Baby (oof) steps (ouch). August 7, 2010
Posted by anton in : Training , add a commentHave done more running this week…up to a smashing 12 miles! With around 150 miles on the bike my legs are a bit sore.
Yesterdays run (before my bike ride) went well… 2 miles in 22:22! That included walking breaks on a 5/1 ratio. it felt good . ankle was fine. forgot to bring my HRM (heart rate monitor) so I have NO idea if I stayed in the Mark Allen proscribed training zone (for me) for base work….108-135 BPM. It sure felt like my heart was racing a bit too much. It probably was cranked up…
not to self: Don’t forget the bloody HRM!
The bike ride was fine..although I did manage a good tired feeling by the end. Some days I’m on…some days I’m not. Stil, though
Arr…Booty! July 29, 2010
Posted by anton in : Training , add a commentAfter a go ahead from the Doctor for as much cycling as I want…I WILL be participating in the 24 hours of Booty this August.
It’s a fund raiser for the Lance Armstrong Foundation…
Yes, it’s a 24 hour ride which means LOTS of cycling. I am a bit weak at it right now, so I know I won’t be hammering the whole time. The plan is to simply post as many miles as I can….take a break then pick up some more.
It’s not going to be easy, but everyone I have know with cancer or the folks I know who you have cancer…it isn’t easy for them either.
August 28th and 29th from 1 PM to 1 PM. Hoping for no rain after last years deluge and cold wind. THAT was October. This year there will probably be some nasty heat spell with tornados and earthquakes…what seems to becoming the norm around here!
http://www.24hoursofbooty.org
Starting over… July 17, 2010
Posted by anton in : Training , add a commentWhen you’ve been outside and active for a long time, you forget what it’s like when you started in the first place. It’s great to have a reminder of just how hard it was when you started running or riding or when you first got in the pool.
I’m just starting back after 10 weeks off after ankle surgery.
It’s the longest I’ve been off in 40 years.
Sure there was a time when I was raising a daughter and for eight years didn’t compete in anything….sure I still ran and biked but only a few times a week, but I was still out there doing something.
This time I went from a week with almost sixteen hours of training time to nil. Nada. Null. Zip. It took two hours on May 12th. (surgery day) to bring it to a halt.
One week on the couch medicated.
Three more weeks on the couch, medicated with a hard cast up to the knee.
Four weeks in a hobble boot. (THEY call it a walking boot, but.Ha! That’s a joke)
Now I’m two weeks into easing back.
I’ve started swimming. Started biking. This past week I was able to run some with the doctors Ok. Just bits though. I’m at three miles this week so far.
It’s great to be starting over. It helps me appreciate what new folks go through, especially running, since, while I remember when I started, I can’t remember what it felt like.
I’ll remember what this feels like for the rest of my life…hard.
I’m Back! July 11, 2010
Posted by anton in : Training , add a commentThe Razor’s Edge gets a re-birth.
Am firing this up again to post some up-coming shinannigans here.
Costumes may or may not be involved!
We’ve Moved! December 6, 2008
Posted by anton in : Uncategorized, Life , add a commentOver to a new Blog…
http://antonspath.blogspot.com
A Promise September 10, 2008
Posted by anton in : Life , add a commentWe go through life and make all kinds of promises. Some are important. Some are not. Some we’re able to keep and others, despite our best intentions, we can’t.
My parents, Tony and Stell, made a promise to me when I was a kid, that they would see me through many hours in the hospital and time in bed at home.
My sisters and I kept our promise to them …that we would take care of them while they battled Cancer. When they died, however, I realized that a promise can be kept to someone even after they are gone.
Several times a year I take part in running events or bike tours or triathlons and raise some money to help fund cancer research..it’s not much, but it’s what I can do to keep alive a promise to help others.
This past weekend The 24 Hours of Booty (Columbia, MD version) was to be held to help raise funds for the Ulman Cancer Fund and the Lance Armstrong Foundation…Past tense here, as along came something no one could control. Tropical Storm Hannah. In what I am sure was a tough decision, the folks at Booty canceled the event..an eye on the safety of those folks who would be riding.
Now, I’ve been around awhile and I know that things happen that you can’t do anything about…but I knew I could do something about the event not being held.
Some great people opened their hearts and wallets to sponsor me. I owed them. I would keep the promise.
I would ride on my own.
I’m no fool mind you (some folks might disagree!) so I had no intention of riding in heavy weather. Well, ok, I’ve been known to do that but not for 24 hours!
The 24 Hour Trainer Ride for Cancer was born somewhere in the twisted depths of the endurance sports section of my mind.
For those reading this who don’t know what a trainer is, it’s a device for riding indoors, or in this case, the carport.
Starting at 9:15 on Saturday (Hey, this is MY event now! Why wait till noon.) I started riding. No fanfare, no balloons, just, “Ok! Let’s go!” Hoping to make the whole 24 hours I kept the pace easy and ate and drank early and often.
With the bike computer moved toward the back of the bike and the sensor placed on the rear wheel, I could keep track of my miles.
I had a TV and would watch some DVD’s of “The Tour.” Since some of the money was going to the LAF, it seemed only fitting…but honestly, I didn’t get very far with it…
Too much else going on. Wonderful conversation with my lovely wife Mary Lou, (Very supportive, that girl!) Watching the rain fall and snacking.
It goes like this:
Ride for an hour. Get off the bike, take a bathroom break, coat my crotch with Chamois But’r, stretch, get back on the bike. Eating and drinking are for on the bike, not off.
At one point I cover my feet with Body Glide and fresh socks as I start getting hot spots and fear blisters.
A good friend of ours, Janet, comes by and brings Burittos! It is the right food at the right time…I’m at 100 miles and eating like someone twice my size. The squirrels just off the carport are starting to look good…fur and all.
The ride continues and at 150 miles I stop for a 15 minute break and change shirts and pull on a second pair of shorts for extra padding. This helps immensely as my “nether regions” are feeling it…not bad mind you, the But’r is helping with that, but it’s got my attention.
All through the day the rain pelts down and the wind picks up.
Mary Lou brings hot tea and soup and hugs and makes me warm from the inside out.
Night comes on and she reads to me by head lamp…working our way through “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.”
Finally she goes off to bed and I’m alone in the dark spinning and listening to music and thinking of all those I’ve known who have suffered with Cancer… I hope that someday someone will ride for me.
I read an article about long rides sometime back..”After 200 miles, nothing changes.” That came true for me at about 180. For the whole time after that my discomfort level never changed, and as long as I ate and drank, my energy level stayed about the same.
During the night a paranoia grips me and I turn the bike so I’m facing the street, my back to the wall…shadows in the night disquiet me… a fox stops by and cocks it’s head as if to say…”What the…?”
The pattern continues…Break, But’r, bathroom.
Finally about 4am I am in need of some down time. I flop onto the couch and am gone till my alarm goes off at 5.
Up and back on on “Aluminium Maiden.”
Mary Lou is out at dawn and sits with me as I plow through the miles…finally, I’m done. At 7:40, at 22 hours and 40 minutes I hit 300 miles and call it good.
Promise kept.
No comments on how bad I may have felt…my complaints would mean nothing. My Parents suffered through much worse.
If your into nuts and bolts: On bike average speed, 15.6mph. Average speed including time off the bike, 13.1. I didn’t keep track of my time off the bike, but I kept it to a minimum.
The trainer was Cyclops Fluid, the bike a Specialized “Aqua Sapone” zebra stripe.
I ate 6 bananas, 10 gels,3 bags of blocks, one bag of sports beans,2 Peanut Butter Sandwiches, An egg sandwich, a buritto, a coke, Hot tea, water,Succeed! Amino and a little humble pie.
24HOB is a great idea and if your interested you can visit them at www.24hoursofbooty.org
Geez Buddy…Where ya been? August 23, 2008
Posted by anton in : Life , 1 comment so farWell, first there was this class I took…Anatomy and Physiology II (Or as another student put it…Anatomy and Brutality.) Six weeks, four nights a week. Got a “B.” It was hard….just the volume of information that I had to hold on to and then regurgitate for the exams was. …well it kept me busy. Not as busy as I’ll be if I get into Nursing school but then ,that will be my only focus.
On top of that I’ve been training for the 24 Hours of Booty, a fund raiser for the Lance Armstrong Foundation and the Ullman Cancer fund. A 24 hour bike ride on a closed loop course…should be fun. No expectations about how far I’ll go , but I’d like to keep moving as much as possible for the 24. I met my monetary goals for the race , raising over 500 bucks.
Training for this has been interesting…some weeks of over 230 miles on the bike and then more running. Moving at a laid back (15mph) clip shouldn’t be too taxing…but we’ll see how long the crotch holds out.
School starts this week..so that will eat into more time…
On the horizon: A-10 tomorrow, Booty in two weeks, Seagull Century in October and the JFK 50 miler in November…may try to do something else this fall also. That depends on how much Booty sets me back.
After the JFK, a speed work ramp up for the Goofy Challenge and then a few weeks off before starting the Ironman Lake Placid training cycle.
Yeah, I know I said I’d never do it again but…I guess It’s my IM…Just can’t see myself on another course. You can take the boy out of the hills, but you can’t take the hills out of the boy.
The Four Goals of Ironman July 13, 2008
Posted by anton in : Ironman , 1 comment so farJust in from a long ride on the C & O canal…92 miles in 6 hours. It’s HARD pushing that mountain bike up the dirt towpath! A great workout none the less.
Heading up to Lake Placid this coming week to volunteer and Probably sign up for Next year. It will be a whole new gig…I’ll have moved up to 55-59 age group and it may well be my last for awhile, being involved in trying to get into Nursing School.
Ironman is about goal setting. There are the day to day goals that get you to the pool or out on the road. There was the goal you set for yourself to sign up in the first place and the goal of trying to do something positive in your life.
To get that medal though, to hear those words:”…you are an Ironman!” There are four goals you have to meet and surpass.
Goal One: Get to the starting line healthy, fit and with the right attitude.
All the training and work and everything else you do means nothing if you have to cancel the trip two weeks out because your knee is the size of a basketball and you’ve been told to lay off for six weeks. Standing on the shore of the swim in one piece is the hardest part of becoming an Ironman. Six months or more of training mean nothing when you have to stand there and watch the start instead of be in the start.
To that end: Be realistic about your Ironman. Be careful of “goal inflation.” Get a good training plan and work the plan…don’t let the plan work you. Ironman race day is a long lonely day at times. Make sure plenty of your workouts are done alone. Group workouts are fine but they can lead down paths that your training plan does not follow. Most “Iron Hopefuls” who fail to get there can usually pinpoint a day when it all went bad. A crash on a group ride, an out of control lifting session in the gym with the local muscleheads or a long run done WAY too fast with folks that aren’t training for an IM. One that I hear often…”WE were just shooting hoops!” Ball sports can wreck and Iron Hopeful. Be careful.
Practice your mental game. Keep a positive attitude and always be helpful and kind to the other athletes that cross your path…Good Karma works wonders. While you may have hopes for a certain finish place or time…the start is a good time to let go of that and face the day with no expectations. It WILL be a long day and too much can happen that can derail your plans. Face all race day problems head on..then move on.
Goal Two: It’s race day and you’re in the water. This goal is to finish the swim with your heart still in your chest and a gleam in your eye. You want to get out of the water saying “Yeah! What’s next?” If this is your first IM…hang back a little. I sometimes wait on the shore for thirty seconds and still turn in a good mid-pack time. Don’t get in the “Rugby game in a washing machine.” I’ve done it and had my worst swims there.
Once under way…swim your swim. Keep to your pace and your breathing. relish in the feeling of moving smoothly through the water. If you trained well you will see those folks who fought and kicked and punched through the swim start later in the day.
Goal three: Make it through the bike with gas to spare: So many first time IMers and even experienced ones will make mistakes on the bike that will cost them a good marathon or maybe even the race. Again…you’ve trained for this. Ride your bike ride, not the ride of the guy on the seven thousand dollar Tri bike who just whipped past you. Drink early and often. Stick to your nutrition schedule. Don’t eat something new on race day.
Drink early and often. Pay attention to how you FEEL ,not what you heart rate monitor says or how the others around you seem to be. We rely too often on technology and if your technology fails on race day, you have to know how it feels to be where you are now. Drink early and often. In training you practiced bike handling skills. On race day you may have to use them. While you need to be in the moment and connected to yourself to gauge proper nutrition..don’t “zone out.” A moments inattention can be dangerous on the bike, especially in the aid stations or on a course with big descents. Drink early and often. A Pee stop is time better spent than all the time you’ll waste trying to get your hydration level back up.
Goal Four: Finish. Many IM hopefuls say their goal is to finish. I do. If however, you ignore the first three goals…you might very well fail.
For many IMers the run often becomes a “walk-a-thon.” Those folks who screamed past you on the bike or clawed their way through the swim will be “running backwards” by now. As you’ve done all day, keep to your schedule and your pace and your nutrition. Be Happy! Avoid those who are not. The gloomy runner can pull you down. Pat them on the back, tell them “Good Job!” and move on. Perhaps your kind words will be the salve they needed. Drink early and often and thank the volunteers. Finish! Revel in your accomplishment and hug those who helped you get there.
288 June 28, 2008
Posted by anton in : Training , add a comment288. The number of days it’s been since I swam last. September 12 of last year.
You know, I don’t HATE swimming it just hasn’t been my thing. Got focused on last years JFK 50 miler, got sick
had an emergency colonoscopy. (Yikes!) Ran the JFK three days later, sprained my ankle at mile 6 and ran (sort of ) the last
44 miles on it…and on and on…Like I tell folks, as I’ve gotten older the time just seems to slip away…I go to sleep on a Tuesday and when I wake up it’s two weeks later.
Not getting in the water was like that. One thing led to another and the next thing you know, it was now.
Had the wonderful chance to go to my brother-in-law and sister’s river (pronounced “rivah”) place in Virginia. Needed to get out of town and see some family with ML, which is always fun… It was great to have the invite, but there’s a problem with the place from my current swimming perspective…all that water.
It just laps there looking at you…and it purrs to you…”Hey baby…climb in.” One moment the river tries to schmooze you in and the next it roils and caps and flows and defies you to get in it. “You couldn’t swim in me if you had fins and gills!”
So I did. From one pylon to another, about 100 meter out and back, out and back…nothing working, nothing flowing, movements aren’t smooth…everything akimbo. Breathing isn’t right, arms aren’t right, nothing is right and by 800 meters I’m shot. Better to get out of the salty water than hammer away with bad technique.
It wasn’t too bad! Makes me think about getting back to the pool. An aquatic jump start with the “Rivah” for a battery.
Long Bike, long thoughts. June 15, 2008
Posted by anton in : Observations , 1 comment so farIt’s Fathers Day and I miss him horribly. Was out for a 4 hour bike ride today…spinning around the park getting in some miles and thinking about Dad. Not the whole time but, he kept drifting in and out of my thoughts. There is just to much to remember…and as I get older I know I’ve forgotten some things but I try and recall what I do remember from time to time. To forget even one little bit is a disservice to him.
He was a product of his generation and the depression and of course the War. I would have liked to have know him before he went to fight in the snow and cold. I wonder if we would have liked each other. He was hard at times. How could he not be. No one comes back from experiences like he had and is the same person…He moved on and maybe had to re-invent himself or maybe he was re-invented even though he didn’t want to be.
“Tell me I’m a good man, tell me I lived a good life.” the old Private Ryan says to his wife at the end of the movie.
Dad was. He did.