It’s Father’s Day and only 5 weeks before my first triathlon of the season. When I made my race calendar I committed to doing the Olympic Distance at the Inaugural Muskoka 5150. While I never posted it in the blog, I had a loosely structured framework in mind that would allow me to be flexible enough to get to where I needed to be fitness-wise for the race.
I am nowhere close. I won’t get upset: as they say, you can’t get upset at the results you got from the work you didn’t do (or something like that). The usual thing to do is look at why you didn’t live up to your plan and figure out what excuses you were making or whatever kept you from making your commitments. There is another point of possible failure though: maybe the plan wasn’t right for you and wasn’t really realistic.
It’s enough to make me want to throw in the towel on the whole season and say: “Next year I’m getting a coach, maybe online, with a daily plan that I have to stick to.” There are so many resources and training methods out there – maybe a Master’s Swim Group, plus a Cycling Club etc. etc..
I’m not going to do that, though. Why? Because of my father (you didn’t think I was coming back around to Father’s Day did you?), that’s why. I always wanted to be like my father. He was an Olympic level rower at one point, and he always stayed in good shape with tennis, cycling, cross-country skiing and probably a bunch of other stuff I can’t think of at this hour. He was a the kind of guy who could up and run 3 miles without getting sore the next day, in spite of not having run in several months. A natural athlete – so strike one on my chances to be like him.
He handled so many household repairs and duties himself; taking as good care of his home as he did his body. I already pay more people to do work for me than I’d strictly like, but I’m not giving up my passion and hobby to a professional. During a time of extreme stress in exams, my father told me: “Your brain hasn’t failed you yet.” So I’m going to keep doing things my way – DIY training is still the Iron Rogue way.
We lost my father to melanoma in 2000; and not a day goes by that I don’t miss him or think about him. I doubt I’ll PR at any races this year, but Shark Boy tells me he loves me every day (in both English and German), and so does the Lightning Kid (with his eyes). That’s worth more to me than any medal I could ever get.
And… not for nothing, but today I did a 1500m Open Water swim with about a 2:20/100m pace; that’s my second best pace for Olympic Distance Tri.
It’s been so long… I really shouldn’t have let it get this far… I don’t know if there’s even a point anymore… I don’t even know how I’m going to get started again…
These are the kind of thoughts that run through your head when you’ve been absent from something you’ve been meaning to do regularly, and it’s the same whether we’re talking about exercise or writing a blog. It’s almost worse in this case, since the blog is mostly about exercise and training.
I’ve had a long hiatus from both, and I don’t feel good about it. I’m not going to dwell on why it happened, it’s in the past. I was able to get back into exercising easier than back into blogging, but I think the key is the same in both cases, like Nike tells us: Just Do It. Don’t overanalyze how to make your grand return, just start with something.
Without further ado, let me tell you about my weekend workout. A group of people from Jiu-Jitsu have commited to doing the Spartan Sprint and I’m one of them. Having a group training day seemed appealing so it was scheduled for this past Sunday at High Park in Toronto. The way we structured our workout was to do sets of 5 minute runs (each led by a different individual). After the run, we did a Pyramid of Squats, Lunges and Pushups:
For my run, we did Burbathlon jumping over and on picnic tables and benches and ducking under railings and signs. We also did some hill work and sprints. Overall, we got very tired, very hot and very proud of ourselves.
I brought the whole family along to High Park; Shark Boy played on the playground and the Lightning Kid had a nap. On my last run I tried carrying Shark Boy along – he was game but once I wasn’t able to keep up with the group, I seemed to run out of steam. We finished off the workout with some ab work (just because) and it turned into a lovely day… especially for ice cream.
Now that I’ve broken the seal on blog posts, hopefully I can get back into the full swing of things.
We can’t help but notice these new upstart obstacle course races with their mud pits and hay bales and whathaveyou. That’s fine. two can play that game. Here’s what we’ve visualized throwing at you: pole vaulting, hang gliding, weaponized anthrax, tickling past the point of being funny, forcible tattooing, landmines, Scrabble with somebody who takes forever and then plays a three letter word, talking about feelings, poison blowdarts, and listening to people overpronunciate foreign words because they visited some place two years ago. Or maybe we’re just going to come at you with the oldest form of athletics: chasing living things through natural spaces.
–from the 5 Peaks pre-race bulletin.
My first entry in the 2012 Race Calendar is in the books! Plan A was to have the whole family come along, but fate intervened and the Lightning Kid ended up in the emergency room at 4AM. While that sounds like enough of a catastrophe to not race, he was in good hands with his mother and the staff, and it ended up only being croup (he’s already doing much better), so after I dropped off Shark Boy at his grandmother’s place, I was off to the race(s).
It’s a shame they couldn’t be there, because one of the first things I noticed upon arrival was how family friendly the venue was. Being a park, there was lots of open space for kids (and dogs, on leashes) to run around in without worrying about cars and traffic. They had set up a bouncy castle and there were clowns making balloon animals.
Due to all the extra drama I went through trying to get to the race, I was late getting there. I missed the kids’ 1k foot race, but had enough time to get my bib attached and run my race kit back to my car. The race goodies were limited to a small sport bag filled with a ClifShot and ClifBar. That may seem meagre but I’ll use everything in that bag, and it keeps my post-race clean-up duties to a minimum. My office is littered with race kit goodies like pamphlets for races that have long come and gone… I can get most of that stuff on the internet.
At the starting line, they organized the racers in waves that would depart whenever the preceding wave had hit the line of the forest (about 150-200m). Both the Sport Course (5km which I was doing) and the Enduro Course (12.7km) I was still getting myself sorted out when the first two waves were being described and organized, so I didn’t take them, but I figured I’d rather err on the side of caution and be in a later wave. I heard something along the line of a “26 minute 5k time” and that sounded about right… for a regular 5k on fairly flat roads. Still I was chomping at the bit by that point, and off I went.
The first part of the race across the field and into the forest felt a lot like a road race. A crowd of smiling faces, and you take your time while the traffic is still thick. Then, the Escapment’s rocky terrain asserted itself, and you had to stop sight-seeing and concentrate on what rock or root to step on, or not step on, while making sure that your fellow racers didn’t have the exact same spot at the exact same time in mind as a place to put their own feet. While that sounds stressful, it was that kind of mental engagement I was looking for in a trail race; headphones are prohibited for safety reasons, and in this case, I could totally see why.
I imagine some people would argue that running should be a chance for them to put their brains on coast for a while and take a break from the demands of work, but unless you’re a secret agent or play video games for a living, I’d argue that this kind of mental stimulation is quite refreshing. I found it to be a lot of fun.
If you were willing to risk a look up from the terrain, you were rewarded with some nice views, as the Sport race course seemed to follow a ridge line of the escarpment. Still, I tried not to waste much time since I was hoping to finish the race as fast as I could, even without any concrete estimates on what my time would be.
One of the many lookouts
According to what I heard on race day, what makes this race unique is the rockiness of the trail. Often we were leaping across 3 foot gaps between boulders, or clambering over waist high rocks to get to where we were going. Doing things like box jumps in Burbathlon really helped me get on top of these. Of course, there were also good old fashioned hills to climb.
I need to find a way to capture ‘steepness’ photographically.
I’d always been mere inches away from a cold the past few weeks, and taking a hydration pack along proved to be a good idea, since I seem to need more than average levels of fluids lately, and I’m always starting short on them. I’m proud of the effort level I kept up, since I had a kind of light burning in my lungs with my heart rate averaging around 83% (see below) and a finish time of under 30 minutes.
Finisher’s Victory Face
Post race snacks included chocolate chip cookies, bagels, pita, watermelon and banana. I got a chance to look at and try some Salomon shoes from the demo tent. The Salomon staff were well informed and it looks like my next pair of shoes (to be bought sooner rather than later) will be a pair of Salomon XR Missions
Here’s my Garmin data from race day:
And, Get Out There Magazine did a video race report that sums the event up quite nicely:
At the start of April, I started running with a group. We’ve got a program to follow that is geared to take a 5k runner to 10k, or improve 5k time/performance.
I’m glad to be following a structured program. I’ve come out against training in groups before, mainly because I feel hampered in my ability to make ‘appointments’ to train, and I wouldn’t want to keep anyone waiting, but in this case, the group heads out at lunchtime on Mondays and Wednesdays so that fits into my regular schedule just fine.
There are a lot of benefits to running woth others (either a partner or two, or a group):
Making a date. When they’re expecting you, you’re less likely to make excuses and skip a training session.
Socializing. Birds of a feather flock together, after all. Meeting with other runners gives us a chance to trade tips, share goals, commiserate about our aches and pains, and achieve human connections that may be hard to come by in today’s world. That’s something your iPod can’t do (on the other hand there’s probably an app for that…). Speaking of iPods, it’s a good idea to practice running without music if you’re doing an event that doesn’t allow headphones like a triathlon or some trail runs. You don’t want to be dependent on the music…
Staying on target. That 8k you’re supposed to run today? With a group, you’ll not only show up to do it, but run the amount you’re supposed to. No more, no less. Not slacking off, not overdoing it just because today, you think you can.
Safety. If you get hurt or something else happens that interferes in your ability to complete your run, your buddies have your back.
And yet, for all this, I’m noticing a few drawbacks…
Pacing. If the pace you want to hit doesn’t match at least one other person, you’re pretty much running by yourself again, and wishing you had your iPod on you after all…
Whiners. I guess some people just like to complain, but listen: we’re all doing the same run in the same weather and voluntarily. No one’s got a gun to your head… Though the way some people carry on I’m not as sure. I actually like to think I could be held at gunpoint with greater stoicism than some people show when going out for a jog.
Lack of flexibility. Every group run is customized to the needs of an imaginary person: the aggregate/average of every member of the group. And that’s the best case scenario. You might not be getting the workout you need on this particular day, for your particular needs/goals/level. This is the flip-side to ‘Staying On Target’, I suppose.
Still with group sessions twice a week, I still have opportunities to run solo and therefore get the best of both worlds. What about you? Do you prefer running solo, or with company?
Healthy Tipping Point takes a good look at Obstacle Races (please don’t call them Adventure Races, that’s something else). Very thoughtful analysis, as usual.
Better with Veggies put up a great post about breaking into triathlon from starting as a runner. It’s how I got involved; I was already using swim and bike as cross-training, I loved pushing the envelope endurance-wise, but it was just too much running all the time, until I found a way to make it all work for me.
Speaking of breaking into triathlon, I was thumbing through my wife’s Chatelaine magazine when I saw this article. Yay for triathlon in the mainstream!
I hope everyone had a good Easter weekend! I was lucky to run into this blog post from Outside magazine, about how parents can train. Having a family makes training for running races or triathlons hard, but when your partner or spouse has their own goals, it can add yet another wrinkle.
Even though it’s my first trail run, this race doesn’t present an enormous challenge for me in terms of distance, while for her it’s really pushing the envelope for her current running ability. Due to my longer legs I am the faster runner of the two of us, but in the years since we had kids, the difference in our running fitness has grown. While parenting is tiring for dads, there’s no denying there’s a more direct physical toll on the moms. So when we finally got a chance to run together like we used to, how did we handle it?
We did this run together; it is only a little over 4k – so it doesn’t represent a long run for her, nor me, really. Our paces would be much different considering distance alone. What we ended up doing is she kept up a pace suitable for a recovery run (or even over-distance/endurance pace) while I did a mixture of extras to spike my heart rate from time to time. One trick was to stop for squats, push-ups or whatever Burbathlon-style. The problem became that my wife wasn’t quite slow enough for me to do too many reps without her catching up to me even when I had sprinted ahead. Which brings me to the other trick I used: Fartlek sprints, combined with either jogging back again or even backwards running, which uses opposing muscle groups to your run, and can be a way to cross-train and injury-proof your muscles. So to sum up, sprint ahead, stop for strength exercises till she catches up.
To me, this run together was some of the most fun I’ve had on a run in a long time; I missed my running buddy, and I kept myself highly amused with the extra exercises. To her, I bet it was a lot like taking a dog for a run… SQUIRREL!
After losing my Forerunner 305, I was this close to buying a Bluetooth capable HR strap and using my Blackberry for tracking permanently, but darn it if those Garmin people didn’t hook me back in with the Forerunner 910XT. After previous models that were called ‘waterproof’ (which in GPS language means “can get drops of water on it” unlike watch language where it means “submersible”), this one can really be used for swimming. It is in fact, useful as a swim computer.
Once I got to the pool, the first thing I did was turn the watch on, and turn of the GPS. They’ve made the menus more accessible than previously in my opinion, and GPS has its own menu so I can turn it off for indoor use quickly. Then, I had to switch modes to ‘Swim’ (from ‘Run’) if I recall; this was found under the Training menu, rather than Settings where I expected it, but I still found that an improvement – it keeps any one menu from getting too dense with choices. I programmed in a 25m pool, and started swimming.
I was a little pressed for time and stressed besides that, so I opted for a straight swim of 750m. By the time I had done 100m, I checked the distance tracker and it reported only 50m and I was thinking:”This will never work.” Still, by the time as I finished up my 30th length, sure enough, the readout showed 750m.
I was really interested to see what the data would show when I synched it, which it does wirelessly through a USB device the size of a thumb drive that you stick into your computer’s port. The sync happens automatically when you turn the watch back on near the computer, but the small delay before it happens always makes me wonder if I’m doing it right before I notice the transfer has started. The plugin software doesn’t have much in the way of dialog windows to let you know what’s happening.
Let me preface by saying I have no idea what happened toward the end there. I do, however, love how it recorded my number of strokes for each length. I always thought strokes should be counted with both arms but mechanically, it makes more sense for the watch to sense each time my left arm goes around. The numbers add up, since I’d put my 25m stroke count around 25-26 (counting both left and right), and this workout shows an average of 13 (counting only the left). It also shows my pace per 100m throughout the workout; might be very interesting during more structured workouts.
The last graph is about efficiency; there’s a metric called SWOLF which wasn’t easy to find the definition for (Google let me down for specifics), but ultimately, the connect.garmin.com websites help buttons defined it as stroke count+time to complete 25m. I’m really interested in this one, as every time I’ve tried to reduced the number of strokes, I’ve used more power on each stroke to absolutely no effect; though I’m probably completing the 25m in less time. Playing with SWOLF will let me optimize my swim for energy spent and how fast I can complete the distance.
So far so good for the Garmin Forerunner 910XT. I should mention that the HR monitor (while waterproof) does not work in the water, which is a shame. Though meaningful benchmarks for what heart-rate should be while swimming are hard to come by due to the difference the water pressure and cooling make on your cardiovascular system, I wouldn’t mind being able to compare workouts as the season progresses and knowing how my perceived exertion on a workout maps to the relative heart-rate actually produced.
I’ll be reviewing the 910XT’s features for biking and running in future posts. Stay tuned! Feel free to take a better look at the data by clicking the image below.
I just wanted to highlight that I wrote an article for Heidi Murphy’s Balance Project Blog’s Canadian Blogger Series. The series has had weekly articles from healthy living/fitness bloggers across our fair country, and yours truly signed up to represent Ontario (though not exclusively). Check the series out, there’s some great posts about what other provinces are like for the active/healthy/outdoorsy types.
Also, if you haven`t checked out my other blog The Adventures of the Lightning Kid I`d love it if you gave it a read. I don`t talk about it that much online, but I am a father to a baby born with Trisomy 21 also known as Down Syndrome. In the blog I use a fairy tale setting to talk about the emotional truths of life with a child with Down Syndrome (DS for short), if not the literal truths. As I’m fond of saying: the stories aren`t real, but they are true.
I’ll be back soon with regularly scheduled programming 😉
Last week I got a chance to do not one, but two Burbathlons, and I tried a few new things.
On Tuesday the weather was warm enough for shorts (in March! in Toronto!) so off I went. I had a water-bottle belt packed, but I’d been missing the bottle itself and I figured I’d hydrated enough in the morning to not need anything along the way… WRONG!
I found my mouth parched fairly soon after starting. I ended up doing a little extra hill work with a climb straight up the Centennial Park Ski hill and another going up the service road (in addition to the hill that takes me out of the Etobicoke Creek Valley to the park, and the berm near Eglinton road. I mixed in some squats, single-leg squats, push-ups, spiderman crawls and sprints (not necessarily in that order) into the overall run. I also took the opportunity to start to prepare for the Spartan Race by practicing some jiu-jitsu rolls.
Jiu-Jitsu practices a lot of break-falling to avoid being hurt when being thrown, but at higher levels you can use them to dive over obstacles and land in a roll. Unfortunately I’m so rusty that I was mostly practicing them in the grass from a walk. Still, if I keep up the practice, maybe I’ll pull one off on race day.
For Friday’s workout, I swore I’d be better hydrated. Pulling off random jumps and strength exercises (never mind jiu-jitsu rolls) with a bottle in the small of my back didn’t seem too comfortable, but it gave me a chance to try out a piece of equipment I bought last season with this sort of thing in mind…
Salomon hydration packs seem to get good reviews (and I’ll write up and post my own soon enough)… I liked the idea of this one not only for hydration, but as a good way to have extra pockets for gadgets like my phone, camera, iPod, whatever. Pockets are always hard to find on running gear, don’t you think? I decided not to do rolls while wearing it though, since the hydration bladder might burst.
Speaking of gadgets, this was the first outing with the new Garmin Forerunner 910XT. I’d lost my Forerunner 305, and I think I bought the new one out of some kind of bout of self-pity/retail therapy. After the workout I joked with someone that my dirty little secret is that I’m only into multi-sport fitness for the toys. Yet another gear review post for me to write, but I will say that I got up and running with it without having spent a lot of time to set it up beforehand.
The other bit of gear I stuffed into the vest pockets was a skipping rope. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m interested in some of the benefits barefoot/natural running has to offer without being willing to go ‘all-in’ on the craze. This video really caught my attention:
What struck me is that he’s actually going pretty fast and his technique looks much closer to ‘normal’ running than most stuff I’ve seen. I have real problems not heel striking even when I’m actively working on this sort of thing, but I loved the idea of using the jump-rope to implement the ‘natural’ stride, so I gave it a try for around 100m or so on this workout.
With the spring coming, I’m looking forward to doing more Burbathlon workouts, and maybe getting some of my own video to share.
Some Good Reads for Your Web-surfing (do we still call it that?) pleasure:
Over at Healthy Tipping Point, Caitlin witnessed a (Modern) Pentathlon and did a nice little write-up of this multi-sport anomaly.
This season has been lousy for snow and skiing, but still I enjoy reading about it from time to time. Here’s an article about the Birkebeiner cross-country ski race in Wisconsin from Outside Magazine. They even go over how you can prepare for the race (training, nutrition and general skiing guidelines).
I now realize I’m sourcing two articles from Outside (from the same author even!). Here they talk about the benefits of triathlon to health and fitness in general, and why this is a great time for the sport.
