Da Dip

So hawt!

If you’ll browse through the left column, you’ll see that I’m a Maker’s Mark Ambassador. I am a big fan of the Mark.  A very fine, very smooth Kentucky bourbon. I prefer it with just a splash of clean water to mix up the essence and then an ice cube or two, depending on how many fingers deep the pour is.  But if you prefer mixing, it stands up quite well to that use as well.

Ass Sweltering Pain

Yep, that’s what I’m calling my race report. Three simple words, combined, encapsulate the week leading up to, and including, the National Marathon To Fight Breast Cancer, aka “Running with Donna 26.2″. Warning: This is a long, long, long post.

First off, the ass. I won’t include a link here, since most of you know what one is. Matter of fact, I’ve been called one from time to time. It’s even likely I’ve been called one in the past 24 hours. But I digress.

For those of you that follow this blog, you’ll know of my inability to run for the past month due to a very painful “calf pull” that I experienced in mid-January. A couple of weeks off from running, as well as stretching and massage, did seem to help. At least until I ran on it again. With only two weeks until the marathon, I was desperate to find something to fix my pain. So last week, while driving to the rodeo, I did some exploratory poking and squeezing on my calf (while driving, which I DO NOT recommend). The exquisite pain that shot up my thigh, into my glute and the small of my back got me to thinking and a bit of research once we got home that night. With the help of my Trigger Point Therapy Workbook and TriggerPoints.net, I was able to narrow down the culprit, which certainly didn’t cross my mind in the previous weeks.

Who would’ve thought that a debilitating calf issue would be caused by your butt? Even with my experiences and successes with trigger points over the past year, I certainly didn’t. In the picture below, my particular issue is the one on the right.

As you can see, the X’s mark the trigger points and the red areas mark the associated pain. I didn’t typically feel any pain in my hamstring area and had only felt the pain in my cheek area during my long runs leading up to my “calf pull”. The majority of the pain associated with this trigger point was in the area on the outside of my calf.

But that still wasn’t the “calf pull” area. That area was more associated trigger point #2 on the Soleus, but frequent massage and pressure on that trigger point did not solve the problem, so it had to have something else contributing. That turned out to be the Gluteus Minimus.

After referring to the book and the web site, it was time for a bit of exploration. For such a sensitive area, I’d normally turn to the Goddess for help, but one thing usually leads to another, so I had to do this one myself. Plus, since the gluteus minimus lies beneath the gluteus maximus, the probes had to be deep and forceful; not something she enjoys doing (she tells me “that’s your job”). The probes confirmed a line of large knots right where the muscle attaches to my pelvis. Let me tell you, there was no pleasant in this probing.

So all last week I massaged them by sitting on a tennis ball on the living room and slowly rolling over the muscle, working from one knot to the next. Quite a few times the pain took my breath away. Following each rolling session I’d stretch. I found the most effective stretch for me is the Prone Glute Stretch, which feels absolutely wonderful. By following this sequence on both legs last week, I was comfortable that I could start the marathon on Sunday.

In the final days before the marathon, I revamped my original goal (break 4:00) and came up with three separate goals, two of which I could fall back on if the previous goal was unattainable. They were:

1. Break 4:00. Even with one month off, there’s always the possibility that the forced rest from the injury would deliver me to the line so fresh that I would comfortably crank out the required 9:09 miles (which I was doing with ease on my long runs leading up to my injury last month).
2. Complete the race. With the most likely possibility that I would still be feeling the effects of my calf through the race, I would have to adjust my finish time goal on the fly and hold out for the finish.
3. Stop the insanity, wait for Goddess and my sister to catch up, then walk the remainder of the half-marathon with them. The intent of this goal was to continue to heal and hopefully set myself up for April’s Country Music Marathon in Nashville.

The overarching goal was to not injure myself any more. But doesn’t that go without saying?

Goal number three was the only goal as recent as 7 days out from the race. I had resigned myself to not running the marathon and would enjoy the morning with Goddess and my sister. That certainly isn’t a bad thing, not by any means, but my goal signing up was to race the 26.2. But with the “discovery” of my gluteus minimus, goals 1 and 2 quickly became more attainable.

After a gaggle at the start area (see “BAD” and “UGLY” below), we were off. I was very comfortable at a 9:30 pace for the first few miles, figuring that if I was to achieve goal 1, I would warm up during the first few miles and then be able to slowly ramp up the pace. That’s my typical race strategy anyway, since I don’t typically warm up for 4-6 miles.

By mile 4, I could feel my calf. No pain, but a steady discomfort; enough discomfort to back off the pace and toss goal #1 out the window. At no point during the 26.2 miles did my calf hurt like it had during the previous month, so that was a huge success.

By mile 6 I had passed the turn-around for the half-marathon, so I was committed to the full.

At mile 10, my quadricep heads started to cramp slightly. Not a good sign, but a reality of the day.

By mile 13.1, I was a full 20 minutes slower than my half-marathon split at the Flying Monkey Marathon, which had over 2,000′ of climbing. This course was flat, with only 215′ of total climbing! It was a run-walk strategy for the last 13.1 miles.

Why so slow? Other than the leg issues, for me it was the weather. Over the past several months, I’ve been running in a Kentucky winter. Runs in the snow, runs in some pretty cold wind chills, runs in dreary overcast days with temperatures hovering in the 20’s. The morning we left to drive to Florida, it was 19 degrees. And that was after a couple of days of ice and snow. In Florida, by the time the race started on Sunday morning, it was 69F with 75% humidity and continued to get worse, settling at 75F and 65% by the time I finished. In other words, relatively oppressive heat.

Although I knew it was going to be warmer, I failed to properly build my hydration and electrolytes in the days leading up to the race. It caught up to me.

I inhaled my Clif Shot Bloks, wishing I had more than just one pack of the Margarita with Salt. I started gulping the Accelerade that they provided and even talked a First Aid tent volunteer out of his bag of Lays Potato Chips at about mile 20. I was able to keep the cramping at bay for the most part, but it would rear its head enough to keep me focused on sucking down as much electrolytes as I could.

Goddess called and told me that she and my sister had finished. I was (and still am) so proud of them; neither had done anything like that before, not even so much as run a 10K. They committed to walking the 13.1 with each other.

Between miles 20 and 21, I had the most amazing walk with a lady. I first approached her because she was wobbling like crazy and I was worried about her. The heat was definitely taking its toll on everyone. Turns out she was a 68 year old who was using the marathon as a training run for an upcoming 50-mile race. She was quite upset with her performance thus far because she knew she was fitter than that, just coming off a 70-mile training week and had run under 4:00 in the past year. She was from out west, so the humidity was definitely getting to her. I waved down medical support, who had a talk with her and let her continue. I was quite pleased last night to see that she had finished the race.

By mile 22, I did some quick calculations and realized that I needed to pick up the pace if I was to finish in under 6:00. With the heat and cramping, it was going to be a challenge. At this point, everyone was walking. Occasionally someone would shuffle for a minute or so, but it really was the walk of the dead.

I revamped my walk-run strategy and threw time out the window. No matter if I picked a 2:1 or 1:1 time strategy, I just couldn’t get the legs moving very well after walking. So I decided on a 30:30 strategy, not of time, but of foot strikes; 30 left foot strikes while running, 30 left foot strikes while walking. It kept me focused and moving relatively quickly at a 9:45 pace during the run segments. In the next two miles I figure I passed between 75-100 people. That was a huge confidence boost.

At a mile-and-a-half out from the finish, the worst climb of the day arrived as we had to climb a bridge that crosses the Intracoastal Waterway. Past the last water stop and starting to cramp again, it was back to walking. Turning the last turn, greeted by the sign “The last .2 mile will kick you in the ass” and seeing the finish line got me moving again. The cramping got me walking again. Even coming up to the timing mat that they had set up with 100 yards to go, my leg locked. Luckily that didn’t come through in the pictures. I was passed by quite a few folks at this stage, but I couldn’t have cared less.

Finish time - 5:57:14 by my Garmin, chip time 5:57:18.

The Good -

• I finished. Thanks to the lack of running over the past month, this entered back into my race goals.
• I broke a rule of racing and was better for it. I wore my new pair of Injinji Toe Socks and they rocked! I had been wearing Thorlo’s for the past year+ and had always had problems with blisters on the balls of my feet, no matter how much or how long I ran. The Thorlo’s are thick and have good padding while the Injinji’s are very thin with no padding. So I discovered that with the Injinji’s I’ll likely have to come down half a shoe size to make up for the difference in sock padding. With the thinner socks, my forefoot was sliding around a bit in the shoe box, but absolutely no blisters!
• I had several mental breakthroughs during the race. Details are unimportant, but they happened.
• The communities of Jacksonville Beach and Neptune Beach absolutely rocked! A significant portion of the race ran through neighborhoods, which effectively cut them off to all auto traffic. So the residents made the best of the situation and stood out in their driveways, sprayed the runners, provided oranges and cheered. One group of guys even provided shots of beer at the 21 mile mark (it was GOOD).
• For a first-time event, the course was completely stocked with supplies on the course. There was never a shortage of water, Accelerade or Gu (I didn’t use it, but they had plenty). This was in sharp contrast to several of the more well-established events that I’ve participated in.
• The support from the community and runners (I know I mentioned the community before, but this is different). Since this event was to raise funds for Breast Cancer Research, each of us could wear a sign on our back that said who we were running for. Mine said simply “Mom”, who is a survivor. I had many folks run past saying “I’m running for Mom too”. That was always a great boost. More humbling were the folks who ran by with 7, 8 or 10 names on their sign. More amazing was running and talking with survivors who were out there pushing themselves. The couple of times that I thought about folding I thought about what my Mom and all of these others had gone through; my discomfort paled in comparison.
• The support and advice from those of you out in blogland. Thank you so much for the public and private advice and concern. That really means a lot to me.

The Bad -

• There weren’t corrals for the runners, just pacers with planned finish times, so you would look for your planned finish time and stand near that person. The gun went off and it took a couple of minutes to get to the start line (normal). But once we got moving, it was evident that several walkers had seeded themselves at the front, causing several traffic jams and collisions as the thousands of runners had to work around them. I applaud those ladies for getting out there and moving, but at the front of 8,000+ was not the place to be.
• This also goes for the folks following the Jeff Galloway plan. Overall, I believe that this group did great things for thousands of runners at the marathon, but sticking to the plan in the first mile was a recipe for disaster as the pacer yelled “Walk” and groups of 60+ runners stopped to walk just 3 minutes out from the start line; again, they caused huge traffic jams and many collisions in a very crowded situation. Tempers were flaring already and I’m surprised no one got hurt.

The Ugly -

• The race started a full 30 minutes later than the 8am start time. They knew it was going to be warm and were announcing over the loudspeakers that folks need to adjust their pacing and not plan on a PR, yet still started it late. It looks like they’ve fixed this and have adjusted the start time for next year’s race to 7:30am. Hopefully they’ll start it on time.

Lessons learned -

• Electrolyte loading - I can’t believe I still haven’t figured this one out. I’ve known for many years that I’m a very heavy sweater and that I lose a lot of electrolytes during a race. Yet I never remember to load up on them until I’m in the race.
• A stride-focused walk-run strategy is the key when I get to that stage. I was amazed at how easy it was to get moving once my left foot hit 30. And it was easy to hold an unflagging pace for “only” 30 strides.
• The Base layer is crucial. What’s that? A base layer in 70 degree weather? Yep. After running the Monkey and chafing my nipples down a full 1/32″, I learned that I needed to wear a skin tight layer under my shirt. Let’s just say it was a good thing that I wore a red shirt for that race. Since then I’ve always worn a skin tight technical shirt and haven’t had any problems. I did the same for this race and it was a godsend. Once the heat got unbearable, I peeled my outer shirt and let the slight sea breeze cool me. The wicking effect really kept me cool, even though the shirt was black. I’d even dump a cup of water over me and get chilled, which was great! So if you look at my race pics, you’ll see that I’m wearing two different shirts.
• Stretching, massage and cross-training. I need to do more of each to help with these injuries, all of which have been flexibility related over the past year. I’ve had much success with identifying the appropriate trigger point and relieving the pressure, but some have taken longer to solve and have kept me away from training longer than I’d like. So I now need to schedule more sessions each week.

Will I do this race again? Absolutely. The location was great, the community was great and it had the added bonus of allowing me to spend several days with my parents as well as my sister and her family.

From here it’s the Tom King Half Marathon next month and the Country Music Marathon in April, both in Nashville.

‘Tis the Season(?)

…But I’m not exactly sure which season it is.

I think this guy’s got the right idea about how the season’s being celebrated by the masses. Damn shame, too. Goddess and I shake our heads at the news coverage and the interviews with people. What really floored me was reading an article recently where a guy admitted that he took out a home equity line of credit just to fund this Christmas. Crazy! (I really wish I could find that link again).

Goddess and I have many reasons to be joyful throughout the year, so we look at Christmas as just another day; every day we wake up and fall asleep together is a great day.

She’s making the brine right now to soak the turkey that I’ll smoke tomorrow. I still don’t think that qualifies as an event, since it’s something we do a couple of times a year.

On another note, I just found out that I won this year’s game, so I’m quite pleased. It’s a game that is played throughout the year and the results aren’t known until the last couple of weeks of the year. It’s the tax game. And my game is to come as close to zero as possible. We came out only a Jackson away from that target, so that’s a win!

And in case you’re wondering, it doesn’t matter whether it’s a plus-Jackson or minus-Jackson. It’s just like trying to hit the bullseye. That’s right - no refund or payment is a complete win. That’s the target, but it is difficult to hit. Although one day I’d love to see a single-digit number.

We do wish each and every one of you a joyous season, whatever your beliefs. And here’s hoping that 2008 is a year in which you find joy and prosperity. So get out there and celebrate the real reasons for the season.  I’m off to give Goddess a hug. 

Food Guidance

Reading Athena’s blog this morning got me to looking around at links.

I found the greatest news concerning dark chocolate. Seven ounces a week!

That on the heels of my doc telling me that two drinks a night is a good thing.

All this great news makes it a bitch to stay near race weight, though.

BTW, I asked the doc if I could bank my drinks during the week and make a withdrawal on the weekend. For some reason, the look was disapproving.

Hasher’s $4K Run

<rant>

Absolutely freakin’ amazing. Some Hash House Harriers do what they do all the time, sending an ignorant township’s leaders into a tizzy. Instead of facing a felony conviction, they pay $4,000 as a plea bargain.

People have lost their paranoid, freakin’ minds.

Perhaps, using prosecutor Marc Ramia’s words, we should prosecute all fast food joints because the spreading of such food “creates a dangerous situation for the public, who are not aware of what the substance is.”

</rant>

Full text follows:

Flour-sprinkling joggers out of trouble

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Charges have been dropped against two siblings who inadvertently caused a bioterrorism scare when they sprinkled flour in a parking lot to mark a trail for their offbeat running club.

New Haven ophthalmologist Daniel Salchow, 36, and his sister, Dorothee, 31, who was visiting from Hamburg, Germany, had been charged with first-degree breach of peace, a felony.

The charges were dropped Thursday after Daniel Salchow agreed he and his sister would donate $4,000 to local charities. Prosecutors could reopen the case if the Salchows do the same thing again in the next 13 months.

Dorothee has returned to Germany and prosecutors agreed not to require her to appear in court.

The siblings set off the scare while organizing a run for a local chapter of the Hash House Harriers, a worldwide group that bills itself as a “drinking club with a running problem.”

“Hares” are given the task of marking a trail to direct runners, throwing in some dead ends and forks as challenges. In August, the Salchows decided to route runners through an IKEA furniture store parking lot.

Police fielded a call that someone was sprinkling powder on the ground. The store was evacuated and remained closed the rest of the night. The incident prompted a massive response from police in New Haven and surrounding towns.

Daniel Salchow biked back to IKEA when he heard there was a problem and told officers the powder was just flour, which he said he and his sister have sprinkled everywhere from New York to California without incident.

Daniel Salchow and his attorney, Michael Jefferson, said they were pleased with the resolution but still believe authorities overreacted.

“We felt all along it was an innocent activity,” Jefferson said.

Many fellow runners sent letters of protest over the Salchows’ arrest, but New Haven officials maintain their response was warranted.

Prosecutor Marc Ramia said in court Thursday that spreading such material “creates a dangerous situation for the public, who are not aware of what the substance is.”

For the actual page.

To a halt

Well, if I was rushing on Sunday, Monday brought me to a screeching halt.

Feeling increasingly under the weather through the weekend, waking up early Monday morning was an experience. Flowing from the nose like a hose (hey, that rhymes) and sharp pain in the chest when I coughed or drank anything.

Walking out of the doc’s office, I felt like I needed a picnic basket to carry the bottles. Now there’s an image for you, Fe-Lady.- all 192 lbs of me, skipping with a picnic basket. Outfit is your choice.

Anyway, there went the rest of Monday, which I had off anyway. Goddess and I tried to think back to the last time I was sick. The best we can recollect was about five years ago. So I guess I was due.

Halfway through the day, Goddess walks out of the pantry with my new favorite snack - Special K Chocolatey Delight. Relatively healthy, with chunks of chocolate. What else can you ask for? One of these days I’ll try it with milk. But what’s the rush, right?

I’m telling you, yummy chocolate goodness.

So today I still wasn’t feeling right. So I went into work, grabbed the stack of folders off my desk and worked from home. No sense in getting everyone else sick. I’m just glad I have that sort of flexibility.

And I got to enjoy more of that yummy chocolate goodness.

And from the sounds coming from the kitchen, Goddess is digging in the box. Time to grab some for myself before its all gone.

Ever Have One of Those Races?

Or at least felt like this?

Taken during the Men’s 3,000 meter steeplechase at Osaka, Japan.

My first reaction was “oooommphhhh”!

Then it got me to thinking about my first (and second to last) experience with steeplechase. And as with any good story, it starts with that phrase. What phrase is that, you ask?

Well, there I was.

Senior year of high school. At a track invitational whose name has since escaped me. But it doesn’t matter.

Anyway, there I was. Done with my races, which results escape me as well. After my last race, it was time for a feed. And right next to the track of the school that we were racing at was a Carl’s Jr. How convenient! My favorite fast food joint to stuff my gullet while growing up. So, being a 17 year old runner who had already burned plenty of calories, I opted for my choice of meals - two (2) Double Western Bacon Cheeseburger’s. With fries and a Coke.

And during that time, what restaurant wouldn’t win a teenage boy’s heart with the slogan - “It doesn’t get all over the place, it doesn’t belong in your face”.

Anyway, back to eating. I scarfed it down. And it was good. All 1900 calories for just the burgers, plus the fries and Coke (no Diet Coke for me back then).

So afterwards, I rolled back over to the track to watch the rest of the races.

A little while later, the coach comes walking over and says “Bill, they’re going to run a steeplechase at the end. So I signed you up”. “Oh $h!t. Thanks, coach”.

Having never run the race, I had no idea how to approach it. Especially with 4lbs of meat in my belly.

I wish I had video. It had to have been the funniest thing ever. None of us racing had ever run the race, much less jumped the hurdles and vaulted past the water hazards. I’m sure that a few of the hurdles should have been shown on American’s Funniest Home Video’s.

I didn’t trip, I didn’t land face first in the water. I didn’t puke, although there were some serious doubts, especially during the last lap.

I did curl up into a ball on the side of the track after the finish.

Over 20 years later, I can still picture everything.

Good times.

Oh yeah. The second time wasn’t any better, although I had more notice so I didn’t fuel for it the same.

Peak Shuffle and AKUS

Well, this was to be my training peak, with 16 hours of fun and excitement this week. Instead, work got in the way and I was lucky to get in an hour at the pool. So I’m doing a bit of week flipping and moving my workouts to this coming week and shifting next week’s scheduled recovery week to this past week. Hopefully I haven’t jacked peaking up too much, but there wasn’t any way around it.

Saturday night was date night with the goddess. We haven’t had one of those in quite a while. The boy was off at an away game (he’s in the band) that would see him getting home after 2am. So he spent the night at a friends house.

We made the drive down to Nashville, enjoyed some dinner and then walked the few blocks over to the Sommet Center to see Alison Krauss and Union Station (AKUS). The goddess and I are huge fans. She’s (goddess, too) got an amazing voice and they play some excellent bluegrass.

As my goddess said as we were seated, ready to AKUS to start, “you get to see your girlfriend”. Hehe. I’m willing to admit that Alison is quite easy on the eyes. But goddess certainly got her eyeful with Barry Bales, the bass player.

They got to the stage a bit late, but certainly didn’t disappoint. They rolled straight into their set and played for the next two hours. Every few songs they’d take a break and say some words, mostly about how happy they were to be home again (Nashville is their home base). During these breaks they’d have us laughing too. Alison would introduce each person in quite a humorous way. For instance, she introduced Jerry Douglas, the dobro player, as “Who’s that on the stage? Is it Emelio Estevez? Is it Antonio Banderas? Or is it Eric Estrada?” is a breathy, quasi-hispanic voice. Hilarious.

Also playing guitar and singing was Dan Tyminski, who you might be familiar with as the voice of George Clooney in the excellent, excellent movie “O Brother, Where Art Thou?“. Needless to say, the place was hopping when he sang the movie’s signature song, “Man of Constant Sorrow“. Afterwards, Dan told the story about telling his wife about being picked to sing for the movie. He first told her that he was picked for a voice-over. She responded with “What’s that?”. He then explained that when she watched the movie, she’d look up at the screen, see George Clooney and hear his voice. She exclaimed “Oh Dan, that’s my fantasy!”. Of course, the place was rolling.

Again, excellent music and a great time. The tour is over, but if you get a chance to see AKUS in the future, I highly recommend it.

===========

Before the show, as we picked up our tickets at the Will Call window, I asked the lady if we could buy tickets to our next planned concert since they went on sale that day. She looked at my, quite confused for a minute, then asked me to repeat. I repeated “Can we pick up tickets for the Korn show today”. We had a good laugh as she admitted that AKUS and Korn were definitely on the opposite ends of the spectrum. Oh well, I had to buy the tickets through Ticketmaster today. Goddess will sit that one out, so it’s just the boy and I down on the floor and in the crush of bodies. We’re looking forward to that!

What a week(end)!

Catching up, although that will take a few days.

Busy last week juggling the first week of my last Build cycle before I start my race taper with moving, work and live in general. Work prevented a couple of workouts due to unscheduled meetings, but that’s life. I tacked on some extra time on my rides to make up for some of the “lost” time, but I made sure I didn’t overextend on those rides.

The big event was this weekend. We drove up to Madison, Wisconsin to celebrate my cousin’s marriage. What made it really special is that the last time I saw her, she was the flower girl in my sister’s wedding. Eighteen years ago.

A lot has transpired since then. Family dramas, family moves, deaths, births and just life in general. Yet we somehow managed to keep in touch. And it was great to see her (and her brother) again.

Madison’s a wonderful town. Our first visit there. Likely not our last. It sure seemed as if every car had a bike or kayak rack (or both) on it.

Saturday morning, the alarm went off at 4:30am. Time to squeeze in a long run before the wedding. My cousin was kind enough to talk to some friends who recommended a lovely loop around Lake Wingra, based at the UW Arboretum. Since I was to leave the family sleeping comfortably in the hotel room, the six mile loop was perfect for an unsupported run. My goal was three hours, which I figured would be three loops, with perhaps an extra out and back at the end if I was ahead of schedule.

I started running at 6 a.m. Gorgeous weather. Although my cousin apologized for it being “humid”, compared to Kentucky/Tennessee it was beautifully dry. High clouds blocked the sun, so the whole run was at a comfortable 74 degrees.

Running in Madison was a world of difference from KY/TN. Instead of the redneck refrain of “Get off the road, fag”, I was greeted with a constant stream of “Good morning” and “How ya doin’?”. It was great. Cyclists and runners everywhere.

Dodging deer. Dodging wild turkey (no, not the drink. But a lovely glass of Glenlivet the night before was a great nightcap). Dodging geese. Even giving thumbs up to the folks that were kind enough to not only put up a sign, but actually plumbed a drinking fountain in their front yard for “joggers, bicyclists, dogs, cats and anyone else who wants some water”. What a service!

Anyway, back to the run. The first loop was a steady effort at a nice steady 9:16 pace. Nothing speedy. I carried water and fuel with me, thanks to my water bottles and Fuel Belt. I needed to best replicate the availability of water and fuel on race day, so waiting until the end of each 6-mile loop wasn’t sufficient. Plus, I’m a heavy, heavy sweater so having the fluid available is a good thing.

Second loop was almost identical to the first, at a 9:22 pace. I was still feeling strong at the end of the loop, although I had to stop and put on some extra Body Glide under the ball of my left foot. Wringing out the sock was entertaining, since it was soaked through. Matter of fact, by this point I couldn’t sneak up on anyone to save my life, since the steady squish-squish-squish of my socks and shoes announced my approach. Like I said, I’m a heavy sweater.

Third loop started off great. Still holding a 9:20-ish pace. At mile 15 the legs just stopped. In a funny way. It’s as if a switch was flipped. It wasn’t a steady deterioration, just a stop. I ended up practicing my walk/run strategy. I could hold a good 9:00-9:15 pace for 4-5 minutes, then have to walk for a minute or two. Then right back into the same pace. It worked fine for me and was interesting to work through. I know it’s what I’ll do during the race.

Overall time for the 18 miles ended up being 2:56:22, which works out to an average 9:47 pace. I’ll take it.

I doubt I’ll do such a long run again between now and race time. For me it takes too long to recover from those runs, which ends up impacting the rest of my workouts. Granted, the 10 hours in the car yesterday did nothing for me. Even with the seat heater going (and the AC full-blast) I steadily tightened up . By the time we got home I was gimping pretty hard. This morning’s easy 3-mile run felt OK, but nothing to get excited about.

However, I do have a six hour and then an eight hour brick scheduled for the next two weekends. I think I’ll drop the bike back a bit and extend the runs some. Although on that eight hour I’ll have to keep enough energy to take my lovely bride to see Allison Krauss that night. We can’t wait.

Anyway, the wedding that afternoon was wonderful.  I took my camera gear for my own pictures.  They had two photographers there working the event, so I did my best to stay out of their way.  I took almost 300 pictures (digits are cheap), so I’ll be processing those and posting them for friends and family.  My lovely bride even asked if I’d consider shooting weddings, which I said “No!”.  Too much pressure.  I’d rather be the odd guy off to the side and shoot to my satisfaction, not worried about whether or not the bride and groom will appreciate my eye.

Watch the side bar in the future - I may post a shot or two over there.

In the meantime, it’s work and catching up with school work, which the move put me behind. And I’ve got my final next week, so that should prove to be interesting.

Hope all’s well with you!

My Goddess, My God

First off, my Goddess.

After only five and a half hours of sleep, she got up at 4am with nary a cross word, helped pack the car, stayed awake on the drive to the lake, saw me off, moved the car to the transition area after the park opened, had my refill of bottles ready when I finished bike loop 1, was there again when I finished the bike, helped me transition to the run by making sure my bottles were ready, then smiled at me when I was done. Seven and a half hours, parked in empty parking lots, then later surrounded by some of finer specimens that America has to offer. Not a peep of complaint, just encouragement. She even drove home. My Goddess rocks!

On to the workout. It was to be eight hours, with the full 112 mile bike ride for my upcoming race, followed by the balance running. Didn’t work out that way. “Only” 7:20, but discretion is the better part of surviving.

The bike ended up being 114.5 miles, mainly because I had to tack on an extra mile and back to get to my Goddess at the end of loop one for a refill.

From the beginning, a good breakfast of 650 calories two hours before the start. In the parking lot, I did what I do best - sabotage myself. I thought that a PowerBar would be a good choice to top things off right before I took off. A PowerBar and a sip of water. Fifteen miles into it and the GI distress started. Good job, Bill! Luckily I caught it immediately and was able to have things sorted out and back on schedule by mile 40. Lap 1: 3:17:17.

By the start of lap 2, the wind had picked up. That meant grinding into a stiff headwind. But before that stretch of the loop, I had to cross the bridge. My God, the bridge. About 7 miles from the transition area, we have to cross Lake Barkley, which is actually a wide part of the Cumberland River. The Cumberland is a working river, which means large coal barges must travel past. So this bridge is tall, some 80 feet off the water in the middle. It’s a 1930’s vintage design, so there’s no shoulder, just the white line, then a waist high railing. Mind you, I’m not afraid of heights. But this bridge unnerved me. Never mind that traffic starts backing up, because I’m going to take my part of the lane right down the middle, thank you. Oh, and that part about avoiding Zone 5 at all costs during an endurance event? So much for that. Had to cross the bloody thing four times today. Luckily the drivers were considerate.

Lap two was more interesting. The typical stages of an Ironman ride worked their way through my body. Miles 75-90 were definitely uncomfortable. But then it started looking up again. Loop 2: 3:23:36. A bit slower, but I’ll take it.

Total ride: 114.45 miles, time: 6:49:26 (including my 6 minute stop between loops and a 3 minute stop at mile 100 to fill my water bottles).

Now, the time’s not fast, but it’ll definitely do for my race day. What that doesn’t show is the climbing. This route has a some hills. Only one’s a wall, and that’s at mile 111 for race day. Total climbing for the route is a whopping 7,158 feet! Have a look here at the route and the elevation slice.

By comparison, the longest standard ride that I take from my house is 76 miles with a “measly” 1,541 feet of climbing.

So taking into account the climbing, I’m quite pleased with the time and my performance. Outside the GI distress in the early parts, my nutrition was spot on. My average heart rate for the entire ride was 129 bpm, well entrenched in Zone 2 for the majority of the ride, with some time in Zone 3, less than 13 minutes in Zone 4, and only 3 minutes in Zone 5 (bloody bridge). I finished the ride ready for the run.

Given the effort on the ride, I decided to scale back my run. I was shooting for 8 hours total workout, but that was only so I could “rescue” my weekly hours and make up some time I lost missing my two swims this week due to work commitments. Since I had plenty of time to think about it, I realized that the best thing to do was to fall back on Gordo’s original plan for this day, which was the 112 mile ride followed by a 4 mile run. Nothing more.

So the run starts out just like it did for my Half, straight up. In the first .8 mile, the climb is 219 feet, which is an average grade of 5 percent. However, it’s not a steady climb; there’s actually some flat parts and a downhill stretch. So in parts the grade is a fair bit steeper, probably in the 9-10 percent range. So I already figured my race strategy for my marathon - walk the first mile. After that there are a couple of fairly steep hills, which I’ll likely walk. Otherwise, it’s rolling for the entire run. Manageable, but I suspect there will be quite a few walkers out there.

Quite a bit of words for just one workout, eh? I’ll do it again in a month, then do the whole thing in two months time.

But between now and then, I’ve got some work to do in the hills.

Postscript:

On the ride I had plenty of time to add to my “tagged list”:

Shows I enjoy:

• Two and a Half Men. I can’t believe I forgot this show, which has me rolling every week.

Guilty Pleasures:

• Music. Again, I’m not guilty about this at all. 600+ CD’s, 250-ish album, and I keep adding to the collection.

I tagged Karl, who managed to tag me as well with a slightly different list.  Someone’s got to get this under control! 
Hope all is well with you.