On Sunday I toed the line for the Philly Olympic Distance Triathlon. I haven't competed at this distance in 4 years. I've gone longer and shorter in that time span, but left this distance off the schedule since I could not find a race that fit in. But in December when the Evil Exercise Scientist and I sat down to plan out my year, I said it was time for an Olympic distance. And the timing of Philly fit the bill.
I was anxious leading up to this race. I haven't been swimming as much as I should, but my biking and running were going fine. My plan was to take it easy on the swim and then I had my orders to "Step on the gas" for the bike and go hard on the run. The plan sounded good, but execution of the plan is another story.
The few days leading into the race were touch and go. We had some massive rainfall which left the river at a level of "code red" which means no swimming or submerging. Not sure the race director saw that warning because the swim was not cancelled. As a matter of fact, the water temp was so warm that wetsuits were not allowed. Eeek!! That means bacteria-riddled water will come into contact with more of my skin than I wanted. Gross. At this point I knew I had to swim faster. I was in the first swim wave so it was in my best interest to swim fast so I can get on the bike course before the rest of the racers behind me.
We were allowed to jump into the water to get to the swim start. I saw each athlete go under when they hit the water. I was not prepared for complete, disgusting immersion so I sat down on the dock and slipped in. There would be enough time for me to get completely wet, but I wanted to prolong it. I swam easy to the start and waited for the horn. The starter said to watch the buoy's and not let the current bring you forward. What current?!?! I've swam in the Hudson, I know currents. Philly, you have no current. Don't tease me.
The air horn goes off and so do I. I took it easy to get started and found my rhythm early. I'm pretty sure tons of people passed me, but I didn't care. I kept sighting and swimming. The water felt pretty warm for 82 degrees and I'm glad to decided to not wear the skin suit over my race clothes. I passed under a bridge and could see a turn up ahead. I decided now to pick up the pace a little. My hip flexors were fatiguing from the flutter kick I was doing to keep me going and I wanted to stop sweating in the water.
I finally made it to the swim exit and was surprised at my mile swim time without a wetsuit. I was more than pleased as I ran into T1. When I got to my bike, I tried to change quickly and get going. I had a long way to go to get to the bike exit. Lucky me to be staged all the way at one end of the transition area.
It's a two loop course and I knew I would have one clear loop to hammer it. I knew the course was hilly, but didn't realize just how hilly it was. Each loop was ~12.5 miles with ~600' of climbing (1200' for 25 miles). And some of the climbs were steep. I was dropping it into the small ring to get up the climbs, saving my legs for the 2nd loop and then the run. The downhills were fun, though I had a few scary moments. First one was coming around a right bend on a downhill and my rear wheel hit a rock on the pavement. I felt the wheel come off the ground for a split second and I hung on as I threw my weight to the left to counterbalance hoping I wouldn't wipe out. Success!! I was still upright. the next dicey section was a big downhill at the end of the 1st loop that I totally misjudged. At the bottom was a hard right turn. I realized it a little late and began to brake hard, fulfilling my destiny as HOTS. I made the turn....barely.....and made my way around for the second loop.
The second loop was slower than the first. I was passing people, but sometimes there were just too many all over the place and it wasn't safe to get around. I would have to sit back and bide my time waiting. when it was safe, I made my way around then. Since I knew the course better the 2nd loop, I knew where I could hammer the downhills and where to brake. Clearly I didn't want to repeat any near disasters from the 1st loop.
I made the long walk through transition and changed for the run. All I had left was 6.2 miles. Just 6.2. It was getting warm out and I put my Zoot arm coolers to the test. The tricky part of this race was the run begins on the grass outside of the transition area. It was at this precise moment that the neuroma in my foot woke up from it's 6 week coma. Holy crap, my foot was on fire as soon as I hit the pavement. I tried every trick in the book to calm it down. Nothing was working. I almost stopped to take my shoe off and mobilize my joints to reduce the pain. By the 3rd mile it seemed to be quieting down to a whimper. At each aid station I would walk through to rest my foot, grab some water to drink/pour overhead and arms. The arm coolers were working to keep me cooler than usual. I have issues in the warmer weather with overheating and this is the 1st step in trying to keep me cool.
When I passed the mile 3 sign I figured I was home free. WRONG. I had to run across the grass again to get to the 2nd half of the run. Sweet baby jesus, someone is out to get me. I gingerly run/walk the 4/10th mile across the grass to get to the pavement. But no luck, this neuroma was back with a vengeance. I decided at this point once I hit the pavement I was going to run as fast as I possibly could to get it over with. My 3rd and 4th toe felt like someone lit them on fire. I was in agony. Every swing of my leg I would attempt to flare my toes to give it some relief. I noticed on the sidewalk was a large Great Dane. I thought long and hard about hopping on it's back and riding it for a mile or two, but that would have gotten me disqualified. Hey, if you're going to get a DQ, make it a good one!!
I repeated my walking breaks at each aid station to try and get relief. But in the end, I just raced it in as fast as I could. I caught Wingman by surprise with my negative split. He wasn't expecting me to come in so soon. After crossing the line, I grabbed my finishers medal and an ice cold towel to drape around my neck. Cold never felt so good.
I have to say it wasn't my best race, but I gave my best under all the circumstances handed to me. The 2nd loop of the bike had its challenges and the run was absolute murder for me. But it clearly shows me that I can push through the pain when I have to, to finish the race.
Oddly enough this week, I had two runs with absolutely no pain in my foot. None. Zero. Zilch. I guess running on grass/uneven surfaces just isn't working for me. Hopefully my next two races are smooth surfaces.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Sunday, June 10, 2012
"Oh, oh, what I want to know, where does the time go?"
That's the line from "Uncle John's Band" from the Grateful Dead. And it's so true. Last I left off I landed in Spain for a 2 week cycling vacation. Next thing I know it's almost mid-June and racing season is here. I've been on a hectic schedule the last few weeks and hardly home on the weekends. Last month the Wingman and I rode the Gran Fondo in NY/NJ. Then I was off to Baltimore for a course in Dry Needling to further enhance my PT skills (blog link courtesy of Sinead). It was 3 days of intense learning. You were in class for 10 hours and then spending a few hours at night in the hotel reading/studying/preparing for the next day. I can honestly say it has changed the way I look at pain in my patients.
I wasted no time in putting my new skills to work. First up was Sinead. She was having some neck motion restrictions and a headache. I used ~7 needles in her cervical spine and 2 up in the base of her occiput. I could certainly feel a change in her deep tissues after the treatment. She reported later a 90% reduction in her headache and neck pain/restrictions. Success story #1. My second volunteer was an aide that works with me. He has AC joint pain when he bench presses. He rated his pain to be about a 6 out of 10 when he benches. I placed a needle in each of his upper traps, and then went to work on his right shoulder. The magic spot was his infraspinatus/teres minor region (aka Ground Zero). When I asked what he was feeling, he said he could feel the pain in his AC joint being reproduced. Bingo!! It goes to show you that sometimes the pain you experience can come from a different source. After his session, I had him load up a bar to try to bench. He loaded 155lbs up and said his pain felt like a 3 out of 10 now. He could bench press with a lot less pain. My last volunteer for the day was Jen. I went to town on her glutes and her lateral quad. She was feeling some ITB pain when she squatted, along with some other tightness in her hip area. Many times 'ITB' pain is actually trigger points in the lateral quad that refer pain down the side.
I hit a few trigger points in her glut that were tough to release. After I was done, she was pretty sore. I had her ride a stationary bike to work it out and hydrate to help flush things out. By the end of the next day, she could squat pain free and instead of her hip tightening 1 hour after running, it now took 3 hours. Progress.
Of course needling by itself is not the complete answer. The biomechanics of movement need to be assessed and corrected, muscles need to be strengthened and not in the traditional 'gym' sense. Pounding out bridges to strengthen glutes is fine, but if you can't use that strength in your activity, then you've wasted a lot of your time. Which leads me to this past weekend.
Sinead and I flew to Tampa for the APTA conference. They had an exhibit hall where we got to play with some fun "toys", but mostly we sat in on a 3 day lecture on Biomechanics of the hip, knee and ankle. I definitely picked up a few interesting ideas and techniques that will help me better help my patients. I am also getting heavy into motion analysis and have been working with a new software application that allows me to quickly view video that I capture of a patient doing an exercise or running on a treadmill. I can analyze the movement and see where the breakdown occurs, show the patient, and then go to work fixing the dysfunction. This is the direction I ultimately want to head in my career.
I wasted no time in putting my new skills to work. First up was Sinead. She was having some neck motion restrictions and a headache. I used ~7 needles in her cervical spine and 2 up in the base of her occiput. I could certainly feel a change in her deep tissues after the treatment. She reported later a 90% reduction in her headache and neck pain/restrictions. Success story #1. My second volunteer was an aide that works with me. He has AC joint pain when he bench presses. He rated his pain to be about a 6 out of 10 when he benches. I placed a needle in each of his upper traps, and then went to work on his right shoulder. The magic spot was his infraspinatus/teres minor region (aka Ground Zero). When I asked what he was feeling, he said he could feel the pain in his AC joint being reproduced. Bingo!! It goes to show you that sometimes the pain you experience can come from a different source. After his session, I had him load up a bar to try to bench. He loaded 155lbs up and said his pain felt like a 3 out of 10 now. He could bench press with a lot less pain. My last volunteer for the day was Jen. I went to town on her glutes and her lateral quad. She was feeling some ITB pain when she squatted, along with some other tightness in her hip area. Many times 'ITB' pain is actually trigger points in the lateral quad that refer pain down the side.
I hit a few trigger points in her glut that were tough to release. After I was done, she was pretty sore. I had her ride a stationary bike to work it out and hydrate to help flush things out. By the end of the next day, she could squat pain free and instead of her hip tightening 1 hour after running, it now took 3 hours. Progress.
Of course needling by itself is not the complete answer. The biomechanics of movement need to be assessed and corrected, muscles need to be strengthened and not in the traditional 'gym' sense. Pounding out bridges to strengthen glutes is fine, but if you can't use that strength in your activity, then you've wasted a lot of your time. Which leads me to this past weekend.
Sinead and I flew to Tampa for the APTA conference. They had an exhibit hall where we got to play with some fun "toys", but mostly we sat in on a 3 day lecture on Biomechanics of the hip, knee and ankle. I definitely picked up a few interesting ideas and techniques that will help me better help my patients. I am also getting heavy into motion analysis and have been working with a new software application that allows me to quickly view video that I capture of a patient doing an exercise or running on a treadmill. I can analyze the movement and see where the breakdown occurs, show the patient, and then go to work fixing the dysfunction. This is the direction I ultimately want to head in my career.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
The eagle has landed......
And feels like it went head first into a windshield. We flew overnight from NY and landed in Madrid in plenty of time for our connecting flight to Palma de Mallorca. Sleeping was difficult on the plane, but I managed to get a few hours in. Every once in a while i would wake up and see some strange TV show or movie on the screen and the one character looked eerily like Vladmir Lenin. Why someone would have a character like that is beyond me. Or maybe it was some strange sleep deprived hallucination. Which would probably mean I have some serious issues in my subconscious. I'll just stick to being sleep deprived.
On the flight from Madrid to Palma I was out like a light as soon as I sat down. When I opened my eyes we were beginning our descent into Mallorca.
Clearly, the highlight of the trip so far was the pat down aka breast/pelvic exam by the Spanish version of TSA in Madrid. Once I got my clean bill of health we continued onward across the airport. When we landed in Palma, we followed the signs to the baggage pickups. We waited....and waited.....and waited, but no bags. We went the customer service area and no one on the plane made mention that international flyers had a different area to get their bags. We scrambled to the area and found my bag but Wingman's was no where to be found. So we waited some more, but no bag. We filed a report with the airline and are hoping for a speedy arrival. In the meantime, we got to our hotel quite wiped out. I fought the good fight and tried hard not to take a nap but I failed. The room is amazing. It's like a two room cottage with a full bath and a bidet!! I don't have the courage to try it yet.
Tonight we'll grab some dinner and then head to bed early to sleep. Tomorrow afternoon is our bike fitting and we can take a leisurely spin. Unfortunately we can't do any clothes shopping because most stores are closed on Sunday's here. I planned ahead and brought some sport detergent so we could wash our cycling bibs. Looks like for now we'll be washing Wingman's clothes daily........
Stay tuned........
Monday, April 9, 2012
Veni, Vidi, Vici......
That sums up Saturday's ride at Bear Mountain. This time we brought Wynn and Teresa with us to share in the suffering joy of multiple climbs up the hill. We picked them up early Saturday morning and after a small equipment failure on Wynn's bike, we were on our way.
We parked in the same area as last weekend and unpacked the bikes. With the four of us it was a full house in the Element. We had 3 bikes on the rear rack, the roof cargo bin was full, and a bike in the back area of the Element. We took a quick warmup ride and went up the hill.
I never realized just how long the climb was in time. On Long Island, a climb may last 3-4 minutes but up here it can last 25-40 minutes depending how tired you are. We made quick work of the 1st two ascents and I'm proud to say I did not cry or sob once on the way down. We gathered around the Element to discuss our 3rd trip up. I have to say that was the most difficult ascent. Most of the ride up wasn't bad, but there are two small steep sections.
As I made the turn at the gate to begin the 2nd half of the climb, the Wingman was not behind me. I didn't wait as I was afraid to lose momentum so I continued up. By now I was learning the terrain of the climb and had a good feeling about where I was. the 2nd half is ~2 miles long but has many turns. It can be deceiving to know where you are in relation to the top. As I got closer, I suddenly could hear Wingman behind me. The hunt was on!! The pursuit to the top just got interesting. I remained calm, not wanting to burn any extra energy in the battle to the top. If I had to stand to accelerate I had to time it right so I wouldn't burn out too early. As we turned a corner I knew we had ~4/10ths of a mile to the top. Wingman thought that was the final turn. It wasn't, there was still another left, then right, then final short climb. He cried out "You've got to be kidding me!!!" and then dropped off my wheel. He rode hard up the previous 1.5 miles to catch me. He had nothing left to challenge me. I give him an A for effort in trying to overtake me.
Once at the top, we planned to ride down to the traffic circle and then just ride halfway up and stop at the gate. When all was said and done, we climbed 4500'. Not too shabby for a couple of flatlanders. Overall we made 3.5 trips up Bear Mountain. I think it's safe to say that we will be able to handle the climbing in Mallorca. The gearing on the bikes supplied by Trek are better for hills climbing than what we have now. We won't be speedy up the hills, but we will make it up there.
We parked in the same area as last weekend and unpacked the bikes. With the four of us it was a full house in the Element. We had 3 bikes on the rear rack, the roof cargo bin was full, and a bike in the back area of the Element. We took a quick warmup ride and went up the hill.
I never realized just how long the climb was in time. On Long Island, a climb may last 3-4 minutes but up here it can last 25-40 minutes depending how tired you are. We made quick work of the 1st two ascents and I'm proud to say I did not cry or sob once on the way down. We gathered around the Element to discuss our 3rd trip up. I have to say that was the most difficult ascent. Most of the ride up wasn't bad, but there are two small steep sections.
As I made the turn at the gate to begin the 2nd half of the climb, the Wingman was not behind me. I didn't wait as I was afraid to lose momentum so I continued up. By now I was learning the terrain of the climb and had a good feeling about where I was. the 2nd half is ~2 miles long but has many turns. It can be deceiving to know where you are in relation to the top. As I got closer, I suddenly could hear Wingman behind me. The hunt was on!! The pursuit to the top just got interesting. I remained calm, not wanting to burn any extra energy in the battle to the top. If I had to stand to accelerate I had to time it right so I wouldn't burn out too early. As we turned a corner I knew we had ~4/10ths of a mile to the top. Wingman thought that was the final turn. It wasn't, there was still another left, then right, then final short climb. He cried out "You've got to be kidding me!!!" and then dropped off my wheel. He rode hard up the previous 1.5 miles to catch me. He had nothing left to challenge me. I give him an A for effort in trying to overtake me.
Once at the top, we planned to ride down to the traffic circle and then just ride halfway up and stop at the gate. When all was said and done, we climbed 4500'. Not too shabby for a couple of flatlanders. Overall we made 3.5 trips up Bear Mountain. I think it's safe to say that we will be able to handle the climbing in Mallorca. The gearing on the bikes supplied by Trek are better for hills climbing than what we have now. We won't be speedy up the hills, but we will make it up there.
what a color coordinated crew.......
Sunday, April 1, 2012
"Lions and Tigers and BEARS, oh my!!"
This morning the Wingman and I were going to drive up to Harriman State Park and ride a few loops but instead decided to check out Bear Mountain. It's one of the climbs on the Gran Fondo NY that we're doing in May. Plus it's a long enough climb to give us a good workout prior to Mallorca.
We got a bit of a late start on the morning and wound up getting to the park a little later than I anticipated. We scoped out the route and then parked waaaaay at the bottom to ensure we were doing as much climbing as we could. Where we left the car was a perfect spot so we could swap bottles or pickup more layers to wear if needed.
Wingman quickly unpacked the bikes and I grabbed our bags and got our gear out. We started riding a short route to get a little warmup before the climb began. The climbing started at the base of Seven Lakes Drive and we rode up to the top of Bear Mountain. The first part of the climb was fairly easy. I had it in an easy gear and was able to spin. The road conditions were pristine!! The mild winter we had didn't beat up the roads. I knew the climb had to get harder, I just had no idea when it would. We turned onto Perkins Memorial Drive and this is where the climbing really began. About a 1/4-1/2 mile in it quickly ramped up to a 12% grade incline. The good news was it didn't last too long. Once it flattened out to 6%, it seemed quite easy. I wasn't riding fast, but I was able to keep spinning. I was getting quite warm and was hoping the top was near. I really wasn't familiar with the roadway so I had no reference points to tell me how much more I had to go. All I knew was when I saw the porta-johns, I was at the top. But right now, no toilet in sight.
The road curves mostly to the right as it winds up. I would occasionally look up at the bluffs on my right to get an idea how much higher I had to go. That didn't work either. I had some good recovery sections on the ride where it 'flattened' out a little before the next short climb. There was one more section of 12% before we reached the top. Then, I saw my salvation:
We got a bit of a late start on the morning and wound up getting to the park a little later than I anticipated. We scoped out the route and then parked waaaaay at the bottom to ensure we were doing as much climbing as we could. Where we left the car was a perfect spot so we could swap bottles or pickup more layers to wear if needed.
Wingman quickly unpacked the bikes and I grabbed our bags and got our gear out. We started riding a short route to get a little warmup before the climb began. The climbing started at the base of Seven Lakes Drive and we rode up to the top of Bear Mountain. The first part of the climb was fairly easy. I had it in an easy gear and was able to spin. The road conditions were pristine!! The mild winter we had didn't beat up the roads. I knew the climb had to get harder, I just had no idea when it would. We turned onto Perkins Memorial Drive and this is where the climbing really began. About a 1/4-1/2 mile in it quickly ramped up to a 12% grade incline. The good news was it didn't last too long. Once it flattened out to 6%, it seemed quite easy. I wasn't riding fast, but I was able to keep spinning. I was getting quite warm and was hoping the top was near. I really wasn't familiar with the roadway so I had no reference points to tell me how much more I had to go. All I knew was when I saw the porta-johns, I was at the top. But right now, no toilet in sight.
The road curves mostly to the right as it winds up. I would occasionally look up at the bluffs on my right to get an idea how much higher I had to go. That didn't work either. I had some good recovery sections on the ride where it 'flattened' out a little before the next short climb. There was one more section of 12% before we reached the top. Then, I saw my salvation:
Not the actual porta-johns at the top.....
I was so happy to see them. Not that I had to go, but it meant that I was at the top and could rest a little. The views were nice. Unfortunately it was cloudy/overcast so we didn't get the full effect of the panorama.
After our 1st climb up.......
Flat lander conquers mountain......
After we took some photos at the top, it was time to ride all the way down. Fast descents always make me nervous. I've hit the pavement once before going fast and it left a mark or two so needless to say I took it easy going down. I have to say, while I was cautious, it was fun. Before the descent I put on another pair of gloves and put the sleeves back on my jacket. That wasn't enough. I was a bit cold on the way down. When we finally reached the car, I dropped off an empty drink bottle, grabbed some arm warmers and a beanie. Then we made our way up for climb #2.
Again, the 1st part of the climb went pretty smoothly. Until I heard some noise behind me. I heard something along the lines of "Oh crap" and then the noise of something hitting the brush. I stopped to look back and saw that the Wingman went off the road into a small ditch. He was upright and OK, so my first thought after that was "How the hell did he get in there?" His response "I had an itch on my back and when I tried to reach it I saw I was veering off the road so I just decided to ride into the ditch." Oh, OK.
He got back on the bike and we continued upward. Once again we turned onto Perkins Memorial Drive and started the climb. This time I paid a little more attention to the sign on the road. It's ~2 miles up. 2 winding miles. Problem was I didn't look at my bike computer to see what the mileage was when I started this section. It didn't matter, I just kept riding and was looking for the porta-johns again. I kept thinking "OK, after this turn is the top. Nope. OK, after this turn is the top. Nope. ARGGGH, I swear the top better be coming soon."
I got through the two steep sections unscathed and it wasn't long before I saw my beloved toilets. I think it's a sad commentary on my day that one of the things that brought me joy was a public toilet.
Once at the top, I dressed for the descent (long sleeve shirt, cycling jersey, arm warmers, sleeves on jacket, beanie, and two pairs of gloves. The problem on the second descent was I was sweating a little more and my clothing was a little wet. I was shivering on the way down. As I made my way down, I felt warmer. At the halfway point, we turned right to see what the other direction would bring. What it wound up bringing was yet another climb to get back.
We tacked on a few miles to lengthen our day and then went back to the car to head home. Overall, it was a good day of climbing. We're heading back next weekend and will make 3 trips up and down Bear Mountain. Then the rest of the ride will be the up and down on Seven Lakes Drive to get more time in the saddle without any steep climbing.
~1300' climbing on each ascent
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Slowly coming together
My last two weeks of workouts have been good. I finally feel like there is rhythm to my workouts and I'm finding it easier to nail them. By no means are they easy workouts, but I carefully read the fine print and make sure I nail the goal of the workout. There's no point in training in a grey area and getting nothing out of it.
I had an running interval workout on Wednesday before work. I didn't get a chance to program it into my Garmin, but I managed to memorize the details of the workout. I got through the warmup unscathed and now it was time for the 'meat and potatoes' of the workout. There were 3 various timed intervals with rest intervals in-between. At the end of the 3rd, you repeat the whole thing again over the course of 4 miles. Then an easy cool down run. The first two minutes blew by, then it felt like it got a little harder. I just kept plugging away and before I knew it, it was time to cool down. Thank goodness. I felt great and was pleased with the effort, but at the same time I was glad the workout was done.
The weather this weekend put a small monkey wrench in my itinerary. I had to flip-flop my workout days as the Wingman and I were heading up to Harriman again to ride. So today I got up and went to work at my folks office. I got home to an empty house this evening (Wingman is out playing poker) and hit the treadmill in the basement. Our satellite TV company came by yesterday to install a new receiver unit on our TV's. Now the unit downstairs will let me watch what is recorded on the main TV. So I popped on the Kona 2010 ironman coverage, covered up the time display on the treadmill, and started running. It really was a great way to get a run in and stay motivated to keep going. My only downer with the Kona coverage is the sappy stories they play. Honestly, I would just prefer to watch the pro's race and skip the average joe's story. Ah, the beauty of a DVR, I would just skip the stories and get back to the pro race. Before I knew it the coverage was done (and then some) and I had 90 minutes completed on the treadmill. I'm glad I got the run in.
Tomorrow morning we leave early for Harriman State Park. We have a big agenda planned. We're going to ride a little in the park and then make our way up to Bear Mountain. It's ~4 miles of uphill climbing in one segment and hopefully it won't be too bad to climb so we can try it twice. Perhaps I'm a little too optimistic, but we won't know until we get there tomorrow. I'll have the camera packed to capture some of the scenery again.
I had an running interval workout on Wednesday before work. I didn't get a chance to program it into my Garmin, but I managed to memorize the details of the workout. I got through the warmup unscathed and now it was time for the 'meat and potatoes' of the workout. There were 3 various timed intervals with rest intervals in-between. At the end of the 3rd, you repeat the whole thing again over the course of 4 miles. Then an easy cool down run. The first two minutes blew by, then it felt like it got a little harder. I just kept plugging away and before I knew it, it was time to cool down. Thank goodness. I felt great and was pleased with the effort, but at the same time I was glad the workout was done.
The weather this weekend put a small monkey wrench in my itinerary. I had to flip-flop my workout days as the Wingman and I were heading up to Harriman again to ride. So today I got up and went to work at my folks office. I got home to an empty house this evening (Wingman is out playing poker) and hit the treadmill in the basement. Our satellite TV company came by yesterday to install a new receiver unit on our TV's. Now the unit downstairs will let me watch what is recorded on the main TV. So I popped on the Kona 2010 ironman coverage, covered up the time display on the treadmill, and started running. It really was a great way to get a run in and stay motivated to keep going. My only downer with the Kona coverage is the sappy stories they play. Honestly, I would just prefer to watch the pro's race and skip the average joe's story. Ah, the beauty of a DVR, I would just skip the stories and get back to the pro race. Before I knew it the coverage was done (and then some) and I had 90 minutes completed on the treadmill. I'm glad I got the run in.
Tomorrow morning we leave early for Harriman State Park. We have a big agenda planned. We're going to ride a little in the park and then make our way up to Bear Mountain. It's ~4 miles of uphill climbing in one segment and hopefully it won't be too bad to climb so we can try it twice. Perhaps I'm a little too optimistic, but we won't know until we get there tomorrow. I'll have the camera packed to capture some of the scenery again.
Monday, March 26, 2012
There's gold in them thar hills........
Well, not exactly. On Saturday the Wingman and I made the trek up to Harriman State Park to get some hill riding in. I shot off an email to Wynn to see if he was interested and, sure enough, he was. We picked Wynn up early in the morning and made the ~2 hr drive to Harriman. The last time I rode up there was when I was preparing for Ironman Lake Placid a few years ago. I wanted to go back so we can get some good hill work in prior to Mallorca.
The happy trio made it up to Harriman and we parked in the lot on Seven Lakes Drive (7LD). We stumbled out of the Element and were in the process of getting ready to ride when a large white van pulled up. It captured our attention because it was almost like the clown car in the circus, except this time it was full of Asian hikers. No joke, 12 of them filed out and made their way onto the trails. That image got me through most of the days ("how many asians can you fit into a van?").
We started out on Seven Lakes Drive heading towards Tiorati Circle, but were told we couldn't go up Tiorati Road because it was closed for the winter. Since the park attendant was right there, we decided not to be too arrogant and ride past her. So we doubled back and went down towards Sebago Beach which lead us to Lake Welch Drive (LWD). LWD was also closed, but we went around the barriers and continued with our ride. There is a huge downhill on LWD that you can easily hit >40mph without trying. Since I am such a nervous nelly, I took it easy on the downhills. At the bottom we decided that we would just make the long climb back up LWD instead of turning off this week. Holy cow, what a long climb it was!! The climb was a tough one in that it was 2 solid miles of uphill at ~8% grade. I slowly made my way back up and was overheating like crazy on the way up. My sunglasses were fogging up.
When I finally made it to the top I stopped to grab a quick bite to eat and to pull my knee warmers off. Then we were off again. We made our way back towards 7LD and at the other circle I told the crew to ride up the 106 section as I remembered it had a hill in there. I couldn't remember how long the hill was, but it turns out it was pretty nice. It wasn't quite as steep as the one on LWD, but it did give you a nice break here and there since it wasn't a steady drive. The road condition was much nicer here. We did the nice out and back and met up with Wynn in a parking lot. He had a big grin on his face which meant "Can we do that again?" Since it was anise roadway with beautiful scenery, we road it again. I brought my camera along, but with all the climbing I didn't take too many shots.
By the time we returned to the car to rack the bikes, we logged ~3 hrs of riding and over 3,350' of climbing. We're not too sure about the climbing totals as my garmin and Wynn's device did not jive. But I can say it was quite a bit. I'm not sure the roadway was ever flat.
The happy trio made it up to Harriman and we parked in the lot on Seven Lakes Drive (7LD). We stumbled out of the Element and were in the process of getting ready to ride when a large white van pulled up. It captured our attention because it was almost like the clown car in the circus, except this time it was full of Asian hikers. No joke, 12 of them filed out and made their way onto the trails. That image got me through most of the days ("how many asians can you fit into a van?").
We started out on Seven Lakes Drive heading towards Tiorati Circle, but were told we couldn't go up Tiorati Road because it was closed for the winter. Since the park attendant was right there, we decided not to be too arrogant and ride past her. So we doubled back and went down towards Sebago Beach which lead us to Lake Welch Drive (LWD). LWD was also closed, but we went around the barriers and continued with our ride. There is a huge downhill on LWD that you can easily hit >40mph without trying. Since I am such a nervous nelly, I took it easy on the downhills. At the bottom we decided that we would just make the long climb back up LWD instead of turning off this week. Holy cow, what a long climb it was!! The climb was a tough one in that it was 2 solid miles of uphill at ~8% grade. I slowly made my way back up and was overheating like crazy on the way up. My sunglasses were fogging up.
When I finally made it to the top I stopped to grab a quick bite to eat and to pull my knee warmers off. Then we were off again. We made our way back towards 7LD and at the other circle I told the crew to ride up the 106 section as I remembered it had a hill in there. I couldn't remember how long the hill was, but it turns out it was pretty nice. It wasn't quite as steep as the one on LWD, but it did give you a nice break here and there since it wasn't a steady drive. The road condition was much nicer here. We did the nice out and back and met up with Wynn in a parking lot. He had a big grin on his face which meant "Can we do that again?" Since it was anise roadway with beautiful scenery, we road it again. I brought my camera along, but with all the climbing I didn't take too many shots.
By the time we returned to the car to rack the bikes, we logged ~3 hrs of riding and over 3,350' of climbing. We're not too sure about the climbing totals as my garmin and Wynn's device did not jive. But I can say it was quite a bit. I'm not sure the roadway was ever flat.
Overall the ride was great. Wingman, Wynn and I had a good time riding in the park. The scenery was amazing up there. Whenever you felt like the suffering was too much, you just picked your head up and observed nature. There was so much to take in.
On the way home we stopped at a diner for a quick bite to eat. When we got home I grabbed a 30 minute nap, took a shower and then was off to work for a few hours.
Next week Teresa will be joining us so it should be a blast again. Looking forward to what round two will bring....
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Free time is dwindling......
Today was one of my last days off on my part time schedule. I was lucky enough to extend my flex schedule into March, not sure if April is realistic. I am covering in East Hampton for 4 days early in April and then I will be away at the end of the month. Our trip to Mallorca/Madrid, Spain is one month from today. I have been cycling and trying to find hills on Long Island, but the reality is we don't have anything significant in terms of long climbs. At some point soon Wingman and I will take a day trip up to Harriman State Park/Bear Mountain and get some better riding in.
The weather has been fantastic this winter. We had some colder days, but overall it was mild. I think we had snow twice and it was gone the next day. Doesn't get much better than that. Today was the first day of spring and I celebrated it by being off and on a two hour ride. It was in the 70s and light wind which means an excellent ride was to be had. I knew a 2 hour loop and set out on it after the morning fog burned off. As I made my way down CR24 towards CR51, the Tom Petty lyrics were going through my head as I was churning the crank arms on my bike:
I was in such a great mood during the entire ride. I had a clear head and was able to really hear my breathing patterns. I think I might have even been smiling most of the ride. I need more days like this where I can get out and just relax and not let the stress of my daily grind get to me anymore.
Before I knew it I was home. 5 minutes faster than the last time I did that loop. Good ride!! But I made quick work of changing and went for a short 20 minute run. It was then that I noticed how warm it was. Warm weather on the bike doesn't bother me too much but I'm not built for warm weather running. I just put one foot in front of the other and get the run in the books. It wasn't pretty, but I was done.
I was supposed to swim tonight, but when I woke up this morning I had a neck problem. I couldn't turn my head to the right. It's still a little stiff and since I breathe on the right I opted to not beat my neck up and give it another day to loosen up. I did some work on myself to get some more movement, but not enough. I'll hit the pool tomorrow night after work.
Wynn and I exchanged a few emails today that had me laughing. We are both pretty much geeks (sorry Wynn, but we are) and will combine our efforts on a 'major motion picture event' in a few weeks. It will be fun to see how it all works out, but for now the project is 'under wraps'.............
The weather has been fantastic this winter. We had some colder days, but overall it was mild. I think we had snow twice and it was gone the next day. Doesn't get much better than that. Today was the first day of spring and I celebrated it by being off and on a two hour ride. It was in the 70s and light wind which means an excellent ride was to be had. I knew a 2 hour loop and set out on it after the morning fog burned off. As I made my way down CR24 towards CR51, the Tom Petty lyrics were going through my head as I was churning the crank arms on my bike:
It was a beautiful day, the sun beat down
I had the radio on, I was driving
Trees went by, me and Del were singing
Little Runaway, I was flyin'
Before I knew it I was home. 5 minutes faster than the last time I did that loop. Good ride!! But I made quick work of changing and went for a short 20 minute run. It was then that I noticed how warm it was. Warm weather on the bike doesn't bother me too much but I'm not built for warm weather running. I just put one foot in front of the other and get the run in the books. It wasn't pretty, but I was done.
I was supposed to swim tonight, but when I woke up this morning I had a neck problem. I couldn't turn my head to the right. It's still a little stiff and since I breathe on the right I opted to not beat my neck up and give it another day to loosen up. I did some work on myself to get some more movement, but not enough. I'll hit the pool tomorrow night after work.
Wynn and I exchanged a few emails today that had me laughing. We are both pretty much geeks (sorry Wynn, but we are) and will combine our efforts on a 'major motion picture event' in a few weeks. It will be fun to see how it all works out, but for now the project is 'under wraps'.............
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Will Run for Soup
Saturday morning found me on the starting line for the Little Cow Harbor 4 Miler. February was not much of a running month. I've been doing more cycling in preparation for our trip to Mallorca. I've only been running 2x a week recently so I had no expectations for this race. I've run it the last 2 years and it's a challenging race. It's not really flat where you can get 'comfortable' while you red line. It is mostly rollers where you can't establish a steady pace. I knew a PR was not even a fantasy, so I decided to use this as a workout to build my hill running strength.
The weather was weird. It wasn't really cold (yes Jen, I wore shorts), but it was overcast and ready to rain. We made our way to the starting line and waited for the horn. Once it sounded, I started easy. The first section is a slight uphill. My goal was to 'take the hill', but this first one was not it. I wanted to build up smartly. Once I got past the first little incline, the rollers began. The 1st mile is all up and down. Each uphill I hammered up and then used the downhill for a recovery. Even the last 1/4 of mile 1 is a false flat so that meant no easing up. I could feel my heart in my throat and suddenly remembered "Crap, I left my heart rate monitor home." I wanted to capture my heart rate data to see what I was doing on the hills.
The first half of mile 2 is a nice little recovery area and somewhat flat. I picked some people to run in a pack with so I would be protected from the wind. As we made our way back towards the middle school, I prepared for the next series of rollers. As I ran up the hills, I put my head down and motored up, even passing people along the way. Again, using the downhills to rest up a little in preparation for the next hill.
When I passed the school, all I could think about was the post race soup. Honestly, this is what has us coming back each year. The soup. It's homemade turkey/potato/vegetable soup. Right after a race, it's still cool out, that soup hits the spot. Mmmm, soup...... But not yet. I still have one more mile to finish up before I can get a bowl. Back to the race......
It's a downhill into the last mile. It's pretty much a mile loop around the neighborhood in front of the school. It starts as a gradual downhill, but you are tested at the end where the last ~1/2 mile is uphill and the last little bit into the school parking lot just punches you in the gut and then in the teeth. I picked it up and finished strong. I looked down at my Garmin and saw that I was about a minute or so slower than last year. I was not surprised nor worried. I thought I was right on target for where I am in the season. Actually, I have to say I was pleased with how I raced. My goal was to take the hills.
Once I crossed the finish line I went to the car to get my jacket, and then immediately went to the soup line. That first hot spoonful was everything I was hoping for. Big pieces of turkey, potato chunks, mmmmm. Wingman had two bowls!! I was satisfied with one big bowl. Can't wait until next year, but for now, back to the grind of my training.............
The weather was weird. It wasn't really cold (yes Jen, I wore shorts), but it was overcast and ready to rain. We made our way to the starting line and waited for the horn. Once it sounded, I started easy. The first section is a slight uphill. My goal was to 'take the hill', but this first one was not it. I wanted to build up smartly. Once I got past the first little incline, the rollers began. The 1st mile is all up and down. Each uphill I hammered up and then used the downhill for a recovery. Even the last 1/4 of mile 1 is a false flat so that meant no easing up. I could feel my heart in my throat and suddenly remembered "Crap, I left my heart rate monitor home." I wanted to capture my heart rate data to see what I was doing on the hills.
The first half of mile 2 is a nice little recovery area and somewhat flat. I picked some people to run in a pack with so I would be protected from the wind. As we made our way back towards the middle school, I prepared for the next series of rollers. As I ran up the hills, I put my head down and motored up, even passing people along the way. Again, using the downhills to rest up a little in preparation for the next hill.
When I passed the school, all I could think about was the post race soup. Honestly, this is what has us coming back each year. The soup. It's homemade turkey/potato/vegetable soup. Right after a race, it's still cool out, that soup hits the spot. Mmmm, soup...... But not yet. I still have one more mile to finish up before I can get a bowl. Back to the race......
It's a downhill into the last mile. It's pretty much a mile loop around the neighborhood in front of the school. It starts as a gradual downhill, but you are tested at the end where the last ~1/2 mile is uphill and the last little bit into the school parking lot just punches you in the gut and then in the teeth. I picked it up and finished strong. I looked down at my Garmin and saw that I was about a minute or so slower than last year. I was not surprised nor worried. I thought I was right on target for where I am in the season. Actually, I have to say I was pleased with how I raced. My goal was to take the hills.
Once I crossed the finish line I went to the car to get my jacket, and then immediately went to the soup line. That first hot spoonful was everything I was hoping for. Big pieces of turkey, potato chunks, mmmmm. Wingman had two bowls!! I was satisfied with one big bowl. Can't wait until next year, but for now, back to the grind of my training.............
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