Knee pain
My right knee started bothering me last night, so I'm skipping the race.
My right knee started bothering me last night, so I'm skipping the race.
3 @ 7/8
3 @ 9/10
5 @ full speed
Randy is all about speed. I don't think he gets that I would actually be better off working on speed endurance. There's not a lot of point in practicing running speeds that I will not do in races. But running with others (in this case a high school pole vaulter) gets me moving.
Today I cut a hole out of the deck of my kayak and headed out to the creek. We set in at the cemetery at France and went to where we set in the last time - I'm hoping to do the whole creek this year in segments. I looked for some junk I had - the split blue tubing that I used on the hole I cut in the roof of my Accord - but I had thrown it out. Never throw anything away! I could have used it in some of the rapids.
The day started out beautifully. We were winding along at a modest pace, enjoying the birds. I was able to stretch out my legs with all the open space, which was a worthwhile tradeoff for the drips and splashes that I'm now exposed to. All of a sudden it grew dark. We had entered denser woods, but it turned out the sky had darkened, too. My bow nosed under in a little rapids and I got a nice splash of water. Then, all of a sudden, a huge gust of wind came along. It was crazy. The air turned electric and cooled, the trees were shaking, and it looked like it was snowing with all of the tree petals blowing around. The air was full of them - it was enough that I wanted sunglasses. We were under a solid canopy, and there was creaking and cracking all around. I told Julie to keep an eye above her in case of windfalls. We picked up the pace, since I was hoping to get out and bike back to the car before the rain set in. I had one more nose under and go another good dousing, and we made it. Julie waited under a tree while I raced back in the wind and sprinkles. It was a great time.
Feeling energetic.
Haven't completed many projects.
No attitude change.
Track practice @ Minnehaha - wind sprints
Increasing turnover pulls my quads. I really need to focus on speed endurance for now and think about how to improve resilience/flexibility for next year. Realistically there's not much I can do about the high hurdles at this point, but I could probably take several seconds off of the quarter.
Finally got the Bashar Zapped, but it's going to be tight getting 50 zaps in to get my $300 wellness bonus. Ridiculous, considering I've probably biked to work 150 times since the window opened.
Last night was so busy I forgot about my race. I checked the race results today at http://raceberryjam.com/2013/openmastod.html ...
High Hurdles
1 Francis Shen, 35, New England, Greater Boston Track 18.02 H1
2 Nathan Mitchell, 38, Minnesota, Unat 19.83 H1
Long Hurdles
1 Francis Shen, 35, New England, Greater Boston Track 1:02.05
2 Nathan Mitchell, 38, Minnesota, Unat 1:09.92
Not bad!
Goal number 1: Survive without injury or embarrassment. CHECK
Goal number 2: Three-step the whole race. QUALIFIED CHECK
Goal number 3: Run the high hurdles in under 20 seconds. CHECK
Goal number 4: Tie my high school/post-collegiate times. RIGHT
Goal number 5: Run the 'long hurdles' in under 1:20. CHECK
I hadn't run a quarter in less than 1:15 in the past 15 years, so I was surprised to see that time. Especially since I didn't really run it that hard until I was over the last hurdle and trying to catch one of the 300 hurdlers. If it hadn't been for the rain in my eyes I could have dropped at least a second and felt like throwing up at the end.
BTW, if it looks like the 70 year old beat me remember he was running 8/11 and 3/4 as far.
None
I left work early and spent several hours with Kiwi in the yard. She didn't try to get up when I came in, and wouldn't eat. I carried her outside, and after a while she managed to stand and stagger around from time to time. Julie brought Keely over to say goodbye. In the evening we met in Jean's back yard to put Kiwi to sleep. Spending the afternoon outside and having four of us petting her and giving her treats really seemed to make Kiwi happy. She was much more mellow than usual, and she sat up on her back legs and leaned against Judith. It was nice to see her that way.
We had a big yard sale at Erika and Abby's house. Julie brought a bunch, my mother brought things from her house and Ruta's, Julie's mom brought things, I contributed a couple of tables' worth, the neighbors had some big items. It was fun and quite an operation. Most of the leftovers were hauled off to Saver's. No one would spend $10 on the 50 inch plasma TV I put out.
Ricky surprised us by coming to spend the night. I hadn't planned and prepared for any projects, unfortunately.
2 and 6 accelerations
4x40m
hurdles: 3 single and 2 double, at MIDDLE
At the track tonight I met Randy, who coached for schools and then at the NSC. Now he does conditioning 3 times a week all summer, mostly for college hockey players. There were two women and one man tonight. It sounds like he was pretty good back in his day - close to 10 seconds in the 100. Anyhow, I like the idea of doing conditioning with other people this summer. They are all a little... sportsy for my taste. But it's nice to have someone to run with. Yeehaw.
Looking online it appears that I will have 39" and 36" hurdles until age 50. That's nice - I've done the 42" back when I was a kid, but they're a little much to think about now. Once I'm in shape I would probably be at a competitive advantage with higher hurdles, but that's not going to happen this season.
http://www.usatf.org/groups/officials/files/resources/track-events/Hurdle-Placement-Heights-Feb2011.pdf
Lazy!
Jacob tried to use an Epi Bike this winter, and put the key in the wrong lock and it snapped off. He says he didn't turn it very hard, but I don't know. Anyhow, for a long time that meant neither was available because the good key went to the bad lock and the bad key went to the good lock. Today Jacob and I took his scissor jack down to the garage and opened it up. I had to go to a meeting, so I missed the denouement. But I was there for most of the bending. As expected, none of the dozen people who walked by said anything about the fact that we were busting a bike lock open.
[Broken U=lock]
Since we are in public health, I got a pair of sunglasses from the shuttle lost and found, and we put a bike basket over the jack/lock. It turns out that by skipping the part where you cut off the casing, it kept the metal from shooting out. On the other hand, Jacob said he kept turning it for a while because he didn't know it had broken.
Biking home past the Cedar-Riverside LRT station I saw a Somali man hollering and chasing two screaming young Somali women down the platform. He didn't seem terribly dangerous, but I was surprised that none of the dozen or so men on the platform were doing anything as they ran past. I stopped, but I think their inaction affected me, too. I was also in the middle of the station and on a bike, so I just waited to see what would unfold. The two ran off either end of the platform. As one went join the other the man jumped down across the tracks and as she ran past me he climbed over the railing. I placed my bike across the path to block him and asked him what was going on. In a surprisingly articulate fashion he explained that there is a division between American-born and Somalia-born Somalis. He was talking to another woman, and the two of them started laughing at him and called him FOB - fresh off the boat. He decided to put them in their place by running after them yelling.
It was kind of weird to be in what I expected to be a hostile situation, but to find that he wasn't really out of control. I can see his point of view, but I told him that was inappropriate behavior and asked his age (30). I told him that he was an adult and should act like it. He told me I did the right thing. As I rode off I saw the two returning to the station with a man and I think I heard him start hollering again. Oh, well. No one was in any danger.
I crossed under the bridge and what do I see but a crow and an angry red-winged blackbird on the fence. I stopped again to see what was going on, and sure enough the blackbird was trying to shoo the crow off. I started turning around to butt in again, and the crow dropped down to pick something up and fly off. I'm afraid it was part of a little chick, but I couldn't see.
400 1:17
200 34s
100 16s
200 34s
300 58s with 3 hurdles
Hurdles: 5x single, 3-stepped 3,4 and 5 hurdles at LOW
Isometrics (14/7) and drills
This morning Julie and I went kayaking down Minnehaha Creek. We set in just east of 35W and got out at the dock at Hiawatha. It was cool and wet, but we were done before it started to rain. It was great to be out there again. I have revised my plan - instead of shortening the kayak and adding foot space I am going to turn it into a canoe - hopefully one that Keely can get in, too. Even on the creek very little water ran over the top, and it just isn't big enough for me to sit in comfortably. Step 1 will be to open the top and adding a guard. The more dramatic steps of opening the back to make room for the dog, moving the seat back and adding a seat will have to wait a while.
We went to REI to pick up my toe shoes, then drove past the Fort Snelling cemetery. Traffic was busy and I was unfamiliar, and to my regret I just drove past. I decided I could take the LRT another day. That's one of my weaknesses, coming up with reasons to not do something different/challenging. Another is my pathological inability to follow through on plans, in this case to do something for Memorial Day.
Running hurdles still feels great. I've never lost the ability to hurdle things, but tonight it was so smooth I 3-stepped more than I had planned. For several years I have felt like my calves were leaden, and that feeling is gone. I can feel a noticeable difference in my sprints. I'm not running faster times, but I am so comfortable. I'm feeling strong. I don't know if I'll ever regain my turbo speed, but just running like this feels great to me.
Dog park run
I ran Keely at the dog park in my toe shoes. I could really tell that I have been training. It feels good to be able to race up hills and leap along.
The rest of the day was yard work, many hours of it. Things look pretty good. My wish is to have that be it for me for now, and hire someone to do other projects. But I do tend to fiddle. PAY SOMEONE!
400 1:14
200 35s
100 16s
Hurdles: 5x single and 5x double at VERY LOW
Hurdling was so good. That's me. I had the same good feelings I did in high school.
Spent the day at the camper in Annandale. Rather than spend the time sitting around I pulled dandelions, fiddled with a bike, swept the patio and did some pruning. It's not that I don't enjoy just sitting and talking, it's more that I don't like the state of torpor I find myself in when I am too passive. Yes, that's what it's all about - becoming active instead of passive.
Rest - the track was occupado.
Sarah and Will came over for brats, my second Friday night social and the first since January?