not it. The races start at about 0530 AM, and my 1/2 had 22K+ finishers (who knows how many started).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I was right at 6:00 for the 1st mile...

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.

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.

I was running farther outside my comfort zone than usual but this was good because I was planning on that.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I want to go back next year, and if I do, I'll be second in my age group and in the top 30.

Spinervals Challenge Finish/Frosty 5K

2012-01-02T07:14:00.000-08:00

So 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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

I hopped off the bike, downed some Recoverite, put on my racing kit, and the family headed to Guilford.

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...

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.

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.

Like I was standing still.

Damn.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Not the worst way to start the New Year.

Eric's Strength Challenge/Spinervals Day 31

2012-01-02T05:26:00.000-08:00

New Year's Eve.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

By the last hour, I was really, really looking forward to the soon being over.

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!

Let me say that the challenge was very good for me. I needed it.

Eric's Strength Challenge/Spinervals Day 30

2011-12-31T19:43:00.000-08:00

Started 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.

Then it was time for the strength workout. 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.

Then I went out and ran 50 minutes, but at a lower intensity. Had a good run.

This was definitely a meat and potatoes day, even though I don't eat meat.

Eric's Strength Challenge/Spinervals Day 29

2011-12-29T19:11:00.001-08:00

Not much to tell today as it was a rest day.

I hate the rest days with a passin, especially rest days that are also days off from work. What a sub-optimal combination...

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.

More than ready to get back at it tomorrow.

Eric's Strength/Spinervals Day 28 Challenge

2011-12-28T20:51:00.000-08:00

Started 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.

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.

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).

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.

Awesome workout. I loved it.

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.

Eric's Strength/Spinervals Day 27 Challenge

2011-12-27T19:47:00.000-08:00

90 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Another good day in the virtual saddle.

Eric's Strength/Spinervals Day 26 Challenge

2011-12-26T19:05:00.000-08:00

I 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.

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.

My legs were a little tired from lack of sleep but I thought I really nailed today's workout.

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.

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.

Overall, a very good day.

Eric's Strength Challenge/Spinervals Christmas Day

2011-12-26T16:32:00.000-08:00

The 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.

I got a mountain bike for Christmas- which is just an awesome gift- thanks Margit- probably the coolest thing I've gotten ever.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I started pedaling with one leg.

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...

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.

What a blast! At least I have a decent story to tell of my first ride...

Eric's Strength Challenge/Spinervals Christmas Eve

2011-12-25T09:54:00.000-08:00

Well, Saturday was the workout I was most looking forward to on the whole schedule, the Lake Placid Virtual Reality DVD.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The workout was like an early Christmas present.

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.

Eric's Strength Challenge/Spinervals Day 23

2011-12-23T19:14:00.000-08:00

Today's spin was Aero Base Builder VI, a great hour long spin with a series of reps that decrease in gearing and duration and increase in number. You start out with 8 reps if a minute in big ring 15 and progress to 20 reps in big ring 23.

That's my kind of workout. I love spinning hard in big ring 23 and it's more than just that it's easier than grinding out a massive spin in 13. I come from a racing background of big gears and a lot of mashing but instead have learned that by keeping my weight down I can attack the on the bike much more efficiently in 17-19. Turnover comes easy and that's where my watts are, so this workout helps me train myself to what I do.

I really enjoyed the spin.

Then I got off and did 80 pushups and 80 twist sit-ups and those were not so easy. Yes, I'll admit, I did 4 sets of 20 in quick succession and the last set was just plain hard.

Starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Eric's Strength Challenge/Spinervals Day 22

2011-12-22T20:39:00.000-08:00

Today's spin was No Slackers Allowed.

If you are are a real Spinervals veteran, you need no other explanation.

If you aren't, well, imagine the cruelest moments of the spinervals you have done. Increase the reps in each set, and reduce the rest period both within and between the reps. Well, that's No Slackers Allowed. This video (and yes, I only have it on VCR- what's that you ask) is so intense it has a 6 minute cool down, despite being 44 minutes long.

You either do this video at 100 %, dying the whole time, or you waste a workout. Are your muscles screaming ? is the seat running down your face ? Do you wish you were in a coma ? Then you're working hard enough. This workout totally fits my mentality right now. I want to suffer. I want the workouts to hurt like hell. I want to get back to where I was before I lost my edge, before I became weak and complacent as a triathlete.

This workout takes me where I want to be. I wanted to back it off. And I didn't.

Bring it.

When I was doing I did 4 sets of Eric's workout, step ups, punches, and twist sit ups. I used a mirror to track my punches and my kitten made everything else interesting, but when I got done with the weights I felt good.

At lunchtime I smoked my run, 5.75 miles in under 40 minutes, running hard and steady and-

I want to race. I am ready.

Coach Eric/Spinervals Day 21

2011-12-21T20:55:00.000-08:00

Ugh. I got to bed late- really late, and then I was up at around 5, drinking coffee and cutting grapefruit before a 2 hour and 10 minute spin. I'd identified this at the start of the challenge as one of the days that was going to be a problem- how was I going to get something this long in before work, and on a night when the Zane's party (bike shop) would make it impossible to cram the workout in later ?

So I got up after sleeping about 4 hours, took a little prep time, and was on the bike at 0520AM.

The workout is a compilation of sets from other aero base builders. It's not perfect. If it were 90 minutes long, I'd never use it, because I have 90 minute spinervals that are one cohesive workout. But this compilation works. In part because it's 2 hours and 10 minutes long, and there are not too many two hour rides in the series, but also because the segments that Coach Troy lifted out of the various Spinervals do have a logical progression. I think the workout actually work.

Now, don't get me wrong. I think you have to like Spinervals to like this workout. This is not a standout like Uphill Grind or the Mount Lemmon climb.

But it was a nice two hours and ten minutes of aerobic spinning.

I skipped adding a lunchtime run in order to shop.

The strength challenge was just that, push-up rows, standing alternate shoulder presses and woodchoppers. The big thing in this workout for me was a) how frakking tired my arms got, and b) how much it reminded me of high school. In high school I chopped wood for 3.00 (US) and hour and man, this workout, which I did after work, brought back some memories.

Coach Eric/Spinervals Day 20

2011-12-20T19:06:00.002-08:00

Hard to believe that I have been dong this for 20 days now.

I knew I had a long day ahead of me because I was supposed to do a 90 minute spin, which is right on the edge of what I can reasonably do in the morning timewise. It was also supposed to be one, Spinervals 41.0, which is a climbing session. The recommended substitutes were shorter and required additional sets, so I went with on that was not on the list- the Mount Lemmon climb from the Virtual Reality Tucson ride. This is the hardest 90 minute ride I have and is one of my favourite workouts because it really pushes me.

As usual it did not disappoint. Riding in BR 13 for more than half the workout is a tremendous way to get a sweat working, and then after a 'break' of BR it's 10+ minutes in 12-11. When you get done and Coach Troy heads back down the hill, it's usuall time to relax. Not today.

I went right into EH's strength training. Angled lunges with interior raises, lateral jumps and bicycle crunches. Just three sets, which beat the hell out of yesterday's four sets. I was breathing hard and sweating mre as I did these and while strength is clearly improving it is still not 100%.

At lunch I ran for a litte under 40 minutes really hard and it felt great. More harder runs when I run really seem to be paying off.

Coach Eric/Spinervals Day 19

2011-12-19T19:50:00.000-08:00

Well, today's Spinervals was the easiest one so far because it was a rest day. No problem there, except that I'm not a huge fan of days off.

The strength training was not as easy. Squat/shoulder press combinations followed by bench dips, with supermans added in. I did my three sets and came upstairs to post on Facebook that it was done, and saw that it was supposed to be four sets. So I went back downstairs and did one more set.

Looking forward to getting it back on the bike.

Coach Eric/Spinervals Day 18

2011-12-18T20:26:00.000-08:00

For the second straight Sunday the day started not with anything challenge related, but a run. I was out the door at 0630, well before sunrise, running again to the sound track from BSG re-imaged. If I have a geek side, its probably that. I get more motivation out of that music sometimes than even things like Evanescence, NIN, or Linkin Park.

I had the type of 90 minute run you have when it's in the 20s (F) out. Slow at first, a little careful, but then you start to feel good and you pick it up. I had no nutrition because we are out of everything except electrolyte fizz and I didn't feel like carrying a bottle today. As a rule I don't run without a bottle, I certainly won't race the half in Disney without one, but today it was fine.

I came back and did 70 minutes of spinning, Aero Base Builder I. This is a good workout in that the many sets are 20-15-10-5 minutes, so each one is shorter.

I was not at my most energetic. All I had during that second workout was a cup of coffee and by the end of it, I was really just glad to be done. It's a good workout, but I was actually dipping into my reserves- I'd had a banana and a coffee before my run.

But I wasn't done. No, I had 70 pushups and 70 v-ups to do- yes, I know Eric is priming us for 100, which thankfully don't have to be done all at once. I did a set of 25, and then three of 15, and by 0930 I was done for the day.

Great Sunday of working out...

Spinervals/Coach Eric Challenge Day 17

2011-12-17T20:14:00.000-08:00

I got up at around 0530 (on a Saturday!) and started Tough Love, a 3 hour spin, before 0600.

The advantage of this was that I'd be minimizing my son's alone time after my wife started her 3 hour run, but this is a hard workout. It could be that it may set the record for the amount of standing that you do while doing a spinervals. It could be the 30 minute set that comes in the first hour- yes, a 30 minute set. It could be that there is significant time in the big gears.

It could just be that it's a 3 hour workout and at the time it was realised, it was a seriously long spinerval- this was ages before hardcore 100.

I had two bottles of Hammer Fizz, one nutrition bar, some race caps and a cup of coffee. I started to sweat early and continued to sweat often, but the workout when pretty quickly. Before I knew it I was halfway done and then it really started to, yes, bring a little. Of all the workouts I've done so far, this one really did have the most challenges. Between 60 and 20 minutes left I really started to push myself, to get my heartbeat to the very edge of my threshold, but in the end, I finished still feeling really, really good.

The strength challenge was jump lunges, plank rows, and double crunches. I was able to get through these relatively easily, although the jump lunches are always hard for me. I was tired from the spin, and this made the strength training more effective, I think. I was tired, and I had to work hard to get through the three sets. That's how I want to feel when I do the strength gaining- tired but pushing myself.

I really am glad these two challenges came along- loving them.

Coach Eric's Challenge/Spinervals Day 16

2011-12-16T19:45:00.000-08:00

Now we are really on the back half of these challenges.

Today was Spinervals Big Gear Strength. This is an hour of just what it says. After warming up in BR 15 you spend the whole workout in BR 13 and BR 12, mostly the later, with the exception of about 3 minutes of lunges. You have to be in the right frame of both mind and body to do this workout. I remember doing it once when physically I was not ready and I was sore for two days.

Of course, it's also the sort of workout you can half ass, but I'm happy to say that I did not in any way half-ass it today. Despite being woken up by a cat walking on my chest before 0600, I got up quickly, was on the bike and knocked this workout down and felt good. I pushed the BR 12 sprints at the end, came upstairs and EH's strength workout came in just as I was sitting down to eat some grapefruit.

Curls-punches followed by side planks. The great thing about the side planks ? My kitten was chewing on my hand during the planks, which took them from hard to nearly impossible, but i still got them done. If there's one thing the strength training is teaching me it's that I need to improve my strength....

Coach Eric's Challenge/Spinervals Day 15

2011-12-15T19:24:00.000-08:00

Today was another easier day. I was taking some of my staff out for sushi, so I knew there's be no lunchtime run.

I got up and hopped on the bike for Spinervals 28, one of the aero base builders. It's a great work out, with the gears getting easier as the ride goes on, and the intervals increasing in number and decreasing in duration.

This combination was perfect for me today and I really felt good doing the workout.

Eric's strength truing came in and it was just right. Much less ball-busting that yesterday and a good mix of lower and upper body.

Today would have been a great day for a run, but hey, the people who work for me are awesome and I enjoyed taking them for sushi. Life, and not just working out, is good.

Coach Eric's Challenge/Spinervals Day 14

2011-12-14T17:45:00.000-08:00

Wow, two weeks. It hardly seems like I'm approaching that point in the challenges, but there it is.

Two weeks. Today's spin was Hillacious. This is a favorite of mine. I love the two climbing DVDs- Uphill Grind and Hillacious. What's nice is that where Uphill Grind is just 45 minutes, Hillacious is over an hour, so for those days where 45 minutes just isn't enough, there's a longer option that gives you the same general flavor.

I slept in until about 5:55, which is late for me, then got up and went right to work on Hillacious. Where the hardest part of yesterday's workout was the first half of an hour this spin builds, starting with 8 minute steady reps in BR 14 that really get you in the mood to do the rest of the workout. By the time we hit the rollers I really felt like I was working hard, and when we got to the last set- the 10-12% grade hill sprints, I was really bearing down on the bike.

I was also watching my RockMelt browser for Eric's strength challenge. When I got into the last 10 minutes of the workout and it wasn't there I was kind of relieved. I figured I do it in the evening.

And then with 5 minutes left there it was.

Sigh.

And then I saw 60 pushups, 60 sit-ups with twists, and I was psyched. Yeah, I know eventually it's going to be 100 push-ups and that will suck but whatever. It was the right challenge for me today, it fit perfect.

I added 40 minutes of running at lunch.

Another great day of training. Loving this.

Coach Eric's Strength Challenge/Spinervals Day 13

2011-12-13T19:39:00.000-08:00

I had to get up extra-early today because the spin was long- 85 minutes. I want to try and get every day's spin and strength-training done before I go to work, so there I was, in the basement at 5:35, on the bike, doing Aero Base Builder I.

The spin starts out with 4 times 5 minutes in Big Ring 15, which all things considered, for an aerobic workout is serious work and I was sweating pretty seriously by the time I got passed that. Of course, you're also under an hour left to go when you get past that point, which is pretty huge and I felt like I was really working right at the level I should be, my HR in the 130s and sweating like a bear in a sauna.

The later reps, in easier gears, felt good, although as always big ring 23 felt easier, not harder, than small ring 15.

I hopped right off and did the strength truing, crouching box jumps, plank rows and cycling twists. By the time I was done, I'd burned through an hour and 40 minutes of my morning and I felt good.

I decided that after running very hard two days in a row I should really take a day off from running. Another day of bright sun and 50 temperatures really made me regret that decision, but hopefully we'll get one more day of nice weather that I can push a good run out. I had an itch I couldn't scratch all afternoon, regretting not running. Hopefully that's a good thing....

Coach Eric's Strength Challenge/Spinervals Day 12

2011-12-12T19:55:00.000-08:00

Started the day with the Pain Cave. I definitely went in there, and believe it or not, I was happy about it. I felt like I had a really good workout, and then I came back and did Eric's strength challenge.

Once again, I was tired and sweating when I got done and thought after yesterday I'd skip the run at work, I've felt like this a few times after a hard morning challenge.

Instead I went out and did my 40 minute run in 38 minutes, maxed my heart rate at 161, and overall I really felt great. Another good day on the challenge.

I'm liking this.

Coach Eric's Strength Challenge/Spinervals Day 11

2011-12-11T20:17:00.001-08:00

The 5K is obviously not part of the Spinervals challenge. So I truncated the 90 minute spin down to 60 minutes and did the whole thing in either small ring 15 or big ring 23 while watching the Bears make no credible effort to beat the Broncos.

Then I banged out the strength challenged, ate a veggie burger and drank some beer.

Back at it in the morning!

Christopher Martins 5K

2011-12-11T19:18:00.001-08:00

I went into today's race on somewhat heavy legs. Doing the Spinervals challenge has been great for my fitness and while I have been running well during the week I mostly chalked that up to the great weather and in fact when I did run in colder temperatures Friday, I felt sluggish.

Last year I ran a pretty weak 18:43 at this race, on the 'new' course. I also got beat by a dog.

I was not in sync at the end of last year. I'd gained some weight and really, was just kind of relaxed and in my post season. This year I came off the Ironman and really felt like I ran well. It was like I came back to running and it was simple and easy compared to multisport racing.

It was colder this morning than it has been all year and I was really debating whether I was going to run in just my EH singlet and shorts. I ran my warm-up with Margit and then came to the conclusion that yes, I was going to give it a go- hat, gloves, arm warmers, iPod on but the buds tucked behind my ears.

I shepherded Maureen Terwilliger to the starting line after doing my warm-up, starting right in front of Charlie Hornak and next to Bryce Lindamood.

The start off this race is psychotically fast. You're on a four lane road that is wide- crazy wide, and you run basically straight for almost a full mile. A lot happens in that first mile. The pretenders, the contenders, and the tweeners like me all find their appropriate places in this first mile. I knew that I wasn't going to keep up with Greg Pelican, although I was going to try and keep him close, and I knew the guy with the motherfrakking dog was going to be right where I was for the whole damn race.

That guy with the dog.

I got beat by the dog last year.

As we were near the end of the long run out, I settled in, but not the way I often do. I was outside my comfort zone. It's a 5K, I should be outside my comfort zone!

We made the two quick turns and were running the opposite way into the wind and I was losing a little ground on people. The guy with the dog actually passed me so I tucked in behind him to get a break before we turned. We took the next two turns right after that and now we were running away from the starting line but two blocks over (or so) and that's when, in the 2 mile area, I has some doubts about what I'd be able to do. We passed Breuggers and guys were moving back and forth.

I just kept running.

We twisted our way around the course, passing people still going out at less than a mile as we were past two. We humped up a small bridge and I really felt the strength training I've been done, and not in a good way.

Finally, we were back on the main road, headed towards the finish line. I couldn't see the finish. My eyes were tearing a little in the cold, and there were so many people in front of me- that's all I could think, I can't see the damn finish line because I am so far back. But I was just too far away.

Finally, I did see it, just after some 25 year old flashed by me. It was at 17:42 and I was a LONG way from the finish. I so wanted to break 17:59.

I had no one to play off of. I just had to run my ass off. I kept digging. The clock kept ticking.

I gave everything I had. I hit the mat at 17:59 and I was sure that it would tick over the way it always does.

It didn't.

17:59.

Coach Eric's Strength Challenge/Spinervals Day 10

2011-12-10T19:01:00.001-08:00

Today was the latest start I've had since I began the challenge.

I started with 50 sit-ups and push-up for Coach Eric at around 7:30 this morning, Those went well, but I have to admit that I was sweating pretty good for what is a fairly short effort.

Two and half hours later I started Spinervals 31.0, Endurance Booster I actually did this workout last Saturday to, along with another 30 minutes of spinning and a 30 minute run. With the Christopher Martins 5K in the morning, I wanted to keep it easy- not extra spinning a certainly no brick today.

I felt decent during the workout and I had a nice sweat going, and I felt like I had a good workout, however, I don't expect to look back and see this as one of the best days of the challenge.

Coach Eric's Strength/Spinervals Challenge Day 9

2011-12-09T19:19:00.001-08:00

It was back to a higher level of intensity today. I slept in a little (all the way to 0545) and then got up and relaxed for twenty minutes before starting today's spin, which was The Sprinting Machine. I love this workout because it's just the right length for the morning- 50 minutes- and it's got a lot of great intensity to it, but without putting a hurt on you. Where you potentially feel Big Gear Strength all day, the Sprinting Machine is more of a 'feel good' workout.

I got into the spin quickly, it went really fast, and I felt good when I got done. But the three sets of plyometric jumps definitely took something out of my legs for Eric's strength challenge. There were three exercises this morning, include squat presses, bench jumps and some ab crossovers. I was definitely sweating when I got done, and the spin and the strength workout was definitely enough for one day.

Still, with more abnormally nice weather on tap- it was sunny and nearly 50- I went out at lunch intending to run 30 minutes. But I felt to good to cut the run short and pushed it to 40, keeping the intensity down.

Another good day on the challenge.

Coach Eric's Strength Challenge/Spinervals Day 8

2011-12-08T18:58:00.001-08:00

Today was an optional rest day or we were supposed to do Spinervals 8.0 Technique and Recovery. This was one of the few Spinervals left that we only had on VCR tape. Note that I said had.

I stuck the tape in and it didn't want to play. I kept trying and next thing I knew, I was pulling tangled up VCR tape from the machine. This qualifies as the low moment of the challenge.

So then I just went to the Apple TV, did Spinervals 23.0 workout A, added about 10 minutes, the did Eric's strength challenge. Today was two parter: Single Arm Chest Presses (while prone) and V-Ups. The chest press, which requires you to balance on your head with your body at a 90 degree angle, was a bit difficult to determine how to do at first, but overall, it worked well.

I couldn't run at lunch because I was meeting with our Apple account team.

Tomorrow it's back to harder workouts and I'm looking forward to it.

Spinervals/Coach Eric Challenge Day 7

2011-12-07T20:45:00.001-08:00

Another really good day.

The Spinervals was Aero Base Builder II. This is an eighty minute spin, which is kind of a sweet spot workout- long enough that I didn't have to feel guilty about not running in the rain at lunchtime. It's also a good workout, with a nice mix of gears and effort durations. I'll keep it simple. I enjoyed the spin.

Then it was time for the strength training, which was a combination of step-ups, plank rows with weights and ab toe touches. By the time I was done, the whole workout had taken two hours and I was feeling pretty good, but a little tired- just the way I like it.

Sorry today's post is so short, but I just spent 75 minutes getting a server back up at work and it's midnight. Time to get some sleep so I can get back at it tomorrow....

Coach Eric/Spinervals Challenge Day 6

2011-12-06T19:27:00.001-08:00

This was by far the best day of the challenge. I got up early after very little sleep and jumped into Big Gear Strength.

OK, not really. My network had hiccoughed and I needed to reboot my Airport. After that, I jumped right into Big Gear Strength. I was pretty sure that I was not going to have a great workout, but what do you know. I really felt good on the big, grinding the big gears. Even the lunges felt OK, although I reduced the weight on the last set. By the time I finished Big Gear Strength I was sweating pretty heavily, but I wasn't done yet.

I hopped on the internet and got Eric's Strength Challenge for today- Curl/Shoulder Presses and Deep Squat Knee-High Jumps- these weren't easy, but at least I didn't feel shot after doing both a strength workout on the bike and another one when I was done.

The surprise came when I went for my run. The truth is, I didn't want to run at all. It was raining on and off but with it hovering at 60 degrees, I decided to go for it. I started out at a pretty high cadence and was running fast, and I thought that would fade. I was only planning to run half an hour and then bang, once I got going, it really kicked in. I just felt like I was completely dialed in on the run. The 5 hours of sleep and the morning workout were just not factors and I really nailed the run- the weather definitely helped....

So far, so good

Spinervals/Coach Eric's Strength Training Day 5

2011-12-05T19:18:00.001-08:00

Today was a nice easy day- Aero base Builder III, a 65 minute zone B workout with 20, 15, 10 and 5 minute reps. It's awesome when the reps get shorter with each on, and when 0645 comes and your main workout is done for the day.

I'd say this spin actually felt better than yesterday, given that my legs were a little tired Sunday. I was really able to get into a zone this morning and the workout was definitely enjoyable, what I expect from an off-season (if I have an off-season) spin.

I hopped off the bike as soon as I was done and started the weight workout-Reverse Lunge w/Anterior Shoulder Range. I tend to think my balance is really good until I do things like this and then, not so sure. I added 44 pushups.

Much later in the day- around 1630, I did a 35 minute run in the gloom- the gathering darkness and the fog. It was foggy all day and during the run was no exception, but it was a good run.

So far so good, liking this challenges and looking forward to more.

Strength Training/Spinervals Day 4

2011-12-04T19:28:00.001-08:00

I got up this morning with my big workout planning to be a run, but I was on the bike at 0620, doing Spinervals 28.0, or Aero Base Builder VI. I had a really good spin- ABB VI is just under an hour and it's a lot of short intervals. most of them in (slightly) easier gears.

As soon as the spin was over I did Eric's strength workout- Plank Rows/Ab Toe Crunches, in sequence, 3 X 12 each side. This was also very fast paces, going straight from the Rows to the Crunches with no break. It was over quickly but I really felt this one in my abdomen and I felt it was the best of the exercise sets that we have gotten so far.

Then came the meat of the workout, a 75 minute run. To save time I played to run to Pinchbeck's Tree Farm in Guilford and meet up with the family. Just as I got to Pinchbeck's though I got a text saying the family hadn't left yet, so I talked on 18 more minutes. It was a good solid run with the flats at a heart rate of 133, the hills at 142, and downhills in the 120s, all of it very steady.

Great weekend of workouts- 3 hours on Saturday and two and a half today.

Then I cut down our cristmas tree.

Day Three of The Coach Eric Strength and Spinervals 31 day Challenges

2011-12-03T19:56:00.001-08:00

Being Saturday and knowing how this close to the holiday it is, I started spinning at 0610. I needed to get in 2:20, so I opened with Spinervals 23.0, workout B, but I approached the 90 second anaerobic intervals aerobically instead. So I was good and warmed up for Spinervals 31.0, Muscle Booster.

This is a surprisingly tough workout, because there are a large number of efforts in the big ring 13. By the middle of this hour and 45 minute workout my hamstrings were reminding me I'd slept just 5 short hours before being woken up by the cat and starting my day, and in the middle of the workouts I was flagging a little, still getting the work done but feeling a bit spent.

The last set in the workout is 15 minutes split between big ring 15 and 17 and that was just what I needed. I finished the workout feeling really well and then slipped on my running shoes and immediately ran a solid 30 minutes, at a heart rate between 127-133 the entire time, great zone B work, whatever that's worth.

I came back and immediately did Eric's strength routine for the day, 3 x 12 of what I'd call squat-ups- starting in a squatting position with barbells shoulder height, stand up and thrust the barbells over head. By the tenth repetition in each set I could feel it in my pectorals, a great reminder that my strength is NOt adequate. I love the strength challenge because it's such a perfect example for me of what I do not do well as an athlete- thanks Eric.

Day Two Of Coach Eric's Strength and the Spinervals Challenges

2011-12-02T20:11:00.001-08:00

Yes, I'm actually doing two challenges at once. Eric Hodska's strength challenge and the Spinervals 31 days challenge. Today was an easy day, well, relatively speaking.

I got up at 0545 and realised that I didn't have time to do the spin, so I did a 5 minute warmup on the trainer, the Eric's workout. I did three sets of double crunches, the easy part, and then attacked the 40 push ups, so I started off easy, doing 11. Then I did 14, then I did 15 more. Nothing to be proud of, but it is Day 2. I'm sure I could have gutted out at least 30 in a row, but half of them would have been lousy, so what's the point of that ? I wanted to do 40 good push ups.

If it had not been for the New Haven Road Race Board meeting, I might have squeezed the 80-90 minutes in, but I wanted to make sure I made the meeting and got myself on the committee considering altering the race's course.

The spin came after I got home from work. I actually packed up my bike and trainer and took it to work, but that was never going to happen. I started Aero Base Builder 16.0 after putting my race bike (with training wheel) on the trainer and for an evening workout (not my favorite) it was a nice change of pace. I enjoyed what is a pretty straightforward workout, got on a good sweat and feel ready for day 3 of both challenges.

Day One of the Spinervals Challenge

2011-12-01T19:44:00.001-08:00

Day one of the Spinervals challenge in done and I thought I'd write a little post each day to track what I'm doing.

Today the big challenge was the stress test/time trial. I'm not particularly good with the stress test on a trainer. I actually think I train on the trainer very effectively, however, I have trouble spiking my heart rate. The truth is, it's the same on the road. I actually time trial solo a lot, almost once a week from June through October. And I think I ride fairly fast, but for whatever reason, my heart rate doesn't get that high.

So when I started out and was only trending in the 140s, I didn't feel like I was dogging the test. I was sweating up a storm, breathing heavy, just not spiking my heart rate. I felt like it took forever to get into the 150s, and when I got to the last minute I jammed it into the hardest gear and got a max out at 171.

What amazed me about the workout was how absolutely great I felt when I got done- felt great all day.

Maybe I should do that more often...

Turkey Trot Double

2011-11-25T19:38:00.001-08:00

I just happen to live in a place where I'm allowed the opportunity to run two races on Thanksgiving morning. The first one is a 5K run on roads that I run and ride on all the time, the second is a 5 miler in the same park as Brian's Beachside Boogie.

I look forward to this all year. I'm not sure why except that it's the sort of unique experience that you just have to take. I've also done well at both races each of the times I've done it, so why not go for it ?

Well, it is getting harder. The 5k in Branford started at 0830 one year, I think, then got moved to 0900, and this year they tacked a kids race on at 0900 so the start time for the 5K was supposed to be 0910. Now many races start late, and with kids, you never exactly know what will happen. On the plus side, the Branford race is run by JB, and JB usually starts everything on time. However, of all his races, this one is the only one I've ever seen with major timing issues, and if a timer isn't ready, that's all she wrote.

Margit and I both ran with Ian and maybe the highlight of the day was Ian pounding out half a mile in like 4:56. He's starting to get it....

I helped clear away the cones and buckets at the starting line (also the kids finish line) and @cvelardi started the race.

The 5K
As soon as I heard go, I started running. And I mean running. As hard as I could, not only did I get the exact line I wanted out of the driveway of the middle school and onto Damascus, there was no one around me. I had my headphones still in and all I could hear was the music and the sound of my own feet. There was a car in front of me, but I wasn't actually looking at it. I was just running. There was nothing going on inside my head. We got to the second turn and that point, probably more than half a mile into the race, where it dawned on me that a) what the hell was I doing and b) where the hell was everyone else.

A few seconds later, I was swarmed by a pack of high school and college kids. I tried to stay with them. Sort of. I mostly tried to maintain as much speed as possible. This was my first race since the Ironman and I was feeling good, but I was also slipping right into the pain cave.

Then JT went by me. Damn it. JT is still a great runner.

I just kept running, hoping no one else could slip by me. The turn-around was out there somewhere. The hard part of the race was after the cone- it's a straight out and back. I was watching the backs of the guys in front of me and the people streaming down towards the cone. I felt like some of those people might have enough of a kick, but except for the guy I was battling directly with- a 30 something guy that hadn't been able to hang onto JT. After the cone it was a gentle sloping uphill and I was really suffering, and I was pretty sure after that hard start, I was going to blow up.

But I didn't. JT slowly pulled away, and the 30 something just was able to gap me as we headed back to Damascus, but no one else closed in and as I made it around the bend back, I felt like I was running well. I even thought I might have a shot at breaking 18:00, and I did. I was running hard, but at the same time I was settled.

Maybe too settled. I turned the corer into the school and the clock was right around 17:50.

So close. I ended up running an 18:04. Grrr. So close.

I was 8th overall, and won my age group.

Transition
I tossed my chip to a volunteer, went over to my backpack, which I left by the finish line, slung it onto my back and started jogging to y car.

I was worried. I thought if it were later than 9:35, I would not have time to make it. I was whipped, absolutely spent. I got in the car and it was 9:35.

On 95, I did my best to relax. This is because I was basically shelled from the effort of the 5K, and because there was moderate traffic. At first I was making good time, but as soon as I got off the highway there was a mile long backup. What had seemed like plenty of time to get everything done was suddenly nowhere near enough time to get parked, get to the start, and oh, I had to go to the bathroom.

Of course, everyone was headed to the race, so it wasn't really that bad. The road we were driving in on, was also the road the race was on. Got parked.

Jogged to the line.

Settled in with the elite runners, Jessie, the college kids, and so on. Granted, I'm not that fast anymore, but I'm close enough. And then, two minutes after I got to the line, just before the anthem, Maureen got there, so there were two of us doing the double.

The 5 Miler
I don't think I've ever felt like I was in a swim start at a road race, not even New Haven, until Madison Thursday. I was running in a mix of 50 or so people, moving up past some and getting passed but others. We made the first left-hand turn and it was still tight as hell, just a ton of people. This was the perfect thing for me really because I couldn't think about how tired I was from the other race, I was really fighting it out, and trying my best to stay both in a rhythm and not let anyone get away. I went through the first mile just under 6.

There was some wind out there because there is always wind in Hammonassett. We ran back towards the start and I hit the two mile mark still under 6 minutes a mile. The very top guys were so fast I didn't see them going out as I was going in. I saw Jesse and thought he was top six or seven and was running in the 10th-11th spot. We made the turn and headed back out and now I felt like the race was settling into a rhythm and for the first time I could kind of see and end coming to the race. I was running a steady pace and we were headed out to Meigs Point- once we rounded the turn I'd be in the home stretch.

The tide was in- way in and covering the road. Everyone else ran around the water, which was ankle deep or shallower. I went right through it, because that's how you save time. I hit three miles still under 6 minutes per mile and I was pretty sure I was going to break 30. Was I going to break 30 ? After running an 18:04 I desperately wanted to. But I was back and forth with 3-4 guys. Once we turned the point the wind came on and the running got tougher.

It seemed like everyone was settled in now. We heeded back towards the rotary and we all had our places, just running hard- I passed the four mile mark and I was still sure I'd break 30 by a few seconds. People were streaming out the other direction, at less than 3 miles when we were well past four- and that's with me being beaten by the race winners by 5 minutes, which is a- wow, some fast people. There was only one woman ahead of me, and none pressing.

The last mile was slow. I was running at the same speed as the guys around me, running pretty well, but 30 minutes was getting away and I didn't know it. People were yelling and screaming as we came in and I was still kind of fighting to catch the guy in front of me and hold off the guy behind me. We hit the two mile mark and there was less than 15 seconds to break 30 minutes and I didn't make it. BUt I beat a guy on the line by a few tenths of a second.

I also won my age group by 1:02, running a 30:05.

Overall Impressions
You get what you pay for. I thought I ran the 5K all out and failed to break 18. Would I have broken 30 just running Madison ? I think so.

I have nothing to complain about though. I won my age group at two races- beating 135 others at Madison, 77 at Branford. 3700 other people ran one race or the other slower than I did.

But that's not what is it about, not at all.

I had fun. That's what it is really about.

I had a blast.

Ironman Florida Run

2011-11-20T18:53:00.001-08:00

I could just write: 'I didn't get it done on the run.'

Yeah, that would do it. It's true. I was unable to run the entire run- I stopped once to take a dump (which didn't happen). I walked mile 20-21 and maybe another half-mile to mile of the course.

I fought the wind too hard on the bike. It's clear and obvious to me now, looking back. It's the one unforgivable mistake of the Ironman athlete. I came out of the swim energized. I came off the bike frustrated. And yet, I think that there was nothing inevitable about my run being bad. I think I could have overcome the way I fought on the bike, but I fell into a trap on the run that I will not fall into again.

It started out well. I put a garmin on and my first mile on the run was in the 7s. So was the second. And this is where I made the mistake that ultimately cost me a good race. I started backing off. I told myself it was too fast, I can't run 7s. If I run 7s I'll blow up.

I passed on of the chronic drafters (my next blog post will be an email exchange, edited to protect the guilty, I had with this athlete). As I went by I looked at their number, with the slash in it, and said 'Oh, you took a penalty. That's a surprise.' Yes, I can be kind of a dick sometimes, because I am competitive.

So after two miles I started to back off, pushing myself to run 8s, then 8:15s. This probably seems like a smart idea, like the right thing to do, but here's the question: was I really beat and unable to run 7:45s, or did I talk myself into thinking that would be suicidal.

Well, I have no question that it's the later. I firmly believe that I talked myself out of having a good run by panicking at how fast I started. Logic told me I should runs 8s or slower. But here's the thing, the slower I ran, the worse I felt, and once I got out of my rhythm, I felt like, well, I felt like shit. Felt like I was blowing up. And I did, in fact blow up.

It's taken me about two weeks to understand what really happened. Since the Ironman, there are only two days I didn't run- the next day, and today, because in the morning I have two races.

I was out in the park, coming back on the loop, and ran with a pro for a while. Ran with him. Not got crushed by him, not saw him briefly, we ran and talked for maybe half a mile. And yet, within a mile of that I was struggling, ducking into a port-let to crap when I didn't need to crap. Once I forced myself to slow down, I was never right again. I made the first loop in OK time.

I headed back out and when I got to Margit and Ian I didn't panic, I didn't get upset, but I stopped to talk to them. I never stop to talk to people, but I had a 'coach, take me out for a play, moment, which I can't stand. Then I went back to running. I'm not going to blow-by-blow that second loop. Why should I ? It was a bad loop.

I will say this. I struggled, but I ran the last four miles solidly, and I caught five people in the last mile. I finished hard to the line and I never lost track of the 11 hour mark and what I needed to avoid having an unacceptably slow Ironman.

I wasted a chance in Florida to have a really good race, but at least now I understand exactly what went wrong. All this time I've been thinking slow it down, go easier. That's wrong.

What I have to do in Louisville next August is let myself go. Let my natural rhythm control the run. I was strong enough, I was focused. If my body says 7:40, then I'm going to let it have 7:40. I'm going to shut my brain off and let my body do the talking, and that way, there'll be no walking...

Ironman Florida Bike

2011-11-18T19:37:00.001-08:00

So, I headed out along what I think is Route 98, or Old Route 98. Whatever. I hadn't done the race in 3 years, but having done it twice, so I figured I knew the bike course pretty well.

It was a little windy, but not bad, and to be honest I felt the drafting on this stretch wasn't bad. I was passing people, and there were clumps, but everyone was going at their own speed and it was mostly just congestion and not organized groups. Before I knew it I was going out past the new open-air mall, including zipping by Margaritaville, where we'd had lunch the day before.

The thing I noticed that I thought was odd was the number of non-combantants, some of them old people, who were 'on' the bike course. I mean, I know people have to get from point a to point b, but um, sometimes timing is everything and I'd hate to see someone's Ironman dreams end when they crash into some retiree on a cruiser.

There were definitely crowds out watching us and it was pretty cool, because unlike some courses, the one loop IM Florida course is not spectator-packed. Which is fine with me. I'm not out there to wave to the crowd, I'm out there to race.

Once we got off the shore and were heading north it was obvious that the wind was going to be a factor all day.

I was out there in just a cycling jersey, bike shorts and bike shoes with no socks. People were wearing jackets, booties, arm warmers, and so on. I could see the arm warmers, but seriously, booties ?

I felt like the first ten miles of the race was really clean as far as the drafting, and then I started to come up on packs. At first it was no big, because I was still passing people, although I was starting to feel like I was working hard into the wind. I was also forcing myself to drink heed, and by the twenty mile mark I I'd drained one of the three bottles I was carrying, getting in a lot of fluids and hopefully energy. I was also taking shots of vanilla EFS.

Because I was on Margit's race wheels, I had no computer. I remember seeing the 20 mile mark, peeing on the bike, and between that and the thirty mile mark the drafting got serious. It was somewhere in here that I first lost my patience, sitting up and throwing my arms up as people went by in a clump. I get grief from drafters sometimes, lighten up, it's just a race, hop on....

I do chirp back but I hold it in check and what the people giving me a hard time don't understand is that throwing up my hands and muttering sarcastic comments is not what I want to be doing. I'm not going to even say what I'd like to do, but it doesn't involving talking.

I will say that I only remember attacking a pack after it passed me once. I settled in and got my 5 bike lengths and then I went after it. I buzzed everyone as I went by, staying in as tight to the pack as I could. I'll be honest. I don't understand how, when you are in the middle of a pack, you go by a guy who throws up his hands, exhorting you not to cheat, and you go ahead and do it anyway. In that vein, I'll share an email exchange about that I had with another athlete at the race. I'd never met this person, but I was intrigued as to how they could ride basically 100 miles sucking someone's wheel. They answered me, and I think some excerpts from it will make a great blog post. Another time. That's all I'll say about the drafting.

With no computer, and using only the time of day, I actually got a bit confused. The wind was brutal for from miles 10-50 and it was after I thought I'd missed the 50 mile mark that I rode by the forty mile. That was soul crushing. It was such a slow ride and that continued until around 50 miles. The out and back that used to be in the 70-80 range is now in that 50s range.

On the out and back, my bike's front wheel, or so I thought, went from making some small vibration noises, to a lot of noises. A LOT of noise. I knew right away what it was- broken spoken. The out and back was unbelievably rough, and I was milking the bike now. Broken spoke ? And on the rough road, the noise started getting louder, to the point where I was sure I had two broken spokes. I started having visions of me blowing up the front wheel and ending up in ditch, and I was mostly thinking 'Can I possibly finish with a bum wheel.' Then at the aid station I took a bottle of water, poured it over my head, and in the resulting clarity, though to reach down to my up tube. I put my hand around the cables, and sure enough, there were no broken spokes. I'd had some adjustments done, and the cables had loosened up slightly after the bike sat outside all night.

I started riding harder again, exiting the out and back.

A guy went by me as we turned out of the wind and said 'Did we just get a tail wind?'

Indeed we did. It lasted all of maybe five miles.

At sixty miles I peed again. I could tell I was not drinking as much heed as maybe I should be. I was doing well with the EFS.

The bottom line on the bike is I never got into a great rhythm. I was down on the aerobats, in a good position on the bike, but I was putting a lot of grief into my legs, riding alone into the wind and the occasional crosswinds. The packs would get broken up in the turns and twists and hills, then re-form. I continued to ride trying to go at about 90%, nothing dramatic, and keep eating and drinking.

The highlight of the bike ride was getting a thumbs up from an official.

I saw Margit and Ian on the bridge and climbed the bridge solidly. I peed just before 100 miles a third and final time.

The big surprise was waiting for when we finally got onto the oceanside drive that takes you back to the transition.

I though the wind going back towards Tempe Town Lake in Arizona in April was the worst I'd ever raced in, however, this was worse, and it's maybe 10 miles back into town. This was some of the slowest riding I have ever done in a race and I was passing people. I was going slow enough that one car pulled up aside me and the people inside started trying to chat with me...

It was the most brutal part of the ride, and all I can say is I was- as often is the case- terribly glad to get off the bike. When I got into transition I initially couldn't find anyone to take my bike right away. I picked the shoes I knew I could run barefoot in, and I was off....

(next: the run)

Ironman Florida Pre-Race and Swim

2011-11-12T17:50:00.001-08:00

The nice thing about doing an Ironman repeatedly- and this was my third time in Florida- is knowing where to stay and what to do.

We were on the run course, barely half a mile from the start, so I was able to leave the condo at 530 and walk down to the start, wearing the pair of sneakers I would ultimately run in and socks I planned to run in (oops). I got body marked and went right into the transition area and got in line for the port-potties. I was listening to Evanescence and was getting either too amped up or two wrapped up in the enormity of it all, so I finally switched to Boston.

I only have one complaint about the 2011 Ironman Florida- not enough port-potties. I got into the port-pottie line after dropping some things of in my race bags, and then waited half an hour to go to the bathroom. When I finally did get into the port-let, I changed from bibs to standard tri-shorts.

There clearly has been a theft issue at the Ironman, and my guess is what has been stolen are iPhones. Security during bike check-in and race morning was extremely tight, and one effect was that it was very hard to get out of transition. They were not allowing us to leave with our morning clothes bag to hand them off to family or friends, and the only exit out of transition was a one-person wide opening in the fence guarded on each side by staff.

The result was a massive backup of stressed-out Ironpeople.

It didn't bother me, but I still ended to try and catch Margit and Ian before I entered the water and I had wanted to get in the water by 630. After the very rough water Thursday and Friday- Thursday's swim was a complete and stressful failure, and Friday was only slightly better. I was actually resigned to the swim on the way down and not that nervous about the race. And then I got there and the water was really rough. The swim on Thursday was a complete failure and the Friday swim was only marginally better and I had a few panicky moments on Friday where I had to fight the urge to get all wigged out about racing.

I got a good warmup in though, noted that the water was cold only very close to shore, and began moving around to find a place to start. Initially I moved far to the right but then determined that I should start right at the edge of what was meant to be the start corral, where the fence moved very close to the shore and therefore I would have fewer people behind me.

When the cannon went off- if you've never done the Ironman they start the swim with a cannon, which is epic the first few times- people started walking out. I started swimming as soon as I could. I had a pretty good line to the first buoy and it wasn't too bad. The opening stanza of the swim is always rough when you're someone like me that can't get clear and has to fight for water. But with lots of people inside the buoy line and lots of people outside it wasn't too bad.

Until I got to the buoy that is. Everyone seemed to actually want to go around the outside of the buoy or swim as close to it as humanly possible. Because I had a good line to the buoy that meant everyone came into towards me.

Grrr. This reoccurring theme was the most aggravating part of the swim. The first time we got to the turn buoy, a number of us actually had to tell people to relax and calm down. There were people- big people- kicking like mad at the turn and that is so not cool.

My other pet peeve on the swim was people who can't sight and swim at the same time. Look people, just tuck your head up, get a quick look, and get back to work. The water in the gulf at PCB is so damn crystal it's a little sick. You can actually watch other people swimming. You do not, in this water, need to stop swimming, 'sit-up' and look around like a freaking tourist.

The course was never clear, there were always people around you, so one rube stopping could easily create a traffic jam. Which it did.

I have never suffered so much contact in a swim. I was kicked in both eyes and the jaw, but I was able to shake off all three.

I think I swam the 1st loop, which is shorter, in 36 minutes. People were walking on the beach while I was trying to run and this too would be a recurring theme. I started to shout 'make a hole, make a hole' and 'y'all gotta keep moving'.

Unlike every other time I've done Florida or Lake Placid, I did not feel like shit getting back in the water, I just wanted to swim.

The compression effect at the buoys continued, providing for plenty of contact, but I really felt I dealt with it well until we got to the red turn buoy and one very large gentleman in front of me sat up and started kicking like a mule. After taking a couple of kicks I yelled 'Jesus, stop your ----ing kicking.' This is the longest speech I've ever delivered while swimming.

I actually really like the swim course. Probably because the water isn't black, the course is so open and easy to see that it makes it feel much shorter than Lake Placid. That salt water doesn't hurt either.

I got in finally- the last quarter of the swim always seems to take forever- and up on the beach. I missed the clock and then I was running up the walk, past the people who were flopping down to get there wetsuits off. There were a lot of us, and most of them were walking, and again I was yelling at them, not mean, but trying to take a commanding tone, make a hole or get moving. I picked my way past as many as I could and quickly got to transition and found my bag. I ignored the volunteers directing me to head to the transition building and ran back the way I came. There was a lot of empty tarmac and no one whose way I was in. I changed, dropped my bag and tried to head for my bike but was told I HAD to go through the transition building even though my bike was about 30 meters away.

The transition building was, as you'd expect, a clusterfrak. It took me about 90 seconds to get in, pick my way around people, wearing my bike shoes and helmet, and get out the back side.

I grabbed my bike and started running, again picking my way around people that were walking. Once out of transition I continued running, passed everyone else who had mounting, running faster than people on their bicycles, then I mounted and I was out on the bike course.

That'll will be part two...

Racing Ironman Florida

2011-11-04T18:44:00.001-07:00

Racing tomorrow- #2196

Tapering

2011-10-29T20:58:00.000-07:00

I'm not a huge fan of tapering, all things considered. I understand it, but I don't like it.

I was supposed to ride 3 hours today and run another. I suspect this was as much to keep me busy as anything, given that one of my few abilities is a freakish ability to recover from workouts and races. It didn't happen, as William Shatner (have you heard the new album ? I have) say. Due to Margit being at the tail end of one job (and about to start another), my son's soccer game, a hair cut, and my bike being shipped to Florida on an 18-wheeler, I wasn't even close to this.

Did I mention the utterly freak snowstorm ? If you are anywhere on that northeast corridor I'm sure I don't have to.

The bottom line is I only spun for 2 hours and 20 minutes and got in a zero minute run. No brick for me today.

And you know what ? It absolutely doesn't matter. It will have no effect on my race a week from today and in the end, while I might remember having largely missed my workout, I'll probably forget.

I am tapered and I am ready to race. That's what's important.

So in the morning I'll get up, run for about 100 minutes, and rest for a week.And that's OK.

On the Wheel of a Professional Cyclist (October 15th)

2011-10-25T18:37:00.000-07:00

So I had a choice. Ride 100 miles again- for the third week in a row- get my ride started at 9 and be done at 1, and do the training that had been assigned, or go on a group ride with a guy that rides in the Tour De France.

For a lot of people this might be a no brainier. You go and meet the pro, you have an experience. For me though, I wanted to have the best workout to get me ready for Florida, especially after the stink bomb I'd laid out the week before, when it took me almost 5:15 to ride 100 miles. I really had my confidence shaken by this craptastic of a ride, nutrition product fail or no nutrition product fail. There was a string urge to go my own way, even though the ride would ultimately take me right by where the charity ride was, even though I could meet my wife in the parking lot before the race to hand off my son, because it's also where she swims.

I decide late Friday that what the hell, I would go. I mean, I am a firm believer that no one workout makes or breaks a race, and this was a chance to share the road with a Tour rider, I had friends that were going to the ride and for some logistical reasons I won't get into, it actually kind of made more sense to start my ride in East Lyme than at home. I wasn't going to meet the pro though, I was just going to support the ride. And get a good workout in. The CT Cycling Centre guys had sent out an email indicating they'd be doing another 50 miles to get the ride up to a century, which was what I needed, so I showed up early, registered, and then ran half an hour on the track, which was right behind the registration. So I was making it a reverse brick instead of brick, but I was still going to get my miles in at least.

The ride started a little bit late after Tom and his family arrived in the limo. He gave a short but heartfelt speech about growing up in East Lyme, and then we started the ride. It was over a hundred people as far as I could tell, probably more, and it's the first time that I've been involved in what you could call a mass start. We managed to get out of the parking lot and out on the ride, and I'll say this. For the first 15-20 minutes, it was pretty stressful. There were a lot of people, and we were staying together in a group, so it was pretty slow, and a little erratic. I hadn't ridden together with anyone in weeks, and here I was in a mass of people going 20, then going 10, then going 30, then going 15. I mean, I ride with people, but my idea of a big ride if 15-20 people, not a hundred.

But I figured it out after a bit, that I needed to be on the yellow line, as far to the outside as I could get, and until I forgot this, things got a lot better. There were still the occasional sketchy moments, but I was riding behind Greg Comen and another CT Cycle Center/Zanes guy. When they moved up, I moved up. Pretty soon the ride had actually separated, and there were maybe 30-40 of us left, still a 'big' group for me but a lot less than earlier.

I was really impressed with Tom Danielson. He was riding back and forth in the group talking to everyone who wanted to grab a chat and it was interesting stuff, traveling and racing and so on. Really making an effort to engage people. Greg and some of the other guys I knew were talking to him so I rode right behind him, trying to keep a little bubble. Which was ironic, because in a short while, I would come as close as anyone in the ride to causing him some stress- at least as far as I know. Oh yeah, every ride has a story...

So I got comfortable on the ride and of course, this was a mistake. The ride wasn't hilly, but there were some hills, and on one of them I got forced to the inside, our let myself get trapped on the inside. I should never be on the inside when climbing because as people start to slow down, I usually go around them. The guy in front of me was going 12 mph. Then he was going 7 mph. Just like that. I moved to his right, overlapping his wheel but well wide of it, and with the plan of riding off into the woods if that was what it took- at least no one else would get hurt. Since this is something I'm not used to I then made a mistake. Instead of jumping on my gears and getting a nice hard gear to slow my turnover, I tapped my breaks. Immediately I had to clip out. I got my left foot down caught my balance and started right up again. No big deal, except of course that Tom Danielson was right behind me when it happened.

Embarrassed. Tom said 'Whoa, it's getting crazy now,' but his voice was upbeat, not aggravated and that really helped. I mean, it was my fault and it wasn't. The guy in front of me died, but hey, I needed to be ready for it....

At one point of our guys ride up to me and jokingly said 'Tom asked if you'd stay in the back'...

So of course you kind of spend a while after that just trying to forget you did something stupid. Nobody got hurt, I wasn't riding like an asshole. Still, it was a little hard to just relax.

But hey, we got close to the end of the ride, and we were riding near Route 1, which is exactly where I'd been doing my training. We were still on a side road and a pace line formed. There were about 12 guys in the line, but right away, guys started popping off the back. And after my earlier shortcomings I did not want to start hopping the the queue and cutting people off. But these guys weren't getting back on so I started moving up, settling in, pulling people behind me as I went. We settled into about eight people, with Tom on the front and a guy from Keltic named Gerard (?) behind him. Tom would pop out every so often, clearly not expending himself too dearly, seeing who was along for the ride..

Then he and Gerard went. I was waiting for someone else to go and the gap was getting bigger, and no one was going. So I pulled out of the line, and hopped the gap. A couple of guys urged me on as I went, which I though was kind of funny, I mean this was a charity ride, but hey, whatever, I needed it. It was hard work getting across the gap, but I did get there. At some point Gerard dropped and there I was, on Tom Danielson's wheel. What the hell ?

Then someone went by us. Now this is breaking the primal rule. I learned this riding with Eric. If you are riding with someone that can drop you at will, and they want to be in front, then you don't pass them. It's simple logic. Anyway, this guy passed, and then pretty soon he too was gone. I was not. There I was, sucking Tom Danielson's wheel, riding pretty damn hard. He was probably going 80%, I was going 95%.

One more guy joined the mix, and Tom dropped back to see who else was coming, but there wasn't anyone else. I was still second wheel, but with Tom behind me. And then I looked down and saw a front wheel on my right, on road I'd never have ridden on, and I felt a very gentle hand on my hip. Tom Danielson wanted to get by. He didn't push, he was just saying 'Hey, I'm here'. I gave him some room and he moved in front and then that's when the race was on. I looked down and I was hammering away at 37mph- and I was out of contact of both Tom and the guy that was second wheel, who had also been dropped. I was still hammering, but it was over. He looked back to make sure we were still there, and turned into the school. I was expecting the rest of the ride to ride me down then, but that didn't happen, we'd made our getaway and the little charity ride had turned out to give me two great stories.

I have to give big props to Tom Danielson again, because he stayed and gave individual pictures with each and every person that wanted one. (see mine below). I was really, really impressed with how much of himself he put into the event.

I went back out, added another twenty miles, then ran a 6:30 mile on the track, packed it up, and went home, workout completed, and yeah, I had a hell of a lot of fun too.

Branford Shores Fall Classic

2011-10-19T19:26:00.000-07:00

I'd last raced two weeks ago, and with Ironman Florida three weeks away, a road race hardly seemed like the right thing to be doing.

The lead-in didn't exactly help, either. I'd swum 3K yards on Friday (a marathon swim for me) and time-trialed the Hammerfest course after, then spent part of my Saturday chasing a TDF pro on a sprint (more on that in a later post).

My Sunday workout called for 2:15-2:30 of running, and as I traded emails with @poycc I was trying to figure out how to make that work with a 4 mile road race on basically the same course as the Hammerfest. I mean, how do you pass up a race you can run to on roads you train year round on ? Well, by staying focused on your main goal, but one of my weaknesses has always been thinking I can train for one thing and still race whatever distances and disciplines I want.

So I came up with a plan. The race was starting at 10AM so if I started running at 8AM, I could meet Michael at his condo at 8:45, we could run over to the race and sign up and then continue running. By the time I got over there and signed up I had a little over an hour under my belt. I registered quickly, then I went out and ran entire course. It was windy- really windy, and running the course really helped to give me an idea how to attack it in a race.

I got back and because I wanted to have 1:40 in the bag before the race started I did another 10 minutes on the Branford Road Race course. The I went and talked to John Courtmanche, JB, and Michael. While doing that I realised that Bart Wasiolek was there. Any chance of a win was gone, because Bart had also brought one of his Quinnipiac runners with him. And the guy that I had beat by five seconds at the last race was there as well.

Well, I was not expecting to win anyway. After having run an hour and forty minutes, with my calves sore from the ride the day before and my achilles tender, I was going to be lucky to hold my own.

We started out, running downhill, and I quickly settled into a lead group of 5 people, Bart and his college runner, the guy from the other race, a teenager and myself. I was in the middle, running hard as we took the right into Indian Neck and as part tried to open it up, I followed him in the college guy, hoping to make it a three man race. I couldn't believe how fast I was running, totally out of the box at the start.

We went through a mile at an almost sick 5:41. I mean 5:41 is pretty slow, but not when it's a 5:41 mile within a two and a half hour run. I was running as hard as I could, but I still fell into fifth place as we ran along the water. I was unable to hold off the other two guys and Bart and the college kid ran away. As we turned onto Bayberry I was locked in fifth, bout I felt like if I picked it up I could move up into third as we took the first turn and then headed up the short hill.

And I did. The five man race became two two man races, two runs off the front and the teenager and I fighting it out on the back of the course. I was convinced a shirtless JB was going to blast by me at some point, but it never did happen. Instead, at each hill, I would open a small gap on the teenager, who was tall and lean, kind of the anti-me. Then his long stride would close me down.

At around 3 miles we got back to Pawson. I was running up the hill and pulling away, but with a mile left to go I didn't want to blow myself up. So I moderated my effort, which may have been a mistake. I got very little separation and as we broke back onto the main road, I ended up behind. I would spend the rest of the race there, locked in fourth place. I tried and failed to gain ground.

Finally I could see the finish line and my goal was simple. Break 24:00. For some reason though, a flag maybe, the clock was obscured. So I ran my ass off and what do you know ?

23:59. Sub-6.

That felt good.

No, it felt great. I ran home, got my bike and road back to Lenny's and as they called my name I walked in, took my trophy, and rode home.

I ran 2:35 total. So I accomplished everything I wanted, and more....

How to Not Get in a Bike Accident

2011-10-14T20:28:00.000-07:00

My long ride last Sunday had plenty of adventures and while the overall ride was a sort of disaster in slow-motion (time-wise- 100 miles in an anemic 5 hours 13 minutes), it had one shining moment. It came when I didn't smash into a car.

I was about an hour into my ride, feeling really good. I was headed up Route one at about 23mph. A blue Honda went by me, going barely faster than me, a line of cars behind him. He appeared to be looking for somewhere to turn, but I had the feeling, since he had no signal on and with the way he was kerning the car, that he wanted something on the other side of the rode.

I was wrong.

When we got the entrance of the Mobil station, he turned right. No signal, no warning, no breaking, just that old man 'I'm going here' turn.

At first, I ran through the 'how do I avoid hitting this car' protocol. I had maybe 2.5-3 seconds before impact, and what a long amount of time that is when you have to start calculating.

Instinctively, I hit the breaks, and because I had my race wheels on, I immediately started to fishtail.

Bad, meet worse.

The fishtail, uncorrected, would lead to a crash. So I admitted to myself that there was no way- none- that I could veer right with enough speed to avoid getting hit and therefore I should hit the car instead.

The clarity that came- the relaxation- when I admitted that yes, I was going to be in an accident and it was up to me to have that accident on my terms, allowed me to focus.

I let go of the breaks, and the straightened out of the fishtail. Step one, that crash was off the books. I was still going to hit the car...

Or was I. I'd ruled out squirting around the car on the left because of the traffic- that line of cars- but the fishtail had me pointed a bit left. I looked down and I was still going 20 mph, so I went.

I didn't think, just went. Missed the back bumper by a good 6 inches.

I turned to give the guy the finger and a mouthful of frakitutudes and he was oblivious, smoking a cigarette and looking straight ahead. No idea he'd almost ended my ride 4 hours early, wrecked my bike or run the risk of me putting a few K of dings in his car.

I fought the urge to go back. I had another 80 miles to ride.

And that was the important thing. Accepting that there was no way I was never going to get to the end of my ride is what ultimately allowed me to do just that.

On Long Rides and Long Runs

2011-10-08T20:30:00.000-07:00

Last week I rode 100.0 miles in 4:59:30. On my training wheels. That was a tremendous adventure, full of memorable events, including a frenetic last 29 minutes where I started 50 seconds off a 20 mph pace and somehow rung 1:20 out of the last 10 miles despite plowing through two knee-deep puddles and doing some almost Lance-worthy off-roading.

Today, I ran for 2 hours. Map My Ride gave me some questionable, on the shoreline gps data (a lot of workouts show up short her on the shoreline). I ran a solid negative split of nearly three minutes after running a very solid 1 hour and 1 second out before turning around and coming back. I drained a bottle of hammer nutrition and one flask of EFS nutrition.

I never felt bad. I never had to take a dump (yes, this happens on some long runs), I never felt bloated, and I never faded. I do have to shout out to Bear McCready. His music was the fuel for my run today, as I just listened to BSG seasons 1-4 the whole run, and damn, that music makes me solid. It's the perfect blend. It doesn't send me off the deep end like Linkin Park, and doesn't lull me to sleep the way Alannis does.

The point is, the 5 hour ride was an adventure and an effort. The two hour run ? Just another workout. I went out, I ran, hit the head, grabbed two scoops of Hammer Nutrition Recoverite, then went to my son's soccer game, where I had to convince him that yes, he wanted to play, not just watch.

Now, I've done some three hour runs this year, so I know what even longer runs feel like and it makes me stop and think.

I've come to the conclusion that as an athlete, I'm a better cyclist than a runner, and maybe that's true. But my running has really come together in the last month and maybe instead of fighting the idea that I'm a good runner, I should go with it, what with IM Florida coming up next month. After all, the Ironman doesn't end with a bike loop, it ends with a marathon. Maybe being a runner is a good thing. Maybe being a good runner is an even better thing.

So the fact that I can go out and run for two hours and it's just a punch the clock effort, that's a good thing. Let me save the aggression and the passion for the bike, where I need it, and let's run like a professional at IM Florida. I'll have a better race, maybe even turn in that 3:20 my coach thinks I'm capable of...

Tommy Sullivan's Run for the Ribbons

2011-10-06T20:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I rode 100 miles and then ran 25 minutes.

This morning I was planning to get up and run up to two hours starting at 0700. I had it in the back of my mind that I might still go and run the race this morning instead of doing my long run, but I wasn't really planning on it.

I got up late, which means about 0645. That's still plenty of time to feed the cats and make the coffee, eat some banana and get dressed. Still I was psyched when Michael D'Addetta emailed and suggested starting at 0730 instead. Mostly because it was pouring rain out and in the mid-fifties.

It was a great call. As I stepped out the front door to run, the clouds parted, revealing blue skies and sun. That was it for the rain and the entire 75 minute run with Michael and Mary Dunn was beautiful. I could have gone another 15 or twenty minutes, but I knew the race was at 1000 and I had over an hour to get there. I'd decided to run it after all.

The point is that I'm training for Ironman Florida. Going and running a 3.4 mile road/trail race the day after a long ride makes no sense. I mean what should come after a 100 mile ride is a long run, maybe 2 hours. So there was no way I was going to rest up for the race. But I won the race last year so I wanted to at least go and run, which was the only reason I'd even been thinking about it.

So I changed from my running clothes to some race gear, hopped on my bike, rode over to the race and registered.

I was already warmed up, so I just did some strides and I saw a lot of the same people I saw last year. Then I saw one guy and everything changed. This guy was tall and thin, running shorts and a tank top. He had a massively long stride and as he warmed up, doing strides the same as I was, t was clear he was faster. He exploded off the line and covered tremendous ground each time.

Oh well, there was nothing I could do about it but run my race.

The race got off pretty quickly after that and I'd picked my line I wanted and surprise, I was very quickly out in front. I was not expecting to lead the race- there were cross-country kids and so on and I was pretty sure I'd be trailing someone. I wasn't.

The start is pretty much downhill, half a mile to the woods. I was chasing the pace car and for now this was my race and I was going to run it and take charge. I forgot about the fatigue of the 100 mile ride/run yesterday, the earlier 75 minute run, and I just kind of ran. When you are out in front, you had better run your ass off. Before I even got to the woods, it was clear that it was a two person race. I didn't look back, I never do, I could just tell from the sound of it. The guy I'd seen at the start, the one i was pretty sure was the fastest guy at the race, was on my back, within 2 seconds.

We headed into the woods, and I had the lead, and I ran with it. I think in the woods, the shorter guy has the advantage. That shorter stride makes it easier to make adjustments and find footing. I ran hard, but I felt like the guy was just marking me and I was expecting him to go by. And he didn't, and didn't. We hit a mile at around 6:30 and still I was in front. In the woods now, I was pushing every advantage and shaving every line, running straight at trees, sailing over clusters of roots. I was still thinking the guy was going to blow by me, until I finally starting thinking he was just marking me because he assumed I knew the course but he didn't.

And that was how I ran the whole woods. And then we broke out of the woods and were back on the road and quickly hit the 3 mile mark. I ad two seconds on him at three miles. No way I was going to gold onto two seconds.

And no way I was giving it up, either. The course dips downhill after three mies, then ticks up to the finish. I tightened the screws as much as I could and just kept running up the hill. I wanted to win, and I didn't want to be caught.

And I wasn't. Kudo to the guy that held me within two seconds for three miles and end up 5 behind me for running a tough race and keeping me guessing. He pushed me the whole way

the coolest thing ? Two days later I was out running at lunch in New Haven and John Courtmanche pulled up alongside me and said "you didn't just win your age group, you won the whole damn race !" I will always remember that....

Niantic Bay Half Marathon

2011-09-29T19:48:00.000-07:00

I haven't raced very much this year and for the most part, when I have raced I've raced long. A marathon, a half, a 20K, a ten-miler.I didn't have a great 20k, but I felt like I could have a decent race at Niantic Bay.

First, the conditions were favourable, that is hot and very humid.

No, hot and humid are not prime running conditions. However, I tend to respond well on hot and humid days, partly because of the way I'm built and the the degree to which I can dehydrate before suffering a significant decline in ability, and party because I carry a bike bottle full of sports drink with me.

It's the biggest thing that separates me from the other A and B level runners out there. I'd say 'elite' runners, but I am not an elite runner. I am in that second level of competitive athletes and it is baffling to me that you would go out to run a half-marathon and not carry a bottle with you. I'm not talking about an ironman fuel belt with the little bottles that you see people wearing. Just a bottle- 16 or so ounces of whatever you train with- Heed from Hammer nutrition in my case.

I also carry a cliff shot for around 6 miles or so.

The race is tough in that you have to get off to a fast start. It starts in a remote parking lot which leads to a very wide starting line. Within 75 meters though it narrows down to a one lane road, while going uphill and through several turns. It widens out a little after about 500 meters, but if you aren't up front and on a good line, you're going to lose time, so you either have to run a fast first mile or risk running a really slow one.

This is tough, because the whole theme for me at this race is to pace myself. Still, I feel like you can blow up the first mile of a 1/2 marathon and still settle in and have a well-paced opening half.

I was running just behind the group with Jesse as we headed down towards the finish line and they were talking about why Jesse wasn't running with the eventual race winner, who went on to win by 4:30 something.One of the guys said 'Is it because he could drop you at 4 miles ?' to which Jesse replied 'he could drop me any time he wanted.' I looked at George Buchanan after this exchange and said 'We're too old to be running with this group.'

We went through mile one at some crazy fast time and then right away I started to back it off. I had to. I was planning to run the whole 13 miles, not run the first 11 and stumble through the last two.

I tried to pour some water over my head at the first aid station, however, all the water got grabbed up. I took a cup of Gatorade and dumped it down my back, although not over my head. Probably sounds gross, but you either regulate your body temperature or you don't.

By the time we'd taken the turn back of the main road after exiting the park, people were passing me. This is the hardest part of a long race, the part where I am being passed by people I ultimately want to beat and have to force myself to just let them go. George passed me, Maureen passed me, and another guy passed me.

I got mixed up in a group with a guy that seriously into green- green racing flats, a green singlet- and three other people. The woman who would eventually finish third also got mixed up into the group as as we were running towards the sea wall, I clipped the green man's heel slightly because he got off his line as I was trying to run right in the middle of the road, just to the right of the cones that were dividing the road. I mumbled an apology and thought he didn't notice. Then the woman clipped his foot and she apologised and he went off on her about how sorry didn't cut it.

Both she and I moved away from the green man. I lost pace with her for a bit. We went into the back section, where the only real hill is. I just couldn't really hold on to Maureen, George, and company and I was kind of back and forth with the green guy, but I also wasn't concerned. I was watching that group's back because I had a plan.

As we came out of this little back loop we were headed back on the long straight road that parallels the park. I was waiting until we got back in the park to make any kind of move. George starting coming off the back, then reconnected with Maureen and the other guy, then started to fall off again. Last year I had passed George just passed the halfway point where you run by the finish line. I was planning to pass him again there. At each aid station I was dumping water (or if I couldn't get it, Gatorade) on my head and toros. At around 6 miles I took the cliff shot, tossing the wrapper at the aid station and heading into the park. It seemed like there was five or six of us in a group, sort of jockeying. We went past the finish, around and back out. I tossed my now empty bottle, 16 ounces of fuel consumed. I passed George, put the hammer down a bit and started to separate from the other guys around me, for the most part. One other guy was running ahead of me, closing on Maureen while I was still marking time.

Once I hit mile 8 I steadied again. Yes, I was running out of time with just 5 miles left, but I still had my plan, and no one was getting away from me. I was slowly picking up the pace as we headed back out towards the sea wall. For two miles I just slowly closed on the people in front of me, starting to feel good, my stride lengthening, and at mile 10 as we went into the back loop Maureen and the guy between the two of us were getting closer. Other people were falling back, losing time on me. We broke through the loop and back out onto the straight away and I made my move.

I passed the last guy between Maureen and I and then pulled up next to her right at mile 11. We exchanged brief greetings and then I was off again, chasing the two guys in front of me, trying to hold off the people I'd just passed.

I was back in the park soon after, and before I knew it I was at mile 12. I took as much water as I could get and dumped it on myself and tried to zip up my Zane's cycling jersey. The jersey was so wet and had slid so low on me that when I zipped it up I felt like I was choking and had to unzip it again. The last mile was not easy. I was running as hard as I could but I wasn't catching the guys in front of me and I was little concerned about the people behind me. That last mile seemed to stretch out in the way the last mile always does there, whether it's the half or back when it was the marathon.

I got through the final turn and I knew no one behind me was coming. I was disappointed not to be able to catch the last two guys I could see, but I'd gone from mid-30s to 25th overall on the 2nd loop. Still, it's funny how much time 2 seconds a mile costs you between the guy in front of you (who ran 6:36) and yourself (I ran 6:38) over that half-marathon distance.

I put more than 30 seconds on some of the people behind me in just the last few miles, so my strategy to hold something back for the second loop, plus staying a little better hydrated, and just being an ornery runner, all kind of played in to help me have what I thought was only my second good running race of the year. Not because of who I beat or where I finished.

I finally felt like I ran a good race, and that's been way overdue this year...

Bridgeport Olympic Triathlon

2011-09-28T20:01:00.000-07:00

One word.Mosquitos.I parked my car across the road from the beach aviation area that serves as the transition area and finish line. I started waking over with my bike and gear and at first I thought I was imagining a bug on my leg. Reaching down and slapping I killed 3 Mosquitos.

This is how I spent the pre-race, whether it was getting marked, or waiting to go to the bathroom, racking my bike.

I got in the water early. I hadn't raced a tri since Hammerfest almost a year earlier. I had a very poor swim in the team 'race' in very rough water the week before. I needed a good swim, and by good I don't mean fast. The water was flat, eerily flat. I had a really good warm-up and was feeling very confident. The first bout was far from shore, while the tide was out.

I was pretty calm for the start of a swim, and finally as the last stragglers were getting out of the water, and why are there always stragglers, who put their warm-up ahead of starting the rac on time, I actually wanted to start. When I say that I'd had a bad swim the week before, it was crazy bad, really choppy seas and insanely rough. We did this little two loop swim and one of the team members coordinating the race tried to stop me from doing the second loop. So I'd gone out in the sound a couple of time after that and had very good swims, and finally the race started.

The men in the first wave tried all strategies- swimming, running, and everything in between. I kind of watched it and then didn't. I sort want to concentrate on keeping my heart rate down at the start of the race and that requires me to focus on, well, me. Finally our wave was off. I started swimming right away. Because the first buoy was a long way off, it was a nice wide spread and I had no problem getting my own water and working out to the first buoy and making the turn. Frankly, I was surprised at how easy getting there was, how unlike my last crazy swim. Because the course was counter-clockwise, the low sun was in our eyes, and if there is one thing the course could use more bigger, it's buoys. Still, there were enough people around me that I could follow the course, about the halfway mark I found myself coming up on the stragglers from the first wave.

There's not a lot to say about the swim really, because it was surprisingly unremarkable..

I got out of the water after yet another swim that I'd feared would be a disaster yet was completely ordinary.

I could probably end the race report right there. I needed to have a good, confident swim, and while my time was crap- 28 minutes- I did just that. Now the next athlete with a worse swim time finished 20 places behind me, I still got out of the water and on the bike feeling pretty good, relaxed, and knowing I needed to Hammer.

There could not be a worse bike course for me. Board flat with a bunch of turns, including two 180 degree turns. I mean, I still have a good ride there, and I like the relentless time-trail nature of the course, but honestly, all I could think of as I was plowing through the five loops was that I had not done enough time-trialing this season and Leopard-Trek jersey or not, I was not ready for this course.

Unlike most races, this course is kind of a mess from the get go. The very top guys from wave one are half a loop ahead of you, and the people in front of you are everywhere- and that's just the first lap. Starting with lap two, the chaos is all-encompassing. You can sort of tell who you are competing with, but not exactly. I have to say that I did get passed a few times, and that there was some drafting, but overall, I didn't feel the drafting was as bad as it has been in past years. I think having two engaged officials on the course really helps. On A few occasions I got re-passed by people who just couldn't let it go that someone else was out-riding them, but for the most part it was one of the cleaner races I've ridden. Of course, my bike split totally left me aggravated. It was in the 23 mph area, which is not really acceptable on a flat course. I definitely felt that a lack of racing really hurt me on the bike, where I was working hard, but lacked the fluidity, or the anger, or whatever the hell it is that makes me good on the bike.

I had left transition with only a few bikes on my rack- and my rack was full of people around my age. So when I came back in on the bike and had changed the equation quite a bit, even though I was pissed about the ride I had, I was satisfied I could do my job. I threw on my hammer nutrition cycling cap, grabbed two gels and started running.

Right away I was catching people, both guys in their 40s, and a lot of younger guys. There's something about this run. The sun always comes out and it gets as hot as the proverbial and because it's a 10K, people start walking. I'm more of a long-distance athlete and the thought of walking while running a 10K is kind of- well, whacked. As I headed down the path, the athlete wearing number 1 came back in my direction, who knew how far ahead- only he was walking. You want confidence ? #1 is walking and you are walking. That's confidence.

This is my part of the race. I am looking for one thing at this point, numbers on calves. I have to pass those 40+ men that were in my wave, and the more younger men I pass as well, the better. Still, for all the run is flat, in some ways a long flat 5k with long sight lines, especially when the summer sun comes out and starts beating down on you, is formidable than you might think it would be. I drenched myself at the water station at the quarter point turn around and then simply went back to the task at hand.

The second loop was a lot like the first, only more congested. More people were on the run and I wasn't always sure if I was passing or lapping people. I didn't care either. If you were in front of me, I was passing you, no questions asked, no answers given. I hit the turn around again and somewhere I pawed #[1, I think, but I have no idea when. Heading back, I was not thinking about how thrilled I was to be finishing another tri, but rather I was thinking about how damned far away the finish line was.

Good thing too. I passed a couple more guys in my age group and then I got close to the finish line. There was a guy with grey hair in front of me and I was thinking this guy could be in my age group. I really was spent but I found the turbo and passed him 50 meters before the finish line. I was so spent I just stood in the finish area until a volunteer go me a folding chair and a wet washcloth and I then happily sat in the finish area, wet washcloth and ice on my head, the best damn seat in house as I watched people finish.

The guy was 50+, so i'd saved embarrassment, not a place. Just as good.

So I was back- as a triathlete. And liking it....

Hammerfest Triathlon

2011-09-19T20:49:00.000-07:00

I might actually be getting back into a rhythm of racing every other week or so.

Hammerfest is a great race- my wife Margit is one of the organizers and she works very hard on the race. But the race has been a difficult one for me. It's the week after the Firmman Half-Ironman, so I've come into the race frequently still in recovery mode. I've also struggled with the swim almost every year- I can usually count on having my worst swim of the season there- blinded by the morning sun and crushed early by the competition on the long slog out to the first buoy.

I spent last night working on the race's website and went to bed around 12:15 AM. I'm not sure what time you should go to bed the night before a race, but I'm pretty sure it's not 12:15 AM. Between then and when I got up I snagged maybe 4 hours of sleep, so by this morning I was really wondering if if today was really a good idea. Certainly after having such a good swim at Bridgeport, the thought of being exhausted, still from whatever respiratory infection I'd had, and jumping into the sound, well, I didn't want to have my usual Hammerfest swim today, because my next triathlon will probably be IM Florida and I wanted to go in confident.

I dropped Ian off with Margit and started prepping for the race- setting up my transition area, followed by standing in line for the bathroom, listening to 3 Doors Down.

The water was stunningly flat and then I got some great news- the swim was going to be clockwise this year, because the ramp the athletes usually run up at the end of the swim had been smashed by the hurricane. So instead of a long swim out to a far away buoy followed by a turn into a blinding sun, we'd be going out to a very short buoy, maybe 100 meters, and then turning to the far bout with the sun at our backs. Granted, the second buoy was far out and the swim was going to be 6/10 of a mile at least, but that first near buoy was going to be huge. We were second wave and as usual when I am not in the first wave, I completely ignored the first wave after about a minute and started to focus on what I needed to do. I did notice some of the 1st wave men walking practically out to the first buoy.

Then it was our turn. I started swimming right away. A lot of the guys around me were walking, but I was getting comfortable in the water, staying relaxed, and unlike when we go out on an angle to a far away buoy, I was not losing ground to the walkers. Now, when everyone started swimming there was a moment where it was a big mix with a lot of swimmers and I got a little skittish, but it didn't last. I made the first buoy easily and started straight towards the second one. Meanwhile most of the wave was swimming in an arc off to my left- I was psyched because I knew I had a better line than they did, which was odd. It's not like me to pick a superior line anywhere but in the grocery store.

The swim out to the far buoy was unremarkable, which is how I like it. While I'd be faster if I was in someone's draft, the knowledge no one was going to kick me in the head was much better. I turned that buoy and sighting the next one was a little harder but I was still inside almost everyone else and very happy about that. I was halfway to the buoy when I realised I had to cough up so phlegm and that's exactly what I did. I had to skip a beat breathing, but it was worth it. I felt like I was swimming really well for me, and before long I'd made it to the 3rd buoy and turned. That was the hardest part of the swim. I saw people in front of me but they were spread out all over the water. I thought I saw the buoy on shore and aimed for it, but it was a real crap shoot whether I was actually going in that direction. I'd asked Margit to make the second wave green caps, because they are easy to follow in the water. I had to cough up some more phlegm on the way in but it was really one of the most low-stress swims I've had, and although I haven't see the splits yet I think I had a good time.

Margit told me I looked like I was working too hard though.

So I went into the race thinking I shouldn't even be out there. I came out of the swim in the mix with the other green caps thinking the opposite, that I had a shot. I knew though, the bike was going to be a challenge. I had snapped off one of my aerobats riding a week earlier and had just made some additional adjustments to the new ones Saturday that I would only be testing out in the race. I had a fair transition, but my feet were cold enough that I did something I rarely do- put socks on. So my first transition was probably slow.

I know this bike course better than any other course I race, with IMLP coming a distant second. I time trial it, in both directions, maybe 10-12 times a year. But the two loops are completely different. I like the first loop the best because you are competing with people in your wave and the one in front of you and you can make sense of what is going on. I got out of the box quickly and wasted no time passing people. My new aero bars were set up with aggressive time trailing in mind, and that was a good decision. The lack of sleep was not. My hamstrings were shredded, and I could tell as I struggled to find the right gear. Also, as usual, I was breathing hard. Still i was making up ground. Not a single cyclist who came out of the water today passed me on the bike, unlike Bridgeport. And for the most part I was able to ride down everyone in front of me.

Down by Linden Avenue I thought there was some wind, but I cam around the POYCC and pushed hard up the hill and really felt like I was having a good first loop. Then I came up on a guy in his 50s and after a little bit of work, I passed him. I kind of felt like he was riding in the middle of the road, but I'm picky, so whatever. I thought that would be the end of it. After all, this guy had started in the wave behind me, out swam me, and my job was to bury him along with everyone else I passed. I was passing a lot of guys with 20s and 30s on their calves and that was making me feel good- guys that were 3 minutes ahead of me and I was already passing them on the first loop...then the guy with the 50-somthing on his calf passed me. This would go on for the rest of the ride. My hamstrings never stopped hurting, or feeling spent is maybe a better term, but I just kept the turnover up and tried my best to really keep passing people. There was some traffic on the course and I had to do a few dodgy things along the way. As I went by the Armory I established a better angle on the turn and go in front of the 50 something. Then he passed me again....

The second loop of the bike is different then the first. A lot of other athletes have fed out onto the course so you are interacting with 1st lap riders, trying to maintain your sight on second loop riders. It's a tremendous challenge to stay focused while still outputting your best cycling. I was mostly affected, however, by the continual back and forth with this older guy. I was getting really annoyed. I just do not want to cheat, not under any circumstance. But I was having to slow down after being passed, and it was costing me time. I passed him going up the hill past the POYCC, really powering up the hill. It's a downhill on the other side and as I went down to the bottom I went to go wide to avoid the manhole cover in the road, only I couldn't because the 50-something, in the middle of the road, was passing me. Now I was really annoyed.Again, my problem, probably, but when you go to move somewhere and someone is in your way it's aggravating. I actually fought a little here, but I had to let the pass happen. Then I waited. I passed him again after the stop sign, I think.

He passed me again.

This whole time I was passing other guys in their 40s, as well as 20s and 30s. This was the big moment on the bike. We came to the 3-way intersection before the middle school and I used stopped traffic to outmaneuver my shadow. That only lasted a short while and he passed me again.

I relaxed and settled back. Pounding the crap out of my legs was not going to help me, I didn't want to cheat, so I dropped off a bit. I started thinking about having a good run. I kept passing other people in my age group. Still, the opportunity to pass him would come one more time. I'd noticed some hesitation in tight spots, so I took him at the left-hand turn at the armory. It was a good pass, but thirty second later he passed me, and then another guy I had just passed passed me.

That was it, I was done. I rode into transition behind both guys. I'd had a good battle with this 50-something but now I was ready to run after a top-ten bike.

As is tradition in the Hammerfest, my feet were numb when I came into transition. I wedged my shoes onto my feet, put one cliff shot in my singlet and tore open the other one and started taking small amounts from it. As a rule, I take an entire shot at once, but I didn't think that was the right move, so I started milking it, and I found that worked a lot better. I started out, getting by several people that had ridden in ahead of me leaving transition. There were plenty of guys right in front of me, and I started picking them off. When I run, there's none of the emotion that fuels the way I ride the bike. On the run, when I catch someone, I expect to drop them and that's it, it's not arrogance, it's just math. There's not the drama and speed of the bike. I was passing mostly guys in their 30s and 20s, but there were some 40-somthings. I was disappointed to get down to Bayberry and hook a right- the out and back at the end of the road was not in use, so I had a short run to make my catches. I saw Dick Korby and ran him down and then as we were way out there in the back a kid yelled 'Hey, you're Ian's dad.' Not how I expected to be defined on the race course, but it's true. There are a few short hills in the back of the course and I felt like I was making good time catching people.

I saw Scott Roth coming out of the loop you can see Branford Point from, so I that gave me a good idea where in the mix I was. I rounded that loop and bore down on two guys in front of me and the next thing I knew, taking occasional small portions of my cliff shot, I was back on the main road and headed back to the Owenego. I had four guys in front of me and the third one had grey hair. I'm at that age where a guy with grey hair might be in my age group, or worse, older, and either way, they have to be caught. I reeled in the first two and was on the final short downhill before the short uphill that leads back into the finish and that was where I passed the grey-haired guy. On his leg was a 48 and I knew that I had to catch him. Once I was in front of him I just turned up the run half a notch and took it home.

Not my best stuff- only top-10 on the bike, but I was 16th individual overall, 3rd in my AG instead of my usual 4th.

I'll take it.

New Haven Road Race

2011-09-11T20:22:00.000-07:00

No excuses.

I firmly believe that, that if you step up to the line, and you start the race, you have to live with what happens. I was sick- I'm on antibiotics now, but that's not an excuse for why I ran slowly, and hey I had some fun along the way...

The last time I was tripped at the start of a race and went down was the Troy Turkey Trot in 1983. This was my first road race ever. I remember telling Rich Goyer that sometimes people get tangled up at the start and bam, someone tripped me coming off the line. I'd never been tripped since.

Well, I can't say that anymore. I ran a long warm-up before the race, almost two miles, because I was trying to get my adrenaline up. No excuses- but yes, I felt like someone had whooped me pretty good. My legs were dead, my head was fuzzy, and a long run was just the ticket to get some positive energy flowing again.

I got on the line with same goal I'd had last year. Negative split. Now, this wasn't going to be one of those glorious kick-ass splits. This was going to be one of those OMG I finished the race negative splits.

I snuck into the starting corral at the last minute, maybe 5 rows back, just about where I belong on a good day. this was a good day, but no one but Margit knew that, so I was was right where I wanted to be. JB started the race with a confusing two command start. We all reached down and started our watches, even me, because hey, negative split. I took maybe two steps before someone behind me clipped my foot, my right foot. Clipped it good. I went down, careful not to reach my arms out . I tucked my arms in and let myself hit the pavement. I've had a lot of practice as a ball sport athlete taking falls and after one dislocated wrist and one dislocated shoulder I got the message that the chance I was going to break my fall with my arms was not as good as the fall causing a serious injury. So I went down, sustaining only one set of cuts on my left hand below the pinky. I really do fall well.

The thing is, your instinct is to scramble immediately back to your feet. This is not the right thing to do. When you first go down, everyone else is as surprised as you and if you go to pop up you will likely only trip and stumble again and take out more people. Instead, give the people around you a second to adjust, then stand up.

This is the most scary moment. The New Haven Road Race is not a small race. It's a freaking national championship and there are literally thousands of athletes behind you, people who potentially could trample you. It takes discipline not to panic.

Of course, I like a little contact. I am, at heart a ball sport athlete. Getting dinged makes me feel more like 'yeah, now it's on'. Which doesn't explain why I hate being touched, much less hit, while swimming....

So I waited about one full second then I popped up and started running. No one else tripped over me. I had some cuts on my fingers, but other than that I was fine. It was on to the first mile of the race. Of all the first miles in races I run regularly, New Haven is at once one of the easiest- flat, flat, flat- and hardest, because the pace for the first mile of a 12.4 mile race tends to be overly aggressive. It's also a smorgasbord of everyone you know, running in front of you, behind you, past you, you past them...

I saw Dave Pantin and Maureen Terwilliger and a bunch of other people I knew and I went through a little over 6:00. For New Haven this is great. I've gone through the first mile under 5:45 and that is the set-up for disaster. Still, for the physical condition I was in, it was a fast mile, made harder by working my way up after going down. Still, my goal was to run the first three miles at a normal race pace, and to negative split, both of which I felt possible after this first mile. I ran a solid second mile, going back and forth with some people but Dave and Mo both started to pull away. We hit the hill by Southern and I tried not to run hard up it, because I knew digging into the energy stores this early on a short hill was bad. By the end of the third mile, I knew I was not running that well, and I was right in that area, between 3-4 miles, where if I continued to push too hard, I would end up completely spent by the time I hit the bridge.

I came off that hill, and we headed for Route 10, and as I got on route 10 I could feel the cord starting to snap and people getting away. I let them go. I knew better than to fight in here, but it was tough as people I knew that I should be showing my back went by. I was dumping lots of water on my head and at some of the intersections I was seeing people I knew. It's always disappointing when people call out your name while you are running slow. I feel embarrassed. I saw the one Milford Road runner guy that had passed me duck behind a pillar of a pedestrian overpass to pee, and despite that allowing me to gap him, he was quickly back on and then passed me. I was watching people's backs now. I hadn't given up or anything. I was trying to keep people close because in this race, I have come back on more people more often than any other race.

We went up the 'hill' on Route 10, which is actually a bridge rather any kind of natural rise in the terrain. I took a cliff shot just before getting on the hill, not wanting to eat while on the climb but wanting to toss the wrapper as soon as I was done. I lost a little more ground in here but I watching two people's backs, Maureen and Dave. I was holding my own about 20 seconds behind them. As I got to the bottom of the hill and then the aid station, I saw one of the top runners walking. This would become a theme- attrition and plenty of it. It was hot and humid, but not that bad. as I went under the 95 ramp underpass and then turned the corner by those waterfront condos, I saw another person walking. He then started running again. As we hooked the next left, still short of six miles, yet another person was walking.

I found myself mostly running alone, in between groups, being passed and yes, now passing people. I was running alone and suddenly someone bumped my elbow. Now we were running up a four lane street, which was closed to traffic, and I was in the middle between the two travel lanes and a guy bumps my elbow as he goes by. Out loud I said 'How much f*cking room do you need ?' I mean, it was just a graze really. It's the concept. If you can't run by my when I am in the middle of the damned road running all by myself,and not touch me, there is just something wrong with you. I'm not a good luck charm or a leprechaun.

I went through the 10K, according to my watch, at 42:47. I have no explanation for my reported 10K split time except that it's wrong. Maybe I can't read, but I don't think so. Whatever.

Right after the split, you go under 95 and end up on Long Wharf. This is normally one of my favourite parts- bands, plenty of race support, you get a chance to gage the wind. However, the tide was max out and with all the nasty remains from the hurricane the low-tide smelled worse than I have ever smelled low tide there. It was nauseating. Chris Schulten ran up alongside me and we chatted about how we were both having poor races. I was really struggling, and then something happened. I hit a water station, dumped three waters over my head and the sun went under a cloud. I realize now I was running a fever at this point and couldn't really think straight, but as soon as my body temperature, and especially the temperature of my head, dropped, I felt great. I turned that corner off Long Wharf and started running, and I mean, really running. It was a completely different experience- people started coming back to me immediately. Dave and Maureen had gotten completely out of site but I was still looking for them, and I was no longer being passed by people- maybe one or two now and then, but not groups of three as had been the case before.

The course has a few short hills in here and then it gets flat again, and what I really took away from this section was how well I was running. Everything went pretty well until the water station between 8-9 miles. I was being tailed by a woman in black shorts and singlet/jog bra and just as I got to the water station she cut right in front of me and took the water I wanted and needed to knock back my fever. This was bad enough, but as went along the line of water bears I went straight for the last one, and she decided she wanted a second one and even though I was lunging for the cup she got there first. I was pissed off. I think she was so obliviously inconsiderate that it just never occurred to her that a) passing someone in the water stop is rude and b) after taking one cup of water away from me, she should have let me have the last one.

All I said was 'Really, really ?'

We kept running and I got ahead of her again and waited. The next rest area is just before the hill into East Rock. I had to work a little too hard to keep myself in front of her, but I had a plan.

This is a big water stop, with tables on both sides of the road, although the road is wide. you go for one side or the other. I was watching over my shoulder and once I was convinced I knew which way she was going, I broke that way. I let another lead into the water stop. He got the first cup. I slowed down just enough to take each of the next 6. I got them all and by the time I exited the station, I was literally dripping wet, since they all ended up on my head and chest.

It was petty, and probably wrong. But it felt good.

I got up the hill and then started down it, holding back. The girl in black started to pull away and I couldn't keep up. But I was still watching in front of me and both Maureen and Dave were just visible. I was holding my own and maybe clawing back a few seconds. I went by the bagpipers, then I was in the turn and running uphill slightly, looking for that final real turn in the race and the 11 mile mark.

Then you just run, and run and run. I was slowly closing on Dave, and Maureen was pulling away from him, and the people around me were coming back to me more than they were getting away. I finally forced myself to take a second cliff shot at about 10.7 miles, way too late, but still good experience for my next long race. Someone was handing ice out of a colander. I grabbed the colander, out it on my head and ran, then tossed the colander away.

It's such a struggle that last last section. I went through the bend and I was in the mix with four other guys and I was fading. And at about 12.1 miles there was Will Graustein and he was yelling 'Pump your arms alan.' And that was all I needed. I was fading, I was at the end of a long run that was never supposed to be anything but training and guys were going to beat me and then Will said pump my arms. So I pumped my goddamned arms.

I almost caught the guy in front of me, and I beat four other guys by 1-5 second. So instead of 180, I finished 175th.

But hey, I'll take it.

Another year, another New Haven.

Life is good.

Lake Placid Marathon, Part II

2011-07-04T19:37:00.000-07:00

So I'd dumped my bottle, which was dry. I'd taken two Clif Shots, and i'd rounded the cone. I started chasing immediately. I was far back, too far back. I was in the high teens, I wanted to be top ten.

At thirteen miles, with the backs of three men right in my sights, I was at 1:31:34. That left me over 3:05 for the marathon, which wasn't cooing to work. My suspect Achilles tendons and hamstrings, sore for the last year since I hurt the right one on a training trip, all felt good. I opened it up and caught the three of them on the way to the fairgrounds. Next was a younger guy, in white, backwards cap on his head, who i'd seen was struggling as far back as the first turn around at the out and back. I went by him and quickly dropped him and set my sights on the next guy.

This was one of the great running race moments I have ever had. From mile 12.5, I simply turned up my effort a notch and the people in front of me dropped back, and they had no answer. Granted, there was still a guy twenty minutes ahead of me, running the kind of time I was once capable of. But I looked down the guys in front of me, I saw my family out there cheering me on, and I responded. When I got in the fairgrounds I was running hard. I passed one guy at t his point- I think it was here- who would not fall off the pace though. This was important, but not yet.

Popping back out of the trail grounds you almost immediately hit the downhill. I think a lot of runners miscalculate the downhill a bit- it's a serious downhill. You have to attack it, but you can't open up too much. You are pushing 15 miles and if you tear down the hill you will tear up your quads. So you really focus on form, and let a long but reasonable stride carry you down the hill.

You break around the corner and you are on the out and back again and there are a lot of half-marathoners going the other way, and spectators. The ski jump was out of sight at my back, and now I had a shadow, a runner in back pacing me, not like the first half of the race but different. He's using me...

And oh, you're lapping peole. Yes, they are probably walking but you've run 10 more miles than them. The people on the other side of the road are also quite a few miles behind. I reach across the middle of the road and sap hands with Darren McGeary's brother Dean, he yells 'Al' and then it's back to chasing the guys in front of me. From across the road a woman yells to me to drop my arms.

I am probably carrying them high. I know. Still, I have run 8 miles farther in the same amount of time as this woman has, and low so she can't hear me but definitely out load I say 'Bite me.' I am a completive person....

We passed another runner here, a marathoner, and now it was we. Not I. I was a two-car train, reeling people in...

Not what I wanted. I wanted to be working alone, but I wasn't, and there's nothing you can do in that situation but try to run your own race and is there a time it's ever harder than when someone else is working directly off your pace ? Not really. I mean, dictating the pace is easier in some ways to trying to follow someone, but like in a bike race, you would prefer to share the work and the guy behind me was not showing any interest in sharing the work. He was letting me do it all, breaking what little wind there was, giving him the opportunity to sit in behind me.

We head out on the out and back and I was in a really good rhythm. I picked off a couple more runners, and then went by the 'traditional' out and back.

That's right. Part of avoiding having you climb all the way back into town (why ?) is that the second out and back is rather severe out. The out on this route is always longer than you think. I was tracking four guys in front of me, which seemed like two guys too many. We ran and ran and ran. I know the entire length of the road, having ridden and run it all the way out to where it dumps you onto 86.

The turn around cone for the second back was within sight of 86, and the extra two guys I didn't think should be there ? They ran to the cones and kept going, then raised there arms and starting talking to the people camped out at the turn. Grrr....

Yeah, I was less than thrilled, having chased them down for no reason. But I went around the cone and set my sights on the next guy in front of me. The 19.0 mile mark was before the turn, and the 20 mile mark after. I went through that 20 mile mark and I felt really good. I have always been aware of that mark, and although I don't put any stock that there is anything special in 20 miles, I have struggled at that point.

I passed the mark and nothing changed. I was still running faster than the people in front of me, I wasn't struggling, my plan of a cliff shot every 40 minutes was working well, my stomach was good, my legs were holding up.

I was passing people now- occasionally, that were running pretty well, just not as well. I think my next pass came at about 21 miles, then there was more climbing, then I made one more pass on the back. There were still half marathoners all over the road, and on the other side plenty of marathoners headed out. That was the thing that changed after we hit the turn around, and I'll comment on that out of order. As I saw the people I had already passed, I was surprised by how much time I had put on them- no one was catching me.

No one but my shadow, that is.

I decided to attack on the hill back into town, figuring I would have 2 miles to either recover from a failed attempt or hold him off if I did get a gap.

Simply put, it didn't work. I attacked going up the hill, crested first, found myself very slowly gaining ground on the first woman, who was clearly losing time, and then I was passed. There was almost two miles left I think, when he made the pass and although we both started to close down the woman in front of us, he actually passed her, while I just kept getting very slowly and unsatisfyingly closer. We went through the turn-around from the first loop and then up the road you come down on at the start of the ironman bike. Although I was closing on her I was losing ground on my former shadow and I was spent.

I climbed the hill and headed for the speed skating oval and it seemed like maybe I had one more catch in me, but in the end I didn't. I ran as hard as could around the oval, the nearest guy behind me three minutes and change back, but the woman in front of me maybe 20 seconds in front.

I came around the oval, just like the ironman, and I felt pretty good. I was not blown up, I'd run a smart race, and while I was unhappy two people close in front of me were not held off or reeled in, as I crossed the line in 3:02:30ish I knew I'd run the second half of the race with about a 3 minute negative split, and that was something to build on.

I decided then and there I want to go back and do it again next year....

But what did I learn ?

Lake Placid Marathon, Part I

2011-06-22T20:21:00.001-07:00

Let me start by saying that I have never been so relaxed at a starting line in Lake Placid.

That's probably because for the first time in my life I was actually standing at the starting line on pavement, as opposed to say, trying very hard to tread water in Mirror Lake.

This was huge really. I was at the starting line, for a marathon, and I wasn't nervous. It's kind of ironic. Despite my questionable swimming skills I usually get in the front at Ironman, so you could say I have about the same 2000 people at my back in that race as I did at the marathon and half-marathon. The difference is in a road race I can get off the line in a manner that encourages rather than inhibits self-preservation.

That's right. You basically can't hold a marathon outside of Boston or New York that isn't also a half marathon, and three-quarters of 2000 runners were in fact wearing the blue numbers of the half versus our bronze numbers. It's the same start and for most of the first loop we all run together. This presents a real challenge. After all, running a marathon and a half-marathon are totally different endeavors. I was doing my warm-ups and evaluating the top end of the half-marathon guys and it was pretty clear- there were some fast guys, college kids and whatnot, and that was going to make for a fast start on Main Street.

Not just a fast start either. A fast uphill start. Starting basically in front of the top end of the oval, it's a sharp uphill to start out and then a more gradual uphill through town and around to the top of the lake. If you look at the road around Mirror Lake the top of the lake is higher than the bottom, at least the road around it is. If you are doing IMLP, remember that the out on the second out and back at Mirror Lake is uphill going out and downhill coming back.

So it was going to be a quick start, and I didn't want to get sucked up in that. As a potential top ten marathon finisher, I thought I should start right on the line, and I did, but I didn't want to get drawn into the melee.

Overall, I did pretty well. I'd lined up my start up the hill and into town and of course, started running too fast.

I've always consoled myself with too-fast starts at every marathon by telling myself that I could either get the time earlier or later and might as well do it early, or that I could overclock the first mile and then still settle in and be fine. Only I know that isn't true. If the first mile is too aggressive it can throw off the pacing for the entire race. While it's true you should be able to run the first mile pretty much as you like and still recover a normal pace, that requires even more discipline than simply running a solid but unspectacular first mile. And the later option has fewer risks.

At about 3/4 of a mile I saw Darren McGeary, one of my closest friends from high school, on the right side of the road, up past the end of Main Street. I heard him yell my name and kept going.

I hit the mile mark at 6:34, for an uphill mile 1. Now, the worst part of this is that Mile 2 is a downhill. I could have run 6:34 easy on the second mile, but instead I had to back it off on the downhill mile to get back closer to seven minute miles- running hard uphill then easy downhill. Classic bad move. But still, I was able to use that downhill mile to get the race under control. I found myself chatting with one of the half-marathons about how he was carrying his arms too high (more on that later) and trying to run our own races.

This was definitely an issue by this point. Most of the athletes were either wearing race belts- more of us than the typical race, or they had their numbers pinned to the side of their shorts despite repeated instructions that numbers MUST BE WORN ON THE FRONT. (Have I mention how much I loathe the D-Tag and the 'wear on front' BS that comes with it ?) So people were going by me and I was struggling to evaluate half-marathon or marathon. Why ?

That's actually a good question and not one I can answer without admitting that no matter how hard I try to be a good athlete, a smart athlete, I am competitive. I shouldn't have been evaluating people at all, but I was, and yes, it's easy to fight the urge to let someone go when they are running the half. BUt not when they are running the whole marathon. Such as the woman that went by me between 2 and 3. I did check her out and instinct told me, as she put a major hurt on my pace, that she was going too fast. Of course I wanted to believe that....

We plowed out of town and I did a remarkably good job of keeping my desire to haul some ass down the big hill. That hill is a quad-ripper going down and there's no point that early in the race putting a hurt on your legs that you can't recover from.

Then we were on our way out of town, a lot of us, and I knew there were about fifteen marathoners in front of me, mixed in with dozens of half-marathoners. Someone settled in next to me, and despite my dislike of talking while racing, started talking. We started off with how his number was on the side of his pants, where I couldn't see it. He was a full-marathon runner, and he was from the Coast Guard Academy, just graduating. He asked me what I was planning to run as we went down the bottom of the hill and out onto the first out and back- the ironman out and back, and I said under three hours. But somehow, I'd slipped to a point that by around 6 miles, I was running a solid 7:02 pace. This made no sense, but that was that. He was looking to run 3:10. I was about 4 minutes over my pace. He was like 6 minutes under his.

It's a lot of pressure running with someone else in a marathon. You really want to do your own thing and you really, really don't want to talk. But you do. The kid- I mean at just over half my age, I think I am required to call him a kid- was nice. We joked about how when there are trees growing in your fields, you haven't planted crops in a while. I took water at the aid stations, but then just dumped it over my head. I was carrying my own bottle and it would last me through more than 12 miles.

I tried to encourage this guy to run his own pace, but he said he was going to do what he could while he could, which to me is not a great strategy, but hey, I have tried it more than once.

On the first loop the out and back ended at the same place, or about the same place, as the ironman. I had warned the guy I was running with that the 'flat' out and back wasn't. I've heard a lot of people suggest this section is flat, and well, if you take it as a whole, it's not far from flat. However, except for maybe the first mile, it's mostly rollers, and several of the hills are significant as far as what happens to your heart rate when you climb them.

There were a lot of people in front of us, and I wanted to close enough to the out and back to start counting the marathoners. I was steeling myself- at a plus 7-minute pace, it was going to be a lot.

That damn turn-around is always just a little farther than you think it's going to be. I counted more than a dozen guys and one woman in front of us, and the woman was at least 4 minutes ahead of me. That plus the pace I was running gave me pause, but I wasn't worried. I was drinking my electrolyte fizz, and taking a cliff shot every 40 minutes.

Some of the half-marathon people started coming back to me on the back of the out and back. This was a part of the course I was determined to stay disciplined on. There are a couple of short but decent hills and I was absolutely not willing to push. I was drinking regularly for the bottle of Electrolyte Fizz I carried on the first loop- I highly recommend trying some, and taking a gel every 40 minutes, which to this point meant taking one.

I still was running with the other guy from CT and he was holding up well, but I knew the hill back into town was coming. I hit the ten mile mark at over 70 minutes. I didn't panic- not yet, but on the other hand, I had a lot of work to do.

We turned back onto River Road and as soon as you turn, you are on the massive hill that so defines the run in the Ironman. That hill breaks people, that hill coaches tell their athletes to walk up. I attacked it, not hard, but steady, keeping my pace close to what it had been. The guy who had been running with me disappeared off my back. I would see him going the other way after turn-arounds but that was it.

I crested the hill and I felt pretty good, but I was behind and I knew I needed to be steady for a while longer but start taking some risks soon. I was quiet a ways back.

By 12 miles, the leading marathoners including the first woman was on her way back out, half a mile ahead of me in her case (and more for the top three men). I drained my bottle, reached the turn-around, and in about 15th place, tossed the empty bottle on the ground at Margit's feet. I waved to her and Ian as best I could, but as I rounded the cone i was looking at the people in front of me, and I wanted to start catching them.

Which I did....

Kick It Duathlon- April Race report

2011-05-01T20:16:00.000-07:00

Sometimes a word can sum up a race.

Mud.

That sums it up pretty well. Michael D'Addetta and I had decided to do the race and despite the rain and the lack of warmth. We'd talked about waiting to decide to see if it was going to be nasty, on the idea that we wouldn't go if it was.

And we each drove there anyway. Michael earlier than me thankfully, as I got lost on the way there.

It was a mess. I ran some of the bike course as a warm-up and it was wet and muddy. I had no idea how wet and how muddy, or what I was in for. Not that I would have been able to do anything about it. I was as ready to go as I was going to get, but warmed up would have been an exaggeration...

We lined up for the start on the grass by the pavilion that served as the staging area. It was a two loop run, a mile loop, and there was nothing fancy. There was a little conversation ahead of the start and then we were off. It was still raining, and damned wet as we headed across the grass.

It didn't take long for the first fall, but ironically in a race that was filled with ups and downs and mud and puddles, the fall came on almost the only section of pavement on the course. One guy, wearing a lake placid marathon and half-marathon t-shirt, had gone off like a bomb at the starting line, running like he could win the race in the first few hundred yards. He roared down the pavement, which was a sharp downhill. At the bottom was a 90-degree right-hand turn. He successfully completed 0 degrees of the turn and went down.

He scrambled back up and was right back in the mix. In fact, I admired his attitude, which was 'did you see that ? I really took a fall, huh ?' In fact, it was a little too much in the excited vein. He was bleeding, but nothing too severe. I was in third place pretty quickly, and running very steady, so I started to move up, finally passing everyone and getting to the front. I went back by the pavilion in first and opened the lead up, running steady, but not too hard.

While I'd tried to stay on dry ground the first loop, I gave up the second loop and just went through puddles with no concern.

I got back to my my bike, jumped on, and worked my ass up the first hill, which was not too steep to force me to get off. It was quite a little climb but then you went down and around, over some planks covering a stream, and back to a bigger hill.

This hill was not worth climbing on a mountain bike with fat tires. It was so slick that any attempt to climb with authority immediately rewarded you with wheel slip, so I leapt off the bike and ran up the hill. I climbed back on and hopped back on the bike, still in first. The wooded section dumped you out on a long wide 'trail' that was rutted from some (past?) life as a vehicle road. I'd lost first place coming out onto here, and as the guy went by me on an Allez with drop handlebars and skinny grey tires. It would be charitable to even call it a cyclocross bike. It was a bike with 25s for tires, nowhere near fat.

This part of the course was an out and back and after the guy that had passed me got to the turn he went back the other way, he asked me if he'd got the turn right. I was tempted to say no, but of course I said yes. I was really struggling. The trail was basically packed mud, wet mud, and puddles, with a lot of skull-sized rocks mixed in just to make sure maintaining a straight line was impossible. I was losing ground fast to this guy. As I went by one of the two race directors I said 'Hey, they let someone on a cyclocross bike onto the course.' I was trying to be cavalier about it but let's face it. I went out on the bike course in first and now I wasn't. Grrr.

After we left this track, the really technical section of the course started. It was a sharp downhill, a 90 degree turn, uphill, another sharp downhill.

Og course, you can never lock your wheels on the trails. The split second you lock a wheel it takes a sideways vector. So I was going too fast and hit a root with my front wheel. the wheel turned sideways, and eventually completely backwards, knocking my front derailleur out of service. I went right over the handbars, landed on my right arm and shoulder and hip. I saw rocks- more skull-sized rocks- all around me, but I hit nothing but dirt. I scrambled back onto the bike again and I was still in second.

Before I knew it I was on the second lap. I climbed the first hill out of transition and got to the top and my heart rate from the climb was somewhere it hasn't been in- who knows ? What I do know is that as I keep moving I started to think I was going to throw upThat never happens during a race. I got back to the hill you have to run up (one of two actually, the second being right after where I fell) and I ran up it. I was slipping even on foot.

The guy on the cyclocross bike- yes, the application said 'fat tire'- was kicking my ass. He hit the turn around on the out and back way before I did. I had two guys breathing down on me and this was enough to get me to stop trying to find dry ground to ride on and go right through the puddles.

I was in third when we got to the back section and as we went at one of the big downhills I did something I never do. I told the guy in fourth right behind me to go around on the left.

Trust me, it wasn't altruism. I calculated the odds- what would happen if I went down and he went into me, how much time would I instead lose by letting him by. The truth is, he and the guy right in front of me in second I wasn't worried about. I had beat them both on the first run, and I would beat them on the second run.

I told him to go around left and he went around left. I did not fall on the downhill that had claimed me as a victim the first time. I then climbed the resulting uphill on foot while they rode it. They didn't pick up any time on me.

They were leaving transition together when I got into it. I used toe clips in the race, so it was easy out and I started to close on the pair. The leader was nowhere to be found. We went down around the killer turn that had eaten the race's first leader and I quickly passed the pair, exchanging pleasantries and moving into second. For the second straight duathlon, I ran really well on my second run. The guys I passed were gapped right away. The race leader was nowhere to be seen.

I continued to pick the run up, came through the back section, passed a volunteer at a 90 degree right hand turn saying to be careful as people had fallen down. I mad e it through, finished the loop and was out on my second. I was spent, but I ran hard, plowing through puddles and mud- it was not an easy run. The ground was soft in lots of places, there was mud in most places. Every step that was not on pavement was hard. But I felt good and before I knew it, I was on final approach. The same guy was at the corner warning me to watch the turn.

He also told me I was in fourth. 4th ? WTF ?

I was in second. I crossed the line and I did go right to the race director and ask about the bike. She said it was a mistake that the race winner had been allowed to race on it. It would turn out the only award was for the male and female race winner.

Oh well. I didn't give her grief. I just pointed out it was the only cyclo-cross bike in the race. She agreed. I wasn't asking her to do anything, and I didn't push it. I even said 'Hey, he still beat me.' But...

I waited for Michael D'Addetta to finish, then I hosed off my bike, changed my clothes, talked to the guys that finished 3rd (lake placid half-marathon/big fall guy) and 4th, and headed home.

Let's face it. I am not a mountain bike rider. I know that. But I had fun, I finished second, and I raced really hard on a crappy cold and rainy day. Normally a race does not replace a long run, but this one was much better.

I'm glad I went, and hopefully I can go back again some time.

Way Too Close

2011-04-29T20:11:00.000-07:00

You know as a long time distance athlete I've come to terms with the fact that I 'play in the road'. We're not so much in the road as on the side of the road, but I do the vast majority of my training on the road.

Close calls are pretty common, what with cars passing less than a meter away from you. Sometimes even less than a yard. But 'close calls' are usually not really that close. And running is much safer than bike. You get hassled now and then but it's your job to live with it.

A lot of days, especially when I ride, I'll come home and tell some story to Margit, who will just roll her eyes, maybe because I'm not just living with it as much as I should.

I took the day off Friday because you could tell by Tuesday that it was going to be a beautiful day. This time of year, with a lot of days off stored up, I start using Friday for long rides. However, I have a marathon coming in six weeks, so deep down I know that I need to be getting in long runs. So I got up planning to run 90 minutes.

Before I'd left the house I'd upped that to two hours.

Then I got outside. It was more beautiful than I expected. I had the music cranking in my new headphones, I felt really good, I was setting a decent pace and I was running in my Zoots with no socks. The sun was beaming down and I decided I'd run to the end of 146 and back- giving myself one hour and ten minutes to do it.

The run was going really well. I got to the centre of Guilford, ran through it, and headed towards Madison, looking forward to climbing that nice hill that 146 ends on.

There's a 4 way intersection at the base of the hill. It's about 90 seconds or two minutes short of the turn around- you can see the top of the hill where 146 runs into Route 1 and ends. I was headed for the intersection and as I always do, I was evaluating the traffic. It's a four-way stop and there was traffic in the lane opposite me, and a truck coming from my left, an 18 wheeler.

I looked at the truck and was a little annoyed. I was going to get to my stop sign before he did- and I'm a pedestrian, so there was no question I'd have the right of way. So would the car coming from the opposite direction, I thought.

But instead of slowing down, the truck was, I thought, speeding up. Trying to beat me to the stop sign. Or the car or both of us. So I sped up. I was going to assert myself here, not let this guy take advantage of me.

So i was running hard and I got to the sign and-

That was when it hit me. The truck wasn't trying to beat us to the stop sign.

I was about to hurtle into the intersection. I stop short. Just short.

The truck didn't stop. It didn't slow down. It just barreled through the intersection at about 35-40 mph.

I threw my water bottle at it, hitting the back of the trailer, up high. And then watched the spinning bottle, gatorade spurting out of it, thinking not about how close I'd come to being run over, but rather about how I was losing valuable nutrition.

As I started to run up the hill, three people stopped to ask if I was all right, which I thought was kind of funny, because it's not like the truck did hit me. But it gave me an idea just how close this particular encounter was.

Way too close.

It also made me realse that maybe, just maybe, I've developed adequate discretion out there. Or at least I know enough not to mess with an 18-wheeler.

Brian's Beachside Boogie

2011-04-17T20:38:00.000-07:00

Well, this is alway a big race for me. I've won the race twice, raced against a lot of pretty good athletes for a small race, and it is usually a good early-season test of where I am.

Where I am ? That's an interesting thought. With a June marathon and a November Ironman, it's hard to decide where I am, or where I even should be, but with only 3 road races under my belt all season, where I was, in my opinion, was not in race shape. A lot of it was this weird winter. I have a good base but I would say the speed just isn't there. Speed comes from racing and I haven't been.

So I was looking forward to racing. And I wasn't.

I saw Charlie Hornak before the race and barely grunted a hello. I just was't feeling it. This was going to be a hard race. It was cold, overcast, windy.

The race started without a lot of fanfare, just a countdown from 10 and a horn.

The start of a duathlon can be the hardest part. The instinct to go out, to blow up that early part of the first run and establish yourself, is always there. The funny thing about that though is the more people go out hard, the less inclined I am to match it. If I have a chance to establish myself as the guy, or one of two or three guys, then I do it, but if ten guys are going to push it early, then I am not going to.

That's what happened. A lot of guys went out hard, and just settled in with a group of about ten people. I knew a lot of the guys in the mix, and two or three exploded into the front, including Mark Hixson. My goal was to just hang in fifth or sixth and wait for the bike to see where I really was. As we got around half a mile into the run, past the campground, I started to move up. There was one young kid who'd gone out hard and I'd expected to fade, however, after falling off slightly he recovered.

I hate that. Making an evaluation of someone that's wrong. But as Eric says 'all you can do is do all you can do'.

I felt better than I expected on the first run, although I was fighting back and forth with one guy to come in from the first run around that sixth spot. I came in and hopped on my bike and I was gone.

Early in the first loop I had to deal with two guys, one who had passed me (for shame, alan!) and one I was about to pass, fishtailing and nearly crashing into each other in the sand.

I was aggravated to have to slow down.

After that, there was no place changing out to Meigs Point. I caught sight of the people in front and behind me at the tear drop. I saw Charlie Hornak was standing in well and chasing.

I also saw a number of people with either aerobars or horns. That's something that people have learned from me. I was the first guy to stick aerobars on his bike and take it to Brians and now a lot of people do it and that's cool. It's an advantage and it's legal. I hauled as much as as I could from the Point to the woods, and then I started the hardest part of the race for me. I set the bike course up but I'm not a great mountain biker and I lost time in the woods. How much time ?

After emerging from the woods, Charlie passed me on the grassy backside of the course. Maybe this should have engendered some panic, but I always get caught by someone back there, and it's about discipline for me. Staying close (but not drafting) and waiting until I get back to the part of the bike that my strength is on (the road).

That's exactly what I did. Charlie led me back through transition but then I passed him on the harder sand. I thought I'd solved the issue, but the Charlie surprised me but he passed my after the point, really going for it, full out. At this point, my race was with Charlie, and I knew it. As long as he was in front of me, he was the only guy I could pass.

We headed into transition one behind the other and went of transition shoulder to shoulder. He said to me 'I don't expect to be able to hold on' or something like that and as a teammate I should have said something like 'Nah, you can do it, come on.'

But I didn't. At that point, we were competitors and we know each other.

Instead I put the hammer down, trying to set the fastest pace I could maintain. Now, I was chasing Mark Hixson. For the rest of the run, he was my focus, and at first, I thought maybe, maybe....

Nah. I'd closed the gap on the run but he crushed me on the second run.

I ran well, my second run felt like the best part of my race and I definitely did what I had to do. I was surprised to not fall apart that second run, after so little racing, however, I was also disappointed. Despite cutting 18 seconds off last year's time, I was just 6th, and a distant third in my age group.

Not a great performance, but I want to give props. Everyone who finished in the top ten had a really good race. It was fun, and it was a wake-up call for me.

I'm looking forward to what the rest of the season has in store...

Shamrock 5 Miler (Madison)

2011-03-20T20:12:00.000-07:00

Finally, my 3rd race of the season.

I have to say, I really wasn't looking forward to this. When you race as seldom as I have this year, the idea of stepping out and running a 5 mile road race on a Sunday morning when I should probably have been running for two hours. After all, I have a marathon to run in June.

I got there with my son Ian in tow, and I'd managed to convince him to actually run the kid's race. That was great. Ian has been all over the map about fun runs and probably the best part of the whole experience to hear him still saying later that day that he a) wanted to run more fun runs, and b) it would make him in better shape. Getting him ready and signed in and handing him off cut my warmup down, however, it was worth it to have him out there (out in the back, to be honest) and running- and enjoying it.

I got my warm-up in and then I was standing at the line talking to Maureen Terwilliger and Martha Merz. Yes, the Martha that was in DC is now back in CT. We were all downplaying how well we were or weren't going to run.

Ken PLatt came up to me before the race and asked me if I was planning to swing my number round from back to front. If you know me, you know this is a pet peeve. One of the reasons that I hate the B tag is that it is supposed to be worn on the chest in fromt of the body. When are the people who make these things realise that a good portion of us would be caught dead before we'd drive four pins through a singlet we've paid more for than we pay for our clothing. (Disclosure: I spent more on training gear last year than actual clothing. I know. Lame, right ?)

I did indeed swing my race belt round to the front.

And then we were off.

As I get- more experienced (read older)- I get more frustrated with young kids that bolt out at the start of a race. I know, it's youthful exuberance. It's also silly. I can see it in a 5K, but we're talking about a 5 mile road race. I expect a little discretion but of course that never happens. The kids go nuts and you are left trying to figure out which ones are bat-shit crazy and which one or two are going to eat your lunch and make you look like the aging man you really are.

I know every inch of the course. There's one short loop on the way out that isn't part of most of our rides or the Madison Triathlon, but not much.

It was clear from the get go that two of the guys were simply going to crush me. Somehow I managed to move up from 15th to 3rd- briefly- at about half a mile. But I could hear two guys behind me and as I made a left hand turn about a mile in they were pretty much on top of me....

Given the shape I was in at the time, I knew better than to try and get into a back and forth 20% into a race. I let them go and concentrated on what Eric says 'My job is to do my job.'

Maureen was close behind me, but she wasn't really pushing, which was good. We got out along the sea wall and of course it was cold and the wind was blowing in, but not that hard. The run out to end of the loop was pretty uneventful. We down two blocks and then cut back in, dropping back down on the road that we had been going out on (think a lollipop with a little candy top) and that's when things got really interesting.

The people coming out were all over the road, and I had tow guys and Maureen close behind. Now this is the same road along the seawall in Madison I ride on all the time and I know every twist and turn of it, but we were running against the meat of the pack, who were about 1/4 to 1/2 a mile behind us.

Me being me, I went on the offensive, basically picking my line and challenging anyone who really wanted to dance to not move. Everyone moved. I worked us all the way over to the right on the tangent, and then as we headed to that small bridge over the fen, which is a nice wide arc, I decided to switch the side of the road. It was the right time to make the move, and we easily negotiated the traffic.

One guy who had been pushing me from behind was right on top of me now and I went to the middle of the road because it was safer, if not the best tangent. At one point a car got on the course but he wisely stopped so we could get by and then I got passed for the last time in the race.

I was sure another guy and Maureen were going to pass me as we made the left-hand turn, but they didn't, and now I was starting to feel the effect of racing something longer than a 5k, especially after riding nearly 3 hours the day before.

We made the right and the next left and that's the home stretch- we were headed home now, running past the golf course, and all I could do was run my ass off with two people bearing down on me the whole time. I just wasn't going to give any ground though and I ended up beating the guy behind me, and winning my age group, by 3 seconds, and Maureen came in a few seconds after that.

I was glad to win my age group and finish 5th or whatever. But the funny thing is, the warm-down after the race was really better than the race itself. Running a 5 mile road race is not going to help me reach my goals. I went back out with Martha and took her through the Madison Triathlon 5k run. We ran it pretty hard and doing that after a short break was even better than the post-race beer. It made me feel like I hadn't, I don't know, wasted a Sunday run with a short race.

That's pretty out of the box thinking for me...

Shamrock 'n Roll 5k

2011-03-08T19:15:00.000-08:00

Sometimes in the early season I'll come up on a race that I just dread the thought of. My plan this winter was do at least three races before Shamrock- New Year's Day, Sweetheart, another 5K and then this one.

That didn't happen. I hadn't raced since New Year's Day. I almost posted here the day before the race, but I didn't want to. It would have been negative, about how I was overweight, how I hadn't been running and was going to have a slow race. What would be the point ? To set low expectations that I'd probably then meet.

Sounds like a dumb idea.

I did show up on Sunday morning at the race with a friend, Michael D'Addetta, determined to treat the race like any other, specifically like I was going to be able to go out and have a decent performance, even though I didn't believe it, not one bit.

I did a run out and up Prospect but no one was warming up there. I had not checked the website to see if they had changed the course again this year. They had. I won't complain. Last year I went into this race feeling much like I did this morning, and about 3/4 of a mile into the race I was in so much distress from going hard that I felt like I feel when I start to struggle in the water, and that never happens running. I wasn't just out of my comfort zone. I was out of the zone where I can deal with the stress of race.

So I came back, hit the head again, and then headed for the starting line. The one thing that is a pain in the ass about this race is the starting line. You walk there from Toads and the walk to the line is also the first oh 300 meters or so of the race. So as you are trying to do your strides, the masses are streaming towards the line.

The funny thing is, while this is a pain in the ass, I actually like it, because I pick my lines (and they may not be straight) and I run those lines. I've yet to run into anyone, but it certainly gets your adrenaline up.

Finally it got so congested that there was just no point to it. This race always starts a few minutes late, but finally 1900 of us were ready to go. It was very tight on the line.

Then we were off and I was racing again.

I expected it to go badly, for the stress of race pace to crush me in its unyielding fist. But it didn't. We hooked the first left and there was George Buchanan and a few other guys in front of me. I was back and forth with the ironman guy that looks like Sean Penn. I kind of locked in on him and hung with and suddenly we were running by the museum and we were at a mile. I ran that first mile in about 5:40.

It was strange. I was in control. I knew if wanted to avoid a complete meltdown, I had to control my pace and run 3 steady miles or as close as possible, given that the third mile of a 5K after a long layoff will always be a challenge.

We hit the halfway point and then started back towards the finish and I knew I was slowly loosing ground to people behind me- but slowly. I was still running with good form, there was some serious downhill coming (the race this year brining you in on much of the last mile of the New Haven Road Race course. I was slowly being passed by people, and Sean Penn had pulled away, but I was holding on and not only that, I was clearly in position to run under 18:30 when I was expecting to run over 19:00.

I was in a mix of four guys and I was probably 3rd of the four. What I had no idea about was that Charlie Hornak was right behind me and if it had been 3.4 miles, he might just have caught me.

In the end, I was thrilled. Not about running an 18:28. For me an 18:28 kinda of sucks on a flat course.

No, I was thrilled about the way I felt.

But what really made me happy was this. I drank my free Red Hook, then the free Red Hook that Michael got (he was driving), and then my Recoverite. Michael gave me a ride home and I got there and found myself locked out. So what did I do ? I ran another 45 minutes- ran hard. I didn't even feel the beer. I had a great run, and ever since, I've felt like I was ready to go. The race I thought would crush my confidence instead stoked me for the season. I can't wait now....

Beers on Tap: Super Bowl Party

2011-02-05T11:16:00.001-08:00

One or more bottles of each will be on tap for our Super Bowl Party:

Lake Placid Ubu Ale
Saranac Irish Stout
Palm Belgian Ale
Bad Elf
Very Bad Elf
Insanely Bad Elf
Brew Dog's Bashah
Harviestoun's Old Engine Oil
Harviestoun's Old Dubh
Harpoon Catamount Maple Wheat
Heavy Seas Below Deck
*Heavy Seas Holy Sheet
Allagash Black
Duvel Special Edition Tripel Hop
Espresso Oak Aged Yeti
Bel Haven Wee Heavy
Sinebrychoff Porter
Avery's Samael's

and coutesry of @poycc
Samuel Smith Imperial Stout
Guiness Extra Stout

*not really as I'll probably drink this tonight

2011 Polar Plunge

2011-01-14T16:03:00.001-08:00

Once again it's that time of year where Eric asks me to jump in some freezing cold water to raise money for a worth cause and challenges everyone to collect as much as they can in donations. If you would like to support my plunge effort you can donate on Eric's site through PayPal or send Eric a check as detailed below. Please email me to let me know what you're donating so I have a running total- and THANKS !

Without further cajoling, I'll let you read on. You can also catch this on: http://www.hodska.com/plunge11.htm and note- as a bonus, I'll post pictures Margit takes of me doing the deed (which I hate, I hate cold water) on my blog (http://rochpunk.blogspot.com).

Hi All,

It’s, once again, that time of year. No, it’s not the holiday season I’m talking about. It’s that time of year when I attempt to recruit a number of you to join me in January in jumping into Long Island Sound. “Why would you do something that stupid?” you may ask if you have never done this. If you have, you are probably thinking right now “I was dreading this letter!” Let’s start with a brief history of the event. In 2005 when the Tsunami hit the south pacific, I thought that we could use the Plunge as a way to raise charitable funds for the American Red Cross, which we did quite well. In fact, that year, we organized simultaneous Plunges in Cleveland, New Mexico, and California. In 2006, we continued this terrific annual event, but decided to make it beneficial to someone closer to home. I wanted those that donated to see directly where their generous funds were going. We raised money for a young boy battling cystic fibrosis. The funds we raised helped offset some of his extensive hospital bills and paid for a well needed vacation to Disney. How cool is that! In 2007, we continued the trend of helping children directly in need by donating funds to a family with overwhelming hospital bills due to testing and procedures with their two autistic kids. The money this time paid for the kids to attend a leading autism medical specialist in Boston, one that their insurance wouldn’t pick up. In 2008, the plunge was in honor of Jacob Rainey, a young boy from Stratford, CT battling Kawasaki’s disease. Anyone that attended the plunge that year saw first hand from Jacob and his mother Kathleen how this simple event had so positively affected their lives. In 2009, we raised funds for a family from Farmington whose mother was hit by a drunk driver while riding her bike and has been left a quadriplegic. Last year, the benefit of the Plunge was a young man from Trumbull who was also struck by a drunk driver and left with insurmountable medical bills.

This year, we will be raising funds and awareness for Help Our Military Heroes (HOMH) www.helpourmilitaryheroes.org, a charity set up by my good friend Laurie Hollander who has sons in the military. The funds will benefit disabled veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, many of whom have lost limbs, by purchasing vans and vehicles for these disabled veterans and have them adapted to each soldiers needs. According to Laurie, "Vans cost from $15,000 to $35,000 each which is an incredibly imposing sum of money for many vets. We make sure all the money raised makes it to the vets." I feel this is an extremely important cause this year (they all have been) as we can easily forget that we still have young soldiers over in the Middle East fighting a war for us daily. This is something that is to easy to lose track of, especially as we deal with domestic issues now like the recession – BUT, it’s important that we don’t forget this and that we do our part to support our soldiers. In fact, Laurie said that if we raise over $4000 from the Plunge, she will go in sans swim suit! OK, maybe she didn’t say this but I feel $4000 is a solid goal anyways.

I realize it’s a pain in the ass to raise charitable funds, so at the very least, we are still raising awareness to this cause just by participating or coming out to watch. The goal is still to try and raise a minimum of $100 each. In the four years that we have done the Plunge, we have raised over $64,000, thanks to all of you who have contributed and/or participated. One of my favorite things about the Plunge is the way that it makes those attending smile – even those of us that are stupid enough to Plunge.

If you plunged last year, you need to come back out this year as you were jipped. Last year was close to 50 degrees and sunny out. You want the real deal – the single digit, snow on the ground, wind whipping New England winter weather!

Here is the official information on the upcoming Plunge for:

When: Saturday, January 15, 2011
Where: Southport Beach on Pequot/Beachside Avenue (Exit 18 or 19 off i95)

Even if you are not plunging, please come down, support the event and watch us plunge, even if it’s only me.

Please e-mail me at ehods@earthlink.net if you are planning on being there so I have an idea of a head count.

Each plunger should make an effort to raise $100 to be donated to “Help Our Military Heroes”. You can send checks to me, bring them with you to the plunge, or donate through paypal at www.hodska.com . If you donate through paypal, please send me an email informing me of this, and note it in your paypal donation so that I can then keep track of each individual donation. Email Eric if you want details on sending him a check!

Morning Spin: Nickelback Shuffle

2010-10-28T03:49:00.000-07:00

About once every two months I get caught in a situation where it's late- close to 6AM- I need to start my workout and my Apple TV is not connected to my media server (a mac pro).

That's what happened today, so rather than waste time fixing the problem, I just did a simple, but hard, workout.

I set iTunes to shuffle my collect of Nickelback songs and started up my spin. here's what I did:

1 song warm-up in small ring 15
shift up to big ring 23
1 song per gear, starting with 23, shifting down to a harder gear 7 times (8 songs total) at race pace tempo
then shift back up 23 and sprint for one song
shift back to small ring 15 for 1 song cool down

This whole workout is under 45 minutes and really makes you work while taking you through all your gears. It doesn't have to be Nickelback, but you should do a random mix. It's nice as you go from gear to gear to have that variability of 3:30-5:00 per gear. Each time you do this, it will be different and I think that was the point this morning, to get something different.

Hartford Marathon- Praying to the Plastic Gods

2010-10-10T07:50:00.000-07:00

It's a lot easier writing up these blog posts when you have a good race, but hey, if you are going to blog your racings it really isn't fair to just blog the good ones, is it ?

Racing for the six straight weekend, I really had five good weeks. Even Firmman, where the time was a little slow, the overall result- second in my age group- was not bad.

I got up to Hartford almost 90 minutes before the marathon yesterday. It was a perfect day- the air was already warming up from what had been (for this year anyway) a cold night. I didn't want it to be cold- I'm not particularly subject to the cold anyway and I'm not one of those people you're going to see with a plastic bag and gloves when it's in the 50s (or ever. The day you see me with a plastic bag covering my torso at a road race, kick me in the knee and shove me off into the grass. If I try to get back up, kick me again...)

I was able to get about 6 rows deep from the start. For those of you who don't know the (latest) new course, it now starts up in the same area as the 5K and you blast down a hill. While this certainly is a fast way to start (and creates a course that probably has a very slight net downhill, might not be the start that everyone wants. I was back and forth early with Maureen Terwilliger, a great runner and a teammate of mine from Hitek. We went through the first mile under 6:40- a little too fast for me.

This would start a pattern. I ran the first 5 miles in the 6:40-6:45 range, which was a little too fast for me.

I was back and forth with a tall guy at this point in the race and a few times I settled in behind him and let him break the wind, but I don't really like running that was. At three miles a guy tried to pass me on the right just as we were about to make a right hand turn. I squeezed him off- the first of several times. I think I'm been doing triathlon too long because I cannot tolerate someone trying to squeeze by on the right hand side at a curb (or kerb).

I took a cliff shot at 4 miles and kept sipping at my heed. I recently got a container of Strawberry Heed and after doing two races with it I can say that the flavour or something simply doesn't mix with Cliff Shots or Gu. More on that later. At Mile 21 or so...

The miles ticked off pretty quickly. Five, six. I was back and forth with a tall guy at this point in the race and a few times I settled in behind him and let him break the wind, but I don't really like running that was. So I pulled even with him now and then and finally I dropped him.

Around mile 8, after going back over the overpass and heading out towards the out and back, I told Maureen that I was going to drop off a little bit. The pace was too fast. the conservative thing to do would have been to go out running 6:50s and then hold them.

Instead I ran a bunch of 6:40s and then had to take it down a notch.

My other long running races have been successful because I held back until late.

By mile 9, I could tell I was going to really be cutting it close on the three hours. The math isn't that hard to do. It's the same as the Ironman. The math becomes a sort of hostile entity when you aren't going fast enough, but you have to put it out of your mind because otherwise you have 'the thought'.

I only had 'the thought' once during the run. Around mile 11 I thought to myself 'Why did I want to do this?'

This is the killer question. Get this in your head and you might as well go home and stick pins in your feet. Why am I out here, why did I want to do this, etc...

In my defence, I did not spend a month or two training for the race. I did not, to be fair, train for the race at all. I had run 90 minutes outside of races only once in the preceding six weeks and that was the day before the New Haven Road Race 20K.

I had literally signed up for the race the day before. I mean, who does that ? This was a marathon after all, not a 5K or something. So I had to bin the thought a lot more forcefully than usual, because I didn't have the usual 'I've spent months getting ready for this, this is my big day, etc' to call on.

Fortunately, a fellow triathlete came up along side me and asked me which raced I'd done this year. I told him Lake Placid and then he told me that he was doing it in 2011 and that he really needed to work on it because the bike was his week leg. I gave him some advice based on what he said his weaknesses on the bike. We ran together for about a mile and then I let him go. I was definitely struggling as I went through miles 11 and 12. I took my Cliff Shot at 12 miles and ran through to 13 right on 7:00, which was a bit slow. But the miles were still going by.

However, I was not feeling good, and I knew why. It was ironic because I'd just read the article in ESPN magazine about intestinal distress. The brain does not want the body to stop at moments like this, but the body functions less and less efficiently the long you go without relief. And the brain can be a powerful thing- the inclination to never stop is so strong. It's a race. The idea that you'll spend race time sitting in a porta-potty praying to the plastic gods while people are burying you is so poisonous that.

I ran like this, debating it for about 40 minutes, then finally after downing my 16 mile Gu, I pulled into a porta-potty. It took me twenty seconds, and let me tell you, it was worth every second. I'll spare you the gory details.

After that I ran well. Yes, a lot of people had passed me but I quickly started reeling people in and I had three really good miles after that.There's no question that the plastic gods answered the prayer my bowels prayed that morning.

Mile 20 was the deciding mile of the race. I was starting to slow, but ironically, I was still passing people. As the wreckage accumulated around me- one guy running the wrong way with a number on, another woman sitting on the side of the road, her boyfriend urging her to get back up- I just kept that forward progress up.

I'd decided the day before that mile 20 would be a fuel-optional nutrition point. I wasn't sure I could take five gels- that's pretty aggressive. But it seemed like all my fuel stores were either exhausted or just off-line. I needed the calories, so I opened the gel and squeezed it all into my mouth. I immediately gagged. However, like I've done in numerous races, like I will never do again, I swallowed the gel. I am a stubborn human being.

I'd forced myself to go the bathroom. Good move. I forced myself to eat.

Bad move.

I continues to blunder forward. I was running pretty crappy, but I was still amazingly passing people, and I was basically not being passed. I couldn't believe it. I started thinking about visiting the loo a second time, but that well was dry. That wasn't the problem. I kept moving. I kept running. I-

I got two steps away from vomiting, and that's when I stopped running and started walking. Look, I never want to walk. Ever. Never. It cuts me to the bone just to admit that I walked. But if I hadn't stopped to walk I would have almost immediately stopped to vomit, and that would have ended my race.

I walked about 400 meters. People encouraged me by name to get moving again. Lee Bradley ran by me going the other way. Jamie went by me. I started running again before the on-ramp- or off-ramp, it's some kind of frakking ramp. I wasn't running hard and got passed by some more people and dropped by others, but as I ran back into the city and towards Bushnell Park I started passing people again.

I finished in a 3:07 something. As always when I'm embarrassed, I have not looked at the results. So yeah, I'm embarrassed at not breaking three hours, for walking a quarter of a mile.

I also recognise that I ran a 3:07 with no training at all, raced six straight weeks ending with this marathon, and hey, I got a big ass medal and a decent shirt. And I didn't have to wear socks thanks to my Zoots.

Verdict: It could have been worse.

When the Season Ends

2010-10-05T19:28:00.000-07:00

Every year I reach a point at the end of the season where it hits me. I'm not going to win a race this year...

I'll be in the middle of some workout one day and it will just come to me. I'm not exactly an epic planner- I sort of just plod along through the season, especially after my a-race is gone- so it's not about knowing that I'm planning to do races I can't win (besides Christopher Martins of course), but rather just a sort of intuition. That was last Saturday. I went riding with two of my Force 5 teammates and the weather had just turned colder. I had an OK ride, but not great and as always happens when the temperature first takes a 15-20 degree drop, I felt winded at the top of the biggest climbs.

But it was on the brick run afterwards that I had the thought. I was running easy, either because I was half-planning to race the next day or because I just didn't have much- I'd gone hard when I was sick earlier in the week, an unusual cold. But as I was running down along the water backwards on the Branford Road Race course I thought about how I just wasn't going to win any races this year. I'd come short at Brian's and really not even had any races that I'd had much of a shot at- I'd hardly raced before Placid and after Placid I'd run three USATF championship races- one a National Championship- and done three triathlons.

I'm not sure what I expect anyway. i'm 45 years old. Why am I even thinking about winning races at this age ? And what difference does it make. Maybe I'll never win another race...

Sunday I had two options, running 75 minutes at 0700h or waiting and running a 3.5 mile 'trail' race at 10AM.

I got up a little after 6, read my email, looked at the weather, played some games and decided that the race was better option. But I wanted to be good and warmed up, and Margit was going to meet me at the race about half an hour before the start so it wasn't going to happen before the race, not with day of registration and so on. So Itried something I had never done before.

I did Spinervals, Aero Base Builder III, an hour long aerobic-effort spin session from 0715-0815. I got a good spin in- my muscles were warm and loose, and I finished the workout ready to go.

I got to the race about half an hour before the start, registered, exchanged Ian, and started warming up.

Because of the spin I was in good shape. I just needed to do strides. I walked my stuff down to Steve Surprise's house and started doing strides. This gave me a chance to evaluate the other people that were there. While it wasn't a deep crowd- just about 150 people, there were two guys I were pretty sure I didn't have to worry about because I would have no chance of beating them, younger guys, taller, leaner, the right type of equipment. That took a little bit of the edge off.

The race started though, and it didn't go the way I thought. Right off the bat, I got an idea exactly how the race was going to be. There was one guy ahead of me- grey-haired, probably around 50, and me.

I settled in behind him as we ran away from Tommy Sullivan's and towards the park.

I didn't want to take the lead early, so as we followed the police car into the Supply Pond, I hung right on him. It was a good pace, I was running hard but I felt like there was room for more.

Then we turned off the road to the left, running across the field that leads to the trails just inside the Supply Pond. For some reason the other runner took the left hand side of the field which I didn't understand because the righthand side was the shorter path. I decided it was time to make my move.

I went by the guy guy on his right and burst into the trail in the woods.

I run well on trails, especially trails like the ones in the Supply Pond that are not technical. After attending Eric Hodska's Lake Placid Camp in June and picking my way over rocks, stumps, and running in stream beds, the flat lazy trails in the Supply Pond are not a challenge. I opened up my stride and started running with as much authority as I could, because that's all that trail running really is. It's running confidently.

I established my lead right away and put the hammer down. Now that I was out in front, just a day off knowing- knowing- I wasn't going to win any races this year, I knew there was only one approach that I could take, and that was to take the lead and run with it.

At about a mile, I got some bad directions and started down the wrong path. The volunteer blocking the path I was supposed to take seemed a little bit offended that I went the wrong way, but it was no harm no foul and I was able to get back on course without giving the lead up. After that I was on trails I know pretty well and I expanded my lead steadily. I never looked back, never listened for the other runners, but I could tell I was comfortably off the front. I still ran as though the rest of the field was bearing down on me though.

I made the two mile mark up a hill and started back towards the way we'd come in. I was feeling good, running hard in in control of the race. Then on the way back out a rotund runner who a late mid packer still only at about a mile said 'You're going the wrong way'. While it was true that I was going the opposite direction of the way the people headed out were going, the course is an out and back, and therefore I was not going the 'wrong way', I was just a lot faster than this guy. Still, having never done the race, I stopped, panicked.

That lasted about one second. Then my brain caught up. Was I running the wrong way ? Probably not. If I was, could I fix it by turning around ? No. I started running again, harder to make up the lost time and also because I was a little mad.

As I wound my way back I knew I'd made the right choice. I broke out of the woods back into the field. There was a van waiting for the first runner- me- and I followed it back onto the tarmac.

I went through 3 miles in 18:07. I then hit the 5K mark and from that point it was uphill. I moderated my effort until I could see the finish line and then I went for it.

I won the race by 25 seconds.

I got a nice trophy and a big shoutout is owed to @soundrunner as they provided a 100.00 gift certificate.

The lesson I learned is you can't make assumptions about the direction of your season until December 31st.

To re-inforce that, I decided to run the Hartford Marathon. Today- just 24 hours before the race.

Time to get some sleep. i have a marathon in the morning....

Last Big Workout

2010-06-26T04:11:00.000-07:00

In about 45 minutes we start our last bug workout, two loops of the bike course followed by a short run on the course.

Today's swim is already over. When was the last time I swam at 6 AM ? At Yale probably six years ago.

Bike Loop- Day 1

2010-06-24T12:02:00.000-07:00

Just some quick notes on the bike loop we did:

Horrible speed wobble at one point on the first of the two steepest descents. We actually stopped to check our bikes. Each of us thought it was just us. We all thought we were going to crash !

Eric says I am still pushing the hills too hard, like I think I have something to prove and it hurts my running.

Morning Trail Run

2010-06-24T08:01:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to post a brief note that our hour forty-five minute trail run totally kicked ass this morning.

We went way off road through the bog and climbed up to a spectacular lookout. It was a blast and Eric did a great job keeping us all together the whole time.

Tri-Camp Day Zero

2010-06-24T03:22:00.000-07:00

After a four and a half hour drive, I got to Lake Placid about 10 minutes before the start of the optional swim that opened this year's camp.

I was not 100% sure I should get in- the thought of a major bacteriological sinus infection interrupting my enjoyment of camp wasn't high on my to do list, but after all, I'd driven up here for camp, to get in as much training as possible.

After swimming 1.2 miles, I was energized. It felt great. I just jumped in the lake and swam and except for when we stopped to talk at the turn around and I had to tread water, it wasn't that hard.

Dinner at Nicoloas on Main was great- I got to catch up with Big Rocks, who I haven't seen in a long time.

Now though, I'm looking at a two hour run on three or four hours sleep- yes, the sinus infection rolled in like an Adirondack thunderstorm. Hopefully, the run will clear my head.

Otherwise that loop of the bike course is going to be rough...

Zanes !

2010-05-29T14:48:00.000-07:00

We all have our bike shops, but I have to throw it out there for Zanes.

I noticed that there was a hairline crack in the upper screw hole of my stem last Saturday. Being an idiot, I looked at it carefully and decided that yes, I could ride on that. And I did, making it through two and half hours that turned the crack from a hairline to a lightning crack.

I took the bike into Zanes on Sunday and left it. Now I have an oddball Easton stem on the bike, so I wasn't expecting much. It's also worth noting this is a bike that I didn't buy from them, but rather from Elite. So they have no investment in it at all, although they frequently make me feel like they've made an investment in me.

Why ?

I went in Thursday and picked up the bike and they'd replaced the Easton stem with a close to perfect Bontrager stem, lined everything up just so, and even retrieved the old stem (with the Ironman Arizona) sticker on it.

The cost ? Nothing. Nada. Not a penny. Even if the part was just lying in drawer on the bench, it takes a while to remove a stem, replace it, and make sure everything is just so.

I rode the bike hard Friday- two hours at time trial pace- and never once thought about the new stem or my position on the bike despite being aero about 1:50 of the 2:00.

This is why you love your local bike shop. Admit it, you do. Because they take care of you. They treat you like an asset instead of a commodity. Because the guys there ride too and they get it...

Zoot Ultra Tempo 3.0 Review

2010-05-11T18:19:00.000-07:00

First, let me tell you what I think the perfect training running shoe is.

The perfect shoe will be: lightweight, responsive, with a relatively soft mid-sole. The perfect shoe will also allow me to run without socks.

The Zoot Tempo promises sock free running, however, I've been burned on this before and I have the blood stained shoes in my closet to prove it. They are also light weight- very light-weight for trainers.

And at north of one hundred dollars, with discount, they aren't the sort of shoe you buy on a whim and wear a few times before deciding that they don't really fit your needs. Not that Soundrunner wouldn't have accommodated me if I were really unhappy with them.

So, despite having bought them because of the good experiences I had with the TT, I was skeptical that I'd really be satisfied with these shoes.

Admission: I am in love with my running shoes.

I've done half a dozen runs in these shoes now. Except for the day it was 45 degrees out, all have been without socks, including a 75 minute trail run with Eric Hodska.

There are two factors I consider when evaluating a shoe- do they perform well, and am I comfortable in them. On both counts the Tempo has exceeded my expectations. This shoe is insanely responsive for a trainer, and stunningly comfortable. They truly do offer sock-free running, and that is giant bonus I can't oversell. At the same time, you feel like you are flying when you are running in them, and I've noticed the pace of my training runs has improved since I started wearing them.

Of course, as a light-weight trainer, the shoe is most definitely not for everyone. But if it is, I highly recommend getting to your local Zoot distributor- Soundrunner in Branford is one- and at least trying this shoe on. If you are a triathlete, you will not regret giving this shoe a stroll around the block.

My new team sweatshirt

2010-05-09T20:24:00.000-07:00

Today's Spin

2010-05-06T20:11:00.000-07:00

Here's another spin that I created on the fly because my Apple TV decided it no longer wanted to talk to my Mac Mini where all my Spinerval sessions are stored.

This is an aerobic or high aerobic workout. It assumes you have ten gears. If you have 9, do two the first rep in each set for two minutes instead of one. If you have an 8-speed, then do the first two reps for two minutes instead of one.

I have 650 wheels and a 54 inch front ring. I also have my trainer tension higher than the tension I face on the road, so understand your cadence might be different. Finally, the middle rep is supposed to be the hardest, bring the majority of the third rep back down even if it seems too easy because when you get to the last couple of gears, you will work hard.

10 minute warm-up in small ring 15

1st set
1 minute big-ring 23 cadence 100
1 minute big-ring 21 cadence 95
1 minute big-ring 19 cadence 90
1 minute big-ring 18 cadence 85
1 minute big-ring 17 cadence 80
1 minute big-ring 15 cadence 75
1 minute big-ring 14 cadence 70
1 minute big-ring 13 cadence 67
1 minute big-ring 12 cadence 63
1 minute easy spin small ring 15

2nd set
1 minute big-ring 23 cadence 105
1 minute big-ring 21 cadence 100
1 minute big-ring 19 cadence 95
1 minute big-ring 18 cadence 90
1 minute big-ring 17 cadence 85
1 minute big-ring 15 cadence 80
1 minute big-ring 14 cadence 75
1 minute big-ring 13 cadence 72
1 minute big-ring 12 cadence 68
1 minute easy spin small ring 15

3rd set
1 minute big-ring 23 cadence 100
1 minute big-ring 21 cadence 95
1 minute big-ring 19 cadence 90
1 minute big-ring 18 cadence 85
1 minute big-ring 17 cadence 80
1 minute big-ring 15 cadence 75
1 minute big-ring 14 cadence 72
1 minute big-ring 13 cadence 69
1 minute big-ring 12 cadence 66
1 minute easy spin small ring 15

5 minute cool down

Morning Spin from Coach Eric

2010-05-04T03:38:00.001-07:00

Today's workout

10 minute warm up
2 X 3:30 High C 54/17 with 30 seconds rest
2 X 3:30 High C 54/19 with 30 seconds rest
2 X 3:30 High C 54/21 with 30 seconds rest
2 X 3:30 High C 54/23 with 30 seconds rest
2 X 3:30 High C 54/12 with 30 seconds rest

5 minutes cool down

Phrases I thought about during the workout (you may recognize the source): 'Anyone can suffer for another two and half minutes', 'this rep can make or break your workout', and 'have some pride'

Volume

2010-05-02T20:29:00.000-07:00

This weekend marked a return to some decent volume- 3 hour ride, 20 minute run Saturday (brick), then a two hour run Sunday morning with a one-hour spin in the afternoon.

I'd been racing- duathlons and road races- and even though the road race was a half-marathon, I know how the game goes. If you don't get in some two hour runs and some longer rides you might just as well as the people at the Ironman to change your first name to 'Toast' and wear that out on the course, especially in Lake Placid, where a lack of preparation is akin to an invitation to pain and suffering.

While volume isn't precisely fun, it can be fairly enjoyable, if it's done right. Which hopefully it was. I certainly felt like the ride, for a group ride, was actually some pretty good training as we had a good ten people in the ground.

I did a good portion of my long run with @poycc and a good bit with Steve Surprise and that's the nice thing about having teammates- you get to share your long runs, and to be honest, I can ride alone for five hours and enjoy it more than running alone for two.

Great weather never hurts, and we had that, but the big thing is that feeling that, with the Ironman now insight, that the hard work is starting. And that I'm OK with it and ready for it.

The next six to eight weeks is going to make or break my race.

That doesn't make me nervous. Not anymore.

The Long Run

2010-04-30T20:33:00.000-07:00

I'm taking a week off and skipping a duathlon I'd really like to do- Greenwich- to get in a long run.

It wasn't any easy decision, but my coach asked me if I was racing this weekend, and after racing two of the last three (Danbury Half Marathon three Sundays ago, a 90 minute run two Sundays ago and duathlon last Sunday, it was a no brainer that I needed to get in a long run.

When I emailed him my response, his reply was one word 'Agreed.'

That's all I need to know.

I'll be running two hours Sunday- say hi if you see me...

Frank Deford- A Rebuttal

2010-04-30T19:38:00.000-07:00

Frank Deford- who is a fantastic and venerated sportswriter- recently returned to a topic that the Ben Roethlisberger debacle provided an opening for- that athletes should not be role models.

While I respect Deford immensely, I could not disagree with him more in his conclusion.

I think it's fairly simply really. Athletes- professional athletes- are paid millions of dollars to be in the public eye, to be the face of multi-million dollar partners in a multi-million dollar enterprise. It's not about being role models to children, although there's no reason they shouldn't be that as well.

They are being paid a large sum of money for the privilege of being professional athletes. It's not unreasonable to expect them to behave.

The idea that they should be given a pass because they are 'only athletes' just doesn't hold water. Now, if they'd like to play for free, then I think we could be a little less demanding that they, say, not the same laws we are not allowed to break without consequence.

iPad- More New Apps

2010-04-30T19:35:00.001-07:00

A few days later, I added these three, all of which I recommend:

1 Toy Story Read-Along, v1.0.1, Seller: Disney Publishing Worldwide Applications (4+)
2 Star Walk for iPad - interactive astronomy guide, v4.1, Seller: Vito Technology Inc. (4+)
3 The Guardian Eyewitness, v1.0, Seller: Guardian News & Media Ltd (12+)

iPad- New Apps

2010-04-30T19:33:00.000-07:00

When I first got the iPad, I immediately added more apps, and here's an unedited list of the very first things I added to what was brought over from my iPhone apps:

1 iBooks, v1.0, Seller: Apple Inc. (4+)
2 NYT Editors' Choice, v1.0.1, Seller: The New York Times Company (iDP) (12+)
3 Color & Draw for kids: interactive artistic springboard with 4 apps in 1 for iPad, v1.0, Seller: Martin de Santos (4+)
4 ABC Player, v1.0.1004, Seller: ABC Digital (12+)
5 StumbleUpon, v1.21, Seller: StumbleUpon, Inc (17+)
6 Twitterrific for iPad, v1.0, Seller: The Iconfactory (4+)
7 NPR for iPad, v1.0.1, Seller: NPR (4+)
8 Zinio Magazine Newsstand & Reader, v1.2, Seller: Zinio LLC (12+)
9 USA TODAY for iPad, v1.0.1, Seller: USA TODAY (4+)
10 BBC News, v1.1, Seller: BBC Worldwide LTD (12+)
11 WeatherBug Elite for iPad, v1.0.0.7, Seller: AWS Convergence Technologies, Inc. (4+)
12 Chop Sushi! HD - Small Sushi Big Screen, v1.0.20, Seller: THQ, Inc. (4+)
13 InHouse, v1.0, Seller: FOX Broadcasting (12+)
14 Meebo, v1.2, Seller: Meebo (4+)

Guest Blog- Brian Talon: 50 Mile Race Report

2010-04-30T19:25:00.000-07:00

Just Another Run in the Woods!

Strange things can happen when you sit down to enjoy a few beers with good friends. For some it may be a time to relax, have good conversation and reminisce of past experiences. For myself and my core group of friends it is always an opportunity to plan out our next big adventure. Back in 2008, our good friend Ben traveled to Connecticut from Boston for a weekend visit. After a full day of playing with the kids, we all retired to the deck for a campfire, some s’mores for the kids, and beers for the adults. Of course, after the beers started flowing, the conversation started getting interesting and the topic of ultra-marathoning came up. For those who are unfamiliar with the term, an ultra-marathon is any running event over 26.2 miles. For Ben (an experienced marathoner) and myself, this is a topic that has come up before but never acted upon. From my wife Jen (another experienced marathoner), I just received “the look”, but Jen who has always been very supportive, let Ben and I continue our conversation. I believe that this night planted the seed for what became reality on March 27, 2010.

After a few more visits from Ben and many more empty beer bottles, we had decided that our first ultra marathon would be the Umstead 50 mile trail race held every March in Raleigh, North Carolina. For those of you who may think that running 50 miles is for crazy people, you may be right. However, as one of those crazy people, it is always nice to know you are in good company. This race with 250 slots for the 100 mile or 50 mile race options sold out in 5 minutes after registration had opened. Lucky for Ben and I, we were fortunate enough to secure one of those elusive 250 spots before the race was sold out.

Next came the hard part, training for a 50 mile trail race. With 16 marathons under my belt I had become accustom to training for the 26.2 mile race. The ultra-marathon training plans called for a similar structure only with a lot more miles and some really long runs. The core of my training came through the winter and that added a bit more of a challenge to get in the necessary miles. Many of the ultra training plans called for back to back long runs. To accomplish this I would run the 16 mile journey into work on Friday morning, work a full day, head home in the evening and wake up at the crack of dawn on Saturday to run another 30+ miles. The first few months of training were going great, I felt good and remained healthy and injury free. The last couple of months were a bit more of a struggle, as the miles, sleep deprivation and other life commitments started to wear me down. In total I peaked at running 90 miles in one 6 day week and capped my long run at 36 miles. Taper time (3 weeks prior to the race) could not come soon enough as I was battling fatigue and I felt like an injury was around the corner. Thankfully, I made it to the taper and eventually to race day. In the days leading up to the race Jen cooked about 30 pounds of pasta for me to make sure I was nice and plump for race day.

On March 26, 2010, I met Ben at the airport in Raleigh and we proceeded to race registration. We entered Umstead State Park on the fringes of Raleigh and were surprised with the number of hills that we encountered; little did we know that those same hills would be compounded to following day as the miles proceeded through the race. Ben and I picked up our numbers and tried to get a lay of the land to be prepared for race day. The trail race was run entirely within the park and consisted of a 12.5 mile loop that was run 4 times for the 50 mile racers and 8 times for the 100 mile racers. The trail surface was nearly perfect for runners as most was hard packed carriage trails or dirt road. The topographical profile seemed a bit cruel to the runners but fair as it was a loop course and there were as many down as up hill sections. Before leaving the park, Ben and I looked around to see where we could stash our gear to access during each lap of the race the following day. For those of you who know me well, you know that I am very competitive and I always look for advantages to give me an edge, whether it be in training or race strategy. This race was no different, I knew that I would be looping around to the starting area another three times after the race started. I also knew that I was going to be carrying a water bottle with me the whole race to stay hydrated. Most people had the same strategy but planned to take the extra minute (each lap) to refill their empty water bottle. I decided to save those extra 3 minutes and pre-fill four water bottles so I could just dump the empty water bottle and grab a full one. It may seem silly to worry about loosing those three minutes at the aid station, but as you read on you will clearly see that those three minutes could come in handy later in the race.

March 27, 2010 – It is race morning and Ben and I up at 3am. The day is finally here which was a relief for both of us. We arrive at Umstead park shortly after 5am to pitch darkness and temperatures in the high 30’s. The temperature never got beyond the 50’s that day and we were treated to nearly perfect running conditions. We were very fortunate to get the weather we had since only days before temperatures soared into the 80’s and the days after the race saw torrential down pours. After getting ourselves settled in, we were called to the start line and the gun sounded. Everything seemed to have been in slow motion from what I was accustomed to with the shorter races. After only a couple of miles I found myself in no-mans land as there was one runner way in front of me and the rest of the field behind me. Now because the race started at 6am, the first hour or so was run in darkness, many of the runners had head lamps to see where they were going and to follow the signs that outlined the course. This was the first of a few rookie mistakes that I made. Since the guy in first place was long gone, I really had to concentrate to see the shadows of the course directional signs. Once a bright pink sign was spotted, I literally had to put my face about 1 foot from the sign so see which way the arrow was pointed. Thankfully I stayed on course until the sun rose approximately 45 minutes into the race. About 10 miles into the race I caught up to the guy who was in first place. We ran together for a few miles, nice guy who I found out was running the 100 mile race that day and had lots of experience under his belt. Along the way he provided lots of pointers and encouragement to me as we ran. I later found out that the runner was Zach Gingerich, one of the countries elite ultra-marathoners who placed 3rd at the Badwater Ultra a couple of years ago. Not sure I really had any business running with him, except for the fact that I was only running the 50 mile and he was running the full 100 mile race. About the 13 mile mark, Zach put in a serious surge and dropped me again, not sure how fast he was running but for the 5 miles between mile 13 and 18 I was averaging 6:50 pace and he was long gone. Around mile 22 I caught back up to Zach and we ran together for a couple of more miles until he had to make a pit stop and I continued.

I was alone in the front again but feeling ok this point. Before I knew it I rolled past the marathon (26.2 mile) mark in 3 hours and 8 minutes. Faster than I was planning on with all of the hills but I was still feeling confident at that point. As with any long distance race you can be feeling great one minute and not so great the next. A few miles later at about mile 31 I started to get tired and thought to myself, “only another lap and a half”, then I started to do some calculations in my head and said out loud, “crap, I still have 19 miles to go!” Shortly after that I rolled up to an aid station and grabbed a turkey sandwich that was pretty difficult to get down. At this point I really started to feel the hills that didn’t seem to be much of an issue the first couple of laps. For the last 15 miles my legs were cramping with nearly every step, they were not cramping to the point where the muscle locked up but I felt they were on the verge of locking at any moment. I got a little surge of energy when I saw Ben out there on the course; he was looking good and running well. Finally I rolled up to the race starting area again and completed my third lap. Only one more lap to go!!!!, but it sure was not going to be easy. As I rolled through the starting area there was a big aid station with every drink imaginable, hamburgers, hotdogs, cookies and everything else you could imagine. I should have stopped for a moment and refueled, but I didn’t (another rookie mistake). I did save another minute by grabbing my pre-filled water bottle and not having to stop at the aid station for fluids – I was on my way. With 12.5 miles to go I knew I was hurting but was doing my best to keep my head in the game (once your mind goes the body is quick to follow). At the start of the last lap there was an out and back section where I saw Zach (the second place runner – who I need to remind you was running the full 100 miles that day). He was about 8 minutes behind me with 11 miles to go. He provided lots of encouragement to me but looked much better than I felt. I wanted to hold him off for that final lap and also had the time of 6 hours and 19 minutes in the back of my mind that I was pushing for (you will see the significance of that later). That goal time was still attainable but with the way I felt I had to push my body WAY beyond the comfort level. The first few miles of that final lap were uneventful, my running form was long gone, it was more a matter of forcing one leg in front of the other. At mile 41 I hit a long (mile and a half) uphill section that really took the wind out of my sails. Struggled to the top but managed to run the whole hill and was rewarded with a nice downhill section, gravity is a beautiful thing! This brought me to the last aid station which I just ran past. Not sure if that was a mistake but all I really wanted to see was the finish line. The last 5 miles of the loop were the most difficult; you were either running straight up hill or straight downhill. Before I knew it, I turned the corner and hit a really steep section of the course. My mind was saying just run it slow, but my body did not get that signal. I physically could not run that steep section and had to resort to walking, I attempted to speed walk but I am guessing that I looked pretty foolish out there. Legs were cramping and screaming at me, I had never had so little energy in my life but made it through the next couple of miles while walking the very steep uphill sections. Walking actually felt worse as I would become very light headed. At mile ten there was a nice long downhill section which I tried to run fast, I really think I was just thrusting my legs forward and letting gravity do its job. I was feeling a little better about myself at the bottom of that long downhill but then once I started going up again I literally felt like I hit a brick wall. I have hit the wall before in marathons but this was different. I managed to grit my teeth and let my mind take over my body to get up that last hill before the finish. A short reprieve from the hills, before the final 100 yards to the finish (of course the last 100 yards were up hill). I crossed the finish line in 1st place with not even enough energy to raise my arms. Reported my number to the scoring table and basically collapsed into the arms of some volunteers. They brought me inside and laid me down on a mattress in front of a huge fireplace to warm me up. I started eating and drinking anything they could throw my way (cheeseburgers, yogurt, chips, etc). This is the point were Jen always takes good care of me but unfortunately she had to stay home with the kids. Ben’s childhood friends Sarah helped me out after the race and kept Jen updated on my status throughout the race. About 45 minutes later I was feeling human again and one of the race committee members came over and said congratulations on the win and you also broke the course record. As I mentioned before, going into that last lap I was hoping to finish at 6 hours and 19 minutes eclipsing the 15 year old course record of 6 hours and 20 minutes. I finished at 6 hours and 18 minutes (avg. 7:34 per mile) for the new records (remember those three minutes I saved by pre-filling my own water bottles – they came in very handy). Reviewing the results later I saw that I barley held off Zach for my final lap by only 40 seconds (he continued on to smash the 100 mile record by over an hour). Ben had a great race, especially after battling injuries; he finished 40 minutes ahead of his goal pace and ran to a top ten finish. Just to put this whole 50 mile adventure into perspective, for those who have run a 5K race, just consider that 50 miles is sixteen 5K races back to back. On a larger scale, if you started on the Connecticut shore in New Haven and started running due north, you would hit the 50 mile mark at the Massachusetts border.

Great trip and race over all for Ben and I. Hats off for the race Director and his team of volunteers (there must have been one volunteer for every runner!). I know the reason this race sells out in 5 minutes. I made some pretty big rookie mistakes which were mostly around fueling and hydration. Jen and Ben’s finance Julie may never let the two of drink beers together again…….on the ride back to the airport in Raleigh we were already starting preliminary talks about the next adventure!

Du It Duathlon

2010-04-25T19:52:00.000-07:00

Some days you want to race. There may or may not be a race that day, but everything is perfect. You're rested, you're pumped up, the weather is awesome.

This was not one of those days. I'd done a two and a half hour ride/half hour run yesterday, then spent two or three hours on yard work. Because it was a beautiful day. 60s and sunny, a great day to ride, even a decent day to clean up the yard with a handsaw.

When I got up at 5:30 I was actually pretty hopeful. The road was wet, but it wasn't really raining. It was cool, but not really cold. I was thinking that 'hey, this isn't going to be so bad.'

That kind of glass 3/4 full optimism took its first hit about half a mile from the house when it started raining for real. But as Marty said on the race website, just because it's raining at your house doesn't mean it's raining in the park.

Right.

On the highway, at 65mph, of course a steady rain seems like a monsoon. There was no way to talk myself into the idea that I was going to get to Bridgeport and it was going to be nice there.

It wasn't. I dutifully set up my bike, stood in line to get my numbers, and then went back to the car to get as much gear as possible on. However, after warming up it became clear the Asics techical running jacket was going to be one layer too many so I took it off. I'd be racing in my thinnest pain of tights, an underarmour short sleeve under my Hosdka cycling jersey and arm warmers. I offered my jacket to Michael D'Addetta, who was wearing nothing but a singlet and bike shorts and he declined.

Tough, but not the right call as he later admitted.

To Marty's credit he got the race going right about on time, which had seemed impossible at about 7:20.

The course is flat, but it's flat with a kind of steady uphill incline of about half a percent going out (and obviously, half a percent decline coming back).

I've written about this before. The start of every duathlon seems to be the same for me. The run starts and I'm engulfed- I go from starting right in the middle in the front to having 10 or so guys swarm around me. My goal is to run steady, to have two runs very close to each other time-wise. But it's difficult to have so many people running as fast or faster than you at the start of your race and either not get sucked in or panic.

I'd gotten a little panicky at Brian's at the start and let my heart rate get too high. Not today. I actually felt good as we started the first run. Except of course for the number of people in front and around me.

Early on I was 8th or 9th and I was trying to just stay calm and evaluate the people around me. I actually liked most of what I saw, except for two guys, both of whom were running away from the rest of us, one moderately, and the other, significantly. This would be another case for me of misjudging a book by its cover. The guy that was really running away from the rest of us on this first loop had kind of a stocky look and was wearing a cycling jersey with Cannondale on it.

I kind of gave up on winning the race right there. I mean here was this guys who looked totally like a biker, too stocky for a runner, wearing a cycling jersey- and yet he was crushing us. What would happen when this guy got on a bike ?

The majority of the other guys around me were Tri-Fitness guys.

There was a lot of back and forth on the first run, which is an out and back. I was as high up as fourth and back and forth with one Tri-fitiness athlete in particular- Bryan French. He was on me, breathing pretty hard, audible cadence, and I was holding him off in the first half for the most part. After we broke around the cannon and started back, running slightly downhill now, a younger guy went by us and all I could think about was how bright green the outsoles of his running shoes were on the heel. He proceeded to drop us, putting an amazing 30 seconds on us in about 1.5 miles (or so).

Finally, Bryan passed me. I didn't want to pick it up any more. We had about a quarter mile left and I was not interested in picking it up. Not at all. I wanted to get on the bike and blast out of transition.

I settled in and finished a second behind him.

I had a good transition. I did have to abandon the sunglasses I'd worn because they got hung up on the hat I'd had on and I didn't want to waste a few seconds. I got my shoes and helmet on and ran through transition while others were walking. the guy with the lime green outsoles was struggling to change his shoes.

I moved up two or three spots coming out of transition.

The course is flat with a lot of turns. I got out there and I worked on closing down the guy in front of me. I took the turns very aggressively because I'm light, my bike is light and there aren't a lot of crosswalks in the park where you have to worry about sliding on the paint. The first loop was pretty uneventful until the back part. I passed one opponent, but then on the back I started getting pressure form two of the tri-fitness guys. As I rounded the turn to the second loop I had to stay left to avoid people feeding out onto the course- there were actually people just starting the bike after I'd done an entire loop, which is hard to get the math on but...

Someone yelled 'drop your gear' as I went by, standing up to regain my momentum. If this advice was for me it was exactly wrong. I needed to go to an easier gear but I wanted to grind it out to get that speed back up. I was going right through the puddles, not veering like the other riders. Yes, the puddles slowed me down but I was cutting nice straight lines.

As we got to the area where the run turn around was, someone said 'Go left or around the island ?' I thought it was a first looper, so i said nothing. it turned out it was Bryan, who was just about to pass me. He went the long (wrong) way as I followed the arrows on the road, oops. I felt bad, but not too bad.

Especially when Bryan passed me before the turn-around. I did keep him close, but I was unable to reel him back in, however, suddenly I was going past the guy that had crushed us all on the first loop. He was using toe-clips and was on- well, it didn't look like a great bike. The guy that looked like he had to be a biker first was actually a damn good runner and...

I passed him and I'd see him again.

We went into transition in a group and Bryan left first, then me, then Ron Lombardi, the fastest runner.

Do you know the phrase dead legs ? I have never in my life had dead legs like i'd had when I got off my bike. My right shoe went on easy. My left not so much.

When I started running, it was amazing. My legs felt like they were simply not going to respond at all. They did. Dead or not, I found my usual turnover. Within a minute, as I downed a Gu, I was running at my normal pace, my long stride. I was closing on Bryan and holding off Ron. But not for long. I passed Bryan and moved up into second and I fought to hold off Ron but it wasn't happening. He went by me and then started to gap me.

I was running hard. Despite the fact that I was basically having the race I wanted to have, and my second run was close to my first (just about 3 seconds difference between my run 1 time and my run 2 time), I was afraid of being caught.

By Bryan, or the other Tri-Fitness guy, or the guy with the green shoes. I ran the back half of the loop, where I was actually comfortably in third, like three other guys were breathing down my neck, and it was that fear that allowed me to put 37 seconds on the next finisher in a 3 mile span. Really, it was the fear of being caught that pushed me on, that allowed me to actually cut my time on the course by over a minute.

I did learn something in the cold and the rain.

Sometimes fear is good.

I watched my teammates- Dick Korby, Michael D'Addetta (@poycc), and Susan Wines finish- all placing in or winning their age groups- then I put on some warm clothes and enjoyed the feeling of having raced in miserable conditions but come through with reasonable results.

Sometimes that is enough.

iPad

2010-04-21T17:57:00.000-07:00

I've had my iPad for 7 days now, so I thought it was time to share my impressions of it.

Everyone assumed that I would have the iPad on day one, but I resisted the urge to pre-order one. I'd already committed to a triathlon camp in June and felt that dropping an equivalent amount on another computing device was just not justified. I have two work-issued laptops, a personal desktop, a work desktop, and two iPhones. What would I need another computer for.

I even asked my 5-year old son if he was interested in the iPad and he said 'it's too iphoney'.

He knew because I did go as far as to go to Best Buy the day they came out and check one out with the family, all three of us taking turns on the iPad. I was impressed, but I walked out without one.

That wasn't easy. Apple didn't win me over that first day, but it was mostly about the cost and not about the features. The truth was, I thought it was pretty cool, and I certainly think keyboard-less computers are the wave of the future. It had just the right feel, just the right weight and heft in your hand, just the right richness of texture as you held it one hand and manipulated it with the other. The screen was brilliant, the apps were clean and crisp.

If you have an iPhone your first response after using an iPad is 'how am I ever going to go back to the iPhone...'

Instead of buying one I used my connections with one of our vendors to get one on what is basically a perpetual free demo.

It came on a Friday morning. I unpacked it, plugged it right into my MacBook Pro, decided against setting it up with same apps I have on my phone and in about 10 minutes fro the time I'd opened the box, I was configuring the wireless network and setting up my .Me email. This is the great genius of the iPanything that Apple sells. I'd read reviews that knocked the iPad for not being a stand-alone device. Consider me among those who prefer the instant on, media available, easily configured and managed Apple-eco system centered around the computer to be an advantage.

My computer isn't going anywhere and even if I'd bought an iPad it would not have been to replace my computer but to augment it.

At lunch I went to Best Buy and bought an open-box Apple iPad case for 33% off. A lot of people don't like the case, but I love it. I never take the iPad out any more except to show it to people. What's great is that it's thin. You can hold the iPad while it's in the case- major win.

I started hunting for apps right after lunch and one of the first ones I installed was Color&Draw from Tipitap Apps. I then started looking for apps that had iPad versions, like Weather Bug, because an iPhone app at 2x is not equal, in most cases, to an iPad native app.

If there's one piece of advice I can give, it's that. Focus on adding iPad native apps to your iPad. The difference is tremendous, especially when apps are in landscape mode.

Case in point- Twitterffic. While twitterrific is a great iPhone app, the iPad app version takes advantage of the extra real estate to deliver a superior experience.

Even Apple's Mail App makes great use of landscape mode to provide a mac-like experience for your mail that allows message list and message reading- at the same time. How can you beat that- it's the biggest shortcoming of the iPhone app solved.

The real test of the iPad was going into Starbuck's after work with my son. I don't even tell him when I install apps on my iPhone or iPad. he's perfectly capable of finding new apps on his own, and after about thirty seconds, he'd found, opened and was using Color&Draw. Now, when he has a choice between the iPhone and the iPad he almost always takes the iPad- and that's the real test. watching him on it, I knew right then, Apple gotten it right.

Again.

I'll be posting what apps I've added and my impression of some of the best of them in another blog entry.

Boston Marathon

2010-04-19T05:55:00.000-07:00

Just a quick shout-out to everyone running the Boston Marathon today, hoping you all have a great race.

the weather looks good, and it should be a great day to race.

Make it your day.

Danbury Half-Marathon

2010-04-11T13:33:00.000-07:00

I didn't even start thinking about running Danbury until Monday and didn't make a decision on Thursday night. My longest race of the year had been last week's 1/4 marathon and my longest run all year was probably only 14 miles and that was maybe a month ago.

So why was I running a half-marathon ?

Three reasons- I was able to get great babysitting from the race director's daughter, I thought maybe it would be easier on Margit if Ian and I were out of the house a good hour or two before she had to leave for the airport for a week-long business trip, and I'm still trying to race the stank off.

Why ? The funny thing is, I looked up my Shamrock and Roll times and they consistently suck, with this year's being less than 20 seconds worse than last year's on a harder course. And I had a good race at Brian's, so I am told.

I'm funny like that. Once i get it in my head I had a bad race...

My goal was to run around 1:24. That's a modest goal. I'm still capable of running in the 1:22 or 1:21 range, but I ran two last year and had a 1:23 and a 1:24 and I had a much better running base for those (Fairfield and Niantic Bay). It looked like a perfect day was on tap- maybe a high of 60 at race time, low to moderate wind, and a mix of sun and clouds. A little cool for me, but I wouldn't even need the arm-warmers.

The course is kind of interesting in that you run a right hand loop that takes you back to the War Memorial from the starting line- past the finish line- and then around. This allows them to get the bulk of the first two miles and then the rest of the 11 mile course is sort of an out and back (not really, but close enough).

Some people don't like this because it adds a little redundancy to the course, I suppose, however, despite not exactly being one of the great glass-half full people of my generation, I saw this as a plus.

I knew that I would go out too hard. After the race Tim Cote used exactly the same term I use- 'it's in the bank'. Meaning, in my case- not his- I'm going to go out there and quite possible lay an egg or two with some 6:30ish miles and it doesn't really matter if I ran the first mile in 6:00 or 6:20, except I'll finish 20 seconds later. This type of thinking is quite probably wrong but hey- 6:00 mile the first mile !

At around four minutes we ran past the 2 mile mark of the 5K course and I quipped 'Two minute miles. Right on pace.' Everyone around me laughed, probably as a courtesy.

Still, after a mile, I started to back it off. I knew that whatever I was going to run, it was not going to be a 1:18 flat. I went through two miles at around 12:15 and then backed it off a little more.

Of course, backing it off isn't easy. In order to do that, you come back to people. You get passed by people. You wonder if they are all thinking how you're a jackass, starting on the line, running a 6 minute first mile, then coming apart like two miles into the race. Of course you are out there for you and not for them, and who cares, right ?

Of course you care. It's just how it is. Between two and three miles Tim Cote, who's clearly got some talent, came up behind me. I could tell it was him and gave him a shout out, then he passed me. We chatted briefly about our respective strategies and then he started to pull away. I didn't consider running with him, because I knew I had to hold my pace in check. That and a few seasons ago I came to a conclusion I've pretty stubbornly stuck to, which is that I do not race with people in long races (anything over five miles.)

It's just been my theory that three miles into a long race like New Haven or a half-marathon, racing with people early is a recipe for disaster. Either they are better than you, or you're smarter than them, and it's going to be miles and miles before you find out. Not the case with Tim- he was going to beat me. But I was getting passed by other people I was not so sure would beat me, or should beat me.

It wasn't long before Johnny Camacho, Maximo Veiga, and Pedro Cobos had all passed me. They were getting coaching help from a guy on a mountain bike. That's legal in a road race and the guy wasn't interfering with us- there have been plenty of races where I've wanted to stiff-arm some bike-riding doufus who gets on the course and gets in everyone's way, but this wasn't like that. Still, it's a little demoralizing to have most of the guys running around you getting good vibes while you're trying to beat them.

I took my first Gu right around 4.5 miles, just when I was being passed by some guy I don't know in a lime-green jersey. And a fun thing happened on the way to the middle of the pack. For whatever reason, although this guy had caught me, he wasn't pulling a way. The wind had picked up a little, and this guy like guys in general, was taller than me. I tucked in. I hung on, and then we started, finally, to hit some hills, the first hills since mile two.

Let me stop and say something about this race. You run downhill. A lot. And for the first four or five miles you run downhill so much that you really start to worry, because you know sooner or later, bad things are coming...

I believe guy in bright green and I pulled up on Pedro together, but pretty soon I was pulling away from both of them on an uphill. Between miles 5-7 there was a decent amount of uphill work, mixed in with some downhill rollers. I pushed the uphills to keep people like Tim in site and moved up as I could, leaving behind these two.

I had two more people between Tim and I thought I could catch and it was nice to be coming back on people. Especially because I was expecting to fade once I got to around 7 miles. I hadn't run a race of this length since the Ironman and it was hard to imagine I wouldn't fade.

The real challenge was yet to come though. Fairfield has its killer hill, and so does Danbury. Not long after I'd taken my second Gu, I reached the mile 9 mark, and the killer hill is well, basically it's mile 10. I was running well, holding one runner fairly close to me, and I was surprised how strong I felt. The extra nutrition hadn't hurt, however, two GUs plus mango-orange performance Gatorade- the best I could get at the store- did start to rile my stomach a little bit. I hit the mile 10 mark and I still had a short at running in the 1:24s, but I was going to have to hustle and run around a 19 minute 5k to do it.

Then mile 11 hit me. If there's a bad mile in every long race, it was mile 11. I started to get that over-extended feeling that's oddly unique to endurance sports. My heart rate was maybe 5 beats too high, I was mildly dehydrated, I felt myself to be struggling. I'd decided at mile 7 to break the balance of the race into two-mile segments, and here I was, halfway through that and melting down.

But a funny thing happened. I didn't melt down. I didn't let the guy in front of me go. I even got a little encouragement from the guy on the bicycle, who told me I looked strong. Then I started to feel strong. The bad moment , or bad mile passed, and if mile ten was one big uphill, mile twelve was one big downhill.

I was chasing a guy about 7 or 8 inches taller than me and younger. But he was coming back to me steadily. At first I was going to close him down and hang, after all, I must be over-extending myself to make this catch against a runner who should be stronger than me on downhills. However, as I got close, I realised this was not the case. I was out-running him and although it was too early, I had to make my move. I went by, we exchanged encouragement, and I hammered with everything I had to open a gap that could not be closed down.

The last mile was tough. I was sure that a strategy that involved making a big move with more than a mile left in a half-marathon would backfire. I kept running hard but the course started to roll again and I was worried. Which is a good thing. I worked that last mile hard and was never challenged, while I continued to come back on people- although I didn't catch anyone else.

In the end, I was pretty satisfied. I'd run my goal time, and I'd running very strong late in the race when I expected to fade. I'd have been a lot happier running a 1:22 but that would required actually training to run the race, not jumping in at the last minute.

My son was right near the finish line playing with Sophie Bysiewicz. He was happy. I got few minutes to chat with Tim and Mark Satran and then do a warm-down and after that ?

Straight to Barnes and Noble in Milford 90 minutes of reading with my son.

Not a bad day at all....

Hartford Quarter Marathon

2010-04-05T03:25:00.000-07:00

Some races you run because they mean something to you or because they fit right into your schedule. And then, when you are on a team, sometimes you run a race because you have to.

Saturday fell into that category. If I'd had my choice, I'd have gone to Hammonessett and tried to win the Feed the Need 5k for a 3rd time. I definitely wanted to race. I've been trying to blow the stink off ever since Shamrock and Roll, although on Thursday I'd finally checked my times at that race and they've been consistently some of the slowest 5Ks I've run every year- last year was just 15 seconds faster on an easier course.

In other words, I'd let a result from a race that wasn't important in my training, and wasn't even that much outside the norm, really get under my skin.

So I wanted to race, and after all, this was one of the races I voted for to be a part of the USATF-CT state championship. Because of scheduling issues at home I found myself hopping in the car at 8:30 for a 10:00 race that was 50 minutes from home.

Fortunately, because of the way they changed the parking at the reservoir, you can't actually park near the race start, or rather, you can't get to the race start from where you park because on of the main gates were closed. The run to the porta-potties was a great warm-up. Unfortunately, everyone seemed to have the same idea- get in the park and take care of business before making their way to the starting line.

That done, it was now twenty of, so the rest of my warm-up was doing strides.

I didn't honestly know what the course was like, however, I knew it would be rolling and two loops, with a downhill start. I got right on the line and pretty soon we were off.

I expected to be nervous. And I was. My heart rate spiked, really spiked, more like the start of a triathlon than a road race, but that's what happens when you are not really sure you're in race shape. I felt pretty uncomfortable, but unlike my last road race, I settled in as much as I could.

The course, while not really hilly (nothing like the cross-country race held in the same park), is pretty rolling. It's not easy to really just settle in and run. I went out hard, and I like where I was relative to the people around me. When Jim Zoldy went by past a mile, and then Mark Hixson, both faster runners, I felt like I was settling in.

I wanted to run on perceived effort, but I think I made the mistake of letting the course dictate my strategy.That is to say, it was a two-loop course so I was determined to run it as two halves. That makes sense if you are running, say, the two loop Lake Placid IM course. Not so much a race that is 6.55 miles.

Maureen Terwilliger started to push me and normally this would be bad. Maureen is a great runner but usually not quite as fast as me. However, looking at the other people around me, I just din't think it was that bad.

Just short of 3 miles, Rob Barker went by and he encouraged me to hop on and catch some people, but I told him I was working on my own plan. This is where the mistake of seeing the course as two halves came in. I should have just gone with him.

I went through the first loop at over 20 minutes. I was feeling a little spent, uh, well, kind of like I was in the middle of a race. I had a Gu and some water and was back at it. I was basically settled in, no one pushing me from behind. There was a Housatonic runner about 40 meters in front of me, and Barks and Maureen were in sight but out of range. Maureen was running a solid back half, running the hills steady and with more intensity then the first loop. I wasn't catching her or Barks.

I felt like I'd settled in and was starting to remember how to race. This was only my third race in two months, and my longest race since Ironman Arizona. I race well when I race and I haven't been racing- this was my first back-to-back racing this year.

I managed to close down the Housatonic running at about 5.9 miles and passed him. This is a downhill section of the course and I did my best to open a gap. I held that gap until after the 10k mark, but then we came back out onto the main path and now the first loop people were in the way.

The Housatonic runner used a 'rather large' first loop athlete to do a blind split on me and ended up beating me by 4 seconds.

Still, I managed had a top 25 finish at a very well-attended state championship, certainly ran better than my last road race, and with a few more races, I think I'll have forgotten this year's slow start.

Which really was just once race.

After all, I ran a good quarter marathon coming off a two-hour die and hard half hour run the day before.

And perhaps more important, the next day I had an awesome run-bike-run. After all, the goal isn't good road races in April. It's a good IM in Lake Placid in July...

Brian's Beachside Boogie

2010-03-29T20:14:00.000-07:00

Usually, a race is just a race.

As an athlete, I'm not one of your big thinkers. I don't have a head full of times, or averages or what other people have done. I don't really spend a lot of time thinking about a race before it happens period.

However, after the stinkbomb I laid at the Shamrock race I was quite frankly worried. I was coming into this race as the defending champion and I was coming off a race that really made me question what I was capable of. Sure, it was just one bad race, but...

But a funny thing happened.

The race started.

Like all duathlons, the very beginning is kind of weird. Unlike a road race, where I start out towards the front and fall back as the race progresses, in a duathlon, people stream around me and then I work my way up. I was concerned when I fell back in the first few hundred yards that I was not going to close down and then, well, then I did. I starting moving uo and around and settled into a top ten spot around 9 or 8 and that was exactly where I wanted to be.

There was a guy in a Cyclonauts jersey. I passed him, settled in in front of him and he managed to accidentally kick my right foot out from under me. I didn't fall, but I was annoyed. Don Gustavason was somewhere around me, in front for a while and then behind, then in front again. The first run settled down pretty quickly though and I felt good.

I really felt like we weren't pushing the run that hard, which is how I like it. Usually the bike is my strong leg in this race, although the age of my bike- 13 years at least- its weight, and its deteriorating condition- had me concerned. Then again, I've won the race twice, including last year, on that bike, so how bad can it be ?

I hopped on the bike and quickly started moving up, from 7 to 6 to 5, to 4. But then I was passed by the guy in the cyclonauts jersey and I was back in fifth as we went towards Meigs Point on the sand and dirt.

When you get to Meigs Point though, the race hops onto the road and I get down on my aerobars and just go. I averaged about 23 mph on the road and passed both Don and the Cyclonaut, moving up into 3rd. I was feeling good, pushing myself hard, and thinking I had a chance to dial into third on the bike and try to hold that on the run.

Now, remember that I laid the course out. I got on the off-road section and my decision to go with toe clips and not a one and one hurt me. I was slow on the off-road section and soon found myself back in fifth, close on to the two guys in front of me- and then we went into the woods. I was holding my own and then I went around a turn and a branch reached out and grabbed my leg and it stopped moving and that was it.

I went head over handbars onto the dirt and as my head hit the ground I watched the 3rd and 4th place riders getting away. That was that. I climed back on the bike, took way too long getting up to speed, and hauled some ass.

I finished the first loop, started on the second, and I just couldn't close. All the way out to Meigs Point I was working hard and keeping my eyes open, but there was no one coming back to me. When I got back on the road I did make up some time, but not really enough. And then as I came out of the woods on the back of the course, Charlie Hornak caught me and said something about the wind.

I picked it up right then. I'd thought I was riding in 5th in the middle of nowhere. Having someone catch me briefly was just the kick in the ass I needed to redouble my effort.

Despite the crash I still posted a top 5 bike time, which I feel pretty good about, except for the crash and the four people that posted faster times.

I came in 5th, hopped off the bike, dropped and retrieved my Oakleys and headed out on the run.

I had not yet given up on moving up and I ran hard. Really hard. Of the top five finishers on the winner had less of a difference between their first and second run times. I was hauling ass truing to catch the 4th place guy and I did see him, just a couple hundred yards ahead with a little less than a mile left, but it was just too much.

I came across the line about 45 seconds slower and four places lower than last year but I'll take it for now. It was a big improvement over my last race, I lost to a guy who put up a great time- Karl Schilling- and two of the guys that beat me- Tim Cote and Don Gustavson, are guys I know that are great athletes and nice guys as well. I also want to mention that Charlie Hornak really has picked up his racing this season and I'm expecting a lot out of him.

This was not a great race for me and I'm not happy with how I did, but I'm not too disturbed either. It was a definite step-up and a real motivator. I raced- pretty well. There's room to improve- a lot- but it was a good hard effort and a reminder that no, I don't actually suck.

I just have to work a little harder...

Brian's Beachside Boogie- Pre-Race

2010-03-27T18:33:00.000-07:00

First of all: If you get lost on the bike course, blame me. I laid it out Friday and reviewed it today. Remember, it's two loops.

It's going to be interesting to see how tomorrow goes. After laying such a rotten egg at the Shamrock and Roll 5K, I did pick my training up a notch. So possibly, we'll see some positives results from that. But really, I don't know. I think maybe I laid a little too low for two long with my training, especially my running, and while my bike fitness is good, overall I'm a little short.

But I had a good 27 miles on the mountain bike today. I'm ready to see what I can do, and most of all, have a little fun, assuming my feet don't completely freeze off tomorrow.

If you're racing- good luck.

NFL Overtime- Horribly unfair to sports commentators

2010-03-21T18:24:00.000-07:00

If there is any vote besides the Health Care vote that people have been obsessed with this weekend, it's the NFL's competition committee's vote on proposed changes to the overtime rules.

Like the Health Care debate, commentators- writers and broadcast journalists- have rallied around common talking points. Although to be honest, there isn't, if you listen to them, two sides to this debate. In fact there is no debate.

The talking point ? 'Fair.' The word that keeps coming up and out of the mouth or pen of everyone involved is that the current rule- whoever scores first (Donovan McNabb)- is unfair. Everyone wants to see fairness returned to the game.

Follow the link above and you'll get an idea why- most people think that the team that gets the ball to start overtime 'often' or 'usually' wins. Not so. Yes, that happens about 40% of the time. That's um, less than half.

That means that 60% of the time, the other team gets the ball. With the current rule.

But what really irks me about this, honestly, is the use of the word 'fair.' This is football, NFL football. Fair ? What is this, t-ball ? Fair ? Oh, does someone get their itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny little feelings hurt if they lose ?

You bet your ass they do, this is football. You want fair, watch MLB baseball. Everybody gets their chance to hit the ball and no one goes home feeling they've been cheated because the other team scored the winning run and then immediately took the ball and went home.

Some argue that the NFL is the only level of the game that hasn't adopted a more equitable overtime rule.

Good for them. Anyone who has suffered through a multiple OT college football game, one that goes on forever with players dropping like flies, knows that madness that way lies.

This is a disease that has infected just about every other sport. Look at the NHL! The only thing wrong with a tie after 65 minutes of play is that too many people got in their heads that a tie is somehow wrong and replaced simple ties with a shootout. What about World Cup soccer matched decided by shootouts ? Absurd.

My problem with football's version of the shootout is the same as my problem with shootouts in sports that use it. It's like if you had a tie at a 5K, deciding the winner by having them throw a shot put. It's just not real sport.

The whole point of football is the battle for field position. As soon as you add a rule where each team gets the ball whether you succeed or fail on your offensive possession, the normal flow of the game goes out the window. I think it was Jeff Fisher (who has no right to complain about fair after the Nashville Nightmare and subsequent no-call of a forward pass) who brought up both kick-returns for TDs and pass interference calls.

Well, you're more likely to see teams throw bombs looking for pass interference calls when they know if they don't get a first down they aren't going to have to punt and defend as though their lives depended on it.

And what about a game that ends on the first play of overtime with a kick-return for a touchdown ?

Tough sh!t !

Football is not about offense. Football is about offense, defense and special teams, and you have to be able to master all three. If you give up a TD on the opening kick-off of OT, your special teams let you down and you lost.

Fair ?

You had sixty minutes to win the game outright. If you didn't do it, then you don't 'deserve' to win, in fact you don't deserve a second chance. If you do get the ball and you do score, more power to you. If the other team gets the ball, get your defense on or take the loss like a man and go home.

Fair ? Save the t-ball for someone with a lesser constitution. I don't want 'fair.' I want football.

Climbing Gates Pass- In My Driveway

2010-03-20T18:14:00.000-07:00

Filed under: Things I've never done before

We're having some insane weather here in CT for March. On the first day of spring it was 65 degrees at 2:45 PM and through a series of events I found myself not having worked out yet. Normally Saturday is long ride day, but I did the IMLP course on a computrainer Thursday night so I really just needed a good hard 75 minutes or so.

I finagled a car nap out of my son Ian- not by his choice, of course, but a nap is a nap. I immediately set to work, getting my trainer into the driveway. I grabbed my MacBook Pro, my helmet, and a step ladder and next thing I was doing Gates Pass with Coach Troy- in my driveway.

I made the mistake of adjusting my trainer tension (more tension) just before the ride, so it was a tough one.

Why the helmet ? I wanted to get used to it because I may use it in a race next week. Let me tell you- helmet plus training equals milky-white sweat.

Still, it was a great way to get 70 minutes of high tempo spinning in, outdoors, while my son took a nice long nap.

It's all about picking your spots.

Me and Roadies

2010-03-13T19:33:00.000-08:00

The same afternoon I laid a turd on the Shamrock and Roll course, I took my mountain bike out for a time trial.

This is sort of a bad race tradition for me, not necessarily the mountain bike, but the feeling is if I've got something left I'd best get rid of it.

So on the way back from Guilford, I saw a pair of roadies as I was leaving town. So I road down the slower of the two (I don't think they were riding together) and then closed on the second one.

I was really time-trialing- down in the aerobars, in my TT helmet. I passed the second guy, but as I was, well, on a mountain bike, I didn't exactly separate.

So he passed me back on a hill, and instead of just letting it go, he says to me 'You should get a time trial bike.'

I was not in the mood.

I snapped back 'This is a time trial bike. What does it look like I'm doing ?' Then I buried him...

It was silly, but it felt good....

Shamrock and Roll 5K

2010-03-13T18:33:00.000-08:00

Every year I toss up a real clunker, a race I want back as soon as I finish running it- or earlier.

This was that race this year.

I hate writing about the bad races, and this wasn't a case of running a few seconds slower than I would have liked or getting beat by people that I should be getting beat by. This was what happens when all your week day running over the last month has been on the treadmill, you're five pounds overweight and you are coming off a week of one a day workouts.

Not to make excuses. I should have been ready, and I wasn't.

The race started relatively on time this year, but with a different course. I had started warming up early and considering how prepared I was for the race (not), probably went too hard. We head out from the starting line and ran a block or two farther than usually before hooking that left that takes you to the big hill.

I was keying off George Buchanan, and although he was right about where I expected, I felt like I was labouring. My stride was choppy, my arms were churning. When we turned left again I evaluated who was around me and I knew I was in trouble. Around half a mile I started to feel like I just didn't belong out there, like I feel during the swim of most tris, and I did the same thing I do then, I pushed that thought aside.

Then we were on the big hill and Charlie Hornak was pushing me, so I tried to pick it up a notch. That brought little benefit, but I was still fighting and not really sure just what was going on.

My iPod died.

Finally the big climbs were over and we started the downhill. I felt like I was picking it up a little, then there were some more turns and I was back and forth with people. It wasn't really the usual give and go, in part because I was giving and going with people that I don't usually see up close during a race.

We were screaming down the hill, like always, but then we had to hook a left.

It was kind of weird, because I'd run this race for years and the rhythm of it and the rhythm of me were both just wrong.

I had no idea where were were until we turned back onto the road that we started on. I was still off, still struggling. I got encouragement from Charlie, but the truth was I was just gassed.

I crossed the line over 18:40, unhappy with myself.

But I went and grabbed a beer, then warmed down with Charlie, who was very kind about how craptastic my running form was.

And I had gotten the wake-up call I needed.

Treadmill Rants

2010-02-24T19:55:00.000-08:00

I did a thirty minute hill workout on the Treadmill Tuesday and the following rants came to mind (which I've lazily copied from my Twitter feed) ...

#1- #espn I've seen the same Julius Peppers highlight package at least 100 times. I'm having sack flashbacks 24-7...

#2- #espn The first fifty times you told us that the Chargers cut LT it was a newsflash. Now it's more like a newsrash...
9:44 PM Feb 23rd via Tweetie

#3- #lafitness no one wants to watch soap operas at lunch
9:45 PM Feb 23rd via Tweetie

#4- #CNN 'Broken Government' ? That's it, inflame rather than inform...
9:46 PM Feb 23rd via Tweetie

#5- college and pro ball sports athletes. Less chest-thumping, less parading. More effort.
9:47 PM Feb 23rd via Tweetie

Seriously. If I paraded around like that at the end of a 5K, JB would tell me not to come to any more of his races...
9:48 PM Feb 23rd via Tweetie

#6 Spandex- use it wisely. A LOT more wisely...
9:49 PM Feb 23rd via Tweetie

#7- Holy sh!t. I just got hot sauce and vinegar in my eye. Rant over.
9:49 PM Feb 23rd via Tweetie
Delete

2010 Time Trial #1

2010-02-21T19:13:00.000-08:00

Did my first self-imposed time trial of the year.

6.66 miles.

On my mountain bike.

It felt good to get out there, and just hammer away for 20 minutes or so. It was a viscously windy day, so I was averaging 20+ when the wind was at my back and 16 into the wind. I'd forgotten how hard it is to ride the bike going all out for that long and on top of it, I think Margit may have moved my seat down, making the ride even more challenging.

I rode around the Hammerfest course and then over to Zanes, dropped my bike for a tune-up and ran easy back home (going the short way). It was a nice 45 minute add-on to my early morning run and I'm looking forward to doing it again after the bike is tuned-up.

After all, Brian's is a month away...

Snow Day ?

2010-02-16T17:49:00.001-08:00

For most people, a snow day is supposed to be like a vacation day. For me, not so much. We opened late at ten am today, and I think I probably had a day a lot like many of my co-workers and friends.

There was a lot of driving, a lot of shoveling, a lot of updating the website at work and sending out text messages, reorganizing schedules...It was not an easy relaxing day, and not just because my phone rings at 5:15 am and I'm the one that has to updates websites and send out text messages to let people know there's a delay.

Nevertheless, I did get to spend an hour sledding with my son and he clearly enjoyed it- that alone made the 90 minutes of shoveling worth the effort.

Did you get to enjoy the day ?

Sweetheart 4 Miler

2010-02-13T20:24:00.000-08:00

Another cold day race. As I warmed up I debated stripping off the tights but decided against it. It was pretty cold and raw, after all, and I still was pretty lightly dressed. Then I saw Charlie Hornak in shorts and thought to myself 'Oh man, I'm a wuss.'

Before the race I was joking with Charlie and Tim Cote that we were the only three that actually wanted to race. No one else was actually at the starting line except us. Then suddenly, at the last possible moment, out came the horde. I've never understood this. If it's cold out, you'd better get outside and acclimate...

Pretty soon everyone was organized and off we went. I picked on Rob Baker right away, he was off to the right, and lined-up on him. There were five or six guys really in front of us as we started out, plus a few kids everyone knew wouldn't last.

The race starts out on a downhill, and it's a steady, fast downhill, not steep, but you are running fast. I could tell I was in for a long four miles of battling with people. I was just trying to hold my own as we hit the turn and then really went downhill. It was quickly clear that four or five of the guys were just going to run away and there was nothing to do about it. Then we hit the first uphill and I settled in and tried to run at 90%. Keep climbing, but pushing hills early is a surefire way to lose whatever place you should be able to hold.

At the top of the hill you hook and left and it's flat and this part of the course is kind of like a flat section in the Winter Wonderland race. It doesn't last though and you're climbing again, a shorter but steep climb. Tim, Rob and I had settled in to running together and there was some give and take between us with no one really getting an edge. At the top of the climb it's a right and then it's flat again.

I was having trouble keeping contact here and everyone was taking short pulls off the front. Rob and Tim almost collided at one point and then I saw the water table up ahead. I wanted to get in front of them and do the same thing I'd done last year, which was grab the water and dump it over my head to be intimidating.

I know. Silly.

I couldn't get out of third position. I still took the water and dumped it over my head. It's what I do.

I wasn't done yet.

We were still jockeying and then we took one more turn and we were finally back on a downhill, and it's a doozy. We took turns leading down the hills and were a tight pack as we turned left and ran through a flat section. We were tight, there was some very minimal arm bumps with apologies (mine, I believe), and we took the final turn that takes you to the biggest hill.

It's actually downhill first before the big uphill and both Tim and Rob pushed it here.

I was waiting for the hill and went into it behind both of them. I climbed as hard and as fast as I could, but I still felt like I was almost walking towards the top (I wasn't). We came over the top and I tried and tried to push as we went into the downhill.

I still felt like I could catch them as we bottomed out, took the last right onto the main road, and ran as hard as we could. But it was a mistake to ever let the two of them get a gap. Working off each other while I worked alone 4 seconds became 6, then 8, then 10.

I ran a decent race, I challenged tactically and repeatedly, but I just didn't have the speed or the endurance to take either of them. I felt like Rob ran a real solid and steady race, and Tim is looking like he's going to have a great triathlon season.

I was disappointed that I didn't run faster (24:46 or so) or place higher (9th). But I did win my age group and Margit and I won our combined age group and were a top 5 couple.

Not too bad.

But I have a lot of work to do.

The Refugee 5K Run

2010-02-08T19:10:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I go into a race I've never done before with no idea what I have coming, and Run for Refuges would be a great example of this.

5ks in February are not exactly my specialty. I don't think I raced in February last year.

Dick Korby and i went to the race together, getting there early enough to run the entire course for a warm-up. This was a great idea. It was also, if my concentration on spinning and light running lately can be discounted, the reason I didn't run a faster race.

Did I mention how fraking cold it was ? It was so cold (about 23 degrees) that after the race the race director told me that since it was under 25 degrees at race time I should have worn tights. Since this was John Bysiewicz (JB), I think he must know what the hell he's talking about. More on that later.

So Dick and I headed out and ran the course as a warm-up. Because we started at almost ten after nine, I was a little worried about getting the entire course in. This concern only intensified when we actually started climbing up in East Rock. Unlike Dick, I'd never run here and had not consulted the race course map. So I was surprised by how far up we ran, especially how far we ran after taking the right hand turn.

Just when I was ready to turn around and head back we actually made it to the turn-around. I got a feel for the run back- except for one short uphill section and a flat last tenth of a mile, it would be a downhill run.

I headed back, Dick and I separating and I started to think about whether to ditch the tights and lightweight cycling jacket. I wanted to be tough, but I didn't want to be so cold that it hurt my performance.

I went ahead and dressed down to bike shorts, a bike jersey and arm-warmers and I lined-up.

Then we were off. There were a lot of kids at the front, and I mean a lot of kids. Too many kids. It was pretty hard determining who all was legit and who was ready to quit, so I just started running. My goal was not to overcook the climb, based on my first run up. It was clear two of the guys were well off the front and there was five or six of us in the b mix, with another 2-3 more hangers on. We were trying to follow decent lines up the hill.

I found myself up against the side of the road, near the guardrail, and the same guy that elbowed me at Winter Wonderland made a move to pass me. He cut it too tight, cutting me off and kicking me in the knee on his back stroke.

As he pulled away I snapped 'You just have to make contact every race' but I'm sure he didn't hear me.

There was a surprising amount of back and forth as we climbed and looking back, I know that I was going too slow and saving too much.

We hit the turn-around and I felt like that was when the race was starting, for me at least. I can run downhill pretty well for a guy as short as I am because I'm willing to open up my stride. I ran by one of the guys that I'd been back and forth with and he complimented me on my pace. That was huge- it really gave me a boost at a point that I was starting to struggle. I opened it up even more, and settled in. I wasn't moving up or moving down.

I also wasn't breaking 18 minutes.

There wasn't a lot of action in that last mile. We were spread out and we stayed spread out and then it was over.

I think going out and running the course ahead of time was great, but I think I took the wrong lesson away, which was to take it easy on the way up. I left too much in the tank.

Lesson learned.

But hey- look at those feet.

Running 5Ks

2010-02-06T19:54:00.000-08:00

Running 5ks is not easy.

It makes me wonder exactly why I want to run another one. As of tomorrow, I'll have raced 5 times since Ironman Arizona, a 4 mile cross country race, a 5 miler, and 3 5ks.

5ks are kind of like doing time trial workouts on the trainer, or well, anything I do in the pool, which is to say that when I finish one, I'm pretty well done. So it might be better to say that what I'm really looking forward to is tomorrow's 5K being over with, at which time I can concentrate on getting ready for our annual Super Bowl party.

Super Bowl Prediction

2010-02-05T19:38:00.000-08:00

Just to get it down on the blog here:

Colts 31, Saints 13

Thinking- the Colts have shown that their offense is resilient. Look at the Jets game or going back at a little farther, the Texans game. The Colts might not put the ball in the end zone in the first drive or two, but the offense will get on track. I also think that the Saints can be run on and the Colts will look to use the run to move the ball and reduce the pressure on the passing game.

On the other hand, the Saints have a true rhythm offense, and teams have show the Colts what the blueprint for disrupting that offense is. I think the Colts defense has been underrated all season and has what it takes to take the Saints out of their game.

Winter Wonderland 5 Miler

2010-01-26T19:12:00.000-08:00

I was not really ready to run a five mile road race on Sunday. But I wanted to anyway.

I was feeling the edges of a cold coming on or maybe I'd just had a little too much beer the night before. Still, my usual Sunday running partner was out of town and I'd talked Dick Korby into going with me. I'd made some effort to get ready- although I haven't been running much. On FRiday I went to the gym and did some intervals, some hill repeats and some sprints on the treadmill.

It was cold on Sunday morning, but I still wanted to run in bike shorts and a race singlet. Unfortunately I could only find one glove, which was kind of a bummer. With the long cold spell we'd had, my hands had gotten chapped and cracked and were just starting to recover. Oh well.

Although I didn't feel that great all morning, after running a mile warm-up and doing a bunch of strides, I felt like I was ready to go. I actually felt pretty good, although I knew it wasn't really likely that I was going to be able to run strong for 5 miles, given it was going to be my longest race since the ironman.

The race starts out on the far side of the school and you run downhill for quite a way. In fact, almost the first mile is downhill, with a couple of turns.

The race quickly split into a lead group of three, and two chase groups of three that were closer to each other than the lead group was. I was trying to stay with two other masters runners, Enaldo Oliviera and another guy whose name I don't know Some high school or college kids and a 30 something were also all in the mix.

The first mile of a five miler is tough because you're probably running at a 5K intensity. It's just how it is. It was obvious that the lead pack was gone and they weren't coming back.

I was hanging tough, but I knew that the cold- and I haven't run outside much lately- and the fact that there had to be some uphills eventually- would start to eat in to how hard I could run.

We went through a mile at about 5:40, winding through a neighbourhood. After a mile, we hit the first real uphill and there was some back and forth here as the stronger hill runners, like me, ran a little stronger, just as we'd struggled on the downhills comparatively.

My goal in the middle three miles was to run steady and I mean really run steady. No surges, no racing other people, just a steady middle three miles. There was going to be some uphill and some downhill, that much I knew, and I wanted to really work on being smart.

Oh well.

I ended up getting tangled up in a group of three with two thirty-somethings who seemed to have exactly the opposite plan. They kept surging- one would go, the other would follow. Then both would come back to me on a slight uphill grade. Then it would flatten out and they would surge again. I was trying to stay in my own zone and run solid, but one of the pair brushed elbows with me. I let it go the first time, the second time, with no sorry, no acknowledgement at all, I'd had enough. I kind of feel like in a road race, in the middle of a road race where there are two other guys anywhere near you, the amount of contact should be zero, and if it's not, you just need to make the slightest acknowledgement- just say 'sorry.'

I sprinted past the guy going into a turn, careful to get a full length in front before cutting him off. He got the message and passed wide around me.

The two guys started to pull away on a downhill. It would have ben easy to let them go but I made a decision to leave my comfort zone and stay with them. It worked. We hit the 4 mile mark and then an uphill and actually pulled ahead-

Briefly.

Then they surged again, for the fifth or sixth time and try as I might as we turned back onto the road the race started on, I lost ground. I was spent, running hard, but not as hard as they were. My strategy of consistency might have been better but my talent wasn't.

I still ran hard, running downhill, and then I could tell, as we turned into the Platt Tech entrance road, someone was bearing down on me. I had to sprint, but I held onto 9th, onto 3rd in my age group. The two thirty-somethings had beaten me by at least 10 seconds.

It was a hard run. Maybe a little bit of a wake-up call. But then again, for a cold day in January while I'm just building my base ?

It was fine. Absolutely fine.

Polar Plunge 2010

2010-01-16T15:26:00.001-08:00

I just wanted to thank everyone who donated- your contributions added 610.00 to our overall total and Eric was very psyched at your generosity !

There's video- and yes, I dove underwater this year. A good clean dive. See the video here

Cleanse Day 14

2010-01-15T20:19:00.001-08:00

This is it- the last day- hell, the last hour.

I did not want to do the cleanse. Let's be honest, I never want to do the cleanse, but this year I really didn't want to do it. More than ever. It wasn't just that I'd done it quite a few times already, it was just that, well, I don't like it.

Now that it's almost over, I'm really glad that I did it. Of course, with the entire cleanse in the rear-view mirror it's easy to look back and say hey, I'm glad I did this thing that really kind of sucked while I was doing it but now I feel like I accomplished something.

But that's the way it goes. And that's okay- it's over. It's time to go back to my normal routine, with a little better nutrition this year.

I want to race better this year. I can eat a little better and I can definitely sleep more. These things will help.

Thanks, Eric.

ps I'm sure next year, it will be more of the same. I'll be hating the cleanse until about the 23rd hour of the 14th day...

Cleanse Day 13

2010-01-14T18:37:00.000-08:00

Just one more day- one more day....

It's a little hard to focus on your own suffering- if suffering is the right word, and I'm pretty sure it's not, when the mess in Haiti is in front of you.

If you haven't texted on of the numbers taking donations yet, then it's time that you did. Such as Text 'HAITI' to 90999.

Nevertheless, I am going to be damn glad when the cleanse is over this year. I'm looking forward to midnight and yes, I'm staying up and having a beer.

Then I'll have a few more at Bar after diving into the Sound Saturday.

Just one more day...

Cleanse Day 12

2010-01-13T20:21:00.000-08:00

Well, here we are, twelve days in.

I was listening to NPR- one report says that 2/3 of Americans are either overweight or obese.

Holy crap !

This 'diet' isn't about losing weight. It's about setting goals, re-invigorating your discipline, and re-focusing on your 2010 goals. It isn't a diet at all, it's an exercise.

I keep trying to remind myself that when I just really, really, really want a beer, or like today, when I had a morning meeting and someone brought Munchkins- that's just a little cruel, by the way- that two weeks is nothing.

I can't imagine what this would be like if it really was about losing weight. I have the luxury of doing this cleanse when I'm a few pounds overweight (normal for me in the winter) and at a fairly high exercise level. The concept of starting something like this on day zero, need to lose weight, needing to drastically increase my activity level, perhaps doing it because my doctor had told me it was time to make a change or else.

Makes me feel lucky. Very lucky.