30 November 2011

I love Tracy Thorn

Her voice anyway. Everything But The Girl has got to be one of the most remixed bands in the world. Can I get an amen? Plus, I love bands comprised of two people that put out so much damn sound! Think Pet Shop Boys, Kruder & Dorfmeister, etc.

Here are some new songs from Tracy (who's going solo now) that are pretty kick ass. In a down tempo, 4 AM sport of way.

Cougar Mt trail run | core

Yep, I'm a little sore and stiff from yesterday… but it's not too bad so hopefully I will bounce back. And by 'not too bad' I of course mean I'm practically crippled.

Core - pretty much every exercise - was insanely hard today, especially the back extensions. Not sure if I blew up my back doing squats yesterday or what.

I met Justin A, Bill H and two of their friends at Cougar for the usual loop. WE hit out and right away I am feeling a little stressed. The pace seemed just a tad quick and my legs felt like garbage. Nothing like lifting weights with your legs to make them feel fresh for a run I always say… NOT.

It was freaking dark out. This might sound obvious but it seemed especially so today. At times we ran through some light fog as well so that further obscured my vision. Add to that my condensing breath in front of my face and I was running pretty blind most of the first half of today. Plus there were times when Justin would ease up the trail and I could not keep up and then the impotence of my headlamp was highlighted. Good times. :)

Luckily half way through I started to feel better and then with about 30 minutes left it started to get light. Whew.

I was slipping and sliding all over the place today. And I was running super cautious since I could not see where I was putting my feet. It certainly was a good exercise in balance, rhythm and reaction speed.

With about 20 minutes to go one the guys we were with started to fade a bit. Bill and I would wait at each intersection for him and then continue on. Since our pace was slightly faster than his this would repeat itself several times before we got to the end but it was totally fine. I know what it feels like to get shelled and it's NO fun. In the end we finished together - yeah team spirit! If not for all the stops we might have been about four minutes faster? Whatever, no big deal.

Did I mention that my right foot did not hurt while running? Bonus. It still hurts a little while not running though. The human body is dumb.

Oh yeah, my GPS did not do such a great job of tracking this route but it's no surprise as it is very twisty turny. Still, it's cool to finally see where the hell this loop takes me.

Sleep 6
Waking HR  
Body Weight 181
Body Fat  
Breakfast 4:30 AM - banana, almond butter, tea
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food 15 min prior to run - gel
run - small bottle w/1 tablet Nuun and 1 scoop HEED
gym - water
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day run - 6:00 AM
gym - 12:00 PM
Workout Type endurance
Weather mid 40s, dry, calm
Course
plank 3 min, 2 min each side
back extensions 3 x 40
clam knee lifts 100 each leg
side leg lifts 100 each leg
leg scissors 100
twisters 50 each side - 10 lb.
push-ups 18
hip abductors 3 x 30 - 100 lb.
Results  
Time 1:31:58
Distance 10 miles
Pace 9:12 min/mile
Equipment Brooks Cascadia
Clothing shorts, Craft short sleeve undershirt, long sleeve active T
Technorati Tags: ,

29 November 2011

stairs | weights

After missing a week because I hurt my foot running the Grand Ridge trail run it was good(?) to be back on Howe Street. Weird how two weeks can feel like a month.

I woke up way ahead of schedule and since I know how freaking hard that first runner can be I headed down to the stairs early. Warming up felt MUCH better.

At lunch I even hit the iron. Gotta remember to buy some wife beaters

I managed to sneak in six walkers before Jim showed up and that was great. The first two were rough/cold as usual but then I just kept feeling better and better. For a change the first runner was not such a leg breaker! And the second runner was better and the third even more so. Obviously those early flights - even at a walking pace - were very beneficial.

Check out this crazy workout! Especially the elevation gain!

At lunch I went to the IMA and checked out the 'free weights' room which I have honestly not been in since I was in college here at the UW.

Holy crap is it big. They remodeled the IMA several years ago and in the process blew out some walls and probably tripled the size of this space if my memory serves me. There must have been at least half a dozen squat racks and enough iron to build the new football stadium. I knew I had to take it easy on the first day but after three sets of squats and two sets of lunges I realized I was probably not taking easy enough so opted for just two sets of my remaining exercises. I think it was the right call.

I used to lift a lot back in college, even when I was racing, but then after my hiatus and starting up for the second time I realized bulk was not important for endurance activities. Fast forward to now and the last three years has seen my pure strength decline some each year so I figured I would give it a go one more time but this time just do legs and keep the reps around 20. We'll see if 1) I have the motivation to keep it up and 2) if it helps on the bike.

Sleep 6
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food 30 min prior to stairs - gel, water
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day stairs - 5:35 AM
gym - 12:00 PM
Workout Type  
Weather upper 30s, dry, calm
Course stairs - Howe Street
squat 3 x 20 - 95 lb.
lunge 2 x 20 each leg - 65 lb.
incline press 2 x 20 - 90 lb.
leg extension 2 x 30 - 30 lb. each leg
leg curl 2 x 30 - 30 lb. each leg
Results  
Time stairs - 56:38
Distance stairs - 1.51 miles, elevation gain - 1795'
Pace  
Equipment Brooks Cascadia
Clothing shorts, Craft short sleeve undershirt, long sleeve active T, Polypropylene gloves
Technorati Tags:

28 November 2011

core | run | walk

Wow, after coming off a period of inactivity and over-eating (in spite of my best efforts…) this holiday season it was hard to hit the gym this AM.

Got in my first run after hurting my foot and it felt okay.

When I got home Shelley wanted to go for a walk so we grabbed our headlamps and headed out. The lake was GLASS, totally smooth. We could hear ducks and the random animal in the woods and the moon was out - amazing night.

Sleep 6
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food water
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day gym - 5:30 AM
run - 12:00 PM
Workout Type active recovery
Weather  
Course
plank 3 min, 2 min each side
back extensions 3 x 40
clam knee lifts 100 each leg
side leg lifts 100 each leg
leg scissors 100
twisters 50 each side - 12 lb.
push-ups 15
hip abductors 3 x 30 - 100 lb.
run - treadmill, 1% incline
Results  
Time run - 30 min
walk - 40 min
Distance run - 4 miles
walk - 2.4 miles
Pace run - 7:30 min/mile
Equipment run - Brooks Defyance
Clothing  

Technorati Tags:

27 November 2011

ride

Seems every time I look at Strava someone is riding a freaking century in Maui or setting a PR on some climb so now that I'm finally back from the opulence that is 'Thanksgiving with the family' and my damn foot has healed up from my last run it's time to ride!

I was WAY motivated. So what if it was raining. So what if it was cold. So what if it was windy. I WAS GOING TO RIDE.

I got all geared up in my finest raincoat, shoe covers and rain mits and struck out. 1.5 miles later I got this.

WP_000170

Damn. Oh well, it has been ages since I got a flat so I accepted my fate and got to fixing. Then after getting maybe 40 PSI in my tire my pump blew up. Double damn.

ASIDE - it probably serves me right for clinging on to an antique like this POS here.

Silca

The barrel was cracked and held together with electrician's tape, the gasket has been greased a million times and still does not push much air and the rubber washer that seals the pump at the head was so old and dry it broke in half as I was pumping. Since I was so close to home I just rode back, used my floor pump to fill my tire and grabbed a real frame pump.

Zefal

By this time 30 minutes had elapsed, I was already pretty wet, my hands were greasy and my motivation had ebbed just a smidge.

Still, I got in a ride - my first in a long while - and it was pretty spectacular outside. Leaves were (still?!) falling in droves and as I headed north along the east side of the lake I was getting pelted by a pretty constant deluge.

Crossing the I-90 floating bridge was a bit of a chore with my deep section rims; I was getting moved across the path by the wind a little too easy for my liking… That felt good to finish up.

My back was pretty tender after today, I'm hoping that was primarily from the shitty bed I slept in two nights ago. Otherwise my legs were about as tired/fresh as I expected them to be. A bonus was that I did not get cold! In fact my hands were almost dry when I finished up. In the shower after I noticed that my knees upper shins were in fact pretty red and chilly but it did not bother me out on the bike. Nice.

Sleep 7
Waking HR  
Body Weight 12:30 PM - 179
Body Fat 8
Breakfast 7:15 AM - Smoothie 2.0
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food large bottle w/3 scoops Perpetuem, 2 shots gel
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day 9:00 AM
Workout Type  
Weather 50, rain, wind
Course  
Results  
Time 2:52
Distance 39 miles
Pace  
Equipment Single Speed Bike
Clothing Sugoi shoe covers, Roubaix knickers, Craft long sleeve undershirt, short sleeve jersey, arm warmers, raincoat, OR Gripper gloves, OR rain mits, cap
Technorati Tags:

23 November 2011

there's 'sick' and then there's SICK

And then there is just fun to watch because this is neither of those things. Besides, that term is so worn out. This is insanely entertaining, supremely fascinating, phenomenally skillful, unbelievably flexible shit. And when I say 'shit' I of course mean dancing. Who doesn't like dancing? Losers, that's who. And who doesn't like breakdancing? Uncultured losers, that's who.

Stand back.

Did I mention that song? CATCHY. I love it.

22 November 2011

core

Take it from me; 26 miles over 4500' of elevation gain hurts. Especially when you aggravate an existing injury. Way back when I hurt my foot mountain biking and this run made that flare up. Rats.

But, I got a massage yesterday from Mobility+ Healthcare and that helped a LOT.

Core was hard today; like I had not done it in a while which is true. Go figure.

Sleep 6
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food water
Injuries  
Therapy sauna - 20 min
Time of Day 12:00 PM
Workout Type  
Weather  
Course
plank 3 min, 2 min each side
back extensions 3 x 40
clam knee lifts 100 each leg
side leg lifts 100 each leg
leg scissors 100
twisters 50 each side - 10 lb.
push-ups 20
Results  
Time  
Distance  
Pace  
Equipment  
Clothing  

Technorati Tags:

20 November 2011

walk

Holy hate. My legs are wrecked. Yesterday's run really took it out of me.

Today Shelley and walked down to our new house to check on the progress and then walked back home.

Just when I thought my legs might start to feel better they did not. Any little change in elevation made my quads sing out. Yikes.

Sleep  
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food  
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day 11 AM
Workout Type active recovery
Weather upper 30s, partly cloudy, dry, calm
Course  
Results  
Time  
Distance 4.5 miles
Pace  
Equipment Brooks Cascadia
Clothing  

19 November 2011

Grand Ridge Marathon trail run

I learned a lot today and had a few things that I already knew reinforced today.

  • Increasing your running distance from 20 to 26 miles is hard. Especially when there is 4200+ feet of elevation gain involved.
  • Eating only gel for over four hours will mess with your guts.
  • Courses that are loops which you repeat are not as fun as one big loop or one out-and-back.
  • Singletrack is called that for a reason. When you try to stuff tons of people going both directions on it things get interesting.
  • Merino wool is a damn nice fabric for running.
  • As laid back as the running community seems compared to bicycle racing, people will still do anything to gain an edge.
  • If you want to do an event, make sure you actually register.
  • Nipples are not the only thing you can chafe while running.

I was nervous. No denying it. I fell asleep fine but then woke at 3. Tossing and turning did not help so eventually I got out of bed at 4. Rats.

This was my big goal. In years past running in the fall was merely a distraction to keep my mind fresh for cycling come winter and spring but late this summer I had two accidents while racing mountain bikes that put an abrupt end to my riding. As I recuperated I discovered that first walking and then running did not aggravate my injuries nearly as much as sitting in a saddle so I decided to switch focus and see how far I could take running for a change. To that end I practically stopped riding except for the commute to and from work and instead kept increasing my mileage on foot. Especially on the trail. Last fall I learned the hard way that when you ramp up your distance too fast (and you don't have the proper shoes) injuries abound. Plus, I think trail running is just about 100 million times more fun than pounding out the miles on some (straight, flat, boring) road. By the time I had my second mountain biking accident I had already increased my distance to running 13 miles so I checked the calendar, saw a marathon that was two months out and decided to go for it.

Fast forward to two weeks ago and I have completed my third 20 mile run ever. The first one sucked, the second one was a race where I went out too hard but got lucky but managed to hold on and the third one actually felt good. Was I apprehensive about stretching 20-mile fitness into 26? YES.

Let's get started then.

I picked up Justin A (who was trying to squeeze in one last race before his new baby is born) and we headed out. Justin was going to run the 50 km event and I kind of half heartedly joked that he might finish ahead of me. Turns out I did beat him. BY 20 SECONDS. Sheesh.

I gotta say that I really like events put on by 4th Dimension Racing. I did three of their mountain bike races this summer, this trail run and I plan to enter a Duathlon or two this winter. The food is good, the aid stations are frequent, the results are super prompt, registration and sign-in is well run, Roger is a very nice guy; what more could you want? Nothing, these guys have it dialed.

We went to get our numbers and for some reason my name was not on the sign-in sheet. That's strange… this race has been on my calendar for two months! But the folks at sign-in were very nice and believed me when I said I had registered and let me write my name in as a day-off registrant even though it was technically sold out. Then it was back to the van to prep and warm up.

Several years ago when I first started running I had heard all the nipple jokes and back in the day I even experienced some chafing myself. I'm not sure what happened but ever since I switched to mostly trail running (maybe I'm wearing different clothes now too?) this has luckily not been a problem. When I picked Justin up he made some nipple tape comment and in the van I see him applying cream to his feet. My sister had just completed her first ever 50 mile running event and said that she and her friends used lanolin on their feet and it worked great so obviously reducing the friction is something ultra runners know a lot about. I asked him for some and did likewise. Turns out some runners also apply the cream 'down there' and I'm thinking whoa… what a good idea. If there's one place you don't want to chafe that's probably it.

I have never really warmed up for a longer run. My tendency is to go out much too fast and then either explode or hang on by the skin of my teeth. Neither is much fun. In cycling I only warm up when I think the start will be fast and I want to keep up so the last thing I wanted to do was 1) make it easier for me to start fast or 2) expend precious calories that I would need four hours from now. Then I said fuck it and went for a jog anyway.

The forecast four days ago was for cold and sleet. That changed yesterday to just cold and mostly clear. Picking up our number it did not feel nearly as frigid as I imagined it would be and after our warm up I was confident that tights would not be required. Good thing too because I hate them! I have yet to find some that don't sag and bag. I did bring a thin hat and thin gloves just to be safe and off to the start we went.

ASIDE - one huge difference between running events, especially smaller ones like this race, and a bicycle race is you do NOT need to hover around the start and stage yourself massively early while you totally cool down and practically negate the benefits of your warm up. We showed up about 10 minutes prior to the start, still had time to hit the head one last time, listen to the instructions and then walked right up to the front row.

3, 2, 1, GO.

I must not start too fast, I must not start too fast, I must not start too fast…

As we pulled away from the line Justin and Chase M (Brooks Running) eased up the road, then came three others and then me. After about .5 miles of dirt road we hit the singletrack and for the first five mile loop I was still with two of the three people in front of me. One had started to ease ahead and it turns out she was 2nd overall in the 50 km. Nice work.

At the first aid station one of the guys in front of me stopped and I didn't so then I was 5th on the trail. I ran with this one guy all the way to the turn-around where we both took a nature break. He was quicker than I was and as I was standing there the guy who had stopped at the aid station passed me so now I was 6th on the trail.

And soon I was hating life.

Even after five or six miles I could tell this was not my day. Bummer too as running long is a lot easier when you feel great then when you don't. As Justin passed me going the other direction on lap one he said something like, "How's it going?" and I said something like, Pretty piss poor." Not literally but my facial expression was hiding the fact that I was suffering. I finished my nature break, put my junk back in my shorts, started to run up the trail and… had to hike. Crap.

I was not even close to being half way done and here I was hiking. This is when I first started to entertain thoughts of pulling the plug.

I managed to run all the flatter (read: less steep) sections of the long climb back up the ridge but I was off my game for sure. On all the 10-15 mile runs I have done this year I had way more energy and zip than today.

As I went up all the fast half marathon runners that had started 30 minutes behind us started to come down. The first few were screaming along but they were also easy to deal with. Later on the groups got bigger and bigger and at times I felt like I was swimming up stream. I almost took a header into the woods once trying to avoid six women that were jogging/walking/chatting and did not move over much and I ended up on some precarious, not-so-firm dirt at the edge of the trail.

To add insult to injury (salt to the wound?) as I started the descent back to the road I could feel an irritation on my left big toe. The irony was of course that this is the first time I have tried any sort of chafe-ease on my feet. :( Oh well, I tried to run gently as much as I could and not drill the descents. That was for the best anyway as coasting downhill with no brakes tends to blow my quads a bit.

Back on the .5 mile road section to the start/finish it seemed to take forever. In that 4-5 minutes of running I must have thought about quitting a dozen times. Then I got to the finish line and my brain turned off. I opened my drop bag, swapped bottles, drank my 5-Hour Energy (I think I won this in a bike race this summer and figured I might as well use it), turned around and took off. No hesitation.

Right behind me was this man. I was hiking ALL the steeper sections that I had run on lap one but so was he. Turns out we were almost exactly the same pace and he stayed anywhere from 20 to 100 feet behind me until we topped the ridge. That was nice. It served as a distraction from how bad I felt. On the descent to the turn around I put a little time into him which was too bad. He was very nice and even expressed his gratitude for running with someone the same speed at one point when we were close together.

If I hiked most of the climb back up the ridge on lap one then I hiked 99% of it this time. DAMN. I felt like an empty shell. There were still quite a few people out on the trail and so I was trying not to look too dejected when we would pass each other going in opposite directions.

Did I mention my guts yet? I really screwed the pooch with regards to nutrition on this one. I ate nothing but caffeinated gel all day and it blew. My bottle was fine but after two hours my stomach was not. We've all ben there, right? You're hungry but don't feel like eating and you know you need something because you are low on energy yet nothing you have is working.

As I hit the last aid station I decided to try some FRS. It worked really well for me on a couple of mountain bike races this summer so I figured at this point there was nothing to lose. I gulped about three paper cups of the fluorescent liquid and then some guy ran past me. without even thinking about it I dropped my cup in the trash and took off after him.

Funny really. I was so self-absorbed and focused just on getting to the line that actually racing was the last thing on my mind. But when this guy passed me something clicked into gear.

At first we were just cruising along pretty mellow. Soon I asked him if he was doing the 50 km or the marathon to which he replied that he was doing the 50. I made some comment about only being able to run a 50 in my dreams and he responded with something about it perhaps not being the best day for him to select the longer distance either.

ANOTHER ASIDE - back on my first lap when I was descending to the turn around I finally asked the guy I was with if he was doing the 50 km or the marathon. When he said 50 I was overjoyed. In spite of having a bad day and in spite of not being sure that everyone ahead of me was also doing the 50 the racer in me was very relieved. You can take Martin out of the race but you can't take the racer out of Martin? Something like that anyway.

Since I was still running on that initial shot of adrenaline of catching him I ended up passing him soon after we chatted. And then we came to a hill. I hiked. He ran. He passed me back. And then he sped up.

Several miles back I was thinking that if I had anything left I would try to roll the last descent to the road and not hold back so much just to try and absolve myself for my craptastic climbing. As we hit the last descent this guy started to pull away and try as I might I just could not keep up. Shit. I gave it one effort, another, realized it was not going to happen and then had to back off a little to avoid making a dumb mistake and most likely falling on my face.

When I finally got to the road for that last .5 miles of every so slightly uphill road to the finish was getting ready to steel myself for the trudge to the line when I saw this same guy less than 100' in front of me. No way…

It threw me for such a loop that I actually stopped running for a few seconds.

Sometimes when you think you are blown you really are not and you can push it if you have the mental fortitude. I tried to accelerate. That three second pause had let me catch my breath; I gauged the effort (bridging gaps in bike races has taught me something at least) and tried to execute.

It was very slooooooooow motion but I was reeling him back in. No way!

At this point I knew that the reason he had sped up on the last descent was because he was absolutely not doing the 50 km distance and was indeed running the marathon. And since my calculations had been correct (meaning that everyone else besides this guy had passed me going the other direction to finish up the 50 km distance) I was currently in 2nd place!

As I closed in on him he heard me coming and started to run faster. Oh man did this hurt.

He sped up. I sped up. He sped up, I sped up. He sped up. I cracked.

It was not pretty. Something in my head snapped and suddenly I was walking again. Darn. I watched this guy run away from me and just knew that I had lost the race. After what seemed like 10 minutes (five seconds maybe?) I started to jog and managed to finish running across the line. Sure enough, this guy was chatting it up and obviously was not going out for that last five mile loop. Oh well.

I grabbed my drop bag, almost cramped up in the process and suddenly felt a tap on my shoulder. There was Justin. Nice. Not only did he win but he set a course record by about three minutes. And he did not have a stellar day either. Better than mine obviously but congratulations to him are in order for sure.

Justin's wife Maggie is very pregnant. Her due date is in 10 days so even though she was cool with Justin running today he thought it wise to put his phone in his drop bag so he could check it every time he swing by the finish line. As we were walking back to the van he turns to me and says, "Uh oh…"

By the time we change (I at least got out of my shoes and shirts anyway) and are on the road Justin is calling home and it sounds like Maggie's water may have broken. Exciting! And my legs were pulverized! I swear, just pressing my foot down on the brake pedal was difficult. The whole way back as I'm sucking down my recovery drink I'm trying to rub out my quads and it is just not working.

In the end it was a false alarm and the baby will wait a few more days. A good thing most likely as minimizing stress in the delivery room can't be bad.

When I got home I could almost literally not walk. What hipped me to this fact was me almost falling on my ass when I got out of the van because my legs could not support my weight. Holy cow.

I had spoken with Roger M after the race and he mentioned that he had not seen my name on the start list. This made me start to think that perhaps the sign-in issue was not a fluke so when I finally got cleaned up I searched my email and could not find a payment receipt. Oops… Had I forgotten to register?

I quickly sent Roger a note explaining the situation and begged for leniency. To his credit he knew I had wanted to run this event and so he let me PayPal him the entry fee and made my result official. Disaster averted.

It was then that I got a nice surprise… I guess the guy that beat me was signed up for the 50 km distance and when he opted to stop after just 26 he was officially DNFing. THAT MEANT I WON. Oh happy day. Too soon does the body forget the pain you just put it through and circumstances like this only serve to assist you in putting it through another ordeal in record time. :)

Once again I feel the need to thank some people.

  • Shelley - for supporting me in what must seem at times like a slightly obsessive pursuit of being active. Did I mention she left this note in my gear bag this morning?

CIMG8112

  • Justin - for his constant encouragement, tips and advice. And I'm not going to lie, clothing hand-me-downs rule.
  • Chase - he only met me at the start line but every time he saw me out on the trail he had encouraging words to say.

Here are all the pictures.

Sleep 5
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast 4:30 AM - 2 bananas, almond butter, apple sauce, handful of walnuts, large bottle w/3 scoops Perpetuem
5:15 AM - large bottle w/3 scoops Perpetuem
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food just prior to race - shot of gel
race - 2 small bottles each w/2 scoops Perpetuem and 1 Endurolytes, 6 gels, FRS, 5-Hour Energy
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day 8:30 AM
Workout Type race
Weather low 30s, dry sky, wet ground, partly cloudy
Course Grand Ridge Marathon
Results 1st overall
official results
Time 4:38:35
Distance 26.2 miles
Pace 10:38 min/mile
Equipment Brooks Cascadia
Clothing shorts, Craft short sleeve undershirt, SmartWool long sleeve Merino shirt, thin SmartWool hat, Polypropylene gloves

17 November 2011

core | commute | run

Had a great day in the gym! Gotta like that. Then the weather was great for my ride into work and I'm all over that. Then I went for a lunch run and the rain held off. Greatness abounds.

Time to buy a lottery ticket I guess.
For the first time in ages I was able to hold the plank for over three minutes. Whew.

Went for a lunch run with Justin A and we would all over and around campus. I felt kind of labored today, not sure why… Thinking back to Tuesday when I was on fire today was a bit disconcerting right before my big race but shit happens and you can't let it play with your head. I'll just rest tomorrow and start over Saturday.

On the upside I learned that the clothing combo I had on today was too much for this temperature.



Sleep 6
Waking HR
Body Weight
Body Fat
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Workout Food water
Injuries
Therapy
Time of Day gym - 5:30 AM
run - 1:30 PM
Workout Type
Weather mid 40s, partly cloudy, dry, windy
Course
plank 3:30, 2 min each side
back extensions 3 x 40
clam knee lifts 100 each leg
side leg lifts 100 each leg
leg scissors 100
twisters 50 each side - 10 lb.
push-ups 17
hip abductors 3 x 30 - 100 lb.
Results
Time run - 52:02
Distance commute - 6 miles
run - 6.7 miles
Pace 7:46 min/mile
Equipment commute - Town Bike
run - Brooks Defyance
Clothing run - Under Armour underwear, Mountain Hardware fleece tights, Craft short sleeve undershirt, Patagonia wind shield pullover

16 November 2011

cardio | walk

Big switch up! Martin goes indoors and tries an activity he has not done in months.

And that would be the elliptical trainer.

Good times except for some reason it really worked my calves…? Whatever. Luckily I mostly felt it during the workout and not after.

Since I had to meet our architects and builder at our new house and since it was supposed to dump rain later in the day I decided to walk to the construction site. It was freaking beautiful out. Well, the leaves were anyway.

Multicolored leaves!

Sleep 7
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food  
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day gym - 5:30 AM
walk - 8:00 AM
Workout Type  
Weather  
Course elliptical trainer - 14 incline, 14 resistance, 140 rpm
Results  
Time cardio - 45 min
walk - 45 min
Distance walk - 2.8 miles
Pace  
Equipment  
Clothing  

15 November 2011

core | commute | run

Ouch…! Once again I did not get enough sleep. I got all wound up last night, jumped into bed and sorta kinda drifted off to sleep. Obviously my brain was working overtime on all the stuff that had wound me up because I woke up at about 1:30 thinking about a million different things and that was pretty much all she wrote. Sucks.

My legs however felt fantastic on my ride in to work. I realize that four miles (most of it downhill) is not much of an indicator but I felt really well rested with no heaviness.

And it turns out my legs also felt fantastic on my run! As did my breathing. 7 minutes per mile felt nice and relaxed today and as I sped up for the last five minutes I still felt good. Even after that last minute I still had one more gear left - obviously because my run was so short but still, a nice confidence booster.

Riding home my legs continued to feel, you guessed it, fantastic. I gassed it up one hill (as much as you can on a single speed bike with platform pedals anyway) and then sat down on the longer climb and it all felt very comfortable. Nice.

Sleep 4
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food water
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day gym - 5:30 AM
run - 12:00 PM
Workout Type  
Weather upper 30s to mid 40s
Course
plank 3 min, 2 min each side
back extensions 3 x 40
clam knee lifts 100 each leg
side leg lifts 100 each leg
leg scissors 100
twisters 50 each side - 10 lb.
push-ups 16
hip abductors 3 x 30 - 100 lb.
treadmill - 1% incline
Results  
Time run - 35 min
Distance run - 5 miles
commute - 9 miles
Pace run - 5 min at 7:30 min/mile, 25 min at 6:58 min/mile, then about 15-20 seconds per mile faster for each of the last 5 minutes, the last minute was 5:30 min/mile
Equipment run - Brooks Defyance
commute - Town Bike
Clothing  

14 November 2011

stairs

Jim K was not going to be free Tuesday so we moved stairs to Monday. Fine with me as I have not done anything for two days. Part of the big taper I guess.

My left knee has been bothering my just a little since my fall one week ago. It's not bad but it does nag. I sure hope that goes away 100% by this weekend.

I thought I would be all fresh and fast today because of two days off but that was not exactly the case. The first runner still felt like dirt but the second was better and the third slightly better still. I guess there is just no way to ease into that first fast flight.

I did feel better though and so after Jim left (we did six together) I walked four more. That is an improvement over the last three weeks so hooray for me.

I was talking to Jim about how hard/easy it will be to transition back into cycling after this weekend when my foray into running winds down… I suspect it won't be that smooth.

Sleep 7
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food water
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day 6:00 AM
Workout Type  
Weather mid 40s, partly cloudy, dry, calm
Course Howe Street
Results  
Time 42:45
Distance 10 flights
Pace  
Equipment Brooks Defyance
Clothing shorts, short sleeve active T, long sleeve active T

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13 November 2011

See Hovding In Action!

Oh my f'ing god. Is this for real? I guess it had to happen sooner or later; check out this inflatable (like a car air bag!) bicycle helmet.

Behold the 'before' shot.

before

And the 'after' shot.

after

Nice. Now go see it in action: http://www.hovding.com/en/film/

All I gotta say is good thing I only fall down once per ride.

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Mike Tyson Quotes: The Song

Genius manifests itself in many ways. Many of those happen to be visible on YouTube. Including this video here by Just Dave:

11 November 2011

Cougar Mt run

Here it is, my last 'long' run prior to Martin's big, fat, fall running event. GO.

Can I just say that today was perhaps the most incredible fall day ever? The ground was dry, the leaves were freaking falling constantly while we were running and the trail was covered in a carpet of gold. So pretty.

I met Justin A at the Cougar Mountain Red Town trailhead and right away the pace felt quick. Not unbearable but it was hard for me to carry on a conversation for sure.

As we settled in I felt a little better but was constantly coming close to rolling my ankle as I was staring around at all the amazing scenery and not watching the darn trail. It was so cool. We would hit a clearing and you could see the leaves coming down like rain. If rain drops fell in a zigzag pattern that is. I got hit in the head several times by basketball-size leaves and in sections the trail was completely obscured. And because it was fairly dry out, the crunch of leaves underfoot was constant. AS the sun came up the red light started to infuse the forest and it was mind blowing. We actually stopped once just to enjoy the awesomeness. There were at least three times when I would shout something like, "OMG, look at all the color!" I LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR.

After settling in I felt much better. We discussed route options and then before we decided we ran past the first intersection that would have allowed us to run for 14 miles so we opted for 12. When it came time to choose the hard hill or the slightly less hard hill I chose hard figuring this was the last training opportunity to do this. Plus the last time I went the hard way it demoralized me so you gotta rectify that.

We had been moving along at a pretty good clip for me and I was hoping to run this thing. I have only been this way once before and had to walk pretty much right away. I made it about 80% of the way up before I caved and was hiking. And then at the top I had to walk a tiny section of flat to just catch my breath! Oh well. Justin waited and soon I was up with him and we were cruising along. Huge improvement for me anyway.

I wanted to try and finish strong so made an effort to not slow down and perhaps even increase the pace. It was a chore but I was doing it until we got maybe .5 miles from the finish. I had been running up the hills to this point and suddenly on a slight rise I had to chop my stride and slow some. You know that feeling when you are close to the edge? Yeah, I was right there. But I did not blow up totally and kept rolling to the end and I am super happy with this time and pace. Especially since we had to stop three times for various reasons. Not bad at all.

For a while after we crested the 'wall' I was right behind Justin and he slowly turned on the gas. That was great as I was getting pulled along. It was this section where I was running hard even uphill.

I only had to walk one piece of trail! I think that is a new milestone for me out here as I usually am walking a couple of sections. I felt all pumped up after this run; I was buzzing most of the drive back home. Now I just need to back off the pace and keep it up for more than twice as long to finish the marathon. Ouch! Don't want to think about that right now…

Sleep 6
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast 5:15 AM - banana, almond butter, apple sauce, water
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food just prior to start - gel
run - small bottle w/1 tablet Cola Nuun and 1 scoop HEED
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day 6:30 AM
Workout Type  
Weather upper 40s, dry, partly cloudy, some wind at the end
Course  
Results  
Time 1:40:30
Distance 12 miles
Pace 8:23 min/mile
Equipment Brooks Cascadia, headlamp, hand-held bottle
Clothing shorts, Craft short sleeve undershirt, long sleeve active T

10 November 2011

core | commute

I had a great core day! Finally.

After my two falls mountain biking late this summer it not only set me back in terms of cycling in general but also in terms of being able to do the core work that allows me to ride a bike in the first place. So it has been hugely satisfying to be able to do exercises like the side plank, push-ups and twisters again that up until just a couple of days ago were too painful to perform.

Whew.

Ever feel like there is a whole shitload of stuff you have to do just to be able to do the stuff you really want to do…? I do. Constantly.

The added bonus today was that as I did my core exercises I felt like I was getting stronger instead of more tired. Gotta love that. Perhaps it was because I finally got some sleep? Whatever, it felt great.

The other thing that felt great was the chiropractic and massage I got from Mobility+ Healthcare. Those guys are fantastic.

Sleep 7
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food water
Injuries  
Therapy chiropractic and massage
Time of Day gym - 5:30 AM
Workout Type active recovery
Weather mid 40s to upper 50s, sunny, dry,
Course
plank 3 min, 2 min each side
back extensions 3 x 40
clam knee lifts 100 each leg
side leg lifts 100 each leg
leg scissors 100
twisters 50 each side - 10 lb.
push-ups 17
hip abductors 3 x 30 - 100 lb.
Results  
Time  
Distance 12 miles
Pace  
Equipment Town Bike
Clothing  

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just because you are in college does not mean you are smart

I was listening to NPR this morning on the way to the gym and they were saying that Joe Paterno got fired as football coach of Penn State.

Sounds logical to me. From what I can tell assistant coach Jerry Sandusky has been abusing boys for over a decade and not only did Penn State folks know about it, it appears that Joe lied and said he did not know. He also never contacted the appropriate authorities when he learned what Sandusky was doing. Nice.

The NPR story said students on the Penn State campus are protesting the firing. I guess I can understand how if you have tons of team spirit and love football you might want the dynasty to continue. But the story also said they were rioting. Hello…?

Let me spell it out for you.

YOUR COLLEGE FOOTBALL COACH IS PROTECTING A RAPIST.

Seriously, just think about it for one minute and ask yourself why exactly you are getting all agro and turning over cars and being a huge dumbass.

What's that? You don't know? I thought so.

The one ray of light is a quote by some Penn State official I heard on NPR (forgot who it was…). They said that it was understandable that students might want to protest. In fact, that was the American way and the Penn State way but it did not change that what Paterno did was wrong and that he needed to be let go immediately. Right on.

Actually… you're the one that's dumb.

We've all dreamed of being there with that perfect one-liner to shut down the local village idiot, right? This is a perfect example.

comic

I like MADDERer MEN.

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09 November 2011

core | run | commute

My mind is playing tricks on me!

I got to the gym hoping Thom W would be up for a run and he was so I hurried through my core routine and headed up to the cardio loft.

No sooner had we started than Thom declares he is going for 45 minutes. Whoa… 45 minutes you say?! We usually only run for 30 but this sounded exciting so let's GO.

I'm cruising along, doing fine, then 30 minutes comes and goes and my motivation takes a freaking nosedive! In the last 15 minutes I stopped three times! Not because my legs were tired or because it was that hard to breath, my head was just not in it. I. Checked. Out.

What can you do? At least each stop was less than 10 seconds and I ran the last few minutes. Small consolation though. And did I mention that as I was spacing out on the treadmill I accidentally smacked my knuckles on the structure and tore the skin off of three of them. It hurt at the time but I thought nothing more of it and then as we're cooling down I look down and my hand looks like I just punched a concrete wall.

But reflecting back as I'm writing this I did do my core in spite of being super sleepy and I did run for 45 minutes in spite of wanting to quit outright and I did get on my bike and rolled to work in spite of threatening rain and if I don't put my banged up hand in my pants pocket it doesn't hurt. I guess today was a good day after all.

See what I just did? I turned lemons into lemonade. I'm also available for motivational speaking engagements; just give me a shout.

Sleep 5
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast 7:00 AM - Smoothie 2.0
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food water
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day gym - 5:30 AM
Workout Type  
Weather upper 40s to upper 50s, cloudy, mostly dry, calm
Course
plank 3 min, 2 min each side
back extensions 3 x 40
clam knee lifts 100 each leg
side leg lifts 100 each leg
twisters 50 each side - 10 lb.
leg scissors 100
push-ups 15
run - treadmill, 1% incline
Results  
Time run - 45 min
Distance run - 6.2 miles
commute - 15 miles
Pace run - 5 min at 7:00 min/mile, 25 min at 6:58 min/mile, 15 min at 7:00 min/mile
Equipment run - Brooks Defyance
commute - Town Bike
Clothing  

08 November 2011

stairs | commute | core

Oh sleep, where art thou?

Just another night of waking up at a completely retarded (is that okay to say in this case?) hour.

On the upside I felt a LOT better doing stairs this week compared to last week. And just to clarify, 'a lot' still means really, really slow as I am trying to do it after my long weekend run. Still, that's a ray of light on a dark morning. My legs did feel much better than last week and I am actually psyched to see how good they will feel in a few weeks when I stop all this long running on the weekends.

Doing stairs with Jim K is great. He's totally game and has been my stair buddy for several years now. Good friends/workout partners are good to have. Can I get an amen?

The ride home was super fun. Since we switched to Standard time it's been getting dark at 4:30 and so I took a longer route. Seeing downtown light up and the full moon over Capitol Hill as I climbed up Pine was incredible.

Sleep 5
Waking HR  
Body Weight 7:15 AM - 181
Body Fat 6
Breakfast 7:00 AM - Smoothie 2.0
9:30 AM - LARABAR
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food water
Injuries  
Therapy 20 min of stretching
Time of Day stairs - 6:00 AM
Workout Type  
Weather mid 40s, dry, partly cloudy, calm
Course
plank 3 min, 2 min each side
back extensions 3 x 40
clam knee lifts 100 each leg
side leg lifts 100 each leg
leg scissors 100
push-ups 20
hip abductors 3 x 30 - 100 lb.
stairs - Howe Street
Results  
Time stairs - 27:31
Distance stairs - 6 flights
commute - 12 miles
Pace  
Equipment stairs - Brooks Defyance
commute - Town Bike
Clothing stairs - shorts, short sleeve active T, long sleeve active T
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movies really are the new pictures

You know the expression,' A picture is worth a thousand words."? Well let me just say that a movie is worth a boat load of pictures.

It seems like a lifetime ago now but back in 2003 I competed participated in La Ruta de los Conquistadores and the memories are still vividly etched in my brain. I just saw this movie of stage four and it brought them all flooding back.

Here are a few things I remember clearly that have not changed one bit

  • Road closures…? What you talking about…? Seriously, bikes AND the race caravan were all over the road.
  • Pictures, even movies, do not do justice to the incline of the roads and trails.
  • That helmet cam has extremely;y good anti-vibration software. Those railroad ties are freaking bumpy!
  • Beaches can be fun to ride on but a bear to race on. And watch out for falling coconuts.
  • That last left turn onto the beach at the finish is heavenly. I wanted to ride right into the surf.

06 November 2011

Tiger Mt trail run - Cottage Cheese loop round 2

And… here we go.

For the third weekend in a row Martin tries to run long. Two weeks ago it was my first time on the 'Cottage Cheese' Tiger Mt loop, last week it was a run on Cougar Mt and today I'm back on Tiger. So far these longer outings have not been easy. I seem to do fine for 10, even 15 miles but then anything longer is a chore. How do you make longer runs easier? You do more of them. Shit… I should be a coach.

Sound the charge.

Today we switched back to Standard time so in theory you can grab an extra hour of sleep. Not me. I woke at the usual crack of insanity.

I met Justin A and we headed over to Issaquah. It was cold! Like upper 20s at home and probably no more than 30 where we parked so I started out with more clothing than I have worn on any run this year.

Justin was coming down with a cold so warned me that the pace would be mellow and that was fine with me as I wanted to finally feel better for those last five miles. Still, it's funny how your mind plays tricks on you and the pace for the first 2-3 miles seemed very, very leisurely. In hindsight it was probably exactly the same as the last time we were here.

The first half of this route is basically up. It starts with perhaps .5 miles of steep, levels off for maybe .5 miles and then starts to climb again. Other than the occasional flat bit and one descent that is maybe .5 miles long it is up, up,up all the way to the top. Two weeks ago I had to power hike walk quite a bit of this climb but today I kept churning away until I was pretty close to the summit. The last stretch is on a gravel road that tilts up at an alarming angle and here I did have to walk. At the top I proclaimed how I felt this easier pace had allowed me to run more and Justin calmly informed me that we were two minutes faster than last time. So much for my sense of pace.

After a gel, a drink and soaking in the views (they were amazing today!) we headed down.

Oh man was the trail in great shape. Dry but not dusty, soft but not wet, covered in a thin layer of pine needles but the traction was fantastic. Idyllic really. I recall remarking that descending when running on this kind of surface was almost as good as descending on bike. And at the time I meant it too.

And I still felt great! Two weeks ago I was starting to feel the effects after just 10 miles and today I had no issues. Until we encountered the trip wire that is.

I was perhaps two strides behind Justin when he stuck his foot under a thin, twine-like root that was suspended about 6" above the surface of the trail and down he went. I was about to laugh but my momentum was such that I stuck my foot under the exact same root and practically fell on top of him. Luckily the ground was exceptionally soft here and after brushing off the pine needles there was no evidence of us having taken a digger. I like that.

Down, down, down we went and 15 miles in where I had a bad patch last time I was tired but not nearly as defeated and never had to walk. There was even one short climb that Justin ran last time and I had to walk and this time I ran it! Slowly for sure but I did not have to stop. Yes. That was a highlight for me.

Fast forward to the last descent on a wide trail with bigish, round stones on it. We had encountered our fare share of hikers today and just as we were coming up to another I lost my footing and hit the deck. This time it hurt. Of course I managed to impact my left knee so now both legs were crippled. Thank goodness I fell on the opposite knee that I injured yesterday.

I was a bit slow in getting up but after walking a few feet I was able to jog and then finally run again.

Other than the fall this section of the descent is kinda cool. The surface makes you concentrate and if you are efficient you can really stay off the brakes and fly. I'm learning that you have a huge advantage if you can descend efficiently and not hammer your quads.

At the bottom where you exit the forest is a concrete path that is just over .5 miles long back to the car. Oh how I hate concrete… I bet for many people it feels fast but to me it just feels harsh. Suddenly I was able to tell how beat my legs were. Still, I tried to pick up the pace just a little to simulate the end of a race. Ouch.

I felt a LOT better today than two weeks ago. The climb was much  more manageable, I think my pace was more consistent and I never experienced the dreaded 'bad patch'. For sure I was tired and had to dig some as we hit little rises on the 'descent' but no crisis. That felt good. It's fascinating to me that we were just three minutes faster yet it felt so different. It's also fascinating to me that just three minutes means 10 seconds per mile in terms of pace over the course of three hours. Obviously little adjustments in pace can pay huge dividends regardless of whether you are trying to conserve or speed up. Knowledge is good.

My clothing selection turned out to be a bit much. After just a couple of miles I could have shed one long sleeve layer as I would not have missed it. And I ran the last mile with my hat in my hand.

Sleep 5
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast 5:00 AM - 3 pancakes w/protein powder, apple sauce, banana, 2 scoops Perpetuem in a glass of water
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food small bottle w/1 tablet Cola Nuun and 1 scoop HEED, 2 gels
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day 8:00 AM
Workout Type LSD
Weather low 30s to low 40s, dry, sunny, calm
Course  
Results  
Time 2:57:07
Distance 19 miles
Pace 9:19 min/mile
Equipment Brooks Cascadia
Clothing Under Armour underwear, Mountain Hardware tights, Craft long sleeve undershirt, long sleeve active T, thin Polypropylene gloves, knit hat

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