Posts from — January 2008

Well I ran longer than I should have this morning, especially considering I shouldn’t have run at all. This morning was a scheduled pool workout, but I woke up too late to get the swim in and make it to work on time. So I went out for what should have been a short run, but instead I went ahead and made it longer. Only 6.3 miles, but it turned what should have been a sub 30 minute workout into almost an hour. So now I am just as late to work as if I had gone to the pool. Maybe not that bad, but still I am pushing the line with how late I’m going in. What’s worse is I have a meeting I am going to be late for. Oh well. I was just enjoying my run too much to stop it short.

Unlike yesterday I was running pretty well today. I averaged about 9 minute miles pretty effortlessly. My HR is still a little high for a 9mm effort, but that will come down over the next couple of months. I’ve got a lot of catching up to do on the fitness I lost over the late fall. The key is to just keep from getting too exuberant with my running to prevent potential injury. That is going to be hard to do though if I keep feeling the way I did during this morning’s run. It was one of those days where I get chills down my spine from feeling so good. Part of the good feelings was thinking about what I am going to be doing in July. In fact I am getting those chills now as I type this blog entry.

Running the VT100 is going to be something that is great. A real point in my life that I will remember. I think of myself now running alone in the middle of the night. Will I be delirious? Will I be happy? Will I be thinking about lying on the ground, rolling into a ball and dying? I have no idea and that is part of the excitement. I will be pushing my body to a point it’s never been to before. I’ll be exploring uncharted territory; reaching the unknown. I’ll be a modern day explorer searching my own soul for answers. I’ll measure myself as a man, see what sort of guts I have and run for 100 miles. Failure at this endeavor is not an option. Knowing that I am going to be doing this, well, it’s not a feeling I can easily describe.

I am going to make a concerted effort this year to fully document my training online. After all, it’s not every year where I will be training for a 100 mile race. I should pay respect to what I am going to do and document how I got there. Half if not most of the event is all of the training you do leading up to it. I’d only be telling half the story if all I wrote about was doing the event itself and not writing about what I did to allow me to accomplish my goal.

Winter, it’s the new Spring. I just love Spring in the Winter. I am able to go to work without a coat and I can run outside without having to put on tights, hat and multiple layers. Not that I really mind the cold. If you dress properly, the cold should not be an issue, even on the most cold and windy of days. But nothing beats getting home from work and hearing your kids tell you that it’s so warm outside that they want to ride their bikes with you while you run. I love when they accompany me. Besides the company, I know they are getting some much needed exercise and a break from the usual gamut of cartoons on TV.

Yesterday worked out perfectly for me. I wanted to go for a run at lunch in this sunny and warm weather, but I was invited out to a power lunch to welcome a new staff member to my company’s management team. I couldn’t gracefully turn it down and I harbored hopes of being able to sneak out of the office later in the day to get in the run. How happy was I, when my wife called me later in the day to tell me that my kids wanted to ride with me when I got home from work. It made my day and once again thought how everything happens for a reason.

This morning I started to get back into my training routine after being off of it for a little over a week due to travel and a cold. I need to get focused if I am going to have a shot at being successful for the Vermont 100 miler. I got outside this morning while it was still dark, in shorts and light jacket (Go Global Warming!), and did a slow 7 miles in Prospect Park. I had the energy to do the run and the music I was listening to made the run go by pleasantly enough, but I was a little concerned with how slow my pace was. I was only averaging about 10 minute miles which is obscenely slow for me. I was wondering what ever happened to my casual 8 minute mile training pace.

I could already hear in my head the conversation I am going to have with my coach later in the day when I complain to him about my pace. He is just going to tell me not to worry about it. I guess I really shouldn’t, especially because in the Vermont 100 miler I would be very ecstatic with averaging a 10 mm pace and I know I will not be averaging that. For the VT100 I’ll be quite satisfied coming in at 24 hours which is just under 14:30’s per mile. That pace just sounds so doable, but we are talking about moving at that pace for a straight 24 hours. We will just see how it goes. Those back to back 8 hour training runs that will come up in the real Spring should be a good indication of my VT100 pace.

One of the biggest things I am coming to grips with over doing the VT100 is the fact that I am pretty much giving up on Ironman for the next two years. Well, at least IM Lake Placid. I won’t be doing it this year, and I won’t be able to register myself for next year. Ironman is just something I’ve been holding onto for the past 5 years and its feeling weird letting go. I suppose I could drive the few hundred miles from Vermont to Lake Placid to register the day after, but I think that might just be a little insane; just a little. I really can’t worry about that though. I need to focus completely on the VT100. Perhaps I’ll be able to get into the Badwater 135 the next year. For those reading my blog that don’t know, the Badwater 135 is a 135 mile run starting in Badwater, Death Valley in the middle of the summer. It starts from the lowest point on the North American continent (285’ below sea level) and winds up on top of Mt. Whitney at 8360′. If I can do the VT100, I should be able to do that. It’s only an extra 35 miles. Oh the suffering should be so damn good.

1/4/07

I’ve been sick for the past few days so I haven’t done any training. I hate when that happens. I start to get used to just lying around and it gets hard to start up again. I get used to sleeping late and taking it easy. The old habits of sitting back and watching TV begin to take over and I can feel myself becoming a couch potato slob again. But maybe this is happening for a reason. My shin has been bothering me and I have to get it to heal. In just 7 months time I’ll be running 100 miles through the hills and trails of Vermont. I need to have my leg completely healthy. Perhaps a cortisone shot will help

1/6/07 1:00am

Well I can’t fall asleep again which has been nothing new. I feel as though I can take a bottle of Ambien and I would still stay awake. At least I was able to get in a run Saturday afternoon, despite the fact that I am still feeling sick. I did just an easy 4 mile run around Prospect Park. It felt great. I was running with a feeling of exhilaration as I thought about how in just 7 months time I’d be running 100 miles. If that thought isn’t enough to motivate me during this short stuff, I don’t know what would. All I could think of would be the sense of accomplishment I will have once I complete that race, hopefully less than 24 hours so I can get the special buckle.

I am going to finish sucking on this Ambien in a few minutes at which time I’ll try to go to sleep again. I feel like waking up early enough to do a moderately long run. This just means I plan to run for as long as I feel like. I am not sure how far that will be at this point, but I at least want to give myself a chance to do so before I need to start running errands for the day. Well, that’s all for now, I am hoping to sleep soon.

So 2007 was not one of my better years in terms of training and racing. The year was plagued with illness and injury and I never really had a chance to get going. The highlights of the year in racing were the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon, SOS and the Staten Island 6 hour run in which I came in 7th overall. Ironman Lake Placid was a total bust this year, but that is ok. I wasn’t well before the race and at least I attempted it. Many people would simply have said screw it. The best time I had training were the two weeks I had in Spain where I ran about 150 miles in two weeks and swam about 8 miles. At least I finished 2007 strongly and setup to have a good 2008.

The light year was reflected in my overall distance. For 2007 I had 2425 Cycling miles, 1200 Running miles and 92 swimming miles. I’d like to see my 2008 distances be more in the range of 4000, 2000 and 150 respectively. These are just arbitrary numbers I am coming up with; I have no idea if I’ll be able to do so much. I’ll have to take it one week at a time.

In any event, 2008 started off with my usual New Year’s festivities. First was an early morning run with my friend Larry around Prospect Park. It was a cool rainy day and we were both feeling tired from the evening before. Larry from drinking and staying up a little too late and me from having a full day skiing, bowling and eating in the Bershires, followed by a mad 183 mile dash home in my car to make it to my friend’s New Year’s Eve party before midnight – which I did make. However, the run woke us up and afterwards we reconvened for our annual Polar Bear New Year’s Dip in Coney Island. Fortunately, it had stopped raining by then and 1000’s of people were out on the beach all ready to plunge into the icy Atlantic. The group I was with all plunged ourselves into the water several times. It is such a rush going into the freezing cold water in nothing but a thin bathing suit. I felt so good every time I came out of the water. An amazing sense of well being infused my body and I was laughing and smiling and yelling in joy. After getting out of the cold water, the air temperature felt so warm that we all just hung around in our bathing suits and threw a football around. It was a great day to be alive.

After we left the beach, we headed back to Larry’s house where his wife had prepared the most delicious chili and her secret recipe for Hot Toddy’s – A drink consisting of tea, run, fruit juices, spices and other ingredients which shall remain secret. I hung around for several hours eating, drinking and talking until I started to feel the tiredness creep through my body and I could no longer hold my eyes open. I said my goodbyes and walked back home where I promptly took a much needed nap.

Unfortunately, on this second day of 2008, I awoke with a cold and sore throat. I am not going to rush my training and let the cold subside before I pick it up again. There is no point in sucking in my cold germs and giving myself Bronchitis. I’ve had that the last two January’s in a row and don’t want to go through that again. I’ll just rest until I feel better.

Lastly, for a great bit of news, I walked into my house this evening to find out I’ve been accepted into the Vermont 100 mile running race. I am so excited, nervous and a bit sad. Excited, because I’ve wanted to do this race for a while, nervous because my shin has been problematic and sad, because it means that I will miss Ironman Lake Placid this year. It will be the first time in 5 years that I will not be doing Lake Placid and I might not be able to get into IMLP for 2009 if I don’t go up to the race site. But that’s the price you have to pay sometimes to get and do the things you want.

So it’s time to get serious about rehabbing my shin. I finally shaved my leg and broke out with my TENS unit. Hopefully its regular application will help alleviate the problem. I’ll just have to see how things go over the next few weeks and months.