Consummatum est
Sunday, April 30, 2006(It is finished)
Yes, I like to be dramatic, but after today's T-C (sometimes known as the Tiny-Communist) 10k race in 34.11, I was certainly thinking about whether I should bother going to the National duathlon champs. After yet another bust of a run, the possibility of a respectable race at nats, where I need to be running at least 33mins flat to be even remotely competitive, seems to diminish exponentially every time I race these days. I do not feel like I will be a legitimate contender this year. It's possible I could scrape some sort of half decent race at Provincials in two weeks, but the course is 5km-32km-5km and no drafting, whereas nationals is the standard draft legal championship distance of 10k-40-5.
Obviously, I've signed up, have purchased my plane ticket and will still compete, but the confidence level is vanishingly small. Oh well, the proverbial shoe constrains, and there is little I can do. But can I learn to take what comes and still enjoy the experience? Sometimes I think I have learned to do that, and then I get swept into an encouraging upswell that leads me to believe I can achieve higher goals -- all of which this year so far have been dashed against the rocks of disappointment.
So, today with new possibilities teeming amid the veins in my brain, I began to wonder what other goals I can set besides Nationals, which has been the focus of all my training this year. Life does not end with nationals. Should I focus on the bike for a while? Perhaps aim for some of the Superweek cycling races on the Mainland in July? Turn my mind toward Brazil in August? Of course there is no point in doing those races either unless very I'm fit on the bike.
I have signed up for the 1/2 Ironman relay - Sarah Macdonald will do the swim leg again, while I will do the bike and run - perhaps that will be my last run for the summer (?). Probably not, but at some point it seems like I should just shut down the running for an extended period and pick it up from scratch again and build for a while. But after nationals it might be more fun just to bike race for a while even if I don't garner any great results. Oh well, some things to consider...
________
"The person who expects nothing is never disappointed"
- impossible truism
30 04 06 23:31 | Hugh | 
| 
Flying the coop
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Is it truly Thursday already? This week has flown the coop, and my "crunch" week is fast approaching -- week in May where I go to Provincials in Penticton, return to fly out to London/Wales for Philosophy of Sport conference, return to Hamilton for Nationals, and finally home. My presentation is not proceeding quickly, largely because I want to complete a full paper first before I do the Power Point presentation with all the fancy pictures. Still, I generally pull through when the crunch comes, so I won't worry until I absolutely have to worry (which is soon)!
Today I ran for an hour, mostly easy, along my usual route once around Beacon Hill before heading up the waterfront, though this time I retraced my steps rather than continuing around. I did three short tempo efforts one at 5min, one a 4mins, and one at 3mins, with about 15mins of easy running in between.
Speaking of flying, and in keeping with my pseudo bird theme this week, I was witness to another crow/gull fight this morning. Actually, it was a bit more like a crow's deliberate attempt to harass and torture a gull: a pretty one-sided fight. Last time I was on the Crow's side - this time the Crow was dive-bombing an exhausted looking gull! Literally - the gull stood on some dirt in an open lot while Crow flew up 30ft, then dove straight down right at the gull, just missing pecking its eyes out. Then it went right back up to 30ft and swooped back down again, and kept repeating this for as long as I could see before I rounded a corner. There was no doubt that this Crow had a malicious streak in it, and was purposely harassing the gull.
By the way, I have it on good advice from my friend Sandy that these gulls are not "seagulls" - they are glaucous-winged gulls, or bonaparte's gulls - "seagull" is a popularization and apparently a misnomer.
______________
"I grow old, I grow old
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled"
Love that line from The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock, by TS Eliot. My alter ego, Pecksniff, is a great fan of the rolled trouser bottoms...he is also a flighty bird.
Through a balcony glass brightly
Wednesday, April 26, 2006I think this "balcony glass" thing is becoming a metaphor for life. Well, not really, but it sounds kind of good!
Work has been mildly heinous lately with new legislation on the blocks that needs to be pushed through by the first week in May - next week! It has been an interesting and rewarding experience for me to be so closely involved in developing it, and I've been extremely lucky to be at MCFD during a time when such a high profile matter is moving ahead.
Today I zipped to the gym for a gentle half hour on the treadmill, some light weights and stretching in the sauna. The idea was to ensure that I kept a steady, low heartrate and an overall very easy effort. The easy effort didn't stop me from doing hard time with the dinner plate, however, having felt rather hungry.
I had almost forgotten that I'd signed up for an audition for a part in the chorus for the Gilbert & Sullivan production, Iolanthe, in the fall. Yesterday I'd received a reminder for my slot today and I nearly thought not to bother, but I decided in the end I might as well wing it - if I sounded like hell, oh well, there are worse lots in life.
So with no sheet music for the accompanist I sang Greensleeves and a couple of verses from The Spanish Lady. I was surprised and delighted to hear them praise my "natural tenor", saying I really should not neglect to develop it - two years ago, they said, there was a man who auditioned with a voice like mine, and he has since gone on to sing nationally! Fortunately I managed to sing Greensleeves in tune, and they noted that.
They did qualify their praise by saying I need training (but I already knew that - Marilyn told me so! I think in particular my breathing was bad, partly because I was nervous, but it's bad anyway, I know that), but they said they were not just flattering me! Of course it all doesn't amount to much if one doesn't commit to hard work, but nice to hear in any event.
The winy dusk
Tuesday, April 25, 2006I think the last time I was at the Uvic track, it was dark, wet and cold and the stadium lights were out and I ran with Patrick D for some odd combination or other of intervals. To be honest, I don't remember with any real clarity who was there the last time I was there, perhaps in January, but it was almost certainly dark, wet and cold.
So, it was nice to get up there and do a pre-TC race workout with the group - in the broad daylight no less - for a change. Ron B's workout consisted of a 5 lap warmup of gradually increasing intensity, 6-8 300m quick efforts with 100m jogs, followed by a 20min cooldown with a few minutes of quickish running, punctured briefly by a stop for the group to observe two snowy owls as their massive round oculars stared down from a Douglas fir, perhaps 40 ft up and were hooting at Hicham and Rob H, who were ahead of the rest of us.
A ride out, and about another half hour of spinning on the bike wound up the day.
Nice to see how the group has evolved since I was last out. This is largely due, I imagine, to Ron's coaching presence, which is attracting others out like Eric Kiauka, Jasper Blake, Adam Campbell, (observing today after a great 32.04 Sun Run), Gord Christie, Cliffy, Nancy Baxendale, and others. Tony Y and Don E were both out after racing the Sooke Triathlon on Sunday.
Night comes, and through my balcony glass I can see the sun collapsing along the horizon, stretching out a purple line as the street and apartment lights become bolder against the dusk. Might be time for another glass of wine...(ha!).
____________
On Ideas tonight - "Pleasures of the Flesh" - how the French got their "je ne c'est quoix" ('however that last word is spelled) Interesting...
Small memorable occurrences
Monday, April 24, 2006Today's somewhat memorable occurrence: a crow chasing away gulls from near a tree -- ok perhaps a bit lacking in any real excitement, but small minds are easily titillated by small things, so it is sometimes said!. Hot on the tailfeathers of gull number one, Crow appeared nearly to be within tail-with-beak piercing range until Gull flapped just quickly enough, escaping beyond the apparent territory of Crow. Momentarily, gull two appeared, and Crow repeated the exercise. If I had seen gull three appear, I could have believed the gulls were teaming up to exhaust Crow.
To catch up on the weekend: Saturday - did Ron B's workout at the lakes consisting of, for me, of 1 X 8 mins, then 2 X 6mins with Ian H, Rob H and Craig O nearby; followed by 5 x 3 mins - each 3 minute interval was of increasing intensity in one minute increments, but with no break between each 3 minute interval. Total distance including warmups and cooldowns - something around 20k or a bit more. I felt good overall, and was somewhat encouraged by the workout. I did a 1.5 hour ride afterward and a comfortable but quick pace, with no intensity, except briefly up the odd hill.
Bro' Harold was in town for a squash tournament and stayed with me on Friday. Patrick Nesbitt, an up-and-coming triathlete and sensitive new-age man who is also developing an interesting portfolio of abstract art, travelled down from Powell River to compete in the Sooke Triathlon on Sunday - he stayed with me Saturday night.
Sunday - an early morning beginning at 5:00am to drive Patrick out to Sooke for 7:00. Under an early rising sun in Sooke and dewy but warm April morning, I saw Don E and Jen for the race as well. Dropping Patrick off, I drove out to French Beach for my own run. Parking there, I ran a quiet highway alongside the gently lapping morning ocean waters out to Jordan River, proceeding another couple of km beyond the outskirts of the village up the steep twisting hill just before China Beach, and then back, for about 25km at a fairly gentle pace - at just short of 2hours. A fantastic run in the solitude of the barely travelled road and early morning, accompanied by the inexorable rhthyms of the ocean and myriad forest-shrouded birds.
I then returned to watch the triathlon and, as many of the earlier starting competitors were finishing, the elites were just exiting the pool onto the bike course, led by Simon Whitfield, Kyle Jones, Colin Jenkins and others. Patrick was a couple of minutes back on the swim. Seeing Bob C there with his three progeny awaiting the arrival of Heather, he and I discussed the nature of his fortunate ratio of fastwitch to slow twitch fibers, making him a talented sprinter, pursuiter as well as a capable endurance competitor.
Great to see some of the race, as Whitfield took the final 5km in 14.57 with Kyle J coming in a 15.35 (thereabouts) final 5km. Definitely some impressive performances. Patrick was a few minutes back overall, but appeared strong on the final stretch to the finish.
Leaving soon thereafter and, after a Mt Doug hike with Elisabeth, my legs felt great. Today, after a 40min easy ride up the waterfront, they still feel good. Should I take this week fairly moderately, I may be in for a reasonable Times-Colonist 10k.
Whither the markets?
Thursday, April 20, 2006Not necessarily intending to punish my beaten body, I set out for a tempo-ish run of 1:20 (likely just over 20km), making a pass around Beacon Hill and out the waterfront along my usual route past Willows Beach and then back to the Oak Bay turn-off and back home. Actually, it felt quite good, starting gently and gradually accelerating as I went. By the the last three km I was hitting half-marathon race pace, and felt good doing it. The run went by quickly and it just generally felt good, although I am now feeling a few aches and pains. It was encouraging, though, to know that I can still do a hard bike race one day (and not ride particularly well) and still get a reasonably good quality run workout the next. It all points to a very solid fitness foundation, though I admit to struggling a bit at this point as to how I should train over these last few weeks leading to the Provincial and National du champs, one week apart. I keep thinking a breakthrough has to happen...yes - let's stay positive until there's a really good reason not to be!
Nice to have bumped into Shannon at Lifestyles later.
The price of gas is really becoming prohibitive, I add for the sake of posterity. At 1.15/litre it costs $50 to fill up the gas tank now. If there truly is a supply issue here, then the higher prices will almost certainly lead to reduced consumption. People will car-pool more and generally drive and travel less. The effect on the stock market appears to be a move away from oil stocks toward alternative energy stocks. Ballard jumped to $12/sh after sitting at about 8-9 for many months (I've been watching it). This movement away from oil stocks is ironic because despite a possible overall supply problem, the producing companies are still becoming more valuable as prices rise - so why the sudden market move toward alternative energies now? Of course it's been well established that the markets aren't rational anyway..
Interesting, though, that N. American gas prices are still significantly cheaper than they are in Europe (last time I checked anyway).
Tough lessons
Wednesday, April 19, 2006I obviously didn't learn my lesson from the last time I raced the hilly criterium. The last time I took a flyer for three laps and ended up crawling to the finish, albeit at least with the main group.
Today, the group was bigger - about 35 guys strong and I was worried about being stuck near the back on a tight course, so I gambled and took a flyer on the second lap. Catching Roger and Tony Z who had taken a short flyer right off the start, I was joined soon after my attack by Bruce S, and then a couple of others soon after. Bruce and I held a two-up for about two laps, and then we had a four-up for two more. My real mistake was continuing to pull when the pack caught us back up - it looked like it was going to split again, so I kept driving the pace down the turn and onto the descent - big mistake.
On the 6th time up the climb Andrew Kyle and a couple of guys I don't know laid down the hammer up the climb in a mean, mean way and, after my pull, I was cross-eyed and crying out for mommy and gasping for air in the death zone. The pack of 35 had already split and was down to 15 or so. I hung on for one more lap and then was spat out the back like yesterday's news. The rest is a blur but somewhere in there I caught Vaughn and he and I two-upped until the last three laps when he dropped off.
In the end the front four lapped me with a lap to go, and a group of 10 or so almost lapped me. Bruce S headed up the main group holding on for 5th place. Despite being lapped by the leaders, I finished in about the same place as last time - about 16th. Given the carnage in the race generally, it wasn't a disastrous effort; I was satisfied I'd found a decent rhythm on my own. However, overall it quite likely would have been a better finish had I not blown my *uts at the beginning of the race. Still, Bruce eked a good finish and he was in there with me at the beginning too.
Regardless, it was a great training day, though I must admit to not feeling as though a whole lot of progress has been made, and I may be quite flat. It's difficult to really know, especially when today's result was largely a function of really poor race tactics. And then again, maybe **ahem** cough*cough* I'm starting to show signs of age...
Nice to see Bruce finish right up there though. I'm not sure how our club riders faired - I may have been the top one, I'm not sure. Simon Whitfield was out with Jenny watching - he finished in the group of 10 somewhere just behind Bruce. Qayam made his first appearance in the B race, on a brutally hard course. There were a whole lot of people that bailed (most of those that bailed were A riders I think) while he stuck it out - nice to see. As usual, I didn't find out what happened in the B race, nor do I have a good idea of the overall results in the A race.
Speaking of cats...
Tuesday, April 18, 2006My favourite feline friend came bounding out to greet me again this morning on the way to work. Whether it was my rasping rendition of John Dowland's 17th century song "Say Love, if ever thou dids't find a woman with a constant mind" that attracted it as I sauntered down the street, or some other fancy it has for me, I haven't a clue. But whatever the case my friendly feline came running so fast to me from some leeward grass that I nearly tripped all over her as she intersected my path and rolled over at my feet. Indeed, I have now determined by observation that Cat has a special thing for me in particular since, after my usual routine of pats and strokes, I turned to see how it reacted to other strangers that passed: zip, nada - just sat there like a lump as two more pedestrians walked by!
Enough of the catcentrics. And yes, it's time to get a life.
After not getting home from work until 6:30, I managed to get down for some light upper body weights and some sauna stretching. Plan is still to do the Mt Newton hilly crit tomorrow.
Little cat feet
Monday, April 17, 2006So this Easter long weekend winds down its last hours and, like Carl Sandburg's San Francisco fog, it seems to roll out on little cat feet. A bee batters my balcony glass; after two vain attempts to burst through, it turns away and disappears, sillouetted by a blue sky pitted by a scattering of pale grey clouds. It seems like spring, but the coolness and wetness of these last few days does not lead me to believe that summer approaches any too quickly.
Training Sunday and today:
Sunday - run at 8:00am with Cliff easy for 1hr 15mins while he regaled me with many a tale masterfully told; ate a second breakfast, then hopped the bike for two hours at a moderate but generally quickish pace out the waterfront, leading ultimately to the far end of the lakes, across the highway to return along sideroads on the west side of the lakes. My legs felt very fluid on the ride, but tight on the run after the hard workout on Saturday.
Today - ran down to the Oak Bay track for 20 X 100m with 100m jogs; all done at about 800m pace (18 seconds). Total distance - about 11km. The idea was to do some faster running after a long, slow day yesterday, but without taxing my aerobic system much after a hard workout on Saturday. After the run I was on the bike for an hour or so along the waterfront for 10 x 25-30second jumps (fast accelerations and holding just past the point of acid accumulation). Depending on slope/wind direction, the jumps were done either starting in my 53X15gear and switching up to 53X14 after achieving about 90rpm cadence, or just holding 53X15. Again the idea was to stimulate the fast twitch fibres after a slow day yesterday without taxing the aerobic system too much. The plan is to do no training tomorrow, and to race the Mt Newton ("hilly crit") Wednesday nighter. I may do some running mile repeats afterward, but I'll see how cooked I am (I'm guessing I'll be pretty cooked).
Follow the hyper-tangent
Saturday, April 15, 2006After no training Mon-Wed, an easy 40min run Thursday, a generally easy ride with Bruce Friday but with 10 X 2 mins efforts stuck on Bruce's wheel - making a hard workout for him, but a comfortable one for me - today was the first really hard workout since last Sunday's race in Merville -- which is, by the way, still a heck of a long way from Hughtown but perhaps slightly closer than previously believed, especially if one follows a hyper-tangent from the middle of nowhere directly to Merville.
Ron B's 9:00 group at the lakes this morning was top heavy with world class talent (literally), including Jon Brown, Steve Osaduik, Simon Whitfield, Eric Kiauka, Dave Jackson, Adam Campbell, Steve Bachop, Ian Hallam; a couple of other fast triathletes I don't know. Ased, myself and Cliff comprised the "B" list today. Ased is coming back from injuries, and Cliff is coming off a virus that's laid him out for nearly three weeks. Among the women were Marilyn, Judith, Jenny, Lisa and one or two others I don't know - also a collection of serious talent.
Workout was (for me) 2 X 10mins, and 3 X 3mins, while others did 2 X10 and 5X3 mins.
On the first 10 min interval, I set out with Ased and the fast women, with Marilyn and Judith forcing the pace. Up the road the rest of the men accelerated away, with Cliff dropping off the pace but staying just in front of our group. I felt comfortable and could tell the three days off had done me some good, but wanted to restrain myself on the first interval, at least. On the second, and retracing our path for the first interval on a return trip, I joined Cliff and pulled ahead of our group, maintaining a strong pace by my standards, while Jon Brown, Simon Whitfield and Steve O went roaring by. On the 3X3 I held pace with Steve B, Ian, Adam and a triathlete guy. Ian and I jogged back while the rest went on for 2 more. Rough estimate as to distance: about 16km.
After some lunch, I hopped the bike for about an hour of easy spinning, but was forced to plough into buffetting headwinds on the way up the waterfront before meeting up with what remained of the Burnside group as they were finishing up their ride.
News from Patrick Nesbitt is that he and Graham Cocksedge ran a 5km race last Saturday before doing the Cat 4/5 Harris-Roubaix race in Pitt Meadows on Sunday. Patrick finished 3rd on a rough, narrow, gravelly, pot-holey and nasty course (but mostly flat) designed to simulate the legendary Paris-Roubaix race held the same day in France. Patrick grabbed third while Graham hobbled in after twice biting dust. Welcome to the world of bike racing, Graham! When I first started racing, I was one of the best dust-biters in the business with a mangled clavicle, elbow and hip scars to prove it. Graham ran 15:35 the day before, while Patrick ran 17.02.
...break...
Wednesday, April 12, 2006"Where's my breakaway partner?" asked Jon W, as I walked up the nasty little climb to the finish where a crowd of cyclists congregated. They had all just finished the Wednesday night circuit race around and near Latoria road in Metchosin with me following behind in my car, pedal to the metal practically the entire race. My foot and shin muscles were tired from all the accelerations.
Jon was referring, of course, to one Caleb Pike race many years ago when he and I broke away together about half-way through. He took the win and I was second that day. *Sigh*, the "glory" days.
I've rarely watched races from the seat of a car, but just watching leaves me with so much respect for everyone who comes to participate, whether they are in the A or B race, first or last. I saw a whole lot of hard work, some real suffering and gritting of teeth, and some smart tactical racing.
The B group was enormous by mid-week standards - it looked like over 30 riders, and over 20 in the A group. In the first three or four laps of a loop about 3km long, the B group appeared to be closing in on the A group. Being in a car stuck between the two groups I was worried about being a hazard on the road (it took a lot of "work" to get by the B group in the first place to get to my comfy spectator spot behind the A's, and feared losing it!). I was wondering where all the strong B riders were coming from. It soon became clear that the A's as a group were significantly stronger on the 400m climb, and soon they gradually pulled away.
I saw speeds frequently approach 50km on the flats, and they were driving it over the climb over 30km/hr, and it was high adrenaline for me to watch everytime they bolted down the hill and swept around the tight right hand corner at the bottom. Every lap there was a continuous shedding of riders. And I say that with the utmost respect to all of them, as it was a brutal race for everyone; that much was plain to see.
I saw Bruce S attacking continuously on the climb, though from the point of view of a spectator, it was also plain to see how others in the bunch were saving energy while Bruce expended his. He still finished high in the standings, being very strong on the final climb, but the eventual winners did only a fraction of the work he did during the first half of the race (at least from what I could see - though I'm sure there were others who did a lot of work too). Great racing, though - always good to see someone willing to put it all on the line.
I saw Qayam out marshalling the course, and he looked cold standing there. But he had a nice vantage point about halfway down the hill. I saw Don E and Hicham taking a view of the race; numerous triathletes in the B race; a truck that followed behind me wiping out cones as he went, evidently unhappy! I saw Roger retire about half-way through - though he said he felt good, but couldn't hang on at one point after some serious attacks were shattering the pack on the climb - he wasn't the only one. I saw Bob C keep a hold on a position about 5-6 riders from the front nearly the whole race long, though he appeared to nearly miss a breakaway that went in the last three laps, but was brought back again with two remaining. I saw two guys get away, one a time, soloing home at the end. I am unsure at this point who they were and how the final placings went.
I saw the beautiful sight of two pelotons near the beginning of the race: one ahead of me and one in my rear view mirror (the A and the B pelotons). For this spectator, there are few things in the world more beautiful than that.
...Break...
Tuesday, April 11, 2006Sticks and stones may break my bones, but a kick in the butt is almost as bad.
Plenty going down at work these days after the damning Hughes report about MCFD failings. After returning from work, I napped for about an hour while watching the cycling race 3 Days of de Panne on cycling.tv, a great source of cycling internet television.
I then dragged my sore(y) butt down to the gym for some light weights and 15mins of gentle spinning on the exercise bike and some stretching/massage in the sauna. Definitely still some residual soreness where my glute was cramping. I've no doubt it was a combination of factors, including the long drive up to Merville after no training at all the day before and a gradual accumulation of fatigue and muscle soreness leading up to then.
Yes, life is hard in Hughtown (someplace centrally located, smack-dab in the middle of nowhere - and one heck of a long way from Merville...)
And it really bites not training, but I keep reminding myself that rest is part of training. You don't get stronger until your body recovers from the training stress, and resting at the right time is equal to time spent training. The problem is timing the rests properly, which shouldn't be a mystery, but if you've pushed yourself into a well of overtraining, then the amount of time off needs to be longer than time required if you've kept a proper balance of training and rest that leads to a peak. Sometimes it just isn't clear where you're at. Oh well, live and learn, then go forth and multiply.
Break....
Monday, April 10, 2006...or rather that should be "Broke my Back up the Mountain", to borrow from Bob's interesting twist on a movie of a similar name, expressed while riding up a climb a several weeks ago.
I've been feeling rather tired today, and did no training. I can always tell my degree of general fatigue and whether I'm on the verge of catching something by the extent of the puffiness beneath my eyes (ie. bags). Definitely looking like hell and death warmed over simultaneously.
Don E clarified that he was actually happy with his race in Merville yesterday, so I apologize for my inacurrate impression.
I have a drive for sleep. But why is sleep necessary? Well that's the very question being explored on Ideas on CBC as I type. Rather interesting. They're talking about dreams. I want some.
It smarts
Sunday, April 9, 2006In this case "it" refers to my right gluteal, which feels like it's been kicked; the end result being that today's race in Merville was like a kick in the ass in more ways than one.
For some reason about 5 minutes before the race started, my glute started cramping on me. My legs felt tight in my warmup, but I thought they were loosening up; until just before the start. As much I massaged and stretched it, the cramp was getting to the point where I was worried I might not be able to start the race.
Still, I thought, if I just go, it'll stretch out. It did, but generally my legs had that uncomfortable sensation that they'd lost muscle tone and just were not responding to the commands I was giving them (bloody rebels!). I think my aerobic engine was ready for a fast(ish) run, but the muscles would hear none of it, and wreaked havoc on my body and my psyche.
After about 3km of running with Mark Cryderman I came apart as Royd passed me, then Silas and Dave Reed, as my body wound down like the dying moments of a spring on a wind-up clock; I was forced to slow to a jog. My legs felt rather like someone had topped them up with battery acid; all my muscles were twitching and on the verge of cramping and my right glute was particularly sore. Within moments Dave Matte, then Hicham passed me, then Mike Stone - all disappearing down the road.
A short bit later Steve Royer passed me. Steve has in the past been a 32min 10k runner and he and I have had some great battles, but he is not fit this year. So when he passed me I decided I needed to gut out some sort of reasonably self-respecting finish. I actually managed to do the last 6km with some semblance of strength, passing Steve and catching back up to Mike.
Overall 53:46 isn't a complete disaster, but it's nearly 3minutes slower than my time last year, and is a pretty good indication that my body is telling me it's time to ease up on the run/bike double workouts, especially at the sort of intensity I've been doing them at. I've gone three weeks with several workouts that are much harder than anything I've done before, and it's time to take a few days off and let the body absorb the training. If nothing else, with today's race there was no disguising or denying the message my body is giving me - take a break or expect to get injured, sick, or be flat as a pancake for a long time.
Overall assessment: training has been fantastic this year, but it hasn't translated into any great results yet. I remember Bob Cameron once describing a crappy cycling season he was having - his experience was that there is often a seasonal-cycle to our ability to peak: a good season can be followed by a bad one where, try as you might, the entire season becomes a bit of a write-off. It's too early to be able to tell yet, since my primary races are still to come and all my training so far has been geared toward those races, but there are some pretty iffy early signs.
Oh well, I live in a shoe, and sometimes there just isn't a lot to be done inside of it.
Aside from that I think Hicham, Wayne and Roy from the IRR group were all happy with their runs, though I seem to think Don E wasn't all that happy with his. That was another PB for Royd Burkhardt in third, who is having a great season - a really nice humble sort of guy.
The hamburger today...
Saturday, April 8, 2006Seems strange to have done the closest to zero training I've done in months. Ordinarily on days off I am at least walking to and from work and doing some sort of light gym workout. However, after my legs were feeling a bit sore from a light weight workout yesterday, I decided to rest them entirely today (yes, I will kindly pay myself tomorrow for a hamburger today...something like that, anyway).
And after deciding at one point to do a 15km race in Blaine, WA, I've changed my mind and will do the 15km in Merville afterall. Hopefully the residual soreness in my legs will be sufficiently minimized tomorrow for a half-decent race. The idea will be to do a hard time trial effort on the bike afterward, and may drive to Mt Washington for a boot up there. Not much chance I will make it back to Cowichan for the Masters race at 1:00 as Bruce suggested.
Despite no training, I was still up at 5:30am revising a paper I've resumed working on with Gottfried Mayer-Kress, adjunct professor of kinesiology from Penn State University and established physicist. After a previous iteration met some resistance in our efforts to publish it, we are taking a different approach. We've altered the approach to omit reference to cyclists as biological oscillators -- still legit, but for another rework on that aspect later -- and are describing pelotons in terms of phase state transitions. This is taking away from my preparation for my presentation, which will take up much of my long weekend nest week.
After working from 5:30 straight to 1:00 almost without a break, I then wolfed back some lunch and went "back" to bed and woke up at 3:00! How's that for a screwed up schedule!? Feeling like a slug thereafter, I puttered around with a few errands and finally ventured out of the confines of my inner sanctum. Not exercising makes one feel like crap, and I feel like I'm sick or something, even though I'm not! But one can definitely be a lot more efficient in thinking-type work with the extra time and not being tired from training.
Vaughn mentioned he had tried my "hypoxic" training while riding the rollers yesterday, with nearly disastrous results! Rollers require a lot of balance and concentration, and are not a good place to be one step shy of losing consciousness....
The mathematical sky
Thursday, April 6, 2006After a hard workout yesterday, today was light on intensity - could perhaps have been a bit longer, but it will suffice: about 10k of running followed by an hour of easy riding. My legs felt a bit heavy on the run, but felt oddly limber on the bike, and I had to restrain the temptation to push hard on the bike. While running through Beacon Hill, Bob C rolled up in some sort of fancy-pants black car, evidently taking a break from riding after taking the win yesterday at Caleb Pike, apparently vomiting at the finish. Personal injury law is obviously treating him rather well!
Something longer than an hour on the bike would have been preferable, but I was eager to get to a public lecture at UVic about the Big Bang theory by prof Sandra Faber of the University of California, voted as being one of top 30 female scientists of the decade, if I recall the introduction correctly. So many interesting things. One that stands out for me is how gravity still appears to not have been adequately reconciled with the other three main forces of the universe, the weak, strong, and electromagnetic forces. The roots of those three can be traced to the earliest moments of the universe, but a unifying theory that includes gravity must be traced to something deeper (string theory, I seem to recall reading, does reconcile gravity).
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...then let us ponder the exponential space
Between the galaxies that drift in silence
Ever farther from one another;
Let us consider every fading star
Whose energies cool to embers, winking out
At last to equilibrium
When all the universe will rest
Unmoving, timeless and dormant.
And in our contemplations,
When we cease our trance
And begin our march again
Will we let our house decay
And deny the fervent purpose
To preserve order and ourselves?
Shall we not stop forever
In one final ecstatic pose
Against the mathematical sky,
Unified and happy with our fate?
-HT
Nix nay on the race day
Wednesday, April 5, 2006I chose not to do the circuit race at Caleb Pike today, as I thought I may have been a tiny bit feverish at work today for about half an hour, and thought I would err on the side of caution and avoid a race situation. When I arrived home from work, I still felt somewhat tired, but not feverish. My heartrate was ok at the end of the work day (50 bpm) so I figured I could do a workout, just not a race.
So, I ran to the Oak Bay track for the following workout: 1 X 2mile; 2 X 800, 2 X 400, with 1200m jog between the first, 400 rest on the second, 800 rest on the third, 400 rest on the fourth. I was happy with the times: 10.31, 2.24, 2.21, 1.10, 1.07. Total distance including run there and back and a few other laps on the track, about 10 miles.
Feeling good at that point and, after arriving home, I downed a glass of "Muscle Stack", hopped the bike, and rode out the waterfront, wending my way to Mt. Tolmie, on which I did four repeats. For three of them I was out of the saddle aside from two short sections where the road flattens slightly, and for one of them I stayed seated all the way up - which was very hard, as I engaged as best I could my already tired hamstrings. Held what felt to be a good cadence in my 39X21 for the out-of-saddle repeats, and 39X23 for the seated repeat. I was tempted to do a couple more but, holding in mind the old truism that you should always leave a workout feeling like you could have done a little more, I decided that was plenty for the day. Total time about 1:15 on bike.
In the end I could have done the race and would have been ok, but I think my overall workout was at least as good.
The vertiginous moment
April 4, 2006Yes, regulatory reform is great fun. Few, I've no doubt, besides those in attendance, would find a work conference devoted to this very subject of particular interest. I nearly fell asleep only once, during the one single presentation of greatest relevance to what I'm doing at work. But aside from that it was interesting to me, and the digs were great - the Harbour Front Hotel.
I did find my way into the warm and sunny spring evening for 20km of easy running. I practiced my breathing exercises; making a snorting sound once. This occurred when I held on extra long before breathing in so I could pass a walker before breathing in, hoping to avoid gasping for air in that vertiginous moment while passing - only to pass and immediately after to engage my pig-snort followed by wheezing and gasping.
Then there was another moment when I was gasping, my peripheral vision all whited-out - there were three people approaching, I could see, though I didn't recognize them. While passing I heard a voice cry out, "pick it up Hugh!". As the whites in my periphery began to clear, I could see that it was Cliff with two others. In the midst of my discomfiture I could muster little more than "oh...Hi cliff" before carrying on.
Intervals would not have been good for me today. Depending how I feel, I'll do a mid-week cycling race (Victoria Cycling League club races have moved to Wednesdays now), and possibly intervals afterward. I may be trashed though, we'll see.
Looking forward to another "deep-cell" sleep...
Stars not defied
Monday, April 3, 2006Last night I had the most amazingly deep sleep. My body seemed to plummet through a hole in my bed, accelerating into an abyss so dark; so full of dreams that leapt and danced over every tired cell in my body, making a stage of every one and a billion dreams at once. I am sure that I moaned through the night in a combination of fatigue and sleepy ecstasy. I could have slept for hours more.
Then with six trips to and from work -- one set definitely unintended as a result of leaving my keys on my desk -- I decided there was no need for any sort of easy workout in the gym. Granted, that was also not completely by choice, since when I got home I actually intended to get to the gym, but rummaged around for a pair of shorts and realized I'd left both the ones I wanted to wear in my backpack -- which I left with Jeff who kindly took it back for me from the 17mile pub while I rode back on my bike. I still haven't retrieved it.
Yes I could have worn some other old ripped and tattered shorts, or ones that are more casual wear, but I decided that was enough reason not to bother going to the gym. Unlike Romeo, who declared "Then I defy you, stars!", I decided this time it just wasn't worth fighting a day full of planets and stars not aligned in my favour.
But! I did become a conspicuous consumer, purchasing a box of Emergen C; iron, and a concoction called "Muscle stack" replete with creatine, potassium phosphate, sodium phosphate, and a host of other goodies, all bound to be good for me! I've read a few studies about sodium phosphate, and even tried it for a while on its own a few years ago. From my own experience, I do think it may have some benefits, if taken properly. Then again, I had a great season last year and didn't take a single granule of the stuff. So, am I wasting my money? I've never tried creatine though...
The day's last sugar kick
Sunday April 2, 2006A couple of pickles later, a little corresponding sugar kick and I'm revived from a state of near immobility, mesmerized by the stunning scenery, camerawork and the beautiful, simple story of the movie "Off the Map". Oddly, I seemed to long for a movie with just that sort scenery and simplicity, and it was exactly what the doctor ordered.
Before riding out to assist with the IRR club race in Sooke, in an effort to get some sort of run to loosen my legs from the hard day yesterday, I ran easily for 6km, which was all I had time for before grabbing the bike. Then, with a steady tail wind all the way, I was in Sooke in about an hour.
After assisting to hand out participants' race numbers, I was the bike lead out guy. Always nice to watch a race unfold from the front, and this slightly winding, hilly out and back course is conducive to good views of the positions of many runners, in addition to those at the front, at different points along the way. Great to see Dave Jackson and Jim Finlayson battle it out, trading positions until Jim really laid the hammer down on the longish uphill at about 7km. Dave did well to keep Jim close (about 20s), but it was plain to see how Jim remained smooth and strong, while Dave's form broke down just a bit and it was apparent he was digging deep to stay close. Nick Walker was about a minute behind for third.
Great to be a spectator on a bike, while serving some sort of apparently useful function at the same time. Actually, it is quite helpful to have a bike force some of the oncoming traffic aside and ensure a clear side for the runners to come through. A bit confusing for the local traffic with the police car on one side, and me on the other - but it all worked out well.
Shortly after the front runners had come through, I managed to get my own 10k run in on the course, keeping a reasonable tempo. I could have left my entire run for that time (rather than also running earlier), but I was worried my legs would be feeling really trashed after riding out there and yesterday's effort, so I made sure to do at least some running before riding out. But as it turned out, my legs were fine for a run after riding there.
In any event, after we'd cleaned-up for the day, Chris P gave me a lift to the 17mile for a bite with the group, after which I rode the rest of the way back to town. I realized after bumping into Bruce S and riding a bit with him, that I was starting to feel rather toasted for the weekend.
The sugar kick is fading really fast...
April isn't the cruelest of months...
Saturday, April 1, 2006...I'm certain of that now. T.S. Eliot was simply wrong; there are other crueller months than April. I mean, surely November through January have to take the cake for cruelty. Although today seemed a bit like January, so, so far April is a cruel month.
Starting at 8:00 this morning, I managed about 4:15 of riding with Bruce S and Damien up Munns, where I demonstrated my breathing exercises to them both (though they didn't seem too keen on trying them!), then up Finlayson Arm, down to Goldstream, up the Malahat to the Shawnigan lk road, then up a new road I've never been on off to the left of the road to Shawnigan, up for another 3-4km of climbing, back down for a loop around the lake and back home.
After taking some registrations for the IRR club race at Frontrunners, I forced my butt for some intervals on the Oak Bay track where I bumped into Simon de Jongh and Jeannette (I forget last name) doing intervals as well. I jumped in for one of Simon's tempo 1000's, and did three more on my own - times were 3.11, 3.09, 3.05, 3.04 with 400's between. I did one 400 in 1.10 and was going for another until my both quads locked up in severe cramps. At that point I realized I had done enough training for the day (it was also cold). Total distance about 14km.
I was happy with my run times and my overall workout. I also felt especially strong on the climbs during this morning's ride. In previous years I've not done double workouts of the sort of quality I'm managing this year, and I am charting some new territory. We'll see if it gives me anything other than a hard time.
I've realized it's important to do higher intensity running workouts after a ride, since a slow slog after a ride would really hurt your legs. I mentioned this to Brent B the other day, who said that's exactly what Pam Enns, triathlon coach, also advocates.
