Clean Start
- Thread starter Patrick
- Start date
rick81721
Lothar
Hey didn't Pat post some nonsense last year about how the grand canyon and zion national park are nice too?
--introspective rambling bs---
sheltered
i could tell you some of the stuff written on the back of the seats on the boonton line tho....
The weird thing is i've been to Vegas, but never thought to go to Zion - it isn't that far, hoodoos at Bryce, and the vastness of the Grand Canyon is hard to conceptualize.
i wanted to go to the Hoover damn, got out-voted for golf (1-0) but manmade....
Been to Rochester numerous times, but hey, what is another 90ish minutes to the Falls - nah.
I've been really lucky to get to travel a bit - mostly because my spouse has a billion airline miles, and hotel points.
Alaska was awesome, we pulled up and watched a glacier for a couple hours, just calving off ice. Grizzly bears, huge moose bounding by us, salmon fishing, it was
like an outside zoo where you were part of the food chain. Australia was fun, just the people were different. The uninhibited enthusiasm was contagious.
Friendly, engaging (maybe the opposite of me?) - good stuff. Snorkeling the great barrier reef, it was pretty. Most impressive thing, flocks of cockatoos, and other birds
we might consider pet-shop only. Couple years ago was Yosemite, and petrified forest. Big rocks, and trees that became rocks under certain conditions - ok, cool.
Old shit in Italy and Greece, yeah - and it isn't even old compared to the stuff farther east. Art at the Uffizi, I'll once again say that seeing the Birth of Venus in person
changed my idea of what art can be.
Perhaps Haleakalā was the closest awe inspiring natural thing i've seen. It is standing still (atm) - the concept of being a couple miles up only 5 miles from
the ocean.. (go ahead and figure out the slope on that one.)
Yellowstone is next year. Would like to see the Badlands too. I do want to go to Jerusalem, Egypt, and India. Maybe some day.
-----end of introspective-----
My take on Niagara Falls was the power of movement it presents, and how close one can get to it. Yeah, there is a
sound is always there. A din in the background away from the falls. A roar near it. A strange mist falls depending on the direction the wind blows.
So we get there, and pull up to the front of the hotel. The name of the hotel is the Falls View Marriott, which should tell you something. We have a room
on the 19th floor. Room is ok, view is:
i mean, holy sh*t. We are here for two nights. The sound is there.
Falls on the left are the American falls. The horseshoe is the Canadian side. The Canadians made the area you are looking at a national park.
So the hotel is outside the park. The Americans made the whole area a national park. Although they (we?) didn't have the topography to have this view.
Got my run in the next morning, and had a big day planned. Hit some of the tourist stuff, movie, boat ride, journey under the falls.
Movie, yeah, boring. Boat ride, ok - don't skip it. Journey under the falls - that is where that pano was from.
Forget that. - looking at the pic above, go right over the side of the near corner of the falls. See this:
it looks like Moses parting the Red Sea! (well, the movie version) This is where every person felt small. Just looking at the pic, it presents like some
sort of green screen photo, but it is real. The sound, the waves of spray, the people walking onto the viewing area and
stopping. The only word i could think of is powerful - which was the best i could do on instagram. It did not matter who you were, this was
bigger.
I was sad to leave, but onto an urban adventure. We headed for Toronto - and I have never been there. After being to Boston this spring, Toronto is the opposite.
A fantastic cultural mix, where patience is needed to communicate. Strong accents are overcome with patience. Remember that.
We check into the Toronto Marriott City Centre - My son plays some baseball, my wife is a certified umpire, and i'm a fan. View out the window.
That's right! it is a hotel room with a field view inside the Rogers Centre (Skydome) - these rooms were made famous when this happened.
We had tix to the game, so went down after watching batting practice. Gotta say this was an experience. Been to 20ish stadiums so far, and
watching "operations" before and after the game was just as entertaining. They opened the roof the first night. I time-lapsed the closing.
Got a great ride in with the family - the lakeside and city trail are great greenway. My spouse's first ride of the year was 20 miles.
She wanted to go farther, but too much saddle time (make your own conclusions) - i have a picture, but can't find it.....(found it below)
one more thing. This is the CN tower - it is high. And it sways in the wind. It is slight, but definitely noticeable - While higher than the
Empire State Building, the view isn't as diverse, so no pics from the top.
Here is a view of the tower from our seats in the stadium.
so hey, that's cool - but it get's better. They have an experience called the edge walk. You get to walk outside that first viewing level. No railing, just teather.
so say you did that, what might it look like? From the ground it looks like this!
yes, those red flight suits....that is a zoom-in on the previous picture! I had no takers.....
food in Toronto - we went to R&D, Asian Canadian fusion (it is an adventure!)
Good wall art ....
Thank you @Norm for the list - we filled our day with a bike ride, and our nights with baseball.
Would go back - without kid in tow.....
oh, this is supposed to have a workout twist - did my first 10 mile run along the Niagara river.
Easy peasy at a conversational pace. Then pushed (for me) a 10k along the Toronto lakefront.
Family got in 20+ miles on some fun rentals from Wheel Excitement.
Happy Canada Day! (7/1) - Watching the military practice the flag ceremony about 4 hours before gametime.
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the elevator is glass, two windows i believe - the door is not glass., and they have a new twist.
There is an area of glass floor that goes translucent after the elevator has started. Takes a bit of time
to notice it, but pretty cool effect.
Chicago Marathon: 10/7/2018 Goal: 3:59:59 Current Run predictor: 4:07:00
Total running for the year: 114 miles, 18h 9m
I'll need to find a 10k race in the next couple of weeks to get an update on the race predictor.
4 Runs so far this week. I'll probably get in an easy one sometime today.
Toughest one was Tuesday night's 10k after the 2 hour Fun Monday ride. Way back in 2012 when ramping-up
my riding as training for the Philly Half Marathon, I don't remember the fatigue having a huge difference
on pace.
I like to run by feel, so an easy pace on a recovery run can be widely different depending on the day. And a rest day
can have a huge difference on putting in something more spirited. Last week I did a 10 miler at 10:30 pace, and it was
hard - i had run the day before, and sat on a plane. Yesterday was this week's long run, and after two days off,
and an easy 5k on Friday, a half marathon workout produced 9:26 pace. Including running each 5k lap
faster than the previous. Felt great afterwards.
So the training seems directionally correct!
My coach has been pushing a run/walk method. Every so often, let the heart rate recover - this seems to work well.
It is convenient to leave a water bottle out at my house, and when I loop through, grab it, walk/drink/recover, then off again.
probably 30-45 seconds. So playing with that a bit.
Oh, upgraded my laces.
i really want to get over to the sourlands with my bike! And i miss riding the road bike too!
Total running for the year: 114 miles, 18h 9m
I'll need to find a 10k race in the next couple of weeks to get an update on the race predictor.
4 Runs so far this week. I'll probably get in an easy one sometime today.
Toughest one was Tuesday night's 10k after the 2 hour Fun Monday ride. Way back in 2012 when ramping-up
my riding as training for the Philly Half Marathon, I don't remember the fatigue having a huge difference
on pace.
I like to run by feel, so an easy pace on a recovery run can be widely different depending on the day. And a rest day
can have a huge difference on putting in something more spirited. Last week I did a 10 miler at 10:30 pace, and it was
hard - i had run the day before, and sat on a plane. Yesterday was this week's long run, and after two days off,
and an easy 5k on Friday, a half marathon workout produced 9:26 pace. Including running each 5k lap
faster than the previous. Felt great afterwards.
So the training seems directionally correct!
My coach has been pushing a run/walk method. Every so often, let the heart rate recover - this seems to work well.
It is convenient to leave a water bottle out at my house, and when I loop through, grab it, walk/drink/recover, then off again.
probably 30-45 seconds. So playing with that a bit.
Oh, upgraded my laces.
i really want to get over to the sourlands with my bike! And i miss riding the road bike too!
sounds like you are doing a good job figuring out what you need.
as for the lack of bikes, come ride with us on friday, looks like we are making a trip to dickerson mine!
as for the lack of bikes, come ride with us on friday, looks like we are making a trip to dickerson mine!
Something is kinda working with the running. 10k goes by relatively quickly from my perspective (but not the clock)
Went to Wildcat a couple weeks back, and while i couldn't ride for sh*t, the endurance part was good. 2.5 hour ride with 3 minutes of stopping time.
(it helps to be last to make this happen)
11 weeks until the marathon, so i joined up with Bill Kemmerer's new venture, fit body bootcamp in the bridgewater mall.
class is 45 minutes, and takes 44 of it. 30 seconds on, 10 seconds off, 2x at each of 6 stations, then do another circuit.
warm-up, cool-down. High energy level at 6:15am.
i found out my body fat is just under 17% - is this good?
bmi is 25 - highest end of ok
here is a bummer - my legs are at the 101% of average 54yo male. great. that explains a lot.
did my first interval running too. didn't seem so bad, until the next day when i met up with @Carson and crew.
took about 30 minutes to blow up. luckily they were time strapped, and we parked in newmans just to ride
yellow and orange. smart!
This is a passion flower in the front planter - which turns into passion fruit. None has set yet this year. Wonder if it needs two plants.
Went to Wildcat a couple weeks back, and while i couldn't ride for sh*t, the endurance part was good. 2.5 hour ride with 3 minutes of stopping time.
(it helps to be last to make this happen)
11 weeks until the marathon, so i joined up with Bill Kemmerer's new venture, fit body bootcamp in the bridgewater mall.
class is 45 minutes, and takes 44 of it. 30 seconds on, 10 seconds off, 2x at each of 6 stations, then do another circuit.
warm-up, cool-down. High energy level at 6:15am.
i found out my body fat is just under 17% - is this good?
bmi is 25 - highest end of ok
here is a bummer - my legs are at the 101% of average 54yo male. great. that explains a lot.
did my first interval running too. didn't seem so bad, until the next day when i met up with @Carson and crew.
took about 30 minutes to blow up. luckily they were time strapped, and we parked in newmans just to ride
yellow and orange. smart!
This is a passion flower in the front planter - which turns into passion fruit. None has set yet this year. Wonder if it needs two plants.
sounds like your making some decent progress, congrats and good luck on finishing this one!
all the sources i check seem to indicate that 10-20% ish (give or take a few percent) is 'healthy', i seem to sit right around 17% as well right now, with a BMI of 24.3, although keep in mind BMI is just a height:weight ratio, it doesnt take into account body type (frame size) and how that should affect a what a healthy weight is, dont get hung up on the BMI part IMO
Been listening to SiriusXM Octane while running. Better than First Wave for exercising.
Starting song for today's run
Into the abyss will i run! (although i think it the song is about going insane over a lost lover)
finished up with
yeah, somethin's wrong with me!
Song is a good one for running.
Positioned my hips a bit farther forward today, without extending the torso. seemed much more efficient.
Average stride length was up quite a bit for an easy run. Like 5%.
Starting song for today's run
Into the abyss will i run! (although i think it the song is about going insane over a lost lover)
finished up with
yeah, somethin's wrong with me!
Song is a good one for running.
Positioned my hips a bit farther forward today, without extending the torso. seemed much more efficient.
Average stride length was up quite a bit for an easy run. Like 5%.
was pointing out the synchronicity of lyrics with my feelings.
that should resonate with you millenial types.
I was listening when this stuff came out, it makes good snowboarding music too.
Lol,
Chicago Marathon: 10/7/2018 Goal: 3:59:59 Current Run predictor: 3:48:59
Tally: 23:43 hours:minutes of running in the last 6 weeks. +bootcamp +somecycling = 46 hours total workout time. 147 miles of running.
The run predictor takes a race effort, in this case a 5k, and age, to puke-out a number.
I'm sure there has been improvement, since the 5k time was a PR even on mixed surface and rolling terrain.
The cool temps on Sunday morning didn't hurt.
Well, i'm not totally buying the run predictor extrapolation at this point. An 18 minute improvement after
6 weeks of training? Or is that just the big gain at the beginning for the zero-training to some actual structure?
Not for nothing, but the published qualifying time at my age for the Boston Marathon is 3:40.....(in reality it is more like 3:36, as they draw from the fastest in the pool)
Ha! I can dream.
The race:
Fun race on Sunday morning - about 400 participants lined-up at the Balloon Festival at Solberg Airport. Race start was 8am. It is a family event
so the kid and w1f3 arrived a few minutes after 7:00 to catch the morning balloon launch - they advertise the race as running during the launch, but that would be stupid, since the
runners couldn't watch, or if they did, a crit-like pile-up might ensue. They did have a few balloons tethered - which is a fun intro to a real balloon ride
if curious. I think it was $20 each for about 5 minutes.
Here are a few balloons leaving the airport.
They probably put 50ish in the air - the birthday cake, and baby trump were not there. But we did spot Elvis.
The flag was also new.
So we line up for the race, and the ground is soft. it isn't muddy, just grass covered soft. No big deal. Countdown
starts, and away we go - it's slow as the group tries to get going, and the people that have never run before, who
lined up in the front realize they are going to get trampled and move to the side, or not.
The guy who won went like he was shot out of cannon. Figuratively speaking of course, because literally speaking you'd
be talking about this guy - who was shot out of a cannon.
Cannon on right, catch-net in front of tent, human looking like a drone in the middle of pic.
154' traveled in the air, max height about 65' - ya just don't see this every day.
Anyway, back to the balloons - just before the race starts, we get a txt from Mrs @Roadie. The path of the balloons took
them right over our neighborhood. The only launch this year that came towards our homes.
And back to the race. It is billed as a mixed-surface, flat, and fast track. Mixed surface was field, to dirt service road, to dirt road, to paved road, to dirt service road, to runway.
It was not flat, but it wasn't horrible as the top of each uphill was visible from the bottom. You wouldn't think twice about
them on a bike, but running means a bunch of work to keep the speed up. Passed quite a few people on the uphill portions, and except
for the one fella that decided a sprint finish was in-order, nobody passed me except the guy pushing the stroller. Seriously -
he got caught up with the soft field, and after catching me in the first mile, i watched him picking-off runners one at a time into the distance.
Anyway - the goal was to break 25:00 which is an 8 minute mile. Ended up around 23:40, which is 7.5 minute pace.
Run cadence was right around 177 (just 1/2 it for the bike cadence) with a stride length of 1.2 meters - cadence is good,
i have no tech info on the stride length - i think it is short, so have work to do there.
Must have been a slow race, since i took 33rd of 400ish entries, and 2 of 18 in my age group, about 2 minutes back.
Guess I'll keep training....but with my klutzy riding skills, i'll need to stay off the bike in places like wildcat or the sourlands.
Too big a risk of injury. The kind that might not keep me from riding, but would make it tough to run.
And the parting shot.
Training plan for today called for an endurance run, rather than race effort.
Let's say i went off plan, so i jogged another 3.5 miles home from the airport.
Tally: 23:43 hours:minutes of running in the last 6 weeks. +bootcamp +somecycling = 46 hours total workout time. 147 miles of running.
The run predictor takes a race effort, in this case a 5k, and age, to puke-out a number.
I'm sure there has been improvement, since the 5k time was a PR even on mixed surface and rolling terrain.
The cool temps on Sunday morning didn't hurt.
Well, i'm not totally buying the run predictor extrapolation at this point. An 18 minute improvement after
6 weeks of training? Or is that just the big gain at the beginning for the zero-training to some actual structure?
Not for nothing, but the published qualifying time at my age for the Boston Marathon is 3:40.....(in reality it is more like 3:36, as they draw from the fastest in the pool)
Ha! I can dream.
The race:
Fun race on Sunday morning - about 400 participants lined-up at the Balloon Festival at Solberg Airport. Race start was 8am. It is a family event
so the kid and w1f3 arrived a few minutes after 7:00 to catch the morning balloon launch - they advertise the race as running during the launch, but that would be stupid, since the
runners couldn't watch, or if they did, a crit-like pile-up might ensue. They did have a few balloons tethered - which is a fun intro to a real balloon ride
if curious. I think it was $20 each for about 5 minutes.
Here are a few balloons leaving the airport.
They probably put 50ish in the air - the birthday cake, and baby trump were not there. But we did spot Elvis.
The flag was also new.
So we line up for the race, and the ground is soft. it isn't muddy, just grass covered soft. No big deal. Countdown
starts, and away we go - it's slow as the group tries to get going, and the people that have never run before, who
lined up in the front realize they are going to get trampled and move to the side, or not.
The guy who won went like he was shot out of cannon. Figuratively speaking of course, because literally speaking you'd
be talking about this guy - who was shot out of a cannon.
Cannon on right, catch-net in front of tent, human looking like a drone in the middle of pic.
154' traveled in the air, max height about 65' - ya just don't see this every day.
Anyway, back to the balloons - just before the race starts, we get a txt from Mrs @Roadie. The path of the balloons took
them right over our neighborhood. The only launch this year that came towards our homes.
And back to the race. It is billed as a mixed-surface, flat, and fast track. Mixed surface was field, to dirt service road, to dirt road, to paved road, to dirt service road, to runway.
It was not flat, but it wasn't horrible as the top of each uphill was visible from the bottom. You wouldn't think twice about
them on a bike, but running means a bunch of work to keep the speed up. Passed quite a few people on the uphill portions, and except
for the one fella that decided a sprint finish was in-order, nobody passed me except the guy pushing the stroller. Seriously -
he got caught up with the soft field, and after catching me in the first mile, i watched him picking-off runners one at a time into the distance.
Anyway - the goal was to break 25:00 which is an 8 minute mile. Ended up around 23:40, which is 7.5 minute pace.
Run cadence was right around 177 (just 1/2 it for the bike cadence) with a stride length of 1.2 meters - cadence is good,
i have no tech info on the stride length - i think it is short, so have work to do there.
Must have been a slow race, since i took 33rd of 400ish entries, and 2 of 18 in my age group, about 2 minutes back.
Guess I'll keep training....but with my klutzy riding skills, i'll need to stay off the bike in places like wildcat or the sourlands.
Too big a risk of injury. The kind that might not keep me from riding, but would make it tough to run.
And the parting shot.
Training plan for today called for an endurance run, rather than race effort.
Let's say i went off plan, so i jogged another 3.5 miles home from the airport.
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Chicago Marathon: 10/7/2018 Goal: 3:59:59 Current Run predictor: 3:48:59
Haven't done any races to update the run predictor, but I did have a nice half marathon embedded in one of my workouts.
around 1:57 - not bad for a non-race situation, and is sub-9 minutes miles.
As mentioned in the podcast, the training plan is very similar to the framework @Norm put forth - Monday rest, Tue/Wed/Thur - interval or other hard efforts, Fri/Sat cross train or go easy, Sunday volume. I've skipped the last two volume days. I feel badly about that, but it is what it is. And yeah, fartleks are there, as well as tempo and threshold work. The downhills are not less work, but at least the pace is more betterer
Hardest part of training is not over-pacing, which would torpedo the next day(s) workout(s) - Feeling good on Wednesday after Tuesday's intervals, and doing the recovery effort faster than endurance pace probably means Thursday is going to be a disappointment in holding tempo levels. Live and learn.
Alternate method of working out: The Kitten Method.
Go non-stop while awake, until passed out. Repeat.
Oh, It was new shoe day!
Had to add the second pair into the rotation. I knew this was necessary, but didn't buy them straight away. Luckily, I didn't because that would have resulted in two pairs of the same shoes. After a bit of reading, the shoes should be different, because at the micro-level, they will work the muscles differently.
The recommendation is to retire the shoes from running after 500 miles, and that they need at least 24 hours to recover after a workout. Both drying, and recovery of the cushioning material. Ok, for the price, I'll drink the lemonade.
Note the matchy-matchy speed laces. New Balance 880V7. Laces need to be trimmed, but will get to that when i grab some shrink material to replace the aglets.
New shoe day is not at all like new bike day. Maybe if i was a seasoned runner, and needed to fill a gap in the shoe collection?
Basically walk into a store, explain that the goal is endurance, and that my foot is shaped like a US10.5 slice of pizza.
Out come a few boxes, try them on, and pick the one that is comfy. No comfy, no buy. Read reviews afterwards.
What is the cost of a mistake? well running shoes in this class seem to run from $70 -> $160 a pair.
I've put about 250 miles on the first pair in 9 weeks. I have one more pair coming from Amazon that are
considered race shoes - they are cushioned, weigh in at a couple ounces less per foot, and are less durable.
Riding my mtb today with the FunFriday group ft. @sarcaro. Mooch North. I'll go easy, no chances.
Haven't done any races to update the run predictor, but I did have a nice half marathon embedded in one of my workouts.
around 1:57 - not bad for a non-race situation, and is sub-9 minutes miles.
As mentioned in the podcast, the training plan is very similar to the framework @Norm put forth - Monday rest, Tue/Wed/Thur - interval or other hard efforts, Fri/Sat cross train or go easy, Sunday volume. I've skipped the last two volume days. I feel badly about that, but it is what it is. And yeah, fartleks are there, as well as tempo and threshold work. The downhills are not less work, but at least the pace is more betterer
Hardest part of training is not over-pacing, which would torpedo the next day(s) workout(s) - Feeling good on Wednesday after Tuesday's intervals, and doing the recovery effort faster than endurance pace probably means Thursday is going to be a disappointment in holding tempo levels. Live and learn.
Alternate method of working out: The Kitten Method.
Go non-stop while awake, until passed out. Repeat.
Oh, It was new shoe day!
Had to add the second pair into the rotation. I knew this was necessary, but didn't buy them straight away. Luckily, I didn't because that would have resulted in two pairs of the same shoes. After a bit of reading, the shoes should be different, because at the micro-level, they will work the muscles differently.
The recommendation is to retire the shoes from running after 500 miles, and that they need at least 24 hours to recover after a workout. Both drying, and recovery of the cushioning material. Ok, for the price, I'll drink the lemonade.
Note the matchy-matchy speed laces. New Balance 880V7. Laces need to be trimmed, but will get to that when i grab some shrink material to replace the aglets.
New shoe day is not at all like new bike day. Maybe if i was a seasoned runner, and needed to fill a gap in the shoe collection?
Basically walk into a store, explain that the goal is endurance, and that my foot is shaped like a US10.5 slice of pizza.
Out come a few boxes, try them on, and pick the one that is comfy. No comfy, no buy. Read reviews afterwards.
What is the cost of a mistake? well running shoes in this class seem to run from $70 -> $160 a pair.
I've put about 250 miles on the first pair in 9 weeks. I have one more pair coming from Amazon that are
considered race shoes - they are cushioned, weigh in at a couple ounces less per foot, and are less durable.
Riding my mtb today with the FunFriday group ft. @sarcaro. Mooch North. I'll go easy, no chances.
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You mean it's not really "fluglebinder"?!? Lol