OK, I still don't have time to do this right, but against better judgment I'm doing it anyway. ASO versus the UCI. For starters, I have no connections to big-league cycling, and really don't know what I'm talking about. I just read stuff in the cycling "press," the same as most of you, and form my own misguided opinions. Then blog about it. I try to resist, because sports fans are among the most obnoxious creatures on Earth, which is why I try to focus on being a real sportsman rather than a fan, most of the time...
Why does McQuaid have so much time to talk to cyclingnews? Simple - he has nothing else to do. The UCI is irrelevant. Until a few years ago, it appears they did nothing at all, other than go along for the ride on the backs of the race promoters. Now they do drug testing, and we've all seen what a great job they do at that. Zero competence, and even less integrity. And don't talk about being cycling's connection to the Olympics. Olympic cycling? Please. They even screwed that up too, taking out the kilo and other marquis track events in a ploy for TV ratings. Beyond that, we all know Olympics are minor compared to races like the ones ASO puts on.
Which brings us to the heart of the matter. The ASO are race promoters. Now here's a place where I might be more qualified to comment. Think of them as your local bike race organizers. They took risks, they courted sponsors, they suffered through the lean years, and lo and behold, they built the biggest, most successful, best known bike race in the world. Did the UCI contribute anything? I doubt it. How much does the USCF contribute to our local promoters? Just a little. I'd propose the ASO et al succeeded in spite of the UCI rather than because of them. So there's the problem. They succeeded.
We all know what happens to successful promoters. While when promoters have problems and bad times, racers, fans, and sanctioning bodies alike are quick to abandon them and move on to someone more attractive, when promoters succeed, ahh, that's when the fun really starts. They start getting called greedy, and everyone has their ideas about what they're doing wrong. The ASO was enormously successful, so much so that they started buying up all the other big races, and making those better too. The UCI started to realize that since it was adding practically zero value to the sport, the UCI could easily be replaced. What to do? How about form an alliance with the only other essential aspect of the sport -- the teams themselves. Let's unionize them, and strike back against these greedy, successful promoters who've worked for decades to make this sport into what it is. Our union - let's give it a catchy name like "The Pro Tour" will leverage our collective power and take a bigger slice of the promoter's hard-earned pie for ourselves. And as an added bonus, as the union organizer, the UCI will again be relevant and the drunken bureaucrats can keep their lofty positions. Hell, we've even already got Union in our name...
Fucking bullshit. Viva ASO for sticking to their guns. Promoters need more love.
All right, but what about Astana and poor Levi? Are they just pawns in the struggle, like Unibet was? I don't think so, not this time. Someone else, I forget who, has already noted this is about keeping Bruyneel out. Well, let's think about why the ASO might want to do that. We all know the dope testing system of the past decade has completely lacked integrity at all levels. Going back to the "leaked" Armstrong samples which were EPO tested years after being taken, with the alleged positive results released to the press, that was when the Armstrong/Bruyneel suddenly went from darlings to duds with the organizers of the Tour. All the Lance Lovers will have to forgive my lack of exhaustive investigation here, but hell, this isn't Cosmo's blog, so you aren't even getting a link. I'm in no better position than you to determine the validity of the test results, but we all know they were not admissible even in the kangaroo court of cycling drug control. But what about the people at the ASO? They ARE in a position to know a lot more than you, me, and the press about this matter. Maybe they're convinced the results were positive. Then throw in all the other riders linked at one time to Bruyneel who have been implicated and in some case proven to have participated in doping scandals. Like I said, I am in no position to separate the truth from the fiction here, but the ASO is.
Criminals walk away from justice every day because the evidence against them wasn't strong enough to convict. The prosecutors, victims, judges, and others close to the cases know the perp was guilty as sin, but there's nothing they can do about it. But they sure as hell don't have to invite the hoodlum over to the house for their next Grand Boucle. Thanks for reading.
since 2006
Friday, February 29, 2008
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Eat, Sleep, Train, Work
Not necessarily in that order. Trying to do less of A, more of B and C, and just enough of D. Success on the B part. I can't write about food like the pro, so instead on Sunday I tried to shop like him, venturing to Warren for a visit to the Market at Cutler Mills after my morning brick. Met up with G-man for coffee and a handlebar hostage exchange. I liked the market, except most items were not priced clearly, which wouldn't fly in Mass. As one who doesn't cook much, I especially liked the huge assortment of prepared foods. I bought some stuff called chile tempeh because it looked good. I had no idea what it was, and after I ate it I still had no idea. It was good, so today I looked it up, and there you go. The coffee beans I bought are excellent. I'd have purchased a lot more if I'd known they were only $8.99/lb, but again, the market goes with the mystery approach. Next time.
Training is OK. Still trying to mix it up, putting in time on the rollers and Concept 2 rower, which is stuff I haven't done in years. I'm up on last year in total hours, and about equal with 2006, still ahead if I count the gym. If I read about one more triathlete doing five hour rides on the trainer, I'm giving up on mankind (wait, didn't I do that already?). WTF people? Buy some gloves and tights. It ain't that cold out. Or just step up the intensity. And what is with the treadmills? I have yet to set foot on one this year. Last night's rain failed to wash away all the snow as hoped, but the pavement is fine today, and it's above freezing. Make it work.
That's it, boring filler. The alternative would be some sort of lame list. In my head I've written a riveting essay about why I am on the side of the ASO in the recent pro cycling soap opera, but I'm too lazy to actually write it in a manner that would justly present my intricate and intriguing insight. Not that picking sides in a war of assholes is any better than this lame post. I haven't posted any pictures in a while, maybe I'll do that later. For now, I'll go away. Thanks for reading.
Training is OK. Still trying to mix it up, putting in time on the rollers and Concept 2 rower, which is stuff I haven't done in years. I'm up on last year in total hours, and about equal with 2006, still ahead if I count the gym. If I read about one more triathlete doing five hour rides on the trainer, I'm giving up on mankind (wait, didn't I do that already?). WTF people? Buy some gloves and tights. It ain't that cold out. Or just step up the intensity. And what is with the treadmills? I have yet to set foot on one this year. Last night's rain failed to wash away all the snow as hoped, but the pavement is fine today, and it's above freezing. Make it work.
That's it, boring filler. The alternative would be some sort of lame list. In my head I've written a riveting essay about why I am on the side of the ASO in the recent pro cycling soap opera, but I'm too lazy to actually write it in a manner that would justly present my intricate and intriguing insight. Not that picking sides in a war of assholes is any better than this lame post. I haven't posted any pictures in a while, maybe I'll do that later. For now, I'll go away. Thanks for reading.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Unlocking the Positive
Rather than join the chorus of bloggers lamenting the winter weather, I'm going to take the opportunity to test positive for a change. Here in southern Mass, we've been pretty lucky this winter. Sure, we've had an average amount of snow, but it's all come a little bit at at time for the most part. We've had our typical meltings in between each storm, although until recently we only seemed to be getting one or two days of clear trails before the next dumping. February brought a warming trend though, and with tons of rain and temps averaging 10 degrees warmer than last year, not only was my gas bill lower than anticipated, but by last weekend every last speck of snow and ice was gone from the ground. Even the pack ice in the shady spots was gone. The flooding wasn't as bad as you might expect either, and as an added bonus it's been just cold enough to keep the mud frozen and able to support weight.
Monday it seemed like spring was in the air for sure, with lengthening daylight and temps pushing 60. I guess that was a bit too much to ask at this stage, as was two weekends in a row without snow. Today we're supposed to get a half-foot or so, not much, but enough to be a nuisance on both the road and trails. I base my training on key workouts. In other words, instead of a detailed plan of doing this or that on each specific day, I focus on making sure I perform certain key workouts within roughly mapped out time fences. As long as I do the key workouts (generally two or three per week), everything else is optional. This allows flexibility while still making sure the areas I need to work on get the required attention.
Speaking of fences, as noted earlier I'm still on the fence about doing New Bedford. It's three weeks away. For me, that means I need to do two key long runs between now and then, and really by next weekend in order to allow for a full two week prep period before the race. That's why I've been waffling, as for the bike racing season I also need to get in a few key long rides by the end of March, and if I lose one weekend for the race and possibly another for the taper, that doesn't leave me many extra weekend days, which could be a problem if the weather sucks. And it does look to suck this weekend.
Staying positive, rather than give up, I got up at 4:30 am, before the snow began. I packed up my work shit, got dressed to run, and drove in to work. I hit the road running at 6:20 am, still no snow. Rather than run up Big Blue, I crossed over the highway to try the trails on the Ponkapoag side of the reservation. After cutting through the golf course, I headed up another road/trail along the reservoir. At the four mile mark, the first flakes started to fly. By six miles, it was a full-fledged snowstorm, but with small flakes that wouldn't pile up too fast. The unfamiliar trail that I was on got pretty rocky in a few spots, but just when it started to suck, it came back out on the road I went in on. I went back in and ran all the cart paths on the hills of the golf course, then headed back down the dirt road that comes out at exit 3. I only had about 10.5 miles at that point, and 12 when I got back to work. With only a half inch or so accumulated, the dirt 5/8 mile horse track we have on the property was still fine for running, so I finished up with almost six laps, 15.1 total miles in just over 1:56, a 7:43 pace. Not as fast as I'd hoped, but for a trail run in a snowstorm before work, I'll take it. Average HR was only 134, and I felt very relaxed during the run and quite good now, considering this was my longest (time wise) run of the year.
So now I only need one more good long run to feel confident about doing a half marathon. If my knees keep feeling good, I'll probably go ahead and do it. All contingent upon this shit melting within the next week or so. I'd like to be ramping up the bike mileage outdoors rather than in, and I also need to get in a few hard hill runs in lieu of speedwork (which I never seem to do). Keep smiling, and don't bitch about training. Think of how lucky you are to be able to do it. Thanks for reading!
Monday it seemed like spring was in the air for sure, with lengthening daylight and temps pushing 60. I guess that was a bit too much to ask at this stage, as was two weekends in a row without snow. Today we're supposed to get a half-foot or so, not much, but enough to be a nuisance on both the road and trails. I base my training on key workouts. In other words, instead of a detailed plan of doing this or that on each specific day, I focus on making sure I perform certain key workouts within roughly mapped out time fences. As long as I do the key workouts (generally two or three per week), everything else is optional. This allows flexibility while still making sure the areas I need to work on get the required attention.
Speaking of fences, as noted earlier I'm still on the fence about doing New Bedford. It's three weeks away. For me, that means I need to do two key long runs between now and then, and really by next weekend in order to allow for a full two week prep period before the race. That's why I've been waffling, as for the bike racing season I also need to get in a few key long rides by the end of March, and if I lose one weekend for the race and possibly another for the taper, that doesn't leave me many extra weekend days, which could be a problem if the weather sucks. And it does look to suck this weekend.
Staying positive, rather than give up, I got up at 4:30 am, before the snow began. I packed up my work shit, got dressed to run, and drove in to work. I hit the road running at 6:20 am, still no snow. Rather than run up Big Blue, I crossed over the highway to try the trails on the Ponkapoag side of the reservation. After cutting through the golf course, I headed up another road/trail along the reservoir. At the four mile mark, the first flakes started to fly. By six miles, it was a full-fledged snowstorm, but with small flakes that wouldn't pile up too fast. The unfamiliar trail that I was on got pretty rocky in a few spots, but just when it started to suck, it came back out on the road I went in on. I went back in and ran all the cart paths on the hills of the golf course, then headed back down the dirt road that comes out at exit 3. I only had about 10.5 miles at that point, and 12 when I got back to work. With only a half inch or so accumulated, the dirt 5/8 mile horse track we have on the property was still fine for running, so I finished up with almost six laps, 15.1 total miles in just over 1:56, a 7:43 pace. Not as fast as I'd hoped, but for a trail run in a snowstorm before work, I'll take it. Average HR was only 134, and I felt very relaxed during the run and quite good now, considering this was my longest (time wise) run of the year.
So now I only need one more good long run to feel confident about doing a half marathon. If my knees keep feeling good, I'll probably go ahead and do it. All contingent upon this shit melting within the next week or so. I'd like to be ramping up the bike mileage outdoors rather than in, and I also need to get in a few hard hill runs in lieu of speedwork (which I never seem to do). Keep smiling, and don't bitch about training. Think of how lucky you are to be able to do it. Thanks for reading!
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
About four pedal strokes
That's how long it took me to decide that riding Monday was a bad idea. More rest was needed. I don't think it was just Foxboro that kicked my ass. The past few weeks, although my total training hours haven't been all that high, the consistency of effort has been there. Friday night I did a lot of jumping, bounding, squatting stuff in the gym, and was pretty wasted within an hour. Saturday I braved the 20 degree temps and put in two hours out on the road, followed by the requisite 5k runoff. All of this, capped by the 10 mile race and 3 miles of warmup/cooldown Sunday, and very few full rest days recently added up and even though Monday was a day off work, it was a day off workouts too.
Instead I got some work done on my bikes. Anyone who has been doing their own work for a number of years knows what this means - hours spent rummaging around looking for shit and organizing parts, wondering where the hell all your short stack crank bolts went, hunting for that elusive chainring, and marveling at the stuff you bought years ago and forgot you had, along with about forty-five minutes of actually working on your bike. OK, maybe I got a bit more done than that, but you get the idea. At least I know Gewilli does.
The end result was I got the 56x17/170 cranks on the "track" bike swapped out to a 53x19/175 combo. Kind of a big jump down in gearing, but the chain was low miles and I did not feel like breaking it. The frame is just my old Rossin road frame, so even though it has old school horizontal dropouts, the adjustment range is pretty limited. I did not have an 18 cog. I had everything from 13 to 17 in 3/32, and then a 19, 20, and 21 in 1/8. Luckily the chain that was on there was a 1/8. Sure, all my rings are 3/32, but that works fine with the wide chain, trust me. With the 56x17 on there, the axle was pretty far forward in the dropouts, far enough in fact that when I put the 19 on, it just did not have enough bite for me to be comfortable with. And I'm a hack, so you can imagine. I had to swap the crank anyway, so after finding another set of short stack bolts (I found four Campy and four cheap aluminum BMX ones. I vaguely remember snapping one of those in the past. Not sure where the 5th Campy one went, but I went with the 4 + 1 combo, thus not needing to disassemble the 170/56, just in case I ever make it up to the track this summer. Are you following this?), then it was a quest to find my 54 Campy chainring. I have a lot of chainrings, and for the most part I'm pretty organized. Yet I can't find my 54 Campy. Eventually it turns up on the old TT bike, ugghh, too much work to take it off, I have a nice low miles 53 here, that will do. On it goes, and low and behold, I get good chain tension with a few mm of dropout slot to spare.
Will 53x19 be too easy for the rollers? Who cares? Spinning was easy with the 170s, but cranking fast was too much effort for my easy days. A quick trip to the gear chart reveals 90 rpm with be almost 32 kph. That won't be too easy. So there's one nice thing about a fixed gear that I'll admit to: you don't need a cadence meter if you have a speed sensor. I rigged one up, nice and easy front wheel setup, which is what is cool about rollers. Now I'm good to go. I even tested the setup... for about four pedal strokes. Thanks for reading.
Instead I got some work done on my bikes. Anyone who has been doing their own work for a number of years knows what this means - hours spent rummaging around looking for shit and organizing parts, wondering where the hell all your short stack crank bolts went, hunting for that elusive chainring, and marveling at the stuff you bought years ago and forgot you had, along with about forty-five minutes of actually working on your bike. OK, maybe I got a bit more done than that, but you get the idea. At least I know Gewilli does.
The end result was I got the 56x17/170 cranks on the "track" bike swapped out to a 53x19/175 combo. Kind of a big jump down in gearing, but the chain was low miles and I did not feel like breaking it. The frame is just my old Rossin road frame, so even though it has old school horizontal dropouts, the adjustment range is pretty limited. I did not have an 18 cog. I had everything from 13 to 17 in 3/32, and then a 19, 20, and 21 in 1/8. Luckily the chain that was on there was a 1/8. Sure, all my rings are 3/32, but that works fine with the wide chain, trust me. With the 56x17 on there, the axle was pretty far forward in the dropouts, far enough in fact that when I put the 19 on, it just did not have enough bite for me to be comfortable with. And I'm a hack, so you can imagine. I had to swap the crank anyway, so after finding another set of short stack bolts (I found four Campy and four cheap aluminum BMX ones. I vaguely remember snapping one of those in the past. Not sure where the 5th Campy one went, but I went with the 4 + 1 combo, thus not needing to disassemble the 170/56, just in case I ever make it up to the track this summer. Are you following this?), then it was a quest to find my 54 Campy chainring. I have a lot of chainrings, and for the most part I'm pretty organized. Yet I can't find my 54 Campy. Eventually it turns up on the old TT bike, ugghh, too much work to take it off, I have a nice low miles 53 here, that will do. On it goes, and low and behold, I get good chain tension with a few mm of dropout slot to spare.
Will 53x19 be too easy for the rollers? Who cares? Spinning was easy with the 170s, but cranking fast was too much effort for my easy days. A quick trip to the gear chart reveals 90 rpm with be almost 32 kph. That won't be too easy. So there's one nice thing about a fixed gear that I'll admit to: you don't need a cadence meter if you have a speed sensor. I rigged one up, nice and easy front wheel setup, which is what is cool about rollers. Now I'm good to go. I even tested the setup... for about four pedal strokes. Thanks for reading.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Old Fashioned Race Report
Sunday I ran the Old Fashioned Ten Mile Road Race over in Foxboro. They also have a 5k there, which you may remember from one of my first few blogs posts two years ago. I think I did the 5k once before that too. Last year I tried the 10 mile, my first race ever for the distance, posting a 1:06 something. Back in November I ran the Bristol 10 Mile Footrace down in RI with a time of 1:03:45, and this was sort of a breakout race for me. Going back to Foxboro this year, with no snow or ice on the road, I wanted to PR and run a time I could not have imagined just two years ago.
So for me, while maybe not an "A" race, the OFTM was a solid B+. Contrast that to most of the strong field of dedicated runners assembled for the event, who primarily run this as a test of the legs/workout for Boston. Most of the ~500 runners are in the middle of their most difficult high-mileage training, so they're not out to run any PRs here. For me it's still fun to line up with such a deep field of serious athletes, even if gaging myself by comparing results would be foolish.
The day dawned cold but sunny, and by the 11 am race time the temps were pushing 40, but as usual this year we were met with stiff winds on much of the course. Foxboro isn't totally flat either, but there's nothing major, and any bike race field would ride this entire loop in the big chainring. My goal was to pace myself over the first half, run by heart rate, and try to negative split the second half of the race by as much as one percent. The 10 mile distance is pretty strange. This was only my third one, plus two similar 15k races at Raynham the past two years. I think on your very best day you might run one of these just like a 10k, right on threshold the entire way, but that's a tall order. Backing off a bit provides good insurance against self-destruction and a miserable last few miles. You sure can't pace yourself too much though, as there aren't enough miles to gain back much time conceded early on.
The first mile went perfectly for me. There was a big headwind stretch, and not as many bodies to hide behind as expected but I hit the marker at the Foxboro center gazebo in 6:15, right on schedule. My HR was right around 155, 5-9 bpm below threshold. The town center sits at a bit higher elevation than then surrounding land too, so the second mile heading out of town was all downhill. I think a lot of runners must have been caught in traffic or just planning a higher pace because there was a big surge from behind and I found myself freewheeling down the road at a significantly higher pace. Still though, my HR was low and I felt fine. Mile two came up at 12:19, so the split was 6:04. I'm ahead of schedule.
Miles 3 and 4 are run on a road along the edge of the state forest, a route I ride all the time on my bike and know well. In this direction the entire stretch is basically uphill, with a few rollers in mile 3. Figuring I had some time in the bank, I took it easy on the uphills, not letting my HR go past 160, and mostly keeping it lower. A 6:26 split for 3 was a shock, but I'm still doing OK so I kept my strategy in mile 4, where a few people passed me. I did not take the bait, as it's a long grind, but again it took too long and the 6:27 split put my cumulative time for 4 miles at 25:14, now a few seconds behind my plan. Mile 5 runs behind Gillette Stadium and is almost all downhill. I let the HR push up against 160 and got a 6:02 split, which put me halfway at 31:16, still six seconds behind my optimistic plan for breaking 62 minutes. I tried to pick it up, but instead met with the slight creeping uphill of the course's second half conspiring with the ugly headwinds to make my task quite challenging.
Mile 6 6:15. Mile 7, 6:13. Mile 8 contained a little climb at the end of Beach Street which slowed the proceedings. Here I caught back up to Mike Wade from GCS, wearing the distinctive Dog-Bone PR team kit. He was one of the guys who'd passed me back during mile 4. We turned onto Mechanic Street and were met with a killer headwind. Mike is a big guy and an experienced runner, so I stayed behind him as he set a good pace, pulling us up toward the next three or four guys, one of whom turned out to be GCDavid. The hill and pacing put mile eight at a slow 6:20, and with 50:05 on the clock, it was going to take a huge effort to break 62. I thought about passing right then and there, but every time I looked down my HR was 165, so jumping out into the wind and trying to increase the pace would have likely meant suicide. Besides, we were still gaining on grouppo GCD. Just before turning off Mechanic, I bridged the tiny gap to those guys, soldiering on ahead alone as soon as we turned out of the wind. I thought I was flying, but mile 9 still took 6:02, meaning I needed a 5:52 to make my goal. OK, let's try.
At least the road was flat. I knew I was falling apart, but had to give it a shot. Unfortunately, all hopes faded out when we turned onto the final straight stretch through the Invensys campus, as we were met with the most ferocious headwind of the day. The road is dead straight for a half mile, and the wind came slightly from the left, where there was just an open expanse of parking lot, no shelter. The three story plant on the right just served to funnel the winds right into our faces. I tried, but 6:05 would pass before I hit the line for a finish of 62:11, still a 6:13 pace, better than I'd run at Raynham, and a PR by 1:25 for this distance. The second half ended up taking 30:56, a slight negative split of about a half percent.
I'm pretty toasted now. My hip flexor has been bothering me a bit, as well as a bunch of other muscles. I need to recover for a few days and then decide in what direction I wish to turn my competitive efforts for the next two months. I'm not sure if I want to run another half marathon, focus on the 5k and 10k distances, work on duathloning, or just say fuck this running, I'm a bike racer. Maybe a combination of those. Thanks for reading.
So for me, while maybe not an "A" race, the OFTM was a solid B+. Contrast that to most of the strong field of dedicated runners assembled for the event, who primarily run this as a test of the legs/workout for Boston. Most of the ~500 runners are in the middle of their most difficult high-mileage training, so they're not out to run any PRs here. For me it's still fun to line up with such a deep field of serious athletes, even if gaging myself by comparing results would be foolish.
The day dawned cold but sunny, and by the 11 am race time the temps were pushing 40, but as usual this year we were met with stiff winds on much of the course. Foxboro isn't totally flat either, but there's nothing major, and any bike race field would ride this entire loop in the big chainring. My goal was to pace myself over the first half, run by heart rate, and try to negative split the second half of the race by as much as one percent. The 10 mile distance is pretty strange. This was only my third one, plus two similar 15k races at Raynham the past two years. I think on your very best day you might run one of these just like a 10k, right on threshold the entire way, but that's a tall order. Backing off a bit provides good insurance against self-destruction and a miserable last few miles. You sure can't pace yourself too much though, as there aren't enough miles to gain back much time conceded early on.
The first mile went perfectly for me. There was a big headwind stretch, and not as many bodies to hide behind as expected but I hit the marker at the Foxboro center gazebo in 6:15, right on schedule. My HR was right around 155, 5-9 bpm below threshold. The town center sits at a bit higher elevation than then surrounding land too, so the second mile heading out of town was all downhill. I think a lot of runners must have been caught in traffic or just planning a higher pace because there was a big surge from behind and I found myself freewheeling down the road at a significantly higher pace. Still though, my HR was low and I felt fine. Mile two came up at 12:19, so the split was 6:04. I'm ahead of schedule.
Miles 3 and 4 are run on a road along the edge of the state forest, a route I ride all the time on my bike and know well. In this direction the entire stretch is basically uphill, with a few rollers in mile 3. Figuring I had some time in the bank, I took it easy on the uphills, not letting my HR go past 160, and mostly keeping it lower. A 6:26 split for 3 was a shock, but I'm still doing OK so I kept my strategy in mile 4, where a few people passed me. I did not take the bait, as it's a long grind, but again it took too long and the 6:27 split put my cumulative time for 4 miles at 25:14, now a few seconds behind my plan. Mile 5 runs behind Gillette Stadium and is almost all downhill. I let the HR push up against 160 and got a 6:02 split, which put me halfway at 31:16, still six seconds behind my optimistic plan for breaking 62 minutes. I tried to pick it up, but instead met with the slight creeping uphill of the course's second half conspiring with the ugly headwinds to make my task quite challenging.
Mile 6 6:15. Mile 7, 6:13. Mile 8 contained a little climb at the end of Beach Street which slowed the proceedings. Here I caught back up to Mike Wade from GCS, wearing the distinctive Dog-Bone PR team kit. He was one of the guys who'd passed me back during mile 4. We turned onto Mechanic Street and were met with a killer headwind. Mike is a big guy and an experienced runner, so I stayed behind him as he set a good pace, pulling us up toward the next three or four guys, one of whom turned out to be GCDavid. The hill and pacing put mile eight at a slow 6:20, and with 50:05 on the clock, it was going to take a huge effort to break 62. I thought about passing right then and there, but every time I looked down my HR was 165, so jumping out into the wind and trying to increase the pace would have likely meant suicide. Besides, we were still gaining on grouppo GCD. Just before turning off Mechanic, I bridged the tiny gap to those guys, soldiering on ahead alone as soon as we turned out of the wind. I thought I was flying, but mile 9 still took 6:02, meaning I needed a 5:52 to make my goal. OK, let's try.
At least the road was flat. I knew I was falling apart, but had to give it a shot. Unfortunately, all hopes faded out when we turned onto the final straight stretch through the Invensys campus, as we were met with the most ferocious headwind of the day. The road is dead straight for a half mile, and the wind came slightly from the left, where there was just an open expanse of parking lot, no shelter. The three story plant on the right just served to funnel the winds right into our faces. I tried, but 6:05 would pass before I hit the line for a finish of 62:11, still a 6:13 pace, better than I'd run at Raynham, and a PR by 1:25 for this distance. The second half ended up taking 30:56, a slight negative split of about a half percent.
I'm pretty toasted now. My hip flexor has been bothering me a bit, as well as a bunch of other muscles. I need to recover for a few days and then decide in what direction I wish to turn my competitive efforts for the next two months. I'm not sure if I want to run another half marathon, focus on the 5k and 10k distances, work on duathloning, or just say fuck this running, I'm a bike racer. Maybe a combination of those. Thanks for reading.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Solobreak turns two
We made it two years. Last month I hinted about plans for something special to mark the occasion, but alas the special 2nd Anniversary Nodcast never really got off the ground. Maybe I'll finish it up and post it sometime, maybe not. The good news is training and work are what prevented me from working on it. Training has been pretty consistent, and work is very busy but much more fun since changing positions.
The Foxboro 10 miler is up on Sunday. Weather looks decent and the roads should be nice and clear. I'm hoping to run 6:18 or better, basically the same as the Raynham 15k. I've been having fun with the rollers too, nice change of pace. Nursing the knee but so far it seems OK.
I'm trying something else this month too. In order to get the diet back on track, I decided no restaurants or alcohol for six weeks, beginning Feb 3 and running through March 16. Then I'll allow two weeks off this plan, and maybe start another six week block on April 1. For me it's the easiest way to keep my weight in check. Of course, the cafeteria at work can be as bad as a restaurant if you're not careful, but for the most part I'm being careful. Today I decided no muffins either. I rarely buy them anyway. At home the cooking experiments have been going pretty well.
Now it's off to Elite because on Friday's I usually have the plyo room all to myself, save for an occasional fighter or dancer from Alex's. Anyone know where I can get a ballistic cloth (kevlar, etc) sandbag? My sledgehammer workouts are doing a number on the grass in the back yard. The neighbors already think I'm some kind of nut (they probably thought that before I started pounding the ground with a sledgehammer) so I want a sandbag to keep the noise down, but finding something that can survive the impact might be tough. BTW, Verizon must have stopped bugging phonelines long enough to take care of the router congestion that was holding my connection down to 35 Kbps. Thanks for reading, and thanks for all the comments.
The Foxboro 10 miler is up on Sunday. Weather looks decent and the roads should be nice and clear. I'm hoping to run 6:18 or better, basically the same as the Raynham 15k. I've been having fun with the rollers too, nice change of pace. Nursing the knee but so far it seems OK.
I'm trying something else this month too. In order to get the diet back on track, I decided no restaurants or alcohol for six weeks, beginning Feb 3 and running through March 16. Then I'll allow two weeks off this plan, and maybe start another six week block on April 1. For me it's the easiest way to keep my weight in check. Of course, the cafeteria at work can be as bad as a restaurant if you're not careful, but for the most part I'm being careful. Today I decided no muffins either. I rarely buy them anyway. At home the cooking experiments have been going pretty well.
Now it's off to Elite because on Friday's I usually have the plyo room all to myself, save for an occasional fighter or dancer from Alex's. Anyone know where I can get a ballistic cloth (kevlar, etc) sandbag? My sledgehammer workouts are doing a number on the grass in the back yard. The neighbors already think I'm some kind of nut (they probably thought that before I started pounding the ground with a sledgehammer) so I want a sandbag to keep the noise down, but finding something that can survive the impact might be tough. BTW, Verizon must have stopped bugging phonelines long enough to take care of the router congestion that was holding my connection down to 35 Kbps. Thanks for reading, and thanks for all the comments.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Am I the only
Verizon customer in the Boston area experiencing dreadful slowness since yesterday? This blows. We know how helpful their customer "service" is. Thanks!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Washing the Brockton Off
And I'm not talking about the Paddy Kelly Road Race, because as always, that was great. This post falls into a category not listed in my top ten, because as always, I was being nice. This one is a "My life is great, but I'm complaining anyway" post. Not that something like that has ever been done before...
So this morning I had an appointment at the eye doctor. I've grown a bit tired of not being able to see a fucking thing clearly (you look great by the way). About eight years ago I got my first pair of glasses, just for reading, and then I upgraded them a few years after that. I'd always gone to a big mega-optometrist place on Staniford Street, near the Garden. When I worked in Woburn, it was pretty convenient, as I could just walk to Mishawum, pay the (in those days) $5 round trip to North Station, and zone out/nap for 25 minutes each way. I don't work there anymore though, so now it's either drive, and pay outrageous daytime parking rates, or take the CR to Back Bay, switch to the Orange Line, go to North Station, and hike it from there. These days that's about a $13 proposition, almost as bad as parking. Forget about the loss of time.
Now here we are. I go in to the city for all my medical care. If you've ever spent much time in one of the Brockton hospitals, then you know why. Or maybe you don't, because until I started going in to the city, I thought all hospitals were that bad. But this was just the eye doctor. Surely I could get my eyes checked locally, right? How hard could it be? I drive right by a place every day. I tried it.
Truth be told, the doctor and the rest of the staff seemed fine. I have just as much confidence in them as I do the overpriced factory care at OCB. The problem was the other patients. Holy fucking shit. Ten minutes in the waiting room and I felt like I needed a shower. In fairness, there were a few "normal" people, dressed for work, and behaving themselves. Then we had an army of screaming brats with LED's blinking on their snow boots running around like wild somethings while their oblivious parents sat complaining about needing a cigarette (after all, they'd been in there ten minutes too). Then there were the clothes. If it weren't for a teenager (clad in pink sweatpants, with a pink Sox hoodie, and pink sneakers) surfing the net on her Iphone, I wouldn't have known what decade it was. One old dude (by old I mean about 75) was there escorting his mother (who was a ringer for the old mother on the Golden Girls, about 90, probably...). This guy was smooth, with a leather jacket and snakeskin (I'm not shitting you) boots to go with his snow-white, styled after Hulk Hogan hair and moustache. He also had with him his younger (like 60) girlfriend in a poncho whom he could not seem to keep his hands off, much to her delight. Mom was unfazed.
Those were just the also rans though. After a minute in walks a low life and his unfortunate wife and kid. Reeks of Marlboros, drinking a large Dunkin Donuts coffee, black boots untied, flannel fucking plaid overshirt, greasy baseball hat, equally greasy hair and beard, straight out of a Lynard Skynard rejects convention. He pisses and moans about every piece of paperwork his wife (or whatever) politely asks him to sign. He gets grizzly faced, sighing like they want him to give up a kidney or something. His kid is behaving ok, and looks over at the Boston Herald the guy is reading (probably just looking at the pictures, and I mean the guy, not the kid) and says "what's that?" The guy says "a dog show." "Is that like a car show?" Ahh, yes. Now I know why he was so engaged in raising his child...
Junior is better behaved than the other kids in there, but tugs Dad's leg one too many times and the guy shouts "knock it off or I'll smack you" or something like that. Real tough guy. The kid was about three. Oh yes, this was Brockton. Thankfully, I get called out back and that's that. When I leave I see a silver Monte Carlo with a "3" bumper sticker on it. Gee, I wonder who that belongs to? Thanks for reading, I'm hitting the shower.
So this morning I had an appointment at the eye doctor. I've grown a bit tired of not being able to see a fucking thing clearly (you look great by the way). About eight years ago I got my first pair of glasses, just for reading, and then I upgraded them a few years after that. I'd always gone to a big mega-optometrist place on Staniford Street, near the Garden. When I worked in Woburn, it was pretty convenient, as I could just walk to Mishawum, pay the (in those days) $5 round trip to North Station, and zone out/nap for 25 minutes each way. I don't work there anymore though, so now it's either drive, and pay outrageous daytime parking rates, or take the CR to Back Bay, switch to the Orange Line, go to North Station, and hike it from there. These days that's about a $13 proposition, almost as bad as parking. Forget about the loss of time.
Now here we are. I go in to the city for all my medical care. If you've ever spent much time in one of the Brockton hospitals, then you know why. Or maybe you don't, because until I started going in to the city, I thought all hospitals were that bad. But this was just the eye doctor. Surely I could get my eyes checked locally, right? How hard could it be? I drive right by a place every day. I tried it.
Truth be told, the doctor and the rest of the staff seemed fine. I have just as much confidence in them as I do the overpriced factory care at OCB. The problem was the other patients. Holy fucking shit. Ten minutes in the waiting room and I felt like I needed a shower. In fairness, there were a few "normal" people, dressed for work, and behaving themselves. Then we had an army of screaming brats with LED's blinking on their snow boots running around like wild somethings while their oblivious parents sat complaining about needing a cigarette (after all, they'd been in there ten minutes too). Then there were the clothes. If it weren't for a teenager (clad in pink sweatpants, with a pink Sox hoodie, and pink sneakers) surfing the net on her Iphone, I wouldn't have known what decade it was. One old dude (by old I mean about 75) was there escorting his mother (who was a ringer for the old mother on the Golden Girls, about 90, probably...). This guy was smooth, with a leather jacket and snakeskin (I'm not shitting you) boots to go with his snow-white, styled after Hulk Hogan hair and moustache. He also had with him his younger (like 60) girlfriend in a poncho whom he could not seem to keep his hands off, much to her delight. Mom was unfazed.
Those were just the also rans though. After a minute in walks a low life and his unfortunate wife and kid. Reeks of Marlboros, drinking a large Dunkin Donuts coffee, black boots untied, flannel fucking plaid overshirt, greasy baseball hat, equally greasy hair and beard, straight out of a Lynard Skynard rejects convention. He pisses and moans about every piece of paperwork his wife (or whatever) politely asks him to sign. He gets grizzly faced, sighing like they want him to give up a kidney or something. His kid is behaving ok, and looks over at the Boston Herald the guy is reading (probably just looking at the pictures, and I mean the guy, not the kid) and says "what's that?" The guy says "a dog show." "Is that like a car show?" Ahh, yes. Now I know why he was so engaged in raising his child...
Junior is better behaved than the other kids in there, but tugs Dad's leg one too many times and the guy shouts "knock it off or I'll smack you" or something like that. Real tough guy. The kid was about three. Oh yes, this was Brockton. Thankfully, I get called out back and that's that. When I leave I see a silver Monte Carlo with a "3" bumper sticker on it. Gee, I wonder who that belongs to? Thanks for reading, I'm hitting the shower.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Post Number 420
Good thing I went back and checked my previously used post titles, because I was going to call this one Reasons to be cheerful, 1-2-3. As suspected, I've already used this. I'd even forgotten about the old lyrics titles themes. Scrolling through the list, I found quite a few that either I've repeated or someone else has used.
So what's the three reasons? For starters, this week's training went well. Nothing huge, but consistent work. With 98% of the snow and ice gone from the woods, I got back to training out at NRT. Twice I even ran in shorts, even though the temps remained in the 30's. The muddy ground was nice and soft, perfect for training. My contempt for mud when on the bike is legendary, yet I'm finding while running I'm a bit of a mudder. Remember the UNH cross race of 2006? I practically ran the entire thing and had a blast. This week's training runs reminded me of that, although there were no shin deep puddles this time. The mush is great for building power though, and easy on my aging knees.
These runs were combined with quite a bit of time on the trainer. Two times I even bricked them together. Reading the tri-blogs must have twisted my thinking. These sick fucks do three hours indoors. Saturday I pushed it out to two. That was enough, but not as bad as I thought it would be. I made it that far by breaking out the track bike and hitting the rollers for about half of it. The 56x17 is a little much though, even with no resistance. I think I'll probably back it down to a 54x20 or something, and maybe take that opportunity to swap out the cranks from the track 170s to my standard 175s. Rollers were a nice change though, and I got back in the groove fairly easily. Earlier in the week I skipped going to Elite because I wasn't recovering from the weekend. I made up for it Friday night with a great session of tossing the medicine ball all over the plyo room. My legs were pretty smoked, but it was good to put together a real week of training.
Next up was this morning's 5 mile Paddy Kelly Road Race over in the jewel of Brockton, DW Fields Park. Saturday's brick had left me feeling my age when I woke up today, so I didn't have very high hopes going in. My training runs haven't been fast or energetic in the last several weeks, and I've come to understand that I was on a much higher peak back around Thanksgiving than I realized at the time. So nothing like lowered expectations to make the results feel better.
The Westgate Lounge, headquarters for the race, is only about three miles from my house. Oddly enough, this isn't the closest race of the year, as we have two right here in town that I walk to. My penchant for arriving at races a tad late is well known, and it sometimes seems that the closer a race is to home, the later I get there. Well, not this time, as with an 11 am start and only a ten minute drive, I was quite early. Yet somehow I managed to come wicked fucking close to missing the start. My watch , which I thought set itself via the GPS satellites, must have been ten minutes slow. When I went to warm up, I met up with Kent Landrun, my first bike racing team captain from way back in '87 on BRC. It was great to see him again, and that deserves its own post, coming soon. So I finish my warmup out on the first mile of the course, and I'm heading back to the start at what I think is about ten minutes to 11, and I'm wondering where the hell everybody is. Well, the line comes into view and I hear the bullhorn and the race director is saying "one minute to the start." FUCK! So much for striders, it's time to run the 200 all out. I get to the crowd, peel off my outer shirt, ditch my water bottle, elbow in, runners take your mark, go! My HR was 160.
There was a bit of a clusterphuck 50 meters out at the first big puddle, but I settled in behind the leaders, who included Dave Schadd from the Turtles and Heather C, the former All-American from just three cubes over at work. She hadn't raced since September, so I had no idea how fast she'd run, but I knew Dave had been killing it in our age group lately, and if I could keep him in sight I'd probably PR. The first 3/4 mile is pretty flat, and Dave was only about 20 meters ahead. Just before the course's only hill, I went by Heather, trying to stay with Dave. There were a few other dudes right around me, but they all looked younger. Dave seemed to be chasing someone though, so I had a feeling someone further up was in our age group too. Cresting the hill, I took the mile one marker at 5:36. I was feeling it. That was faster than I wanted to go.
This course is about form and rhythm. There are only a few little rises and then a decent downhill in the last mile. Mile two took around 6:01 and Schadd was pulling away a bit. My HR was 164, right where I wanted it, so I just tried to maintain my pace and see if I had anything left in the last mile. Two guys passed me in the third mile, one I don't know, and then Chris Kelly from HFC. Both are in the 40-49 too. Third mile was a 6:03. Fourth mile a 5:58. Full gas down the hill. I stayed with Chris for a bit but then he cranked it up. Those guys were all out of reach. I thought I picked it up a lot for the last mile but it ended up being another 5:58 for a 29:35 finish, 10th overall, 5th in my age group, still a PR by 20 seconds, and over a minute faster than I ran this last year. It wasn't a total loss for the second floor east, as Heather ended up winning the women's overall even though she finished outside thirty minutes. I cooled down for a bit and then it started raining and getting cold, but I met up with Kent as he finished, which was fun. I also saw Billy Holmes, another old-time BRC guy's name in the results. On to Foxboro next week.
Reason 3? Well, as much as I don't like to take pleasure in the failures of others, as well as keep the blog focused on the joys of sport, watching a hater like Romney go down this week was friggin' sweet. If you missed last Friday's Daily Show, go buy it off Itunes. I couldn't have said it better. Goodbye Mittler! Thanks for reading.
So what's the three reasons? For starters, this week's training went well. Nothing huge, but consistent work. With 98% of the snow and ice gone from the woods, I got back to training out at NRT. Twice I even ran in shorts, even though the temps remained in the 30's. The muddy ground was nice and soft, perfect for training. My contempt for mud when on the bike is legendary, yet I'm finding while running I'm a bit of a mudder. Remember the UNH cross race of 2006? I practically ran the entire thing and had a blast. This week's training runs reminded me of that, although there were no shin deep puddles this time. The mush is great for building power though, and easy on my aging knees.
These runs were combined with quite a bit of time on the trainer. Two times I even bricked them together. Reading the tri-blogs must have twisted my thinking. These sick fucks do three hours indoors. Saturday I pushed it out to two. That was enough, but not as bad as I thought it would be. I made it that far by breaking out the track bike and hitting the rollers for about half of it. The 56x17 is a little much though, even with no resistance. I think I'll probably back it down to a 54x20 or something, and maybe take that opportunity to swap out the cranks from the track 170s to my standard 175s. Rollers were a nice change though, and I got back in the groove fairly easily. Earlier in the week I skipped going to Elite because I wasn't recovering from the weekend. I made up for it Friday night with a great session of tossing the medicine ball all over the plyo room. My legs were pretty smoked, but it was good to put together a real week of training.
Next up was this morning's 5 mile Paddy Kelly Road Race over in the jewel of Brockton, DW Fields Park. Saturday's brick had left me feeling my age when I woke up today, so I didn't have very high hopes going in. My training runs haven't been fast or energetic in the last several weeks, and I've come to understand that I was on a much higher peak back around Thanksgiving than I realized at the time. So nothing like lowered expectations to make the results feel better.
The Westgate Lounge, headquarters for the race, is only about three miles from my house. Oddly enough, this isn't the closest race of the year, as we have two right here in town that I walk to. My penchant for arriving at races a tad late is well known, and it sometimes seems that the closer a race is to home, the later I get there. Well, not this time, as with an 11 am start and only a ten minute drive, I was quite early. Yet somehow I managed to come wicked fucking close to missing the start. My watch , which I thought set itself via the GPS satellites, must have been ten minutes slow. When I went to warm up, I met up with Kent Landrun, my first bike racing team captain from way back in '87 on BRC. It was great to see him again, and that deserves its own post, coming soon. So I finish my warmup out on the first mile of the course, and I'm heading back to the start at what I think is about ten minutes to 11, and I'm wondering where the hell everybody is. Well, the line comes into view and I hear the bullhorn and the race director is saying "one minute to the start." FUCK! So much for striders, it's time to run the 200 all out. I get to the crowd, peel off my outer shirt, ditch my water bottle, elbow in, runners take your mark, go! My HR was 160.
There was a bit of a clusterphuck 50 meters out at the first big puddle, but I settled in behind the leaders, who included Dave Schadd from the Turtles and Heather C, the former All-American from just three cubes over at work. She hadn't raced since September, so I had no idea how fast she'd run, but I knew Dave had been killing it in our age group lately, and if I could keep him in sight I'd probably PR. The first 3/4 mile is pretty flat, and Dave was only about 20 meters ahead. Just before the course's only hill, I went by Heather, trying to stay with Dave. There were a few other dudes right around me, but they all looked younger. Dave seemed to be chasing someone though, so I had a feeling someone further up was in our age group too. Cresting the hill, I took the mile one marker at 5:36. I was feeling it. That was faster than I wanted to go.
This course is about form and rhythm. There are only a few little rises and then a decent downhill in the last mile. Mile two took around 6:01 and Schadd was pulling away a bit. My HR was 164, right where I wanted it, so I just tried to maintain my pace and see if I had anything left in the last mile. Two guys passed me in the third mile, one I don't know, and then Chris Kelly from HFC. Both are in the 40-49 too. Third mile was a 6:03. Fourth mile a 5:58. Full gas down the hill. I stayed with Chris for a bit but then he cranked it up. Those guys were all out of reach. I thought I picked it up a lot for the last mile but it ended up being another 5:58 for a 29:35 finish, 10th overall, 5th in my age group, still a PR by 20 seconds, and over a minute faster than I ran this last year. It wasn't a total loss for the second floor east, as Heather ended up winning the women's overall even though she finished outside thirty minutes. I cooled down for a bit and then it started raining and getting cold, but I met up with Kent as he finished, which was fun. I also saw Billy Holmes, another old-time BRC guy's name in the results. On to Foxboro next week.
Reason 3? Well, as much as I don't like to take pleasure in the failures of others, as well as keep the blog focused on the joys of sport, watching a hater like Romney go down this week was friggin' sweet. If you missed last Friday's Daily Show, go buy it off Itunes. I couldn't have said it better. Goodbye Mittler! Thanks for reading.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
The Training Partner from Hell
A month ago, Strangelife wrote a post about a guy named Dave. Strangelife's Dave was apparently a guy known for losing his temper on training rides, having emotional outbursts, road raging, and generally not getting along with people. Sounds like a dick, but SL says the man also had some endearing qualities that made other riders welcome him as a training partner, despite his dickheadedness. Hmmm. Sound like anyone we know?
Well, not quite, but the general idea of someone who you want to train with even though he treats you like shit? Could I be that person? I'm not a road rager at all. How about being hard on training partners? Well, maybe. Last week I got called out for being such a dick, by one of the best training partners I ever had. You may have missed it, because it quickly disappeared. If you're a skilled googler, you might be able to find it in their cache. Truth be told, Strangelife's post had me considering penning this post even prior to seeing the other one, but for some reason I couldn't find his the last time I looked. Then when it was pointed out that I was a TRD (training ride dickhead), at first I figured keeping quiet on the entire subject might be prudent. However, today I found Strangelife's post again, and what the hell, I think I can do this right without any confusion, stepping on toes, or failure to protect the innocent. Are you following this at home? Good.
I like to train alone. I always have. I don't need training partners, I enjoy the time by myself, and I focus better without distractions. I firmly believe that a willingness and desire to train alone are essential elements to success. But humans are social beasts. Training with others has its advantages, and there are some things that are better done with another person (duh) or even with a group. That's where you come in.
My problem seems to be an intolerance of numerous behaviors when out training. I've been told by my many, many different training partners that no matter what they do, I seem to be displeased. Too fast, too slow, too far out in the road, not echeloning properly, talking too much, whistling, exaggerated breathing, poor choice of routes, incorrect hand signaling, trying to speak foreign languages that you've no idea how to use and that nobody else on the ride speaks anyway, wearing smelly clothes, not bringing money, being late, being early, attacking and leaving me behind, getting dropped and making me wait, eating too much and farting, not eating enough and bonking, did I leave anything out? See why I'm better off training alone? Yet for some reason I keep getting invited on rides. Sometimes even runs, but that's a discipline where you really want to leave me be.
Does every non-solo ride have to suck? No. I hope my training partners know that. There are those rides that make it all worth it. The ones where you're both, or all, on your limit, but nobody is giving anything away. There's not much talking, much less complaining. Just intensity, the good kind. When it's all done and everyone is wasted and just sitting on the porch or the lawn or whatever, sucking down the last few swigs of liquid out of your last bottle, wiping your brow, and peeling off layers of sticky clothing, no discussion is needed. That's when you just look at each other and know it was a great fucking ride.
Thanks for reading.
Well, not quite, but the general idea of someone who you want to train with even though he treats you like shit? Could I be that person? I'm not a road rager at all. How about being hard on training partners? Well, maybe. Last week I got called out for being such a dick, by one of the best training partners I ever had. You may have missed it, because it quickly disappeared. If you're a skilled googler, you might be able to find it in their cache. Truth be told, Strangelife's post had me considering penning this post even prior to seeing the other one, but for some reason I couldn't find his the last time I looked. Then when it was pointed out that I was a TRD (training ride dickhead), at first I figured keeping quiet on the entire subject might be prudent. However, today I found Strangelife's post again, and what the hell, I think I can do this right without any confusion, stepping on toes, or failure to protect the innocent. Are you following this at home? Good.
I like to train alone. I always have. I don't need training partners, I enjoy the time by myself, and I focus better without distractions. I firmly believe that a willingness and desire to train alone are essential elements to success. But humans are social beasts. Training with others has its advantages, and there are some things that are better done with another person (duh) or even with a group. That's where you come in.
My problem seems to be an intolerance of numerous behaviors when out training. I've been told by my many, many different training partners that no matter what they do, I seem to be displeased. Too fast, too slow, too far out in the road, not echeloning properly, talking too much, whistling, exaggerated breathing, poor choice of routes, incorrect hand signaling, trying to speak foreign languages that you've no idea how to use and that nobody else on the ride speaks anyway, wearing smelly clothes, not bringing money, being late, being early, attacking and leaving me behind, getting dropped and making me wait, eating too much and farting, not eating enough and bonking, did I leave anything out? See why I'm better off training alone? Yet for some reason I keep getting invited on rides. Sometimes even runs, but that's a discipline where you really want to leave me be.
Does every non-solo ride have to suck? No. I hope my training partners know that. There are those rides that make it all worth it. The ones where you're both, or all, on your limit, but nobody is giving anything away. There's not much talking, much less complaining. Just intensity, the good kind. When it's all done and everyone is wasted and just sitting on the porch or the lawn or whatever, sucking down the last few swigs of liquid out of your last bottle, wiping your brow, and peeling off layers of sticky clothing, no discussion is needed. That's when you just look at each other and know it was a great fucking ride.
Thanks for reading.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Ten more things about me
I hinted this might be a monthly, and since yesterday's post was already recycling stuff barely a month old, this is all I have. We'll go with a youth sports theme.
1) I was/am the worst basketball player on the planet.
2) I never took swimming lessons.
3) I won first place at my local Ford dealer's Punt, Pass, and Kick competition twice, when I was 9 and again when I was 11. Both times I choked at the subsequent regionals.
4) The only organized league sport I played was four years of Little League baseball, and I still believe this to be the greatest of youth programs.
5) I could skate OK and played some pond hockey, but street hockey was a much bigger deal in my neighborhood. We played for hours a day. "Car!" - (move the nets...)
6) My first golf clubs came from a local yard sale. I played quite a bit at Cedar Hill in Stoughton, but wasn't very good, and I'm still not.
7) In grade school we played "kill the guy with the ball" every day at recess until Gary Mulligan broke his collarbone and the powers that be banned the game.
8) My brother got a stopwatch once and we used to do all kinds of running races. One time we were racing around the outside of the house, and it wasn't until four of us got stung that we realized there was a bee's nest in the hedge, and cutting that corner close was not such a good idea.
9) My favorite gym class was always the obstacle course, which is probably why I enjoy American Gladiators. I was fast too, except you had to sink a basket...
10) I think I spent more time riding my bike than I did in all other youth sports combined.
Thanks for reading.
1) I was/am the worst basketball player on the planet.
2) I never took swimming lessons.
3) I won first place at my local Ford dealer's Punt, Pass, and Kick competition twice, when I was 9 and again when I was 11. Both times I choked at the subsequent regionals.
4) The only organized league sport I played was four years of Little League baseball, and I still believe this to be the greatest of youth programs.
5) I could skate OK and played some pond hockey, but street hockey was a much bigger deal in my neighborhood. We played for hours a day. "Car!" - (move the nets...)
6) My first golf clubs came from a local yard sale. I played quite a bit at Cedar Hill in Stoughton, but wasn't very good, and I'm still not.
7) In grade school we played "kill the guy with the ball" every day at recess until Gary Mulligan broke his collarbone and the powers that be banned the game.
8) My brother got a stopwatch once and we used to do all kinds of running races. One time we were racing around the outside of the house, and it wasn't until four of us got stung that we realized there was a bee's nest in the hedge, and cutting that corner close was not such a good idea.
9) My favorite gym class was always the obstacle course, which is probably why I enjoy American Gladiators. I was fast too, except you had to sink a basket...
10) I think I spent more time riding my bike than I did in all other youth sports combined.
Thanks for reading.
Monday, February 4, 2008
No Bounce
As in I'm not exactly bouncing back after my workouts. Not that they're even all that hard either. Nights at Elite notwithstanding, this is just the same shit I've always done, yet it's kicking my ass. Friends who've preceded me into old age warned me about this. I can still manage a decent effort now and then, but recovery takes longer... Back in the fall things did not seem this difficult. I'm trying a few things to see if I can turn it around.
For those who are wondering where the missing post disappeared too, it just didn't live up to the artistic vision I was attempting to fulfill, so I deleted it. I've had a few other decent ideas for entries, but they either didn't make it past the legal department or just lacked originality.
For lack of anything else to write, January ended at 21 hours combined running and riding, which is two less than in 2007, but with all the gym work I guess I'm still ahead. This weekend I did not get in a long run, as like I said, I was dead. Instead I managed two decent rides, a bit over two hours solo on Saturday, and a bit under three with the Cronoman on Sunday. Near the end of the latter I started to wonder what one of our more fierce 45+ New England competitors might be doing on a day like today. I quipped to the Cronoman, "what do you think _ _ _ _ _ is doing today?" E replied, "Probably going hard." So I told him to email and ask him. This is what we got back:
So much for getting old. I don't think I could have even stayed on his wheel. No wonder I never fucking win anymore. Thanks for reading.
PS - Oh yeah, Sunday I just put it in the 50x19 and left it there the entire ride. No shifting. So much for needing a single speed. Yes, I realize that at the speed we maintained, this only averages out to 82 rpm, but one of my weaknesses is grinding along at low cadence, so I made it a point to work on that.
For those who are wondering where the missing post disappeared too, it just didn't live up to the artistic vision I was attempting to fulfill, so I deleted it. I've had a few other decent ideas for entries, but they either didn't make it past the legal department or just lacked originality.
For lack of anything else to write, January ended at 21 hours combined running and riding, which is two less than in 2007, but with all the gym work I guess I'm still ahead. This weekend I did not get in a long run, as like I said, I was dead. Instead I managed two decent rides, a bit over two hours solo on Saturday, and a bit under three with the Cronoman on Sunday. Near the end of the latter I started to wonder what one of our more fierce 45+ New England competitors might be doing on a day like today. I quipped to the Cronoman, "what do you think _ _ _ _ _ is doing today?" E replied, "Probably going hard." So I told him to email and ask him. This is what we got back:
wow i'm flattered. ive been doing 2-3 hr rides sat and sun. sat with
intervals sun i put powertap on avg watts and get after it. yesterday
50 miles avg 250 watts 21.8 mph avg. very hard, probably too hard, but
i have the time now. slept shit last night so i know i trainnedd real
or too hard.
So much for getting old. I don't think I could have even stayed on his wheel. No wonder I never fucking win anymore. Thanks for reading.
PS - Oh yeah, Sunday I just put it in the 50x19 and left it there the entire ride. No shifting. So much for needing a single speed. Yes, I realize that at the speed we maintained, this only averages out to 82 rpm, but one of my weaknesses is grinding along at low cadence, so I made it a point to work on that.
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