All This Talk of CX

Chequamegon is in the books.

Cyclocross is the thing to do, for sure. I will vow to spectate at a few races or more. But here is the current situation.

Work is changing. Oncall is happening. I've got the trainer setup. Temps are diving. Mind you, I'll be using the oncall excuse to ride inside. I love to ride outside when it's cold, but somehow don't dig it when the temps are falling. What can I say?

Running seems to be creeping into my schedule. I don't know what that means, but I'm all for it. Especially if it gets me through winter lighter vs any other weight.

There. That's the quick and dirty.

Coming Together

I said before, this year's goal is a picture of myself at the Chequamegon Fat Tire 40, thinner, faster, and fitter. I'm not sure if I said that picture included a new bike or not.

Well, a cheq cashed to the Fat tire folks.

My weight has had a slight, steady, even, negative slope.

I sent my prepay check to Prairie Peddler for one of those Swift frames.

And aside from this on-call week, I've been pounding the pavement pretty good. Last week marked about 8.5 hours of running or riding. It felt very reasonable.

I'm working hard at work. Sleeping good at sleep. And it's coming together. I hate to post success so early in the year. It's a journey. I'm happy just to be heading in the right direction. Feet, balance and focus don't fail me now!

I'm Not Going to Podcast

I was out for a slowish, longish, short run (10km) on Sunday. Out there on the trail, I had quite a few brilliant ideas for blog postings. This may come as a big shock to regular readers, but it is true. Waves of in bound subscriptions to my FREE bl0g might have caused who knows what kind of massive flapping in the route tables of the Internet.

Alas, we will not be subjected to such writing. My brilliance only endures the run. Once I return home, there is other work to be done.

It occurs to me I could start a podcast where I run and say my ideas. But that is being and has been done. No one needs a windy, heavy breathing, eleven minute mile "podcast" added to the already good selection.

There you have it. I'm not going to do it. Now what the heck were those ideas?

I Got Brand New Shoes, Now I Run Like Someone Else

OK, I don't run that much different than I did two days ago. I just felt a need to play on a semi obscure Van Halen lyric.

It's worth noting that two days ago, I was having trouble running four miles without needing to hire a masseuse afterward (or at least wanting one). Yet today I cranked up Operation Mindcrime and ran a few miles (7.12 according to gmap-pedometer) in my brand new shoes.

Now here's the thing. I blame the new shoes. I started out slightly to very tight. A few miles in, I was relaxing slightly, but I figured the whole run would be a bit of a chore. Yet the last two or a bit more miles, I felt very strong. Maybe those last couple tunes really had me going. Maybe it was seeing two Cafe Hollander team riders out braving the night on their bikes. Those last couple miles of my first longer run, I usually just want to be home. But not today. Today I felt strong. I wanted more.

Here is where I recall back to the last time I ran early season, wanted more, and took it. I spent much time recouping the injury after that. This time, I headed home and replenished the carbs. I'll be out there next time getting more.

Just in case you're a running newbie or happened to forget (again, like me), new shoes rule.

Trust Your Feelings

Come (go?) to the dark side.

Any of you trail riders who are starting to think your biking needs a swim and a run added might take a look here.

Look, I know WORS has their stuff together for a reasonable price. And, it's tough to want to out of state. I'm just sayin' here it is. If you click, you click.

This Is Not a Week in Review

Looking back my training logs say I put in over 6 hours. Not bad considering I don't feel like I'm in the swing of things yet.

And I managed to evade the paparazzi on the weekend ride. Awful nice of R. Tools to call "waiting on JWM" "taking a break for smart talk". Thanks guys.

Shortly following the ride, I made an appearance at the multisport expo to pick up my schwag bag for Tri Wisconsin. I think I threw a few tri-heads for a loop in my sweats/parka/brown hat combo. I don't want to tip anyone off that I'm already down 1/2 a stone for the season. I'm finally posting a loss in the weight column again.

10km is going to be my long run for a bit yet. It's plenty for now.

Other than that, when I'm not studying, I'm studying. Time for bed. Rollers don't roll themselves on Monday mornings.

Situational Conditioning

I've got a test coming up. I want to get re-certified.

I don't fully appreciate many of the certifications in my line of work, but this one was a challenge. The list of certified professionals is relatively short. I was an early adopter. And I felt it was worth keeping.

It's been some time since I've had to study in any capacity. There is the hitch. Now, I have seen some commercials about "the new learning" and all. New learning, indeed.

I have received mp3's of my material. It's Unix security related. So, my headphones are spitting out about 40 hours of Unix threats from the past 25 years. All the while I'm gasping and choking on 15F degree air. I've done some wacky things, but listening to "how to hack and protect computers" while running is most definitely different.

So, will I need to get a treadmill for the test?

I like it. Maybe I should swap this for the TV while doing rollers.

First Fixed Roller Ride

Yesterday, I was a bit tentative about hooking up the ol' Milwaukee fixed gear to my rollers and seeing what happens. I even considered the likelihood that video could make me famous on youtube.

Alas, such was not to be. It was a smooth, comfortable, uneventful ride.

One thing for future first time subscribers to the fixed roller rides. Note the difference on the rollers. When you stop pedaling, everything stops. This is wildly different than the road, where you are reminded immediately you may not stop pedaling.

It's -1 F, I'm considering a run outside. Better go.

Stuffed

I started the morning giving myself hope for my cadence. I did rollers workout #1 again. I may do it yet one more time in the name of "one hour on rollers". Then I'll see what happens when I build into the plan.

Turkey, potatoes, several cran-* dishes and rolls. That was some good eats. Then pie. Tomorrow, I may have to crank up the iPod extra loud to drown out the blubbering on my run.

I hope everyone else had as good of Thanksgiving as I did.

Pre-Turkey Day Burn

I don't really want to be a "workout blogger". Having not posted in some time, I should update from the "Life" post. I did have a fortnight totally off of workouts due to fatigue and illness. I hopped back on when I was sure I was ready. The first roller workout was pretty steady compared to starting up last month. And here I am this week...

Sunday, two hours on the single speed outside in 40 degrees. Someone remind me to put it back to fixed so I can work the cadence. I felt I could push the low end but topped out quick.

Monday, gasp! I ran. I had to crank up the nano something fierce to drowned out the sound of my pleas and wailing.

Today, I'm really happy with today's workout. Sixty minutes on rollers doing Ron Rogers interval workout #1. First time I ever attempted these on rollers. I have some feed back for how to improve getting it done next time.. but basically I'm on my way.

The current go forward plan will be: Run M/W/F. Interval program T/R. And a nice outdoor ride on the weekend. As for swimming, I have to remember to cancel my membership before I'm stuck swimming another year.

While I'm at it, IT security stuff has been buggin' me more lately.. Tip of the day, "Turn off autorun". Especially if you take your thumb drive and/or memory stick to photo kiosks.

See you out there.

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.

Catching Back up Since Fat Tire

I'm signed up for this marathon. I talked my wife and brother-in-law into it. My neighbors are doing it. It's a party. Hard to argue with that kind of fun.

Now, recall for a minute that I have been doing last minute cramming for some mountain bike race that was last Saturday.

When I singed up for all this, "everything looked so easy after the Ironman" (in the tone of Smitty talking about the K2 in Better Off Dead). Yet, here I am having not run a lick in what seems like weeks (OK, is weeks and seems like months). I guess a marathon three weeks after fat tire 40 is harder than it looks. Or it'd be more fair to say, more than I could commit to in this carefree post-ironman training year.

I'm hearing a good bit of, "but JWM you can muster up and do this." Which, of course, I can. The question is, at what price? Never mind that I'm just digging biking right now.

Add to this, I'm sure I have some kind of virus since fat tire. No not the psychosomatic kind. The sinus infection, sore muscle kind. I've also been dropping weight like no tomorrow this week. My guess is not from the virus, but a decompression from my week of "free, good food in Chicago" otherwise known as "how much weight can JWM gain in five days?"

(insert JWM weight tip of the week.. oatmeal for breakfast. oatmeal for lunch (not cause you like oatmeal, but it's laying around work and you're out of pocket cash), then a "reasonable" dinner) By Wednesday you're pretty ready for some Oakland Gyros or other protein infused meal.

I told my loyal fans and now you, if I drop silly weight without getting sick by the marathon then I'm in. If I have to kill 200+ lbs on my knees then I'm thinking "see you at the cyclocross races." One "loyal fan" has already promised me a list of runner's maladies which can only be cured by cycling.

Pretty well caught up.. I didn't mention oncall at work, because it's been pretty good so far. Minus the page I was working on a few minutes ago.

SoRT 2008 Race Report

Gearing up for this race I was relaxed, but I didn't hold much hope in the PR I claimed to want back in January. My "on" weeks have been good. My "off" weeks have been plenty. And the two weeks prior to the race, I was choosing mostly sleep over workouts. This left a big gap after two good, hard weeks.

Having not done much in two weeks, I relied on the fact that I have done this race every year and just know it. I saw zero evidence of any speed in the workouts I had done. I was concerned about a bust year. As a result, the end goal was "to just have fun".

On the good side, I think I know what I'm doing in transition now. I'm completely relaxed and handle setup from a semi minimalist perspective. I had bags in case it rained, but got rid of them last minute as it appeared to be clearing up. I was calm entirely up to the gun.

During setup everyone was talking about the water temperature. It was reported at 55F (official USAT reading in three spots). That's "numb your feet" cold, folks. Looking out at the lake, I wondered "am I the only one who sees the fog and not the lake?" Shortly after, they announced a rolling delay in the race. Long story short, it was pushed from 7am to 8am to wait for the fog to clear.

About 7:00, I headed down the beach to the start. I got in the water to get acclimated a few times. Yep, it was cold. Though, I discussed with another entrant, "It's going to be a good day."

At 8:15 the horn for my wave goes off. I hit my watch. We were out of there.

It was cold getting in. It was cold on the hands and face. I'm not sure it was worth all the whining I heard. But it's fun to be miserable about something. I'm not small. If I was smaller, maybe it would have felt a lot colder.

I lost count of buoys and wasn't sure how many there were in the first place. The next thing I knew I was going for that final yellow buoy. Whoops, there is another yellow one to go way around out in the lake. I wasn't too far in before I noticed this. A few minutes later I was walking the sandbar and pulling off my stuff. Getting out of the water I glanced at my watch. I see "about 40 minutes" and smile, then I realize the swim was probably short.

Nothing eventful in transition. I'll have to wait for official results. I'll guess "about 2-3 minutes". Maybe 7.

Out on the bike, I took it stupid slow for a while. In the past, I have done this with some success. I break the bike into thirds and follow a slow, medium, harder strategy. And it's much nicer to be passing folks at the end of the bike. I didn't really follow a rigid eating strategy on the bike, and this may have contributed to my pace on the run.

I kept an eye on my likelihood to break three hours. My bladder and my "PR" were fighting each other. Finally at mile 45, I figured it would be a shame to lose on both accounts. I stopped at the aid station. Some guy went by me on the right, just before I went to turn in. He apologized and I was happy to narrowly miss a crash. Right after that I pulled up to the port-o-let and promptly set my foot down on what must have been ice. Next thing I knew I was picking me and my bike up. No big deal, but I don't want to be "one of those guys". Too late. I have a small knee road rash to prove it.

The last miles of the bike are nice and smooth, mostly downhill, and one of the more fun parts of the race. I cruised in somewhere around 3:05 - 3:10.

T2 was also uneventful. Grabbed my shoes, shirt, race number and took off. Hopefully I PR'd that one.

The run. Who turned up the temperature. I think it was warm, but I was overheating. The first loop I broke it down and it didn't even seem that long. That second loop I was falling apart. I was really over heating. My knee started complaining about mile 8-9. In lieu of tweaking it further I opted for more walking than I want to admit. I never completely gave up on running, but my run/walk ratio went way down.

The whole family was waiting down by the lake to see me run in. They are real troopers.

After I finished, I hobbled back to them to tell them I was going to eat. I was very hungry.

I grabbed a few sandwiches, some fruit, beans (the beans guy loaded me up like he was afraid he was going to have leftovers), and a soda pop. Sitting down to eat, I ended up chatting with Ron Ottaway, the reigning world champion at Ironman Hawaii in the 70-74 division. It sounded like he put down a 5:3x at Racine. Wow.

All in all a great day.

Post-OP. I am more sore than I thought I would be.

Last Minute Prep (aka First tri since September)

I figured out sleeveless was the way to go last year at IronMan. Sunday's water is going to be somewhat chillier (last hear 56F). So where exactly did I put my full sleeved wetsuit?

Otherwise I'm pretty much set for Sunday morning. Goals you say? My current favorite goal is to nail the transition time. I would have a sub-3 bike goal, but I'm really not feeling it. As always, my goal is to put my toes in the sand, wait for the gun to go off, and have fun.

Who knows, if I start to dig on mountain biking this could be my last tri for a while. I commit to nothing on this though.

Dazed

Ten hours 2 weeks ago.

Twelve hours last week.

Work has been hectic. Workouts are going well. I'm behind for the season, but it's all fine.

Swim this AM. Run this PM.

Mid-run. I wasn't feeling it. Shins were tight. Pace was slow. I was breathing too hard. The sky was looming. I had a dog walk to put in yet. I cashed it. It's no time to play hero and wear myself out.

Got the dog walked in lightning and rain. T-storms are a comin'.

I call myself lucky to call a two mile run and a dog walk a bad evening.

Great Week Part II

Well, I put on another 10 miles of run. I'm not sure it's good to double your weekly run milage in one day. I went slow and my knee felt fine. I'm a bit late to be where I am in the season, but I'm very happy to be here none the less.

Thanks to the latest Podrunner podcast "Run in the Sun" for helping out.

Week's totals review: 1.5 miles or so, 90 miles or so, 20 miles or so.. 10 hours or so.

Now, where's my mountain bike?

What a Great Week

Taking right off from the momentum of the WORS race at Suamico, I had a great week. Man, I really felt good after Suamico. I put in some good miles and good hours this week. I think I even managed a perfect LSD bike today, though only 2:40 in duration. I got home hit the rainbox. Then we were all off to the boy's tee ball game.

If everyone is good maybe we will see Wall-E later.

Numbers: ~8 hours, 2500 yards, 81 miles, 10 miles. Unless I squeeze in a long slow run in the morning.

See you out there.

Me-Me-Me Meme?

I got tagged.

Rules:

See bottom of post.

If you’re tagged, you will find your name at the end of this post. You should then copy the rules (or your version of them), and the set of questions onto your blog post, provide your own answers, and then tag 5 new people.

Just to be sure that everyone tagged knows they have been invited to play, go to their blogs and leave them a special comment letting them know, and refer them to your blog for details.

Once the chosen have answered the questions on their own blog, they should come back to yours to tell you.

1. How would you describe your running 10 years ago?
Following my wife around on 40 minutes runs to and from the lake. Interspersed with in-line skating, bicycling, and just plain whatever. Those were the days. Get up in the morning. How about a 5 mile skate around the lake. Let's eat. How about a run? Want to walk downtown to a nice restaurant? It was like Ironman dating.

2. What is your best and worst run/race experience?

Worst : A bad day of racing, it's still better than.... Racine 1/2 in 2005. It was the first hot day of the year. I was used to training in 60's/70's with shorts and not to much heat. By the end of race day, we were looking at 99-102 depending on the thermometer you were looking at. When my wife and kids were heading toward the lake and I was in T2, it was a close one. But I carried on to the run. If it hadn't been for a many residents with hoses, I'm not sure I would have made it.

Best : Hard to pick just one. But my run at devil's lake sprint tri. I squeaked under 9's/mile and finished with nothing left. Quite memorable.

3. Why do you run?

What day is it? To offset Kopps intake. To free myself. For meditation. To de-stress. And any other myriad of reasons.

4. What is the best or worst piece of advice you've been given about running?

Best: Run frequently.

Worst: Something about Guatemalan Insanity Peppers, I can't remember.

5. Tell us something surprising about yourself that not many people would know.

My brother and I set off a pink smoke bomb in my Mom's yellow Le Car when we were kids. Driving home there was still pink smoke coming out from under the front hood. We were safety minded kids that thought the ashtray was a good place for fire. Pink smoke billowing out of a parked car on hwy 20 isn't something one soon forgets.


Tagging

I'm not a big tagger type. If you want to be tagged, you are tagged. Comment here and let me know. If you don't want to be tagged, then I ended the great pyramid scheme meme right here. Up to you.

Ouch!

I thought I really needed that run. (I did)
I didn't need it in the sense of making numbers.
I didn't have to go 8 miles.
I didn't have to push the pace.
I didn't have to really do anything but run.

When it all started, I figured I'd run 4-10 miles.
I thought maybe 10 if I just felt it.
I thought maybe 4 if I didn't.
Once I started, I paced myself as if I was betting on less than 6. Maybe much less.

Things got tight. Nothing was too out of hand.
I just kept doing little extra loops, avoiding going home.
I just kept adding on, before taking that final direct route home.
I wasn't avoiding home, I just felt the run.

It's probably harder or longer than I should have run, but not both.

Everything was cool. Until I walked. Ouch. My knee has a new pain.

Maybe it's as simple as reading too many fast Madison race reports. I hope I'm not that vain. But certainly the Garmin does not lie.

My run, I'll take it. See you out there.

Brrrr-ick

I got in a short windy bike followed by a 4 mile run yesterday. All before the temps dropped to "cold". It was quite windy, and toasty out there. It was my first brick(bike-run workout) in some time.

I'm happy to report, I still think I run better off the bike. Unfortunately, I still think 75 degrees is HOT for running.

See you all out there.