Jive SBS Syndication Feed

Week one all over again

TCameli — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 03:39:19 GMT

So I decided to repeat week one. I did D1W1 of the C25K program. I feel real good. So far this is this best i have felt since starting the program. I would like to be in shape enough to do the Anthem Sprint Triathalon on Sept 4th of next year. The race consists off a 5K run a 22K bike and 400m swim. I hope to be in good enough shap but all I can do is keep running and hope to be injury free. I think if I can get to a 24 minute 5K by the last race I do before the Tri I may feel comfortable enought to do the race. I was also thinking of incorporating a little biking into my C25K program in a few weeks. I run Sunday Tues and Thursday so I was thinking of throwing in two bikes one on Saturday and one on Monday. I think it would be no more than 5 miles to start. I'm not going to try incorporating that until at least week 4 though. I want to make sure i am good and comfortable in my run.

6mph to 10mph in 18min flat

Jessi Stensland — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 01:54:17 GMT

The other day I twittered this...

"Had client on treadmill @7mph for 1min. Said it felt like 9 out of 10 difficulty. End of 18min workout he's @10mph :15sec on :15sec off! Possible!"

I thought it was worth a bit more explanation, especially after Jeff White inquired about the following on Facebook, "What adjustments do you attribute that kind of improvement?"

Here's the scoop.

Earlier today I had a one-on-one session with one of the participants from last weekend's MovementU here in Arizona. I like to call these sessions performance consulting. I enjoy them. A lot. They are tailored to the needs/wants of that individual person, and depending on the open-mindedness/curiosity/knowledge of the individual will also include some degree of learning "what you don't know you don't know." Today's was a two-hour interactive learn-by-doing kind of session in the gym. It started off with someMovement Prep, then a rundown of key functional strength exercises includingdouble-leg front squats and single-leg balance squats, RDLs, rotational rowand anti-rotational chops and lifts along with some key TRX Suspension Training movements like the low back row and the single-leg chest press.

Then we headed for some Energy System Development (cardio) on the treadmill...and that's where it got really good.

The client: 40-year old male, tall, lean, athlete-back-in-the-day, new to running.

My plan for him was based on where I've started my own pre-season training in the past:

3 sets of 3 x [1min hard + 1min off] with an extra minute between sets.
Total of 9min of effort within a 20min period. No sweat, right?

First I took him through a 7-8 min warm-up at about 5.5-6mph where I threw out one cue at a time to focus on and interspersed those with over-exaggeration drills (focus on one leg, then the other for example.) I also had him switch back and forth between his 'old' form and a stronger/taller 'new' form for about 15 seconds at a time. He was more than warmed up by the end.

Then after a brief rest period we started the main set. He did not know what speed he should start at so I took a stab at 7mph to start. Here's how it went.

7mph for 1 min. 1 min off.

[Perceived exertion on a scale of 1-10 was a 7-8 (somewhat hard to hard.)]

7mph for 1 min. 1 min off.

[Perceived exertion on a scale of 1-10 was a very out of breath, doubled over 9.]

Not a good sign for him making it thru another minute at that speed so I modified it...by INCREASING the speed. Yes, you read it right, BUT...I decreased the length of the interval and increased the recovery period.

7.5mph for 30sec. 1 min off.

End of first set. 1 min break.

Second set...

7mph for 1min + 1min off.

Watching him it hit me. It was so apparent...and I told him so: "7.0mph. That is LAME." He looked at me funny through the sweat that was dripping off his forehead into his eyes. I continued "and you'll realize it. Soon." Little did I know I was going to make him realize it in the next 10 min. But I had an inkling, and it went like this:

I got on the treadmill next to him. Him: a fit-looking, tall, healthy dude, only running at 9min mile pace or so and for only 1 minute feeling like it was a 9 on a scale of 10 of difficulty. No doubt it was, but I wanted more work done, for that same effort.

I put my treadmill at 10mph (6min/mi.) We started the next interval together. Him at 7mph, me at 10mph. Without trying (at least I wasn't trying) our cadence was exactly the same stride for stride. I would've loved to see this on video from the side. All I could do is look down at his treadmill and see the logo on his tread coming around a lot slower than mine, but still our strides were in sync. The minute finished no problem. I hadn't even broken a sweat (which I was kinda stoked about not knowing where my fitness is at the moment, but that's not important here...) He did the interval fine.

He had one more minute of work left in that set. I asked him if he wanted to do another minute at the same speed or go higher speed for the :30 intervals again. He gave a thumbs up. Speed.

The 3rd minute of the 2nd set went like this:

8.0mph for :30 + ONLY 30sec OFF.

[Getting back to a 1:1 ratio of work to rest. Good.]

8.0mph for :30 + 30sec off.

1 min break.

The third set is where it got fun. At this point, he was working his butt off, and I loved it. For him it was that beautiful love/hate relationship (more or less is what I think I got from him.)

He admitted during this little break two things:

1. He wouldn't have put the treadmill over 6mph.

2. He rarely broke a sweat when he was running.

At the moment he was sweating, red in the face, breathing harder after that one minute of rest than he would've been during his entire run the way he was used to doing it. His heart was working like crazy. Awesome!

Then came the 3rd set.

He himself adjusted the speed for the first 2 intervals.

It looked like this:

1min @ 8.5mph + 1min off

1min @ 9.0mph + 1min off

He was WORKED. For all intents and purposes DONE. He had one more minute of work left to do. So what did I do?

Jacked the treadmill up to 10mph and decreased the interval time. Kept the work to rest ratio the same though. I wanted any little leg speed he had in him even if only for 15 sec.

He finished his last minute of work this way:

4 x [15sec @ 10mph + 15sec off]

!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then I was satisfied. He was REALLY done. : )

Only 9 minutes of effort. So much benefit. Pushing the cardio system to work over and above the anaerobic threshold causes an improvement, an increase in that anaerobic threshold. The result? He'll be able to do more work at the same effort next time OR do the same work (speed) will feel easier than it did the week before. Leg speed got worked. The core HAD to activate. He HAD to take control over it to keep his legs under him. The harder I asked him to go, the harder he had to activate his core just to keep his legs under him. Tightening things up. Getting more out of his same effort. Awesome.

So to answer Jeff's original question:

Was it mental? Was it physical? I'd say it was a little bit of both. The mind is capable when given a purpose. 15 seconds is much easier to focus on and push through the effort than 1 minute. If I ever think my mind or my body can't handle the interval, i'll shorten it and eek out my last bit of energy that way rather than slowing down to accommodate my mind/body. I only gave subtle running form cues to the athlete during the workout. Just by him having to try to keep his legs under him to achieve that speed, was causing him to run more biomechanically correct and efficient. He wouldn't have been able to go that fast if he hadn't. So there's something to be said about working on mechanics, thinking through the process, but combining that with simply challenging the body to move the way it was born to move...is just as important in the performance process.

Redefine your 100%. You can change it. Daily. You've just gotta push your limits. Be curious. Go where you haven't gone before!

More to come.

Move well!

Slowly But Surely

Fitness Nichole — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:34:50 GMT

To 'celebrate' my three week anniversary of being injured I went for a run. I had too. For the sake of my mentality I had too. I crave the "runner's high" and I had gone long enough without it. After three weeks of elliptical, spin and swim exercise I hadn't felt any tightness or pain in the IT band, so I decided to try it out.

The run was great. I didn't push it. . .went out for thirty minutes and kept it at a nice easy pace. I avoided any large hills because I think that is what got me into this mess in the first place. I didn't feel any pain during or after. The relief that came to me after the run was just what I needed. I was nervous during, assuming that any minute a sharp shooting pain would once again tear through my knee, but there was nothing like that.

I feel lucky because this injury could have lasted over two months, but it has only been three weeks. I am taking it slow, because I realize it is probably not fully healed and I don't want to start all over again. My first run was on Thursday and I ran again on Sunday. Sunday was forty-five minutes and I felt a slight, very slight, bit of tightness after, so I am going to continue breaking up my running days with cross-training until I feel that I am 100 percent again.

This injury really has helped me learn the importance of cross-training and how much fun it can be. I NEVER cared to swim, even thought I didn't like it but, left with fewer options of exercise and a best friend's encouragement, I decided to give it a try and now I definitely want to implement it into my training at least once, hopefully twice a week. Just like running, I experience a whole different feeling of 'tired' after a good swim. It works muscles I never thought about, but, notice as soon as I get out of the water.

I can't describe the joy it brings me to slowly start pounding the pavement again, but, I am also very excited at becoming a better overall athlete. Being strong in all areas will help me reach my goal of being an ultra-runner.

The joy of running is cross-training.

Happy Running!

Athletes should shop for airlines that want business

Gale Bernhardt — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:47:38 GMT

Recently my friend Ed looked at flying to Texas. He looked at flying United and Southwest Airlines. When he looked at flying the friendly(?) skies of United, he found they wanted to charge him $175, each way, to take his bicycle with him. Yes, that’s a $350 total trip cost for his bicycle.

He wrote a note to United and told them he thought it was ridiculous that it cost more to fly his bicycle than it cost to fly himself to Texas. They wrote back and told him that bicycles are difficult to handle and it takes extra people to put that bike into and out of the cargo space. (I guess each time a bicycle comes to the ramp, an extra person is called in.)

When he checked with Southwest Airlines, he found the airfare to get himself to Texas was slightly better than United’s rates. When he asked about flying his bicycle, Southwest told him it would be $50 per leg of the trip or $100 total trip cost for his bicycle.

Ed flew to Texas with his bicycle on Southwest Airlines and had a great trip. No flight or luggage issues whatsoever.

Athletes should shop around for airlines that want their business. Each airline has slightly different baggage policies and you might find that there are some airlines that want your business at a fair rate, while others that want a rate that is worth another passenger seat on the flight.

Female trouble

lconnelly — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:53:42 GMT

As if women do not have enough to worry about (and by women I mean me because all of you seem fine). Lately I have been ruminating over whether running is actually a good idea for women my age and my weight. To be quite frank: I worry things may "fall out". I do not really know if I personally need to worry about the repetitive impact of the routine causing my insides to fall out, but really who wants to take that kind of chance? After birthing three sons, all scratching and dragging the goods out with them, I already having trouble when I sneeze or laugh too suddenly! Runners often have bladder control issues right? Is that fact or fiction, truth or rumor, you got me? I guess I will google it. What if my va jj falls out? Or my bladder? A nurse aquaintance once said, "by the time these running women are 60 they will need a shopping cart to tote their 'baggage' around with them. Now come on. This is scaring me. One of my good friends and mentor who has passed once told me she went to the GYN and he showed her with a mirror that her bladder was indeed falling out: all she could say was: "Well, that's no Monet is it?" Yikes.

Do men have to worry about their private parts falling off...Not that I ever heard, and you know we would have, because if a man has a problem "down there", they are the first to fix it. Like Wanda Sykes says: men don't have to march, or run any 5k's for their sh**, like women do. It's just not fair.

Vegas Marathon and Half - Nothing New on Raceday!

RehabUnited — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:12:22 GMT

This week’s training tip is inspired by those running the Las Vegas Marathon or Half Marathon on December 6^th – Never try anything new on race day!

Most of you already know the importance of practicing things like nutrition before a big race (your meal the night before, breakfast that morning, and during race hydration/carbohydrate/electrolyte replacement). But athletes often overlook the importance of practicing all their raceday techniques – warm-up, socks, shoes, shorts, and shirts, among others.

Blisters and chafing are no fun, so it might be a good idea to wear your brand new puffy-painted jersey with “my first marathon” on it during one of your training runs (different materials can affect how you sweat) and it gives you an idea if you need body glide in certain areas.

As far as shoes – if you have not used a pair in at least two of your long training runs, then wear your old ones. Shoes do break in relatively quickly, but over the course of 26.2 miles (or even 13.1 miles) slight alterations in how your foot hits the ground can become significant (affecting foot, knee, and back pain).

A heads up on nutrition – the Rock ‘N Roll Last Vegas this year will use Cytomax (roughly the same carbohydrate content as Gatorade, but half the sodium) as the sports drink and GU as the energy gel. So unless you plan to carry your own nutrition, you might want to pick some of those up to see how your stomach responds – the only thing worse than blisters and chafing is an upset stomach.

Good luck with the last two weeks of preparation and get ready for a good time in Vegas!

Raising your child's game through competition and modeling

Erin Mirabella — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:19:06 GMT

Try This At Home……………………………

Here is a great way to help you child improve in a sport or activity that he or she is already interested in and good at. Find out who is the most celebrated person in that sport or activity and do some serious research on them. (Research them on the Internet, watch videos of them, etc.) Analyze the specific things that make that person successful and encourage your child to emulate and model them. Have your child work on improving those characteristics or skills you identified. Next, find someone locally who is just a little better than you child and, if possible, have your child practice with him or her on a weekly basis. Encourage your child to learn from them. Monitor the situation to make sure you child is having fun and isn’t getting frustrated.

******************************************

Competition makes you better. If your child is always the best player on the team or in his or her league, then they aren’t being challenged and pushed to improve. If at all possible, find someone for you child to train with who can push and challenge them. This will prevent their progress from becoming stagnant. Without competition your child ends up a big fish in a small pond. Later, it’s hard to move from the pond, where he or she is the star and accustomed to winning, to the lake or ocean, where he or she is just a little fish and won’t necessarily find success immediately. (It’s not a bad idea to get a realistic idea of what you child can expect when they bump up to the next level, but I’ll save the details of that for another post.)

My first year training at the Olympic Training Center was a gradual immersion into the world of elite international racing. My second year however, felt more like getting thrown into the deep end of a pool to see if I’d sink or swim. Thankfully I didn’t sink, but that was in large part because I was training with stronger, more experienced women. They pushed me every day, physically and mentally, and their presence both encouraged and forced me to raise my game if I wanted to succeed.

I vividly remember a training day at a World Cup selection track camp in Plano, Texas. Nicole Reinhart*, Karen Dunn and I were all vying for a spot in the points race at the upcoming World Cup, and each work out was considered by the coaches in selection. This particular work out was on the velodrome (a cycling track.) Our coach was driving the motorcycle and we were taking turns coming around the motor and leading out sprints to the finish line. The goal was to win the sprint. Karen and Nicole were much more experienced than me. For the first few sprints my timing was all off; I would either go hard too soon, or I would kick too late. I’ve very competitive, but instead of getting frustrated I tried to figure out what the other girls were doing that I wasn’t. We were rotating through and taking turns leading out the sprints, so every third sprint I had an opportunity to watch them from behind. I noted how they made their moves, when they made their moves, and how successful they were at it. I started copying their successes and by the end of the workout I was winning sprints.

That year I trained with, lived with, and vied for spots against those same women, over and over again. As difficult and stressful as it was at the time, it was probably one of the best things that could have happened to me, because I never became complacent and improved immensely.

Later on in my career I didn’t have that same benefit. I found that training with guys was another way to raise my game. This is one advantage women have over men, women always have the opportunity to train or practice against someone stronger and faster than them, because they can train with the men.

I am grateful that I learned this lesson early on in my career. If you child has aspirations to make it to the next level, then he or she needs to constantly be looking for ways to improve. Training with and modeling after people who are better are great ways to do that. Just like in a free market, we all benefit from healthy competition.

* Nicole Reinhart was a fantastic road sprinter, fierce competitor, a good, kind person, and someone I looked up to and admired. Her life was tragically cut short in a cycling accident during a race on September 17, 2000. I’d like to dedicate today’s blog to her memory and encourage you to visit www.nicolefund.org for more information about her.

For more information about me or my children's books, please visit www.erinmirabella.com.

Blog post #1

bjohnson96 — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:13:30 GMT

Just started a couch to 5k program. I was (supposedly) training for a 1/2 marathon with my wife this fall, but my workouts slowed after the 1st month then stopped all together. Cappy ran the 1/2 in 2:30 or so - very proud of her.

This time, I'm setting my goals much lower, with a 5k around Christmas (need to find one) then a 10k in the spring, possibly the Elmwood 10k. I'd love to do the Crescent City Classic, but we may be out of town for Easter. I told my buddy Ben that I'd do the Destin sprint-tri with him in August 2010. I'm about 70 lbs overweight, so we shall see...

As of 11/23: 286 lbs.

Don't have a goal yet, but I'd like to be around 220. I went down to 205 lbs in 1999 and was rail-thin, but IMHO I looked like a weenie (that's my o-lineman talking).

Marathon Training

Paul Sawyer — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:12:59 GMT

20 WEEKS TO GO

8/24/09 Weekly Long run - 10 miles Snap 1% (7:45) 7.7/7.8 mph 1:17:30. Ending HR 150.

8/25/09 Weight training and 15 mins on the bike level 7 approx 4 miles

8/27/2009 (Garmin)*****RACE TIME TRIAL 5km. 9:00am 81F degs, 70% humidity. At school track. 5000m. 20:17. 3.1 miles. (6:31 pace). 9.2 mph. Splits Miles 1 (6:06), 2 (6:31), 3 (6:49), 0.1 (6:45)

8/29/2009 10 Mile Run/Walk rest with John Butler

TOTAL WEEKLY mileage 23.1

19 WEEKS TO GO

9/1/2009 (Garmin) Tempo Run ****Record? Long Run+Larrys Run. 55:20. GPS distance 7.79 miles.(7:06). (My guess distance 7.5miles gives 7:22pace). Hills! Hydration - starting wt 182.5, ending weight 178.5, lost 4 lbs 2.2%

9/2/2009 (Garmin) Easy Run I-540. 4.38 miles. 33:12 (7:35)

9/4/2009 IND treadmill Easy Run 6 miles 49:50 (8:20) 1%

TOTAL WEEKLY mileage 18.17

18 WEEKS TO GO

9/7/09 (Garmin) Weekly long run, Shelly lake trail plus three laps of the lake. GPS 15.5 miles, 2:04:30 (8:01). Went with Cam. Bill and Crisit on their bikes. First run with water. FInshed strong. From Google Maps dirtance was 15.13 miles - corrected

9/9/09 (Garmin) Speedwork Mile Repeats on the track. Did four repeats. (Second repeat did an extra lap by mistake). Total 6.25 miles. Target (6:30) repeats. Actual 6:10, 6:20, 6:30, 6:34. Average 6:24.

9/10/09 (Garmin) Easy Run with Stuart. !.5 times around Shelly lake. 3 miles 29:58. Once around then from offical start to the left turn. Stuarts ending HR approx 150bpm.

9/10/09 WT Training snap

9/12/2009 MHT 4 Points sheraton. Easy run 4 miles 32 mins 1%

TOTAL WEEKLY mileage 28.38 miles

17 WEEKS TO GO

9/14/2009 Snap Tempo run 5 miiles 35 mins 8.6 mph (6:58).1% ending HR 148

9/16/2009 (Garmin HR) Snap T/M Weekly Long Run. Great base run. Target Marahon Pace (8:00). 02:16:00. 17 miles. Compare HR. 30 min laps.

9/18/2009 SMF RedLion Treadmil.1% Easy Run 7.0 miles 7.0 mph (8:30) 1:00:00.

Ending HR 120

9/20/2009 Snap treadmil. 1% Easy Run 8 miles. (7:40)

TOTAL WEEKLY mileage 37 miles

16 WEEKS TO GO

9/23/2009 (Garmin) Hill Work. Dam run. 46:18:00. Gooogle distance 6.18 + 0.1 = 6.28 (did extra cul de sac wrong turn!) gives (7:22).

9/24/2009 (Garmin) Easy run w/Stuart. Twice around shelly Lake. 3.76 miles; 36:57 (9:50 pace)

9/26/2009 (Garmin) Weekly Long Run Sheely trail twice. From Google Earth distance 17.72 miles. Time 02:24:45. Gives (8:10) pace very tough last few miles

TOTAL WEEKLY milage 27.76 miles

15 WEEKS TO GO

9/28/2009 Recovery run! Snap1% 5 miles 45 mins (9:00) Ending HR 125

9/29/2009 A nice run, no watch,no HR, great WX. My long run. 5.16 miles

10/1/2009 Long run great 5.16 miles TEMPO pace. No watch but great effort felt good

10/03/2009 Weekly Long Run. Shelly Trail. 1 + 3/4 Shelly Lake. 10min wait for Stuart then 2 more Shelly Lake. Exactly 16 miles. (Stopped timer while waiting for Stuart) ) 02:19:00 (8:41). Prior to meeting stuart 12.25 miles 01:45:47 (8:23). Tried to keep my heart rate between 130-140.

TOTAL WEEKLY mileage 31.32 miles

14 WEEKS TO GO

10/8/2009 (Garmin) RECORD & GOAL Tempo Snap 1% 8 miles 56 minutes (7:00)

10/10/2009 (Garmin) TPA Loop Very hot and humid 81F. 52:15, GPS 6.35 miles (8:14)

10/11/2009 DEN treadmill 6 miles 51 mins 130 HR still a little fatagued

TOTAL WEEKLY mileage 10.35 miles

13 WEEKS TO GO

10/14/2009 Weekly Long Run. Longest yet. Twiice around Shelly Trail then twice around Shelly Lake. 21.68 miles, Total time 03:15:44 (9:02)

10/16/2009 JAX treadmil 6miles 45:45 (7:38)

10/18/2009 MHT treadmill. Quick run 4 miles 30 mins 2%

TOTAL WEEKLY mileage 31.68

12 WEEKS TO GO

10/19/2009 *****RECORD RECORD***** My long run. 5.16 miles (goggle earth) 34:46 (6:44) 8.9 mph. Splits 7:06 16:20, 26:15, 34:46. Pace outbound (6:20) inbound (7:09)

10/21/2009 (garmin) run in UK thru valntines wanstead pk. 10.75 mile (GPS)

10/23/2009 (garmin) Interval training. 5 miles 3 x 1.15 at (6:15)

TOTAL WEEKLY mileage 20.91

11 WEEKS TO GO

10/26/2009 Sharm El Sheik treadmill 21km at 12.5 km/hr took 01:41:00 1%. CHECK this calculation. What is pace distance etc.

10/30/2009 Sharm treadmill 8km 40 mins with hills 4% every 1km

TOTAL WEEKLY mileage 18.1

10 WEEKS TO GO

*******Sick Cold & cough

11/7/2009 First run after being sick. Larry's run 3.4 miles

TOTAL WEEKLY mileage 3.4

9 WEEKS TO GO

11/9/2009 Weekly long run. Two long runs and dam run. 16 miles. 02:11:46. (8:14) Hills! Ending Weight 175.5

11/11/209 MSP Trail run. Time 1:22:30. Estimated pace (7:45) - est 10.6 miles

11/13/2009 TPA treadmill Easy run 4 miles 35 mins (8:30)

11/15/2009 Weekly Long Run. Longest run yet at 03:19:58. Distance 23.13 miles (google earth). (8:39)

splits to be calculated. Very tough last 2 miles, high HR and low pace. Big blister, why? Need to figure out perfect Marathon pace. Starting Wt 182 lbs, ending weight 177 lbs - drank 3 lbs water

TOTAL WEEKLY mileage 53.73 miles

8 WEEKS TO GO

11/17/2009 Recovery Run. First true recovery used HR mionitor styed in zone 2. My long run 5.16 miles, 47:58, (9:17) (splits first half..

11/19/2009 Tempo Run at SLC. Total miles 8.28. 58:09 (7:01). One split (half way through run) was 2.15 miles and 15:20 gives (7:08). Is this a record for 8 miles at (7:00) pace?

11/22/2009 Weekly Long Run. Shelly Trail twice. Then cooldown 1.65 miles. 17.92 miles. 02:27:08. (8:12). Great paced run. Felt good. Good consistant splits. (8:03, 8:10, 8:10, 8:27). Managed to stay in Zone 3 on Garmin, except last 2 miles.

WEEKLY TOTAL milage 33.01 miles

7 WEEKS TO GO

custom essay

rachelgreen815 — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:51:37 GMT

A custom essay is usually a short piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author.

The definition of an essay is vague, overlapping with those of an article

and a short story

. Almost all modern essays are written in prose

, but works in verse

have been dubbed essays (e.g. Alexander Pope

's An Essay on Criticism

and An Essay on Man

Final Preparation for the 5K Turkey Trot...

Ericd3043 — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:51:44 GMT

Yes, this will be the last race of the season for me. The groin pull has been giving me issues and I really need to just give it a rest. I am still psyched for the race and hope that I can finish in good time. I just found out yesterday that there will be quite a few people from my church running in the race so I am now motivated more to really push myself. I am concerned for those that have not done any racing and are just getting into it. Josh has run about 10 miles in prep for this race. The last run he did was last Wednesday (a 5K practice run) with me. Another friend said that he was thinking about running - but still needs to register. He is in good shape and has done running in the past - but also had arthoscopic knee surgery this summer and has not really run since then. I am really praying that they will both do good and stay safe.

The JFK Ultra Marathon was this past Saturday. I think I have a good chance next year being in the top in our county. I could not win it as the top finisher was just under 6 1/2 hours. However, the 2nd place person for our county was at 8 hrs 39 min. The 3rd place guy came in at 8hrs and 59 min. I have a bar to set and just need to work towards it. I think 9hrs is reasonable - but of course, the longest I have run this year was 10 miles in 1hr and 20 min - so we shall see.

I just talked to my wife this weekend and briefly mentioned running in a marathon in May - her response was less than supportive, but better than I expected. Oh well......

For now, it is to try and go to the gym in the early morning. Non impact work is in the agenda and it really felt good to get there this morning. I think I can do it...

Good luck to all those running and keep in touch.

Don't Race Me Use a Power Meter

Bruce Hildenbrand — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:46:00 GMT

I don't race anymore on a regular basis, in fact, I can't remember the last time I pinned on a number and tried to be first across the line. That doesn't mean I don't enjoy pushing myself or going fast, it just means that I don't race.

One reasonable question is how do I measure how I am performing? Of course, if you race, you can measure your performance on how well you did against your competitors. Obviously, that doesn't mean that you have to win to feel good about yourself. It just means that racing allows one to set some pretty specific goals like wanting to finish top-10. If you meet those goals, life's good.

If you don't race, what kinds of goals do you have? One of the goals I really don't like to see people set are those that are based on how they perform with respect to other riders with whom they ride. You know what I mean. Comments like 'as long as I beat Joe to the top of the climb, I feel good,' are pretty common. As I just said, I don't like those comments, especially if I am 'Joe.'

Frankly, I don't want anybody using me as a 'stalking horse' to judge their performance. This is one big reason that I have written here before about loathing the situation where I pass a rider and they decide to draft me without asking permission. I really don't know what is going through their mind. I think it is proper etiquette to ask permission to draft, but that another subject.

I think people who don't race should figure out a way to base their performance on something that doesn't involve how other riders are performing. So, you caught and passed a rider. Big deal. You don't know what that rider's agenda is. Maybe the rider is just finishing six hours in the mountains. Or the rider is getting over being horribly sick or injured. Or best yet, what if the rider doesn't care if you are catching him/her. Let's face it. It's only a race when you have a number on your back and somebody says 'Go!'.

A corollary of this whole situation are riders who show up at group rides and turn them into unofficial races because they need somebody chasing them to be able to push themselves on the bike. My friends who are pros train by themselves when it is time to go hard. They have internal motivation to push themselves as hard as they need to go. That's probably why they are pros and most of us are not.

I think power meters are a great solution to this problem. These tools don't lie. You are either going hard or you are not. I would suggest that non-racing cyclist who are looking to set goals for themselves to get a power meter and some knowledge, like a coach or a good book, on how to use the power meter to measure your performance. This really is the only way to truly measure your performance.

Bruce

OBX 1/2 Marathon - 2 weeks ago today - November 8, 2009

David Hinshaw — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:04:33 GMT

Having run the OBX full last year, I knew what to expect for the half. The half is somewhat of a boring course compared to the first 13 miles of the full. The weather was perfect. The day started out @ 45 and warmed up to 55 degrees by 10am. We left to go down to OBX on Saturday morning with the Norfolk Y running crew of Nancy, Tina, Ted, and myself. Frank (Lee) from Rocky Mount North Carolina Runners Club (we met @ the Richmond Marathon in 2007) joined us later that night. We had a great time relaxing the night before the race. I finished OBX in 2:20, which is not far form my 2:13 PR. Tina and I ran the half together and Ted was ahead of us. Nancy ran the whole marathon, her second one in 5:14, which was a new PR for her. We had pasta dinner the night before with salad. It was a great weekend. We came back on Monday, but Frank had to leave after the race on sunday. Ted got his PR in the half and he brought some awesome lunch meat for sandwhiches. David (speaking in 3rd person) really enjoyed the evenings watching football as everyone else went to bed @ 9pm both nights. The Moon was set low over the water and the stars were awesome to see on a clear night from Duck.

first blog ever

skipatrolbill — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 02:37:18 GMT

Did The Misquite Nv 1/2 marathon 11/21/09 that was a stretch for my training. me and jo started working out just recently doing the circut training. still swimming off and off and sometimes on. still riding 15 year old bikes.

Retro Grouch Revisited

cobrapatrol — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 01:10:08 GMT

Thinking about iBOB and the Bridgestone catalogs from the early nineties, I guess these common sense articles interspersed with Bridgestone bikes for sale started a following of folks that realized that the bikes were built to the standard of ridability and practical comfort in the design. The author of the common sense catalogs, that remind me of the Mother Earth News derived 20 years later, and the marketing master of Bridgestone USA was, of course, Grant Petersen. And the moniker of retro-grouch was applied to him. I enjoyed those iconoclastic articles in the catalogs and can easily understand the iBOB following.

I'm not quite as sure about the Rivendell reincarnation of the theme. It all seems a little over done, with fancy bags with straps and buckles and twine handlebar wrapping. The frames are made somewhere else, I guess Waterford, Japan, Taiwan, don't ask. I think if I ever buy a bicycle that needs an elvish name I will commission a framebuilder directly and tell him what I want. I even have a name for the line of frames, Lugburtz. Look it up. To be fair, I should read the Rivendell reader, which I have not done, but but good philosophy doesn't build a bike.

The ride went well although I only went 45 miles instead of the planned 60. It was a beautiful day and I rode the Trek. A good little bike. My Eisentraut Limited has a paint job that originated in my college days, that predates the Rivendell brand somewhat.