Ouch. I really forgot how hard running is. I've been running 4-5 days a week now, fairly consistently for the past month, mostly consisting of smaller runs around 3 miles long in the first few weeks and then progressing to 5 mile runs the past few weeks. I'm finally starting to feel good (if that's even possible while running) when I'm running so I don't feel completely thrashed by the end of my workout until I started doing big miles. For me, a big run used to be anything longer than running from my living room to my kitchen for some more snacks. Now, I've had to redefine it a bit to say anything in miles that was two digits long. Two weeks ago I did my first big run of 10 miles. This wasn't my first attempt at running big distances. I've done big miles while in the army and a few years ago, I was routinely running 15 milers for the fun of it. For some reason, who knows, maybe its the age but this 10 miler affected me big time. While running, I felt awesome. The kind of feeling that I knew I still had a lot more left in the tank and I could definitely keep going. Fortunately I was sensible and wrapped it up. It wasn't until I got back in the house and cleaned up that I noticed a pain in the ball of my left foot. Ouch, hurts to walk on it. A few days go by and I'm able to do some of my 5 mile runs through the week without issue but on yesterdays 11 mile run I'm feeling it now worse than ever. Funny because I was pretty conscious about it during the run and I never had any issues with pain. I'm hoping this is one of those things that I just have to get through and that there are no serious issues. To be safe, I'm going to head down to the local running store tonight and have them take a look at my running shoes. Better to get this solved now. I can't have anything compromising Columbus.
Sorry, no data but I am trying to convince my wife that I need to Purchase the Garmin 405 watch. Man, if there's one thing that I've learned, it's that I'm addicted to data.
b
6.30.2008
6.23.2008
Miner goes Commuting!
Commuting to work via bike is something that I’ve wanted to do for the past few years. The excuses for not doing it always came easy and I never seemed to take it too seriously until this year. Inspired by my buddy Pat up in Chicago who commutes to work via bike every day of the year and along with the outrageously high gas prices I decided it was time to get serious about starting. As I just mentioned, it was the excuses that kept me from doing it previously. Specifically some of these were what do I do about my work clothes since I have to dress professionally here at work, what do I do about a shower and what do I do if I need a car to drive out to a clients project site? I realized that my whole problem was that I thought commuting to work meant I had to do it every day of the work week. Once I got it into my mind that this wasn’t true, two out of the three issues above simply went away. What I do is that on the days that I have to drive into work (if I need to drive to a project site, pick up kids after work, etc.) I bring my clothes that I’ll need for the days that I plan on riding and just leave them in my office, hence keeping everything looking wrinkle free! As for the shower, my building does have a shower facility here in the building should I need it. I say should because so far I haven’t. My commute is just under 5 miles and what I find is that even with some of the small climbs that I have, I’m just getting warmed up by the time that I get here. So, showering before I leave the house is still working out well. This might change once the temperature gets a bit warmer and muggier, but I’ll deal with that issue when it arises.
Commuting to work also helps me feel connected to riding. Having for the most part stopped seriously training so I can better prepare for the Columbus Marathon, riding in three days a week at least keeps me feeling like I’m not completely throwing away all that fitness I gained through the winter and spring. In the back of my mind I’m really hoping that these commutes along with the occasional team training ride can keep me somewhat in shape (along with tons of running) so I can get back on the bike just in time for cyclocross season. As for my daily commute, pretty straight forward really. I’m treated each morning with an amazing view of the City as I roll behind Saint Thomas Hospital and down Howard Street. I’ve also found this amazing street that I wouldn’t have known about otherwise called Bluff. It’s got some amazing cobbles to it, and I mean true cobbles, not just brick pavers. Check out the picture below. If it was located in a more convenient location, it would be awesome to try to race up. Until next time,
b
6.05.2008
Columbus Marathon, here I come..
Well, it's official. I'm now registered for this years Columbus Marathon which will be held on October 19th.
I had an opportunity to run a 4 miler Tuesday night in the midst of a downpour which unfortunately was my first real run for the year. Funny how not one person yelled at me from their car, threw things at me or came dangerously close to hitting me while I was out there. The first mile I felt lousy; mile 2 and mile 3 I felt awesome and then mile 4 I felt lousy again. It's a long way to get to 26.2
b
6.02.2008
Race for Alex
When I made the decision to run the Columbus Marathon this fall (and be competitive in it), I knew I would have to cut short my cycling season to achieve some of the goals that I set. I barely seem to have time to train for one sport, let alone try to train for two so something has to go and it won't be family or work so I guess that means I'm voluntarily letting my CTL drop a bit until later this fall. With the shortened season, I picked the Race for Alex as the event to say goodbye to my 2007 season. I raced it last year and remember having a lot of fun on a course that really suited me.
Sunday morning I lined up in a field of 54 riders in the Cat 4/Cat 5 field, by far the largest group that I've raced with in awhile. Joining me from Stark Velo was: Matt Turi, Tim House, Chris Smith, Don Bunker, Greg Banic, Bill Fletcher, Tim Graichen and James Votaw. With such a large group of teammates racing, we should hopefully be able to do something productive for the day as we certainly had the numbers. With such a large group and a strict yellow-line rule, moving up was going to be difficult so I did my best to get myself in the top 20 places as we rolled out of the parking lot. Being even this far back would prove to be disaster for the day. It was nice from the sense that I always had someone to block the strong winds, but difficult to move up into any better position. I always like to keep an eye on the front and make moves when necessary. Sitting pinched in the middle of the field sort of makes that logic impractical. A prime example came when Turi took a solo flier off the front on lap 2. I was doing my best to move up in the field to the front to try and slow things down but it was impossible. There were only three ways to do it. Flagrantly breaking the yellow-line rule, take my luck riding in the gutter or be stupid/dangerous and try to squeeze through riders in the field. I decided I'd try to ride near the gutter in hopes that enough openings would happen on that side that I could jump into and leap frog my way to the front. Unfortunately, after almost a lap of Matt being out front, I was nowhere closer to helping him out and he was quickly moving back to us.
The race was fast but I was able to notice some things along the way. Firstly that there was a rider who was walking back to the start line (opposite race direction) who was pushing his bike with a severed handlebar. Wow, wonder how that happened and where. Two, the railroad tracks on the course are absolutely horrible. I still need to take a good look at my Zipps but on one outing over them; I heard a nasty crack when I rolled over it. Hopefully, it was the guy next to me and not my fine 303 hoops.
Starting lap 4 and I'm finally feeling better. It had been a few days since I had an opportunity to ride and I needed a few minutes of high intensity to bring my legs back. I knew with only two laps to go, there was no way I was going to get dropped and hopefully I could find a way up front to get competitive in this thing. After all, it was my last race. So we roll over the track on lap 4. Guys do like they always do on every lap and try to bunny hop them at 35 mph. Something happens and all of a sudden there are bodies and bikes everywhere. I slam on my breaks hoping nobody behind me crashes into me and I safely navigate my way through the carnage that lies on the street. The field moves away from me at that point. I pretty much stop to see if anyone who was involved in it is really hurt or not. I notice that there was a follow vehicle that is there and decided that I can try to catch the main field which at this point was probably down to 25 guys or so.
Well, the wind was too strong and/or they were too fast so I never could catch them. Rode the last lap and a half by myself but nobody ever caught me...for whatever that's worth. Riding solo did give me an opportunity to reflect on that crash though. My thought was that the Race for Alex is a race that was setup to benefit a recovering spinal cord injured racer. Why is this race trying to setup future injuries? I know that may seem a bit harsh and you can call me a p#%ssy if you like but let's face it, bike racing is inherently dangerous as it is even on the safest of courses. Throw in things like crappy, rough railroad crossings and the risk level just gets raised that much higher. I haven't found too many races that I feel are worth the risk of racing and boycott from (Medina Twin Sizzler is the only one right now), but I think I'm going to have to add the Race for Alex to the list that I'm going to avoid from now on. I hate to say it since MVC is a good club, it has great organization and Bob seems to have a lot of passion for this race, but there are better things I can be doing with my time than risking my life.
So, not the way that I wanted to wrap up my season, but I can’t control those things. If I could, I would have won every race that I’ve ever entered. I look forward to really getting into running here this week. I’m hoping to keep riding, at least with commuting to work and maybe the occasional team ride in hopes that I can still race the Chapel Series. I need something to blog after all…..
b
Here's the data for the day's race:
Race for Alex:
Duration: 58:14
Work: 877 kJ
TSS: 98.2 (intensity factor 1.006)
Norm Power: 302
VI: 1.2
Distance: 21.978 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1057 251 watts
Heart rate: 94 205 169 bpm
Cadence: 31 141 97 rpm
Speed: 2.6 35.8 22.6 mph
Pace 1:41 22:59 2:39 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 345 79 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 1165 220 lb-in
Sunday morning I lined up in a field of 54 riders in the Cat 4/Cat 5 field, by far the largest group that I've raced with in awhile. Joining me from Stark Velo was: Matt Turi, Tim House, Chris Smith, Don Bunker, Greg Banic, Bill Fletcher, Tim Graichen and James Votaw. With such a large group of teammates racing, we should hopefully be able to do something productive for the day as we certainly had the numbers. With such a large group and a strict yellow-line rule, moving up was going to be difficult so I did my best to get myself in the top 20 places as we rolled out of the parking lot. Being even this far back would prove to be disaster for the day. It was nice from the sense that I always had someone to block the strong winds, but difficult to move up into any better position. I always like to keep an eye on the front and make moves when necessary. Sitting pinched in the middle of the field sort of makes that logic impractical. A prime example came when Turi took a solo flier off the front on lap 2. I was doing my best to move up in the field to the front to try and slow things down but it was impossible. There were only three ways to do it. Flagrantly breaking the yellow-line rule, take my luck riding in the gutter or be stupid/dangerous and try to squeeze through riders in the field. I decided I'd try to ride near the gutter in hopes that enough openings would happen on that side that I could jump into and leap frog my way to the front. Unfortunately, after almost a lap of Matt being out front, I was nowhere closer to helping him out and he was quickly moving back to us.
The race was fast but I was able to notice some things along the way. Firstly that there was a rider who was walking back to the start line (opposite race direction) who was pushing his bike with a severed handlebar. Wow, wonder how that happened and where. Two, the railroad tracks on the course are absolutely horrible. I still need to take a good look at my Zipps but on one outing over them; I heard a nasty crack when I rolled over it. Hopefully, it was the guy next to me and not my fine 303 hoops.
Starting lap 4 and I'm finally feeling better. It had been a few days since I had an opportunity to ride and I needed a few minutes of high intensity to bring my legs back. I knew with only two laps to go, there was no way I was going to get dropped and hopefully I could find a way up front to get competitive in this thing. After all, it was my last race. So we roll over the track on lap 4. Guys do like they always do on every lap and try to bunny hop them at 35 mph. Something happens and all of a sudden there are bodies and bikes everywhere. I slam on my breaks hoping nobody behind me crashes into me and I safely navigate my way through the carnage that lies on the street. The field moves away from me at that point. I pretty much stop to see if anyone who was involved in it is really hurt or not. I notice that there was a follow vehicle that is there and decided that I can try to catch the main field which at this point was probably down to 25 guys or so.
Well, the wind was too strong and/or they were too fast so I never could catch them. Rode the last lap and a half by myself but nobody ever caught me...for whatever that's worth. Riding solo did give me an opportunity to reflect on that crash though. My thought was that the Race for Alex is a race that was setup to benefit a recovering spinal cord injured racer. Why is this race trying to setup future injuries? I know that may seem a bit harsh and you can call me a p#%ssy if you like but let's face it, bike racing is inherently dangerous as it is even on the safest of courses. Throw in things like crappy, rough railroad crossings and the risk level just gets raised that much higher. I haven't found too many races that I feel are worth the risk of racing and boycott from (Medina Twin Sizzler is the only one right now), but I think I'm going to have to add the Race for Alex to the list that I'm going to avoid from now on. I hate to say it since MVC is a good club, it has great organization and Bob seems to have a lot of passion for this race, but there are better things I can be doing with my time than risking my life.
So, not the way that I wanted to wrap up my season, but I can’t control those things. If I could, I would have won every race that I’ve ever entered. I look forward to really getting into running here this week. I’m hoping to keep riding, at least with commuting to work and maybe the occasional team ride in hopes that I can still race the Chapel Series. I need something to blog after all…..
b
Here's the data for the day's race:
Race for Alex:
Duration: 58:14
Work: 877 kJ
TSS: 98.2 (intensity factor 1.006)
Norm Power: 302
VI: 1.2
Distance: 21.978 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1057 251 watts
Heart rate: 94 205 169 bpm
Cadence: 31 141 97 rpm
Speed: 2.6 35.8 22.6 mph
Pace 1:41 22:59 2:39 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 345 79 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 1165 220 lb-in
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