If you look.. August 27, 2006
Posted by anton in : Angst , add a commentIf you look at my ass,you can still see the footprint of the Annapolis 10 miler.
Talk about a good bum whippin’…
Here is the course profile:
http://www.annapolisstriders.org/images/A10Profile2003.jpg
Now, I run hills all the time and if you look,it’s really not that bad…
unless for some unknown reason nothing worked.
My legs didn’t. My arms didn’t. My head didn’t.
To use one of my favorite words…I was all akimbo.
I love the A-10 and this is the 9th time I’ve done it.
It’s not your typical 10er. Hilly ,Hot, Humid. Very runner friendly. A jewel. One of the best 10 milers in the US
and MUCH better than the Army Ten which is too huge to be fun.
Started at 7:45 and by the first mile marker I felt like it was all a big mistake.
Legs wern’t turning over and I just didn’t feel right. At that point in a race I usually say “Ok, just Jog in and don’t worry about it.”
But at mile 1!
Managed to get through the next 9 with diminishing returns and just felt awful.
Crossed the line in 1:21, barely. My PR on this course is 1:13 and I usually run about 1:15..so really, I am not disappointed. I try not to have expectations when I race…makes it easier.
I’m just stumped…My training for this falls long races has been going well. I tapered this week…my legs felt good this morning…when I started to move…no dice.
This is what I tell folks all the time. You never know what is going to happen on race day..ever.
You can be tan,rested and ready and have a sucky race OR you can jump in a race that you’re not ready for and have a stellar day.
Besides…I have no room to bitch today with so many of the trifuel mob doing Ironman Canada!
The Dreaded Newman O. August 23, 2006
Posted by anton in : Angst , 1 comment so farThis is an off week for me…not really off just a low volume of workouts. Running the Annapolis 10 miler on Sunday. One of my favorite races and I like to have rested legs for it.
The only problem with down weeks…is the eating. For some reason I seem to want to eat more even though I’m working out less. I do really well with fruits and veggies,whole grains and such…Then I do something very stupid,like walk down the cookie asile.
I love Oreos. Nutterbutter. Chocolate chip anything. It is my bane. My demon. My extra five pounds.
I especially like Newman O’s. Paul Newman’s Organic take on Oreo’s.
Cold. Out of the freezer. With skim milk.
I am eating one right now.
It will be the last time I eat one until next July. After Ironman.
I do ok at 165. I do alot better at 160.
If I can do this…avoid eating cookies till after Ironman next July,I will have accomplished something more difficult for me than finishing in Lake Placid.
I will have walked that razors edge without falling off.
“Would you like some humble pie,with that.?” August 18, 2006
Posted by anton in : Training , 1 comment so farJust returned from 4 days of training on the Ironman Lake Placid course….I’ve done IMLP twice and have trained on the course before, mostly during the week of Tinman,which is 3 weeks out from IMLP and a great, last, long workout weekend before the taper begins.
Why?…More than anything the time there was to just help me wrap my head around doing Ironman again next summer and to scare away a few hob-gobblins.
I drove up Monday and after getting a room, went to Mirror Lake to swim…Other than a few boats and some kids on the beach…no one. You stand on the dock and you can see the whole course. All the bouys and that big orange one a whole Kilometer away. (The IMLP course is set up all the time as it’s also used for Oympic rowing and canoe training.)
72 degrees…wetsuit thank you… Swam it in 40 flat which felt good…Bilateral breathing,which I have been working on is so much better than being a left side breather!.
Ran later in the evening around the lake and town…I love it there.
Tuesday..in the water at 7 and another 2K swim and it dawns on me that with the suit on I feel more balanced and that makes the Bilat easier. Forgot the bike shorts at home and went to Placid Planet Bike shop to buy a pair….and spent too much time looking at things I’ll never be able to afford! “WE can cut you a deal on those Zero Gravity brakes.”
Out on the road for a ride and bike the course…one lap. I had NOT forgotten how hilly this course is. As I haven’t been riding the hills much recently..it was a tad tough…
Off the bike and running.. for 45 minutes…
Wednesday..back in the water for another great swim…alone,quiet, meditation of movement.
Sometimes I get full of piss and vinegar and think I am something and I get a big smack down and a serving of humble pie…Karma. What goes around comes around.
I decide to go for a trail run…Pick a nice trail (trial?) that will have some good views…drive over there strap on the Platypus, grab some snacks and go.
5 to 6 mile round trip 1.5 hours max,right? I mean after all it’s only 6 miles and I ran 15 on trails two weeks ago in 3! Right?
Back at the car… THREE hours later.
The trail was beautiful all sorts of varied vegatation and rocks..not the usual Mid-Atlantic -sandstone- all busted up and gravelly stuff…Granite.Boulders. Scrambling. Third Class. ( some of you know what that means)
And …UP. 1k of gain per mile….
So, two hours in to hike both peaks and one hour out. Did manage to run some…and the HRM said it was quite a good workout. And it really was fun. It reminded me of what someone told me before my first IMLP. “Pain and suffering is inevitable. Misery is optional.
Short ride later in the day…
Thursday, up for the last swim of the trip before the ride back. The lake, fog covered and quiet. At the end of the first K I stopped and looked around and could have been in the middle of the ocean. The shore was obsecured, the water a light swell. The call of a loon in the distance. Beautiful.
A rest day today and a massage too…nice.
Long run tomorrow (18-20) Long bike on Sunday.
1,2,3,4,… August 13, 2006
Posted by anton in : Training , 1 comment so farJust ran a n 18 miler. No big deal, in my life it happens all the time,especially now as I get going for the fall long run season.
Mary Lou asked me “Do you get bored?” “What do you think about?”
Mary Lou is a new runner (at the age of 53!) so she always has questions which I am always happy to answer.
In fact I talk to folks all the time who think they can’t do something because they’ll get bored.
I remember this tv commerical about Jackie Joyner, the great hurdler. She said:
“Someone asked me what I think about while I’m running. OK. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,kick! 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 kick!”
I am never bored…there is lots to think of…I’m not talking about “I build a house while I run..” stuff.
How do I feel? Am I drinking enough? Time to eat? On the side there may be a healthy dose thinking about the coming school year…past relationships…my parents (now gone.) All sorts of things…
This is the lesson I try to impart on people…sure anyone can get through one Ironman or Marathon maybe a 50 miler for that matter. But it is the ability to wrap your head around the long distances all the time…that leads to success.
Endurance sports are not for everyone…just like sprints or 5k’s or the mile are not for everyone ( I hate em!)
So ..If I know you…at some point on a long run,or ride or swim…I’m thinking about you!
Off to Lake Placid for a week before school starts to train and set some bench marks as I get ready for IMLP ‘07
The Ramp… August 9, 2006
Posted by anton in : Angst , add a commentThis week things start getting serious for Fall. Lately I just kind of float along and see which way the wind is blowing as to what kind of workout I’ll do for the day…Long runs,short runs,long rides, short rides and all short swims,lifting,climbing or 12 oz. curls (Stella Artois).
But this weekend, Friday actually, I get in my first 18 mile run of the fall season as things begin to ramp up. Have been building up with last saturday being 15.5 miles and very hilly.
This is how the next year looks:
Marine Corps Marathon
Jfk 50 Miler
Goofy Challange at Disney
Lake Placid Loppett (50k)
Columbia
Tin Man
Iron Man USA Lake Placid
And that’s just the big stuff…I hope to sprinkle in the usually ten milers and what not, and I’m not counting the organized centuries as …well a hundred mile bike ride is just training.
The biggest trick will be to stay on the raamp and not peel off the side because of accident ,injury or stupidity…
so I guess I’m a little anxious about it.
My goal though is to do these things…and at the same time have no expectations about them.
I KNOW that life is fickle and throws curve balls with the skill of Sandy Koufax.(Look it up if you’re younger than 40).
Just look at the DNF’s from any race or the No shows and you’ll see what I mean.
I also know that life is too serious to take seriously, and If I dump my soul into next years Ironman and fail…It will be at great cost…
This weeks workouts so far have gone well.
The battle of the bi-lateral breath is humming along. Runs are good, and I ride my bike like the Huns rode horses.
They are able… August 6, 2006
Posted by anton in : Observations , add a comment“They are able because they think they are able.” My signature quote at trifuel.com
Yesterday I got a big dose of that at the Catoctin 50K.
If you are looking for one of the hardest 50k races on the east coast,this is it. Course record is 4:48!
I volunteered yesterday having done the race 4 times before,I need a good training day and a chance to get out with ultrarunners (one of my favorite groups of people.)
The Cat 50 is all trail,in the woods and boasting,probably a good 4,000 feet of elevation gain. Add in heat,dust, bugs and the REAL chance that you will get lost and it makes for a fun day.
My job,other than directing a stream crossing at the turn around was to be the “inbound sweep.”
I’d leave the turn around about 30 to 45 minutes after the last folks came through and make sure everyone stayed ahead of me,pick up trash and get in a hilly workout in the process.
We had 5 folks abandon at the turn around. Out bound, 7 people had their numbers pulled because thay got lost and missed aid station cutoffs.
My inbound trip started at 1:00 and went well… I knew there was a mother/daughter couple ahead of me,but they were two of the people who had had their number pulled, but they were determined to finish,even if there was no support.
I caught them at the first inbound aid station 6 miles from the turn around. Actually, I could hear the daughter long before that..”COME ON MOM!” “STOP IT MOM!” “NO,I WON’T QUIT!”
We got to the aid station,which was closing down. We all fed and watered and I let the runners get 20 minutes ahead.
I reached the next aid station 3 miles further on just as they did. The daughter looked ok, but Mom was cooked.
Here I gave them 20 minutes to get started on the last,hardest, 5 miles. I caught up to Mom about 1 mile later. No daughter, even though I could still hear her yelling once in awhile.
I decided to walk/jog in with Mom…she needed the support. She was 30 years older than the daughter who is “highly competitive.” Being in the same age group,she and I had a nice chat. But she was suffering…had plenty of fluid and I was happy to share out some Clif Blocks and Succeed caps to make sure she was ok. She staggered,fell,got up bloody and dirty and “was able.”
Got to the trail intersection where they were lost early in the day, and there was the daughter,who started to berate Mom for her speed. I told her “go on ahead,I’ll sweep in your Mom…maybe you’ll make the cut off.” And she was gone. Never saw her again.
Mom rolled in 30 minutes over cut off and a few minutes ahead of me as I was taking down trail flags. Don’t know about the daughter…don’t care.
Yesterday I saw two people walk the Razor’s Edge. One made it,even though her time was unofficial. The other fell off, abandoning her Mom to the care of a stranger,for the sake of a finish time.
Postscript: The daughter was not on the finishers list. As she and her mother had had their numbers pulled and were on their own since mile 9, that is as it should be. Perhaps she was thinking that if she finished close to the cutoff the RD would reconsider.
Lcpl James August 4, 2006
Posted by anton in : Observations , add a commentWe often talk about triathletes and how much they sacrifice and all we go through to get a piece of metal or a tattoo or a piece of gear that says “Finisher.”
Here I talk about how difficult it can be to balance all the training with the other things that go on in our lives.
The Razor’s Edge.
They buried Lance Corporal James today. He died in Al Anbar. GSW-Chest.
I knew James. Spent three years with him when I worked in his high school. He knew the Special Ed students I worked with and always tried to include them in what he was doing or talking about. He was an Athlete and they looked up to him. He played Football and ran.
He was a great kid. He always wanted to go into the service. After that terrible September day we all knew he would.
James knew about The Razor’s Edge in ways that most of us never will.
I was all for going to Afganistan and kicking ass..but this Iraq thing is wrong.
Workouts this week were blah..maybe because of how I felt about it all…
Makes what we do seem sort of insignifcant.
When I run The Marine Corps Marathon this fall..it will be for James.