Hurt

Holy crap today hurt and kicked my butt and let me know in no uncertain terms that I am now officially out of shape, de-trained, still suck and am slow!  I sort of figure that for the off-season I will try to get in a longish run on Saturday and then a longish bike ride on Sunday.  Well, at least on the weekends that I don't have a Fall Series Disgrace... I mean Fall Series Race.

Had some pretty big projects going on around the house and errands to do like return the rental car from yesterday's trip so it was late before I got to start on my run and when I did it was warm.

I wore my Hoka Sinson Tarmac road shoes since was to be primarily an inner-city run.  Mostly to break them in more and to save the tread on my trail shoes.  They did great... me not so much.

Even from the get go my breathing and heart-rate seemed through the roof.  If I were the Jeep I'd be doing 7,000 RPM but only doing 34 MPH.  That is what it felt like.  I tried to slow it down get a rhythm going but that didn't quite work out either.

To be honest the first ten miles went okay... nothing great but okay.  After that though it was just a struggle.  I bet I had to talk myself out of calling a cab at least a half a dozen times to come pick me up. It was that bad.  I altered the route at about mile 14 just to give myself a shorter/straight shot home to end the misery.   That was about the time that I called Melissa too and was whining about the run and wanting to be done and wishing she were here instead of there so she could come and get me!  Yeah, it was that bad.

But during today's run, as much as it sucked I got to thinking.  The past few weeks I have really not felt like myself.  I've been depressed, moody, crabby, and not in the good way like I usually am. No.. the past few weeks I have felt tired...  Old and tired.  Like most of the time I feel like a 15  year-old in the body of a 44 year-old and the 15 year-old is strong enough to motivate and move.... Lately I have felt like a 70 year-old in a 44 year-old body and it is not fun.   But I think I know why...

I am not in what is my "sweet spot" mileage-wise and it is taking a toll.  70 miles per week... that seems to be the number.  Anything  under and I tend to feel crappy.  Anything significantly over for an extended period of time and I feel like poo as well.  BUT!  If I am to err, I feel much better over 70 MPW than under.  Important data.

Coach Weber once told me in a specific context that anything under 50 MPW is suspect and I have always sort of subscribed to that. For me, that is the baseline... 50 MPW to just function.  It's no secret that my mileage these past several weeks has been extremely low compared to last year... it is also public knowledge that my Fall Series times are about 3-4 minutes off from last year as well.  More important data...

Now, let's look at the speedwork I have been doing.  Both my times in the 800 and 200 repeats have been coming down.  But is that progress taking tolls in other areas?  Are my speedwork sessions, even with the improving times doing more harm than good possibly?  Important question.

Now I haven't talked about this directly... I have talked around it a lot for sure, but I have never really stated my grand intention for 2013.  I'll skip the details for now and save those for a later date but I am going to register for Leadman once that opens up on December 1st. Very Important Data right there.

But today's run got me thinking and I am SURE that Tim will make it all clear in the future but really how in the hell am I going to rack up 100+ mile weeks next July AND get good quality volume on the bike?  I wonder.  I am also a touch concerned since it seems that I don't function well with low mileage as indicated the past few weeks.  I don't think I can be one of those guys who can rob Peter to pay Paul as it were.

Of course it is all part of the fun, the challenge, the unknown and will be part of the process of figuring things out during training.  I am not going to freak out about today's run as a harbinger of doom and disaster... it was a tough day and that was that.  No doubt that it let me know exactly where I stand and what all I need to get done.

Long bike ride tomorrow.  Should be fun!

Some kick ass guitar right here...

Wednesday Slack, Thursday Track

I just couldn't make myself run yesterday.  I was feeling pretty wiped out and to be honest, the wind, the cooler temps and all of the leaves flying around really depressed the hell out of me.  So I didn't do anything.  I just hung out at the house, ate a salad, watched Game of Thrones and went to bed early.  I figure right now that I should enjoy days like that while I still can, before I start training hard again in December.
 
I also wanted to go to the track a little more fresh and rested today than I have been just to see how that worked out for me.  Overall, maybe a touch faster, definitely more consistent. One mile warmup, 6x200m with 200m RBI then a one mile cool down.  38, 37, 36, 37, 37, 36.  To be honest, that fourth one hurt!  It really is getting dark in a hurry now. I got to the track earlier than usual and it seemed like the sun was already behind the mountains when I was done.

Going up to FOCO tomorrow and I am really looking forward to that.  I would like to get in a longish run this weekend on Saturday, maybe Mt. Rosa if anyone is interested. Sunday I think that I will do a multi-hour bike ride.  

I love Halloween!  I can't count how many things are "right" with this picture.  I just can't! 

Tuesday Track

An okay day.  I got some good sleep last night and I woke up this morning feeling rather rested, fresh and recovered.  Did an hour on the track stand today and then of course track this evening.

One mile warm up, 6 x 800m with 200m RBI and then a one mile cool down. 3:05, 3:12, 3:26, 3:13, 3:19 and 3:19.  The 3:26?  There were all sorts of gnats flying around the track and I inhaled one on the third lap.  Yuck.

This came in the mail today.  :)  Pretty cool!

A Mixed Bag

The weekend was a complete mix of the good and the bad... not much in between.

Melissa left Saturday morning... bad.
Cut myself shaving.  TWICE!  -  bad.
Talked to my new coach about Leadman next year Saturday morning... good.
Went and got my Trek Superfly racing bike... good.
Tipped the hell over on the Supefly Saturday night playing on the bike when I didn't get my feet unclipped... bad. (But funny as hell  because I was laughing.)

Fall Series II Sunday morning... bad.  It hurt.
I was seven lbs lighter for FSII than I was for FS I.  Good!
Went to Kings Chef for lunch...  good but probably bad for me overall.
50 mile bike ride... Good!

Kinda really bummed this weekend to be honest.  Melissa's short turn-around between trips was tough.  We barely had enough time to get her unpacked, laundry done and packed up again and out the door which left precious little time for hanging out.  I have to admit though, as crazy as it sounds we both enjoyed sitting on the couch together during the VP debate (with the TV muted) and being together and working on some projects together.  That was our first "couch time" together in months!

Fall Series II didn't go exactly as planned.  I just couldn't execute when the time came.  It is sort of discouraging but as I have figured out, this year the Fall Series is just a set of stepping stones on my way to my bigger goal in November.  I have to say though of all the years I have done FSII the rope climb was the best this year... well; until the asshole standing on the rope at the top stepped off of it when I was two feet from the rim causing me to slip down a few feet rather unexpectedly... now that sort of pissed me off. 

Now for the craziest news of all... Rocky Racoon is FULL!  Full!  What does that mean?  I registered for that race last November 18 and more than a month earlier this year it is completely full?  It will be interesting to see what happens down there for the 2013 race compared to 2012.  Typically RR1000 has a 85% finisher rate, last year it was 58%.  I wonder now how quickly other races will fill up now?  Leadville, etc? Didn't Leadville have a higher DNF rate this year too than normal?

Using the HRM for my Garmin now.  Interesting to say the least. 

Probably the best rendition of Pearl Jam's Black from their 2006 concert in Vienna.

Not sure if this is before or after whoever was standing on the rope stepped off and I yelled the F-word.

Thursday Track

Blech... nothing special but got it done.  One mile warmup, 6x200m with 200m RBI then a one mile cool down.  37, 40, 37, 39, 38, 36.  To be honest the 40 surprised the hell out of me.  I was sure that one was faster.  Guess that shows what I know.

Saw the most confusing thing today and I am still perplexed by it.  I drove past a house with Tibetan Prayer Flags adorning the porch with a vote for Romney sign in front yard.  Maybe it is just me but these things seem to be mutually exclusive, no?

Went with Larry this morning to check out the bike.  We ended up going with the 17.5in frame that they had per Larry's suggestion.  Glad I took a pro with me.  I will pick the bike up on Saturday and I can't wait.

This morning's fictional piece The Best Job Ever was a lot of fun to write out and took only like ten minutes to regurgitate.  There will be three installments for the next piece which is entitled funny enough, The Worst Job Ever. 

The Best Job Ever

In 1989 there were five of us.  To see us in an everyday setting nothing about any of us would stand out as special.  We were nondescript. However, put the five of us together and we formed quite the unit and one of the nastiest fire teams you would ever come across.

We were all pulled into a briefing when the job came down late that morning.  Across the border, a warehouse, kidnappers and their victims.  We assumed it was either a full family or maybe just the kids who were being held.  We were never told that much in regards to who it was.  It was always safe to assume that one or both of the parents were significant in the scientific or political settings of their county of origin.  Important enough for them to be in danger and for "us" to want them and to want to get them out.

This was the 80's and as fun as the 80's were, they were rather unsophisticated.  This was old school.  We were going in Mathias Rust style... That stunt of his taught us a lot.  Our team and our pilot Ryan were going in low all crammed into a Cessna 182 without any seats.  Like I said, unsophisticated.  The reason for the Cessna and not any other fancy transport was that the warehouse in question was located right next to a small but regularly used airfield.  This was something that we all were thankful for.... the less exotic the insertion the better and bonus, no long-assed walk to the objective dodging locals and the sort.

We took off.  All of us and our gear.  Minimal at best.  We were never outfitted for a protracted outing and if a major firefight ever broke out we were screwed really.  Nothing about us, our equipment or what we wore was "standard" either.  Everybody had their own special stuff.  Me, I had some old 70's vintage jungle fatigues complete with my ever present boonie hat.  No rank, name or any tags for that matter. This stuff could have come out of a dumpster behind any surplus store in the world.  Past that I had my knife in my waistband, a Gerber Mark I which was beat to hell and my weapon.  Again completely generic, a Ruger Mini-30 with one full 30 round magazine tucked into the cargo pocket of my  pants.  The Mini-30 was practical because the places where we ended up, well, everyone had an abundance of 7.62x39 ammo.  EVERYONE!

We landed at the airfield and while the plane was taxiing, we all went out the door on the right side of the plane facing away from the warehouse and ducked behind a snow plow to check things out.  Ryan and the Cessna continued on to the far side of the airstrip far away from the warehouse but still close enough to observe.

Time was not on our side.  It never was.  We studied the warehouse intensely for five minutes and determined that we could make it there without being observed.  There were no sentries posted and nobody else around the strip to interfere at the moment.  We "knew" they were in there but where?  Across the strip we went running flat out... all of us arriving at the side of the warehouse at the same time right by the white door.

Nothing dramatic had happened.  Quite the opposite.  Steve the team leader casually put his hand on the door knob, turned it and the door opened.  Just like that... nothing Hollywood about it. No explosions, C-4, locks being shot off or any of that nonsense.  This is how thing really happen.

We rushed into the building silently and cleared the entire structure in about 12 seconds.  Nobody was home, or were they?  On the north side of the structure there was another door that apparently went to a lower or basement level.  That is why nobody was upstairs, they were  hiding in the basement.  Great, now what?

We congregated in an office in the middle of the warehouse and hunkered down to plot the next move.  We had to flush them out.  Steve found an old water bottle and ran out into the warehouse and filled with with some gas from the motor on a compressor and put some other flammable stuff in the bottle as well.  Voila... Molotov Cocktail!  How apropos.  We had to move quick.  Everybody took up positions in the office facing the door and I went up through a hatch in the office ceiling to the catwalk above.  I always prefer being higher whenever possible.  In an ambush I was known to frequently climb trees.  People just never never look up.  It always sort of felt like cheating to me to do that but who was I to argue, that tactic had kept me alive and it worked.

Steve ran to the basement door, kicked it open and threw the lit firebomb down the steps and ran like like hell back to the office area for cover.  As soon as he had ducked and turned back around we heard the yelling and the noise.  It was chaos as everyone came rushing out of the basement door and so easy to tell the good guys from the bad.  In just seconds and after a couple dozen loud "pops" it was all over. Our team had effectively separated the wheat from the chaff for eternity.  All of the bad guys were down.

Mark, who was our youngest team member (we were all young really, this meant he was 19 or 20 at the most) ran and opened the wide garage style door on the warehouse which was the signal for Ryan the pilot to use this radio on the plane to make his call.  In just minutes after opening that door two vehicles came speeding up to the building. A large car and a truck.  The family (all unhurt) were loaded into the car and it was gone.  The truck... what looked like a local farm truck, was loaded with the bodies of the four dead men and taken away to who knows where. It was done.

Ryan had already taxied the Cessna to the warehouse and we all jumped in and were rolling to take off.  All in all we were on the ground less than 30 minutes, more like 27 and change if I remember right, everybody was safe and we were going going back to our side of the border and the quicker the better.  We were  home by dinner and the most fun part of the day for me was that Ryan let me fly the plane a bit once we were back in our airspace.  That was the best job ever.

Tuesday Track

Things are definitely clicking and moving in the right direction it seems.  Still feeling tired, and OLD this week but hoping to move out of it sooner rather than later.  Was able to pull an hour on the track stand today and of course it is Tuesday so that means to the track I go.

Same workout as my standard Tuesday...  I wanted to try to sneak in an extra 800m and go for seven but after the second 800m I just didn't have the balls for it.  Really.  Plus the first 800m was a little hot and that was with a small stutter in there around one of the turns.  Anyway... One mile warm up, 6 x 800m with 200m RBI and then a one mile cool down. 3:08, 3:10, 3;18, 3:16, 3:21, 3:17 and 3:08 is definitely a new region to be playing in.  Not as consistent as I would like but it definitely seems that things are moving in the right direction.  I am interested to see what Thursday (yeah that one is really going to hurt) looks like with the 200m repeats.

And of course after the track I went and gorged on sushi with Melissa at Fujiyama.  I think that Tuesday's are the best night to go there, later, after all of the riff-raff is gone because the fish and everything is so much more fresh for some reason. 

Had a long heart to heart with Dr. Lisa yesterday and we are going to be in lockstep next summer training and racing together like this past year but more so with a loftier and more a grandiose goal structure.  Should be a blast.  More about this in the future, but except for a few details, 2013 is sort of a done deal already.

Going to look at the Superfly on Thursday with Larry at lunchtime.   Unless he waves me off on it I intend to pull the trigger and buy it.  Melissa asked me tonight, "If you get this bike you ARE going to guard it with your life, right?"  I told her of course and I wasn't even going to leave it in the garage it would be kept in the house.  She asked me where and I asked her if she had ever seen THIS photo...

Apparently our senses of humor weren't as in sync as usual when I told her about it as I was the only one laughing.

FS II is Sunday... I hope to have a better showing than FS I for certain.  I think that of all of the Fall Series races, II is the easiest in a way.  You don't have the stupid creek to worry about, and it isn't as long as FS III or FS IV... but it is very hilly and there is that goofy rope climb towards the end.  It also just seems that this one just goes better for me than the others.  I hope that is true because I could use a shot of confidence right now.  Last weeks 7th overall and 1st 40+ really doesn't count. 

Finally... I am reading The Secret Race after reading about on GZ's Blog.  All I can say at this point is damn!!!  I have never been a fan of LA but this book makes me even less of one.  So far it is an awesome read and I am learning more about bicycle racing and pharmacology than I ever hoped to.  I will write more about it once I finish the book and at the rate I am reading it won't take long.

N. Cheyenne Canyon/Columbine Trail tomorrow night if anyone is interested.