Small Victories

I took the day off yesterday. I was cashed. I slept in unintentionally. I tossed the wee ones into their classroom and headed off to work.

Today was another thirty minutes on the rollers. It was "nice". I need to hook up that crusty old cadence-o-meter if I'm going to do Ron's Interval Workouts on it.

Today, once I got going, I was feeling pretty sturdy. Sure I had the errant 2-4" waggle on my rollers. So, I watched some TV. Turns out TV kinda sucks, and I'm not good enough to watch movies yet. So onto other "wins". I went for the water bottle. I got it to my mouth and had to grab the bar. Undeterred. I did it again and got a decent drink while riding.

Yes, it's a tiny victory. But it's also a new personal best.

Will it help me while I'm seeing stars at Estabrook?? Doubtful.

Bring On The Pain!!!

OH! No! Wait! Did I ask for the pain???

Yep. In the form of Halloween CX race.

How hard could a little ole 30 minute, cat4 race be after a season with a 70.3 mile triathlon, 40 mile mountain bike race and a marathon? These questions can only be answered about ten minutes into said race when you're just trying to hang on to the wheel of "Mr. Third to last". Maybe I wasn't fit enough going in, but I never felt like tossing my cookies.

As per usual, I saw a guy behind me early on. He must have dropped from the race when he noticed he couldn't even stay ahead of "that guy" (me).

I held off 2nd place (a.k.a. getting lapped) until I crossed into lap 3. After that it was all over. I'm sure I felt like I was running and look like I was walking any of the hills/obstacles/tall grass.

As for the coffin jump.. It went down like this. I swore to myself I'd give it a go. I was seeing spots on lap one and just wimped on it. Lap 2, they gave me a by, due to construction. By lap three, it was on fire.. My words were something like "Oh NO Way!". I'll have to practice for next year.

I stand by the fact that it's good, clean (more or less), laugh out loud, bike racin' fun! If you haven't tried it, at least go watch the craziness.

Kick the Tires and Light the Fires

I got my 38 tooth, rocket chain ring back on the Milwaukee Orange One.. (rockets are fast)

I reinstalled the Cross Blaster tires.

I put the wheel singlespeed cog on the drivetrain side.

The chain is lubed.

Who's up for Halloween CX? Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

Consistent and Repeatable

Day 14. Short in the context of a month, year or lifetime. But this is day 14 of consistent workouts. Of them, 13 involve bike riding. There is one run, and core workouts to fill it in.

I'm so lucky.

What's Right? (and other random updates)

There is knowing what's right. Then there is doing what's right.

What's right? Consistent, repeatable training stresses. Once I have that we can talk about building.

What I do every year? Add in random acts of on-call, sick, vacation, and various other excuses. I know it is by far my largest limiter. So I'm starting early and easy.

This year I'm starting early. I've got the rollers already setup and I'm doing 30 minutes per day without excuse (unless I ride outside).

I'm looking forward to Ron's Winter Interval program. I've been recklessly eyeballing it for some time now. I have never attempted it on rollers. I'll need to hook up a large view timer, and a big cue sheet. And I'll have to put a cadence-o-meter on my road/roller bike.

Tonight I threw in my first run post LF Marathon. It went fine. I took it easy. My knee is still there, but no real pain.

I'm four workouts into my favorite core workouts.

Also, Zentri has been talking about focusing on one sport and how great that is. I'm all in (at least that's the plan). Minus the fact that he's running and I'm biking. Maybe once we hit the "who cares what the ***** windchill is! it's cold" weather, we can talk about a run focus.

And I'm sending my good vibes to the fat cyclist and his family this week. I missed my chance to pre-order, but I'm watching out for one of these.

And finally, I'm coming out of hiding for the annual Halloween CX race. Riding or hiding? I can nearly guarantee that if you race cat4, you won't be last. (at Estabrook, I'll have my sights on 2-5th to last).

Happy Halloween

A.K.A. Fun with GIMP.

Just Ride

I did some exploring (trail riding) out at Muir today.

Looks like they're doing some logging out there.

A quick stop. Here is where I came from.

Here is where I'm going.

Get out there while you still can. It was a beautiful day!

All in all, I hit a blue loop and a green loop.. I took the blue loop like I had two kids and not enough insurance. I started the green loop like I had some insurance and did pretty well. About 15 miles in, I ran out of gas. Mucho fun the whole way!

If I can shake that "getting feet wet" first 6-10 miles, and not run out of gas at mile 15, I'll be rockin'!

Rollin' Again

I went back and read my prayers from before LFM. Last night, I got my bike and rollers all ready to go. This morning I managed a mere 25 minutes. My knee is still ginger. Clipping my left foot out is quite painful.

On the plus side, this is my first roller ride of the post season. I managed to do a one-handed sweat wipe several times. I've got my forearm lean on the treadmill down already. In a week or so, maybe I will be able to drink while riding. I don't dare put a time on being able to watch TV while riding.

As of today, I don't see CX or WORS shevegas happening this weekend. But as always, my favorite things about these races are the ability to make a game day call. (now that I look CX is next weekend). No excuses.

Salvation

I did what I said I would. Now I will think twice on signing up and not training for a marathon.

Notes about my "if you only get me through this I will shape up really" thoughts before the race. (before I forget):

• I want to run 2-3 times per week. One 90 minute run, to keep me honest. Later build to a tempo run too.
• I want to bike 3-7 times per week. As much as I enjoy riding outdoors, I will setup the rollers and ride them tons this winter. You can't argue with the time it takes to dress for indoor riding.
• Swimming is for suckers. (not really, but I want to back off so I can really focus on biking).

With that out of the way, here's how it went yesterday.

Got up at 5:30. Made my self a double espresso with a bit of milk, oatmeal with some organic brown sugar (it's what we had, I'm not claiming the high road). I did some dishes so the dogs wouldn't do them while we were gone. Hit the rain box, and got dressed.

I chose to over dress. I wore some Pearl Izumi tights that seem to hold my legs together a bit more than normal (I had contemplated the CX compression tights at the expo, but the CFO gave me the "eye of disapproval". Never mind that she was right.) Then I used my crucible tri shirt under another Mizuno long sleeve, half-zip, super wicking top. Between the two, I had two pockets. Livestrong socks and Saucony Hurricane 10 shoes, if you must know.

We (T, Pete and I), headed down to the lake around 6:20 am. We caught a bus up to the start in Grafton. Our bus driver was a lead-foot, so we passed a good three buses on the way up. I noted it would be the only time that day I'd pass 100 people so easily.

At the start, I ran into many others that I knew. The neighbors, my coworker, TriWisconsin peeps and many others were everywhere I went. It was nice to see familiar faces.

...

The singing of the anthem is always a great reminder of how lucky we are to be running/walking/limping/participating.

...

Gun goes off. There we go.

Aside from the usual race start stuff.. I had to convince my wife and bro-in-law not to wait for me. I would have gone too fast if they stuck around.

I started a bit tight. Otherwise the run went really well. I planned a 9:30/:30 run/walk. The first two miles I couldn't convince myself to walk. By three miles I figured if I didn't start now it would get tougher later. I felt great. I ended up running near Linda from Oconomowoc for a while. Her husband had a video camera, and we passed her supporters a shocking number of times.

I stayed slow and steady. At the half way point, I was pretty much dead on 2:30. With no training, a 5:00 marathon would be superb. One minor problem, around mile 11 my knee started a small twinge. I stayed upright. I kept my form even. I held off the inevitable as long as I could. Then about mile 15.5, I stopped to stretch it out. After that I couldn't forcibly bend my knee. I was stuck walking the rest. I couldn't complain on no training, but I was frustrated that I felt so good and just couldn't bend my knee.

I sent Linda on to her finish. Before I knew it I was walking with Joe. He had been pushing for a 4:45 BQ and had some severe leg cramping very early in his race. He was a great pacer and I'll wish him luck in the softball tourneys in Phoenix in two weeks. He had superb support also, but they didn't show until mile 24.5.

That last mile in LFM is killer. There is tons of winding around. I had no idea that I couldn't manage a curb until I hit Bradford Beach. The grass was also suprisingly tough. T and Pete were waiting at the end. They were in about 4:30 and did great. Good thing they had a change of clothes with them, because I had the car keys. I grabbed some quick food, then we all hobbled back to the car.

Yep. I'm going to be sore for a few days. I'll spend the time greasing my rollers. I heard winter was coming.

Dinner was at Hector's. I didn't short on the taquitos, BBQ chicken burritos, or the tequila.

Some Days

Some days you rush out the door and end up with a Newfie on your table.