Hazy Lazy Dayz

Sunny days, warm weather, long rides, Olympic Trials & Games, the Tour de France, barbecue dinners with the master cooks and Devereaux garden produce, blueberries ready for picking somewhere up north - July may be my favorite month of the year.

And, the beauty of kicking back in a chilly dark theatre taking in a summer flick after a long day under the July sun. It helps when the movie is good. Tell No One - big thumbs up.

Re the image above, I'm playing around with cut/paste, figuring out how to copy a chart from training log software and turn it into a pic that can be uploaded to a blog post.

The chart shows my weekly (Monday through Sunday) training hours for 2008 , current to today. Line graphs for the total hours each week and for run hours. Bars for the other elements swim, bike, strength. That 16 hr peak a few weeks ago may be the biggest week ever for me, at least since I've started tracking my time consistently.

I'm recovering quite well for the last 6-8 weeks. Not feeling like I'm doing large volume during the bigger weeks. My running mileage/time is relatively low. That may have a lot to do with it. Will see what happens when I up the running.

Hope others are enjoying the summer as it flies by. It should go out with a flurry for me. Family reunion in LV next weekend, mountain riding the next, racing the week after that. Two races in September, along with a trip to NYC. Then a final race in early October. Throw in work and life and my weekends are pretty well booked through late October.

Looking forward to seeing relatives and lots of photos next week. Happy July birthday wishes to Ed and cousins John and Patricia.

Paid $4.15 a gallon for the cheap stuff. Saw lots of $4.19 and up for the same. Spied a $3.91 price at one spot.


***************************

Committed to racing:
8/17 North East Tri (Olympic Distance, small, local MD)
9/14 Nation's Tri (Olympic Distance, huge (3500 yikes!), local DC)
9/21 Savageman Half (Deep Creek, MD)
Yep, returning to take revenge from a rough '07 experience, they've claim to have made the course just a bit tougher. How is that possible? Make the swim uphill?

10/12 Brierman Tri (small, first year, local, MD, "in between" Olympic and Half Iron distance, right up my alley swim 1500m, bike 40mi, run 9.3mi )

Memorial Day Weekend 2009 - American Triple-T (as in triple triathlon, 3 days of racing, OH)

Chillin' at Club Devereaux

Laid back, low key dinner of grilled salmon, brown rice, beans served up this holiday weekend. Spiced up some with the colorful garden, colorful deck, and colorful characters.



4oth fanfare was kept to a minimum. I brought some product from a local Maryland vineyard.

Newly painted chairs. Definitely up the hip factor of the deck.

Dinner came with a tour of the garden and I came home with bags of blueberries (thanks Martha, again !).

Little Valley fern, surviving the move.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!

Forty years.

40.

4 x 10.

8 x 5.

Nixon, Ford, Carter...

Wow. Just... Wow. Yet another achievement (?), event (?), milestone worth celebrating.
And still so young, eh?

I'm both proud and thankful, and a little bit in awe if one can be a little bit in awe.

In what is becoming standard practice, almost tradition, the big party will take place a week or two after.

Racing Again. Gen. Smallwood Oly. Yeehah!

Every racer's favorite site.

Raced for the first time since September '07 today.

General Smallwood Oly distance Triathlon
(General Smallwood State Park, Marbury, MD, 70-80min drive)

Raced it hard and came though with no injuries, no knee pain during race. VERY happy about this. Secondary goals were a solid swim and a reasonably quick time overall. Pulled off a 2:24:15, second fastest ever for me at this distance, less than 1min off my PR.

Nice calm swim waters.
Start out of view to the left, swim in the near aspect to the right,
then turn left and head toward the far land along the buoy line.
Hang another left back to the start, then do that lap again.

1500m swim in an inlet of the Potomac ~40mins south of DC.

24.88mi bike on rolling hills

10K run on same

Summary

~296 athletes entered the Oly race, ~30 in men’s 35-39AG.

Up at 4:10, leave ~4:40, arrive at race ~5:50, got a primo parking spot in lot nearest finish and transition.
1 banana, .5 clif bar, coffee, ~90mins prerace
Sipped electrolyte, water, took 2 ecaps, prerace.
Warmups: 7-10min bike, same run, in water early for 2-3 mins swim, then out to wait for wave start.

Oomph short under voler tri shorts. Orca top (not for swim).
Tri shoe on left foot, road on right.

Hazy day turned clear and sunny, humid, hot, mid 80’s at start.

Swim - In water swim start, no wetsuits. Did not get any feet to draft. Did not go hard or sprint at start, sort of a strong steady. Wrestled with seaweed for few hundred yards at end of each of 2 laps, 2 goggle adjust stop moments, otherwise okay and felt good. ~30:30 time. Didn't feel knackered coming out of the water.

Lee from my small Tue/Thur swim group took 2nd in his AG as well. I managed to beat him out of the water by a few seconds. So what if he started in a wave 3mins behind me.

Looooong T1.

Bike - legs felt pretty good. Only a couple guys passed me. Took in entirety of my single bottle of water, 1 clifshot gel (tried a mocha, not tasty), ~80cals, Hed Jet up front, PT wheel no disc cover in back, aero helmet. Lower back aching, tight last half of ride.

T2 pretty quick. Came out at ~1:43:xx total time. Thought I had a shot at breaking 2:30. Didn't really try to do the math, just focused on the moment.

Run - legs not too bad, took water at each of 4 stations. Hot. Hilly. Expect the quads will be feeling the downhills over the next few days. Last mile was mostly downhill on shaded trail.

Special note - Shower tent/canopy set for races only yards after the finish was HUGE. Really great. Nice cold shady shower to stand under and lower the body temp. First ever for any race I've done.

Hot was the word of the day. Not quite as awful as the Blackwater Du in July 2007 in Columbia, MD, but damn hot and humid. Any finisher who was out on the course for 3, 4, 4.5 hrs has my sincere respect.

Total - 2:24:15.

2^nd in 35-39 AG. Love the small local races.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bike DATA for the trigeeks.

Bike leg, 1 bottle water, 1 clifshot gel (mocha- yuck) no stops. mid-hi 80's very little wind.

Entire ride (204 watts):
Duration: 1:07:27
Work: 823 kJ
TSS: 94.9 (intensity factor 0.919)
Norm Power: 211

VI: 1.04
Pw:HR: 2.9%
Pa:HR: -9.24%
Distance: 24.605 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 423 204 watts
Heart Rate: 137 173 158 bpm
Cadence: 41 114 89 rpm
Speed: 2.3 36 21.9 mph

Peak 1min 283
Peak 2mins 248
Peak 5mins 228
Peak 10mins 218
Peak 20mins 215
Peak 30mins 212
Peak 60mins 209

View from the shade.
Blue canopy left of the arch is the amazing cooling shower.
That's my maroon transport on the right. Early bird parking.

Celebrating Parents

Niftiest card.

B came down and we celebrated a combo Mother's and Father's Day.
Henry & Eli could barely contain themselves.

Crockpot pork was a hit as the main course.

Some recently discovered treasures were examined - Gramma C. earned two diplomas. The details of a second diploma are a mystery. Maybe more exploring at the August gathering.


The photographer was lazy and avoiding rain, failed to get shots of a custom automated watering system recently installed in the garden, complete with lines to individual hanging baskets and other plants.

Found gas at $4.13 for the cheap stuff, saw lots of it selling for $4.25 in the pricier zipcodes.

Another solid week of work and exercise. That's three consecutive (14:16, 13:38, 13:38). No knee issues. Woo-hoo! May enter a small local race (tri) at the end of the month.

The Summer of Hope? & Best Training of 2008

Obama enjoying a nice bounce (Sun. 6-8 Rasmussen polling) after reaching the magic number Tuesday, and giving a great speech in St. Paul. Poll shows him with "Obama now attracts 48% of the vote while McCain earns 40%."



And later spoke to his staff and volunteers, with his new title "presumptive nominee."



Hillary certainly drew things out, effectively building the suspense to a crescendo, then nailed the peak with her speech yesterday.

Training!

6/2 – 6/8/08

Second consecutive very nice solid week of healthy activity. 13+ hrs training time this week and last. Nothing long, nothing very intense. Something every day, a little more on weekends. Key word: Healthy.

[timeout to watch the Hughes segment on 60 Minutes]

Bike odometer cracked 20,000mi somewhere along the way.

Mon. 6-2-08
Run 45mins, couple peppy 7:15-7:20miles, ~6mi.

Tue. 6-3
Bike QR trainer in eve, most all aero, with a nice fat ~45 mins stretch at tempo/threshold effort.
Duration: 1:13:12 (1:16:40)
Distance: 23.957 mi

Core – 15mins Lift 15mins - core, waddle, curls at home.

Wed. 6-4
Swim 50mins
Lift – 25mins core and quads

Thur. 6-5-08
Run-Bike in eve.
Run 42 mins steady, ~5.5mi, ~84F muggy, 7-8min trans to run.
Bike trainer QR steady+ after run
Duration: 1:00:26
Distance: 20.451 mi

Fri. 6-6-08
Swim 54mins at MAC in morn, ~2000m
Run 49mins eve, ~6.3mi, knees pretty good, no right knee
Core 15mins

Sat. 6-7-08
Swim 45mins, ~1900m (am)
Lift – 20mins Core & Quads (am after swim)
Bike (pm)
QR Rock Creek, ~90F, humid, Beach Dr nice and shady and few people out. Knees okay. No wind.
Duration: 2:06:15 (2:07:42)
Distance: 38.004 mi

Sun. 6-8 Ride-Run
Bike QR ride out to Seneca store (ice and water refill), back River Rd. Got out early to beat the worst heat. 90+F pretty humid, sunny, not bad when rolling along. 1 banana just before mounting up. During ride ~600-650cals: 2 bananas, 3 Egels, 3 endurolyte caps, most of a bottle of electrolyte, 4-5 bottles water. Drinking early and often. Felt pretty darn good. No heat issues, no cramping, etc. HR never out of whack, responsive, not sticky high or low. Not going hard, just trying to keep cadence up, manage hydration, nutrition; manage effort for run to follow.

Changed small ring from 44 to 40, no doubt helped to manage effort on the hills.
Duration: 2:49:43 (2:59:08)
Distance: 50.094 mi

Run 33mins, ~4mi, 8min trans from ride.
Post run – stretch, fluids, cold shower, HUGE smoothy with lots of LV blueberries – thanks Martha!

***
I've seen $4.2x for the cheap stuff.

Better racing through riser stem?

Recently altered my tri bike position. Jacked the front end up a gigantic 4cm, after already raising it 2cm a couple weeks prior. Seat to arm rest "drop" (ground height differential) is now 10cm, much less "aggressive" than 16cm. Not as aero, but hip angle is more open, and hopefully I'm more powerful while putting less aggravation on the lower back, pelvis and ITBand. I don't feel like a main sail, sitting high and catching wind resistance, but don't feel like a slippery bullet either.

So far so good. Better to be healthy and able to race than aerodynamic but never healthy at the start line, or not there at all. That last 4cm, and some other smaller tweaks came courtesy of Eric, the man behind Principle Fitness (FIST certified). We'll see. I may not be able to resist the temptation to nudge the bars down just a bit in the pursuit of free aero speed. For now, at least my tongue will stay out of the front spokes.

Eric's summary from my 2hrs with him.

General William Odom

My favorite voice on Iraq died. Lt. General William Odom. Unfortunate that he won't be around to throw his $.02 at the next administration.

NPR interview re Iraq from 2006 (7mins).

And a NYTimes obit.

Called a hawk by some, a scholar for sure. In my limited exposure seeing him on with Lehrer, Olberman, Chuckie Rose and the like , I was always riveted by his smarts, his refusal to mince words or suffer fools.
More links and clips .

Nats. Nuts.

Nats.
First visit to the new Park. Met a couple of old college buds, Paul and Duane to see the Nats beat the Phils earlier this week. Nice night, 60's and dry. First row of the 300 level looking down on 1st base.

View from Section 319

Me and the fellas.

I'm giving the Park a solid 6.7 out of 10. I'll take it. It's no Camden Yards. There's no Wow! to it. It's great to have a nice new clean stadium downtown. Lots of gray concrete. Too much.

Yeah, a (weak) view of the Capitol.

Nuts! Little training to report.
Litany of injury and illness continue. Nasty toe infection is the latest. That's a new one for me. Antibiotics are helping, one more day of cephalexin. Right on cue a cold is popping up. May miss out on what looks to be a nice holiday weekend of warm sunny weather. How to make lemonade out of these lemons? Make some money I suppose, go to work when there is no one else there to infect. And, be glad I'm not in China or Myanmar/Burma.

The Anacostia River from right field concourse.

View from the center field entrance.

The green patch behind center field is a hill.
It will have cherry trees at some point.

Biden for VP.
Hope the LV crew gets a pleasant stretch of weekend weather for the holiday.

Solid Week. Cherry Blossoms Fade, Honeysuckle Arrives.

A nice solid week. Best in many months. Worked a decent number of hours, a good massage, some socializing, great weather, over 12hrs of training, knees pretty good. So, a legit, if down and dirty, training blog entry - a rarity.

MON. 4-28 – SUN. 5-4

Mon. 4-28
Swim - 45mins
Lift - after swim, 20mins, core x2, lat pull downs x3, single leg x3 and double leg x3 leg extensions.
Run 40mins p.m. knees pretty good.
Lift – 10mins Pushups, curls

Tue. 4-29
Swim 5:55a - 7:05a
Bike pm – Trainer 76mins, Left knee “there” off and on.

Wed. 4-30
Run 43 mins p.m.
Lift after run, 35 mins

Thur. 5-1-08
Swim 65mins before work

Fri. 5-2
Run-Bike brick
Run 40mins, ~5+mi
8-10min trans to bike
Bike 90mins, 26.5mi, knees not bad, there in the background on and off.

Sat. 5-3-08
Bike 2hr40m, 46mi, hilly/River RD loop. Left knee there at times, never sharp. Bathed in sweet scent of blooming honeysuckle lining many roads for stretches.
Swim at MAC, 25mins, ~1K, easy-steady
Lift after swim – 15mins - quad extensions, core, pushups

Sun. 5-4-08
Run - 50mins, ~6.3mi, right knee side/top outer side spot "there" quietly last 2 mi.
Swim - 38mins, steady free, fist, free ~1700m
Lift – 30mins core, pushups, quads, curls after swim.

Ink-Free Communicatin'

She speaks! Like going from silent film to talkies. Pen and pad have been cast aside at Devereaux.

After having some hardware removed, M can really talk. Very good to hear her voice and converse. Even headed back to work as energy allows. And, the menu is getting a bit more solid, I saw some mashed potatoes. Nothing truly tough or chewy for quite some time to come, better not to stress test the surgeon's workmanship prematurely. I sampled some green soup whipped up by D this weekend, once again, excellent stuff.

Turning the food spotlight on me for a bit... I recently was laid low for a week with a stomach bug, and discussion came around to a straight forward question: "what do you eat?" Hmmmmmm.

I suspect, okay, I know, my rep in some circles is one of being the crazy healthy eating guy. At work, I'm the one, the health freak, the "super healthy" eater. Likely identified with more interesting terminology when I'm not within earshot. I'll lay bare my nutrition habits, my usual practices compared to my recent GI bug recovery eating.

I steered well off my usual food track in dealing with the illness. Whatever it was it brutalized my GI system. Left me quite depleted. At rock bottom a pair of angry girl scouts could have knocked me down and stolen my lunch money with no trouble. No exercise for at least a week.

During the roughest stretch it was a few days of watered down Gatorade and Pedialyte. Don't normally consume either. Progressed to yogurt, frozen and regular (- say what?! yep, dairy :O need that easy-on-the-tummy probiotic content, restore the natural flora of the gut), bananas, pea soup with some broken up baked white potato mixed in, Keebler saltine type crackers, fig newtons, nabisco chips ahoy cookies stirred into blueberry yogurt. Every day started with two capsules of a broad spectrum of probiotics. Wasn't long before I gained back the ~4-5lbs I had lost and added a couple more.

Back on my standard fare now. It's not a conscious effort to eat the same thing daily, but it typically works out that way. I favor low glycemic over high glycemic stuff except during and immediately after exercise, and avoid "processed" stuff (perhaps machined and coming out of package but no hydrogenated, corn syrup, chemical type contents). Immense quantities of nutrient dense food - veggies, fruit, whole grains, healthy protein. The more active the more immense the quantity.

Something like this:

Starting the day: probiotic caps (gonna stick with these for a while), 20-30mins later a small banana, half or whole clif bar, glucosamine/chondroitin supplement, and coffee.

If I swim in the a.m., that is followed up with an electrolyte drink, and within 60mins of the swim a big bowl of: whole grain cereal, soy milk, protein powder, banana, frozen mixed berries, raisins, chopped almonds.

Mid morning snack as needed - banana, kiwi fruit, berries.

Lunch - turkey sandwich, carrots, chopped and green red bell pepper, multi vitamin.

Afternoon snack - banana, frozen berries and/or kiwi fruit, clif bar.

Dinner - turkey or roast beef sandwich, carrots, chopped and green red bell pepper, glucosamine/chondroitin supplement.

Evening snack - generous pile of assorted whole grain chips/crackers, humus, a thick dip comprised of sweet potato or pumpkin puree (canned), spinach, peas, butternut squash or sweet potato soup, a crushed brown rice cake, flax oil, turmeric powder. Maybe half a turkey sandwich.

While riding: bananas, water, E-gel or Hammer Gel sports gels, Clif bars, longer rides include some maltodextrin/protein/electrolyte sports drinks, longer the ride the more cals and protein I'll use for these drinks.

There you have it. I often hear where's the soda? beer/wine? what of salad dressing, condiments, ice cream and dairy? do you ever eat out? It works for me. I recommend nothing. If someone wishes to survive on pop tarts, twinkies and Genny Cream Ale, more poer to you.

Cheap stuff was $3.55 (on 4-25) at my undisclosed red state location.

An article that is a dif angle and actually a little more than a horse-race opinion on the political veneer of "the Reverend Wright story." Even political junkies like myself get a bit soured on the shallow analysis typical of this and some other campaign related events. Bill Moyers opens a window to shed light beyond the short youtube clips, and the only news it makes is experts taking 30secs to question why Wright is venturing into public where he can only hurt Obama, and how many % points he'll lose as a result.

Training Update & Race Radar '08

RUNNING
Long run recently up to 50mins with no knee trouble. Still no real flow to my roll, a real absence of running mojo. It will take time to get my form back near where it was 12/07. Stomach bug setback doesn't help. Anyway, running every other day. Started at 10mins six weeks ago and added a few mins each time. Slowed the progression when I reached 30mins, stayed at 30 for a few, then bumped to 35 for a few, then 40, then 45, now 50. Thinking I'll keep it here and vary 'em between 40-55mins for awhile, maybe try some 35-40min runs on back-to-back days.

The 1979 Raleigh, spruced up.

RACING
Officially pulled out of the Memorial Day weekend of triathlon madness known as the American Triple T - 4 triathlons in 3 days. The race organizers agreed I can transfer my entry to the 2009 race.

Currently entered in just one race for 2008. The Nation's Tri here in DC in Sept. 14 (Olympic distance: swim 1500meters, bike 24.8miles, run 6.2mi). Couldn't resist. Registered at the last minute just as it was filling up. Only a few years old, and the only tri in DC, it's grown to 3,500 racers. This is huge for a tri. Hay-yoooj. I can only guess how many waves of swimmers this will be broken down into for the start, maybe 40? 50? More?

Meanwhile, the priority for me is to get healthy so as to really train and enjoy the summer, and to really race in Sept. Plan to enter some small fitness-tester races for fun along the way. These races are not likely to fill, so I can do last minute entry. Everything will be short distances until September. If I'm feeling good at that point I may go longer (my preferred distance) to finish the season.

All together, currently on my 2008 race radar:

• June 29 - General Smallwood Oly distance race in Indianhead, MD. Have raced here a couple times years ago. Really like the rolling course.
• July 12 - Diamond in the Rough Oly distance race in Perryville, MD. Did this a few years ago as well. Hilly bike, flat run.
• August 16 - Cheat Mountain Challenge. Cycling only. Snowshoe, WV. 105mi and 68mi options. Mountainous terrain. This would be a decent fun training day in prep for the Sept. 27 Aqua Velo. In 2006, 93 finishers, 20 DNF for the long ride, most finished in 7-9hrs, first finisher just under 6hrs, last ~10.
• August 17 - Northeast Oly distance race - North East, MD.
• September 7 - Annapolis Oly distance race.
• September 7 - Delaware Diamondman Half Iron race (swim 1.2mi, bike 56mi, run 13.1mi). Bear, DE. Pancake flat. Raced here many times. If healthy, I'll be tempted to go for a PR here and forget about a true peak effort or AG competitive race in DC Sept. 14.
• September 21 - Savageman Half Iron distance race. Perhaps return to Deep Creek, MD seeking some vengeance for a tough day there last year.
• September 27 - ChesapeakeMan Aqua Velo. An interesting option here, the Ironman without the run - swim 2.4mi, (super flat) bike 112mi. Would be a great opportunity to get a taste of the Ironman experience, get a notion of swimming and biking for 8hrs and contemplating a run of 26.2 after.
• October 12 - Brierman Half Iron race, Boonsboro, MD. Race day driveable.
• October 12 - American Zofingen long distance duathlon, New Paltz, NY (5mi trail run, very hilly 84mi road bike, 15mi trail run). Maybe this will be the year to cross AmZof off the life to do list.

Progress at the Cat Spa.

The curve is turning upward. Much progress at Devereaux. From patient-in-bed status to living the lifestyle of a disciplined pro athlete . Monitoring all the components of health. Hours of sleep, mins of exercise. Breaking down the nutritional content of all things consumed. Eating frequently and moderately. Power napping - rest is when the body heals, of course. Daily weigh-ins.
Talking is still limited, numerous little rubber bands keeping things closed. (Finally, the rest of us get to lead a conversation.)

Cards, flowers, books, phone calls, visits... good stuff. Is this too being tracked, lists kept, generosity ranked, files filed? One can only imagine the guilt that would accompany landing in the bottom slot. Feel free to enclose "get well" checks.

The Kaiser of the Kitchen is becoming the smoothie guru, with particular skill at sneaking protein into his concoctions. Burned through at least one blender. May also be getting a handle on his personal nightmare of plantar fasciatis that has been dogging him for weeks. PF is a pernicious beast, it doesn’t go away fast.

B kicked off her new job with a gathering at a new, brand new, DC area convention center. Nothing like meeting dozens (hundreds?) of new work people in the space of a day or two. Turns out The Gaylord was not quite ready to open. But they did, and the result was less than enjoyable for the guests. Good bonding time. B was fortunate not to leave with food poisoning. News reports 60+ guests from her event were not so fortunate.

Work remains steady for me, signs point toward indefinite extension of the comfy fluorescent womb that is the contract I've been on for over a year. The knee is also coming around. Doc has me attempting a gradual return to running. Every other day. Started at 12mins, now up to 31mins. Not 100% free of discomfort but fairly close. Thoughts of racing by midsummer are nudging their way into the mental mix.

Misc celeb sighting: Katy Kay (or a perfect look-a-like with a soft accent), at my swim site. Apparently with her 12ish daughter, I passed Katy (not in a swim suit, darn) chatting with the swim coach. Coach: encouraging youngster re running to supplement swimming. Katy: enthusiastic, perhaps hoping to infect child with same (or flirt with fit young coach? Nah.). Child: cornered and squirming.

Gas: $3.36 for the cheap low test at my secret red state source.

Blog to be Sponsored by Oesterizer?

It's time for the final hurdle for the Devereaux cat herder. This week brings the last stage in the oral health project: surgery. Ouch.

Rather than dwell on the details, let's look for the upside...

• with appropriate pain killers the 35min CNN news loop will really be "breaking news" every time
• blog time, baby, blog time
• in fact, Oesterizer and Ensure will be bidding to sponsor the intomysixties blog
• great excuse to max out that Netflix membership
  
• D can order the college basketball cable package, wallow in march madness and blame it on the patient when the bill arrives (You don't remember insisting on access to GMU v Notre Dame?)
• anything you want to get off your chest? Drugs and delirium = free pass for no-guilt venting
• communication efforts will enhance the creative side of the brain, and/or building mad skilz on the quick erase board (Russert will be jealous)
• want to dodge a touchy subject? Pretty easy when you literally can't open your mouth.
  

So, yeah, it's pretty much a few weeks chock full of roses, hugs and smiles, eh?

Congrats to B on a step up and out in the job world. Charting new personal territory career-wise will no doubt be exciting and challenging. Just navigate the seas of transition and calmer waters await, right?

A little tri chatter. Even with no running since 1/6/08 (yikes) other than the latest aborted attempt, I'm getting some decent volume in over the last few weeks. Below are the weekly numbers for swim, bike, run (ha!) and core work in time and distance.

WEEKLY TOTALS
Week
ending

Sun. 3-2 11:41 (S 4:05/4.75mi; B 7:02/132mi; R ---; Core :35mins)

Sun. 3-9 12:19 (S 3:47/4.95mi; B 6:47/134mi; R ---; C 1:35)

Sun. 3-16 13:20 (S 3:49/4.65mi; B 8:07/152mi; R 0:19/2.4mi; C 1:05)

Gas is $3.28 for the best deal on the cheap stuff (87) last time I bought.

Pedal and Pull, no Stride.

Took the plunge (yah) on aqua running, gave it a go Fri. Tough to keep my cadence anywhere near 90. May give it a go again, see if I can figure out the art. I'm not changing my stripes yet, still a "runner."

Mario

Felt really good, really normal, so was cocky when heading out for a run attempt Sat.
No luck (cue sound of air leaking out of balloon). Right knee there again after 10-15mins and progressing toward bad as ever, well, bad as Jan. 6 when it threw the monumental you're-gonna-gimpwalk-3 miles-home tantrum.

Feeling benefits of the deep muscle therapy, just not in the knee. Yet. I hope. Scheduled to get a gait analysis in conjunction with my next therapy/chiro appointment.

Managing to thrash myself nicely on the bike and in the water. Rode the trainer last Wed., Fri., Sat. and finished outdoors Sun. with a nice 3hr hilly ride in crisp sunny 40F weather Sun.

Tue./Thur. 6-7a swim sessions are getting tougher. Gotta push the envelope. I go harder and faster in these sessions than solo. Nice thing about swimming is you can feel absolutely shattered at the end of a workout but recover much faster than with a similar run, with biking being in the middle ground there recoverywise.

American Levi Leipheimer (5'7", 140, age 34) won the recent Tour of California, the biggest pro cycling race in the U.S. He finished 3rd in the 2007 Tour de France, 31 secs behind the TdF winner and fellow Discovery Channel team rider Alberto Contador (5'9", 140, age 25). Discovery thereafter got out of the cycling sponsor biz.

Making like Dan Snyder, team Astana, (sponsored by the Astana group, a coalition of state-owned companies from Kazakhstan and named after its capital) signed little Levi and Alberto, and a slew of other top pros. Astana looks to be the strongest team on the circuit, at least on paper. But... earlier this month Tour dF organizers recently announced they are banning Astana, apparently deeming their complete change in team makeup and management insufficient corrective action after recent doping issues with prior team riders.

Levi fans have initiated a petition to the Amaury Sport Organization under the name Let Levi Ride, requesting Levi be allowed to race due to his distance from the cited doping incidents. Perhaps Levi's win in Cali will add some oomph.

(Daily Peloton)

At nearly 41, Mario Cipollini has returned to the pro tour. The Italian fashion horse and long time sprint champ was signed to the American owned Rock Racing team and rode in the Tour of California last week.

Shout out to Wayne in Fla.
Ever notice how some of the best people sometimes get hammered with bad breaks? Well, if the Karma Police are out there, listen up, you've got a rogue element attempting to administer some very misguided punishment. Hang in there W! They'll come around and you'll be back in action soon.

Showing some wear, but moving forward.

Two weeks later and still as repetitive as a stump speech...

Not running. Have made 3 attempts, tight knee symptoms return after ~20mins each time. Continuing with the deep tissue massage, stretching, some yoga, some targeted stability and strengthening. Vowing (again) to try deep water "aqua" running this weekend. Picture me and a herd of blue hairs sporting floatation belts, slooooowly circulating in a small section of the pool, avoiding each other and eye contact. I'm closing in on blue hair club eligibility myself but I'll feel young in their midst, even if the feeling is mere denial, damnit!

Biking and swimming as much as I can, no knee issues there. Actually making some gains in the pool.
Down from mid 10mins to almost 9:08 for a 500yd TT, laid that down on my birthday in fact. Knocking out consistent 1:4x for 100's and threw done some low :40s for 50yds.

This is all incredibly slow for real swimming, but it's progress for me. And, doing it all one year older. When you really suck, it's possible to get faster with age. Set the bar low and every notch up is huge.

An excellent dinner out at Devereaux last Fri. to mark the occasion. Super soup, steamed salmon, carrot and raisin salad, asparagus. All very good, and yes, good for ya. Old albums were unearthed. Remember those killer custom curtains up on The Heights? Great background material.

Cool cards from the intohersixties gal. But that number kinda packs a wallop, eh?

Thanks Ed for the cycling-specific card, spot on. Not hand made, but it made me grin.

Close with a little aging rider humor to close.

Sadly, these physiological declines are just the beginning for maturing roadies. Getting older unleashes a raft of devastating conditions. For example:

• You become acutely aware of the ages of your riding partners. If you beat someone who's 3 months younger than you, you're elated for days. When you get dropped by somebody who's 10 years older, you sagely proclaim that "age is just a number."
• Digital displays become smaller and dimmer. When browsing for a cyclecomputer, you look not at the list of functions but at the size of the numbers. The teenage salesperson at your local bike shop snickers when you ask why they don't stock bifocal Oakleys. (Bifoakleys?)
• You are unable to get through a 2-hour ride without stopping to tinkle. Twice.
• You gravitate toward bib shorts. For comfort, of course, not because they help corral that extra 5 or 10 pounds.
• You start wearing a cycling cap under your helmet. For comfort, of course, not to keep the sun off that bald spot.
• Upon reflection, you realize the 6-hour century you did in '02 was actually pretty close to 5 hours. And you describe your 29th place at the '95 District Road Race as "finishing just off the podium."
• Overnight, your body develops mysterious creaks. Just like your bike.

http://www.roadbikerider.com/sos.331.spin

A Workout Post

How about some exercise content?
Still not running. Plan to attempt a short run in the next few days. If that goes poorly I'll take an SIU pill and try some pool running.

The last few days:

Tue. 8-5
Missed 6a swim. Not happy.
ART massage, Lara. Right glutes better than last week. Not as painful. I'm calling it progress. Right heel had felt bruisy when stepping on it for last 4-5 days, when rolling out of bed and after sitting. Some hard attention to the area from Lara. It's 95% gone the next day.

15mins upper body strength at home.
Super Tuesday primary night. Wow (!)

Wed. 8-6-08
Bike & 15mins of Core after bike
QR trainer. Intervals. Hard data below.
Warmup.
4x6mins (w/2min recvry btwn);
5mins easy;
3x2mins, alternating seated/standing every :30 (w/1min rcvry btwn)
Warmdown.

Watched mountain stage of the '01 TDF.
After this session I'm guessing my CP (max avg wattage I could hold over 60mins) is ~210-215watts maybe less, down 10-15%.

Entire workout (179 watts):
Duration: 1:23:22
Work: 895 kJ
TSS: 95.5 (intensity factor 0.829)
Norm Power: 191
VI: 1.07
Distance: 27.586 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 289 179 watts
Heart rate: 76 169 144 bpm
Cadence: 34 198 85 rpm

Power-Tap #1:
Duration: 6:00
Norm Power: 206
Distance: 2.191 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 157 224 206 watts
Heart rate: 140 156 152 bpm
Cadence: 59 95 92 rpm

Power-Tap #3:
Duration: 6:08
Norm Power: 222
Distance: 2.303 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 126 250 221 watts
Heart rate: 138 160 155 bpm
Cadence: 80 91 89 rpm

Power-Tap #5:
Duration: 6:00
Norm Power: 223
Distance: 2.244 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 257 223 watts
Heart rate: 137 165 157 bpm
Cadence: 59 93 89 rpm

Power-Tap #7:
Duration: 6:03
Norm Power: 231
Distance: 2.121 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 117 270 231 watts
Heart rate: 137 169 161 bpm
Cadence: 72 91 88 rpm

2min Intrvl #1:
Duration: 2:03
Distance: 0.72 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 176 289 236 watts
Heart rate: 144 167 159 bpm
Cadence: 67 87 83 rpm

2min Intrvl #2:
Duration: 2:01
Distance: 0.698 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 188 260 226 watts
Heart rate: 145 168 160 bpm
Cadence: 79 91 83 rpm

2min Intrvl #3:
Duration: 2:01
Distance: 0.709 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 162 274 234 watts
Heart rate: 152 166 161 bpm
Cadence: 73 87 82 rpm

Thur. 8-7-08
Swim 6a-7
300 warm-up
3 vertical kick
5x50 kick bd
500 free w/zoomers
400 free no zoomers ~:54-57 per 50yd pace
6x75 ~1:22-25 each (guess?)
100 cool
1850 total

Bike pm - QR trainer recovery ride
Entire workout (144 watts):
Duration: 1:01:47 (1:05:23)
Work: 531 kJ
TSS: 43.1 (intensity factor 0.647)
Norm Power: 149
VI: 1.04
Distance: 19.41 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 226 144 watts
Heart rate: 71 143 128 bpm
Cadence: 36 236 85 rpm

Fri. 8-8-08
Bagged planned swim and run attempt, feeling run down.
Yoga – 45mins (video at home)

Caged Runner.

Rock Creek, U.S. Park Stables
2-4-08

Update for the record.

Haven't run since Jan. 6 when the right knee went wacky. Tried once last week, after quite a few days of it feeling fine walking around and biking. Had to abort after .5 mile.

Went to Sport & Spinal for an exam. Very unlikely that there is a discrete/acute injury or problem with the knee or surrounding tendons and ligaments. My upper thigh and glutes are tight and my range of movement for the upper leg is significantly limited. Knee moves (dives? falls? collapses?) to the inside when I perform a standing one-leg squat. My feet are still flat.

All together, text book IT Band syndrome characteristics. As are the symptoms of Jan. 6 and the days thereafter. I know, however, that ITBS is a large catchall bag for many causes and symptoms. Identifying the true cause is difficult, e.g., is a tight muscle pulling the pelvis out of alignment? Or vice versa? It's a chain with many links. Finding the twisted link is the challenge.

Continuing some deep massage work, with the range of motion problem areas providing some guidance. Last visit to the therapist uncovered some real trouble spots, upper hammies and glutes. Me face down on the table, Lara perched on top grinding and driving her knees into my derierre. This may have been the most painful session ever for me. I'm officially a tight ass. I was a sore, but not quite as tight, ass for another 24-48hrs after. After that I was, of course, just my usual ass.

All of this is good news. It may amount to discovery of the underlying cause - the hard part. I'll proceed as if it is for now, focusing on the problem areas for 30-45mins a night on my own.

Tools for nightly muscle manipulation.

Continue to swim, seeing some small improvement. Biking as well. Bike legs are weak but not totally gone. Almost all trainer (hampster wheel) sessions, 60-90mins, long warm ups into some steady efforts then long warm down. All of it sitting up, no time down in the aero bars - no need to put added pull on the IT/glutes.

Got outside for a ride yesterday. 2.5hrs in near 60F mostly sunny no wind. Rock Creek Park. Lots of folks out on Beach Dr. Stopped to see some sights and stretch. Nice to be outdoors.

Bike, swim, no run yet.

Thoughts go out to J & N and the entire Oberlin crew. I hope you are getting through this time as best you can.

****************************
Starting to think of slipping on the run shoes for a test drive. Holding off for now. The last three days:

Sat. 1-19-08 Swim-Bike
Swim 60mins. Free (~300-400), side(200), stroke and glide (250), kick bd (50), free (50), fist (300), free (50), 3x100yds (1:45-48)
Swim was 2-3p after working 9-1. Ride was ~3:40-5:40p after swim.

Bike
QR trainer watching Terps beat #1 UNC at UNC. No aero time. No hard efforts, more time at steady, steady+ efort than recent rides. No knee trouble.
Entire workout (164 watts):
Duration: 1:58:16 (2:00:02)
Work: 1167 kJ
Distance: 39.002 mi

Heart rate: 145 bpm avg
Cadence: 87 rpm avg
Speed: 19.8 mph avg

Sun. 1-20-08
Swim 60mins easy, steady nothing hard
~400free, ~350 side r/l (w/zoomers; trying to find high body position, looking barely fwd, and 45deg angle not 90) ~350 stroke and glide (w/zoomers), 50 kick board, 50 free, ~150 fist, ~400 free. ~1750 total
Core/Lift 35mins
2 x (fonda leg raises r/l, lat pulls downs, cable side bend (obliques) r/l, cable side arm raise r/l, tri pushdown, seated row, side plank)
3 x (bicycle crunches, feet together crunches, plank)

Mon. 1-21-08
Bike QR trainer. No aero time. Gradual warm up to some extended steady time. Watched Bourne Ultimatum.
Entire workout (165 watts):
Duration: 1:51:31 (1:55:44)
Distance: 36.768 mi
Heart rate: 137 bpm avg
Cadence: 86 rpm avg
Speed: 19.8 mph

Tue. 1-22-08 Swim 6-7a

Knee barely stiff out of bed. Taking stairs normally. ART tomorrow. Overall assessment at Sport & Spinal Fri.

Really wanted some more sleep.
Body was screaming sleep! Eventually I managed/decided to tune it out. Did I chose poorly? Ignoring the bod is high on the ingredient list for injury or illness. We'll see.

Solid hr of swimmin’. No one else showed = individual lesson.
Today's flaw fix - Keep my pulling hand at/near/under/traveling past belly button!!! Don't swing it out wide! This is a tough bit of muscle memory to break.

300 warm-up
10x100 alternating left/right breathing every 25 (:30 rest) (fastest 1:48, slowest 1:52)
500 with zoomers, same alternating breathing
5x50 on 1:30 (:48-:50)
100 cool down 2150 total

Hard to get a hold of, feel for grabbing water with the dif hand/arm pull position.
New (?) spots on shoulders, lats feeling the slightly dif use pattern - also carrying some fatigue from recent addition of back/shoulder weight work.