Tag Archives: running

Friday’s Fitness Footnote 09.2

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Turns out I jinxed myself with my “injury free” reference in my 2008 fitness wrap up. PC and I weren’t even out of the hood last week when I pulled up with an invisible knife in my right calf. I’m guessing soleus micro tear. Didn’t run for five todays until W morn when I didn’t even make it 50 yards. That was depressing. I didn’t think cycling was having any effect because I couldn’t feel anything while riding, but even though I haven’t been going hard, it must have been making matters worse. I’ve been stretching the heck out of it all to no avail. 

In the meantime I’ve been enjoying cycling and swimming. I got invited to swim with the Masters regulars M morn and enjoyed being the slowest person in my lane. Brian and Geraldine swam in college, I on the other hand, played pick up basketball. One day in 1983, the college player of the year walked into the gym. He was in town to receive the Wooden award as the best player in college. MJ up close. Despite my obvious availability, I wasn’t invited into his game. No surprise I guess that he didn’t want any piece of me.

Tangent. In my fifth year, while working on my MA, I got a job tutoring athletes. After my first session, bossman asked if Reggie Miller showed. I said no so he told me to call him up in the dorms and ask him where he was. “Reggie, this is Ron. . .” “Oh man,” he interrupted, “I thought you were a woman!” I told him there wasn’t much I could do about that and he never showed. Not sure if he passed Western Civ, but he’s done okay for himself.

Normally I’m running during Masters swimming which is too bad because I enjoy it. I swim a bit harder and the time flies. I talked to a friend in the locker room who said they did 30 100’s (short course yards) in Masters the day before in honor of a 30 year old teammate. They did them on 1:45, every third IM. I decided to try a revised version, 18 on 1:40, and really liked it. I do the free in 1:21-1:23 which provides a lot of rest, but I do the IM in 1:32-1:36 which obviously doesn’t allow for hardly any recovery.

Cycling has been a mix of spinning indoors and chilly outdoor riding. Travis and I got in a very nice 33 miler last Sunday with temps in the high 30’s. I recently read a blog written by a Hawaiian triathlete and she bagged a ride because it was 64 out. 

Ready for the product recommendation? I can’t wait for the CEO to write and offer free product!

The endurance crowd must be particularly gullible because there are about as many recovery drinks on the market as there are endurance athletes. 

Call me old school, but this recovery drink will change your life. Drive straight to Costco and buy one, two, or twelve half gallons. Don’t forget to dilute it with equal parts skim milk otherwise, no matter how hard you work out, you’ll end up looking more like Oprah than you probably want.

Sorry O, that was uncalled for.

Fitness Year in Review

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I pity my running homies who don’t keep training logs because they don’t get to slice and dice the numbers. Hard to believe they’re content to maintain their physical and mental health with no clue about how this year compares to any other. I suppose they’re still good peeps. And my handy dandy GPS and I are happy to pick up the slack. Truth be told, they like my post run reports where I reveal how far we ran and sometimes even provide mile splits.

On the fitness front, 2008 was an excellent year, most notably because I was injury free and had a lot of fun. I’ve struggled with a balky lower back in the past so I don’t know if I’ve ever had as injury free a 12 month run. I even managed some decent workouts during last week’s bronchitis battle which was probably as sick as I got all year. I attribute my health to three things. First, living in icy Norway in February meant an unusually light second month with several off days. In hindsight, that forced rest was probably needed. Second, I didn’t make time to lift weights this year. I have decent weight lifting form, and lord knows I keep things very light and easy, but I still often accumulate aches and pains as a result of lifting. Third, I’ve done more push ups than normal which have strengthened my core. I need to get more consistent with push ups and planking in 09.

SWIMMING—241,600 meters.

A solid year highlighted by the recent PR in the 500 free. I’ve enjoyed doing more stroke work than ever before. It’s neat to see a little bit of improvement in the fly, breast, and back. The Black Hills triathlon swim was another highlight, but for the sake of kharma, I need to make a correction related to that race report. If you remember it, I talked about setting records for each split. I had an excellent swim, but upon further review, the swim and run were short. 

CYCLING—2,318 miles.

I was most surprised by how well I rode in the summer/fall without any real spring build. How to explain that? I guess I’d credit the bit of base I’ve built over the past four summers. Turns out there was some money in the account when I went to make withdrawals. It was fun mixing it up in the front of the club and riding nearly as well as friends who had more miles in their legs. My cycling season is in two parts, pre-RAMROD and post-RAMROD. I ride much better in August and September because of the spike in fitness I get from drilling myself on Mount Rainier in late-July. It serves as a booster shot. This year my 100 mile solo tune-up before Ramrod was THE single most important outing of the year. Thanks to that effort, RAMROD wasn’t a complete sufferfest. After RAMROD I enjoyed hanging on club rides without completely shelling myself and pushing the pace on occasion. 

RUNNING—1,489 miles.

I was privileged to run in new locales abroad including Norway, Berlin, Munich, through a Tuscany vineyard, and even a hotel dreadmill in Tallin, Estonia. I also enjoyed training with PC, The Malamute, and Double S. I did my best to elevate our Saturday morning conversations, but can’t say I was too successful. The Portland Marathon and Seattle Half both went well and were fun in a “that was painful, glad it’s over” kind of way. I most enjoy trail running and one silver lining of the recession is all of the development that was planned in our area is on hold; as a result, our trails are still intact. One difference this year was the utter lack of speed/track work. Just didn’t make it a priority. 

2009

After years of slight increases in volume, I don’t plan on committing any more time to physical activity in 2009. Now the question is what’s the best swimming/cycling/running balance? This year I anticipate swimming a similar distance, but borrowing some from running in order to add to cycling. Beyond that my frame of mind will be similar—remember life is fragile and appreciate and celebrate good health.

Postscript

Three favorite memories from the year. The first was a spontaneous March day of cross country skiing with Tore in Norway. Tore was patient and encouraging and the conditions and scenery were off the charts. Epic in the truest sense of the word. The second was a very tough, very steep May run/hike up a fog-covered side of the Swiss Alps in Grindenwald, Switzerland. I was serenaded by cow bells in absolutely beautiful scenery. Third, the final bike ride on a few different Mount Rainier passes on an unusually nice October day. After a maximum effort to bridge up to a strong group of climbers, I pushed the pace on one of the final segments just short of the top. Once we got to the top, and were able to talk, an amateur racing friend turned to T and me and said, “You guys should be racing. Why aren’t you racing?” I thought to myself, it doesn’t get better than this. Five friends taking turns inflicting pain on one another surrounded by unrivaled beauty. My answer is, as long as I have my health, good friends to push me, and relatively safe natural settings to train in, I’m good.

T’s persistence has paid off in that this year I will post a much shorter fitness update or random thought every other Friday. Look for the first “Friday’s Fitness Footnote” next Friday. Yes, I like alliteration.

Natural Order Restored

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You may recall that in October my 16 year-old daughter shattered my 500 yard free time (6:21 versus 6:28). Last weekend, at the Third Annual Rudolph’s Plunge, I attempted to reclaim the title that is so integral to my identity: family’s fastest distance freestyler.

Uppity daughter couldn’t fathom that possibility so she finagled an invitation to a Seattle concert. Fortunately the other two members of my posse were among the thousands (or tens) packed into the Water Cube (or Briggs YMCA) as I stood on the block.

I am not a talented athlete by any stretch of the imagination, however, I have developed a reservoir of endurance as a result of consistent training over the last 15 years. Another asset is an intuitive feel for even pacing. Case in point, the Seattle Half Marathon. The marathon website provides three pages of stats for each runner based on their timing chip. One graphic said that from mile 6.2 to 13.1 I passed 233 people and 6 passed me. I ran 7:20’s for the first half of the race and 7 flats for the second, hillier section. The art of the slow build.

Oddly, my Rudolph’s Plunge 500 may have been the worst paced race in my life. I don’t know why, but I went out WAY too fast. Long story short, I faded big time over the second half, but still finished in 6:17.5. L said at one point the announcer said I was on a 6:02 pace. Opps. It’s no fun going into oxygen debt and then not being able to recover.

Reminds me of a Prefontaine quote, “The only good race pace is suicide pace and today looks like a good day to die.”

I thoroughly enjoyed posting a 6:17 sticky note on A’s mirror that night before retiring.

And at the end of a quiet circle in Northwest Indiana, my sister just shook her head in disgust.

Even though A was recently named co-captain of next year’s team, I suspect she’ll just quit the sport now that the natural order has been restored and the family record is out of reach.

Seattle Half Marathon Report

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At 7:20 a.m. on Sunday, November 30th D and I found ourselves in a serious traffic jam on the sidewalk in front of the Experience Music Project in downtown Seattle. D ran professionally for nine years beginning in the late 70’s. 2:11 marathon; 4th in the Olympic Trials; 4th in the Boston Marathon, first American. Blew his knee out skiing a decade ago and has built it back through cycling. Now that he’s able to run 25/30 pain free miles a week, he thought he’d give the half a go.

I take responsibility for screwing up pre-race. We should have approached the start from the back instead of the front. Long story short, after hoping a few barricades, it took us 54 seconds to get to the start and then we had to slowly weave our way down 5th street. In a way it was kinda funny, D has gone from Wide World of Sports to mixin’ it up with the masses and the 1:45 Half Marathon pacer.

D ran a 1:26:36 which translates to a 1:25:42  and I ran a 1:34:42 or 1:33:48. I didn’t realize D and I were in the same age group until after the race or I would have taken him. I could have easily tripped him from behind on 5th street. I’m used to D dropping me on the bike. Now I have to get used to him running away from me. Some summer day at the lake I’ll be getting T ready for an Ironperson. D will be kickin’ it on a raft and I’ll say let’s go running and cycling boy. And then T and I will swim farther and farther away from him, and then we’ll accelerate, and maybe, just maybe, he’ll have a little more compassion for us mortals, bah, ha, ha, ha, ha.

Knowing beforehand that I’d lose touch with D from the get go, I threw together a “13.1” playlist and iPoded the run for the first time ever. So being a good academic, I should credit all the people who helped me along the way:

• Mile 1, Janet Jackson, That’s the Way Love Goes, “My love is blind can’t you see my desire.” Oh yes Janet, I can see it.

• Mile 2, Jill Scott, Golden, “I’m livin’ my life like it’s golden golden.” Easy for you to say, you’re not running up hill.

• Mile 3, America, Horse with No Name, “The heat was hot. . .” Love that phrase, I’m just not sure what the cold equivalent would be, the chill was cold?

• Mile 4, Elton John, Benny and the Jets, “Oh Benny, she’s really keen. She’s Got electric boots, a mohair suit. . . ” I always thought it was electric boobs. That’s kinda disappointing.

• Mile 5, I Feel For You, Chaka Khan, “Baby, baby, when I look at you I get a warm feeling inside.” I get that a lot.

• Mile 6, Bye Bye Love, The Cars, “You think you’re so illustrious, you call yourself intense.” If I wasn’t intense would I have just drenched my contacts with Gatorade?

• Mile 7, President, Wyclef Jean, “Instead of spending billions on the war, I could use it to feed the poor.” Preach it brother.

• Mile 8, No One, Alicia Keys, “You and me together through the days and nights, I don’t worry because everything is going to be alright.” Wowa Alicia, I think we should take things a little slower.

• Mile 9, I Wish, Skee-Lo, “I wish I was taller, I wish I was a baller, I wish I had girl who looked good, cuz I’d call her.” They just don’t write lyrics like that anymore.

• Mile 10, Serpentine Fire, Earth, Wind, and Fire. “I wanna see your face in the morning sun ignite my energy.” I get that a lot too. 

• Mile 11, Whole Lotta Love, Led Zeppelin, “You need coolin, baby, Im not foolin, Im gonna send you back to schoolin,” As an educator, I thought it was important to have at least one reference to school.

• Mile 12, Country Grammar, Nelly, “I’m goin down down baby yo’ street in a Range Rover, street sweeper baby, cocked ready to let it go, shimmy shimmy cocoa what? Listen to it pound, light it up and take a puff, pass it to me now.” Who knew Nelly smoked cigars? Thanks to L for meeting me at mile 12 and handing me the stogie.

• Mile 13, Lose Yourself, Eminem, “You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow. This opportunity comes once in a lifetime yo.” Enuf said.

Swim-Bike-Run

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The past week at a glance. Every workout, except half of Saturday’s and all of Sunday’s, completed before sunrise.

Friday, running day, however, I felt like I returned to the regular running schedule a bit too quickly post marathon so I decided to swim instead. I was invited to join the Masters so I chased Geraldine for 75 minutes.  650 warm up. Main set 6×300, descend 1-3  and 4-6 on 5:00. Not sure of my splits, but Geraldine kept putting 20 yards into me. 50 easy then 3×200 on 3:20. Again, I wasn’t getting my splits. I like Mel’s rest intervals better than my own. Then a 4×100 pull set and a 100 cool down. Classic Mel, no strokes. Total, 3,600 yards, but I always record meters, so 3,330m.

Saturday, 10+ mile run in 1:19+. First time I felt normal post marathon. Lots of trails, Woodland, Watershed, LBA. Surprise, surprise, M and I got into a heated argument which always leads to a quicker pace. I don’t understand economics or taxes because I’ve never sat in a boardroom, yet he routinely criticizes public school teachers. Usually, I can manage the irritation, but about once a year, I completely snap. I’m good until 2009. I apologize for my language if you were anywhere near LBA park last Saturday morning.

Sunday, cold weather cycling experiment. 35 degrees, can I hang? I decide to give it a try, and if I can’t cut it, I’ll bail before joining the group at 4 miles. Craft base layer, medium weight base, expedition weight base, long sleeve jersey, arm warmers, long bottoms under long bibs, two pairs of socks, toe covers, two pairs of gloves, hat under helmet. I produced a large load of laundry, but proved the Norwegians right-there’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing. The suggested route called for an early climb and about 40 miles in total. Perfect, until we went straight when we were supposed to go left. Three, five, seven extra miles. . . times two. Are we ever going to head north again or are we taking the train back from Portland? 55 miles later, the mercury climbed to 46. The only thing I took off all morning were my arm warmers. Mission accomplished. 1,500′ of climbing at a relaxed 18+mph.

Monday, 6.16 mile run in 47+ for a 7:41/mile average.

Tuesday, solo swim. 1,000 yard warm up, every fourth alternate back then breast, 15:45. Kick 200; one arm drill 100; fingertip drag 100; 100 easy. 4×300 on 5:00 in 4:25, 19, 17, 3. 5x100IM on 1:55 in 1:36-1:37, last 1:33. 100 cool down. Total, 3,300 yards or 3,000m.

Wednesday, 6.75 mile run in 51:31 for a 7:38/mile average.

Thursday, solo swim. 1,000 yard warm up straight free, 14:45. Kick 200; one arm drill 100; fingertrip drag 100. 2×200 back then breast two times on 3:50, back in 3:27, 3:27; breast in 3:30, 3:30. 5×200 on 3:20 in 2:55, 51, 45, 38, 55. 100 cool down. Total, 3,300 yards or 3,000m.