Due to a work conflict I will not be able to do Troika this year. So instead I 'm going to do the CDA Scenic Challenge. This is an Olympic distance tri. It is actually the first "big" tri I ever did back in 1998. Of course the definition of big has change quite a bit since then. In 1998 I defined a long swim as a mile, a long bike was 30 miles and a long run about 8 miles. That same year I ran my 1st 1/2 marathon and it nearly killed me. The day after the race I went deer hunting and my legs were so toasted all I could do was walk out into the woods about 110 yds. and take a nap.I digress, I remember back then as I was training for that 1st oly. thinking how big of deal this was. Yea I've come a ways since then. Of course that makes me wonder what "big" will be in 2018.
This weekend I'm also going to run a little 8k cross country race that a friend of mine puts on The Toaster Splash after the race I'm heading up to Deer Park for our tri clubs kids triathlon to help out, should be fun/funny.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
MAF Test
Yesterday I did a MAF test prior to doing some 800's with Bob. The results of the test are pretty amazing. First though let me show you what my previous test results were.
test #1 11/3
mile 1 @ 141, 8:51/mi
mile 2 @ 144, 9:08/mi
mile 3 @ 143, 9:16/mi
test #2 12/4
mile 1 @ 143, 8:34
mile 2 @ 145, 8:48
mile 3 @ 145, 8:58
So as you can see I was making progress. This was doing exclusive MAF training. Of course since Jan. I was building up for IMCDA so most of that training is pretty low intensity as well but alot more volume. Then as you get closer to the race you add more intensity.
test # 3 7/15/08
mile 1 @ 144, 8:09
mile 2 @ 144, 8:14
mile 3 @ 144, 8:29
notice that my 3rd mile is faster now than my 1st mile was back in Dec. I guess that's progress.
test #1 11/3
mile 1 @ 141, 8:51/mi
mile 2 @ 144, 9:08/mi
mile 3 @ 143, 9:16/mi
test #2 12/4
mile 1 @ 143, 8:34
mile 2 @ 145, 8:48
mile 3 @ 145, 8:58
So as you can see I was making progress. This was doing exclusive MAF training. Of course since Jan. I was building up for IMCDA so most of that training is pretty low intensity as well but alot more volume. Then as you get closer to the race you add more intensity.
test # 3 7/15/08
mile 1 @ 144, 8:09
mile 2 @ 144, 8:14
mile 3 @ 144, 8:29
notice that my 3rd mile is faster now than my 1st mile was back in Dec. I guess that's progress.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Sharing Ideas
In the past couple of days I've some interesting,at least to me, interactions on the Internet. A couple were simple Q&A kind of things with Lucho another was a little support/pat on the back thing with Angela. The one that I found the most interesting though was a discussion with KP. He had quoted something on his website that I had commented on over at Alan's blog. The discussion in general is about aging as an athlete. Attitudes about it and attitudes in dealing with it and the like. So I wanted to share part of our discussion. You can go to the specific sites to piece it all together if you like but the last couple of emails should give you the gist.
KP-"Thanks for your post on my forum. I like to have lots of ideas on there and they don't all have to agree with me. However, I understood that you and I mostly agree on this subject of aging; but I wanted to comment to you privately so that it doesn't look like I am at odds with you if we are actually agreeing.
The point should be made that as we age and slow down we may be performing better than ever relative to our competition. Gordo's blog article on the 'aging athlete' http://www.gordoworld.com/gblog/2007/11/aging-athlete.html uses Ron Ottoway as an example. At 65 he went 11:57 and was second in Kona by 3min. At 70 he went 13hrs and was first by 60min. If he had stopped training and racing because he would never go sub12 again he would not have been the champion and missed great experiences along the way.
Are you sure you meant to convey the message you wrote about "aging big time athletes that won't quit and move on" to be part of your post? That doesn't sound like part of what I have been talking about and goes against what I hope we continue to see from Gordo and Molina, which is staying in the sport and maintaining great perspective."
Me-"Thanks for the chance to clarify my meaning. I'm talking about athletes whose prime in their sport is behind them and there is no room for future growth. For sports like football and basketball where there really is no way to continue to compete past a certain point.It would be great if MJ could play forever but I don't want to see him get smoked by Lebron. For Gordo and Molina and you and I we can continue to compete. Our times may get slower relative to our previous times but we can improve within our AG.Actually just continuing to push our bodies this way into the later years is a huge victory in and of itself. I'm kind of banking on that very thing. Like I said on AC's blog I did not even start this until I was 43 so I have lots of room for improvement. I'm kind of hoping that if I can stay healthy that at some point I can go to Kona. But hell at CDA this year I was 180/332 in my AG. Not exactly competitive, but an hour better than last year. This year I plan on qualifying for the Boston marathon not because I've gotten so fast but because I turn 45 on the day of the race and the required time decreases by 10 minutes.
I can see in Gordo's writing that he is coming to grips with the reality of age. I think he is dealing with all of those questions we all have as we get older in a very public way with alot of people watching and with an enviable amount of class. I personally can't wait to see what he is capable of accomplishing. He and Molina and all of you Epic guys pushing yourselves is one of the things that motivates me on a daily basis. I'd like to see Gordo be the first 60 yo go under 10hrs or whatever. It is about perspective. Even in the example I used above I would like to see MJ play with a bunch of guys his age. I'm sure he can still dominate them.
Does that make more sense?"
So what is so interesting to me about this?? For one thing all of us are spread all over the place and still able to have essentially live conversations. Secondly, people can actually have civil discussions and truly share ideas. And 3rd is the old idea that if a butterfly flaps it's wings in Japan does that cause the wind to blow in California. Sometimes it does.
KP-"Thanks for your post on my forum. I like to have lots of ideas on there and they don't all have to agree with me. However, I understood that you and I mostly agree on this subject of aging; but I wanted to comment to you privately so that it doesn't look like I am at odds with you if we are actually agreeing.
The point should be made that as we age and slow down we may be performing better than ever relative to our competition. Gordo's blog article on the 'aging athlete' http://www.gordoworld.com/gblog/2007/11/aging-athlete.html uses Ron Ottoway as an example. At 65 he went 11:57 and was second in Kona by 3min. At 70 he went 13hrs and was first by 60min. If he had stopped training and racing because he would never go sub12 again he would not have been the champion and missed great experiences along the way.
Are you sure you meant to convey the message you wrote about "aging big time athletes that won't quit and move on" to be part of your post? That doesn't sound like part of what I have been talking about and goes against what I hope we continue to see from Gordo and Molina, which is staying in the sport and maintaining great perspective."
Me-"Thanks for the chance to clarify my meaning. I'm talking about athletes whose prime in their sport is behind them and there is no room for future growth. For sports like football and basketball where there really is no way to continue to compete past a certain point.It would be great if MJ could play forever but I don't want to see him get smoked by Lebron. For Gordo and Molina and you and I we can continue to compete. Our times may get slower relative to our previous times but we can improve within our AG.Actually just continuing to push our bodies this way into the later years is a huge victory in and of itself. I'm kind of banking on that very thing. Like I said on AC's blog I did not even start this until I was 43 so I have lots of room for improvement. I'm kind of hoping that if I can stay healthy that at some point I can go to Kona. But hell at CDA this year I was 180/332 in my AG. Not exactly competitive, but an hour better than last year. This year I plan on qualifying for the Boston marathon not because I've gotten so fast but because I turn 45 on the day of the race and the required time decreases by 10 minutes.
I can see in Gordo's writing that he is coming to grips with the reality of age. I think he is dealing with all of those questions we all have as we get older in a very public way with alot of people watching and with an enviable amount of class. I personally can't wait to see what he is capable of accomplishing. He and Molina and all of you Epic guys pushing yourselves is one of the things that motivates me on a daily basis. I'd like to see Gordo be the first 60 yo go under 10hrs or whatever. It is about perspective. Even in the example I used above I would like to see MJ play with a bunch of guys his age. I'm sure he can still dominate them.
Does that make more sense?"
So what is so interesting to me about this?? For one thing all of us are spread all over the place and still able to have essentially live conversations. Secondly, people can actually have civil discussions and truly share ideas. And 3rd is the old idea that if a butterfly flaps it's wings in Japan does that cause the wind to blow in California. Sometimes it does.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
POST IM GOALS
Well now that I feel fairly recovered and have started hitting it again. It's time to lay out the goals for the rest of the year. The original plan was to waterski a lot. With the new boat sitting in the garage all winter and spring it was calling loud. However thanks to $4/gal gas I can't seem to hear it calling as much. That combined with the fact that our ski clubs slalom course got totally trashed over the winter. Thanks to the people in the club that used it on a daily basis but seem to think that they shouldn't take it out without the help of those of us that have always done it. I digress. Next race Troika 8/3, local 1/2 IM with great point to point route. I've never done a half, but all the while I was training for CDA I was thinking that a 1/2 sounds like the perfect distance. One that I actually feel like I should be able to race, not just do, like IM. After that it's Portland's marathon 10/5. This just happens to be on my 45 birthday. Which means that my qualifying time for Boston gets pushed back by 10 min. So I need to run 3:30 to go to Boston, and that's the plan. My run fitness has gotten so much better since my only other marathon. Not to mention that I've learned so much about fueling and hydration. I know I can break 3:30 and I'm going to.
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