Long Hot Summer

I agree, Mark. In hindsight, I may have had a good 15mph tailwind. Still. Cool stuff. And that Red sounds really tasty.

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Quads are a little shot today. Not sure if it's from yesterday's play-running with my brother or Thursday's tempo bike ride (ouch!), but I noticed around mile 9-10 that this long run was going to take a bit more concentration than normal. Still, pace never felt strenuous by any means. Started with 4 intentionally slow miles (8:26 average) and wrapped up the next 10 @ a just-sub-8 average.

1hr55min and 14.2mi total.

5mi recovery this morning. Late morning, due to a very tasty porter flight + frozen yogurt + more beer at home last night. I even convinced Aileen to taste my beers and she liked some. I consider that a victory.

Aileen joined me for the first 15min, then she turned around while I went on to 2.5mi. Total 46min, just a hair over 5mi. My hip flexors are sore from the weekend's activities, but this was an extremely pleasant recovery run.

45min easy run. Was hoping to get in 5.5mi but first two miles were creaky. Ended up with 5.35mi or so. Quads were pretty shot, which is weird, since they don't hurt on the bike. Dunno if it's the 6mi progressive + 14mi long or what, but something gave me a really nice case of DOMS.

2hr bike this afternoon.

As per usual, my brother made my legs explode. Though I did bring it upon myself in one instance: had a guy taking up the entire lane (2 lane back country road) going maybe 12mph, we cruise up behind him and try to go around him, small gap opens between me and my brother, guy tries to get in it and start riding my brother's wheel... So I zipped around the front of them and hammered for a good minute until my brother pulled around and reaaaaaaally dropped the hammer. My legs were exploding for a good 2-3min, but we dropped the 3rd guy (had he said "hello" or something, I wouldn't have been so elitist... but absolutely no greeting). Then we hit the bottom of a 10%, .75mi hill. Sweet.

Up and over the hill, then back up the other side. 31.4mi in 1:51 with ~2k' gain/loss.

Planned 1hr fartlek today but the body is tired. So just an easy hour with 6x strides at the end. 7.55mi, 1:02 total.

Gee? Tired? How could that happen? (Try looking back at your last few posts!)

Ding! Ding! Ding! Your body is trying to tell you something, Mike! Don't neglect rest: the most important part of training!

Ignore the warning signals at your peril.

Yep. I only let it go this week because it's my brother's last week here - he leaves Friday for a year internship in Minnesota - so quality time (ie hard efforts) took precedence. All I've got left for the week is an hour easy bike ride this afternoon and a 5mi recovery run with my brother and dad(!) tomorrow morning. Then rest until Saturday.

45min easy alone, as packing took precedence over a family run. A lot of beer, champagne, and dessert last night made this one a late morning, but overall the pace was nice - 8:10 average for 5.5mi. Afternoon will be a tourist trip to SF. Rest day tomorrow!

So here's a brief summary of why my posts have been so short lately:

My brother, Dr. Jeff MacLellan, DVM, is currently en route to Minnesota for a 1-year internship. Which pretty much explains everything. Parents got here Wednesday afternoon, Thursday was packing and an afternoon in SF (Boudin's for dinner; their seafood is TO. DIE. FOR.), Friday was graduation and my brother heading out with a buddy/ex-roommate around 2pm... then the house was silent. I got a bit of empty nest syndrome and had a little sad-fest while cleaning some dishes. Fortunately, Aileen was still here and cried with me ("Why are YOU crying?" "Because you are." Aw...).

So, things are finally settled a bit now. I'm in a large, quiet, dirty house, and the one roommate who's taking over the lease will be gone most of the summer. So it's just me again. Kind of weird.

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In running news... Did 6.11mi today in the heeeeeat. I think it was high-80s at the start and 90 by the end. Late morning due to some final celebration and a send-off of my parents last night... need to get back to an earlier routine now that things are back to normal. Averaged 8:10 pace for a total of 50min.

Then after a 5 minute change of clothes, I hopped on the bike with Aileen and we cruised out of town for a big 15mi square. The first 2 legs were nice, with a tail/tail-cross wind of about 15-20mph. Which meant coming back up was obnoxious, but it gave me a chance to teach her how to take pulls, which broke some of the monotony of grinding into the wind. The riding is feeling great lately.

15mi tomorrow. Hope to be up by 6:30 to beat the heat.

15.32mi in 2hr2min this morning. Ended up being pretty progressive, as the last hour, half hour, 20, and 10 minutes were all the fastest of the entire run. Left knee gave me a little bit of a niggle at mile 13-14 and is tender to the touch now. Probably because I didn't stretch at all Friday or yesterday.

Recovery day tomorrow should fix it up.

Just spent the last few days at orientation at BU - just thought that you'd find it cool that ASL is a language option that students can elect to take for their 2 yr foreign language requirement.

Very cool, Michele! Is your daughter considering it as her language? I can definitely make a persuasive argument in favor of it...

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45min recovery run. No knee niggle today; good. Realized that my run yesterday fell right within where my LSD runs should be for a sub-3 marathon. And felt like a LSD run. And today's recovery, after 15min with Aileen, dropped to a very comfortable and easy 8:30-8:45... Also right where it should be. This is promising.

I've got a 60+mi ride with Aileen coming up on Thursday, so I'm going to play the next couple days by ear. If I feel really good, I might go for 3mi @ 6:45 (goal MP in December) during one of the runs.

Hour ride this morning. Was supposed to be a bit harder than it was, but Aileen was flagging a bit today and with our 4-5hr ride coming up in 2 days, didn't want to make her suffer. Also, the bike path we were on, instead of having undercrossings at each street, had stop signs. So we played stop-and-go for 30min before saying "fuck it" and taking surface streets back.

Hour run upcoming.

So it was only 3mi @ MP, but it was a damn good 3mi.

Headed out the door at just after 7pm, still in the low 80s here in Antioch... Fortunately, I was running into a decent headwind, so the heat wasn't much of a problem. Unfortunately, that headwind was making my legs feel heavy and slow. Still, I wasn't feeling particularly bad or tired, so I decided to go for it.

Took a minute or two to ease into what felt like MP... then felt too hard to be MP... and a glance at the Garmin showed me that I was indeed running tempo. 6:18? Oops. So I eased off the throttle and spent the next few minutes finding that weird in-between zone that is MP running. I never quite found a comfortable 6:45, but instead oscillated between 6:35 and 6:55. Was averaging 6:40 after a mile, but getting caught at a red light bumped that up to 6:42. Which is where the average pace stayed for the remainder until I hit 3mi for the interval.

Have to say, it felt pretty damn good. I wasn't ever super smooth, but I did have some fluid moments and the pace wasn't too taxing. Average HR for the interval was 166bpm (when training for a 3:10 for OC, it was usually in the 165-167bpm range).

Okay, I had a little bit of a tailwind. But just a little.

24 weeks to go.

45min recovery run this morning. A bit warm out, but y'know, it's summer. Officially!

Ended up with ~5.2mi for the run. Legs were obedient but lacking in motivation, and I was a bit more fatigued than normal - duh. Gonna spend the afternoon on my ass with food in hand to prepare for the 4hr bike ride tomorrow.

How'd the big ride go?

Funny you should ask, Alex. I started to do a big write-up on it last night, but computer wasn't plugged in and then our pizza got here so it was time to eat and drink a lot.

So, a little background. The very first plan was to do a 60ish mile ride from Antioch to Livermore to Tracy and back. This would take us through a nice little canyon area, some two-lane country roads, and back through farmland. The more I looked at Google maps and the upcoming weather report, though, the less fun this was looking. The section that was supposed to be prettiest, according to Aileen's uncle, was going to be straight into a 20-25mph headwind, uphill, and on a two-lane highway. While it had a shoulder, it looked as if it'd be full of debris and other shit to give us a few punctures. In summary, I convinced Aileen to head back up to Davis a day early so we could do what many people consider the best ride in the area.

This ride can start from either Winters or Davis - the latter tacks on 25 miles out-and-back - and heads along highway 128 to 121, through some Napa vineyards, through Fairfield, and back on Pleasants Valley Road. It can be done in reverse (and often is), but I decided to do it the former way for two reasons: the wind and the hills. This way, the wind was going to hit us while we were in the mountains, which was fine, since they'd block some of it with the winding roads and tall rock faces. Also, the hills would come first, leaving us with a hopefully glorious tailwind (20+mph!) for the last 20-25mi.

We got to the Winters parking lot (awesome placement in the middle of town, with public restrooms and accessible water to those "in the know" just a few hundred feet away) around 1 and were on the road by 1:15. While we did face a moderate headwind starting out, the extra little boost I get from riding with Aileen (more on this in a second) plus the super easy pace made the wind's effects negligible.

The first 10mi were flat to rolling hills, with only one "significant" bump of around 75' around mile 5. I told Aileen this was the warm-up, to just pace herself and not worry about keeping up with me. No, I wasn't just being a show-off; her bike has an extra chainring that allows her to climb much more slowly than I can. She did just that, arriving at the top of the bump without having worked too much - a good sign that she'd be able to make the hills coming up.

And at mile 10, the hills started. There are 4 in total, though the first has 2 parts and the 3rd is a false flat that sneaks up on you and ends with a mile or so at just 5%. We rode up into the mountains, me stopping or doubling back (and getting some extra climbing in) at the top of each hill and pulling her through the wind to the next rise. The worst of the climbs is appropriately named Cardiac, which came second. Cardiac is 1.6mi at 6.6% for a total of 550'+ climbing. I felt pretty good on it and was able to re-climb the last half mile, passing Aileen on the way down and just catching her at the top. She was starting to get a bit tired at the top of this one, so I made sure she took in plenty of calories while approaching the third (easiest) climb. There was a nice little tailwind going at the top of the third climb, so I found myself cruising up a 4-5% gradient at 12-14mph. Again, doubled back (but only a little this time) to fill in the time.

At this point, Aileen had caught the tailwind and was zipping along down the other side of the hill... when I realized we had a turn in less than 1.5mi. So that was a fun little tempo interval to catch her. Fortunately, got to her in time and we made the turn (which was actually just following the road instead of splitting off to stay on highway 128). At this point, the wheels started to fall off for her, for good reason. The elevation charts I'd seen hadn't shown any significant climbing, but the next 3-4 miles were all rolling hills with a pretty decent grade. The net uphill was killing her rhythm, and despite me soft-pedaling for a mile or two, she wasn't able to catch up. I admit, I got a little frustrated. We stopped for a minute and I tried to figure out how she was feeling, though my frustration did cause her to close up a little bit, so I assured her we'd just go slow until the last little kick, take a break at the top to eat, then it was all downhill from there.

She was bonking a bit by the time we got to the top, so again it was time to increase the caloric intake and try to lift her spirits. We took the descent really easy - the road was a bit worse than those we'd been on, and one of the little fissures could've caused a pretty bad crash - and turned onto Wooden Valley Road.

Now, there's a reason I just bolded that. For anyone who rides bikes and visits the greater Napa/Yolo/Solano County area, RIDE THIS ROAD. It is absolutely beautiful, a dedicated cycling road (though I did get buzzed pretty bad by some asshole at one point), and is one of those "life list" roads. The scenery really helped to motivate Aileen, and the cross-tailwind didn't hurt, either. We zipped along for 10mi before arriving at Mankas Corner, a neat little junction-town with a wine-tasting room, some old farm equipment, and a cafe that has a water jug outside with a sign reading "Welcome cyclists, feel free to fill your bottles!" Gotta love it.

At this point, the ride started to remind me of back home. We have a route that takes you past a similar area, called Cooks Corner, then into a canyon similar enough to the terrain we'd just crossed to give me a bit of an "aww" feeling. So, riding back into civilization (read: suburbia), I thought of home and had a nice moment to myself.

Then there was a large tree branch obstructing half the bike lane which I rode widely round, motioning towards it with my hand, and twenty seconds later heard a bike go crashing to the pavement. I guess the glycogen debt played some tricks with Aileen's focus/concentration, because she didn't even see the thing (it was at least 6-8' long) before hitting it. Since it was a slow crash, the injuries were superficial; just some road rash and a little bit of blood. Since we were still over 20mi from home, I knew the only thing to do was get her back on the bike and to have her keep moving.

She was doing great for the next mile or two... and then as she shifted, something started grinding on her bike - her cables had been a little loose all day, so this was nothing new - until a very loud crunch happened and she came to a dead stop. During the fall, a piece of her derailleur had snapped, so when she started to climb and downshifted, the torque caused the piece to dislodge, which sent her derailleur up into her spokes, where it got stuck. Aaaaaaand that was the end of her day. With still more than 20mi to go.

We made a quick game plan - I'd ride as hard as I could back to the car, drive back, meet her at the intersection 100' away - and I started my slog back. Now, if you remember before, this "slog" should've had a nice tailwind the entire time. Of course, should've never really happens, so in reality it was a solid tailwind about 50-60% of the time, a crosswind 20-25%, and a headwind 20-25%. Still, I put my head down and rode my first 1hr time trial ever.

When I got back to the car, I had a text from her saying that someone had seen her laying on the grass at the intersection, and she had been unresponsive (since she's deaf, she didn't hear them), so they called 911. So now a cop was driving her to a shopping center nearby. I wrote back that I hoped she could look back on all this one day and laugh rather than see it as the worst bike ride ever, and fortunately she thought the whole situation was kind of funny.

Turns out that a cop, 2 ambulances, and a firetruck had shown up, so at one point she had 5 people standing around trying to ask her questions, reminding each other that she was deaf, not disoriented, when she'd respond with "what?" every time. Yes, you can laugh at this.

Feeling partially responsible (I wonder how much my frustration earlier had caused her to be nervous and thus maybe less concerned with the road and more concerned with keeping up?), I wanted to buy her dinner, which turned out to be a very, very delicious half-cheese, half-every-veggie-but-no-cheese pizza, a couple beers, half a bottle of wine, and chocolate for dessert.

And that is the story of the epic Davis ride.

Whether or not her bike will be fixed in time for our July 4th century remains to be seen, but we're going to take it in today and see if they can get a new derailleur by then. If not, I've got my old road bike at home, so she'll have something to ride... just no time to train between now and then. That'll be interesting.

Elevation chart attached. My HR was a bit low yesterday, so I think my threshold was closer to 160-165 than its usual 168. You can see how much it jumps during that last hour. I just wish I had a power meter to see the watts I was putting out

Two thoughts:

1) You owe Aileen, bigtime.

2) See No. 1.

Epic is an understatement. You don't do anything halfway, do you? Still, I think I've driven on some of those roads before and you're not kidding when you say it's beautiful country. I can see why cyclists would swarm there like so many bugs on a windshield (oh, wait. bad image, eh?). It'd probably also be great for a super-long road run, too.

I'm glad Aileen didn't get to badly banged up in the wipeout. But the image of firefighters, cops and ambulance crews constantly reminding each other that "No, she's not unresponsive, she's deaf" adds a pretty comic twist to the whole outing. Good thing she has a sense of humor!

And, oh yeah, good work on the time trial.

Mark - Don't I know it. I think the pizza and the homemade dinner last night - marinated salmon fillets over whole wheat spaghetti with a basil/tomato/olive oil sauce - did the trick, though. Plus we're getting donuts tomorrow after my long run, so... Should be good, right?

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Took Aileen's bike in to the shop yesterday. Estimate is parts + 30 bucks labor, so ~75 with tax and everything. Not awful, but still not too fun for what was, all in all, not a bad crash at all. Since I'm letting her borrow my helmet for the remainder of the summer, though, I guess that saved her about 100 bucks, so she's still on the positive, right?

Been off the wagon in terms of moderation with dessert since Thursday. I think my body needed the extra calories after Thursday's ride, though. Either way, time to get back on it for this week's training.

50min easy run for 6.05mi today. Was a bit creaky in my groin and my shinbones were kind of sore early on, which makes perfect sense, since I didn't stretch or anything after the ride. I was a little discouraged to see that even after 2.5mi in, I was still only keeping an 8:15 pace... until I realized I was running into a headwind and, oh yeah, duh, I rode 4hrs less than 48hrs ago. So I just let it be what it was, falling into a nice pace of 7:45 after turning around and having the wind at my back. Felt great by the time I got back to the front door, which is good.

We're gonna head up to Auburn - that'll be weird - to go on a little hike (anyone remember me talking about "K2"? ) and watch the winner of WS100 cross the line. Should be a nice evening up there.

Sorry to hear about the crash, that sounds like a heckuva way to end a beautiful ride.

Chocolate solves all problems...

Depends on what you're serving with the doughnuts, Mike.

I look forward to your race report on the whole Western States atmosphere. And wondering if you catch the bug again while you're up there.

Michael - I'm the chocolate lover of the relationship. She hates it unless it's the flavor of something (chocolate cake, etc.).

Mark - Shit. I caught the bug. After Timothy Olson DEMOLISHED the course record by a full 21 minutes and became the first (and only) to ever finish under 15hrs... I turned to Aileen and said, "I want to win this race." Shit shit shit.

Oh, and our hike was pretty, too. Nice to see my old stomping grounds.

When your biggest - and only - complaint during a long run is the razor burn on your thighs, that's probably a pretty damn good run. Which describes today well.

It's cooled down a bit in the past week here in Davis, so at the onset of my jaunt, it was hovering just around 60 and sunny with a very light breeze out of the south. The Livestrong Challenge cycling event is going on today, with the start/finish line and festival just a block from my house, so running past that was kind of cool to see.

Anyway, I noticed that my groin and stabilizers were a bit wonky from yesterday's hike, but by just reminding myself to stay relaxed and calm, those little niggles sorted themselves out within the first 2 miles. I decided to really not look at the watch at all except to hit the lap button every 4 miles and to make sure to eat every 45min.

After my first lap (8 miles), I took a quick potty break at home, grabbed a gel, and took off again. Second lap was just as smooth and good as the first, and I felt light and fresh through mile 15. I did notice my feet getting a little "slappy" during the 16th mile, but nothing that would suggest I was anywhere near running out of juice.

Splits per 4mi:
33:35 (8:24 pace)
32:15 (8:04 pace)
31:39 (7:55 pace)
30:39 (7:40 pace)
1:52 (to hit 2hr10min even, 8:19 pace)

My RPE was pretty consistent, though there were two sprint-before-the-light-turns occurrences during the second lap. Still, not too shabby. Definitely felt within the LSD effort range the entire time. Yippee!

45min recovery, as per usual on a Monday. Aileen stuck with me the entire time today (after she pounded out 3.6mi in 30min yesterday, what?!) for a total of 5.1mi. She said her RPE towards the end was definitely getting in the threshold range, which makes sense. We were averaging 8:30s on the way back. Trying to get a feel for what she can realistically train for if she wants to do a Thanksgiving 10k (which she does). Might have to make a post for that soon.

Ah, that one felt good. Went out for a planned 1hr fartlek, but I think the anticipation of some faster running got me all excited and had me pushing an 8min pace for the warm-up (usually 8:30 or so).

So I decided to just tighten it up a little bit after 20min and watched my pace drop to a comfortable 7:30. Then it dropped further to 7:15 and hovered within 10sec of that pace for the next 20min.

At that point, I had the wind at my back and had a minute where I was cruising (very, very comfortably) at a 6:35 pace. WHAT?!

Fell back into the comfort of the low 7's and finished up with a half mile cool down.

8.02mi, 1hr even. GA effort for the "work" interval in the middle.