When your legs feel like a "brick"

What's the big deal? I'd often ask myself. It's just some biking followed by some running; neither one is particularly difficult...why all the fuss?

And then I tried it. Oh, man, how I now feel the foolishness of those thoughts and why triathletes hold brick workouts in such high regard. Sure you can pedal 25 miles. Sure you can run six miles. But back-to-back? Better get to training, pansy!

So today turned out to be a rare mid-week day off WITH beautiful weather WITH me in a get-physical mood. Great! The plan:

1. Bicycle to Mt Sinai for EKG
   
2. Run a loop of Central Park
   
3. Bicycle home
   

In hindsight, this was too optimistic of a plan. The bicycle in was OK, though I did take an east-side route for the first time and found out what a terrible, brutal ride that can be. There's no decent bike path on the East side, nothing like the Hudson River Park, and 1st Ave is torn up pretty bad. As part of what I was cycling was Marathon route, I all of a sudden had a deeper understanding of just what the initial Manhattan leg (between 59th street bridge and the Bronx) means - an uphill, broken-concrete-paved several miles. This could be the hardest part of the course - I believe Danny mentioned it in his marathon writeup. Bike1 = ~ 12 miles.

Got the EKG. Have no clue what all those scribbles mean. Meh. Paging Dr. Danny...


Back on the bike, down to NYRR. Stowed my bike and bag and headed out to run in the park. This is where it got hard. Apparently, legs don't like the transition. At first, I took to the reservoir loop, assuming some dirt would be easier on my legs. Within half a mile I was in great pain, even though I'd been stretching a lot during the bike and before the run. I left the dirt on the west side of the park and took the regular asphalt loop south from there, quickly revising my 6-mile plan to a 4-mile plan. What transpired was one of the hardest runs I've had in recent months, including ones where I struggled with asthma - my legs were at times in agony. I was forced to slow to a walk, had to stop and stretch several times, and finally, after a couple of miles, was able to keep going because the UPHILLS were kinder to my legs than the downhills! Pain or not, I did manage to throw in two strides of roughly eight-minute pace for 200 yards each before throwing in the towel and exiting the park at 92nd street. Walk/jog/run = ~4 miles.

After post-run stretching and gulping down more powersnot (which is so old in the bottle at this point it is starting to sugar!), I got back on the bicycle and headed home, swinging by work first to chat with the bossman. The day had been getting hazier and windier as it wore on and now I was headed into pronounced headwinds that slowed me down badly. Combined with my fatigue, I was burning up what energy I had left. I stopped at about 23rd street for a quick snack. (Hammer Nutrition sent me a sample of their line of energy bars in my last order. Turns out, they're quite good! Much better than my current favorite, the Cliff chocolate mint energy bars.)

Back on the bike, up and over Manhattan bridge, and finally home. Whew! Bike2 = ~13 miles.

Arrived home tired, hungry (no, famished), and feeling like I'd been beaten with a length of 0 gauge power cable. Once I'd satisfied my hunger, I realized I was also curious. Got online and found a couple of sites.

One is for beginner triathletes and has a good definition of a "brick". It also has tons of useful advice I'll be reading up on.

The other site is more local. New York Triathlete runs various tri- and duathlons in the area. Entry fees are a lot steeper for these events than for running races. I got to looking at the results of March's races and realized that I could probably enter a race and at least come in a little ahead of last place.... hm.... I guess I need to put up or shut up. I'm considering the May 7th run-bike-run in Prospect Park. It seems short enough not to kill me and close enough to home where I can crawl home licking my wounds if need be. I don't know if I'm supposed to have a special bike for this kind of thing or not, but I figure I'll just use my road bike for this first race. My only hesitation is that this is only one week after the Nashville half-Marathon and I hope I won't be overdoing it.

Advice, anyone?

Labreque classic - confirmation, affirmation, lamentation

I think it's the bicycling that's doing it. While stretching today, I ran my hands down to grip underneath my calf and was surprised by an apparent increase in size and firmness. My thighs, too, have grown a bit. I could encircle them with two hands, finger-tips and thumb-tips touching, before, but no longer. They've also gotten firmer. Niiiice.

There is something sick about springing out of bed before dawn after only four hours of sleep in order to go run around a park. But it's less sick than sleeping a Sunday away, and so there I was, almost thankful the alarm went off, as I didn't sleep well anyway, and hustling my morning routine.

It was Thomas G. Labreque Classic race day and as usual, I had a grand master plan to follow. Despite my own doubts about them, I had set several goals:

• Wake up early enough to be able to get ready at a relaxed pace
  
• Do part of my chest PT before leaving the house (specifically the Pulmozyme and the Vest, but not the hypertonic saline)
  
• Don't forget anything vital to a good run, including being prepared for an asthma attack.
  
• Do a four-mile loop as a warm-up before the actual four-mile race
  
• Use pre-visualization before the race, along with the "highlight reel" in my head
  
• Use associative techniques during the run. No zoning out, no stray thoughts about work, house, cats, dance concerts, etc. Just stick to the here and now - keep track of distance, timing, the people around me, the signals from my body.
  
• Concentrate on good form and steady pacing, no unintentional surging.
  
• Last mile to be as strong as the first; attempt negative splits.
  
• Generate a finishing kick at the end.
  

Quite ambitious, but I felt they were attainable goals. Notice that "set a new PR" was not a goal; I had no unrealistic expectations, I think.

The weather was near perfect with bright sunshine and a mild breeze. Everybody I talked with made the exact same comment: "could be about five degrees warmer." After my warm-up loop, though, I was glad the temperature was cooler - I overdressed again and had to shed layers for the race.

I had heard my upstairs neighbor scurrying out of the house, but hadn't caught up with him until the transfer to the 6. We chatted a bit on our way up to 86th street; he was to take pictures of the Foundation kids, who were also running. It was nice to talk with him and I asked him how training for Boston is going. I am somehow ridiculously proud that I have a housemate who will be running the Boston Marathon! (He's still having plantar fasciitis problem.)

We went our separate ways at the park and I was the first person to find the baggage area and drop my stuff. It was all sand there, up in this little three-ring circus they had set up, and I was to later regret dropping my bag off so early.

I hit the road. The four-mile standard loop is not terribly difficult, even counting Cat Hill and the unexpected hilliness of the back 40. I took this leisurely and was enjoying being the only jogger out so early. I stretched my muscles at the one-mile mark, walked a bit while drinking water off the tables at the two-mile mark, and was in the middle of stretching again at about 2.5, when I was asked by a runner who appeared out of nowhere if I knew where the registration table was. I did, and tried to describe where I'd found it, but gave up and said, "Just come with me." And just like that, I had a running partner for the next fifteen minutes. We chatted a bit, me through my huffing and coughing, and I found out he was Canadian, but had been here for ten years. Running with him turned out to be the single greatest thing today, as doing so kept me going in that warm-up loop at a strong pace. We ran right up to the finish line and then parted ways, him to find his bib and me to find my bag, ditch my sweatshirt and get my bottle of HEED. I had started the loop at about 10 'til 8 and we arrived at the finish line at 20 'til 9. Good pace!

My bag was buried under a waist-high mound of luggage. It took some effort to crawl in, find it, and tug it out. The sand was getting everywhere. (Didn't help it was wet after yesterday's soaking rains.) Retreived my HEED, forgot to slug down some powersnot, and wandered over to the start line.

By my iPod's clock, the air horn didn't sound 'til 5 after 9. LATE. And then....we back-o'-the-packers (I was lined up at the 11 marker) ... went nowhere. For several minutes. Lots of minutes. There were over 5600 finishers in this race and the starting chute was narrow. Finally, we started to move, walk, jog, then really get going. It took most of the first mile to find a place in the pack where I could hold a steady strong pace.

And so the race went. I consciously kept my attention on my pacing and my form; I tried not to play the passing game and I tried not to let the hills get the best of me. Cat Hill did not defeat me, on either run! I was able to keep going today, even though after the second mile-marker (showing good splits might I say) I felt a great dip in energy and regretted not having swallowed some Hammer gel. I sucked it up and kept going, though the third-mile hills slowed me down some. I also began feeling the asthma clamping down at this point and managed to get a puff of albutereol in me (I remembered the albuterol for once!) Finally, though, we were into the fourth and last mile, which was almost all downhill. That felt really good and I was able to pick up the pace to where I'd been an hour and a half earlier. And finally, when the finish line came in to sight, I was able to ratchet up the speed and come blazing across the finish line with my hair a-fire.

Some of the other bloggers are saying the first mile was long and the fourth mile was short and in hindsight I have no reason to dispute that. The first certainly felt long, but I attributed that to the slow start and Cat Hill. The fourth felt short, but that, too, I thought was because of the downhills and because the last mile always feels short to me. But they're the ones with watches.

Eight miles! Check.
Stuck to game plan. Check.
Ran strong and true. Check.
Didn't walk (during the race). Check.
Negative splits. Check, I believe.
Feeling good at the end? Check, though my quads are very sore. (Next morning addendum: legs are sore, muscles don't want to move, even my elbows hurt. I need to make sure I stretch several times today and take it easy.)

After dry-heaving near a tree and more stretching, as I walked up the hill to retrieve my bag and go home, I decided this race ranks a very solid "Great" in the quality-of-run box. It didn't quite reach Excellent status, but this was a GREAT run! And at a mere eight miles, I am awed that my sister ran 20 yesterday. I think we will both be fine in our respective races in Nashville.

If the day was tempered by anything, it was by this morning's news that a fellow Cystic I'd known only via email passed away yesterday. Kelly Tucker finally lost her battle with CF (some months after her transplant) and she now joins her brother in peace. I found it oddly harmonic that today's run was for lung cancer research - much of which is a foundational-knowledge type research useable by other lung-disease researchers. In a way, I was running for myself today. In a very REAL way, I was running for Kelly, too. As I sat in the subway, both before and after the race, I reflected that if anything is worth doing and if its something other people can't do, then it is worth doing to the limits. Learning of Kelly's death just before heading for the race was more Sign than coincidence. It was a sign that I can't let up, that I can't go the way of Richard and Kelly and thousands of others. I can't let up in the race, or even on solo training runs. And during today's run, whenever I felt myself flagging and wanting to walk, I just didn't. I really think I have Kelly to thank for that.

Well, something went right. After so many weeks of no training, and these recent weeks of minimal training, I did a 40:23 out there, good for almost a 10-min/mile pace. (And astonishingly edging out fellow blogger Danny, who turned in a 41:17; I believe he had some shin trouble in mile 3.) Contrast today to my last four-miler three weeks ago and you'll see why I'm astounded: I shaved over seven minutes off my run time.

And I have continued to achieve today: I got my taxes done and filed! Woo-HOOOOOO! I am now enjoying my annual tradition of a very rare (for me) Jim Beam on the rocks. I deserve it.

this and that

Just a few quick notes.

Bicycled to work again yesterday. My legs are feeling more and more powerful and I was able to cruise in a higher gear, even taking the Manhattan Bridge in second gear, so that's all good. Downside: I ruined a pair of jeans with chain grease. Also, my legs are getting stiffer; I must get back to foam rolling and taking time to really stretch each day and do the TKE exercises with the ankle weights, or else come November, I'll be in hell.

Upcoming this weekend: Thomas Labreque Classic, a nice 4-miler in Central Park. I plan on going early and putting in 4 miles before the race, so as to get in a long 8 mile run. You might recall the disastrous results the last time I did this, so you'll understand my apprehension. But my lungs are in better shape and stamina is not an issue.

New shoes: finally picked up a pair of size 8, B-width 992s. I will sell my other two pairs on craigslist to help recoup the cost. If this new pair doesn't fit, nothing will.

Found on the web: a new asthma treatment for severe cases.

chatter

Seems like a lot of chatter going around about magnesium deficiency. It was mentioned on the Dawn & Drew Show podcast; mentioned again by a listener who notes that magnesium is given to cows to help calm them down or keep them from being ornery (PMS-reliever I guess), and it has popped up on the CF-list as a real problem for Cystics, as many of our meds deplete us of Mg, which in turn results in Ca depletion, which can lead to damage to our hearing and other things. Our antibiotics, especially Tobramycin and Gentamycin are known for thei ototoxicity. A high-fat diet like we're supposed to eat also depletes Mg. But I stick strictly to an ultra-low-fat diet, since I don't want to deal with the digestive issues. And my hearing is fine. Connection?

Well, all the more reason for me to consider buying Hammer Nutrition's Premium Insurance Caps. Now, I don't buy into the whole health-nut thing and I definitely don't get taking enormous amounts of suplements when it seems to me a balanced diet gives you all the nutrition you need. But my doctors have me on a multi-vitamin by their orders as well as extra Vitamin E. The Premium Insurance caps have all of what I currently take, plus a little extra. A whole lot of extra Magnesium, too. It's expensive, at $30 a month, but I'm willing to try it for a month and see if my health is easier to maintain, if I can keep my energy up, if recovering after hard workouts is easier, etc.

I'm glad I took the day off from exercise; my legs are rather tender on the outside of my thighs down near my knees, gotta let them recover.

Yesterday while in the bike shop I won't go back to, I saw a bike that looked really good and I thought it was a floor model, it was so new. I was curious and hefted it, testing its weight. This thing was two pounds, maybe three max. I couldn't believe it. I then discovered the bike had an owner and I apologized for handling it, explaining I thought it was a floor model. He said he'd got it the day before. Anyway, this bike was super lightweight and is similar to a track racer or one of the bikes I've seen bike-messengers use. He said the frame is aluminum; that accounts for the light weight. Of course, it helps that the bike wasn't burdened by all the useless gee-gaws one finds on other street bikes -- like shifters, for instance. Or gears. Or brakes. In fact, this bike was nothing more than two wheels, a frame, a seat, handlebars, two cogs, a chain, and a crank. The pedals were the heaviest part of the bike! Very very slick. I'll stick with my heavy-ass 12-speed, though, as there's nothing like a hundredth of a ton of steel to help you plow through rush-hour Canal street traffic!

finally - and please realize this entry is mostly just notes to myself while I'm between worthy entries - I've decided my new running shoes, the 992's, don't fit. They're just too big. It's been several weeks and I've tightened the laces twice and my heels still slip and the orthotics fit too loosely. I'm going to have to see if I can sell these on Craig's list and recover some of the cost towards a smaller pair of 992's. They're still in great shape, nearly new, so surely somebody will want them.

more bicycling, packing improvement

Commuted to NYU today by bike again. Shorter commute, but lots more running around. What can you get done when you have a free afternoon? EVERYTHING. Stopped at another bike shop where I picked up a rack and a bag that attaches to the rack and a much better headlight and taillight. Now I won't feel so invisible as I hurtle along Canal street after dark. While installing the rack, I discovered I don't own a 10-speed, I own a 12-speed. That explains a lot and clears up my confusion about the slipping chain in the lowest gear: it wasn't slipping, it was simply on a lower gear than I thought existed.

That bicycle shop, though, I don't think I'll go back to. The guy acted like I was somehow rushing him and wasn't really interested in selling me anything. Then he bustled me out of the shop as fast as he could, wouldn't let me at least put the rack on inside - and there was plenty of space. Then one of his cronies, an older guy, hung out on the steps while I worked, just kind of glowering at me, like I was somehow disgracing their good name by being there. This shop is on Canal street west of Broadway and isn't exactly in a glam location. Don't think I'll use them again.

Legs were hurting at some points in today's riding and I think I need to give my legs a rest. It's been three days of hard use. Still, I need to find a way to squish in a long run this weekend.