Am I a Man or am I a Muppet?

Our girls really enjoyed the recently released Muppet movie and are especially fond of Jason Siegel's song from the movie "Am I a Man? Or am I a Muppet?" 



I found myself singing this to myself today as I took the decision to not run in tomorrow's Cary Road Race 10K......        Did I make a sensible decision or am I a giant wuss?

As documented in yesterday's blog post, I have been experiencing some lower back pain and also turned my ankle during a run.    Today I went for a short "test run" to see how things felt.   I had absolutely no problem running at a slow to moderate pace, but as soon as I took it up to race pace my back started to give me some discomfort.

I fretted a little about what to do, but in the end I decided not to run the 10K.   I think I could probably have run the course at a moderate pace without too much problem, but I really didn't see much point in going out and just running the distance - I can do that at home - I want to race!   On top of that, of course, there's always the chance that I could aggrevate things, so discretion is the best part of valor!  

A good decision?   I think so (and The Puppeteer agrees)....    maybe not all that manly, but I'm not a  Muppet either.   If I was, I would probably be this guy....

Wocka, wocka, wocka!

Curse you Greg McMillan!

So I'm signed-up for the Cary Road Race 10K this coming Saturday.......

Usually I would be really looking forward to it.  It's forecast to be a beautiful morning and it's a nice gently rolling course around the Koka Booth amphitheatre in Cary, NC. http://www.townofcary.org/Departments/Parks__Recreation___Cultural_Resources/Sports/Sports_Events_and_Tournaments/Cary_Road_Race.htm

I feel a little "un prepared" for this one for some reason.  In general my running has been down a little (I wish I could say the same for my weight!) since my calf injury back in December, so I'm not sure what sort of performance to expect.   It's just an early season warm-up - certainly not an "A" race - but never-the-less I hate the thought of putting in anything other than a good effort.   I asked The Puppeteer whether I should haved a target time or pace in mind and she basically said that I should "run by feel" and that 8:30 to 8:45 pace should be fine.

As a double check, I checked Greg McMillan's well known running site at http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/ where you can use a calculator to plug in previous times at various distances and get an estimate of what time you should be taking to run other distances (assuming that you're doing the right training).  For "fun" I plugged in my half marathon time from last November (1:57:37) and it spat out a 10K time of 52:51 (8:30 pace).   OK, so at the faster end of what The Puppeteer estimated, but roughly aligned.   I then plugged in my 5K time for last years Dios de los Muertos race (22:49) and it spat out a 10K estimate of 47:26 (7:37 pace)....    Yikes!    There's no way I will be able to get anywhere near that!   I cut myself some slack for not having been able to run hard over the winter, but really Greg McMillan....    you have to make me feel that inadequate!   :-)



The bottom line, of course, is that it's early season and I will go out and use it as a rough guide for where I am at the moment and, hopefully, as a springboard for greater things.  I need to get focused before Saturday though!

Unfortunately, to add to my joy, I now have two more nagging annoyances to deal with (no, not The Snitch and Compass!).   I was working in our corporate offices in NJ earlier this week and noticed an annoying "twinge" in my lower back.   I know that it wasn't caused by any particular workout - perhaps those ridiculously tiny airline seats on regional jets?   On top of that, I was walking to cool down after a short run earlier today and an idiot in a truck came barreling towards me while not paying attention and talking on the phone.  I saw him coming and hopped-up on to the grass verge, only to turn my left ankle.  Damn, damn, damn!   As I sit here typing this I can still feel it, but hopefully a session on the bike trainer tonight and a good nights rest will stretch it out and have it feeling better in the morning - we'll see!

On the plus side of all of this.....    you'll all be able to have a good laugh when I post my race report!  :-)

Still alive and kicking

As I sit here in Nags Head, NC on a very wet and windy Good Friday, secretly thankful that today appears as a rest day on Training Peaks, it occurs to me that it has been waaay too long since I posted to my blog.   The last post was back in early March and it has been a pretty busy time since then.

Overall, I would say that training has been going well.  There has been no recurrance of my calf injury and my swim continues to improve.  My first race of the season (White Lake, NC) is just a month away now and I have a "warm-up" at the Cary 10K road race next weekend.  The calf issue and some typical "winter bugs" slowed things down early in the year, but more recently things have been going well.

I spent a very busy week working in the UK a couple of weeks back.  It featured a lot of early starts and working into the evenings, so it was definitely a light week for training.  I did manage some time on the bike in the gym; a short run around a very fancy golf course and a muddy six mile hike where I managed to get lost in the magnificent Cheshire countryside and ended up getting followed by a large group of about twenty (thankfully friendly) horses!  On the plus side, I did get to stay at this place......



Mottram Hall, Cheshire, UK

 Last weekend was a highlight as I attended Spring Tri Camp hosted by TriStacey and Evolve Multisport.   The Puppeteer and coach Marisa Carter put on a great event held in and around Chapel Hill.  I learned a lot and made some new friends.  Yoga class was interesting, but the highlight of the weekend for me was a great ride in the rain on the Saturday morning.   I don't often get to ride in big groups, so that in itself was fun, but the ride also featured a 10 mile time trial over rolling terrain (~30 mins) and hill repeat work on Borland Road.   Fun!

Trying to look cool at Tri Camp

The weekend also featured a track workout at UNC, a recovery run, two swim sessions at Homestead Aquatic Center and lots of talks and lectures.   Thanks coaches Stacey and Marisa for a great time!

Who said coaches don't have lots of teeth?   Marisa and Stacey looking happy at UNC track. 

Now it's time to really focus over the next four weeks and get ready for "Revenge at White Lake"....    those of you who read about last years escapades will know what I mean....     I'm excited that the season is finally here!

On Becoming a Fish...

Anyone remember the Japanese cartoon "Marine Boy" from the late sixties?   The English dubbed version was apparently screened on television in the US, UK and Australia.  In this series Marine Boy (with a friendly dolphin whose name escapes me and "Neptina" the mermaid) patrols the oceans and can swim for hours with the aid of "Oxy-Gum"......



Well, today I must have had a little Oxy-Gum in my breakfast cereal, as I had what I am thinking of as a breakthrough swim workout of 3,200 yards, including a 1,000 yard freestyle continuous set.   Nothing spectacular for many of my triathon friends who think nothing of ripping out 2.4 mile open water swims, but for me this was a big milestone!

This time last year I was just starting to get "back in the pool" and struggling mightily.   I was in no danger of drowning, but my freestyle form was average and my endurance was lousy - the two are related of course!
My swim struggles at the White Lake Triathlon have been well documented in this blog and, to be honest, going to the pool to workout felt like a chore. 

Going in to this season I was determined to improve and I have been taking my swim sessions much more seriously.  Basically I told myself to "HTFU" and do the work needed to improve.  Discovering Raleigh's Optimist pool instead of having to go to the dreary Millbrook Exchange has certainly helped.   The Puppeteer had me doing two sessions a week (typically 2,000 to 2,400 yards each) until recently, when I asked her to add a third.  I have workd hard on my drills and am definitely "longer" in the water and stronger in my catch and it's finally paying dividends!   I did a pool session with The Puppeteer a couple of weeks back and was very encouraged about what she said about my stroke and form.

It felt great to complete the 1,000 yard set with good form today.  Not only that, but I ripped off 2 x 500 yard sets with swim paddles immediately afterwards and felt strong.  Perhaps, as The Puppeteer is fond of saying, I'm "becoming a fish" and "growing gills".   She told me that it would come if I kept at it and so will from hereon be known as "Doctor Fate".... 

Race Wheels!

Some time back I posted that I had picked-up a second hand Zipp 808 wheelset.    For the unitiated, these are carbon "race wheels" that are lighter and have better aerodynamic properties than standard "training" wheels.  In theory they should allow you to generate a little more speed and shave some time in races.   If nothing else, they look cool and make you "feel" a little faster!

They are typically (perhaps "potentially" is a better word?) a little more fragile than other wheels, so they tend to get saved for use in races.  There is also a bit of a "dork factor" in the cycling and triathlon communities if you use your race wheels all the time.  To be honest, I'm not sure why this is, but it just is.  The Puppeteer described using race wheels for training as "like wearing Prada to the grocery store" (to which I say, if you can afford it, why not?).

Anyway, I have shown great restraint and avoided using them so far, but race season is getting close and, at the very least, it makes sense to have at least tried them out to get used to them.   On top of this, when I bought the wheels the seller threw in a Wheelbuilder Aero Disc cover for the rear wheel and I wanted to try this out too.   This is basically a plastic cover which clips over the spokes and makes things even more aerodynamic.

So one evening this week I fixed the disc cover to the rear wheel and, to earn brownie points with The Puppeteer, I duly affixed TriStacey stickers to each side. 

The istallation was very easy - much more straightforward than I imagined!

Next step was to re-attach the gear cassette and to mount this rear wheel and the "deep" Zipp 808 front wheel to The Slut.   Here's what she looks like in all her glory:

I should have remembered to take the bag with spares etc. off the back of the seat post before I took the photo - another rookie triathlete party foul!

Personally I think she looks pretty hot!

Yesterday was an absolutely glorious day here in central NC - sunny and 80 F - not at all bad for the first day of March!   I was scheduled for a 75 min ride with 6 x 4 min hard intervals, interspersed with 4 min recoveries at high cadence.  It sounded like the perfect excuse to take the new set-up for a spin!

What I didn't bargain on was the wind!   It was extremely blustery out.   This was far from ideal on two counts:

Firstly, I was looking forward to seeing if I could notice a speed difference with the new wheels.  This is all but impossible when riding into head winds and cross winds.  What I can say is that in aero position I was able to hold around 20 mph directly into a strong head wind and I'm not sure whether I would have been able to do that previously.

The second problem with the wind is that the disc on the rear and the deep rim on the front make a great sail!  Handling the bike is much more difficult in gusty winds when riding with this type of set-up.  I guess that I can take some positives away from this, as I was able to control the bike even in yesterday's very gusty conditions.

I did make a few other observations:

1.  The sound that is made when riding the disc wheel is awesome!   :-)
2.  I need to adjust my gears - there was some slippage with this set-up that I haven't noticed before.  Could be the way the rear cassette is installed?
3.  It's very difficult to maintain a very high cadence recovery interval directly in to a strong headwind without either getting blown off or starting to move beckwards!
4.  The wheels "free wheel" really well!  Noticably different to my "normal" wheels.  I'm not sure if this is because of the improved aerodynamics or because the Zipps have really good bearings, but either way if felt great.  Even more speed on the descents - yeah!

Not convinced that I could keep up with this lady though!

Exercise Junkie??

Have been "radio silent" on the blog for a while and it comes down to "just too much going on"!    This past week was a classic "perfect storm" of everything coming together at the same time...     something had to give and it was workouts!

In addition to it being winter break for my girls, I have been pulled in to a corporate acquisition diligence exercise at work that has involved spending long hours in electronic data rooms and four regularly scheduled conference calls every day.  It's an international thing, so calls have started early and finished late.  I narrowly missed having to be on a plane to Switzerland on Sunday evening.   Let's just say that it has been more than a little busy.

Although SWMBO sometimes questions it (!), I have always said that family>work>triathlon, and I stand by that, but boy is it hard sometimes.  I managed to get in just one swim early on Monday and one session on the trainer, but absolutely nothing else this week.   I guess that I'm at peace with that - I'm not training for the Olymoics after all - but it's amazing how "itchy" I have been to get out there and do something!   I guess that what they say about the endorphin rush is true - exercise has become a bit like a drug!   Can't wait to get out for a short run this morning and take the girls for a ride on the American Tobacco Trail this afternoon!



Talking about drugs, I can also give a quick update on my "give up booze and lose a few more pounds" initiative.  I started on Monday  and....   so far, so good!  Not a drop has passed my lips and, to be honest, it hasn't been much of a problem.   Have taken to drinking flavored sparkling water in the evening as a "displacement activity" for that wine glass tipping that I had become used to and I quite like it!  The only issue I'm facing is that I'm getting "the munchies" in the evening and am having to fight the urge to snack.  I have managed to win that fight so far.  I haven't seen much evidence of improvement on the scales yet, but that could well be coupled with the lack of exercise this week as detailed above!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's card from my eldest daughter.....       I guess she has me pegged!   :-)

Yep...    that swim stroke looks a lot like mine!  
My bikes are marginally cooler that the one she drew (and my seat is too high!).
But my run form looks awesome!