The first “race” of the season

I headed down to Raleigh with the family to visit a great friend, his wife, and their new baby.  While the visit was primarily to see them, it was under the auspices of racing the 2010 Krispy Kreme Challenge.  My buddy AJ and I toed the starting line in the heart of NCState’s campus at 8:30 on Saturday morning, ran the 2.25 miles to the Krispy Kreme at North Person Street in Raleigh, downed 12 (yes, a full dozen) Krispy Kreme donuts, and ran back.

For the record, there was no puking, we hit our goal pace (more or less) and had a blast.  We employed the “Stack and smash” method, by which we piled up 3 donuts, smooshed them together, and ate them like a very dense donut sandwich.  If anybody is wondering, yes, water helps them go down.

While we chose rather conventional running attire, we did see a few amusing clothing choices.  One guy had an enormous donut on his head, another was dressed as a gorilla, accompanied by his friend, dressed as a banana, and yet another chose to run in a suit and tie.  The topper was the guy that wore nothing but a speedo.  Good for him…  it was 36° and damp when the gun went off.

My final take away from the race…  Running with 12 donuts in my stomach wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, but actually eating them was much more challenging than anticipated.

The final highlight of the race was actually getting to the Krispy Kreme, grabbing my box of donuts, and looking down to see a little kid, no older than 7, sitting on the ground happily munching away on a stack of 6 donuts.  My heart went out to his parents… That’s a whole lot of sugar for a sub-100lb body to process!

Winter Saturday

My focus on a the half marathon means that Saturdays have been a day for me to spin my legs out and do some strength training.  Since the weather is awful and the roads are icy, that means an hour of mind (and ass) numbing time on the rollers followed by some work with the TRX. 

It’s a pretty decent set up in my basement, so no complaints there.  But gawd, is it boring!  I’m looking forward to my run tomorrow.

Where resolutions go to die…

It was my mother’s birthday on Monday and her all-time favorite dessert is Lindzor Torte.  You would think that any old bakery would make a good one, but you would be WRONG!  So as a good son does, I went to the best French specialty bakery in New Jersey and inquired about having them make one.

Balthazar Bakery is a well known and beloved French bakery in Manhattan, but their production facility is here in New Jersey.  Some years back they opened a small storefront so all of the stuff that you used to have to go to NYC for is right here in Englewood!

Anyway, as soon as I stepped in the door, I knew my New Year’s resolution to lose 10 lbs was going to be in jeopardy for another few days.

The madeleines were delicious!  As you can see, I enjoyed one (well ok… two) after lunch.  For the record, I had a salad.

As crazy as Jens?

Well, not really… but Cyclocosm was nice enough to create this handy dandy Jens Factor.  Based on the past tworuns I’ve done, I’m somewhere between a 4 and 5 on the chart.  I know it’s supposed to be for cycling, but considering that I was the only lunatic that I saw on the road, I’m claiming my stake!

For those of you unfamiliar with Jens Voigt, he’s one of the elder statesmen in the peloton and one of the toughest.  He had one of the gnarliest crashes I’ve ever seen at last year’s tour and I’ve always admired him for his ability to just suck it up and suffer.  One of his most memorable quotes is, “I just tell my body to be quiet and do what I tell you.”

it’s freezing!

I had originally planned to meet a bunch of other triathletes for a long run this morning but the better half scheduled a visit with some friends out on Long Island. So I had no choice but to fly solo.

I left before sunrise and was greeted by a 20mph wind smacking me in the face. I pulled the balaclava over my nose and mouth and headed out. My goal was to knock off 8 miles before I froze solid. Although, truth be told, the odds of frostbite were slim considering that I was wearing three layers on top and bottom, a pair of waterproof socks, hat, gloves, and the aforementioned balaclava. It’s a testament to modern technology that I didn’t look like the Michelin Man.

I wrapped up the run in slightly more than an hour. Overall, I was happy that I held a solid pace and negative split the workout. A big bowl of Greek yogurt, blueberries, and chocolate milk for recovery and I’m good.

Looking back on December

The month of December is a wrap and I’m starting to remember why winter base training is so tough.  Heading out the door in the dark when it’s below freezing is no picnic. You know it’s cold when the dogs along your usual run don’t even make an effort to bark.

Frankly, I’m surprised that none of my neighbors have called the cops. (“Officer, there is a strange man lurking behind Sam’s house with a head lamp…”)  I guess that by this point they all know that I’m a lunatic and probably just chalk up strange behavior at my house to strange endurance sport rituals.  Perhaps they think I sacrifice used bike parts or old wetsuits.

I got a Garmin 305 earlier this month and it’s made tracking my training so much easier.  I just plug it into the computer and I’m off.  The only problem is that now I have concrete proof that I don’t negative split my training runs.  There’s nothing worse than having the facts stare you right in the face.  Oh well… I’ll try to do better next month.

The Best Laid Plans…

I hit the pool a little later than usual today and walked into the YMCA with the intention of doing an easy 1500 yards. As I stepped onto the pool deck, I knew those plans were going straight out the window. The fast lane was already packed with all of the usual suspects.

After a quick warm up, we jumped right into it. The first set was:
2x(100 swim-50 kick-100 swim) followed by
6x(50 swim-50 kick-50 swim)
followed by
4×100 + 4×50

It’s funny, when I got up this morning, I wasn’t excited about the swim, but now that it’s over, I’m really glad I went. It was a tough set, but it was a lot of fun.

More than cycling or running, swimming really lends itself to a sense of peer pressure and “misery loves company” for me. If there are other people in the lane willing to swim and suffer, then I’m there. I was a little nervous about losing swim speed over the next few months while I focus on the half marathon, but after today, I know how I’m going to stay faster. swimming with a group.

The program starts tomorrow!

It’s sixteen weeks until the target half marathon that will kick off my season.  I’m comfortable with my plan, pleased with my fitness and health level, and looking forward to diving into the training.  I’ve got high hopes for this block of training, even beyond racing in April.  By far, the weakest link in my triathlon racing was the run.  I expect that a big block of run focus will get my running a little more tuned up for the upcoming triathlon season.

To that end, in addition to my run training, I’m going to be sprinkling in a bunch of bike and swim training to balance things out.  The last thing I need is to get done with the half marathon and realize that I’ve forgotten how to swim and realize that my bike skills have gone to seed.  While the swim and bike won’t be particularly high intensity stuff, there will be enough of it to keep everything reasonably fresh once spring arrives.

What I’ve been doing

I have been away from the blog for a few weeks now.  It’s been pretty busy around the house between the holidays, work, and family stuff.  I’ve settled on a training plan and I’m looking forward to getting started next week.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been steadily increasing my mileage to prepare for the 16 week run block I’ve got coming up in preparation for the half marathon I’m planning to run in the spring.  I hit 25+ miles last week, by far the biggest I’ve ever done in training.  I’m pleased with my overall fitness right now…  I’m not in tip top shape, but not totally suffering out on the roads either.  I’ve managed to sprinkle in some swimming and biking as well so I won’t be totally unbalanced as I transition from the half marathon to tri season.

I also got a Garmin 305 from a buddy.  Lightly used and a deal that was too good to pass up.  I didn’t really know what I was missing until the first time I hooked up the Garmin to TrainingPeaks!  The amount of data available really blew me away.  I’m hoping this will allow me to better track my workouts and measure my fitness over the coming months.

The perfect recovery drink?

I’m enjoying my all time favorite recovery drink after my workout this morning.  There is nothing better than a tall glass of cold chocolate milk…  According to the folks over at the American College of Sports Medicine, chocolate milk is as an effective recovery drink as any of the fancy stuff that’s supposedly “engineered” to increase recovery.  I try very hard not to put too much stuff in my body that has a long ingredient list so chocolate milk as a recovery drink suits the bill perfectly.

I’m starting to prepare for the first race of my 2010 season, the New York 13.1.  I’ve settled on a training program and I’m looking forward to getting started.  The plan officially begins in mid-December so for the next few weeks I’m focusing on getting myself ready to put some serious miles on my legs.  While I’ve trained for other mid-distance events in the past (a bunch of 1oKs and two 10 milers) , I’ve never ran a stand-alone half marathon and I’m looking forward to seeing what I can do.  So for now, I’m focusing on running 5 days a week and sprinkling some indoor cycling and swimming workouts in to keep myself balanced and fresh.