Bike – Page 9 – Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Cycle, Cycle Too

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1. Taxes. Man, I hate taxes. This year was going to be different. This year, I was going to do them February 1, as soon as I got them W-2 forms from all our various employers.

I filed last night.

2. Like the thing that is your spine. I think it’s mostly better. I took it easy last week, including wimping out on the run Sunday morning and just walking for an hour before breakfast. But, I spread fertilizer Sunday afternoon, and didn’t hurt at all this morning.

3. As in Baby Got. After the trauma of realizing I had no physician to go cry to last Monday when I was in pain, I had a physical with Dr. K. this morning. Overall, I’m in good shape – a little overweight (28 on the BMI; should be 25), but the BP was 107 over 73, even with a cup or three of coffee, and the “prostate was smooth”.

I chose poorly. Dr. K’s got big fingers.

4. To the Y. I haven’t swum in, what, two or three months? So I swum tonight, and followed it up with a half hour on the bike. An extremely modest brick, and I was quaking like a little bird when I finished. Not quite sure why. But it feels good. Really good. I’m psyched.

5. To training. So, I’m heading down to OKC in two weeks. I’m down to running the half. It’s going to suck. But, I’m doing it.

In other news, Nike+ has added training programs. I signed up for the “Beginner Marathon” program, starting tomorrow. Mileage will be pretty much where I was in training for the half; it builds up over 28 weeks, so I ought to be able to target any of the fall marathons. I’m interested to see how it works – if it downloads a workout to the iPod, or if it just goes. Y’all can follow my training if you want…

6. Good TV. Battlestar Galactica is phenomenal. Still. Amazes me. I was worried with the first episode this season, but the second episode rocks.

30 Rock is back. Not sure if it’s good any more, but I’ve still got a crush on Tina Fey.

Oh, and I’ve got a thing for Masterpiece Theater on PBS. Possibly just ’cause the wife likes it.

Sex and Violence

Or, the second episode of Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

So, my lovely wife got me the 16 ton Megaset for Christmas. This very easily could have turned into many, many hours on the couch drinking beer. But, knowing myself, I’ve decided I’ve got to segment it out – I can only watch the episodes while I’m riding the trainer (Christmas from two years ago)

Now, you’d think that this would be tough, but the trainer’s a cheap one, and only a slight step up in resistance from riding the rollers. Although, I think I get more tired on the rollers, ’cause I’ve got to stay in control of my upper body so I don’t run into the wall.

You can tell it’s almost March – I’m starting to get twitchy getting home before dark, and thinking about two weeks until Daylight Savings Time, and enough daylight after work to sneak in a little bit of singletrack.

It happens every year – I think that I’m going to fall back in love with the bike, but life has tended to interfere. Maybe this is the year. Hopefully.

Running’s going well. I blew off my long run this weekend, but made my mileage, more or less between Tuesday’s epic on the Mall and Thursday. Tomorrow, I’ll extend past what is on the schedule, get a regular run in on Thursday, and pick up the long run on the weekend again. Missy showed me up – she rocked the Colchester Half Marathon while I chilled at the house with my folks and the Kids.

Drop the Doc a line – he had a rough time at the Austin Half.

Cycle, Cycle Two (thousand and 7)

I finished out the year with about two hours on the bike. Not tough hours by any stretch of the imagination, but it was a good ride from the house out past the Borough and back through downtown Mystic. No major insights, ‘cept for an appreciation for a good latte at the end of a ride, and the eternal quandary about how much is the right amount to wear to balance being cold at the beginning and being too hot during the ride. I erred on the side of being too cold, and had chilly toes at the end.

While I’m at it, I outta sum up 2007, and review my resolutions. The short version?

The longer version is below the break:

Continue reading Cycle, Cycle Two (thousand and 7)

Breaking Away

Holy heck on a stick! Cycling movies!

Trivia – November ’07

Trivia tonite.

It really amazes me how much I love living in a small town in New England. I dug our off-year local elections (No on the senior center to replace the really nice senior center they’ve already got, no on the heated pool if they approved the senior center, and yes for the animal shelter ’cause I’m on the verge of becoming a bleeding heart – Obama ’08 if Ron Paul or Huckabee lose the ‘pub nomination). And the monthly trivia night at the Harp and Hound downtown is the icing on the cake.

I broke down tonite and ran after the van got back to the carpool lot. Nothing exciting, 4.3 miles. 10 minutes warmup, two halfhearted 800s around the soccer field – no track, no lights, just running on turf, which is wicked tough, and 15 minutes of cooldown.

And the monthly bike downtown to the pub. Couple of beers – we lost again (stupid Gimballs parade), and a 45 minute ride back to the house in the dark. Took a new and different long way – only saw three cars.

It’s an interesting crowd – there’s a couple of teams from either Conn College or Mitchell, a bunch of Pfizer types, usually a team from out-of-town, a couple of Navy teams, and us – a combination of engineers and n’ere-do-wells from around town. There’s good beer, no room, and it beats watching television.

The ride home for me is the best bit, though. There’s a serendipity to spinning as transportation, feeling the fog roll in off of the Sound, and appreciating the silence that follows the first hard frost. Good sleep tonight. I hope it’s still warm in three weeks.

4:07:50-something!

Marathon Over!

Missy crushed the Jankowski Family Record (by which I mean me and my little bro) today at Hartford. Conditions were near perfect, and a great time was had by all. The photoset is at Flickr. But, I’ll post most of it here.

It was kind of chilly this morning – perfect marathon weather. Dry, little to no wind, and a madhouse in Bushnell Park.

The start was a riot – tons of people just hanging around, waiting for the race to start. I jockeyed for a position near the starting line, and loved seeing the elites start. Coolest thing? They all clicked their watches at the start, just like the rest of us.

I was a bit curious about some of the runners who were seeded.

As I was leaving the start, a guy named Brian flagged me down to see if I knew where to ride along the course. Said his wife, Sara, was running her third. I said I had no clue where I was going (absolutely true), but that he could feel free to try to keep me straightened out. We stopped at the hotel to pick up his bike, and Brian ran into a guy named Nick in the garage, as well. We didn’t know each other from Adam. Nick had run the race a couple of years prior, but was injured this year, and was here to support his Sara.

We caught up with our runners about Mile 6 – We were there about 20 minutes before them. Fate was on our side – our wives were all within about 4-5 minutes of each other. Missy looked good, but as anyone who has run a marathon knows, after months of training, 6 miles is a warmup.

Mile 8 and smiling. I had on my “Cookie Monster” shirt – bright blue, with eyes, nose, and mouth from the monster with the sweet tooth. I kept getting “yeah, Cookie Monster” shouts from the runners, which was encouraging.

The course is kind of an out-and-back to South Windsor. Brian, Nick, and I paralleled the race along CT 5. Nick’s an Ironman, Brian’s a runner, and the day – man, what a treat. Perfect weather, and good runs by everyone. The ride was awesome; so good that I kind of felt guilty. Here’s the turnaround at 11.something.

And just past halfway:

We caught them at mile 16 and 20. Mile 20 was great – there was a band there, though the band was way far away in a parking lot. I don’t think many of the runners noticed it, especially as life had to really suck for them by that time. I mentioned that I kind of wished I were running on a day like today, and Nick shook his head, saying that just watching was bringing back every ounce of body-ripping pain and effort. And as soon as he mentioned it, I started having flashbacks.

Completely lucked out on where we caught them at mile 20-ish. I hadn’t realized there was a pedestrian bridge on the south side of IH-84. So, we were able to meet up with them again at between mile 22 and 23. Brian’s Sara had been FLYING after the halfway point, and, leaving just after Melissa passed us at 20-ish, we just barely caught Sara(Brian) on Main Street. Missy came by looking strong (I am so dead for posting the pic with the tongue hanging out).

Brian, Nick, and I ditched the bikes at the Hilton, shook hands on not getting lost, wished each other’s SO’s best and passed congratulations, and split. Always great to have good folks to ride or run with.

My ma had flown up for the race, and brought Jake and Nate to the finish line. The kids were having a riot on the playground and carousel, and we headed down to the finish line to wait for Missy with a little bit of chocolate milk (to make up for having to leave the playground).

We saw the two Saras finish, but didn’t see Brian or Nick again. And soon enough, Melissa came charging up the hill, looking as fresh as I’d seen her at the start.

We caught up with her as she came out of the finisher’s area, and headed for the food. A little bit of nourishment, some re-hydration, and everyone was right as rain. One thing I love about finishers – the cool sweat buildup.

So, that’s pretty much it. We went back to the hotel, cleaned up. Missy headed back to Mystic (where, amazingly enough she managed to stay up past 9). Ma, me, and the kids headed over to the Wadsworth Atheneum, where the kids were remarkably well behaved. Especially considering Jake REALLY wanted to go to the Air Museum. You can check out pictures here. The museum was great – it’s the oldest public art museum in America, and had an amazing collection. Hartford continues to surprise me.

A couple of other observations – It would have been wicked tough to keep up with the elite runners, even on bikes. Even following 4-hour-ish runners, we were pedaling pretty good to get from spot to spot. Granted, we didn’t break much of a sweat on the bikes, but anything quicker and we would have been pushing to get from spot to spot.

Also, I don’t think that I would have appreciated watching the race as much if I hadn’t run one before. Like Nick said, the hurt just keeps coming back over and over again.

Huge thanks to Brian and Nick, and congratulations to their wives (both of whom were named Sara[h?]).

And the biggest congrats of all go to Melissa, the Fastest Jankowski on two legs!

8 ain’t Enuff

Eight days of Augustathon down, a few more to go.

I’ll be honest – I was about to give up on Augustathon after Saturday’s run. Man, was that miserable. It was hot, it was wet, it hurt, and I was slow. I was cranky, and really, really wanted to throw in the towel.

Since Sunday, though, running’s been the bee’s knees (pronounced with a hard ‘k’ – “the buh-eez kuh-neez”). Sunday’s run was great.

Monday’s run was great – we headed down to check out a destroyer that had just pulled into the pier. Always nice to see a fighting ship of the line and happy sailors coming down the gangway for a little bit of liberty. Great run – really, really sticky but not too hot.

Tuesday’s run was cut slightly short (Still got my 3 miles!) on account of the discovery of a previously unidentified patch of blackberries next to the sidewalk. We spotted them on the way out. Amazingly, I managed to fight off the urge to stop and gorge myself until we were passing them on the way back. Klink kept going – said he would have been dead in the water if he’d stopped. I ate them until my fingertips turned purple. The last 1/4 mile I had to do wasn’t fun – I could taste berries and coffee trying to come back up as I pushed up the hill. But it was worth it.

Yesterday – same old, same old. HA! On Monday, we took Missy’s ma to a lobster shack in Noank. In passing, Missy mentioned how she sometimes forgets how nice it is to have the water as close to the house as it is. Me – not a chance for taking it for granted. Probably has something to do with spending a decent portion of my early 20’s locked in a steel tube staring at the sea and sun but not being able to feel anything but the skins of poor naughas and nuclear-powered air conditioning. No, Wednesday was another of what’s probably my favorite run – a loop from Ft. Weatherill on Jamestown. The wx was miserable – hot, wet, and still. But the roads are enjoyable, there’s enough of a hill to make it challenging, and a dip in the cove at the end of a hot run makes everything worthwhile.

Harp and Hound Oh, and last night I got on the bike after the kids were in bed. Yep, got on the singlespeed and rode downtown to the pub for a couple of barley pops and Trivia night. On the way back home, I made it up Cow Hill without going into distress, which puts my fitness at somewhere better than it’s been in a while. Pleasant way to spend the evening.

Thoughts on a week+ of continuous running:

Public commitments are extremely motivating. While I’m completely sure that there would have been naught but sympathy and support from the RBF if I had punted on Sunday, I didn’t want to have to type that I was a failure.
There’s a “hump” anytime you push your boundaries. One of my vivid memories of Officer Candidate School, the 13 most physically challenging weeks of my life, was somewhere around week 4 when doing calisthenics while getting yelled at was no longer physically challenging. My body had accepted that I was not going to stop due to perceived weakness, and so the challenge moved to my head – was I mentally tougher than the Drill Instructor?
There’s a strong correlation between temperature, humidity, and slower splits. Duh

Melissa still thinks I’m crazy, which, of course, I am. But she’s specifically referring to running without rest days for a month. She may be correct, but I think that in some ways the low-level, low-stress training I’m doing is sustainable on a daily basis. I’m hesitant to push my mileage above three per day until I’ve got no soreness at all day-to-day. But, there’s the New Haven 20K 3 days after the end of Augustathon, so at some point I’ve got to add some miles.

Wow – New Haven. I’m pretty confident that I can finish New Haven, and finish it pretty well based on the results of the Narragansett 10 miler. But, I’d like to have an 8 miler+ either the weekend of the 18th or the weekend of the 25th. We’ll have to see how the legs hold out.

Don’t forget the SPF 15!

Say it ain’t so, Vino…

F$ck Vino busted for blood doping.

I was all set to, tonight, write about how I was hooked on the Tour again; how the race seemed human again, and about how it was amazing to have seen Vinokourov go down in a huge crash, fight back to form, win Saturday’s time trial, take a rest day on Sunday and concede over 30 minutes to the folks fighting for the yellow jersey, and then come back on Monday’s mountainous stage 14 to take a flier off the front and win the stage in great style.

I was ready to believe again, ready to love professional cycling again.

Now, I think I’m back to just loving my bike, and my bike only.

Dopers suck.

World’s Shortest Marathon

(N.B. – Mark and Jeanne: I’m not avoiding you, I forgot to tell you I was going on Vacation)

Hey, dig this – After a bunch of years of pretty much working and going to see family, we’re on vacation! A whole week up in Stowe, Vermont, with nothing to do but enjoy the mountains, and run, bike, and swim.

Actually, it’s breaking down kind of like this: Missy is doing a TON of running. Well, not a ton, but, as expected, she’s hewing well to the whole marathon training plan. Run faster with less.

The boys and I have been doing a ton of swimming. But by swimming, we mean fooling around in the condo pool. Diving to touch the bottom, playing “Monster”, and soforth. I tried a couple of laps, but jammed my finger touching the wall. Who’da thunk that those lines on the bottom could be so useful?

And I’ve been biking – one time seriously, and a bunch of times with the family on the bike path. Good stuff. Friday, during Missy’s long run, we’ll bike down to the river that runs through town and spend a couple of hours crawling along the river bed looking for trout.

Oh, and I ran a race: Each July 4, there’s a race from Stowe Center up to a bar at noon. 1.7 miles. Missy talked me into running it – I was pretty much just aiming to go out and meander for an hour or so, but sitting at the starting line got the old competitive juices flowing.

The course is up VT 108 from the covered bridge in the village center to Gracie’s Restaurant. It starts off with a decent grade, and then kind of levels off. The initial climb felt good – I started mid-pack in the 100 or so runners, and pretty quickly got to about #25 or so. There was a woman a couple of years older than me who I used to set my pace, right on the edge of really sucking wind but not really being able to recover to a one breath (In and out) every 4 steps sort of pace.

Life was good until she passed me by kind of cutting a corner. Not an illegal move, by any means, but I stayed in the westbound lane, and she cut the corner across the eastbound lane and passed me and accelerated. All was not lost – before the finish, I picked off a guy in a blue shirt who’d gotten up to 200 yards in front of me.

After the race, I decided to try to tack on another couple of miles, but it just didn’t feel right. After about another 1.5 or so, I knocked it off and walked back to the condo. Sprinted up the hill, but slowed when I thought I was going to chunder.

Need to run more…

Terramuggus Tri 2007 #1

Ah, ladies and gents, life is good. I raced again,and, once more, I avoided the dreaded DNF at the first Terramuggus Tri of 2007.

In fact, I set a PR for the course! Shocked, shocked!

Let’s roll back the clock and look at my overall results (and get a chance to use the cool HTML “Table” tag, which I haven’t yet attempted!)

Race	Swim	Bike	Run	Overall
2005 #1	11:14, 61/74	40:29, 55/74	26:34, 41/62	1:18:17, 52/62
2005 #2	11:02, 90/104	39:15, 90/104	26:48, 76/104	1:17:05, 83/104
2007 #1	08:47, 78/114	38:40, 77/114	25:11, 58/114	1:14:37, 71/114

How this happened, I don’t know. I don’t exactly feel powerful, like I did during the 2005 races. Maybe it’s just that my baseline expectations for feeling “good” about running and cycling have increased over three years of relatively consistent training. Or it could be that I’ve got a better engine than I’ve ever had.

My personal theory is that I’ve become more accustomed to suffering, so I’m able to push further into the red.

Oh, and the huge improvement in the swim is probably mostly from having used a wetsuit this time around. Sure, I’ve been swimming more regularly, but two minutes is a LOT of time. I still would have PR’d, though…

I will admit that my pre-race routine was a little bit off, but for good reason. On the way to the race, I stopped off to have beer with one of the guys I’ve worked with in the Reserves. F’n awesome guy – he made First Class Petty Officer in the last exam cycle, and this week got notified he’s been accepted into a commissioning program. Couldn’t happen to a better guy. Since I’m in class up in Hartford, I had absolutely no moral choice but to buy him beer.

I got to the race later than I’d wanted, and had to head to the car three times – forgot wallet, forgot license, and then to carry my stuff to the Transition. Got set up, and got into the wetsuit just in time to get to the start.

The swim – Well, open water swimming still sucks. Within 100′ of the start, I’d gotten both run over and swam into someone’s leg, losing my goggles. So, I kept well to the outside during the swim. Saw a bunch of perch – it was kind of funny to see them looking up at me and the 100+ other people thrashing up the water.

T1 was good – I unzipped coming out of the water, and it was much easier getting out of the wetsuit than getting in. Socks, shoes, shirt … And I had to go back for my bike helmet. Could be worse, I suppose.

The ride was – well, not the greatest. I was winded from the swim, and my legs were cold. I got passed by about 5 people heading down the first hill. But steady wins the race, right? Despite re-tasting beer, chips, and salsa for the first big hill, I started reeling in people on the second lap. Felt good.

Off the bike and onto the run – no problem; and fiddling with the iPod (got to get credit for Michelle’s challenge) gave me the chance to catch my breath and get into a good stride.

Again, I got passed a couple of times in the first half-mile, but then got my rhythm and had negative splits the rest of the way in. 8:30 for the first mile, 8:00 for the second, and forgot to stop Nike+ at the end of the run, so I’m not sure what the last mile was. (looks like less than 8, as the run time includes T2).

I hung around at the end, and got a free C02 cartridge. The ride home? Wonderful, thanks to the VDub’s heated seats.