Training Log Archive: 'Bent

More light geek stuff- I spoke with Eric at Night Lightning.
They can make the 1000 lumen Mini-Blaast with the controller in the head or remote controller. It can be made for 7V or 14V, but the 14V is more efficient.

There's a mini Quad available that is up to 1300 lumens, but it needs 14-18V.

They are working on the headband, and I saw pics of the prototype.

Also, if several folks here order some they are willing to do a discount.

No financial interest, yada yada.

C • Battery Voltages.... 9

Workout #1. Felt good- serious blasting today.

Bulletdog and I donned our "Not a Turkey" outfits and ran over to Palgrave East. (Hideous lime green with a red hat for me, and orange vest and leash for the pooch.)

The blue trail is almost under the water table on the North East bit- very soggy. We did a tour of the Reddington Fields over to the rail trail too, where we skied with Tiny.

Legs feel quick.

C • Skied with Tiny 2

Evening run home- only needed the headlamp at the end.

After driving to work and back. Sigh.

I was in the garage with Bulletdog getting ready to bike to work when I heard a very loud Boom. It got Bash out of bed and running downstairs too- we thought the neighbour's propane blew up or something. We called them, and they didn't explode. Our guess is unauthorized turkey hunting going on, *very* close to our house or their property. No trails for Bulletdog today, so I booted it down the roads.

@#%*. All I need now is for the trails to be off limits due to stupidity.

C • stupidity 3

Funny article in the paper-
"Caledon Runners Compete in Boston-
Richard Ehrlich is top Caledon Runner."


Makes it sound like I'm the top runner in Caledon, not the top runner of the small group that happened to go, unless you read the whole article:)

The online version didn't have the subtitle.
http://www.caledonenterprise.com/sports/article/68...

C • Famous! 1

A little longer route home.

Rail trail with Bash, Goose and Leanimal, meeting up with LD and Gosling near Inglewood. First decent ride of the year. Let's see how my knee feels tomorrow.

We'd planned some singletrack, but the skies looked menacing so we headed home after walking the dogs and biked while it poured, howled and hailed out. Some 1'intervals, some tempo.

Commute, + extra hill intervals on the way home via Pond Hill. Bulletdog also got extra swims in.

Workout #3 and some extra front row work.

Now this guy's breaking the law- Of Physics.

Watch past the first couple of minutes.

C • Wow 1

I got the 'bent re-tooled by Gandalf, and had my first commute of the year.
Bulletdog was thrilled.

Hillier route back home. This year's mods to the 'bent make it stronger, stiffer, simpler, and it emits a manly growl in low gears for some reason.

C • Growl 1

Balancing poses and hamstring stretchy things were pretty pathetic on post-marathon legs.

I had hopes of getting in a workout or biking to work, but all I managed was a spin to loosen up some sore legs.

Not a lot of zip today for sure- feeling the run still.

C • lights 25

Boston marathon with Superwes.
My cold finally eased off!
Rocky the homeless waif joined us at 6:15 to get the shuttle to the
"athlete's village".


What a zoo! We enjoyed pre-race LD cookies there. Not so much the 20 minute porta-potty lines.



The start featured a flyover by F15s, then a 3 min.
shuffle to the mat,


and Supe and I were off. The plan was to have fun and enjoy the day. We ran an an easy first 5mi, and a steady pace for the whole easier first half, saving legs for the dreaded hills from mi 15-20, and a faster final 5.


Among the total zoo we found Harper after we stopped for a pee break.
There was time to take pictures, and Wes kept us right on pace.



I lost my gel flask, so I had to grab orange slices and fill my bottle with Gatorade. Crowds were insane , kids high- fiving, college girls blowing kisses and screaming.


In the second half I cranked it up on the flats to keep on sched after
slower climbs, and Wes fell back a bit. I saw Bash and gave her a kiss, (ruining her photo op to her horror).

I ran my HR up the surprisingly feeble hills and finished Heartbreak right on target. My legs felt great so I put the hammer down, and passed loads of folks who went out too hard.


I had my 3 fastest splits here and had to rein it in when my HR got too high, unlike previous marathons when my legs were pooched by the end.

I ended up with a negative split in 3:17:58, a few minutes ahead of
the plan, and I felt like my legs wanted to keep going for miles.
I guess few people have a good second half for Boston, from what I hear.
The well-paced first half (Thanks SW) definitely helped make it feel easier.

The finish process was long, slow, packed and cold, but certainly an
experience. It was fun to run the first part with SW, and to see our
buddies Crash, Rocky and Harper, who all had great races.

C • congrats! 11

Sniff, sneeze, take of gloves and mask, blow nose, scrub up, hand-san, dry up, re-glove, re-mask, try to ignore headache, emit pitiful sigh.

About 100 sets.

C • Good Luck.. 5

C • Sub 3:18! 8

Hacked all night- looks like I'm getting a chest cold or something.

Yep, sick as a dog. 6 days to recover.

C • Argghh! 9

Time to start road training for Boston. :) Bulletdog and I had a surprisingly fast run on roads and trail around home- the legs feel good.

C • When is Boston? 6

Workout #3 + extra shoulders.

GRR with Bash and Rocky.
This was technically my long run before the Boston Marathon next week (and my second long run of the year). Rocky's tapering for Boston too, and Bash hasn't run much since her last Marathon. The plan was: no towing, no taking chances running on ankle-twisting terrain, no hammering the knees and muscles.
Much of our route wasn't run-able anyway, so it was a pretty modest physical effort, but unusually long, with long nav sections.

Bash's nav was pretty much dead on, I was actually able to help nav a bit, and Rocky can follow a faint trail like a bloodhound. We wasted some time on the Walk the Line #9, but less than many teams. We saw Thumbs of Death lead his team through every possible chest-deep swamp, but otherwise spent hours completely on our own.
Things went well except when Rocky clocked her head on a log so hard we all saw stars. It takes more than a treetrunk to keep her flat on her back for long during a race.
Perfect weather, great tour of interesting terrain, caves, crevices, etc. and a fun team. Somewhat complex format.
We ended up 2nd Masters, a long way behind Eugenius et al. but surprisingly far ahead of a lot of other teams.

Workout #2. Feeeeeble- been irregular on strength for the last while.

A hard ski to work in thick heavy snow. Love it! The way back was easier. I should really be running, but don't want to miss my last ski of the year.
Neither does Bulletdog.

C • still snow? Awesome. We're ... 4

My planned speed run turned into a slog in heavy deep snow. Ah well, skiing tomorrow.

C • OOpsy 3

Rodney's Power Yoga. In a cunning attempt to drum up lifetime business, Leanimal lent this to us. Back Bow Pose?- Yeah right. The rest was OK though.

A nice easy trip down the Humber with Bash and the flotilla. Water's high! Rocky stayed dry this time.

A nice trot back to the cars up the Humber Trail. Phats and Leanimal continued on, but my legs are feeling yesterday's run a bit, including the top of my left foot that I injured a bit in the Rock and Ice from skating in classic boots.

I was hoping for a long ride today to try out the Omega's new 24" front wheel, new shock and short cranks. It's all an experiment to get a wheel that rolls over bumps better but doesn't hit my foot.

Unfortunately, between stray dog chauffeuring, canoe screw tightening and soggy trail conditions I ended up with only a short test ride.

I headed out for my first decent run in over a month, and ran into Crash just starting her 22km run with Skyerocket, so we ran together to Caledon East and back. Great to have company, and a decent pace at high level 3 for me.
Aerobically a piece of cake with the ski fitness, but my legs know I haven't run more than 5km in over a month, and will make me pay for it. My knees may still be feeling the Rock and Ice a bit too.

Boston on no long running base will be *tough*.

Post run spin with Bash to loosen out the legs, while watching part of a movie.

Note - lots of stretching after the run and more after the spin.

Speed intervals to work/ rail trail. Pushed race-pace on the dry bits, then gingerly pranced around the ice. Bulletdog was lagging on the fast bits!

Easier pace home- legs a bit tired from this AM.

Workout #1. First time in a while- gonna be sore.