Sweet Victory

As we pass the finish line for February, let's re-cap the month. 1.) This pic is the only pic of me taken by the "pro" at last week's Ugly Mudder. Since I'm walking across the line in this pic, I won't be buying it. Still, I am pleased with the results of the run, coming in 55th out of 132 in my age group . Purty cool. 2.) I ran 69 miles for the month, my 3rd best month ever. 3.) I biked 144 miles for the month, though - my best month to date for biking. 4.) All total, I worked out thirty minutes longer than January, which had been my previous best. Keep in mind, I did this in three fewer days. 5.) Throwing out the Ugly Mudder Trail run, my runs averaged eight seconds per mile faster than January. Goals for March: 1.) Continued pace improvement in running. 2.) 72 miles, minimum, for running. 3.) 12 biking workouts, at a minimum of 60 minutes per. This would be a 25% improvement over this month. 4.) 8 swimming workouts. That's not a lot, but I don't nee...

So yesterday was the 2007 Ugly Mudder . Seven and ¼-ish miles over the steepest, ugliest trails in Reading . That’s how the race always comes. This year, three inches of ice were added to it for good measure. In my head, I always picture these races to be smaller than they are. This time around, I figured a lot of people wouldn’t come because of the impending snow. I think I was wrong, though final figures aren’t in yet….there was a crazy mob of people there. They call this one of the largest trail runs east of the Mississippi and it probably had 700 or so, total. Literally, the entire course was on either hard crusty snow, except the parts that were on hard crusty rocks and a few very short parts over roads. Mud would’ve been welcome, actually. I think I lined up in about the right place… knew the course wouldn’t be ideal for passing. I’d say throughout the entire race I probably didn’t move up or down more than twenty paces. I did a great job moving up miles two to five,...

48 hours from a muddy hell or a slippery heaven - what we see is always dependent on where we stand. Yesterday, I planned on a nice and easy lunchtime 10k, figuring that Sunday will be the day this week that I pound it. Problem was, it was pouring rain and - moreover - my legs felt good. I didn't really feel like taking my time in that crap. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that because Sunday is a trail run, and a brutal one at that, my time's going to be lousy, no matter what. Heck, the course record is over seven minutes per mile, so why bother saving my legs? So, instead of a leisurely 8:40 per mile like I planned, I did the course in a soaking wet 7:58 per mile. Good news is, I don't feel totally trashed and after an easy bike ride tonight and a rest day tomorrow, I think I should be ok in the mud. Diabetes-wise, I picked up a new toy yesterday - a very small blood sugar meter that uses the same strips as my primary meter . This little guy will b...

I haven't blogged much about Floyd Landis , lately. Floyd and I share the same hometown and I was one of the people who went nuts after Floyd's amazing ride last year, and was totally bummed days later when Tour officials said he failed a drug test. Not bummed because I thought for a minute Floyd was guilty - a. he's not the type and b. if he were, that drug wouldn't have helped him and c. if he were the type to take a drug that wouldn't have helped him it wouldn't have been in his system just that one day - but bummed because, given his age and the political climate, he'll probably never get back what he deserves: the glory, respect and riches that a Tour winner deserves. At any rate, for a great update on just how political the Tour scene is, check out Martin Dugard's latest post on the subject : I'm not saying I can prove he was set up, but it certainly is beginning to look as if a concerted effort was made to sabotage the 2006 Tour de France by h...

After a decent seven mile run at eight minute pace Sunday, I took off yesterday and just came back from a lunch-time 10k at 8:30 pace. To sum, I'm way tireder than I should be. Whether that's because it's been too long between races that my motivation needs a little boost or Sunday's run was a bit brisker than it should've been or I'm just getting cagey about next Sunday is hard to say, but I'm eager to get some fire back in my belly. Good news is, I know it's coming. Sunday's race will leave me feeling good, as will the one after that and the one after that . My fitness level isn't anywhere near top-of-my age-group yet, but there's something about the race experience that serves to fire me up, and it's been two months since I raced. As a "diabetic triathlete," I should blog more about diabetes, but truth is, recent weeks have been easy. The diabetes is on autopilot for hour long workouts: I have a small 5o gram meal an hour ...

The kids had a sleep-over last night - no need for emphasis on the "sleep," but praise God, because it's finally "over." Actually, they were all good, though they were good at different times... The boys went to sleep early (very good) and the girls didn't (not so good). Then the boys woke up quite early (not so good) and the girl didn't (good). Which meant - through much of this - there wasn't much rest to be had. Fortunately, I did six miles over lunch in the slush yesterday and since I helped co-chaperone last night's escapade, I got enough weekend cleaning done that I might go for a run/ride tonight, assuming I don't fall asleep, which is truly possible. Sent in my registration for the Ugly Mudder and am hoping the bad weather is gone next week. I don't mind running in crappy weather and I don't really mind driving in crappy weather. However, driving in crappy weather to run in crappy weather seems a bit tedious. In other news, we...

The past two days, I've been in the basement on the trainer. Last weekend, I was in the basement on the trainer. My last run was last Friday. I can't take it anymore -- I'm going out over lunch. The weather's been 75% to blame. 10% of it has been the fact that my plan calls for me to ride more this month and the other 15% of it was that I had an ugly cold that made the 5 degree weather seem that much worse. But in twenty minutes, me, my tights, my pants, my shirt, my sweatshirt vest and assorted accessories are hitting the roads, for better or for worse. Interesting - I ride my bike on my trainer in the basement, which is different than a spinning class. But I never realized how it was different until I read this article . A sampling: So in conclusion, there is a high degree of muscular and physiological specificity between the two modes of cycling. The best of both worlds would be to teach your legs to achieve a high cadence without the use of the flywheel.

Next on the agenda is the Ugly Mudder Trail Run , one of the largest trail runs on the east coast. I'm in good shape for it and it sounds like a lot of fun. So why don't I feel 100% into it? Actually, it's a stupid reason. The course is unbelievably difficult - course record is about a 7:00 pace - so I know my result won't easily compute into my log. I won't be able to use it to update my VDOT progress, either. In short, aside from my age-group finish, it won't serve the purpose that most of my races do: to tell me how the heck I'm doing relative to my other races. But still, barring a snowstorm (it's 90 minutes away), I'm in. Streams, mud, branches and beer. If that ain't fun, I'm doing this stuff for the wrong reasons.

Zig Ziglar is a famous sales trainer who knows very little about triathlon training. At least, that's my assumption, given the fact that he never wrote a book about triathlons. (I think he may actually be a runner, but it's been a few years since I've read him.) Anywho, Zig believes that one of the secrets to work-life balance is, "Wherever you are, be there," which means if you're at work, don't be taking lots of personal calls, worrying about the kids, etc. And when you're at home, put away the damn Blackberry. I've tweaked Zig's mantra and applied it to working out in the past week and a half. Now I say, "Whatever the workout is supposed to do, do it." So I'm doing the hard stuff harder and the easy stuff easier. Before, I'd say virtually everything I was doing was tempo pace. I was feeling a little sore all the time. Now, I feel different. Call it: strategically sore. I've also moved my key ride and key run four days...

Just by writing that title, it's obvious I'm tired, isn't it? After all, there are six (6!) full days of potential workouts left this month but it kind of sounds like I'm phoning it in... I didn't realize how much I worked out this month until I took a quick look at my logs this morning... So far in January, I've run 74 miles - my second longest month so far (and the first longest had a half-marathon in it) and *if* I run 3 more days this month, it'll be my longest month ever. Including bike, swimming and elliptical workouts, I've worked out twenty of the 26 days so far. My next greatest month was 18! So, all in all, January was a month of really turning up the activity (for a guy who just started working out last July). Things will get a bit interesting as today marks 90 days until my first triathlon. Given that it's a sprint distance, I have zero fear about completing it -- truth is, I could do that today. However, I'm going to need mor...

Pushed myself on today’s tempo run - a 6.23 mile effort in 49:50 for exactly an 8:00 pace. What was interesting was that I’ve equaled my December distance, but did it fourteen minutes faster than I did that month… which translates to an average of 19 seconds faster per mile. What’s more interesting, though, looking at the graph is that I’ve actually had fewer tempo runs in January (the burgundy), which means that most of the improvement has actually come in running my slower runs quicker. Or - if we want to be critical - it could mean that I’m not slowing down as much as I should on the easier runs, either. All in all, though, no complaints for the month, which has also included a fair amount of cycling… for the yuckiest month of the year, it’s a good base month.

Interesting article in the LA Times about the dLife television show and why some companies are flocking to market to diabetics and how some people think that's a bad thing. I've got no problem with companies buying ad space on dLife or marketing to me anyway they want to. Here's the thing: they should first start by marketing to my insurance company. Guess which insulin pump I wear? The only one my insurance company would pay for. Wonder which blood sugar meter I use? The one the same company pays a huge chunk towards the strips for. It's cool to run tv ads for your products but if your audience ain't allowed to buy them, what's the point? Keep in mind, I happen to have very good insurance, too.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I've been reading Chi Running - trying to adapt some of its methods to my gait. I'm doing this because I'd like to have a bit less ache in my body. Well, after three Chi runs, I'm more sore then I've been in some time. Curiously, all of this relaxing is making my muscles tense. Now before the Chi fanatics start e-mailing me, I'm 100% certain that the fault lies not with the technique, but rather with the practitioner, and since I think that the stuff "makes sense," I'll keep it up, but holy heck - this hurts.

I did a 10k over lunch today (actually 6.23 miles). I've done this course three times before and today was the first time I broke 50 minutes on it (barely). Just two weeks ago, I did it 90 seconds slower. It's a very hilly course and it was a great workout. A mile into it, some type of shin-related muscle was hurting so I stopped and stretched it. I've noticed on bike rides that when I stop at a stop sign, the time clock stops, so I figured what the hell and did it here... so technically I didn't do the whole work-out under fifty minutes, but I'd call it close enough for government work. I picked up a copy of Chi Running yesterday and though I'm just starting it, I worked hard to relax my limbs throughout the run. So far, so good. The effort felt somewhat easier than other tempo runs, which is always a good thing.

I've been obsessing about my "easy" runs a bit of late: am I doing enough of them or too much? Am I doing them slow enough or too fast? This is a graph of all of the runs I've tagged as "easy" in the past six months. I see two trends: a. My easy runs are getting faster. b. I'm tagging fewer runs as "easy." I'm not overly concerned with A. But B I'm not so sure about. While it's true I'm doing fewer easy runs, I'm also doing some easy cycling days (which don't show up on this graph).

.. but I have a first-hand story about how exercise may help with fat metabolism. Going to a steak-house is an interesting thing for a diabetic on an insulin pump. Generally speaking, you tell your insulin pump how many carbohydrates you're eating and the insulin processes the carbs. In a steak-house, though, the typical platter (and the one I ordered last night) is very low in carbs, which would mean that you would take dramatically less insulin. However, the fat in the steak causes insulin to not work as well, which means that you still have to take insulin - a bit less than a typical hard-laden meal, but way more than your typical "low-carb" meal. (Finally, you spread the insulin out over a period of time because it takes your body longer to metabolize higher fat meals.) Last night, though, my body processed a relatively fatty (and yummy) ribeye steak faster and with less insulin than it would've before I started working out regularly (seven months ago). Blood suga...

So I've been looking up info. on VDOT calculators... While I like the McMillan calculator "better," VDOT charts are better for seeing where you want to go next.. or ultimately... for that matter. As you can see here , my current VDOT number is 43. I've heard quoted - though I really need to read more to see if it's true- that you can improve your VDOT number 1 number for every 4-6 weeks of hard training (until, of course, one hits their own wall). Looking at a full VDOT chart , I think that number is probably about right. Consider: I did a 26:14 5k on 8/27/06. VDOT: 36 I did a 1:54 1/2 Marathon on 9/27/06. VDOT: 38 I did a 39:20 5 Mile on 11/10/06: VDOT: 40 I did a 22:37 5k on 12/10/06: VDOT: 43 So, we see I actually improved "2" most four week periods, and an impressive 3 between my 11/10 performance and my 12/10 performance. But the reality is that a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (ok - 15 years ago, high school and college), I had VDOT perf...

So on the first mile of tonight's run my shin felt kind of tight... not awful tight, mind you, but kind of tight... but with a perfectly good Cannondale in the basement and a nice 7.5 mile run just two days ago, I figured I'd relax in the basement on the bike - maybe watch an episode of the Shield. But I forgot Coach Troy was down there... and damned if he didn't make me do the entire hour of the Time Trial DVD. And damned if he didn't get me to turn up the tension on my trainer a bit, too. And damned if I'm not tired now. Tomorrow I have a business dinner at a big steak house... which means if I workout, it'll be on the bike again, late tomorrow night... there was no way I was going to meet up with Coach Troy with a porterhouse in my belly. So if I workout tomorrow, it'll be a "Shield"-ride. Wednesday, I'll test the shin out again... this getting old sux. The workouts go great until I turn up the intensity... lots of two steps forward, 1 ste...

I have a personal gripe: workout logs that include blog posts about rest days. Really, does it much matter when people aren't doing something? Isn't this the antithesis of news? And yet - here I am, telling you that today, I'm doing nothing requiring copious exertion. Looking at the log, I see I've worked out seven days in a row, which is my longest string to date. Truth is, I'm not feeling that bad, but I've noticed that recovery at 35 is considerably different than recovery at 22, so I think 7 days is long enough. Yesterday was a nice 10k in 51 minutes, which sounds like it should've been an *easy* run, but the three monster hills in it made it a tempo-effort workout. Weight loss seems to have stopped, which is fine. I never started this to lose weight and before I started would've told you that losing five pounds would've been cool. I've lost ten now but people that know me think it's much more - likely a realignment of parts and stuff. ...

One of the easiest ways to monitor fitness is the pace at which one does an "easy" workout. These are the workouts that you finished feeling refreshed, happy and lively - as opposed to the ones where you feel beaten, broken and worthless... Last night marked a new level for me, as I polished off a 10k training run in just over 51 minutes, which translates to about 8:07 a mile... But what was special about this was that I was able to put in my training run as an "easy" run. Truth be told, it wasn't 100% easy... there were a few moments when deep conversation wouldn't have been appreciated, had anyone asked, but still, it was mostly an easy workout. When I was at the top of my game, back in '89 (ouch), I could do a ten-mile run at 7:00 pace and not break a sweat, so that's kind of "the bar" I've set for myself. And while it's hard to imagine getting there again, six months ago I couldn't imagine getting to an easy 8:07, either. R...