Commuting to work

I rode home from work last night, putting in some extra distance along the way by picking up a loop that leads from my employment into Whitley County. Whitley's a good name for a State county. Is was beautiful...green, twisting roads, blue skies. The world looked so fresh and new, the result of Spring, but out in this area of the world there is no liter. Few cars. Old barns. Nice and peaceful. People waved to me as they passed. No bugs yet. I scared three horses as I cleared a hill - they powerfully stroad away from the side of the street. I saw a huge sheep dog guarding goats. Two turkey vultures circled in the sky - making me feel a bit uneasy. I'd much prefer to sight a passing hawk than a vulture.

Put in 28 miles.

Wednesday I woke to cold weather and had to ride to work, where my car sat parked. I bundled up, and hit the 27 degree weather for another 18 mile trip into work. Uneventful ride - just base mileage. I have to do part 2 of my Speed Work: 600 Meter Supersets. 200 Meters running as fast as you can followed by 400 meters at 90% effort. Gross. That will be four workouts in two days.

32swim 946bike 213run

That's how many miles I'm logged since January 25th of each sport. A good base.

This morning, alarm, 4:50am. I stood up, asleep still, and forced myself to walk away from the bed. Got to the Y somehow and plopped in the water. They keep the downtown Y at bath water temperature. It's horrible for distance swimming, but it sure feels good getting in. The thing I hate most about swimming is getting in the pool. I've always despised that initial bite of cold. Anyway, I put in 2,500 yards. Felt a little weak this morning - tired still in my legs from the weekend push.

Smokey and the Bandit

I've had a series of fairly good workouts over the last few days. Today, Monday, is a rest day.

Friday: swam 3,800 yards. Right after work, when I wanted to go home badly. But I put in a double ladder set instead.

Saturday: Run 7 miles in 49 minutes. Thought I was going to collapse at the end of that one...we had a to attend a silent auction for our children's school that night. I was very silent and felt kind of pre-stroke the whole evening.

Sunday: Triple Brick. 15 mile bike followed by a 2.3 mile run. Repeat three times. This is a good Ironman training workout...your legs keep jumping back and forth from cycling to running to cycling again. That transition takes some getting used to. It poured rain pretty hard the second cycling segment. I was riding my Felt B12. Good to test out the gear and my own fortitude in a solid spring downpour. On the third brick I got the theme song to "Smokey and the Bandit" in my mind somehow.

I kept repeating the words "We've got a long way to go and a short time to get there". I was in some kind of exercised induced delirium. I think it may have been based on my only caloric intake that morning: two donuts.

1/2 Day

My son's school called yesterday informing us that Liam had a 101 degree fever. He had to be picked up, and couldn't go to school today. My wife and I split days like this - each work half of the day, employers willing. I covered the first half. Putting my parental guilt aside, I was able to ride 50 miles this morning on my trainer, in the basement, while being nurse. I got up at 5:00am and started pedaling. When everyone woke up I stopped, got the normal morning completed, settled Liam boy into a movie and then finished my ride before Alvin and the Chipmunks was finished.

50 miles on a stationary trainer is a mental challenge. Contributing to the misery was the beautiful day I could see outside from the basement window. I put in some good work, although I cheated a few times...put my head down on my aero bars and closed my eyes a few times and just kept pedaling. That's poor form - but it felt nice to semi-sleep while exercising. It's hard to do that on city streets with the cars and all.

Yesterday night I did a speedwork run workout. I drove to the closest track I know of but there was team there, so I ended up going to the backside of the park near home. I was hopeful it wouldn't be too busy. I was wrong. There were people walking dogs, and baby strollers, and cyclist, walkers, joggers, and little kids making unpredictable changes in direction all over the place. I was out of options, so I set up shop there in the midst of the masses and got ready to run. I determined the 1/4 mile distance, and the mid point, and then did six all out 1/4 mile sprints. My heart rate was greater than 185 on a few burst. I was a little embarrassed/uncomfortable. I always image my all out stride to look a little ridiculous. "What's that guy trying to prove" was on the mind of all the people I scared yesterday racing past them.

Monday I swam a solid 2,500 yards. Pretty good week so far.

week 16 Recap

Thursday I rode home from work - 18 mile trip. Nice tail wind, on my Felt, very quick trip home. I did have to push off the side of a car that squeezed me into the curb a little too tight. That was kind of exciting.

I rode to work Friday morning. There was a strong headwind, but it was beautiful. I watched the sun rise to my right and huge gray pending rain clouds to my left as I pedaled through the fields.

Saturday I got up and rode a group ride - 40 miles. 8 guys, slower than normal pace, a true training ride. When I got home I ran 8 miles. Held a few 7:30's for a few miles in the middle.

Today, Sunday, I should swim. It would be a nice day to ride or run though. Week 16 was pretty good. The only element of the scheduled plan I skipped was a Cooper swim test....a 12 minute timed swim where you count the laps and record for benchmarking your progress. I don't need that data for swimming. I plan to run more over the next three months, and continuing to build my cycling base. Swimming will fall to third priority.

21 weeks left to train.

The Dentist

I did the Tuesday night race ride again last night, 42 miles total. The pace was fast again, like I felt as if I was going to faint fast. I attacked the front a few times trying to bridge up to one of the fastest cyclist I've ever been around....he's a dentist. I can't believe that the group doesn't refer to him as The Dentist to all the new cyclist that come along like me. Instead they refer to him by his first name. Gary. That's a fine name I suppose, but The Dentist cast some unusual mystery to the figure. His reputation precedes him - known as the most dominant alpha cyclist in the group -but without a nickname? What a missed opportunity.

It's exciting racing these guys, in a training type setting. They want to win. Whenever I attacked they immediately got my wheel, but would never overtake me, just sit there and draft letting me do all the work. So, I'd fall back, regroup, and then attack again. Not the smartest riding, but it kept things interesting. This type of cycling is all about the wind, your position in it, being able to 'read' the reactions of the group, and being able to hit it all out to the point of collapse...and then hitting like that again almost immediately. Otherwise, your dropped.

One of the guys questioned my background, said "looks like you've done this before"..."you've got the engine". I told him I was a swimmer, softly, not to raise any eyebrows, and he said "Oh, that explains it". Swimming does develop a good cardiovascular base.

Tonight I ran four miles, easy does it. With the dog. I got home from work tonight and somehow he had managed to turn the water spicket on outside. Amazing yes? The hose wasn't attached. No one was home, as the kids had Little League practice. The dog stood, covered in mud, digging a big soupy hole in the yard. His nickname is The Menace.

Chlorine

I hate Chlorine. It will likely be the cause of my demise. I sneeze about 20 times per day. It's ironic, to be a life-long swimmer allergic to chlorine. The pool seemed full of it this morning. I swam 1,800 yards...did a butterfly workout, as I wasn't in the mood to put in the time. Butterfly wears me down quickly - you can get a good upperbody and cardiovascular workout in very little time swimming fly.

I ran two miles yesterday morning. Weak miles. It was colder and darker and earlier than I wanted. I forced myself out of bed nonetheless and at least got outside. Last night was better - I ran seven miles, so nine for the day.

I did a ladder run, per my training program:

10 min - L1
8 min L2
4 min L3
2 min L4
30 sec L5
30 sec L5
2 min L4
4 min L3
8 Min L2
10 Min L1

The above sets each had a one minute L1 pace between each run. I followed it to the letter - a much more regimented approach to running. Good quality work. Unfortunately my right leg is a bit stiff...running all out at L5 can do that. It's not everyday you see someone running at the park at their maximum effort. I scare people to death I'm sure - as they hear me come speeding up on them breathing like a wild dog from behind. I apologize, breathless, to those that jump to the side of the trail fearing for their life. People are a little edgy at the local parks I think.

Bike 62 Run 3 (4 hours)

I did a solo 62 mile ride today. The weather looked like rain so I packed my jacket and headed south, away from what the radar showed as rain. It turned out to pleasant, but windy. I rode to Poe, IN again, then turned East heading for Ohio. I rode though Hoagland, IN. There's about as much going on in Hoagland as there is in Poe. The roads were nice anyway - old and smooth. I rode on East from Hland a few miles, all the while in the strong headwind, then turned south and rode for 10 miles, landing me in Decatur, IN. From there I turned East again to fight the wind. Eventually I circled back and met up with Winchester road which lead me to Poe, and home. I was chased by dogs three times. They didn't catch me, although one young pup could have if he had decided to cross the road. I passed a house with a Confederate flag flying - I tried to look my best Caucasian/Republican. I wasn't sure how those Confederates' like men wearing tights passing by on fancy bicycles. I don't think I was riding in Obama country. The very next house had a great big sign made of cardboard in the front yard declaring "Pray for the Virgin Mary". The yard was filled with lawn art of full sized Jesus statues, crosses, Mary's and such. I quickened my pace, excited to see what the next house had to offer. Turned out to be just your run-of-the-mill Indiana farm house.

I got home, safe and sound, and took the dog on a run. I felt pretty good actually - could have gone farther, but I kind of just wanted to stop.

Master Meet Results

I've completely fallen off the exercise wagon. Spring break week for the boys is nearly over - I couldn't dedicate my time to swim/bike/run. We sure had some fun though as a good little family.

Today I walked-on to a Masters swim meet. Small town in Northeast Indiana, but a nice pool - tiled, not steel. Two State records were set today at this meet which surprised me, none in my events. I swam the 400 IM, 500 FREE, 200 IM, and 100 IM. Went 4:44, 5:40, 2:13, and 1:00 respectively - placed first in all. There was not much competition, as in I was the only person who even swam the 400 IM. That event kind of dies out at the Master's level. Not many people over 30 can do it anymore with out killing themselves.

My 500 free time was 'lost'. Usually, with a good official, they fire a gun when the lead swimmer has two laps left. My official fired his gun early, which caused my counter to present the orange square informing me that I was on my last turn, rather than presenting the number 17 (two turns left). So, all the timers approached the block and stopped the clock at the 450 yard mark. I stopped also, in order to yell out instructions that there was no way I had just swam a sub-5:00 minute 500 free and that something was amiss. The guy in the lane next to me caught up, confirmed that the official, the counter, the timers, and I, were all wrong - he did a flip turn and kept on going. So, I started again, sprinted the last 50 yards, and finished. Boy, now that's unusual. I should have stuck to my gut - I thought the gun went early - I just wasn't sure enough, and that has never happened to me before. I laughed it off with all involved, but that was a poorly run race.

Swimming is intense. It's a dual. More like drag-racing. A pure race. I always look at the person in the lane next to me prior to start. I don't thump my chest or anything, I just check them out and try to stay calm. Running, cycling and triathlon are different - everyone starts at the same time, and people that are competing are cheering on others, like we're all about to have a grand old time together. Swimming is different. It requires a competitive focus, at least for me. There are only six people racing at a time, right next to each other, side-by-side, everything gets quiet, as you have to listen closely to every sound at the start. Finally, you explode from the starting block into a rectangle of water, and begin pulling yourself through this beautiful substance that quickly begins to feel like concrete. There's no warm-up, no 'getting into it', it's zero to 100 instantly. It still makes me nervous, after all these years.

7 rabbits

I had a nice run this morning, not much content to write of other than the seven rabbits I saw along the way. The weather was fantastic - it's nice to just throw on shorts and a t-shirt and hit the street rather than laying out three layers of everything the night before. I'm glad to be done with cold weather running. There was a nice half-moon this morning, lots of birds chirping, and the rabbits, my.

I've been busy lately, not getting in the workouts I need. I did run a total of 26 miles last week, but I didn't swim once. I rode 86 miles - also a little light. Easter holiday and work have taken my time. I swam last night, only about 1,300, but pushed 5 x 100 free on a 1:30, holding 1:01-1:02's. Swimming jargon, I know, but that set is a good gauge of fitness. I'd like to get those 100's under a minute in the coming months. April already? I only have five months left.

We're traveling for a few days for Spring Break...again, difficult to stick to my workout routine. That's when running comes in handy. When there's no pool, no bike, I run.

My own personal duathlon

I had the day off, partially. I'm working tomorrow on my Holiday helping with the virtualization of our servers at work when no one else is there. I'm so excited. Can't wait until tomorrow (Read that last part in a completely flat monotone voice).

Today at least: ran 3 - rode 50 - ran 3. About a 4 1/2 hour workout.

My plan called for a 3-hour ride followed by a 10 mile run. I did a pre-run to let the temperature rise a bit, then immediately hit the bike. After the 50 mile ride I ran immediately after - another 3 miles. I was pretty dead on the last 3, and finished early due to another time commitment.

The ride was windy, but sunny and peaceful. Very few cars even passed by. I rode to Poe, IN. Then on through Yoder, then on to Roanoke, and then I got lost, thought I was heading West, but I was going North. Luckily I passed an old barn that is ready to fall down, with a windmill in the yard equally on the verge of collapse. For a few years now I've wanted to take a picture of this place - with a dominant grey thunderstorm brewing in the background. I never have my camera on me though, so it's just a dream. My little photographic dream gave me my bearings today when I happened upon the place. It felt like divinity.

I turned West and pushed it home, with a tail wind finally. On Engle Road I did not slow for a set of train tracks. At the very last second I realized that the asphalt had been recently serviced, or was in the process of being repaired. The tracks jutted out of the street. I thought of doing a little 'buny-hop', vertically jumping over the tracks. But I'm too old for that type of thing, and there was a car tight on my left. So, I hit them, hard, bumpity-bumpity. My second water-bottle popped loose, got slightly caught somehow in my rear wheel spoke, and as I continued to pedal through the bottle drove into my frame - bending a spoke. I'm heart broken. My Mavics of all things. My rear wheel is completely out of true. And - it was my favorite water bottle. It happens, bikes are mechanical and they fail.

The more I think about it the deeper the depression grows. I took my injured bike to the shop and they aren't even a Mavic dealer. I hate dealing with bike parts. At least I didn't crash on the train tracks huh? To keep on the sunny-side.