topher's Summer of Pain
Training / Racing Blog: July
Beginning of Month Weigh-in: 165 pounds
1 July, 2007 — Training for July 1st consisted of 11 loads of laundry and a sinkful of dishes.
2 July, 2007 — Happy Birthday, Kaylee! Chilly open-water swimming today in Pewaukee Lake. It was a beautiful day right up until 1/2 hour before swimming began. The clouds moved in; the wind picked up; waves formed. The swimming sucked, but I got 50 non-stop minutes in, so the workout was good.
5 July, 2007 — More mountain bike training out on the John Muir Trails in Kettle Moraine. Melissa, Carri, Crystal, and I spent a couple hours covering the trails, and since it had just rained recently, we got incredibly muddy. You can't beat it, not easily anyhow.
6 July, 2007 — Ouch. I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather today and do a brick workout (one training discipline followed immediately by another). So I biked 22 miles and then immediately took off on a 5-mile trail run, using the parking lot at Nashotah Park as my transition area. I picked the wrong time of day to take off on this little adventure. It was so hot. When I got off the bike and took off running, my legs felt like toothpaste. But I managed to finish the whole thing in 1:42:49, including my transition time. So I was cranking on the bike and moving somewhat respectably on the run.
7 July, 2007 — Today I got to do some more marathon training with the Badgerland Striders. Every Saturday between today and the marathon in October, the Striders gather for a "long run", building up to a 20-mile run before race day. I'd put the turnout for today's run at 75 people or so. We ran 7 miles along Milwaukee's lakeshore and I came in at 54:12. So I was happy.
After training with the Striders, I met Melissa and Crystal at Lapham Peak State Park in Delafield, Wisconsin for some Muddy Buddy training. We did about 3 miles of hilly trail running.
9 July, 2007 — It's Monday; that's open-water swim day. The thunderstorms broke early enough that Pewaukee Lake was nice by the time we started. So, no weather-related workout issues today, and I got to spend an hour and five minutes swimming through almost non-stop weeds. Training is lovely.
11 July, 2007 — More early morning training with the Badgerland Striders at Hart Park. We actually had cool weather this morning, which made the running much more pleasant. Great workout. Later tonight is 2 hours of spinning with my Muddy Buddy at the Waukesha WAC.
12 July, 2007 — The Storming of the Bastille is done! I caught up with Erin and some of her friends and had a splendid time running willy-nilly through the streets of downtown Milwaukee. The temperatures were much nicer this year than last and we had a great run. So, the second race in the Summer of Pain series is now complete.
Friday the 13th of July, 2007 — So today I jumped into the pool at the Waukesha WAC for my first swim since they finished repairing the pool. I went to push off the side of the pool, my feet slipped on the slippery new paint, and the bottom of my foot got cut on a paint burr. Friday the 13th, or happenstance? Hmmmmmmm.
14 July, 2007 — I was weak today and accepted the cut on my foot as an excuse not to go running this morning. I went mountain biking instead. And, of course, I wiped out and smacked my knee up some. It turned out to be some of the muddiest riding so far this year. My Muddy Buddy, Melissa, and I left Crystal Ridge looking much worse for the wear. So did our bikes.
15 July, 2007 — The Pewaukee Triathlon!!! Well, I've been training (off and on) for a triathlon since the fall of 2004. Due to some extenuating circumstances, only today did I finally get to race in one. I had an absolute blast and finished stronger than I thought I would. I'll post my splits once they're official. So far, all I know is that my official finish time was 1:15:03—not bad for a man full of replacement parts.
After the triathlon Melissa and I spent some time riding the trails at Kettle Moraine—more Muddy Buddy training. Unfortunately, there wasn't much mud today. There were several crashes, though, and we set a new personal speed record for completing the blue loop, which is probably why there were so many crashes.
Update: The official results for the Pewaukee Triathlon have been released.
Here's how topher faired:
Swim — 07:24.8
Transition 1 — 02:46.6
Bike — 42:15.2
Transition 2 — 01:42.8
Run — 20:53.7
Average speed on the bike — 23.29 MPH*.
Average pace on the run — 06:58 minutes/mile.
Average amount of water swallowed per stroke on the swim — .028 Gallons.
The final standings:
topher placed 7th of 80 in the 30-34 age group and 89th of 1,451 overall.
* The timing company is saying the bike ride was 16.4 miles instead of 15. 23.29 MPH is based on 16.4 miles. If the bike ride was 15 miles, then I was only going 21.3 MPH.
16 July, 2007 — Following the abusive weekend I just had, what with the race and innumerable mountain bike crashes, I decided that today would be a recovery day. So after work I sat in the hot tub at the Waukesha WAC and read my Jimmy Buffet book. It was splendid. And the hot water got my pulse up for a while.
17 July, 2007 — Today I needed to put some mileage on my feet; the marathon is getting closer every day. So I drove out to Nashota Park and did 6.5 hilly miles on the trails there. Unfortunately, I decided to wear my 'backup' pair of running shoes. By the time I got done running all those hills, my poor hardware-filled left heel was nothing but a blister—on the bottom. Oops.
18 July, 2007 — Today left my legs feeling like a gelatinous ooze over which I had no control. The day began with 6:00 AM run coaching with the Badgerland Striders at Hart Park in Wauwatosa. We worked on speeding up our pace while keeping our heart rates down. I'm learning to turn my feet over differently and my speed is improving. Then in the afternoon I did strength training and 2 hours of spin training at the Waukesha WAC. By the time I got off the bike my legs were no longer my own. So I pounded a can of tuna with some barbecue sauce mixed in. Protein.
19 July, 2007 — Today the Summer of Pain got intensely painful. I hit a tree. Carri, Melissa, Melissa's boyfriend David, and I went mountain biking on the John Muir trails in Kettle Moraine. More Muddy Buddy training. I came whipping around a corner a little too fast, didn't negotiate some tree roots the right way, and careened off of them into a stout tree. Ouch.
My right hand, right forearm, right upper arm, and right shoulder look a little different than they did when we began riding. My right leg looks a little different in a few spots, too, but my upper body took the brunt of it. You can see my cuts, scrapes, and abrasions to the right. And my forearm doesn't look too straight, either.
Fun was had by all who attended.
21 July, 2007 — Ibuprofen is good. Today the Summer of Pain managed to get painful again. It started with a downtown, 10-mile run with the Badgerland Striders. We started and ended at Lake Park, made our way along the lakefront and Veteran's Memorial Park, and got to run in Wisconsin's newest state park, Lakeshore Park. Thanks to Leanne for keeping me company and not laughing at me when my shoelaces got entangled, sending me sprawling out on the concrete. Painful incident-of-the-day #1.
In the afternoon, Melissa, Carri, and I loaded the mountain bikes into the seek fun mobile and headed out for more mountain biking. We decided to change things up a bit and rode the Emma Carlin portion of the Kettle Moraine trails, throwing in some time on the (in)famous Connector Trail. The change in terrain was wonderful and things were going splendidly until we had nearly completed our three-hour pedal-powered extravaganza. Having just made it back to the Emma Carlin trails from the Connector, we were almost back to the safety of the parking lot when, there before us, it appeared—a steep downhill section covered in random jumps and drop-offs. I pushed the pedals hard and screamed, "Yeeee Haaaaa." My shouts of joy quickly turned to screams of pain as I realized I was going too fast and began tumbling, cerebral cortex over teapot, down a terribly steep and rock-strewn path with a 25-pound bike mixed into the spinning frenzy of flailing limbs. My back, shins, knees, forearms, and hips took inventory of every rock on the path, bouncing off this one, sliding over that one, grazing the last few. Painful incident-of-the-day #2.
Carri and Melissa had taken some spills of their own throughout the day, so our blood-covered bodies attracted some stares while we dined at the burrito shop following the ride.
The evening ended with a hot shower. Painful incident-of-the-day #3. And of course, I pounded some Ibuprofen before shutting my eyes.
Update: I woke Sunday to find that my bike had a flat tire and a bent wheel. So there were more injuries in yesterday's crash than my primary assessment revealed. I also got to spend some time today trimming dead skin away from my many avulsions. Fun.
22 July, 2007 — A day of epic mountain biking without any serious crashes! We decided to road trip a bit today and drove up to High Cliff State Park. The trails weren't the most technically demanding, but the scenery was spectacular and there were no nasty crashes.
Then we jumped back in the truck and drove down to Lapham Peak State Park to try out the trails there. The trails at Lapham were fast and beautiful, winding their way through gorgeous meadows and plentiful wildflowers. Melissa took a turn too fast and went flying off the trail into some of nature's beauty, but she was unharmed.
Great weather, great riding, and no more injuries made a splendid end to a splendid weekend.
23 July, 2007 - 29 July, 2007 — It was a _____ _____ of training this _____ (I've been having problems with my homophones lately, so I'm going to let you fill in the blanks with "weak" and "week" yourself so I don't screw it up. Seriously.) Though there weren't any really good reasons, I didn't get much hard training in at all. I got a few workouts in, but they were pretty low-intensity. So, I'm calling it a "recovery _____" and leaving the summary at that.
30 July, 2007 — The Summer of Pain almost became really painful today. I got hit by a car while running.
I hate to fuel the liberal media machine, but yes, it was a guy in a SUV. And yes, he was talking on his cell phone. But these two warning signs probably saved me. I was on high alert when I saw him coming and I kind of figured he wasn't going to actually stop at the stop sign. So I was just prepared enough to make it onto his hood instead of under his wheels. The look on his face was priceless.
You'll be happy to know that I finished my workout. I needed a good thrashing to make up for last week's dismal effort. So I ran the three miles from my house down to Pewaukee Beach, got hit by a car, did my 2 miles of Monday night open-water swimming, and ran the three miles back to my house. So, this week's workouts are underway. And I can check "get hit by car" off my list of things to do before I die.
31 July, 2007 — The month's workouts ended with a 5-mile run and some strength training.
End of Month Weigh-in: 163 pounds
The Summer of Pain has officially begun. Send in some donations for the kids...Thanks.
More to come...
