Roundtable Updates March 19, 2009
Posted by postalblue in Cycling, Life, Running.2 comments
If I’ve been pretty lax about my updates lately, it’s because work has been wearing me thin. With the quarter coming to a close, there are a ton of big deadlines approaching and only one developer on my team (me!) to scrape the code together.
My (desktop) computer has been giving me trouble for the past few weeks. After two painful reformats, I’ve narrowed the issue down to one of two things: the wireless network card or the primary hard drive. Funny, the computer only seems to bail on me when I sit down to work on FCYCLE.
Speaking of FCYCLE, I almost shut the site down permenantly two weeks ago after I was essentially scolded by a few of my users for not continuously updating the start list on the free site that I built by myself.
I’ve done a lot of running lately. My mileage hasn’t increased, but I am getting out more and more often for 3 or 5 mile jogs. I participated in a work-sponsored St. Patty’s Day Run on Tuesday and came in 9th with a time of 20.48 over 3.2 miles. Not great, but leagues better than I expected!
Rides have been limited. If find the late sunrise extremely discouraging, but I did get out this morning for the Mission Cycling morning headlands loop. My fitness is getting better and better, but I still can’t climb nearly as well as I had been climbing in January. And descending? I honestly thought I was going to die today – I’m still getting used to the new bike. Those brakes are extremely touchy and I’m so worried about locking up the wheels on quick descents. Ugh. Hope I can get used to them before the club goes up any big hills.
Back to it March 5, 2009
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Getting back into shape is not fun and I’ll tell you why: it doesn’t matter how fast I go up Camino Alto, I know I used to go up it faster. It just feels like there is an enormous disparity between my current and pre-illness fitness levels.
In the past week I’ve:
- Gone for rides: Thursday (27), Friday (25), Saturday (60) and Thursday (27).
- Spent time on the trainer: Sunday (30 min), Monday (30 min), Wednesday (60 min).
- Gone for runs: Thursday (4.8 miles), Sunday (5 miles), Monday (5 miles) and Wednesday (4.5 miles).
- Miscellaneous core work and/or lifting: Friday, Sunday and Tuesday.
This weekend’s forecast looks fantastic. Here’s hoping for at least a 60/40 Saturday and Sunday. A cool 100-mile weekend would do me a lot of good.
Paradise + a short one January 9, 2009
Posted by postalblue in Cycling, Life, Running.Tags: camino alto, paradise, Running, weekday riding
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We all know the winter solstice happened in December, but in all actuality, the latest sunrise of the year was today. Thank God, too, because I can’t deal with many more of these uber-dark descents into Sausalito.
I hit the road at 6 on Wednesday morning for a cold, dark spinner around the Paradise loop. It was only memorable because pre-dawn didn’t even start until after I had come down from Camino Alto. Talk about scary: at least the Bridgeway descent has street lights!
I took Thursday off, partly because I was exhausted and partly because the forecast had rain written all over that. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I can do cold and wet, dark and wet, or dark and cold… but never all three at the same time. The joke was on me, though: I slept in until 7 and when I woke up, the sky was clear and the air was crisp. Damn! Would’ve been perfect!
It’s all good though; I managed to eke out five miles on foot during my lunch break. Running hurts more and more these days. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong…
I cut this morning’s ride a little bit short so I could make sure my girlfriend got to work okay. Hit the road at 6:50 and pulled back in at 8:20 for 22.5 miles, making it the shortest ride I’ve done in months! To be honest, that’s probably a good thing: I get the feeling Yujin’s going to be gunning for me on the climbs tomorrow and I’m going to need every ounce of power I can muster.
Oops I did it again. November 23, 2008
Posted by postalblue in Life, Running.Tags: Running
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I have a terrible habit. I push myself too hard. Maybe it’s all those years of swimming I’ve got under my belt; years of two-a-days and hell weeks. I used to absolutely kill myself at practice – I always prided myself on the fact that even though I wasn’t the fastest on the squad, at least I worked the hardest. That mentality carries over into running and cycling, and even though I’ve been doing bot for a while now, I just don’t know when enough’s enough.
Or maybe I do and I simply choose to ignore it.
Either way, I should not have run on Wednesday morning. My Tuesday run was fantastic, but I was not feeling it when I woke up on Wednesday. I pushed through none the less. By now, I should know that ‘pushing through’ is never a good thing when it comes to running.
Anyway, I laced up for a run on Friday afternoon and got about two tenths of a mile before I had to stop. My shins (specifically the right one) are acting up again. I’ve been relatively injury-free since moving out west, but my aggressive training routine has finally caught up to me. I don’t know how long this is going to take to heal, but this happens to me every so often and it’s never a fun recovery.
I’m going to keep myself from running for at least a week. It’s going to be hard, but I think I can do it if I keep myself in the saddle instead. Rather than running, I’ll try to ride on Monday and Wednesday this week. Thursday is the Hamilton climb, so I’ll try running again on Friday and see where I’m at.
GBC Sprint Update August 25, 2008
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Good news! They posted the results today and guess what? I placed twelfth out of 208 competitors! Not only that, I but I placed first in my age group: Men 25-29. Kick ass.
I had the 6th-fastest swim time and my bike and run times both ranked around 25. It’s a shame, though, because the results on the site don’t account for the four-plus minute wait time between when the dualthetes started racing and when my heat finally launched.
1000 meter swim: 17:54 (though probably more like 12:54).
22 kilometer bike: 39:37 (20.7 miles per hour).
5 kilometer run: 23:12 (7:29 minutes per mile).
Transitions: 1:38 and 1:25.
Total time: 83:48 (adjusted to 78:48).
GBC Sprint Report August 24, 2008
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I woke up extra early this morning to head to Springfield, Ohio for the Great Buckeye Challenge triathlon. I haven’t been training specifically for the event, so it was probably a good thing that I only signed up for the sprint (or shortest) distance. Ever since the stress fracture in late July, I haven’t been out for a run a single time… and I haven’t been in a pool since June.
I haven’t exactly been resting, either. I got home Thursday evening and went out for fairly aggressive rides on both Friday and Saturday – including some hill repeats near Central State – for a total of 75 miles. Yum.
As you can imagine, I wasn’t so much interested in performing at this event. I don’t even know why I bothered waking up… but after paying $65 for the event, there’s no way I could skip out.
Anyway, I get out to Buck Creek State Park only to find out that this particular sprint triathlon isn’t a traditional sprint, in that the swim’s 1000m instead of 750. Okay, I can deal with that. Sorta wish I had done some swimming first, but that’s fine. My heat hit the water around 8:15 and it felt like a long 1000 meters. My sudden inability to swim in a straight line definitely didn’t help, but I am happy to report that even after absolutely zero minutes in the pool, I was still fifth out of the water!
The bike was good. Twelve miles is nothing on a bike, even after 75 and hills. I didn’t even bother with my Garmin, so I have no idea how fast I was going. I did pass a bunch of people and very few people passed me, so I think that’s a good sign. I’ve said it before, though, and I’ll say it again: you cannot be competitive in a triathlon without aerobars. I’ll get’em some day.
The run kinda sucked. Again, I don’t have split times so I couldn’t tell you for sure. I was worried my fracture would make running impossible, but I didn’t really feel it. A very good sign. I did, however, feel how out-of-running-shape I was after not even logging a 5K during the month of August. I might have been moving at a good clip for the first 1.5 miles, but the last 1.5 were not fun. I took two or three thirty-second walking breaks to rid myself of a pesky side-stitch and clawed my way to the finish line.
The clock at the line read 1:23.33 and I’m going to guess that my heat started between four and six minutes after the timer began. That’ll put me squarely in the 1:17 to 1:19 range, which is, well… it’s fucking awesome for a guy who’s done nothing but three rides a week for the six weeks leading up to it. Just confirms my theory: anyone can do a sprint triathlon.
Good and Bad June 16, 2008
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I had a kick-ass weekend that ended poorly. Here’s the quick and dirty.
Friday was my cycling off-day, but Hal Higdon’s guide called for a six-mile run. I got up early and got the run in. Done. It hurt a bit because of the heat, but it wasn’t too bad. Besides, my runs after rest-days are always a little bit more painful than you’d expect.
Saturday was an on-day for both cycling and running. I was on-foot by eight for an eight-mile run and averaged 8:30 per mile. It was probably the easiest eight mile run I’ve ever done. I don’t know why, either: I felt like I was floating. When I got back to the house, I stretched for a little while, rehydrated and saddled up for a thirty-mile ride out to Yellow Springs. It was mostly flat, but my legs were pretty dead from the run (go figure) so there were a few unhappy struggling bits. I did, however, make it home before noon with an average of 19.5 or so. The sun came out as soon as I set off on the bike and the temperature instantly jumped ten degrees… so that may have had something to do with the fatigue.
FYI – I slept SUPER well on Saturday night.
Sunday was ride-only, and despite my soreness, I wanted to get a long ride in. I loaded up the bike with two water bottles, a power bar and two gels and hit the road. I took the trail down to the Corwin Peddler, near Waynesville, and then hopped off the trail and onto the Buckeye Challenge route. Middletown Road packs a wallop, but I made it up the thing and kept on chugging until my Garmin read 30 miles… at which point, I promptly turned around. Sixty miles on the day with that “monster” climb in the middle. Not bad.
I’m going to make a concerted effort to tackle the Middletown climb at least once a weekend. I like it better than the John Bryan climb, not because it’s shorter or less steep, but because it has no terrifying switchback at it’s base. If I’m ever going to get over my horriffic-crash-inspired fear of descending, it means I’m going to have to let myself go down some real hills… and Middletown looks like one I could get used to. Gotta do it sometime.
Oh yeah, and the bad: Sunday afternoon, our basement flooded, which means my entire room got soaked and I’ll probably need new carpet, etc. Fun stuff!
Busy weekend. June 1, 2008
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This past week (and weekend) have been super busy. It was my last week on the project in Newport News, so the team had a big send-off for me at Buffalo Wild Wings on Wednesday evening. Thursday was dull, though, I did have a rather important interview with a super cool company that shall remain nameless, so I was on pins and needles from lunch until 6 PM.
After the interview, Andy (my supervisor) and I hit the road for one last night out down in Virginia Beach, which, it turns out, is infinitely cooler than the News. Anyway, we went out for a few drinks and then got up early the next morning for some beach time before I flew home.
Then things got a little crazy. I walked in the door on Friday, dropped my bags and hit the road for a 5 mile run (8:32/mi.) before showering and eating dinner. I got up on Saturday morning and went for a short ride (27 miles @ 19.4 mph) and then spent six straight hours working on my website before going for another run – ten miles this time at 8:24/mi.
Whew. As soon as I got home, we (the family) watched Into the Wild, which was awesome. I’d love to do that some day, minus the tragedy.
I took my time on Sunday morning because my legs were still pretty drained from the ten mile run. It wasn’t until about noon that I actually hit the road (on my bike) but I managed to turn in a respectable 35 mile ride, averaging 19.6 miles per hour.
All told, I think I’ve burned something like… 550 + 1100 + 1100 + 1700 calories in two and a half days. Not too shabby.
Tomorrow’s an ‘off’ day, which means I only run and my run is short: three miles. But I’ll probably get so bored around mid-afternoon that I won’t be able to keep myself off my bike and I’ll sneak in a light twenty or twenty-five. Even though I really should just chill for a day. Hmm.
Forced Inactivity May 20, 2008
Posted by postalblue in Cycling, Running.Tags: pain, rest, wind
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Last weekend was great. I flew home in a raging rainstorm and checked the forecast. Sunny on Friday with rain on Saturday and Sunday. Hrmm. Not what I like to hear.
Fortunately for me, the weatherman (or in this case, weathersite) was wrong. Sun, sun, sun, all three days. Unfortunately, there was also wind, wind, wind. I don’t know what’s going on in Ohio this spring, but the wind has been ridiculous.
Either way, I got thirty miles in on Friday and another thirty on Sunday. I did the hilly route out to John Bryan and back, avoiding the trail where ever possible. Not bad for my fourth and fifth rides of the year! Every season I am removed from the rolling hills of the Lehigh Valley, my ability to climb shrinkings significantly. Sigh.
Anyway, Saturday’s goal was an 11-mile run. It should’ve been possible: I’ve done it before. But I set out mid-morning and knew less than two miles in that I wasn’t going to hit my goal. My calves KILLED. Not in that shin-splinty way. It’s a more significant pain, like my tibias were made of glass and they were threatening to shatter with each impact. Blarg. I made myself go for six miles… but in reality, I should have stopped immediately.
I took Sunday off (from running) and got up Monday morning for a paltry three-miler. Nothing doing. I got on the treadmill and my lower legs immediately felt like they were about to explode. I finished the three miles, but it wasn’t pretty. Now I’m worried: maybe this is a more significant injury than I had originally thought?
So my paranoia has convinced me to, against all of my instincts, take some time off. No running until next week. Fortunately, I WILL ride this weekend – every day, if my quads can handle it. It’s hard, just sitting around in the evenings when before, I’d be logging hour-long runs. I thrive on workout-induced endorphins – it’s my only addiction – and now I’m suffering withdraw symptoms.
But it’s all good. I think my legs were begging for some rest; I had been ramping up for five straight months with nary a light week in between. And I’m just about to embark on a rapid, moderately aggressive marathon training schedule. It was supposed to start this week (and end in the Boulder marathon on September 21) but now it looks like I’ll have to take a breather and jump into the mix in week 2.
The Broad Street Run May 8, 2008
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I had one New Year’s resolution this year: learn to run. I started with a very vague understanding of the theory and the physiology behind it all. In the past few months, I’ve cleared more than a few milestones: my first five, seven, ten and thirteen-mile runs EVER, my first thirty-mile week, etc. But last Sunday, I competed in my first official running event: the 2008 Philadelphia Broad Street Run.
The BSR is a dead-flat ten mile run through the heart of Philadelphia. There’s nothing tricky about it whatsoever. You start five miles north of City Hall… and you run ten miles due south to the Naval Yard. Yep, it’s that simple.
Anyway, a few of my friends from college had decided to do the run, and I’d been doing a lot of running myself, so I decided to sign up. I wasn’t sure what to expect. None of my training had been done at any kind of significant pace. My friends, by comparison, were talking split times and race strategy. Yeah, I was a little bit intimidated.
Twenty-two thousand people started the event. Yep, that’s right: 22,000. It’s a big number. I started running with Tyson who was aiming for a 75-80 minute finish time. We were moving at a relatively fast clip through the first few miles, though I’m sure we spent a bit of extra energy simply trying to navigate around the thousands of runners who weren’t keeping up with our pace. Once the field opened up a bit, we were able to stretch our legs a bit. Not only that, but we were moving. We came in under 24 minutes at the three mile-mark – my fastest three miles ever. If I hadn’t felt so great, I would have been worried about holding that kind of pace across the remaining seven miles. I thought I’d have to let Tyson go off on his own.
To my surprise, I was able to hold that pace. And another surprise: Tyson wasn’t! He faded around the seventh mile. I slurped down one of those gel packets and hit the final stretch as hard as I could. Sure, aches and pains were starting to creep into my knees and ankles, but by God was I going to give this finish everything I had.
When I finally crossed the line, the race clock read 1:15:40. A bit of quick division tells me that’s roughly 7:34 per mile – almost a full ninety seconds faster per mile than my typical training run!
I went into this race thinking myself the slowest runner in the world. And I surprised the hell out of myself. That race went so well that I’m already itching for another… and that’s something I never would have imagined myself saying six months ago.
