I went out today to inaugurate the 'official' training period for the Paris Marathon. It was scheduled to be 3 miles at 10:10 and I just couldn't bring myself to do that. I went out with a co-worker and we did 5 at about 9:15 instead.
Overall, it was a good run, until we ran into the woman and her dogs. We were running two abreast on a decently wide (yet snow and ice covered) paved trail. She was on our right with one dog, and the other dog over on the left. There was also an older couple about 5m behind her, also on the right.
Being a rational beast, my co-worker took early and decisive action and fell in behind me on the left of the trail. Which, of course meant that the woman took her one dog over to join the other on the left. Right in our way. I'm sure this is some German custom about only passing port-to-port.
So, this required us to jump back over to the right. At this point my foot slipped on the ice, causing me to crash down on my left hip, knee and of course, wrist. This despite the fact that on the way out (this was the return leg of an out-and-back) I made specific note of how icy this area was. And how I really wasn't looking forward to running down this slope with all the ice. And how if I did slip, the one thing I really didn't want to do was to try to catch my whole body weight with my hand. But, yes, that's exactly what I tried to do.
So, my wrist which was just about 100% from Thanksgiving. Is now sore again. Joy.
Let's just hope this isn't a bad omen for the whole marathon experience. Which, thanks to the vagaries of U.S. Military medicine, I'm still not medically cleared to run. But the doc specifically said not to stop what I was already doing. So, to me that means I'm still cleared to 13.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Winter Wonderland
I decided to ride into work on Friday. Mostly because I could. And I thought it would be fun. The official total was 17 inches for the week, but there wasn't more than about 5 inches on the ground.
Since I ride on trails, not roads, it wasn't clear. There was plenty of snow, just a bit of ice and pretty much no one. And it was quiet. Like I was in the middle of nowhere. Couldn't even hear the autobahn although I was less than 100m from it on numerous occasions.
Back tire sliding all over. Barely needed a light because the snow made everything so bright. My speed was no where near normal, but that was all part of the fun. I ended up walking up a few of hills, because I just couldn't keep traction on my back tire, and once I stopped I couldn't get going again. I also didn't really trust the brakes on the big down hills.
When I got home, there was about 2-3 inches of mud, snow and ice all over the bike. Great fun.
Since I ride on trails, not roads, it wasn't clear. There was plenty of snow, just a bit of ice and pretty much no one. And it was quiet. Like I was in the middle of nowhere. Couldn't even hear the autobahn although I was less than 100m from it on numerous occasions.
Back tire sliding all over. Barely needed a light because the snow made everything so bright. My speed was no where near normal, but that was all part of the fun. I ended up walking up a few of hills, because I just couldn't keep traction on my back tire, and once I stopped I couldn't get going again. I also didn't really trust the brakes on the big down hills.
When I got home, there was about 2-3 inches of mud, snow and ice all over the bike. Great fun.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Post Turkey Day Recovery
As those of you who read the better half's blog know, we went to the mountains for Turkey day with friends.What she might not have let on is that we went there with one of them.
So we had a great Turkey day dinner. Lovely desserts. Lots of fun with the kids (sledding, games, etc).
Unlike most kids, our LM doesn't like things that go 'fast'. He's a bit of a scaredy cat. So, when we went sledding he wanted no part of going down the hill. Even when his friend went down. Even wen Daddy went down. He much preferred the one-horse-open variety of sledding. I'll give you three guesses who the horse was.
So we had a great Turkey day dinner. Lovely desserts. Lots of fun with the kids (sledding, games, etc).
Tangent
Unlike most kids, our LM doesn't like things that go 'fast'. He's a bit of a scaredy cat. So, when we went sledding he wanted no part of going down the hill. Even when his friend went down. Even wen Daddy went down. He much preferred the one-horse-open variety of sledding. I'll give you three guesses who the horse was.
End Tangent
So, the day after thanksgiving, we decided to go for a run. Now mind you. It was cold. And snowy. So when we headed out at 8:30 it was an adventure. The temperature was about 2C. We headed out down the road, and turned off onto a foot path/bike path combination. It was covered in a combination of snow and slush.
Soon, it turned off into the woods. Where the path became just that: a single track path. Covered with snow and ice. It got so rough that we ended up walking for about 25m because we just couldn't get any traction while running up hill. Just too icy.
That was only the beginning of the fun though. Going down hill was even better. Slightly better trail conditions, but not much. And of course, since we were going down hill, I ended up on my derriere at one point. No serious injuries, just a sore wrist and bruised ego.
Still, it was a good run (except for the fact that he ran me into the ground going up hill). We made it back after an almost 4 mile run and all the moisture that had been wicked away from our skin onto the outer layer of clothing had turned to frost. Very cool look.
Garmin has gone and updated Garmin Connect again. I'm getting more and more satisfied with what they're doing there. Check out this new feature. It plots speed against elevation and steps through your workout together as it does so.
So, the day after thanksgiving, we decided to go for a run. Now mind you. It was cold. And snowy. So when we headed out at 8:30 it was an adventure. The temperature was about 2C. We headed out down the road, and turned off onto a foot path/bike path combination. It was covered in a combination of snow and slush.
Soon, it turned off into the woods. Where the path became just that: a single track path. Covered with snow and ice. It got so rough that we ended up walking for about 25m because we just couldn't get any traction while running up hill. Just too icy.
That was only the beginning of the fun though. Going down hill was even better. Slightly better trail conditions, but not much. And of course, since we were going down hill, I ended up on my derriere at one point. No serious injuries, just a sore wrist and bruised ego.
Still, it was a good run (except for the fact that he ran me into the ground going up hill). We made it back after an almost 4 mile run and all the moisture that had been wicked away from our skin onto the outer layer of clothing had turned to frost. Very cool look.
Kit Review
Garmin has gone and updated Garmin Connect again. I'm getting more and more satisfied with what they're doing there. Check out this new feature. It plots speed against elevation and steps through your workout together as it does so.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
The Long Lay Off Ends and Others
I've been silent for a while. Various factors came into play, but I'm back and running again.
I had a last minute business trip which caused me to miss a 10k I intended to run. This was unfortunate for a number of reasons, not the least of which was that the top times were within reach of my personal bests, so I might have been able to do relatively well. Of course, the route was very hilly so it might have impacted my potential times.
---------
I have found, looking back over my training records for the past year, that I am a much more reliable runner when I have a goal. So I've given myself a goal. We'll see how this works out. I had planned to do this in October, but I just couldn't get the time to train properly.
Stay tuned for updates. Encouragement and advice warmly accepted! (Remarks along the lines of 'you idiot', while not necessarily off base, are not.)
As my few regular readers recall (ahhh, alliteration...) I promised some updates on my Garmin Forerunner 405. I'm happy to say that it appears the Garmin people were reading my blog. They've made some improvements.
In summary my initial review was that the watch was great, but the Garmin Connect functionality kind of let it down. I'm happy to say that it appears they are working on my comments.
Here is what it used to look like (if you're curious, the route is approximately the same):
There are still some fixes I'd recommend. Highest among them is some data averaging or fairing (look at the graph of my lunch run from yesterday):
Lots of spurious data points there that could be faired. Still, we're moving in the right direction here, and I'm happy.
I had a last minute business trip which caused me to miss a 10k I intended to run. This was unfortunate for a number of reasons, not the least of which was that the top times were within reach of my personal bests, so I might have been able to do relatively well. Of course, the route was very hilly so it might have impacted my potential times.
---------
I have found, looking back over my training records for the past year, that I am a much more reliable runner when I have a goal. So I've given myself a goal. We'll see how this works out. I had planned to do this in October, but I just couldn't get the time to train properly.
Stay tuned for updates. Encouragement and advice warmly accepted! (Remarks along the lines of 'you idiot', while not necessarily off base, are not.)
Kit Review
As my few regular readers recall (ahhh, alliteration...) I promised some updates on my Garmin Forerunner 405. I'm happy to say that it appears the Garmin people were reading my blog. They've made some improvements.
In summary my initial review was that the watch was great, but the Garmin Connect functionality kind of let it down. I'm happy to say that it appears they are working on my comments.
- The Garmin Connect website is now significantly faster and smoother to use.
- They adjusted the scaling on the elevation plot so you can actually see some details, instead of showing you from sea level up (great if you're in Groton, CT not so good if you're up over 1,000 feet). Below is an example of the new graph:
Here is what it used to look like (if you're curious, the route is approximately the same):
There are still some fixes I'd recommend. Highest among them is some data averaging or fairing (look at the graph of my lunch run from yesterday):
Lots of spurious data points there that could be faired. Still, we're moving in the right direction here, and I'm happy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
