the flight of the wasp

sunday was the big day. i finally had some free time and coordinated with a buddy, mike, to take the wasp out on it's maiden voyage. i would have gone out solo, but i really wanted someone to witness the hilarity that was going to be me trying out clipped shoes. so, mike showed up and we headed out for a flat, easy ride along the san diego creek trail.

heading down the hill from our house, i immediately noticed a couple things, first, body position is everything on a road bike. you've really got to watch where your hands are placed so that you're not far from the brakes if you're going to need to stop quickly. next, i noticed how fast the wasp is compared to the bumblebee. oh my. without any effort, i was flying down the hill. as we rode along the trail, i was just amazed at how smooth the bike rode is. i was able to hit speeds without any effort that would have left my legs flaming on my mountain bike. she was silent, too. very little tire and chain noise, unlike the mountain bike.

we rode all the way to back bay, had a bar (one of the new clif nectar bars - which are amazing) and then headed back, putting in an easy 26 miles. cycling that sort of distance has never been that easy! i think i could have easily doubled that and not felt exhausted. i hammered up the hill at the finish to see how well it climbed and oh boy was i able to fly up it. i think i'm going to like this cycling thing.

Technorati Tags: cycling, felt f75

whole lot of twitchin' going on

well, this afternoon signals the beginning of the taper. i just completed my last hard week of training. now, i'm sure the coach will still throw some quick stuff at me, but i think today's 20 will be the last long run of this cycle. and what a doosy it was.

i did the reverse run down the aliso creek trail again, starting up at saddleback church and running downhill for 10, then returning uphill. the trick, this time around, was to go lsd for the first six, medium pace for the next seven and then finish up the last seven at mp. this, if nothing else, is great training for the boston course. i hit all my paces, keeping the hr right where i wanted it to be and finished up the run nice and strong. it's kind of surreal that i'm heading into the taper...*twitch*

i bumped into another runner on the trail that was doing her last long run, and training for boston as well. she gave me some cool tips about the race, since this is her third. it's always groovy when the race veterans give you the inside scoop on stuff. anyway, i'm off to recover a bit and start my *twitching*.

again, good luck to the folks running atb tomorrow. run smooth and strong! and speaking of smooth and strong, head over and wish flipperhead a happy birthday. she's turning 29 tomorrow...

Technorati Tags: running, taper, boston marathon, flipperhead

beans and zombie soccer

i completely forgot about the beans that i was going to spill. sheesh...where is my head? these past two weeks have been a crazy whirlwind of work, training and just life. i've basically been working three jobs. my current employer, supporting my previous employer and working on a contract for a friend of my fathers. it's crazy trying to juggle all that stuff, let me tell you!

but today, that'll change. i gave notice at my current company and today is my last day here. it's been a good run and i've enjoyed the work that i've done. the company is going away from windows development, and due to the technology shift, it leaves me with only small projects to work on. that, and the fact that the old company i worked for is really struggling with their systems, i decided to head back to the previous job. like i said, it's been a great opportunity with my current employer, and i've learned a new programming language and had some groovy exposure to large corporate project management. i really feel like i can take some of what i've learned over the past six months and apply it back at jwce.

in addition, i only plan on being in the it industry for a handful of years more, so, it made sense to spend those with a company who's business processes i'm intimately familiar with. that, and i get my every other friday off again. that is nothing to sneeze at, let me tell you!

speaking of leaving the industry, smsmh and i met with some folks from a group home agency last night to find out about the fitness program that they run for the kids. we're looking into volunteering with the program and we will go to our first fit and fun event on april 4th! i'm so excited! i'm going to try to come up with some rules for zombie soccer and teach it to the kids.

last thing, before i scoot for the weekend, best wishes for strong races this weekend. i know there's a bunch of folks running atb this weekend. run strong and smooth!

don't let the door hit ya...

this is the last heavy week of training for boston. next week begins the taper. and, boy oh boy did the coach give me some great stuff for this week. it started yesterday with another (tell me if you get sick of this) rockin' track workout. on the slate for today, 3x3mile intervals, getting progressively faster. 21:00-20:30, 20:30-20:00 and 20:00-19:30. i quickly did the math and that turned out to be about a 400 pace of 1:42, 140 and 1:37. breaking it down to 400's made it look like a much more manageable workout, but still tough on paper.

it rained overnight on monday, so the two tracks that i usually pick from, both dirt, were muddy. so, i had the choice of running beautiful soka university with the barriers on lanes 1-3 or attempting to run at trabuco hill hs before the track team came out to run. i thought that i could pull off the workout at trabuco, so off i went. the track was empty when i got there at 1pm, so i began my warm-up. i began knocking out the intervals and was feeling great.

early in the second interval, some kids started showing up on the track, stretching and warming up. as the interval continued, more and more kids filed onto the field. by the time i'd finished my second interval, it was nearing 2pm (what time do high schools let out these days?!) and the entire track & field team, the soccer team and the football team were on the field warming up and practicing. fortunately, the track itself was still pretty clear.

the distance coach, who i'd met on a previous occasion, came over to chat about training. this cat is actually looking to get an a qualifier at chicago with a 2:20 marathon. woah. when my recovery time was up, i excused myself and started into the third interval. i was just flying along, and these intervals were feeling really good. they were challenging, but not eyeballs-out hard. on the back portion of the sixth lap, the head coach stepped onto the track in front of me and told me to stop. he let me know that the track was closed to non-students and that i would have to leave. i let him know that the distance coach had okayed my presence previously and pleaded with him to let me finish the interval. fortunately, he agreed and i continued with renewed vigor.

immediately after nailing the last interval, i jogged off the track and did my cool-down through the neighborhood. once i had finished that, i headed back to the track to grab my kit and say thanks to the head coach for letting me finish. he was actually surprised that security hadn't chased me off the track before the teams showed up. he mentioned 9/11 and spilling gatorade on the artificial turf as reasons why the public isn't allowed. which stinks, because it's the only usable track in the area when weather is poor. but, live and learn. i'll just suck it up in the future, do the math and run lane four at the soka track.

the intervals, though, were amazing. i knocked them out well within the ranges laid out. and, i could have easily done a fourth at a faster pace. coming off a workout like that as the last week of hard training is a great feeling. here's the interval stats:

6:55 - 157
6:55 - 163
6:43 - 165
20:33

6:36 - 159
6:32 - 169
6:28 - 171
19:36

6:29 - 158
6:19 - 168
6:24 - 171
19:12

edge cyclesports - buyers review

well, saturday was the day. i'd done all my shopping around and had finally made my decision on the felt f75 as my cycle of choice. really, the guys over at edge cyclesports made the choice easy. my first visit there, mark spent nearly two hours with me just chatting about bikes, components, what to look for in a tri/road bike and just generally being a groovy cat. then, after i'd done my shopping, i went back and got hooked up with hugh. hugh took all my measurements last saturday, and again spent nearly two hours with me talking gear, making suggestions on specific models of shoes, pedals, helmets, etc.

and hugh wasn't your typical bike geek that likes to throw out stats about products, like most of your big chain store bike geeks. he wasn't trying to prove his product knowledge to me, he was instead, trying to find the right bike and components for me. i'd say that's a rare thing, but edge cyclesports was full of these guys. honest, dedicated to the sport and the customer. anyway, i got the call on thursday that the bike was all put together and i made an appointment with hugh to come back on saturday and get the bike properly adjusted.

again, hugh was as attentive, informative and professional as ever. i hopped on the bike and he had me pedal along happily while he took measurements and adjusted the seat post, stem, etc. he gave me some great pointers on proper body position (like getting rid of that huge bow in my back and rotating my hips so that my shoulders are more relaxed).

anyway, an hour and a half later, the bike was all properly fitted and tuned and i was ready to settle up. hugh threw in a seat bag and a spare tube, an awesome gesture. and then smsmh spoke up and reminded me that i needed to get some gu. i grabbed a case, fully expecting to pay for it, and he waved it aside, giving it to us gratis. awesome.

so, the long and short of it is that i picked up "the wasp" on saturday and had one of the most stellar buying experiences of my life. the guys at edge cyclesports, from the owner, hank, on down, are knowledgeable, professional and very personable. if you're in the orange county, california area and looking to buy a bike, i highly recommend these guys. i know i'll be a customer for life.

Technorati Tags: cycling, felt, reviews

erythrolitmin

*thump*

that was the sound of me falling over.

coach had a litmus test workout on the schedule for today. 10 mile time trial, mostly at mp and dropping the pace slowly over the course of the workout.

so i opted to do the time trial on one of my local distance routes, rather than run in circles for 40 laps. i found it much harder to manage my pace what with all the bridges, culverts, etc, and the later
in the run it got, the harder it was to get my hr down after going over a bridge. but then again, isn't that what makes up a race? only makes sense to do a time trial on the roads.

i had some technical difficulties, like an mp3 player spaz that wanted to keep repeating a flock of seagulls song, and i had to stop to drop a bottle in the bushes/pick it back up, so there were a couple times where i was standing still for about 10-15 seconds. and, again, i forgot to check the workout before i left the house and was trying to remember the paces, but had forgotten when to do what...and, so i didn't see the part about not going all out. i put in race effort for the last couple miles. well, close to race effort.

anyway, i hammered, and it was hard, but rewarding. i think the splits and hr speak for themselves (that last split is at 173 because i was stopped for about 15 seconds at mile nine while i pulled my bottle out of the bushes - gave my hr time to get back down into the 150's before i headed out again).

here's the stats:

7:13 - 159
6:56 - 168
6:56 - 167
6:44 - 169
6:46 - 173
6:45 - 173
6:58 - 172
6:46 - 174
6:44 - 176
6:39 - 173

i really think that bodes well for the possibility of a quick time in boston. taking the first half easy, i think i'd be able to run the same, consistent pace through the whole race and maybe even turn in a pr. i'm still on the fence, though, about whether to race or just relax and enjoy the experience. both have value, in my eyes. i think it'll be a coin toss on race morning.

i don't think i'll have any problem taking the rest of this week's runs nice and slow.

let's kick this pig

as my mom would say, kick "@#!". oh, saturday was glorious.

the 20 went by so freaking fast. it was over before i knew it. i think that's because i've been doing the long runs so slow, that most of them have been well over 3 hours. saturday, i was done in 2:40.

i did the reverse run again, dropping about 800' of elevation for the first 10 and then running uphill for the return. i kept about an 8:30-8:40 pace for the first six, then dropped down to 8:00 for the next six and then dropped down to mp effort for the last eight (trying to really push hard over the last two). most of the miles were in the low 7's, but i had a hard time keeping marathon pace, simply because i was climbing quite a bit. because of all the hills, my hr was fairly high for most of the return. i was sitting in the 170's for almost all of the last six miles. i wasn't sure if i should have backed off to lower it, or keep trying to get the pace down. so, i just ran what felt like a hard, mp effort and let the pace fall where it would.

i felt so good. yeah, the last eight were a challenge, but i felt GOOD, and within five minutes, my hr was back down around 100. how awesome is that?! ahhh...what a great, confidence building way to end the week.

and then, to cap the day off...i headed over to the lbs. i'd made my final decision to get the felt and stopped by there to get measured and talk about all the additional gear i'd need (shoes, pedals, computer, etc). new guy this time, but, just like before, the guy took a huge amount of time to find out about me, my training, share his experiences and make me feel comfortable. that's three for three with the sales staff from this shop. with a competent, attentive staff like that, those guys at edge cyclesports are going to be getting quite a bit of my business.

oh...and there's more beans to spill in a day or two (no, wade won't be coming to boston to try to win april anne's hand)...

desert paradise

i'm sure this goes without saying, but old people rock.

they call it like they see it, have amazing wisdom and life experience, and they remember the details of the stories they tell with frightening clarity. and sitting in the presence of a couple that has had a loving marriage for 60+ years? that is awesomeness that can't be matched. so, needless to say (but i'll say it anyway), i had an amazing weekend visiting my grandparents. home cooked meals, playing cards, listening to my grandfather's compositions on the computer and just sitting and being, the weekend contained all the aspects that a relaxing visit with family should have.

to top the weekend off, i was able to knock out my 24 miler without too much difficulty, too. i ran into a small snag, though, when at 2am on saturday morning, i woke up and realized that i'd left my fuelbelt bottles at home. so much for a long run out into the desert. so, i improvised, filled a bunch of 24oz water bottles and just ran multiple 5.5 mile loops around the neighborhood. i slept in a bit on saturday morning and when i got up, grandma had pancakes and eggs cooking, so i opted to run in the afternoon.

the run went really well, despite it being in high 70's and low 80's. i stayed very well fueled and hydrated. my hips and knees were pretty much done when i finished the run, since most of it was on concrete, but i felt really good from a muscular and mental perspective, which is a huge win, considering that 24 is the farthest i've ever gone during training. and the cool thing is that i really felt like a handful more of miles wouldn't have been a problem. that's a good feeling at the end of a monster run like that. and that's a good cap to an already wonderful weekend.

the amazing hip has left the building

i'm heading out to phoenix for the weekend to visit with my grandparents. it's been a while since i've had a chance to see them...last christmas (2004) actually. it'll be good to spend some time with them, albeit short. i've got a 24 miler scheduled for tomorrow, so running that in the desert will be a fun experience.

keep scott and brit in your prayers this weekend as they anxiously anticipate the arrival of mr. moo's sibling.

*edit* s and b had their baby (i'll call him mr. giraffe) at 2pm today, a healthy 21 1/4" and 9lbs. brit and mr. giraffe are doing just fine.

and, as a parting gift, you know, to hold you over for the weekend, i leave you a wonderful camera phone picture of me on my birthday a couple weeks ago.

be a hero

so, the amazing hip had another chance to show up today. but this time in a much more serious role. i was happily cruising along on my 15 miler today when, at mile 9, a group of cyclist up ahead stopped and anxiously congregated around a bush along the side of the trail. a minute or so later when i arrived at the scene, i saw an elderly woman in the bush with her legs sticking out and facing down the embankment from the trail. she was really hard to spot at first, and i probably wouldn't have noticed her as i ran past.

anyway, it looked as though she had passed out. a guy there was calling 911 and the other three gals were sorta standing back, somewhat freaked out. so, i went up to the lady, who couldn't move and was only communicating through nods and eye movement. i took her hand, introduced myself (my real name, not as the amazing hip) and told her that help was on the way. i've never witnessed a stroke victim, but that's the only thing that i could compare it to. she wasn't in pain, but she was really upset. my only guess is that she was ticked off at her body failing her. i know that's how'd i feel if i was in her situation. so, i spoke to her in a reassuring tone and even joked that she was upset because these cyclists had interrupted her nice nap.

shortly, we could hear the sirens of the emergency response, but it seemed that they were driving up and down the street, trying to figure out how to get to us. i could tell the guy on the phone 1) didn't know the area and 2) was a little panicked. so, i quickly hopped the brick wall and railing along the trail, ran through a couple business parking lots and flagged down the engine. they followed me through the maze of business buildings back to the trail.

once the paramedics started working on her, i decided to head on my way. as i looped off of the trail and onto a surface street, i saw the ambulance flying along a parallel street on it's way to the hospital, siren blazing. i can only assume that it was serious. i just hope she's okay.

i was telling a couple people about the incident, and dianna mentioned that she hadn't been observing the buddy rule (there's a retirement home along the trail and i often see elderly folks walking along there, solo). i got sorta choked up as i thought, "she probably didn't have a buddy". and i've committed myself to head over to the retirement home and see if i can volunteer to walk with some of the folks that live there.

you...yes, you reader, be a hero and go do the same.

boston bound

i checked in with ken last night to see if he decided to run austin or not last weekend. he had been on the fence about the race since he'd missed most of his training in january. anyway, i left him a message asking about the race on monday and checked my voicemail yesterday to find out that, yes, he had run austin, and yes, he had qualified for boston. WOOHOO! so, ken got his qualifier, and pending acceptance from the baa, he'll be there this april, too.

congratulations, ken. it's been a hard fought battle, but you never backed down from the challenge. you rock, my friend.

monkey off my back

so, the boston training is finally going well.

the past few weeks have been iffy. the track workouts have been stellar, supernova bright moments in contrast to the black hole that my long runs have been. granted, there have been good reasons for rough long runs, but after a string of them in a row, your mind begins to wander and self confidence begins to take a hit.

well, this past week, the stars all aligned. a smoking hot track workout of 2x4mile intervals, a mid week long run of 15 and 22 on the weekend all pieced together to make a perfect constellation of training. saturday's 22, which i properly fueled, hydrated and rested for, was the first long run greater than 14 miles that felt 'right' since the marathon. and, for extra emphasis, i did an out and back along the aliso creek trail, but this time, backwards. i started at the top of the trail near cook's corner and ran downhill for 11 miles, dropping 800', and then uphill on the return. i figured it'd be best if i tried to simulate boston, simply to get my quads used to the pounding. and the result? the best-feeling 22 i've ever done. groovy.

and the feeling continues this week, too. with a good, mid range paced 7.5 on monday and another smoking hot track workout of 8x1mile intervals yesterday, i'm finally feeling like this boston thing is going to be a great success.