Today I did my first run since dropping the antenna mount on my foot and almost breaking it. It went pretty well.
8.66 miles (approximated using google maps pedometer application)
80 minutes
9:14 per mile
pace: relatively leisurely
foot pain: negligible with none on the site of my injury
after about 30 minutes I noticed that I had loosened up and was able to drop a bit lower in my hips and run a bit faster or bouncier or something. I was pretty glad when I got back to the house, but probably could have kept going for a few more miles before any of my body's complaints became more than minor annoyances.
i did not bring anything to eat or drink on this run. weather was 70's and moderately humid. sunny at the start, but overcast by the end. mostly ran in the shade.
The route I took was from my Dad's place on Virginia Rd to the Battle Road trail which is part of the Minuteman National Park. Battle Road trail provides lovely running on a trail made of sand and gravel. All road crossings are on minor roads except for the entrance to Hanscom Airfield which is actually a subway under the road. Despite the heavy rainfall around this are in the past several months the trail is in pretty good shape with some minor erosion on a few slopes and the only puddles on the trail were in the subway. A few sections of the trail are on boardwalks over wetland areas. Most of it is through forested areas with a few spots at the edges of fields. Very little of the trail is directly on the road (which is nice because the road is Highway 2A and is fairly busy with traffic).
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
training resumes
the stench of my camelbackpack as I walked into the bathroom was somehow comforting. stale sweat and the woodsy traces of rides past wafted to my nose as i staggered to the sink so that I could brush my teeth.
today I rode for the first time in three weeks. a combination of injuries and a hectic work schedule have been conspiring to keep me away from my usual dose of endorphins and dammit that's sick and wrong!!!!
today's ride:
Concord, MA to Arlington, MA via a short road section and then twelve miles on the Bikeways trail (at least that's what I think it is called, old railroad right of way going from Bedford to Cambridge). Overall ride was estimated to be about 33-34 miles.
at first I was underwhelmed by the prospects of the ride. my choices for loaner wheels here in Concord are:
1: Giant hybrid "mountain" bike that is decent and was new last year, but still it's kind of "Meh"
2: Motobecane 12 speed road bike with fenders, reflectors, friction shifting, platform pedals with toe cages. Probably 1990's vintage, but could even be late '80's. Also very decent "Meh" factor, but the rear dropouts are practically horizontal so a SS conversion is doable. Plus my Dad has declared this bike "abandoned" so I can do w/e I like to it.
I decided upon option 2 because if the Toll Road Race happens at MFest this weekend I need a laughable road bike to use. So out came the tools and off came the fenders, the reflectors, the kickstand, the oddball mounts for pump and god knows what. Having no idea how to properly set up the brakes I guessed and put up with a small amount of brake rubbing (I had to loosen the brake bolt to remove the fenders and then having no idea how to set things up properly I faked it until it seemed usable).
Get on bike. Ride down street. Realize that the seat is much too low. Go home and do more wrenching. Seat still too low, but eff it, "Let's RIDE!!!"
Hating the friction shifters and the toe cages I rode to Bikeways Source (bike shop in Bedford, MA located at the Bedford end of the Bikeways trail). Purchased spd pedals and a pump that fits in my camelbackpack. Forgot to purchase tubes or a patch kit. As they were out of pedal wrenches to sell they were kind enough to loan me their deluxe pedal wrench with cushy handle from the shop and I swapped the platforms w/cages for SPDs. MUCH happier!!!
Now more or less properly equipped (sans tubes or patch kits) I got on the Bikeways and cranked along. Started hating the friction shifters less after I got the feel for their idiosyncracies. Round about Lexington I started to get tuned into the bike and picked up the pace. Was very much enjoying passing people on newer and more expensive equipment (because that is ALWAYS gratifying). Just after Lexington center I came up on this roadie on a nice bike who was going at a decent pace, but not killing it. I decided that it was time to KILL IT! Cadence up and BLAMMY! Happily the roadie took the bait and I towed him almost all the way to Arlington. I hope he enjoyed the drafting. At Arlington I turned around and headed back for Concord. Yet again I came up on a roadie with nice equipment in Lexington. Or he passed me. I cannot quite recall. I was pretty spent at this point. I hooked up on his draft and after we got out of the center we mutually hammered on this nice long stretch. Eventually he ate me up, but at the next road crossing I caught him at the traffic light and we spent the last few miles going to the end of the line chatting and taking it fairly easy. His name was Don. 57 years old and still killing it on the bike. Probably never see him again. Just one of those wonderful things about biking. Random friends you meet out there in endorphin land who would probably give you a tube or a patch because you were too boneheaded to remember that you needed to bring any.
and while i'm not sold on friction shifters I no longer hate them and I see how you could actually become quite good at automagically finding your shift points if you used them regularly.
today I rode for the first time in three weeks. a combination of injuries and a hectic work schedule have been conspiring to keep me away from my usual dose of endorphins and dammit that's sick and wrong!!!!
today's ride:
Concord, MA to Arlington, MA via a short road section and then twelve miles on the Bikeways trail (at least that's what I think it is called, old railroad right of way going from Bedford to Cambridge). Overall ride was estimated to be about 33-34 miles.
at first I was underwhelmed by the prospects of the ride. my choices for loaner wheels here in Concord are:
1: Giant hybrid "mountain" bike that is decent and was new last year, but still it's kind of "Meh"
2: Motobecane 12 speed road bike with fenders, reflectors, friction shifting, platform pedals with toe cages. Probably 1990's vintage, but could even be late '80's. Also very decent "Meh" factor, but the rear dropouts are practically horizontal so a SS conversion is doable. Plus my Dad has declared this bike "abandoned" so I can do w/e I like to it.
I decided upon option 2 because if the Toll Road Race happens at MFest this weekend I need a laughable road bike to use. So out came the tools and off came the fenders, the reflectors, the kickstand, the oddball mounts for pump and god knows what. Having no idea how to properly set up the brakes I guessed and put up with a small amount of brake rubbing (I had to loosen the brake bolt to remove the fenders and then having no idea how to set things up properly I faked it until it seemed usable).
Get on bike. Ride down street. Realize that the seat is much too low. Go home and do more wrenching. Seat still too low, but eff it, "Let's RIDE!!!"
Hating the friction shifters and the toe cages I rode to Bikeways Source (bike shop in Bedford, MA located at the Bedford end of the Bikeways trail). Purchased spd pedals and a pump that fits in my camelbackpack. Forgot to purchase tubes or a patch kit. As they were out of pedal wrenches to sell they were kind enough to loan me their deluxe pedal wrench with cushy handle from the shop and I swapped the platforms w/cages for SPDs. MUCH happier!!!
Now more or less properly equipped (sans tubes or patch kits) I got on the Bikeways and cranked along. Started hating the friction shifters less after I got the feel for their idiosyncracies. Round about Lexington I started to get tuned into the bike and picked up the pace. Was very much enjoying passing people on newer and more expensive equipment (because that is ALWAYS gratifying). Just after Lexington center I came up on this roadie on a nice bike who was going at a decent pace, but not killing it. I decided that it was time to KILL IT! Cadence up and BLAMMY! Happily the roadie took the bait and I towed him almost all the way to Arlington. I hope he enjoyed the drafting. At Arlington I turned around and headed back for Concord. Yet again I came up on a roadie with nice equipment in Lexington. Or he passed me. I cannot quite recall. I was pretty spent at this point. I hooked up on his draft and after we got out of the center we mutually hammered on this nice long stretch. Eventually he ate me up, but at the next road crossing I caught him at the traffic light and we spent the last few miles going to the end of the line chatting and taking it fairly easy. His name was Don. 57 years old and still killing it on the bike. Probably never see him again. Just one of those wonderful things about biking. Random friends you meet out there in endorphin land who would probably give you a tube or a patch because you were too boneheaded to remember that you needed to bring any.
and while i'm not sold on friction shifters I no longer hate them and I see how you could actually become quite good at automagically finding your shift points if you used them regularly.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
a week off and then a race
I took the entire week off from training and exercise. The first few days after the Honu Half Ironman I was pretty sore.
This morning I went to Hilo to run in the Hawaii Road Runner Club's 5k race from Coconut Island to the singing bridge and back again. The race went pretty well for me, but after a week of sloth and not nearly enough stretching the IT band on my right leg was tight. At about the halfway point in the race I started getting the knee pain that this causes. Overall I finished the race 6th out of about 40 or so participants and ran it in 20 minutes 24 seconds (i may have the seconds portion wrong). I had fun and after the race I caught up with some of my buddies and talked story.
Afterward I came home, ate some food and had a nice nap. And yes I did some stretching too. :)
This morning I went to Hilo to run in the Hawaii Road Runner Club's 5k race from Coconut Island to the singing bridge and back again. The race went pretty well for me, but after a week of sloth and not nearly enough stretching the IT band on my right leg was tight. At about the halfway point in the race I started getting the knee pain that this causes. Overall I finished the race 6th out of about 40 or so participants and ran it in 20 minutes 24 seconds (i may have the seconds portion wrong). I had fun and after the race I caught up with some of my buddies and talked story.
Afterward I came home, ate some food and had a nice nap. And yes I did some stretching too. :)
Friday, June 6, 2008
more triathlon photos
pictures of lunacy in action
plus Tammy's mom has pictures on her flickr. Tamma should link them (I would but it ain't my Momma's photostream)
plus Tammy's mom has pictures on her flickr. Tamma should link them (I would but it ain't my Momma's photostream)
Monday, June 2, 2008
post-race journal
Pre-Race
swim: this is the portion of the race that I felt least prepared for. I gave lip service to my swim training. Maybe managing a swim per week during the last three weeks before the race. Never stepped foot into a pool or other facility where I had any way to measure time and distance
bike: I devoted the bulk of my training time, energy and cash to bicycling. Upgraded from my somewhat ancient road bike that is too big for me to a brand new triathlon/time trials bike made of carbon fiber and lightweight components. Learned a fair amount about numb nuts and how to try and avoid it. Spent hours on the road and on the trainer spinning my pedals.
run: I felt like I had devoted a good amount of time and energy to my run training, but based upon race results and looking back on my training I think I lacked appropriate focus. My run results were the biggest letdown of my day when held up against my goals.
Race
Swim: 2nd ever competitive swim event. "deep water" start, meaning you are in water 6 feet deep at the starting line. Knowing little to nothing about how to seed myself I chose a spot about midway between the two starting buoys and swam to the front of the pack to wait for the cannon. After the cannon went off I worked my way through the initial scrum of thrashing arms and kicking legs and settled into my swim. I sighted every 20-40 seconds for the buoys and didn't veer off course much for the first three legs of the course. I noticed that my tri-shorts were ballooning in the back and acting like a brake. Le sigh. I should have done some swim workouts in my race gear.... durh. Somewhere during the third leg some of the faster swimmers (or those with more endurance) began to filter slowly past me. After the third turn I got a bit off course as I couldn't see the next buoy in the glare from the morning sun. Probably burned 20 seconds or so with the extra leg I added to my course there. After correcting course and turning that corner I continued swimming my way to the last buoy and turned for the beach. Just as I got to the archway at the edge of the wet sand I heard Todd's name called as he passed over the timing mat ahead of me. So I felt pretty good about my swim being that close to Todd (swimming is Todd's strong suit and I probably wouldn't have been nearly as close if he hadn't been hit by a car the previous day while doing his last pre-race bicycle ride). 1:56/100m
Swim-Bike Transition:
I chose to swim without my tri-top on despite the pain-in-the-ass factor of trying to get a tight top on over a wet torso. This was a mistake. Next triathlon I either use a one-piece triathlon suit or I wear my shirt during the swim. I pounded 4-6 shots of Hammer gel from my transition kit. Threw on the rest of my gear and still took over five minutes to do my transition. Granted there were a few hundred meters of running from the beach to the bikes, but I need to work on my swim-bike transition and see if i cannot get the time down closer to 3 minutes.
Bike:
Massive awesome bike ride. Having done plenty of rides on the course prior to the race was incredibly helpful. Having a strategy (keep the cadence high) and sticking to it was also incredibly helpful. I had two equipment problems during the race. First one was when the sponge blew out of the top of my sippy-cup water bottle. I went back and picked it up, but later someone pointed out that I didn't need to do that because it happened at an aid station (there was a referee right there so I was trying to avoid getting a penalty). The second problem was when I hit a pothole on the final turn in from Queen K highway to the Mana Lani Resort. I ejected a water bottle and some other gear from my equipment behind my seat. Again I turned back and picked up the stuff I could see to avoid getting a penalty. Also my sippycup style water bottle in the handlebars had a failure of its attachment system. Next time I add the rubber bands to the velcro for extra attachment power. I spent the last mile or two of the bike ride holding things together with one hand and cruised into the transition area. Probably lost ten to fifteen spots to the two equipment issues. But still it was an awesome ride and I was able to average better than 20mph under windy and hot conditions. Drank tons of water during the ride. Failed to keep to my nutrition schedule (every 30 minutes eat some hammer gel). I think the failure to keep to my nutrition schedule contributed to being pretty beat during the run.
Bike-Run Transition:
Not terribly bad. Not terribly good. I almost wiped out coming into the bike rack area due to running too fast in bicycling shoes while pushing my bike (they make you dismount before you get into the transition area). Narrowly missed falling over onto some very expensive bicycles. Apparently the volunteers will put all your gear into your bag for you after you leave so I burned a little time stuffing my bike gear into my transition bag. Not a big deal, but good to know for future Ironman events. I chugged about four or five doses of Hammer Gel after putting on my shoes. Probably not the best idea.
Run:
Ouch! The run was long. The run was hot. I started out feeling pretty good, but soon after the first little uphill I started to feel a bit barfy. Not nauseous. More like the massive dose of sugar gel and water that I imbibed after putting on my shoes wanted to come right back up and decorate the pavement. The key is probably to stay on your nutrition schedule during the bike so that you can just keep that schedule flowing through your run instead of trying to play catchup at the tail end of a long hard day. I took advantage of almost every aid station for water, gatorade, sponges or orange slices. I quickly abandoned one of my two flasks of Hammer Gel (probably around the 3 mile aid station). I should have tossed the other one too as all it was doing was bouncing around on my lower back. Didn't really notice it until around mile 10 and threw it out at the 11 mile aid station. No problems with knee pain or ileo-tibial band tightness. Around 11 miles my soas muscle on the right side began to hurt. From mile 11 to mile 12 the ache progressed to sharp pain. Between mile 12 and 13 the pain got pretty darn intense. During this whole progression I also began to get all emotional, bordering on tears. There wasn't much left in the tank. I was running on fumes. Every little distraction helps during this time. A volunteer cheering as I crossed the road, a random spectator with cheerleader pompoms and a boombox, coming upon the guy with number 846 (I wore 847). Anything to distract myself from the agony. And finally the finish line. I took off my running cap so the finish line photographer would get a good shot of my mohawk. Crossed the line and yeehaw!!! I was done. Nowhere near my goal of 7-7:30 per mile, but hey. This was the longest run of my life done after one of the longer bike rides of my life and the longest swim of my life. 8:51/mile. Next time I hope to have that under 8:00/mile.
I'm impatient for the search driven results to get posted to the ironman703hawaii.com site. I want to dig in the numbers a bit deeper than you can on the ironman.com site.
swim: this is the portion of the race that I felt least prepared for. I gave lip service to my swim training. Maybe managing a swim per week during the last three weeks before the race. Never stepped foot into a pool or other facility where I had any way to measure time and distance
bike: I devoted the bulk of my training time, energy and cash to bicycling. Upgraded from my somewhat ancient road bike that is too big for me to a brand new triathlon/time trials bike made of carbon fiber and lightweight components. Learned a fair amount about numb nuts and how to try and avoid it. Spent hours on the road and on the trainer spinning my pedals.
run: I felt like I had devoted a good amount of time and energy to my run training, but based upon race results and looking back on my training I think I lacked appropriate focus. My run results were the biggest letdown of my day when held up against my goals.
Race
Swim: 2nd ever competitive swim event. "deep water" start, meaning you are in water 6 feet deep at the starting line. Knowing little to nothing about how to seed myself I chose a spot about midway between the two starting buoys and swam to the front of the pack to wait for the cannon. After the cannon went off I worked my way through the initial scrum of thrashing arms and kicking legs and settled into my swim. I sighted every 20-40 seconds for the buoys and didn't veer off course much for the first three legs of the course. I noticed that my tri-shorts were ballooning in the back and acting like a brake. Le sigh. I should have done some swim workouts in my race gear.... durh. Somewhere during the third leg some of the faster swimmers (or those with more endurance) began to filter slowly past me. After the third turn I got a bit off course as I couldn't see the next buoy in the glare from the morning sun. Probably burned 20 seconds or so with the extra leg I added to my course there. After correcting course and turning that corner I continued swimming my way to the last buoy and turned for the beach. Just as I got to the archway at the edge of the wet sand I heard Todd's name called as he passed over the timing mat ahead of me. So I felt pretty good about my swim being that close to Todd (swimming is Todd's strong suit and I probably wouldn't have been nearly as close if he hadn't been hit by a car the previous day while doing his last pre-race bicycle ride). 1:56/100m
Swim-Bike Transition:
I chose to swim without my tri-top on despite the pain-in-the-ass factor of trying to get a tight top on over a wet torso. This was a mistake. Next triathlon I either use a one-piece triathlon suit or I wear my shirt during the swim. I pounded 4-6 shots of Hammer gel from my transition kit. Threw on the rest of my gear and still took over five minutes to do my transition. Granted there were a few hundred meters of running from the beach to the bikes, but I need to work on my swim-bike transition and see if i cannot get the time down closer to 3 minutes.
Bike:
Massive awesome bike ride. Having done plenty of rides on the course prior to the race was incredibly helpful. Having a strategy (keep the cadence high) and sticking to it was also incredibly helpful. I had two equipment problems during the race. First one was when the sponge blew out of the top of my sippy-cup water bottle. I went back and picked it up, but later someone pointed out that I didn't need to do that because it happened at an aid station (there was a referee right there so I was trying to avoid getting a penalty). The second problem was when I hit a pothole on the final turn in from Queen K highway to the Mana Lani Resort. I ejected a water bottle and some other gear from my equipment behind my seat. Again I turned back and picked up the stuff I could see to avoid getting a penalty. Also my sippycup style water bottle in the handlebars had a failure of its attachment system. Next time I add the rubber bands to the velcro for extra attachment power. I spent the last mile or two of the bike ride holding things together with one hand and cruised into the transition area. Probably lost ten to fifteen spots to the two equipment issues. But still it was an awesome ride and I was able to average better than 20mph under windy and hot conditions. Drank tons of water during the ride. Failed to keep to my nutrition schedule (every 30 minutes eat some hammer gel). I think the failure to keep to my nutrition schedule contributed to being pretty beat during the run.
Bike-Run Transition:
Not terribly bad. Not terribly good. I almost wiped out coming into the bike rack area due to running too fast in bicycling shoes while pushing my bike (they make you dismount before you get into the transition area). Narrowly missed falling over onto some very expensive bicycles. Apparently the volunteers will put all your gear into your bag for you after you leave so I burned a little time stuffing my bike gear into my transition bag. Not a big deal, but good to know for future Ironman events. I chugged about four or five doses of Hammer Gel after putting on my shoes. Probably not the best idea.
Run:
Ouch! The run was long. The run was hot. I started out feeling pretty good, but soon after the first little uphill I started to feel a bit barfy. Not nauseous. More like the massive dose of sugar gel and water that I imbibed after putting on my shoes wanted to come right back up and decorate the pavement. The key is probably to stay on your nutrition schedule during the bike so that you can just keep that schedule flowing through your run instead of trying to play catchup at the tail end of a long hard day. I took advantage of almost every aid station for water, gatorade, sponges or orange slices. I quickly abandoned one of my two flasks of Hammer Gel (probably around the 3 mile aid station). I should have tossed the other one too as all it was doing was bouncing around on my lower back. Didn't really notice it until around mile 10 and threw it out at the 11 mile aid station. No problems with knee pain or ileo-tibial band tightness. Around 11 miles my soas muscle on the right side began to hurt. From mile 11 to mile 12 the ache progressed to sharp pain. Between mile 12 and 13 the pain got pretty darn intense. During this whole progression I also began to get all emotional, bordering on tears. There wasn't much left in the tank. I was running on fumes. Every little distraction helps during this time. A volunteer cheering as I crossed the road, a random spectator with cheerleader pompoms and a boombox, coming upon the guy with number 846 (I wore 847). Anything to distract myself from the agony. And finally the finish line. I took off my running cap so the finish line photographer would get a good shot of my mohawk. Crossed the line and yeehaw!!! I was done. Nowhere near my goal of 7-7:30 per mile, but hey. This was the longest run of my life done after one of the longer bike rides of my life and the longest swim of my life. 8:51/mile. Next time I hope to have that under 8:00/mile.
I'm impatient for the search driven results to get posted to the ironman703hawaii.com site. I want to dig in the numbers a bit deeper than you can on the ironman.com site.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)