Avoiding the storm

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Ordinarily one to revel in a good storm, I decided the biting wind on the walk home from work was plenty enough for the day, and ducked indoors for my workout.   I got 40 minutes on the treadmill with 6 x 2:00 minute efforts at 5:00-5:10 mile pace.  I felt surprisingly good, and could tell I felt good as soon as I began my warmup, as I was able to warmup at a pace somewhat quicker than some of my recent treadmill runs.  I then hopped on the exercise bike for 40 minutes mostly at an easy pace, keeping my heartrate below around 120, with a couple of harder efforts.  The idea for the ride was largely just to maintain a roughly 90 rpm cadence, without consideration for harder efforts, although I did throw a couple in.  

I'm looking forward to a longer group ride this weekend,  as I really think throwing in a couple of weeks of cycling emphasis while running 3-4 times a week is what I need right now - both from the point of view of a break and from the point of view that I need to get some cycling miles in the legs. 

_____________

"When you walk through a storm
Hold your head up high,
And don't be afraid of the dark
At the end of the storm is a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark.
Walk on through the wind,
Walk on through the rain..."

- Rodgers & Hammerstein

The fine art of goggle adjustments

Monday, January 30, 2006

Since the untimely loss of my favourite set of swimming goggles, I've struggled to find a suitable replacement.  I had purchased one pair that sucked out my eyeballs, and then tried another pair that were better that way, but were so beefy around the rims that it felt like I was looking down two toilet rolls.  Not great when it's difficult enough as it is for me to see since I can breathe on one side only, and and can't do the breastroke if I need to survey my surroundings.

However, my troubles ended today when I discovered that, rather than have to endure the awkward feeling of eyeball protrusion due to excessive suction, loosening the straps sufficiently was a simple solution.  Letting a little slack go on either side and I managed to avoid eyeball-protrusion, the resulting black eyes and nearly permanent goggle rim impressions around my eyes.

Quite pleased with my discovery,  I then discovered soon after that one contact lens has become sufficiently gummed up with plaque so as to leave me feeling like I was looking through a thick fog, through one eye anyway.

Nonetheless, half blind, I did manage to swim at least a kilometer, and felt reasonably good doing it.  I ducked into the sauna for a short while too to stretch, and massage.  I'd nearly forgotten how good it feels to stretch in the sauna when your muscles are so loosened up by the heat.  A great feeling.  I remember doing a fair bit of sauna stretching a few years ago, but had rather forgotten about it.  It may not be any more beneficial than stretching in other environments, but it sure feels good.  I then managed a few quick weights and calisthenics.

I still haven't quite decided what to do in terms of training, although I do know that I need to be incorporating more riding into the schedule pronto if I have any hope of being in reasonable duathlon shape come the first race in March.  And even if I skip that one (UBC) which I usually do, I still will not be ready for May if I don't begin doing a heap of riding soon.

I am also inquiring into the qualifying criteria for the duathlon long course world championships in Denmark in May. While Triathlon Canada sets qualification standards for short course Worlds (held in Cornerbrook Nfld this year in August), Canada usually doesn't set standards for the long course Worlds.   The long course is a 15km run/90km bike/ 7.5 km run.  Not super long, but a good distance for me and one for which I can be in decent shape for by May.  So I'll see what Tri Can says about the long course, and whether they will set some elite standards in order to represent Canada there.

Beam me up, Scotty

Sunday, January 29, 2006

Well that was rather unpleasant. 

Actually, just as Spock once said to Dr. McCoy in a Star Trek episode "you certainly have a gift for understatement," the word "unpleasant" barely scratches the tip of the iceberg of my disappointment!  Well, I exaggerate -- it isn't that bad -- after all these years I'm quite accustomed to disappointment by now. But there is certainly cause to reassess where I'm at with my training at this time, since 34:05 for today's 10km race in Mill Bay, just to the north of Victoria, is below even what I thought would happen if I was a bit off on the day.

Evidently, the high-mileage in December has not paid off quite in the way that it did last year, and given that I ran 34:05 today compared to 32:56 last year, I can only take from this that I'm a tad flat.  I thought I may have been fighting a wee spot of a bug too in the last few days, since I had an earache Thursday, but it went away, so I'm not sure I can use that as an excuse. 

So it comes down to being both a spot on the flat side, and also lacking the guts to really suffer today - when the going got tough at 6km, I basically shut it down, coughed up a lung, and gave up the ghost.  I nearly stopped twice. Obviously I was blowing over my threshold at those points and didn't have much choice but to slow up.  I suppose I could have slowed down for a lesser period of time and gutted out a sub-34, but, but once I knew the time wasn't going to repeat last year's run, mentally I cashed in my chips.

Interestingly, I believe I felt about the same degree of effort was required over the first 6km this year as last year, as it felt generally relaxed, but when Craig Odermatt pushed on the flat off the first descent after the turnaround, I went over my threshold and died a painful death thereafterward. No guts, no glory. 

While I had originally planned on a spin this afternoon, the weather is less than conducive to such a notion (there's that understatement again!).  Though I may get on the exercise bike for a mite  of spinning later.
_____________

"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few..." - Spock

There we go, I can take Mr. Spock's advice and turn my thoughts away from my own selfish needs...yay

Sleep, perchance to dream

Thursday January 26, 2006

Today was an easy 15km on the flat roads, with a short visit to the gym.  This follows another easy 10km yesterday with the Wednesday night Running Room group.  Hills this evening, as has been the usual Thursday routine, were just a bit risky for the legs leading up to the Mill Bay 10km this Sunday, I decided.

____________

Further to Don P's (Jarhead) sleep crisis, a recent study shows sleep deprivation impairs "neurogenensis" or brain cell generation after learning spatial tasks.  On the other hand, evidently, sleep deprivation forces other aspects of the brain to work more efficiently.  See

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/01/060118101049.htm 

Speaking of sleep, an interesting dream recently has been haunting me:

I and a woman, whose face was unrecognizable, were somehow trapped inside a kind of submarine in which we seemed to float, suspended.  The vessel was filled with some sort of liquid in which we swam gently, but breathing was not a problem, and the liquid was somewhat murky and difficult to see through. 

There was a round opening in the vessel above us, through which we could see a layer of clear water, several meters thick.  The clear water and the murky water bordered each other as if one was solid and one was liquid, but it was apparent they were both liquid, and yet the murky and clear liquids did not mix.  At the other side of the clear water above us was a desired destination, though it was not apparent what that was - it was just understood that we had to ascend through the opening up through the clear water to whatever lay beyond. 

In spite of floating in the murky waters and breathing easily, we knew we would need to hold our breaths if we ascended through the clear water.  I was afraid because I felt I was capable of holding my breath for only one minute or so, and it probably required holding our breaths for much longer.  

But the woman was easily able to hold her breath for at least two minutes, we both knew, and it was understood that this was more than sufficient for her to reach the other side.   Although relieved that at least she could make it safely, I realized I couldn't go, and that she would have to ascend on her own and leave me. 

But then she calmly reassured me that even if I couldn't hold my breath long enough, I only had to follow her through to the other side and I would be fine.  Interestingly, I didn't even begin to rationalize the notion - it didn't occur to me that it was physically impossible just to "follow" someone and it would be fine.   I simply trusted her blindly, completely, and fundamentally, and up we went and we made it to the other side, just as she assured me we would.

And that dream has been haunting me...

_________

"To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub,
For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come..."

- Hamlet

Pace intervals (not)

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

I began with the intention of running intervals at 10km pace at the Oak Bay track, deliberately avoiding the IRR Uvic track workout to prevent myself from going harder than I wanted.  But as it has oft been said, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

My workout 200, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 600, 400 with 200 jogs in between, started out:  200 in 39s; 400 in 1:20; 600  in 2:00, 800 in 2:39.  Despite wanting 10k pace, I was quite disappointed with all those times, especially the 2:39 since I thought I was pushing a bit harder on that one with the goal of hitting 2:36.  At that point I got ticked and decided I should just pick it up a notch, and hit the 1000 in 3:09, the 600 in 1:48 and the 400 in 1:04.  I actually missed the time on the last 400 since my watch didn't stop and I couldn't see the time in the dark until I got a few meters after the finish around the bend and saw it at 1:09, so I knew the actual time was several seconds faster. So much for the 10k pace efforts, but I don't think the faster efforts hurt me at all, and they've actually given me a bit of confidence that I can notch up it even when I may have perceived previous efforts to be hard. 

Though it is too late for Mill Bay, I'd like to try some "surge" intervals soon, where you hit a threshold pace and then sprint for 10 strides before settling back to pace.  I remember a rowing ergometer coach telling me I should do that during the "Monster Erg" at Uvic one year - "when you start to flag," he said "crank it hard as hard as you can go for 10 strokes, then ease up again" - basically what ends up happening is you hold your pace rather than slow down.  It's a great strategy, but I've never really tried for running.  I know I have done it in cycling time trials, and it does work - it hurts like hell, but you go faster in the end.

There was a small group of other track runners there. One Jeanette (last name uncertain) blazed a 500 in 1:20 and 2X350 in 48 each, and a 200 in 31 - definitely a track runner! The others were doing longer intervals.

I've been enjoying a book by Ian McEwan called Enduring Love, which I've picked up after seeing the video recently.  I was hooked when I saw on page two the following lines "...the convergence of six figures in a flat green space has a comfortable geometry from the buzzard's perspective, the knowable limited plane of the snooker's table.  The initial conditions, the force and the direction of the force, define all the consequent pathways, all the angles of collision and return...before we made contact we were in a state of mathematical grace."   Though I generally rarely read fiction, when I saw this, I thought: now THIS is a book of fiction I can read...

politics and religion

Monday, January 23, 2006

Sure as taxes and death, so should politics and religion not be discussed on a personal blog.  Hmm, what other cliche truisms can I come up with?  But all truisms (but not altruisms!) aside, I am yet a non-conformist...

Choosing to take a day of complete rest, there was no significant training today, other than yoga, which was actually fairly vigorous this evening, with a few fairly rapid sequences of upward/downward dogs and others of Sanskrit descriptions I haven't mastered.   Michael and Christina, Moksana yoga instructors, explained over post-yoga dinner that Sanskrit is spoken only in one small village in India, and otherwise currently exists only as a written language, though it was originally based in Hinduism (hence the "religion" aspect of today's post).  

In terms of "politics", I learned that I and fellow yoga-ites this evening, Roger and Kerri, all canceled out each others' votes.  Because our three votes resulted in a collective cancellation, it makes no difference for whom we each voted  (although I haven't quite figured out if it's logically possible for three different votes to count as collective cancellation)!.

The endless conveyor belt of pain

Sunday, January 22, 2006 

I first heard this phrase used by a cycling team-mate in Alberta when I first started racing.  It is particularly fitting for long cycling circuit races that include some sort of long steep climb that must be done several times.  Having raced cycling races, running races, and multi-sport races, of these three, the most pain I've experienced has been in cycling races.  Running races are hard, to be sure, but they usually involve reaching your threshold and holding it.  That is hard, but it isn't as painful as continually going over your threshold for sustained periods, and hoping like heck a chance will come when the pace backs off enough when you can recover. A cycling time-trial would be the equivalent of a running race, where you reach your anaerobic threshold and hold it, while road races and criteriums involve bursts of speed that cross your eyes and nearly pop them out right out of their sockets. 

I was reminded of this degree of suffering when riding up Claremont this afternoon on a 1.5 hour ride after an easy 21 or so km of easy running this morning.   My legs felt achy and generally bad on my run, but they felt supple, loose, and strong on my ride.  Despite having done mostly just short easy rides on the excercise bike in the last few weeks, there was no lack of strength today, which was nice, especially after feeling knackered on the run.  So during the ride I decided to test the legs on Claremont - a steep 1.5 km hill near Elk Lake that climbs up from the lower winding road that runs roughly parallel to the Pat Bay Hwy. 

The climb in an easy gear is manageable, although still difficult.  It is about the same length and difficulty as Mt Tolmie, and I remembered a cycling race a few years ago on a circuit that required climbing Mt. Tolmie 17 times.  There were some heinously painful anaerobic efforts every time up.  And that isn't even my recollection of the most pain I've experienced in a bike race - there are others that stand out as involving yet greater suffering. 

To me, suffering is a beautiful component of all kinds of racing, as it becomes a metaphor for what we must sometimes endure in real life.  Being an asthmatic child, my athletic endeavors often remind me of what I endured without choosing it as a child.  Now I can choose to suffer by training and racing, and not take for granted my good health, which can happen so easily (and admittedly still does).  It also makes us more capable of enduring other forms of suffering.  Without this sort of suffering we do not have a good sense of our limitations physically and mentally; with it we become intimately acquainted with our physical limitations. 

To me understanding these limitations is an amazing thing as we age and become increasingly aware of a body that inexorably winds toward an inevitable moment in time when it will not function at all.   I wouldn't trade all the hardest althletic efforts I've ever experienced for anything.  But that doesn't mean I'm not capable of wimping out occasionally!

reducing dementia

Saturday, January 21, 2006

Study that shows exercise significantly reduces risk of dementia after age 65.

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8589

What I'd like to know is what is the degree of dementia experienced after that 160km bike ride when you're bonking and you stumble into a store, shaky and pale; wander the isles aimlessly with your cleats clacking and slipping on the floor while mumbling "...food...need...eat..." and  you stare at the cashier trying really hard to figure out how much cash to pull from your jersey pocket when he just told you the price?  And what are the long-term effects of this temporary dementia?  And for me in particular, is this a temporary state, or is that how I am all the time?

Fortunately I didn't experience that today, as it was only running intervals with Cliffy - 8 x 400 with 200's in between, then a 14:30 tempo afterward.  We aimed for 15 mins, but cut it just short since we were both on a serious conveyor belt of pain after gradually accelerating the whole way.  The 400's at the Oak Bay track were restrained - about 1:20 for the first 4 and 1:15 for the second 4, then onto the road.   Great workout, though I could tell I was tired from the hard hill running on Thursday.  Cliff seemed to be feeling quite good, as  I could barely hang on to his pace at the end of the tempo run.  I got a total of about 20km in.

Friday was a 40min swim and 25 mins of the treadmill.

Well, not quite infinite

Thursday, January 19, 2006

I was just reading about some recent variations of string theory that suggest there is not one single model of the universe, but rather 10X10 to the 500th power of models, "give or take a few trillion" the article says.  This is the megaverse.  That isn't quite the same as an infinite number of universes, as Martin Rees, emininent cosmologist, suggested with his concept of the multiverse, but the idea is much the same:  so many parameters of mathematics and physics are finely tuned for our own human existence - tweak them a tiny bit one way or the other, and we could not be here.  Intuitively, it makes sense that all the other possible parameters also exist, in other universes.

I felt quite good on the hill efforts today, and rather than go easy as originally planned, I decided I might as well push it a bit.  I felt loads of strength, and this was the first Thursday I decided to push the hills hard.  Because I've been neglecting the bike a bit more than I'd like, I decided I'd better get on the exercise bike for at least 20 mins, so zipped out for a brief treadmill warmup, some time spinning and some light upper body weights, stretching and massage. 

"Out, out brief candle!
Life is but a walking shadow,
A poor player who struts and frets
His hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more.
It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."

- Macbeth

stimming anti-oxidants

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Interesting article about a newly discovered means of stimulating naturally occurring anti-oxidant production.  See link below. The article doesn't describe the process exactly but refers to the stimulation of nerve cells where certain antioxidants apparently are stored.  The means of stimulation are refered to in another paper as "electrophilic phase II inducers" - whatever those are.  If nerve cells can be stimulated externally to produce anti-oxidants, the question arises as to whether there are natural means of stimulating these internally within the body.  Intuitively one suspects there are, we just need to discover the natural, internal, trigger for doing so. 

There is a kind of stimulation process I practice myself, which seems to be some sort of nervous system stimulation, that I swear has helped prevent me from getting sick sometimes.  Of course I haven't had the process tested to determine what exactly I'm doing and whether it has any real benefit, but based on this article, I wonder if it involves a process of releasing anti-oxidants.  Again, I am speculating only, but there is certainly something physiological occurring when I practice these brief nervous system stimulations.  In fact I can do them as I sit here and type (yes, with my hands on the keyboard!).

http://www.alphatradefn.com/story/2006-01-09/BIZ/
200601091705BIZWIRE_USPR_____BW6035.html

So today was an easy 10km run with three 200 m strides to loosen the system up after two days off.  I plan on easy running until my first hard workout of the week on Saturday.

Additional rest...

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

...was required today, I decided.  It would have been counter-productive to have gone to track, even if I could have disciplined myself to run the intervals at "tempo".   An easy run on my own was a possibility, or even a swim -- but I chose instead simply to go to a yoga session with Roger. 

There are certain moves that I am becoming more accustomed to, while there remain others that cause conniptions and hyperventilation with the mere thought of attempting such postures.  For example, my version of sitting in the lotus cross-legged position is a slight interlacing of ankles while sitting atop styrofoam blocks stacked three deep, sticking up like a sore thumb and looking down at everyone bundled into their tight postures on the floor.  But! I do not feel in the slightest conspicuous, because I know that everyone is in "zen" mode, locked in the present only, harbouring no visions of past or future, and incapable of passing judgment on the bunged-up geek perched atop three blocks obscuring their view of the instructor.  

I have actually been a wee bit sore from the race, and notice that I am generally just quite fatigued and even found myself having some difficulty keeping the eyelids perky at work today at times.  In fact I fell asleep at the close of the yoga session today, straight into REM sleep and vivid dreams.  So it was wise, I believe to take a second day completely off of any real training.  Tomorrow will be an easy run, with increasing distance through the week, with my first workout again on Saturday. 


"I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I had bad dreams..."  -- Hamlet

to Martin Luther King jr.

Monday, January 16, 2006

I'm sure there are many who will agree that Martin Luther King, jr. was one of the most moving orators of all time.  In fact I personally have heard no other who reveals such a depth of sincerity and passion in their words and voice as he.  Undoubtedly there are some who are moved to tears when they hear his most impassioned speeches, like "I am angry" and "I have a dream", as I  nearly am myself.  Obviously, this is why the United States has devoted a special day in his name.

At a time when there are so many reasons to be anti-American, at least as it seems to me, Martin Luther King, jr. was truly a great American whose message, passion and personal ultimate sacrifice will withstand the test of time. Martin Luther King,jr.,  I would like to believe, will be remembered with far greater admiration than all the Bush's or the Gates' and all the Hollywood celebrities, and long after their names and contributions represent but a few lines on the pages of history books.

So, a tribute to Martin Luther King.

Today there was no training at all; instead I spent the better part of the evening enjoying the atmosphere of auditions for parts in the Arthur Miller play "All my Sons".  What great fun! I honestly haven't had so much fun in a great long time, mingling with other auditioners and reading excerpts!  Initially reading excerpts for the part of Chris (the second major role in the play) alone before the director(s), I was invited back in to read further excerpts along with other potential actors.  They asked me to read excerpts from another role (George - a smaller, but significant part) as well.

Despite having left the "experience" line blank on the registration form, they told me I had very good diction and asked me if I had training.  But that of course wasn't saying I could act and could well have been the "nice comment" before cutting me loose and, besides, they need to find the right combination of actors to suit the director's vision, and there were certainly other experienced actors there.  But it was definitely a positive experience, and at least I wasn't given the boot quite right off the start.  Whatever happens, it was wonderful fun, and I will make a point of auditioning for other parts in future! 

Now is the winter of my discontent

Well, not really - I'm really not that disappointed with my race today, but the quote from Shakespeare's Richard II sounds somewhat fitting in that it's humbling to see the sort of depth there is among runners in Victoria.  For the 8km my time of 26:37 was good for 14th place, compared to 11th last year in 27:18.  You see names from the past like Scott Simpson and Paddy McCluskey coming out of the woodwork; then realize guys like Jim Finlayson, Eric Kiauka, David Milne, Steve Mureenbeld, Simon Whitfield, Peter Reid, Kelly Guest, Steve Bachop and others didn't race, all of whom would or could have been ahead of me too.  Not to mention Jon Brown who lives here too.

The race wasn't a disaster by any means, though I must admit to thinking if things went well I could have gone through in about 26:10.  I'm glad I didn't articulate that thought, having done well to err on the side of being pretty uncertain how my body would fare.   I went through 5km in 16:03, and knew at that point it was likely to be sub-27, which would be a reasonable result for me.  But I definitely grovelled through kilometers 6-8, and lost quite of lot time to those whom I was with until then, namely Nick Walker, Ian Hallam and Todd Healy.  I'm not certain I would have gone any faster had I followed Ron B's advice to tempo the first half and race the second half, but it might be worth trying sometime!

My PR is 25:55 on a flatter course, and I've only done two or three other 8km's in under 27, so I can only be happy with how it went today.  Plus, if last year's pattern is any indication, when I fully expected to be a bit rough for this race only to hit my stride later for Mill Bay and the Cedar 12k, then this should bode well for a good 10k in Mill Bay.  Even so, I have a feeling I may be a bit flatter at this time this year than I was at this time last year, but just happen to be relying on a bigger mileage base to pull me through. 

So, will the winter of my discontent be made glorious summer by the sun of Mill Bay?  Well, I make no predictions, and I should be making sure to keep in mind my season's objectives, namely primarily the National duathlon championships in June.  On that note, I will do a short spin on the exercise bike before the day is out, having missed an opportunity earlier to get out on the road bike.

Scuttling crabs

Saturday, January 14, 2006

"I should have been a crab
Scuttling 'cross the floors of silent seas"

The myriad typos in my last post drove me to edit it and make a few additions, including one of my favourite lines from poet T.S. Eliot.  Another memorable line from The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is that one above, which resonates with me sometimes in moments of humility.  There is a profound loneliness to the image of a crab in the darkness of the depths of a vast ocean floor.  And yet a crab can be nothing more than ignorant of its solitude, and it is only we, the human observers, that can perceive any loneliness to its silent scuttling: a poignant irony.

An easy 10km this morning with four 200-300 m strides around the waterfront.  Seeing Dave M walking, we both acknowledged how we were enjoying the "sunshine".   I still am completely unable to predict how my legs are feeling for tomorrow.  I will know only after the race. 

Occupying my time have been revisions to a computer simulation of a bicycle peloton that reviewers of a paper of mine have requested.  Should they be satisfied with my revisions, it will likely be published, as they have already agreed in principle the paper is suitable for their journal. 

In addition, I've been practicing a part in a play called "All my Sons", by Arthur Miller, as I've decided to audition for the part of Chris, the son of the main character Joe Keller, who lives in denial of having manufactured defective airplane parts during WWII that resulted in many deaths.  I have no illusions about getting the role, as there will no doubt be many experienced actors auditioning, but it provides motivation to read the play and to practice the part.  Something to keep me entertained!

Shoes anyone?

Friday January 13, 2006

Well, I'm not quite sure what's going on, but I neglected yet again to bring my running shoes with me to the gym.  The last time I did that I elected to forego the gym session altogether, but the time before that I traipsed around in my socks after the reception people suggested I shouldn't (volenti fit injuria - a legal maxim meaning you voluntarily accept the risk - I reasoned).  I even asked them if they happened to have a pair kicking around I could borrow. The three of them, a reception woman and two gym trainers, looked at me like I just fell out of a UFO. 

This time I decided not to bother telling the reception people I forgot my shoes and, shuffling passed them while whistling slightly and looking the other way, I made it to the gym unnoticed and traipsed around the weight machines in my socks again.  Except this time they were wet because I put them on in the locker room after swimming, and had to go back to the showers in my socks because I thought I had left my goggles hanging on a shower tap (I didn't).  No amount of tip-toeing, I discovered, could prevent water from saturating my socks.

While doing a few reps on the peck machine, I glanced around at the various types of footwear people wore, and it was quite obvious I was the only one without any.  But when you've done something once, the second time is easier, and I felt much less self-conscious this time. 

Which  reminds me I also lost a very good pair of goggles there and had to purchase a new pair, and going on the cheap this time I bought a pair that leaves my eyes ringed and practically black and blue.  Time to invest in a better pair.  Oh yes, and my heart-rate monitor telemetry strap went AWOL at the Oak Bay rec centre too not long ago.

Is there something I need to change here?  A new gym perhaps?  No need to answer that...

Ok, so it was just a swim and some light upper-body weights, which for some reason I'm really starting to enjoy, and a little stretching, some sit-ups of various types and massage.   Legs are feeling a bit better today, methinks (mehopes).

"I grow old, I grow old
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled"

From T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"

The tightness of my belly

January 12, 2006

These days, I can't seem to get enough Just Right cereal.  Bought a box yesterday - gone today!  I think I'm still compensating for the deficit I must have put myself into during my two high mileage weeks, since I'm still eating like three or four blue whales side-by-side, 12 elephants, and 14 pigs.   Or, maybe I'm deluding myself, and am simply being a pig (one, single pig, that is).  Not to mention that it was raining cats and dogs and pigs and goats today too!  As an aside, I note that "pig" is the common denominator between these groups. 

Running easy can sometimes be very hard.  There is an obvious inherent irony in this statement, but pulling up the rear of the pack can be mildly discouraging, especially if you truly feel like you couldn't really have gone much faster, albeit explaining to everyone "I'm just going easy".   That's how I felt tonight.  Yes, I did go as easy as possible over hill and dale this evening with the group, but I almost felt like even had I tried to go hard, I wouldn't have been able to.  A bad sign, indeed! 

We shall see how things pan out over the next few days.  No running tomorrow, something easy plus a few strides Saturday and race #1 of the Island Series on Sunday.

The tightness of heaviness

Wednesday January 11, 2006

Or should that be the heaviness of tightness?  Well, whatever subtle difference there may be between these combinations matters little, as both are apt descriptions of the state of my legs this evening.  To my credit they were not sore - just heavy-tight/ tight-heavy.  

With two passes round Beacon Hill for a total of about 8km, there was no moon upshining by which to calculate my distance traveled,  save for its sometimes faded face that seemed patiently to wait for a thinning of clouds just sufficient to reveal the truth of its boldness and vitality, shrouded until then.

Alright, enough lame attempts at poeticisms, this evening.   A couple of ciders during a meeting with cycling Team Organic Athlete, who have invited me on board, and there isn't another poetic twinkle in my crossed-eyes...(hic!).  Chances are I won't race sanctioned races with them (without ruling out the possibility altogether), but may do a few Wednesday night training races and the odd Masters race, perhaps.

"I've been a moonshiner, for many a year,
I've spent all me money on whiskey and beer
I'll go to me hollow, and I'll set up me still,
And I'll make ye a gallon for a ten shillin' bill!" 

Now that's poetic!

What praytell...

January 10, 2006

...was that?  Opening my fridge this evening, I realized the bottom pull-out was a mite overdue for cleaning.  Something barely identifiable, but what surely once was broccoli, veritably oozed through a thinned and degraded plastic covering.  Well, I exaggerate - a little.  Pinching my nose, tenderly I picked the nostril-burning perpetrator, pirouetted sinkwise, and pitched it in the round file beneath the sink, then proceeded on my merry way.  

After four sets of 3X300 with 500 between (Patrick and I threw in an extra set, while most of the group did 3 sets), and a light meal of the non-broccoli persuasion, I headed for Oak Bay for the light weights, calisthenics, stretching and massage I missed yesterday.  I was mildly concerned that I might be risking injury, but after a short warmup on the treadmill, I realized my legs felt fairly good, albeit with a mite (my favourite word for the night) bit of tightness in the upper right calf.  I was amazed the place was packed at 8:00 in the evening.  Many people, I suspect, are manifesting their new found resolve to get fit as of January 1. 

Total mileage just over 17km including treadmill warmup.

The Prisoner

January 9, 2006

Yesterday I made an oblique reference to an old television show called the Prisoner. In it a secret service agent, number six in the hierarchy of British Intelligence, is referred to always as simply "Number 6".   Six is imprisoned upon an island so operatives can extract, "by hook or by crook" the secret of why he quit the service.  At the beginning of each show, number 6 could be seen running along the sand, tormented by a voice calling out to him, "Number 6, we want information!"  Sexy Six cries out defiantly to the voice in the sky, "I am not a number!  I am a free man!" 

I remember feeling like saying that very thing to my father once, in jest of course, when he and my mom watched a club cycling race I was in, way back when I first started racing in about 1988.  "Go number 32!" I remember him calling out from the sideline, in his booming English baritone.  I really didn't know what number I was and, in the middle of going cross-eyed while hanging on to my position in the pack, I wasn't about to rip the numbers off my back and check.  Of course I assumed he could only have been referring to me.  Plus, in the midst of gasping for air, as much as I thought I wanted to, I couldn't call out that I was a free man and not a number; not that I would have been so cheeky and bold in any event!

So today was a rest day, with a swim.  I had intended also on calisthenics, stretching and massage, but I forgot my running shoes at home, and decided not to bother after my swim.

Plant sagas revisited

January 8, 2006

While plant number 1 of unknown name thrives, having exposed yet another tri-headed lovely, vine-like plant #2 has all but passed into that vast nether world of plant heaven.  Technically speaking, I would describe it as still "alive", but after clipping it back some months ago when its branches were getting umanageably long, it somehow became dispirited, full of malaise and apparently has since lost the will to continue the fight.  New green leaves do still occasionally emerge, but they seem to surrender before reaching maturity, sadly fading, withering, and shrivelling at last.  I haven't determined quite what to do, having experimented with plenty of water for periods, then leaving it for periods.  

Nevertheless, not to despair! Newest addition to the collection, orchid, is peeping out, preparing to race madly skyward, while Joshua Tree continues also its upward reach, as do Jade tree and #3 and #4 of unknown name.  "We are not numbers!  We are free plants!" They protest... (my god, I may need to get a life, really soon...)

So today was an easy 15km with Cliff at the lakes and an hour of spinning on the bike later.  Legs felt a bit tight on the easy run, but they felt nice and loose on the ride, so we'll see how they fare over the next few days. 

I managed also to complete and submit an abstract to a Philosophy of Sport conference in the UK.  On a previous inquiry the conference Chair expressed interest in my topic, "Sport and Complexity Theory", but it needs to be reviewed by the conference board before I know if it will be accepted, and I won't know until late February.

Six numbers...

January 7, 2006

Firstly, thanks to all those who have mentioned they have read bits of my blog.  There were times when I was certain I was writing only for myself and for my dear mother in Edmonton, which was great, to be sure, though I have since learned others have taken some interest.  So thanks again!  It definitely provides motivation to stick with it!

So training has now resumed more or less in full swing.  Cliff and I hooked up for "floating" intervals, consisting of about a 20 min warmup, 10 mins at half marathon pace, 5 mins at 10k pace, and then back to 10 mins at half-marathon pace and 5 mins at 10k pace.  Cliff explained that Jon Brown advocates floating intervals; that these are all the rage in current training methodology.   The idea is to do intervals moving at slower to faster paces without rests in between - somewhat like fartlek training, but in a more controlled fashion.  Today, because we were both coming back from a rest week, we threw in a 2min rest between the first two efforts, and a 1 min rest between the second and third, while sticking to the "floating" effort concept for the last.

This session followed on 35mins on the treadmill yesterday at a very easy pace and some light weights.  My legs feel mildly tight today after today's session, but generally I feel quite good, and I do think the four days off running will have done me plenty of good.

I've been inspired somewhat by discussions with Jim B yesterday at Pano's farewell gathering (who promises to stay in touch!).  Jim, having degrees in astrophysics and economics and I, being a wannabee in those and other subjects of mutual interest, engaged in stimulating conversation.  Today I briefly re-reviewed a book we discussed called "Just six numbers", by Martin Rees, a well known astro-physicist from England. The underlying idea Rees presents is that our universe is so finely tuned to specific mathematical parameters that a small change in any of these parameters would result in an entirely different universe.  Rees suggests this implies there may be an infinity of universes in which these parameters are all different.   A profoundly mind-boggling concept!

Getting fat

January 4, 2006

All discipline has been thrown out the window, and I've found myself eating - practically uncontrollably - like a whale and starting to feel bloated and water-logged like one too.  I veritably rolled myself down to Moksana's Yoga to meet Roger and Kerri yesterday, and after a few downward dogs and upwards dogs, attempted a few twisty configurations, only to have the instructor remind me that my stiff as 2X4 "legs are a little tight." 

"Extremely," I replied, recalling that in a previous session I explained to one instructor how my legs "don't go that way". 

"Oh yes, they do," said the instructor. "You just have to train them a bit". 

"No," I thought to myself, "you don't understand.  My legs are not like normal people's legs.  My legs REALLY don't go that way." 

At the end of the class I attempted a hand stand against the wall, with some shaky momentary success in a "beginners luck" sort of way, until my confidence was shattered when I tried it again and tumbled over sideways with a thud.  A compassionate woman, seeing my pathetic body plopped sideways in a pile on the floor, offered some assistance until I decided it was completely hopeless. 

"Just keep working at it!" she reminded me at the end of the class. 

"Thanks for the encouragement!" I said, knowing full well that my degree of muscular tightness requires something other than just "work".  Just what that is, I'm not quite sure - perhaps a few sessions with a meat tenderizer first (?)

Actually, I am finding that yoga is quite beneficial and complementary to the training to which I am so accustomed, despite my current ineptitude.  Anything that stresses the body in new ways forces the body to recover differently, allowing for better overall recovery, I find.   This is why it is important always to be shaking up the routine.  As they say, change is sometimes as a good as a rest.

Today I charted more familiar territory by doing a short spin on the exercise bike and some light weights.

Break, break, break...

January 1, 2005

...on the foot of thy cold grey stones, oh sea
and I would that I could utter the thoughts that arise in me

Those lines from the Alfred Lord Tennyson poem come to mind when I realize I am now finished my 160km running week (290km in last two weeks). The thought of taking a break for a few days is strangely rather a letdown.  When one is feeling good and building mileage, each day's training represents an exciting journey of discovery into what the body is capable of tolerating.  And for me it is more difficult to rest than it is to train, as I'm sure is the case for many motivated competitors.  Food consumption is also where I require discipline when I take a break, since my instinct is to continue eating quantities roughly equal to what I eat when I am in the midst of high volume training.  So this is where the real discipline begins.

My double yesterday worked out well.  After 20km in the morning with some tempo efforts, my 5km race in the evening was good: 16:15, fourth place and just a couple seconds back of Nicholas Walker.  Tri-dude Kyle Marcotte from Calgary was second in 16:07 and Craig Odermatt won in 15:50.  I think the next guy behind me was through in about 17:00.  Charlene Waldner won the women's event, and am not certain who followed.  So with a warmup and cooldown, I got 30km in for the day.  I think I was about 25 seconds faster than last year; I remember being more tired on less volume last year.  Frank W and Trev W from Calgary were through in about 17:40.

Today I ran a bit over 20km at the lakes, bumping into Rui B and running with him for a few kms.  He's got 160km as well for the week.  

I will likely do some form of light active rest for the next four days, but there will be no running, nor cycling.  I may swim a bit and do some yoga, calisthenics and/or light weights on my days of rest.