I've said it numerous times in the past, but on Monday, a day I decided to take off for no good reason (other than a 4-day weekend and I had to reschedule my long run to it), I will be beginning a real-deal redesign of my site. I will still be using the same back-end, as changing that out would be a ridiculous amount of work, but expect something prettier very soon.
My inspirations will be some of the top sites on CommandShift3, a site that allows users to rate site design. I believe a lot of art creation and brushing up on Javascript are in my near future...
Many of you have noticed (and expressed hate) at all of my "iXXXXX" away messages ever since the iPhone 3G was announced. I had held off on the original iPhone because it was lacking two features that I really cared about (GPS and fast internet)... The wait was well worth it.
With the announcement of the new product, Apple outlined pricing and said that customers who were ineligible for equipment upgrades at the time (me) would be individually considered for the discounted rate based on how long they had been a member, how long until they are upgrade eligible, and how timely they have been with paying their bills... I figured I was a shoe-in; I have been a customer for about eight years, I use paperless billing and have had automatic payments since day 1 (never late), and I have only four months until I'm technically eligible for an upgrade.
Yesterday, they announced that this whole evaluation thing was no longer happening; upgrade discounts are as clearly cut as they have ever been... If you're not eligible, you're not eligible.
Apple, AT&T, thanks for getting my hopes up and crushing me like the nobody that I am... I really appreciate it.
On November 4, 2008, expect a post about my new iPhone 3G (maybe even FROM it), but I'll be damned if I'm shelling out an extra $200 to get it before then. Oh and those annoying away messages? Don't worry, they were annoying for me too; they're gone.
This one should have been titled "National Treasure 2: The Ultimate Sequel." Not in a good way... Every single piece of the plot felt forced, was predictable, and not clever (what made the original good). By the end, I couldn't wait for it to be over.
Just returned home from this absolutely grueling race. I was on a team of three in the beginner group (fitting since I mountain bike maybe once or twice per year). Not sure if I've shared the story yet, but I found a "random" team with a free spot on the local mountain bike club forum. After speaking with the team organizer for a week or so, he shared his name... One that I knew... A guy that I knew pretty well from track days and sushi/dim sum lunches that we used to hold back in the day. As such, our team name was "Perfect Strangers." Unfortunately, that got mangled in the paperwork and we ended up as "Total Strangers." Lame!
Anyway, the race. As I said, I mountain bike once or twice a year, but I figured the amount of cardio work I do would have left me in good shape. I was partially right. Lacking the technical skills, there was a definite limit to how fast I could safely go, but as my times showed, those skills would grow each lap and my cardio would allow me to keep going. My first lap (10.7 miles of rolling hills/nonstop pedaling) ended at about 1:27:15 including about a two minute "LeMans style start" (aka running to bikes.. except there were about 200 folks for mine) so roughly a 1:25:15. My second lap was about 1:26:30, and my final lap I cranked out a 1:23. Overall, I'm very pleased. My bike held up and more importantly, I did. Note: The amazing riders were cranking out 45-50 minute laps. The guys (not ringers... read on) at the top of beginner were about 1:15.
My teammates each did two laps as catching 5th place and a podium spot was not going to happen after my 3rd lap... It simply didn't make sense for them to kill themselves. The guy I knew ran a 1:28 and a 1:40, while his coworker, easily the best rider amongst us, pulled a 1:18 and a 1:20.
Unfortunately, the beginner group had two ringer teams, which can be expected when self-classing occurs. They were all pulling laps right around an hour, which would have had them running middle-of-the-pack in the intermediate "sport" group. That would have dropped us to 4th, but whatever, I was able to get out of there earlier thanks to them to stop by Krispy Kreme and grab some Thai for dinner. The folks I feel worst for were the guys camped out next to us, who were incredibly nice/helpful and truly beginners, were stuck with 3rd. Actually, scratch that... Only the 1st place team was a ringer one... The other ringer team was in 5th because they had had a mechanical issue on one of theirs. So the 2nd place team I feel the worst for, but it's worth mentioning how awesome the 3rd place guys were.
Hrm... Other thoughts:
It was hotter than hell; I've never sweat so much. I downed about 18 bottles of water.
Arguably tougher than the half marathon last year. Easier to recover from, but some of the efforts put in were much higher than anything involved in a road race.
I didn't notice much of it, but I can't wait for the poison ivy.
I crashed four times. Twice on my first lap, and twice on my second. Couple bruises, light scratches, and a finger that got squeezed between a tree and my handlebar at about 15mph. Ouch!
I'm going to be ridiculously sore tomorrow. Chris, stop by with those muscle relaxers!
Since Mondays are my cross training days in the marathon plan, I'm going to make a serious effort to get to Wakefield; this stuff is fun.
I had by far the cheapest bike out there. It was $1300 (no, I didn't pay near that since I worked at the shop) seven years ago and has recently had another $400 ($600 had I paid retail and labor) or so poured in.
Next upgrade for the bike is probably a disc front brake. I'd go front and rear, but my frame doesn't accept a rear AND my rear does it's job just fine while weighing in at half as much as a disc. Maybe time for a new frame? Muahaha $$$. I could likely find something pretty sweet for fairly cheap based on how current the folks out at the races need to keep their stuff Like any other hobby, you must have the latest and greatest.
I'm definitely doing this again next year. I'll also have pics up when they get sent to me.
Update: Results have been posted (I am the 1st, 4th, and last laps for my team). We dropped a spot by skipping out on that last lap, but who cares about 7th versus 6th? The solo folks truly amaze me... I couldn't imagine doing another lap.
I've developed my plan and with this week almost complete (due to my bike race on Saturday), I've kept to it!
I tried to put it in a format that would be embeddable in this here post, but it was going to be a lot of effort. Click here to see the export from Word.
If you are planning something any time soon, take a peek at my calendar and you'll easily understand why I likely won't make it; this training is going to rule my life until the end of October, at which time I'll take all of November off, and hopefully get away from life for a week or two.
Since I have a life goal or running the Boston Marathon, and the shape I'm in right now says that qualifying is a real possibility (if I get serious serious), I'm going to be setting my goal for 3:10, which is qualifying; 7:15 mile pace (actually 7:17 since you can get 3:10:59, but I'm not going to shoot for that). It seems quite lofty at this point, but I'm gonna give it my all the next few week. I should know if I'm capable or not by the end of August, at which time I'll sit back down, gather my thoughts, and decide if I need a new plan... Hopefully I won't be injured by then! If I don't attain the 3:10, I'll still be perfectly happy; it is a heck of a goal AND even if I qualify, I'm not sure I'll be up for getting back in to marathon training plan so soon (it occurs in April, which gives me just November and December to take it easy).
For my third and final (thank God!) race of the week, I journeyed on over to Fletcher's Cove to celebrate the 41st anniversary of the DC Road Runners Club (and to race four miles).
I didn't really have a goal for the race, but I had predicted a time of around 26:00. Oddly, this was the third longest race I have ever run (behind the Chicago Half and an 8k I did in high school). It was clear I have a fair amount of speed right now, but my endurance needs some serious work. I crossed the halfway point at 12:41, feeling as if I had very little left. My second half, 13:21, proves I was right. I actually felt the point at which my core gave out and my form went to poo; time to do some serious abs and upper body work. Overall, I'm quite pleased with the 26:02 (6:30.5 per mile); pre-race I had serious doubts about my 26 minute predicition, but that is close enough for a third race of the week, on dirt/sand/gravel (traction was a SERIOUS problem, efficiency was way down), and for a distance that I really haven't been training for (haven't been doing long runs once a week, and my typical longest is four to five).
This week I'll be developing my marathon training plan, but not starting it; the weekend brings along the 12 Hours of Cranky Monkey mountain bike relay race, so I'll not be running after Wednesday. I'll also be putting up a "race" section as noted earlier this week (will take 15 minutes, which I haven't found yet).
Note: A big congratulations to Ms. Caitlin for attending the race on no training, finishing in 29:35, and winning her age group. She doubted her ability all week, but I knew she had a base level of lung performance that would allow her to run that quickly on very little training. She has a nifty little DCRRC duffle/running bag to show for her efforts. She also really enjoyed the post-race cake and watermelon
Just returned home from my 2nd monthly Tidal Basin 3k. Finished in 11:04, which is two seconds slower than my time last month. As recentresults have shown, I don't think I've gotten any slower so I'm going to attribute the time due to my recent workload (raced two days ago, have done 19 miles in the past seven days as opposed to 12 leading up to last month's race and only two in the four days before AND I did yesterday's loosening run a ot faster than I was hoping to). Given all that, I woke up a fair bit sore this morning...
I think I started out a bit too fast; was passed by three guys pretty early and two at the end (caught one). I keep meaning to find myself some landmarks so I can gauge things better, but such a short race is so intense that I keep forgetting. Overall, I'm very happy that I was able to get some quality speed miles in during a lunch in the middle of the week... that's cool stuff.
My schedule looks much clearer leading up to next month's race so hopefully that'l be where I come in under 11 minutes.
I'm also looking to make a new "Races" section on the site. Won't be anything special, but you'll be able to click it to see only race recaps.
I'm all for conserving resources, reducing waste, etc. I do not drive to work, I have many compact fluorescent bulbs, I drive a car that gets 30+ MPG and was not built specifically for that purpose in recent years (the energy that goes in to making a new car is astounding), I have a programmable thermostat, I use reusable grocery bags, I do not use disposable cups at work, I recycle, I buy local or organic produce a good portion of the time, and I make many concious efforts to do "the right thing" when it comes to the environment.
Unfortunately, the man who tries to drive home the fact that we're in serious trouble is a hypocrite. I've watched the movie, I've read the book, but I now have to take it all with a giant, giant grain of salt. While the oil companies are filling the right-side coffers, are they "green" folks filling the left-side coffers? I'd have to think so.
Another note on this whole green thing... I absolutely detest Greenpeace. As stated above, I'm all about what they stand for, but their solicitors whobug me every time I get anywhere near the Ballston metro or mall make me hate everything about them; I will never contribute to their cause in any way. I have written them a letter to let them know.
This post has been brought to you by Pinot Grigio and some glorious steak (I know, bad wine pairing, but it was left-over). Expect an edit in the morning.
Race: Run After the Women 5k (Time for Marathon Training!)
I've actually done no preparation (on my plan) at all since I had planned on working on my 5k goal for a while longer, but that came to a very surprising end tonight as I finished the Run After the Women 5k in 18:56... over 40 seconds faster than the adult PR I had set just a couple weeks ago, but following/during a heck of a cold.
I'm not sure what I attribute my time to. I automatically began to think the course was short, but a number of people were complaining that their times were slow, and a guy showed another his GPS watch showing 3.11mi (long, if anything). The weather wasn't bad, but wasn't great. It was pretty hot and rather humid following afternoon storms. I wasn't feeling all that good; I'm not used to night races, I had a slight headache, I had hydrated, but not eaten particularly well... Whatever all that is worth. Many things I've read say you race better when the race is held at the time of day that you train... Maybe that was it? Regardless, I'm happy so I treat myself to some Super Pollo on the way home.
The race course was the most familiar 5,000 meters I know; it was the portion of the W&OD that I run nearly every day. Not sure if that helped, but I now consider it my "home" course. The first half was an ever so slight downhill. I completed that in 9:07... Was passed by three guys on that stage and passed one. The second half, a slight uphill, I completed in 9:49. I was passed by nobody, passed one, and gained a little bit of ground on one of the guys who had passed me earlier. I would have liked more even splits, but given my blazing [to me] time, I'm going to chalk it up to the grade.
I'll continue running races, but I think I'm going to very much slim down my schedule so I can fit in more quality miles. That said, I still plan on running the Tidal Basin 3k this Wednesday and the Hugh Jascourt 4-miler this Saturday. I suppose race miles are quality miles as long as I can ward off injury, eh? They're more fun anyway...
Like any other hobby, you 