This Space for Rent

2011-07-15T04:21:00.000-07:00

I have decided that as a public service to all of the people who read this blog (all three of you) I will give you my simple rules of life. These are in no particular order.

1. Accept the fact that people are lazy. We're all guilty of it at some point or another. If given two choices, some people, maybe not all of the time, will take the path that presents the least resistance. Therefore, if you assume that people are inherently stupid, and will make stupid decisions 70% of the time they are faced with a challenge, it makes living your own life that much easier, because you've prepared yourself, as opposed to saying "I cant believe he did that to me!"*

2. Dont take yourself so seriously all of the time. I am talking to you- the guy I see everyday in Starbucks in your pretty suit, ordering your cafe mocha latte half skim whatever, with your copy of "The Journal" tucked under your arm, while you blather incessantly into your bluetooth ear piece, about something that sounds so utterly boring that I want to grab a plastic knife and stab myself in the throat. Order a man's drink - Coffee, black. And then take that stupid ear thing off because you look like an asshat

3. No one should be saying the words "Grande or Venti" when ordering beverages at Starbucks. It sounds stupid. Make sure you tell the "Barista" - aka the guy making $10 an hour to brew coffee but let's give him a really fancy title so that it appears he/ she is doing something that the the pimply faced 17 year old working at Wawa does for half as much money- that you want a tall, medium or large.**

4. It's just a job

5. Go outside

6. Take the backroads if you are stuck in traffic. It might take you just as long to get your destination, but at least you wont be sitting in traffic

7. People who are dooshy dont know that they are dooshy. I have seen this time and time again.***

8. There's no rule that states that I have to like everybody that I encounter in my life. Just because you think someone is a nice guy doesnt mean that I have to think the same way. He's probably an asshole. Trust me.

9. Attractive women avoid sitting next to me at all costs on the train. Instead, rule #9 states that fat/ obese people must make every attempt to sit next to me, at all costs

10. Drive it like you stole it

11. Use a turn signal. How hard is it to use a turn signal? It's a simple flick of the wrist.

12. Some things in life are a privilege, not a right.

13. Give me eight hard hours of work everyday, and I will excuse the small mistakes.

14. Engineering is tough biz, and if your right out of school, expect to do some really shitty stuff in your first job. It's like engineering boot camp. Get used to it. The guy you're working for served his time in the trenches, now it's your turn to climb through a dirty nasty mechanical room counting valves

15. I am my biggest fan.

16. The glass is always half full

17. It is what it is

18. Yell at your kids when they are acting like little asshats in public. Everyone will respect you more for it. There's a reason why more and more restaurants are banning small kids - it's because you cant control your offspring

I have more I just cant think of them and I am now officially bored with this post

* I get alot of flack for this one because people think that I have a defeatist attitude. Wrong. Take my word for it
** I dont want to hear any feedback from anyone about how I am being as asshole to the hard working people at Starbucks. I respect anyone who busts their ass as much as the people who work in those stores do, but "barista?" For real?
*** Am I dooshy? Someone please tell me because I could be violating my own rule

Meh

2011-07-14T04:20:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've slapped one of these entries together, and to be quite honest, I have no meaningful content to add, whatsoever. I havent been riding as much, which is unfortunate - it's been three weeks since I've been on the bike, but I have been working out - running here and there, spinning here and there, and I just added some weight training. I really need to get back out on the bike during the week. This week has been tough for me to get my ass out the bed in the morning, and I have been doing alot of after-work gym visits.

Running: not so good. I am still experiencing some pain in my side. I am going to try and get in to see a PT sometime in the next week - a guy who was reocmmended to me my the guy who gave me my shot. I have run out of solutions. I am hoping that adding some core work to what I do during the week will help strengthen the muscles on my side because at this point I believe its a strain of the oblique or something related to that.

I paced Lou through the 5k piece of the Journey for Joann tri over the weekend. While I got participate in a portion of the race, I was disappointed that I couldnt do the whole event - I've done this race three or four times, and it's one of my favorite events. With all of the ink work that I have had done on my arm over the past few weeks, and the fact that my running has really shit the bed, I couldnt put the time in for the swimming or the running. There's always next year I suppose.

I would love to get out on the bike this weekend, but I am volunteering for the 20in24 race down in Philly- I am manning a water stop for 24 hours with Cat and Lynne, starting Saturday at 8:30 am through Sunday at 10:00 am. Twenty four hours straight with those two clowns. It's going to be awesome :)

Spin

2011-07-01T04:21:00.000-07:00

I know that there are some people who read these worthless blog entries that I post, so if I offend anyone who goes to my gym with what I am about to say, I apologize in advance. Part of my responsibility with this blog is to report on the cold hard facts. I am like a hard-charging journalist pounding the street looking for the story, to report the facts. I am like the Steve Langford of blogging.

I took an easy spin class this morning only because I am going to be slogging through four miles of trails this afternoon marking the Pickle Course for tomorrow's big Pickle Run, and there is a *slight* chance that I might run the Swarthmore Independence Eve 8k tonight. Plus, running a five spot yesterday kinda made me a bit sore*.

I dont know the name of the spin instructor who taught my class this morning, but I have blogged about her class format in the past. It's awful. Her music is atrocious. Like as in take a hostage atrocious. She goes from an up-tempo song to a down tempo song. We do way too much standing climbs. She has no idea how to moderate the levels of resistance. I guess I should explain the resistance control on the bikes that we use in class.

The bikes are rather nice - brand new with digital readouts for level, rpm, HR, wattage, average wattage and time. There are 25 levels on the bike. Everyone has a baseline level - the recovery level. My recovery level hovers around 13 or 14.

Depending on the class, the instructor will have the people in the class increase the level of resistance in small does over the course of an internal. Obviously the number of level increases and the frequency of the increases varies with whatever workout we happen to be doing at any point in time. Most instructors will peak out at about 4 or 5 levels above baseline at the peak of the interval, with an occasional "max effort" which is the maximum resistance level you can maintain for that interval at whatever cadence the instructor is calling out for that interval.

My girl will have us at 7-8 level above recovery. I am glancing around the room and people look like they are about fall off of their bikes. For real? None of these people are Lance Armstrong. not to boast, but there are probably 4 or 5 of us in the class at anyone time that can maintain that level of effort. To make matters worse, she'll keep repeating those intervals over and over again. I am assuming that she's assuming that most people have a very low baseline, hence the fact that she'll keep bumping the levels up so high.

I'm glad that today was a rest today because I wouldnt have been able to sit in that class for more than 30 minutes without my own music.

Rant over.

* Wah

Poked

2011-06-30T13:12:00.000-07:00

I got a cortisone shot yesterday. Let me preface the remainder of this entry by saying I hate needles, which is odd because I have half my arm tattoo'd. But it's a different kind of needle - I am not a fan of anything that get's inserted*

I know people suffer worse things in life - my boy Mike went through countless tests when he had cancer, and Dom had his blood clot issue. I count my blessings everyday for my good health, but I need something to blog about, so shut up and read.

The needle that they jabbed into my side was the biggest goddamn'd needle I have ever seen in my life and this procedure was a little more complicated that I had thought. The doc warned me ahead of time that because my pain was in a tricky spot in the ribs, there was a chance, albeit slim, that the needle could hit my lung and my lung would deflate. Not particularly what I wanted to hear at the time, but nothing in life comes without some risks I guess. Fuck it. Stick me. So they drag an ultrasound machine** into the room and another doctor comes in to navigate while my docs pokes around with the needle. First, they gave me a numbing shot. Then, I feel him stick the needle in- no pain but just the odd sensation of a needle buried deep inside my muscle. He must have been in there for a good two minutes fishing around and I could feel the damn thing moving around. All the while, doc #1 is guiding doc #2 as if he's trying to parallel park a car -

"Slowly, slowly..."
"Ok a little right. Stop"
"Ok move over and try over here"

At one point doc #2 says to doc #1 - "Well there's a rib. Found it." Great, at least we got the hard part out of the job. If we can't find the rib, we got bigger problems yo***

He explained that with my injury, a cortisone shot is like a grenade **** - he throws it in there and peppers the drugs around a bit to get the greatest coverage.

So I got up this morning and ran- I figured I'll test her out and see what's doing in the ole' internals. I ran 4.9 with no pain at an average pace of about ~ 9:10. The only thing that "hurts" is the spot where he stuck the need and there's a nice bruise on the spot. I've been poked more times this week than a Chinese Hooker during the week of the Army-Navy game*****, between the shot yesterday and my tat work a few days back. And I am going in for more tat work today :)

* That's what she said
** Hey doc if you find a pair of gold cuff links in there, let me know. I've been looking for those for 2 weeks
*** Sounds like someone didnt exactly nail the basic anatomy classes in med school
**** Not sure how I feel about a doctor using the term "grenade" as a context for any type of procedure
***** Yes, I threw a chinese hooker reference in there. That's how I roll.

Crappy 5k

2011-06-28T16:20:00.000-07:00

The Crappy 5k went off without a hitch on Sunday. This is the fourth little "impromptu" race that we've done over the past three years and they are always a blast. Everyone comes out, runs a race and then drinks and eats for the next three hours. We're doing another on the 29th of July on a Friday night which is probably going to be trouble since the day following isnt a work day. These two races also serve as training runs for the two girls that we're prepping to be full -time timers.

I ran the crappy 5k in under 25 minutes which is rather amazing. The course was a bit short and adjusted for distance, I wouldnt have broken the 25 minute mark by very much, if at all. My side felt "ok" - not great but not "I feel like someone just stabbed me" painful. It was a drastic improvement over Thursday's Rush Hour Run/ Slog.

Kinda weird considering that out of the last four runs that I've done, three have been races - The Media Five Miler, Rush Hour Run, and The Crappy 5k. Strange.

Not so good

2011-06-24T04:25:00.000-07:00

Not so good is how I felt last night at the Rush Hour Run. Dear christ in heaven was it hot! I ran at the gym the night prior and the side started to hurt again, about a mile into the run. I had a big lunch that afternoon and I am not sure if had something to do with the onset of the pain - perhaps the half pound of roast beef from my roast beef sandwich was sitting in the gut like a lead balloon. Regardless, I had pain, so I stopped running at just under 3 miles.

I woke up yesterday to find that my side was sore which is typical with the injury. So I called the doc and I made an appointment to get the shot. Enough is enough. So Wednesday I go in.

So anyways, last night, I figured I'll go out and run as far as I can and turn around when I couldnt stand the pain - it was an out and back course on the river up in Oaks. As luck would have it, a message therapist and chiropractor setup shop right next to our timing setup, and I got a quick adjustment from one of the doctors, that actually did help the pain, although minimally.

So, adorned in full Pickle suit, I setout on the race, midpack. Within about a mile, I couldnt "settle in." I have a couple of mental tricks that I have adopted over the years. I tend to go out fast when I race - usually too fast- and in order to try and back it off, I tell myself to settle in. I liken it to road riding, when I am tucked in a pace line, and I do my pull, I have to tell myself to get comfortable with the pace- to settle in. Relax. Get everything under control. So I have adopted that mantra with just about every physical endeavor that I do - running, spin classes, etc. If I can't get settled in, I know the ship is sunk and the rest of the exercise/race is going to be a shit-show.

I'll sometimes tell myself to "stay ahead of the pain." Picture the pain, and try to ride just ahead of it, like a surfer riding a wave, managing to stay just on the crest of the wave. This concept is a it hard for me to explain relative to the settling in bit.

So, anyway, the point is that I couldnt settle in last night. About a mile in, I was hot and my stomach hurt, so I stopped - walked - cheered the runners, etc. I repeated this run/walk process for the remainder of the race. In the last mile, I had to take the suit off for a bit- I couldnt take the heat. I did manage to run the whole race, albeit slow. This was a shitty week for training. I dont think I will be able to squeeze any type of workouts in today, and tomorrow might be tough as well. I am heading down to the Philly Tri in the am to which Baggadonuts do his thing, and then I have a shitload of yard work to do in prep for the Crappy 5k at my house on Sunday.

The Crappy 5k is a small race that I am hosting at my house on Sunday morning. We're using it as a training exercise for two girls that we're prepping to be full-time timers. I have a few spots left - the entry fee is beer or a BBQ item for the post race tailgate at my crib. It will be a full scale race with our normal race setup, and I will setup a course through the hood that will be a cross between the Wife's Away 5k course and the Brookhaven Sunshine Run course. If you are interested, please let me know and I'll get your registered. I have less than a handful of spots left.

Keep it Simple Stupid

2011-06-22T07:55:00.000-07:00

I got the results from the bone scan: negative for a stress fracture. The doc thinks its a muscle strain. I have two options: a cortisone shot, or a dextro something or other (I have it written down). The cortisone is a pain management shot. The dextro is a bit more invasive. In addition to management, the shot tears apart the muscle which then causes the muscle to heal back, in theory a bit stronger. I have to do some research. However, on the handful of runs that I have done over the past four or five days, I have had no pain, so the doc thinks its best to wait on the shot to see how I feel.

I am running the Rush Hour Run tomorrow night in Oaks. This is a great race with one great amenity that attracts alot of runners -- the post-race food. The RD gets a bunch of local gourmet restaurants to setup shop after the run. It's the est post race food spread in the area. I do alot of races as a timer, and I have run a shitload of races as a runner. Quite frankly, man cannot live on soft pretzels and bananas alone. Having some variety is always a good thing. I understand that nothing in life is free and that the RD's have to be very cost conscious with respect to race expenses, however, I always appreciate the folks who go the extra mile - some bagels with peanut butter, perhaps some tomato pie. Runners want a little bit of protein after a run, not just carbs. There are plenty of companies out there that will donate food to a good cause.

I'll be out there tomorrow in the Pickle Suit. It's gonna be another hot one- 86 degrees and a 60% chance of storms.

Odds and ends

2011-06-21T04:24:00.000-07:00

I'm glad I didnt go out and ride this morning - it's pouring right now. I had a feeling when I woke up at 5 this morning that I should stay indoors. I ran a mile this morning at an easy pace - no pain. I jumped into a spin class right after I finished up my run with my favorite instructor, Fred. Fred plays great music and his class is hardcore from start to finish. Its unfortunate that I have to leave the classes 15 minutes early because I have to catch the train. my average wattage today was 290 watts. Last week, my average wattage was 280 watts in the same class (both measurements taken over a 30 minute time frame). I am trying to keep my cadence in moderate/big gears. I avoid alot of the standing climbs because I am a "ass in the saddle" climber and that's always something that I need to work on - climbing.

I ran on Sunday - I did the Brookhaven "short course" which is about 3.1/3.2 miles. Absolutely no pain. I was sore as an SOB though from the Media Five miler. I should get the results of my scan today or tomorrow - I am very curios to see what the results say.

Running

2011-06-20T04:42:00.000-07:00

I ran the Media Five Miler on Friday night, in the Pickle Suit. My intent was to run one lap of the course and then spectate, cheer, act like a jackass, etc. But I felt ok after the first lap, so I cut our one corner of the course and jumped back into the back for the 2nd lap.

I was hot. That was probably my biggest issue with the run -- the hills and being grossly out of running shape also didnt help. I stopped alot on the course - I hit all of the water stops so I could dump some water down the inside of the suit, and I drank alot of beer. I must have stopped at every damn BBQ and tailgate on the course to have a sip of this, a little sip of that... Some of the people manning some of the tailgates that I hit on the first lap had beers waiting for me on the 2nd lap. The stomach wasnt feeling so good near the end but the amazing part is that I had no side pain, which is ironic considering that I had a bone scan that same morning.

Anyway, by the time I crossed the finish line, I probably had close to a six-pack in me. A good friend, Sue, threw me a beer about 20 meters from the finish line. So now most people either know who I am - the Pickle guy from the Pickle Runs-- or some beer swilling alcoholic jackass who runs around in a green suit as a either a: cucumber/jalapeno/green bean/etc.

I forgot how great that race is - its the only race in the area that gets that kind of crowd support other than the bigger races in Philly. I wish the course wasnt so damn hilly.

Spin

2011-06-14T04:31:00.000-07:00

Since the temp dropped, its been a bit chilly in the am, chilly enough that I am defaulting to the gym until it warms up again. I am probably the only idiot in the tri-state area that wants to the temp to rise back up into the upper 80's.

The guy who taught my spin class is one of the best instructors I've ever had, and definitely the best at my gym. He plays nothing but rock and metal throughout the class, and he's hardcore from start to finish. He doesnt do any stupid aerobics type shit on the bike, and he's got a good mix of climbs, sprints, tempo rides, etc. If I had to complain about one thing, it would be maybe the lack of enough recovery time. But that might be more of a function of my intensity relative to the rest of the class - I wont lie, and this is not to be construed as 'bragging,' but I bring my A-game to every class, and I think I am one of the hardest working, if not the hardest working m-fer in the class. I guess in theory as I adapt to the training, the recovery time should be sufficient.

I pulled an average of 278 watts for today's class over 50 minutes. That metric cannot be equated to wattage on a real bike, but it's a good metric to use to gauge my fitness. In the beginning of the year, I was averaging 220, then 250, then 260, now close to 280, and that is with me increasing my basline resistance as well. But like I said, today's class was hardcore - big ring, high cadence. I was hitting 400+ a few times. I have to check my HR monitor, but I was redlining a few times this morning.

Dead Things

2011-06-09T04:58:00.000-07:00

I see alot of dead things on the road when I do these early morning rides. Raccoons, possums, deer. Reminds of the mortality of human life and how I could become road kill in an instant if I get tapped by a car. At least on the trails, probably the worst I could is hit a tree or loose it on a nasty downhill. I'd probably still walk away in better shape than if I were to have gotten plowed by a car that weighs close to a ton.

What I am doing cannot technically be called "training" because I am not doing any type of structured training plan - I just go out and ride. It's good and it's bad. It's good because it gives me a lot of freedom to just do whatever the hell I want, when I want. It's bad because I am probably not maximizing the time I am actually spending on the bike.

Training Upate

2011-06-08T04:41:00.000-07:00

So as it turns out I picked up a race timing gig for the same day as the Guy's Neshaminy Race, so there goes that plan out the window. But, the Fairhill race is July 10th and I am wide open that day so I am going to throw my hat into the ring for that race. I havent been to Fairhill in ages. I cant remember the last time that I raced there. The upside to the scheduling conflict is that I will get more time to train.

The training has been going well. I feel good on the bike- comfortable; probably more comfortable that I have felt on a mountain bike in a very long time. The Jamis is amazing. It's a combination of the suspension system (which I think I finally have dialed in to where it needs to be). The thing climbs like a monster which is surprising for a full sussy that tips the scales close to 28 pounds. The suspension technology has come along way since my last "new" full suspension bike - the shock allows the rear wheel to track over everything. I have yet to loose traction on a climb and the steering is amazingly nimble for a bike with a relatively high head tube angle. The bike descends like a beast which should be expected from a full suspension bike with as much travel as thing coupled with the geometry of the bike.

I am climbing very well. I can definitely see some good progress on my fitness. I am not totally gassed at the top of many of the climbs that would take the wind out of my sails about a month ago. As a matter of fact, I have been working on keeping my power consistent through a climb and not "laying off" at the crest. Also, I am working on good gear selection and keeping my cadence high instead of burning my quads in a big ring - I am not Jan Ulrich. I dont have that kind of power. I am not fast, but quite frankly I really have not had the opportunity to do any real "speed" training. I have been doing alot of solo riding and I really dont get a chance to hammer unless I ride with others, like Lou and Dom.

Speaking of riding, I have been putting a fair amount of time on the bike. I've been going out in the morning to Darlington Woods 2-3x's a week. The rides are short because I am pressed for time, but it beats the spin classes and it gives me the opportunity to put some rubber on the trails. There's alot of things in the spin classes that dont translate well outside, namely, bike handling. Any idiot can put a spin bike on a high resistance level and crank up a hill for five minutes; it takes a special kind of idiot (like me) to crank up a hill on a twisty, rooty loose and maintain traction. In some respects I am probably getting a better cardio workout in the spin class but there's no equal to being on the trails, on your own bike, facing "real world" conditions. This morning I jumped into a spin class for the first time in 2+ weeks because I needed to do a recovery ride - high cadence/ low resistance. Otherwise, I am going to try and stick to the outside world as much as I can. This current heat wave is brutal, but that's also a big reason why I got riding at 5:40 am in the morning - much cooler.

And so it goes...

2011-05-17T04:26:00.000-07:00

Today is March 17th. I have about one month until my triumphant(ly horrible) return to mountain bike racing. I need to get serious about the training. This is a tough week - I am flying to Massachusetts for two days this week, and unless my hotel has a weight room, that puts me behind the 8-ball with respect to getting some spinning in this week.

I had a pretty good streak of training days last week - three days in a row of spinning with some running mixed in (until the friggen pain in my side got bad enough that I had to stop). My wattages are looking good, considering that I had to take a some days off with being sick. I'd have to go back and look at my data on my garmin but I know that I averaged 246 watts on the second session and 270 watts my third session (for about 30 minutes) - I dont think I could maintain that wattage for the full hour. I've geen hitting the mid 400 watt range in my sustained sprints (~ 30 seconds).

I'm definitely modfiying the classes as I take them to better suit the actual skills that I would need to apply to a mountain bike. Some of the "moves" in the classes arent very applicable to a bike, so I'll do my own thing while the instructor takes the rest of the class through his/her routine.

I got a referal to a couple of sports medicine specialists. I have to call today and setup an appointment with one of the Dr.'s that my GP highly recommends for this nagging sidepain. I really want to get this thing straightened out so I can race in the tri in July up in Towamencin

I am going to cobble together a training plan today that's going to have me put alot of time in with the bike because that's the immediate training need in light of the upcoming mountain bike race, with some swimming mixed in. If I cant train for running, there's no harm in at least trying to train for the other two legs of the tri while I am training for this MTB race.

I need to get my f*t @ss into shape

2011-05-10T18:43:00.000-07:00

The title cuts right to the chase.

I went out for a ride on Sunday - only the 2nd time on the new Jamis since I picked it up this winter. I haven't been as dedicated with my "training" as I had in the earlier part of the spring - I got sick and that lingered on for about two weeks, and then it took me a bit of time to get my rear back into the gym.

There were times on Sunday that I truly felt my that heart was going to jump out of my chest, run along side of me, and curse at me and heckle. My legs felt ok, which leads me to believe that the hours of spinning that I have been throwing in lately have had some sort of payoff, but the engine needs some tuning-up.

So, I have decided to register for a mountain bike race on June 18th - Guy's Neshaminy Classic. I have done this race three times (I think) over the course of the past ten years. Its a good course and a great race and I need something to motivate me to get my ass up out the bed at 5 am to get to the gym

So its done. Registered. I am registered for the Sport Class - that's like the intermediate division. I thought about Beginner, given the shape I am in, but a former teammate of mine bitch slapped me. He's got a point - I've been riding since 1993. That's close to 18 years of experience. Just on principle, I don't belong in the Beginner Class, even if I get my ass handed to me in Sport. It will be 14 miles of pain. I have a month to train. Let the fun begin.

Spin

2011-01-27T05:28:00.000-08:00

In an effort to get myself in shape, I have decided to immerse myself into spinning. I have had alot of luck using spin classes to get myself into decent riding shape over the years. Some would argue that the only way to really train for cycling would be via a true indoor trainer. I beg to differ. I'll admit that maybe the spin bike doesnt offer quite the same training benefits as riding one's own bike on an indoor trainer. However, there are some trade offs I'm willing to accept.

Having used an indoor trainer in the past, there's a certain level of solitude one must accept. Essentially, the rider is sitting in an empty room with perhaps a TV. Sitting on a trainer for two hours with some movies to watch might be fine for some, but I'd go postal eventually
I need and like the social aspect of the gym. I like eye candy. I like being in a room with thirty (30) other knuckleads working their asses off.
I like the competition. I like looking around the room at the people who arent breaking a sweat, while I am leaving a puddle of water on the floor, and know that I am the hardest working man in that room.

I'll probably have close to three (3) hours of spin time this week (an hour per class). Eventually I am going to step that up to four (4) classes. In some cases I'll go a half hour early and ride on my own before class.

This week, I ran twice. 3.4 miles and then a 1.25 miler. Nothing crazy, but pain free. No side pain, no calf pain. I am not going to go crazy. I view running as a secondary method of cross-training at this point. Cycling is and will be the primary training.

Donuts

2011-01-18T19:23:00.000-08:00

I got my fat ass into the gym tonight to a spin class. I finally realized how grossly out of shape I am. I was in agony. At one point I think my heart was going to jump out of my chest and heckle me. Additionally, I had to put on fancy clothes today for a trip to Boston (that never happened) and I couldn't button the top button of my dress shirt. Not good.

New bike this Friday. I'd like to take her in for a break-in ride this weekend. I love doughnuts

Hide the Pickle

2011-01-16T07:12:00.000-08:00

I didnt get into the gym once this week. That's horrible. However, I did get a tattoo, as most of you might have seen on Facebook. I get a new bike this weekend, so I got that going for me. If I can get the derailleur cable on my Y bike fixed, I'll go a ride later. No one cares. I am boring myself just talking about it.

But what is important is the running of the 1st Run of the 2011 Winter Pickle Running Series. We had 300+ knuckleheads running around Ridley Creek State Park and I think everyone had a ton of fun. The trail conditions were perfect - 2" to 4" of fresh powder with no ice, and yesterday was a crystal clear day.

We had one injury that actually required medical attention. One of the 5k runners lost his footing and went ass over teacups coming around the turn-around point. He fucked himself up good. I dont know how he got back to the start, but when I caught up to him, he was lying in the back of Tim's truck and he wasnt in good shape. There was a Dr. on site who had wrapped his arm up and by all appearances, it looks like he popped out his shoulder.

When the first responders arrived, they came in full force - an ambulance, a volunteer's truck, and one of those fast response firetrucks, complete an actual fireman in full get. Big thanks to those guys.

Check out the Pickle Facebook page - do a search for "The Pickle Run" and become one of our friends. We have no friends. Where do you think we find the time to put on this stupid event?

Snow Ride

2011-01-09T11:01:00.000-08:00

I killed two birds with one stone day - the first mountain bike ride of the year and first Snow Ride of 2011. However, not being in shape, coupled with riding in snow - which is like riding in sand - knocked the shit out of me. And I broke a chain, which doesnt surprise me because there is an unspoken but generally accepted rule that states whenever three (3) or more Drexel Alumni are riding together, something will break. The other part of that rule states that the odds are very good that the person breaking something will be me.

This is the part where I lost all feeling my fingers

Out of shape. Riding in snow. Broken chain. It could be worse - I could have been running. Rat bastard running...

I Hate Running

2011-01-06T18:59:00.001-08:00

I hate running. That sounds a little dramatic but I had a run last night that just re-affirms my decision to quit running for a bit. My back hurt and I was miserable. Granted, I checked it in mentally, so that wasn't helping - aka I didn't want to be out there in the first place.

I'm bike shopping, mountain bike to be specific. Shopping is probably too strong a word for what I am doing since I already know what I want and I don't have to physically shop for it. The crew that I ride with, we have a hookup that shall remain nameless, but lets just say that its no coincidence that most of us ride Jamis bikes. So I think I am picking up a Jamis 650B. That means nothing too most people. Just know that it goes fast. And it looks fast.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Camelot Dr,Brookhaven,United States

Strep Steady Diet of Nothing

2011-01-01T10:21:00.000-08:00

I got the strep. Throat is on fire. I went to one of those mini-clinic jawns this morning and they gave me some roids and amoxicilin. This is awesome. My diet has consisted of nothing but ice cream and popsicles - a steady diet of nothing (which is also the name of DC based punk band from way back. Can you name it?)

The Midnight 5k went off without a - hitch. They had two-hundred sixty registered runners and two hundred twenty finishers. I wish I could have stayed for more of the post race festivities, but I just wanted to go home and go home and go to bed. Once I got home, I didnt actually to bed until 5 am because 1) my throat was on fire and 2) I wasnt tired. So I popped two unisoms and an ambien. You would think that after that dosage of meds, it would have been "goodnight Irene" but I still rolled around until 5:30 am.

Oblique

2010-12-30T17:36:00.000-08:00

The results came back from my my ultrasound and all of my guts look normal.. So now the only logical explanation is a muscle strain. I had to go to the doc tonight because I have now have an ear infection. My normal doctor wasn't in so I saw his partner. He reviews the results and he agrees that its probably an oblique strain. No running and warm compresses. I'm going into week 4 of the marathon training and its not going well. I've been to the doctor three times in three days. I'm not one for doctors.

I'm timing a midnight run tomorrow night down at the Ballpark. Perfect timing with the ear infection- standing outside ion the freezing cold. I'm gonna sleep all day tomorrow so I am well rested. I would like to try and make some sort of heat tent in the back of the truck so I am not shivering. Hopefully I can shake the chills.

Testing

2010-12-28T14:15:00.000-08:00

Testing

I am going to rename this blog "Fat Runner"

2010-12-28T11:03:00.000-08:00

Why? Because I am getting fat. I am now at 189. That is rigodamndiculous.

I am thinking about switching to the Georgia Marathon, which is a week before the Ocean Drive Marathon. It lines up perfectly with a trade show that I am attending in Atlanta that same day, and the weather will be much nicer in Atlanta than Cape May in late March. It was miserable last year - rain, wind. Ug. Horrible running conditions. One another attendee of the convention is running as well - actually, she's the person who planted the idea in my head.

The training isnt going so well. I have been having some chronic side cramps. I have an ultrasound appt tomorrow to see of there's something going on in my innards. I am in week 3 and I havent run more than 18 miles in one week, and my longest run hasnt been past 7 miles. I tried to run today and I got about 1.5 miles in and I had to stop. I might give it another try with the running club tonight.

Tums

2010-11-22T16:17:00.000-08:00

I have been getting these nasty side stitches for about two weeks. I cannot figure out the root of the problem. However, I had put a post up on my facebook about the matter, and someone I suggested Tums. I did some research, and it turns out that Tums is indeed recommended as a remedy for side stitches. I skipped the gym tonight but I shall a thorough test tomorrow night

Test

2010-11-21T14:41:00.001-08:00

Test

Guess Who's Back?

2010-11-21T06:13:00.001-08:00

Who missed me?

I just registered for the 2011 Ocean Drive Marathon, and I will make every reasonable and coherent effort to detail my training, planning, dieting, suffering, etc. I have seventeen (17) weeks to train. This week, I have to nail down an actual plan, which should look alot like the plan I used last year, plus or minus. It will still follow the basic long run schedule that I used last year with some of the Delco people.

Now I have to try and find the damn plan that I made from last year....

Recovery

2010-03-31T20:04:00.001-07:00

I am feeling better. Its my quads and left calf (the problem calf) that are really sore, but I think I might make an attempt to run tonight with the Delco Road Runners. I’ll probably do the three mile course – keep it easy, keep it simple.

Fast Forward: I ran three miles tonight with the club, and I dont think I broke a 9’30” mile. My left calf was killing me. Its kinda weird – soreness isnt really a good way to describe the pain. It felt more like a knot in one specific spot. Weird.

So I am giving serious consideration to doing another marathon in a month and a half – The Pocono Marathon. Its not much time, and so I am on the fence about it. Essentially, I have four weeks to train, assuming I “taper” for the two weeks prior to the race. The big question: do I try to get one more 20 miler in? Is it necessary? The group I run with has it on their schedule for the weekend after next. One way or the other, I’ll run as if I am training from this point on, and whether I do a 20 miler with the group on that weekend (or maybe a shorter 17 or 18 miler) will be a judgment call.

I have until May 12th to register, and at this point, the race fee is the same from this point on, so there is no penalty for me to wait and see how things go.

Marathon Race Report – Warning: LONG!

2010-03-28T19:35:00.001-07:00

I ran the marathon. What more can I say? I ran 26.2 miles. It went a little something like this:

Up and out the door by 5:00 am. Google Maps says its a one hour forty five minute ride.I had everything packed and ready by the door last night before bed. Bearing that drive time in mind, I would be onsite at the race around 6:45 am, which would be early enough for me to relax and get myself organized for the 7:15 am shuttle buses heading to the start. Google Maps must figure some kind of traffic into its drive time calculations, because it only took an hour and thirty minutes to get there, with zero traffic on the way down (and that drive time included a gas stop). Turns out that I was one of the first arrivals at the race site. I had more than enough time to fill up my Fuel Belt Bottles, mixup my GU powder mix crap, etc.

Fast forward to 7:15 am – they pile us up on the bus for the thirty minute drive to the starting area in Cape May. I got into conversation with a lady from New York- this would be her 2oth marathon.

Its about 7:45 am when we arrive at the start. I am wondering what the hell I am going to do with myself for the next hour, besides peeing ten times before the start, which has sort of become my trademark. Something to tell the grandkids. Real proud.

The start of the race was smack dab in front of some kind of really old (and really nice) hotel in Cape May. I saw alot of the runners migrating their way in that direction, so like the lemming that I am, I followed, figuring that the hell else am I going to do with myself for the next 60 minutes. Turns out that the hotel was where the cool kids were hanging out. I wandered around the hotel, found the bathroom, dropped a couple of pounds (if you know what I am saying), and did a whole lot of nothing. I was kinda disappointed that there was no food or anything at the start – I could have used a banana or something along those lines. I only are a cliff bar on the way down, because I am an idiot.

After I found the gear check spot, I made my way to the porta-potties for the last “shakedown” if you will. Of course, the lines were about a half block long, but moving.

Finally, I got myself all set and jumped in the crowd massing at the start, near the back. I had a tech T-shirt on, with my ghetto arm warmers, and a throw-away long sleeve shirt on as the top layer. I didnt even hear the gun – I just saw the crowd move and….. WE’RE OFF!

The start was crowded, but nothing like the big Philly races. It was gun timed, so I started my Garmin when I crossed the start line, which was about a minute after the gun.

For the first five miles, I kept it easy, no music on the iPod. I wanted to settle in, get comfy, find a rhythm, let things spread out. Right off the bat, my left calf is tight. WTF. This calf hasnt bothered me in ages and never on my long runs. I stopped not even three miles in to stretch it, which helped slightly. I figured it would loosen up as I went along. To be honest, I dont remember much of the first 5 miles. I remember hitting the first bridge leaving Cape May (?). Next thing I know I am in Wildwood. The crowd had started to thin out by now, and I was feeling good. We detoured up to the Wildwood Boardwalk for a bit, which was really cool. I felt great going through North Wildwood into Stone Harbor. The calf loosened up and it wasnt an issue thereafter.

I’ll admit that alot of this shit was blending in together. I dont remember what particular town I was in, but I remember hitting this straight road for about 2 or 3 miles which ran right through the middle of a bay or wetlands or some shit like that. It was windy as a motherf*cker – a direct headwind. That was a goddamn suffer fest.

Finally, in Stone Harbor, we had houses blocking us from the wind as we ran parallel to the ocean. Every once in a blue moon, we’d have to make a right turn to drop us down a block, and those right turns were a bitch, because we were running directly into the wind. While it only seems like a block, at mile 19 on, those right turns were like running up a hill, straight up.

I felt great through the first two hours. I hit the half marathon mark smack dab on 2 hours. I started to pick it up a bit, dropping the pace below 9’00” all the while keeping the average around 9’11”.

Things started to suck around mile 16. I started feeling the miles. I knew my girls were going be cheering me on at mile 19, and that was a great motivator to keep me going strong. At this point, I was in Avalon, which was really boring, because we basically ran down a street with nothing but houses on both sides for the entire length of the island.

I stopped to see the family at mile 19.5, and getting started again was a bitch. I popped a couple of Excedrin, but I was definitely feeling it. Finally, around mile 21, I had to walk. Some other guy was doing the same thing – also a first time marathoner – and we chatted and walked for about four-tenth’s of a mile. I ran the last half-mile of Avalon into Sea Isle, and when I reached the beginning of Sea Isle, around mile 22 or 23 (I cant remember) I was in pain, but the Excedrin must have kicked in, because I felt like things were starting to come around. From this point forward, I mostly ran, walked here and there – I just kept saying to myself “keep the legs moving.”

FINALLY, we made a turn onto the promenade or whatever its called in Sea Isle, and I could see the finish banner a ways out. As I got closer to the finish, I could see the crowds of spectators starting to get a bit thicker, and I started pushing it, dropping my pace below 9’0”. I came across that finish line in a damn near sprint – 4:08:46 according to the Garmin. I stopped the Garmin every time I stopped, and let it run every time I walked, to keep things honest. I am not sure what my official time is – the results arent yet posted.

You want to know what sucked? Driving home for an hour and forty five minutes. But, I stopped on the way home and bought two bags of ice from Wawa, and took a ten minute ice bath, which was the friggen amazing. It was a bit of a shock, but it sure was hell took some of the edge off of my pain. Heather and I ordered food, and I made every human attempt possible to ingest 3,000 calories in one setting via a massive cheese steak and a side order of fries.

Final wrap up: I hit every water stop (cept for the very first one), so Between what I was carrying on me, and what I drank at each stop, I think I did a good job at staying hydrated. I hammered down 6 gels – I took the first one around an hour, and then about every 40 minutes on from there. I think I should have had a bit more to eat before the race. As I mentioned, I only ate a cliff bar on the way to the race. I think I could have used another 300 or 400 calories or so. This was a good first experience. Its definitely a great launching pad for lessons learned for the next one :)

I like pie

2010-02-25T09:57:00.001-08:00

I have had two great runs in a row. Tuesday, after I hemmed and hawed about going to the gym after work, I ran a 3.5 mile tempo run (with a mile warmup). I havent dont the math but I think my avg pace had to be in the low/ mid 8’s.

Last night, I went to the Delco SWarthmore Run. I really had no intention of doing anything other than a relaxed pace. I started out the run near the front of the group. Within a quarter mile, three of the fastest runners passed me and the small group that I was with. With me were three other people who arent too shabby in their own right. We werent killing the pace initially. I was keeping my eye on my average pace on Garmin, and we’re going fairly comfortable for the first 2 miles. After mile 2, they started increasing the pace, and by the time we hit the 3rd mile, we’re running an 8:37 pace, which isnt exactly tearing the road on fire, but I ran tempo the night before and I havent taken a day off in the last four days. I tried my best to stay with them, but I finally capitulated around mile 4-ish and circled back to the next group behind me. I hooked up with them, but within three minutes I stopped them and ran in the last leg on my own.

I feel good today. I am going to try and get some miles in later but its snowing right now and we’ll have to see what the rest of the day brings. I would be happy to get in just 3 – something is better than nothing.

We;’re still trying to figure out a plan for this weekend’s long run. I am hearing that Sunday will be a 15 miler. I would rather it be Saturday, but I will have to see what the group wants to do.

18

2010-02-24T13:56:00.001-08:00

Wrote this on Tuesday. Just getting around to publishing it now

I finally got my longest run of the year in on Sunday – 18 miles on a windy but relatively mild day.

Five of us met at Lloyd Hall at 8:00 am for a run that would take us down West River Drive, over the Falls Bridge, up through Main Street Manyunk, and back. Of the five, only three of us would be doing the full 18 miles, with the other two falling back at 6.5 miles for a total of 13 (they’re only training for a half marathon).

I hadnt run in two days – the day prior, Saturday, had me timing a big race in the am with Tim, and the Pickle immediately after. Friday, I took a rest day. So, I had fresh legs going into the run on Sunday. As a test, I wore the track flats for the entire 18 miles, and I will get into that later

We lucked out with the weather – it was a bit warmer than its been, but the windy was fairly strong. The wind was only a limiting factor on parts of the Drive where there’s no cover from the wind coming off the river.

I started out the run with four full flasks of low-cal gatorade on my Fuel belt, and four GU gels. In retrospect, I should have used the GU electrolyte replacement drink mix that I have in lieu of the Gatorade, which is really nothing more than flavored water.

The “out” leg of the run was great. The Drives have been completely plowed and were clear of snow, with the exception of some small patches of black ice here and there. Once we got into Manyunk, we run the length of Main Street. Normally, the group I was running with wouldnt even attempt to go down Main Street – they would jump on the Canal path that parallels Main, and then eventually dumps out onto the Bike Path that stretches out towards Valley Forge and beyond. However, the Canal Path was completely snowed over, so we had to improvise. However, this improvised route posed a challenge: when we reached the end of Main Street, we had to add-on some mileage in order to make the whole trip a full 18. In Manyunk, there’s really no where to go but up. Manyunk is infamous for “The Wall” – the monster climb that pro cyclists ascend fourteen times as part of the US Pro Championships. Needless to say, Manyunk is hilly, and what did we do? We climbed.

We made right onto Leverington Ave which parallels the Wall. As we started the ascent, I said to myself - “I cant believe we’re going to climb this thing. Maybe Diane is going to make a another right which would flatten us out and run us parallel to Main Street.” I couldnt have been more wrong. We went up. And up. And up until we reached the top of Leverington, at which point we made a right onto a street whose name I cant remember. That street was flat, and we ran it the length to Shurs Lane, which provided a longgggggg descent downhill back to Main Street.

So, in the middle of an 18 miler, I ran one of the largest, longest hills in the Philadelphia area. Granted, I wasnt sprinting up the damn thing, but it was a nice accomplishment that adds a bit of bravado to the long run.

The “back” leg was uneventful, although, I could definitely feel the miles wearing on me. Around mile 12 is when I think I noticed that my feet we really starting to ache, and my calves were tight. The cushionless track flats were catching up to me. But, on the positive side, I didnt feel as though my quads were being taxed as much as I would have perceived if I were wearing “normal” running shoes.

Mentally, as we cruised back down West River Drive, I was starting to get a bit antsy. I’ve come to this point before in other long runs. Its the point where you know that you’re almost there, but you’re far enough away to make the miles in-between you and the end seem like an eternity. I hit that point somewhere around mile 13. Additionally, the distance from where I was at on the Drive to the Art Museum was not enough to even out the 18 miles. Our trip would have to take us past the Museum out to the Schukyll Banks Trail, for another small out and back leg. Mentally, this is big. This is like running Broad Street (for those of you who have) and reaching the Navy Yard, thinking that you’re done, only to find that you still have another quarter mile or so into the Navy Yard to finish the race. Its a killer.

Anyway, we do the out and back leg, and around mile 17.5-ish, our route takes back out in front on the Museum, around the side, to the finish in front of Lloyd Hall. As we I rounded the corner in front of the Museum, I suddenly felt great – good enough that I had a nice kick back to Lloyd Hall.

Yesterday, I felt “ok” – much better than I thought I would but sore enough that I only managed to scrape out 3.2 miles last night with the running club. As I sit here on the train, I am still kicking around the idea of going to the gym now, and maybe getting in three (or more). The other part of me is telling me to go home and take a night off, and maybe do eight tomorrow – 3 or 4 early miles in the am and 5 tempo miles after work.

The Key to Success?

2010-02-17T15:27:00.001-08:00

I have had some of the best days of running in the last week, that I have had in a long time. Now, when I say “best” I don’t necessarily mean “fast.” Rather, the quality of the running has been above average.

I kicked things off on Saturday with a 14 miler through Fairmount Park with some of the folks from the running club. The following day, Sunday, I got up and went to the Sunday Delco morning run. I wasnt feeling great – I had a late night – so I was only banking on running 4 miles. The Sunday course is typically 7.1 miles, with a huge hill about 3/4 of the way into the course. I was planning on cutting off right before the hill. I was in a pretty good groove when I got to the cutoff, and I said “eff it” and went for it. Surprisingly, I didnt feel terrible. Granted, I wasn’t setting any kind of records on the ascent, but I felt good enough that I wasnt cursing out mankind and the world itself, as is my normal frame of mind whenever I am running uphill for any sustained amount of time. Anyway, so that impromptu hill run made the grand total for Sunday’s run 7 miles.

Monday night, I ran with the club at the Ridley YMCA. Normally, I only run one loop of the course which is about 3.2 miles. I was feeling good, and I was running with another guy, Steve, who always does two loops. When I finished the first loop, I said “eff it” and ran the 2nd loop with him.

Last night, I showed up for the Tuesday night run, which is typically 7 miles, but there’s a cutoff at 5 miles. I did the 5 miles. I wanted to run the 5 mile course tonight in Swarthmore, but a) I am tired and b) I got out of work later than I wanted to. Still, that’s quite a bit of distance to cover in four days, at least for me. 14+7+6+5 = 32. If I wasnt so tired, I would have run tonight. My legs arent tired – I am physically tired from a crappy night’s sleep. My legs fee fine.

I am would like to run tomorrow, Friday, and Sunday. I have to time a race Saturday morning and then the Pickle is later in the afternoon so I am going to defer the long run until Sunday. I have to touch base with the running club to see what’s on the menu for this weekend.

Idealistically, I would like to do 18 on Sunday. If I did 18 on Sunday, five tomorrow and so 5 on Friday, that would put me at 40 miles for the week. I would be happy with that, or maybe take it easy Friday with a slow 3 miler.

So that’s a lot of miles, and I feel really good, so what’s the difference? Last week, I didnt run for 5 days because of my calf. Why such the dichotomy in my fitness?

Answer: Track flats

I bought a pair of Nike Waffle Racers about 4 years ago. I picked them up cheaply and my intent was to use them for triathlon and 5k’s. I never really used them ever for training – maybe a handful of times in prep for a race.

I’ve been doing alot of research on barefoot running, as I think I had mentioned in some previous blog posts. If you recall, I tried the Vibram Five Fingers, and they werent for me. However, the next best thing to barefoot running is “minimalist” running – the use of shoes that do not include any type of motion control, cushioning, etc.

So, Sunday, I strapped on the Waffle’s and did the Sunday run, and I felt great. Monday, I wore them again and felt great, and again last night. My legs felt great and I felt as though I had recovered quicker from day to day. The only small issue I have is that my calves are sore, but not in pain, like they were last week. Apparently, sore calves are the norm for the first couple of runs as the body adapts to different mechanics, so I am not concerned. And like I said, what I am feeling is definitely soreness, and not pain.

I am going to continue to run in these shoes for the foreseeable future. I’ve been told to keep an eye out for stress fractures and that sort of thing, but until then, I am going to keep trucking along.

Septa

2010-02-12T15:49:00.001-08:00

The trains have been a mess the last couple of days. Let me preface my comments by admitting that I dont expect Septa to be perfect given the amount of snow we've received over the past four days. However, what I do expect is a bit more customer service.

Example #1:
Last night, I got on the 5:22 train. Septa has a website called "Trainview" that shows realtime train status. Prior to leaving the office, Trainview told me that my train was only a few minutes late. Upon arriving at Suburban Station, my train pulled up more or less on time. However, this is where things took an immediate downward spiral.

The train sat for 30 minutes on the platform. Not once in that 30-minute span of time did a conductor make any sort of arrangement as to what the problem was. I am not asking much - just tell me whats up, even if you dont know the answer as to when the problem will remedied. Knowing something is better than knowing nothing. Turns out they couldnt find an engineer to drive the train. I am assuming that Septa was short-staffed on crews - people probably called out of work. Thats no big deal -I can understand that - just tell me what the hell is going on.

Example #2:
Monday night, Septa sends a two-car train in lieu of the normal 5 car train for the 5:50 pm train. As you can imagine, it was bedlam. People were crammed everywhere. Once we left Suburban Station, we were filled to the max. The friggen train has the audacity to pull up to the platform at 30th Street Station (that's the next stop) and take on passengers!! I hear the conductor yelling in the vestibule "MOVE BACK MOVE BACK MAKE SOME ROOM." Me, being the always even keeled calm and resolute perform, yelled back "WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE US TO GO?" C'mon man, use some friggen common sense.

Example #3:
Tonight, I get down to the station and its again the scene of chaos and anarchy. All trains were suspended due to signal problems or some cockamamy shit like that. Everyone is milling around the station, waiting for an update. All of the train status boards at each stairwell to the platforms were more or less blank. Occasional announcements were being made, but they were inaudible. How bout putting a couple of real-live customer service people at each stairwell periodically giving some updates to the throngs of passengers standing around with their thumbs up their asses?

FYI, as soon as one of the outbound trains arrived at Suburban station, I ran down that platform and jumped and amazingly got a seat. Cha-ching.

The Siberian Workout

2010-02-11T06:37:00.001-08:00

If I picked a good week to take some time off running, this is it. Over the last two days I’ve done what I am calling “The Siberian Workout.” I feel like Rocky in that Perennial Classic Rocky IV where he goes to Siberia to train for his fight against Ivan Drago.

The regimen is simple: shovel. The shovel again. Keep repeating that over and over. My back is very sore. The first round of snow on Tuesday night was very heavy. This morning, I have to shovel out the driveway, and that snow was almost ice from the plows coming through and packing it down. Good stuff. Not only do I shovel my property, but I helped my neighbor Lou shovel his a bunch of times. He just got knee replacement. Plus, with not running, and no access to the gym with the roads being all fuct up, I needed an outlet for exercise.

I ventured out on the mountain bike last night. It wasnt terrible. I had some trouble spots getting down my street because as of 6:00 last night, it wasnt plowed and it was about 6” deep. I tried to ride as best as I could in the tires tracks from the pickup trucks that had come up and down the street here and there. Once I got out to the main roads, I faired much better – everything was really packed down. I probably road about two miles – I went to Wawa to buy ice cream, got home, and somehow I lost a pint in my return trip home. It was in my pocket, and it must have slipped out. Anyway, I went back out, bought another pint, and came home. I pulled up to Wawa on my bike and I got a lot of funny looks from the guys in plows parked in the lot. That’s how I roll.

I didnt even dare attempt to go out for a run. I laid low. I was fairly exhausted yesterday from shoveling for damn near three hours, and then helping the kids make a snow for and a snow tunnel.Depending on the situation after work (I am on the train as we speak venturing into the city) I might try and go to the gym and run, or at a minimum hit the elliptical machine. I gotta be honest though – my back is really friggen sore.

Tempo

2010-02-04T15:32:00.001-08:00

I ran a tempo run last night and it’s the fasted I have run in a long time. In retrospect, it was probably a bit faster than a tempo pace. I ran two miles at an 8:00 pace and on at 8:45 pace. It felt good to stretch the ole’ legs out a bit, but it also put in perspective how out of shape I am. There was a point time where I could run that pace for 13 miles. I couldnt even touch that right now. Last night, I was knackered after 3.5 miles at that pace!

Tonight, I am completely blitzed. I took one of my wife’s sleeping pills last night, and I swear it did something to me. I woke up this morning feeling like I didnt sleep, and I was in a fog most of the morning. I am still in a fog now. I am moving in slow speed. I am definitely not running tonight. I just want to go home and sleep.

We got some awful weather headed this way which figures, because I have another long run planned for this weekend. I want to do at least 18. Right now, there’s a tentative plan to do 18 on Saturday morning along the Schukyll River Trail with some of the peeps from my running club. These fools are still planning to go even it snows, and if that’s the case, then I am going with them. I am at about 9 miles for the week; if I do 3 tomorrow, and 18 on Saturday, that will put me close to 30, which is my target. The nice part about Saturday is the course is FLAT, unlike the hilly routes I have been running around my neck of the woods. Thank god! Since it’s flat, I think I can sneak out and do an easy three tomorrow which shouldnt tax my legs at all. This should be a hoot.

Summary

2010-01-28T06:02:00.001-08:00

I had a whole blog post just shit the bed because my machine crashed. I got the dreaded Blue Screen of Death which is the fist time I’ve ever got that with Windows 7.

Here’s what you missed. I ran 5.25 this morning at the gym. I feel better. I want to run 3 tomorrow and an easy 2 Saturday (or just rest) and run 15-16 on Sunday with Amanda and her crew. That would put my weekly running tally at 28 miles; I might break 30. I am going to keep inside for the next few days while I get better. I refilled my prescription for my Pro Air inhaler and I have been using that before I start running and I think its helping. I managed to drag my ass out of bed at 5:20 am this morning to get to the gym. Compared to the time that I used to wake up to get to the gym when I was till actively taking spin classes, 5:20 is like “sleeping in.”

I just picked another race timing gig this spring. I am timing 9 races between now and June, not including the next two Pickles. Its going to be a busy $pring. Cha ching. Peace

Blah

2010-01-27T17:05:00.001-08:00

I am feeling “blah.” I am at the trail end of this cold. I am coming over two weeks of shitty running, with last week totaling a whopping 14 miles and the before, 10 miles. Oi. Both weeks should have been double those totals. I am heading to the gym now to squeeze out 3 or 4 miles. I would be running outside under normal circumstances but with this cold, I dont want to chance it.

Fast forward – I am home now, just back from the gym. I had a decent run – 4.25 miles at a pace just a tad under 9 minutes. I felt ok – shortness of breath but thats to be expected with a chest cold.

I am going to make an attempt to get up early tomorrow and run 5 in the am. That’s the goal

Five Fingers Experiment

2010-01-27T16:49:00.001-08:00

I am reading this book called “Born to Run” by Chris McDougal. This book has gotten a fair amount of press in the last year or so within the running community because one it’s primary themes is the centered around the benefits of barefoot running. I’ve been hearing for quite some time that barefoot running is the truest form of running, because it’s the natural way we were meant to run. There’s a plethora of barefoot running proponents who claim that they were once injury plagued, but not anymore now that they have adopted barefoot running.

So, I went out and got me a fancy pair of Vibram Five Finger Running shoes to test out. I have two friends who also run in these shoes, and they swear by them. I had to shop around to get a pair in my size – I finally found a pair at a place in Glen Mills.

The very next day after purchasing, I took ‘em to the gym to do a light run. I was cautioned to take it easy for the first couple if runs in these shoes – it takes some time for the foot to adapt to the sensation and mechanics of the shoe. I started out with a light pace. About two miles in, I started to feel some hot spots on the arches of my right foot and the bottom of my big toe on the same foot, so I bagged and switched to my regular shoes.

Saturday, I ran another three miles in my regular shoes, and everything felt ok. Sunday, however, was a shit show. I met two new running friends down at Lloyd Hall for what was supposed to be 15-16 miles for me. Luckily, the rain held off – goddamn weathermen cant get shit right.

After completing one whole loop around the Drives, I had to bag it. My feet were on fire. I had two small blisters on my right foot just north of the arch. After the first loop, I figured I could do a temporary tape job the blisters and keep going, but it didnt work. Not even 100 yard in, I had to bag it – I could still feel the blisters and I knew it wasnt in the cards for me to keep going.

Arriving home, I tenderly popped the blisters – the way to cure a blister is to pop it, and let the top layer of skin adhere to the irritated sub-layer of skin. After it dries out, the top layer of skin acts as a sheath and helps the blister heal. You gotta let it dry out though – no ointments and such. You want the top layer of skin to harden up by drying out, which then creates a really touch out layer.

As I had mentioned, I have been battling a cold for the past two weeks, and I seemed ok going into Sunday, and I guess running outside must have flared it up, because I felt like crap on Monday. I took the day off from running, and did a short three miles last night on the treadmill. Aside from feeling like the run itself was an absolute un-enjoyable slog, the feet didnt bother me at all. It only took days for the blisters to heal up.

I am feeling better today, not 100%, but good enough that I am going to head to the gym and run a couple of miles. I am laying the outside running – I dont want to aggravate the cold.

This month has been a tough month relative to my training goals, but in context of the last few months, I am doing ok. I wanted to try and break 100 miles this month, and as of yesterday, I am only at 66 miles or so. I want to run at least 20 this week, maybe more (assuming I feel good enough to get in a long run in Sunday, which is much overdue). 20 would put me at 86, which is more than last month’s total of 77, so at least I got that going for me.

So Anyway, back to the Five Fingers Experiment. So I made the very quick decision that these goofy shoes arent for me, at least right now. I have two active pair of shoes that I am rotating, one pair with about 200 miles logged, and the other with 250 miles. It’s time to start introducing another pair into the mix. The Vibrams werent cheap - $85 a pair. That kinda money is better served on a regular training shoe, so in the end, I returned the shoes to the place that I bought them. Funny side note: when I returned the shoes, the saleswoman suggested that I try a five-toed sock specially made for the Vibrams. I tried the sock on with the shoe, and I have to admit it was very comfortable, but the damn things were $14 a pair!!!! Thats highway robbery. My luck with socks isnt so good – I’d loose then suckers in about a month.

So with my $85 back in hand, I went out shopping the other night and

If I really want to get some quasi-barefoot running into my training, I have a pair of track flats that I solely use for 5k racing. Just like barefoot running, there are a number of people out there in the running world who claim that today’s technologically advanced running shoes do more harm than good by de-sensitizing the foot and forcing us into mechanics that arent natural. Many claim that minimalistic running is the way to go – less is better, and in this case, less is a no-frills, fits like a glove track flat. I am going to start working those shoes into my routine a bit more going forward.

bought a pair of Brooks Ghosts (last year’s model) and paid a whopping $35 at DSW. These shoes, new, were $100!!!

Capn’ Chest Cold

2010-01-27T16:48:00.001-08:00

This entry was written last week. I never got a chance to post it

- Ed

Before I begin, let me plug a DVD that I got for my birthday, which just might be the best birthday gift I have ever received – Jim Breur’s “Clearing the Air.” I swear to God that Heather and I were rolling for a solid hour last night watching this thing. We might go try and see him – he’s coming to Moravian College in March.

So I am fighting a cold, although I am the tail end of it. Its killed my running for the last week. I could feel it in my chest the day before the Pickle – Tim and I ran the course and I couldnt catch my breath. By Monday, I was congested, tired and overall, I just felt blah.

I can handle being sick. On a scale of 1-10, this cold was a 5. Th real problem is that the cold effs up my sleeping patterns. Monday night I went to bed at 10, woke up wide awake 2, didnt go to bed until 5, and then the pattern repeats itself the next night.

So, I got a good night’s sleep last night, and got up early this morning, and took a trip to the gym. My run was a slog- an absolute slog. I did three miles and packed it up. This weekend presents a challenge. I am supposed to run long on Sunday, however the forecast for Sunday is rain. Since I am just getting over a cold, the last thing I want to do is run for three hours in the rain, in the cold. Besides, I am not 100% yet – I am probably running at about 80%- and I dont know what kind of effort I could put, bad weather or no bad weather. I am going to play it by ear. I am going to try and run again tomorrow, and that should be a good indicator of my overall condition.

The Pickle

2010-01-13T18:04:00.001-08:00

We hit 360+ pre-registered runners for the Pickle. It’s amazing. This whole run started out as small race that would get some folks outside during the middle of the run to do a race that’s more of a fun run then anything else. Now it’s grown into this wacky phenomena, and quite frankly, it’s mind blowing. This could easily be a 450-500 person race if we didnt decide to turn off the online reg tonight and kill the walk-up registration. We’ve averaged about 60-70 walk-ups at the previous Pickles.

I never imagined that I would some day be a race director (or in this case a co-race director) when I first started running. If anyone actually read my old blog from wayyyyyy back when, I used to do a fairly comprehensive and satirical “race review” for each race that I participated. Now, here I am with the ability to mold and shape a race in the form that I want it to be in. While I am nervous at the prospect of the chaos that might ensue on Saturday morning, at the same time, I think Tim and I both agree that if we f*ck this thing up, in the end, it’s probably not a big deal because we’re only charging people $10 and most of the people who have heard about this race know that it’s very “no frills” and there are two yahoo’s running this thing. If we were charging the standard going rate for a 5k, which is generally around $25, then we’d have some heavy pressure to provide a higher quality event.

My biggest concern was registration, and trying to manage 300+ pre-registered runners and god knows how many walk-ups. We’ll still have a small walk-up crowd – mostly people who didnt get the word that we killed walk-ups, but we’re not going to turn anyone away. But 20 or so walkups is a hell of alot easier to manage that 70 or 80 walkups. We do have a fairly good volunteer group in place right now, and we would have had enough manpower to cover everything, even if we didnt kill the walk-up registration.

At one point today, Tim emailed me and said we were getting 15 registrations an hour. We sent out an email blast to our email list which has 4000 names on it, telling people that we’re closing out, and that seemed to drive alot of people to sign up before it’s too late.

It’s a weird coincidence that we decided to turn off the online registration for this race, because we had actually decided to make the February race registration online only. If anything, we’ve now created a very good “supply and demand” for this race.

Tim and I agreed to kill the online pre-registration a day early, and forgo any type of day-of registration. It’s kinda unmanageable to be honest. We weren’t prepared for this type of response. The weather is supposed to be very good on Saturday, which will probably drive alot of people out to the Park.

Tim asked me what me why I think this thing has gotten so big, so fast. Here’s what I am thinking:

1. It’s cheap. We only charge $10. There’s no other race in Delaware County that charges a race fee that low

2. It’s in the middle of the winter, and we dont have ant competition from any other races.

3. Marketing ploy #1: We gave out about 2,000 Pickle postcards starting back in October, and every race we timed.

4. Marketing Ploy #2: I showed up at every race that we timed this fall in the Pickle Suit. That’s really great promotion.

5. We have a “brand” – The Pickle! Pickle awards, etc.

6. Word of mouth. With our online registration, we ask the runners hwo they found out about our race and we got quite alot of responses that indicated that “I heard it from a friend” and that sort of thing

7. Runners World: Runners World had a small blurb about our race in the last issue. Again, online, some people indicated that they saw our race listed in the Mag with the article.

8. Prediction: The prediction format gets alot of people out the door. Its a “no pressure” format. You’re not racing against other people; essentially you’re racing against yourself.

9. The website and our email list. The Run The Day website is essentially the “go to” site if you want to find a race in Delaware County. Tim gets tons of hits and as I mentioned, the email list has well over 4,000 name on it. That’s a ton of exposure.

Climbing

2010-01-11T17:53:00.001-08:00

I downloaded my data from my Garmin today, and the first thing I focused on was the elevation profile from yesterday’s hill slog. I wound up climbing nearly 1300’ in elevation. Whew.

I wanted to specifically take a look at the Beatty road climb.

The Beatty Road climb starts at mile around 4.75 miles and crests just a bit over 5 miles. Thats nearly 3/4 of a mile of straight up climbing. The grade starts at about 2% and ends at nearly 15%. Whew.

I skipped the recovery run tonight. My train was late and I didnt get to my station until 6:20. Even though our runs never start on time, I would have been pushing it trying to get to YMCA with enough time to get there and get changed. So tomorrow, I am thinking about going to the gym early, and running 3 miles, and then doing some hill work after work with Amanda and some of her friends. They are planning to do hill repeats up Lemon Hill.

Yenta

2010-01-11T05:15:00.000-08:00

There is a woman on my train that has a massive head of hair. I see her every day. Its very well coiffed, but its just a mass of hair. It’s actually quite ridiculous and it annoys and I would like to tell her that. The woman next to me is bothering the shit out of me. She’s been on her cell phone the entire ride. Granted, she is trying her best to keep the volume lower, but she’s been doing nothing more than bitching about her job, specifically a performance appraisal or something similar. She’s been complaining to “Glor” which I had to assume is Gloria. Apparently, her boss or someone made some comments about her being on the phone a lot during the day with the Gloria character. There’s a surprise – shes been on the phone with Gloria for 30 minutes on the train ride so its not unreasonable to assume that this yenta is on the phone more than she thinks during the day with Gloria. Listen sweetie, why don’t you do us a all a favor and tbale She’s married as well. Poor bastard. Seriously, I couldn’t imagine going through life with this woman. I’d have to hit her over the head with a shovel.

I ran 11 miles yesterday. That’s it. I was scheduled for 15-16. Hills. Hills killed me. That’s my excuse. My intention was to do the distance on Saturday morning. I met the running club for the 9:00 Saturday morning five miler at Ridley Creek State Park. My plan was to run the 4 mile loop 4 times for 16 miles. About ¾ of the way through my first loop, my iPod died and there’s no way I am running 16 miles without music, so I bagged the run. I told myself I would do the distance on Sunday.

My plan for Sunday was to meet the running club at the 7:30 run, do 9 miles, and then do the 5 mile course at 9:00, for at least 14 miles, with an add-on after that. I got up at 6:30 am and in my stumbling around to hit the snooze button, I turned off the alarm. By the time I got up, it was 7:30 am. So rather than do9ing the 9 am run, I decided that I would run home from daughters birthday party in Broomall.

According to Google Maps, the trek home is around 11 miles. I figured I could do some add-ons as I progress home to get the mileage up.

I think I picked the absolute hilliest course in Delaware County. It was just one hill after the next. The run started out with a slight riser for about a tenth of a miler. I hit another long, gradual hill about 2 miles in. About 5 miles in, I hit the dreaded Beatty Road Hill. This thing is a monster. When I was still doing a fair amount of road riding, I would go out of my way to avoid this hill. It might be one of the toughest climbs in Delaware County. It’s long, its steep and its twisty. However, I finished it, but when I crested the top, I was blitzed, and I was less than 6 miles into the run and I knew I had one or two more hills left in my trek.

The rest of the way home was relatively uneventful. I saw a woman blow a stop sign and get pulled over – that was kind of cool. I hit one more doozy of a hill going up Rose Valley Road, and I had to walk a bit of that one. I was completely hammered. Note to self: do long runs on something flat. The Sunday runs aren’t bad – we only hit one hill and it aint all that bad. I get the feeling that whoever laid that course out did their best to avoid the hills and I have no problem with that.

I wonder If there is some sort of “equivalency” calculation to convert “hilly” miles into flat miles. Example: there’s a rule of thumb to convert mileage when riding a cycling trainer: 3 to 1. 3 miles on the trainer is equivalent to riding 1 mile outside. I gotta think that there is something similar with running hills. I’ll have to look that up.

Am I disappointed that I didn’t do the allotted mileage? Yes and no. On paper, 11 miles is less than 16 miles, obviously, but when you take into consideration the hills, it makes the situation a lot more acceptable. Plus, I ran 4 miles the day prior, so I did run a total of 15 miles this weekend, which is about what I would have run if I had done the whole distance in one shot. I am not getting stressed about it.

I didn’t hit my mileage goal for the week. I have to do the final tally, but I think I only ran 24 or 25 miles – I was aiming for 30. My mileage for the week was a little light as well – I only ran three times leading up to the weekend and none of the runs broke 3.5 miles in distance.

So for today, I am going to join the running club for the 6:30 pm run at the Ridley YMCA. I’ll run the 3.1 mile as a recovery run.

The Pickle Run is this Saturday upcoming. I started to put together the volunteer assignment list last night, which is something we’ve never had to do in the past because we’ve never had any where near the participation we’re expecting for this Saturday – we’ve actually had to put some thought into this thing.

Recovery

2010-01-06T17:30:00.000-08:00

Let me start by saying that my kid is smarter than your kid. Its that simple. I am not that saying that your kid is stupid, I am just saying that my kid is smarter. You can either accept it or not; it doesnt make a difference to me, because we all the know the truth, and the truth is very simple

My kid is smarter than yours. Hands down. Case closed. End of story

Running is funny thing. Think about running for a second. Its all about getting from Point A to Point B as quick as possible. Why did our ancestors run? They were either chasing food, or being chased. Other than that, cavemen didnt go out for a jog to stay in shape. They ran because they were hungry or they were about to be something’s dinner. The point is, running served a defendable, viable purpose.

Fast forward to present day and ask yourself why we run? I think most people would answer that question by saying “for fitness.” I am not sure how many people would say that they run because they are chasing food. Further, I dont think many people would say that they run because they are practicing in the even they get chased. We run for fitness. We run for fun. Sometimes we tell ourselves running is fun, but more often that not, its not all that fun. TO even make the situation even odder, we willingly subject ourselves to running in place, on treadmills, like hamsters. Fascinating.

I think I am making progress relative to my fitness. I ran 13 this Sunday, and I was of course a bit sore on Monday, but nothing like the soreness I felt last Sunday after my 12 miler. As a matter of fact, I went for a run with the running club on Monday – a slow, short one, which I guess is a recovery run. I would have run yesterday, but I couldnt get yesterday morning, and I stayed late at work. I felt fine yesterday. Last week, my soreness lasted all the way into Wednesday. The lack of soreness is because a) last week was my first “long run” so a bit of soreness is expected b) I am getting into better shape and c) I did a recovery run on Monday

I am big believer in recovery runs. They work well for me. Recovery runs were a big part of my training when I was fairly active with multisport racing. Its sort of like the “hair of the dog” – cure a hangover by drinking more.

I have set a goal of running 1,000 miles this year. The closest I have come to hitting that mark was 2008 when I hit 885 miles. So, 6 days into the New Year I have logged about 16 miles. 984 more to go. I’ll have to run, on average, 80 miles per month, or 20 miles per week. Assuming I can stay healthy, thats a fairly easy target to hit. Quite frankly, I’d like to run 100 miles a month at a minimum.

We’ll take it step by step I guess.

2009 Recap

2010-01-03T11:31:00.001-08:00

So, I ran a whopping total of 521 miles this year. Wow, that’s pathetic. There was alot of time off this year though. I had that major case of bronchitis in the spring which took me out of action, and this fall was a fairly light season as well, with timing races and all of the traveling I did for work. However, I ran 69 miles this month, which is the most I have done since August, so that’s a positive. That’s the way to end the year right. In 2008 I ran 885 miles. In 2007, I ran 642.

My best month this year was August- I logged 77 miles that month. The next closest month was December at 69 miles. My worst month was last April – I only loggen 3.7 miles. That’s when I was suffering with Bronchitis. My miles for 2008 blow this year away. In September of 2008, I ran close to 130 miles.

This year, I logged a total of 22 hours on the spin bike. In 2008, I logged 10 hours but in 2007, I logged over 40 hours. Kinda neat to go back and look at this stuff.

I did 194 miles of mountain biking this year, compared with 46 miles last year!!! WTF was I doing in 2008? Sitting on my ass?

I did close to 13 miles this morning. It was 19 degrees at 7 am with a “real-feel” temperature of 10 degrees, and it was friggen windy. I wanted to do maybe a mile or two more, but near the end, I was colllllldddddd. All of my layers had soaked through and the wind picked up significantly from when we set out.

My calf gave me a ell of a time when we started. Our group broke into two smaller groups from the onset. I tried to go out with the faster group, but I fell back after a mile and a half to catch up with two girls who were running a bit slower. I did their pace for the remainder of the run ~9:45 min/ mile.

Maybe its something about the cold, but I feel like I can never get into a rhythm. My legs never feel like they do when I run in the heat, and I imagine that’s partly due to the fact that its cold and my muscles have a hard time “waking up.” I dunno. It’s probably more mental than anything else. Maybe its due to the fact that I dont enjoy running in the cold no where near as much as I do in warmer temperatures.

NYE

2009-12-31T16:15:00.001-08:00

New Year’s Eve night and in a few hours I am going to be heading into the city to time a race, which is really wacky because a) I figured I was done timing for a couple of months until the spring and b) I am timing a race thats going to start at midnight on New Year’s Eve. I am excited though – this should be a good time.

The weather is looking a little iffy. I am bringing my pop-up tent and a bunch of bags for all of my equipment. I pray that rain holds off until. Trying to do the results in the dark, with the wind and the rain would really, really suck, but at least there’s a full moon, and I am bringing my head lamp and a lantern with me, just in case.

I am going to try and take some pics – the race director is giving out awards for the fastest runners in tux’s and evening gowns and I would like to get some shots of those fools. I am hoping to get home by 2:00 am, assuming we’re wrapped up at 1:30 am. This should go smooth – there’s a 120 people pre-reg’d and the RD doesnt think he’ll get more than 200 total. I don’t have to mark the course, and I didnt have to make up bibs or anything like that. I want to be in and out.

I am kicking around the idea of running a 5k tomorrow morning in Swarthmore. I did this race last year. Its a small little event ~ about 50 people if recall. Tomorrow looks to be nice ~ 38 degrees by race time which is downright balmy compared to some of the weather I have been running in lately. I am also thinking it might be a good day to get a mountain bike ride in – the weather looks good, but the trails will be sloppy – you take the good with the bad. We’ll see I guess. It will depend on how motivated I am when I get up in the morning, and if any of the guys want to ride as well.

Speaking of running, its been a dead week. I was a bit more than I expected on Monday, following my 12 miler on Sunday. I am assuming its due to the fact that Sunday’s 12 was the longest run I have done in a while. So I skipped Monday. Tuesday, I woke up and felt like crap and that ickiness went right into Wednesday. This morning I did a 4 mile snow run with Tim over at Ridley Creek State Park. We measured one of the five Pickle courses that we’re doing at the January Pickle Run.

The run itself sucked. My calves were KILLING me. I had to stop ALOT to stretch, and the stretching didnt help a bit. This calf thing has me concerned. Its not my shoes, because this tightness has happened with at least three pairs of shoes that I rotate. I cant put my finger on it. I am using The Stick on it every day and I am applying liberal amounts of Tiger Balm before I run. I find that the balm warms the muscle up and helps with the tightness.

The game plan for the rest of the weekend is up in the air. Sunday, I am about 90% sure that I am going to *try* and run 14 with one of the girls on my running club. We’ll do 9 miles at 7:30 am and then another 5 miles at the 9:00 run. I dunno – we’ll see how the calves feel. I am keeping my eye on the situation.

Relax and Do Nothing

2009-12-26T16:48:00.001-08:00

Thats what God told me to do over the five days that I have off. He told me that in a vision. I was sleeping and an apparition appeared at the end of my bed. It was god. At first, I didnt think it was God, because the apparition looked like the Fonze. I said “Fonzie, why are you standing at the edge of my bed?” And the Fonze said that he wasnt the Fonze, he was God. And I remember thinking to myself – that’s awesome – God looks like the Fonze. I also remember thinking to myself – I wonder if God ever jumped over a tank of sharks on waterskis while wearing a leather jacket? That would be one badass God, and it would be much cooler than turning water into wine. Any two-bit hack magician could do that. I think I once saw David Copperfield do that on a TV special. Anyway, I am getting off track.

So the Fonze, I mean God, told me that I am not to exert myself over the next five days, and if I did he would smite me with his almighty hand. So, I have been taking it easy, more or less. I’ve been getting alot of exercise (up until today). I also fixed my storm door, visited alot of relatives, and fixed my heater. I also installed a new brake line on my mountain bike and tru’d my front wheel.

On Christmas Eve, Mike, Dom and I went out for a snow-ride over at Swarthmore College. It was a shit show. The snow was too deep. Mike blogged about it on his blog as well. We ride nearly thirty minutes and went 1 mile. The trails dont get enough traffic to really pack the snow down. Mike and I bagged the ride and did a 2 mile trail run. It felt like we ran 4 miles, since we running in fairly deep snow for half of the run. The day before, I ran a “mixed bag” run – 2 miles at tempo, then a mile and a half of extreme hills. Couple that with the 7.5 miler I did the day before, and I had nothing in me for a deep-snow trail run.

I didnt do any running on Christmas day – I was due up for a rest day anyway. I was planning on running long today, but it’s been pouring all day, and the prospect of running nearly two hours in the rain wasnt appealing, and I knew the most that I would get out of the treadmill would be 7 or 8 miles tops, before I would go nutty and take a hostage. So, I decided to defer the long run until tomorrow. Looks like its going to be a nice day and Sunny, so I’ll save the legs until tomorrow. I am thinking about doing the 7.5 mile Delco RRC Springfield Run and then maybe the 5 mile run immediately after. Thats assuming that someone shows up for the 7.5 miler. I put a post up on our club message board to see if anyone else plans on going and wants to run my pace, which is going to be super easy.

Christmas Hijinks

2009-12-26T07:21:00.001-08:00

Pics from various Christmas functions:

Xmas 2009

Moose Tracks

2009-12-22T05:49:00.001-08:00

I did another four miles this morning, bright and early, after another round of shoveling (the final round!). Today, I tried my “moose tracks” for the first time. Moose tracks are a slip-on rubber harness that you place over your shoes. The bottom of the harness has a couple of small metal studs that help with track in the sloppy stuff. The conditions this morning were worse than yesterday, only because this morning’s snow was slushy, although there was more “road” exposed than yesterday morning.

What you just read was written on Sunday, but I never posted it. When I told the peeps at work that I went running outside both Saturday and Sunday, they thought I was nuts. Honestly, it wasnt that bad. I dont know if I would do something like that three weeks away from the marathon, because with my luck, I would slip and go ass-over-teacups and injure myself.

This morning didnt start off well. I wasnt feeling 100% yesterday, so I went to bed at 9:30 last night to recharge the batteries. I have been eating like absolute shit lately. Sunday, Heather made cookies for Hope’s Christmas Concert, and I think I must have consumed a pound of cookie dough, not to mention all of the actual cookies that I ate. I paid for it yesterday.

Anyway, I was up and out of the house at 4:40 am this morning. Of course, as luck would have it, the car wouldnt start. Dead battery. WTF. I fired up Heathers car and gave my car a jump. I blew about 20 minutes or so screwing around with car, but it was no big deal because I had plenty of time still to run once I got to the gym. I decided to bag the spin class this morning because I didnt run yesterday, and I am going to do a mountain bike ride with the guys on Thursday.

I wasnt more than a mile from the house at a traffic light and everything in the car goes dim and the car suddenly dies. So here I am, in the middle of the street at an intersection with a dead car. WTF. Luckily, by some miracle of god, I got the f*cker to turn over, but I kept the heater and the radio off the rest of the way to the gym, and at every stop light, I kept revving the engine to get the amps up and hopefully charge the battery that much quicker.

As bad as my morning started, the rest of my workout was excellent. I ran 7.5 miles at about an 8:50 pace – nothing crazy – just an easy run, but I felt great. The calf felt fine, and my knee felt fine. Outstanding. I have been taking some supplements to help with the joints – glucosomine and fish oil. Maybe its all in my head – the placebo effect – but my knee has been feeling great since I started taking both supplements.

So this week is a bit crazy since its a holiday week. As I had mentioned I decided to skip the spin class this morning, because I needed the mileage and I am riding on Thursday anyway. I am not sure what the training schedule has on tap for this weekend in regards to a long run, but I need to do one in the worst way. Two weeks in and I havent broken 7.5 miles yet. I gave myself a pass for this weekend past. There was no way I was doing a long run in the snowy conditions, and getting to the gym would have been tough and quite frankly, not worth the effort.

I figure that with 7.5 under my belt today, another 4 or 5 tomorrow (tempo run), and a long run on the weekend, I should be around 25 miles. That’s with me riding on Thursday, and not running on Christmas day.

Speaking of long runs, I am thinking about trying to get the long run in here and there during the week, as opposed to the weekend. For a 12 mile run, for example, I would need about an hour and forty-five minutes at a 9:00/ mile pace. If I left the house at 4:45 am, I would still be home by 6:45 am, which would give me plenty of time to get showered and get ready for work. I leave the house to go the gym at 4:45, so running at that time in the morning isnt a problem. It works out for two reasons – a) I cant run 12 miles on a treadmill. I’d take a hostage and b) I save myself the 10-15 minutes I would loose driving to the gym. I think that in theory, I could do a max of 14-15 miles in the morning before work, but I would be up at the ass crack of dawn, but it would only be necessary on the rarest of occasions. I’d have to map a decent course or two before I set out. I can create a course with the Garmin software that came with my GPS, and upload it to the Garmin, and as I am running, the Garmin will tell me where to turn and the distance between each turn, etc. Neat stuff.

Snookie

2009-12-20T14:59:00.001-08:00

This is the girl of my dreams

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Der Schnee

2009-12-19T18:18:00.001-08:00

I love this weather. This is the perfect snow storm – nice, soft, fluffy snow. I have already been out shoveling three or four times, and this is the kind of snow thats not wet and heavy. Oddly, I dont mind shoveling, but when the snow is wet, it friggen sucks –it becomes a miserable back-breaking experience thats best left to cheap immigrant labor, not white collar types, like me.

I was supposed to go out and measure the Pickle courses at Ridley Creek State Park this morning, with Tim. That never happened. Instead, I through my winter running clothes on and my trail shows and did 3.5 miles out in the snow. It wasnt bad – I was out there around 7:30 am, and at that point, we only had 3 or 4 inches. Most of the snow on the road was hard packed from the plows or what little traffic there was out there on the roads.

I wasnt killing the pace – running in snow is like running in mud and I had a fairly strong headwind on the way out on my “out and back” course. I wasnt particularly cold, but my face went numb because the headwind was blowing the snow directly at me. I should have worn my balaclava and maybe my ski goggles.

Once home, the girls and I went outside and played in the snow. We have a small hill in the back – not much – but the girls like sledding down the hill.

After the hijinks were over, we headed to Swarthmore Pizza which is our favorite local restaurant. Figuring that we’d be snowed in all day, a trip out for lunch would be good for everyone’s sanity

The Biggest Pickle Ever

2009-12-16T02:47:00.001-08:00

I think I am taking today off. I definitely went to hard yesterday. Sure, I could do an easy run, but I dont think I would be getting a quality workout if I tried to do a tempo run. So I am skipping the gym this morning, and heading to work early, and I will try to get out a bit early and head to to the gym and run my tempo workout. I figure that might also give me some extra time to recover as well. And my stomach is bothering me right now. If I went to the gym and tried to run, I think I would wind up with a case of the "trots.”

If worse comes to absolute worse, I’ll skip running today, and run tempo tomorrow, and skip the spin class.

Pickle Run Update: We’re up to 90 pre-reg’d runners!!! The upcoming January Pickle will definitely be the largest pickle so far. I think we’re confident that well hit 200 runners!!!! Tim and I are going out this weekend to officially measure the courses. We have four courses to measure. I guess the bright side is that I am supposed to run 12 this weekend, and with all of the course measuring on tap, I’ll probably get the 12 in, albeit it might be broken up into pieces.

I think I overdid it

2009-12-15T08:30:00.001-08:00

I had an intense workout this morning at the gym. A three mile run followed by a 50 minute spin class. The run wasnt all that intense - kept it easy for the first mile and then ramped up the speed every quarter mile. The average pace was probably 8:45 - 8:50, but the last mile and a half was fast.

I went overboard with the spin class. I try my hardest to keep the intensity low but its tough. I get really caught up in the moment. I dont have my heart rate monitor on me, so I dont know what my average HR was for the class, but I think it's got to be in the mid/ upper 150's. I was in the mid 170's here and there in the class, especially in the sprints, and I was in the 160's fairly often.

My legs are sore which is not a good sign because I am supposed to hump out a tempo run tomorrow.

I think I overdid it

2009-12-15T08:30:00.000-08:00

1 Down, 15 to go.

2009-12-14T17:25:00.001-08:00

Week 1 of marathon training didnt go exactly as I planned. I fell short of some of my planned mileage. I think I hit 17 miles for the week and I was supposed to do something on the order of 22-23. However, I did an hour and thirty-four minutes on the spin bike, so at least I got some quality cardio work in, although more of it should have been via running.

A big piece of the mileage shortage happened yesterday – I was scheduled to run 10 miles, but the weather was absolutely miserable, so I headed to the gym instead. Things didnt start out well. I got to the gym and realized that I didnt have shorts, so I had to run to Target, which is directly next-door to the gym (lucky for me), to pick up shorts. I got a little over 7 miles into the run and called it quits – I was bored out of my mind.Additionally, the gym was empty, as would be expected at 2:00 on a Sunday. If there were a more more peeps in there, I think I would be a bit more engaged. I like the energy when the gym is packed and people are pumping. I guess thats why I like running with other people

I look at this way – no harm no foul on the bad start. Its too early in the training to get worked up over some hiccups. Now, if this was week 14, then I would be a bit more concerned. I’ll work out all of the kinks as the weeks progress.

I had some calf problems last week. Nothing major- more of a symptom of the fact that I havent been running outside in a long time. To make the situation worse, I ran my first outdoor run on an up-hill off-camber road, and I have always had some issues with calf tightness on uneven ground. It flared up yesterday in the gym, but this morning it was fine. I am doing some extra calf work 2-3 times a week now, to really work out the kinks.

Snow Ride at Valley Forge

I found out today that I am going to be timing a race on New Year’s Eve at Midnight on Kelly Drive. This sounds like a lot of fun. If anyone is doing anything that night and wants to help out, let me know.

So I am starting Week 2 of training. I was scheduled to run a four mile easy run this morning, but I only did a little over 3 – I woke up later than I wanted to do and I was pressed for time. I was hoping to get out tonight and maybe do another 3 with the running club, but I got held up at work. Getting up this morning was a pain in ass. I got up late yesterday, so I popped a Lunesta around 8:00 last night to knock me out. It did the trick, but it usually makes getting up the next morning a very difficult exercise. Supposedly, Lunesta isnt supposed to have any day-after drowsiness side effects that are usually associated with over the counter sleep aid but that aint the case. Regardless, I managed to drag my ass out of bed a bit later then I wanted to. Tomorrow, I am going to drag my ass out of bed even earleir and run an easy three, and then sit in on the spin class. I dont think I am going to be doing the entire spin class from this point on. I like to reserve some extra time do some stretching and some calf-work.

I am also not minding the cold so much. I have plenty of winter gear and once I am moving it aint so bad. I get a little chill when I start but usually within a quarter mile I am ok- warm if anything to be honest. This morning, it was a balmy 40 degrees, but last Monday, on my first run outside in the cold, it was about 30 degrees.

The asian guy standing next to me on the train has ass-breath. I am covering my nose with my scarf. Its that bad.

Its all about the kids

2009-12-14T17:24:00.001-08:00

I get a bit depressed this time of year, and I will tell you why.

So Friday morning, I was waiting to take the train at the Morton train station and I had some time to kill, so I ran across the street to this little coffee shop to grab a coffee. Right next to the counter is a basket for new toy donations.

Something like that breaks my heart. My girls are my life and they havent never gone without. We have a very generous family, and the girls arent necessarily spoiled but they are certainly treated well. Its to the point where Heather and I dont have to do very much for them around the holidays. Anyway, I see this basket and then I get this picture in my head of some poor kids living in some ramshackle house and they are just over-joyed that they have this awesome new toy to play with. While at the same time, that picture makes me very happy, it makes me sad at the same time, that there are kids who dont have it as good as my kids.

Every year before Christmas, Heather and I go through all of the kids toys and donate some of the old ones to Goodwill. The girls get excited about this, and I think thats a friggen great behavior to instill in these kids. Additionally, I think we’re going to do what we did last year after Christmas – we took one new toy from each of them and had the girls donate them. Amazingly, my girls do not take any exception to this – I think most kids would vehemently protest if there parents tried to pull this on them.

I am going to say something that might sound politically incorrect on the surface, but hear me out. While I think its notable that people are adopting asian kids from China and Vietnam, I gotta wonder why were not looking internally at the kids in this country who use a good home. I understand fully that the living conditions in some parts of China are third-world at best, but there are kids in this country who are suffering as equally bad.

Good Morning

2009-12-09T05:07:00.001-08:00

I am not having a good morning. Let’s start with the weather. Getting up at 4:30 am and leaving the house to go to the gym in a downpour was exactly the best way to welcome the day.

I get to the gym, and as I am grabbing my gym clothes out of the trunk, I noticed that all of my shirts are wet. Last night when I got home, I must have not closed the trunk all the way and one of my shirts was sticking out. That shirt kept the trunk open just enough to let water in, and all of my crap was soaked. I managed to find one shirt that wasnt as bad as the rest.

Once inside, my nose starts to bleed. At the same time, I noticed my Garmin was dead. So while I am in the bathroom trying to stop my nose bleed – which took about 30 minutes – I let the Garmin charge. The fact that I had the charger with me was the only piece of luck I had this morning.

I finally get the nosebleed stopped, and I hop on the treadmill. Today’s workout called for a 3 mile tempo run at 8:30, with a mile warmup and a mile cooldown.I start the warm-up at a slow jog and I am noticing that my left calf is tight. I stop and stretch that out a bit, and proceed with the first mile of the tempo. Within a half mile, I am feeling like shit. My calf is still tight, and I think all of the blood in my stomach (gross, I know), wasnt sitting well either. I finished the first tempo mile and called it a day. So, I might try this again afterwork – we’ll have to see

The first day of training – Monday – went well. I got up and layered up, and did 4.4 miles on my old out-and-back loop from my house to Bortondale and back. The “out” is uphill and the “back” is a downhill. I keep separate splits for both legs. I think I was pacing at a 9 minute mile on the way out, and a 8 minute mile on the back. My blended average was 8:45. I noticed that my left calf was tight. I havent had this in a while. It might stem from the fact that the road that I run on for a good 2 miles of the course is a bit off camber. I have a detour that I can use, and I think I am going to have to use that in the future.

So with the calf feeling tight this morning, I stretched the shit out of it, and because I cut the run short, I did some calf work, which I think I am going to have to do a few times a week, also taking into consideration that one of my previous injuries was a calf/ ankle issue.

Yesterday, the plan called for some crosstraining. I am opting to take my normal spin classes twice a week, but scaled back a bit in the intensity. I tried to keep it easy yesterday, and for the majority of the class, I was doing my own thing and not necessarily following the instructor. I think I went a bit harder than I should have, but that’s more of a behavior based on the fact that I go full throttle at every spin class. I also look at this way – I dont need to be in good riding shape at this point because a) as the training progresses the mountain biking will unfortunately tail off and b) I dont do much winter riding anyway so there’s no point in keeping my bike fitness high. I am not in great shape to begin with relative to Mike and Dom. And even I was riding, I would probably be following a periodization plan that I used alot for triathlon and alot of cyclists also use it.

Periodization works like this: training is broken down into Periods and the Periods all culminate into peak fitness, which typically coincides with the one’s race season. So, the first “period” over the winter is called the “base” phase – easy spinning, low heart rate, letting things repair from the previous season, and working on spin technique. When I was training for tri’s, this phase would start in December and go for about 6 weeks. There might also be some weight training mixed in as well.

The next “period” would be “Strength” where the workouts progress into muscle building – lots of interval and time trial based riding. The strength period would be followed by a Speed period, which is where the fast twitch muscles are really built up. In this phase there’s a lot of above-threshold riding. You’re hitting this Period in the Spring, which is typically when the Road Racing and Triathlon season begins. At this point in time, most athletes still arent at their peak fitness level. The early season races are really the last piece of the puzzle to build up to peak fitness.

Peak fitness typically lasts for two weeks. That doesnt mean that if you peak in June, you’re done for the summer. You can multiple Peak Fitness Periods over the course of the summer, as long as you have proper rest and/or lower intensity workouts in between. To get into another phase of Peak Fitness, you would follow a very mini-version of the Periodization schedule, and you wouldnt have to do the Base phase, because you should aready have a strong riding Base already.

To think that you’re going to have your A game all season is ridiculous. You’ll burn out. That’s what happened to me two summers ago when I was full-swing into duathlon. By the time the end of the summer came, I was toast, but in the Spring, I was greasy fast. I tried to keep the fitness up which is like chasing a carrot on a stick. And to boot, every ride, every run, was a hammer-fest.

The marathon training plan is also a quasi Period schedule. The first couple of weeks are base – lots of slow running, some temp runs here and there. As the training progresses, the plan will mix in some speedwork, and the longer runs encompass the Strength period.

Sunday, Dom and I did the first “Snow Ride” of the year. It was a shit-show. My neighborhood got a light dusting, but the area up by Valley Forge got at least 2-3.” Unfortunately, the ground is still to warm, and none of the trails were covered in snow. Rather, they were a sloppy, muddy shit fest. After 45 minutes, I was covered head to toe in mud, and I was wet, and I was clod, and I couldnt feel my feet. Awful riding conditions.

There will be Blood

2009-12-04T18:05:00.000-08:00

This isnt the way I wanted to go into my first week of marathon training. I havent run a single mile this week, for a variety of reasons. Early in the week, I could feel a cold coming on, so I bagged the running and figured I should rest up before a sniffle turns in the swine flue. Wednesday I was just plain lazy. I got up at 4:45, got all of my outdoor running shit on, and then promptly sat on my couch and surfed the internet. And yesterday I was traveling for 16 hours – Philly to Chicago and back. Today, I am just tired. And there’s another limiting factor to throw on top of all that: my nose has been bleeding incessantly

I broke my nose pretty bad when I was a tyke – no , I was beaten. I took a spill into my grandmother’s marble coffee table, head first. The coffee table came out on top of that one. Anyway, it was so bad that I had to get my nose cauterized once or twice when I was young because I suffered from constant nose bleeds. Now, the problem isnt anywhere near as bad, but I still get the nosebleeds about twice a year. I get them in the spring occasionally, but I really get hit hard in the fall. Its mostly a function of the dry air – it must shrink my blood vessels or something. I took some dingers in karate over the years that certainly havent helped the situation either. I had a few bleeds in the beginning of the week and they werent terrible, but Wednesday and yesterday, my nose was a like a geyser. Oi. Flying didnt help.The air in the plane cabin is extremely dry, and on the return trip back to Philly, I could feel the pressure change as we descended all up in my sinuses. I must have hard three bleeds over the course of the day, yesterday. I had one last night, and another bad one this morning that I couldnt stop.

So, running wasnt in my best interest in the last couple of days. The last thing I wanted was a stream of blood to start gushing out of my nose while I am on the treadmill.

My goal is to hit the treadmill tomorrow and do a couple of good solida miles. Ultimately, I would like to get outside, but I think the weather is going to be a crappy mix of snow then rain then snow then rain throughout most of the day. I’ll probably be driven inside. I need to start getting outside to get acclimated to the cold. Sunday, I am trying to line up a mountain bike ride with the fellas, because it looks like most of my time is going to be consumed by running for the foreseeable future.

Crackberry

2009-11-30T14:16:00.000-08:00

So I got me one of these Blackberry jawns. Having just had my iPhone stolen, I needed to get another Smartphone, and after much research, I decided on the Blackberry Curve 8310. Its not the fanciest model, but its got what I need. If its good enough for the leader of the Free World, the President, than its good enough for me

So, here is my review of the Apple iPhone 2G versus the Blackberry 8310

Network:
The 2G iPhone operates on AT&T's "Edge" network. Its not the super-speedy 3G network on which the new iPhone 3G operates. The Blackberry also operates on the Edge network as well, so from that perspective, I didnt downgrade.

I could have gone up a model and gotten a Blackberry that runs on 3G, but I dont do much web-surfing, so I really dont care.

Camera:
Both the iPhone and the Blackberry have cameras. The Blackberry takes the edge here because it can also shoot video. I could never understand why a phone as robust as the iPhone didnt come right out of the gate with video recording. Blackberry takes the edge here, but I think the new iPhone 3G has the ability to record video. Additionally, the Blackberry has a flash for low-light pictures, a feature that should have been incorporated into the iPhone from the start

MP3 Player
iPhone = iPod. IPhone wins by a landslide. However, the Blackberry makes a strong challenge with its ability to connect to my stereo bluetooth headphones - a feature that was missing with my iPhone (although the new 3G iPhone has this feature)

Messaging:
Blackberry wins. The iPhone doesnt have the ability to send pictures text messaging (the 3G does).

Keyboard:
The iPhone has a virtual QWERTY keyboard; The Blackberry has a physical keyboard. Right now, the iPhone has the edge - the keys on the Blackberry are very small, and the iPhone's screen would rotate to allow me to type with two hands.

Connectivity:
The iPhone had on-board Wi-Fi, the Blackberry does not. I didnt use the Wi-Fi terribly much on my iPhone, so this is a draw for me. The Blackberry has built in GPS; the iPhone didnt. the GPS might come in handy with the Google Maps app that I have installed on the Blackberry. Winner: Blackberry

Screen:
iPhone, hands down. The screen is enormous and the touch-screen functionality is certainly more user-friendly than the Blackberry's trackball.

Size:
Blackberry wins. What it lacks in screen size it makes up in reduced weight and size. The iPhone was a brick, but a really nice brick

Battery:
The iPhone battery SUCKS and its a commonly identified weakness for the phone. However, the Blackberry battery is outstanding. I charged the phone Saturday night, and I have been using frequently and I still 2 out of 5 battery nits on it.

Other:
I had to get a data plan for the Blackberry, and it appears to be just about the same cost as the iPhone's data plan. My iPhone was jailbroken and I had the ability to put a number of 3rd party apps on it, but it appears that I might be able to put some apps on the Blackberry as well.

I could have moved up to Blackberry models that have Wi-Fi, a touch screen, 3G connectivity and a host of other features, but I would never use them.

So, at the end of the day, who wins? I'd have to say at this point, its a draw

Rockin’ out the 2-1-5

2009-11-28T18:24:00.001-08:00

215 – thats the total number of finishers that we had today for St. Bernies. That’s phenomenal for a first year race. I had 150 runners pre-reg’d going in, so that had 60+ walk-ups. That’s outstanding, and what makes it even more impressive is the fact that there was another large race happening at the same time less than two miles away. I told the RD that if she moved the race a day or so, they could probably break 250 next year, easily.

I already have 11 races on my calendar for the spring/ summer of 2010. That doesnt include the four Pickle Runs. That’s good stuff. Its alot of work but I love it. People ask me alot about the burden of having a full time job and a side job. I dont mind it. Most races I am home before 12. It would be a different story if I was working ten hour days on the weekends.

I didnt get a chance to run or ride after the race – I was beat. Actually, I came home and slept for two hours after I helped the girls put up all of the Christmas decorations. Theres some talk about doing a ride tomorrow, but the plans arent finalized

Recovery

2009-11-27T21:01:00.000-08:00

I’ve been thinking about what I posted yesterday, about not having alot of oomph in the engine lately. I have been cramming in alot of stuff in lately, and I dont think I am giving myself alot of recovery time, relative to my present fitness level. For example, Tuesday morning, on five hours of sleep, I took an hour-long spin class that knocked the shit of me. I go hard for the entire hour. Tuesday’s class was alot of climbing and I try to keep MY HR fairly high were a portion of the class.

I followed that up on Wednesday with a hard trail run. I think I suffered on the trail run because I was still recovering from Tuesday. I took Thursday off and then rode today. In theory, I should have been fully recovered for today’s ride, but I think that trail took more out of me than I thought. I dont think it was the distance – it was more of the fact that I havent done a run like in a long time, and I need to adjust.

Look, when I am in shape, running and riding on back to back days isnt a real problem, within reason, but I guess I am not where I need to be just yet that I pull off some of these harder efforts without alot of rest in between

Turkey Day

2009-11-27T14:52:00.001-08:00

Its been nice having a few days off from the office. I’ve been doing a whole lot of nothing. I did some leaf raking, some banking stuff, but nothing that’s on the level of a major home improvement project, like my neighbor across the street. This fucking guy, let me tell ya. For the last three months, this guy has been out in his driveway with a saw cutting wood and trim, just about every night of the week. I think he’s re-building the house at this point. Dude, go inside. Relax. Spend time with your kids. Go have sex with your wife. Do something. Enough with the bandsaw. You’re making me look bad. Motivated people annoy me.

I started the holiday out with a nice, sloppy trail run over at Ridley Creek State Park with Tim and some other folks that I know. Kevin, owner of one of the area’s largest residential painting companies and frequent sponsor of alot of the area’s races, just bought a beautiful piece of property adjacent to Ridley Creek State Park, and six of us met over there for a trail run on Wednesday afternoon, in a steady stream of rain. The trails were an absolute mess, and I loved it. Some of the pansies I ran with were trying their best to avoid the sloppy stuff, but I charged right threw that sh*t. That’s how I roll. There’s no room for dresses and high-heels in trail running. Christ, you’re already out there running in the slop – running around puddles isnt really accomplishing anything, so take off the dress and be a man.

I suffered a bit on this run. Our group of six broke up into two groups about midway through, and I ran with the slower group for a bit. Near the end of the run, the course took us back onto the main paved trail that loops around the Park, and I got dropped on one of the hills. I think we were about 6 miles into the run at this point, and the trails killed me. Its a whole different story running 6 miles of trails versus 6 miles on the road, and I havent run trails in ages, and it sure as shit caught up with me. I am still feeling it today.

Thursday, I helped Tim time the Gobble Wobble up in Abington. It’s the biggest run that we have chip-timed to date. Things went off without a hitch. Looks like we might have walked out of there with a few more races under our belt – there were two other area race directors in attendance watching our setup. One of our competitors has had some issues with larger races, and we’re in a prime position to pick up some big events.

I headed over to Brandywine with Mike and Dom for a traditional post- T-day MTB ride. We settled on Brandywine since it was the closest place to all three of us and would have the least amount of road traffic since its not located near any major shopping malls. I gotta say that I aint feeling good on the bike. The last two rides have sucked. Its a combination of me being out of shape and Dom and Mike being much faster than me. I bagged the ride after 50 minutes today while the two of them soldiered on. Add in the fact that I am not a big fan of riding in cold weather. As crazy as it sounds, I would rather ride in the heat. That’s just me. But anyway, it was good to get outside. The forecast had originally called for a really crappy day, but it turned out to be nice – chilly – but nice. The trails were a bit muddy, but not so sloppy that ride was a shit-show. Running through mud is one thing, but riding through mud is awful.

Tomorrow, I have to time a race at St Bernies in Drexel Hill. This is a first-year race, and I think they are expecting a decent sized crowd, but lots of walkers (and luckily I dont have to time the walkers). After that, I am thinking about going for a run or maybe a ride. There was some talk about the group of us getting together again tomorrow afternoon to ride, and if I have the energy level for it, I am in. These races can be a lot of work – I am usually on my feet from the minute I get to the venue up until the minute I leave. Its not unusual for me to get home and pass out.

WTF

2009-11-22T18:37:00.001-08:00

I admit that I have been lazy as of late – I havent been all that motivated too blog. I apologize.

I did a nice ride with Mike and Dom today over at Brandywine. Everything was great, especially the weather. There was one problem: I had absolutely no legs. Eight miles of running yesterday, and six the day before really put a hurtin’ on me. Sad part is, we werent killing it today. We had one small problem: we ran into some condescending running prick on one of the trails. He “politely” reminded us that bike running is prohibited on the side of the river that were riding. It wasnt so much what he said, as it was the way he said it. It was very condescending.

I am not a bike snob, in that I believe that cyclists have some sort of inalienable rights to ride wherever they want. I am runner, as well as a cyclist, so dont lecture me on trail usage. Yes, I will admit that were were probably on the wrong side of the river; fine, I will admit the mistaken, but dont speak to me like a self righteous prick.

Rant over

My iPhone got stolen on the train. No joke. Friday, I took a half day in the morning, and took a much later train back to the office. I dozed off, and my phone was by my side, when I woke up the fucker was gone. Talk about having some big balls: what would have happened if I wasnt really asleep – merely “resting my eyes” – and I wake up and catch you in the act. I cant win for trying

Its amazing the things I think about on daily basis that I want to blog about, but when I actually get in front of the laptop, my mind goes blank.

Looks like were gonna do the traditional post-Thanksgiving MTB ride on Black Friday. So far, it sounds like its me, Dom and maybe Lou.

Guess Who’s Back?

2009-11-15T13:56:00.001-08:00

I made a vow to myself to get back on a normal schedule once my traveling was over. I got off to a great start this week!

I managed to get to the gym four times this week, all in the morning at the ass crack of dawn. Every day I was there, at the doors, at 5:00 am. I have to admit that the first two days were rough. I havent gotten up that early in a very long time. Hearing that alarm go off at 4:30 am was a bitch. Getting out of the bed was worse.

Monday, I kicked things off with a good run. Honestly, I think there was something wrong with the treadmill. I kept jacking up the speed on the treadmill and it seemed like running was effortless. I capped that amazing run off with a session of lifting.

Tuesday, I dragged my ass out of bed and ran brisk three miles on the treadmill, and capped it off with a tough spin class. I didnt feel great, but I havent been on a bike in ages. Legs felt good but my HR was pegged. At one point, during a spring, my HR was in the mid 180’s. That’s redline for me.

Wednesday I woke up at 3:30 am and I felt like I was having a heartache. My chest was extremely sore from lifting on Monday. It was excruciating, so I bagged the gym and went to work instead, since I was up anyway.

Thursday, I did some lifting and then took a spin class. I felt a bit better, but my friggen arms were killing me, because I still had some residual soreness in my arms and chest, and holding myself up on the bike was sapping my strength.

Today, I hammered out four miles and then another three-quarters of a mile on a straight incline. I followed that with some lifting. The soreness is more or less gone at this point.

So, not a bad week eh? Tomorrow I am timing a race so I wont be able to hit the gym in the AM. Maybe after I am done….

I have never been on a plane that’s this empty in my life

2009-11-05T18:34:00.001-08:00

Just like the title says, I am on the last leg of my trip back home to Philly. I am on a wide body jet and the damn thing is empty. I am in a three person row and I have the whole thing to myself. Nice leather seats. This is shocking, considering that I almost didnt get a seat.

Admiral Jackass at 30k over the US

My trip is over. Another EEI has come to end. This particular show is unlike any other trade show I have every attended. The crew that comes to the show (and its the same crew at every show) is nuts. Usually we have the conference at a really nice city that always tends to be a party city – the last two shows were in Vegas and New Orleans. The next two are in Boston (on St. Patty’s day no less!) and back to Vegas. This show very low key in comparison. The hotel that we stayed in was very, very nice but there was nothing around it. zilch. We were relegated to the hotel bar, which closed at 12:00 every night. The show attendees were not happy at all, and I imagine that the folks who organize this had the best intentions when picking this particular venue, but they should know better. This group is a not the type who eat dinner, maybe have a drink, and then hit the sack for the evening. Quite the contrary – these people are absolute lunatics. I think I might have told some stories from the Vegas trip many blogs ago. I’ll give you an example from this show, to put things in context.

So, on the last night of the conference, there are many dinners happening between customers and vendors, etc. But when its all said and done, everyone retires to an establishment for some after-dinner beverages. And it amazes me how things travel through this crowd throughout the day. So, last night, after I got home from dinner with my co-workers and a customer with whom we had the pleasure of dining with, I retired to the hotel bar, which was packed with show attendees. The hotel kicked out at 12:30 am, and I decided to pack it in. No sooner then I get to my room, I get a call from my boss with the word that some folks are heading to the pool with a couple of cases of beer. Dont ask me where the beer is – this group is very resourceful. Never one to miss a party, I thre on my bathing suit and headed over to the pool, where I find about 20 other people kicking back beers. There was a even a guy with a laptop and speakers playing some tunes. Only at EEI. I wound up hanging out until 2:30 or so after having a couple of beers and taking a dip in the pool. We were making a fair amount of racket, but we werent that close to any of the guest rooms, so I guess the hotel staff figured its better to have us out by the pool, then inside the hotel bar. Placate us, because you’re not going to beat us, there’s too many of us. We’re like the Borg.

That’s what happens at this show. There’s a gang of criminals that are always out partying. It’s amazing.

Tomorrow, its back to the office, and I have a boat load of work to do. I just hope that I can get back into a normal routine now that the bulk of my traveling is done – I have one small trip planned in Chicago in December, but I think that’s it until the Spring.

Let the games begin

2009-11-02T11:52:00.001-08:00

There’s talk about some of us chipping in some cash, going out to store and stocking up on some booze, and renting a golf villa for the night. These people here are serious motherf*ckers. Let the hijinks begin.

Last night was rough, but I have had worse. I had to sit in our little booth for two and half hours and mingle, etc, yada yada yada. We had some good foot traffic, but I know most of the people at these shows already, so this is really an opportunity for me to talk to people that I normally talk to on the phone.

After the cocktail, I went up to my room and watched the last three innings of the game. That shit show on third base lost the game for us. Not only did Lidge pitch like shit, he also didnt cover third.

After the game ended, I headed over to the hotel bar, and surprisingly, it was dead. I met some peeps that I know and had a couple of drinks, which turned into more drinks, which turned into a bunch of us going to someone’s room and breaking open the mini bar. Around 1:30 I bagged and ordered some room service. I dont know what it is about alcohol but it makes really friggen hungry.

Now, I feel kinda shitty, but not terrible, because I didnt go over the edge with the drinking. I feel worse from the pizza I ate at 2:00 in the morning and the resulting four hours of sleep.

The conference officially kicked off this morning with a series of presentations. The first hour is always fun – they have a mock game show and they bring in two clowns who do a Carson/ Ed McMahon thing. After that, its 2+ hours of presentations. Half-way in, I bagged it, along with the rest of my crew. I came up here to the room to catch up on some emails. I have to admit that this iPhone is really helping me chomp through some of the email traffic, which means when I get back to the office on Thursday, I wont have to slog through 200 emails, which would normally take up half of my day.

I have to be at the booth at 12:30 for two hours. On deck for tonight: the host utility is having a meet and greet at 5:30, followed by a social/ party thing. Thats usually fun. Thats when the alcohol really starts flowing.

Its always Sunny in Philadelphia

2009-11-02T11:42:00.001-08:00

I managed to get up and run this morning, and although the weather was great – 82 degrees and sunny when I left the hotel- I felt like shit. I think its the combination of a) shitty sleep b) drinking the night before c) not eating much yesterday and d) no running for three weeks

I managed to get a little over 3 miles, but there was some walking inter mixed there, but I’ll take what I can get.

After, I retired to the pool for three hours. Not a goddamn cloud in the sky today. Friggen beautiful. I then registered for the conference and constructed our little display booth thingee, which was a really pain in the ass. There’s a cocktail hour thing starting at 5 where I have to be in the booth and what not. I havent heard from any of my cohorts yet, so I am going to head down and man the booth on my own I guess.

Cali

2009-11-01T10:37:00.001-08:00

I am here. Finally.

The plane got in without a hitch. Got my bags, jumped in a cab, and took a 20 minute ride to my hotel, which is absolutely amazing. By it the time I got myself settled, unpacked, ironed my clothes (that were crumpled up from sitting in my frame pack for nine hours), it was about 10:00 PCT. I decided to head down to the bar and get a drink, because, as crazy as it sounds, I was a bit wired.

So it turns out that the hotel has some really high end nightclub

called Costas that’s open only on the weekends, and they were having some kind of big Halloween Party. I ran into one of the other vendors that I know from these shows, and she told me that her and some other folks were heading over. I am not a big club person. I would rather sit at the bar and relax.

Down at the bar, I found some counter space and ordered a nice G&T (that was a little light on the G). I wound up talking to a guy named Danielle who is from the area but here on vacation with some friends, and a girl named Cody who was here for Phish. Oh yeah, I should mention that Phish is playing some huge show not far from here – its a festival actually- so there’s a bunch of Phish fans running around this place. However, these arent your typical dirty-hippy Phish fans. The people in this place are the upscale fans that can afford a really nice hotel room. So anyway, I wound up talking to these two until about 11:30, and in that time I had a watered down G&T, a shot of Cuervo and a small Long Island. I was buzzed, but not drunk. It was enough to put me out when I got back to the room.

However, I guess with the time change, I woke up at 4:20 am PCT raring to do, with a massive headache. I needed sleep, so I tool a Lunesta and passed out again until 9:00, got up, had some coffee and went to the gift shop to pick up some Excedrin- which is a miracle drug because my head ache is gone. Amazing. So in a bit, I am going to go for run and then sit at the pool for a while. Nice.

iPhone: Steve Jobs get your head out of your @ss

2009-11-01T10:18:00.001-08:00

So I got one of those iPhone jawns. I didnt get one of the new 3G shits – I bought a used 2g because a) I am not due for a phone upgrade anytime soon and I dont want to pay $300 for a phone, and b) I didnt want to buy the mandatory $30 data plan that AT&T horn-swaggles you into . Sons of bitches.

I like this thing. I can check my work email, which although I had eschewed in the past as being “too connected,” I find it rather convenient to check my mail on the train, for example, and get some of the bullshit out of the way before I get into the office.

This thing also has an 8GB iPod, which is great. I also “jailbroke” the phone, which is a hack that allows the installation of 3rd party applications. Without the hack, only applications from Apple’s iStore can be installed on the phone. What’s amazing is the ads I see on Craigslist advertising jailbreaking services. It took me an hour to google “jailbreak,” find the right software, download it and install it, and then proceed to jailbreak the phone. It’s not rocket science. But I guess people are willing to pay some one upwards of $30 to do something that probably takes someone with experience 15 minutes to complete.

The one thing I do not like, and this a big source of consternation among iPhone fans, is the inability for the phone to send MMS text messages. MMS is a fancy way of describing text messages with pictures attached or imbedded. I have been doing a fair amount of research over the past two weeks on various on-line iPhone hacker forums. There is a way to hack the phone with 3rd party software to enable the MMS texting. I got that piece installed. However, there’s something on the AT&T side that prevents the message from going through. There’s a number of iPhone geeks working on this and I am watching the situation very closely. Some of the guys have described these really convoluted work-arounds that involve calling AT&T’s tech support and having them enable various things in your account, like WAP-pushing (dont ask). And in alot of cases, the AT&T tech people have caught wise as to what’s going on, and they may or may not enable the required features, so some of these guys have called multiple times to get to the techs that dont really give a shit and enable the features without any push-back. And, to complicate matters, the jury is still out as to whether all of this enabling of this and that actually works. Some people have had mixed results. They’ve called AT&T, gotten to the right tech, had everything enabled that needs to be turned, and they get zilch. Nada. Nothing. Some of the posts on these forums go back to 2007, so its obviously been on the radar screen for a long time.

Anyway, all of that seems like a lot of work, so I am waiting to see if a simpler solution presents itself.

The Hustle

2009-11-01T10:17:00.001-08:00

So as I am writing this, I am on the second leg of my trip out to Palm Springs for a conference/ workshop/ trade show. The first flight left Philly at 3:40 pm (on-time!) and arrived in Denver about 7:00 EST. The 2nd leg from Denver left at 8:00 EST. I am also missing Game 3 of the World Series, but before I left, the word was that the game was delayed due to rain in Philly. As soon as I land I’ll fire up the cellie and see what’s wh

We hit some turbulence on the first leg and some really nasty shit at that. At one point the plane dropped straight down and I saw people lifting out of their seats. Good Stuff. The plane had the feature that allows the passengers to listen-in on the cockpit chatter. I was “tracking” the turbulence situation as we headed west. All the pilots were chiming in, trying to get a report on where the turbulence is and what altitude they should fly to avoid it. Neat stuff. As I was walking off the plane, the Cap’n was there wishing all of well, and I really had the urge to ask him if there is anyway we can actually try to aim for the turbulence on the next trip, rather than fly around it. Now there’s a guy I want to fly with. He’s not some pansy who’s worried about some of the passengers spilling their free soda all over themselves. He’s a daredevil. He probably made his bones flying fighter jets does barrel rolls for shits and giggles. That’s who want handling the stick of this bird. Hands down end of story case closed.

The ride on the way out was nice. I was in one of those newer jets with the bigger leg room, and I was on the exit aisle. On this flight, I have an empty seat next to me, but this plane is the size of my closet. But in comparison to the recent flight I had from Denver, with the fat Mexican guy next to me snoring like hibernating bear, and the 2 hour delay, this is trip, so far, has been a godsend.

By the time I arrive in CA it will be close to 12:00 am our time, but if you figure in Daylights Savings Time, Its really 11:00, which is good.

The weather looks AWESOME. The next four days: 90 degrees and nothing but sun! I scoped out some running routes near the hotel last night on MapMyRun. Looks like no matter where I go I should be in good shape – all the streets criss-cross over each other. My tentative game plan is to get to bed by 11:00 Pacific Time, then go for a run tomorrow in the morning, and then either take walk around or sit at the pool. Its a real shame Heather couldnt come with me, but as luck would have it, her parents are here visiting. The place I am staying at is a RESORT and from the pictures I have seen online it looks AWESOME.

Now, if I can manage to not go out and get shit-faced every night, I would like to try to get in some runs here and there. There’s always one night at this show where I get completely obliterated, although in the Spring, when I attended the show in New Orleans, I managed to behave, but that’s only because I had Heather with to keep me straightened out. Vegas, however, which was the year before, was an absolute shit show of the highest order. By the 4th day, I had nothing left. It was the combination of the drinking, the staying out till 4 am every night. Not good. I remember getting up Wednesday morning to leave, and we were going to meet a customer at 8 am before we left. I met two of my co-workers, one of whom is a demon when it comes to partying and entertaining at these shows. The two of us looked like shit- I mean like absolute hell. I think I took the next day off, and if I remember correctly, I picked up a cold immediately after, which I assume was the result of four days of parting and no sleep. It took me three or four days to recover.

The last two weeks have been an absolute blitz. It all started with my trip to Dallas, which resulted in some long days at the office playing catch-up. That rolled into my trip to MYC for two day. I spent a 12 hour day on Monday to get ahead as much as I could on my work. Tuesday I did a normal day and then left for NYC. Thursday, the day I departed, was a three trek home. Friday, I was back in the office for another 12 hour day, and then cap that off with this morning, where I timed a 160+ person race up in Burlington County. Whew.

The good news is that I am in the clear for traveling for the foreseeable future. I havent run or biked in 3+ weeks, with the exception of a small run here and there. I need to get back on some semblance of a normal schedule. This is getting ridiculous, but the good news is that I dont have any races to time this weekend coming, so maybe I can get on the ole MTB (although I could really use the money from timing).

Getting back to NYC, it was a good trip, although if you saw my previous blogs or saw my status on Facebook, the class that I took wasnt quite what I expected. It was the second time this particular firm had given the class, so I think they still need to work off some rough edges. However, I got to spend alot of my time with my boy Tommy and his awesome wife who is so far out of his league it hurts. We went to dinner at a really nice Mexican joint on Tuesday, and then Thursday we hooked up to watch the Phillies at a bar on the Upper East Side

In Manhattan…

Surrounded by Yankees fans…

While wearing Phillies hats

And making ALOT of noise, because neither one of isnt exactly “Mr. Discrete.” Tommy’s got a big mouth, and he’s a world class shit-talker, although half the time the stuff that comes out of his mouth, doesn’t make much sense to anyone but him, but its the way he says it that gets the point across.

Actually, it wasnt that bad. We were in Manhatten for christ’s sake, not the “Bambino’s Bar and Grille” in the heart of the Bronx. Regardless, we were in the Lions Den. We were amongst the enemy. Rat bastard Yankees fans. Front runners.

We only had one jerkoff mouth off to us as we left the bar. He saw our beautiful Phillies caps as he was leaving, and in a very “I am not kidding around because I take this shit way too seriously and I am a scumbag Yankees fan with no class” tone, he turned around and said, “ NICE FUCKING HATS.” He was big. He could have taken the both of us by himself. I mean dont get me wrong, I am pretty wiley, and Tommy would come at you with all teeth and claws, like a badger, and we would have given him a run for his money, but in the end, he would have gotten us. But we just kept going.

WTF

2009-10-29T09:07:00.001-07:00

Ok, I am ready to go. I have three train rides ahead of me. New York Penn Station to Trenton, Trenton to Philly, Philly to Rose Valley. Whew.

I’ll you what, these Russkies can power through. Its 12:00. She aint taking a breath for lunch. The other instructor had to shut her up yesterday, otherwise we would have gone straight through. Take it easy comrade. Your boy has to get his grub on.

She’s loosing me…

2009-10-29T08:16:00.001-07:00

This Ruskie is loosing me

Take a look at the closet I stayed in while I was here in the Big Apple. This picture was taken with me standing at the doorway, almost in the hallway.

Quickie

2009-10-29T08:00:00.001-07:00

I’ll keep this brief because I am sitting in a training class in NYC and I should be paying attention but the instructor is Russian and she has a bad accent. I posted to my Facebook that I feel like I am back at Drexel. I have an instructor that I cannot understand, she’s monotone, the room is hot, and there’s one chick out of 30 guys. All we need to make the whole thing complete is an overhead projector with a professor scribbling gobidly-gook that makes no sense to anyone but him.

Back in the Hood

2009-10-26T18:39:00.001-07:00

I had to take my car in for inspection last week. I am fearful of the dreaded car inspection. My little POS mitsu has alot of rattles and pops and all sorts of fun sounds. While I firmly believe the car is safe, it’s condition would probably warrant a fair amount of repair which I cannot afford right now. And so were clear, “safe” is probably a relative word. Safe to me means that there is no imminent danger of the wheels spontaneously falling off or the engine blowing up. “Safe” to most people means the seat belts work they way they should.

So, I got this guy in Northern Liberties (that’s the trendy Philadelphia nickname for the former shithole known as Fishtown) whose recommended to me by Karen at the office. I am told that he is one of those type of mechanics that will just put a sticker on the car. *Wink Wink*

Anyway, so I drive the car over to the drive after work. Surprisingly, the mechanic tells me that I can wait for the car if I want. I was kind of shocked – I’d figure I would have to leave overnight. With time to time kill, I decided to take a nice stroll through the neighborhood. Oh, and for the record, the mechanic told me that I should check out the corner bar – the bartender has big tits.

Now, what man doesnt love Fishtown Bartenders with big tits, I ask you? So I make my way down to this fine watering hole, but I detour to the small coffee shop right across the street from the bar. I figured there might possibly be a barista with big tits as well. I kid.

I grabbed an ice coffee and sat down on a couch. What I saw for the next two hours amazed me.

Northern Liberties aka Fishtown aka Port Richmond is, and has been, an upcoming neighborhood for the past couple of years. Philadelphia has these boom ‘hoods. Many years ago it was Manyunk. Then the Art Museum area. Then it was Bella Vista (another fancy way of saying South Philly). Northern Liberties, or “No Libs” as the locals call it, is the rising star right now. As with any up and coming area, there’s been an influx of folks moving in. Many of these folks are what are commonly referred to as “hipsters.” If you dont know who the hell I am talking about, we’ll get to that later.

Anyway, so I am sitting there, I am seeing a steady stream of folks in and out of the place. Everyone seems to know everyone. Some of the customers would leave, then come back again some time later.

I got a real sense of neighborhood out of this, and when I mean neighborhood, I am referring to type of environment that I grew up in. I grew up in a row-home neighborhood. A row-home is kind of like a townhouse, only the shitty version. Anyway, in my hood, when I was kid, and I guess to a certain extent now, everyone knew everyone. In the summer, kids played out at night until god knows when. The neighbors sat out of front every night and shot the shit. It was a great place to grow up, and it wasnt the Main Line, and I think that’s what made it unique. Listen, when you live in Gladwyne, where the houses sit a quarter of a block from each other, there is no “neighborhood.” The township throws the word “community” around, but that’s just as much of farce. Perhaps the parents know each other from the kid’s schools or sports leagues, but that’s about it. There’s no neighborhood there.

As I was sitting in this coffee shop, I got the sense that this place was the hub. The corner bar, right across the street, is alive and well. This coffee shop, however, is the corner bar for the hipsters. To be fair, I saw a wide of assortment of customers coming in and out of that place, so I dont want to pigeon hole the joint has a meeting spot for a bunch of trendy dirty hippies. I think it would be neat to live in a place like this, just to have the element of being part of a real neighborhood again. Oh, and I got my car inspected without any problems. *Wink Wink*

Work has been a blitz. Again. My hours have been more in-line with a forty hour work week, but I’ll tell you whats killing me: these goddamned Phillies. I have been staying up late way too much, and that just throws my entire schedule out of whack. I cant get up early to go the gym, and I tend to work an hour or two late, so by the time I leave the office, I want no parts of going to the gym. Last week, I did some traveling, and that threw me further out of sorts. This week is more of the same. I’ll be in NYC for a couple of days,and the week after that is no better, with my impending trip to Cali.

All of this wouldnt be a problem if I could control what I eat, which I cant, so who the hell knows how much weight I am putting on now. I am scared to get on a scale.

What Happened?

2009-10-19T16:13:00.001-07:00

I feel very disconnected from a lot of things in my past that I really used to enjoy. Poker night is a good example. A bunch of used to get together semi-regularly to play poker. There was never a set schedule – it was always more of an ad-hoc thing. I miss it. I dont get to see any of the guys that much with the exception of mountain bike rides. I think I will have to try and throw one together.

We also havent had a camping trip in a while. We were doing the bi-annual camping trip with some regularity over the past couple of years, but this year, it fell apart. I dont want to set these kind of patterns. I am too close to any of these guys to have things dissolve and go away.

With the way I dress for work, I sometimes wonder how many people get on the train and think I am a student on my way to school in Philly. Granted, if I am mistaken for a student, most people probably think I am the really old guy – you might have had one in your classes as well. The guy in my class was well into his thirties, and he was full time, which is very rare. One would think that a guy like that, who is immersed in a culture that is predominantly populated with kids in their late teens/early 20’s, would have the propensity of regressing back into maturity level to attempt to fit in. But the guy in my class played it cool and kept mostly to himself.

See, I would regress. Quite frankly, it wouldnt be a big effort for me to regress- I dont think I have fully embraced the maturity level that is commiserate with my age.

I flew out to Dallas to give a presentation at a conference for retail facility managers. I got off the plane and it was 80 degrees. When I left Philly, it was 44 and raining. The presentation went ok. I used a presentation that was created by the president of my company. I had reviewed many times over, but as I was giving the presentation, I felt very disjointed because I didnt create it. I didnt know the seg-ways between slides. Lesson learned: next time I will make my own presentation. It also didnt help that I was hung-over and working on three hours of sleep. The night prior, I had met some folks from a large retailer and had some (many) drinks with them, to the extent that the security at the hotel kicked us out of the bar at 3:00 am, well after the bar had closed. Good times.

Of course, as luck would have it, my plane leaving Dallas was three hours delayed back into Philly because of the shitty weather. I cant fault Philly for this one, as much as I would like to. The weather truly was awful. My luck just got better as I got on the plane. I had managed to snag an aisle seat, but the guy sitting next to me was on the large side. To complicate matters, five minutes after sitting his ass in the seat, he passes out and starts snoring like a howitzer. Without the sounds of the engines to drown him out, it was unbearable. People in front of me and behind started looking around, thinking perhaps one of the engines broke. It was that bad. Once airborne, the engines drowned him out and I had some relative peace and quiet.

I am a bit out of sorts with respect to my running schedule. I havent run since Wednesday. I wasnt feeling great this weekend. I cant put my finger on it – I never felt motivated to get off my ass and run. I dont know – maybe it was the weather. It just wasnt there.

Saturday, I timed a race at Ridley Creek State Park for the ACDC Animal Shelter. Only 20 people ran. I really felt bad for the race organizers, but this weather we had was brutal, and there were two other races taking place that morning that runners had to choose from. I have races lined up for the next two weekends, and then things calm down a bit. I just got word from Tim that the weekend of December 12th, we have three huge races back to back and each race will have 1,000+ runners. Wow.

…. And then the Pickle Runs start….

2009-10-12T05:07:00.000-07:00

I got alot of my frustrations out this morning at the gym. I was on fire. I ran 3.1 miles in a little over 23 minutes. On the surface, that's not blazing fast, but it's the fastest I have run in weeks. Additionally, I ran the first mile relatively easy. I started the thing out at 6.5 mph, and kept cranking it up to 7.0. When I hit the 2nd mile, I jacked it up to 7.5, and then kept increasing it until I got 9.0. So, I probably ran the 2nd mile in about 7:15 and the third mile in 6:50 or something. The fact of the matter is I was hauling ass. After I finished up on the treadmill, I moved over to the spin bike do a quick 15 minute hill workout. From there, I did some light arm work withe weights, then stretched.

All that time off that I took after the PDR actually helped my knee heal up a bit. It's still "tweaky" but no where near as uncomfortable as it was last month. Granted, I am not logging a lot of miles, so that's helping as well.

I was blowing smoke up your ass yesterday. Eastern Philosophy my ass. When I was really heavy into karate, I studied a modified form of Tang Soo Do, which is the blood relative of Tae Kwon Do. Both forms are a Korean kicking art. Anyway, my instructor was never into the Eastern Philosophy stuff. We never spoke anything in Korean, which alot of traditional Korean karate schools integrate into their programs. We never had a picture of some old Asian Grandmaster from the Ming Dynasty or some shit hanging on the wall. My instructor used to take us to other schools, and I remember walking in and all the kids would be bowing and talking in Korean. We'd just sit there and wonder when we was going to get to the good ole fashioned punchin' and kickin'.

With all that being said, I still want to try Yoga. I think it would be good for me. Then again, sparring for an hour and half and getting my head kicked in was very therapeutic for me. It's like going from one extreme to the other.

Ranting

2009-10-11T16:07:00.001-07:00

The old lady has been complain that my blogs are to vanilla now that I have toned things down. I agree with her. I need to step it up a bit. So with that being said, I would like to share with you my thoughts on mexicans…

Just kidding.

Seriously, I am rather mellow these days. My wife would argue, but she gets to see me when I am driving, and that’s when I am at my angriest. Sure, I’ll admit that there will always be things that will rile me up, but overall, through a good course of mood stabilizing medications, extensive therapy, and my studies in the Eastern Philosophies, I have become a kinder, gentler Frank. Think of me as Frank 2.0.

Pickle Runs are Back www.Runtheday.com

2009-10-11T15:55:00.001-07:00

Plug is over. Commence blogging.

So, yes it’s been a while since I have blogged. I got a few comments as to where I have been. My personal favorite was from Mike: “I saw your blog on the back of a milk carton.” Cute.

My lack of dedication can be blamed on a number of factors. Work has been a bit nuts. My schedule has been wacky. I come home at night and I am too tired to really do anything. I havent been bringing my laptop on the train, which has been my primary time slot for blogging, and, quite frankly, I’ve been lazy.

Poll: Who is the hottest person in the pic?

What’s new you ask? Not a goddamn thing. Been running here and there. No mountain biking though – my bike is undergoing some brake work from my old mechanic. Kinda sucks – this time of year is the best for mountain biking.

The race timing schedule is really picking up. This month alone I am timing four races. This weekend past, I timed the smallest race I have ever worked – 19 people! It wasnt even worth using the digital clocks. It was kinda of nice timing such a small race – there was a very “homey” atmosphere, not that dissimilar to the Wife’s Away 5k crowd. We’re also getting ready for the Winter Pickles, so from this point forward, I’ll try to show up at as many races as I can that Tim is timing in the Pickle Suit. We go these really awesome post cards made up. I went to the Women’s Distance Festival yesterday, and pulled bib tags with the suit on. Today, I went to the Hero’s Run in Springfield and did the same thing. After each was over, I worked the crowd in the suite and handed out postcards. People love this goddamn race. Heather ran today’s race while I walked around like an asshole in a big suit. Nice

I was supposed to race today in the French Creek Adventure Race with Lou and some of the other guys. Lou got sick not that long ago, so he bailed. I dont have a bike, so I was stuck, Mike was traveling or studying or something – I never got the full story. And G is back in Guatemala for another visit.

They got me traveling alot. This week, I am heading to Dallas for a day. I am giving a presentation on Energy Efficiency Best Practices. Two weeks after that, I’ll be in NYC for two days taking a class on energy modeling software. And then immediately following that, I fly out to California for four days to a trade show. I cant complain – they are sending me some place warm. Nice.

I’ve been trying to get back into my early morning gym routine. I am getting back on the path. This week, I took the plunge and weighed myself. I nearly fell off the scale – 172.5 lbs! I was expecting at least 180. Nice.

Trailz

2009-09-27T08:24:00.001-07:00

I hit both ends of the trails this weekend. I got a good hour and a half mountain bike ride in yesterday afternoon with Dom and Lou, and then a 5 mile-ish trail run in with Tim in the morning, in the rain, in the mud. I forgot how hard trail running is. I havent done it in quite some time. Tim and I ran over at Smedley and I had to walk some of the hills, and it doesnt help that he is a good trail runner. Trail conditions were nice and sloppy after a steady rain overnight. Given the conditions, and the fact that my trails running skills are rusty, I am lucky that I didnt take any major ass-over-teacups spills today.

Yesterday’s ride at Valley Forge was the first quality ride that I have had in a long time, which is surprising considering that I havent been on a bike in three weeks. The trail conditions were perfect. I am very close to getting the bike “dialed in.” In the past couple of months I have added new rear suspension, new (used) front suspension, and just this week, I installed a used Magura hydraulic rim brake. I got the set (front and rear) for a steal on Ebay. They are very much used, but they work, and they are a vast improvement over the V-brakes that I had on the rear wheel.

V-brakes are a style of mountain brakes that utilize a side-pull brake actuation. The brake arms, when mounted on the brake bosses, for a “V”. The side pull actuation creates a tremendous amount of leverage, which equates to generous stopping power. V-brakes were the successor to “cantilever” style brakes. Canti’s, as they are affectionately called, use a top-pull mechanism. Canti’s ruled the game for many many years until V-brakes came on the scene, and V-brakes held the mountain biking braking crown until disc brakes became the norm. Early disc brakes were very expensive and very heavy. But, as with anything, prices have come down significantly, and cable-actuated disc brakes have taken over the market. Hydraulic disc brakes are still out there, but they are really focused on the “all-mountain” or “free-ride” bike market. Cable actuated disc brakes are easier to maintain and they are cheaper than their hydraulic brothers. But, some will argue that the stopping power and “action” of cable disc brakes arent on the same level as the hydraulic brakes.

I’ll admit, as one who as owned both cable and hydraulic disc brakes, the hydraulic brakes are definitely smoother. Its night and day. I’d have to look it up, but there must be something with the hydraulic actuation that makes the stopping action more progressive.

As an example, the bike felt unbelievable yesterday. It was like a new bike. The biggest improvement: braking in the corners. With the new brakes installed, I felt like I could control the braking and speed in the corners much better, more fluid. With my pevious setup, braking wasnt so much linear as it was “slow” and “Stop” with nothing really in between. The result? Over braking into a corner, or under braking and popping out of a corner too fast and loosing my line. Yesterday, everything just flowed. I have some further work to do on the bike, and once that is done, the bike will be 100% dialed in.

PRD Pics

2009-09-22T18:30:00.001-07:00

I have a trick to saving pics from race photographer’s websites. Check out these winners from Sunday:

PRD Report

2009-09-22T17:42:00.001-07:00

Two days later and I am sore. Really sore. Actually, the soreness is really concentrated in my quads. Everything else feels fine. Walking down stairs is murder.

So, I finished the race in 2:04:37. For those keeping score, that’s 16 minutes SLOWER then 2007, when I finished the race in 1:44:45. That’s what you get for not training.

But I shall return.

In all honestly, I did fairly well in the first half of the race. I looked at my splits from 2007 and compared them to this year. IN 2007, I ran the first 5k of the race in 25:00. This year, I ran it in 26 and some change. That’s not terrible. IN 2007, I ran the 10k in 51:00. This year, 53 and some change. Again, not bad. However, the train came off the tracks at mile 8 or 9. That’s when my body said “ok, that’s enough.”

Let’s rewind to the beginning of the day. I got up early and ran out the door around 6:30 am. My plan was to head to my office and park the car in my office lot (free) and then scoot down a couple of blocks to the Art Museum for the start. I leave the house and I get all the way to the 30th Street Exit off of 76 and realize that I dont have my bib. WTF #1. So, I am now faced with a decision: do I turn around, fly home, and get the bib, or do I just say “f*ck it” and run it bandit. I chose option 1. It what surely was a fine piece of driving, I flew home in 12 minutes, ran in, got the bib, and flew back. I arrived at the office around 7:15 am. I had 15 minutes to the start of the race.

I started to compile all of my race day belongings. Ipod – check. GU- check. GPS – check. Sneakers – sitting at home!!! WTF #2. There was good news, however – I keep a pair of shoes in the office for lunchtime running! I jet up to the office, grab my shoes (pee), eat a half of a leftover donut from Friday, and jet back down the stairs. So far, a couple of hiccups, but we’re still on track.

So begins my sprint to the art museum. It was a good warmup – blessing in disguise perhaps? Ok, so I am about half-way down the Parkway, heading towards the start, when I hear a big commotion, and then I hear the starting pistol fire, and within seconds, I see the elite runners streaking by. So, I start really hauling ass to my “corral.”

Quick runner’s jargon interruption. For these big races, everyone cant start the race at the same time. It would be chaos and pandemonium. People would be tripping over each other, running into each other, etc. So they “phase” the runners in corrals. Each corral represents a pace group. So, for example, the elite runners are obviously in corral #1. Right behind them, in corral #2, would be the 5 minutes per mile pace group, so far and so on. At registration, the runner has to indicate what pace they believe they will be running on race day. The guy who gave me my bib was in corral #7, which is way in the back start.

The corrals are more or less gated off from the spectators with construction fencing. By the time I found an opening, I was in corral #10. I tried weaseling my way up a bit, and managed to get as far as corral #8.

The race officials start the corrals in waves, with about a minute or so between starts, so, after all the rushing around, I had a good ten minute buffer before my actual start time.

So here is the coolest part of the day. They move our corral up to the start line and I managed to get a spot right on the start line. 3-2-1 GO! And I am off the races (no pun intended).

I am the first one out of the gate and I running ahead of the pack. I look behind and the next guy is about ten feet behind me. I have to be honest, it was really really cool running down the Parkway, alone, in the front of the pack, with hundreds of spectators watching. I’ll probably never get that moment again. I imagine the spectators were probably saying “who the eff is this clown?” as I was running down the Parkway.

After the start, thats where the fun more or less ended. Actually, the first loop of the race, which takes us down to City Hall down to 8th or 9th street (quite frankly, I really wasnt paying attention) wasnt that bad. My GPS was acting goofy – I couldnt get a signal and I imagine that was a result of all of the buildings and everything. Anyway, I surmise that I was running an 8:30 pace through most of the first 4 miles, and my 5k split confirms that.

As we make our way back down the Parkway towards West River Drive, I am still feeling good. Not great. Just Good. Remember, I hadnt run in nearly two weeks.

As I progressed down the WRD, my pace started falling off, intentionally, because I knew there was no way I could continue that pace. I was also starting to fatigue. By the time I got to mile 8, right before the Falls Ave Bridge, I had to stop and stretch. After a quick breather, I get back on the horse, over the bridge, and started the final 4 miles to the finish.

That’s where I hit the wall. The trip down Kelly Drive could be described as more of a “slog” then a run. I stopped at every water station and walked a bit to collect myself. By the time I got to mile 11, I was walking more and more frequently. It was about that time that I met two girls who looked to be in worse shape than me, so I saddled up to them and chit-chatted a bit. One was suffering from a bad knee, and the other girl (Christina) had a bad hip. So we decided to run as much as we could and then walk accordingly. At some point the girl with the bum knee took off ahead of us, and Christina and I limped through most of the 12th mile. She was in worse shape than me.

The last three-tenths of the course meanders back around the side of the Art Museum, up the Parkway a bit, and finishes in the small parking lot smack dab in front of the Museum. There’s a lot of spectators at the finish and there’s nothing like the sight of the crowd to stir up that last bit of energy to get you over the line.

After the race was over, I stumbled around the Museum area a bit to see if I knew anyone. I ran into four “Pickle Runners” in the course of the day. It’s come to a point now that I get recognized as “The Pickle” at just about every race that I go to, either as a runner or a timer. Once I was done milling around aimlessly, I made my way back to my office, where I had the luxury of getting changed, in lieu of driving home in my own stink and sweat.

Lessons learned: I suck. I mean I really do suck. But, there’s nothing like a sh*tty finish to deliver a good swift kick to the ass. I will be back and I will PR that course.

Jitters

2009-09-20T02:47:00.001-07:00

Its 5: 30 am. I am up. I am dressed. WCCC tri-top and lucky Nike shorts. Its 47 degrees outside.

So, yeah, its cold. So I got a throw-away long sleeve shirt that I am going to wear up until the race starts and then chuck. Anything that the race officials find on the ground gets donated to Goodwill or the Salvation Army, so I do not feel so bad throwing this shirt away. I am also made a pair of my famous “Ghetto Arm Warmers” last night.

I am going to leave here around 6, and head to my office. I’ll park in the office lot and hike over the venue from there. Its only about 1 mile or so. My stomach hurts. Later

Meh

2009-09-18T18:14:00.001-07:00

I dragged my @ss out of bed this morning to run. It was spitting a little so I went to the gym rather the take the cahnce and run outside. I felt good, but I didnt feel great. I ate late last night, and I started feeling a bit queasy about two miles in. I ran a total of 3.5 miles, at about an 8:50 pace, with one small speed interval (which kicked in the queasiness). My back feels fine and I am still mystified as to what was going on there.

No room for Seconds

2009-09-17T17:22:00.001-07:00

This mysterious stomach issue turned out to be some sort of issue with my back and I am mystified as to what I did to cause the back pain. I have strained my back on occasion in the past, and in every instance, there is always a tender-spot of acute pain, and in this particular instance, I couldnt feel any one spot on my back that seemed to be the root of the problem. Its almost as if my entire back cramped up. I initially mistook it for a stomach problem, but as the issue persisted, I realized that my stomach was fine – the pain was centered around my upper abdomen and my lower back. I am feeling much better, and the discomfort is localized enough for me to realize that it is indeed an issue with my back. This is going to sound really strange, but I think it was caused by tension. There is nothing I have physically done that would have caused that amount of pain in the past few days. Additionally, the discomfort came on slow. It wasnt as if I turned a certain way and immediately felt a strain. The last two weeks have been rough, and I think it all came to a head when my car hgo

Last week, I took my oldest daughter to her first day of kindergarten. As I was standing outside of the school, with all of the other parents, I made a disturbing observation. The majority of the other parents were obese. This bothers me. America has a problem with obesity – that’s common knowledge, but, I have never consciously observed people in order to really grasp the problem. Speaking as a person who spent a good majority of his life overweight, I know how hard it is to control one’s weight, but I have to ask where the train derailed. How did we get so big? How do so many people let themselves get so big? At what point does someone look in the mirror and say to themselves “hey, something’s wrong here.” I can understand someone having a bit of a spare tire. I cannot proclaim that I have anything that resembles a washboard stomach, but I am especially fascinated by the hugely obese – the people who are so obese that they have difficulty walking. I see it everyday on my travels to and from work. I see loads of people in Suburban Station, and I see a disturbingly large amount of people – women especially- who are so big that walking looks painful. Obesity is such a strain on one’s quality of life. Then there’s the larger issue of the effect of rampant obesity has on our healthcare system, and childhood obesity. The list goes on and on…

I score a free entry to the Distance Run on Sunday. Hows that for a kick in the nuts? Here I am, three days away, and I haven’t run in nearly two weeks, and I get a friggen free bib.

How did I score it? Small world: the guy who took my bib for the Philly Marathon (when I tore my tendon) emailed me out of the blue and offered me his entry because he separated his shoulder, and he doesnt want a dime for it. He doesnt want it to go to waste. So now I have a dilemma. By this point, I am out of shape. I havent done anything close to a long run in more than two weeks. I am coming off of some mysterious back injury. Should be fun….

The ills

2009-09-13T12:40:00.000-07:00

Things are getting nutz.

I was here at 3:30 am this morning. Around dinnertime yesterday, I started getting a bit of a tummy ache. Nothing major, but just odd because I typically do not get indigestion. Fast forward to 2:45 am. The pain in my stomach was bad enough to wake me up. It was bad enough that I knew I wasnt going back to sleep anytime soon, so I figured I'd head to CVS and get some pepto. Then the more I thought about, I'd come home and just sit on the couch for a couple of hours until I had to go to work, so, I headed to the office after I left CVS.

The work hours have been crazy. I have had a couple of big deliverables in the last couple of days to get out the door. I dont think I have worked a normal day in over two weeks. As a matter of fact I have one due today that I am hoping to get done soon so I can go home. I shouldnt complain - with the way the economy is right now, having employment is a good thing; there are worse things to complain about than being busy.

I havent run or anything in more than a week. Its getting tough to do any riding after work now (not that I was doing a lot in the past - once a week, if that). Last night it was just about dark by 7:15. But. I'll continue to run outside throughout the winter. But, as the year draws to a close, I'll probably start taking alot of my endeavors inside to the treadmill. I cannot complain: I have barely been on a treadmill this summer, so, if I have to head indoors for a bit, so be it. Still, I'll to do as much as I can outside. Running in the cold never really bothered me.

By the way, my stomach still hurts. I forced myself to eat earlier because I have the weird sensation of being hungry and in pain at the same time.

Racin

2009-09-11T16:47:00.001-07:00

With the combination of Monday’s Holiday, my trip to Pitt and my day off on Wednesday, I came back to work to a flurry of stuff to do. My biggest time suck is email. I once calculated how much email I get on a daily basis. At one point I was up to 75 emails, on average. Now granted, alot of those are not directly addressed to me; rather, I am cc’d. But I still have to open them up, read them, and in some cases, comment. Wednesday night going into Thursday, I logged in and tried to blow through as many of the easy ones as I possibly could, to alleviate the load on Thursday.

Yesterday was a long day. I didnt get out of the office until 8:00, and I am going to have to put some hours in over the weekend. Its going to be a tough weekend given the fact that I have two races to time in addition to whatever work I have to do for my real job. I have to get out of work on time today; I have to get home and write the software for tomorrow’s race in NJ, and than test all of my equipment. That shouldnt take very long, but, I have had issues with the software in the past, so I like to give myself alot of extra time to iron out any bugs. I also have to go through all of my race day stuff that I need to bring along, and pack the car with as much as I can so I dont have to do it tomorrow.

Tomorrow is going to be an early day. I gotta be at the race at 6:00 am. I have to paint the course with the RD (that’s race jargon for “Race Director” – the person in charge of all of the race logistics). 6:00 is a little early quite frankly, but the guy I work told the RD that I would be there at 6:00. Registration opens at 7:30 am and the race doesn't start until 9:00. That’s a large window of time. Normally, I would get there at 7:00, drop off all of my finish line stuff, get my helper setup with the laptop at registration, and paint the course while registration is in full swing. Tomorrow, however, I should be done painting the course before registration opens. In theory, that would leave me with an hour and a half to kill before the race starts. Thats a bit much. I am half tempted to call the RD today and tell him I will be there at 6:30.

I am not sure what to expect for tomorrow’s race. Its a first year race. Typically, first year races dont get a big turn-out unless the RD does a ton of promoting, or, the race is associated with a school or church, which drives out droves of kids and what not. As of Thursday, there were ten people registered on our site, and the RD told me he has about fifteen mail-in registrations, but he’s expecting 100-200 people. I would be surprised if they break 100 at the high end. I am thinking they will get closer to 50-70, depending on the weather, and right now, the forecast isn’t looking so good.

Sunday’s race is a bit more low-key. Its the Autism Speaks 5k. I timed this race last year and if my memory serves me correctly, we had about 100 runners. The race is held at Ridley Creek State Park – nice and local. The bad news: the race starts at 10. It would be great if it started earlier so I can get home earlier.

I am breaking in a couple of new helpers this weekend. I like to bring two helpers with me. It makes things flow a bit easier. We need to bring in a third timing crew – we’re turning down races because we’re overbooked. I got a guy who does alot of our races and he had expressed interest in timing, so he’s coming along to both races to see how things work. I also have two high school girls that I am going to platoon like Andy Reid platooning his offensive line. I’ll have one primary helper and a back-up, plus I have Tim’s son at my disposal as well. My back-up helper has a busy cross-country schedule, so her availability to help me is limited.

By the way I am on the train. Its raining. Rain+Septa = Slow. This happens every time it rains. The conductor just walked down the isle and said we are having “signal problems.”

My Tip of the Day

2009-09-10T19:57:00.001-07:00

As a service to my loyal readers, and anyone who else who has the misfortune of stumbling across this blog, I will share with you some of my “tech” tips, because that’s the kind of guy that I am.

Tech Tip: So you took some video on that fancy camera phone thingy of yours. Somehow, you have managed to get the video off of the phone, either by mailing it to yourself or downloading it from the phone with a data cable. You have once again proved that the village you came from DOES NOT miss you. If you don’t get that joke, than your village more then likely does miss you and you should see how they are getting along without you. Write them a post card with a crayon or something.

Moving on….

So you’re all proud of yourself, and now you go to open your video, and low and behold, it plays, but there is no sound. What gives????

It turns out that most camera phones use a semi-proprietary audio codec (thats tech speak for “format”) that Windows Media Player doesn’t recognize. The CODEC is called SAMR. I dont know what it means, and frankly I dont care. I am not an “audiofile.” The bottom line is that you got video with no sound. Not good.

There’s a variety of ways to fix the sound problem. You can visit http://www.mediaconverter.org/ You upload your video to the site and the site will do the conversion for you. However, I think you are limited to five free conversions before you are required to upgrade to the premium version.

The second alternative is to use a free piece of software called Mobile Media Convertor. It works on the same premise as the website I listed above. You load your video, you pick the output format, and BAM, you got yourself a video with sound. Nice. You can also use this site to upload videos of various formats and convert them to a format called 3GP. 3GP is the format that iPod’s use to play video. AKA you downloaded a copy of your favorite TV show, Rock of Love, and now you desperately need to watch on your iPod. BAM! I have solved your problem. Anytime I can share my love of Brett Michaels, I feel I have done the world a favor.

So now you can enjoy your precious videos of you at the bar with your idiot friends stumbling around on the street in a drunken stupor, or share that cute video snippet you took of your cat, Mr. Peepers, trying to mount your cute little terrier. Let’s be honest – videos of drunken tomfoolery really dont tell the whole story unless there is sound, because I for one hate to miss out on all of the witty banter that only a group of d-bag white boys sh*t-faced on Coors Light can produce at 2:30 am standing outside of the local watering hole.

Tech Tip: If you use a laptop, go spend $20 and buy a laptop cooler. A laptop cooler is a small laptop base with fans that are powered by one of your PC’s USB laptop ports. Laptops generate alot of heat. You got alot of circuitry crammed into a very small space. Just like your car, too much heat is bad. You’ll over heat the PC. Overheat the PC and you could possibly ruin your processor or motherboard. So keep that sucker cool with a laptop cooler. And there is a special added bonus using a laptop cooler: If you have ever worked on your laptop while it’s actually on your lap, you’ll probably wind up with a case of scorched b*lls. Plop that laptop on the cooler, and watch all of your internet porn with cooking the fellas down below. Enjoy!

You can get them just about anywhere now – Target, Walmart, etc.

Daytripping

2009-09-08T17:20:00.001-07:00

I am on a plane heading to Pitt to see a potential customer. This plane is one of those small jobbies. These are my favorite because any turbulence is magnified ten-fold, and I love turbulence. Seriously. For what airlines charge for airfare, I need some excitement. I think the airlines should start offering some special flights for clowns like me. I would pay an extra service fee to have the pilot throw in some barrel rolls and what not. They could call it “The Daredevil Service.” The stewardess would welcome passengers aboard with something like:

“Good morning ladies and gentleman, welcome aboard US Airways Daredevil Service flight 2334 to Pittsburgh International Airport. Once we reach our cruising altitude, we’ll begin a series of barrel rolls and hard-G turns. Afterwards, please enjoy our complimentary beverage service.”

And boarding would not be done by this sissy “Zone” system they use now. I would make the passengers fight for first seating. Like a battle-royal. We’d have a random seeding for the passengers that would form two lines aka “The Gauntlet.” I would have the airline employees who man the kiosk at the terminal handout rubber hoses to the passengers manning the Gauntlet. The rest of the passengers would have to run through the Gauntlet to get through the jet-way. At the end of the jet-way, the flight crew would be armed with paintball guns. I have to work out the details but get the drift of where this is going.

Then they could maybe let some of the passengers go up and take the wheel for a spell. You could buy stick time in five minute increments. I’d pay for that. And I want to be able to make announcements too. I would put on my best cool pilot-like voice.

“Ladies and gentleman, this is your captain speaking. I am going to ask the stewardess to come up to the flight deck and pull my finger.”

It would also be nice to have a fake crosshair superimposed on the window. This way I could pretend I am flying a P-51 shooting down the japs. I would even make cool machine noises with my mouth. Oh, and while I am in the pilot’s seat, I would insist that the rest of the flight crew call me “Maverick” until my turn at the wheel is over.

We are now in the air. A couple of quick updates. We sat at the terminal for 30 minutes with no power. Apparently the cart that starts the engines didnt work. While all this is happening, I happened to look at my window and I see a firetruck parked about 20’ off our wing. That’s not a good sign. I really got nervous when I saw the co-pilot or first mate or whatever he’s called out there hand cranking one of the engines. I think I even saw him mouth the word “CONTACT!” Its hard to tell because I obviously couldnt hear anything through the thick glass of the window. One passenger apparently decided that enough was enough, and she bailed. Finally, they jump started the plane or something and got this thing fired up. Maybe thats why they brought the firetruck in, although I cant say that I saw any jumper cables going from the firetruck to the plane.

I am not sure what this delay is going to do to the rest of our schedule. These pilots always manage to “Make time up in the air.”

I just realized that the PRD is two weeks away. I have to time two races back to back this weekend, Saturday and Sunday. Squeezing a long run in will be tricky, only because I am usually pooped when I done timing. Its a good amount of time on your feet. If it werent for the fact that the damn race is so expensive, I would defer to the Philly Half Marathon in November. Sh*t, maybe I will bandit that one as well.

Update: I am on the way home. Dont ask me how, but I got into First Class. Granted, the flight is only an hour, but First Class is First Class. I didnt book thisflight – my cohort did- and I guess First Class was all that was left. When they called “First Class rows one, two and three” I was taken aback. Anyway, the trip is over and hopefully they can get this plane off the ground without too much trouble.

I am still not feeling great, and breathing recycled airplane air certainly isnt helping.

There’s a guy sitting in front of me and I dont like him. I can already tell he looks like a d-bag. He’s got the lack power suit and the cell phone is glued to his ear. He’s like a corporate d*ck- the kind of guy that always flies First Class on the company t*t. He probably works for an insurance company.

Update #2: We are now on the ground in Philly. I have been sitting in the plane now about 30 minutes. We touched down around 6:30. We immediately got stuck in a line of airplanes waiting to either take off or find a terminal. I had a good vantage point from where we were sitting. We about perpendicular to the causeways, so I could see the line of airplanes just sitting there idling. Wonderful. This is the first time my plane has been on time or better but still late. Weird. Our scheduled arrival was 6:59. Its now 7:10. I betcha we do not get to the terminal until 7:30. The capn just came on and said that there are three planes ahead of us. We are 100 yards from our gate. The captain asked the Ramp Controller to scoot those three planes out of our way. I quote the captain:

“We have asked the Ramp Controller to move the airplanes out of the way. They havent returned our calls.”

Uh,

‘havent returned our calls???’

Did you leave a voicemail?

“Hi Ramp Controller. This is US Airways flight 2322 from Pittsburgh. We’re sitting on the causeway to Terminal A. When you get this could drop us a line? That would be great. Its 7:10 right now. Talk to you soon”

Did the message sound something like this?

“Hi. You have reached Philadelphia International Airport’s Ramp Control for Terminal A. We are either out of the tower or away from our console. Please leave your airline, flight number, and the time you called, and we’ll be sure to get back to you.”

I was able to recognize several landmarks on our descent. So we flew over Chester County into Delaware. We approached Wilmington from the Southwest, hooked around the huge Brandywine Shopping Center on 202, and then flew parallel to Nammans Road. We made a left hand turn and paralleled the Delaware River, and landed on the west approach to Philly.

Odds and Ends

2009-09-07T19:35:00.001-07:00

Its a little later on Sunday. I am sitting here in front of the TV. Tomorrow, I get to fly to Pittsburgh for a day trip to see a potential customer. When they need to bring out the WOW factor, they bring out the big guns. Hehe.

So I did manage to get a nap in, and I feel 1000x better since I woke up. Once I was up, I did some work on the bike. I got a new (used) fork last week, and its in great shape, but it doesnt seem like its getting the full length of its travel.

So I downloaded the service manual, and checked the oil level, which is easy, except I got shock oil all over the patio. That stuff never comes off the cement. After that was done, I made a campfire in the back yard for the girls.

It must be something with men and fires because my girls were no where near as enamored by the fire as I am. Technically, Brookhaven has an ordinance against open fires, but to me, that’s un-American. I have a right to fire in my own backyard. Besides, I kept this fire small and under control, unlike the pyrotechnic monstrosities that we usually build on our camping trips. The last time we went camping, Mike built a fire that was so big, we had call the State Park and have them put one of those fire helicopters that dump water of forest fires on stand-bye.

If you read Mike’s blog, he did a nice recap of today’s ride – the one that I skipped. It turns out that he and Dom rode with a bunch of guys that are expert level riders. From the sounds of it, it was a super fast ride. I am glad that I didnt go. Even at 100%, I probably would have been suffering.

Small World

2009-09-07T11:48:00.001-07:00

I ride over at Middle Run with Dom and Mike on Saturday. Middle Run is part of the White Clay State Park down in DE. It has, without a doubt, the best singletrack in the area. We try to get down there a few times a year; yesterday was the first time we’ve gotten a chance to visit its beautiful trails this summer. The Delaware Trail Spinners keep the place nice and tidy, and they do a remarkable job.

The weather couldnt have been better. I didnt feel 100% though. I cant put my finger on it. I didnt have any “oomph” in the engine. Sunday was no different, and I slept for nearly ten hours Saturday going into Sunday. With all that sleep, I still felt like poop. Last night, I woke up at 4 am with the p**ps and the chills, so obviously, some sort of bug has been brewing for a couple of days. Kind of explains part of the reason why I rode so miserably on Saturday. Granted, Saturday’s ride was the first time I have been on a bike in about three weeks. Dont get me wrong, Dom and Mike were moving at a nice clip, but I should still have been able to keep up on most of the flat stuff. I couldnt hang on the flat stuff, and the hills – forget it.

Anyway, while I was down there, I run across a group of bikers that I know from up here. In a weird it goes to show that the world is a small place. Seems like that anytime I go running or riding, I always run into someone I know. Its magnified ten-fold now that I time races, and the Pickle Run certainly has spread my reputation far and wide. I cant go anywhere where there is a group of runners without someone recognizing me.

So, for obvious reasons, I bagged the planned MTB ride at Valley Forge that was scheduled for this morning with Mike. Instead, the wife and I took the kids over to Ridley Creek State Park. I had to measure the Autism Speaks 5k course, which is this Sunday upcoming. Now, I am sitting on my arse watching Mary Poppins.

Last week was a quiet week for running, partly because I didnt do a long run this week in lieu of the mountain bike Sunday, and the “sick day” yesterday. I think I logged something like 13 miles. I guess you could call it a taper week.

I started talking to an old friend that I used to work with wayyyy back at Zeneca (now AstraZeneca) when I was a coop. Joe was a year ahead of me. He wound up working for AZ once he graduated from DU. Anyway, he sent me this picture. My coop name tag is still hanging up. That’s kind of freaky, but awesome at the same time. No matter how hard you try and get rid of me, some part of me is always going to be there. Again, the Small World factor strikes again. Here it is, nearly 12 years since I worked down at AZ, and my name is still plastered on a board – and at the top of the list I may add.

Now I know why they call it “Labor Day”

2009-09-03T18:03:00.003-07:00

It’s been another crazy week. Stuff at work has been blowing up. Lots of different things going on; I have been in the office and leaving late, working on two high-level projects. I tried so hard to get up this morning to go in early but I couldnt do it. I felt like poop last night, and I had this great plan of going to bed early and getting up early to get into the office for 5:30. I wound up going to bed late, so I am now sitting on my “normal” train. I would love to get out of the office a little early this afternoon, but working on these two projects has put me severely behind schedule on the rest of my work. I spent the better part of yesterday afternoon on the phone catching up with all the voicemails I had collected over the course of the week.

Besides all of the crazy work that’s been going on, I have put in two good days of running, and lots of yard work. The combination of all three (work, running and yard work) is killing me. Wah. I am burning the candle at both ends and last night it caught up with me. I am taking the day off from running, because a) I am tired and b) I have to finish cutting the lawn. That’s what I get for waiting a month between cuttings. My lawn was so high that it takes me two cuttings – one cut for the back and one cut for the front – to get the job done. In a couple of weeks I have to start thinking about overseeding and aerating the lawn in prep for the winter.

Random Thought: I filled the car up at Wawa this morning. As I was sitting there, I started thinking about my Uncle, and how he used to write down in a small notebook how much he spent everytime he filled his car up, and how many miles were on the odometer at every fill-up. I am not sure why he did this. And I am not sure why it popped into my head this morning.

Three day weekend ahead. Hopefully, I’ll get some time to install the new fork on my bike. Traditionally, we do a holiday ride on Labor day, Memorial Day and the 4th. It sounds like me, Mike and Dom are all free for the weekend, for the most part. I have to touch base with Lou to see what his story is. No kids this weekend. My parents are taking them to the shore into Sunday. That’s gonna be really weird – not having my girls around for three days. I think they are actually leaving today. I might use some of the free time to get some work done. I have a fairly nice setup at home – I grabbed a monitor and a docking station from the office, so that when I do work from home, I can look at a normal screen instead of the tiny laptop screen. I also have my personal laptop with Microsoft Outlook thats setup with my work Exchange email. I usually have that machine set up to check emails while I simultaneously work on other stuff with my work laptop. Works out well.

I’ll do a full customary workout report later.

12 The Hard Way

2009-09-03T18:03:00.001-07:00

I have decided that I am not going to run the Philly Distance Run. Well, not legally. I am going to bandit run it. I am not paying the $75 or whatever the astronomically high entry feel will be on race day. I have never bandit run a race before. However, economic times are tough.

I hammered out 12 on Saturday morning, and it went a little something like this:

Date: 8-29-2009
Scheduled Workout:
Rest/ Cross Training

Actual Workout:
Long Run; 12 miles. Pace was somewhere around 8:40-8:50

Course:
I did the first run while measuring a course with Tim for the DCCC 5k in September. I did the 2nd run on the same course, We ran the course to double check our measurements. I did the third run immediately after the 2nd run at Ridley Creek State Park. The course is a lot of up and down, but for the most part, the run home is flat/ downhill.

Workout Nutrition:
I gulped down about six ounces of Gatorade between the first and second runs.

Post workout Eats:
Not quite sure, but later than night I went to Tim’s and ate my own weight in ribs and beer.

Weight:
Not sure.

Comments:
It was humid and raining when I left the house. I had originally planned to run up to Media and catch the 8:00 crew who normally run a 6.5 mile course around the town, and then home. Somehow, I got my times all mixed up and arrived at the meeting spot at 9:00 am, not 8:00 am. I probably should have gone to Ridley Creek.

Sunday, I was scheduled to do an easy run of 5 miles. As I had mentioned in a previous post, the week past was a taper week – no long running scheduled, but I switched Sunday’s workout with Saturday and ran long instead of the scheduled five miler. I didnt get a chance to do a recovery run on Sunday. My community had a massive flea market thing and I registered a table. I was out there all day from about 9 to 3. I sold a good amount of my crap, and the rest I packed up and took right over to Goodwill and donated it. I’ll take the write-off. Anyway, I had to start getting ready for this flea market early, and I didnt have time to get a run in. But I will say this: I didnt feel all that sore on Sunday. That’s a good sign. The body is adjusting to the stress.

Today is an easy day, but I cant do two rest-days in a row, so I am going to try and FORCE myself to get out at lunch. I have thing afterwork which will preclude me from getting in a run. I have been really lax as of late with the lunch time running. I get so busy at work and I get so into a groove that it’s hard for me to break out of it sometimes. I dont take lunch most of the time, not in the formal sense.

I have been thinking alot about “time” lately. There’s a lot of things that spring to mind, and when I think about them, I am always shocked by the amount of time that has passed between a certain memory or event, to present day. They say that Time heals all wounds, but in my opinion, it also creates huge rifts. I think about all of the people that I do not get a chance to talk to much anymore – people that I was very close to. Granted, people move, people have kids'; there are events in other people’s lives that preclude us from having a certain amount of control. Social Networking sites like Facebook help exacerbate the situation by keeping us marginally connected to people in the past (or present) and I guess having some small connection, digital or otherwise, is better than having the alternative – no connection. I sometimes quietly wonder if I have taken everything I possibly can out of an event, or a period of time. Did I let time slip by without fully immersing myself in the moment? Have I done a good job of immersing myself up to this point in my life? I would say yes. But how well am grasping the present, and shaking it for all its worth, to squeeze every last drop out it? This part of this entry has been highly philosophically, and I would imagine that if someone were to read this, who has a background or knowledge of various philosophies, he/ she could probably give me better insight to this “mind state.”

Fast Forward: I am now on the way home. I never made it running at lunch. I was too swamped. I cannot run when I get home either- I am watching the kids while Heather runs out. So, I’ll cut the lawn, which hasnt been cut for about a month. Its in dire need. If I wait any longer, the township is going to come after me.

Crap

2009-08-28T16:54:00.001-07:00

Its been a crappy week, although I’ll concede that it flew by.

Monday, I ran with the Delco crew. I was feeling crappy, and luckily, the only people who showed for the run were some of the slower folks, and one or two guys recovering from some lung weekend runs, so banged out an easy three miles with them. Tuesday, I took a day off. Wednesday, I started feeling poop-ish as soon as I arrived at the office. I had a massive headache, and I felt that little tickle in the back of my throat that’s usually the early-warning of an oncoming cold. I bagged out of work early, went home, and slept for two hours. I then slept for another 8 hours going into Thursday. Yesterday, I felt fine, and I went to the Thursday night Delco run over at the Springfield Library. I was only one of three people in attendance. The other two guys are faster than me, and I was kind of regretted showing up. Luckily, Bill declared that he was doing a short three miler, and Steve usually takes it easy if he has no one to race. We kept the pace comfortable ~ 8:40 min/mi. Bill cut out around three miles; Steve and I did another mile and a half for a total of 4.5.

Today, I feel like crap again. Both Heather and I didnt sleep very well last night. I think I got four, maybe five hours of sleep. I felt fine going into the morning, and then I hit a wall around 2;00 this afternoon. I can feel that tickle again in my throat. I think I just need another good night of sleep. My knee has been giving my some pain in the last two days as well. I am not sure if this wet weather has anything to do with it. I have stretching (not as much as I should), and I havent been doing alot of miles.

I would like to get a long run in this weekend, even though the training plan outlines this week as a “scale-back” week – no long runs scheduled for the weekend. But that’s for sissies. I would like to get in at least 10 at a very minimum. Originally, I was thinking about heading over to the Springfield library tomorrow morning and running the 7.5 mile course with the 7:30 group, and adding in the “add-on” leg of about 2.5 miles for an even 10, and then following that up with the 9:00 three miler, for 13. I am hesitant to join the 7:30 group because they tend to push the pace a bit. I should know because I did a bunch of these Saturday morning runs last year when I was training for the Philly Marathon and we were moving petty good on a lot of those runs. The Running Club is doing a long run on Sunday morning down in the City, but I can’t make that due to a scheduling conflict.

It’s been nearly two weeks since I have been on the mountain bike. I am getting a little antsy. This is great and all that, but nothing beats the bike. I got a new (used) fork from Ebay, and I would like to get that on the bike this weekend. I went the used fork route because I am not prepared to install a new fork on a bike that isnt worth anything. I have put forks on my bike before on my own, and its not rocket science, but I think I might need a new headset, which is something I cant do on my own. A headset installation requires something called a head press. I dont own one of those, and I am not going to go out and buy one just to install one measly headset. If I determine that I need a new headset, I’ll run the bike over to my ship in Upper Darby and have Frank slap one in.

I normally go to a shop in Swarthmore. They are located less than three miles from me, and they do good work – sometimes. I used to go to a guy named Frank Havnoonian over in Upper Darby. Frank is an old schooler. I have been going to Frank off and on for nearly 15 years, starting way back when I was still living at home in Briarcliffe. before I got married, I lived in Upper Darby for a short spell, and I would frequent Frank’s shop since he was located less than two miles form my apartment complex. Frank has been around for ages. He was at one point the team mechanic for Team Saturday, back in the 80’s/90’s. Frank is great, and he’s cheap. Frank’s the go to guy. Not that I dont trust the shop in Swarthmore, but about two months ago, I brought the bike in for a bottom bracket and a headset adjustment. I am not convinced they did the headset adjustment properly. I am not going to take any chances – I am taking it to Frank. He’ll straighten sh*t out. There are two mechanics that I think work miracles- Frank Havnoonian and Rob V formerly of my old sponsor, Mainly Bikes. Rob got out of the wrenching biz when the shop closed and he now works for Jamis. He’s been my Jamis hookup for the last couple of years. Thats why Dom and I have ridden nothing but Jamis for the past ten years, and why most of the old crew rode Jamis or Yeti exclusively, Anyway, the fork install should be a fun little weekend project. Hopefully, this new (used) fork will solve the clanking problem I am having with the current setup. If the clanking is still there after I slap this thing in, then I know its the headset, which would confirm my suspicions that my shop half-a$$ed the adjustment.

Date: 8-24-2009
Scheduled Workout:
Rest/ Cross Training

Actual Workout:
Easy run of 3.12 miles at a 9:20 pace

Course:
The Delco RRC Monday Night loop that meets the Ridley YMCA. Flat course, kind of boring, low traffic.

Workout Nutrition:
N/A

Post workout Eats:
I think I might have pigged out. Cannot remember.

Weight:
Not sure.

Comments:
Like I had mentioned above, I was a bit tired and I ran easy with some of the slower crew from the club. I got home and did my stretching routine. Knee was feeling great

Date: 8-25-2009
Scheduled Workout:
Easy run; 5 miles @ 9:13 pace

Actual Workout:
Rest; I more or less swapped out Monday for Tuesday, although I didnt do the scheduled distance for Tuesday’s workout.

Date: 8-27-2009
Scheduled Workout:
Easy 5 miles at 9:13

Actual Workout:
4.5 miles at 8:39 pace. I traded some distance for pace.

Course:
The Delco RRC Monday Night loop that meets the Ridley YMCA. Flat course, kind of boring, low traffic.

Workout Nutrition:
N/A

Post workout Eats:
I had a very late dinner. I had a turkey burger (no cheese); some sugar free pudding;

Weight:
Not sure.

Comments:
Like I had mentioned above, I was a bit tired and I ran easy with some of the slower crew from the club.

Date: 8-28-2009
Scheduled Workout:
Rest

Actual Workout:
Rest; see above – I feel like crap

Wrap-up

2009-08-24T07:15:00.001-07:00

Date: 8-22-2009
Scheduled Workout:
Rest/ Cross Training

Actual Workout:
Long Run broken up into three pieces
1st Run: 4.5 miles in 40 minutes or so
2nd Run: 3.1 miles in 27 minutes
3rd Run: 2.5 Miles in 22 minutes

Course:
I did the first run while measuring a course with Tim for the DCCC 5k in September. I did the 2nd run on the same course, We ran the course to double check our measurements. I did the third run immediately after the 2nd run at Ridley Creek State Park.

Workout Nutrition:
I gulped down about six ounces of Gatorade between the first and second runs.

Post workout Eats:
Nothing. I had a bit of rot gut. I didnt eat too well the night before.

Weight:
Not sure.

Comments:
Tim called me Thursday or Friday and asked me to help him measure the course for a new 5k that I am timing at the Delaware County Community College. I decided that it would be best for me to do the long run scheduled for Sunday on Saturday.

Woke up to rain. Tim and I had decided that if there was no lighting on Saturday morning, we would go out and get the measuring out of the way. While there was no bolts flashing in the sky, it was HUMID, and that presented itself to be the first challenge of today’s run.

Measuring a course while running tends to be choppy. There’s a lot of starting and stopping to make marks on the ground, take measurements, etc. Getting into a rhythm is difficult. That was the second challenge of the run. And, as luck would have it, the third challenge manifested itself by means of hills, and lots of them. The DCCC course starts up hill, and ends uphill. We probably ran the long hill from the turn-around point of the course back to the finish at least five times.

After we got the course squared away, we ran the course continuously to double check the measurements. Mind you, none of these runs were at any sort of blistering pace – it was too humid and too hilly. The first two runs game me a grand total of 7.5 miles, and my goal for the day was 10. I couldnt stand running the DCCC for a third time just for the shear monotony, so, I hopped in the car and headed over to Ridley Creek which was a mere 5 minutes away.

Sitting in the car for 10 minutes didnt my legs any favors. I hadnt stiffened up pretty good by the time I got to the Park. But, being the trooper that I am, I persevered and ran an out and back 2.5 miles. I hit for the cycle and got my 10 miles in, disjointed as it was. 10 miles is 10 miles. I ran into some of the Delco folks at the end of my run, as they were finishing up the weekly 9:00 run at Ridley. Moving on to Sunday:

Date: 8-22-2009
Scheduled Workout:
Rest/ Cross Training

Actual Workout:
Recovery Run; 3.0 miles at 8:25 pace

Course:
Delco Road Running Club’s Springfield Library three mile course

Workout Nutrition:
N/A

Post workout Eats:
N/A. Went out to a breakfast boo-foo a couple of hours later

Weight:
Not sure

Comments:
I did the long run the day prior, and my legs were feeling stiffy, so I figured a nice recovery run would help shake out some of the lactic acid from my lower half.

Sunday proved to be a nicer day than Saturday but still humid. About 7 of us met up for the run, and I went out with three other guys who are much faster than I am. Our pace started out slow, but within a half mile, we settled into an 8:30-ish pace. I was a bit surprised how good I felt, which I am assuming is more of a function of the fact that I split yesterday’s run into smaller pieces, which gave my legs more of an opportunity to recover in between runs. I finished up Sundays run of 3 miles with an average pace of 8:25. Granted, it was a bit faster than what a typical recovery run pace should be, but it was a good quality run none the less.

So, the grand total for the week is a little over 23 miles, and I managed to hit all of the major food groups. I got my long run in, my speedwork, and my tempo run. That came at a small sacrifice – I didnt get any mountain biking in at all this week. Weather had a big factor, as well as my wacky work schedule.

Today is a scheduled rest day, but I think I am going to try and bang out a slow run after work.

Weekend Jones

2009-08-21T17:05:00.001-07:00

I hate it when people use “TGIF” to describe Fridays. Its gives me a shiver reminiscent of the dreadful work environment in the movie Office Space. But, Ill admit that TGIF. There, I said it. It’s been a wacky week. I put some boo-koo time in this weekend, so I am taking advantage of our company’s “Summer Hours” Friday half day. I managed to drag my @ss out of bed this morning to run, but I had slight case of the trots, so I bagged it and sat on the couch until I had to leave for work. So I am going to give it another shot this afternoon lunch. I think I might stay in the city and run up and down Kelly Drive.The training plan is calling for an easy day today, short run, 3 miles. It has me scheduled for a rest day tomorrow (HA!) and then an 8 miler on Sunday. I’d like to try and sneak a MTB ride in somewhere, but I dont want to kill my legs if I am going to try and bang out a longer run on Saturday. I would actually like to push the distance closer to 10 miles. It’s supposed to be cool on Sunday with isolated T-storms. Good running weather, and I am going to head to Ridley and run the loop there, which is flat, relative to the course I have been running through Brookhaven, Media and Swarthmore.

I had an observation yesterday that made me chuckle in a semi-sadistic way. As I was sitting in Suburban Station waiting for the arrival of my train, I happened to notice an inordinate amount of obese women wearing running shoes. They wear the running shoes to help alleviate pressure on their feet. Here’s an idea: loose weight. I can draw a parallel to some of my own experiences that are near and dear to my heart: cycling. There is a subset of cyclist’s known as “weight weenies.” Weight Weenies are on a never ending questio to adorn their bikes with the lightest components on the market. In cycling, light = expensive. I’ll admit that the majority of the weight weenies are in great shape, good riders, probably racers, and are consequently looking for anything that will give them an advantage. It’s the small minority of weight weenies who arent in great shape, perhaps slightly on the sticky side, that mystify me. Here’s a guy who is 5’9”, probably bucking 220, 230, and he’s worried about finding a set of titanium pedals that weight 129 grams. Dude, loose weight. 400 grams is a pound. You just shaved half a pound on your ride by purchasing a pair of $150 pedals that functionally perform the same way the less expensive, heavier set of pedals of the same model. Save the $150 and loose 5lbs. It makes a work of difference. People can spend their money any way they want. I jus think its comical when I see a big dude on a 22lb mountain bike. There is a point of diminishing returns for the heavier rider. You can only out so much weight on a pair of wheels that weight 1500 grams. Those wheels are put under a lot of torsional stress that causes them to flex. The flexing is very noticeable in cornering. Enough flex will cause the bike to drift. You drift too much taking a tight turn at 15 mph on an MTB and you stand a good chance of loosing your wheel, flying off the trail, and hitting a tree with enough force to knock you silly. Additionally, putting a heavy load on a pair of light wheels increases the propensity of wheel failure. Heavy riders arent necessarily known for riding with finesse – they beat the crap out of their rides, further increasing the There are wheels on the market that specially crafted for the “Clydesdale” rider – heavier walled rims, thicker gauge spokes, perhaps a specific spoke lacing pattern (36 holes versus 32), etc. Light is good. Light is expensive. Much light comes at a trade off- durability and strength. Besides, you put a 220lb guy on a 22lb pound and he’ll still get out-climbed 90% of the time. Its not the ride, its the engine (although in all fairness, having a sweet ride certainly helps).

I am now on the way home. I wound up staying in the office for more or less a full day. We had a staff meeting around lunchtime, and after the meeting was over, I chatted with the CEO and CFO for a good while. I am on the fence about running. We had pizza at the meeting, and I wound up shoveling down five slices. Needless to say, running would probably not me in my best interest, at least for another hour. It’s not looking terribly inviting outside right now – looks like it might storm. I guess I am going to the gym if I do decide to run. Truth be told, I havent been to the gym in ages. I have been spoiling myself with all of the outdoor running that I have been doing in the recent weeks. The prospect of treadmilling it right now isnt all that appealing. I am very sleepy. The belly full of pizza isnt helping. I think I am going to take a nap.

So much to say and it’s probably not all that interesting.

2009-08-20T17:23:00.001-07:00

This week has been a blur. I put in three 12-hour days in a row at the office. I havent had much time to add to this, so I am going to start with yesterday and work backwards. I did manage to drop another couple of pounds – I am down 13 lbs. Granted, I thought I would have been further along at this point, but I will take what I can get.

Date: 8-19-2009
Scheduled Workout:
Rest/ Cross Training

Actual Workout:
Temp Run; 3.83 miles; splits are as follows:
Mile 1: 6:44 pace
Mile 2: 8:28 pace (recover)
Mile 3: 7:19 pace
Mile 4: 9:50 (cooldown)

Course:
Delco Road Running Club’s Wednesday night course. It starts and ends at the small church behind the Swarthmore College Running Track. It’s relatively flat with some small hills here and there. Low traffic.

Workout Nutrition:
N/A

Post workout Eats:
A bottle of no-cal Powerade immediately after the run. I got home and ate a quarter of a small Italian hoagie with some mac and cheese and a Klondike bar (hehe)

Weight:
176 as of Tuesday August 18th

Comments:
I did speedwork the day before, and I didnt feel great on that particular workout. However, when I run with this group, I get the same type of motivation to move faster, as I do when I race, albeit on a smaller scale. There is usually a group of faster people that go out and run some silly pace ahead of the smaller groups that are running various slower paces. I try to keep with the fast group for as a long as I can.

Last night, I went out with a group of five. The pace kicked into the low 8’s almost immediately. By the middle of the first mile, we were doing low 7’s and sub 7’s. I felt good. Actually, I felt great. There were about7 of us in our group. About midway through the 2nd mile, the heat started kicking in, and I heard two people in a our group say that were backing off. I got caught between them, and four guys who split off ahead of us and we’re pushing low 7’s. I decided to back off a bit as well. By the 3rd mile, our group started pushing again, and we were averaging the mid 7’s. I decided to cut the course short and do the short course instead of the normal 5 mile course. I started by cool down midway through my last mile. By this point, the four fast guys had put significant time on us, and they were no where in sight. Three of us broke off and headed back to the start/ finish.

It was hot, but no where as hot as it’s been the last couple of days. However, when I got back to the car, I was in bad enough shape that I had to sit in my car with the air on for a couple of minutes. I got home, ate and then stretched

My knee felt great and I think that’s part of the reason I ran so well. I have been ona fairly consistent stretching routine over the past few days to try and loosen up the IT Band, and I guess it’s working

The schedule called for a rest day or cross training. Normally, I would have gone mountain biking with Dom and Mike. My rear wheel on my bike sh*t the bed over the weekend and I had to drop it off at the shop. It was ready for pickup on Monday, but with the late hours I put in at the office this week, I hadn’t had any time to get it. I guess it was a blessing in disguise because I had a great run instead.

Date: 8-18-2009
Scheduled Workout:
Easy Run, 9:13 pace for three miles

Actual Workout:
Speedwork; 3 miles. I kinda made this one up as I went along

Course
I did my short Brookhaven out and back course along Rt. 352. Starts uphill, ends downhill.

Workout Nutrition:
Nothing.

Post workout Eats:
Nothing immediately after the run, but when I arrived at the office an our later, I ate a Slimfast bar (the poor man’s recovery bar).

Weight:
176 as of Tuesday August 18th

Comments:
I had a crappy run the day before (read below – next entry), so I felt the need to redeem myself with some kind of hard effort. I was out on the road at 5:15 am. I did a half mile warmup at 9:05. For the first interval, I pushed a 7:15 for a half mile, followed by another half mile recovery at 9:25. The next interval was a mile at 7 flat, but in all fairness I was going slightly downhill for a good portion of the interval. I cooled down the last half mile with a 10:44 jog. All in all, not a bad workout, but I wished I could pushed that first interval to a full mile instead of a half. The uphill start doesnt do me any favors. I got home and did a good ten minutes of stretching. Knee felt good.

Date: 8-17-2009
Scheduled Workout:
Easy Run, 9:13 pace for three miles

Actual Workout:
Easy run for 2 miles. Blah.

Course:
I did my short Brookhaven out and back course along Rt. 352. Starts uphill, ends downhill. I didnt make it the whole distance

Workout Nutrition:
Nothing.

Post workout Eats:
Cant remember

Weight:
------

Comments:
I ran at 12:00 in the afternoon (I work from home on Mondays). It was HOT- too hot. About a mile in, I was suffering and my heart rate monitor was throwing back some numbers that told me that enough was enough. I wasnt pushing a hard pace, but my HR was pinging in the high 170’s/ low 180’s which is WAY too high for that kind of pace. I decided to cut the run short and head home.

As for the rest of the weekend….

Sunday, I rested. It was hot. I did a 7 miler on Saturday (I wanted to go a bit further but the heat got to me). The course for Saturday had me climbing up towards Media for the first three miles. I ran through Media, and back down towards home. Around 5 miles, I was in deep crap. The heat and the hills we’re killing me. The last mile was awful. I stopped short on 352 at exactly 7 miles. Regardless, I average 9:15 for this run, which is exactly the pace that I was scheduled to run for that distance, so I cant complain too much I guess.

Friday, I did an MTB ride with Mike and Dom on the trails behind Swarthmore College. It was a good ride, very hot, and it wasnt a balls to the wall pace. The trails back there aren’t really the type that are conducive to hammering. The trails are kind of disjointed, and quite frankly, they kinda start to suck when you get a couple of miles in, so much to the point that riding back the same way on them is not very preferable. As a matter of fact, we took the roads hone on the way back to the College.

So, taking stock of my present situation – do I think I will be ready to run the Philly Distance Run in September? It depends on how you define “ready.” Yes, I will be ready to run and complete 13.1 miles. No, I will not be running anything close to the pace I ran two years ago, which was 8:00 min/mile. I could barely run that pace for 4 miles last night. I do not think 4 weeks is enough training time to make up that big of a gap in fitness. That’s not to say I wont try. At this point, I would be happy with an 8:30 or faster. I probably could do an 8:20 steady over 13.1 miles – maybe some 8’s here and there. It all depends. I usually surprise myself on race day with respect to pacing. Anything is possible. More now than ever its key to stay on track with the training plan. Fortunately, the temperature should be a hell of a lot more moderate on race day. If I remember correctly, when I ran the race two years ago, it was chilly enough at the start that I had to wear the patented “Frank Durso Ghetto arm warmers.”

I was reading an article in Runner’s World, the subject of which is the effect of ambient temperature on running paces. The article used marathon finishing times as context. I dont recall the exact finishing times, but the heat effects were dramatic. A 3 hour finisher in 50 degree weather would run almost 30 minutes slower in 80 degree weather, or something like that. This is not an unknown phenomenon – it’s one of the main reasons most marathons are held in early spring and in the fall – to take advantage of the moderate temperatures. So, I guess I am compelled to ask myself, if I could run an 8 minute mile average over 4 miles on a slightly rolling course in 90 degree heat, could I run 13.1 miles on a flat course in 60 degree weather? One could argue that it’s like comparing apples to oranges. One good run is not enough to frame out a situation. I could go out tonight and run really sh*ty. You get the point.

EZ

2009-08-12T11:31:00.001-07:00

Date: 8-11-2009
Scheduled Workout:
Easy Run, 3 miles, 9:13 pace

Actual Workout:
Easy Run, 3.5 miles, 9:26 min pace

Course:
Delco Road Running Club’s Tuesday Night Springfield course, which starts and ends at the Springfield Library

Workout Nutrition:
Half a bottle of regular Gatorade before the run.

Post workout Eats:
Half a bottle of regular Gatorade, chip steak with cheese (no roll), small slice of cheese cake my wife made, and a beer.

Weight:
Last weigh in was 178 on Thursday, August 6th

Comments:
Early on in the run, our collective group broke into two separate groups. I got stuck between the two groups; I wasnt fast enough to stay with the lead group but the slower group was, well, too slow. About half-way through, I laid up and I ran with Terry, who is coming back from an injury, and I did his pace, which as you can see, was much slower than what my plan called for.

The training plan does not have any scheduled for any running today, so, the draft plan as of now is to hit the mountain bike with Dom and Mike after work, weather permitting. It’s cloudy right now, and the forecast is calling for scattered showers this morning and then scattered t-storms in the afternoon.

Mike mentioned this nifty word jumble in his blog called Wordle. You tell Wordle where your blog is located, and it makes a word jumble with the most commonly used terms in your blog entries. Click on it to make it bigger.

Do you see any patterns? :)

Like the New Title?

2009-08-10T19:26:00.001-07:00

I got up at 6 and I was immediately greeted by the sound of my phone “blowing up” as the kids say these days. When you wake up for a group ride or a race and your phone is going apesh*t, that’s not a good sign. It means that someone is bailing, or the weather is crappy. A silent phone is a good sign.

In addition to the chirping and buzzing of my phone, I could also hear another faint sound in the background – the sound of rain. A quick glance out the window only confirmed that which my ears had first suspected.

A long story made short: it was raining. Hard. And the forecast for the rest of the day called for more rain. So while I was sleeping, the boyz were calling me to tell me the obvious: aint no one riding in this weather.

I was disappointed. I spend a fair amount of time the day prior getting the bike cleaned up. I installed a new brake line for the rear wheel and got all of my kit together. I have a particular setup that I use on the bike for races. I dont like to carry a Camelback when I race. I wear one only when I do my normal rides. For racing, I prefer to be as minimalistic as possible. I carry a spare tube, tire irons, mini-tool, and a CO2 Gun. I keep all of the tools in a small saddle bag, with the exception of a spare CO2 quickshot, which I keep taped to to the seat post, and the spare tube, which I keep tucked into the space between the saddlebag and the saddle. By keeping all of this stuff on the bike, I keep the rear pockets of my jersey free for gels and food. So anyway I got all of that setup on Saturday, plus some other miscellaneous maintenance items.

But, no racing for me.

So, I have changed the name of the blog, and I’ll admit that its a bit tongue in cheek. I am going to use this blog, from this point forward, to document my training for the upcoming weeks for the PRD. The format will be as outlined:

Date: 8-9-2009
Scheduled Workout:
Long Run, 7 miles, 9:13 pace

Actual Workout:
Long Run, 10.5 miles, 9:00 min pace

Course:
Start and end at my house, circuit through Brookhaven, Wallingford into Swartmore. 10 minute break in Swarthmore, return to home via different route. Lots of hills!!!!

Workout Nutrition:
Ran with two large Fuel Belt bottles of plain water; drank both (one up, one back). One GU gel at 50 minutes; another 30 minutes later

Post workout Eats:
Slimfast powdered mix, one scoop, with 1c of 2% Milk

Weight:
Last weigh in was 178 on Thursday, August 6th

Comments:
I hadnt run in four days, so I wanted to get a longer than scheduled run in. It was extremely humid- near 100%.

I am going to do this every day from this point forward. So, in keeping up, today’s (Monday) entry should be:

Date: 8-10-2009
Scheduled Workout:
Rest/ Cross Training

Actual Workout:
Nothing. The plan said rest, so I rested

Weight:
N/A

Comments:
I was not as sore as I thought I was going to be, for not having run in nearly a week, let alone running 10 hilly miles in 100% humidity. I would like to have done a recovery run or maybe a light spin, but what can you do.

In other news, I do not think the 24 hour mountain bike is going to happen. I would really only want to do it as part of a four man team. Three people are cutting it close. Lou cannot do it – the kid’s baptism is the same weekend. Mike is going to Vegas. That leaves me and Dom. It’s no big deal. There is serious talk of doing the French Creek Fling Adventure Race on October 11th. More on that later.

Backlog

2009-08-09T05:43:00.001-07:00

Written Friday/ Saturday

By the time you read this, you will notice that there are two blog entries right behind this that I wrote earlier in the week, that I never uploaded. Happy Reading!

I have decided to race on Sunday at Neshaminy. I am only going to do the Beginner class. I was on the fence about the race earlier in the week, but I had a good ride Wednesday with Mike and Dom, and it was enough to convince me to throw my hat into the ring

I cant shake this pain in my side. It’s definitely a strain of some sort. It feels like its sort of in-between my hip and lower back. I no doubt believe that is a result of Wednesday’s ride. It’s nagging enough that I bagged running yesterday and today. I’ll probably do a little something in the morning tomorrow – light run or something. I do not want to aggravate it before Sunday’s race.

Finally, The First Annual Wife’s Away 5k and BBQ is over!!!! The weather was miserable when I woke yesterday, and the forecast called for showers on and off for the rest of the day. However, the clouds cleared up in the mid afternoon and we have absolutely beautiful weather for the race.

I started marking the course with our patented crushed lime technique around 5:30. Amazingly, I didnt get any gruff from any of the neighbors. I did have a slight scare about 10 minutes before the start of the race. A Brookhaven cop rolled down my street very slowly and immediately I began to think that a neighbor called the cops when they say me painting arrows on the course. But the cop just rolled on by, even though there were 20 people congregating outside of my house with ole finishing chute setup in the street. Whew. I should have asked him if he wanted to lead the runners out with his lights and sirens on :)

I had about 15 people in last nights race. My wife, Tim, Alex, Buggsy*, McCaff**, Gregg, Kristen***, Andrew****, Dave, Cecile, Elizabeth, Joey K, Brian, Dom*****, Tom B and his Greg. I think I got them all. Its a shame that we had to bag it this weekend past. I had alot of people on the guest list that couldnt make it. They missed out on a good time. Everyone who ran loved the course I laid out and thought it was very well marked. It was a tiny bit long at 3.15 miles, but I really wanted the start and finish in front of my house, and I don’t think anyone really cared anyway. I was a bit disappointed that only three people from my running club attended. I figured I would get more participation from them. They’re an odd group, that running club of mine. They hardly support or attend the Pickle Runs. Weird.

I had plenty of food and beer. Everyone was really generous and we had dogs, burgers, watermelon, homemade fried chicken, cookies, veggie burgers,tons of beer, turkey burgers, and all kinds of chips. Elizabeth brought a box of homemade Italian creampuffs from South Philly. We had just enough food – no leftovers. And everyone got a T-shirt in their respective correct size (I had ordered some random sizes with no real rhyme or reason). The “after-party” raged on until a little after 10. My girls had a great time playing with Uncle Dom and Uncle Speedy (thats what they call McCaff), and I think everyone loved the silly prizes that I gave out. Pictures of the first overall Male and Female award winners are on the way.

This fall, I think we’re going to do another silly race called “The Pickles and Beer.” It will probably be another invite-only race. Tim is going to have it at his house. Our first-ever Pickle Run was at Tim’s house about 2 years ago (maybe 3) so we’re going back to where it all started. Sounds like we’re going to do these small private races at least twice a year.

I started this blog entry this morning, on the train on the way into work. I am finishing it on the way home, and it’s now 11:05 pm. Any train after 10:00 pm on a weekend is affectionately know as “The Crazy Train.” At this time of night, the R3 becomes a virtual “who’s who” of mental illness. It’s one step below riding a Greyhound Bus. This particular train is especially fun tonight because there was a Phillies game, and as such we have an unusually large volume of passengers. As a matter of fact, there is a nice young gentleman adorned in full Phillies attire, seated about two rows ahead of me, who appears to be in some advanced state of inebriation, and as such, he is especially loud. I would never be one to judge on first appearances, but he doesnt exactly look like he will be tendered a membership to MENSA anytime in the near future.

I went out with boys tonight to Chima, a Brazilian Steakhouse in Philly. All you can eat meat. After the meal, we walked around the city for about 45 minutes to work off dinner. At point in the evening, I had to leave the table in order to go outside and get some air. I figure I have about 5 pounds of meat settling to the bottom of my stomach. Nice.

* Buggs showed up 11 minutes late, but still ran the whole course, and was kind enough to bring a huge pan of homemade fried chicken that his wife made

**McCaff ran with Baba (my little one) in the stroller and still clocked 22 minutes

*** Kristen is friggen three months preggo

****Andrew brough his three kids who rode the course with him while he ran

***** Dom didnt actually run- he was my “lead cyclist” on the course.

I am tired, my stomach hurts and its raining. Wah

2009-08-07T06:12:00.001-07:00

Here I am again- 5:45 am. Only today, I am friggen tired. I only got about 5 hours of sleep, which normally is workable. However, last evening, I did a long (for me) mountain bike ride with Mike and Dom at Brandywine. I think I needed a bit more rest after that ride. My stomach is killing me as well. My running plans calls for 5 miles of speed work today. I think I am going to bag it and rest up.

Today is the rescheduled Wife’s Away 5k and guess what? It’s raining again, although the forecast says that the sun should be making an appearance later this afternoon.

Yesterday’s ride took us nearly an hour and a half. It marked the first time that I have ridden that long on the mountain bike in quite some time. The trails were a bit sloppy in some parts – leftovers from the deluge of rain from this weekend past, but overall, the trail conditions were good, but boy was it humid. I was absolutely drenched by the time I made it back to my car around 7:40.

When I ride the trails, I am a lunatic. It’s not that I do stupid sh*t on the bike, like riding the thing off massive drop offs. It’s more of the fact that I yell and scream like an idiot when I am climbing a really technical piece of trail that tests my physical limits, when I am bombing down a rocky descent and the bike is bouncing all over the place, and I am hanging on for dear life, trying to find the best line, floating the bike over rocks and roots… Asks Mike – he’ll you how annoying I get.

I may be a sh*tty roadie, but I can hold my own on the mountain, relative to Mike and Dom. Granted, near the end of the ride, I had the bright idea of riding one last hill, and by the time I got half way up, I was done. Kaput. I had nothing left. That’s the fundemental difference between me, and Mike & Dom. They have the ability to keep going because they have better cycling fitness than me, because they do so much road riding. Most if not all of the pro mountain bikers do the majority of their training on a road bike. Granted, they also do a fair amount of training on the trails, to hone their bike handling skills, but the fitness benefits of road biking are second to none. My road biking days are over anyway – I have to give the loaner road bike back to Tim tomorrow.

I have had some concerns about my mountain bike as of late, with respect to its condition. The bike is nearly 11 years old. Its a 3rd generation carbon fiber Trek Y bike. Back in the day, the Trek “Y” design – which is a monoque carbon fiber frame design – was revolutionary for full-suspension cross-country (“XC”) bikes, and to this day, there are still a lot of Trek “Y” bike devotees who swear by the design. I have come across websites strictly devoted to the Trek “Y” bike. The “Y” bike is also extremely lightweight compared to some of the full suspension bikes on the market. My bike weighs in at 25lbs. Most of the full sussers now are in the high 20’s/ low 30’s. That’s more of a function of the fact that the newer bikes sport more of a four-bar suspension linkage, which adds significant weight to the frame. There’s a line of full suspension bikes marketed as “all mountain” which sport beefier, gusseted frames. Those types of bikes are marketed to the riders who arent necessarily concerned about weight, but more concerned about beating the ever-living sh*t out of their bikes. The “all-mountain” bike is really a hybrid of a cross-country bike and a downhill bike. The amount of *travel on an all-mountain is significantly more than a standard XC full-suspension bike but less than a downhill bike. Quite frankly, I am an old-school guy who doesnt really see the need for a bike with 6 inches of front and rear travel. My “Y” setup is typical of older full-suspension XC designs – 2” of rear travel and 3 or 4” of front travel – enough to smooth out the bumps on most XC trails.

Disc brakes have also become the norm, whereas my bike still sports standard side-pull “V” brakes. The disc setup adds a bit of weight as well, although I will admit that I did upgrade the front wheel with a disc brake. Granted, there are exceptions to the rule. Most of the manufacturers produce a line of high-end, lightweight full suspension bikes that are starting to clock in at the low end of the 20lb weight range, which traditionally was the domain of the carbon fiber hardtail bikes. As a matter of fact, most of the pro’s – who had traditionally eschewed fully suspension bikes as too heavy to competitively race cross country – have adopted fully suspension bikes as their rig-of-choice.

Anyway, the point of all this is that my bike might be near the end of it’s useful life. My front fork is making this awful clanking noise. While its not so bad as to effect the quality of my riding, the clanking is disconcerting and I can feel some sort of movement in the fork that coincides with the clanking. It could be something wrong with the fork itself, or it could something wrong with the way the fork is mounted on the bike. I have had the bike looked at by my shop- specifically, the “headset” which is mechanism by which the fork moves attaches to and moves relative to the frame. They didnt appear to find anything wrong with the headset, which lends me to believe that its the fork. I am contemplating getting a seocnd opinion from a guy in Upper Darby who is more or less the “guru” of bike mechanics in Delaware County. I have been going to Frank for close to 15 years, although within the last five years or so, since I moved to Brookhaven, getting to his shop is difficult because of where he is located. However, if there is anything wrong with the fork, headset, etc, Frank will find it, and he wont charge me an arm and leg.

* The term “travel” is the measurement of the amount of vertical movement expressed in inches or millimeters for a suspension fork or rear shock. Most shocks and forks now sport some sort of mechanism to “lock out” the suspension – essentially, making the fork static or the rear shock “static” for climbing. Suspension designs by their nature tend to “bob” when a rider is climbing, and locking out suspension is a way to counteract this phenomenon, by transferring more of a rider’s power to the pedals and the drivetrain.

Rise and Shine

2009-08-07T06:11:00.001-07:00

5:45 am and I am sitting on the train on the way to the office.

I got into this habit of going to work at the @ss crack of dawn when I was still under the employ of Siemens. If one wanted to get any significant work done, one would have to come into the office well before the masses. The routine was fairly simple. Arrive at the office at 5:00 am (or earlier). Work on emails, estimates, paperwork, etc until 8:00 am or so, spend of the rest of the day on sales calls, customer visits, etc, then return to the office or go home. A lot of us would come back to the office in the late afternoon because, similar to the early morning hours, one could get a significant amount of work done after everyone has left for the day. Granted, these hours made for some long days, but in Sales, you chart your own course to success. I would see some of the guys in the office at 4:00 am and stay until well past 6:00 pm.

What I had come to appreciate from that experience was the amount of work that can be completed in the absence of distraction. It’s a lesson that was lost when I worked for Toll, when, near the end of my tenure, there was not enough work to keep me busy in the course of a normal eight-hour work day, let alone enough work to support an early morning arrival. Just for the record, lest anyone think I was mailing it in while at Toll, my last year of employment coincided with the onset of the downfall of the housing market. I was on the cusp of what would come to be a massive layoff that would happen in waves over the next six months. I proceeded to make my exit prior to that. When I started at Toll, my group, Engineering, had 15 engineers and architects (who supported the engineers). There are now 2 engineers. I figure that I would have gone within the first three months after I had left. My boss went in/ around that time frame and I presume that I would have followed him not soon after.

So, as of late, I have been arriving at the office around 7 and in some cases, like today, earlier. About a month ago I did a stint of about four days where I was in as early as 4:45 am. My company gives each employee the opportunity to do something called “Summer Hours” which is a format that many other companies have adopted. The employee works four nine-hour days, and then takes a half day on Friday. I do not participate in the program. The point of me coming in early is to get more work done. Taking a half day on Friday seems like a waste of those hours. I will admit, however, that I have left early for the day on occasion because I have come into the office early, but that’s the exception, not the rule.

One of the things that I have been omitting from my various blog entries is my knee issues. As mentioned in previous entries, I have had knee pain for the last 10 months. I had gone through physical therapy with an ART specialist, to no avail. I took time off, to no avail. Since nothing seemed to have worked, and the pain is annoying at best, I decided to “run through it.”

I am happy to report that the pain has not gotten worse, but it hasnt gotten better, which would be expected, since I am not doing anything proactively to remedy the situation. I am running in a new pair of shoes, and I have noticed that the pain does not seem to be as intense when running. A good pair of shoes goes along way. Additionally, as I run, the knee gets “warmed up” and the pain usually disappears (for the most part) once I get into the heart of the run.

Originally, I was diagnosed with patella tendonitis and/ or patella sublexation. Patella sublexation is the dislocation of the tracking of the knee cap within its “groove” in the knee joint. Originally, the pain was directly on top of my knee cap. For whatever reason, the pain has now migrated to the outside of my knee cap. My research indicates that the location of the pain is indicative of iliotibial band syndrome. You can google it, or accept my brief and more than likely flawed explanation. The iliotibial band is a tendon that passes just on the outside of the thigh and connects just below the knee. When the band becomes tight, it tends to pull the knee out of alignment and rubs against the outside of the knee, hence the pain. With any type of inflammation injury, warming up the muscle loosens up the tightness, which subseqnr

Its a fairly common runners injury. Most people recommend RICE: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation. Rest means no running. Oi. There are numerous stretching and exercise protocols that can also help with the syndrome, and I am going to explore those. I will not stop running. I’ll see what the next step is after the PRD.

The Race that never was

2009-08-04T17:13:00.001-07:00

I had to cancel the “Wife’s Away 5k” again.

Sunday morning, race day, I got up early to cut the lawn, which hadnt been cut in weeks. It was a dreary, cloudy morning, and I could tell by the patches of dampness on the street that it had rained over night. Cutting wet grass, especially long grass, really sucks, but I had no choice. I get the damn thing cut and as I about to trim my weeds in the backyard, it down ours. The down pour turned into an electrical storm. All this was happening around 11:00 am.

I checked accuweather.com, and the hourly forecast for the remainder of the day didnt look promising. I was faced with a hard decision: scrub the race, or hope the weather clears and soldier on. I conferred with Tim, and we both decided to err on the side of caution and bag it. I then spent the next hour in a frantic rush to get the cancellation email out to all the runners. I was surprised by how little email traffic I received that morning asking about the status of of the race. I did get a few text messages as well.

As luck would have it, the rains subsided around 1:00. I decided t stay close to home for the remainder of the afternoon, in the event that some folks didn’t get the cancellation email. Amazingly, 3:00 came and went and I didn’t have one knock at the door. I figured at least someone would show up. By the time 4:00 rolled around, it was sunny. Quite frankly, I think I made the right decision. With the ground being so wet, I would have had people tracking grass in and out of my house.

The race is re-scheduled for this Thursday night, 7:00 pm. Scheduling the race on a weekend really limits the amount of potential people that will be able to attend, but the weekend upcoming is fairly jammed up, so its now or never. I have actually received a surprising amount of RSVP’s – I think at least count I was up to 15 folks. I’ll have to bag out of work early on Thursday, so I can get home and paint the course, and do some additional prep work. If I get 20 people, I will be happy, since the original attendance for Sunday was floating around 25 people, give or take a handful of “maybe’s.”

I have started training for the Philly Distance Run. I need something to shoot for- something that will provide some structure and motivation. Last week, I was in that weird funk. I had no motivation to do anything. Its very easy to make excuses NOT to do something if there isn’t any type of goal associated with it. So, I got my rather abbreviated training plan from Runners World, and week #1 started last Thursday.

Yesterday, I did a nice 7 miler. The training plan had this long run originally scheduled for Sunday, but the three hour ride the day before really took the oomph out of my legs, so I rested on Sunday, and did the long run yesterday. It wall worked out because Saturday was scheduled as a rest day, with the option of doing some cross training. I am not sure if a three hour bike ride is what the training plan had in mind for cross training. In reality, appropriate cross training for this plan is probably something on the order of an hour’s bike ride, perhaps some time on the elliptical machine, etc.

The training plan called for a 7 mile run at an easy 9:13 pace. I hit the nail just about on the head with a 9:08 average pace. The course I ran was one the new “loop” course that I came up with about two weeks ago (I got lost the first time out). If I do it counter-clockwise from my house, it’s fairly downhill on the last part of the run. If I do it clockwise, then I get the sharp end of the stick – hills for the first part of the run. So yesterday’s little trek was the clockwise version. I work from home on Monday’s, which gives me a lot of leash in terms of my schedule. I got up early and did a fair amount of work, and then went out for the run around 10:00. I was surprised how hot it was while I was out there. I figured it would be a bit on the cooler side, since it was mid-morning. I had to stop three times. The first time I stopped was at the top of the longest hill of the run. This hill is a ball breaker. You climb for a quarter mile, level off, and then climb again for another half a mile. When I got to the top I was blitzed. I had to stop again at 352 so I could cross the street without getting hit by car. I stopped somewhere else but I cant recall where.

The training plan called for a shorter, easy run today. I got up this morning at 4:50 am, and I could tell from the minute that I walked out the door that easy or not, this run was going to suck. But, it was only three miles, and it was supposed to be run at a 9:13 pace. I did my traditional out and back course up 352, which is uphill on the way out, and downhill on the way back. My overall average time was 8:50, but that’s only because the backhalf is downhill, and I pick up a fair amount of speed whether I like it or not. I had some kind of weird side stitch for the first half of the run, and I stopped at the 1.5 mile mark and stretched. The side stitch disappeared on the way back, but I wasnt really pushing it since I was cruising downhill.

The plan calls for a rest/ cross training day for tomorrow. There is some conversation between me, Mike and Dom with regards to a road ride tomorrow night, or a mountain bike ride. I think we’re all planning to do a mountain bike race on Sunday up in Neshaminy. The race is part of the Mid-Atlantic Super Series (“MASS”). I have done this course 2 or 3 times in the past, although its been a few years since the last time I raced it. I am opting to do the beginner class. Its two loops of 5.5 miles. Sport, the next class up, is three loops. Not only is it longer, but it’s faster. I used to be a “middle of the pack” Sport Racer, and that was when I was in mountain bike shape. Since I havent done a lot of mountain bike racing, and I am trying to stay healthy for PRD, I am erring on the side of caution with respect to Sunday. It will be good to get out there and race. My original intention way back in the spring was to race a fair amount of the events in the MASS series, but illness and a hectic race timing schedule put the kibash on that plan.

There is also some talk about a few of us doing a 24 hour mountain bike race at the end of August in New Jersey. AS of now, it sounds like me, Mike and Dom are interested, and I have yet to broach the subject with Lou.

The format of the race is simple. Each 4 or 5 man team has to complete as many laps as they can in a 24 hour period. I was talking to one of the other Drexel Alums who has raced this event in the past. One lap should take about an hour. So, that means that for a 4 man team, each us will do 6 laps, with three hour breaks in between laps. Thats a fair amount of recovery time between laps.

Since this is a 24 hour race, alot of the racing will be happening at night. None of us have lights, but luckily, I have “connections.” One of the Drexel Cycling Alum works for Princeton Tech, and he’ll be at the event in a promo tent. He told me to stop by the night before and he’ll hook me up with a set of lights. I also have two other Alums who will throw in some loaner lights as well. I do not want to drop $300 dollars for a lighting system for one race.

To do night riding, you really need a high powered set of lights. You cannot mountain bike at night with a dinky “commuter light.” Back in the day, Dom and I did a fair amount of night riding on the trails. We both had a ten watt helmet-mounted light, plus a dual lamp system mounted to the handlebars. Each lamp was ten watts; one lamp was beam-focused and the other lamp was flood-spread. The theory was that your beam light would give you a lot of downrange vision. The flood would provide a good peripheral spread of light, and the headlamp would move where your eyes moved. With just the bar mounted lights, if you were about to make a turn, theoretically, your eyes and head would be looking into the turn while your headlights would still be pointing straight, since the bike would still be traveling in a straight line prior to turning. Without a helmet mounted light, you would essentially be riding into the corner blind. I hope that doesnt sound too confusing.

These lighting systems were high-intensity incandescent based systems – basically, an MR16 type track light lamp. Ten watts doenst sound very powerful; if you have track lights in your house, odds are that you probably have 10 or 20 watt MR16 lamps. Go stare at them for five seconds, and you’ll get a sense as to how powerful those little lamps can be. Its like staring into the sun.

You were lucky if you got 2 hours of light from the dual lamp system assuming you were running both lamps all the time. With a little clever power management, you could squeeze another half hour out of the system. The batteries were lead-acid bricks that, both lighting systems combined, probably clocked in around 5lbs of dead weight.

The newer lighting systems are mostly xeon and LED based. They put out a tremendous amount of light, and the batteries arent nearly as heavy as the old systems. The output time is tremendous, but so is the cost, relative to what I paid for my lights way back when.

Riding at night should be a hoot, since I havent done it in ages, and its one of those types of skills that should be practiced (and at least attempted) before race. Something as simple as changing a tire in the dark takes on a whole new level of skill. You would be amazed how much we take for granted riding during the day. The lighting systems tend to cast eerie shadows on the trails, making normal trail obstacles like roots, rocks, etc, incrementally harder to ride than normal, because depth perception and peripheral vision are all out of whack. Fun Stuff. But it’s like the movie Bloodsport (or was it Kickboxer?) when Jean Claude Van Dam looses his eye sight, but his other skills become acutely aware. If you can ride well at night, then in theory, you should have better trail awareness during your normal day rides, because you are paying closer attention to the trail at night.

Same goes for my old single speed. Year before last, when I still had my singlespeed mountain bike, I was told early on that my appreciation for braking and momentum would improve. On a geared bike, its very easy to over-power a line or turn, brake hard while in the turn, and then immediately apply power out of the turn. On a single speed its critical to take advantage of momentum, especially on hills, because when the climb gets tough, there are no other gears to switch too. So the more speed and momentum you can carry into the hill, the better chance you have of making it. When you think about it, there is a tremendous amount of energy being wasted if your rocketing into a corner way too fast, hard breaking, and then immediately sprinting out of the corner. Its like running as fast you can, stopping, and then sprinting (from a dead stop). Riding a single speed taught me alot about taking a good line into a corner to avoid over cooking the turn (and subsequently over-braking). It taught about the flow of a corner. Additionally, I noticed that with no gearing, I had less to think about. I could focus my mental energy elsewhere.