nice to race again

did the Greasy-Gooney, a 10K out in Shenandoah, this morning with Chelsea and her friend Amy from NY (who's pretty cool). took it nice and easy, ~59:10 time, which works out to 9:30 or 9:45 miles. veeery comfy, but still fun. the leaves were beautiful out in Shenandoah and the sun actually came out for most of the time. arrived a little later than expected and our "warm-up" was runing to the start line.

Amy was pretty fast, but wanted to take it easy as she's banditing the Marine Corps marathon tomorrow as training for the Philly Marathon in four weeks or so. probably her last long run.

and, because I was the only one in my age group, I got a little trophy. even if it feels a little ridiculous, I figure it's a sort of compensation for the races where I run really well but get crushed by the college runners. or something like that. at any rate, it felt great to be in a running race, even if I wasn't really racing.

sick but still tracking

so I woke up on Friday with a sore throat, which turned into my usual cold, although it's been relatively fast compared with the usual version. I'm already out of the "feeling crappy" part and now I'm in the snot/phlegm stage, which sounds worse to everyone else but much better to me.

swam 1800 yds last night at masters. solid pace, but comfy rest and few flip turns. yoga tonight. I get my bike back from the shop hopefully on Friday...so I'm feeling like I'm doing a okay job of staying on track. have to make sure to run while I'm at GSA next weekend.

quite a quiet week

well, I've done a lot of nothing this week, aside from going to yoga. this weekend it's off to the Gauley for some whitewater before it gets too cold. perhaps its for the best; my bike is in the shop to get the derailleur hanger replaced. this may be an indicator that my training is a little bike-driven, given that all else falls off when the cycling does. hmm. at least I still feel focused on my winter goals, despite having some technical difficulties getting started.

weekend wrap-up

Friday I ran ~35 minutes before lunch at work. Temp was low 50s with a light drizzle. made me feel like I was running in Oregon again.

Sunday I ran 35-40 minutes on a sunny, beautiful morning. sleep was 7-8 hrs through the weekend. Running feels pretty good so far. I've been careful to stretch well after every run so far, which seems to be good.

Discovered that the bolts on the derailleur hanger were loose, but it's cracked regardless. I'll take it in on Tuesday to get it fixed. it's frustrating to feel like my bike is in the shop once a month. hopefully this will be the last of it. also switched my wheels to high spoke count ones ("the silver wheels", as opposed to the velomax ones) for the winter.

I also went out sailing on Sunday on the Chesapeake. great to be out on the water...

mechanical difficulties

Rode to work this morning. will ride home after work for a total of 30 miles.

Slept ~7:30 last night. Took the ride in comfy. Temp was ~60F, and will be the same or chillier when I leave--rain coming in tonight. I put on new tires last night (past due), and while putting the rear wheel back on, I banged the rear derailleur. This morning the chain was skipping all over the place. I stopped and tried to bend it back into place with my hands and managed to make it functional, but it needs some definite work at home tonight. Make sure to check the derailleur hanger, then the position of the derailleur, finally the indexing (I don't think this is really the problem). I know the derailleur is at a bad angle, because it is deflecting or twisting the chain line enough to cause drag when I backpedal.

my inspiration of the moment

attack, Frank, attack!
(seems like that worked out pretty well for him)

things to record about workouts

1. The time of day of workout.
2. Amount of sleep the night before.
3. Purpose of the training session.
4. Workout duration.
5. A few workout details (i.e. type and number of intervals in the pool or on the track, intensity, fluid and calorie consumption during a long ride, etc.).
6. How you felt during the workout.
7. Weather conditions.
8. Anything out of the ordinary that happened during the day (worked late, dog ate your training shoes, etc.).
9. Something you especially enjoyed about the training session (scenery on your route, a conversation with a training partner, etc.). Hey, it’s not always about optimal aero position and target heart rate!
10. Nutritional state. This could be a complete log of what you have been eating, or just noting times when your diet has been – shall we say – less than ideal.
11. Race performances.

thanks to the Purdue Tri Club website. wonder if I'll end up going there for grad school...

back in black

rode to work this morning. took it at a comfy pace, which I'm starting to get better at. sometimes it's hard not to attack... I'll ride home this evening, which makes 30 miles round trip. the usual.

hopefully the change from going off daylight savings time kicks in soon, because it was pretty dark all the way to Vienna this morning. nothing like dodging runners wearing black when it's dark out and you're going 15 or 20 miles an hour on a bike.

hey there

wow. this is the first time that I've posted on here in three months. and the first time I've actually posted in more than six.

but that's all right. it's been a good time, with less training than ideal, but also good achievements, like Vineman.

so I think I should re-iterate something that I've learned along the way. The most important things to success in training are sleep, food, and having meaningful interactions with people on a regular basis. probably in that order. the rest is not unimportant, but becomes somewhat peripheral in comparison. on second thought, an addendum, that should probably be good sleep, good food, and meaningful personal interactions.

my goals for the winter are simple, but taken together perhaps a mite ambitious.
1. build good cycling base (ride at least 3X per week)
2. swim regularly (given how much I'm swimming right now, I think I'll see improvement if I do this), at least 2x (should be more like 3X) per week
3. start running again. This can include ultimate, but needs to happen regularly. enter a 10K or a half marathon to have a good goal.
4. learn to XC ski. this is something that I've been dreaming about for years. unfortunately, I now live in a place with weak snow. I need to move north. but if I can borrow some gear and find someone to teach me, I'll see if I can swing it.

If I achieve the first three goals, I'll call it a rousing success.

dave