The gift that keeps giving (or taking away)...

This morning was a killer run. 22km over the fabled Northshore hills. The Sunday morning running group has decided it's time to get serious about training with the Chilly Half now less than 2 months away and ATB just over two months out.

Now, I like hills as much as the next guy (or maybe that should be as little). The real killer this morning was running through the slushy unplowed roads. The course goes out through town and into a fairly quiet part of town where the hills start. As an aside, this morning's route passes one golf course and three (!!!) cemeteries. Coincidence? Actually the route stops at the base of a hill with a cemetery at the top, but close enough.

My feet are killing. It's not the "ups" that do it. I think it's the "downs" and the careful picking of foot positions to avoid ice, puddles and general overall shmuck. I must say however I did pull one nice aerial jumping over the splash from an oncoming car that changed lanes a little too close to us. Jumped the splash, and stuck the landing too.

This was preceded yesterday by a three-hour ride in the basement. Warmed up on the trainer to the end of some Premier League football game (ew - yeah I know, any port in a storm) and then plugged in "Gladiator" Still a great flick, but doesn't really work so well on the trainer.

So, the gift that keeps on taking? Well, after shoveling the driveway today (again, but I won't talk about it) I had to go to my least favourite place on earth.......




the mall.



Not only did I have to go to the mall to return a sweater that was gifted and did not fit I was bounced around to three different malls to find the right size. It was even worse when one store said "we don't have it but store X does" and then store X has taken the wrong item off the shelf, so they don't have it either. At least they agreed to find it and send it in, only calling me when it's received.

Oh well. I'm off to soak my toes.

Peace.

Hackin' but still livin'

I've been fighting through a nasty hacking cough for the past week or so. Actually if you ask the rest of Team Ironhead it's been more like a month (following the Truly Male Credo that "if you ignore it, perhaps it will go away on its own"). Normally, I'm the last to be stricken down. The junior members of Team Ironhead bring something home from school and it circulates around the premises from November to May. This year, they've been relatively healthy. Anyway it seems as though the worst has finally passed with the help of some prescription-but-questionably-approved-by-WADA medication and I may just be able to get down to some relatively consistent work, and just in time: the 2009 2nd Annual Alton Half Brought to You by Pancakes is on the calendar for this year. It's still early, but it looks like registration numbers are up 33% over last year, making this event a smashing success. I do remember the run course being a killer last year, knocking me out after two laps of a three-lap course. There is some question as to whether there will be an available pool for the race weekend. We may have to build some flexibility into the proceedings. Ah, but the smoothies.....

Time to get back to "work".

Peace.

New year, new look

Or so I hope.

So I'm out for a run the other night and as I turn the corner off my street I hear, "mind if I join you?"  Another guy has run up behind me.  Turns out he lives a couple blocks away and he's training for Ironman Lake Placid.  He did a couple of short-course races this summer past, and the half-iron at Peterborough on three weeks training.  

We got into a conversation about training and Ironman and a bunch of other things.  Now I'm by no means an expert on training, but after one Ironman race everyone else seems to think so?  He says he needs to work on his nutrition (in January?  For a race in July?) because sometimes he forgets to eat.  We  talked about fueling during racing, or as much as I know on the topic, which isn't much.  I related my experience in finding out what my intake limit is on the run - two 300-calorie Powerbars, three gels, two bottles of Gatorade and a bottle of water on a 30km run is too much, unless you like lying down on the couch afterward begging the room to stop spinning.

Anyway, one good thing that came out of this run?  I've decided that I'm targeting Lake Placid this year.  It was about 90% confirmed up to now, but now it's solid.  The catch?  Oh yeah, little thing like registration's closed.  So is the community fund.  The only other option now is to qualify through one of the qualifying races.  The closest to here is the Muskoka Long Course, so that gets added to the schedule.

Another good thing?  Now I have another training partner, and local to boot.  I'll just have to work on getting him off his four-week training program - a long run of three hours every weekend is eventually going to catch up to this guy.  PS - I looked up his results at Peterborough - at least I beat him there.

Peace.

A lovely spring day...

Nothing like a brisk morning constitutional to get the blood blowing, er, flowing....

So this picture was taken in Buffalo at Rich Stadium on the weekend, illustrating the wind conditions on the weekend. The only relevance is that my Sunday morning run group is about an hour or so across the border and up the highway (depending on your driving habits) from Buffalo. Yep, it was a little windy this weekend. The wind was enough that the guy running next to me ran into me once or twice. I don't know which one of us couldn't hold a straight line. At least we had a tailwind for the "return" part of the loop. And one of these hardcore guys actually wore shorts!

Spent the rest of the weekend assembling more toys and architectural projects, which brings me to this question: why aren't there any B batteries? (be patient...it's worth it......ladies :)).

Peace.

Frank Lloyd Wright - baby

That's my baby on the left - note the construction is bigger than the child.

Peace.

Best laid plans...

...can be waylaid by the cutest, cuddliest little six-year old that you ever did meet. Let me explain.



This morning I went out with my new running group for a solid 16km. Last week we went 15k on a morning that had to be, no exaggeration, -20 C with the wind chill. There were multiple complaints about frostbite in the, ahem, "nether regions". Today was nothing like that. The roads were a little icy but the temperature was comfortable, around -2C, just about the right conditions for 16km of hills.




After that I got home in time to head out for the boy's hockey game (robbed again). The announced plan beforehand was to get back from hockey, swap hockey bag for swimming bag and head to the pool.




It has been said, "No plan survives first contact with the enemy" and this is no more true than at home. Upon returning home it was "suggested" that I could spend the morning putting together the dollhouse that arrived in last week's birthday festivities




Upon opening the box we all discovered there was no instruction manual or even picture to refer to. Yippee! Have you ever tried to assemble a jigsaw puzzle without knowing what the finished production should look like?







This is her majesty sitting in her queendom surrounded by some of the pieces of the architecture. The stick drawing on the big white box on the left is the only reference we had to figure out how it was supposed to look. There would be no swimming today o captain my captain.


On the positive side the off-season training is going well. I'm getting runs in, have sprinkled in a ride or two, and am going swimming tomorrow, by gar!


Starting tomorrow I'll be jumping onboard the 12-hr offseason plan - the details of which are here. A big thanks out to Chuckie V for giving this up for free. Now if he could just do dollhouses....



Peace.



Oh, by the way, I'll post a picture of the "finished product" when there is an actual finished product. Just kidding - it's done, the kids are just already in bed.

Patience, consistency, frequency

...are not the answer to the question, "what are the three things I don't have?", so thanks very much. They are however the trifecta required to lay the foundation in this off-season for next season's results (whatever the plan may be). There's a good discussion of the topic here. The bottom line: time and mileage are the critical ingredients, are not negotiable and cannot be substituted. To be fair, I have demonstrated both consistency and frequency. For the last nineteen years (until last month) I got my hair cut monthly by the same guy in the same shop until he up and disappeared last month. Now that's consistent. And actually since I just waited seventeen years for a follow-up album/disc (I guess these days it would be a disc and not so much an album) that would be a demonstration of patience as well.


In following the "no blank days" decree of the last post inspired by Olympian Cliff, I must admit I am net one day down. I do resolve, however to make it up this week. Getting back to the pool and I've also hooked up with a run group that gets me out the door regularly on the weekend mornings. These guys for the most part are dedicated runners listing among their accomplished marathons NYC, Scranton (hey any location is a distance) Rome, Budapest, Marine Corps, Toronto - downtown and Waterfront and multiple Bostons. There are probably many more than that. One might be my future Comrades comrade. If possible at least one of these guys complains more than me.





Finally in response to a "comment" from an infrequent reader, but frequent commenter here's another shot of Team Ironhead, full entourage intact:

Peace.