Toluu

Notes And Lines

on the road to Coeur D'Alene...

T-Minus 7 MonthsYesterday

Wow, already time for another monthly update. That seemed quick.

Biggest Challenge This Month:

Getting used to two workouts a day! Even in my heaviest marathon training, I've never had to do more than one session a day, and now that's the norm. I'm averaging about 10 per week right now, with a pretty even mix among the three sports.

Biggest Success This Month:

I was pretty happy with the effort I put out in my heart rate tests. It's been interesting getting used to that style of training, and I think it will pay dividends.

With the early onset of winter around here, my biggest success has probably been getting my bike on the trainer for some long rides, and continuing to go out for runs despite the cold. This will be my first winter with any serious training, since all my marathons have been in the fall.

How I Feel About Training:

My body is a little beat up right now, but I'm in the last few hard days before falling back next week, so that's expected. I don't look forward to the trainer or the cold, but to this point, I'm getting them done. My swimming is coming along - there's another test in the near future there, so it'll be interesting to see if I've improved.

How I Feel About The Race:

Glad that it'll be outdoors, and above freezing. :)

I'm pretty sure I could swim 2.4 miles right now, though it might not be pretty.
I know I can train and do 26.2 miles of running.
It's still tough to visualize biking for that distance, though.

What's Next?

I'm signed up for the 4 miler on Thanksgiving. The plan is to build for the first mile, then go hard for the remainder of the race. It's a fairly big race, so it's not like I'll be competing for a place or anything. My only other 4 miler was this same race last year, and I don't have a time from that one. So, I'm not really sure how to gauge my performance other than "somewhere between my 5K and 5 mile pace".

Edit - Hmm. I guess they did have results last year after all! How about that. I ran a 39:05, for a 9:47 pace. That's a little deceptive, though. It wasn't chip timed, we showed up late, and the start line was a huge bottleneck, so it was some time before I hit the start. Still, it's something to go on. I heard a rumor that this year's is chip timed, but now I can't find anything about that.

Two days later, I've got my second swim test, another 10x100 all-out bundle of fun. It's somewhere in the space between anticipation and dread. :)

I'll also be going past 2 hours on the trainer, and getting close to 3, I'd imagine.

7 Months Out Theme Song:

"You've Got To Make It Through The Winter", from Seven Brides For Seven Brothers

SerenadipityNovember 17

Serenadipity (n) - The convergence of life and a random song on one's iPod.

Example: During my hour and a half hill workout on Friday, I had my iPod on shuffle, and this song came on:



Have you ever experienced serenadipity?

2008 CSTMNovember 12

My coach posted an excellent summary today of a book arguing that talent takes a back seat to good old fashioned hard work when it comes to athletic achievement.

So, how do we gauge this? Who, I ask, is more naturally talented than a celebrity? Finding this list led me to draw up an inspirational list of famous people I've beaten in a marathon. (Discounting course, condition, age, and other minor details)

So, in no particular order, a partial list of the 2008 Celebrities Slower Than Me:

Katie Holmes
Mario Lopez
Freddie Prinze, Jr.
Oprah Winfrey
Sean Combs
David Lee Roth
Lynn Swann
Al Gore

You're next:

Sarah Palin
Meredith Baxter
Will Ferrell

Who's on your list?

TriditarodNovember 10

Cold? Check.
Wind? Check.
Following dogs? Check.

Saturday's ride was debated from the start. Meredith thought I was crazy to ride outdoors, but I really wanted to get out there, since in Ohio, you never know how even remotely reasonable weather will last in this time of the year. So, I bundled up in booties, gloves, mitten covers for the gloves, a coat, a hat, a helmet on top of that...and I went out for my 90 minute ride.

I was supposed to start getting used to nutrition on the bike with this ride. My first nutrition turned out to be a vanilla Clif Shot gel sample from some past race that had gone bad. At least I hope it had gone bad. If that's what they actually taste like... *shudder* I had to spit it out and dump the rest in a trash can.

Once done with that, things were well, and only got better. I hit my first of two low-cadence portions on a nice flat road, and I let my legs loose on it. Quickly, I was up over 20 mph, and feeling good. Also feeling good? The dog on a farm I passed. It decided to run along the road with me (who was hoping there was an invisible fence installed). And the race was on.

At first, Mr. Dog held the advantage. He got about a 10 foot lead on me, and at 22 mph, was holding me off. So, I pedaled a little harder...23...24. The gap narrowed, and he appeared to get tired. Finally, as I passed him and put a few feet in between us, he gave it up. Score one for humanity.

Everyone Knows It's WindyOctober 25

Except me. I went out for a ride today, and was feeling really good for the first 30 minutes or so. I felt like I was cruising pretty easily, and keeping a good pace.

Then I turned.

Roads that last week were an easy 17-18 mph became 10-11 today. It was all I could do to keep my cadence over 90, like my coach asked me to do. I guess I should have known that the first couple roads were too good to be true.

The other part of the prescribed ride, though? The important part? I did just fine, thank you very much.



On the way home, I was spinning my way along, and passed a guy on a mountain bike wearing a backpack. I didn't think anything of it until a minute later, when he passed me back, pedaling furiously! I'm self confident enough that I didn't feel any need to race him, despite his obvious attempt at it.

But...I did anyway. One big gear later, and he was nowhere to be seen by the next stoplight. :)