What better place than Chicago, under the watchful eye of my coach? On Friday we packed up (for a two week safari, from the look of our bags) and drove to Chicago for a weekend of training. I was going to hit the Computrainer for a long ride, and plenty of other fun would ensue!
Proper nutrition is a bit hard to come by when on the road. I had one water bottle on the way, but probably left myself under-hydrated for what was to come. We got my bike set up Friday night, then hit the bed (and watched the end of the OSU game).
On, Saturday morning, we got an early visitor when our hosts left for masters swim. Boss greeted us with an army crawl into our bedroom, and spent the morning with us lounging around and playing with his squeaky carrot. For the carrot's own good, we had to lock it away from Boss, lest it be furless by the end of the morning. Soon enough, it was time to ride! But first, we measured my weight and hydration to judge my nutrition plan. When that was done, it was on the bike and off to see the course. The first hour was fairly flat and straightforward; a few hills gave me the feel of the trainer. Legs were good, head was good, and all was right with the world.
Hour two - the course heads out of town and up into the hills. On the trainer, some of these hills were nasty. Rather than a gradual build to a hill, it was like hitting a wall. I stayed seated for them, and "spun" my way up in the single digit speeds. Even though my average was suffering, I was still feeling good.
Hour three - Up, down, up, down, repeat. The rolling hills at the top of the CDA course were plentiful, and felt nothing like rollers around home. Still, I was feeling decent. I've done 3+ hour rides before, and though this one was tougher, it was still in my comfort zone.
Hour four - Uh-oh. Somewhere around 3:15 or 3:30, the wheels started coming off. I was putting in about the same effort, but my speed and cadence were dropping. My quads were getting a little tight, and at some point I even got off the bike to stretch them. It was really frustrating to be feeling so bad, and to know that there was still over an hour to go. And it was worse to know that I was on probably the easiest part of the course and still feeling that way.
Hour five - Pure survival. My speed was absolutely shot, and I was just turning the pedals to get done. I think I averaged somewhere around 11 mph for the part where I started the second loop. Hope that's not the case on race day, or I'll be hard pressed to make it to the run!
Once the fun on the trainer was wrapped up, it was time to take my measurements again to see how I did nutritionally. Well, not only did I maintain my weight despite being a heavy sweater, I gained 3 pounds over the course of those 5 hours. Hmm. Not exactly sure how that works, except that I was dehydrated beforehand. Done now? Nope, down to the treadmill for a 10 minute run. The GOOD news: my legs felt absolutely fine once I got to running. I held a 9:40 pace, which is just fine by me after that long a ride. Given some time to get the legs warmed up, I can usually pick it up a bit too.
Meredith and I snuck out for a quick bite to eat after the ride, since we were both starving. She had done some pretty tough strength and speed work while I was riding. And what sounded good to us? Well, when we came back in, Liz had but two accusing sentences: "You went to McDonald's, didn't you? I can see it in your eyes." We couldn't deny the truth. But the truth tasted awfully good.
On Sunday morning, Meredith and I headed to the nearby arboretum for long runs. Despite two cranky knees, my legs felt pretty good. After 30 minutes, the knees were warmed up, and I was able to hold a decent pace. I came in at 10.77 miles in 1:45, right around a 9:45 pace. Not bad for a hilly course and the day after a long ride. After the run, we hit the pool for a few pointers and a welcome soak in the hot tub!
Sadly, we had to say goodbye to Liz and Chris (and Boss, who made one last ditch attempt to join us for the return trip) and head home on Sunday. Back to work and normal life, but it was a great weekend! Thanks guys!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
T-Minus 3 Months
Under 100 days to go now. Yikes!
Biggest Challenge This Month:
The bike miles! I'm pretty confident that once I get to the run, I'll be able to finish. Even on a bad day, I think I can drag myself through 26 miles. But ramping up the bike time has been a whole new challenge. I think 3 hours is sort of my limit of being comfortable right now, but I'll be working to change that.
Biggest Success This Month:
Health, maybe? Even with the increased mileage, I've only missed a couple workouts this month. One was due to a sore knee after a long ride, and the other because I had to work some really long hours last week at times.
I also put in a 3:45 outdoor ride, with the first half uphill and generally into a decent headwind. At the time, that was my longest ride, and by far the most challenging one I'd done. The feeling of turning around after struggling along at 13 mph for an hour and suddenly going 23 is a nice one! It's also sort of fun to see the course map from the Garmin zoomed out so far to show the whole thing! The only bad thing about the ride was that when I mapped out my course, I picked a small airport as my turnaround. I finally got to the road that led to it...and it was gravel. Not just chip seal, gravel on dirt. So my ride was a few miles short. :)
How I Feel About Training:
Like I want the race to be here! (No, I don't. Not yet. Forget I said that.) Still enjoying it, but it's getting hard to fit everything in sometimes. I'm thinking I'll be doing some less time-intensive training for a while post-Ironman.
How I Feel About The Race:
Confident about the swim. Feeling pretty good about the run. And I think I can get through the bike. That's definitely the order of confidence.
What's Next?
A big training weekend with coach (okay, it's technically already done, but it wasn't during this month, and I'll blog about it next). Then it's time to continue ramping up the miles!
3 Months Out Theme Song:
I was introduced to this one by my wife this month. Yes, I know it isn't actually a 3. But it has one, just with a bunch of zeroes after it. :) Plus, I like to think the tempo will match the bike course - uphill for a while, then down down down! (Hopefully, I navigate it a bit more successfully than the driver)
Biggest Challenge This Month:
The bike miles! I'm pretty confident that once I get to the run, I'll be able to finish. Even on a bad day, I think I can drag myself through 26 miles. But ramping up the bike time has been a whole new challenge. I think 3 hours is sort of my limit of being comfortable right now, but I'll be working to change that.
Biggest Success This Month:
Health, maybe? Even with the increased mileage, I've only missed a couple workouts this month. One was due to a sore knee after a long ride, and the other because I had to work some really long hours last week at times.
I also put in a 3:45 outdoor ride, with the first half uphill and generally into a decent headwind. At the time, that was my longest ride, and by far the most challenging one I'd done. The feeling of turning around after struggling along at 13 mph for an hour and suddenly going 23 is a nice one! It's also sort of fun to see the course map from the Garmin zoomed out so far to show the whole thing! The only bad thing about the ride was that when I mapped out my course, I picked a small airport as my turnaround. I finally got to the road that led to it...and it was gravel. Not just chip seal, gravel on dirt. So my ride was a few miles short. :)
How I Feel About Training:
Like I want the race to be here! (No, I don't. Not yet. Forget I said that.) Still enjoying it, but it's getting hard to fit everything in sometimes. I'm thinking I'll be doing some less time-intensive training for a while post-Ironman.
How I Feel About The Race:
Confident about the swim. Feeling pretty good about the run. And I think I can get through the bike. That's definitely the order of confidence.
What's Next?
A big training weekend with coach (okay, it's technically already done, but it wasn't during this month, and I'll blog about it next). Then it's time to continue ramping up the miles!
3 Months Out Theme Song:
I was introduced to this one by my wife this month. Yes, I know it isn't actually a 3. But it has one, just with a bunch of zeroes after it. :) Plus, I like to think the tempo will match the bike course - uphill for a while, then down down down! (Hopefully, I navigate it a bit more successfully than the driver)
Friday, March 06, 2009
Movie Quote Game!
Well, this has been floating around Facebook and Meredith's blog, so I figure it's time for me to play the game. I'll list 20 quotes from some of my favorite movies. Meredith and I decided it should be movies that you'd leave on the TV if you noticed they were on, and with at least one quote you could recite from memory. (Thus eliminating some favorites like Memento or Schindler's List) There are some pretty obscure ones, some really famous ones, and a lot from my childhood.
Your job is to comment and match the name of the movie to the numbers you know! I put them in roughly what I think is the order of difficulty. :)
So, without further ado:
1. "Snakes. Why'd it have to be snakes?"
Raiders Of The Lost Ark
2. "Well, that is your name, isn't it? Calvin Klein? It's written all over your underwear."
Back To The Future
3. "There was Dallas, from Phoenix; Cleveland - he was from Detroit; and Tex... well, I don't remember where Tex come from. "
Forrest Gump
4. "It's a trap!"
Return Of The Jedi / The Empire Strikes Back
5. "Listen, strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government."
Monty Python and the Quest For the Holy Grail
6. "Surely you can't be serious!"
"I am serious, and don't call me Shirley."
Airplane!
7. "Sam... I'm glad you're with me."
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
8. "Once again, things that could've been brought to my attention YESTERDAY!"
The Wedding Singer
9. "Have fun storming the castle!"
The Princess Bride
10. "How's your wife and my kids?"
11. "So the combination is... one, two, three, four, five?"
12. "Luuuke... Luuuke! I am your father!"
13. "The game starts now. You have to score one thousand points. If you do that, you take home a tank with a big gun. Each day we will announce the scores from that loudspeaker."
Life Is Beautiful
14. "Necktie...Neckturn...Nickel...It's an 'N' word, it's definitely an 'N' word!"
15. "Spatula City, we sell spatulas...And that's all!"
UHF
16. "Communism was just a red herring."
Clue
17. "EASTMAN! He came from the east, to do battle with the amazing RANDO!"
18. "What is that?"
"One grain of sand. It is all that remains of my vast empire."
The Neverending Story
19. "Hey! Hold it right there!"
"Yes."
"What do you mean, 'yes'?"
"Yes."
"Is that all you can say?"
"No."
20. "Tell us everything! Everything!"
"Everything. OK! I'll talk! In third grade, I cheated on my history exam. In fourth grade, I stole my uncle Max's toupee and I glued it on my face when I was Moses in my Hebrew School play. In fifth grade, I knocked my sister Edie down the stairs and I blamed it on the dog... When my mom sent me to the summer camp for fat kids and then they served lunch I got nuts and I pigged out and they kicked me out... But the worst thing I ever done - I mixed a pot of fake puke at home and then I went to this movie theater, hid the puke in my jacket, climbed up to the balcony and then, t-t-then, I made a noise like this: hua-hua-hua-huaaaaaaa - and then I dumped it over the side, all over the people in the audience. And then, this was horrible, all the people started getting sick and throwing up all over each other. I never felt so bad in my entire life."
The Goonies
Your job is to comment and match the name of the movie to the numbers you know! I put them in roughly what I think is the order of difficulty. :)
So, without further ado:
1. "Snakes. Why'd it have to be snakes?"
Raiders Of The Lost Ark
2. "Well, that is your name, isn't it? Calvin Klein? It's written all over your underwear."
Back To The Future
3. "There was Dallas, from Phoenix; Cleveland - he was from Detroit; and Tex... well, I don't remember where Tex come from. "
Forrest Gump
4. "It's a trap!"
Return Of The Jedi / The Empire Strikes Back
5. "Listen, strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government."
Monty Python and the Quest For the Holy Grail
6. "Surely you can't be serious!"
"I am serious, and don't call me Shirley."
Airplane!
7. "Sam... I'm glad you're with me."
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
8. "Once again, things that could've been brought to my attention YESTERDAY!"
The Wedding Singer
9. "Have fun storming the castle!"
The Princess Bride
10. "How's your wife and my kids?"
11. "So the combination is... one, two, three, four, five?"
12. "Luuuke... Luuuke! I am your father!"
13. "The game starts now. You have to score one thousand points. If you do that, you take home a tank with a big gun. Each day we will announce the scores from that loudspeaker."
Life Is Beautiful
14. "Necktie...Neckturn...Nickel...It's an 'N' word, it's definitely an 'N' word!"
15. "Spatula City, we sell spatulas...And that's all!"
UHF
16. "Communism was just a red herring."
Clue
17. "EASTMAN! He came from the east, to do battle with the amazing RANDO!"
18. "What is that?"
"One grain of sand. It is all that remains of my vast empire."
The Neverending Story
19. "Hey! Hold it right there!"
"Yes."
"What do you mean, 'yes'?"
"Yes."
"Is that all you can say?"
"No."
20. "Tell us everything! Everything!"
"Everything. OK! I'll talk! In third grade, I cheated on my history exam. In fourth grade, I stole my uncle Max's toupee and I glued it on my face when I was Moses in my Hebrew School play. In fifth grade, I knocked my sister Edie down the stairs and I blamed it on the dog... When my mom sent me to the summer camp for fat kids and then they served lunch I got nuts and I pigged out and they kicked me out... But the worst thing I ever done - I mixed a pot of fake puke at home and then I went to this movie theater, hid the puke in my jacket, climbed up to the balcony and then, t-t-then, I made a noise like this: hua-hua-hua-huaaaaaaa - and then I dumped it over the side, all over the people in the audience. And then, this was horrible, all the people started getting sick and throwing up all over each other. I never felt so bad in my entire life."
The Goonies
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