Not sure how much I can do to protect myself in this crazy household, but I guess that I'll just try to quarantine myself as much as possible and keep my fingers crossed!
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Quarantine!
Ugh! There are just five days to go before the Outer Banks Half Marathon and my oldest daughter is home from school with a sore throat and horrible cough. I can only describe it as sounding like an elephant seal being assaulted with an iron bar!
Not sure how much I can do to protect myself in this crazy household, but I guess that I'll just try to quarantine myself as much as possible and keep my fingers crossed!
Not sure how much I can do to protect myself in this crazy household, but I guess that I'll just try to quarantine myself as much as possible and keep my fingers crossed!
Friday, November 4, 2011
My New Mistress.....
I was excited to see the FedEx truck pull up the driveway today, because I knew that inside was the new love of my life..... no, not the delivery driver (although she was pretty cute!), my new Cannondale Slice 3 Ultegra!
She was very neatly packed.....
But I soon had her ready for assembly.....
Shimano Ultegra components, except for the carbon cranks.
Vision aerobars
Fiz'ik saddle
I soon had her "roughly" assembled (I need to go and see Matt - the Cycle Surgeon for a fitting ASAP) but I can't wait to ride her, but have to wait until I get some new pedals - You can be sure that I'll be heading out to get some tomorrow!
SWMBO has already realised that she has competition for my affections and has named her..... "The Slut!" :-)
She was very neatly packed.....
But I soon had her ready for assembly.....
Shimano Ultegra components, except for the carbon cranks.
Vision aerobars
Fiz'ik saddle
I soon had her "roughly" assembled (I need to go and see Matt - the Cycle Surgeon for a fitting ASAP) but I can't wait to ride her, but have to wait until I get some new pedals - You can be sure that I'll be heading out to get some tomorrow!
SWMBO has already realised that she has competition for my affections and has named her..... "The Slut!" :-)
Phew!
The OBX Half Marathon is getting closer.....
On Wednesday The Pupeteer had me scheduled for a track workout, including some 1000 M intervals "for time" (I'm not really sure what she does with my times once I've submitted them too her - she probably just sits back and has a good laugh!).
Track work is, I'll freely admit, not excatly my favorite, but at lunchtime I headed down to the local school track to try to do as I was instructed: Warm-up; 8 x 400 M splits; a mile at Half Marathon pace; 3 x 1,000 M splits. Quel horreur! The track was closed for some sort of maintenance. I don't know of any other tracks local enough to get to for a lunchtime session so (secretly smiling to myself) I headed home to at least try to replicate the planned session on some local flat roads. This is where the trouble started....
As soon as I started warming-up in my driveway I could feel some sort of tightness under my left knee cap. My concerns were amplified when I started a gentle warm-up run. Uh oh.... on every left foot strike I could feel my left knee. I wouldn't describe it as pain - more a discomforting pressure/"tweak". With the race less than two weeks away I didn't want to push my luck, so I walked home (still feeling the knee) and abandoned the workout.
At this point I'm a bit concerned and sent The Puppeteer a message to let her know. We agreed that I would try a 45 minute aerobic session on the bike trainer that evening, and I felt a little better when I finished that without any difficulties or discomfort.
Yesterday I had a seven mile run with intervals scheduled. I woke up without any discomfort in my knee but it was, never-the-less, with some trepidation that I set out. I walked 0.75 miles before I started and threw in every warm-up move that I could think of... high steps, lunges, twists, jumps, strides, backwards etc. I went very "gingerly" (~10 min/mile pace) for the first mile to test things out... nothing! Yipee! Pushed the pace from there and was happy to finish the seven miles without ever feeling my knee. Color me happy.
I am increasingly realising that this type of incident is probably something that you just have to live with as an "older" triathlete. I have absolutely no clue what the problem with my knee was and I likely never will. The Puppeteer has me working on all sorts of things to improve core strength and flexibility - this sort of incident just reinforces to me how important this stuff is!
This is a great site for anyone who's interested: http://www.coreperformance.com/
Two hour run scheduled tomorrow... fingers crossed!
On Wednesday The Pupeteer had me scheduled for a track workout, including some 1000 M intervals "for time" (I'm not really sure what she does with my times once I've submitted them too her - she probably just sits back and has a good laugh!).
Track work is, I'll freely admit, not excatly my favorite, but at lunchtime I headed down to the local school track to try to do as I was instructed: Warm-up; 8 x 400 M splits; a mile at Half Marathon pace; 3 x 1,000 M splits. Quel horreur! The track was closed for some sort of maintenance. I don't know of any other tracks local enough to get to for a lunchtime session so (secretly smiling to myself) I headed home to at least try to replicate the planned session on some local flat roads. This is where the trouble started....
As soon as I started warming-up in my driveway I could feel some sort of tightness under my left knee cap. My concerns were amplified when I started a gentle warm-up run. Uh oh.... on every left foot strike I could feel my left knee. I wouldn't describe it as pain - more a discomforting pressure/"tweak". With the race less than two weeks away I didn't want to push my luck, so I walked home (still feeling the knee) and abandoned the workout.
At this point I'm a bit concerned and sent The Puppeteer a message to let her know. We agreed that I would try a 45 minute aerobic session on the bike trainer that evening, and I felt a little better when I finished that without any difficulties or discomfort.
Yesterday I had a seven mile run with intervals scheduled. I woke up without any discomfort in my knee but it was, never-the-less, with some trepidation that I set out. I walked 0.75 miles before I started and threw in every warm-up move that I could think of... high steps, lunges, twists, jumps, strides, backwards etc. I went very "gingerly" (~10 min/mile pace) for the first mile to test things out... nothing! Yipee! Pushed the pace from there and was happy to finish the seven miles without ever feeling my knee. Color me happy.
I am increasingly realising that this type of incident is probably something that you just have to live with as an "older" triathlete. I have absolutely no clue what the problem with my knee was and I likely never will. The Puppeteer has me working on all sorts of things to improve core strength and flexibility - this sort of incident just reinforces to me how important this stuff is!
This is a great site for anyone who's interested: http://www.coreperformance.com/
Two hour run scheduled tomorrow... fingers crossed!
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Halloween - A Survivor's Story...
Well it's November 1st and another Halloween is in the books and I'm pleased to see the back of it.
Don't get me wrong - I love the costumes, the decorations, the pumpkins and, of course, the traditional jaunt around the neighborhood trick or treating with the kids, but why? oh why? does the appearance of mountains of candy have to coincide with when I'm trying to lose a few pounds in advance of the OBX Half Marathon?
I think that the rainy conditions here in Raleigh last night seem to have provided an absolute bonanza for the kids that were hardy enough to venture out..... my guys ended-up with truck loads of Twix; rivers of Reeses; armfulls of Almond Joy and... well..... mounds of Mounds.
Thankfully I don't have a tremendously sweet tooth, and I didn't indulge in the candy fest last night, but it is going to take some good willpower not to levy what my neighbor calls "the Daddy tax" and help myself to the occasional goody from the candy jar.
I think that I can resist though, which is more than I can say for a food (I use the term very loosely) that really is a horror show and should be known as "the Devil's food".......
I am addicted to the sour cream and onion ones - I only eat the low fat ones, but even so, they are sooooo bad for you. What do they put in those things? crack?
I can't possibly eat just one - I eat them two at a time and once the first two hit my taste buds, some sort of ravenous neuro-sensory part of my brain demands that I stop everything and immediately start to consume the entire tube in as short a period of time as possible - if furniture needs to be smashed or small children or pets trampled in order for me to get my fix, then so be it!
The only way I can resist is to insist that we don't have them in the house. I went to the grocery store the other day and made the mistake of buying "just" one tube.... they were almost gone by the time I got back to the house. These things are truly evil and the FDA needs to mandate some sort of health warning and do something about that smug little guy with the moustache and bow tie! I hate that little bastard! :-)
Don't get me wrong - I love the costumes, the decorations, the pumpkins and, of course, the traditional jaunt around the neighborhood trick or treating with the kids, but why? oh why? does the appearance of mountains of candy have to coincide with when I'm trying to lose a few pounds in advance of the OBX Half Marathon?
I think that the rainy conditions here in Raleigh last night seem to have provided an absolute bonanza for the kids that were hardy enough to venture out..... my guys ended-up with truck loads of Twix; rivers of Reeses; armfulls of Almond Joy and... well..... mounds of Mounds.
Thankfully I don't have a tremendously sweet tooth, and I didn't indulge in the candy fest last night, but it is going to take some good willpower not to levy what my neighbor calls "the Daddy tax" and help myself to the occasional goody from the candy jar.
I think that I can resist though, which is more than I can say for a food (I use the term very loosely) that really is a horror show and should be known as "the Devil's food".......
I am addicted to the sour cream and onion ones - I only eat the low fat ones, but even so, they are sooooo bad for you. What do they put in those things? crack?
I can't possibly eat just one - I eat them two at a time and once the first two hit my taste buds, some sort of ravenous neuro-sensory part of my brain demands that I stop everything and immediately start to consume the entire tube in as short a period of time as possible - if furniture needs to be smashed or small children or pets trampled in order for me to get my fix, then so be it!
The only way I can resist is to insist that we don't have them in the house. I went to the grocery store the other day and made the mistake of buying "just" one tube.... they were almost gone by the time I got back to the house. These things are truly evil and the FDA needs to mandate some sort of health warning and do something about that smug little guy with the moustache and bow tie! I hate that little bastard! :-)
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Prepping for the OBX Half
Two weeks from tomorrow is my last race of the season - the Outer Banks Half Marathon. I'm excited to do this one (for the third year in a row), the only slight negative being that I will have to miss The Puppeteer's end-of-season athlete's party on the evening before! :-(
I have had a heavy "run focus" over the past six weeks or so and my training seems to have been going pretty well and I've stayed injury free. This week was a bit disrupted because of international business travel, but I'm happy to be back in Raleigh and ready to rock my full last week of work before I begin my taper for the race.
Two years ago this was the first half marathon I had run in more than 25 years and I was pleased just to be able to finish in around 2:17. Last year I ran it again, trying to take things a little more seriously, but a bout of illness before the event really messed up my training and I went in with no great expectations and ran 2:11:33. All of this was before I started training "properly" with The Puppeteer.
In March of this year I ran the American Tobacco Trail Half in 2:02:10. http://rogersroadrash.blogspot.com/2011_03_01_archive.html
So...... my times are improving and I feel that this is the first half marathon that I'm going to "race" and not just "run". My first objective (other than finishing, of course!) is to break the 2:00 mark for the first time, and something inside me tells me that if things feel good on the day and the conditions cooperate (not always a foregone conclusion on the OBX!) that I may be able to get closer to 1:55 - we shall see.
2:00 equates to an average pace of 9:10/mile and 1:55 to an average pace of 8:47/mile. This makes me smile as I remember so well just a short time ago how running more than a couple of miles or at a pace of 10:00/mile was a challenge!
I still have to talk to The Puppeteer about how to pace this race (even splits? go out faster and hold on?) but my current thinking is to look for 9:00/mile over the first 2 miles to get through the scrum at the start and get my legs under me, before trying to run 8:45 splits for as long as I can and then giving it all I have left over the last few miles. I might cut myself a little slack when I get to "the bridge" at around mile nine!
More on this, nutrition strategy and so on later. Bring it on!
Oh, and..... (you heard it here first!) a little voice inside my head is telling me that if this goes well I'll try to run a sub 4:00 full marathon this time next year! :-)
I have had a heavy "run focus" over the past six weeks or so and my training seems to have been going pretty well and I've stayed injury free. This week was a bit disrupted because of international business travel, but I'm happy to be back in Raleigh and ready to rock my full last week of work before I begin my taper for the race.
Two years ago this was the first half marathon I had run in more than 25 years and I was pleased just to be able to finish in around 2:17. Last year I ran it again, trying to take things a little more seriously, but a bout of illness before the event really messed up my training and I went in with no great expectations and ran 2:11:33. All of this was before I started training "properly" with The Puppeteer.
In March of this year I ran the American Tobacco Trail Half in 2:02:10. http://rogersroadrash.blogspot.com/2011_03_01_archive.html
So...... my times are improving and I feel that this is the first half marathon that I'm going to "race" and not just "run". My first objective (other than finishing, of course!) is to break the 2:00 mark for the first time, and something inside me tells me that if things feel good on the day and the conditions cooperate (not always a foregone conclusion on the OBX!) that I may be able to get closer to 1:55 - we shall see.
2:00 equates to an average pace of 9:10/mile and 1:55 to an average pace of 8:47/mile. This makes me smile as I remember so well just a short time ago how running more than a couple of miles or at a pace of 10:00/mile was a challenge!
I still have to talk to The Puppeteer about how to pace this race (even splits? go out faster and hold on?) but my current thinking is to look for 9:00/mile over the first 2 miles to get through the scrum at the start and get my legs under me, before trying to run 8:45 splits for as long as I can and then giving it all I have left over the last few miles. I might cut myself a little slack when I get to "the bridge" at around mile nine!
More on this, nutrition strategy and so on later. Bring it on!
Oh, and..... (you heard it here first!) a little voice inside my head is telling me that if this goes well I'll try to run a sub 4:00 full marathon this time next year! :-)
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Race Report - Dia de los Muertos 5k
The Puppeteer asked me to find a local 5k race to do in October, so being a good student/athlete/lackey/brownnoser (delete as you see fit) I duly signed-up for the first running of the "Day of the Dead" 5k in downtown Raleigh and raced it yesterday morning.
The event was in support of the local Boys and Girls Clubs and it was encouraging to see so many people turn up early on a clear but chilly morning. Many of them sported costumes and face paint as appropriate for Dia de los Muertos - the (primarily) Mexican festival which is a celebration of ancestors and dead relatives.
I ran into a colleague and his wife and, after a warm-up run and some dynamic warm-up exercises we soon found ourselves at thye start line next to the NC State House. The course was a fairly straightforward "out and back" first heading north to the Historic Oakwood district and turning around close to the famous cemetary (kind of appropriate for Dia de los Muertos!). Flatter than the previous two 5k races that I have run, but still somewhat "hilly" none-the-less.
My plan was to try to run a reasonably even pace and I think that I executed pretty well. My primary "race thought" was to maintain a high run cadence and I think that I also managed to achieve this. To cut to the chase, my finishing time (according to my Garmin) was 22 minutes and 51 seconds. My splits were:
7:38 7:47 7:26
Felt good at the finish and recovered very quickly.
My official "chip time" was 22:49.5 which I am pleased with (6th in my age group and 57th overall male). For me that's is certainly a reasonable time, but I have a suspicion that the course may have run slightly short of the full 5k distance.
Given that I have the Outer Banks Half Marathon coming-up in a few weeks, I plugged this time in to the well known McMillan Run Calculator and it spit out an estimated half marathon time of 1:45:28. Sounds pretty ambitious to me and another reason for thinking that the course may have been slightly short.
Overall a very good morning and at least I didn't end up looking like one of these... :-)
The event was in support of the local Boys and Girls Clubs and it was encouraging to see so many people turn up early on a clear but chilly morning. Many of them sported costumes and face paint as appropriate for Dia de los Muertos - the (primarily) Mexican festival which is a celebration of ancestors and dead relatives.
I ran into a colleague and his wife and, after a warm-up run and some dynamic warm-up exercises we soon found ourselves at thye start line next to the NC State House. The course was a fairly straightforward "out and back" first heading north to the Historic Oakwood district and turning around close to the famous cemetary (kind of appropriate for Dia de los Muertos!). Flatter than the previous two 5k races that I have run, but still somewhat "hilly" none-the-less.
My plan was to try to run a reasonably even pace and I think that I executed pretty well. My primary "race thought" was to maintain a high run cadence and I think that I also managed to achieve this. To cut to the chase, my finishing time (according to my Garmin) was 22 minutes and 51 seconds. My splits were:
7:38 7:47 7:26
Felt good at the finish and recovered very quickly.
My official "chip time" was 22:49.5 which I am pleased with (6th in my age group and 57th overall male). For me that's is certainly a reasonable time, but I have a suspicion that the course may have run slightly short of the full 5k distance.
Given that I have the Outer Banks Half Marathon coming-up in a few weeks, I plugged this time in to the well known McMillan Run Calculator and it spit out an estimated half marathon time of 1:45:28. Sounds pretty ambitious to me and another reason for thinking that the course may have been slightly short.
Overall a very good morning and at least I didn't end up looking like one of these... :-)
Saturday, October 15, 2011
I Love My wife!
I have been looking at some sweet end-of-year deals on tri bikes and SWMBO gave the two thumbs up on a purchase, so.....
I just pressed the "purchase" button on this baby!
A Cannondale Slice 3 (58cm) with Shimano Ultegra components. Here are the specs for those who may be interested..... I LOVE my wife! xxxx
Full carbon frame
I just pressed the "purchase" button on this baby!
A Cannondale Slice 3 (58cm) with Shimano Ultegra components. Here are the specs for those who may be interested..... I LOVE my wife! xxxx
- Wheels
- Mavic Cosmic Elite
- Tires
- Schwalbe Durano S, 700x23c, folding
- Chain
- Shimano Ultegra 6700
- Stems
- Cannondale C2, 31.8
- Front Derailleur
- Shimano Ultegra 6700, braze-on
- Rear Derailleur
- Shimano Ultegra 6700
- Shifters
- Shimano Dura-Ace bar-end
- Crank
- Vision TriMax Carbon TT BB30, 53/39
- Bottom Bracket
- FSA BB30
- Cassette
- Shimano Ultegra 6700, 12-25
- Seat Post
- Cannondale Slice Carbon Aero, 2 position, 350mm
- Headset
- Slice Si, 15mm top cap
- Brake Callipers
- Shimano Ultegra 6700
- Brake Levers
- FSA BL Aero
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