YSL: Still dunno what week or day

Alas, alack,
Poetry Friday
has gone
Remiss.

Lost in the pool,
perhaps dropped on the road,
or even--
carelessly thrown into the bushes
landing next to a toad

Alas, alack
Poetry Friday
has gone
Remiss.

Back pain is back. Dunno what I did wrong. Have been sitting and typing a lot on an unforgiving office chair. It's an old wooden model that I love, and if generations of teeachers frackin' sat on this thing with no problems, what is the matter with ME?

Yesterday's workout was hard work, and therefore felt most excellent. I really like the sprint workouts, but I prefer the loong-distance races. What the hell is the matter with me? I shafted myself 800 yards in Tuesday's swim workout, though. What a loser--just didn't have enough time. I am so SLOW. Ugh.

The weather this weekend is going to be beautiful. Think am going to get into lake. Is a chilly 50 degrees in there right now. Brrrr.

PB: Week 0

No training this week. Took the week off to stay up late, sleep in, and think about what to do next. Last weekend I had a visit from a college friend who is a pro triathlete training for IM Lake Placid. He stopped by my house to shower after a 17 mile run on the towpath. I thought you might find this funny: he said he was trying to negative split on the return run, but then he wasn't feeling up to it so he slowed down to a 7:00 minute/mile pace.

LT: Week 20

Chest infection prevalent this week, causing me to do the 80 instead of the 100 on Saturday. Injury has finally started to recover though, and didn't cause problems on the bike, although 5 mins on the treadmill on Tues was painful so I still don't know when I'll be running.

M: Rest day
T: 5m treadmill. 60m stationary bike. Treadmill hurt.
W: 60m stationary bike with various intervals
   30m swim
T: Day off (Miles ill & not in nursery)
F: Rest day
S: 80 mile cyclo-sportive in Yorkshire. Hilly. 6.16.
S: About 10 miles of casual cycling to watch racing. 1 hr
Total: 9h 35m

YSL: Week Dunno; Day Dunno

I've finally had three good workout days in a row, even if I skipped yesterday's swim. My legs were fried from Tuesday's speedwork in both the pool and on the road, and today's workouts--5x 5-minute hill accelerations on the bike over an hour and twenty minutes and a 38-minute run immediately following to mimic race conditions--were both good.
I'm a little worried about all the hills in the race. I'll muddle through, I know--it's not like I"ll be working against the added disadvantage of being at elevation or anythiing--but it does remind me that, if I'm going to do Austria 2009, I'll have to be even more serious about trainng that I am now. The Alps are no English hills. I know that area of Austria, somewhat, and boy, it's pretty frackin' mountainous. While I'm looking forward to going back there (it's the place in which I first discovered what it meant to truly be awed by the outdoors, and be truly in love with it and make it a true part of your life), I've got to take the difficulty of the race into account as I go into training for it.
Here's today's run.

PB: Week 19 - race week

Th - Run 6.2 mi/60 min very easy. Felt poor.
S - Longest Day adventure race. About 12 hours.

I'm really no good at race reports. Good news is that I had a good time and I'm happy with my performance, considering the training I put in. I was so worried about my own fitness that I didn't stop to think that it really didn't matter because I'm still stronger than my female teammate. The pace was very manageable for me. I didn't feel very fatigued and sore until the bike climbs at the end of the race, when we did some walking. The course was well designed and had optional points on all the trek and bike sections. It took a little bit for me to get back in the navigation groove, and we lost some time on the first couple points because of it, but once I figured out what was going on in my head I was able to turn those skills back on and get back into the habit of knowing where I am and where I'm going at all times. I regret that because of our slow speed and the cutoff times we were only able to do a tiny bit of the optional trail riding section. The canoe paddle sucked up a lot of time because we hemmed and hawed about the safest put-in location at a difficult portage, then capsized in the rapids right below the portage, and because we are just really slow paddlers. By the time we rode from the take out to the rogaine-style trek, we only had time to get one point before the 7pm cutoff. I'm proud of us for taking the capsize in stride and for going out and bagging that last point right under the wire when we could have stayed in the TA/Finish. Overall, I had a good time and it was great to see so many old friends and feel back "in the scene" for a day. I will probably trace my routes on the maps and post them on my personal blog this week.

I'm not sure what's next. My wife did great with the kids, and they didn't give her a hard time, but I'm still not going to be racing on the weekends frequently. And given my lack of success in establishing a regular training schedule I'd like a break from the pressure to get up early and the guilt when I don't. I'm also thinking about a conversation I had with my friend Scott as we were walking to the prologue. He looks in the best shape I've ever seen him, and he said he's been doing a lot of core strength, yoga, weights, better diet, and not worrying about putting in a lot of miles. This mirrors some popular training philosophies I've read about, but haven't had the freedom to try because I've been worried about putting in the miles. Or maybe it's just been easier to do the same old thing. Regardless, maybe keeping away from racing would help me try different ways to get and stay in shape. We'll see.

YSL: Training log failure

I only know that I did a transition workout Saturday at a mere hour and a half. And I did four and a half hours yesterday. Friday I did diddly poop.
The rest of the week I was pretty good except I ignored all of my swimming, because, as I mentioned to Lara recently, I am not getting any faster, and it's pissing me off. Ergo, I'm just flat-out ignoring it.
Better check out my wetsuit. Don't even know if it fits anymore. Do know that I'd also better get in some open water swimming before I do this thing. Eeeeeeeeee.

LT: Week 19

All good intentions went to pot this week. Just as I started going tentatively back to the gym, I caught another viral chest infection thing from Miles. Can't swallow/talk/eat. Copious gunk. Not funny. See ... I'm jinxed!

T: 30 min swim. Left hip hurts when I kick down.
W: 60 min gym bike: 15 mins warmup, 20 mins random, 15 mins tempo, 10 mins cooldown.
T: 35 min gym bike @ base endurance with 1 x 10 min @ tempo + 1 x 10 min random.
   25 min swim with pullbuoy

Total: 2h 30m

p.s. Come on Peter! Tell us ... tell us!

PB finishes TLD!!

Thrilled to hear that Peter has finished The Longest Day! Race report, I hope, forthcoming from Peter.
Sprocket ate four pieces of pizza, by the way, two nights ago. His gluttony can only be a reflection of my own these past few days. Whee!!!

LT: Week 18

Zero. Zilch. Nowt. Nothing.

However I'm slowly recovering and I got over the psychological pain of not being able to do my most longed-for race of the year. I'm aiming for some easy easy stuff this week (running not possible) to ease into it. I expect it will mostly take the form of time in the gym on the machine that hurts the least.

Thank goodness for osteopaths and inspiring coaches (thanks Mike!)

PB: Week 18

This is week 18, right? My week 17 wasn't posted until Saturday.

M - Run 35 min.
T - Bike 43 min/10.5 mi.
Th - Bike 55 min/13 mi. Intervals 4 X 3:10.
F - Yoga 25 min.
Su - Bike 53 min/12.6 mi.
Total - 3:39

Nothing new in training, but the race logistics are starting to come together. My teammates and I have been able to scrounge enough gear so that they'll only have to fly out with their bags. They're borrowing two bikes, two paddles, and a canoe seat. I'm getting a third bike mount for my roof-rack from a student for the weekend. The only thing left to buy are water purification tablets, SPD cleats, and NYNJTC Shawangunk Trails maps. Unfortunately, the maps are hard to come by locally - I should have mail-ordered them weeks ago - but my teammates should be able to buy them near the Gunks the day before the race. They'll be flying in Thursday night. I won't be up there until late Friday, leaving after the kids go to bed. That means I'll be lucky if I get three hours of sleep before leaving for the 4:30 am bike drop.

The latest and last race newsletter laid out the course pretty plainly - 3 hours trekking, 4 hours on the bike (with the bike start at a major singletrack area), then a river paddle and a foot score-o finish. They are kindly letting us stage equipment and nutrition with the bikes and with the paddle gear. This is great for two reasons - one, we won't have to carry paddles and pfds for miles, with the paddle shaft wacking me in the head and getting caught on branches, and two - I'll be able to pack some Ensure to slam 600 calories in the bike-to-paddle transition. Mmmm... geriatric goodness. If we didn't have the drop I'd be carrying the Ensure in my pack. People call me crazy for packing liquid nutrition, but even though it tastes gross when warm it hasn't made me throw up yet, and it goes down fast. It's got a much higher fat-to-carbs ratio than typically recommended for endurance events (the Ensure Plus variety), but it works for me.

YSL: Week 17

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Swim 1 hour, Ride 1 hour
Wednesday: Swim 1 hour
Thursday: Ride 1 hour
Friday:Ride 1 hour
Saturday: Ride 2:45
Sunday: Run 1 hour; walk all over fricken town in fricken heels for mother's day from 10:30 AM to 5PM :(
----

total: 8:45; just over half the volume prescribed. Loverly.

PB: Week 17

M - Run 32 min/3.8 mi easy. HR 131.
F - Bike 53 min/13 mi. HR 130.
Total: 1:25

Two weeks to go. Guess you can say I'm tapering.

YSL: Poetry Friday

On the days you feel in the dumps
Highly confu-sed
Both your energy
and your mo'
Have dipped into the red

Most often, at these times
in conjunction with the cosmic timescale
your body
kicks in
Without fail

On the bike you feel faster
On your own two feet
you are too
In the pool you swim like
the whale they call Shamu...

But at the end of it all
What pulls you out of your funk
isn't yourself--
or your workouts--
or any of that other junk

It's most likely
(for me, anyway)
The fact that my friends near and far
are suffering, too--
the exact same way.

LT: Week 17

S: 10 mins bike
M: 25 mins bike. Painful
Total: 35 mins

I'm cancelling my next 2 weeks of races (including the cyclo-sportive I've been looking forward to for about 2 years). I can barely walk. No chance for cycling and certainly none for running. Will try swimming this week sometime. Don't hold out much hope though ... pretty much everything hurts. This is the time I was aiming to be getting into my racing season. I feel very tempted to ditch 2008 and pick up again in September. I just don't know what the point is in continuing and having these great weeks ... fortnights even, followed by dire periods of depression and zero training. I just don't think I can sustain it. And it's not very fair on my family either. I can't tell you how much this sucks.

YSL: New Kit Weirdness; Invasive Species Suckage

Folks--
I have to confess, I find it annoying that the new kit, whilst lovely and red and blue and Union-Jack-y, is plastered all over with "Ironman." Now, I understand that this is merely a function of the fact that Ironman brand has now been extended from events to a clothing and equipment line, but it feels really stupid to me in strict terms of branding.

Follow me here:

1. I am not competing in an Ironman. I am competing in a HALF-Ironman.
2. The Ironman corporation, which "owns" all "Iron-distance" events, has tacked onto its roster the Half-Ironman distance, which it's now calling "70.3." Which, by the way, is also trademarked to within an inch of its life.

It follows that, in an attempt to preserve the Ironman name, Ironman has prevented any triathlon organization, unless said body pays the Ironman organization or has some other arrangement with them, from using the terms "Ironman" or "70.3." This is why you see a lot of events with random distances on them that are just slightly off of Ironman distance or 70.3 distance. This all makes sense to me.

Why, then, are you insisting that someone who's competing in a 70.3 distance event wear the Ironman logo? This seems like it's devaluing the Ironman brand, no?

I, for one, would steadfastly refuse, except that my fund-raising agreement with Rotary International requires that I wear the kit during the race, and that smart training suggests that I train in the clothes I'm going to race in.

I will say, however, that I feel like a big, fat poseur, wearing the Ironman logo when I'm not racing the Ironman distance.

Jim and I spent three hours Saturday pluckingGarlic Mustard from the Butternut Preserve in Crystal Lake. It was part of a delayed Earth Day project. It's an invasive species, you see. The organization we worked with has a goal of picking 100,000 pounds of the stuff out of this one park. Craziness.

Anyway, Sunday I woke up with completely locked hamstrings. So much for my scheduled run and ride. So infinitely depressed. They are marginally less locked today after some painful stretching last night, but god! what a lousy way to get back on the horse.

YSL: New kit!

Nothing like a set of shiny, very loud, new triathlon clothes to get you all amped up for getting back on the saddle again. The Rotary came through like gangbusters, and everything feels pretty much true to size, although my slacking off this week has made everything look sausage-like.
Sigh. Dress clothes are every so much more forgiving.
I get to wear the Union Jack on my arse, by the way. How sexy is that?

YSL: Poetry Friday

New Shoes
Otherwise in my life
New shoes equate joy.
The spirits they lift, the wallet they deplete
Nevertheless, I'm like a child with a new toy.

This week I've discovered
A lesson long-told
For me it's had to be repeated
Ten--nay, one-hundred fold

It's a tale of new sneakers
A pair determined to ruin
My gait, my arches, my back
Of late.

So it's with some trepidation
That I lace them back up again
I've no one to blame but myself
for a week spent recovering's lost gain--

Twelve slow miles on new shoes equates
Not joy,
But a foam roller--
Guess that's my new new toy.