Category: Run

S l o w D o w n

So, I’ve been reading “Lance Armstrong’s War” by Daniel Coyle. Great book, pretty even-handed on the whole Lance subject.

But the phenomenal part are his details of the training regimens and strategies of the ProTour riders. The #1 concern? Weight.

Which kind of meshes with one of the bugbears I’ve been wrestling with lately, and kind of cemented in my strategy for the year: Get thin. Not cyclist thin, or even triathelete thin. But to hit target weight before really cranking up the training. Or at least get down to below my thinnest from last year.

Last year, I think I made a pretty big mistake in leaping into racing. Dunno what it is, but it seems to me that there’s mechanisms in the body that go into protective mode as soon as you start really stressing the aerobic system. Which is why regular folks in marathon training can fail loose weight when mileage gets too high. Every extra pound puts extra stress on the body for every extra step, so if you’re up in the higher BMI, the effect is multiplied. Just my opinion, but what is life if not a big sandbox in which to play?

Where I’m going with this is to a strong appreciation of the idea of heart rate training, and keeping the rate way, way down to encourage fat burning (say 65-70% of max) instead of going fully aerobic to build capacity. After a week, it seems to be working – the scales have shown the beginnings of a steady decline again. Plus, in talking to my skinny wife, it’s what she did over the last year after she stopped nursing – moderate pace, at least 30 minutes a day.

So – Tuesday was another 30 minutes at lunch. Measured it in the car, and it’s not much more than 3 miles.

Wednesday was back to the pool – 5 laps breast, 30 laps free, 5 laps free – standard 2000 yard workout.

It’s kind of tough to focus on slowness after so long of going out and letting it rip, but I can feel something distinctly different going on with my body. But it’s kind of nice, and relaxing in its own way.

So.

Am I nuts?

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Weekend Wrap-up

So.

I was completely slack at the end of last week – didn’t do anything between Wednesday and Sunday. Not sure quite why, but such is life.

Sunday, the mother-in-law is in town (good thing). We all trundle down to the Y for the traditional Sunday swim/workout where the boys and I splash and the wife thrashes the elliptical trainer into submission. Per tradition, I waved goodbye in the parking lot, and started jogging home.

Wow. Terrible run. Legs weren’t in it, even though there were several days of rest, and I started having “discomfort” in my left foot. Which was comforting – it was my right leg that had issues with PF during the marathon, so at least the pilates stretching program is working.

I walked about a mile of the 5.5. Which is all right. The important part is that I was out there – calories don’t get burned sitting on my duff.

Monday was a much better day. At lunch, I set out to do an easy 30 minutes on the road. Ran out for 15 minutes, keeping the heart rate about 140 – low aerobic, burnin’ fat! At the turn, Wilco’s “At Least That’s What You Said” comes on, and I was complelled by the guitars and distortion to do about 3 minutes of max effort, ’cause the song’s that good. When I slowed down, I checked my pocket, and my badge had fallen out at some point.

So, on a sunny day in the 40’s (First run of 2006 in shorts!), I was forced to turn around and retrace my steps to see if I could find my badge. The guy about 2 minutes behind me had picked it up, so, life was good. Jogged gently, got my heart rate back down pretty quickly, and finished up in 35 minutes.

So I had that going for me.

In keeping with my plan to do an Olympic tri, I headed to the pool after bath time. 5 laps breast to stretch out. 10 laps free that felt incredible. 20 laps free that were pretty good, but started to get long at the end. Did some alternate side breathing here – wow, does that feel akward.

After that, I look, and two lanes over, the tall guy with the beard (featured here) looks over, and we exchange pleasantries while clothed this time.

I did another 10, the last 5 of which were absolutely great. Nice way to finish the actual work. 5 breast to stretch, and I’m out. 50 laps, 2500 yards.

6 Miles

6 miles on the rail-trail again last night. I took it somewhat easy; still in “recovery” mode after donating blood on Saturday. Took the Forerunner this time to make sure that the folks who built the trail put in the mile markers right. Turns out, they’re pretty darn close. Close enough that I trust them over the Forerunner. (Stupid technology) The final verdict? 6.2 in 54 minutes. 8:45 average pace. I liked it. Not shabby for a lazy afternoon run.

No particular insight for today. But whadda ya want for nothing? Rubber biscuit? Want insight? Head over to jeff.

Oh, and Jeff? The Felt you’re looking at is well received in Bicycling’s annual buyer’s guide. So get on with it, already.

Actually, that brings up something that surprised me – I read through the bike porn for 2006 yesterday evening. Nothing really jumped up and grabbed me. Bicycling kind of summed it up for me – we’re living in a golden age of bikes right now. For just slightly north of a grand, you can get a ride that’ll do for about anything. For over $500, you can get a bike that’ll do for about everything less than Cat III racing. But there was nothing that really made me want to ditch the wife and kids and run down to the store with credit card in hand. I am seriously considering a mountain bike again, though. But I may build it piece by piece.

Winter Bil-lympics

No, not really. Mostly a photo-journey.

Gave blood Saturday. No guilt trip here. OK, a small one – since this is a light race season in most of the country, why not save up to three lives? Plus, it’s a calorie suck. I’d be more energetic about it, but the phlebotomist completely missed my vein this time. Had to dig about. Yuck. Plus, this may be it for me giving blood – they’re testing for an infection passed along by ticks now. And I cannot count the number of ticks I’ve pulled off of me.

OK, so Sunday – family swim, and I con the wife into driving the kiddos home while I run home (Isn’t it too cold? Naw, sweetie – I’ve got your love to keep me warm.) So here goes:

Mystic_YMCA

Continue reading Winter Bil-lympics

Winter? What winter?

50 degrees and sunny today. Wasn’t there something white and cold last weekend?

Dunno why, but I was going stir crazy this afternoon at the office. So, I split a little early (I’ll be in early tomorrow).

MAN, what a day! Thought about stopping on Jamestown to run out to the lighthouse, but, being somewhat on a schedule, I hit the Kingstown Rail-Trail again. I’m really digging that path. Still not sure quite why. But I’m not going to fight it, since I’m really, really getting back into running. So whatever keeps me turning over the feet I’m going to keep doing.

Parked, put the Forerunner on top of the car to sync with the satellites, and fiddled around getting dressed, etc. Grabed the Nano, fired up the stopwatch, and started jogging. 52 seconds to Mile 0.

The trail was pretty much snow-free today. Blew by the Mile 1 marker and forgot to mark the lap. About a quarter mile past, a couple of boys were getting on bikes and riding the way I was heading. So, of course, I chased.

Man, the legs were good today. One of those days where you can run faster and faster, and not hurt, not run short of breath. Where it’s possible to just keep running. Hit the mile 2 marker in 16:32 – not so bad; 8:15’s… Since I had a little time, I decided to go 6 miles instead of four or five. The kids were still riding away; I kicked it up and kept running. 7:45 for mile 3. Fired up U2’s “Vertigo.” Kept hitting the back button as the song finished – when there’s a groove, there’s a groove.

Holy Crap! I said. I can’t remember the last time I did a mile under 8 minutes. WoW!

Turned around, kind of determined to just cruise back to the car. I’d just busted out the quickest 3 miles I’ve done in months, and was happy. At the 4 mile marker, lap time was 8:18. Nice and relaxing somehow. Even though I was going faster than I thought I could sustain prior to starting the run.

Mile 5: 8:04, even though I was making a concerted effort to hold back a bit. Last mile, I said “OK, why not?” Last mile, I went ahead and blew it out. 7:52.

Pshew. What a run.

Did a little pilates themed stretching, and headed home. 6.2 miles, 50 minutes. Not bad at all…

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Down in Kingstown Town

As promised, pics from today:

View of the station.

Kingston Station 2

Someone was here before me. And they were wearing what I assume are Yaktrax.

yaktrax

And the obligatory sunset. Later and later every day. Does wonders for my soul…

Sunset over the tracks

If you’re interested, there’s new pictures of my unusually large orange cat, and my unusually small lazy dog up, too. Just feel free to browse.

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The Blizzard of Aught Six 2.0

Proving yet again that life is out to get me (actually, I’ve got it good. Very good. Better, indeed, than my friend the Giant Head. Who I love like a brother, despite the dark cloud that follows him around. But I digress), I stopped at the Kingstown Rail Trail tonight on my way home. Took some pictures, but haven’t downloaded them or posted to Flickr.

Anyhow, there was a goodly amount of snow still on the rail trail. Enough to let me know that if I’d taken the easy thing yesterday, the sure thing, that I’d have gotten the XC bug out of my system for another winter. But no, I had to go tilting at windmills, and try to get in some hard-core backcountry posing. After a day with a high around 40, there was not, however, enough snow for me to ski tonight. Almost, but right out of the station, there was a stretch of about 300 yards without snow.

between you, me, and the fencepost, I should have skied anyway

So, I stripped down to my skivvies in my car yet again, pulled on much fleece, fired up the iPod to catch the end of the BBC’s “The World” Technology podcast, and headed on down the trail. The run was pretty good. Running on the combination snow, asphalt, and somewhat crusty ice was good for form, overall. If I was striking my heels on the soft snow, I felt like I was going to have my feet slip out from under me and I’d fall on my tuchus. If I was pushing off too hard, my feet were slipping out from under me, much like the Road Runner between the “Beep-Beep” and the “bz-twang”.

But when things were just right, well, they were just right. 4.2 miles total, 37:51 total. Miles were 9:01, 9:26, 9:19, and 9:16.

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The “Blizzard” of Aught Six

First, a bit of cross-promotion – I’m trying to collect jokes about the Veep shooting the lawyer over here. For the record, I wouldn’t be collecting funnies if it were a larger load than quail shot, or if the other guy had been critically hurt.

Second, The Boy (as opposed to The Baby, who isn’t long for being a baby) and I have been digging on the Olympics. Skiing seems to be his favorite – we may be dragging out Massachusetts or Vermont way weekend after next to get him a half day lesson, and see if I can’t break a bone or two.

Friday – well, I didn’t run. Or swim. Or bike. I thought about it, but didn’t want to press things. Glad I didn’t. Part of this fitness thing is knowing when to say “eh”, and get on with life.

Saturday – worked most of the day to get the house ready to have some friends over. About an hour before they were supposed to be here, we wrapped stuff up, and I said “Hey, I’m going out for a run.” Mostly as a trial balloon – there was probably not enough time. But the wife said “Go ahead.” Not waiting for her to think about it, I was gone. Through the woods, past the closed school, over the hill, past the burnt out house. Down to River Road, back through Old Mystic, up the hill, and home. 5.5 miles, 50 minutes or so. Yippie.

Sunday – the blizzard wasn’t by the time it got to us. Bleh. Maybe 7″ of snow. Pilates that night.

Today, I dragged the skis to work and checked Arcadia on the way home, but they didn’t get much more than we did.

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Chugga, chugga.

SouthcountySo I’ve been meaning to check out the William C. O’Neill South County Bike Path, which is right off my commute. Monday, on the way home, I finally stopped the car and did it.

I’m glad I did – it’s an absolutely great spot for an easy run – old rail bed, exceptional asphalt surface, pretty quiet. Plus, it runs through Great Swamp, which is some of the best duck hunting in New England. Saw a bunch of ducks and geese heading back to roost at sunset.

4 miles, 36 minutes. The first half I kind of loped along. I kind of didn’t feel like running. The youngest kid has given up on sleeping through the night. I think it’s ’cause he’s old enough to realize we put him in a cage every night, but the wife’s afraid if we take the rails off of his crib, that she’ll never get him to sit still again. She may be right, but it’s still disturbing to wake up two or three times a night to screams of terror. It could also just be the cold he’s been fighting (and that I’m sure to have soon).

The second half, though, I was glad that I’m not on the HRM kick that lower case jeff is on. My legs and lungs said go. I went. 20 minutes at the 2 mile turn-around, including some dawdling on the way out to enjoy the trees. 16 minutes on the way back.

Now, if I can just get off my butt one morning and catch the sun rising over the sod fields…