But the good type of sore – this is definately “Use” that I’m feeling in my calves instead of ligament related. 70 and beautiful here today, and the road bike’s on the roof of the new Jetta.
I am a lucky man.
Category: life
Big News/Run/Lost/Prayers
Big News
My lovely wife of (great God, has it really been that long? I may have to cut back on her meds) years, after three years of steady progress – 30 minutes of fitness a day, every day, and eating good, all day, every day – has pulled the lever, sent a registration to the Hartford Marathon, and is going to go 26.2 this October.
The only question I have is by how much she’s going to beat my marathon PR.
I’m trying to get her to blog about her experience, which is as likely to be as different from mine as night is from day. What I have in passion, she has in sheer will and dedication, so I have no doubt that each and every run in her training plan will get executed.
The upside for me? No more feeling guilty about sleeping in on Saturdays, as she’s using Saturday morning for her long run. Hot dog.
Run
Johnny Klink and I hit the road at lunch again today. The plan was a quick three-ish to the top of the Bulkey Bridge at NAVSTA Newport, but we hit the top of the bridge feeling good, feeling spring, and decided to make a quick loop instead of an out’n’back. Finished up with 4 miles at 8:20, fastest I’ve gone in a long while.
Feet didn’t freeze up on the ride home, which is huge. For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been heeding my dad’s advice (I can remember it from the time I was about 8 and started running with him on) “Run on your toes!” I’m also trying to “chi”, based on what little I know from thumbing through the book at Barnes and Noble, and run circles with my feet. It seems to be working – I’ve been sore in my calves, but haven’t had the terrible morning foot pain in a couple of weeks.
Lost
AND, today was so nice that I had little option but to play two.
On the way home from work, I stopped at Burlingame State Park, just down the road from Susie’s and David’s Shelter Harbor, and did the Yellow Trail on the mountain bike.
It would have been a perfect ride, except for:
- Freakin’ Flat tires – luckily I had (a) spare tube and a pump; and
- About two miles of wrong turn
I suppose that’s not much to complain about. Weather was gorgeous. The loop around the lake’s great, at least running it counter-clockwise. The Northeast section of the trail is somewhat technical – lots of babies’ heads, roots, and more slickrock than Rhode Island, land of sod farms, is supposed to have. All sketchy stuff to do with a front tire that’s rapidly losing air.
Once you get about top-dead-center (North being top), the ride gets sweet for an XC loving guy like me – long stretches of smooth-ish singletrack, swoopy turns, and finally shifting into the big ring and flying, flying, flying! This is why I love the bike.
Prayers
Sorry to end on a downer, but there’s a couple of things to keep in your thoughts. First, Fat Cyclist’s wife is having a terrible battle with breast cancer. I cannot do anything but hope that he and his wife find strength to deal with this, and peace to accept whatever the world has to offer. I’ll quote Elden (I think that’s his name) here, on stress management:
When you’re riding hard, that’s all you can do.When you’re in the red zone, all you can think about is turning the cranks. When you’re riding down technical, exposed, twisty singletrack, that’s all you can pay attention to. Essentially, riding a bicycle can be fully absorbing – a vacation from everything.
Lastly, I am passing thoughts of find hope and peace for some friends to whom I wish I were closer.
3 outta 7 ain’t bad
In my own minor way, I’ve managed to score well on the 7 deadly sins in the last 24 hours.
Lust – Women in the midwest are extremely underrated. None of the attitude from the coasts, and somehow avoiding much of the gluttony that’s beginning to ruin many southern women. Luckily for my lovely wife, I spent the better part of my time up here in conference rooms with engineers.
Gluttony – How do I eat thee? Let me count the ways – delicious hot wings, tasty pizza, too many cookies from the tray at lunch, and a root-beer float at the airport A&W.
Greed – Luckily, not so much lately. But I am finishing up my taxes – does trying to maximize my return count?
Sloth – Alarm went off this morning in the hotel. Looked out on nasty grey skies and the remnants of a wonderful midwestern thunderstorm, and reset the alarm for another hour of sleep.
Wrath – I’m in the midwest, surrounded by wonderful people. No wrath here at all.
Envy – One of the engineers in the meeting today was a beekeeper. 100 lbs of honey a year per hive. Hey, that one might be a double dipper!
Pride – spent the day in a room surrounded by people smarter than me. Definately no pride here..
So, no running today. Truth be told, I’m still a little sore after the strong beginning to the week I’ve had, so a day of rest probably isn’t a bad thing. But, the Wikipedia article is pretty interesting. GO read it.
Good Weekend, Good Monday
The cool thing? This post represents 11 miles, which is huge. The not-so-cool-thing? 7 days since I was last on a bike. The completely uncool thing? I cannot recall the last time I swam.
Friday
Three-ish miles on the cliffwalk with guys from work. There’s two guys on my team here at the lab. Both only a year or two out of school, both pretty fit in the rock-climber/gymnast anerobic kind of fitness, both novices as runners. Given that I’m in shape in the sense that “round” is a shape and need to get back on the wagon (not that it’s gone that far down the road), I figured I’d try to recruit these guys as running partners.
We hit the CliffWalk after work – three miles from First Beach down to Ruggles and back. Good times, good times. Jon, a EE (pronounced “Double E”, so it is proper to use ‘a’ instead of ‘an’) has a thing for jumping onto and over stuff, which is fun to watch. Weather was pretty crummy, 40’s, grey, and windy, so the walk was pretty deserted.
Saturday
That morning, I took the kids to swim class at the Y. My wife had headed down there a bit earlier, and the plan was to leave my car at the Y while we went and hunted the wily and dangerous Easter Egg. The hunt was successful – eggs were found by both boys, and no fists were thrown. Lunch and a nap for the youngest followed, and I set off to retrieve the car.
It was a bit odd doing the home-to-Y run, as I’m used to doing it the other way. But, it was nice, being that it’s downhill from our house to the Y. I think I’ll miss the Y after global warming washes it away, but it’ll be awful nice having the beach just down the street instead of a couple of miles away.
I stopped at the coffee shop as I jogged through downtown. A buddy of mine was fixing the front door (he’s a friend of the owner’s, and hangs out ther on Saturdays). I helped; we chatted. A doorknob was replaced, free coffee was offered, and I finished the jog down Route 1.
Funny postscript – sitting in church the next morning, another transplanted southerner by way of the Navy (my oldest’s got a crush on his daughter. As in the kind of 7 year old crush where the boy just wants desparately to be noticed by the girl and doesn’t realize that the girl just really isn’t that into dinosaurs or bugs) turned around before the service started, and said “Hey, I saw you running yesterday.”
“Yeah?” I answered.
He continued “Yeah, I was just heading out; we were getting ready to send off some folks who found new jobs, and I was on my way out to get ice and…” he just kind of trailed off here, in that weird kind of limbo that folks get in the south when talking about booze in the presence of the Lord. “uh, stuff”.
“Cool,” I said. “Good sendoff?”
“Yeah,” he said, happy to have someone else who speaks his language.
Monday
I’ve finally picked up running at lunchtime again. Jon B. went along again, and we added Jon K, my running buddy from last summer.
Something is in the air, for sure, ’cause for the first time in 3 springs here, there was literally no room to turn around in the men’s room/locker room in the basement of my building while we were dressing to head out. Crowded, crowded.
On the road, the day was phenomenal. Not too windy, not too cold. Which isn’t to say it was perfect – mid 40’s and on the verge of being blustry. There were a couple of legs of the run that still felt like a winter run, but there were a couple that were amazing. Jon B. ended up walking the last mile, but that’s OK. Jon K. and I offered to walk with, ’cause we’re both seriously out of shape, but B. waved us on. Only took once, ’cause it just felt good to be out.
Postscript
I think my ankle problems are a stride-related thing. I’ve gone back to being a heel striker, and I’m not sure if it’s a shoes thing, or a lazyness thing, or what. Regardless, I’m starting to wonder if maybe I shouldn’t try a pair of motion control shoes once I wear these out, or end up in too much pain to keep running again.
I’m also playing with my gait – picking back up on the “run on your toes” mantra. I watched a couple of other runners over the last couple of days, and the guys who were passing me never seemed to be touching their heels to the pavement at all, but running on the balls of their feet. Thinking about soccer last Sunday, it struck me that most of that running was ball-of-foot based. Sprinting and turning fast. Not a lot of heel there, and I felt fine Monday and Tuesday of last week.
I tried it a bit on Saturday and today, but am not sure if it’s going to take. I can only go about a quarter to a half of a mile that way. May have to look into Pose/Chi, ’cause I think that there may be the need for a total rebuild of my stride here.
Reality sets in.
Wow, I thought as I worked through lunch again today – I haven’t run since playing soccer on Sunday. What a slacker.
On the plus side, I haven’t had ANY ankle pain, even taking into account playing soccer on Sunday. So, I’m thinking that maybe the extra rest has been doing me good – maybe I’m finally “over the hump” as far as the foot/ankle/tendon trouble that I had at the end of January goes. Now, if I can only avoid screwing things up again.
One concession that I think I need to make from two months now of minimal mileage is to write off the possibility of a fall marathon**. Yes, I’d thought that this year would be the year I did 26.2 again. And, Yes, there are still more than 6 months until most of the October races, which is more than enough time to train.
Well, it’s more than enough time to train if your goal is just to finish.
I’ve finished two marathons, so I don’t think that I am going to be satisfied with just crossing the line again somewhere between four and a half and five hours. The sacrifice for building up to that high of mileage that fast isn’t worth it for another finisher’s medal. At least not this soon after my last campaign – the mental dumps of November and December 2005 are still too vivid in my mind to reconsider.
The upside to this realization? More time on the bike this year!
* The caveat being that I’ve entered the draw for NYC. If I get selected, I’m running the crap out of New York. One marathon I might be able to handle…
Futbol!
Groton Parks and Rec has some absolutely phenomenal programs. Most of what we’ve done through it has been programs for the boys, but this year, they’re running a pickup adult soccer league from now through November. I’m playing.
And, I now have definitive proof that I am:
- American
- Slow
- Way more out of shape than I usually let on
But, man, did I have fun.
Today’s game was up at the Mystic Oral School, an old facility at the top of Cow Hill (Hi, Warren!), just down the road from our house. There were 20-25 guys who showed up, mostly expatriates (getting to use that word not in reference to myself abroad is a treat), and another 5 or 6 locals, mostly transplants like me.
The game was great. I kept getting schooled by an African with golden shoes – no lie, he’d just sit there and kick the ball between my legs when I planted to stop him. I finally took the ball from him once before I split, but I think he felt sorry for me.
Afterward? Man, was I toasted. Three years of running, jogging really, have left me pretty much incapable of anything resembling speed. Not that I was fast in the first place (see above on short, white, and fat). But I dug it, and will be back next week.
Oh, one more bit – I rode my bike there and back. The ride there was great. On the way back, I took the long way just so I could spin out the legs. Still not sure if that was a good idea, but I’m not sore today, so probably it was.
CRN, or the Blogging Runner’s Recreation, being a discourse of ROADS, WOODED TRAILS, RUNNERS & RUNNING
(With Apologies to Isaac Walton)
Just wanted to make a quick post. I was a slacker today – I think I pulled a muscle in my chest while coughing – it’s been hurting to raise my arm above my head for the last few days. So, I blew off heading to the gym/pool. And, it was too snowy/melty to bike today.
But tomorrow, I’m out to begin the road to Wellville – baked up some Matisse and Jack’s bars today (Yummy cranberry) thanks to Jeff’s recommendation. They’re tasty, but I think they’re going to take a little bit of liquid to chase down on the bike. I think they’re going to end up as breakfast – bar, fruit, and coffee, maybe yogurt to hit about 500 cal to get me started.
Anyway, I really wanted to do some cross-promotion here. As I’ve mentioned, I do some (not enough, I know Mark – the beatings are improving morale, though :) work for Complete Running. I finally broke out of that writing slump with what I think is a pretty decent bit on my plans for comeback.
Anyway, it’s a plug. The folks there put out consistently good information, and have done wonders to connect running bloggers. While I’m not svelte or fast, the support network that Mark and Aaron set up way back when (When? Spring 2004 is when. way back in the dark ages) has kept me running for the last three years, my longest period under 175 since I was in high school. The RBF has meant a lot to me, and these are the people who have made it happen. I’m just happy they let me rant once in a while.
In the mean time, it’s off to bed – lights out before 11 has been doing wonders for me mentally.
A goal slips by, a goal becomes achievable
So, if you’re looking for something interesting to read, swing by Cory Doctorow’s website and download one of his books. I’d recommend starting with his first – “Down and out in the Magic Kingdom”. If you like ’em, buy it. I stole the title from this post from “Someone comes to town, Someone leaves town”.
Anyway, I blew last week’s running schedule. And I blew off this weekend due to it being cold as crap, and me still feeling somewhat under the weather.
But, I did run twice last week, three miles each time, without any trouble with tendons. So, I think I’m close to being over the trouble I had. As always, my mileage may vary, but I think it’s there. And, assuming I can stay healthy, I think that I may still be able to make a fall marathon. I just need to listen to my body.
The short term goal that I’m really, really excited about is back on the bike. A bunch of guys from the church are going to ride Bike New York in May. From the sounds of it, it’s not much of a physical feat – slow due to the crowds, etc. But, I’m pretty excited since it’s getting me back into riding with other folks. I will probably do it on my old MTB, with a pair of slicks on.
I will get a new, comfy seat.
Oh, and we picked up a new bike for my oldest boy this weekend – a sweet Jet 20. It’s on the big side for him, but he’s loving it – it’s got “real” brakes, and big tires. He’s way, way faster than he was on his 12″ wheeled Specialized. I can’t wait until the weather’s nice. He did about a dozen laps around the new Mystic Cycle Center building when we picked it up.
And, since I still feel guilty about my mail-order bike (Which rides well), I got the bits I needed to move the rack onto the new car while I was there.
Anyway, here’s looking forward to good weather next weekend.
Wow
Thursday, I got running again – outside, in real weather (mid 30’s and it felt warm). Towards the end of the run, though, I was winded something fierce.
If I’d done my usual and really pushed, I might have been concerned, but it was 2 miles at an 8:45 pace – shorter and slower than the 4 at 8:20 I’d been averaging before taking February off to deal with PF.
Note to the wise – rest appears to work with PF – now we’ll see if building slowly works to prevent it in the future. Oh, that and staying off of f’n treadmills.
Friday morning, I woke up feeling fine, except for some real soreness in my thighs. Figured it was only small tissue damage from running on real ground, testing the fine motor-control muscles that I haven’t exercised since December, as every step I took on a treadmill was exactly the same as the one before and after.
Boy, was I wrong.
About halfway into a conference call Friday morning, I started getting chilly. The lab runs cold sometimes, so I pulled on my jacket.
Then, the cold sweats and shakes started, and I knew I was screwed.
Made it through the call, and put out a fire (Oh, boy was it a fire – I will discuss over soda/beer if given the chance), and headed home to crawl into bed.
The drive sucked – the heated seats were cranked up to full the whole time, and the heat was on to the point it started to dry out my mouth. I stopped for one nap. Got home around 2 and crawled into bed.
Slept/shivered/sweated for 16 hours straight, getting up to pee and drink more water.
This morning, I felt nearly human again, enough to go drill. Drill was fine – starting a new job there that looks like I’ll fit perfectly. Made it home, and Jake, my oldest boy, says “Hey, daddy. Why don’t we go ride bikes?”
Hmmm, sunny, 50 degrees, I’m no longer feeling near death? Sure, I can keep up with a 6 year old on a singlespeed bike with 12″ wheels.
The ride was all that and a bag of chips. I rode my wife’s bike with the jumpseat for the little brother on the back. We tooled around the neighborhood, and even went a little bit on the farm road outside the ‘hood. Jake only walked one or two hills, and that’s more because his coat catching on his seat stopped him from standing up in the pedals.
Absolutely wonderful – there’s nothing more I can ask for than a boy who wants to ride with me. Now, to keep that enthusiasm alive.
And there’s plans laid – his birthday is at the end of the month, and there’s a bike on hold for him at Mystic Cycle Center.
Oh, and I’ve picked up a new mountain bike. I’m kind of ashamed to admit it, ’cause technically, it’s a department store bike, but I got a Forge Sawback 5XX from Target. Why did I go with the department store bike?
Mainly ’cause it’s got a complete Shimano Deore gruppo, disc brakes, and it’s less than $300. The exact same parts layout (likely with a lesser fork) would be $600 anywhere else. If the frame is a total wash, I can hang the parts on another frame, and come out ahead.
I don’t know that I’d recommend the Forge to someone who wasn’t already a decent wrench, though. The one that was shipped to me was pretty well built, with the following exceptions:
– Front disc rotor and calipers weren’t installed
– Bottom bracket was installed by f’n Godzilla
– Front derailleur needed adjustment.
The brake – not a huge deal. Discs rock – so much easier to adjust and install than anything else I’ve ever wrenched on. The front derailleur – again, not a big deal as they included documentation on EVERYTHING that came with the bike.
The bottom bracket, though? I’m a bit miffed about that one, as I had an LX BB and crankset that I was going to slap on the bike. I pulled the stock crankset (Truvativ, not a complete piece of crap, but slightly heavier than the LX), but could not, for the love of Pete, get the bottom bracket shell to move. AND I even read Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance before starting, so I remembered that the right side shell was left-hand threaded, so it’s leftie-tightie; righty-loosey.
I haven’t been riding other than down the street Thursday night after putting it together, but the bike seems to rock. It’s lighter than my 15 year old steel hardtail/hard fork bike, though not quite as sexy, and goes forward when I pedal.
The top tube seems a little shorter than I’m used to, but I’ve got about an inch I can move the seat back, so that’ll help. And, it might just be that I’ve been riding road bikes for the better part of the last decade, so I’m not used to the proper geometry. I do think that my original MTB was a skosh too big for me, too.
Other than that, it’s been a while since I’ve really ridden a MTB, so we’ll see how it goes.
So that’s it – sickness, love, and new wheels. Got to love spring. Really love the boys.
So my question here
Saturday’s Dilbert looked like this:
My punchline would have been “From the French Butcher”. Scott Adams has done French jokes in the past, and I’m dying to know if he wanted to do one here.
In other news, I got on the bike yesterday afternoon, and it was good. Rode over to Pequot woods and did the mile or so singletrack loop in the slush, then rode home. Probably less than 10 miles total, but it was outside, and it was on the bike.
The legs are feeling pretty good – Friday, I couldn’t hold myself back from jogging between buildings at work – running feels SOOOOO good, but I’m still a bit worried about pushing myself back into injury. Here’s hoping someone keeps reminding me to stretch.
My lovely wife (who gets lovelier every day) finally shared her calesthenics routine with me this weekend. She does:
– 40 regular crunches (hands behind the head, arms parallel to the floor, work the muscle directly below your rib cage)
– 20 obliques on each side (Like regular crunches, except lift only one side off of the floor – the other elbow should stay down)
– 40 scissors crunches (alternate elbows and knees)
– 40 pelvis tilts (on the back, legs straight up, work the ab directly above the pelvis)
– Dumbell lifts straight out to the side (like you’re a bird with flapping wings)
– Dumbell lifts straight out front
– Dumbell arm extensions (Lean over the bench with your torso parallel to the floor.One knee and one hand on the bench. On the other side, extend your arm behind you from the elbow until it’s parallel to the floor, then bring the weight back to a 90 degree elbow bend)
– Dumbell lawn-mower pulls (Same position as above, except you’re taking your arm from straight down to a 90 degree bend
– Dumbell curls
I’m going to start doing it on Monday, along with trying for 10 miles next week, mostly outdoors.