Turning the crank

3.5 miles
30.03 minutes
Negative splits for the out and back
No pain.

Getting there.

Cautiously Optimistic

I went out for my third 30 minute run yesterday, and everything felt a-ok with the calf. I'm making myself stay on this regimen another week before adding distance and frequency. Hopefully by that point I'll be out of the woods.

Resolution Kept

There were periods late this winter, through the spring, even up until the week of the race that I rued making the New Year's Resolution to run the Vermont City Marathon because I (like 99.9% of New Year's Resolvers) never keep my resolutions. Well, this year, I've kept at least one of them: I finished the VCM and while I can't say it was always fun, it was a great experience.

Formalities
The course was tough and challenging; the race was well organized; the atmosphere was amped up and intimate. I ran a 4:27:10 (gun) 4:24:10 (net). I was happy with my results though I finished in the bottom third of the field, overall, and I screwed up my time measurement so I don't really have a mile-by-mile breakdown -- but I ran this race faster than I ran NYC in '04. I covered the first half in 2 hours; crossed 20 miles at 3 hours and bonked hard between 21 and 25, and rallied to finish strong. I feel pretty good today, and the more I move around the less sore I am. I think I might go out for a little run tomorrow. Scrambling on boulders at Smuggler's Notch on Monday was actually good for me. My ankles and knees feel fine and I'm ready to keep going.

Friends
The best part of this experience, without a doubt, was that I saw my friends and family all around the course and it was an awesome experience. VTR and Mrs. VTR put us up and fed us and were just rocking hosts, and, as always, great friends. The Free Artists were on-hand as well and it was special to share this with them -- again, rocking friends. I've run a bunch of races, and high-fived little kids all along the courses. It was so amazing to high five Child One, and FA's oldest (my God-Daughter). It was just incredibly special. VTR yelled and cheered for me, from his bike, along a rather brutal part of the course, and that helped tremendously.

Impressions
The first 10 miles of the course went really smoothly. Running through town at the start was great, and the fans were amped. I worked really hard to limit my pace. Seeing my cheering section within mile one was awesome! I was reminded of my theory about the dearth of Indian distance runners. There was an Indian guy and his wife, at the start. They were all lovey and smiley. He had on red and yellow-striped (at the top) cotton socks that were taller than crews but shorter than knee socks. I passed him around mile two while he was walking . . . that's a long day. If he hadn't eaten Naan, Dal and curry the night before I think he would have been better-off -- I know from personal experience. It was fun to run along Rt. 127 -- a closed down (for the day) highway. Despite lack of fan support out there it was early enough in the race that it didn't really matter. They had some Brazilian drum troupe out there and that was really cool.

Miles 10-14 are sort of a blur. I messed up my laps and didn't realize it until the halfway mark. I really have very little memory of this part of the race except for crossing the halfway mark and then running along a very narrow portion of bike path, over some small bridges and near some RR tracks, with Champlain to the left. Mile 13-14 was run in a too quick 8:05. I recall coming off the bike path with this guy in an orange tank and big long braid and then starting the climb of Battery Hill. The Japanese drummers were awesome and my cheering section was even louder. I committed to crushing that hill and I think I did. I was pumped up for it and it was fun, fun, fun!

I paid for Battery Hill later -- around mile 16! My legs felt like they were totally filled with blood, trying to stave off injury and the going got tough. VTR was awesome helping me through that section talking it up and keeping me going. It was really sunny out there, and sort of fan-less and this is where lack of fans starts to hurt. I slogged on through 16, 17, 18 and the course dove into a residential neighborhood which was no fun to run in. Some people were into it, most were totally desultory spectators, just watching us slog on. At 19 I was racked, and walking quite a bit. I ran through 20 and fell into pace with a young woman named Laura and we slogged on for about 2 miles together both wondering when it got fun.

At 21 a short, sharp downhill hammered me, Laura continued on and I kept shuffling. I walked half miles and ran half miles of each of the remaining miles up to 25. My pace was down around 14 mins/mile, but I at least ran through each mile marker. Another funny set of interactions out in the last chunk was with a woman with a pink running skirt and a long red braid. We kept passing one another and wise cracking about the last few miles. It was all minor stuff, but it was funny. She kept calling me Orange Guy. I geared up to finish it strong with a guy that I'd been passing and then he'd pass me. We came into the chutes just after 25 and I saw my cheering section again and got a huge adrenaline jolt from everybody as well as the general crowd. I finished with a nice kick (I love adrenaline!). I don't know, unfortunately, what happened to my final mile partner, I out-kicked him and not on purpose. Through the last half to quarter mile my calf was really starting to ball up and I willed it not to cramp and stop me.

After the finish I headed into the runners' food tent and was getting some grub when I saw this young kid sitting in a wheel chair. I lost it and started crying. I felt so blessed to have done what I did, to have had the experience and seeing that kid just brought it all home to me. It was very emotional and very cool, and it was a great experience surrounded by family and friends on a beautiful, if hot, day. Overall, I was happy with my time -- I improved from NY '04 -- and though I didn't meet either of my reach goals it was a positive experience. I learned much about training, and pacing and even though I said this is my last marathon, there might be another in me. My kids totally got it -- a couple of weeks ago they were running around the house saying that they were running a marathon. I'd undertaken this partly to be a good example and to be an active father and show them commitment and dedication and I think that it worked. For that I'm truly grateful, and it was a great experience. Thanks the VTRs, FAs for being a part of it. Special thanks to Mrs. A for all her patience and support and also to C1 & C2. It was an awesome experience.

Long Road

Well, I was sufficiently inspired by Agricola's performance at the VT City Marathon to set up my training schedule. I went on a 30 minute run yesterday, and I'll do the same time every other day for a couple of weeks to ease the calf back into things. At that point, on July 1, I officially start training for the Cape Cod Marathon.

The goal now is to stay healthy and stretch like crazy. I hope to fill in the training schedule with plenty of group runs and races. Keep an eye out for invitations to join in.

Later boys. Welcome to summer.

Warrior

Enough said.

Agricola, congratulations on taking back your 26.2 at the Vermont City. Well done.

Blogging for climate change...

Hey, I'm meeting with the guys at Brighter Planet tomorrow and I came across something that was specific to bloggers, so I thought I'd mention it. Brighter Planet is in the business of carbon offsets. Anyway, they launched this initiative, The 350 Challenge, in which people post their "badge" in exchange for 350 lbs worth of off-sets. Thought you'd be interested and maybe we could post a badge. If nothing else, I thought it was interesting that blogs were specifically targeted for this campaign.

Here's the link.
http://350.brighterplanet.com/

Check it out and if you feel inspired to badge up on LDT, they have code to embed.

On the exercise front, a buddy of mine asked if I would run his leg of the marathon relay because he pulled his calf. I thought that was funny, since I'm dealing with the same injury. No exercise for me today. The calf is actually a bit tight. Tomorrow will be another gym day.

Biking and such

My folks were up for the weekend, which gave Mrs. VTR and I an opportunity to do something we haven't done in a long time -- hit the road on our bikes. We rode from just south of Waterbury to Montpelier and back. We actually split up before Montpelier because Mrs. VTR had another commitment, so I was on my own heading back.

The plan was to meet back at our starting point, where I would hitch a ride back home. The thing is, I didn't want to stop. I ended up biking all the way back through Waterbury and home. The return trip included a number of nasty hills, including the mile or so up to my house. It was challenging, but really good.

I found myself super aware of my calf throughout the ride. The first part of the trip was a breeze, but I was still a bit tentative. On the way home, I started to really grind and felt it a bit in the calf. I'm not sure if the tightness was from being away from biking for so long or from my injury. Either way, I kept on pedalling and the pain went away, moved over to my other calf, jumped behind the knee, etc. Really, I was just too aware of my body because I ended up fine and felt no pain today.

I have to say it felt great to be out on the bike. Grinding away made me feel powerful in a way that is very different than running. It's something about the feeling of the muscles pushing against the pedals -- very isolated focus versus the overall body/experience awareness I have running. Anyway, it felt good. FreeArtist, we have to get out soon.

See you over the weekend.

Last Weekend

Alright, so this was my last weekend. I went for 5+ Saturday, and 1:45 today -- probably in the neighborhood of 12ish, though I'm not sure. I felt OK both days but I have to admit, I really think I'm under-trained for this event. All in all though today went pretty well except for the serious tightness in my left hip flexor -- it was killing me for the better part of the run and I stopped about 15 minutes from the end and stretched it out and finished pretty strong. I've had much tightness and soreness in that muscle for the better part of this training course and it's actually been making me feel like I'm not ready.

The feeling is different than fatigue -- it's just out-and-out sore and super tight. Well, whatever, next Sunday is it, I'll take a few more easy runs this week, hydrate as much as possible over the next several days and probably do some stretching to stay limber and try and fight off this hip flexor thing.

Thanks for the support, boys. I make no promises about next week except that I'll be on the starting line and run as much as I can, and when it's all over, I'll be drinking some beers at VTR's house Sunday night.

Speaking of Nips

You sit on a trainer differently that on a bike in motion. The physics are different, and as a result the sit on a trainer is heavier, less variable. I pulled out the trainer Monday night, so I could ride and talk with Mrs. FreeArtist, having arrived at home a bit later than is typical for lately. At 26 minutes / 7.5 miles, I had a bad feeling in the ya-yas, so I bailed. It was a little scary, actually.

I'm in San Francisco through Friday so won't ride/blog again until the weekend. Peace, boys.

Dirty Water

I jumped out at lunch today and took a run with a colleague -- we used to run together when both worked at Mullen. Our current office in East Cambridge and we ran from there, in front of the Museum of Science, up Storrow along the Charles to the Mass Ave Bridge -- 364 Smoots long -- and back down Memorial Drive to our office. It was a nice loop and a beautiful day, although super windy. We ran for about 36 minutes and that was good for me since my quads are still sort of tight from Saturday.

I've never run along the banks of the River Charles, and it was a cool experience. It was an experiential run to start off my summer of experiential running.

Saturday, 2.66

I did get out this weekend, I just haven't taken the time to post it up. I went for a whopping 2.66 hours. I covered about 16.5 miles and was painfully picking my away along when the family truckster appeared to pick me up and take my tired, sore, chaffed, cold body home. I was doing pretty well for the first two hours but it all fell apart in the third and I was VERY happy to be rescued. My quads were fairly shot (and they were really painful on stair descents yesterday), my nipples were scorched and bleeding and I was wiped. It was good that I got out, and I feel some sense of accomplishment but I'm nervous about this marathon. I might get out for another couple hours this coming weekend just to harden things up a bit more. I know that this is totally not how you train for a marathon but I figure if I situate the race in a continuum of long runs then maybe I'll be stronger. We'll see, what do I know.

As far as experiential running goes I was thinking about some runs along the Charles River; between App Gap and Lincoln Gap and trying to do a run where we could just run for like 5 hours, in one direction at a leisurely pace and just see how far we get . . . could be interesting.

Maybe Caught a Draft

I fell in behind a team ride last night, about 6 guys and a girl. (There are generally fewer girls on bikes, I've observed.) I wasn't close enough to catch a draft, and I don't know how to do that, anyway, but I definately had the feeling of being pulled along. While I didn't talk with anyone in the group, I think it was mainly due to the social nature of the encounter. I've thought several times about joining a cycling club but always concluded that my life schedule wasn't consistent with anything regular, esp. as most clubs ride on Saturday mornings. Rethinking that. Anyway, the group kept a comfortable 17 mph pace for a quarter turn around the Park. At the Carousel it decided to step on the gas, and promptly dropped me. So much for being pulled along.

I'm pleased that I got out four of the last five nights, but I am feeling fatigued. The FreeArtists head upstate tonight for the weekend and for unrelated resons I'll leave the bike in the city, though I am feeling like I could use the recovery time.

The numbers:

Distance: 12.3 miles
Time: 00.48.32 hours
Av Speed: 15.2 mph (I stopped to take a cell phone call; not sure how stopping affects this metric. I know, excuses, excuses.)

No HR info today.

Another Twist

Child Two requested that we go running again this AM so I obliged him. We laid out his stuff the night before and prepped his snack. It didn't save us much time because I didn't get out of bed right away. He also asked that we go back through downtown, so we did, even though I was going to run another route. He did not however want to go back the same way -- I'm just doing out an backs right now and trying to cut down on turns etc. and just try and go out in one direction. So we did make some turns and ran through some side streets. I didn't have my watch today, so no data, but we went out for about 40 minutes again. It is a nice time together and the weather is beautiful. Child Two calls his sneakers his running shoes and he always wants to wear his running shoes. Yesterday he and his sister were running around the house, running a marathon. That was kind of cool. Perhaps my activity is setting a good example for them. It's one of my goals of being active, and it seems to be seeping in.

More Short Distances

Not much to say tonight. It's 69 degrees and clear in New York City. The nice weather must have finally put the zap on my fellow New Yorkers. I've been out in the Park three times in the last four days, and its been more crowded each time. Keeping the hubris bottled up is easy when the bankers and lawyers are out on their bikes in force, in their racing jerseys with I-talian logos, buzzing past at twice my speed. At least I won't fall.

The numbers:

Distance: 12.35 miles
Time: 00.46.48 hours
Av Speed: 15.9 mph (small improvement tonight, I think)
Av HR: 158 bpm
Mx HR: 221 bpm (this must be a fluke...that's weirdly high. My HR has never been above 178-ish)
Calories Burned: 764

Peace,

A Twist

I went out this AM with Child 2 in the stroller -- mid-week kid run, that's the twist. We were up around 6:10 but didn't get out the door until about 6:40. We went out for 40 minutes and it was fun. He was talking the whole way, it was a beautiful, brisk morning and we totally enjoyed it. I slowed down to a walk near the last hill to navigate around a car and psyche myself up to push him over it and he says to me "how come we're walking, Dadda?" I started running right away. It was classic. We saw a nasty dead opossum and he was sort of fascinated by its corpse -- all bloody and gross, and also by a tennis ball in the gutter. He was talking about the ball when we got home -- for some reason its presence in the gutter really grabbed his attention and his imagination. It seemed to me that he realized that there was some story behind how the ball got to the gutter.

Anyway, I took a new approach and adopted a new attitude. I went out because I like to run, and I like to run 30+ minutes. Whatever happens with training the rest of the way happens and whatever happens in Burlington also happens. I'm just going to run to run and enjoy the experience. I'm not competing with anybody but me, and even with myself I'm taking a more experiential approach. It is what it is, and running needs to fit with my life. Marathon training doesn't really, but I think it will someday. I know I just spoke of a sprint tri in one of my comments, but that could work for me -- nothing major, maybe like a 1/4 miles swim, 15 mile bike and 5K run -- totally doable and not overly brutal to train for. Experiential, that's my watchword this summer.

Short Distances

I snuck out last night for a quickie, round and round the Park Drive. I haven't exceeded 18 miles since my new cycling year began a few weeks ago, and I am starting to jones for a longer ride, particularly as I've started to use a dromedary bag for my water supply. I am drinking much more than when I carried water in bottles. Anyway, I expect Memorial Day weekend will likely be my next best opportunity for a 30+miler, so I am starting to plan for that. No numbers today...I didn't wear my heart rate monitor last night, and my distance/time/av speed is on the on-board computer at home...but I don't want to slow my blog momentum!

yes, I s*ck, but not today

I'm posting this for FA, it was originally written on 4/20/08. -- Agricola

Gents, just took the bike out for a shortyin CP, my first ride of 2008. (As interminable as my late fall/winter/early spring slothfullness became, I cling to this scrap of pride: I NEVER hung laundry on the bike!) Anyway, my first stats for the news season read like I've got work to do:

Distance: 11.35 miles
Time: 43.53 minutes
Av Speed: 15.5 mph
Av HR: 152 bpm
Mx HR: 176 bpm (The Great Hill)
669 Calories burned

So, I caught up on the April posts, VTR's injury, Ag's Sherman-esque run through ATL. Saw the Agricolae last weekend and heard an idle thought from Ag that the blog might shut down. That would be too bad.

The BTV Marathon is May 25. Don't know if our plans are for PH that weekend but if so, we'll aim to root for Ag from the sidelines, maybe with the VTRs?

I've blown being in any kind of shape for the Montauk Century, but am looking for alternatives later in the summer. I'm open to suggestions. VTR, is cycling in the rehab plan? If so, let's look for a Saturday morning in May / June and do a section of the champlain bikeway.

It feels good to blog again, to get out and break a sweat, to look forward to another ride. Feels good to catch up with you both.

Peace,
FA

A Better Fall

It's 53 degrees and windy in the Big Apple, so I headed into the Park betting the tourists would all stay in the Museum. There was a detour around the Revlon Walk for Something and I took a spill trying to get around a rollerblader on the narrow footpath, but drew no blood. I've only fallen off the bike three of four times, but I am getting better at it. I used to stick my knee and elbow out, to break the fall. That's dumb, and luckily only a good scar proves it. Today I tucked my my knee and elbow towards by bike/body, and took the fall on my hip and shoulder. Much better. The grass helped, too.

The numbers:

Disatnce: 18.15 miles
Time: 1.15.58 hours
Av Speed: 14.3 mph (slower than usual today; I suspect the detour pulled me down.)
Av HR: 149 bpm
Max HR: 178 bpm, the great hill, whoa
Calories burned: 1131

Peace, brothers.

Long time no post

Hey all,

Sorry for the lack of posting. Due to the injury to my ankle sustained in the fall and then another injury to the other ankle, on the ice rink no less, my running days have been non existent. I have worked out several times with the team I coach, a little lifting and mostly biking. The left ankle is still sore and I must have hurt it really well. I hope you are all well. Agricola, keep up the good running and congrats on the new gig. Let's chat when you have the chance. VT Runner, sounds like you are recuperating just fine. Keep on trucking and I will post. Everyone heading to reunion?

Peace.