De Cross Gaat Door

New Turkey Trot Course

This should make my quest for 18:xx a little easier.  Though I hate long straight stretches.

Batman???

I picked this up off my Twitter Feed:


Jeb Corliss wing-suit demo from Jeb Corliss on Vimeo.

Week 2 Circle Fail

30+ mile per hour winds pretty much destroyed me & any hope I had of hitting goal times.  I knew better but I figured time is limited so why not try.  I got a hard workout in that about all I got.  Pretty demoralizing.  The plan was for 3x1200 @ 4:00 with 400m recovery.  Came close first interval.  Little farther off the 2nd.  The third one was a waste of time.  With any luck the wind will die down by Thursday & I can try this workout again.


I've been pretty beat up lately.  Mostly various achilles/calf problems.  Friday I woke up without the ability to move my neck very much.  After some heat pad & Amber working on it I got some mobility.  Went to work where the neck pain moved into my bad shoulder.  Its now Tuesday & still bothering me a little.  Saturday night I also managed to whack myself in the shin.  I feel like I should turn this into an injury report blog about myself.

Running around in circles

Its been four years since my last foray into track intervals.  Thanks to #project18 I figured I'd better do some track work or I'd flail mightily.  Especially with the target race less than 6 weeks away.

I packed up my bag, mounted my bike, & rode over to MSU's Plaster field to run some circles. A nice 8 mile ride over, I figured it would be a good warm up.   Oops!  Guess the track is closed in the afternoon till after 5.  SOB!  Turn around & head home to plan B and now 16 miles in my legs.

Luckily the subdivision across from mine has a 400 meter loop(+/- 5 meters) which is good enough for my purposes.  I figured for the first week 10x 400 at or below 1:30 with 400 recovery would be a good start.  Four years ago I stood for my recovery since I wasn't running much & was interested in making the times. Which wouldn't happen if I ran the recoveries.  This year I've been putting in the miles & figured I'd better run the recoveries. Plus the extra mileage might make another attempt at the Sylamore 50K in February a likelihood. 

To sum up: 1) 1:28 (2) 1:28 (3) 1:29 (4) 1:26 (5) 1:26 (6) 1:24 (7) 1:28 (8) 1:28 (9) 1:28 (10) 1:30  Felt the 16 miles of pre riding in my legs on the last one.

All in all not a bad first go around at running speed work. An added bonus was my long run now is 6.5 miles.

Old Skool CX

Holy Hell!

2010 Starcrossed

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Pewter the tofu of colors

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TRP

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How NOT to Transition to bike

Not your run off the mill Ford Fiesta

I hope he has a rim sponsor:

Quick run update

Run mileage has been creeping up.  Running 5 miles now avg 7 min miles pretty easily.  Will have to start some pre-speed work workouts soon.  Settled on the Denim Day 5k on 9/25 to open up my #project18 races.

In a bout of insomnia last night I did some intrawebbing of my past 5k races results.  In 2003 I had seven 5k's under 18:20.  Two of those under 18 min(17:47 & 17:29).  Obviously I'm not going to race that much before the Turkey Trot but I like to think Im training harder & smarter this go around.  I'm thinking the sub 19 this go around is going to happen.

Looks like the Dry Sac short track races are supposed to have a CX friendly race Tuesday(if the floods stop).  I might actually show up with a cx bike(sans tubies) to this one.  Depends on how my weekend of work goes and how motivated I am to donate $15.

Running along

Well #project18 is coming along nicely.  First tune up 5k is in a couple of weeks.  Have my weekly mileage into the 20-25 mile range.  I'll hold it steady there till maybe November then hit 30 or 35 to start to taper for the goal race of #project18.

I've moved my mileage up slowly.  Start with 2.5 mile runs then bumped my pace up. Bumped up to 4, then bumped pace up, then up to 5 miles which I'm at now.  I'll hold it at 5 miles till I can hit 5 miles @ 6:45 pace pretty easily.  Should be doable.

Riding is playing second fiddle right now with saddle time being sporadic.  Mostly an occasional spin or commute to work.  I did hit the trainer for an hour yesterday to avoid the monsoon.  Right now & in the immediate future running gives me more bang for my buck.  I can get the same amount of TSS in 30 min running as I can get in an hour & a half on the bike (that is without intervals which I'm in now shape for).  

Since I had a pretty wicked bought of insomnia last night I got out with the sun coming up for a quick 5 miler.  I'm thinking I might get out in a few for an hour of low level power hill repeats on the bike.  Snagging saddle time where I can.  Got to take a nap today since tonight is my first night back at work this week; so might as well make myself tired.

Four on Four off is good & bad for training for sure.  I have been getting some strength work in at work.  The locker room has a perfect pull up bar.   I'm up to 50 in a 12 hour shift.  Not too bad when you factor in I'm doing them with steel toe boots on as well.  I might get back to my previous strength when I was climbing & kayaking all the time. 

Typing more than 140 characters is making my fingers tired.  I've set up a Tumblr account for posts longer than 140 characters & less than a novel that blogging takes.  Yes I know I'm a social media whore.

Final Pre EBAY Sale Chance Prices Cut

This is your Final Pre EBAY Sale Chance. I've cut prices to try & save myself the hassle of the EBAY.

1. Dura Ace Braze on Front Derailleur  $15 $10
2. Shimano 600 Cranks 175 square taper w/ BB no chain rings $15 $10
3. Ritchey Pro Clincher Rim semi aero $10 $5
4. Mavic MA2 SBP clincher rim $5
5. 2 Specialized PRO Adrenaline 26x2.0 tires $40 $30
6. SRAM 9spd 12-26 PG-950 cassette $15 $10  SOLD
7. SRAM 9spd 11-26 PG-950 cassette $15  $10
   
8. SRAM 9spd  11-21 PG-970 cassette $15 $10
   
9. American Classic seatpost (300mm) 26.6  $10 $5
10. Winwood Carbon fork w/ Aluminum crown CX Fork threadless 1" (star nut installed) with 1" threadless stems in 120mm & 130mm & Cable Hanger $65 $55
11. Chris King 1" ahead set silver  $50
12. Surley 1" steel CX Fork (star nut installed)  with 1" threadless stems in 120mm & 130mm & Cable Hanger $30
13. Rock Shock Judy 11/8" Star nut installed $50 $40
14. RST Mozo Pro 11/8" (3" travel; elastomer) Star nut installed $20 $15
15. XT Cantilever brakes Front & Rear set with pads $15
16. SRAM 9.0 V-brakes Front & Rear with pads & all hardware including noodles  $20 $15
17. SRAM 7.0 Brake levers $10 $5
18. Bontrager Crowbar Riser Bar & Bontrager 11/8"stem 120mm  $10
19. EC90 Carbon MTB Bar $30
20. EC70 130mm stem 11/8" $15 $10
21. Dura Ace 175m Octolink Crank with Octolink BB (no chainrings) $60 $50
22. Tiagra 9spd STI Shifters $60  sold
23. Ultegra 9spd rear deraileur $10 sold
24. Shimano 600 Road brakes with pads $10
25. Shimano 105 front deraileur 31.8 clamp $10 $5
26. Kooka Crank w/ square taper BB & crank bolts 175mm mtb no chainrings $10
27. Shimano PD-M737 clipless mtb pedals(old style but work with new cleats) $10
28. Truvativ 175 Single Speed Crank no chainring $15
29. Sun Ringle RPM Lite W/ Ringle Skewers& Kenda Short Tracker tires installed $75 $65

800m World Record!

David Rudisha ran1:41:09 for 800m in Berlin this weekend. Holy crap that's hauling!  His rabbit Sammy Tangui of Kenya hit the 400m mark @ 48.65.  Rudisha went through 600m @ 1:14.54 after his rabbit pulls off.

MORE Pre EBAY

1. Dura Ace Braze on Front Dérailleur  $15
2. Shimano 600 Cranks 175 square taper w/ BB no chain rings $15
3. Ritchey Pro Clincher Rim semi aero $10
4. Mavic MA2 SBP clincher rim $5
5. 2 Specialized PRO Adrenaline 26x2.0 tires $40
6. SRAM 9spd 12-26 PG-950 cassette $15
7. SRAM 9spd 11-26 PG-950 cassette $15 
8. SRAM 9spd  11-21 PG-970 cassette $15 

Pre EBAY Sale

This is what I've dug out so far. Get it before I stick it on the EBAY:

1. American Classic seatpost (300mm) 26.6  $10
2. Winwood Carbon fork w/ Aluminum crown CX Fork threadless 1" (star nut installed) with 1" threadless stems in 120mm & 130mm & Cable Hanger $65
3. Chris King 1" ahead set silver  $50
4. Surley 1" steel CX Fork (star nut installed)  with 1" threadless stems in 120mm & 130mm & Cable Hanger $30
5. Rock Shock Judy 11/8" Star nut installed $50
6. RST Mozo Pro 11/8" (3" travel; elastomer) Star nut installed $20
7. XT Cantilever brakes Front & Rear set with pads $15
8. SRAM 9.0 V-brakes Front & Rear with pads & all hardware including noodles  $20
9. SRAM 7.0 Brake levers $10
10. Bontrager Crowbar Riser Bar & Bontrager 11/8"stem 120mm  $10
11. EC90 Carbon MTB Bar $30
12. EC70 130mm stem 11/8" $15
13. Dura Ace 175m Octolink Crank with Octolink BB (no chainrings) $60
14. Tiagra 9spd STI Shifters $60  sold
15. Ultegra 9spd rear deraileur $10 sold
16. Shimano 600 Road brakes with pads $10
17. Shimano 105 front deraileur 31.8 clamp $10
18. Kooka Crank w/ square taper BB & crank bolts 175mm mtb no chainrings $10
19. Shimano PD-M737 clipless mtb pedals(old style but work with new cleats) $10
20. Truvativ 175 Single Speed Crank no chainring $15
21. Sun Ringle RPM Lite W/ Ringle Skewers & Kenda Short Tracker tires installed $75

Deer Run

I've lived next to the Deer Run Subdivision for 5 years now.  Last night I found out why it got its name.  I was running along at dusk when what I thought was a dog ran up besides me.  Nope it was Bambi, spots & all.  I was so startled I couldn't get my crackberry out to get a pic.  After running with me for a few feet it sped off into the field.  About 3 minutes later it did it again.  This time a passing car saw it & slowed.  The driver yelled at me to put a leash on my dog.  I yelled back it was a deer. He looked at me like I was high.

Bambi buzzed me one more time before joining momma deer in the field.  I thought that was pretty cool.  I hit my turn around & started to run back.  Bambi thought buzzing me was a fun game since it did it two more times.  I was starting to get pretty paranoid since each time it got closer.  I ran about a 1/2 mile looking over my shoulder.  The Bambi run in aside I got a pretty good 4 miler in averaging 7:30 miles.  Felt pretty good too even though my avg HR was a little high.

Locals:  Time to whittle down the bike parts.  First up a set of 26"mtb SunRingle RPM Lite Wheels(rim brake only) Includes Ringle skewers & Kenda Short Tracker Tires. $100obo get them before I put them on Ebay

Project 18 rolling along

After looking at my work calendar I picked a day for my first 5k warm up race. Sept 25. Thing is there are 4. yes 4! 5k's in & around Springfield on that day. Holy Hell. There is maybe 4  bike races in Springfield ALL year let alone 4 in one day.  I'll have to do some research & find the flattest one.  One I think I have done before so I'll have a time reference for it.  I ran 19:13 with zero miles in November.  Granted my CX form was coming on in a big way.  I figure in 6 weeks of running I can surely run at least 19:45. 30 seconds slower is doable.

I did see there is a 5k trail run with a 5k kayak race the week before(9/24).  Might be interesting.  My creek boat is a pig to paddle in flat water though.  Will have to think about that one.  Might be able to borrow a longish sea kayak.  17' limit.

Slo Rolling into Sunday

I'm moving pretty slow today. After Friday's 5 hr power washing marathon & yesterday's all day stain fest on the deck I'm pretty sore today. I slept in & convinced Amber to work on my legs a bit to help with the soreness. She dug in & I thought I was going to cry. An hour later & a couple of Tylenol I'm up and at em at the crack of noon.

Today I just have some touch up work, a few stiles, & the main stairs left to stain & I'll be done with the deck for two years. Shouldn't take more than a couple of hours & we can be grilling this evening outside on a deck that looks good as new. That's a big huge check mark on the old to do list.
I need to mow the yard today since its my last day off but I might just wait till we get back from the Baby Doc tomorrow morning. One of the advantages of working nights is being able to get a few things done on my first night back before I go in. That is if I don't mind 24+ hrs without sleep. Kinda getting used to it now.

Heat wave is supposed to return next week so work is going to be ridiculously hot again. I'm not a heat person so that makes it even harder for me to motivate to train. I might have to log a few running miles in the am after I get off work. Or stick the Ridley on the trainer. I really need to invest in rollers I guess.