Snowpocalypse

New Year, New Goals

2011-01-05T10:04:00.000-08:00

It's what I like about a new year. Out with the old and in with the new. Yeah, it's not a truly clean slate but it's a closure of a sort and it really is a new beginning. So here are the goals for 2011, in no particular order other than the sequence they emerged to be typed into the blog.

Ride a few time trials. During the Wednesday night rides, I heard about some 10 kilometer time trials to be held in Gardner, Kansas. Why? I need to get faster, better able to hold intensity over longer periods.
Finish a century ride. I bailed on the two I started in 2010, so this is unfinished business. Yes, I DNF'd for valid reasons (broken rear wheel at the diabetes ride in June;heat/exhaustion/mental games at the Louisburg Cider Mill ride). On the other hand, I came so close to 100 miles at the Octoginta ride (~84 miles). I know I can complete a 100 mile ride.
Do more training and less riding. Vary duration and intensity of rides so that I'm really training. Most of the people I ride with are at least my age, if not older, so I ought to be able to keep up with them. Being smarter about how I ride will make that possible.
Get better at riding in groups. I learned a lot during the group rides and Octoginta, but I have a ways to go before I feel like I'm a skilled group rider.
Technical improvements, like getting comfortable making turns at speed and riding no-hands so I can eat or drink.

I think it's a list of achievable goals.

Centuries

2010-08-02T10:51:00.000-07:00

Damn, it's been a long time since I posted anything. Not quite a century-length gap, but over a year. Short recap: I was right to worry about the 50K race. On a hot, humid day, one under-trained, middle-aged guy (that's me) managed to run/walk a single 25K loop of the course. I've run probably fewer than 30 times since then. Plantar fasciitis is a nasty condition. I've never really been hurt before, not in all those years of running. My best guess: over-use.

I replaced the running with bicycling. I like it a lot. However, I have the same problem as I do with running. I take on more than I ought to. Last August, I did my first ride, Sunflowers to Roses. I took the longest route option, about 70 miles. A few miles in to the ride, I latched on to a couple other guys and we rode the remainder together. Other than some bad calf cramps, all was well. I finished quite tired but happy and proud of myself.

This past June, I took ride #2 as an attempt for a century, a one hundred mile ride, on at the Kansas City Tour de Cure event. Weather was pretty good, I picked some good people to ride with, but a spoke on my rear wheel broke at about 30 miles. By 40 miles, I realized it was not going to happen and hopped a ride back to the start on a SAG wagon. The driver was a veteran of many RAGBRAI rides, and he assured me that it would happen some day.

Roll forward to yesterday, August 1, and the date for attempt #2 at a century. This time, it was the Louisburg Cider Mill ride. Huge ride, loads of riders, multiple course options (25, 50, 70 & 100 miles). Again, not my day. What went wrong? Calf cramps by about 30 miles. Quadricep cramps somewhere in the 40 mile space. Stomach trouble before 25 miles, getting worse as the day wore on. I bagged it mid-way up a hill at about the 65 mile mark. Metric century #2, done.

I'll take this as enough evidence to convince me that I need a bit more preparation and better weather before I try another century. I definitely need to figure out the whole calf-cramp thing. I suspect I need to find the proper hydration/electrolyte replacement beverage.

50 km?

2009-05-24T05:21:00.000-07:00

Why did I sign on for the 50 km version of Psycho Psummer? The battle started in earnest this week. I believe I can do it, but the whole thing scares me.

How long will it take? I'd like to do it in less than 7 hours. I think I need to look at previous years' records to see if 7 hours is a realistic goal.

Time for planning

2009-04-29T14:37:00.000-07:00

This is starting to look a lot like my college running years. Lots of running, not much improvement. The primary reason? Not enough variance in training. Really, it's worse than those years because at least then I got out and did speedwork on a somewhat regular basis.

Now that I'm getting to know how far and how fast I'm running, I see that I'm running about the same pace regardless of distance. I do see I'm running a bit more slowly when I go on ten-plus mile runs, but that's most likely because I'm taking some walk-breaks. I bet that the running is at the "usual" pace.

I think I need to plan some pace variance, in addition to the length variance.

Etc

2009-03-17T02:40:00.000-07:00

Ooops. Been forgetting to post here. Looks like it's been a while since the last entry. Maybe now that I know I still have a job I'll be able to keep up better.

I'm still looking for a reasonable way to track mileage, routes, etc. Hand-mapping sucks anywhere, but without equal at MapMyRun.com. I'm trying AllSport GPS on my Blackberry Curve. It's ok, works with bicycling too, but doesn't give me the mile splits I would like. It also seems a bit inconsistent in terms of how well it tracks "rest" time.

Bought a road bike this weekend. Rode Saturday and Sunday. The new shifters, part of the brake levers, are a little tricky to get used to. I thought I'd be a lot faster on a road bike than on my mountain bike, but only 1 - 2 mph faster on the same course. Hmmm. Work on technique, I think.

Next Race and Goal

2009-03-02T11:17:00.000-08:00

Going to run the Red Bridge Ramble this coming Sunday. Snow this past weekend should be melted by then. I haven't run the course before, but I think it might be nice and muddy. Today's weather report calls for temp near 40 deg. F at the starting time.

Looking back at my training the past couple months, I see that I'm getting more consistent. I think I'm running five days most weeks. Starting in March, I'm going to shoot for six days each week and at least one run of ten miles or more.

Great Race, Hooked on Trails Now

2009-02-16T13:33:00.000-08:00

This past December, I tried the trails at Wyandotte County Park during the Alternate Chili Run. I was naive - never thinking it would take over two hours to run the loop. After six or seven miles, I was tapped out, barely able to slog up the hills. I don't know exactly how long it took me to complete the course, but I think maybe 2:20 or 2:25. I was done for the day, too tired to do anything else.

Call me a fool, but a few days later I signed up for the 10-mile version of the KC Trail Nerds Psycho Wyco Run, Toto, Run.

Fast-forward to this past Saturday, the day of the race. I'd gotten a couple trail training runs in at Shawnee Mission Park and Kill Creek (solo runs, 60 - 90 minutes), maybe a couple runs 60+ minute runs on park paths, and one or two bike rides in the 2 -3 hour range. I was hoping to hit the 2:00 mark or be close to it. On the other hand, we had plans for the evening and I didn't want to be wiped out like the first time.

I started out running slowly, caught up in the pack. I think it was a mile or so out on the course before I didn't have to stop an wait for traffic in front of me. It was colder than the previous time, with some ice on the single-track and a bit of mud on the bridle path. I suppose the course was a lot muddier by the second and third loops, but I didn't get very mudded up.

I was worried about water, so I decided to run with my camelback. I'd tried a couple training runs wearing it, had no problems with it moving around or anything like that. However, when I tried to take some water during the run, I found that the gatorade I'd mixed got frozen in the tube. Turned out to be a non-problem - water and cups were available at the aid station, along with gel packs. I'd never had one of those, so I figured it was a good time to try one. If I puked, it would look better on a race course than during a normal training run. Turns out they are pretty good, although I think they're probably easier to use when it's warmer.

I tend to worry about falling, but after a while, I picked up the pace a few times where I found footing good enough. Turns out I could have picked up the pace a few more times. I was way fresher than I expected at the finish, finishing in 1:59:41. I'm sure I could have done 5 more miles, maybe even a full second loop, without too much trouble. A third loop? Not yet.

Me - Up, up, up the hill we go

Post-race, I pulled on some warmer clothing, downed some awesome black bean soup, and watched people running through for laps 2 and 3. The day was made even better when I scored a water bottle belt thingy in a drawing. I'll have to go back to Dynamic Earth and buy something.

Excellent race, well-marked course, great day, great sponsors/volunteers. Now there's no way I won't be looking for that first 50k, 50-mile, and whatever comes after that.

First

2008-12-17T10:23:00.001-08:00

post