Commuting - Live and Let Die

As part of my plan to increase my bike fitness and speed, I have been commuting every day for 3-4 weeks now. (rainy days excepted) I thought I would share my thoughts and observations. 

There is an optimum time window for minimum traffic and avoiding angry drivers. Biking at 3 am not necessary, but need to avoid the "rush to get to work at 8 and get home after 5 people". The "get to work early and the leave early people" are gentle and kind souls.

UPS drivers are great, and FedEx drivers are nuts.

Texting soccer moms/kids, drunks are not on the road in my time window, just coffee powered, going to work people.

Still, an occasional a jerk appears on the commute home. This week alone I was buzzed by a guy on a motorcycle with his 5 year old daughter on the back, a mini cooper with a bike rack, an old person in a Japanese luxury car. These are sleepers, the unstable people who can snap at any time.  

The game is to see how fast I can make the short 9 mile commute. 20 mph ave in and 18 mph home are currently fast trips for me. How in the world can competitive riders average 24+, and almost 30 mph for pros. 

Whoever designs a bike helmet that is not dorky, will make a fortune. The current lot does not even give me confidence it will save my life but rather shift off my head with the littlest of bumps. I think the skate board people have the best idea and I may just switch.
update: Did a training ride with a skate board helmet, Protec, and my head overheated and I got sick. Bad idea, especially on 90+F days.

I just received my custom tee shirt this week:

 Here lies a comedian with a dorky helmet.

French Countryside on Sunday Morning

Another trail race in the Dirt Day Series last weekend at French Park. (my first one was Mount Airy - May 20 blog). I was at the park last year for an outdoor wedding and it's really pretty. So, I'm thinking a 3.4 mile run in the “French countryside” will be an easy training run on a pretty Sunday morning. The race site mentioned the interesting features of the course are a few creek crossings which with little rain should be easy as well. Typical for a trail race, the folks, about 150 people, were laid back, mostly young and fit. I'm a fairly shy person, however I find myself striking up conversations with almost anyone at these events because it feels easy and they can be pretty interesting people.

There's a fellow at work who started running again to spend quality time with his three sons. His twin boys are competitive high school track and cross country runners, and the younger boy is in middle school also starting to run on his school’s team. I suggested they should try out this race as it may be a little different than their typical cross country meets. No pressure, just run for fun, and if you smoke the older people, cool. They all showed up, and were especially excited to run through the creek. 

At the start, I lined up near the front and asked a guy about his tat of chainrings on his shoulder. He said he noticed my leg tat (Jan 2012 blog) and then asked the girl in front of us, who was a friend of his, to show me hers. She had a shoulder chainrings tat as well but with flowers, vines and such. She was also wearing bun huggers, unruly red hair, bb ring and various other tats. (clearly supports my comment on interesting people at trail races). She also had noticed my tat and told me she thought it may have been real. She then pointed out her real one, which was 70% healed.

The start was a long downhill in grass so we all took off at a fast pace. I stayed with the "tat group" at a 6 pace while the leaders were flying at something close to 5. At the "bottom" of the hill my heart rate was humming but I figured I could cruise on a flat section to reel it back in. After turning the corner at the bottom, the decent continued as far as I could see which shocked me. I reluctantly fell off the pace, which is a shame, as I did not want to waste a smooth downhill but I had no choice. I thought "this course has larger elevation changes than expected" and that would be an understatement. So back to the top, back to the bottom, back to the top, etc. Throw in some rocks, roots, creek running, and creek crossing, and the short 3.4 mile course was exhausting. I am proud I was able to run hard to the finish, a 200 meter + uphill through a field. I almost lost whatever I ate that morning, but managed to hold on to avoid embarrassment. 

Turns out "bun hugger" had the fastest women's time out of 56 women! When they called her name as the winner, I thought, hey, I know her, she showed me her tattoo! One of the twins ran with the top three for a while and then finished 14th overall. I asked the younger brother what he thought and he just said, “that was really hard”. Haha, he’s hooked.

Somebody's Pup at French Park

Ditto-Fido

Family Day at Notre Dame

Our second annual trek to Goshen for the Sunburst Marathon in nearby South Bend. All races from 5K - Marathon finish on the 50 yardline in the stadium. Brian and I ran the half last year and Devon joined us this year to make it a family affair. Sue and Craig were on the sidelines today but cheering us on. Devon and I ran the 10K and Brian stayed with the half. 
note: I went to Ohio State, Devon IU, and Brian is a Spartan, shhhh.....


Perfect running weather, 58F at start. And the flat run along the river made for a fun morning run. The race is also a BQ so I expect people travel to do this one for good times. (no pun intended)


The only 10K's I have "raced" are the Thanksgiving race in Cincinnati which has 18,000 runners,. In 2010 (my first road race) was 56 min and last year was 53 min. I decided 50 min was a realistic target which is a 8:03 pace.


I lined up with the 7 min group, only 50 feet from the start line. At 1/4 mile, the Garmin showed I was running sub 6, jeez. It's amazing what adrenalin does, but the legs would not tolerate that for 6 miles. I steadily slowed until my pace was mid 7's but eventually that faded as well. 

girl is behind me?

Eventually I saw my average getting close to 8, so I pushed with what I had left. I found myself  "racing" a young girl entering the tunnel, a downhill into the stadium. I stumbled at the bottom and almost fell. It would have been embarrassing to fall flat on my face as I entered the stadium to hundreds of people cheering. Maybe a web redemption on Tosh.O?
I finished at 50:45 or a 8:10 pace.




A great day with the family was priceless.

Devon Brian and me (sue or craig took picture)

Great Day on the Trails

Rocks, Roots, Rocks

Today was the trail race at Mount Airy forest, a race in the Dirt Days series. The trail is mostly single track, lots of rocks and roots, and plenty of hills. Brian joined me for his first trail experience, race or otherwise and I think he's hooked. They offer a single lap of 5+ miles or two laps (10+) which we did. 


Beautiful morning about 60F which would heat up to 70F by race end. Faster people > finish cooler, slower > hotter.


The 10 mile people started 15 minutes before the 5 mile people. This was intended to reduce trail passing as the 5 mile group out numbered the 10 mile group 3:1. They also used a 1/4 mile road section at the start to reduce congestion entering the trails.  Our two lappers group (2L) quickly formed three loose groups on the road section, with contenders in 1, brian in 2 and I in 3.

Loved these!

I felt strong and settled in after 2 miles with the same butts in front and the sounds of steps behind. After a long climb, I would reward myself with a walking drink and it was cool to see the person who passed me was a young person who looked fit. yea! 


Brian also had a good first loop and he saw a really big snake crossing the trail.  They suspected someone had released a boa or other such killer snake in the forest after it consumed somebody's pet or child.  Fortunately he (or she) had moved on before we got there.


After 3 miles or so, the leaders in the 5 mile race showed up. I had fun telling the 4 runners who passed me where they were and rooting them to catch the person in front of them. A young girl came flying by and I told her if she was a one lapper she was in 6th. She said thanks but she was running two which made me wonder how she was running so fast and had not passed me by mile 4. Maybe an alarm clock issue.


Now for my brain fade episode which are occurring more often. Finishing the first loop, a girl was sending the 1L to the finish and telling the 2L to turn right and head back into the woods. I noticed the time was 58 minutes so meeting my sub 2 hours was looking good as the 2nd loop was shorter without the 1/4 mile road section. So I turned right, but before the correct spot and headed merrily down the wrong trail. I descended a long section and started to wonder where the flags and people were, hmmm.  After a while I saw a lady walking her dog and asked her if she saw any runners. She did not, so I turned around, climbed back up to whence I came. The "official clock" was now 1:10 so I lost 12 minutes. poop


My final time was 2:10 but if you "give me" the 12 minutes, I was under 2 hours. Almost even splits, yea!


Brian finished his 1st loop in 41 minutes which was really fast considering the 1L winner was at 35 minutes. Unfortunately he twisted his ankle on loop 2 and ended up with a 1:50 after sitting a bit and walking until is loosened up. He jogged the way back in.  


Stone Steps is in Oct, 27K or 50K. Last year was a 27K. If I go and train this place, once every few weeks, I'll be ready for my first 50. That's assuming the snake finds other things to eat and not me.

Brian and I (photo by sue)

Post Race snooze with pups (photo by sue)

Flying Pig has Landed

        finished in 3:59:59

✓  finished without walking

        trained for distance

✓ under estimated distance

✓ had fun

My experienced marathon advisors told me to forget setting a goal time but focus on having fun, finishing the thing, and not getting injured. Although not by design, as it turns out, this is exactly what I did.

I found a pace where I felt good and after 3-4 miles I saw my average was 9:45. Oh well, the 3:59:59 would not happen today. Little did I know, 4:59:59 would not happen either. (5:08)

So I decided to enjoy the experience and take it all in. A few observations from the 1st half of the race:

• It's not fair that a race walker can pass me on an uphill. 
• All girls with red hair have tattoos.
• I was excited to see my family (sue-devon-craig-brian) in Hyde Park at mile 10 or so. 



Cruising

• Putting those chew type gels in a small pocket is not a good idea. They merged into a gooey clump from my body heat.
• 1st half 2:18    

I had slightly different observations in the 2nd half.

• "Long" training runs of 12 miles may be fine for a half, but not a full.
• Why are girls in pink tutus and old guys passing me so easily?
• It is possible to pee and run at the same time.
• It is possible to "run" at a pace slower than walking.
• It was great to see the family at the finish line!

So, I'll do it again next year, and I'm thinking 3:59:59

somewhere pretty

where's the tattoo

I'm going to win the whole thing

4 Miles Left - ow   

                                                                              
                                                                     
                                                                                     

Devon!

My Tunes and the Pig

One week out from my first marathon. To be honest, I'm not that excited or even worried even with the achilles thing. It will be an accomplishment, if my legs cooperate, but my thoughts are on a 50K trail, Stone Steps. Ultimately I want to run a few 50 milers before I (die, get too old, forget where I live, whatever happens first)

I will of course blog the Flying Pig as it should be an adventure. Stay tuned.

Speaking of tunes  : /

Here is what I am listening to. When I get older, I'll blog about my poop

The first 4 songs do not repeat, and help me warm up / stretch.
Brick House The Commodores                        
Unwritten         Natasha Bedingfield Unwritten
It's My Life Bon Jovi
Danger Zone Kenny Loggins Soundtrack

These are in a repeating loop. Most are 89-90 BPM.
Ramblin' Man The Allman Brothers Band
     get the feet moving
Blue Minor Chick Webb Rhythm Man
     my dad joins me in his Army uniform
I'm Still Standing Elton John
     can't help but feel the beat (90 on the button)
Tusk                 Fleetwood Mac
     written for running, certainly not dancing (not that I do)
Tell Him           The Exciters
     you must swing your head from side to side
Feel the Rhythm U.S. Drill Sergeant Field Recordings
     pure motivation and funny too
Too Many Fish in the Sea The Marvelettes
     more head swinging
Flying Home Charlie Barnet and His Orchestra
    dad is back and joined by chrissie wellington (I have no idea why)
Can't Buy Me Love Beatles
     my roots, about 85BPM, a break from 90
I'm Still Standing Elton John
    ok, back to 90
Easy Run                 U.S. Drill Sergeant Field Recordings
     back hurts, legs hurt, ass hurts, run it on out

What Dogs Think About

My previous post suggested Brady (on right) contemplates Newton's mind.

Brady - I was thinking about how we are able to run and swim from an early age with all four legs working in a fluid motion.

Daisy - Yeah, we are evolved well beyond humans who appear to have no built in skills at all.

Brady - It makes you wonder how they have survived.

Daisy - Rabbits. Just saying. Odds are with them.




Brady - They spend a lot of time doing silly things for no apparent reason.
- they get wet and then dry off
- they put on clothes and then take them off
- they put stuff in drawers, closets , boxes and then get them out again

Daisy -  They must think those things will ensure their long term survival. Why else would they do them.  

Brady - Fortunately it is easy to train them. They readily understand our cues for need to eat, sleep, play and poop.