Uno, dos, tres

Three days in a row. I can't even remember the last time I hit the pool three days in a row, but today marked the third day in a row in the water. Team Ironhead is starting to complain that I smell like chlorine all the time. The hardest part is actually getting to the pool. Oh, that and keeping myself afloat, as I swim like a rock. But it's baby steps, or is that baby strokes back to the Ironswim. Too bad that I can't make it out to the swimdorks show this weekend. I'm sure Darren and those dudes are going to rock the pentathlon.

Getting ready, though. No date has been announced but I'm sure the planning committee is kicking around dates for the third annual Alton Half. Can't be any more than 6-8 weeks away. After that I'm in for revenge on the Chilly Half, and possibly ATB this year.

Followed up today's solid swim with a 90 minute ride in the basement on the trainer.

Good day - a good day all around. Happy birthday, Ironbella!

Peace.

Hmph

before

Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

-George Santayana

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

-Albert Einstein

Well, here's the good news. It wasn't as cold today as predicted, and although the wind did threaten once or twice it really wasn't as big as deal as it could have been. As for the rest of the day, let's get the facts out of the way early.

1:30:14 (chip time) - one minute slower than last year, and it was an ugly minute too. Look 1:30 is not a bad time - it probably stung as much to get passed in the finish chute by one of my Sunday morning running duo dudes, who had cleverly camouflaged himself in a different coat - I didn't realize he had gone by until I heard the announcer call his name. So, not a really, really bad time. Just not what I had hoped for. I'm going to guess that going out too hard probably cost me 1.5 - 2 minutes down the backstretch, where I was trying to hold it all together.

What happened? Easy to diagnose, in retrospect. Pacing, pacing, pacing and training training training. Number 1: pacing is killer and if you go out too hard it will be killer. After saying at the start the last thing we wanted to do was to go out on an 18 minute 5K start and torch out early where were we (the "we" being myself and Darren)? 3:46, 3:59, 3:54, 4:03 and 4:01 for a sub-20 minute first 5K.

Lesson #1: you must train at race pace, at least some of the time. Or, put another way, you can't race at a faster-than-training pace and expect to hold it over a long distance. You'd think I would have gotten this message before. Oh well, better to get it out of the way early in the season.

Lesson #2 is related to lesson #1 and it is this. Long runs do not make you faster. I had put in some good quality miles on the long runs on the weekends, but had been a little hit-and-miss getting in the speed sessions and tempo sessions. This burned me today.

after

This is the after picture. The more astute among you will have noticed that there were not 21 matches in the matchbook.

Live and learn. I'm hoping this lesson sinks in this time.

Peace.

Chilly review preview

So here we are, four sleeps away. It's time to preview, but first a review of my four-year history of the Chilly Half.

2005 - 1:59:25 (630th)
2006 - 1:44:00*(341st)
2007 - 1:37:55* (180th)
2008 - 1:29:16 (63rd)

*the official results list the times above for 2006 and 2007 in reverse. I have to think they've got them backwards.

Now, on to this year. Since the organizers of the race have jacked up the entries allowed by 50%, from 2000 to 3000 starters, they've also decided to add in a new starting feature (new to me anyway) - starting corrals. The start will be divided into three corrals: "elite" (sub 1:30), 1:30 - 2:00 and over 2:00. I've never considered myself an elite runner before, but there it is now in blue and white. Weather conditions for Sunday are supposed to be a little colder than recent years past. -5 degrees with a windchill of -16, although this will have warmed up a little by the 10:00 a.m. start time. Training-wise, I haven't been completely unscathed but I have made it through the early spring mostly healthy and getting in the good long runs with the Sunday morning group/duo.

Hmm, hmm, hmm...so what does that mean?

I don't know. I do remember that last year's 1:29 was nearly a complete surprise. I expected to maybe stretch to a 1:32 or so. Now with some regular long-run mileage and repeat hill workouts built in, I don't know. Hill work is fine and all, but this course is flat like Sally Field. The added bonus of the expected wind on Sunday makes prediction a tricky game.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, enough stalling around. I can already hear Skeezix yelling, "less talk, more work? Make the call!"

I don't know what to predict. I do know that you never really know if you've pushed the envelope until you bust through the other side. You can never know the limit until you push beyond it.

1:27? Maybe.

1:24? 4-minute kms? Perhaps a stretch.

Let's see.

Peace.

Consistency

As I was rolling through the last of my long runs before the Chilly Half with the Sunday morning long run duo (now up to three today) the topic of consistency came up. One of the three of us said, "since the beginning of November when we started this, I'm the only one that's been out consistently every Sunday". Although strictly speaking this statement was technically true in fact while being untrue in spirit (go ahead and figure that out) it did bring up the topic of consistency, a subject I may have opined upon before.



Others wiser than me have held forth on the subject of consistency. One of my favourites, since I'm results- and data-based and also a visual learner is borrowed from Alan Couzens:

Without going into the entire explanation - you can read that yourself here and I highly recommend it, there are several different interpretations of this data. On the left are finishing times of IM athletes. On the right are their cumulative training hours for the year. The boiled-down truth at least as relates to this posting is that one must be pretty consistent in training if one wants to see results. Disclaimer - this is out-of-context from the topic of the original post but related enough to be included here.

So what's the point? In training as in life consistency is one of the cornerstones that yields results. It doesn't necessarily mean consistently doing the same thing every day, but doing something every day. Getting up in the morning and ignoring the snooze button, one of the most oxymoronic inventions dreamt up by the human race. Getting moving. Having a plan and sticking to it.

The other two "cornerstones" patience and frequency are just as important. But they weren't the topics today, so they're not included in the discussion.

This weekend upcoming is the Chilly Half - let's see how consistent I've actually been. Preview to follow.

Thanks Mats for thirteen good years.

Peace.

Whittling down

If I turn my head just the right way, I can now see my neighbour's yard again. The snowbanks have been whittled down by the unseasonably warm spell for this time of year.

I am not fooled. It is February. This is Canada. Nobody in Canada puts away their snowshovels in February. In most years, February is the time of year where you go out to buy a second because the first has died of structural fatigue. Okay, so that's a bit of an exaggeration, but still, the point is, it's too early to be writing the eulogy on this winter just yet. I have, however seen a few hardy cycling souls out on two wheels. Last week and this weekend would have been the time for it - it was just about worth it.

Speaking of "whittling down", my group of Sunday morning run yahoos once boasted six regulars and has on at least one occasion swollen to ten, is now down to two(!). The group has split into three splinters, and two of those splinter groups now have decided to run on Saturdays leaving for now only two of us remaining for Sunday. We went out this weekend for a brisk 26k. Since I've noticed last years achilles tendon starting to "tune up the band" this year, I took it really easy. I've also made some physio appointments and have continued to stretch semi-regularly. After all the "season" kicks off with the Chilly Half, now in less than two weeks. Gotta be ready for that.

Peace.