Today I rode with Super Todd to the top of Bear Mountain. It was an epic day with close to 8 hours in the saddle. Our pace wasn’t anything to write home about, but the hills and the company made this a quality ride.

I wanted to start out at 5am, but in deference to ST’s desire to proceed at a more sensible hour, we compromised for a 5:30am start. By the time he dragged his bike down from his 6th floor walkup, it was 5:45am before we finally headed out of Brooklyn.

ST took me up the West Side bike path, which continues right through Riverside Park. It was the first time I have ever been on the path and I must admit is a very pleasant and expedient way to get to the George Washington Bridge. We passed many interesting sites along the way. These included rusted out hulks of metal semi-submerged in the Hudson, riding under the Henry Hudson Parkway and riding along a path only feet from the waters edge.

While in sights of the bridge, I remembered the time last year when I missed the right turn on 165th Street off Riverside Drive and wound up near the entrance to the Henry Hudson. At this location, a staircase exists that appears to take you up to the GW Bridge. In actuality, all this staircase did was to deliver you to the depths of hell on earth. After ascending a few steps I knew I made a mistake and encountered Heroin addicts, homeless people and a cesspool of discarded trash and human excrement. I immediately feared for my life while wearing a fancy cycling outfit and carrying a bicycle worth several thousand dollars. Fortunately, I was able to walk back the way I came unharmed. But I digress…

Finally after 1.5 hours we arrived at the GW. Riding over this bridge would be very pleasant if it weren’t for the blustery wind and the incredible noise from all the traffic passing across. The views are incredible, but I’ve never had the desire to stand around to admire them. The noise, wind and traffic make the GW bike path a fairly hostile environment. We did stop though to snap a quick photo.

After crossing the bridge we headed towards 9W and headed north. Not much happened during this time other than miles passing and hills climbed. After another 40 miles of riding we entered into Bear Mountain Park. The most remarkable thing to happen along the way, was the crossing of 9W by a large Gobbler Turkey. Seeing this large bird cross the road, did beg the question why?

Soon after entering the park, a couple of riders passed us riding down. I couldn’t help but think that this should be me passing other riders as normally I would be well on my way home. I punished ST for making me be the late bird by dropping him on the climb to the top like a bad habit.

Just as I was reaching the top, I saw someone running the climb. I thought to myself that is the way to do hill training and admired the person’s tenacity. It turns out that I knew the runner. It was a fellow member of my tri club – Asphalt Green Triathlon Club, http://www.agtri.com/, who fittingly enough, coaches the Thursday night hill workouts. I guess his weekly sessions have paid off. He hung out with me while I waited for ST to arrive and we all snapped pictures of each other once ST graced us with his presence.

The ride down from the summit was thrilling as ever – quick, steep and slightly chilly. Descent complete, we ground out the 40 miles back to the GW Bridge. We saw lot’s of riders heading in the opposite direction. It must be nice to have the leisure to get a later (and warmer) start on the day.

My original plan was to bail out of riding once I reached the Manhattan side of the GW, since at that point I would have over 100 miles and hate riding through the midday city traffic. ST didn’t like that plan and wanted to ride home. My legs were still fresh once we hit Manhattan, so I decided to ride home with him.

Unfortunately, I returned home too late to go to my son’s soccer practice. So I had my son call ST and complain that he rode so slow that his daddy couldn’t see him play. I made it up to my son though later on. After fueling and hosing myself off, we went to Prospect Park and played some baseball and wrestled in the grass. Just the perfect ending to the day.

Here are the ride stats:

Elapsed Time: 7:54:19
HR: 128/161
Dist: 118.5
Ascent: 6340
Calories burned: 5123
Calories Consumed: 1500 (29 percent)

Click this link for elevation profile

Beast and ST crossing the George Washington Bridge

ST and Beast at the top of Bear Mountain

I ran out of gas today during my 20 mile run. I was cruising between 78 – 80 percent of my HR when suddenly the needle dropped and I couldn’t push it past 70 percent. I knew I had run out of gas from a hard week’s worth of training. This is noteworthy, especially since many know me as one of the gasiest people around.

This has happened to me before. My inner fire is suddenly extinguished as all the combustible fuel is spent. All that remained inside me were some dying embers. It was time for me to go home, eat and recover for another week of training. I am just glad I had only about a mile to get home, instead of having several miles of distance between me and my nice comfortable couch.

To make matters worse, I am beginning to think I have a hernia. I’ve had a chronic lower abdominal pain that just appears to be getting worse. I spoke with someone today that just had hernia repair surgery. The symptoms he experienced are very similar to what I am feeling. I will have to see a doctor right away to have this diagnosed.

If it is a hernia, I have no idea how it will impact my training for Ironman Lake Placid. I am resolved to do what is necessary to heal properly and not to take any chances to make the injury worse. If I have to miss LP this year, then so be it. I will be disappointed, but that is part of life. I am sure however, I won’t be stoic about it, once race day arrives.

Run Stats:
Time: 1:29:55
HR: 136/148
Dist: 10.5
Calories: 1049

It was cold, it was windy and it had hills. My coach told me to do this ride regardless of the weather and not to cut down my distance so I could take it easy on my 40th birthday. He has no compercy – compassion or mercy. These are just the types of traits I fancy in a coach.

It took me about an hour to drive up to the park and find an appropriate place to park. When I began my ride, it was very windy and only 49 degrees. From where I parked, the ride began with a quick 2 mile decent. Over the course of the day when descending this hill my speed would clock between 38 – 44 miles per hour.

I probably could have gone faster, but the wind was ferociously pushing against me. I was afraid to stay in an aero position as the wind gusts easily blew me from side to side on the road. I could hear the wind whistle through my spokes when strong cross wind blew. The roar of the wind was literally deafening and you could feel the air pressure build in your ears because of the sudden and steep descent.

As soon as I reached the bottom, I had to do a 180 degree turn. Within a span of a few seconds, I went from bombing down the hill at 40+ miles per hour, with my eyes tearing, my face wind burned and my ears aching, to absolutely silence and a crawling pace as the wind move behind me and I started to climb a steep section of road. It was a bit dizzying.

Overall, the park was very empty. Minimal traffic and only a handful of other cyclists. Later in the day, I did see a bunch of adventure racers on mountain bikes.

The cool temperature in the park and overcast sky made it feel more like fall than spring. This suited me just fine as I prefer the fall to spring. I passed several streams and lakes along the loop and got used to the sound of a woodpecker at one spot and the smell of a dead skunk at another. The 14.1 mile loop was a continuous series of slow climbs moderate descents and occasional flats.

All totaled I was out in the elements for 6 hours flat, covering a distance of 100 miles. The ride got difficult towards the end and I could see my average speed decreasing. I couldn’t tell if the wind had picked up or if I was just getting tired.

On one of the more difficult climbs, I yelled at my self to get up the hill. I could hear my voice echo off of the surrounding mountains. If any hikers were in the woods, they had to be wondering about the weirdo shouting to himself. During a particularly frustrating section of hill climbing, I yelled and pushed so hard, that I Iifted my front wheel off the ground. At another particular windy section, I was letting my head hang towards the floor and managed to get blown off the side of the road onto some gravel. Fortunately, I recovered and continued on with several more laps

Here are the detailed stats:

Time: 6:00:00
HR: 150/166
TiZ1(155/137): A – 1:40:11, I – 4:01:15, B – 20:00
Calories: 5005
Speed: 16.7 Avg / 44.3 Max
LAP info:

Harriman State Park Bike Route

Thursday was my last day off before starting my new job. I took two weeks off between jobs. The time off was great while it lasted. I could really get into living the life of a fulltime Triathlete. Wake up late, do a workout, eat, nap, do another workout, eat, play with my children, write, read, eat, watch TV, sleep. It is an existence for which I was born. I just have to figure out a way to make it pay well.

For the day, I did my first Brick workout post IMAZ. I felt pretty good and had a good session. Here are the stats: Bike: 25M in 1:17:00 Run Distance 3.1M in 26:00

Friday was the last day before my 40th birthday. Starting with my next race, I will be one of the youngest people in the 40 – 44 Age Group. It will be nice to have an advantage.

I am not sure where Friday’s workout came from, as I thought I was tired. A 1 mile warm-up and then increased the pace until I reached between 85-90 percent HR. It took a while to get above 85%, but once I did I was able to hold it. I wasn’t sure for a while that I could get above 85%, so I was pleasantly surprised when I did. I didn’t think I had that type of effort in me today.

After about 5.5 miles at 85%+ effort, I kind of had enough. I took the last 1.5 miles relatively easy at 78%.

I definitely got something going on in my lower abdominals. I can now pinpoint the muscle. Possibly a groin muscle? I will have to get a doctor to check it out. It doesn’t affect my running, but I definitely feel it.

Here are the run stats:
Time: 1:02:20
Hr: 153/168
Lap Splits: 2.8M – 22:40, 2.5M – 17:52, 2.5M – 19:51, .3M – 1:59

Today is my 40th birthday. I am going to celebrate it by driving up to Harriman State Park and ride 100 miles worth of hills in the rain and wind. I couldn’t get anyone to join me in this endeavor. I will have to train very hard so I inflict so much pain upon myself that I don’t think about getting lonely. I am sure I won’t see many other people with the foul weather.

Today was a pretty standard training day for me. 4000 yards worth of Masters Swim followed by a 12 mile run in Central Park. It was a gloriously clear and sunny morning and the run was uneventful. My body is starting to feel the effects of training hard again, but the feeling is more satisfying than anything.

Later in the day, I did some supplemental bike riding with my 5 year old son. Those 3 miles of riding were more thrilling for me than any race I’ve done. Here is a training summary before I get to some remaining items on my mind:

Masters Swim: 4000 yards in approximately 1:13:00

Run -
Distance: 12M
Time: 1:36:00
HR: 147/164
Central Park Upper 5M Loop 1 time: 40:29
Central Park Upper 5M Loop 2 time: 38:41

On to other items –

It appears that I am stirring things up on my Tri Club’s discussion board. I responded to a couple of postings and certain people took my messages the wrong way. For my response to the posting about a group ride being cancelled (see Abuse Ride), I received the following response:

I just want to say Charles I think your email was a little harsh!!! We have a lot of people just getting back into their training and they don’t need to feel bad about not wanting to train in the rain or for canceling rides do to bad weather conditions, whether its good for race day or not. Thank you

Oh please… There was nothing so bad about what I posted. Fortunately, someone came to my defense:

In mild defense of Charles: it’s probably a good idea to be prepared for all conditions…and riding in the rain is one of them. I just hate to get my bike all crudded up and have to take it apart and clean it…and leading a pack of beginner riders on wet roads, during the 5 borough bicycle tour, seemed like a perfect storm (so to speak) of hazardous conditions.

I also couldn’t let that response go unanswered. Here was my retort:

I am sorry if my email was harsh. It was meant more to inspire than to criticize. I do understand people’s desires not to ride in foul weather, especially if they are beginners.

However, the ride was for Intermediate riders, not beginners and it was completely cancelled. If people didn’t want to show up because of bad weather, then that is their prerogative. What if others wanted to go? I just don’t think the ride should have been cancelled. Adjustments to the planned ride could have been made to accommodate the bad weather conditions.

Later this week another message was posted that I felt compelled to reply to. The posting went like this:

Subject: Alley Park Duathlon – Queens, NY
Posted: May 3 2005 8:43PM
Message:
is anyone doing this race? it’s a 3mile Run/ 18mile Bike/ 3mile Run duathlon. Since i’m new to multi-sports this seems achievable to me. if you are not embarrassed by someone who may come in second to last (notice not DEAD LAST) i am planning on doing it and we can go together.

This is a favorite topic of mine. I have no fear of finishing last. In fact I stand a much greater capacity and chance to finish last in a race, than I will ever have of finishing first. Here was my reply:

I would rather be dead last and finish, than to quit and post a DNF because I gave up. Good luck at Alley Park! You will do great.

Of course, someone took this message the wrong way. The person proceeded to disagree with me and write a lecturing message about DNF’ing if you are injured, sick, etc. and the stigma associated with posting a DNF. I would post the whole ridiculous message here, but the more I read it, the more I didn’t want to have such blather posted on my blog.

This person missed the whole point of what the original message was about. The original poster was concerned about being embarrassed with a poor performance. The only thing in my opinion you should be embarrassed about is quitting just because you think you are doing poorly. One of the people I will admire for all time is Luvsanlkhundeg Otgonbayar, the 22 year old female marathoner who finished dead last, over 30 minutes after the previous finisher at the 2004 Athens Olympics Marathon. Now that in my opinion takes a tremendous amount of guts to do, especially being on a world stage. I only hope that I have so much courage if I am doing that badly in such a public forum. I replied as such in another retort.

I am feeling very feisty lately. However, the person who started the discussion later sent me an email thanking me for my second reply.

Today I worked out some inners demons while on my bike. I’ve been feeling very sluggish and mentally blah the past couple of days. I was getting annoyed at myself for these feelings so I decided to gut out a tough workout to beat them out of my system.

Today’s workout called for me to “stand on all hills using big chain ring and hard cog. Spin on downhills. Sprint long down hill. Aero position when not standing.” I for the most part held true to this workout, except towards the end when I decided to sprint the last 10 miles.

At around the 15 mile mark of my ride (10 miles remaining), I spotted a peloton about a half mile in front of me. I decided to chase them down just to see if I could. Within a loop of the park I caught them on the downhill section. I could tell from some of the riders looks that they were wondering “who is this guy”. I was feeling good at this point and decided to be the Gingerbread Man, thinking to myself that they can’t catch me. The riders started to form on my wheel, but in the end only one person was able to hang with me. The rest of the peloton was long gone.

Like the Gingerbread Man, I was probably foolish in the end. My workout didn’t call for me to go so hard for so long, but mentally it made me feel much better. I will just have to sacrifice some short term physical recovery for some mental rejuvenation. Hopefully I didn’t eat up my strength for the weekend ahead.

Ride Stats:
Time: 1:15:00
HR: 141/166
Distance: 25
TiZ2(148/130): A – 26:49, I – 33:53, B – 14:22
Calories Burned: 940
Calories Consumed: 350
3.4M loop splits:
10:52
10:24
10:09
10:14
9:38
9:18
9:16

Today was an abusive workout. Steady rain, wind and an air temperature of 51 degrees. I already started the workout tired from my past two training days. I really didn’t feel like being outside in the muck, but I forced myself to do it. My inner sadist drove me to continue, while my mind tried to rationalize what I was doing. I told myself to give the sadist at least 50 miles and then maybe he would be happy.

I was the only rider in the park for the first hour or so. Eventually, I saw another two riders. They made a comment about seeing another rider in the park as I passed them. That was the only time I saw them. I suspect that the elements were too much and they bailed out of the ride.

At one point during the climb up Prospect Park’s lone hill, I saw a bunch of young children tying ribbons around a May Pole. I thought it was odd to see them so early in the morning and in the rain. They didn’t stay for long after completing the pole and neither did the pole itself. After another hour or so, some people in a truck came to remove the pole. I didn’t understand the point of making a May Pole so early in the morning and removing it before anyone could come out in the park to see it.

I continued riding and the laps, miles and hours started to pass. One hour bled into two and then two into three. By now I knew I could finish my 75 mile ride as I figured I could keep lasting one more hour. I was very wet at this point and I started to feel a blister forming on the palm of my hand from my wet glove rubbing against it. My hands were very cold and when I stopped to take a piss break, the thought of running my hands under my urine stream to warm them up crossed my mind.

I was just over the 50 mile mark at this point and then my cellphone rang. ST called to let me know he was just rolling out of bed and would be in the park shortly. With some company soon arriving I knew it would be easier to pass the remaining miles.

On my next trip up the hill, I finally noticed that my front tire was looking a little soft. I checked it out when I reached the top and realized that it was probably just about flat for a while now. It has been well over a year since I got a flat so I really couldn’t complain. I sat down on the wet ground and took my time to change the tube. I used a CO2 cartridge to inflate the tire. The sudden decompression of the cartridge caused it to freeze. This is ordinarily not a problem, but since my hands were wet, the cartridge froze onto the palm of my hand causing immediate frostbite. Having a CO2 cartridge freeze onto my blistered palm is an experience I will not soon forget.

When I restarted riding, the ground had started to dry. The sun was starting to break through the clouds offering a glimpsed of the beautiful afternoon the day would soon become. ST finally arrived to the park at this point. He blamed his late start on some late night dinner companions, but I suspect he just wanted to avoid the rain. He is such a fair weather athlete.

By the time I arrived home, my bike was as messy as I have ever seen it. The chain was completely washed clean of lubrication and the drive chain sounded like an old car being started in the dead of winter. I took the bike to my backyard to hose it off, degrease and clean it. It took the better part of an hour to get it back into a somewhat presentable state. At least the sun was brightly shining at this point and the sun’s rays felt good against my still chilled body.

I spent the remainder of the day with my children in Prospect Park where we practiced hitting, catching and throwing a baseball (plastic). I am glad the weather cleared up to allow me this time in the park with them. It would have been terrible if I hung around the house until the weather cleared to begin my ride.

I read an email posted to my tri club (http://www.agtri.com/) message board about the group ride being cancelled because of the weather. What a bunch of slackers. Here is the message I posted in response to the cancellation:

——————–
Hmmm. Come on people, you need to toughen yourselves up!!! What are you going to do if it is raining come race day? Bail out? You must train through all conditions to be prepared. You never know what race day will bring.

I back these statements up by reporting that I started riding at 7:30am this morning in the pouring rain and finished 73 miles in 4 hours. Full details of my ride will be posted on my blog later.

Of course, if conditions were dangerous; i.e. lightening, hail, hurricane force winds or tornados, I would have bailed out. In bad conditions, just stay local in Central or Prospect parks. Persevering through tough conditions will give you the mental fortitude to excel on race day.
—————-

I probably insulted or pissed some of them off with this posting, but I don’t care. You need to be tough to do your best. This includes training in bad weather.

Here are my ride stats:
Time: 4:00:41
Distance: 73
HR: 139/163
TIZ2: A – 0:44:25, I – 2:38:08, B – 0:38:08
Calories Burned: 2933
Calories Consumed: 1000
Water Consumed: 48 ounces

Lots of gunk today!

I am a bit sore today. Yesterday I ran 13.5 miles through the hills around Lake George. The climbs were long and steep and wound along country roads. It was raining slightly, which made the several streams I passed flow with a touch more urgency. I was thirsty and tempted to sip the clean cool water. I covered a 4.5 mile loop three times. I could tell by the look of the locals that they were not used to seeing runners pass through these road, especially more than one time.

While I didn’t have difficulty climbing the hills, I could tell my body is just not used to climbing anything more than a half mile long. My legs were kind of surprised at the extra exertion needed to reach the top of a hill and my calves and gluteus are letting me know that they are less than pleased today. It just goes to prove the old training adage that your body adapts to the stresses you place on it. Doing the same type of training over and over again, will only you extremely efficient at that type of training and won’t prepare you for new or different challenges.

The toughest part of this run was the downhill section. While the main uphill segment was over a mile long, the trip down was covered in what felt like a quarter mile. Running down such a steep incline kind of freaks me out. There is such an out of control element to it and I feared slipping or tripping. I had to be very careful with my footfalls or else I braked too hard, causing a severe amount of stress on my knees. The first time down was difficult. The next two times, I just relaxed and flew down the hill. I bet I was running 5 minute miles. I just sort of leaned into the downhill and let my legs fly; kicking back high and spending a lot of time off the ground like I practiced previously.

So now I am back in Brooklyn and going for a 75 mile ride around Prospect Park. It will be nothing like riding country roads through the Adirondacks with trees and stream crossings every couple of miles. I always marvel at the contrast of the roads from just a few hours driving. At around 5pm last evening, I was on one lane country roads with the forest on both sides of me. Three hours later, I was driving on worn out asphalt roads around the housing projects along Third Avenue Brooklyn, near the Gowanus Canal. I was thirsty and not even slightly tempted to sip the water.

Here are the stats:
Time: 1:52:25
HR: 140/164
Dist: 13.5
TiZ1(155/137): A – 0:12:02, I – 1:03:45, B – 0:36:39
Calories: 1429
Loop1 – 43:20
Loop2 – 34:22
Loop3 – 34:43

My Lake George run route. Points 1 and 5 are connected by a road.

I finally rode some hills on Friday. I am up in Lake George, NY and I did a 24 mile ride along route 9N. The hills I encountered were nothing too major, but I did have a couple of good steady climbs. At one point, I climbed for a continuous two miles. I definitely did not ascend a mountain, but compared to the hill in Prospect Park, it may as well have been one. It is clear to me that I need to do a lot more of this type of training. I have only two months remaining before IMLP and I am definitely not ready for the hills.

On the ride back, I was able to kamikaze down the hill 2 mile hill I climbed. I reached terminal velocity at 41.6 MPH. I couldn’t go any faster as my windbreaker was a bit loose around my arms and the flapping of the material caused too much drag. It is satisfying to know, that I still have no fear of flying down hills on my bike. When I think about riding very fast downhill I sometimes get the willies. This trepidation must be a result of the crash I suffered two years ago at the West Point Triathlon (see Crash and Burn). However, once I am speeding down the hill, the only emotions I feel are excitement and pleasure.

Here are the stats:

Time: 1:27:00
Distance: 24
HR: 145/162
Speed (avg/max): 16.4 / 41.6
PWR: 275 AVG – No max reading, plus lost power sensor at end of ride
PI: 27
LRB: 50/50
TiZ2 (148/130): A – 37:01, I – 38:51, B – 11:50

I am not sure how I did it, but I did. I swam 4000 yards at masters swim practice and then ran 12 miles outside in the pouring rain around Central Park – all on 5 hours sleep.

The swim was a bit aggravating, since the Masters coach, just rattles off several sets of repeats and then leaves us on our own to complete them. I always have trouble remembering what he said. I just like to be mindless when I swim, which frees me to concentrate on the workout. Inevitably, I forget what the sets are and I have to look around to see what is next.

On the run, I covered the Upper 5M twice to maximize my hill running pleasure. The trip back and forth from Asphalt Green rounded out the run to 12 miles total. I enjoyed my time outdoors and my smooth steady running was caused a glowing shine within me.

When I arrived back at AG, steam was rising from my body. My fingers were wrinkled and I probably looked like a drowned rat. I hopped in the shower with all of my clothes on. I was covered in sweat, rain and grime and I felt great. I let the shampoo run out of my hair onto my clothes to loosen some of the dirt and give them a rudimentary cleaning. I probably looked a bit odd showering fully dressed.

Later in the day, I started to pack for a trip to the Sagamore in Lake George with the family. We are only going until Saturday, but it is not possible for me to pack light. I intend to get at least one bike ride in, which meant all my bike gear and warm clothes for the cool morning temperatures in the mountains. As I started to load my bike onto the car, it started to rain again and I got soaking wet.

Run Stats:
Time: 1:42:00
Distance: 12
HR: 145/163
CP Loop 1 time: 46:30
CP Loop 2 time: 40:49
Calories: 1376