Wednesday, July 28, 2010
The hip seems better after taking a day off and so I decided an easy run was in order. It had been in the 90’s all day and was extremely humid. I went to Best Buy for my 5 p.m. appointment to have the CD player in the Honda fixed. A week earlier, it had decided not to eject my ‘Dances with Wolves’ CD and I was getting tired of it and thinking I didn’t want to listen to it for the 16 hours I would be on the road to and from the Adirondacks.
I arrived on time, but Bob announced that he was still trying to get to his 2 p.m. install…not a good sign. “How about I go for a run and come back around 6 p.m.?” I suggested. He thought that was a great idea.
I arrived at the park to a light rain…and massive humidity. I started the run feeling really good, but the sweat was pouring off and I figured it was only a matter of time before I was forced to slow. It finally happened around the 30-minute mark, but I didn’t care. My shoes were full of sweat at this point and I had to keep hiking up my shorts, which tend to want to run down below my hips once they’re totally saturated. I wanted to dunk myself in the creek, but was running short on time since I was supposed to return to Best Buy and repairman Bob.
Bob got the CD player fixed and I returned home to continue camping preparations. Picking the food to feed three people for four days is the toughest chore. I have to get everything into two bear canisters, which means not too much variety. I go for the things I like best and hope the others eat it, too. They will if they’re hungry enough. I had read another report of a bear attack in Yellowstone yesterday, with the resulting death of one camper and injuries to two others. The bear escaped and at this point officials are uncertain as to whether it was one or more or the type. I suspect once they do the DNA from the victims, they will find it was one bear and a grizzly. All three were attacked through their tents while sleeping and none stored food improperly or cooked it near their campsite (the lingering aroma often brings bears into a site to investigate. In grizzly country, you should prepare food 100 yards from your sleeping area and never wear the clothes you cooked or ate in into your sleeping area. Good advice for black bears as well, though I seldom follow it.
I’ve go some aggressive hiking planned for the trip and might just take another day off before leaving. After all, I ain’t getting any younger and I don’t want to run out of steam while there.
Run duration: 43 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140.
Calories burned during workout: 730.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Yummy couscous
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
I tend to get a little paranoid as I get closer to leaving for the Adirondacks. Every ache and pain is overanalyzed as I imagine its consequence if I were half way up a peak and five hours from camp. I’ve got a pain in the left hip right now that has me concerned and which caused me to take the night off. I could have walked or ridden the bike, but what would that get me? Once in a while, I can use common sense about exercise.
I spent the early evening in one of my favorite pursuits instead, which is preparing for the trip. I pull out all the necessary gear and check that it is in working order and then go over every item I intend to put in my pack to convince myself that I will use it. I hate to carry any extra weight…forget about the extra exercise value – I don’t put myself through it in the back country. I typically end up with about 45 pounds on my back when I go solo and a little less when traveling with someone (some items can be shared, so why bring two?), and that’s more than enough. I train with 60 pounds, so it’s like taking the lead doughnut off of the bat when you stride to the plate…it feels so much lighter.
I also go over the food. Since I’m taking Jimmy and Reza, I actually try to accommodate their tastes…to a degree. They’re actually pretty simple…willing to eat almost anything and that makes them my kind of people. Jimmy was pushing for couscous, something I’ve had before, but found pretty tasteless. Couscous is a typical Berber food, a culture found in Northern Africa, and is made from rolling and shaping moistened semolina wheat ant then coating them with finely ground wheat flour…according to Wikipedia anyway. All I know is it’s light and cooks by simply adding boiling water and letting set for five minutes, which is perfect for backpacking when fuel for stoves is used sparingly on a week-long trip (this is the instant way. Normally, couscous would be steamed, leaving it fluffy, but taking considerably more time and fuel – impractical in the field).
I made a batch using the spice packet that came with it and had it done in about 7 minutes. It tasted pretty good, was quite filling and would be easy to combine with dehydrated vegetables, soups, beef stick or cheese…all things I typically pack. By weight, it will be lighter than rice and take up less space than angel hair pasta with more calories – all good things. Jimmy may have done something right.
I finished the evening by going to ‘Date Night’ with Holly. The movie featured Tina Fey and Steve Carell, two of my favorite comedians, but I thought the comedy was only fair and that it fell flat on its face, as a whole. I was still hungry when we got home and warmed up my rice and beans concoction, but chased it with a piece of ice cream cake. Oh well. Tomorrow may be a run, depending on the hip.
I tend to get a little paranoid as I get closer to leaving for the Adirondacks. Every ache and pain is overanalyzed as I imagine its consequence if I were half way up a peak and five hours from camp. I’ve got a pain in the left hip right now that has me concerned and which caused me to take the night off. I could have walked or ridden the bike, but what would that get me? Once in a while, I can use common sense about exercise.
I spent the early evening in one of my favorite pursuits instead, which is preparing for the trip. I pull out all the necessary gear and check that it is in working order and then go over every item I intend to put in my pack to convince myself that I will use it. I hate to carry any extra weight…forget about the extra exercise value – I don’t put myself through it in the back country. I typically end up with about 45 pounds on my back when I go solo and a little less when traveling with someone (some items can be shared, so why bring two?), and that’s more than enough. I train with 60 pounds, so it’s like taking the lead doughnut off of the bat when you stride to the plate…it feels so much lighter.
I also go over the food. Since I’m taking Jimmy and Reza, I actually try to accommodate their tastes…to a degree. They’re actually pretty simple…willing to eat almost anything and that makes them my kind of people. Jimmy was pushing for couscous, something I’ve had before, but found pretty tasteless. Couscous is a typical Berber food, a culture found in Northern Africa, and is made from rolling and shaping moistened semolina wheat ant then coating them with finely ground wheat flour…according to Wikipedia anyway. All I know is it’s light and cooks by simply adding boiling water and letting set for five minutes, which is perfect for backpacking when fuel for stoves is used sparingly on a week-long trip (this is the instant way. Normally, couscous would be steamed, leaving it fluffy, but taking considerably more time and fuel – impractical in the field).
I made a batch using the spice packet that came with it and had it done in about 7 minutes. It tasted pretty good, was quite filling and would be easy to combine with dehydrated vegetables, soups, beef stick or cheese…all things I typically pack. By weight, it will be lighter than rice and take up less space than angel hair pasta with more calories – all good things. Jimmy may have done something right.
I finished the evening by going to ‘Date Night’ with Holly. The movie featured Tina Fey and Steve Carell, two of my favorite comedians, but I thought the comedy was only fair and that it fell flat on its face, as a whole. I was still hungry when we got home and warmed up my rice and beans concoction, but chased it with a piece of ice cream cake. Oh well. Tomorrow may be a run, depending on the hip.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Jimmy is a trip...
Monday, July 26, 2010
Jimmy stopped over with a daypack full of the clothes he thought he would need for the trip. I have never seen such ugly combinations of colors, but on him they’ll look appropriate. I’m concerned about my own reputation since I will be seen with him and you are judged by the company you keep.
I gave Jimmy a taste of the pinole and asked him if he’d been reading the blog. “Nah…I’ve been too busy,” he said.
“Busy? You don’t work, train, read or anything. What has you so busy?”
”Well…I only have about 7 hours a day since I have to sleep 17. You know…people who are really smart have to sleep long hours to give their brain a rest since it’s so busy being smart while they’re awake,” he informed me.
At no point did he claim to be smart as the reason for sleeping 17 hours and I know from first hand knowledge that he’s dumber than a box of rocks, so I don’t know what his point was in letting me know how much he slept, but I did remind him we’d have to be up early on the trip if he hoped to get to climb a peak and return in daylight.
Walking trails in the Adirondacks is nothing like hiking in the Metroparks I discovered on my first trip. I’d read the trail guides and they went over this point repeatedly, saying that you should allow for a pace of about 2 miles per hour and slower with elevation change. They were right. The other factor I hadn’t known then, but figured out quickly was the amount of calories I was burning and how hungry I was getting. It’s nothing to be on the trails walking for 8 hours and if you’re burning even 400 an hour, and it’s likely more, that’s 3,200 by the time you return to camp. Everything tastes good at that point, which is helpful since the normal diet is out the window with no way of bringing and keeping fresh food.
I continued to explain to Jimmy the things he would need. He disputed every item, which doesn’t really matter too much since he’ll be the one inconvenienced. If he becomes too much of a problem there, I’ll send him out for water and move the camp while he’s gone.
I ran the Clear Creek Trail in a little over 56 minutes. It’s been taking closer to an hour with the heat, but it was cooler today and my time showed it. I’m having a little soreness in my left hip…something I get when I’ve been carrying too much weight in the pack and doing too many step-ups. I’m hoping it goes away quickly and I think I’ll have to lay off weight bearing exercise for a couple of days. I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize climbing this weekend.
Run duration: 56 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140.
Calories burned during workout: 1020.
Jimmy stopped over with a daypack full of the clothes he thought he would need for the trip. I have never seen such ugly combinations of colors, but on him they’ll look appropriate. I’m concerned about my own reputation since I will be seen with him and you are judged by the company you keep.
I gave Jimmy a taste of the pinole and asked him if he’d been reading the blog. “Nah…I’ve been too busy,” he said.
“Busy? You don’t work, train, read or anything. What has you so busy?”
”Well…I only have about 7 hours a day since I have to sleep 17. You know…people who are really smart have to sleep long hours to give their brain a rest since it’s so busy being smart while they’re awake,” he informed me.
At no point did he claim to be smart as the reason for sleeping 17 hours and I know from first hand knowledge that he’s dumber than a box of rocks, so I don’t know what his point was in letting me know how much he slept, but I did remind him we’d have to be up early on the trip if he hoped to get to climb a peak and return in daylight.
Walking trails in the Adirondacks is nothing like hiking in the Metroparks I discovered on my first trip. I’d read the trail guides and they went over this point repeatedly, saying that you should allow for a pace of about 2 miles per hour and slower with elevation change. They were right. The other factor I hadn’t known then, but figured out quickly was the amount of calories I was burning and how hungry I was getting. It’s nothing to be on the trails walking for 8 hours and if you’re burning even 400 an hour, and it’s likely more, that’s 3,200 by the time you return to camp. Everything tastes good at that point, which is helpful since the normal diet is out the window with no way of bringing and keeping fresh food.
I continued to explain to Jimmy the things he would need. He disputed every item, which doesn’t really matter too much since he’ll be the one inconvenienced. If he becomes too much of a problem there, I’ll send him out for water and move the camp while he’s gone.
I ran the Clear Creek Trail in a little over 56 minutes. It’s been taking closer to an hour with the heat, but it was cooler today and my time showed it. I’m having a little soreness in my left hip…something I get when I’ve been carrying too much weight in the pack and doing too many step-ups. I’m hoping it goes away quickly and I think I’ll have to lay off weight bearing exercise for a couple of days. I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize climbing this weekend.
Run duration: 56 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140.
Calories burned during workout: 1020.
Getting ready for the Adirondacks
Sunday, July 25, 2010
John and I had scheduled a ride for today, which was kind of too bad since it was finally cool enough to run comfortably. It was raining in all morning and I was beginning to think that I’d run in the rain and ride later…if it ever cleared up.
I needed to take the Jeep out to see Dan…it was overheating…and so I packed my bike and riding gear on the off chance I’d be leaving it there and would have to ride back. This wouldn’t be a bad scenario because I would get in an extra 16 miles before John arrived. I went over everything I’d need for the ride and discovered I didn’t have my shorts so I ran in, grabbed them and returned. On my last trip to Dan’s to drop a car, I’d forgotten one of my riding shoes and having one foot clipped on and one flopping loose is not an efficient way to ride.
When I got to Dan’s it became evident I would be leaving the Jeep so I began pulling the bike from the car. As I grabbed my gear, I noticed the shorts were missing. A search of the car left me wanting and so I was in trouble again. I couldn’t ride in what I was wearing and so I called Holly to come and pick me up…which thrilled not a little.
I only need to bring my water bottles, shorts, shoes, helmet, riding gloves, and a t-shirt to ride home from Dan’s and I don’t know why having all of these things in the car when I drive there is such an issue, but it is. Can I chalk it up to age?
John and I went on a short ride, logging around 75 minutes. He thinks he’s still feeling the affects of the low iron from the stomach ulcer. He complained about being winded, but I thought we rode pretty strongly.
Reza stopped over shortly after my return and we went over in great detail the gear he should be bringing on our Adirondack trip. He was excited about going and wanted to make certain he had all of the essentials. He made a list of the things he would be needing and had two food requests – macaroni and cheese and pudding. Pudding is tricky in that it doesn’t like to jell, but I can drink the stuff so that’s no big deal. Jimmy would be coming over later to discuss what he’d need to bring…which is his mommy. I’ve been in the woods with this guy before and he needs constant care. His mom isn’t coming, so I’m going to do my best to have him ready ahead. The first rule of ‘Leave no trace’ camping is plan and prepare. Jimmy does neither, but he’s got complaining down to a science and when he realizes he’s forgotten something, he’ll have a long list of the reasons why it’s not his fault. I love this guy. It’s never dull when he’s around.
Bike duration: 75 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 120.
Calories burned during workout: 1125.
John and I had scheduled a ride for today, which was kind of too bad since it was finally cool enough to run comfortably. It was raining in all morning and I was beginning to think that I’d run in the rain and ride later…if it ever cleared up.
I needed to take the Jeep out to see Dan…it was overheating…and so I packed my bike and riding gear on the off chance I’d be leaving it there and would have to ride back. This wouldn’t be a bad scenario because I would get in an extra 16 miles before John arrived. I went over everything I’d need for the ride and discovered I didn’t have my shorts so I ran in, grabbed them and returned. On my last trip to Dan’s to drop a car, I’d forgotten one of my riding shoes and having one foot clipped on and one flopping loose is not an efficient way to ride.
When I got to Dan’s it became evident I would be leaving the Jeep so I began pulling the bike from the car. As I grabbed my gear, I noticed the shorts were missing. A search of the car left me wanting and so I was in trouble again. I couldn’t ride in what I was wearing and so I called Holly to come and pick me up…which thrilled not a little.
I only need to bring my water bottles, shorts, shoes, helmet, riding gloves, and a t-shirt to ride home from Dan’s and I don’t know why having all of these things in the car when I drive there is such an issue, but it is. Can I chalk it up to age?
John and I went on a short ride, logging around 75 minutes. He thinks he’s still feeling the affects of the low iron from the stomach ulcer. He complained about being winded, but I thought we rode pretty strongly.
Reza stopped over shortly after my return and we went over in great detail the gear he should be bringing on our Adirondack trip. He was excited about going and wanted to make certain he had all of the essentials. He made a list of the things he would be needing and had two food requests – macaroni and cheese and pudding. Pudding is tricky in that it doesn’t like to jell, but I can drink the stuff so that’s no big deal. Jimmy would be coming over later to discuss what he’d need to bring…which is his mommy. I’ve been in the woods with this guy before and he needs constant care. His mom isn’t coming, so I’m going to do my best to have him ready ahead. The first rule of ‘Leave no trace’ camping is plan and prepare. Jimmy does neither, but he’s got complaining down to a science and when he realizes he’s forgotten something, he’ll have a long list of the reasons why it’s not his fault. I love this guy. It’s never dull when he’s around.
Bike duration: 75 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 120.
Calories burned during workout: 1125.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Almost blew it off...
Saturday, July 24, 2010
I was headed for Colby’s graduation party and thinking about the trip we would all be taking to the Adirondacks in three weeks. Though I had not been able to get an absolute ‘yes’ from Don, I had confirmed with his wife, Rae, that he was, in fact, available for the trip on the scheduled dates. Colby had been much more excited than Don whose fear of heights and concern for Colby’s falling off a sheer cliff because he was daring and foolish, though without merit, were real.
“We won’t be using piton’s and hanging off the side of cliffs to climb these peaks, so I don’t think the height will bother you,” I told Don.
“Yeah? You don’t know Colby. He’s a daredevil. What if he twists an ankle on the trails walking in. What will Oregon say to that,” he asked.
“You can’t keep him in a plastic bubble. He could twist his ankle on any trail run in the Rocky River Reservation, but you don’t stop him from running there,” I said, knowing logic played no part in Don’s paranoia.
I saw Colby as soon as I arrived and asked him about the trip.
“Um…I might have a problem with that weekend. It’s our fantasy football draft,” he said sheepishly.
“Right…wait…what?”
Now…I’m not into the whole fantasy league thing, but I know many people who are and they are fanatics. I think some of them actually think they’re managing, owning and playing for the team they’ve selected and put more time and get more enjoyment from this than the actual playing of the major league teams. Losers. Colby made lame excuses about how big a deal it was…how they dress up for the occasion…and do weird, ritualistic, fantasy league stuff. Nerds. I mean…pass up a trip with...well…me…to the Adirondacks for a fantasy league draft? He’s seriously flawed and if he does come I may get up in the night and smear peanut butter on his sleeping bag. Bears love peanut butter…
It had been a terribly hot, busy Saturday and I’d never gotten the chance or had the desire to put in a workout. Somewhere in the back of my mind I’d told myself I’d stop at the park after the graduation party and run in the dark. Right.
I was driving home around 8:30 p.m. and the guilt was becoming unbearable. I’d eaten very little fat at the party and figured I could run…digestion nearly complete…and headed for the park. Thunderstorms had been rolling across Cleveland all afternoon and more were threatening. The air was so heavy with humidity that I could almost chew it. The sky had an eerie, orange glow reflecting from ominous storm clouds as I dressed for the run. Though it was light enough on the road, the canopy covering the trails made almost too dark to run. Almost.
I started out with limited vision…a good thing since the storms had deposited numerous branches along the bridle trails. It was too dark for hiking trails unless you were looking for a good place to fall…and I wasn’t. I ran about 20 minutes in semi-light conditions, but when I reached my turn-around at Squires Castle and headed back, it was almost completely black. I slowed my pace after tripping over…I don’t know what…but finished the run feeling good about getting it done. Though I’d only ran 35 minutes, I was so drenched in sweat from the extreme humidity, I felt like I’d gone an hour. The forecast was for cooler weather for the next two days – something I’m going to savor.
Run duration: 35 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140.
Calories burned during workout: 595.
I was headed for Colby’s graduation party and thinking about the trip we would all be taking to the Adirondacks in three weeks. Though I had not been able to get an absolute ‘yes’ from Don, I had confirmed with his wife, Rae, that he was, in fact, available for the trip on the scheduled dates. Colby had been much more excited than Don whose fear of heights and concern for Colby’s falling off a sheer cliff because he was daring and foolish, though without merit, were real.
“We won’t be using piton’s and hanging off the side of cliffs to climb these peaks, so I don’t think the height will bother you,” I told Don.
“Yeah? You don’t know Colby. He’s a daredevil. What if he twists an ankle on the trails walking in. What will Oregon say to that,” he asked.
“You can’t keep him in a plastic bubble. He could twist his ankle on any trail run in the Rocky River Reservation, but you don’t stop him from running there,” I said, knowing logic played no part in Don’s paranoia.
I saw Colby as soon as I arrived and asked him about the trip.
“Um…I might have a problem with that weekend. It’s our fantasy football draft,” he said sheepishly.
“Right…wait…what?”
Now…I’m not into the whole fantasy league thing, but I know many people who are and they are fanatics. I think some of them actually think they’re managing, owning and playing for the team they’ve selected and put more time and get more enjoyment from this than the actual playing of the major league teams. Losers. Colby made lame excuses about how big a deal it was…how they dress up for the occasion…and do weird, ritualistic, fantasy league stuff. Nerds. I mean…pass up a trip with...well…me…to the Adirondacks for a fantasy league draft? He’s seriously flawed and if he does come I may get up in the night and smear peanut butter on his sleeping bag. Bears love peanut butter…
It had been a terribly hot, busy Saturday and I’d never gotten the chance or had the desire to put in a workout. Somewhere in the back of my mind I’d told myself I’d stop at the park after the graduation party and run in the dark. Right.
I was driving home around 8:30 p.m. and the guilt was becoming unbearable. I’d eaten very little fat at the party and figured I could run…digestion nearly complete…and headed for the park. Thunderstorms had been rolling across Cleveland all afternoon and more were threatening. The air was so heavy with humidity that I could almost chew it. The sky had an eerie, orange glow reflecting from ominous storm clouds as I dressed for the run. Though it was light enough on the road, the canopy covering the trails made almost too dark to run. Almost.
I started out with limited vision…a good thing since the storms had deposited numerous branches along the bridle trails. It was too dark for hiking trails unless you were looking for a good place to fall…and I wasn’t. I ran about 20 minutes in semi-light conditions, but when I reached my turn-around at Squires Castle and headed back, it was almost completely black. I slowed my pace after tripping over…I don’t know what…but finished the run feeling good about getting it done. Though I’d only ran 35 minutes, I was so drenched in sweat from the extreme humidity, I felt like I’d gone an hour. The forecast was for cooler weather for the next two days – something I’m going to savor.
Run duration: 35 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140.
Calories burned during workout: 595.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Man-eating fish in Chagrin River
Friday, July 23, 2010
I’m sure that somewhere in my past I’ve run on a day that was hotter and more humid…but I don’t have a clue when it was. It was so hot that the deer fly were afraid to come out. But I had to get in a run. I’ve been avoiding the heat for the last three days and had to get back to running and I knew that tomorrow was supposed to be hotter still. What the hell…get it done. Whine later.
I knew I was going to run 45 minutes, but I didn’t know where. One thing was for certain…I would be finishing this run in the water. I decided to go to the South Chagrin Reservation and run the trail going north along the Chagrin River. There is plenty of shade…and plenty of opportunities to soak my head along the way. Unlike Don, I’ll stop on hot days to soak by bandana in an attempt to keep my head as cool as possible.
I ran slowly the entire way and as I approached the 40-minute mark, I recognized the early signs of heat illness. I was still sweating heavily, but was getting a headache and not feeling particularly well. I regretted that I had forgotten to bring my water bottle, but was sure about one thing…I’d be in cool, running water in a matter of minutes.
I found a stream running into the Chagrin. There was a waterfall of about 8 feet, with a clear pool of water about 3 feet deep at its base. It was now my pool. I plunged in, sitting neck deep in cool refreshing water, leaning my head back into the falls. Ahh. As I sat there, I noticed fish about an inch or two in length, swimming round my legs. I thought this was pretty cool until one of the little bastards bit me…and it actually hurt. Maybe they were piranha’s from someone’s aquarium? After the second bite, I decided to exit the pool. My serenity had been invaded.
I returned home and got busy making four new Pinole recipes. I knew I needed to come up with something even more palatable if I was to look forward to eating it on the trail (actually…one of the great things about backpacking is that after long days on the trail everything seems to taste good). I had an idea that by adding the things I put in my gorp (trail mix acronym for – good old raisins and peanuts…with M & M’s, too), I could create a really tasty bar. That and adding more sugar – something of which I can never seem to have too much.
I ended up with a very tasty recipe that included another tablespoon of maple syrup, crushed peanuts, little baby M & M’s, and raisins. I’m calling it Pinole Gorp and, I’m thinking, will soon be producing it wholesale and threatening Clif bars. More on this exciting, entrepreneurial development later.
Run duration: 45 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140.
Calories burned during workout: 765.
I’m sure that somewhere in my past I’ve run on a day that was hotter and more humid…but I don’t have a clue when it was. It was so hot that the deer fly were afraid to come out. But I had to get in a run. I’ve been avoiding the heat for the last three days and had to get back to running and I knew that tomorrow was supposed to be hotter still. What the hell…get it done. Whine later.
I knew I was going to run 45 minutes, but I didn’t know where. One thing was for certain…I would be finishing this run in the water. I decided to go to the South Chagrin Reservation and run the trail going north along the Chagrin River. There is plenty of shade…and plenty of opportunities to soak my head along the way. Unlike Don, I’ll stop on hot days to soak by bandana in an attempt to keep my head as cool as possible.
I ran slowly the entire way and as I approached the 40-minute mark, I recognized the early signs of heat illness. I was still sweating heavily, but was getting a headache and not feeling particularly well. I regretted that I had forgotten to bring my water bottle, but was sure about one thing…I’d be in cool, running water in a matter of minutes.
I found a stream running into the Chagrin. There was a waterfall of about 8 feet, with a clear pool of water about 3 feet deep at its base. It was now my pool. I plunged in, sitting neck deep in cool refreshing water, leaning my head back into the falls. Ahh. As I sat there, I noticed fish about an inch or two in length, swimming round my legs. I thought this was pretty cool until one of the little bastards bit me…and it actually hurt. Maybe they were piranha’s from someone’s aquarium? After the second bite, I decided to exit the pool. My serenity had been invaded.
I returned home and got busy making four new Pinole recipes. I knew I needed to come up with something even more palatable if I was to look forward to eating it on the trail (actually…one of the great things about backpacking is that after long days on the trail everything seems to taste good). I had an idea that by adding the things I put in my gorp (trail mix acronym for – good old raisins and peanuts…with M & M’s, too), I could create a really tasty bar. That and adding more sugar – something of which I can never seem to have too much.
I ended up with a very tasty recipe that included another tablespoon of maple syrup, crushed peanuts, little baby M & M’s, and raisins. I’m calling it Pinole Gorp and, I’m thinking, will soon be producing it wholesale and threatening Clif bars. More on this exciting, entrepreneurial development later.
Run duration: 45 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140.
Calories burned during workout: 765.
Friday, July 23, 2010
A good, long ride...
Thursday, July 22, 2010
I thought I’d feel chipper after taking a day off, but the hike with the pack and 250 step-ups I’d done on Tuesday was kicking my butt. My legs were still extremely tired and walking up stairs was a struggle. I was approaching 90 degrees again (when isn’t it) and I was thinking ‘ride’.
Good decision. I like to take long rides before backpacking trips because of the incredibly long days spent on the trail to reach and climb some of the peaks I’ll see in the Adirondacks. It’s pretty normal to start the day hiking at 8 a.m. and not get back into camp until 6 p.m., much of which I spent walking and with elevation changes of over 5,000 feet at times. I like to do something that has the quads firing repeatedly for long periods, which is something a long bike ride does nicely. I mean…I could go on four-hour hikes with a pack just looping through the park, but the intensity wouldn’t be the same because the elevation changes wouldn’t be there…and I’d get bored to death. Riding is different. I have plenty of hilly courses to ride out east and I can do it pretty intensely for three hours, which more closely simulates the long day of hiking and climbing…and I enjoy it.
I started out slowly…it was hot, but managed to pick it up by the halfway point and put in a pretty good effort. The pain I was experiencing walking around that day was not present on the bike…another good reason to ride. I was getting fatigued around 90 minutes, but continued to get out of the saddle and challenge the hills on the course. It was a good workout and excellent preparation for what’s coming.
When I returned home, I headed next door for the neighbor’s pool. His skimmer was working well and picked up the salt slick I deposited on top of the water upon entering. I love that he has the pool, keeps it clean, adds the chemicals and pays the upkeep and I just get to swim. The trade is…they get to have me for a neighbor. Got that going for them.
When I walked back home, I heard voices out back and found Savannah and Holly having a conversation on the patio.
“Dad – you’re looking a lot thinner,” Savannah said.
“Yeah. I am…thinner that is…and thanks,” I added.
I mean…you gotta love that. My daughter is noticing…and she is very stingy with the compliments. I’ve still got a long way to go…next summer for the ultimate triathlon…but it’s definitely working.
Bike duration: 2 hours and 25 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 125.
Calories burned during workout: 2175.
I thought I’d feel chipper after taking a day off, but the hike with the pack and 250 step-ups I’d done on Tuesday was kicking my butt. My legs were still extremely tired and walking up stairs was a struggle. I was approaching 90 degrees again (when isn’t it) and I was thinking ‘ride’.
Good decision. I like to take long rides before backpacking trips because of the incredibly long days spent on the trail to reach and climb some of the peaks I’ll see in the Adirondacks. It’s pretty normal to start the day hiking at 8 a.m. and not get back into camp until 6 p.m., much of which I spent walking and with elevation changes of over 5,000 feet at times. I like to do something that has the quads firing repeatedly for long periods, which is something a long bike ride does nicely. I mean…I could go on four-hour hikes with a pack just looping through the park, but the intensity wouldn’t be the same because the elevation changes wouldn’t be there…and I’d get bored to death. Riding is different. I have plenty of hilly courses to ride out east and I can do it pretty intensely for three hours, which more closely simulates the long day of hiking and climbing…and I enjoy it.
I started out slowly…it was hot, but managed to pick it up by the halfway point and put in a pretty good effort. The pain I was experiencing walking around that day was not present on the bike…another good reason to ride. I was getting fatigued around 90 minutes, but continued to get out of the saddle and challenge the hills on the course. It was a good workout and excellent preparation for what’s coming.
When I returned home, I headed next door for the neighbor’s pool. His skimmer was working well and picked up the salt slick I deposited on top of the water upon entering. I love that he has the pool, keeps it clean, adds the chemicals and pays the upkeep and I just get to swim. The trade is…they get to have me for a neighbor. Got that going for them.
When I walked back home, I heard voices out back and found Savannah and Holly having a conversation on the patio.
“Dad – you’re looking a lot thinner,” Savannah said.
“Yeah. I am…thinner that is…and thanks,” I added.
I mean…you gotta love that. My daughter is noticing…and she is very stingy with the compliments. I’ve still got a long way to go…next summer for the ultimate triathlon…but it’s definitely working.
Bike duration: 2 hours and 25 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 125.
Calories burned during workout: 2175.
Experimenting with Pinole
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Fatigue had set in and it was getting worse. It was time for a day off…and I needed to listen to the aches and pains. Since I wasn’t going to work out, I figured it would be a good day to experiment with the Pinole recipe. Short of using sand as the basic ingredient, I was sure I could improve on Marie’s attempt. In fairness, she followed the recipe as noted on the ‘Livestrong’ site, though they didn’t call for nutmeg (she figured that should go with any recipe that called for cinnamon) and she didn’t toast/skillet the corn meal before using it.
I was looking for something a little sweeter and determined ahead that I would add a tablespoon of brown sugar to each recipe. My basic recipe was as follows:
• 1/2 cu. Cornmeal (toasted dry on the stove for 5 minutes in sauté pan)
• 1 Tbsp. chia seeds
• 1 Tbsp. of brown sugar
• 1 tsp of cinnamon
• ¼ cu. water
• 1 Tbsp. of either honey, agave nectar, real maple syrup, Smucker’s strawberry syrup (I made four different batches using one of these in each).
I mixed the dry ingredients together and then added the water and sweetener. This made a pasty substance that was firm enough to put on a cookie sheet I’d sprayed with Pam. I shaped into something resembling a cow pile…but smaller. I suppose it was about the size of a giant cookie and about a half inch thick. I baked it at 350 degrees for 15 minutes and it came out a little firmer than a brownie.
My goal, if you read Monday’s story, is to make something resembling the Tarahumara Pinole that will be a good companion on backpacking trips, but also taste good enough to fulfill my cravings for sweet things to eat in the evening. The chia seed will help to keep it from being absorbed rapidly, regardless (I believe) of the sweetener I use to make it more palatable. I’m also considering a recipe with peanuts and raisins for the same reason. It’s always a challenge to bring food into the back country that is nutritious, tastes good, easy to pack, and doesn’t break the bank. I’m hoping this will serve that purpose.
So…I had four recipes to try. I quickly discovered that the cinnamon was overpowering and that could be because I put in a tablespoon instead of a teaspoon. Only three times as much. Slight mistake. By adding the brown sugar, I’d definitely made it tastier and a little more moist than Marie’s. I had Holly come and try it, as well and we ranked them this way:
1. Strawberry syrup
2. Maple syrup
3. Honey
4. Agave nectar
Not a strong poll, but I’m having some more folks over to check it out. Holly keeps eating the strawberry syrup one, so I may have to make more. She actually likes it. I’m going to make some with the peanuts and raisins, and I’ll probably try some with different kinds of chips – chocolate, butterscotch, peanut butter – to see how those taste. Many options and it’s so simple to make that I can keep experimenting.
By the way, I found all the ingredients at my Heinen’s in Mayfield Village. They were a little high on the chia seeds - $13 a pound, but that quantity should go a long way. Tomorrow…a long ride.
Fatigue had set in and it was getting worse. It was time for a day off…and I needed to listen to the aches and pains. Since I wasn’t going to work out, I figured it would be a good day to experiment with the Pinole recipe. Short of using sand as the basic ingredient, I was sure I could improve on Marie’s attempt. In fairness, she followed the recipe as noted on the ‘Livestrong’ site, though they didn’t call for nutmeg (she figured that should go with any recipe that called for cinnamon) and she didn’t toast/skillet the corn meal before using it.
I was looking for something a little sweeter and determined ahead that I would add a tablespoon of brown sugar to each recipe. My basic recipe was as follows:
• 1/2 cu. Cornmeal (toasted dry on the stove for 5 minutes in sauté pan)
• 1 Tbsp. chia seeds
• 1 Tbsp. of brown sugar
• 1 tsp of cinnamon
• ¼ cu. water
• 1 Tbsp. of either honey, agave nectar, real maple syrup, Smucker’s strawberry syrup (I made four different batches using one of these in each).
I mixed the dry ingredients together and then added the water and sweetener. This made a pasty substance that was firm enough to put on a cookie sheet I’d sprayed with Pam. I shaped into something resembling a cow pile…but smaller. I suppose it was about the size of a giant cookie and about a half inch thick. I baked it at 350 degrees for 15 minutes and it came out a little firmer than a brownie.
My goal, if you read Monday’s story, is to make something resembling the Tarahumara Pinole that will be a good companion on backpacking trips, but also taste good enough to fulfill my cravings for sweet things to eat in the evening. The chia seed will help to keep it from being absorbed rapidly, regardless (I believe) of the sweetener I use to make it more palatable. I’m also considering a recipe with peanuts and raisins for the same reason. It’s always a challenge to bring food into the back country that is nutritious, tastes good, easy to pack, and doesn’t break the bank. I’m hoping this will serve that purpose.
So…I had four recipes to try. I quickly discovered that the cinnamon was overpowering and that could be because I put in a tablespoon instead of a teaspoon. Only three times as much. Slight mistake. By adding the brown sugar, I’d definitely made it tastier and a little more moist than Marie’s. I had Holly come and try it, as well and we ranked them this way:
1. Strawberry syrup
2. Maple syrup
3. Honey
4. Agave nectar
Not a strong poll, but I’m having some more folks over to check it out. Holly keeps eating the strawberry syrup one, so I may have to make more. She actually likes it. I’m going to make some with the peanuts and raisins, and I’ll probably try some with different kinds of chips – chocolate, butterscotch, peanut butter – to see how those taste. Many options and it’s so simple to make that I can keep experimenting.
By the way, I found all the ingredients at my Heinen’s in Mayfield Village. They were a little high on the chia seeds - $13 a pound, but that quantity should go a long way. Tomorrow…a long ride.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Tough trail hike.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Tuesday is kind of becoming movie night for Holly and me. We go to the cheap place in Willoughby Hills where we can see movies that got released about 3 months ago and for which people paid…oh…$9 or so and see them for $1. Too good to pass up. I’ve been heading over to the Mayfield track after the movie and doing my ‘backpack on the bleachers with some running mixed in’ workout. I end up getting home around midnight and still have to take a shower or jump in the neighbor’s pool (talk about messing with someone’s pH balance). I thought I’d try something different, so I headed for the park with the pack.
As much as I like hitting the bleachers, it really isn’t the same thing as backpacking over rugged terrain…such as I’ll be doing in the Adirondacks in a few weeks. Walking rocky trails filled with roots and often mud requires a degree of balance and agility not as important on the track or in the bleachers. To really get ready for the trails you need to walk the trails. I head off-trail and will find boulders or fallen trees where I’ll stop and do a series of step-ups to strengthen the quads for climbing. On this particular hike of around 70 minutes, I made nine different stops and did 250 step-ups. It doesn’t sound like too much, but I find it more difficult than walking the bleachers because of the height of the step (9 to 15 inches) and the balancing necessary. I also walk a hilly course to add to the workout.
By the time I’d walked 40 minutes, I was wetter than I am when running…it was that muggy and I was working hard. My shoulders were sore because the 50 pounds of salt was settling too low in the pack and pulling the hip belt from my hips and forcing the weight to rest more heavily on my shoulders. Not the way to carry a pack, but I left it because I wanted the additional conditioning…and it wouldn’t stay on my sweaty hips anyway. By the way, you can carry a lot more weight with a lot less discomfort if you have a pack that fits you correctly and a keep in on the hips and off the shoulders.
I want to take it camping, but I’m also hoping it will be sweet enough to satisfy those late-night cravings I get when exercising at my current level. I suppose I could douse it in chocolate syrup or break it up and mix it with my Breyer’s all-natural vanilla with bean specks ice cream…but probably not.
It turned out to be a great workout. The 250 step-ups were the most I’ve ever done on a hike and my legs were trembling after I took off the pack back at the car…good sign that I’d maxed out. I can tell I’m in better shape than a year ago before climbing, so I’m anxious to get there and see how things go on the peaks. My running muscles needed the break anyway and I don’t feel like a slacker when doing this kind of workout.
Hike duration: 70 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100.
Calories burned during workout: 700.
Tuesday is kind of becoming movie night for Holly and me. We go to the cheap place in Willoughby Hills where we can see movies that got released about 3 months ago and for which people paid…oh…$9 or so and see them for $1. Too good to pass up. I’ve been heading over to the Mayfield track after the movie and doing my ‘backpack on the bleachers with some running mixed in’ workout. I end up getting home around midnight and still have to take a shower or jump in the neighbor’s pool (talk about messing with someone’s pH balance). I thought I’d try something different, so I headed for the park with the pack.
As much as I like hitting the bleachers, it really isn’t the same thing as backpacking over rugged terrain…such as I’ll be doing in the Adirondacks in a few weeks. Walking rocky trails filled with roots and often mud requires a degree of balance and agility not as important on the track or in the bleachers. To really get ready for the trails you need to walk the trails. I head off-trail and will find boulders or fallen trees where I’ll stop and do a series of step-ups to strengthen the quads for climbing. On this particular hike of around 70 minutes, I made nine different stops and did 250 step-ups. It doesn’t sound like too much, but I find it more difficult than walking the bleachers because of the height of the step (9 to 15 inches) and the balancing necessary. I also walk a hilly course to add to the workout.
By the time I’d walked 40 minutes, I was wetter than I am when running…it was that muggy and I was working hard. My shoulders were sore because the 50 pounds of salt was settling too low in the pack and pulling the hip belt from my hips and forcing the weight to rest more heavily on my shoulders. Not the way to carry a pack, but I left it because I wanted the additional conditioning…and it wouldn’t stay on my sweaty hips anyway. By the way, you can carry a lot more weight with a lot less discomfort if you have a pack that fits you correctly and a keep in on the hips and off the shoulders.
I want to take it camping, but I’m also hoping it will be sweet enough to satisfy those late-night cravings I get when exercising at my current level. I suppose I could douse it in chocolate syrup or break it up and mix it with my Breyer’s all-natural vanilla with bean specks ice cream…but probably not.
It turned out to be a great workout. The 250 step-ups were the most I’ve ever done on a hike and my legs were trembling after I took off the pack back at the car…good sign that I’d maxed out. I can tell I’m in better shape than a year ago before climbing, so I’m anxious to get there and see how things go on the peaks. My running muscles needed the break anyway and I don’t feel like a slacker when doing this kind of workout.
Hike duration: 70 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100.
Calories burned during workout: 700.
No safe place in my house for cream pie.
Monday, July 19, 2010
I had a bad week of eating. Holly had made three different cream pies for Savannah’s birthday dinner and I worked hard at eating the leftovers to all three before they spoiled into pools of oil, fruit and other gross-looking stuff. They never made it. I was eating it for breakfast, after workout snack, dinner, and a bedtime snack. I needed none of these calories…though dessert is always about ‘want’ and never ‘need’.
I didn’t gain any weight though, because I’m still working out every day and watching the calories from other sources. I maintained my ‘don’t drink calories’ routine and I watch that I don’t overeat at meals. Still, if I want to achieve my long-term, weight related goal, I need a better substitute than sugar/fat laden desserts (is a life without Breyer’s worth living?).
So…back to Pinole and other weird Tarahumara running food. Marie stopped over with her latest batch of Pinole and, after tasting the bars without the chocolate chips, I classified this recipe as “Marie’s yucky Pinole”. I’ll post the recipe anyway because we’re trying to improve on the basic version to make it sweeter. I’m planning on adding some brown sugar and taking out the nutmeg (what was she thinking?).
Marie’s yucky Pinole (except part with chocolate chips)
1 cu. Cornmeal
2 Tbsp. chia seeds ($10 a pound)
2 Tbsp. of agave (weird honey-like substance)
1 tsp of cinnamon
1 pinch salt
1/8 tsp of nutmeg
Toast the cornmeal in a skillet over medium heat, stirring often, until it turns light brown, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl, mix in cinnamon, and sweetener or other spices, and desired amount of water. This paste can be baked for 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees to make brownie-like cake.
Marie added chocolate chips to the top of half the pan…the other half was pretty bland and a little dry. Once perfected though, it is an excellent trail bar because the chia seeds, which store nine times its weight in water, empties slowly from the gut, thus spreading out the energy qualities so essential to long-distance, aerobic events…like running over 100 miles at a crack as the Tarahumara Indians often do.
The run was another slow, pathetic effort. I managed 50 minutes, but not without a dunk in the Chagrin River. When will the heat end? When will I stop whining about the heat not ending? When the heat ends.
Run duration: 50 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140.
Calories burned during workout: 850.
I had a bad week of eating. Holly had made three different cream pies for Savannah’s birthday dinner and I worked hard at eating the leftovers to all three before they spoiled into pools of oil, fruit and other gross-looking stuff. They never made it. I was eating it for breakfast, after workout snack, dinner, and a bedtime snack. I needed none of these calories…though dessert is always about ‘want’ and never ‘need’.
I didn’t gain any weight though, because I’m still working out every day and watching the calories from other sources. I maintained my ‘don’t drink calories’ routine and I watch that I don’t overeat at meals. Still, if I want to achieve my long-term, weight related goal, I need a better substitute than sugar/fat laden desserts (is a life without Breyer’s worth living?).
So…back to Pinole and other weird Tarahumara running food. Marie stopped over with her latest batch of Pinole and, after tasting the bars without the chocolate chips, I classified this recipe as “Marie’s yucky Pinole”. I’ll post the recipe anyway because we’re trying to improve on the basic version to make it sweeter. I’m planning on adding some brown sugar and taking out the nutmeg (what was she thinking?).
Marie’s yucky Pinole (except part with chocolate chips)
1 cu. Cornmeal
2 Tbsp. chia seeds ($10 a pound)
2 Tbsp. of agave (weird honey-like substance)
1 tsp of cinnamon
1 pinch salt
1/8 tsp of nutmeg
Toast the cornmeal in a skillet over medium heat, stirring often, until it turns light brown, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl, mix in cinnamon, and sweetener or other spices, and desired amount of water. This paste can be baked for 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees to make brownie-like cake.
Marie added chocolate chips to the top of half the pan…the other half was pretty bland and a little dry. Once perfected though, it is an excellent trail bar because the chia seeds, which store nine times its weight in water, empties slowly from the gut, thus spreading out the energy qualities so essential to long-distance, aerobic events…like running over 100 miles at a crack as the Tarahumara Indians often do.
The run was another slow, pathetic effort. I managed 50 minutes, but not without a dunk in the Chagrin River. When will the heat end? When will I stop whining about the heat not ending? When the heat ends.
Run duration: 50 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140.
Calories burned during workout: 850.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Eating like the Tarahumara
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Marie had called the other day to tell me how proud she was of the pinole she had made. For those of you who have not read ‘Born to Run’ the hottest book in the running community, pinole is the food given so much credit for the amazing running feats of the Tarahumara Indians…the running people.
The Tarahumara live in Barranca del Cobre – Copper Canyon – with walls that rise 8,000 feet above sea level. The canyon is deeper than, and three times the size of, its more famous cousin to the north – the Grand Canyon.
This unusual society lives in a rugged environment where travel by foot is the most expeditious and thus have built their culture around running. From an early age, they run for fun and to survive. They are a semi-nomadic people, running to different parts of the canyon to care for fields and, where possible, to hunt. They are known to run deer, wild turkey, and rabbits to exhaustion and then kill them by throwing stones. They have even been hired by ranchers to chase down wild horses.
They particularly like to race and place great status on being the fastest…which is to say the person who can run fast for very long periods. They play a game with two teams of 3-10 men kicking a wooden, baseball-shaped ball over rugged terrain…for between 100-150 miles at a time. The ball is moved and passed like a soccer ball. The women play a similar game, but pass inter-connected hoops while they run.
On several occasions, they have ventured from their home to race in ultra-marathon events and with tremendous success – as the book ‘Born to Run’ outlines. Runs of 300-400 miles in length are not unknown to some of the elite runners on footwear made from pieces of rubber cut from tires and fashioned into sandals. Much has been made of both their incredible stamina and the nutrition that sustains it and it is the food they eat while running that Marie had made and about which she was so excited.
“We can take it on the trip to the Adirondacks. It’s better than Clif bars. I think you’re gonna like it,” she said and, which remains to be seen…or tasted.
I had a terrible day running. I just can’t seem to get my energy back and I’m continuing to think it is the never-ending heat wave. When we had the 2-3 day reprieve a last week, I promptly put together two days of pr-like running. Since then, it’s nothing but dead legs. I try not to let it psyche me out before starting, as I know it can, and I think I’m running pretty normally for the first 20 minutes, but then it hits and I feel like I’m crawling over the remainder of the course. I keep running Clear Creek and dunking myself at the end. I must admit, just the thought of this pleasant finish keeps me going over the last 20 minutes of the run. The forecast is ‘sweat your ass off for another week’ so I guess I will.
Run duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140.
Calories burned during workout: 1020.
Marie had called the other day to tell me how proud she was of the pinole she had made. For those of you who have not read ‘Born to Run’ the hottest book in the running community, pinole is the food given so much credit for the amazing running feats of the Tarahumara Indians…the running people.
The Tarahumara live in Barranca del Cobre – Copper Canyon – with walls that rise 8,000 feet above sea level. The canyon is deeper than, and three times the size of, its more famous cousin to the north – the Grand Canyon.
This unusual society lives in a rugged environment where travel by foot is the most expeditious and thus have built their culture around running. From an early age, they run for fun and to survive. They are a semi-nomadic people, running to different parts of the canyon to care for fields and, where possible, to hunt. They are known to run deer, wild turkey, and rabbits to exhaustion and then kill them by throwing stones. They have even been hired by ranchers to chase down wild horses.
They particularly like to race and place great status on being the fastest…which is to say the person who can run fast for very long periods. They play a game with two teams of 3-10 men kicking a wooden, baseball-shaped ball over rugged terrain…for between 100-150 miles at a time. The ball is moved and passed like a soccer ball. The women play a similar game, but pass inter-connected hoops while they run.
On several occasions, they have ventured from their home to race in ultra-marathon events and with tremendous success – as the book ‘Born to Run’ outlines. Runs of 300-400 miles in length are not unknown to some of the elite runners on footwear made from pieces of rubber cut from tires and fashioned into sandals. Much has been made of both their incredible stamina and the nutrition that sustains it and it is the food they eat while running that Marie had made and about which she was so excited.
“We can take it on the trip to the Adirondacks. It’s better than Clif bars. I think you’re gonna like it,” she said and, which remains to be seen…or tasted.
I had a terrible day running. I just can’t seem to get my energy back and I’m continuing to think it is the never-ending heat wave. When we had the 2-3 day reprieve a last week, I promptly put together two days of pr-like running. Since then, it’s nothing but dead legs. I try not to let it psyche me out before starting, as I know it can, and I think I’m running pretty normally for the first 20 minutes, but then it hits and I feel like I’m crawling over the remainder of the course. I keep running Clear Creek and dunking myself at the end. I must admit, just the thought of this pleasant finish keeps me going over the last 20 minutes of the run. The forecast is ‘sweat your ass off for another week’ so I guess I will.
Run duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140.
Calories burned during workout: 1020.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Any response is a good response
Saturday, July 17, 2010
I’ve had responses to my stories before, but none quite like what I’ve heard since writing about Don Alexander’s penchant for never stopping during a run. My training partner and backpacking compatriot, John, was the first.
“A minute and 28 seconds is his peeing pr? What’s the big deal...I top that every time I go,” he said.
I said ‘sure you do’ and told him to go and call me back with the results. Two minutes later, my cell was ringing.
“Tell Don I did 45 seconds and I’d just gone two hours ago. I’m going to crush him,” he said. I love to get the competitive juices flowing (no pun here) and I’m all about goal setting, but this may be a bad trend.
Then Marie called. She’d been on her Saturday run earlier in the day and had felt the urge to stop and go, but Don’s story wouldn’t let her.
“I really had to go, but I remembered what Don had said and so I decided to hold it and train my bladder,” she said.
“Did you pee on your leg?” I asked.
“Nope. Made it until the end. I think he’s right.”
Just what I need. People think ‘psycho runner’ is right. She also mentioned that she finished her run with a dunk in Clear Creek and received unusual stares from a group on a picnic. I love it when people follow my advice.
Even his son Colby got in on the act. He posted the following comment on my blog site:
On some unlucky runs around town, Don (my dad) would yell at me from his car window when he drove by me standing at a stop light. "I stopped my watch" was somehow never a sufficient reply.
I must admit that I look for reasons to stop running and maybe that’s part of why I never achieved some of the things Don has in the sport. He owns a 4:04 mile pr, 14:09 for 5K and I know he’s like 30 minutes and change for a 10K... there’s also the fact that he raced at about 112 pounds, something I passed in 6th grade without so much as a pause.
So…I’m going to keep stopping for things like shoe laces, a drink of water, giving someone lost on the trails directions, hot chicks, people who want my autograph because they think I’m John Locke, taking a dump and…yes…peeing. I don’t care what Don does or what he thinks (it’s usually twisted…don’t get me started on his carbonation theory).
Oh…and I did another ride. Yesterday’s was tiring and I know I need more of these for the trips to the Adirondacks. Today’s went much better…I seem to get into the groove quickly once I’m already in shape…big surprise.
Bike duration: 90 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 125.
Calories burned during workout: 1300.
I’ve had responses to my stories before, but none quite like what I’ve heard since writing about Don Alexander’s penchant for never stopping during a run. My training partner and backpacking compatriot, John, was the first.
“A minute and 28 seconds is his peeing pr? What’s the big deal...I top that every time I go,” he said.
I said ‘sure you do’ and told him to go and call me back with the results. Two minutes later, my cell was ringing.
“Tell Don I did 45 seconds and I’d just gone two hours ago. I’m going to crush him,” he said. I love to get the competitive juices flowing (no pun here) and I’m all about goal setting, but this may be a bad trend.
Then Marie called. She’d been on her Saturday run earlier in the day and had felt the urge to stop and go, but Don’s story wouldn’t let her.
“I really had to go, but I remembered what Don had said and so I decided to hold it and train my bladder,” she said.
“Did you pee on your leg?” I asked.
“Nope. Made it until the end. I think he’s right.”
Just what I need. People think ‘psycho runner’ is right. She also mentioned that she finished her run with a dunk in Clear Creek and received unusual stares from a group on a picnic. I love it when people follow my advice.
Even his son Colby got in on the act. He posted the following comment on my blog site:
On some unlucky runs around town, Don (my dad) would yell at me from his car window when he drove by me standing at a stop light. "I stopped my watch" was somehow never a sufficient reply.
I must admit that I look for reasons to stop running and maybe that’s part of why I never achieved some of the things Don has in the sport. He owns a 4:04 mile pr, 14:09 for 5K and I know he’s like 30 minutes and change for a 10K... there’s also the fact that he raced at about 112 pounds, something I passed in 6th grade without so much as a pause.
So…I’m going to keep stopping for things like shoe laces, a drink of water, giving someone lost on the trails directions, hot chicks, people who want my autograph because they think I’m John Locke, taking a dump and…yes…peeing. I don’t care what Don does or what he thinks (it’s usually twisted…don’t get me started on his carbonation theory).
Oh…and I did another ride. Yesterday’s was tiring and I know I need more of these for the trips to the Adirondacks. Today’s went much better…I seem to get into the groove quickly once I’m already in shape…big surprise.
Bike duration: 90 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 125.
Calories burned during workout: 1300.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Playing stand-up
Friday, July 16, 2010
I was stopping to pick up Don so we could head for the Metroparks and a hike. We were going to a barbeque afterwards…a gathering of the Thursday night running group, but Don’s achilles was sore and he couldn’t run. I figured it was a good chance to strap on the pack for more climbing. He’d limp along.
When I arrived at his house, he sprung the trap.
“Hey…Zack’s headed over. Time for a game of ‘Splinter’ and a rematch of ‘Stand-up’ before we hike?” he asked.
“Hell yeah,” I said, knowing there would be no hiking tonight. I’d already done my run, so that was okay.
Zack arrived, we grabbed Colby and walked through the stockade fence to Alexander Field. Don looked across the field to the parking lot beyond the bleachers and let out a groan when he saw cars…and kids in baseball uniforms piling out.
“Little league baseball. Rats. No ‘Splinter’, we could hit those cars,” he said. “Looks like its ‘stand-up’ rematch time, boys.”
You can’t always have 18 people to play baseball and for as long as the game has been played, people have been making adaptations to fit the number of available players. ‘Stand-up’ is a version that, with only four players, allows the game to go on. The rules are pretty simple. The football field is the diamond, with the 50-yard line in the middle of the field as home plate. There are no bases to run... invisible runner routine. If you hit one through the goal posts – automatic homer…as is anything over the fence behind the goal post and the track beyond. Bounce it out and you have a double. A single is anything that rolls in fair territory and comes to a stop before one of the opposing fielders can pick it up. You also have to call your field – to the right or left of the goal post. Hit it to the wrong field and you’re out. The team up has three outs.
Don was pitching because he said his achilles was too sore to run…which meant I’d be running my ass off. They’d beaten us pretty badly in our first go-around three weeks ago and today started out pretty much the same way. It was 7-0 by the end of their half of the first inning. It’s a three-inning game, so we were in deep do-do.
Zack was pitching…if you could call it that. He seemed to know that the objective was to throw the ball in the general direction of the hitter, but seemed clueless as to which side of the hitter it should go. The fact that I was holding a bat, pointing down at home plate, and standing there right-handed seemed to matter very little. You don’t get to take your base if he hits you or we’d have gotten our runs back pretty quickly. He blamed his lack of control on the fact that he didn’t have a glove for a lefty, which is what he was. I was missing the connection between the use of the glove and the location he threw the ball, but…well…he seemed to understand.
We scored three times and headed back to the field. Don shut them down without a run and so we entered the bottom of the second trailing 7-3. I stepped to the plate with a runner on base and after dodging a couple of Zack’s deliveries, finally saw one over the dish. I swung hard, hit it perfectly and knew it was going a long, long way.
“Forget about it Colby, we’ll get it later,” Don said while giving me a ‘high five’ for the two-run jack. We scored a couple of more to tie the game and then Don stepped to the plate with two outs.
“How about if I hit this one through the goal posts to take the lead,” he said.
Zack put his next delivery over the heart of the plate and Don met it squarely. It couldn’t have been any better…dead center through the uprights…and our first lead ever. I made the third out and we headed back to the field. Once there, I began singing ‘Wild Thing’ as Don attempted to save the game. Three outs from victory. And it was just that easy…like Jose Mesa in 1997. Three up…three down and we had won.
Now…I know how much Colby hates to lose (show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser), so I kept my trash talking to a minimum. He realized that he’d just lost to a couple of guys whose total years on the planet exceeded 110. Baseball is more than a game of youth, speed and power though. Sometimes…just sometimes…it pays to be sneaky, underhanded, and willing to do whatever it takes to get in someone’s head…and Don and I know all about that stuff.
So… maybe not a true workout, though I did sweat up a storm. The important thing was that we could and wanted…to play at all. It’s this kind of stuff…being ready to do whatever…that I think will continue to help keep me in shape. Just say ‘yes’ when someone wants to play…or better yet…figure out something to play and invite others to join you.
Bike duration: 85 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 125.
Calories burned during workout: 1275.
I was stopping to pick up Don so we could head for the Metroparks and a hike. We were going to a barbeque afterwards…a gathering of the Thursday night running group, but Don’s achilles was sore and he couldn’t run. I figured it was a good chance to strap on the pack for more climbing. He’d limp along.
When I arrived at his house, he sprung the trap.
“Hey…Zack’s headed over. Time for a game of ‘Splinter’ and a rematch of ‘Stand-up’ before we hike?” he asked.
“Hell yeah,” I said, knowing there would be no hiking tonight. I’d already done my run, so that was okay.
Zack arrived, we grabbed Colby and walked through the stockade fence to Alexander Field. Don looked across the field to the parking lot beyond the bleachers and let out a groan when he saw cars…and kids in baseball uniforms piling out.
“Little league baseball. Rats. No ‘Splinter’, we could hit those cars,” he said. “Looks like its ‘stand-up’ rematch time, boys.”
You can’t always have 18 people to play baseball and for as long as the game has been played, people have been making adaptations to fit the number of available players. ‘Stand-up’ is a version that, with only four players, allows the game to go on. The rules are pretty simple. The football field is the diamond, with the 50-yard line in the middle of the field as home plate. There are no bases to run... invisible runner routine. If you hit one through the goal posts – automatic homer…as is anything over the fence behind the goal post and the track beyond. Bounce it out and you have a double. A single is anything that rolls in fair territory and comes to a stop before one of the opposing fielders can pick it up. You also have to call your field – to the right or left of the goal post. Hit it to the wrong field and you’re out. The team up has three outs.
Don was pitching because he said his achilles was too sore to run…which meant I’d be running my ass off. They’d beaten us pretty badly in our first go-around three weeks ago and today started out pretty much the same way. It was 7-0 by the end of their half of the first inning. It’s a three-inning game, so we were in deep do-do.
Zack was pitching…if you could call it that. He seemed to know that the objective was to throw the ball in the general direction of the hitter, but seemed clueless as to which side of the hitter it should go. The fact that I was holding a bat, pointing down at home plate, and standing there right-handed seemed to matter very little. You don’t get to take your base if he hits you or we’d have gotten our runs back pretty quickly. He blamed his lack of control on the fact that he didn’t have a glove for a lefty, which is what he was. I was missing the connection between the use of the glove and the location he threw the ball, but…well…he seemed to understand.
We scored three times and headed back to the field. Don shut them down without a run and so we entered the bottom of the second trailing 7-3. I stepped to the plate with a runner on base and after dodging a couple of Zack’s deliveries, finally saw one over the dish. I swung hard, hit it perfectly and knew it was going a long, long way.
“Forget about it Colby, we’ll get it later,” Don said while giving me a ‘high five’ for the two-run jack. We scored a couple of more to tie the game and then Don stepped to the plate with two outs.
“How about if I hit this one through the goal posts to take the lead,” he said.
Zack put his next delivery over the heart of the plate and Don met it squarely. It couldn’t have been any better…dead center through the uprights…and our first lead ever. I made the third out and we headed back to the field. Once there, I began singing ‘Wild Thing’ as Don attempted to save the game. Three outs from victory. And it was just that easy…like Jose Mesa in 1997. Three up…three down and we had won.
Now…I know how much Colby hates to lose (show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser), so I kept my trash talking to a minimum. He realized that he’d just lost to a couple of guys whose total years on the planet exceeded 110. Baseball is more than a game of youth, speed and power though. Sometimes…just sometimes…it pays to be sneaky, underhanded, and willing to do whatever it takes to get in someone’s head…and Don and I know all about that stuff.
So… maybe not a true workout, though I did sweat up a storm. The important thing was that we could and wanted…to play at all. It’s this kind of stuff…being ready to do whatever…that I think will continue to help keep me in shape. Just say ‘yes’ when someone wants to play…or better yet…figure out something to play and invite others to join you.
Bike duration: 85 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 125.
Calories burned during workout: 1275.
Friday, July 16, 2010
"Never stop running during a workout..."
Thursday, July 15, 2010
“It’s simple. You train your bowels and your bladder…the same way you train your cardiovascular system…and you’ll never stop on a run to empty either,” Don said, with intensity.
We were at a gathering of some of the best distance runners in history of Ohio High School athletics. The people in the room represented over 20 state championships in cross country and track, and included an Olympic trials qualifier. Everyone knows Don and some of his quirky training beliefs, but I was making him verbalize a couple of the ones that entertained me the most.
“We’ve been over this. You told me that years ago…that I should never stop to take a dump…discipline, you said and I listened…until that run when I soiled myself,” I said.
“Yeah? Well…did you do mental imagery? Did you do intervals practicing holding it? Any tempo runs when you really had to go? I don’t think so…and if you didn’t…well…it’s your own fault,” he said.
Don believes that you NEVER stop running during a workout. On the streets and you come to a red light? Simple. Turn around and jog back, looking over your shoulder to see when the light is going to change, then turn around and run across. I ran into a telephone pole following this advice. How about just jogging in place waiting for the light to turn?
“Jogging in place is for wimps,” he said.
Tying your shoe? “Double knot them before you start.”
And if you’re leading a run on trails with high school kids who are struggling to stay with you because you’re one of the best distance runners in the state and they ask you to slow down a little, what do you say?
“Yeah…that happened. I asked them if they knew the way back and when they said ‘no’ I said ‘then you better keep up’,” he said.
Rae, Don’s wife, and long-time distance coach for Olmsted Falls and Strongsville commented on how his credibility took a hit with the kids when he went on this tangent. I asked her and his daughter Aubrey if they knew about his strangest pr of all and forced him to clarify.
”If you hold it all day long to strengthen the bladder, you’ll never have to go on a run. Never…NEVER…NEVER!!”
“And tell them about your pr after one of those all day holds, Don,” I prodded.
“Yeah…well…okay…it’s one minute and 28 seconds with anything over one minute considered ‘pro’ level,” he said.
Try doing that while starting and stopping a stop watch. That’s right, Rae, it ain’t the kids peeing all over your bathroom walls.
Run duration: 46 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140.
Calories burned during workout: 875.
“It’s simple. You train your bowels and your bladder…the same way you train your cardiovascular system…and you’ll never stop on a run to empty either,” Don said, with intensity.
We were at a gathering of some of the best distance runners in history of Ohio High School athletics. The people in the room represented over 20 state championships in cross country and track, and included an Olympic trials qualifier. Everyone knows Don and some of his quirky training beliefs, but I was making him verbalize a couple of the ones that entertained me the most.
“We’ve been over this. You told me that years ago…that I should never stop to take a dump…discipline, you said and I listened…until that run when I soiled myself,” I said.
“Yeah? Well…did you do mental imagery? Did you do intervals practicing holding it? Any tempo runs when you really had to go? I don’t think so…and if you didn’t…well…it’s your own fault,” he said.
Don believes that you NEVER stop running during a workout. On the streets and you come to a red light? Simple. Turn around and jog back, looking over your shoulder to see when the light is going to change, then turn around and run across. I ran into a telephone pole following this advice. How about just jogging in place waiting for the light to turn?
“Jogging in place is for wimps,” he said.
Tying your shoe? “Double knot them before you start.”
And if you’re leading a run on trails with high school kids who are struggling to stay with you because you’re one of the best distance runners in the state and they ask you to slow down a little, what do you say?
“Yeah…that happened. I asked them if they knew the way back and when they said ‘no’ I said ‘then you better keep up’,” he said.
Rae, Don’s wife, and long-time distance coach for Olmsted Falls and Strongsville commented on how his credibility took a hit with the kids when he went on this tangent. I asked her and his daughter Aubrey if they knew about his strangest pr of all and forced him to clarify.
”If you hold it all day long to strengthen the bladder, you’ll never have to go on a run. Never…NEVER…NEVER!!”
“And tell them about your pr after one of those all day holds, Don,” I prodded.
“Yeah…well…okay…it’s one minute and 28 seconds with anything over one minute considered ‘pro’ level,” he said.
Try doing that while starting and stopping a stop watch. That’s right, Rae, it ain’t the kids peeing all over your bathroom walls.
Run duration: 46 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140.
Calories burned during workout: 875.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Kayaking the lazy river.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
One day after the workout that should have left me a cripple went well. I never had anything near the soreness I’d felt a week ago after my first bleacher workout, and I’d done considerably more this time. The body adapts so quickly, which is a nice thing, but I must admit that at age 55, I didn’t expect mine to be still adapting so quickly. I often tell clients ‘the more you do…the more you can do’ and I guess it’s time to once again have the faith as it relates to my situation. Let’s face it…I’ve been doing quite a bit for four months now and so my body is ready for new challenges…at least more ready than it was in February. Having said all that, I figured my running legs needed a night off, so I texted Savannah to see if she wanted to go kayaking.
“Sounds good,” was the reply, which surprised me a little. She was out kayaking on Lake Erie recently and said she liked it. I suggested then that we go and she’d said okay, but I thought it was just to satisfy the old man. Apparently not.
We strapped the kayaks to the rack on her jeep and headed for the Upper Cuyahoga River and Russell Park. I like putting in there and heading down river to a take out just above Camp High. It’s probably around 11 miles with only one slight rapid in Hiram and is perfect for a gentle two-hour run. I always see beaver, great blue heron, muskrat, deer, trout or salmon jumping from the water (catching deer flies, I hope), hawks and the occasional eagle. It is amazing to think this is the same water that flows through the flats on its way to Lake Erie.
We only had an hour and so would head down river and then return against the flow. Savannah wisely wondered about this and how much more difficult it would be. She’s an engineering student…always thinking logically.
“Actually, this is a really cool section of river. If you stay to the right you’ll have the current with you and the same thing on the way back.”
She wasn’t buying it, but the current is so gentle, it only takes about 10% more time returning…and we wanted a workout anyway. We applied bug spray, but he deer fly were completely unimpressed. They don’t know me here too well and so I decided to introduce them.
“Smashed that one good. I’m going to leave his remains on the outside of the kayak as a deterrent,” I said.
“Right, dad…that’ll work,” Savannah replied, swinging madly at the little bastards.
“Got another,” I said and gently placed it with its buddy. I nailed four more and had them arrayed around me on the kayak…and then they stopped. The remainder of the hoard moved over to Savannah who was not nearly so adept in killing them. She was raising her voice and calling them nasty names…but they were unimpressed.
“I’m telling you…start a collection of dead bodies. It works wonders.”
She never got the hang of smashing them, but did well with the kayak, maneuvering nicely through the limbs and trees that had fallen into the river. We were in 17’ sea kayaks, making that kind of boating a challenge. She said her neck and upper back were getting sore though, and so we turned and headed back to the put-in.
“Come about twice a week for three weeks and you’ll be fine,” I said. She paid careful attention to how we mounted the kayaks on the jeep because she wanted to bring friends to try later on her own.
Later that night, Holly asked me to join her on her 25-minute walking loop around the block, which I gladly did. It wasn’t a hard day, but I ended up with 90 minutes of activity and a break for the legs.
Kayak duration: 60 minutes. Walk duration: 25 minutes.
Training Heart rate: 90 kayaking, 75 walking, 125 killing deerflies.
Calories burned during workout: kayaking – 450, walking – 125.
One day after the workout that should have left me a cripple went well. I never had anything near the soreness I’d felt a week ago after my first bleacher workout, and I’d done considerably more this time. The body adapts so quickly, which is a nice thing, but I must admit that at age 55, I didn’t expect mine to be still adapting so quickly. I often tell clients ‘the more you do…the more you can do’ and I guess it’s time to once again have the faith as it relates to my situation. Let’s face it…I’ve been doing quite a bit for four months now and so my body is ready for new challenges…at least more ready than it was in February. Having said all that, I figured my running legs needed a night off, so I texted Savannah to see if she wanted to go kayaking.
“Sounds good,” was the reply, which surprised me a little. She was out kayaking on Lake Erie recently and said she liked it. I suggested then that we go and she’d said okay, but I thought it was just to satisfy the old man. Apparently not.
We strapped the kayaks to the rack on her jeep and headed for the Upper Cuyahoga River and Russell Park. I like putting in there and heading down river to a take out just above Camp High. It’s probably around 11 miles with only one slight rapid in Hiram and is perfect for a gentle two-hour run. I always see beaver, great blue heron, muskrat, deer, trout or salmon jumping from the water (catching deer flies, I hope), hawks and the occasional eagle. It is amazing to think this is the same water that flows through the flats on its way to Lake Erie.
We only had an hour and so would head down river and then return against the flow. Savannah wisely wondered about this and how much more difficult it would be. She’s an engineering student…always thinking logically.
“Actually, this is a really cool section of river. If you stay to the right you’ll have the current with you and the same thing on the way back.”
She wasn’t buying it, but the current is so gentle, it only takes about 10% more time returning…and we wanted a workout anyway. We applied bug spray, but he deer fly were completely unimpressed. They don’t know me here too well and so I decided to introduce them.
“Smashed that one good. I’m going to leave his remains on the outside of the kayak as a deterrent,” I said.
“Right, dad…that’ll work,” Savannah replied, swinging madly at the little bastards.
“Got another,” I said and gently placed it with its buddy. I nailed four more and had them arrayed around me on the kayak…and then they stopped. The remainder of the hoard moved over to Savannah who was not nearly so adept in killing them. She was raising her voice and calling them nasty names…but they were unimpressed.
“I’m telling you…start a collection of dead bodies. It works wonders.”
She never got the hang of smashing them, but did well with the kayak, maneuvering nicely through the limbs and trees that had fallen into the river. We were in 17’ sea kayaks, making that kind of boating a challenge. She said her neck and upper back were getting sore though, and so we turned and headed back to the put-in.
“Come about twice a week for three weeks and you’ll be fine,” I said. She paid careful attention to how we mounted the kayaks on the jeep because she wanted to bring friends to try later on her own.
Later that night, Holly asked me to join her on her 25-minute walking loop around the block, which I gladly did. It wasn’t a hard day, but I ended up with 90 minutes of activity and a break for the legs.
Kayak duration: 60 minutes. Walk duration: 25 minutes.
Training Heart rate: 90 kayaking, 75 walking, 125 killing deerflies.
Calories burned during workout: kayaking – 450, walking – 125.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
I love night workouts at the track.
Tuesday, July 14, 2010
I stopped in the park yesterday after work to do my run. After taking about a dozen painful steps, I stopped and walked slowly back to the car. I don’t the origin of the deadness I was feeling in my legs – it’s been there for a couple of days, but I just didn’t feel like trying to run through it. I told myself that I would go to the track later in the evening and use the pack to work the bleachers. I knew I would, too.
It was Savannah’s birthday, but we’d done the whole party thing with family and friends the night before. Still, it seemed like we should do something with her. She declined a chance to go to the movies, saying she was tired and just wanted to stay home, but agreed that ice cream at East Coast Custard after the movie would work.
The movie ended around 9:45 p.m. and by the time we made it to ECC, it was 10 p.m. Should I have something and blow off the workout? I have to admit…I wasn’t really even tempted. Strength and Honor. I dropped everyone off and headed for the track.
I pulled the 60-pound pack from the trunk, hoisted it on my shoulders and headed for the bleachers. I’d forgotten my water bottle, but was pleasantly surprised to find the drinking fountain operational. Thank you, Mayfield Schools. My plan was for a little more running and a little less backpack this evening. I had been sore for two full days after last Tuesday’s workout here and didn’t want a repeat.
I started into the bleachers with a plan to do 7 sets. I ended up doing 10 before heading for the track, walking one lap with the pack on, then dropping it to run a mile. I’d done this last week and managed an 8:15 effort, but by the second lap, I knew I’d be faster. And why not? Isn’t that the value…the beauty of the track? It’s this wonderful opportunity to measure yourself…your progress…your metal. It doesn’t matter how you measure up to anyone else…I don’t really care…but I have a long history on the track and I’d kind of forgotten the pure beauty and value of running here.
I did the mile in 7:50 with some effort. Certainly an improvement over a week ago, but so far from what I once used to do. I’m trying to turn back the clock to my prime (not really a prime at all…but it’s still mine) when I was 36 and able to run the mile under 5 minutes. Don had suggested speed work as a way to take my weight loss to the next level…to get competitive again and do road races. At the time, I’d dismissed the idea because I didn’t think running the roads would be good for my calf. I still don’t, but I think running against the watch on the track is the perfect barometer and motivator. I can’t go faster UNLESS I continue to lose weight and improve my fitness. He was on to something good.
I put the pack back on and did another 5 sets in the bleachers before returning to the track and walking a lap. I headed into the bleachers for 2 more sets of 3 repeats with a walking lap at the end of each for a total of 24 sets of bleachers…4 more than last week. Yeah…I know…good job of cutting back to avoid soreness. ‘Do as I say…’ mentality kicks in again. I had been there an hour at this point and decided I needed a cool down mile, which I ended up running in around 8:20. I felt like I could have run all night. It was after 11 p.m. and I’d had the track to myself for over an hour. It was cool and there were some stars out, making it a glorious night. With some light from the school parking lot, the track and bleachers had some illumination, but essentially it’s a workout in the dark. All these conditions combine to make the workout faster, more interesting, and totally enjoyable. I can see this becoming part of a weekly routine.
Backpack duration: 54 minutes. Run duration: 16 minutes
Training Heart Rate: 100-130 with the pack.
Calories burned during workout: 750.
I stopped in the park yesterday after work to do my run. After taking about a dozen painful steps, I stopped and walked slowly back to the car. I don’t the origin of the deadness I was feeling in my legs – it’s been there for a couple of days, but I just didn’t feel like trying to run through it. I told myself that I would go to the track later in the evening and use the pack to work the bleachers. I knew I would, too.
It was Savannah’s birthday, but we’d done the whole party thing with family and friends the night before. Still, it seemed like we should do something with her. She declined a chance to go to the movies, saying she was tired and just wanted to stay home, but agreed that ice cream at East Coast Custard after the movie would work.
The movie ended around 9:45 p.m. and by the time we made it to ECC, it was 10 p.m. Should I have something and blow off the workout? I have to admit…I wasn’t really even tempted. Strength and Honor. I dropped everyone off and headed for the track.
I pulled the 60-pound pack from the trunk, hoisted it on my shoulders and headed for the bleachers. I’d forgotten my water bottle, but was pleasantly surprised to find the drinking fountain operational. Thank you, Mayfield Schools. My plan was for a little more running and a little less backpack this evening. I had been sore for two full days after last Tuesday’s workout here and didn’t want a repeat.
I started into the bleachers with a plan to do 7 sets. I ended up doing 10 before heading for the track, walking one lap with the pack on, then dropping it to run a mile. I’d done this last week and managed an 8:15 effort, but by the second lap, I knew I’d be faster. And why not? Isn’t that the value…the beauty of the track? It’s this wonderful opportunity to measure yourself…your progress…your metal. It doesn’t matter how you measure up to anyone else…I don’t really care…but I have a long history on the track and I’d kind of forgotten the pure beauty and value of running here.
I did the mile in 7:50 with some effort. Certainly an improvement over a week ago, but so far from what I once used to do. I’m trying to turn back the clock to my prime (not really a prime at all…but it’s still mine) when I was 36 and able to run the mile under 5 minutes. Don had suggested speed work as a way to take my weight loss to the next level…to get competitive again and do road races. At the time, I’d dismissed the idea because I didn’t think running the roads would be good for my calf. I still don’t, but I think running against the watch on the track is the perfect barometer and motivator. I can’t go faster UNLESS I continue to lose weight and improve my fitness. He was on to something good.
I put the pack back on and did another 5 sets in the bleachers before returning to the track and walking a lap. I headed into the bleachers for 2 more sets of 3 repeats with a walking lap at the end of each for a total of 24 sets of bleachers…4 more than last week. Yeah…I know…good job of cutting back to avoid soreness. ‘Do as I say…’ mentality kicks in again. I had been there an hour at this point and decided I needed a cool down mile, which I ended up running in around 8:20. I felt like I could have run all night. It was after 11 p.m. and I’d had the track to myself for over an hour. It was cool and there were some stars out, making it a glorious night. With some light from the school parking lot, the track and bleachers had some illumination, but essentially it’s a workout in the dark. All these conditions combine to make the workout faster, more interesting, and totally enjoyable. I can see this becoming part of a weekly routine.
Backpack duration: 54 minutes. Run duration: 16 minutes
Training Heart Rate: 100-130 with the pack.
Calories burned during workout: 750.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
"Who should play me...Clint or Terry?"
Monday, July 12, 2010
“Donny Roys called Colby about your story on ‘Splinter’. He read your blog in Cleveland.com in Columbus. Man…you weren’t kidding…everyone reads that thing,” Don said.
“Yes…over a million readers a day. Almost as good as that cook book lady they made the movie about…the one with Meryl Streep,” I said.
“Yeah? You think they’ll make a movie about you and your blog and ‘Splinter’? They could get Terry O’Quinn to play you,” he said.
“Maybe Terry. He looks like me. Maybe Clint. He’s cool and old and chicks dig him…like me,” I said. “Maybe after I finish the book. That’s why you’re going with me to the Adirondacks.”
The book is about the privies of the Adirondacks. Clint and Meryl starred in a movie about covered bridges, well this is about covered shitters. ‘Privy’ is just another word for an outhouse and is used to name the structures one is expected to use when taking a dump in the back country…that or dig a cat hole. They can be rather disgusting, smelly, in disrepair, and full of bugs. Personally, I like the bench privies, which are open-air…no walls…just a box over a hole dug in the ground. Not much privacy, but you don’t really need privacy when there’s no one around. Anyway, I’m working on a book that describes the best privies in the High Peaks of the Adirondack mountains and the creation of the club to which those that have visited and utilized said privies will want to belong. Part of every trip I take to the Adirondacks is scouting these important buildings, using them, taking pictures from them (view from a privy is it’s second highest quality) and of them and taking in other criteria that will help determine the best ones…the ones that make the book.
“So…if the book and movie are about privies, then it’s not about ‘Splinter’?” Don wanted to know.
“Look…with the way I write…it’s all about shit in the end. We’ll work ‘Splinter’ in with the privies,” I said.
Oh…and I did a run. It was a shorter version of Clear Creek since I needed to be home for Savannah’s 19th birthday dinner. We were having 11 people over and I had certain responsibilities that I best shirk when I’m there. I managed a steamy 46 minute job and was glad I was out of time. I could have made an hour, but it was definitely back to ‘hot and muggy’. I am going to be such a flash when the weather breaks and it gets back to the 60’s and 70’s. Tomorrow…bleachers and track again.
Run duration: 46 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140.
Calories burned during workout: 875.
“Donny Roys called Colby about your story on ‘Splinter’. He read your blog in Cleveland.com in Columbus. Man…you weren’t kidding…everyone reads that thing,” Don said.
“Yes…over a million readers a day. Almost as good as that cook book lady they made the movie about…the one with Meryl Streep,” I said.
“Yeah? You think they’ll make a movie about you and your blog and ‘Splinter’? They could get Terry O’Quinn to play you,” he said.
“Maybe Terry. He looks like me. Maybe Clint. He’s cool and old and chicks dig him…like me,” I said. “Maybe after I finish the book. That’s why you’re going with me to the Adirondacks.”
The book is about the privies of the Adirondacks. Clint and Meryl starred in a movie about covered bridges, well this is about covered shitters. ‘Privy’ is just another word for an outhouse and is used to name the structures one is expected to use when taking a dump in the back country…that or dig a cat hole. They can be rather disgusting, smelly, in disrepair, and full of bugs. Personally, I like the bench privies, which are open-air…no walls…just a box over a hole dug in the ground. Not much privacy, but you don’t really need privacy when there’s no one around. Anyway, I’m working on a book that describes the best privies in the High Peaks of the Adirondack mountains and the creation of the club to which those that have visited and utilized said privies will want to belong. Part of every trip I take to the Adirondacks is scouting these important buildings, using them, taking pictures from them (view from a privy is it’s second highest quality) and of them and taking in other criteria that will help determine the best ones…the ones that make the book.
“So…if the book and movie are about privies, then it’s not about ‘Splinter’?” Don wanted to know.
“Look…with the way I write…it’s all about shit in the end. We’ll work ‘Splinter’ in with the privies,” I said.
Oh…and I did a run. It was a shorter version of Clear Creek since I needed to be home for Savannah’s 19th birthday dinner. We were having 11 people over and I had certain responsibilities that I best shirk when I’m there. I managed a steamy 46 minute job and was glad I was out of time. I could have made an hour, but it was definitely back to ‘hot and muggy’. I am going to be such a flash when the weather breaks and it gets back to the 60’s and 70’s. Tomorrow…bleachers and track again.
Run duration: 46 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140.
Calories burned during workout: 875.
Monday, July 12, 2010
"Seriously? Porridge?"
Sunday, July 11, 2010
It was time to get serious about backpacking. I’ve been talking to a bunch of different people who want to go to the Adirondacks this summer, but have failed to pick any concrete dates. I want the dates in the book because it gets me to focus my training for climbing, which means time with a pack on my back and hiking in the park or doing bleacher work. It also helps to put in some more bike time…building endurance in the quads for 8-10 hours a day on the trail with elevation changes of over 5,000 feet. Heidi and Marie were completely committed to going, but we had to nail down the dates. I managed to get them in the kitchen at the same time on Sunday to do just that. We picked the weekend and then got around to what Marie would eat on the trail. Everything we will consume has to fit into a bear canister, which is a hard, plastic cylinder about 12 inches tall, 9 inches in diameter and with a 700 cubic inch capacity. I have two of them and can bring food for three people for a week…if we pack wisely. That means dehydrated foods, repackaged in zip lock bags that can be easily reconstituted with boiling water.
“Will you eat oatmeal for breakfast? Heidi and I like peaches and cream,” I asked Marie.
“Um…could I have porridge?”
“Porridge. Like the stuff Goldilocks stole from ‘THE THREE BEARS’?”
“Yeah. My mom gets it from King Arthur…you know…a catalogue thing,” she said.
Okay. Porridge. From King Arthur and the round table guys. Porridge…the stuff that bears make and leave to cool while they go out for a short hike. I mean…we’re bringing bear canisters to keep food away from the black bears, which are thicker than mosquito’s on a summer night, and she wants to bring their favorite food?
“Sure. Get the porridge. How about lunch?”
“Anything but peanut butter. I’m allergic to peanuts,” she said.
Which is, of course, is what I bring for lunch. That and little jelly packets from my buddies at Smuckers, soft, round bread with a Spanish name that fits perfectly in the canister and I’ve go lunch covered. That and gorp (good old raisins and PEANUTS), a trail mix that has M&M’s too. She was turning out to be a feeding dilemma. Heidi to the rescue. She pulled out hemp seeds she was keeping in some kind of funky zip lock bag and offered them to Marie, who commented on how it looked like a marijuana bag.
“How would you know what that looks like?” I asked…since I didn’t.
“Daaaad…that’s what they keep it in. You don’t have to use it to know,” Heidi said. “What did they keep it in when you were in school?”
“Yeah…did they even have zip lock back then?” Marie asked.
She’s at the top of her class at Mayfield…taking all the honors stuff and a real brainiack, but if common sense was dynamite, she couldn’t blow her nose.
“I’m the guy who knows the trails in…and out. I cook the food, too. Are you sure you want to phrase that ‘zip lock’ question the way you just did? Just how old do you think I am?”
Actually, I’m not sure if we did have zip lock bags then. We for sure had baggies though, and I’m thinking the marijuana was stored in them in my day. I’ll research it later. We finished up on what she would and wouldn’t eat quickly and I kicked her out of the house to contemplate her errors in judgment. I needed to get Heidi back to Kent and then fit in a run on the way home. I was really dragging…probably a result of the runs from the last two days…and returned home after dropping her off to consider my options. I decided that a day off was overdue and the way I was feeling, was more than appropriate. Back at it tomorrow with a good run.
It was time to get serious about backpacking. I’ve been talking to a bunch of different people who want to go to the Adirondacks this summer, but have failed to pick any concrete dates. I want the dates in the book because it gets me to focus my training for climbing, which means time with a pack on my back and hiking in the park or doing bleacher work. It also helps to put in some more bike time…building endurance in the quads for 8-10 hours a day on the trail with elevation changes of over 5,000 feet. Heidi and Marie were completely committed to going, but we had to nail down the dates. I managed to get them in the kitchen at the same time on Sunday to do just that. We picked the weekend and then got around to what Marie would eat on the trail. Everything we will consume has to fit into a bear canister, which is a hard, plastic cylinder about 12 inches tall, 9 inches in diameter and with a 700 cubic inch capacity. I have two of them and can bring food for three people for a week…if we pack wisely. That means dehydrated foods, repackaged in zip lock bags that can be easily reconstituted with boiling water.
“Will you eat oatmeal for breakfast? Heidi and I like peaches and cream,” I asked Marie.
“Um…could I have porridge?”
“Porridge. Like the stuff Goldilocks stole from ‘THE THREE BEARS’?”
“Yeah. My mom gets it from King Arthur…you know…a catalogue thing,” she said.
Okay. Porridge. From King Arthur and the round table guys. Porridge…the stuff that bears make and leave to cool while they go out for a short hike. I mean…we’re bringing bear canisters to keep food away from the black bears, which are thicker than mosquito’s on a summer night, and she wants to bring their favorite food?
“Sure. Get the porridge. How about lunch?”
“Anything but peanut butter. I’m allergic to peanuts,” she said.
Which is, of course, is what I bring for lunch. That and little jelly packets from my buddies at Smuckers, soft, round bread with a Spanish name that fits perfectly in the canister and I’ve go lunch covered. That and gorp (good old raisins and PEANUTS), a trail mix that has M&M’s too. She was turning out to be a feeding dilemma. Heidi to the rescue. She pulled out hemp seeds she was keeping in some kind of funky zip lock bag and offered them to Marie, who commented on how it looked like a marijuana bag.
“How would you know what that looks like?” I asked…since I didn’t.
“Daaaad…that’s what they keep it in. You don’t have to use it to know,” Heidi said. “What did they keep it in when you were in school?”
“Yeah…did they even have zip lock back then?” Marie asked.
She’s at the top of her class at Mayfield…taking all the honors stuff and a real brainiack, but if common sense was dynamite, she couldn’t blow her nose.
“I’m the guy who knows the trails in…and out. I cook the food, too. Are you sure you want to phrase that ‘zip lock’ question the way you just did? Just how old do you think I am?”
Actually, I’m not sure if we did have zip lock bags then. We for sure had baggies though, and I’m thinking the marijuana was stored in them in my day. I’ll research it later. We finished up on what she would and wouldn’t eat quickly and I kicked her out of the house to contemplate her errors in judgment. I needed to get Heidi back to Kent and then fit in a run on the way home. I was really dragging…probably a result of the runs from the last two days…and returned home after dropping her off to consider my options. I decided that a day off was overdue and the way I was feeling, was more than appropriate. Back at it tomorrow with a good run.
Two good runs in a row.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
It should have been a ride day, but like so many Saturday’s, if I don’t have a ride scheduled with John, I manage to fritter time away doing this and that knowing that I only need a little over an hour to get in a good run. With riding, I feel like I need at least two hours. Well…I had a picnic to attend at 6 p.m., one where I knew I’d eat all kinds of terribly fatty things…and I had a little over an hour to work out to pre-burn the calories.
Though the temperature was on the rise again, the humidity was lower and it actually felt pretty comfortable at the beginning of the run. I decided to see if I could even out the pace and if that would have any impact on my overall time. I’ve been going out harder on days that I want to challenge my course record, but yesterday that had led to a crawl over the final couple of miles.
I didn’t even check my splits knowing that would only make me shift my pace. I decided I’d just try to stay consistent throughout the run. It seemed to work well and I came into the final 20 minutes of the run feeling like I was actually still running. I reached Clear Creek in 56:06, which was 16 seconds slower than yesterday and 30 seconds off my best, but I felt good about having run respectable times back-to-back.
Although I wasn’t as drenched in sweat as I had been the day before, I still wanted to cool off in Clear Creek. I wanted to do it without getting my shoes wet, but I didn’t want to take them off, either. I managed to keep my feet on the stones crossing the creek while dropping my butt…closely followed by the rest of my body…into the water. It looked dumb as hell, but I managed it. When I pulled myself back up on the stones, all the water in my shorts and shirt ran down my legs and saturated my shoes. Duh.
Oh…and the word was out in the deerfly world. I had one come in for a taste early on…smashed him good…and only one more during the entire run, which I dispensed with equal efficiency. Let’s hope they’re learning.
Run duration: 56 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140.
Calories burned during workout: 975.
It should have been a ride day, but like so many Saturday’s, if I don’t have a ride scheduled with John, I manage to fritter time away doing this and that knowing that I only need a little over an hour to get in a good run. With riding, I feel like I need at least two hours. Well…I had a picnic to attend at 6 p.m., one where I knew I’d eat all kinds of terribly fatty things…and I had a little over an hour to work out to pre-burn the calories.
Though the temperature was on the rise again, the humidity was lower and it actually felt pretty comfortable at the beginning of the run. I decided to see if I could even out the pace and if that would have any impact on my overall time. I’ve been going out harder on days that I want to challenge my course record, but yesterday that had led to a crawl over the final couple of miles.
I didn’t even check my splits knowing that would only make me shift my pace. I decided I’d just try to stay consistent throughout the run. It seemed to work well and I came into the final 20 minutes of the run feeling like I was actually still running. I reached Clear Creek in 56:06, which was 16 seconds slower than yesterday and 30 seconds off my best, but I felt good about having run respectable times back-to-back.
Although I wasn’t as drenched in sweat as I had been the day before, I still wanted to cool off in Clear Creek. I wanted to do it without getting my shoes wet, but I didn’t want to take them off, either. I managed to keep my feet on the stones crossing the creek while dropping my butt…closely followed by the rest of my body…into the water. It looked dumb as hell, but I managed it. When I pulled myself back up on the stones, all the water in my shorts and shirt ran down my legs and saturated my shoes. Duh.
Oh…and the word was out in the deerfly world. I had one come in for a taste early on…smashed him good…and only one more during the entire run, which I dispensed with equal efficiency. Let’s hope they’re learning.
Run duration: 56 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140.
Calories burned during workout: 975.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Fourteen dead in North Chagrin.
Friday, July 09, 2010
I don’t follow closely all that has been said and printed regarding the LeBron thing. I did notice something said by Cavs owner Dan Gilbert, though.
“He’s guaranteeing that the Cavs will win the NBA championship before LeBron gets his ring,” I said to John.
“That’s IM-possible. Why does he say something so stupid?”
I don’t know if John is right, but I do like the place Gilbert has set the bar. Besides, what is impossible? John is the biggest fan of cycling I know and, like me, has watched with total amazement the things that Lance has done since being diagnosed with cancer. It’s not the same thing, but I’m sure at that time only Lance believed he could do the things he’s done. I’m guessing that Gilbert has a plan and if you have a good plan and determination, well…any goal is attainable. Let’s watch.
I went to the park with a light rain falling. I prayed it would continue since it could only make the run more pleasant. It was cooler than it’s been in about two weeks and I was thinking I’d run an hour and do it pretty hard. I started out on Clear Creek course and decided that I’d try to run somewhere near my pr for the course. The conditions were far from perfect…I think the humidity was 99.9%...so I took it out pretty hard thinking I’d be backing off at the halfway point.
I passed my first two check points, about a third of the way through the run, ahead of pr pace by 30 seconds. Shortly after that though, the humidity had taken its toll. My legs were feeling the strain, but I tried to push through it. By the 40-minute mark, I felt like I’d be happy to crack one hour for the course. I made one stop at the water spigot about 3 minutes from the end of the course and checked the watch. I was surprised to find that I was still close to pr time. I finished the run without trying to pick it up and ended up only 15 seconds off my pr in a time of 55:50.
I was completely spent and quickly plunged into Clear Creek. There was a walker near by and when she saw me submerse, turned and walked in the other direction. I suppose it is an unusual site…I’ve never seen anyone but Marie go in and that’s because I made her…so I can see why she scooted, but I have to tell you there is nothing better after a long, sweaty run.
I had another indicator that I’m getting back to the condition I’d achieved in my middle 30’s. My deerfly kill pr is 21, which I set on a 7-mile run at that time. The best I’ve done in my comeback is only 5. I was starting to think the reflexes were off or that I couldn’t let them bite long enough to complete the smash. Was I over the hill? Today…they were out in force…and they were biting the hell out of me. By the halfway mark, I’d slammed 8, but then it dried up. With about 10 minutes to go though, I smashed another 3 in quick succession and three more over the remainder of the run. Yeah baby…14 KIA’s. I’m back.
Run duration: 56 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140.
Calories burned during workout: 975.
I don’t follow closely all that has been said and printed regarding the LeBron thing. I did notice something said by Cavs owner Dan Gilbert, though.
“He’s guaranteeing that the Cavs will win the NBA championship before LeBron gets his ring,” I said to John.
“That’s IM-possible. Why does he say something so stupid?”
I don’t know if John is right, but I do like the place Gilbert has set the bar. Besides, what is impossible? John is the biggest fan of cycling I know and, like me, has watched with total amazement the things that Lance has done since being diagnosed with cancer. It’s not the same thing, but I’m sure at that time only Lance believed he could do the things he’s done. I’m guessing that Gilbert has a plan and if you have a good plan and determination, well…any goal is attainable. Let’s watch.
I went to the park with a light rain falling. I prayed it would continue since it could only make the run more pleasant. It was cooler than it’s been in about two weeks and I was thinking I’d run an hour and do it pretty hard. I started out on Clear Creek course and decided that I’d try to run somewhere near my pr for the course. The conditions were far from perfect…I think the humidity was 99.9%...so I took it out pretty hard thinking I’d be backing off at the halfway point.
I passed my first two check points, about a third of the way through the run, ahead of pr pace by 30 seconds. Shortly after that though, the humidity had taken its toll. My legs were feeling the strain, but I tried to push through it. By the 40-minute mark, I felt like I’d be happy to crack one hour for the course. I made one stop at the water spigot about 3 minutes from the end of the course and checked the watch. I was surprised to find that I was still close to pr time. I finished the run without trying to pick it up and ended up only 15 seconds off my pr in a time of 55:50.
I was completely spent and quickly plunged into Clear Creek. There was a walker near by and when she saw me submerse, turned and walked in the other direction. I suppose it is an unusual site…I’ve never seen anyone but Marie go in and that’s because I made her…so I can see why she scooted, but I have to tell you there is nothing better after a long, sweaty run.
I had another indicator that I’m getting back to the condition I’d achieved in my middle 30’s. My deerfly kill pr is 21, which I set on a 7-mile run at that time. The best I’ve done in my comeback is only 5. I was starting to think the reflexes were off or that I couldn’t let them bite long enough to complete the smash. Was I over the hill? Today…they were out in force…and they were biting the hell out of me. By the halfway mark, I’d slammed 8, but then it dried up. With about 10 minutes to go though, I smashed another 3 in quick succession and three more over the remainder of the run. Yeah baby…14 KIA’s. I’m back.
Run duration: 56 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140.
Calories burned during workout: 975.
Going...going...gone.
Thursday, July 08, 2010
It was 8 p.m. and Holly and I had just finished watching the last episode of season four of ‘Lost’. It ended with me in a coffin…which isn’t so good, though I’m expecting to make a big comeback in season five. I hadn’t done a workout yet, but biking had been running through my mind for the last 30 minutes. I quickly changed following the show knowing that I had a little more than an hour for a ride.
I was huming down a side street when I passed a car at the bottom of a long driveway with the door open. The driver, a young man with a cell phone to his ear, had one hand on his garbage can (it had wheels on it) and was attempting to drive up the driveway using his knees and pulling the can along. I suppose this is called ‘multi-tasking’, but I’m old and where I come from, it’s called ‘lazy and stupid’. I mean really…you need your car to bring the garbage can in? He probably had more and needed multiple trips up and down the driveway. Not hard to figure why some people are losing the obesity wars.
I returned home to the news that LeBron was gone. I suppose I’ve been expecting it. I’m a baseball fan first, but always root Cleveland with the other sports. I’ve been around awhile though and I’ve had experience with this kind of thing that has desensitized me to these events. I’ve seen Albert Belle, Kenny Lofton, Manny, Jim Thome, CC, Cliff Lee, Casey Blake, and Victor leave the Indians over the last 10 years – and baseball is my sport. Let’s not forget Art Modell and the Browns leaving town, either. I don’t think the thing was done very well and I feel for all the folks who feel betrayed, but what are you going to do? I have to admit though, that it feels like someone died.
Bike duration: 70 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 125.
Calories burned during workout: 1050
It was 8 p.m. and Holly and I had just finished watching the last episode of season four of ‘Lost’. It ended with me in a coffin…which isn’t so good, though I’m expecting to make a big comeback in season five. I hadn’t done a workout yet, but biking had been running through my mind for the last 30 minutes. I quickly changed following the show knowing that I had a little more than an hour for a ride.
I was huming down a side street when I passed a car at the bottom of a long driveway with the door open. The driver, a young man with a cell phone to his ear, had one hand on his garbage can (it had wheels on it) and was attempting to drive up the driveway using his knees and pulling the can along. I suppose this is called ‘multi-tasking’, but I’m old and where I come from, it’s called ‘lazy and stupid’. I mean really…you need your car to bring the garbage can in? He probably had more and needed multiple trips up and down the driveway. Not hard to figure why some people are losing the obesity wars.
I returned home to the news that LeBron was gone. I suppose I’ve been expecting it. I’m a baseball fan first, but always root Cleveland with the other sports. I’ve been around awhile though and I’ve had experience with this kind of thing that has desensitized me to these events. I’ve seen Albert Belle, Kenny Lofton, Manny, Jim Thome, CC, Cliff Lee, Casey Blake, and Victor leave the Indians over the last 10 years – and baseball is my sport. Let’s not forget Art Modell and the Browns leaving town, either. I don’t think the thing was done very well and I feel for all the folks who feel betrayed, but what are you going to do? I have to admit though, that it feels like someone died.
Bike duration: 70 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 125.
Calories burned during workout: 1050
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Like...ouch.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Yesterday’s workout was definitely a tough one, as my calves were attesting today. Walking up and down stairs was particularly meaningful bringing both fatigue and pain with every step. A good pain…the kind that says ‘you did a good workout, but you’re old and stupid…don’t do it again or you’re really going to be sorry’. That kind.
It was in the 90’s again, but I wanted to get in a run. Though definitely cooler in the park on the trails, I figured it would be too ugly for an hour run – so maybe I’d do 45 minutes. Once I got started though, it seemed pretty nice and the soreness I’d been feeling all day dissipated…for 15 minutes.
I started getting pain in my left calf around then and it was there with every step. It wasn’t the kind of pain that had kept me from running consistently over the last nine years, but I decided pretty quickly I wasn’t going to be taking unnecessary chances. I zigged where I normally zag and turned the run into a 30-minute job. When I arrived at the car, I was almost certain the pain I was feeling was from the bleacher steps the day before and wasn’t too worried, but not questioning the decision to stop short.
Maybe I’m getting smarter…maybe. It’s easy to get caught up in ‘the mileage game’. Too many runners feel like they have to put in a certain amount of miles and all too often, push beyond what they need…and what their bodies are telling them to do…to pile up junk miles to list in a log. I was one of ‘them’ once and hurt myself many times as a result. I don’t think I am anymore, and though I am pushing myself to do something every day, I do it with an ear to my body. If that is entirely true, there should be nothing posted for a workout for today. My legs are still killing me. Oh yeah…I could get the kayak out…
Run duration: 31 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140.
Calories burned during workout: 525.
Yesterday’s workout was definitely a tough one, as my calves were attesting today. Walking up and down stairs was particularly meaningful bringing both fatigue and pain with every step. A good pain…the kind that says ‘you did a good workout, but you’re old and stupid…don’t do it again or you’re really going to be sorry’. That kind.
It was in the 90’s again, but I wanted to get in a run. Though definitely cooler in the park on the trails, I figured it would be too ugly for an hour run – so maybe I’d do 45 minutes. Once I got started though, it seemed pretty nice and the soreness I’d been feeling all day dissipated…for 15 minutes.
I started getting pain in my left calf around then and it was there with every step. It wasn’t the kind of pain that had kept me from running consistently over the last nine years, but I decided pretty quickly I wasn’t going to be taking unnecessary chances. I zigged where I normally zag and turned the run into a 30-minute job. When I arrived at the car, I was almost certain the pain I was feeling was from the bleacher steps the day before and wasn’t too worried, but not questioning the decision to stop short.
Maybe I’m getting smarter…maybe. It’s easy to get caught up in ‘the mileage game’. Too many runners feel like they have to put in a certain amount of miles and all too often, push beyond what they need…and what their bodies are telling them to do…to pile up junk miles to list in a log. I was one of ‘them’ once and hurt myself many times as a result. I don’t think I am anymore, and though I am pushing myself to do something every day, I do it with an ear to my body. If that is entirely true, there should be nothing posted for a workout for today. My legs are still killing me. Oh yeah…I could get the kayak out…
Run duration: 31 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140.
Calories burned during workout: 525.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Bleacher work.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
It was scorching hot when I arrived at the park for what I figured to be a ‘hiking and steps with the pack’ day. I’d been sweating at work all day and was feeling entirely drained. I was trying to pump myself up in the parking lot to do the hike, but little voices kept telling me to go home and rest and maybe do it later. I wasn’t going to give in until I came up with a plan to visit the high school track and bleachers after the movie Holly and I were planning to see. By then it would be cool and the bleachers are a good replica of the strain I put on the legs when climbing trails with a pack in the Adirondacks. I headed home.
The movie, ‘Back-up Plan’ with Jennifer Lopez, was pretty silly and only mildly entertaining. I’m okay with chick flicks if they have some substance, but this one did not. I invited Holly to join me at the track as we drove home, but she didn’t think walking in the dark on the track or in the bleachers was for her. I changed and headed to the high school at 10 p.m.
I passed a squad car just outside the track parking area and feared he’d give me a hard time. He didn’t and I put on my pack and headed for the bleachers.
There are 46 steps to the top with each step 9 inches tall. I did seven sets to begin and the thighs were talking to me by the end. I walked out onto the track and timed myself for a half mile. I was walking 16-minute miles, which is pretty good considering I had 60 pounds strapped to my back. After two laps, I headed back to the bleachers and did two more sets before returning to the track for another lap. I continued this pattern for a total of two miles on the track and 20 sets of steps in the bleachers. I guess I climbed around 700 feet by the time I’d completed the workout, which is very comparable to what I will have to do when heading into my base camp in the Adirondacks. And I was whipped, but I wasn’t done.
I’d been wondering how fast I’ve been running on the trails, but there is no good way to know when you don’t have mile markers…which I don’t have off-trail. I figured I’d run a mile at the conclusion of my pack workout and see where I was. As I settled onto the bench next to the track and unloaded the pack, stood up and walked onto the track, I seriously wondered about the wisdom of my decision to try and run. My legs didn’t feel connected to my hips – not unusual after an hour of climbing with a pack when you haven’t been doing it. Oh…what the hell. I set my reset the stop watch and started out at a comfortable jog pace.
After 100 yards, my legs were feeling pretty good and I thought it would work out. I couldn’t see my watch – there were no lights on the track – so I didn’t try to check my split as I finished the first lap. I tried to run a moderate pace…like the effort I’d be making in the parks. I didn’t want to push and get an inaccurate picture of how hard or far I was running. I finished the mile feeling pretty good and knowing I could have done more in a time of 8:15. It’s nice to have a baseline on my running and to know that I could have gone considerably faster had that been my goal and if I hadn’t done the workout first. It’s a long way from the pace I would have run when racing in my 30’s, but I’ve still got 15 pounds to lose.
This was a good night because I proved to myself that I can put off the workout until late at night and not blow it off entirely. It was so much cooler, the high 70’s, which makes so much more sense than the 90’s from earlier in the day. I also enjoy going to the track and incorporating variety, such as using the bleachers. It keeps it interesting. I’m anxious to see how sore I’m going to be tomorrow.
Hike duration: 54 minutes. Run duration: 8 minutes
Training Heart Rate: 100-130 with the pack.
Calories burned during workout: 650.
It was scorching hot when I arrived at the park for what I figured to be a ‘hiking and steps with the pack’ day. I’d been sweating at work all day and was feeling entirely drained. I was trying to pump myself up in the parking lot to do the hike, but little voices kept telling me to go home and rest and maybe do it later. I wasn’t going to give in until I came up with a plan to visit the high school track and bleachers after the movie Holly and I were planning to see. By then it would be cool and the bleachers are a good replica of the strain I put on the legs when climbing trails with a pack in the Adirondacks. I headed home.
The movie, ‘Back-up Plan’ with Jennifer Lopez, was pretty silly and only mildly entertaining. I’m okay with chick flicks if they have some substance, but this one did not. I invited Holly to join me at the track as we drove home, but she didn’t think walking in the dark on the track or in the bleachers was for her. I changed and headed to the high school at 10 p.m.
I passed a squad car just outside the track parking area and feared he’d give me a hard time. He didn’t and I put on my pack and headed for the bleachers.
There are 46 steps to the top with each step 9 inches tall. I did seven sets to begin and the thighs were talking to me by the end. I walked out onto the track and timed myself for a half mile. I was walking 16-minute miles, which is pretty good considering I had 60 pounds strapped to my back. After two laps, I headed back to the bleachers and did two more sets before returning to the track for another lap. I continued this pattern for a total of two miles on the track and 20 sets of steps in the bleachers. I guess I climbed around 700 feet by the time I’d completed the workout, which is very comparable to what I will have to do when heading into my base camp in the Adirondacks. And I was whipped, but I wasn’t done.
I’d been wondering how fast I’ve been running on the trails, but there is no good way to know when you don’t have mile markers…which I don’t have off-trail. I figured I’d run a mile at the conclusion of my pack workout and see where I was. As I settled onto the bench next to the track and unloaded the pack, stood up and walked onto the track, I seriously wondered about the wisdom of my decision to try and run. My legs didn’t feel connected to my hips – not unusual after an hour of climbing with a pack when you haven’t been doing it. Oh…what the hell. I set my reset the stop watch and started out at a comfortable jog pace.
After 100 yards, my legs were feeling pretty good and I thought it would work out. I couldn’t see my watch – there were no lights on the track – so I didn’t try to check my split as I finished the first lap. I tried to run a moderate pace…like the effort I’d be making in the parks. I didn’t want to push and get an inaccurate picture of how hard or far I was running. I finished the mile feeling pretty good and knowing I could have done more in a time of 8:15. It’s nice to have a baseline on my running and to know that I could have gone considerably faster had that been my goal and if I hadn’t done the workout first. It’s a long way from the pace I would have run when racing in my 30’s, but I’ve still got 15 pounds to lose.
This was a good night because I proved to myself that I can put off the workout until late at night and not blow it off entirely. It was so much cooler, the high 70’s, which makes so much more sense than the 90’s from earlier in the day. I also enjoy going to the track and incorporating variety, such as using the bleachers. It keeps it interesting. I’m anxious to see how sore I’m going to be tomorrow.
Hike duration: 54 minutes. Run duration: 8 minutes
Training Heart Rate: 100-130 with the pack.
Calories burned during workout: 650.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Splinters has a new champion.
Monday, July 5, 2010
“Colby loved the story up to the part where you say that Donny Roys has the ‘Splinter’ record. Colby worked so hard to break it and now that you’ve written that he doesn’t have it…well…he’s taking anti-depressants to deal with it. He says everyone reads your blog and now they won’t know the truth,” Don told me on his ride back from Michigan after having read my ‘Splinters’ blog.
So…I got the story the way only Don can tell it…which means he was still telling it when he pulled into his drive in Strongsville, just behind Alexander Field. It went something like this.
Colby HAD the record in sight. He was around 218 points with 8 swings remaining. He only needed to top 231, which was one homer and a double and with the way he was stroking…no problem.
But then disaster struck and a couple of grounders, a pop-up and foul tip and he was still sitting at 208 with two balls left. One would have to leave the stadium (20 points) to break the record…something Colby had never done. In fact, only Donny had ever managed the feat.
“I’m gonna hit one out, dad,” he said confidently and with the next swing, sent one high and far. It cleared the home run fence and was headed for the stadium fence beyond with what appeared to be the distance, but the wind held it up just enough and it hit two feet from the top of the fence. Just an ordinary homer and 10 points. One swing left to break the oldest and most prestigious record in the history of ‘Splinter’. A lifetime of training, eating correctly, doing the mental exercises, the goal setting…all for this moment.
Don tossed the ball in the air and Colby’s swing mustered two years of frustration and ambition into a mighty cut. He knew he needed to connect now…when would he ever be so close again. Aluminum struck cowhide with a loud ‘ping’ and the ball soared high, far and true. Again, it cleared the home run fence, but would it have the distance?
Tom Hamilton watched the shot from the broadcast booth high above Alexander Field. “It’s awaaaaaaay back...and....GONE. That one is…out of the park. Colby Alexander is rounding the track, jumping and waving madly. Oh my…is he happy now. He’s doing a back flip in the long jump pit. He sure got every bit of that one. What a blast. And welcome, Colby, to the victor’s circle. You are now the all-time king of Splinter with 238 points, surpassing the Donny Roys remarkable '231'. Congratulations, young man, you earned it."
On a more mundane level, I went late to the park for a short run. Thirty minutes was the plan…it was still around 90 degrees…and that’s just what and all I did. I’ve been having a bad eating weekend, what with the burgers, cookies, ice cream, cookies, ice cream, burgers…well…you get the picture. Still, I’m holding off on longer runs until the heat breaks. I’m too old and it’s just no fun to run when it’s that hot. Not the safest thing, either. Tomorrow…time with the pack, I’m thinking.
Run duration: 31 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140.
Calories burned during workout: 525.
“Colby loved the story up to the part where you say that Donny Roys has the ‘Splinter’ record. Colby worked so hard to break it and now that you’ve written that he doesn’t have it…well…he’s taking anti-depressants to deal with it. He says everyone reads your blog and now they won’t know the truth,” Don told me on his ride back from Michigan after having read my ‘Splinters’ blog.
So…I got the story the way only Don can tell it…which means he was still telling it when he pulled into his drive in Strongsville, just behind Alexander Field. It went something like this.
Colby HAD the record in sight. He was around 218 points with 8 swings remaining. He only needed to top 231, which was one homer and a double and with the way he was stroking…no problem.
But then disaster struck and a couple of grounders, a pop-up and foul tip and he was still sitting at 208 with two balls left. One would have to leave the stadium (20 points) to break the record…something Colby had never done. In fact, only Donny had ever managed the feat.
“I’m gonna hit one out, dad,” he said confidently and with the next swing, sent one high and far. It cleared the home run fence and was headed for the stadium fence beyond with what appeared to be the distance, but the wind held it up just enough and it hit two feet from the top of the fence. Just an ordinary homer and 10 points. One swing left to break the oldest and most prestigious record in the history of ‘Splinter’. A lifetime of training, eating correctly, doing the mental exercises, the goal setting…all for this moment.
Don tossed the ball in the air and Colby’s swing mustered two years of frustration and ambition into a mighty cut. He knew he needed to connect now…when would he ever be so close again. Aluminum struck cowhide with a loud ‘ping’ and the ball soared high, far and true. Again, it cleared the home run fence, but would it have the distance?
Tom Hamilton watched the shot from the broadcast booth high above Alexander Field. “It’s awaaaaaaay back...and....GONE. That one is…out of the park. Colby Alexander is rounding the track, jumping and waving madly. Oh my…is he happy now. He’s doing a back flip in the long jump pit. He sure got every bit of that one. What a blast. And welcome, Colby, to the victor’s circle. You are now the all-time king of Splinter with 238 points, surpassing the Donny Roys remarkable '231'. Congratulations, young man, you earned it."
On a more mundane level, I went late to the park for a short run. Thirty minutes was the plan…it was still around 90 degrees…and that’s just what and all I did. I’ve been having a bad eating weekend, what with the burgers, cookies, ice cream, cookies, ice cream, burgers…well…you get the picture. Still, I’m holding off on longer runs until the heat breaks. I’m too old and it’s just no fun to run when it’s that hot. Not the safest thing, either. Tomorrow…time with the pack, I’m thinking.
Run duration: 31 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140.
Calories burned during workout: 525.
"Where'd the hoops go?"
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Happy birthday, America. Hey…what two American presidents died on the fiftieth anniversary of the country’s birth, July 4th, 1826? My nephew Jonathon guessed Abraham Lincoln and his wife said George Washington. Both were wrong…and I like to think Jonathon was kidding.
The Plain Dealer reported again about the obesity epidemic among children. Same old stuff with complaints about the lack of time in the schools for recess and gym classes, among other things. It got me to thinking how Jack and I had been over to the elementary school down the street from our house the other day though, and the missing basketball backboards and hoops.
“Where’s the hoops, Jack?”
“They take them down at the end of the school year. I guess they don’t want kids over here making noise and fooling around at night during the summer,” he said.
Now…that makes a TON of sense. The baseball field there is a shambles…I’ve never seen it in use, and now they’re taking down the hoops so that even if kids wanted to play pick-up game, they couldn’t. I suppose they could go home and play some kind of NBA video hoops game, though I’m thinking they wouldn’t be burning as many calories. And Jack is probably right. There are likely some unruly kids who have made too much noise disturbing the houses immediately behind the school. I’m only six houses away and could hear the pick-up wiffle ball game that used to go on once a week on Tuesday evenings. A half-dozen teens would be playing until 11 p.m. in the school parking lot and making quite a racket. I loved hearing it and thinking some kids were still having fun the old-fashioned way. It stopped at some point and I’m thinking it was due to the noise. Too bad.
There has to be a better solution than taking down the hoops for the whole summer. We’ve got police cars in the neighborhood every evening and it’s not that big a city. Couldn’t they cruise through on the occasional evening when it’s getting too loud and remind the kids to keep it down? How about an 11 p.m. curfew on the court? I don’t know, but I’m sure taking the hoops down will not aid in the fight against obesity.
Well…it was VERY HOT and VERY MUGGY when I began my run. It was the fourth and I had a tight schedule…only 45 minutes for a run. I used every one of them, but was glad that was all the time I had. I could feel my strength slipping over the last 15 minutes with all of the water I was losing. The forecast was the same for the next week and I would be sure to run either early or late. Running in the shade at 7 p.m. means that it’s at least 10 degrees cooler and with none of the radiant heat you would get from the pavement when not in the middle of the woods. I love my Metroparks and will be spending a lot of workout time here for the duration of the summer.
Oh...it was John Adams and Thomas Jefferson...the president question thing...
Run duration: 45 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140.
Calories burned during workout: 765.
Happy birthday, America. Hey…what two American presidents died on the fiftieth anniversary of the country’s birth, July 4th, 1826? My nephew Jonathon guessed Abraham Lincoln and his wife said George Washington. Both were wrong…and I like to think Jonathon was kidding.
The Plain Dealer reported again about the obesity epidemic among children. Same old stuff with complaints about the lack of time in the schools for recess and gym classes, among other things. It got me to thinking how Jack and I had been over to the elementary school down the street from our house the other day though, and the missing basketball backboards and hoops.
“Where’s the hoops, Jack?”
“They take them down at the end of the school year. I guess they don’t want kids over here making noise and fooling around at night during the summer,” he said.
Now…that makes a TON of sense. The baseball field there is a shambles…I’ve never seen it in use, and now they’re taking down the hoops so that even if kids wanted to play pick-up game, they couldn’t. I suppose they could go home and play some kind of NBA video hoops game, though I’m thinking they wouldn’t be burning as many calories. And Jack is probably right. There are likely some unruly kids who have made too much noise disturbing the houses immediately behind the school. I’m only six houses away and could hear the pick-up wiffle ball game that used to go on once a week on Tuesday evenings. A half-dozen teens would be playing until 11 p.m. in the school parking lot and making quite a racket. I loved hearing it and thinking some kids were still having fun the old-fashioned way. It stopped at some point and I’m thinking it was due to the noise. Too bad.
There has to be a better solution than taking down the hoops for the whole summer. We’ve got police cars in the neighborhood every evening and it’s not that big a city. Couldn’t they cruise through on the occasional evening when it’s getting too loud and remind the kids to keep it down? How about an 11 p.m. curfew on the court? I don’t know, but I’m sure taking the hoops down will not aid in the fight against obesity.
Well…it was VERY HOT and VERY MUGGY when I began my run. It was the fourth and I had a tight schedule…only 45 minutes for a run. I used every one of them, but was glad that was all the time I had. I could feel my strength slipping over the last 15 minutes with all of the water I was losing. The forecast was the same for the next week and I would be sure to run either early or late. Running in the shade at 7 p.m. means that it’s at least 10 degrees cooler and with none of the radiant heat you would get from the pavement when not in the middle of the woods. I love my Metroparks and will be spending a lot of workout time here for the duration of the summer.
Oh...it was John Adams and Thomas Jefferson...the president question thing...
Run duration: 45 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140.
Calories burned during workout: 765.
"You must be flossing..."
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Temperatures were on the rise. We were looking at 90’s for the next bunch of days and I was not looking forward to running it the heat, which would be painful, but not as bad as the visit to the dentist’s for teeth cleaning that morning, would be.
I mean…it’s not the cleaning or anything else they do…it’s the lady that does it. She’s nice and all, but I just know what it’s going to be. She’s going to ask me a couple of questions about the weather…”it’s hotter n’ shit out there and I hate it…” and then she’s going to stick her hands in my mouth and ask me how the kids are doing.
“…they’re glourf mnth ogglel blanth maa omth…” is all that comes out. But that doesn’t stop her, because she actually went to a hygienist school where they teach them to understand gibberish as a second language. I imagine she does the same thing when she goes out to dinner…reaches across the table and sticks her fist in your mouth before you can answer a question.
“You’re teeth and guns look fan-TASTIC! You must be flossing EVERY day,” she exclaims.
“Yeah…well...actually… after every meal,” I say, which is a lie since I never floss, but I don’t want her to lose faith in her supposed ability to know these things by looking in someone’s mouth. I do brush a lot, though.
I get out of there and head for home, calling John to tell him that I don’t have to pick up Heidi and he can come early for our workout. It’s going to be a bike or a hike, though I’m thinking a hike since he’s still in the recovery phase of his near-death experience with stomach ulcers. I know he’ll whine about losing three gallons of blood and all about half way up ‘The Lung’ if we ride and I don’t think I can take that. I would counter with “Yeah? Well I just had a teeth cleaning from ‘Fist In Your Mouth’. Top that!” He wouldn’t.
When he arrived, we sat around the kitchen table and talked. Savannah and Marie joined us and we revered them with stories of the Adirondacks. Savannah shared how she had come in at 6 a.m. that morning…having accidentally fallen asleep at her girlfriends house.
“…and when I checked my phone to see how concerned my parents were because I wasn’t home…well…there was no message. They’d slept through it all!”
Get over it. We’ve got three other kids…one is expendable. Anyway, we decided that biking was not in John’s best interest and headed for the Metroparks. I had my sixty-pound pack to carry and John loaded up with…a water bottle…which he stuck in my pack once we started.
We managed a decent hike of 70 minutes, though I didn’t stop for any step-ups. I really need to do some because I am thinking of climbing before the end of the month, though I have feeling I will do extremely well as a result of all the conditioning. John had little trouble with the hike, but he did tell me that he was pretty exhausted later. Stomach ulcers and low blood iron will have that affect.
Hike duration: 70 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 90.
Calories burned during workout: 700.
Temperatures were on the rise. We were looking at 90’s for the next bunch of days and I was not looking forward to running it the heat, which would be painful, but not as bad as the visit to the dentist’s for teeth cleaning that morning, would be.
I mean…it’s not the cleaning or anything else they do…it’s the lady that does it. She’s nice and all, but I just know what it’s going to be. She’s going to ask me a couple of questions about the weather…”it’s hotter n’ shit out there and I hate it…” and then she’s going to stick her hands in my mouth and ask me how the kids are doing.
“…they’re glourf mnth ogglel blanth maa omth…” is all that comes out. But that doesn’t stop her, because she actually went to a hygienist school where they teach them to understand gibberish as a second language. I imagine she does the same thing when she goes out to dinner…reaches across the table and sticks her fist in your mouth before you can answer a question.
“You’re teeth and guns look fan-TASTIC! You must be flossing EVERY day,” she exclaims.
“Yeah…well...actually… after every meal,” I say, which is a lie since I never floss, but I don’t want her to lose faith in her supposed ability to know these things by looking in someone’s mouth. I do brush a lot, though.
I get out of there and head for home, calling John to tell him that I don’t have to pick up Heidi and he can come early for our workout. It’s going to be a bike or a hike, though I’m thinking a hike since he’s still in the recovery phase of his near-death experience with stomach ulcers. I know he’ll whine about losing three gallons of blood and all about half way up ‘The Lung’ if we ride and I don’t think I can take that. I would counter with “Yeah? Well I just had a teeth cleaning from ‘Fist In Your Mouth’. Top that!” He wouldn’t.
When he arrived, we sat around the kitchen table and talked. Savannah and Marie joined us and we revered them with stories of the Adirondacks. Savannah shared how she had come in at 6 a.m. that morning…having accidentally fallen asleep at her girlfriends house.
“…and when I checked my phone to see how concerned my parents were because I wasn’t home…well…there was no message. They’d slept through it all!”
Get over it. We’ve got three other kids…one is expendable. Anyway, we decided that biking was not in John’s best interest and headed for the Metroparks. I had my sixty-pound pack to carry and John loaded up with…a water bottle…which he stuck in my pack once we started.
We managed a decent hike of 70 minutes, though I didn’t stop for any step-ups. I really need to do some because I am thinking of climbing before the end of the month, though I have feeling I will do extremely well as a result of all the conditioning. John had little trouble with the hike, but he did tell me that he was pretty exhausted later. Stomach ulcers and low blood iron will have that affect.
Hike duration: 70 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 90.
Calories burned during workout: 700.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
The day after...
Friday, July 2, 2010
Holy macanoly…was I ever sore. My ribs hurt whenever I inhaled…exhaling was okay…my left knee was inflamed and my right arm was in a sling. Yeah…let’s ‘play ball’. And I know it’s going to get worse before it gets better with muscle soreness peaking around 48 hours. Still…if I lived next door to the Alexanders instead of across town, I’d be going over tonight for more Splinter…it was that fun.
I headed for the park to run, but was limping to the bathroom to change and fearing that my knee would not let me go far. It was another perfect summer running day with temperatures in the 70’s and humidity under 50%. I HAD to get in a run.
I started slowly with the knee soreness going away almost immediately. I was running the Clear Creek Trail and figuring on doing it a little over an hour – an easy pace. After 20 minutes, I felt so normal…all aches and pains dissipating…that I picked up the pace and stayed strong for the rest of the run. I finished easily in just under 59 minutes, which was only 45 seconds over the pr I’d set less than two weeks ago. It was actually so cool that I didn’t jump in the creek, though I did do my laundry…rinsing my ‘do’ rag and t-shirt in the sparkling, cool water. A good run day.
Run duration: 59 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140.
Calories burned during workout: 1000.
Holy macanoly…was I ever sore. My ribs hurt whenever I inhaled…exhaling was okay…my left knee was inflamed and my right arm was in a sling. Yeah…let’s ‘play ball’. And I know it’s going to get worse before it gets better with muscle soreness peaking around 48 hours. Still…if I lived next door to the Alexanders instead of across town, I’d be going over tonight for more Splinter…it was that fun.
I headed for the park to run, but was limping to the bathroom to change and fearing that my knee would not let me go far. It was another perfect summer running day with temperatures in the 70’s and humidity under 50%. I HAD to get in a run.
I started slowly with the knee soreness going away almost immediately. I was running the Clear Creek Trail and figuring on doing it a little over an hour – an easy pace. After 20 minutes, I felt so normal…all aches and pains dissipating…that I picked up the pace and stayed strong for the rest of the run. I finished easily in just under 59 minutes, which was only 45 seconds over the pr I’d set less than two weeks ago. It was actually so cool that I didn’t jump in the creek, though I did do my laundry…rinsing my ‘do’ rag and t-shirt in the sparkling, cool water. A good run day.
Run duration: 59 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140.
Calories burned during workout: 1000.
Splinter and Stand-up Rocks...
Thursday, July 1, 2010
I was dropping Don Alexander off at his home. He asked me to come out back – he had something to show me. I followed him through his back yard and towards a chain-linked fence, which separated his property from the elementary school they abutted. The fence was buried in a small growth of woods about 20 feet deep at the edge of his back yard and he had criminally damaged the fence, cutting it from top to bottom, to allow access to the school property. The woods covered this act quite nicely and as yet, he has spent no jail time for this blatant destruction of school property.
As we slipped through the fence and down a short, grassy slope, we found ourselves on a decent all-weather track, which ran around the football field – the former playing field for Strongsville High School. We were standing on the far side 50-yard line, looking towards the home stands and the press box above. There were no visiting stands – long since removed, I guessed.
“This is it. Alexander Field and the home of ‘Splinter’ and ‘Stand-up’,” Don explained.
Both were games that involved baseball – his favorite sport – and he went into a lengthy explanation (everything Don says gets that connotation) about the rules of the games and the stats he’s been keeping on them since Moby Dick was a minnow.
“So…one batter and no fielders…other players just stand out in the field and near the bleachers to keep track of the 31 balls,” he said.
“Why 31 balls?”
“Cause that’s how many we had when we started. Anyway…you get one point for any ball that hits the fence in front of the stands. Five points for any ball that bounces over or hits the fence on one bounce. Ten points for a homer over the fence and twenty points for one that clears the stands…you know…out of the park,” he said. You got eight points for something, but I can’t remember what.
“Let’s do it,” I said.
“Yeah? Really? I KNEW you’d want to. Let’s go get Colby.”
Colby, you may remember, is Don’s son. He recently won the State Championship at 1,600 meters in track. He went on to a fourth place finish in the High School Nationals for the some distance. He’s tall and skinny…you know…a runner, but he’s been playing this game his entire life and apparently is pretty good. One of his geeky running friends was over and so they both came down to play the game.
We spent some time tossing a ball around to loosen up (55-year olds need this more than 17-year olds) and then the game was under way. Zack hit first – it was only his second try at Splinter – and he finished with a long home run and around 58 points. It was my turn.
“Don…I haven’t swung a bat in…oh…30 years or so,” I said. He was the pitcher and squatted to the side of me. He would toss the balls underhand the six feet that separated us and I was to swat them as far as I could.
“Hey…you’ll probably miss a few, but you’ll get it back in no time,” he said. He’s one of the great motivators of our time.
My first swing produced a sharp line drive that reached the fence for one point. “See…nuthin’ to it,” he said.
I took my first twenty swings right-handed, fouling off half a dozen, but scoring some long doubles and about 20 points. I decided to go left-handed for my last ten swings. About the third swing, I caught one just right and sent it over the fence and about 10 rows deep My final tally was a paltry ‘38’, but when Zack told me that’s what he’d gotten for his first score and Don said ‘48’ was his best ever (I’m having troubles believing that), I felt okay. Then Colby stepped in. He’s second on the all-time list with a total somewhere in the low 200’s. Another runner, Donny Roys, holds the all-time best with ‘231’.
Colby muffed the first 8-10 swings, but then hit five in a row into the seats. He ended with 93 points, which was completely unsatisfactory, as his body language showed from where I was shagging balls. We played another round and I got worse – my knee was getting sore and my shoulders were tired. We moved from there to a game of stand-up, which I detail in another blog, but it involved hitting, fielding, and chasing balls and by the end of two-plus hours of this, I was really feeling it. These guys do this all the time and although I know Colby loves the video games, I suspect he enjoys this more. Either game can be played with as little as two people, is very active, easy, and a ton of fun.
The Alexander family includes four children, and Don and Rae, and I assure you there isn’t 10 pounds of fat in the entire group. It could be about the running, but even without it, they are just a group that loves activity and would be lean anyway. The bottom line here is…there are many ways to get in your workout and keep the weight off and they don’t have to be called workouts, either. I burned a bunch of calories and since it was 7 p.m. by the time we finished up, determined that I did not need a run. I’m so looking forward to the soreness I will surely suffer tomorrow, but I’m also looking forward to bringing Jack over and trying to surpass my ‘38’.
Splinter Duration: 1 hour. Stand-up duration: 1 hour.
Training Heart Rate: 80 when I was happy. 100 when I wasn’t. 120 when talking trash to Colby and Zack.
Calories burned during workout: Let’s say 750.
I was dropping Don Alexander off at his home. He asked me to come out back – he had something to show me. I followed him through his back yard and towards a chain-linked fence, which separated his property from the elementary school they abutted. The fence was buried in a small growth of woods about 20 feet deep at the edge of his back yard and he had criminally damaged the fence, cutting it from top to bottom, to allow access to the school property. The woods covered this act quite nicely and as yet, he has spent no jail time for this blatant destruction of school property.
As we slipped through the fence and down a short, grassy slope, we found ourselves on a decent all-weather track, which ran around the football field – the former playing field for Strongsville High School. We were standing on the far side 50-yard line, looking towards the home stands and the press box above. There were no visiting stands – long since removed, I guessed.
“This is it. Alexander Field and the home of ‘Splinter’ and ‘Stand-up’,” Don explained.
Both were games that involved baseball – his favorite sport – and he went into a lengthy explanation (everything Don says gets that connotation) about the rules of the games and the stats he’s been keeping on them since Moby Dick was a minnow.
“So…one batter and no fielders…other players just stand out in the field and near the bleachers to keep track of the 31 balls,” he said.
“Why 31 balls?”
“Cause that’s how many we had when we started. Anyway…you get one point for any ball that hits the fence in front of the stands. Five points for any ball that bounces over or hits the fence on one bounce. Ten points for a homer over the fence and twenty points for one that clears the stands…you know…out of the park,” he said. You got eight points for something, but I can’t remember what.
“Let’s do it,” I said.
“Yeah? Really? I KNEW you’d want to. Let’s go get Colby.”
Colby, you may remember, is Don’s son. He recently won the State Championship at 1,600 meters in track. He went on to a fourth place finish in the High School Nationals for the some distance. He’s tall and skinny…you know…a runner, but he’s been playing this game his entire life and apparently is pretty good. One of his geeky running friends was over and so they both came down to play the game.
We spent some time tossing a ball around to loosen up (55-year olds need this more than 17-year olds) and then the game was under way. Zack hit first – it was only his second try at Splinter – and he finished with a long home run and around 58 points. It was my turn.
“Don…I haven’t swung a bat in…oh…30 years or so,” I said. He was the pitcher and squatted to the side of me. He would toss the balls underhand the six feet that separated us and I was to swat them as far as I could.
“Hey…you’ll probably miss a few, but you’ll get it back in no time,” he said. He’s one of the great motivators of our time.
My first swing produced a sharp line drive that reached the fence for one point. “See…nuthin’ to it,” he said.
I took my first twenty swings right-handed, fouling off half a dozen, but scoring some long doubles and about 20 points. I decided to go left-handed for my last ten swings. About the third swing, I caught one just right and sent it over the fence and about 10 rows deep My final tally was a paltry ‘38’, but when Zack told me that’s what he’d gotten for his first score and Don said ‘48’ was his best ever (I’m having troubles believing that), I felt okay. Then Colby stepped in. He’s second on the all-time list with a total somewhere in the low 200’s. Another runner, Donny Roys, holds the all-time best with ‘231’.
Colby muffed the first 8-10 swings, but then hit five in a row into the seats. He ended with 93 points, which was completely unsatisfactory, as his body language showed from where I was shagging balls. We played another round and I got worse – my knee was getting sore and my shoulders were tired. We moved from there to a game of stand-up, which I detail in another blog, but it involved hitting, fielding, and chasing balls and by the end of two-plus hours of this, I was really feeling it. These guys do this all the time and although I know Colby loves the video games, I suspect he enjoys this more. Either game can be played with as little as two people, is very active, easy, and a ton of fun.
The Alexander family includes four children, and Don and Rae, and I assure you there isn’t 10 pounds of fat in the entire group. It could be about the running, but even without it, they are just a group that loves activity and would be lean anyway. The bottom line here is…there are many ways to get in your workout and keep the weight off and they don’t have to be called workouts, either. I burned a bunch of calories and since it was 7 p.m. by the time we finished up, determined that I did not need a run. I’m so looking forward to the soreness I will surely suffer tomorrow, but I’m also looking forward to bringing Jack over and trying to surpass my ‘38’.
Splinter Duration: 1 hour. Stand-up duration: 1 hour.
Training Heart Rate: 80 when I was happy. 100 when I wasn’t. 120 when talking trash to Colby and Zack.
Calories burned during workout: Let’s say 750.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
A blast from the past.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
I received one of those calls the other day that reminds me why I keep helping high school runners try to get the most out of themselves…I mean besides the fact that I just love to do it.
It was Jim Vickers. Jim was a runner I’d started helping in his freshman year. As a sophomore, he qualified to the state meet, running 4:24 for 1,600 meters – one of the top sophomores in the state. His coach, however, did not like the fact that Jim was coming to me for off-season training programs and advice during the season. He told Jim that if he continued to ask for my help, he would be kicked off the team. Though I had never spoken to the coach, I felt that it would be best to stay away and for the next 8 years, I didn’t work with any high school athletes.
We hadn’t spoken in 16 years, but it was like we’d never stopped. After catching up on family, jobs and such, Jim got serious. “I should never have listened to the coach. I know I could have done better and maybe won a state championship if I’d stayed with you. I just don’t get what he had against you.”
I did. He was a new coach and had his way of doing things, which did not include acknowledging that I might be able to help the program. It bothered me, but what could I do? I was an unpaid volunteer – just a track junkie trying to help young runners achieve high school success. Jim had gone on to have great success at the college level, running for West Virginia and turning in 800 times in the 1:48’s – very respectable.
“Well…there’s this guy I work with who has a son who’s a freshman and I told him about how you had helped so many runners in the school back in my day and that, if I knew you, you’d still be doing it. Are you?”
Clearly…Jim is not reading my blog. He may be the only person. He should be now. “Yeah…hey…it was something just like this that got me started with Eric back in 1985. It would be cool to go back to the school where it all began. What’s the coaching situation over there now?”
“Same.”
We agreed to get together and I assured him I would help the son of his friend – as long as the son called and asked. I never want to work through parents figuring that if the motivation isn’t there for the athlete, then there’s no point. We’ll see what happens.
I decided on a ride for the workout. The last one had been slow and painful, but the weather was perfect, almost too cool and so I decided to push the pace a little to see how long I could go before the wheels started falling off.
They never did. I attacked hills over the entire 40-mile ride and felt good until the last 5 miles where my lack of bike conditioning started to catch up with me. Still, I finished 15 minutes faster than I had a week ago and think, like the running, it had much to do with the weather. The good news is it should hold for a couple of more days before returning to the dreadful heat and humidity of a more typical Cleveland summer. I’ll take what I can get.
Bike duration: 2 hours and 15 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 125.
Calories burned during workout: 2025.
I received one of those calls the other day that reminds me why I keep helping high school runners try to get the most out of themselves…I mean besides the fact that I just love to do it.
It was Jim Vickers. Jim was a runner I’d started helping in his freshman year. As a sophomore, he qualified to the state meet, running 4:24 for 1,600 meters – one of the top sophomores in the state. His coach, however, did not like the fact that Jim was coming to me for off-season training programs and advice during the season. He told Jim that if he continued to ask for my help, he would be kicked off the team. Though I had never spoken to the coach, I felt that it would be best to stay away and for the next 8 years, I didn’t work with any high school athletes.
We hadn’t spoken in 16 years, but it was like we’d never stopped. After catching up on family, jobs and such, Jim got serious. “I should never have listened to the coach. I know I could have done better and maybe won a state championship if I’d stayed with you. I just don’t get what he had against you.”
I did. He was a new coach and had his way of doing things, which did not include acknowledging that I might be able to help the program. It bothered me, but what could I do? I was an unpaid volunteer – just a track junkie trying to help young runners achieve high school success. Jim had gone on to have great success at the college level, running for West Virginia and turning in 800 times in the 1:48’s – very respectable.
“Well…there’s this guy I work with who has a son who’s a freshman and I told him about how you had helped so many runners in the school back in my day and that, if I knew you, you’d still be doing it. Are you?”
Clearly…Jim is not reading my blog. He may be the only person. He should be now. “Yeah…hey…it was something just like this that got me started with Eric back in 1985. It would be cool to go back to the school where it all began. What’s the coaching situation over there now?”
“Same.”
We agreed to get together and I assured him I would help the son of his friend – as long as the son called and asked. I never want to work through parents figuring that if the motivation isn’t there for the athlete, then there’s no point. We’ll see what happens.
I decided on a ride for the workout. The last one had been slow and painful, but the weather was perfect, almost too cool and so I decided to push the pace a little to see how long I could go before the wheels started falling off.
They never did. I attacked hills over the entire 40-mile ride and felt good until the last 5 miles where my lack of bike conditioning started to catch up with me. Still, I finished 15 minutes faster than I had a week ago and think, like the running, it had much to do with the weather. The good news is it should hold for a couple of more days before returning to the dreadful heat and humidity of a more typical Cleveland summer. I’ll take what I can get.
Bike duration: 2 hours and 15 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 125.
Calories burned during workout: 2025.
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