Slow week...with healing properties?

This post won't likely inspire.

I ran 10mi today with a few intervals since I decided not to do the usual 15-18. Didn't really feel all that great. Took the week off running due to a sore calf after the Bay to Breakers. Did a 45 min hammer bike Tues and a whimpy 35 minute swim Weds. What a mild week. Hopefully I'll make it up a bit this weekend with some running...at the beach. My its good to live in North Carolina!

I'm still back and forth on which Ironman to pursue in '07. Its looking to be Lake Placid, Wisconsin or Coere d'Alene. Suggestions welcome. I really feel like I won't become hyper-serious about training until I calendar my IM. Right now, just a few cool races and the ING NYC Marathon on the calendar. I need a marathon in July to get me spooled up again. With much international travel coming in June I'm kind of in a lack-of-true-endurance-event funk.

More thoughts after my weekend vacation. Happy Memorial Day.

Post Bay to Breakers

Here I sit somewhere over the Midwest at 35,000 feet. Obviously the post will have to wait until we touch down and I can connect. What a trip.

Yesterday was the 2006 Bay to Breakers in San Francisco. A long day of running, laughing, eating, drinking, and generally having fun. Then getting on an airplane for the red-eye flight home. I’m a bit delirious right now at 4AM eastern time but I wanted to kill some airtime with some recollections.

1) Unless you can get in the front make this your fun race. Its 7.46 miles and there seems to be no reason to run this one fast unless you are competing for the prize purses.
2) Don’t race if you are offended by nudity. The Bare to Breakers team is out in full force.
3) Plan for all types of weather and carry some extra clothes with you.
4) Take a camera. Take pictures of all the hilarity along the way.

Heather and I ran together and had a great time. She had a strong race and it was a great recovery run for me. This was a long way to come for a recovery run but provided the two of us some time away together while Heather’s mom watched the kids. Worth the trip for that as well as Sears Fine Foods and Firenze by Night, two fantastic places we ate while in this fantastic city on the bay.

San Fran - Bay to Breakers 15K

We arrived in SF last night at 8PM local time. Sunday is the ING Bay to Breakers race. This will be our first running of the race. I think Heather and I will run together on this one. Easy pace for taking photos of the festive occasion. Its supposed to be an outrageous race with nudity, costumes, kegs of beer along the way, etc. I think there are 70,000-80,000 runners participating!

On a more serious note I tested a new purchase yesterday. I ran my 15 miler with an Ultimate Direction Matrix. Its a really cool belt to carry your stuff and a bottle while running. The problem is that the bottle is held in a sleeve that is parallel to the ground. The darn thing falls out a half mile into the run due to your liquid sloshing around. I did come up with a fix. I stopped at Harris Teeter (24 hr grocery store on my route) and bought a roll of athletic tape. Then I wrapped the bottle with the tape to make it grippier on the outside. That seemed to work the rest of the run. We'll see if that keeps up as we're carrying it tomorrow so we can carry camera, cash, event passes, etc.

Details and pics from the race coming tomorrow.

Improving my swim...and thoughts on getting older

I took my fourth swim lesson this morning and learned the finger drag. Dragging my fingertips alongside my ear on the way forward helps me lift my elbows and rotate my shoulder properly. Seemed like an easy one to slowly work into my new found self-study-Total-Immersion workouts. Good tip from teacher. Now if I can somehow make this part of my progress towards 2.4 miles in the water.

To change subjects in a big way...I've been wondering lately why it seems that, up to about age 25, I wanted to do was be older, more mature, and more successful. Also at about that age I started to feel like I was actually getting older. At age 29 we had our first child and my fitness started to slide slowly. Finally, at age 35, all I want to do is be more fit and younger. At 36 I have decided that there must be some value to being "older and wiser" as they say. Maybe that will help me finishing IM in 07. Hmmmmm....

Clif Shot Bloks

If you haven't tried Clif Shot Bloks you need to. If you are a gel user and, like me, they just don't seem to do it for you during hour 3 or 4 of your event, try the shot bloks. I've used them now in 2 marathons to supplement my one gel eaten at mile 17 or so. The bloks can be eaten every 30 minutes or so and seem easier on my gut. And I don't have any aversion to them at any time like I do to gels after two. The bloks also accompany me on my long Friday runs. One pack gets me through 15-20 miles on an early morning, empty stomach run.

And I've already emailed the folks at Clifbar to tell them the Shot Blok packaging is awful. Hopefully you have pockets or wear a belt to store the square bag they currently come in.

Another good 15 mile Friday

Friday is my long run day. Its been so for about a year now. Get up at 5, on the road by 5:30 or 6 hammering out 15-18 miles. Every week when possible. I usually only miss about one per month. I hope my tri training regimen (the one I won't faithfully start until I calendar my first 1/2 Ironman distance event) does not ask me to give up this ritual. It will be one I insist on keeping. It makes my Friday such a great day of accomplishment right from the beginning. My ritual cleans my mind and body to begin the weekend.

The Ironman Promo

Paste and watch. Speaks for itself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgS2y3Rkx2I&search=ironman%20drug

I…need…to…learn…to…SWIM.

It began in earnest Sunday. I finished my first triathlon (sprint distance) on the way to what I hope is an Ironman distance event in the next 24 months.

White Lake (NC) was a great event. Set-up, Inc hosts a half-tri on Saturday followed by a sprint on Sunday. As a newbie I opted to begin my tri-life with a sprint distance event. Good decision. Before I discuss my race experience I have to share two “race day” memories which will always stick in my mind.

The first thought is the significant amount of athletes who competed in both the half on Saturday and the sprint on Sunday. Many of these folks were wearing around their “I did an ironman” jackets and hats so I guess its not that big a challenge for them. I suppose if you are pretty fit you could both races by hammering on Saturday and going easy on the Sunday sprint. I’d like to be able to double up like that…and to have completed an event that allows me to own the jackets and hats. PS – a few of the folks who placed in the sprint had also competed in the half the day before. Wow.

The second is a race experience shared with me by one of the athletes who is friends with my tri friends. At the end of our race he was telling us about his ride on the half tri the day before. On a clear, sunny day he was hammering away about half way through the ride. He was within 10 yards of making a calculated pass when brownish yellow specks began slowly sprinkling his glasses. After looking around and seeing no place from which water could be leaking he noticed what appeared to be water dripping off the seat of the rider in front of him. Apparently, in contrast to most male riders, she didn’t stand up to give warning of her need to relieve herself. This is a lesson for all of us.

Now to my performance. Again, it was a great event and I had a great amount of fun for my first triathlon. I started in the men’s novice wave. My starting wave was second from last - followed by Athenas and women’s novice. We started 36 minutes after the elites.

1) 750 meter swim – the good news (“good” in the sense that I have left much room for improvement next time) is that the lake was choppy, my start wave was filled with panicked and wild-armed rookies, I didn’t wear a wetsuit and I finished the swim only 6 minutes behind my (also novice) training partner who grew up on the ocean and is a decent swimmer. Six whole minutes lost in 750 meters you say? Yes, after training with swims of this distance only twice (all pool), I could only muster about 75 meters of freestyle in the 750 meters of swim. The rest was backstroke and poorly executed breast stroke due to bodies, chop and general mental anguish. My “anguish” never turned to panic. Instead it acted as almost pure frustration at watching all the more efficient swimmers pass me by. I finished in 22 minutes. 330th place out of 374 in the swim. Plenty of room for improvement if I can just learn to swim.
2) 15 mile bike – after only about 70 miles of training rides (18 miles longest) over a month I did pretty well (for me) in the 15 miler. After flailing in the lake I spent most of my bike ride passing those who had passed me easily in the swim. I was a two lap ride so it was hard to measure if I was making up time on the field. Ride lasted 41 minutes. 189th place of 374 on the bike.
3) 5K run – finally, something I do well. I have come to this sport from my 4 marathon experience and having grown up as a lacrosse player. Running comes fairly natural to me…even with two reconstructed knees and two additional knee surgeries. Finished in just under 20 minutes. 29th place out of the same 374 in the run.
4) Transitions – did fine. Couldn’t get my shirt on but besides that felt like I did good work. Middle to upper middle of pack. My bike was parked in the waaaay back due to my novice status.
5) Winning race time 1:03:47, My time 1:26:40.

Conclusion – MORE TIME IN THE POOL. PRACTICE OPEN WATER SWIMS. GET A WETSUIT. PRAY FOR CALM CONDITIONS. BIKE A LITTLE MORE. KEEP RUNNING 30 MILES PER WEEK. Easy, right?


Also, special thanks to my wife and daughter for the 5AM wakeup and 2 hour drive necessary to come see me “compete” in my first tri. And congratulations to all of my competing friends from the Finley YMCA in Raleigh, NC. We had a bunch of top finishers in the novice category in the sprint and had some great placements in the half as well. Great job!