More Dick Pound

From a 2004 Velonews Interview:

(T)he whole thing got its start with the Festina scandal. During the Tour de France (Samaranch) is there in his room in Lausanne watching it on television and he says something to the effect that “To me this is not doping. The IOC list is too long.”

He had apparently forgotten that he had some reporter with him – following the IOC president around to see how hard he was working, that sort of thing – sitting right there in the room. The guy was unable to believe what he was hearing. So out it came in the paper the next day and there was a firestorm that descended on Samaranch over this.

It was the sort of thing where people said “See? It’s just as we always suspected… the IOC is soft on doping.. and blah, blah, blah.”

It got to the point where we had to call an emergency meeting of the executive board of the IOC in August. Samaranch looks at all of us and asks “What are we going to do about this?”

Good stuff. Freakin’ dopers.

Forgot to mention earlier that the money quote from Fresh Air is Pound calling dopers “sociopaths”.

Dick Pound on Fresh Air

So, I’m leaving Boston Monday afternoon, and I find “Fresh Air” on the radio. The main guest was Dick Pound, the man with the name that’ll get any site that tries to discuss doping, etc, blocked on every elementary school computer in the world. The interview’s here.

I really, really enjoyed the bit. Dick’s clearly committed to fighting doping. But he’s been tagged as a bit of a facist for wanting harsh penalties for folks caught doping.

One of the bits that really resonated with me was that, under the current system, the only folks who really get punished for doping are the atheletes. Known “bad” coaches and other facilitators can usually skate. Which is wrong, IMO.

Dick also relayed a bit about Juan Antonio Samuranch’s (then director of the IOC, the head of the Olympics) reaction to the 1998 Festina Affair at the Tour de France that made my blood run cold, and put Pound’s perceived excesses into perspective.

As background, in 1998, the Festina cycling team was caught by the French police with industrial quantities of doping agents. Pretty much the entire team, from the director sportif and the cyclists on down to the kid who fills the water bottles was involved and charged. Big deal.

Samuranch’s reaction? Something along the lines of “To me, this is not doping.”

Anyway, check out the audio. Good stuff. Dick was on to pimp his new book, Inside Dope. Haven’t read it, but might have to after I get done with “Foucault’s Pendulum”. Umberto Eco absolutely rocks.

Yay! Rest day! and another 3 miles

Still on schedule. It was a relief not to run on Wednesday and not feel guilty about it (all in the plan, y’know).

Today was supposed to be a twilight run, but there was a wreck on the Newport Bridge, so it took about 15 minutes to make it from the top of the bridge to Jamestown. Stupid rubberneckers. But, I stopped and ran anyway. 3.4 miles, 27 minutes. Not too shabby.

The small victory for today was in not walking any of the run. Well, that and actually running again.

Here’s to Saturday and Sunday.

I Wanna feel beautiful

Yeah, baby – back on the road again. Developed a plan yesterday, and executed it today. 3 miles on the way home from work, on Jamestown, in the twilight and gathering rain.

AND, to make things even better, I was back in my Asics, using one of those neoprene pouches for the Nike+iPod sensor. Man, I’ve missed my Asics. The Nike Moire’s are fine, and it’s nice having the built-in sensor, but Asics just feel that much better.

The run itself was not terrible – 5.2K in 27 minutes or so. I walked a third or so of the last mile, so the actual running speed was pretty darn quick. Felt good. Felt strong.

The downside was that it felt phleghmy – got a flu mist this weekend. It hasn’t laid me out like the shot does, but it has left me way, way more congested than usual.

Get Well Plan

So, ladies and gents (I can say that, as I’m pretty sure there’s still 4 readers out there in Internet Land). I’ve worked myself into quite the pickle. Between this, that, and the other, I’ve gotten out of shape, relatively speaking.

Out of shape in the way that I cannot just head out and run and run and run as I could earlier this year. The 2 weeks with the Colombians pretty much sealed that deal, though there’s no way I would have traded that ride for a sub-3 hour marathon.

OK, maybe I’d trade it for a sub-3 hour marathon. I might even trade one of the kids for sub-3, if you catch them on a bad day. Let’s say a sub-4 hour marathon…

Anyway, I’m in the position where, in my line of work, we say that there’s a “Get Well Plan” needed. (The irony being that “Get Well Plan” is usually the precedent to the “Realignment” in which goals are completely dropped. But not here, baby). And here’s my plan:

GOAL: I want to be able to put in 20 mile weeks starting 1 January.
ANALYSIS: If I really, really wanted to suffer, I could likely do that starting tomorrow. But I don’t want to suffer – I want to build solid base and continue my current love affair with running.
PLAN: I dug out my trusty copy of “The Runner’s Training Diary”, and flipped to the 10 mile per week to 20 mile per week buildup program for intermediate runners/beginning competitors. Then, worked backwards for the roughly 8 weeks remaining between now and New Year’s. So, this week is a modest 13 miles, increasing through the end of the year. Think it’s achievable.

GOAL: Another Marathon Next Fall
ANALYSIS: Time heals all wounds, I suppose.
PLAN: NYC, Hartford or Mystic Places. In that order. This time with gusto.

After the New Year, I’m going to hold the 20 mile per week average for between 6 and 10 weeks, depending on which marathon I target. Likely for about 6 weeks, to hit 30 miles/week in time to hold it for about 10 weeks until I start training for Hartford. Then, I’ll follow the NYC Road Runner’s 16 week Marathon Plan building from a 20 mile/week base.

Why switch to a 20 mile per week base for the buildup? Two reasons: First, I want to have energy to devote to speed, and cutting mileage should help me with that. Second, I want to pretty aggressively cross train, and cutting 10 miles/week should free up 2 hours per week to devote to the bike. I’m planning on picking up swimming again in the 6 weeks between the New Year and the buildup to 30 miles/week, and continuing the calestenics I’ve been doing lately.

GOAL: Austin or Oklahoma (OOOOOOOOKlahoma, where the wind comes sweeping ‘cross the plains) City Marathon in early 2008.
ANALYSIS/PLAN: Plenty of time to recover and do an abbreviated marathon buildup. If I handle the first half of 2007 properly, I should be in shape to knock this out.

So, that’s pretty much it. Frankly, I’m psyched. I’ve worked through the mental issues, I’m reasonably fit, only about 3 lbs heavier than I was going into 2006, and think I can make this work with work and family.

Catchup Post 1 – 29 October

One Week

One week underway on anything is about all I can take any more.

One week on a submarine, however, especially a non-US sub is, in some ways unbearable. No TV, no Internet, no Phone.

NADA.

For the first time since, well, like 1996 or 1997 when we got email on good ship ANNAPOLIS, I am completely and totally unwired. OK, not completely – the MacBook is still with me (somehow, I still prefer ‘iBook’ to ‘MacBook’), the iPod is with me, and I’ve been swapping songs with a couple of the guys on the boat – Colombian ‘rancheros’ (think country music, ‘cept from South America) from them, grunge from me.

Which I guess doesn’t count as “Wired”, as wired kind of implies that it’s connected to something. And, as I think about the 3 or 4 times max each month I actually plug my computer into Ethernet, or the like zero times per month I use a hardwired phone in my personal life, ‘wired’ connotes an actual, physical wire fewer and fewer times.

I can’t say I actually miss it – I’ve actually read a couple of magazines, an entire book, cover to cover in less than three days, actually watched the second season of BattleStar Galactica (delivered, ironically enough, via iTunes prior to leaving the States), AND had enough time to keep up with the work I have been doing.

My Spanish is marginal, at best, but there’s a couple of folks on board who are fluent in english, and practically everyone on board speaks a little bit, so it’s not much of an issue, ‘cept for the constant embarassment factor.

But, all in all, I can’t complain. I miss the family, obviously, but for the first time in god knows how long, I’ve finally gotten to the bottom of my immediate “to do” list.

Now, on to the more vexing question, the one filed under “What do you want to do with your life?” Which, I guess, comes with the more vexing implication of “Am I at my potential?”, and the subsequent “If I’m not at my potential, do I really want to get there?”

(*Censored*)

10 Days

10 days, good and faithful readers. 10 Days.

10 days without running. For good reason. For reasons which I am happy to do.

Actually, 10 days will end up being actually 8 days, as I should be able to squeeze in a few miles the first day and the last day. But, other than those, it’ll be 10 days Fer Shor.

How will I cope?

By learning Spanish, teaching myself C, and weeping gently while no-one is looking.

Well, that, and I finally downloaded Season 2 of Battlestar Galactica.

Sleep? We don’t need no stinkin’ sleep

So, yesterday’s sojurn through Dulles ended up being way more painful than I’d hoped.

WAY

As in the flight that was supposed to leave between 9 and 10 in the PM left between 1 and 2 in the AM, and got into Jacksonville about 3. As luck would have it, the rental car counters were all as empty as a keg at about 12:30 AM in a frat house. And, the number of taxis at the airport was exactly zero.

So, I did what any red-blooded American man would do in this situation – I laid my butt down and tried to take a nap. Wasn’t terribly hard between 4A and 5A, but about then, folks started showing up for work and being loud. AND, one of the alarms that go off prior to the baggage claim moving started wailing, and went on for about 45 minutes. *grumble*

About 5:55, I finally got a car, and boogied on down to Naval Station Mayport for a meeting, arriving a little after 7. When I got to the Q, the guy at the counter asked me if I really wanted the room, that maybe I could save the 24 bucks. Luckily, he remembered I had been guaranteed for arrival the night before before I could say anything, and gave me the room key. I rewarded him with the classic Jank Family cemetery joke*, passed from me to my son, from my father, my father’s father, and so on. The guy behind the counter said he was going to go out and tell it to his kid.

So – it’s 7:15, and I was under the impression that I was meeting the other folks I need to work with at about 8. What do I do?

That’s right, RBF – I threw on the sneakers and went for a quick 20 minute run along Mayport’s absolutely great run of taxpayer sponsored beach. 17 minutes, 2 miles, and a load off of my shoulders.

Quick shower later, and I managed to stay awake through the meetings, etc. The folks I was meeting threw a fish fry for lunch, so about 2 I pried myself away with a full belly, used legs, and a smile. Back at JAX, I finally let my guard down for a while and closed my eyes until my flight showed up.
Continue reading Sleep? We don’t need no stinkin’ sleep