Urban Backpacking

Rosie and Gil At Finish

2011-09-01T16:55:00.001-07:00

She's blind. What do you want from her?

The Inauspicious Finish

2011-08-30T10:35:00.000-07:00

We'll try this again next year. It could have been a lot worse, but it wasn't where I wanted or expected to be.

The Etiquette of Passing

2011-07-05T16:50:00.000-07:00

Be it known before you read much further that I am a notoriously crabby person. To me, everything is too hot, too cold or just right and why can’t it be just right EVERY time goddamit?

I am, as has been recounted numerous times, a backpacker. Except for on the swim, where I am more of a midpacker. For me, this is a source of profound frustration because I find myself being passed by every adolescent, geriatric and everything in between for the duration of the race. I’ll never forget the Spokane Troika Half-I’m maybe a mile from the finish when a woman in her sixties (maybe seventies) passed me and uttered the phrase I have come to loathe with every fiber of my being:

“Good job.” Which was really self-congratulatory to herself, because if I am doing a good job, and she is passing me, then she must be doing an amazing job.

So let’s review what I consider undeliberately (?) condescending phrases that should be excised and cause for expulsion from triathlon when passing another athlete.

1. Good job/nice job

2. Looking good

3. You’re almost there

4. Keep it up

I prefer phrases that don’t cause the counter phrase “eff you” to pop into my head, something open-ended and vague that merely requires a grunt or a nod rather than something that obliges me to say thanks, you look even better than me because you’re passing me right now.

Some good examples are:

1. A vague reference to the weather-Really (hot, cold, cloudy, sunny, humid, dry) day out…

2. Hi (and all variations thereof)

3. How’s it going? (borderline)

4. Should I call 911?

5. Handle bar wave

6. Nod

7. Nice ass (females preferred, but I'll take it wherever I can get it)

Yes, I’m lacking in sportsmanship.

Rosebud Cleopatra I

2011-07-05T16:21:00.001-07:00

This non-triathlon moment brought to you by:

www.milldogrescue.org

Triperventilating and Other Preparatory Symptoms

2011-06-23T12:42:00.000-07:00

I had my first serious bout of triperventilating of the season today as I got out the old race result spreadsheet, compared it to the old workout spreadsheet, which I compared to my workout iPhone app to estimate my finish time at the Desert Tri (I’m looking at a possible course PR, folks). Triperventilating, for those who don’t know because I just made it up, is when you do the above process and then begin breathing like you’re actually about to race, a super-adrenalin charge which, at its worst is severely nauseating and at its best is exhilarating. It’s also very difficult to stay focused on work because of course I want to crunch the numbers further to see if I can squeeze a minute here or a minute there. It’s ultimately futile because my time predictions are usually so accurate that it’s almost pointless to even bother registering and participating in the race. And when I am surprised by a performance, it’s seldom in the right direction. Alright, cut the negative talk. I'm going to WIN!!

Holy Shit, Funny Graffiti

2011-06-22T10:33:00.000-07:00

As seen on my first bike commute since moving to the new place.

Tator Tot Solution

2011-06-21T13:24:00.000-07:00

At long last I’ve solved my fueling dilemma-Tator Tots! Naturally, I will first try and fail to formulate them myself using coconut oil instead of partially hydrogenated poison (and then fall back on store bought). They may get soggy and gross, so I will need to test this hypothesis for the perfect endurance fuel, not endorsed by the following book, which I’m currently reading:

http://www.amazon.com/Sports-Nutrition-Endurance-Athletes-Monique/dp/1931382964

Sports Nutrition for Endurance that talks about different kinds of carbs and protein and blahblahblah.

The point is, tater tots may be the perfect on-the-go complex carbohydrate, because I’ve been led to believe that a combination of simple and complex carbohydrates during long races is the way to go. In my last major race, I ate Pringles (fail), chicken noodle Soup (success) and some powder nutrition crap I mixed myself, which was shite. I also used GU, but I can only really stand raspberry, and I made the mistake of counting on the race to provide me with my GU-and being a backpacker, naturally all the big kids got the pick of the schwag and I was left with Cream of Turd flavor. This time I’m byog all the way.

So fueling plan is as follows:

Gatorade: 100 calories per hour

GU-200 calories odd hours

1 can Chicken Noodle Soup-even hours

Tator Tots-as needed

Ensure (walgreen’s brand)-Throw three or four of these down throughout the race, probably one off the swim, one during the bike, one off the bike, one transitioning to the run (maybe not that much for the half, but probably that much for the full).

I’m not to the part in the book that tells me how many calories per hour I can metabolize, but I’m pretty sure it’s in the 300-500 calories per hour range, so I’m figuring choking down a minimum of 1500 calories during the half ironman race and double that for my iron distance race back up in good old Grand Coulee (assuming my half isn’t a complete disaster).

Sad, Sad Stories from 2011

2011-06-21T13:04:00.000-07:00

I’m not sure why the first and only half iron distance triathlon in Portland had to be sponsored by a Christian group (any other religion would have been fine, but I'm sick to death of these uppity Christians), but there it is. I guess I could have lived with it until they blatantly announced active proselytizing at the race, along with a pre-race prayer, the National Anthem and some nonsense about how their group wouldn’t allow someone to be last. One of their members would be last in the last finisher’s stead. So if that happens to be me-which I suppose it could-I would have some jag wagon telling me that Jesus loves me even if I’m DFL (dead fucking last, for those playing at home).

So I’m taking my triathlon dollars out of town to the

http://www.outbackevents.ca/Desert%20Half%20Web%20Site/index.htm

Desert Half Iron in Osoyoos (O-sue-yuss, don’t ask me, they’re Canadians after all), where religion and nationalism are pretty much against the law and as long as you make the cutoff, who gives a fuck what place you’re in? Plus I’ll get that tumor I’ve been putting off having removed taken out FOR FREE to boot! What a country! Too bad aboot all the Canadians, eh?

Death Mask and a Dog

2011-06-21T12:50:00.000-07:00

This is pretty much what I imagine I would look like if I were dead. I got my tonsils out and that was stupid stupid stupid. Never do this. I did lose 15 pounds, but I gained back 10, so not worth it.

Garden Training

2011-06-15T12:19:00.001-07:00

I continue to train for the Portland half-ironman and things are going extremely well. In fact, the only time I've been sore is after putting in this garden. Doesn't look like much, but my hamstrings are TIGHT.

Cost/Benefit Analysis of Pain

2011-04-10T09:42:00.000-07:00

The Cost:

2 primary care physicians

2 orthopedic surgeons

2 physical therapists

1 chiropractor

1 massage therapist

4 mental health practitioners

They all said the same thing, with minor variations in phrasing: If it hurts when you do that, stop doing that and are you crazy? That will be $300.

If I persisted in the madness and ignored their very simple and expensive advice, they prescribed a wide variety of very expensive placebos and worse, to wit:

(Disclaimer: Studies are like gravity-for every study, there is an equal and opposite study-otherwise researchers would be out of business)

Ibuprofen/NSAIDS-Studies I've read suggest this slows the healing process. Plus it masks pain so you go right back to what hurt you in the first place-doubling down on dumb.

Foam torture/Stick torture-Both of which are said to “break up the scar tissue.” For the purpose of, I presume, encouraging additional scare tissue to form over the old scar tissue. If someone has a scar on their skin, you don't scrape it off with a microplane. Whackodoodle.

Stretching-Studies I've read suggest that flexibility may be harmful to runners and may actually excacerbate injuries. There's a reason for rigidity-so when you're running, your knees don't completely collapse because they're so flexible. I do some light stretching-don't get me wrong, it does help-but it is not an end all, be all. And it helps prevent future injury-it does nothing for the current injury.

Hot baths-This one I like, but I don't think it's healing anything, just removing symptoms.

Ice baths- I'm already injured-I think we've established how tough, or not tough, I am-let's not push it by pretending that sitting in subfreezing water is somehow therapeutic (see above comment on studies).

Equipment-New shoes, bike fit, more new shoes, the right hat, a new bike, wetsuit, drag suit, aero suit, salves, super drinks, super food, tri suit, the right socks, shorts, tights, more this, less that, heavier, lighter, sturdier, disposable, expensive, expensive, expensive.

(I'm on the fence about whether shoe companies are the devil, but I'm leaning toward yes. Swish my ass, just give me a cotton short, shirt and shoes that stay on my feet and point me in the right direction. Yes, as a Portlander, this is heresy. If you worship the devil, that is. Sorry Phil.)

All of these things may help incrementally, but it still comes down to something elemental-If it hurts when you do that, stop doing that. Unless you make your living at your sport, or you plan on never doing it again after “the big race”, or you only have six months to live, why on earth would you persist in training when you're body is telling you, through pain, that you are causing damage to yourself? I can think of a lot of reasons, just none that are very good.

There are only a couple of actually effective injury treatments/preventives. Train slow, train long-a little pain good, chronic, disabling pain, bad. Muscle soreness that doesn't affect mobility, good. Joint pain and debilitating muscle pain-bad and very bad. If it's difficult to turn over in bed, you may have over done it. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you're way ahead of the game.

The only time I inflict serious pain on myself and try to ignore it is race day. But this is only a few times a year, not a few times a week.

The Benefit

5 marathons

5 half iron distance tris

1 and 9/10 (complete bonk with 6 miles to go in the run) full iron distance tris

4 olympic distance tris

3 half marathons

6 10ks

100s of hours of fun, satisfaction and subtle bragging.

And finally, fine, yes, I'm crazy. Who do I make the check out to?

Gearing Up

2011-03-22T07:55:00.001-07:00

The new season is almost here. April 1 I start training for the Portland 1/2 iron. Tune in here for updates.

Dream The Season

2010-10-14T12:12:00.000-07:00

I am a self-admitted backpacker, but in choosing this blog name, I assumed that at some point I would be able to claw my way to the middle of the pack and update it to “midpacker” eventually, or, if I could quit my stupid day job and do some full-time training, maybe even “frontpacker.”

The Scoggins Valley Olympic Distance Triathlon (http://www.racecenter.com/scogginsvalley) this year in September was an unmitigated disaster. For some reason, I thought a weekly bike ride to Multnomah Falls and a few good gym workouts per week would suffice to prepare me to at least perform at a satisfactory level-not DFN (dead fucking last) in my agegroup. I’m here to tell you, I was tragically wrong. I felt slow and I was slow. Even my swim, which I think eventually could be at the front of the pack with the proper training, was three minutes slower than my fastest olympic distance-a lifetime in swimming, and you can’t blame hills, wind or temperature on a lousy swim.

What I do to measure my performance in any given race is to take my overall place and divide it by the total number of competitors. This eliminates particular race factors because every competitor is facing the same challenges I am-if it's windy and cold and I want to whine about it, but 90% of everyone else was faster, that shuts me up. Only finishing first gives me whining rights.

In most of my races, I’ve been in the 91 percent range (91 percent of all competitors finished in front of me). My best was a 77%, which was an olympic distance race. I do quite a bit better when running is the only activity-more in the 50-60% range. Perhaps there’s a lesson there...

I’ve never been thrilled with 91% finishes and I always assumed that my performance would improve incrementally over the years, as I improved my technique, if not my conditioning. Imagine my horror at finishing at 95% at Scoggins. I was mortified, demoralized and just plain disgusted. It was so abominable that I scratched a half ironman one month later (which in retrospect I might have done alright at). Yes, the bike and run was very hilly-but it was hilly for everyone else too. Unacceptable.

A little post race analysis gave me a major revelation and partial explanation for my lack of training focus since my last ironman 4 years ago (yikes, time flies!). I think I need an ironman staring me in the face to motivate me to do the necessary training to be successful. Fear can be a powerful motivator and I’m just not afraid of any race but an ironman (and only nominally afraid of a marathon). I see sprint and olympic distance races as mere distractions and I, for some reason, can’t or won’t take them seriously. Even a half ironman-I think to myself, what’s the point of doing that race if I don’t have a full ironman a month or two afterward-I’m a sucker for the mystique. A half is just a tune-up/wakeup call, not a race to be taken overly seriously.

So now begins the planning for the dream tri season, starting about three weeks ago. A sprint distance (which I’ve never actually done-does that require training?) in May, an olympic in June, a half in July and a full iron in August, give or take a month.

For the next six months, I will focus on my first loves, weightlifting and running. There was a time when I could throw some weight around and run a six minute mile. I’d like to get close to back in that place.

I’ll also work on my swimming-perhaps going so far as to attending a Master’s Swim group (though six AM seems a little ludicrous-why not saturday at 9am in the name of all that is holy?). Throw in a much more concerted nutrition plan, drop 20 pounds and I think I’ll be a lean, (not very) mean tri-ing machine.

More Rules, Pictures and Miscellaney

2010-08-15T12:58:00.000-07:00

The view from Crown Point remains unchanged from last year and also remains a very vigorous training ride that I embarked on three weekends in a row. Each time was a little easier-but only a little. I was surprised to discover elevation gain is only 773 feet, but maybe "only" is a misnomer. The ride is 32 miles round trip from my house.

I'll take this weekend off and then next weekend ride to Multnomah Falls for the first time of the season. It is almost exactly 50 miles round trip, which is a perfect training ride. And that will be an elevation gain of 1546 since I'll be starting from the riverbed twice. Now that's some elevation gain! I still plan on doing the half at Enumclaw, which consists of rolling hills, so a few tough rides to Multnomah Falls and it should be pretty easy to hammer it in Enumclaw.
This is a view Dog Mountain and this is an elevation gain of 4000 feet. We did this about a month ago this is the second time the Wife and I tackled this one and it went quite a bit better this time. I was still surprised at how taxed I was after this hike. During the hike I was feeling very strong, but going straight up and then straight down will take its toll.
This is a random photo at Smith Rock, Oregon, where the Wife and I did the 10k (her first!). Really beautiful spot and we had an enjoyable stay in good old Bend, Oregon.

MORE RULES

Rule #6-Be flexible in your training plan and your training day. If you feel great, train a little harder on any given day. If you feel not so great, pull back or scratch. Trust the wisdom of your own body.

Rule #7-Rest. Bike workout, Run Workout, Swim workout, Rest workout. After a long/hard workout day, I almost always take a rest day. If you rest as hard as you train, you will be doing this sport for the rest of your life.

This triathlon leapt across my radar today, so I may be doing this:

http://www.racecenter.com/scogginsvalley/

And while I don't have a link to the side, this is the one I will be doing September 24:

http://www.racecenter.com/blackdiamond/

Live long and triathlon.

My 5 Rules of Training for Marathons/Triathlons

2010-08-02T13:37:00.000-07:00

1. No pain, no pain (not to be confused with muscle soreness-which is pleasure/pain)

2. If it hurts when you do that, stop doing that. Resume when pain is gone (see rule #1)

3. Never increase more than 10% per week in distance or time (depending on what you’re basing your training on.)

4. Once you’re well into your training, it will NOT kill you to miss a week and up to two weeks of training, due to injury or circumstances. You lose 1%-2% of fitness per week. If you miss more than two weeks, start going back in your training one week per missed week.

5. If you’re in the middle of a workout and it sucks, I mean SUCKS ASS-stop the workout and come back to it later in the week. If it still SUCKS the next time you try it, you’re either way overtrained or are wasting your time on an activity you don’t like. Re-assess your life.

I’ve been thinking about these “rules” for about 2 years now and I think these are pretty much how I run all training cycles. I’m not a world champion, but six years into endurance sports, I’m still (relatively) injury free, times continue to improve and I look forward to many more events.

Chia and the Achilles

2010-07-04T14:32:00.000-07:00

I read Born To Run recently, and was profoundly affected by it. I immediately bought my bag of chia seeds with the conviction that I would add it to everything...which rapidly deteriorated to relegating it to the shelf. Nonetheless, I believe this may be super food, so I added it to a bottle of gatorade and tested it on a recent ride and found it profoundly palatable. I'm quite excited by the possibility that this will be the fuel for my future races.

I've more or less committed to doing a half iron distance triathlon in Enumclaw on September 24. We've already reserved the Yurt. More on this later.

I thought I had a MRSA relapse on my Achilles tendon, saw the usual doctors, got the ultrasound, braced the healthcare industry with my money and learned it was not a MRSA relapse, but simple tendinitis, which sounds sinister since arthritis is a permanent and chronic condition, whereas tendinitis is just the equivalent of a pulled muscle-except it's a pulled tendon, which is what it should be called. Anyway, these things take forever to heal, but with the wisdom of past injuries, 4-5 weeks is a not unreasonable amount of time to be kind to my heel tendon, and I've been doing so, following what has become a solid tenet in my training life: No pain, no pain and if it hurts when you do that, don't do that.

Lord Have MRSA

2010-06-20T14:51:00.000-07:00

At the end of work one day a few weeks back, a coworker joked, "maybe I'll call in sick tomorrow." I joked back, "not if I beat you to it." I was feeling a bit run down, but nothing too unusual. Every once in a while I'll feel very fatigued and behind on my sleeping and I remedy it with going home and having a good, long sleep.

I went home feeling very logy and went to bed at about 7pm. At 7am the next day I woke up and really struggled to get out of bed. I literally stood up and stood next to my bed for about 15 seconds before succumbing and collapsing back in bed. I lay there thinking, "I can't call in sick, I have got to be faking this. I'm not really sick. You don't joke about calling in sick and then go ahead and do it the next day."

I struggled through a shower, getting dressed and then slowly dragged myself down to the train. Once I got on the train, I was pretty sure I was sick, but again, not dramatically so. I still thought I was just faking it-what is with this guilty conscience? I figured once I got a cup of coffee, I'd be firing on all six again.

I got in the office and felt so crappy I stayed for twenty minutes and then threw in the towel, knowing I had an hour long train ride home to suffer through. By the time I got home, I was freezing cold-it was wet and chilly, as usual this time of year in Oregon, but not THAT chilly. I sat in my tub with the hottest water possible. Any part of my body not in the water was shivering. Finally, my chills outlasted the hot water, which finally ran cold. Luckily, Wife was home and prepared a hot water bottle, a heating pad, a hat and two blankets, which I crawled under and shivered under for another 10 minutes before finally warming up.

We got out the thermometer, which told me I had a 102 degree temperature. Not off the charts. I slept uneasily, with repetitious, frustrating dreams for the next six hours, the kind of dream where you're trying to solve a problem, but there is a missing piece, or someone is deliberately being obstructive. Sort of being like work only I was asleep-not cool.

Finally, I woke up that evening and noticed that my left achilles tendon, calf and upper thigh/groin were all sore, like a cramped muscle. I also had a rash around my groin. A welt or abrasion formed on my shin, like I bumped it against something- though I knew I hadn't.

I proceeded to go back to bed and slept another 9 hours. The next day, I could barely walk, my left leg was so sore. Wife threw me in the car and took me to the doctor. She was a life-saver, figuratively and possibly literally.

Long story short, I was diagnosed with a staph/MRSA infection, which it appears I must have contracted through my cracked toes (athlete's foot) at the gym locker room. I was put on powerful antibiotics and within two days my symptoms were much alleviated. I was also sent for an ultrasound to make sure I didn't have a blood clot in my leg, which fortunately, I did not.

Now, two weeks later, I ran five miles moderately fast and the next day had a sore left achilles tendon which lingered for the next three days, the same achilles that was sore from the infection. So just as a precaution I went back to the doc, who sent me for yet another ultrasound, where the results were again negative and this time it was just a strain. Although when it is in a tendon we call it "tendonitis." Though why, when it involves a muscle, we don't call it "muscle-itis" is a great mystery to me.

For all the many times I've gone rushing to the doctor only to be told to take advil (and send us $200), this one time, it was the smart thing to do.

Saddle battles

2010-01-31T18:29:00.001-08:00

I rode that saddle bikefitters let me borrow and as I was afraid, the pressure points in the sit bones are too intense and even with a gel pad, I don't think it would help over a 30 or more mile ride.

Don't tell anyone, but I actually bought a schwinn product, the Schwinn No Pressure Bicycle Seat (pictured above). It was only $20 so if it turns out to be terrible, I'll just put it in the Museum of Bad Ideas (along with my Adidas shoes, which turned out to be too tight) and be done with it. I should get it this week and will head back to my friends at bikefitters and have them fit me into it.

I don't know if this is a new seat or if I just never stumbled on it before, but I was just thinking once again this morning as I was riding my bike for a running meet up, the design you see above would be a nearly ideal shape-and then I found it-a sure sign from god. There are a couple of surprisingly good reviews in Amazon, both positive and negative:

http://www.amazon.com/Schwinn-No-Pressure-Bicycle-Seat/product-reviews/B000DZGLVY/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

I'm already a laughingstock on the tri circuit with my platform pedals and sperm-shaped helmet, but by god, if I end up with a tractor seat on my road bike and don't want to die after I get done with a long ride, I'll live with the added humiliation.

The major concern I have is the pressure points on the butt crease and the slightly less stable feeling one has by not having a seat that is designed to be lodged up your ass and pushing your genitals up into your stomach cavity. That was one thing I did notice while riding today-it felt a little squirrely-something I could probably get used to. Since I didn't have the horn to hold me up, a lot more pressure was put on my arms. A little extra work in the gym should assist that. Also, my hope is that this will encourage me to lay in the aero bars more, as that feeling of instability goes away when you're essentially laying down on your bike-since riding in aero bars feels a little unstable anyway.

There is a chance that I will go back to the traditional saddle again, but if that is the case, I don't see putting myself through another century bike ride.

There is one more hope after the Schwinn saddle, and that is the Hobson:

It would be helpful if the width were adjustable, but let's get through the Schwinn. Maybe that will be the answer to my constant complaining on this subject.

Here We Go Again

2010-01-24T11:23:00.000-08:00

After a long hiatus here, it's time to get back in the swing.

From October until recently I was working a second job, which really cut into my free time but also added handsomely to my bottom line. That job ended and I am half-heartedly looking for a replacement. In the meantime, I've started thinking about doing some more training.

I've done some dabbling in the gym, done a little running, took my first swim of the season yesterday (four laps-plan on adding two laps per week-KISS principle-engage!). Took a group run last weekend that was very enjoyable. First one ever-still like the solo training, but a group activity once in a while certainly wouldn't hurt.

I got my bike fitted here: http://bicyclefittingservices.com/

Something I really liked was that Patti, the person who fitted me, didn't push me into clipless pedals. I explained that I've had them and found them restricting, uncomfortable and not a factor in my overall performance. She said that based on my background and experience and the fact that I had completed an ironman, she wasn't going to talk me into anything like clipless pedals.

She really earned her graces after I explained how much I dislike traditional seats, with those ridiculous crotch-busting designs. She pulled out this seat:
It's basically two mini seats that accomodate the sit bones. The one thing I noticed was that there were pronounced pressure points. But I think with a nice thick gel pad seat cover, it should take care of it. And laying in the aerobars was a downright pleasure with the absence of the horn crushing my sensitive bits. I went shopping yesterday for a gel pad and was dismayed to discover that they don't carry them at any of the three bike shops I visited. I owned one back when I had my horrible Specialized Transition and my wonderful Adamo bike seat. I must be the only one in the athletic world who believes you can't have too soft of a seat. I found one online. I haven't tried the seat out on an actual ride yet, but am looking forward to seeing if it's what I've been looking for.

There was a bit of sticker shock at the end of the fitting session. Aerobars are ridiculously expensive-they've got to be made in America at that price! But hey, you get what you pay for, have to spend money to make money, etc. Patti was able to identify a possible reason my back and neck hurt so bad. I arch my bike in a very unnatural way, which I've never noticed before, so I'll have to concentrate on flattening out my back and relaxing a bit. I'm hopeful that the numerous adjustments will make me more comfortable for longer durations

I'll be getting three workouts per week for the next month or so. A long run, a short run with weights and stretching and a swim, and a slow progression for each workout for the next few months. I won't start ironman training in earnest until June, so until then I'll just maintain a reasonable level of fitness.

Marathon Vaccine Part 2

2009-12-20T16:09:00.000-08:00

"Inoculation is the injection of dead or weakened disease-causing bacteria or viruses into the human body in order to produce immunity against (prevent infection by) that disease. Because the organisms injected into the body are dead or weakened, they can create immunity without causing the disease. The material injected into the body is called a vaccine.

The term vaccination originally referred to immunization against smallpox because the procedure originated when English physician Edward Jenner (1749-1823) discovered that milkmaids who had contracted the mild disease cowpox (vaccinia) were immune to smallpox. The development of a cowpox vaccine against smallpox has led to the production of vaccines against a wide range of diseases."

http://www.discoveriesinmedicine.com/Hu-Mor/Inoculation.html

I was thinking about this idea while running around my golf course for my first run in preparation for the Eugene Marathon in May. I thought it was Koch who developed the first vaccine, but maybe he invented pasteurization (ha-ha, I joke!)

I went to breakfast with an old friend and he was saying that after the Marine Corps Marathon, he really thought he had done serious damage. Which is funny because that's always how I felt after my big races and that's why I kept running to doctors. "Doc, it hurts when I do this!" "Don't do that." This is pretty much how every appointment went until I realized that given enough time, most people's bodies will heal completely from the most mundane and profound traumas-and doctors know this good and darn well-but still charge you $200 just to sit in their lobby.

Once healed, the next time you do "that," it should either hurt less or take less time to heal (or god willing, both) and hopefully you will see improved times on top of that. It's like building callouses. Go take your soft hands and dig a giant ditch without gloves. Your hands will be bloody, but no permanent damage will be done. That's how I've come to look at my precious bones and joints. If it keeps hurting, it's time to hang it up. If it heals, do it again. Faster.

Several years ago I was a traveling salesman. I would routinely drive 1000 miles a day and more (16 hours, that's how long it takes to drive 1000 miles-I wish I didn't have to know that). Eventually, I developed a pain in my left shoulder, presumably from the position I sat in for so long. I was thoroughly convinced that I had done permanent damage as it never seemed to go away, particularly if I kept driving like that. Eventually I failed as a traveling salesman (thank god) and stopped driving. And after one year, the pain went away and I've never had shoulder pain again. And have never driven like that again, either.

As I continued my run, the thought progressed a little further. People on chemo feel horrible, probably feel like they're dying or would like to die. But eventually, the cancer is defeated, the body heals and you're back to much better if not good/better than new. This is pretty much how I view marathons and long distance triathlons. It hurts really, really bad. But you do heal. And while I don't totally buy this, the conventional wisdom is that the body doesn't remember pain. I personally remember pain in three part harmony-and yet still I continue.

The body is infinitely resilient, far more so than I think most people believe, but you do have to let it heal completely for it to forgive you for what you've done to it.

Ironman Coverage Today-Could Be The Worst Yet

2009-12-19T11:44:00.000-08:00

Imagine you're a huge NFL football fan, but they don't televise any of the games. So all year long, you follow all the games and look forward to the Super Bowl like a kid waiting for Christmas morning. Then, they take that 3 hour game, condense it into a 30 minute highlight reel, 15 minutes of which is spent covering highly devoted fans with disabilities. And they televise it a month after the Super Bowl was actually played, so you already know who won. That would be disappointing, wouldn't it?

That's pretty much what NBC does with it's Ironman coverage every year. They take a championship event that takes just over 8 hours for the winner to complete, cover about 1 minute of the swim, 1 minute of the bike and 1 minute of the run and then spend the next 57 minutes on commercials and special interest stories about people with obstacles to overcome. I read the synopsis of the coverage for this year and three of the four special interest story people don't even finish the race. That's inspiring if you find lame inspirational.

This isn't a knock on Ironman Hawaii or on the fact that age group athletes in triathlon (disabled and non-disabled alike) get to line up next to professional athletes. That's amazing and cool. And I love inspirational stories as much as the next person and no doubt that factors into why I choose long distance triathlons. But NBC's annual schlockfest is almost unwatchable to me, an actual fan of the sport of triathlon.

But does NBC have to turn Ironman Hawaii into a cartoonish trainwreck of schlock, complete with music recycled from the Olympics?

I appreciate that what NBC is actually broadcasting is a freak show called Ironman Hawaii. But are the formerly obese, people without limbs and cancer survivors really the only reason anyone is tuning into this program? Is the sport that I love really that boring?

It is interesting that someone without a leg is attempting the race-that merits about 30 seconds. But I'd like to hear some analysis about what bikes the top athletes are riding, how are the race conditions? What are the rankings? Who are the dark horses? Up and coming Iron athletes? What's interesting about this particular Ironman? What happened during the season? How are the best athletes getting ready for this race, not just the worst? This is the championship of this sport, after all!

NBC has to create a broader interest and make it accessible so it attracts watchers, so they can sell ads. I get it. Actual triathlon fans are probably a tiny percentage of viewers. They do the same thing with Olympic coverage. You get to see five or six events with two or three athletes having their events shown and the rest is special interest/obstacle overcoming stories with somber soundtracks and a happy/tragic ending.

I would love to see a four or five hour version of the Ironman Kona, if not 12 or 13 (yes, I would love to see the finishers in the 12 hour and longer finishing times-those are the people who really have to dig to finish and inspire athletes like me). Maybe NBC could pull something together and show it at 3am. Less special interest, more actual race and race analysis.

Are people really as shallow and stupid as NBC seems to think they are? Millions of people will watch a 3 hour NASCAR race and the half time show of the Super Bowl, so I guess the answer is a resounding yes. More's the pity.

New Shoes

2009-12-12T10:03:00.001-08:00

I got a 50% off coupon at All Day I Dream About Sex (Adidas-are the kids still making that joke?) and went on down to the factory store to see what they had. I've never bought a pair of Adidas but I figured they're made by the same poor chinese children that make all my other shoes, so how bad can they be?

I tried a few pairs on that seemed okay, but then stumbled on these beauties. They weigh half as much as my regular Brooks-I can't overemphasize how light these puppies are! and are very comfortable. They have very little cushion, but quite a bit in the heel. Though current wisdom is that heel striking is bad, mm-kay. Their name: Adizero. And they even have a stitched Chinese symbol on the heel/achilles area which I assume is the signature of the child who made them. Nice touch.

I've been intrigued with the bare foot running movement (though I saw a couple at the Seattle Marathon and after I passed them I never saw those turkeys again) and have considered purchasing a pair Vibrams http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/indexNA.cfm

One moment too much cushion is bad and the next too little is bad. While I'm falling on the skeptic side of barefoot running, I have come to believe that most injuries are as much due to over-training as to the shoe I wear. And now it's time to put it to the test.

As I said, these shoes have basically no cushion and feel almost like wrestling shoes or how I imagine Pumas must feel, almost like a slipper, though there is an arch. The salesman at the store thought it would be possible to do okay in a marathon, though his far more knowledgeable partner assured me I could only do one in these shoes. He seemed to be forgetting the shoe manufacturer doctrine that you're supposed to get a new pair of running shoes every month or two (because their product is THAT shoddy, they seem to be saying). I'm currently on the every year or two doctrine, so I imagine these shoes will be good for at least three marathons.

Not being a total fool, and still tepidly adhering to the belief that cushion is good, and the more, the better, I will proceed with caution.

In the next couple of weeks I will embark on my next marathon training cycle. I'm guessing the first several runs of shorter mileage will be no problem, but once I hit 10 miles plus, I'll pay close attention to my recovery times. If I'm not fully recovered after two days as I always was on my last training phase, I will be looking closely and suspiciously at my All Day I Dream About Sexes.

A Picture

2009-12-12T09:53:00.000-08:00

The hand wave is actually intended to signify that this is my fifth marathon. This photo was taken right around the time I had realized I had enough in the tank to step up the pace below a ten minute mile. I was feeling great and I was at around mile 18. Relaxed and comfortable. I was also motivated because there was a guy running near me yapping on and on about how marathons are his life and how many hundreds he had run and all his favorite ones and so on. I live my life as I run my marathons, in silence and like a curmudgeon. Actually, he was interesting to listen to but he was a bit too animated for my taste. After running near him for about five miles I was finally able to drop him.

Photos From the Last Training Run

2009-12-06T10:46:00.000-08:00

I did not lose a toe or get shot in the chest, but these dramatic photos sure look like something terrible happened. Surprisingly, none of the bloodsport seen here occurred at the actual marathon, although at some point I lost some coordination in my legs and banged my ankles together a few times, leaving a very sore abrasion on my left ankle. It wasn't bloody, though, so I didn't bother with a photo.

Seattle Marathon Recap-Not What I Planned

2009-11-30T13:55:00.000-08:00

Nothing went according to plan.

Since my last 21 mile run, my left ITB has been feeling pinched. I didn't stretch or ice it or really do anything. I thought it would go away with time, but the day before the race, it was still there. I was bemoaning my training plan. I should have kept up with the weekly weight training. I was convinced I had made a fatal error and that I would finish in my planned time with only massive agony.

I got to Seattle and checked into my room only to find no bathtub in my room. I don't have a lot of rituals around my races, but taking a hot soak after a hard race is a looked forward to reward. For an “upgrade” to two double beds, I got a tub (only to discover post-race that the stopper in the tub didn't work-for which I did get a refund, but I'm getting ahead of myself.) I walked down to the race expo, very aware of my ITB, and I worried myself continuously about it from that point til the horn sounded. The Seattle marathon pales in comparison to the pomp and circumstance of the Portland marathon. I'm not really sure why I bother wandering through these expos besides the fact that you have to to get your race schwag-none of which holds any interest to me.

Note to Seattle marathon-really, really low class to make finishers of the race buy a finisher's shirt. Granted, you get a shirt that says seattle marathon on it, but it's not the same thing and I puzzle over this decision.

Anyway, I ordered what has become my traditional pre-race meal, a greek salad and a gigantic meat lovers with extra cheese pizza. When I first received my order, I thought, “no way I'm going to eat all this.” But ate it I did. Man was it delicious and I was stuffed silly.

On all my long runs, I have been carrying my camelback with my gatorade, which no doubt out of habit, is my favorite training drink. I was going to carry it on this marathon because I was sure they wouldn't offer gatorade as most races seem to be moving to other sports drinks. I filled up the old camelback and literally just as I was about to put it on and head out to the race, I picked it up and realized carrying 10 extra pounds for this race would be a serious error, no matter what drink was offered on the course. Miraculously this race was handing out gatorade and I drank it with abandon. So that's one big one on the plus side of this race, and as I think about it, I forgive not getting a “finisher's shirt.”

I decided to stick with the 4:45 pacer and drop off as needed, but within the first mile I found it was too slow and I picked up the pace. I figured any time ahead I gained, I could back off my pace if I needed. I was consciously building a cushion against any potential bonk at around mile 20. If I had built up a 30 minute cushion and bonked hard the last 2 miles, I figured I could live with walking out 15 minute miles to the finish.

I was feeling very, very good the first six miles. The ITB loosened up and ceased to be an issue. I was very cautious about picking up any pace because experience has taught me that pushing the pace early can have dire consequences. And also, on a race as long as a marathon, your physical and mental feelings can change faster than someone bipolar off their meds. I decided if I still felt very good at mile fifteen, I would open it up and push the pace below a ten minute mile for as long as possible.

As it turned out, I pushed the pace and never doubted that the pace I was holding was achievable. I slowly began to realize not only that I was going to beat the 5 hour goal, but I was going crush it. And not only that, I began to realize as early as mile 12 that I had a very realistic chance of beating my PR, which ironically enough, was also at the Seattle Marathon, so in spite of the minor gripe, this is my race.

With around five miles to go, a very brutal and vicious hill shows up. But I decided I was going to attack and “own” that hill. As I was passing someone, they said to me, “You're going to run up that hill, aren't you?” I just smiled because I make a policy of never wasting a single breath on speaking to anyone during a serious race. But I was thinking, “I'm going to make that hill my bitch.” And please pardon the sexism, but I thought it and I ultimately did make it my bitch. I dropped around 20 runners on that hill and I also knew, thanks to my Garmin, that I gained around 200 feet of altitude and I was going to get that 200 feet going back down, so I dug deep and went as hard as I could. It was an excellent feeling.

I realize that if anything, hills improve my time. Because what goes up, must come down and any time I lose on going up hill, I more than make up by allowing gravity to drag me back down.

From the perspective of an iron distance athlete, a marathon by itself is a very different race. I don't want to say it's easy, because if you're really trying, no race, whether it's 1 mile, a 10K or a full iron is easy.

But this is the first marathon I've been in where I didn't feel really bad until about the last three miles. I felt very strong until mile 23. And by then, the space needle was in view, my PR was assured and I could shuffle along smugly. and still exceed goals. I know I COULD have pushed hard enough to make myself bonk much earlier, but I found that sweet spot and held it, and it was very satisfying. When you watch an olympic marthoner running, they look so smooth and comfortable even while hauling ass, and I caught a glimpse of what that must be like for the first time.

Also for the first time, my original time goal for a marathon from six years ago seems in reach (4 hours seemed pretty naive until now). But I will never train for that time as a goal until I attain it and am shooting for a 3:30 (I doubt that's realistic, but just making the point). On my next marathon, I will train for a 4:50 finish. I will be mindful of the 10% rule and will base it on my training goal time rather than my actual finish time. This result could be a fluke and I don't want to put myself in setback by over reaching.

One major change on this race was the use of my Garmin. I could not have performed as I did without being able to check my pace with my Garmin. The heart rate monitor is useless after about six miles because of cardiac drift, so if I had to do it again, I probably wouldn't have bothered with that feature.

I would also say, with no small amount of surprise, that training just once per week for a marathon is quite sufficient. If I would have had the time, I would probably recommend to myself that I do weight training and a short run in addition to the long run, but that is really just gravy. Recovery time, for my body, is far more important than thrashing myself to near death during training and up until the last possible moment before a key race. I'm well nigh passed that self-hating masochism.

I save the masochism for the actual race, and on that point, mission accomplished. I can barely walk. While in bed last night, I could not lift my legs without herculean efforts and agony, could also not roll over without struggle. Gravity was really much stronger than usual yesterday, did anyone else notice that?

So the two factors I think contributing to my success were training with the camelback and then dispensing with it for the race and my trip to Colorado Springs three weeks ago for one of my last training runs. And while I did not bonk, per se, at the marathon, I did bonk big time during that training run.

I may fiddle with a few other things on my next training cycle, but overall, I think I've found the formula for achieving my modest goals in all future races, whether marathon or trathlon. Trust my methods and my instincts.

Marathon vaccine

2009-11-16T12:10:00.001-08:00

Had another nice run yesterday, 21 miles in 3:54-again averaging out to exactly on pace to finish my 5 hour marathon (11:07 per mile, according to Mr. Garmin). I’m left with 1 hour and six minutes to run 5.2 miles. It’s a little close for comfort considering I was wiped out yesterday, but I imagine the fitness level will increase enough that I can squeak it out. I wish I had one more week to throw in a 23 mile run, but I knew when I started I would barely have enough time to get enough training in. I will finish off next week with a fast ten miler and then it’s go time in Seattle.

I have some lovely pictures of my bloody shirt, blood soaked sock and bloody toes, but god knows when I’ll actually get them off the camera so I figured I’d at least post my run and add the pictures later.

I’m finding my weekly long run more than adequate for preparation. It takes me a solid week to fully recover and I don’t see the benefit of re-damaging myself with another run midweek (or god forbid the three other runs I had originally scheduled). My pace is on par with previous marathon performances, which involved more frequent training and a lot more visits to the various doctors to help me with my poor abused ITBs-the conventional wisdom of “if it hurts when you do that, stop doing that” is pretty much all you need to know to prevent injury. If it doesn’t stop hurting in a few weeks after not doing that, THEN see a doctor. Otherwise, save your money. Advil, heat/cold, rest. That will be $600.

Drinking the conventional marathon training cool-ade, I didn’t think I could possibly finish a marathon without monster mileage, fartleks, intervals and all the other crazy stuff people have thought up. There is still pain involved, but with weekly long runs, the pain goes away in two days and I’m ready to rock with a full week of rest. I look forward to carrying this over to my triathlon training. One long run, bike swim and maybe a weight session per week is the extent of my training plans from now on. I’ll never win with a training scheme like that, but winning is doing races for the rest of my life.

Bloodless Nipples and Other Mundaneties

2009-11-09T11:59:00.000-08:00

Just like the trappers of yore, I explored the Sante Fe Trail today. Ten miles of it, anyway. Of course I forgot the brand new camera I was going to take along, so no pictures. But if you want pictures, read Winnie the Pooh.

Cutting to the chase, I ran 19 miles in 3 hours and 41 minutes. I continue to be solidly on pace to finish my marathon in 5 hours-though my pace began deteriorating badly the last five miles.

I enjoyed a 400 foot elevation change each way. The altitude was just over 6000 feet and I didn't feel it until right at mile ten. My new Garmin 501 kicks ass all over the place. My average pace was 11:37

Last weekend I achieved only one bloody nipple and this week I've toughened them up completely. No blood coming out of my boobs. Which was disappointing because my mother in law loves gross stuff. Other than a little chafing under my arm, it was a pretty unscathed event.

The last five miles were pretty tough and I started walking at mile 15. I drank the rest of my tropical gatorade (can't recommend, I'm a green gatorade man), and thought to myself, do I really want to walk another five miles? So I decided to fall back on an old trick and ran for one minute and walked for one minute. I'd drop the pace to about 14 minute miles and then rev up to 9:30 miles. Overall I maintained a pretty strong pace, though the idea of doing that for another 11 miles were that to occur at the marathon, is not a good prospect. I'm hoping having to walk was more an altitude issue than an overall fitness issue. I ran 18 miles last week without stopping, and while it wasn't easy, I felt I could have maintained it for a few more miles anyway.

So now I've had my hot bubble bath, I'll soon eat my wendy's lunch and then it's off to relax the day away with the family.

Don't tell me about your poopy.

2009-11-01T16:21:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading Portnoy's Complaint (putting the oy back in goy and the id back in yid). I sure read a lot of books in my youth that twisted my worldview. I've almost got all the damage undone from these horrific books, like On the Road and 1984 and all these awful books talking about angst and discontent.

For quite a number of years I've had some minor stomach issues that I assumed were just normal. The urgent need to go to the restroom (to put it politely) was a matter of routine. Sometimes not for months and then other times it seemed like constant. So I talked to the doctor and he put me through my paces, taking a good look under the hood, as they say. And everything turned up negative. Then Coach was watching Lifetime or some other awful channel and they had a whole tragic show about this woman who couldn't go anywhere without having to "go." I wasn't quite that extreme, but it could be somewhat stressful to worry about having to "go" in embarrassing situations and I have a number of recollections of having to discretely excuse myself to race home before tragedy happened.

To make a long story short, the cure to this disorder is to a cholesterol medicine which makes the gall bladder release less bile. So far so good. They called it "habba sydrome" like this Habba guy discovered it or something.

One reason I mention this is because the stories of marathon runners with diarrhea running down their legs are legendary and I have often been worried that I would have a disaster like this happen. So far I've been pretty lucky on most of my races actually.

As I was running my 17 miles today, I was thinking about the whole carb-loading stuff. I had a normal meal last night and ran just fine today. I can't think of a better way to mess with your stomach than to get on special diets and then "carb load" during training. The longer I participate in marathons and triathlons, the more I think maybe special diets and drinks are mostly marketing. For any race under four hours, so cool ade is about as good as anything. Of course, I'm a gatorade man. But for a marathon, in the past I was eating gu's and all this other stuff, but I think just a sugary drink will get me to the end just as well.

My 17 mile run last week was about 3:30, and this week I ran the same distance because I had a tough time last week, so I ran 17 miles this week in about 3 hours. Those times include a 1 mile walk at then so the total distance is really 18 miles.

Next weekend I'll be in Colorado Springs where I'll put in an 18 miles run. My in-laws know of good places to go so we'll see how that goes.

Run Yesterday

2009-10-23T15:07:00.000-07:00

10/22-6.2 miles-57 minutes

Another decent showing. My best 10k is 53:30. I don't know if I'll get down there this season, but I'm in the ballpark.

I'm down to 2 runs per week, my long run and then my second longest run. Considering my knees don't ache all the time like they have in past seasons and my times are still comparable, this may work out okay. For me, more is definitely not necessarily better. The proof will be in the results of the Seattle Marathon, but if you're facing in the right direction, just keep on running (bastardized buddhist proverb by way of david brent).

Toenail Removal/Thought About It

2009-10-22T14:01:00.000-07:00

This is too freaking awesome!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/22/fashion/22FITNESS.html?_r=1

Long Run

2009-10-18T15:21:00.000-07:00

10/16-15 miles, 2:30

Nice, easy run in the rain. It was quite warm and as I walked into the driveway, the sun appeared from behind the clouds.

Probably go another 15 miles next week and try to push the pace a bit.

Ah, Mood Swings

2009-10-14T10:22:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, October 13-3 miles, 23:20

Another very satisfactory run. After feeling drained Monday and Tuesday, suddenly I'm a bundle of energy and am no doubt annoying the crap out of my co-workers, who all seem irritable about the change in weather and this whole swine flu epidemic. Killjoys.

It Just Isn't Enough, Is It?

2009-10-12T11:24:00.000-07:00

Sunday, 10/4-5 mile run, 42:39
Tuesday, 10/6-1 mile, 7:56, weights and stretch.
Thursday, 10/8-2 mile, 19:45
Sunday, 10/11-13 mile, 2:30:00

“I've learned a lot about women. I think I've learned exactly how the fall of man occured in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, and Adam said one day, "Wow, Eve, here we are, at one with nature, at one with God, we'll never age, we'll never die, and all our dreams come true the instant that we have them." And Eve said, "Yeah... it's just not enough, is it?" Bill Hicks

I had my five mile test run last week and I came in just where I wanted to be. Fortunately, I had the motivation of TE. She would surge ahead of me a bit, then I would go ahead of her and so on. Towards the last downhill, I really slowed down and she got about 10 meters in front of me and I forced myself to at least draft off of her. I wound up finishing a bit ahead of her, but without her pace-setting, I probably would have just crapped out and lost a minute off my time, at least.

And even though I almost exactly met my goal time, even though I’m right on target to meet my goal for the marathon, it just wasn’t enough. Why can’t I be the blogger who not only meets his goals, but exceeds them by 10 minutes?

The Bill Hicks joke is a classic, and one I refer to frequently when Coach/the Wife complains about anything. She’s not a big complainer, but sometimes it’s like we are have completely different experiences in life-I think everything is going great and “it’s just not enough, is it?” I guess everyone with any motivation at all feels that way.

I’m set to have my long run in Colorado Springs on November 8. I’m still thinking about that, whether I should cut the distance a bit since I’ll be at altitude. I’m planning about an 18 mile run. I haven’t decided whether to slow the pace or shorten the run. Or neither or both. I suppose it’s 6 of one, ½ dozen of the other.

Kona 2010 Lottery Entry

2009-10-03T09:55:00.000-07:00

Alright, I've entered the lottery for a slot at Kona in 2010 and I doubled my odds by also buying a "passport" membership, which is basically signing up for junk email and getting a second chance at a slot. Having done cursory investigation of my odds, it looks like I have a full 4% chance of getting in. Which is significantly better than my odds of winning powerball, but paltry nonetheless. You can't win if you don't play.

Workouts

2009-09-27T13:17:00.000-07:00

Tuesday-4.7 mile recovery run-nice slow walk/run around Hawthorne Bridge to Steel Bridge and back with Ambitious Aspirations.
Wednesday-off
Thursday-For some reason the max was down, so I wound up have to take a bus to 99th and then walked/jogged home to 162nd ave. 3.2 miles, another nice recovery run.
Friday-Off
Saturday-9 mile run. Really ran on of gas on this one and wound up cutting it short. I was going to do 11 miles, but I don't think I had enough recovery time between long runs. I felt pretty fatigued the whole run, but didn't really run out of gas until the last lap around Glendoveer golf course. Still, felt pretty good and recharged the next day.

Good week. I have the five mile run at the Portland Marathon next weekend so I think I will do shorter runs this week and try to have a great run next Sunday and then look at a 13 miler the week after.

Long run

2009-09-22T12:59:00.000-07:00

Monday, September 21=-10 miles, 1 hour 45 minutes.

That pace puts me in line for my goal in the marathon. I'll be satisfied with anything between 4:30-5 hours and pleased just to finish.

Weekly review

2009-09-21T12:14:00.001-07:00

Saturday, September 12-3 mile hike
Sunday, September 13-Trail run, approx 9 mile-2 hours-elevation change 1000 feet (guess), Cape Lookout http://www.oregonstateparks.org/park_186.php
Monday, September 14-off
Tuesday, September 15-1 mile run (8:15) and weights
Wednesday, September 16-2 mile run (20:30)
Thursday-Sunday, September 17-20-off

Decent workout week, though I need to step it up a little bit. I may need a couple of 5 workout weeks to catch up on some workouts, but otherwise, the runs are feeling good and feeling strong overall. Enjoyed a nice break and ready to tackle a 10 mile run tonight.

Signed up for the Portland 5-miler on October 4, hopefully will see a strong result there.

It Did Seem A Little Far

2009-09-07T19:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I did four laps around my golf course route. Then this morning I went back out and did one lap and I couldn't quite run the whole way, but figured since I was only scheduled to run a mile that I would let it go.

Out of curiosity, I double checked how far a lap was and it is actually two miles, not a mile and a quarter like I originally thought.

So what should have been a six mile run turned out to be more like nine miles. The good news is that it felt very good and it really felt like six miles. It took around an hour and a half, but I'm enjoying not obsessing about how long and how far my runs are. It's actually relaxing to just go out for a trot rather than put on the heart rate monitor, worry about how long it will take and how far it is. If it's too far, I'll stop. If it's too short, I'll count my blessings and come back stronger the next run. I figure as long as I go out progressively longer each week, I'll be ready for the marathon.

So being "lazy" about my training plan is really working.

Yesterday's Workout

2009-09-02T17:50:00.000-07:00

Delayed onset soreness is plaguing me today, but with a rest day, it's not too bad.

Yesterday, one mile run (8:30) and definitely felt like I could have gone faster. Also did weights and stretching and stepped up the weight a bit.

Just When I Thought I Knew Something-Ibuprofen

2009-09-02T12:02:00.001-07:00

I have definitely used ibuprofen as a prophylaxis for pain for both marathons and triathlon. This new study definitely suggests that's a mistake.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/phys-ed-does-ibuprofen-help-or-hurt-during-exercise/?em

Though it does do a pretty good job of taking care of aches and pains, perhaps taking painkillers is not a good idea.

Multitasking As Myth

2009-09-01T08:12:00.001-07:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/weekinreview/30pennebaker.html

Today's Workout

2009-08-30T14:59:00.000-07:00

Today's workout was my long run for the week. A nice, relaxed run around Glendoveer Golf Course:
http://www.oregonmetro.gov/index.cfm/go/by.web/id=158

I did three laps on the course which I'm estimating was a total run of 6 miles. Adding a lap each week feels about right, which is about 1.25 miles per week longer. Total workout of about 1 hour 30 minutes, including about a 15 minute cool down walk at the end.

13 weeks to go until Seattle.

And So On...

2009-08-30T14:58:00.000-07:00

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090830/ap_on_he_me/eu_med_exercise_vs_surgery

Keep on Running-Or Start Now

2009-08-30T11:37:00.000-07:00

Many people have told me (non-athletes all) that by doing triathlons or marathons you will, without question, ruin all your joints. I've been hearing this kind of talk, and commented on it on past posts, for going on 7 years now. I would say I'm a student of my sport and I have looked for evidence that this was true. What I usually have found is that the exact opposite is true: If you DON'T engage in rigorous exercise-a minimum of five hours a week, you are going to wreck your joints and back, never mind the wreckage you're visiting upon your cardiovascular system and your risk for diabetes.

If you've had serious trauma to your knees or other joints, then yes, running 26 miles is probably a bad idea (although, maybe not, actually). Well, you read it for yourself:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/11/phys-ed-can-running-actually-help-your-knees/?ref=magazine

And...case closed. Let us never speak of this again.

That's How to Run a Business

2009-08-29T10:45:00.000-07:00

Workout yesterday: 1 mile run-9 minutes (10 minute warmup, 5 minute cool down), weights and stretches. Felt a distinctly uncomfortable pain in my knee while doing lunges, which cut the workout short.

As I exited the gym, I let them know that I wanted to end my participation in the swim class. After having great trouble finding the notebook (hello? 21st century calling on line 1), it turned out that my name wasn't on the list and I hadn't been charged for the past two months. This annoys me because this is essentially the company gym and it is unbelievably amateurish. I had specifically signed up for it because I had been such a loudmouth about wanting the class. On any given day, you go up to the front desk and the people working there act annoyed or like it's their first day on the job if you do anything more than check yourself in. They send out an monthly email newsletter listing classes, you call up the person who answers the phone he doesn't know the class you want to sign up for even exists and the signup sheet has been created yet (happened twice).

But, I went down the street to try out a competitor and it was just the opposite. Fantastic customer service with inferior equipment and layout and it cost more to be a member. So I guess I'll take bad customer service and pristine gym to excellent customer service and tired out club layout and inferior equipment.

Training Yesterday

2009-08-26T18:01:00.000-07:00

Two mile run-18 minutes, about a zone 1 or 2
Weights-a mix of upper and lower body lifting, stretching and some crunches. Overall nice workout, slight soreness from the lifting and knees happy as clams. The stiffness in my hips is also fading away.

Which made me realize that all physical therapy is is teaching sedentary people how to get off their butts and get some exercise-but label it something medical so they'll actually do it.

I Learned Something Today

2009-08-26T17:41:00.001-07:00

A couple of things, really. First, in spite of my best intentions, there is no way in tarnation I'm going to a master's swim class that starts at 7pm. No how! I clamored for my club to start a master's swim and I've loyally paid the extra $20 per month to be part of the group, but in the last two months, I've made it exactly one time.

I just can't sit around 2 1/2 hours for that class to start and I live too far away to go home and come back. Plus, I don't get home until after 9pm when I do go. I'm a person, for better or for worse, who really likes to a) be in bed by 8pm and/or b) get an absolute bare minimum of 8 hours of sleep, factoring in the usual hour each night that I read before actually falling asleep.

Along the same lines, the second thing I learned is I simply don't care to work out two days in a row. Well, I don't. Every triathlon plan these days tells you not only to work out 6 or 7 days a week, but twice per day on top of that. YOU MUST BE HIGHER THAN A KITE!!! (I'm having dejavu here, so I'm certain this paragraph appears in an earlier post, word for word-if you want originality, go on youtube)

It struck me today as I sat on the over 1 hour ride home on the train, brain still mis-firing from a pretty intense day of work, that back when I was in "fighting shape," the best shape of my life, I worked out every other day-which works out to 4 days per week-on those four days during my peak I was probably working out 3 1/2 per day. Granted, I wasn't training for an ironman, but I could run a 6 minute mile (21 minutes for three miles), I was benching a lot (230lbs, a lot for this scrawny frame) and riding to and from work and back and forth once again for lunch on my bike for probably 10 miles a day. I'll bet if I had embarked on an ironman back then, I would have completed it as quickly as I would now, and none the worse for the wear.

I'm a home body, I like to be home and figure for every hour away from home, I need at least two to recover. This is also part of the problem. How in THE hell do people work full time, do their home duties (prepare food, wash clothes, clean house, social life) and train. No way jose for me.

I've decided, against all greater wisdom, to try my old style of training. Four days a week, one on and one off. I'll probably work out longer on the days I do work out, but those recovery days are golden. I think it will greatly ameliorate the fatigue I often develop during triathlon training.

I may have gone off on this tangent before, but this time I'm going to try it for the Seattle Marathon as a test. If all goes well, I will also try it for the ironman training I'm planning next year.

Week in Review, Marathon training

2009-08-24T11:51:00.000-07:00

This is going to be rough:

Wednesday, August 19: off
Thursday, August 20: Bike to Work (23 miles round trip)
Friday, August 21: off
Saturday, August 22: 40 minute run, roughly 4 miles
Sunday, August 23: 1 hour run, roughly 5 miles

I can't really tell how far I ran on saturday and sunday because I run from my condo, down to glendoveer golf course, around the course and then I walk home about a half mile. I did one loop of the course on saturday and two loops of the course sunday-the loop is about 1 1/4 mile according to the very unhelpful sign on the trail.

I'm going to substitute runs with biking to work and my master's swim class, but will at a minimum do my weekly long run. If I continue to do my long run at home (which makes sense), then I'll just add a loop every week.

Also, why are months and days of the week capitalized, but not seasons? I have a problem with that.

Day 2 of Marathon Training

2009-08-18T11:14:00.000-07:00

10 minute warmup run, then a 8:30 mile. Fairly relaxed and easy. Started at 9 minute mile and the increased by .1 every .1 mile.

Then easy weights, leg extension, bench press, dips, overhead press and some gentle stretching.

Took about an hour and no soreness today. I'm going to take today off and then master's swim tomorrow. I'll post my training plan soon, but it's a very simple 4X per week, one long run and around a 10% increase in distance per week. My goal is 4:30:00 but I'll settle for anything under 5:30:00.

My hips are a bit tight so I'll be doing extra stretching and will probably to add some of my PT strength training. I'm hoping to avoid hip replacements until long after I'm dead.

Learning From Dreams

2009-08-17T15:03:00.000-07:00

Last night I dreamed that I was in the middle of an ironman and I was in the transition area between the bike and run. I was running up and down hills, through crowds, through finish tape, and could not find the start of the run. But the good part was that I felt completely fresh, like I hadn’t just swam and biked. I was totally psyched and running happily around asking everyone where the start to the run was. I didn’t seem to care whether I found the start or not-then it dissolved into going to the store with a friend and getting beer and pizza. There’s a lesson here, I’m just not sure what it is.

Going Long, 2nd Edition

2009-08-16T16:43:00.000-07:00

First of all, Tri Sport Running & Walking 11919 NE Halsey, is going out of business (30% off shoes and apparel!). Its next door neighbor, a tri bike store, went out of business last summer. You would think the two would have worked together or combined business in some way, but I think I've heard there is a weird, "this town ain't big enough for the two of us" kind of story behind that.

I've been in the tri store a few times. The last time, which was a while ago, I walked in and there was country music blaring and a late-middle aged woman behind the counter who did not look like someone into walking out to get the mail, let alone swim bike or runs (I know, my prejuduces are showing). As I was browsing the store, she kept bugging me about whether I needed assistance. Store clerks are like cops, they're never there when you need them, but they always find your car when the meter has run out.

So it came as no surprise to me when I saw the going out of business sale, 30% off running shoes. I went in and two small children, country music and the same woman had all confluenced themselves around the cash register. I went and started pulling shoe boxes in my size down and this pesty store clerk started telling me all about the shoes. Look, shoes are shoes and the rest is marketing and cheap Chinese labor. I try them on, if they feel good I buy them. But on the one point this person could have been helpful, she shot me down. I found a pair I liked and said, "So do you mind if I run around the parking lot to try these out?"

"No, she responded, "I had a customer refuse to buy shoes from me because he said he wouldn't buy a used pair of shoes."

Which brings me to the point. On page 50 of the excellent 2nd edition of Going Long, and I quote, "Be sure to got to a running specialty store where the salespeople are runners themselves. A good running store-not your average chain store-will let you run outside in the shoes to see how they feel."

And I actually recalled that very line when this woman said that to me. But what's the point in arguing, it's fairly obvious why she's going out of business. So I rewarded her by buying two pairs of shoes, saving $60!

As to the book, "Going Long," I must say that the changes are a significant improvement. The actual size of the book is increased and the cover is improved. Other than the superficial changes, without going back and looking at the first edition and the second side by side, my sense is that the second edition has been cut down and simplified. The one thing I don't like is there aren't as many training plans, but I've got "Championship Triathlon Training" to cover that.

I am beginning the exercise once again of planning next year's training. I think it may be my favorite part of triathlon.

In the very early stages I'm planning on doing a half-iron in June, another half in August or September and then the full in Vegas in early November. Then we're looking at possibly going to New Zealand in March and I say what's the sense in going all that way and not doing the ironman? That would be 2011. We've certainly become quite the vacation planners.

Also, and I realize this post is all over the place, today was the first day on my Seattle Marathon training, which is November 29. I took about a 40 minute "Zone 1" jog. That will be my "long" run for the week.

I got my hotel booked as well-$70 a night at Travel Lodge-come on! Unless it's got roaches and extremely unwashed sheets, this place is going to be perfect, a half mile from the Space Needle, which is where the race ends. Though a half mile after 26 miles is a long way, still might need a taxi.

Seattle Marathon

2009-08-13T19:10:00.000-07:00

I've decided officially to run the Seattle Marathon. And looking at training programs I say to myself, how quaint, a marathon training program. What? No bike and swim to fit in with that running? I chuckle with contempt. What's so hard about that...I'll report back with my various physical ailments. It feels good to be committed to a training program. After a bit more exploration, I will post my plan. Thus far, I suspect I will max at 38 miles with three weeks to go and will have a goal of 4 hours 30 minutes, which would be a PR and pretty ambitious and possibly unrealistic. But we'll start there and see how it shakes out. My knees are a bit achy having done no training, so no doubt they will loosen with a little running combined with a nice weight program.

And the Break Continues

2009-08-09T17:55:00.000-07:00

I would post more but this season has really gone down the toilet. I've had two medical procedures which put me off training for several weeks (nothing to worry about) and now I've got a sore back, not doubt from not training. Coach and I have also paid off all of our credit card debt after three years of concerted effort, which is part of what has demolished my season. On the bright side, next season I will be racing like a mofo with my final race being the iron distance race in Las Vegas. Provided things work out okay at that race, the following year I'm going to do the UK ironman.

I've decided not to do any other races this year and limit my training to a few joy rides on my bike and a weekly masters swim. At this point, my next planned race will be the half-iron in Bend next June, followed by three olympic distance tris, another half and finally the Vegas race.

I've also decided to never start training sooner than three months prior to a race. Once I get into good shape, I'll stay tuned up by doing races and maintaining good training volumes. Periodization is a great training technique, but unless I hire a coach, I just don't have the patience for it. Nothing focuses training like races, but it's hard to stay focused with just one big race in a season.

Now that financial limitations will be solved, it will be much easier to plan a season without breaking out the credit card, which is what putting this season to rest will do.

Yikes! Don't Bike in the South!

2009-08-02T14:41:00.001-07:00

Hopefully Kentucky will become a safer place to cycle after this stupidity:

http://www.wave3.com/Global/story.asp?S=10832003

Mmwah hah hah-Hermiston melons

2009-07-15T12:53:00.001-07:00

Hermiston Melons are back in season!! I should buy them all, corner the market and then eat them all. And not share. At all.

Quick Check-in

2009-07-10T08:11:00.000-07:00

I've still been on down time, though I did get a swim in yesterday and a decent bike ride last weekend. I rode in to work today and felt a little strain the the hamstrings, which tells me I'm losing some fitness.

I've set three goals for the rest of the season which will at least keep me set up for next season. At least one more Olympic distance tri, a hundred mile bike and the Portland Marathon. I've just barely got enough time for the marathon and it won't be a PR, but I want to keep a base of fitness for next season.

I'm considering next season as another build season, with the final race being a half-ironman and then the season after that an ironman somewhere overseas, like the UK or France. I need the race to be no earlier than July since I'm not suited for cold-weather training, and I figure I need at least three good months outside on the bike.

Looking back on this season, I think one mistake I made was starting training a full year before the race. I should have done some light training before the actual training and then set a six month training plan. This would really get me starting training in June so prior months I would just have a more informal approach. We'll see, I'm not even through this season yet.

Retrofitting

2009-06-30T11:14:00.000-07:00

My fancy term for "ain't done shit." I've had a couple bike rides but otherwise haven't run or swum for at least two weeks. I'm still planning on two more olympic distance tris in August and perhaps the Portland Marathon in October, but otherwise I've been enjoying not obsessing over training, eating and never having time to do other things, like eat McDonald's and do laundry, shop and putter around.

I need to get on it, so I'll probably take one more easy week next week and then start back with some more structured training.

I actually went to the pool on Sunday, but at 10:30 in the morning, all the lanes were taken, so I sat in the hot tub for ten minutes and felt that was adequate as a workout.

The Power of Negativity

2009-06-24T12:21:00.000-07:00

My parents are of the belief that after a certain age anything, beyond puttering along a sidewalk in slow motion is risking serious, life-threatening injury.

So when I mentioned last weekend that I was pulling the plug on most of my races for this season, my mother said it was just as well as I’m getting too old for races. This type of statement is repeated pretty much every time I see them, constant reminders of how your quality of life and abilities are degraded by age. Getting old sounds awful, though I haven’t really noticed so far. It’s pointless to note to them that even if I were competing in the 50 and over category in the races I do, I would still be a backpacker.

They have achy joints from not doing triathlons. I’ll have achy joints from doing triathlons. It’s like the old Redd Foxx joke, I don’t want to end up one day in a hospital bed like a damn fool, dying of nothing (I’m sure I’ve used this joke on this blog before, so sue me).

But I’m glad they say these things because it has to be 50% of my motivation for continuing to do marathons, triathlons and any other activity they deem me too aged to engage in. I’ve inherited the spite and contrarian gene, with just a touch of stubborn. So thanks mom and dad. I didn’t get much natural athletic talent, but never underestimate the ability of spite and negativity to motivate one through endurance sports-particularly parental negativity.

So with their negative support, I’m strongly considering doing the Portland marathon and am looking at a minimum of two more Olympic tris, if not more. I may not train as earnestly as I would for an iron distance race, but I have to do these races now. Strictly out of spite.

A Meditation On Bikeseat Torture

2009-06-19T10:56:00.000-07:00

Since the day I bought my first “grown-up” bicycle, I have struggled with the enormous discomfort of the bike seat after any ride longer than ten miles. Adding cushion certainly helps, although the warning from “real bikers” is that an overly cushioned seat will also cause problems. I have contended for years that the problem arises from the horn of the seat and have looked in vain for a seat without this contraption.

I’m told that you’re not supposed to sit on the horn and I don’t. But my balls (pardon my blunt language) and perineum do whether I want them to or not. I’ve never found a bike seat that accommodated my sit bones perfectly and to any extent that it actually raised the rest of my ass and sensitive areas above the horn. If you look at pictures, what I’m seeing pretty clearly is that everyone “sits” on the horn whether they “sit” on the horn or not.

I’ve been told that you steer with the horn by at least two cyclists whom I respect. I find this assertion dubious at best as I am consciously steering with my hands and arms and don’t notice my crotch or inner thighs steering at all.

Sitting in one position for more than 20 minutes is going to get uncomfortable, there’s no way around it. But I truly believe that there is an answer. I've tried the adamo and that was pretty close. But perhaps this is the final answer. As I was writing this post, I did a quick google search and found this quite by accident:

https://www.thecomfortseat.com/xcart/home.php

It's actually pretty close to some sketches I've been doing. I'll give it a try and report back.

Blue Lake Olympic/Season Killer?

2009-06-17T09:15:00.000-07:00

I began this race feeling very calm and confident. I also went into it thinking that if I don't get a PR that continuing to train for an iron distance in November might not get me the results I'm looking for.

On the swim I was feeling very good. I wore a wetsuit, was spot-on with hitting the buoys, and never had to slacken my pace. I wasn't breakneck, but very relaxed, concentrating on my form, which I could really feel was improved.

Coming out of the water, I was unrushed and wanted to catch my breath. I was efficient but lacked the franticness that I've felt in all previous races. I really felt like I knew what I was doing in the transition. Got on my bike and away I went. In a surprisingly short time, I was feeling tightness and fatigue in my hamstrings, which forced me to ease my effort a bit, but I felt like I was going along pretty well. But I sensed I wasn't doing all that well because I was being passed by seemingly everyone. For the entire day, I think I passed a total of six people on the bike and run. Which told me even before I saw my times that my swim was decent and my bike and run were not.

I got off the bike and noticed a lot of bikes already there. Another bad sign. But I took off running. As one is wont to do, I was checking on the people coming the other way towards the finish. Let's just say that people who looked a lot more out of shape than I felt were finishing well ahead of me. It was starting to have a very negative effect on my morale.

I missed a PR by 3 minutes, though I knocked off six minutes from my swim time. I really thought I was training smarter this season and that I would be farther ahead in my performance than I am. Granted, my PR time was in August rather than June and I would imagine that with concerted training I should be able to get a PR at the same race in August this year. But will that be enough to regain my confidence going into a full iron tri?

I haven't completely decided, and after having written this I'm having second thoughts again, but I'm strongly considering jettisoning the race in November and just using this season to work on fundamentals, do one and maybe two more Olympic distance tris this season and then look at next season for my next Iron distance. Coach (definitely the brains of this operation-I'd say I'm the humor) is trying to talk me into a five year plan, claiming that only a nut would have decided to do a full iron distance in their first season of triathlons anyway (it actually took me two seasons, but I intended to do a full my first season). But if I were to take up something like mountain climbing, it is only logical that Everest would be the first peak I'd want to climb-a not particularly bright nut, I'll admit. She's encouraging a do-over of sorts, and take a few years to get back to the iron.

Another factor is financial. We're in the home stretch on getting our credit card debt totally paid off. Five more months and my monthly allowance sky rockets. All my previous tri seasons have been deficit spending situations and to an extent this season would be also. So if I can just hold off one more year, I could plan a serious season and pay cash. Let's look at what I would consider a close to ideal season. And keep in mind this is actually conservative, I'd probably like to do more 10Ks and a couple more tris sprinkled in:

April-sprint tri
May-Olympic, 10K run
June-Olympic, half-marathon
July-half-iron
August-olympic, half-iron
September-half-iron
October-maybe marathon, otherwise taper
November-iron

Roughly speaking, just counting race fees, I'm already looking at $1365. Add in travel, at least double it. Add in equipment, bike fittings, some coaching would be nice, join a tri club, etc., triple/quadruple it. That's right, an ideal tri season would be over 4K. Plus it would help if I only had to work part time.

Maybe saving for two seasons would make more sense. Denial is an important aspect of triathlon-the only way to make it is deny the pain and financial consquences.

My Good Deed for the Year

2009-06-14T13:40:00.000-07:00

We (Coach and I) were riding to the grocery store for fixings for pizza night, when Zotto appeared before us wandering across 162nd Avenue, a fairly busy street. Zotto was an adorable, washed and haircutted pooch who clearly had no street smarts. So we intercepted him, looked at his tags and called the County. We were able to track Zotto's mommy and daddy down fairly easily. They were at Fred Meyer's buying shoes and were completely shocked that Zotto was able to escape the fenced back yard. With much gratitude, Zotto was reunited with his family and we have built (or rebuilt) our kharma chits. This is the second dog we rescued from certain death in our neighborhood in the past year. Since we lost our dog forever (on our wedding night no less), we are compelled to save every stray dog we find, whether they want to be saved or not.

Race Clothing and Chotchees

2009-06-12T11:49:00.000-07:00

I look in my closet and it’s full of t-shirts of different colors, shapes and sizes. I have key chains, untouched power gels and bars, medals, safety pins and race numbers, not to mention thrown away pamphlets and other miscellaney.

All my disposable income is dedicated to triathlon and food for fueling participation in triathlon. I don’t own a cell phone, my own computer or any of the other million electronic gadgets people spend their money on. I own a bike, a swimsuit and running shorts and triathlon books-throw in a very worn out pair of running shoes and you’re looking at the equivalent of a ski bum/read: tri bum. Money not spent on food is scrupulously saved and spent on entry fees. I would do two events per weekend if I could starting in April and finishing…well, never finishing, I’d do it all year round.

But the reality is that I have to work for a living and dress business-appropriately. Add the obligations of spending time with my lovely coach and all that that entails (nice vacations to Hawaii-I’m not complaining) and I have no budget left for clothes, dry cleaning or even the occasional movie. I'm starting to come to work looking like an unsuccessful salesman.

So to race organizers, I have a message to you. Instead of these countless t-shirts, gels and other junk I provide below a list of things I would really appreciate receiving upon completion (or even registration) of a race. I have enough $70-$350 t-shirts for a lifetime:

Socks-dress or white
Belts-brown, preferably black
White t-shirts-no logos, you can see logos through white dress shirts
Underwear-briefs, thank you
Dress pants-find a sponsor, preferably Italian
Dress shirts-long sleeve preferred
Ties-I don’t have kids so no one gives me ties
Bike tubes, tools or useful components
Bathing suits

You get the idea. And while you’re at it, figure out how to make my race fees tax deductible-there must be a way.

Week in Review, 22 Weeks to Go

2009-06-11T14:46:00.000-07:00

Mon, Jun 1
off

tue, jun 2
80 laps
45 min

Wed
1 hr run
1

thurs, jun 3
off

fri
bike to work (11) and Vernonia (50 miles total)
4

sat
bike
1

sun
off
6 hr 45

Tough week, definitely in a rut and have decided that I will take it easy through June (if necessary) to get my mojo back and give a hard push the last four months before the race. I'm coming out of the rut a bit this week, so I'm going to keep it flexible and just take what time I need to get my head back in it.

A big test will be this weekend at Blue Lake Olympic Distance Triathlon. If I do okay (equalling previous times at this distance), I'll be satisfied. If I make a PR, I'll be thrilled and if I totally bomb, I will be concerned but not panicked since I do have five months until my A race. One pretty lame workout week shouldn't completely wreck my fitness level, so psychologically I just have to remind myself of that.

More on the Vernonia bike ride in a later post, just didn't want my blog to get too rusty.

Ride to Multnomah Falls

2009-06-03T15:59:00.000-07:00

The destination

On the way down.

Enjoying my latte and rasberry danish.

View from Crown Point.

View of Crown Point, all downhill from here in either direction.

The ride from Multnomah Falls from my place is almost exactly 50 miles round trip, so it's a great training ride. Plus the elevation change has to be over 1000 feet (at least). The grade never exceeds 6% since I never have to stand up to keep the bike moving, but it is a challenging grade, to say the least. A fantastic 100 miler would be doing this ride twice.

I may trickle in a couple more pictures as I've lost my favorite shots from my desktop.

Week in Review, 23 weeks to go

2009-06-01T10:22:00.000-07:00

Mon may 25
off

tue may 26
Swim, 5X16 laps (40 min), 40 minute run, 40 min weights, lower
2 hr

Wed may 27
5 X 100 meters, 3 X 200 meters
30 min

Thur may 28
2 hr run, 11.2 miles
2

Fri may 29
off

sat may 30
10K
1 hr

sun may 31
4 hr bike (50 miles), 30 min run (Brick)
4 hr 30

9 hr 30

Rest Week and Then Some

2009-05-26T16:00:00.000-07:00

24 weeks to go
mon, May 18
off

tue May 19
(5X100, 3X200 Swim), 1 hr run (5.4 miles)
1 hr 30

wed May 20
off

thur May 21
off

fri May 22
off

sat May 23
1 hr easy ride
1
sun May 24
off

2 hr 30

Six months to go, time to put the hammer down a bit more. Shooting for around a 13 hour week this week and would like to progress to at least 15 hour weeks for the last two months before taper time. I'd like to go longer than that, but we'll see where my fatigue limit is.

Changing a Flat-Shouldn't It Get Easier?

2009-05-25T18:09:00.000-07:00

Last week I got a flat-it was a slow leak and didn't appear flat until the next day. I found the tiny piece of glass and decided to give using a patch a go. I usually just use a new tube, but I figured I should at least try to patch a tube-there's war on, you know. I found the leak, carefully read the instructions and applied the patch. And it worked! I was feeling very smug and proud of myself.

A couple of days later I noticed a loose spoke, so I took it to the bike shop to get my spokes tightened. The next day, for no apparent reason, I had a flat. I didn't find glass or anything that would have produced a hole. I don't know if it's coincidence, but every time I have a bike shop do anything with my wheels, I wind up with a flat. I don't know if they over-inflate the tires or if it's just a tremendous coincidence or even a conspiracy, but there it is.

I filled the sink with water, pumped up the tube and put the tube in the water to look for bubbles. There were bubbles coming out of the nozzle (it wasn't tightened down so I wasn't surprised by that) and also on the seam on the rim side of the tube. Seemed like a strange place for a hole, which is why I naturally blame the bike shop. The last time I had a hole in that location was when I removed the rim tape from my wheel thinking it was just packaging.

The Lord finds new ways to challenge me every day.

I put a patch on the tire and put it back together. The emotions I experience while putting a tire back on the rim range from optimism, to discouragement, to desperation on to panic and then demoralization before I finally, finally, after much struggle, get the tire back on-I'm always surprised when I actually get it back on, thinking it's a lost cause. I always have to "positive talk" to myself. I always manage to get the tire back on, but the struggle is epic.

I pumped it up and after I got it up to 100 psi, I saw the pressure gauge slowly drop. I listened to the tire and heard it leaking. How was that even possible? Pinch flat? So I took the tire back apart and pumped the tube up. No leaking! I pumped it way up, praying to find a leak. Nothing. So I threw the tube away and started over with a new one.

The tire finally stayed inflated. I hear of people changing a flat in 15 seconds, or under a minute anyway, and I wonder how that is even remotely possible unless there are magic tires out there that I don't know about.

Mathematics and tools both evoke the same sinking, panicky desperation I experience as when I change a tire. Doing my own bike repairs always seem like a great idea until I recall my mechanical limitations. I will refrain from pressing my luck and limit repairs to simple tire changing and cleaning my bike with a soft cloth.

Is Ten Hours Enough Weekly Training to do An Iron Distance Triathlon?

2009-05-21T12:39:00.000-07:00

I seem to be hitting a ceiling which I’ve hit in past triathlon seasons. In spite of best intentions and plans, I can’t seem to push too far above 10 hours per week of training. This would probably concern me a lot more if I hadn’t already completed this distance with that amount of training. In the past, injury had kept me below ten hours, actually. Now, while still injury free and with the experience of past seasons , I’m not too worried about it, but wonder if I would somehow really break through if I had the stamina/time to rest for longer training weeks.

I remember seeing a book a few years back called something like “Do a Triathlon With Just 10 Hours per Week Training (did a quick google but didn’t come up with the actual book).” At first I was heartened. Then I looked more closely and saw the fine print: For an Olympic Distance tri! Then I scoffed. This book ain’t going to help the Backpacker.

My first real test will be the half iron race I have in August, which I’ve decided is a key race for me to participate in. It may mean jettisoning the two or three other Olympic distance races, which will be disappointing, but this is about an iron distance tri and Olympic distance tris are just gravy.

Fatigue Clues and Knowing When To Heed Them

2009-05-21T11:27:00.000-07:00

Monday night I couldn’t sleep and wound up with about 6 hours. I woke up refreshed, which I thought was strange-had a good workout Tuesday and thought nothing more of it after that. Wednesday I had an average night’s sleep, but woke up groggy which built up over the course of the day. Not only did I start to dread that night’s workout, but starting in June, I will be joining a master’s swim group that doesn’t start until 7pm. This stresses me out because I get off at 4:30 and live too far away to go home and come back. So do I work out from 5-8, including the swim class? I was clearly overly stressed about workouts future

Late in the day, I was just beat and decided to skip the workout. Today, I’m very fresh, I’m looking forward to my workout and the master’s swim doesn’t sound so daunting. Even though I won’t meet my time goal for the week, I will have quality workouts the rest of the week.

It also happens that I found out this morning that I made a spelling error on a document that I was doing edits for. I haven’t misspelled a word since second grade when I cheated off the idiot sitting next to me! So in hindsight I most definitely did the right thing by skipping the workout. When work performance declines, it’s time to take a timeout.

The Cramps and Not The Singers of the Greatest Song Ever, "TV Set"
Also yesterday as I was sitting on the train heading home, I suddenly got the most horrific cramp in my upper hamstring. I shot up out of my seat because I know from past experience, if you don’t uncoil a cramp immediately it just tightens more and more until you’re screaming in agony and literally wind up injured. In the awkward position I was in, I was bent forward so as I was struggling to straighten my leg, the same type of cramp hit my abdomen. It was almost panic time as I was trapped in my seat in a weird position. The lady next to me asked if I wanted to get out, but I thought if I tried to get by her, the cramps would get worse I would collapse. Instead, I calmed myself down and started breathing deeply in order to clear out the lactic acid. Suddenly, I literally felt my abdomen muscle unfold. It was the weirdest sensation. Then my hamstring relaxed. What a relief! My abdomen is still sore this morning, but it could have been much worse. I suspect these cramps were also a symptom of fatigue, so again, I’m glad I was wise enough to skip.

Week 25, 20 Weeks To Go

2009-05-18T13:30:00.000-07:00

Mon, May 11
off

Tues, May 12
off

Wed, May 13
1 hour weights, upper, 30 minute run
1 hr 30 min

Thurs, May 14
Swim 5 X 16
45 min

Fri, May 15
1 hr bike
1

Sat, May 16
1 hr easy bike-13 miles, 1 hr run
2 hr

Sun, May 17
3 hr bike-40 miles
3 hr

8 hr 15 Total

Day off today and then hard week ahead, goal total time over 13 hours-preferably well over, closer to 14.

In continuing to read "The Perfect Distance," it is suggested that the longest anyone should run in training for a half iron distance race is two hours, so I'm considering holding at a two hour max for a couple of months. This sounds very sensible and I will continue to ramp up the biking miles and time in the pool/or weights.

The last eight weeks I can add a mile a week to get the mileage up, and again, I'm considering doing the Portland Marathon, which is one month before my iron distance race. It's never too late to fiddle with the long-term plan. As long as there is long-term to fiddle with.

NTSB Issues Warning: Bug strike Danger Critical

2009-05-17T12:29:00.000-07:00

I had several near-miss bug-down-the-throat incidences yesterday during my brief ride, including one bug in the ear and a yellow jacket that smacked me in the face and then sped off, without stinging me, bless him. There is nothing more horrifying than a bug down the throat and I can only be thankful that the largest bug to make a sojourn down my gullet has been a gnat, twice while running and once while biking. It takes hours to expel an insect from the throat, so I have mastered the art of "catch and spit," expelling them before they hit the esophagus. This is the one creditable reason for nasal breathing, which I briefly embraced but disgarded after near-suffocation.

I have contemplated creating and patenting a discrete bug filter called "Bug Begone" consisting of a rubber ring covered by the mesh of a window screen and held on by an equally discrete rubber band, but I haven't yet created a prototype. Obviously because it's a silly device that no one would actually buy or use. Though I probably would, I mean, I use cut up t-shirts as head bands and still use platform pedals. And as soon as I find one, I will be installing a kick stand on my bike. Shame is a stranger to me.

I'm off to do my 2-hour ride, during which I'll be stopping at the grocery store for some ground pork (it's pizza night/Survivor finale! Life is good) and protein for the week.

Blender Spaghetti Sauce and other Saturday Excitement

2009-05-16T16:03:00.000-07:00

Steam 2lbs of Roma tomatoes (at 89 cents a pound, can I get a hell yeah!)

After they're good and steamed, let them cool and then peel them,

throw them in a blender along with a good wad of oregano and marjoram, a pinch of anise seed, a heap of beef paste, 1 small can of tomato paste, pinch of salt. 3 cloves of garlic.

Blend the hell out of it and voila! spaghetti sauce. I'll probably heat it on the stove for a bit to get all the flavors set. I'll also probably throw a half pound of cooked bacon in there and put it on a pile of pasta. Deelish. When Coach is out of town, this is the trouble I get in.

For the other excitement, I took a nice hour-long bike ride today and followed that with a one hour easy run. I wore an old pair of running shoes which may not be advisable as the last two long runs I've had, I've wound up with some very sore achilles tendons. Since they recover in a day, I'm not too worried, but I may need to break down and buy some new running shoes. Which is a heartbreaker having to choose between running shoes and the entry fee for a race. Surely I'm ripe for a lucrative endorsement from Nike or somebody.

Lake Run/Ride to Multnomah Falls

2009-05-14T11:23:00.000-07:00

The Lake Run in Lake Oswego was everything I hoped and dreamed it could be, but longer. It was a 12K distance (wha?) and my little pea brain translated that distance to be about 6.5 miles. It was a very hilly run and I was gratified to note from my finishing time (1:05:05, not that you asked) did not suffer, and may actually have benefited, from a hilly course.

At mile six, I opened up the throttle and was somewhat dismayed to find, not the finish line in just few minutes, but more race. Because when I saw the mile 7 post, my metric retardation reared its ugly head (can't we just convert to the metric system and be done with, must the United States remain a jerkwater country?!) As it turned out, the last half mile was downhill and I was able to maintain a pretty good pace in spite of the miscalculation.

On Sunday I once again rode out to Multnomah Falls, a reliably challenging 50 mile ride. I took my time and wound up 4 hours in the saddle (including the stop at Crowne Pointe and the Falls itself). I keep kicking myself for not remembering a camera, so hopefully next time-though I think the next time I do this, I will time trial it.

One thing I will note is that my ass was killing me after this ride (is good seat technology really that elusive?!), but my back, neck and shoulders didn't hurt at all-which I didn't realize until the next day. I attribute this to a better training plan this year that includes back, neck and shoulders-specific weight lifting.

Hopefully I Won't Feel This Bad on The Next One

2009-05-13T12:49:00.000-07:00

My finish pic at Grand Coulee in 2005. I don't know if this inspires or horrifies. Probably both.

Good Article on Volume

2009-05-12T12:08:00.000-07:00

http://www.trifuel.com/training/triathlon-training/massive-volume-does-not-equal-massive-performance

Along the same line, it's feeling very good to be on a slow week this week. I could barely get out of bed the last two mornings, but today I'm feeling much more re-charged and ready to finish out a lower volume week. Next week I'm going to be ready to go back hard, with a goal of at least 13 hours of training-maybe more-it won't kill me.

Week In Review, 26 Weeks To Go

2009-05-11T13:27:00.000-07:00

Week 19
Mon, may 4
Swim, 3X16 (30 min), 1 hour run (5.5 miles)
1 hr 30

tue may 5
Swim 60 laps, 1 hr weights, upper and lower
1 hr 30

wed may 6
11 mile run
2:02

thur may 7
off

fri may 8
light workout, weights, stretching
45 mins

sat may 9
12K run, 1:05:05-Lake Run
1

sun may 10
4 hr bike-50 miles, Multnomah Falls
4
11 hrs

Easy week this week, with a target of around 6 hours, with an increase to 13 hours next week.

My Bad Memory Rewards Me Again

2009-05-08T13:16:00.000-07:00

I ran 11 miles on Wednesday and it’s always interesting to rediscover HOW FAR 11+ miles is to run. You might think, “How can you forget a thing like that?” And fortunately, very easily or I’d probably never do another race. I forget how far it is and how much it hurts.

It’s funny, but once you start training that distance, even 1, 2, 3, and 4 miles feels really far, because you realize you haven’t even gone halfway yet. Once I hit halfway, I feel like I’m good as done and I try to run negative splits (increase speed each mile after halfway) to make it interesting/aka feel like the second half won’t take as long as the first half-which is true, but not significantly so, unfortunately.

Since I do all my running on the treadmill, I increase .1 each mile in speed until I hit 4 or 5 miles to go. At that point, I increase .1 in speed for every .1 mile I go and keep that up until I feel like I’m going to lose it, at which point I slow down .1 for every .2 miles I go-slowing down more slowly than when I’m speeding up. It turns it into kind of a game, so it’s actually pretty fun.

Should be a good training weekend. I have the Lake Run, a 12K run, then I plan on a leisurely hour or two on the bike and then on Sunday I'll ride out to Multnomah Falls, which is a fairly challenging 50 miles-which will take about 3 hours including the latte and rasberry danish I'll have at the Falls themselves.

"Workout Week" Might Be An Overstatement

2009-05-06T15:52:00.000-07:00

27 Weeks to go
mon apr 27
off

tue apr 28
off

wed apr 29
weights lower and upper, Swim
2 hr 30

thur apr 30
off

fri may 1
30 min run
30 min

sat may 2
0ff

sun may 3
30 min walk
4 hrs

Rough week, but back on track this week and looking forward to my down week next week. I'll just cut my workouts for this week in half for next week. I've got my 11 mile run tonight, which will be a slog, but I'm looking forward to it.

Just Stick With The Plan

2009-04-29T16:00:00.000-07:00

Since I had such a great workout week last week, I thought I would be very ambitious this week. I had already decided that for this week I would merely do my long workouts, plus an upper and lower body weights session for a total of around 6 and maybe 8 hours max. But as I looked at my schedule, I began psyching myself up and to have grandiose ideas about getting up at 4 am every morning to be at the gym by 6 so I could get a swim in every day.

Monday morning rolled around and I forced my way to the gym, but once there I could only muster a session in the hot tub and then made an attempt at a weight lifting session. But the weights were very heavy and I was feeling very logy and felt that way for the rest of the day.

Tuesday, I woke up at 2am wide awake. I finally got back to sleep at 3:30 and decided to forget even trying that morning. Once again I was pretty tired all day and couldn’t wait to get to bed.

Then this morning, once again the alarm went off at 4 and once again I went back to sleep and woke up at 6. And today I feel highly refreshed and ready to hit the gym.

I’m looking forward to next week’s 12 hour workout week, but in the meantime, I’m just going to enjoy the rest of this rest week. And in the future, when I make a reasonable plan, I need to stick with it even if I’m feeling jazzed in the moment.

Last Week's Workout, Week 17, 28 Weeks To Go

2009-04-28T08:24:00.000-07:00

mon, apr 20
30 min swim(4X100, 2X200), 1 hr run (5 miles)
1 hr 30

tue apr 21
20 min swim, 48 laps, 30 minute bike, stretch
1 hr

wed apr 22
35 minute swim (60 laps in 30 minutes), 30 minute run (3 miles) plus 10 min warmup, 30 legs plus 10 min stretch
1 hr 55

thur apr 23
10 mile run
1 hr 50

fri apr 24
off

sat apr 25
2 hr ride easy
2 hrs

sun apr 26
4 X 400 swim, 30min, 2:30 bike
3 hr

11 hr 15mins Total

2009-04-23T16:07:00.000-07:00

Ah, winter time during the big storm of '09 and I had just gotten all my new toys. A shame I've lost that suit, though I found the style a little too retro. I couldn't wait to try everything out-and gave the gear a good workout in Hawaii.

The Great Compromise of '09

2009-04-22T15:54:00.000-07:00

While I have pretty much abandoned the training plan I began following at the beginning of the season, I continue to be mindful of some of the better ideas I gleaned from that particular book.

I am fortunate to have come across yet another book which I made mention of earlier http://www.velogear.com/prodinfo.asp?number=VP+PER. I was a little hard on it for had I read a couple of more pages I would have seen that he qualified quite a bit on the subject which caused a sudden book-flinging.

While the book focuses on half-iron distance, it is very applicable to all distances. I am particularly inspired by some of his swimming suggestions, which helped me come to the great compromise where my training is concerned.

I am going to follow a 3 X 3 X 4 workout training week (3 run, 3 bike, 4 swim). This will necessitate working out 7 days per week because I will need to get in some weight training as well (he also talks about a ten and 15 day training week/cycle, so maybe that's where I'm really heading). As a compromise, on alternating weeks, I will only do my long bike, run and swim and round it out with fuller weight training sessions. I’m guessing these weeks will work out to about half what my long weeks will be. I will also increase training times on my long sessions to increase the workout week by about 30 minutes per long week. My initial goal is to peak at about 15 hours, see how that feels and go from there.

I have also decided to do my long run distance two weeks in a row before increasing by another mile. I’ve got 6 months before my big race and I’m at 10 miles starting next week, so without thinking too hard I can see that that scheme is pretty close.

I’m still thinking about doing the Portland Marathon, which is exactly 4 weeks before my iron distance race. That may be too much, but then again, a four week taper could be just about right.

I’ve decided to really work on getting my swim time down since that is my strong event anyway (unfortunately). “The Perfect Distance” suggests that a good measure is if you can complete a 1500 meter swim in 20 minutes, you’re very competitive. I did my first swim time trial (ever! I know, can you believe that?!) this morning and finished it in 30 minutes. I’ve got a good ways to go, but now I’ve got a nice baseline. My swim times in the two Olympic distance races I competed in were atrocious, so I’ve certainly got a lot of work to do.

I’ve also decided to worry somewhat less about the length of the workout and more on just getting the 3 X 3 X 4 workouts done. Once I gain confidence, I will be more diligent with actual workout times.

I am a chronic fudger on training, but I seem to have worked out of my funk of last week and will re-double efforts to put in a solid season of training.

Blame It On Protein

2009-04-20T11:46:00.000-07:00

Since that duathlon, I just can’t seem to get on back on track. I think I’m more disappointed than I realized that I didn’t make any real gains in the last two years. Every year I come out starting the season with these new ideas, new equipment, toys and training schedules and think I will achieve some kind of breakthrough, but by about this time every season, the knees start to ache in that old familiar way, my times stay pretty much the same and I can’t seem to stay motivated. I even thought about just stopping altogether. Maybe the only breakthrough I’ll see is just continuing to train in spite of a bad attitude.

I tried to get up at 4am this morning after clocking ridiculous hours of sleep over the weekend and I finally got up at 4:30 and remained irritated until completion of my swim, which I barely completed at all.

When I was doing a lot of weightlifting, I was consuming at least 100 grams of protein every day. I’ve decided this has to be the root of my current funk and will begin eating protein in earnest.
28 weeks is a long time to be crabby about working out, so hopefully I will shake this off and get on with it.

Ambivalent Results/Spring Classic Duathlon

2009-04-15T15:30:00.000-07:00

2007
23:02 Run
1:00:13 Bike
24:56 Run
1:50:03

Last Week
24:29:00 Run
52:30 Bike
27:20:00 Run
1:47:39

And the reason I say ambivalent is because my time did improve this year, but in 2007 I had a flat and someone actually had to loan me tire gear. The distances were a 5K, 15 miles on the bike and another 5k run.

There are lessons here, though. Rest can work wonders on your time and I'm sure that eight minute difference on the bike were good rest minutes. So while blaring through a transition on a sprint or olympic distance tri might make sense, on the half or full irons, it makes sense to take your time, sit down to put on your shoes, grab a bite to eat and then mosey on to the next event. Not to the point of napping, of course, but rest is rejuvenation.

I will discuss the race further later on, but it was a pretty routine event with excellent weather.

The Week in Review

2009-04-06T13:28:00.000-07:00

31 weeks til IM
Week 14 of program
mon mar 30
off

tue mar 31
1 hr upper weights, 30 min run (3 miles)
1 hr 30 total

wed apr 1
76 laps swimming, weights, lower
1 hr 45 total

thur apr 2
off

fri apr 3
run 8 miles
1 hr 24 total

sat apr 4
Bike-1 hr, swim 35 minutes
1 hr 35 total

sun apr 5
Bike 2 hours, 24 miles (hilly and windy)
2 hrs total

8 hrs 25 for the week

Since I only worked out 6 hours and 20 minutes last week, I will probably just duplicate this workout again this week and then proceed with about a 40 minute increases per week total, topping out at 15 hours

Giller-Ade Verdict: Delicious

2009-04-05T14:49:00.000-07:00

My experiment with my personal "sports drink" is a resounding success. It tastes good and seems to have all the right stuff.

I have to admit that it does not taste quite as good as Gatorade, but I don't have access to "tree rosin" and some of the other delicious "natural ingredients" Gatorade manufacturers have access to. Perhaps a nice squirrel turd would give it that extra oomph.

I also priced it out and of course, other sports drink manufacturers have the advantage of economies of scale and volume purchasing and so on. Even still, a rough pricing out of my drink is 78 cents per 20 ounce bottle. I'm paying $1.75 at my gym for Gatorade and I know there are better prices available. Let's just say that after all, I'm not really saving a ton of money here. But I am sticking it to The (gatorade) Man, and I am a big one to make inconsequential statements.

Giller-Ade Recipe

1/2 lime, squeezed

1 tablespoon of honey

a pinch of salt (Kosher, for the more hoidy-toidy crowd)

18 ounces of water

(approximately 70 calories per serving-serving=1 bottle-20 ounces)

I get a big pot and make four bottles at a time. I heat the water so the honey dissolves readily and then pour in the Giller-Ade and place in my freezer. Once the weather warms up, I suspect it will melt completely during bike workouts. Today there was still a pretty good chunk of ice left after a two hour ride, but it melted enough that I stayed hydrated along the way.

For days I run, it is still slushy by the time I drink it, but still and all, quite nice.

If anyone can think of any "secret ingredients" I might be missing, I welcome suggestions.

I can't explain the semi-horrified look other than to say it was rather cold out on Saturday.

2009-04-05T13:50:00.000-07:00

Another Hawaii Picture

2009-04-05T13:47:00.000-07:00

No God Of Mine Needs A Rest After Creating the Universe or My God Can Beat Up Your God

2009-04-05T13:18:00.000-07:00

Around 4000 years ago, just a few years after god created the earth, a bunch of his people got together to write down what we today call the bible. Each person had claimed to personally have spoken to god. The first guy, who was a relentless workaholic, said, "God told me he created the earth in seven days, no rest." He eventually moved to Colorado, became a preacher and then ignored the bits he didn't like from the bible anyway. The second guy said, "No, you're wrong, on the seventh day he took a rest." This guy said this just because he didn't like the first guy. No one did, really. The third guy, who eventually moved to France, said "No way, God told me he worked three days and took three days off and then went on strike on the seventh day."

Like all great works of fictional literature written by committee, they compromised and settled on god resting one day.

I've begun reading another triathlon book called "The Perfect Distance" by Tom Rodgers. It's a pretty good book that doesn't break any new ground. Triathlon books are very much like books by Tom Clancy. You reach a point where your ability to suspend disbelief is so abused you throw the book down in disgust, only to pick it back up grudgingly and finish it. For me, this happened on page 65 under the heading "Potential Training Week for Experienced, Working Triathlete." It lays out a training week that is between 13-17 hours. For me, this is pushing the limits of time I can put into training and still bathe and dress myself. But I'm a backpacker with a struggling work ethic.

But what really bugs me about this and so many other training programs is this seven day per week training plan. COME ON! Active recovery is a 60 minute workout? You are higher than a kite. Active recovery is walking up my stairs and making an actual dinner after another long, tedious day of work.

When I started following the training programs from Championship Triathlon Training, these programs all called for six days a week. This is more reasonable, but I'd still rather have two full days off.

Which is why I've abandoned yet another training program. It's been a great guide and I will still keep my eye on the workouts, but I am going to go back to focusing on a 10% weekly increase in time spent working out while maintaining a five day per week workout plan. I'm up to about 8 hours this week, so I'll add about 40 minutes to next week's total, dividing the additional time between swim, bike, run and weights, roughly.

I'll probably adopt a four week increase and then a recovery week where I'll drop back 50%, and then resume the build from where I left off, building up to a total of around 15 hours. I'm not sure what I'll do once I get there, but that's roughly nine weeks out and I'll worry about it then. I have my doubts that 15 hours a week is sustainable, but in past seasons it was unsustainable because I wound up with injuries so that I had to cobble together workouts the best I could.

I do this every year. I start out with the best intentions to lay out and follow this elaborate plan, and then three or four months later I decide just to go back to the gradual increase. But each year I add a few new tricks, techniques and workouts and I am feeling very good about where I'm at, though admittedly I'm still very early in the season.

A Turning of the Corner

2009-03-26T16:55:00.000-07:00

Things are going swimmingly in the training arena. I'm finally to a point where I'm willing to push a bit on my weightlifting (hence the strained left bicep) and I'm getting on the bike on a regular basis. This is where it starts to get fun and scary at the same time as I'm approaching the point where in the past my knees have begun to chronically ache. I do get what I believe is phantom pain occasionally, but I've taken it so slowly and deliberately that after a 7 mile run yesterday, no knee pain to speak of at all. I see this as a highly positive sign. I did push a little harder than I thought prudent yesterday, but my god, the slow pace was killing me. I'm starting to think that the heart rate monitor works great for the first hour, but then slowly the heart rate increases and the pace has to decrease at the same time, to the point where I'm all but walking but feel like I can maintain or even increase the pace. We will watch this and be mindful of the old knees and various other creaking joints.

One problem I'm encountering is that on the evenings I have a good, long workout, I'm so amped up that I can't get to sleep and then the next day I'm exhausted. I'll have to adjust my training to avoid fatigue, which is a season killer/work performance killer.

More hawaii/The night we arrived

2009-03-26T16:53:00.000-07:00

I like hawaii

2009-03-22T11:52:00.000-07:00

The Backpacker Sports Drink

2009-03-22T11:46:00.000-07:00

Water, sucrose syrup, high fructose corn syrup, citric acid, natural lemon and lime flavors with other natural flavors, salt, sodium citrate, monopotassium phosphate, glycerol ester of wood rosin, yellow number 5.

This is the list of ingredients on a fairly famous brand of sports drink. And just as cellulite is a fancy term for fat, electrolytes is a fancy term for salt and sports drink is a fancy term for sugar water. I don't know what "other natural flavors," sodium citrate", monopotassium phosphate or glycerol ester of wood rosin" are, and I personally produce yellow number 5 (some people call it number 1), so I'm not sure why I'm spending $1.75 per 20 ounce bottle for something I can make myself for about twenty five cents in my kitchen.

Which is what I've decided to do. High fructose corn syrup is getting a bad rap lately. I don't know if it should or not, but I've heard that the glycemic index of something like honey or agave sweetener is lower and thus somehow better. Whatever, simple carbohydrates=sugar.

So my recipe is going to be three tablespoons of agave or honey (eek!! refined sugar=the devil!), a table spoon of lime juice and a pinch of salt per twenty ounces of water. I don't have monopotassium phosphate and could probably spend two minutes figuring out how to substitute what is essentially what you get in bananas, but who has time? I'll just eat a banana.

Then I will freeze the bottles and by the time I finish work and get through the first hour of my workout, when I usually start drinking, it should be perfect.

I will report back on this grand experiment

Like Forrest Gump's Dad/Dispensing Advice

2009-02-28T10:41:00.000-08:00

I went on vacation to Hawaii, which is not conducive to sticking to an exercise plan. I did manage to swim every day, but I only ran once. Nonetheless I don't feel like I've lost fitness and I'm slowly getting back into the routine.

I've been dispensing a lot of advice to people regarding running and triathlons lately. Most of it is very basic, but it always sparks the fantasy of becoming a personal trainer, setting my own hours and training on a more full time basis. I start trolling the internet on exercise physiology programs, the various organizations that certify personal fitness instructors and then after all that, I usually burn out on it and just trudge back to my stupid day job (which isn't really stupid, that's a reference to a song by Wally Pleasant)

I may not be the best personal trainer anyway. I always starts these ambitious, scientifically succinct training programs for my triathlons, which I wind up tweaking beyond recognition, plus I can be a bit self-indulgent. And since I'm a big subscriber to leading by example, maybe I'm not the right example.

I read other bloggers and magazines and websites and I feel like the laziest person in the world. My god, people are running, biking and swimming themselves into the ground. Maybe it just sounds like a lot when you read it on paper, but my #1 goal at all times is the "no pain, no pain" principle. If I'm more sore than a couple of advil can take care of, I feel like I have over-trained. Never mind feeling like vomiting after a workout, which is apparently the badge of honor for the truly hard-core, self-hating type.

Screw that. I'm not called the Urban Backpacker for nothing. There just aren't enough slackers in triathlon these days. I was listening to a personal trainer interacting with her athlete just last night and the conversation went like this:

Athlete: I'm afraid to tell you this, but I ate a cheeseburger, fries and a coke at McDonald's for lunch.

Coach: I'm surprised you're even able to get through this workout. That food is so impure it's like garbage.

Let's see, you got the carbs, you got the protein, you got a little fat in there, you need that, plus that sugar, hell, what do you think gatorade and powerbars are-processed crap in a fancy wrapper. Fast food is not like pouring sand in a gas tank, after all-in moderation. I have seriously considered McDonald's cheeseburgers as my ironman food. After racing for six hours, consuming sugar water and candy bars, you want something that's substantive, appetizing and easy to eat. I probably won't do this-though I don't see why not- unless someone dares me to or says I shouldn't. My contrarian nature.

I admit that my nutritional cornerstones of pizza, fried chicken and beer are not going to power me to a first place finish, but trust me, I've been working with these genetics my whole life and eating like a hippie on a commune is not going to improve my performance all that much.

And I do exaggerate, I maintain a pretty consistent and healthy diet, but lighten up, coach! I think Woody Allen said, and I paraphrase, "you can live to be 100 if you give up everything that makes you want to live to be 100."

So maybe personal training is not my calling. I may not be stern and joyless enough.

Nasal Breathing and Other Boondoggles

2009-01-18T16:59:00.000-08:00

For the first two weeks of my training program, I tried out the nasal breathing method. It is supposed to improve your oxygen use and be somehow better for you. But the moment I abandoned the technique, my three mile run time improved by not less than 5 minutes. Maybe this is because of the nasal breathing method, but this is not something I will be sticking with this season. And what a relief, really. It's like suddenly being able to use both legs after hopping around for a month.

My Swedish goggles, on the other hand, are excellent. And all other aspects of the training program I'm following is working nicely. I've been training three weeks, but I'm only on week two still since I'm only training 4-5 days a week, rather than the six prescribed. No Way that's happening. I keep hitting the exhaustion wall, but have arrived at a possible solution, which is working out two days and then one day off, which actually works out to five days a week working out (two workouts per day). The fatigue just builds and builds, so maybe this will break it up a bit. I'm a 9-10 hour a night sleeper, which is a serious limiter, but having known myself these lo 40 years, I have reconciled myself to this unfortunate fact.

I've decided to increase my weightlifting regimen for the simple fact that I really enjoy lifting weights. I will try to throw in a couple of plyometric drills in, but I'm starting to think I'm adding too much new stuff. If I spend my whole season learning new techniques and methods, I'm not going to get a whole lot of actual training. It's a balancing act. I'll be down to two workouts per week per sport, with four weight sessions per week, while still following the training plan mostly. I will just do all the training sessions prescribed in order and see where I end up as the season progresses. I don't want to skip ahead as this has caused me some of my various joint injuries in past seasons. I'm fairly certain that I was progressing too rapidly in the past without realizing it.

It's still early in the season, but I'm definitely feeling very good this season. I've also signed up for a swimming class and have learned that I don't kick when I swim. At all, pretty much. We did kick drills for a total of about 16 laps, which is more kicking than I've ever done, I'm surprised I was even able to do it. Presumably, I should be a speed demon by the time the race season starts and swimming is my strongest event anyway. Which is a shame, biking would be a better sport to be strongest in, but we don't choose the cards we're dealt, we just play them to best advantage.

Swedish Goggles, Other Toys and the Overall Training Season

2008-12-25T16:59:00.001-08:00

These may be the answer. Fortunately, my wife (Coach) is able to do things like follow directions and put things together. I tried these goggles years ago, before I discovered google, and I never got passed being mind-boggled by something that wasn't already put together. I'm looking forward to trying out all my new toys.

I also got a new heart rate monitor, Sports Instrument's ECG Pro Metal. The price was incredible. It has three buttons that is supposed to set around 100 functions. I was proud of myself when I figured out the actual heart rate monitor. It wasn't picking up my heartbeat until I licked the right parts of it. Coach set the time, the alarm and did some other messing around with it. It's quite a sporty looking watch as well and looks durable.

Next week I start the my training program, which is based on the programs laid out in "Championship Triathlon Training" by George M. Dallam and Steven Jonas. It has a total of around 44 weeks of training, from sprint, to olympic, to half to full iron distances programs. This season I will add weight training (and keep it!) and plyometrics, which is a relatively new concept to me.

I'm certain that in past seasons I've had weight lifting and some of the plyometric drills, but I didn't stick with them once the season progressed. The other difference in past seasons that I hope to avoid by using these more regimented and gradual plans is some of the overtraining I've experienced in the past. I've also vowed to not allow pain to slow me down. This may be my last ironman, and I'm going to train like it.

I plan on around 10 workouts per week, with at least one weight/stretch and one plyometric/stretch workout each, plus three swim, two run and two bike workouts, roughly. The book's training plans have training six days a week, but I know I will need at least two days off as things always seem to come up. I will no doubt hit six days a week some weeks and others I won't work out more than three or four days, but hopefully I can maintain pretty consistent training.

I've also stumbled on the Pose Method (http://www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/archive/pose-running-technique.html) and have ordered a jump rope to assist me in some of the drills (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHZZEdSdnOQ&NR=1). I'm hoping this method may help my running form and reduce injuries from running.

Starting over

2008-12-23T07:19:00.000-08:00

Winter weather has struck here in Portland. My first season of triathlon training was somewhat sabotaged, and that was the last time Portland really had any winter to speak of, January, 2004.

I had great intentions of beginning this elaborate training plan, but then it started getting very cold and snowed and I allowed it to put the kaibash on my swimming program. It never really got to where I wanted it from there that season.

Four years later, I'm feeling like my next iron distance will be the equivalent of getting my degree. I've gained great wisdom and experience, but I'm still not an expert. Since I've made all the mistakes of overtraining, undertraining, not training, training injured, allowing injuries to interfere unnecessarily with training, following a plan too closely, ignoring the plan, I think I'm ready to make new and original mistakes.

I've done something I haven't done before, which is to fully embrace the swimming pool. I have my flippers, paddles and new goggles and I've already signed up for 6 weeks of lessons. I believe I have the potential to be among the first people out of the water and even though it can be annoying to get passed on the bike, it's fun to get out of the water and see all those bikes sitting at the racks as I jog out of the transition.

Goggles have been problematic recently. As for many people, I struggle with comfort and leakage. I had pretty good luck with Aqua Sphere, but the pair I had eventually wore out and I was never thrilled with them. I tried another Aqua Sphere goggle, the Seal XP, which has a wider covereage on the face that I thought would solve both leaking and comfort, but as it turned out, vision was a problem, they weren't more comfortable and leaked on the edges.

I'm going with another Aqua sphere goggle with a big lense and I'm also going to try the Swedish goggles as well. I had a friend try to convince me to use these when I first started out, and they were just too weird for me at the time. I'm going to try them again this season (I actually never got past putting them together) as the person at the swim store swore by them.

An Addition to the Lexicon

2008-11-16T11:34:00.000-08:00

In high school I had a friend who had his own window washing business. On one particular job, he started working on a window and noticed a spot which wouldn't come off. So he took out his razor blade scraper and really started giving that window a good cleaning. In short order, the owner of the house walked in and shrieked, "What are you doing?! That tinting cost me $300 to be installed!" Needless to say, he collected his cleaning gear as quickly as possible and had the wisdom to leave without pay.

Recently, I was having a problem with a wheel whose spokes kept breaking. I got a factory replacement. While trying to put the tire on, I went through four tubes, each would undramatically fizzle after I had filled them up. Naturally, I blamed the wheel. Another defective wheel, I began to think. Or my tire changing technique was out of whack, so on the final time, with especial care, I put the tire on, pumped it up and said to my wife triumpantly, "Let's go for a ride today!" Fizzzzzzzz.

I took the tire off once again and looked very closely at the tube. There were little, round indentations, so I looked at the wheel and it hit me: That strip around the rim was not some sort of packaging or shipping protection, that actually served a purpose.

I got on one of the trusty internets and soon discovered that this indispensable piece of flotsam is called a rim strip. The good news is they appear to be only a few dollars.

And I once again reinforced the fact that my mechanical ineptitude knows no bounds. I find solace knowing that I won't make that mistake again. That was a fairly inexpensive blunder.

Now, to avoid wracking my private parts, I think I'll saw off the top tube of my bike. That doesn't seem to serve much purpose.

The List Is Up/I'm Not A Politician, I Don't Have To Be Consistent

2008-11-02T15:34:00.000-08:00

I searched and found a number of non-iron ironman races and have listed them for your convenience. They've created the only reason to visit Oklahoma, which is something.

Now that I've sobered up a bit, I'm hedging on the New Zealand Ironman, simply for financial reasons. I wish it were something romantic, like I lost all I had in the stock market. But when you're looking at $2400 just to fly me and my love to the race, that's some serious dough. But maybe I could do two podunk iron distance triathlons in the states for the one in New Zealand. Plus a non-triathlon vacation for that matter. I'll keep it on the back burner, but it seems entirely unrealistic given my retirement plans in twenty years.

I'm taking a pretty close look at the one in Nevada. I like the time of year because once the taper hits, the lousy weather starts settling in and I'll be ready to get a reprise of summer. The course sounds tough, but Grand Coulee was no picnic, and Coeur d'Alene either.

This week I start back to some training after over a month off. I just got my wheel back yesterday and it's time to start filling some of this extravagant laying around time with work in the gym and some bike rides when the pavement is dry. I still have some time before I need to start thinking about race training, so some simple swim workouts, easy runs and weights will get me into enough fitness to be ready to hit the ground running when I start getting 4-6 months out from the next iron distance race, whatever that might be.

Non-Ironman Ironman

2008-10-10T15:42:00.001-07:00

For a time on this blog I fastidiously avoided using the term Ironman, because that is a brand. It's very tedious doing that and when you look at the history of this race, you realize that a couple of dudes, 80's sports hipsters, threw three events together and created a new sport. You can find the history of this many other places. Then someone, maybe them, branded it. Good for them. Make some money, whatever.

But a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26 mile run is an ironman. Period. It's a good thing the city of Marathon, Greece didn't brand the term "marathon" or we'd all be going around calling the same race different things to avoid copyright infringement. Pretty lame.

So I'd really like to collect a list of all the non-ironman ironman races, because a simple google search didn't get me what I was looking for. After messing around for a while, I know of the one in Vegas, there's one in Chesapeake Bay and there used to be one in Grand Coulee, but they dropped the (non) ironman event and now just have a half. Too bad about that, it was always my backup after doing it the second year it was held.

So that is the beginning of the list.