Sunday, July 29, 2007

Takin' A Stroll

A friend of mine was an Olympian back in 1956, in the racewalk. He refers to a long, slow aerobic workout as taking a stroll. That was my gameplan for today. I walked for an hour and forty minutes. I did make two brief stops, one near the beginning, as I passed my next door neighbor, who was out walking her dog; the other near the end, when I passed the house of a running friend who I hadn't seen since the four mile race on July 4. He was out in his yard, having completed his 30 mile bike ride.

For whatever reason, this walk seemed to be a collection of little vignettes, so I figured I'd share a few:

Favorite car - E-type Jaguar (aka the XKE), seen being driven early on my walk, it was a pale yellow colored coupe (for those of you who don't know the car, it's the closed version of Austin Power's Shagmobile).

Friends/acquaintances seen: 4 - the two mentioned previously, a neighbor from behind my house, who'd run in Wednesday's race (she was biking), and a kid whose class I've substitutede for, who was in a car with his Dad and someone else.

I can say that this was my longest workout this year. Strolling is good!

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Saturday, July 28, 2007

Answering the Challenge

Wednesday evening, the big 5K in my town took place. Those of you who are regular readers remember that my son beat me back at the end of May, so this race was to be a rematch of sorts. The weather was good, humid, but not too hot.
Prior to the race, I said to my son, "If I can see you at the finish, I'm coming after you." He told me that "if you're close, I won't be letting you by."
I struggled a bit, and walked a few segments, then, at about 2.5 miles, I saw him sneaking by on the left. The gauntlet was thrown down. I went after him, sitting just off his shoulder as we climbed the last grade. We had talked about tactics, and he knew to use the downgrade to accelerate. Dutifully, he did his work, his only mistake, glancing around to check on competition. He kept his effort high as the course flattened out, passing perhaps a score of competitors, and only being passed by a few, all bigger and stronger. Still, I was locked onto him, perhaps 5 meters back. I couldn't gain ground, but neither was I losing. I had to hope he weakened.
As we came into the final 100, he turned on the juice - there wasn't much left, but it was enough. I tried to answer, thinking my greater strength and size would make the difference. It just wasn't enough. My son crossed the line with a two second advantage.
Bragging rights in the family stay with my son. I was proud of his effort. He did what was needed to hold me off. If I can keep moving with my comeback, it'll be him chasing me, but if in the chase, his effort and commitment rises, that will be a good thing.
After the race, I asked him, "Do you think you could run a whole race like you ran the end of the 5K?" His reply was, "Maybe, in a 1500, but not longer." I think he's beginning to transition to being a genuine racer.

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Tuesday, July 24, 2007

DIRTY! I Guess!

It appears that Alexandre Vinokourov has failed a doping test for homologous blood doping. (Another person's blood being transfused to increase red cell count.) See this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/cycling/6914301.stm

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Saturday, July 21, 2007

They May Beat Me, But...

They may beat me, but they'll have to spit blood to do it.
- Patti Catalano Dillon

Today, as I watch the first long time trial in the Tour de France, I am reminded of this quote. Alexandre Vinokourov is riding an amazing race. He had crashed earlier in the race and has been riding with a large number of stitches in his knees and elbows. The crash and the few days after it cost Vinokourov a lot of time. It looks like he's going to take a lot of the time back today. Conditions are less than ideal, with a wet roadway, and rain in the earlier part of today's time trial. Several riders have crashed, including a young Russian, Gusev. (I think he was Russian who was on fire in his race until his crash - how fast was he? - I think he wound up third fastest after getting back on his bike.) Vinokourov seems to be demanding that everyone else spit blood.

Note: When he finished, Vinokourov posted a new best time for the day of about 2:15 faster than the time Brad Wiggins had set early. Wiggins' time had held up for a looooong time, so it was very solid, and Vinokourov just destroyed it. Wiggins' time was about 1:08:48, "Vino" was about 1:06:34 - that would equate to winning a half-marathon by almost half a mile!

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Friday, July 20, 2007

Can You Not Smile?

Check this link:
http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2007/07/office_chair_bike.html
This has to be one of the funniest bicycles I've ever seen, and while I've seen some wild ones, this one looks tolerably usable.

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Basking in Reflected Glory

On Sunday, my club, the Shore Athletic Club of New Jersey, won the USATF National Club Championship, capturing the men's and women's titles, and as a result, the combined title as well.
I continue to bludgeon my body, trying to get it to run in something approximating the style that I want. Yesterday, I spent about 20 minutes running away from my home, then pulled a U-turn and ran back home. That 40 minutes felt pretty comfortable.
I have a 5K race on Wednesday evening. This will be a rematch with my 8 year-old son, who beat me on Mmemorial Day. I think we are almost evenly matched right now, so it will be interesting to see the outcome. Meantime, my son has announced his desire to try a 10K, so in mid-September we'll run one in the town I grew up in. It will be an effort of almost an hour for him. A big milestone for him. We'll see how ready he is. I think he'll be surprised, but will do OK.

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Sore Shoulder

On Sunday, my right shoulder was sore and a little stiff. At first, I couldn't figure out why. Then I realized that after driving 90+ miles and missing one of my athlete's race at the USATF regional meet, I had made myself available to the meet director as a volunteer. I spent the rest of my morning rolling shots back towards the putters and pulling tape measures taut.
I think my favorite thing was seeing the smallest girl in the youngest age group win. Why? She'd obviously been coached well, and her form was superb. She threw well, and seemed very focused and disciplined. It was nice to see.
Meantime, my athlete had set a PR. Having others around you tends to help keep you focused. He ran well, and his time was about 15 seconds faster than any previous race. His 3000 meters time was just under 12:15. I was proud of him, as was his family.

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Sunday, July 15, 2007

Jumbo Shrimp

Recently, Bruce "Vegas Runner" Robison referred to my Boilermaker as a training race. It struck me that that term is every bit as much of an oxymoron as jumbo shrimp. To be a race, a hard effort is required, and you must be trained well enough to run a personal best, whether for a time period, or your lifetime. I was not prepared, and as a result, my Boilermaker was a training run, albeit a very social one.

I find myself in the heart of the summer racing season in awful aerobic condition and without much toughness. Regardless, I'm hitting many of my usual races. So, are these training races? I guess the term "training race" is pretty accurate.

Chalk one up for Bruce.

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Saturday, July 14, 2007

Vive la Tour!

I'm sitting here watching the first alpine stage of this year's Tour de France. A fifteen man breakaway went off the front, and right now, it looks like some will stay away. At the moment, a German, Linus Gerdemans (sp?) has been tearing up the first really tough climb, the Col de Colombiere (sp?). He has broken everyone with him, and only a Spaniard has managed to stay close. From the top, there is a downhill and a flat circuit before the finish. If he has the skills and guts to hold off Inigo Landaluz (sp?), he'll be in yellow at the end of the day. (I'm watching the afternoon showing on Versus tv, so some of you know more than I do right now.)

Meantime, it is Bastille Day, which is the French version of July 4th. It recognizes the storming of the Bastille, a French political prison/armory back in 1789, and the key event of the French Revolution.

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Thursday, July 12, 2007

Struggling

I've run twice since Boilermaker, on Tuesday and this morning. I find myself often needing to run in the warmer parts of the day, and don't seem to be handling heat, especially sun, very well.

This morning, I ran only two miles, and walked another one+. Perhaps more significantly, my hams feel really tight, along with the whole back of my legs.

I think I may need to look at doubles and/or evening runs to try to build mileage.

A word about Boilermaker recovery - although I felt pretty badly late on Sunday and on Monday, there was very little soreness.

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Sunday, July 08, 2007

Utica Boilermaker

I ran 15K this morning, or more precisely, I ran most of 15K. My predicted time of 1:22 proved to be a bit ambitious. The big crowd and my slow time put me in the last, huge corral. One thing about the crowd management really dissappointed me. The race let people who hadn't moved into the corral start ahead of me. The result was that it took me more than 11½ minutes to get across the starting line.

Before the race, two things happened while in the corral. First, it was announced that New York Governor Elliott Spitzer was running in the 5K. When this announcement was completed, some wag near me bellowed, "Wuss!" A second thing that was going on was that the audio was cutting out pretty regularly during the announcements. As the trumpeter, David D??? was playing The Star-Spangled Banner, it kept cutting out. I was quietly singing along. As the music cut out, several of us started to sing a bit louder. The music probably went out five or six times during the anthem, and each time, the voices singing ratcheted up until by the end, the trumpet was just a tad louder than the voices. There was something nice about the way the runners honored the nation in light of the technical problems.

I ran the race pretty comfortably, posting times right around 10 minutes per mile pretty much throughout. Around mile two, there was a guy with something like "Milk was a bad choice" written on his back in marker. I asked what it was about, his initial response was, "It's from a movie." On further questioning, he revealed it was from Anchorman. Can anyone give the the set up? In the fifth mile, we passed the Utica Zoo, and a guy near me pulled out his camera to take a picture of the llama. I shout, get up there, I'll take your picture, and he handed me the camera. I took his picture, handed him the camera, and we were both on our way.

Around 10K, I was struggling a bit, but once I got some sugar (one of those freeze pops - the Kool-Aid in a baggie), I seemed to get back on track. I remember being startled as I passed 7 and 8 respectively. I was spending a lot of those miles trying to find kids to high-five me, but with surprisingly little success.

My final time was somewhere around 1:44:45, and with the delay at the start, I think my time was about 1:33.

Monday A.M. update: My times were pretty much on the mark. My chip time was 1:33:12 and my pace was 10:00/mile (exactly!).

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Friday, July 06, 2007

Consistency, Finally!

As I am trying to hammer this pudgy, pasty body back into shape, I've been pretty consistent about putting some mileage into my legs each day. Sunday will be a real test as I attempt a hilly 15K "race" (in quotes because while it's a race, I'm not racing). The longest I've run since starting my comeback is about 5 miles (Wednesday's four-miler with an additional mile of cool-down), so along with the work of the hills, the distance will be challenging. I found out that my time on Wednesday is listed as 34:06, a tad better than I thought.

So, will I be able to make it? I heard the medical director at the Runner's World Half-Marathon posit to Amby Burfoot that a runner could finish a distance equal to their weekly mileage. If that holds true and I don't get stupid, the 15K should be fairly easy. My challenge will be avoiding oxygen debt during the big hill.

Oh, and one other thing, I'm giving some thought to a fall marathon. It'll be slow, but having it looming will keep me focused.

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Thursday, July 05, 2007

Stretching My (Current) Limits

I wasn't motvated for road mileage today, so I headed to the local hilly park. The presence of horses meant the need to dodge horse pies along with rocks and roots as I made my way for 25 minutes up and down a hilly route. The need for focus was intensified by the need to try to avoid mucky sections of the trail as an inch of rain had fallen on the area yesterday.

I feel like I got a good workout and that my feet and ankles got a tad stronger due to the uneven terrain.

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Survival

Yesterday, July Fourth, I ran in the local four-mile race. My first mile was a bit fast for current condition, coming in at about 7:45. I was particularly fast for the first half-mile or so, being pulled by a friend. This race is virtually dead flat, and has a number of tight portions after halfway. I crossed the two at about 17:15 (at least that's what memory tells me), which would give me a 9:30, which sounds wrong, though perhaps I was undoing the earlier damage. I missed the clock at 3, but asked, and a guy volunteered 25:30. I finished about 34:15. It was no prize, but at least I held together. Around 3, keeping moving was a bit of a struggle. My head was just weak. I had walked a little as I took water at two, otherwise I ran throughout.

This race gave me hope of getting through the Utica Boilermaker in something in the low 1:20's. That will be a far cry from the 1:04 and change from a few years ago, but I feel good about making progress on the road back.

The thigh chafing continues, so I will be wearing bike shorts on Sunday. I am trying to figure strategy. For me, the key will be keeping myself moving slow enough early. I am debating walking the golf course, where going into oxygen debt is an easy thing to do.

My weight yesterday was 175.5, up 3 from earlier. I am not concerned. I've been eating mostly right, and attribute the added weight to water binding glycoen in my systen due to the increased activity.

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