“i walk empty streets…while the city sleeps.” -Green Day
With both Passover and the Christian Holy week this was a great week to make myself gone from the office to train.
Monday was a recovery day from the 90+ mile run week I had just finished up. I did work at the office that day but after that it was off to the Russian Baths. This was a bucket list thing to do with Christine for a long time. The hot and cold contrast baths, massage and sound thrashing I got via Victor and his oak leaves made me feel anew and relaxed unlike anything I can explain. It’s old school, like 3000 years ago type of health and recovery, but a wild and fun experience and one my dad did back when this was his city.
Tuesday I swam then headed into NJ for a bike race. I need the all out efforts of bike racing and the primal fear of getting dropped to really find those brutal efforts. I made a bunch of mistakes and in a pro/1/2/3 road cycling event I don’t have a ton of talent to waste so I spent a lot of the race suffering and getting in a few attacks but nothing that amounted to anything other than my own suffering which is kinda the point I guess.
Wednesday was a swim then a trip to RI for the www.www.blockislandsport.com.com camp. We did 3.5 hours with all the hills we could find then a brick run at tempo. It was awesome to hang out with my coach, his teammate Ned a strong cat 3 roadie, Christine and www.frayedlaces.com was there making it a happening.
Thursday was a nice swim at Brown U which has a sick pool. I also got in a lovely run at my college Connecticut College with the group plus Brooke the daughter/runner of my coach who got admitted there. I have mad Camel pride and remembering the times spend there was a great way to spend a run. I also hit the weight pile to deaden my legs for all my other workouts in case this all seemed too easy. Or because strength training for athletes over 35 is critical, one or the other.
Friday was a century ride with all the hills. Lil Miss Laces had good form and rode impressively as did my coach Jim Ortel who is on great form for a few choice road cycling events that are coming up. Christine and I had a typical day for this kind of training, we didn’t come around until 100k in but after that we road strong to the 100 mile mark.
Saturday was another race day with a trail 10k or half marathon. Christine, And The Frayed One were pretty cooked and I oped for the 10k wanting more speed work while the other two entered the 1/2. I took the lead out hard but was red-lining it and had no strength given the last 15 days of training. 5 guys sat right behind me and frothed to pass me but at the turn that separated the 13.1 from the 10k I found all the local big guns were doing the 13.1 including Sport Shop teammate Steve Brightman who is normally a force at any race and an odds on favorite to beat me most days (I did nip him by 7 and 1 second twice but since then he has beaten me like a rented mule in each race winning by minutes over me. I was VERY happy he was in the 13.1! I kept the tempo legit but this race was over 5k in which was good because I took the first 5k like it was a 5k not a 10k! I even had a 5:30 mile in there which in trails is wicked hard. my over all time was 39 minutes but that reflects a few wrong turns that we’re my fault as this race was well marked. I honestly didn’t think I had a race in me but 2 Red Bulls had me good to go. Wiings!!!!!
After the race I ran another 80 minutes for a total of 2 hours so it also doubled as a long run.
I went back to my sister’s Kate Hirsch, who is the most bad ass personal trainer ever and she had a circuit strength training session set up for me and the camp. That hurt. You can do her boot camp functional strength work group too: her info is at www.endresultri.com I attempted a second run later but my heel was PISSED so it didn’t last very long.
Sunday was the last day of this training block and Easter so had to motivate hard to get it all in and early. I ran at dawn and it was 27 degrees out on the NH border where we had transferred to Saturday for the holiday. I got lost and got in a bit of bonus fitness for a 75 minute run. Heel was happier which was nice. A quick bit to eat and me and Christine hit the bikes still before the spring air had a chance to shine bright like a diamond. I did a fav workout 4 x (2 minutes over-big gear/ 3 minutes hard tempo/ 2 minutes big gear/ 3 minutes easy recovery)
The last workout was a good 4k swim. I maybe doubled up on the Red Bulls for this one, but with no break from run-bike-swim I needed the extra…wiings. The workout was short court meters and looks like this: 1500 w/u build to tempo. 100 kick. 4×50 drill/50swim. 4 x (100 fast, 100ez, 100IM, 100mid, 100 kick.) perfect for the ADHD athlete like me
Huge thanks to Block Island Sport Shop for hosting! Also thanks to Amrita bars for making sure on this road trip I didn’t eat junk! Also I road my new Valdora TT frame for all but the road race and it was SWEET! Also much love to Champion System for providing clothing from 27-67 degrees and making sure I was comfy all the time. Also thanks to Red Bull for being Red Bull.
Photo: My modeling debut. I liked it way way way too much! Thanks to Amrita for the gig and Scott Ettin for being so skilled behind the lens!
