Texas court of appeals rules against the state's child protection agency.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
58 days.
Sorry guys. I'm probably going to bore you with my training updates, but that's all I really have time for writing about these days. I've had a good recovery since Sunday's century. Not sore except for the neck/back area that I'll have my chiro take a look at next Tuesday. Had Monday off and then Tuesday's swim was good, followed by a 40 minute recovery bike -- which I shortened from 1:30. Yesterday, however, was a key day. It was the longest weekday workout of the 36-week program: 1:15 of running and 1:45 of biking. Again, that's weekday. The upcoming weekend workouts will be monsters as usual. But I did all of yesterday's workouts and feel really good about it. Today's an hour swim followed by a 1:10 run at the track, though I'll probably do it in reverse so I can cool down in the pool a bit.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Sweat N Spring Century
I did my first century on Sunday -- a 100 mile bike ride through the towns and farmlands of upstate NY. The most I'd ever ridden before was 57 miles, so I was a bit antsy about this ride. It ended up being a great experience and a necessary ride to help me get some confidence on the road to Lake Placid. But the day wasn't without its miserable parts.
The ride started at 8 a.m. and about 30 of us showed up. There was a metric century (62 miles) that most people signed up for. Around eight of us signed up for the 100. After a debriefing by the organizer, we set out. We rode in a pack for the first few miles, then the faster ones took off ahead. I rode with three people for the first 20 miles and we chatted a little bit. There were two older gentlemen, maybe in their 60s, and a woman, all of whom seemed like seasoned cyclists, though not necessarily competitive. We came across the first of three aid stations at mile 28, and after that I was on my own.
I have to say, there's alot of nice scenery in upstate NY, but there are also alot of bizarre neighborhoods. You'll sometimes see a very nice home situated right next door to a mobile home. And you may even come across neighborhoods that have half nice homes and half mobile homes. The ride for the most part was quite flat and scenic. We went around Saratoga Lake and aid station #2 was at mile 60 thereabouts. It was then things started going a bit haywire. I apparently got lost around mile 62. I missed one of the bright-orange arrows on the road and kept going straight for a few miles. I realized my error and headed back -- only to not recognize one house, landmark, road or sign as I doubled back. When I came to an intersection I called the race director, who told me which way to turn. Incredibly, as I rode back down the exact same road I'd just double-backed from, there was nothing familiar. It was as if the same road switched homes and trees and scenery on each of my travels down it. Twilight Zone stuff. But I found the way I needed to go. It started raining at that point -- just sprinkles which was fine. But it soon turned into real rain and I started getting soaked.
It was a bit of dangerous riding at that point and I learned to not brake with my back wheel in wet conditions since I was fishtailing. Instead, I had to brake with my front wheel. The road glistened from the rain and I missed another arrow and went off course. I stopped at the next country store to get my bearings and to buy coffee since I was soaked and absolutely freezing that point. I was at mile 88 and my bike computer had failed -- I don't know if it was the rain or what. As I shivered in the warmth of the store, drinking my coffee and plundering a bag of Nerds (I couldn't gobble them fast enough), I decided to call Rachel to see if she could pick me up. I didn't like the prospect of risking hypothermia plus collisions with cars on the wet road in order to get a mere 12 miles more in the bag. I thought of finishing it later in the day, but realized that was unrealistic. In the end, I was ready to call it a day. I had plenty of gas in me -- my body felt fine, but the cold and wet conditions didn't appeal to me. Rachel, bless her, got my mind back on track.
"Awww, sweetie," she cooed. "Are you OK?"
"Yes honey."
"Do you want me to come get you?"
"Yes please."
"Do you still want to marry me?"
"Um, yes, why?"
"Then be a good boy and bike the rest of the 12 miles."
"Um...."
"There's a good boy..."
"Um..."
[click]
"Hello?"
Ok, it didn' go exactly like that. Instead, Rachel encouraged me to continue and offered to bring me some warm clothes and a rain jacket, which was something I hadn't even thought of. I asked her to meet me at a friend's a couple miles away. I called the race director and said I was going to finish the ride pretty much on my own -- the goal for me really was about getting 100 miles in, not finishing where the finish line was. I asked the store cashier for a garbage bag so I could make a poncho. She'd already served me coffee, Nerds, a sandwich she clearly had never made a customer before (one without meat) and had seen me standing there in the store in my wet clothes munching away staring forlornly at the rain with my big helmet on for about 15 minutes. Now I was asking her for a garbage bag. I made holes for my head and arms, walked out into the rain and jumped on the bike. After about a mile of pedaling I warmed up and started feeling really good again. The poncho worked absolute wonders -- not only did it hold off the rain, but it blocked some of the wind, which tends to be the real problem when cycling in cold weather. I was in such a rhythm by this point that I cycled past the house where I was to meet Rachel and kept riding for home. I called her and said I'd meet her at the apartment, where I jumped into a hot bath that she drew and sipped some beers.
Did I ride the full 100? Maybe -- I'll have to drive over the last few miles of the route I took and measure it. Did I feel I gathered plenty of experience in my ability to bike a long distance? Yes, for sure. I developed soreness in my right knee on the ride and problems with my back while being in aero so long, but it's stuff I can recover from. The interesting thing was: miles 40-70 were probably the most difficult for me. But after 75 to 80, I got a second wind and felt I could've kept going for quite a long time. Lake Placid is a far hillier course than what I did, and I'll need to run a marathon afterwards. I'm definitely not ready yet, but I've got exactly two months to get there so I'm not in a bad place right now.
Checking in the morning of the ride.
Riding with three other cyclists in the early miles.
A few from the aero bars.
A quick pit stop.
Geese crossing the road around mile 55.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Satellite Map of Binza
An overhead view of the Binza district in Kinshasa. A prize to anyone who can find our compound -- I feel I've gotten close but haven't been able to pinpoint it yet.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Road to Ironman: Competitive Week 4
I'm finding the weekend workouts to be a major measure of where I'm at fitness-wise. The weekday workouts have been focused more on going anaerobic and I'm noticing massive improvements in my fitness when I go long on the weekends. I biked 3 hours on Saturday -- 2 hours 20 outside and 40 on my trainer -- and followed it up with a 30 minute transition run which did wonders for my confidence. The 12-mile long run yesterday felt almost effortless. This week is a recovery week which calls for 12 hours total volume.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
A Close Look at the Colossal Squid
Close encounters with the colossal squid. Not to be confused with the giant squid.
Monday, May 05, 2008
15th Annual SSYMCA Triathlon
The 15th annual YMCA "Anyone Can Tri" triathlon was yesterday morning and it was a really fun race. It was a 375 swim, 10 mile bike and 3.2 run. I came in 14th last year and though I was aiming for top 5 yesterday I came in 6th overall and 3rd in my age group -- my first ever "award" finish in a race that I didn't help organize! Ha ha. My prize is a running cap with the race logo which I'll collect at the Y later today.
This was Rachel's first triathlon and she did a great job. She'd only just borrowed a bike a couple days before from a friend and was nervous about the race. Her goal simply was to not come last, and she ended up doing much better: 69th place (not 70th as results indicated earlier!) out of 90 participants in the individual event.
The swim was a snake-like swim up and down the lanes in the YMCA pool, with athletes jumping in every 20 seconds or so. You had to give your estimated swim time ahead of time so they could seed you properly, and I actually overestimated my time by about 40 seconds and almost got passed on the last lap. I was head to head with the eventual winner at the first transition, trailed him a bit on the bike for the first couple miles and then never saw him again. The bike ride was probably the nicest ride I've ever been on in a race. It was different from last year and took us through some really nice neighborhoods and over a small land bridge with a great view of the river. The weather was overcast and a bit misty which made the feel of the morning really nice. While the bike portion was advertised as 10 miles, my bike computer measured it at 10.82. I pushed the whole way and ended up with an average of over 20 mph on the bike, though I'd been hoping to be faster.
I transitioned quickly for the run and set out, not knowing where I was in the overall placement but knowing I was definitely with the frontrunners. My feet felt heavy though -- as if my shoes were waterlogged. In every tri I've done, during every run, a little voice inside my head starts piping up, saying: slow down, stop, rest, take it easy, just quit. The more races I do though, the less it happens because I think I've learned more and more to keep pushing through it. But it came up again on the run in the early stages and I realized I just needed to keep pushing. I didn't even feel I was going that fast but when I saw my time later I realized I'd set a new PR at that distance: 22:32 over 3.2 miles for a 7:02 pace. This was a far better pace than at the Delmar Dash last month.
I felt good coming into the finish, then pulled out my camera and waited for Rachel to come in. Her heat had started an hour after mine so I charged my camera in the meantime and took my bike and things back to the car. I have to say, while this race was well organized, there weren't many spectators. It's a shame because it's a great community race. There were plenty of volunteers on the course and plenty of markers. Police and firefighters manned the bigger intersections and not once did I feel I had to contend with traffic. I got to see Rachel come in off the bike and set out for the run. She handed me her cell phone, which made me laugh -- I half expect her to do the next race wearing her headset.
There were some funny things that happened thoughout the day as well. My first story begins when I was going to the bathroom at the Y before the race and saw a 10 or 11 year old boy in there washing his hands. He had on the bright orange vest and reflector coat of a volunteer. I said "hello!" and asked him if he was doing the kids race. He sighed, saying he was in fact "a director." Oh, I said. Of the kids race? Another sigh. "Of the adult race." Clearly, the organization of the entire race rested on this child's shoulders, and he was out to let me know it. Later, as I rounded a corner on the run, I saw our young martyr once again, standing poised at the bottom of a slight hill, arm outstretched at a perfect 160 degree angle, pointing his crisply-ironed orange flag up the rise where runners needed to go. "Thank you!" I yelled as I passed. No reply. He was too busy carrying the burden of not only the entire race on his back -- but the entire world.
I jest, sort of, but it's something I notice from time to time at races: very highly-strung people, whether athletes, volunteers or parents. I can understand the stress that can be involved in a variety of roles, but all too often people create unnecessary drama over their involvement. Another case in point was an athlete who ended up doing very very well in the race. During the debrief in the morning by an organizer, I couldn't tell if this athlete was another organizer or simply someone determined to control the flow of information. He kept trying to clarify things the organizer said. In line before the swim start, he was adamant that one of the swimmers was not swimming the route correctly. And then came the funniest part for me: in transition 1, when one of the volunteers came over and offered to help him with his shirt, he screamed "Don't touch me! Don't touch me!" Yes, you can earn a time penalty if someone assists you during a race, and maybe this volunteer didn't know it, but to yell like that -- especially at a tiny community event like this with only 90 participants? Come on. It's not a championship race with money and one's livelihood on the line. Maybe that sort of controlling attitude is what makes him such a good athlete -- but I know athletes who are low-key and cool and do just as well, if not better. For the record, this guy seemed to know everyone at the event -- including the guy he yelled at -- and was friendly with them all. Just very high-strung.
Another fun part of the day was watching the kids' race. They were very cute and supported by lots of -- guess what? -- controlling parents! Ha ha. Actually everyone seemed really cool. I took some pics.
The kids' swim starts. There were 77 participants -- almost as many as the adults.
Love the spaghetti float.
The bikes were smaller and more colorful in this race.
Most parents walked alongside their kids.
This little guy had a USAT sticker on his tricycle -- and his bib was #1!
Awwww, he forgot to take his helmet off for the run.
This guy had no kids in the race but was committed to yelling at them all...
Super Race Systems, which provided the timing chips, were at the race I helped organize two years ago in Lake George. Really nice people.
A fun day.
Our times were:
Rachel
Swim: 10:06
Bike: 47:46
Run: 32:51
Overall time: 1:30:42
Overall place: 69
Chris
Swim: 5:42
Bike: 32:53
Run: 22:32
Overall time: 1:01:06
Overall place: 6
Transition times haven't been made available yet, if there are any. Looking forward to the next race.
Sunday, May 04, 2008
Update: Rachel came in at an impressive 1:30:42, for a 70th place finish. Nowhere near last place which she feared.
Update: Official results are in and Rachel came in 69th place -- one better!
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