It arrived!

Once upon a time, Missy ran a contest on her blog, with the winners announced here. These are worth reading just for the pictures.

Lot's o'stuff. I already tried the Grab the Gold snack bar, since I was just finishing lunch when the Canada Post truck arrived. Very yummy. The Swiftwick socks fit, and feel great. They fell over just as I was taking the pic so it's hard to read the label. (Though Missy, re: your comment about sending a pair of unworn socks, there are some people who appear to make a living by selling previously worn garments. I know, ew. But just in case your education was lacking, or you were looking for alternative career opportunities.) The coffee mug is huge; I've seen smaller fruit cups and cereal bowls. One can never have too many water bottles. Lots of stickers and magnets. Two swim caps, neon pink, from Missy's Master's swim club. And lastly, two bright pink T shirts. Sort of a purply pink T shirts. I'll have to think about these, since they don't even come close to fitting me.

So a big thank you to Missy for running the contest and sending the stuff! Go read her blog, you'll enjoy it.

A nice day, at last!

There was a large bright thing in the sky this morning. It was warm out. Amazing!

Swam a half hour. Warmed up, did some 50m and 100m sprints. Pulled hard. My arms felt pretty good, and I could feel the water actually moving past me. Sort of. Still not as fast or as strong as I'd like to be, but at least my arms are feeling rested.

A bit later I did some joint mobility stuff and some light stretching. Started walked, then running slowly. It took a while to feel warmed up, and even then I stopped to stretch more. Ran 10 minutes fairly hard, in fact, it was pretty darn hard. For a while in the middle I thought I'd gone out too hard, but kept pushing. My reward is that in that 10 min, both google maps and mapmyrun say I ran 2 K. Now if only I could keep that pace for more than 10 minutes! Even so, it still wasn't a smooth dialed in stride.

I was supposed to do some short all out sprints, but when I started into the first one I got a very unhappy feeling pull in my achilles and heel even before I got fully up to speed. I backed off a bit, then pushed some more being careful about stride, but it still hurt. Ran easy to cool down and this was not smooth at all. 30 minutes total. Walked some some to help stretch it out, and stretched more when I got home.

Last year about this time I was still recovering from Chinook, and wasn't sure if I was up for the Canmore race. This year I'm feeling rested, relaxed, and I've got a plan for the day. It's going to be another training day, just doing all three things. No watch. No heart rate monitor. My feelings and the official times are going to be good enough. I want to have fun and enjoy the day.

A 45 min ride is weirdly short now

It wasn't so long ago that 45 min on the bike nearly killed me; my ass was about to march up my back and kick my brain. My legs were ready to hand in their resignation notice, and my hands would be long since numb.

It's been raining here, and that means it's cold. It rained hard yesterday, pretty well all day. There was spots of rain off an on today. By this evening it still wasn't warm, but at least the roads had dried up. I figured go anyway. Dressed up a bit, and headed out for some race pace and spin work.

Churned around the neighbourhood, which was far more exciting that it really needed to be. One driver backed out of his driveway, then saw me coming along. He didn't really pay attention, but then I could see his eyes figure out how fast I was going. He didn't know whether to finish backing out, or go back into his driveway. Abort, retry, panic. He settled for freezing, which at least I could cope with. In the end I rode around him. I nearly ran over a human being walked by a dog. The dog was paying attention, but the human just walked out on the street without looking. I think he couldn't hear a car so assumed it was ok. Idiot. I was thinking of yelling when I got to perihelion, just to see if I could make him wet his pants, but I didn't. I was working too hard. I'm not sure he ever noticed me, since he was turning the other way as I passed. Maybe I should have yelled.

In between all the obstacles I warmed up, did 10 min at race pace, some easy spin, then two 5 minute sessions essentially all out. Easy spin to cool down. 50 min total. Stretched after. Legs feel pretty good. Forecast for Sat in Canmore is good, which is meaningless at this point. I don't know why I looked.

I'll have the grease wheel, please

That was after I'd ordered the Guinness. Did I never tell you that our book club usually meets in a pub? And seriously, one of the entrees is called the grease wheel. It's actually a pretty good burger with bacon, mushrooms, lettuce, tomato, and isn't particularly greasy at all.

I felt no guilt, since in fact I had worked out before the meeting. Rode 25 K taking just a hair under an hour, nice and easy, spinning well. There were a bunch of times I got in the groove, relaxed, and let my legs do their thing. They were going so well, and it was such a nice day I almost regret not having loaded up on nutrition and gone for a much longer ride.

I wanted to try the same workout as earlier this week, ride then run, but this time ride a bit longer. Like last time, I set water bottles in the shade, and took Clif shots with me. I've discovered the flavour of the chocolate is good, but it's much thicker, and takes more work to get out of the package, and more work to swallow it. After a 2 minute transition the run started. Same idea, run 15 K in 3 laps, with the first two easy and relaxed, and the last the fastest.

It took a little longer than normal to get into the groove. My pace for the first lap was quite unsteady, and I was almost tripping over the tilted sidewalk slabs during one section. I don't really attribute that to having been on the bike, particularly. There's days it just takes that long to find the groove.

The second lap felt much easier than the first. I got into a nice groove, my legs relaxed, and my breathing relaxed to the point where I felt I could not only keep up my end of the conversation, but give a speech. I was getting tired towards the end though.

I didn't think the last lap would set any speed records, but I tried to run smooth and lightly. By now it was getting hot. As planned it was the fastest, so I'm pleased about that. My legs were heavy and tired and my stride was getting a bit sloppy, so it took a bit of encouraging to keep them going. Well, except for one point. about the 3/4 point I found myself running really well, really strongly, breathing well, good stride, covering ground like there was no tomorrow. I wish I could do that more often. Of course, as soon as I noticed and started thinking about it, the stride fell apart.

Here's the times for the laps.
1 35:54
2 36:37 (I'm pleased the first two are much more consistent than they were earlier in the week.)
3 31:38 (total 1:44:10)

Not as fast as last time, but that's sort of what I expected given there was more bike up front. This has been a lot of running for me this week, so most of the running I wanted to be easy and natural. It was really important for me that the first two hours of the workout were to set up the last half hour, and worked hard mentally trying to stay strong and focussed. Walked and stretched after. Need to stretch more, my calves feel a bit tight now.

Weekly Summary
Swim 1.75 hrs
bike 3.5 hrs (bike is down from missing Tuesday's ride)
Run 5.0 hrs
Total 10.25

Road to Nepal <2 hrs!

I LOVE the Road to Nepal! It's such a sweet ride. Great views, great hills, perfect pavement, very little traffic, and the wind usually cooperates to make the ride harder as a training aid. What more could you want? According this bike computer it's exactly 51 K from my driveway to 549 and back. I think of it as my calibration track.

It's all hills, all the time. The flat level spots can be measured in a small number of meters. I can't go any faster downhill, since I spin out of my gears about 65 Kph. The only way to be faster is to go up the hills faster. We all know what that means.

The first time I rode it, March 23, 2008, it damn near killed me and took 2:40. That link includes a map so you know where I'm talking about. Somewhere along the way I formed the goal of getting down and back in less than 2 hours, requiring an average speed of a hair over 25 Kph. On a very hilly course.

Even before I got on the bike, just puttering around with breakfast, I knew I was going to have a good ride today. When I started I felt strong and smooth. I decided to push hard to see if I could get under my goal, and at the same time nibble Clif's bars to see what solids to to me when I'm working hard, on a hot day. (For Calgary, peeps.) Took two bars, and ate 1.3 of them.

I caught the lights out of the neighbourhood for the left turn, and passed a pickup pulling a trailer. That was a weird feeling. There was some wind, but not as bad as it's been lately. Normally I take it easy down 37 but pushed a bit harder today. Made it to 22X in just over 17 minutes. Good traffic, crossed over the highway and got tore in.

Estela was a champ as always. I GRRRRRRed up the hills. I sang parts of "Whatever Lola wants" to myself. I kept checking what gear I was in and if I could push a bigger one, or spin it up faster. I tried to save standing up till I was near the top of the hill so I could power over and onto the downhill. Even knowing where the top is, and some are very deceptive, I'm still needing to work on this. But I'm standing longer, long past the time I'd normally sit down again.

The Garmin's have a feature that compares your pace to a planned pace, or previous efforts on that course, and uses a little guy to show you how your doing. Feel free to correct me if I've got that wrong; I've never seen it. But I was mentally comparing myself to previous versions of myself riding this course. Thinking of them gradually losing ground behind me.

I got down to 549 in just over 1:04. I still didn't know if this was good enough to get back under my goal, even though coming back is faster. There's still some good hills. I put my head down, said Grrrrr and powered up the hills. I was an animal, trying to ride smooth and strong. I wanted to be up at the top of zone 3, breathing hard all the time.

On the way back, just south of 22X a pair of riders was heading south. I waved, said "great day for a ride!". She waved, and he recognized me to call out my name! I was astonished! That's the first time that's ever happened to me. I was frantically going through all the people it could be. Eventually, I landed on my neighbour Jim and his wife Susan, and sent them an email asking if in fact it was them.

I knew I was within range of my target when I got to 22X. I had no problem getting across, and I went very strong up 37 St, though I didn't catch the light where I have to turn left to head north. I had to stop for some cars. The little hill back into the neighbourhood usually slows me down, but I leaped on it like a big cat on it's prey, and I powered up it faster than ever before. I knew I was close, and didn't want to miss it by a a few seconds. I put my head down and pushed for the finish line over the last K or so.

1:59:32!!! Yeehaw!
25.6 Kph.

I went past the house, and cooled down with a short easy spin, so I can't totally trust the bike computer numbers. Stretched. My legs feel great! I feel great! hmmmm, now for my next goal....

reverse semi-brick

Today's brick was a run then swim. Long time readers might remember me parking under the 8th Ave bridge and running along the Nose Creek Path last year. Today was overcast and cool when I started, and it turned to rain about 20 minutes in. I ran all the way up to 32nd Ave and most of the way back, starting slow. The plan said to start slow, and after the run yesterday it was sort of a necessity, even after some walking. Ran easy for a half hour, then picked it up a bit, but there wasn't much there today. Ran to 50 minutes and walked another 5 to get back to the car. Stretched. Last year I could only get up to 32nd in a half hour by pushing really hard and just barely making it. Today was 27 minutes and change, running easy. I guess there has been some improvement.

From there it's a 5 minute drive tops to the pool. Does this still count as a brick? At first my arms were tired in a weird place. I was exploring the novelty of this, since it's the first time I've done my swim after a run. Did a nice 500 m warm up, fairly slow, then did some 50, 100, and 150 intervals. Some of these actually felt moderately fast, though to be honest I wasn't paying much attention to my times. Today a reasonably pretty stroke was moving at a reasonable pace, certainly faster than the other people in the pool. The guy in the next lane was doing all out 50 m sprints, or at least I think so. That's as far as he was going, with lots of splash and thrash and gasping, and without even trying I could pass him. Then a really slow swimmer joined my lane, and once she got the idea I was going to pass her even if she didn't get out of the way, life was good. Then some putz swimming head up crawl joined my lane. He was considerate at least, stopping at the ends to stay out of my way. Still that was enough for me, and I bailed after 45 minutes total, with another 15 core work. Plus some time in the hot tub. This one is really warm, with some good jets right at calf height. Of course, this same putz was in the locker right beside mine, with his stuff all over the entire bench. Sigh. I blame it on Stampede.

A nice reverse brick

I took photos of two holes yesterday, and I could post them if my adoring fans really wanted. Of course, a certain element of my fan base would be brutally disappointed to find out that they relate to a different kind of plumbing. One is about a 4 mm hole in a copper pipe, and the other is a much bigger hole in a concrete floor to get at the copper pipe. That all went really well. Breaking up the concrete was much less dusty than I thought it would be, and things were dry till we got right down to the leak. It turns out a chunk of gravel had wedged between the copper water supply pipe and the plastic drain. Over time it wore a small hole in the copper pipe. Everything is all put back together now, and the house is quiet again.

Today's workout involved a lot of thinking. The swim started ok, thinking about stroke. I got so involved in thinking about stroke that it took a while to realize I wasn't going anywhere. That pretty stroke was shite for getting me down the pool. So I went back to my somewhat sloppier stroke, put a bit of elbow grease into it, and picked up the pace. I ended up doing 1500 m in 30:30. Which is on the slow side for me, but I can feel the rust falling off. I haven't swum much since Chinook. My shoulders are feeling pretty good with it.

Once I got home I ate and chatted with a buddy for a while, getting ready for the rest of my workout. I wanted to get right at it since it was supposed to cloud over at noon, and start raining later. Sure enough, from a clear, cloudless sky at 10am, it got overcast and started raining at 1pm. It's about 2pm writing this and I can hear thunder. Gotta love Alberta weather.

My run has always been the weakest part of races. It's the sport I've done least since leaving high school. Learning to run again is hard. There's a real trick to balancing the required rest time with pushing hard enough to improve, but not so hard that you injure yourself. If you're big, like I am, there's also the element of trying to bring the weight down gradually, and yet not starve your body of the nutrients you have to have.

I occurred to me that I've done lots of bricks where I do a long bike ride, and a short run. I have been told that all you need to do is find your running legs and you're good to go for the race. Well, excuse me. I beg to differ. I'm still barely finding my running legs at the best of times, and my "running" is still very, very slow. When I look at my races, I can run for a while and then the wheels fall off. Nutrition is a part of that, and I was behind the 8 ball right from the start at Chinook. Even during the Police Half Marathon, I was on top of nutrition, and still slowed down a lot in the last several K. Part of this is mental; I need to train myself to keep going when it gets hard, and learn to work past fatigue.

So, I need to get better at running, especially running longer off the bike. That seems plain enough to me. Today I planned a short bike ride, about a half hour or so, just enough to get my legs warmed up, and take the freshness off them. Then I was going to run 15 K. I mapped out a nice 5K circuit through the neighbourhood, and then set up a little aid station in my front patio. At first I was going to get all carried away with a cooler, choice of iced drinks, cookies, bars, fruit, ect, all served by a bikini clad beauty, but then realized my neighbours would be over having a party. So really, the aid station was a bottle of water sitting in the shade. I brought some gels to suck on just before getting home at the end of each 5K. My plan was to run easy the first 10 K, then make the last 5 K the fastest.

The bike ride was fun. I didn't really pay attention to the numbers, but rode for a half hour and averaged about 27.5 Kph. Quick transition. It's still sunny and hot when I started.

5 K 33:13
It took maybe a K, or 1.5 K to find a nice pace. I wanted to go nice and easy, staying on top of my breathing. This is a very typical time for me. Still hot and sunny, but starting to cloud over.

10 K 35:32
During the second loop I was a bit more uneven in pacing. My legs wanted to run a bit faster, but I wanted to hold back and stay easy. My gait wasn't as smooth. Being nearly run over by someone backing out of their driveway, and having two people attack me with their lawnmowers was interesting. I wanted to be at the same time, or a little bit slower, and certainly not faster. My legs were getting tired, but I was deliberately not doing anything to encourage myself. I just ran as best I could. This lap includes both aid station stops, where I had some water while walking in a circle on my patio. Took a quick pee break on the second lap. Clouds building up, and it's starting to cool down, which was refreshing.

15 K 30:55 (total time 1:39:41)
I won't quite say I let'er rip here. I did pick up the pace, and my legs felt good for about the first 3/4 of the last loop. The pace felt good, and my legs were ok with it. I was breathing pretty hard, but I wasn't gasping or panting. Toward the end I was getting tired, and my feet weren't landing quite as certainly as they had been. I was beginning to scuff my heel a bit as I placed my foot on some steps. I was pulling out the mental tricks to keep going. One of the best was posture. There is lots of low branches over the sidewalks, and after playing dodge'em I started making an effort to make sure that my posture was good, and that my body lean was consistent from my ankles to my head. I was trying to keep my body relaxed, but the muscles at the base of my neck and across the shoulders were a bit tight throughout. Not sure what that has to do with running. The last several hundred meters I picked it up and brought it home. Fully clouded over and cooling off, with perfect timing.

My legs were pretty tired, but I was nowhere near puking. I certainly didn't want to go on at that same pace, but I'm not sure how much longer I could have gone on if I'd slowed down. This turns out to be almost exactly the pace I ran the Police half in, and there was no bike ride at the beginning of that. Next time, I'll make the bike a little longer and harder, then try the same run again, pushing harder on the last lap.