Crossing My Training And Crossing My Fingers

Alex Kubacki wrote:Michael this is the elevation profile for Cape Cod. It doesn't look like much but from 15-23 you're either going up or down and it can do a number on your legs. This is definately a course you want to save something for the second half. I passed a lot people walking of those who went out too fast. I'm signed up already for it again as part of the Clam Chowdah Challenge.

I had heard it was a little hilly, but there's nothing like a good elevation chart to really get a feel for it.

Definitely not the point in a marathon when you want to have a lot of up and down!

Thanks Alex.

Alex Kubacki wrote:Michael this is the elevation profile for Cape Cod. It doesn't look like much but from 15-23 you're either going up or down and it can do a number on your legs. This is definately a course you want to save something for the second half. I passed a lot people walking of those who went out too fast. I'm signed up already for it again as part of the Clam Chowdah Challenge.

Thanks Alex. Hopefully I won't double post on this reply - I tried before, but must have done something wrong.

Nothing like the actual elevation chart as run to give you an idea of what the hills are like, that's really helpful.

And I've come across hills that late in a marathon and agree that its not the time you want to see anything like that at all! Nonetheless, I still am thinking about that one.

While it's a challenging course in the second half, it is a very scenic course. It's very well organized race. They have great food after, not just bagels and fruit. And they have a good expo there too. If you've ever run the Falmouth Road Race you'll run most of that course.

Alex Kubacki wrote:While it's a challenging course in the second half, it is a very scenic course. It's very well organized race. They have great food after, not just bagels and fruit. And they have a good expo there too. If you've ever run the Falmouth Road Race you'll run most of that course.

All I ever want at the end of a marathon is a banana and a bottle of water. I was ecstatic at the end of Hartford last October, when that was pretty much handed to me as I crossed the finish. I'm never in a mood to eat right then.

I see I did double-post when I responded. I'll have to get used to this a bit more, I guess.

Thanks for the feedback!

Oh, and I banged out another 5 miler this morning on the road.

Wow, what a nice morning!

PF and ankle (they hurt together, for whatever reason) a bit sore after, but nothing alarming.

Now a day off, followed by a Sa/Su bike/run (in whatever order I feel like it) - looks like it should be a good weekend for it.

I got out for a 12 miler on the rail trail this morning.

Used the heart rate monitor again, pretty successfully, and that really helped me to keep the pace down.

As it ended up, I was glad I did - even though I ran real slow, I was pretty tuckered out at the end.

I guess that shouldn't surprise me. After the run, I went back and looked at the months since February. I had a very solid Jan./Feb., and then the wheels fell off in March with bronchitis and with a very bad case of PF.

The 12 miler I ran today was the longest run I've done since the beginning of March, when I did 18. In the intervening months, I've only managed about 30 some miles for the whole month, as I struggled with the PF, etc.

So, I have a long way to come back from, and I'm just at the beginning.

The run was good. A little warm at the start, and pretty hot at the end. Stayed well-hydrated and since I was taking it easy had no real issues.

Another long bike ride on tap for tomorrow - I can't wait!

Nice long run today Michael. Lots of us are trying to get back in the groove, me included.

Natalie Wolf wrote:Nice long run today Michael. Lots of us are trying to get back in the groove, me included.

Thanks Natalie - I know I'm not alone!

32 miles on the bike early this morning - good thing I went early, as it has been raining the last couple of hours here. Nice ride, and I just took it slow - still felt a bit tired after yesterday's run. The riding really seems to help with the PF. Not only does it let me get in a solid workout without aggravating the condition, it actually seems to alleviate it somewhat.

I did 22 of the miles on the rail trail. I come across a lot of runners and walkers when I do that, and I'm very consistent about warning them if I am approaching from behind. I did my normal "on your left" about 20 feet before passing a couple of ladies in a pretty quiet spot (and I was coming up on them only slowly, because they were taking up most of the trail), and one of them was so startled I swear she just about dove into the brush alongside the trail. We all got a good laugh out of that, and I apologized for scaring her.

This is turning into a real quiet Sunday, with the rain. Maybe I'll take a nap! Just call me Mr. Excitement!

It always cracks me up when walkers, usually 4 abreast, get startled when yelling "on your left" or "passing." What did they think? That no one else uses the path? Because clearly they are in their own oblivion.

Natalie Wolf wrote:It always cracks me up when walkers, usually 4 abreast, get startled when yelling "on your left" or "passing." What did they think? That no one else uses the path? Because clearly they are in their own oblivion.

They were chatting away, so oblivious. It was particularly funny, because the way I called it out was so intentionally non-threatening! She not only jumped, but headed for the side of the trail like she was running with the bulls!

Here's the elevation profile from the 32 on the bike today. No wonder I feel kind of tired.

That's a tough elevation, it's good you were taking it somewhat easy. Also good you yell out "on your left" - I don't like when people zoom by without warning and especially when they barely move over and come to close. Looks like a good ride there.

Whew, that's got quite a few rollers on it! I'm still figuring out how to do the whole "on your left" thing without giving people heart attacks, but it's not easy. Better that than to hit them, I think.

JohnP wrote:That's a tough elevation, it's good you were taking it somewhat easy. Also good you yell out "on your left" - I don't like when people zoom by without warning and especially when they barely move over and come to close. Looks like a good ride there.

Mike MacLellan wrote:Whew, that's got quite a few rollers on it! I'm still figuring out how to do the whole "on your left" thing without giving people heart attacks, but it's not easy. Better that than to hit them, I think.

Thanks guys. Seriously, I'm thinking of getting an old fashioned bell for the bike, like kids had when I was 10. I could ring that from farther behind, and then call out "on your left" when I got closer, and I bet fewer people would be startled. But that won't help with those with headphones on.

The bell would be a good idea. When someone yells, I think I'm more likely to get startled and step INTO their path than away from it....

So far I haven't had anybody step closer to me due to the "on your left" call out, but I think I will get a bell. I was up on the trail yesterday with my wife, because she was looking to take pictures of scenes she might paint for a class, and I thought I might know just what she'd like, and was right. While we were walking up there, a bicyclist came along, and he had a nice old-fashioned bell, which gave us a good warning that wasn't startling. Think I will go that route.

Had a nice easy 5-miler on the road this morning. Nice morning, but humid. Helps to go out at 6:00 a.m., as it was not hot yet. Good run, no issues.

After two initial relatively hard weeks, this is the stepback week. I did the 5 today, and plan on a relatively easy bike ride tomorrow. Then I won't run again, I think, until a 5K Friday night that I've run with my daughter the last couple of years, and we are planning on again. Then the typical run/bike for the weekend, but just laying off the mileage a bit.

Awww, my wife told me that she bought a bell for me for my bike. What a sweetie! Of course, no one goes to the store any more - I have to wait for UPS to get it to my house!

A nice 10.1 mile bike ride this morning. I laid off the hills for the first 7 miles or so, but then figured what the heck and dove right in and did a big climb, nice descent and a big climb, then coasted home.

Must be Le Tour de Central Connecticut...

Terrible t-storms here, so no 5k tonight. Wow, this really turned into an easy stepback week, since I didn't run yesterday based on the expectation that I'd race the 5k tonight. Oh well, no problem, maybe I needed the rest.

Its a drag, though, because I usually get to run this race with my daughter, and then traditionally we go out for burgers afterward, but we had to cancel that. : (

I promise myself that I won't try to "make it up" tomorrow...

10 miles on the rail trail this morning for the long run of stepback week.

The trail is nice in a lot of ways, especially because it is heavily wooded and shady. I like to stay out of the sun - I'm prone to basal cell, and don't need any more of that. But it is sometimes "buggy", and was today. There were a couple of stretches where I was flailing wildly for hundreds of yards as I ran with some fly buzzing around my head, trying to get to my sweat, I guess. That makes me crazy.

Also, one downside is that when dry air moves in, it moves into the trail last. The sheltered path, which often dips below the surrounding grade (some of this trail was cut right through big ledges of rock, and it snakes through very hilly terrain), tends to keep the humid air trapped in, and the woods contribute to hanging onto the air from yesterday as well. So, as it warmed up, despite the humidity drop elsewhere in this neck of the woods, it stayed quite humid for the whole run. I was dripping buckets at the end.

I kept it slow again, which was wise. PF was fine during the run, but I'm feeling it some now (despite a really low mileage week - hadn't run since Tuesday).

Ran some errands, and we're off to a HS grad party for a kid who is going into the Air Force, for the rest of the afternoon and evening. I predict that by the end, the boy's mother will be drunk and sobbing.

Can't wait!

Had an eventful 23+ mile bike ride earlier today.

Beautiful day here, and headed out thinking I'd do about 20, trying to stay true to the stepback week philosophy.

Was working on some hills on the road, and then thought it would be fun to go out through the state forest, which involves some more climbing and some very chopped up gravel roads. Hard to call them gravel, really. And it rained a deluge here Friday night, so I knew it would be worse than usual, with the gullys and washouts the rain would cause.

It was pretty interesting, but a lot of fun. Hard to go too fast on the downhill portions in the state forest, because the roads are so questionable. You get up any speed and the next thing you know, you are on a real treacherous mess! Also, when I'd slow down for the uphill, the bugs would catch up with me. They didn't seem to be biting, but they sure were buzzing me all around my face. Ugh.

After a long climb through the state forest, I exited into the next town. I really like the spot where you come out of the woods. You are at the top of a high hill, and you can see Hartford off in the distance (Hartford never looked as good as it does from that far away). Really pretty. And the impending downhill is real pretty, too. Its all old orchards, where they've built a bunch of ridiculous mansions during the last 15 years. When I first came through here back then, it was all orchards, and I thought how cool it would be to build a house up there. I wasn't the only one who thought that!

So I sped down the hill, really enjoying it. I am getting a lot more confidence in my downhills. And it felt so good that I extended the projected ride beyond about 20 miles by taking a right where I could have taken a left. As I continued downhill, I started to think the bike was riding a little funny, like my back wheel was wobbly or something. So at the next stop sign I took a look. Flat tire. Ouch. I was running on collapsed rubber. Not sure when that happened. But now I had to decide what to do. I could coast (mostly downhill) for a couple more miles, and there is a gas station that I knew was open and where I've filled my car tire before. Some passing cyclists offered to help. But I waved them off and headed for the gas station. Got there, and it ended up they didn't have an air hose outside any more! I asked the guy behind the counter (turned out I know him!) and eventually the old guy who owns the place pulled out an air hose he'd rigged up and filled it for me. It seemed to hold air, so I decided to keep heading home (another 13 miles).

I checked it with about 7 miles to go, and it still seemed ok, but a little lower. Stopped and topped it off with about 3.5 miles to go. Got home and it still was holding some air. Nice ride the rest of the way. Other than the flat, this was a great ride. I felt strong the whole way.

So I took it to the shop, because when I bought it, they said they wanted to see it in again at no charge after 10 hours of riding to tighten up the cables, make fine adjustments, etc. It had been about 10 hours, and I wanted to have them check out the tire. They do that while you wait, and I told them about the flat, so they took a look at that, too.

Ends up I punctured the tire (not sure on what) and gave the tube a slow leak. So I needed a new tube and a new tire. Now I've got a tire that has kevlar in it. I'm bulletproof!

Sounds like a really nice ride!

Sounds like a fun ride - I've not ventured off-road on a bike yet, but I think the downhills could be pretty sketchy if you weren't careful. Kevlar tires - now that is cool. Oh yeah, and mosquitos suck...

Best thing is it seems, so far at least, the biking plan is working great and no real flareups or injury bug-bites. Glad to see it...

Natalie Wolf wrote:Sounds like a really nice ride!

Thanks Natalie. The weather was a huge assist - just beautiful here today.

John Kilpatrick wrote:Sounds like a fun ride - I've not ventured off-road on a bike yet, but I think the downhills could be pretty sketchy if you weren't careful. Kevlar tires - now that is cool. Oh yeah, and mosquitos suck...

Best thing is it seems, so far at least, the biking plan is working great and no real flareups or injury bug-bites. Glad to see it...

John - I think that is the best thing - I may not have any speed on the runs, but at least I'm getting in some good long runs and the PF is not getting worse, and seems to be improving. So far, so good...