Our Holiday card

Don't care what you believe in.

You can be a runner, a triathlete, a bikie, a shredder, a climber, a couch potato, a Jew, an agnostic, a Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist, a non believer or even a Jedi, all the best to you and yours this Holiday season!

Anton and ML

All"s Fair in Fun and Sore

Folks that do triathlons are familiar with the term "brick." Basically it's stacking two workouts on top of each other to mimic race conditions. They are supposed to be hard.

Lately I've been using "reverse bricks" to help bring my fitness level back up after the broken ankle hiatus.

( I tried to find a picture of a reverse brick on the web...but this is as close as I could get)

A reverse brick involves running first then riding your bike as opposed to the other way around.

On the schedule for today was a ten mile run and a great way to get in a longer workout, without all the pounding, is to hop on the bike and go for a ride.

Off to the canal this morning in what could be called our first winter morning with wind and temp in the 20's. The ten miles goes well. I have no speed and that's fine. (It bothers me a little) I'm only trying to get milage back up and endurance is king right now. While I used to be able to hammer out a ten miler in 1:20 it's more like 1:40 now. I'll start working on that this spring.

It's just beautiful on the tow-path this morning although it's the first day of rifle season for deer and the staccato hammer of small arms echos in the woods to the north. I run and ride South bound as there is no hunting down toward the city. North bound and I'd have to wear one of those nifty orange camo suits. A few folks out running and a few biking who are gloveless and in shorts and are obviously cold. Summer's over folks.

Come in off the run switch out the shoes and sweaty clothes for dry stuff and grab the mountain bike and go south. Now...I've turned my bike into a single speed MTB since I only really ride it on the canal and the shifting wasn't working anymore and the beast is on it's way out.

The gearing is sporty. 44x17 which I'm not going to explain here, just suffice it to say that my legs get pumped...but that will happen pushing a 28 pound bike in a single gear on a dirt road!

The ride toward the district is SA-WEET! A very nice ten mile spin. (tail wind) On the ride down my mind is sort of ignoring the fact that the wind is picking up and is getting quite blustery!

At the turn around I start north and am just smacked by the wind. I mean it's sort of like trying to pedal into a wall you can't see. Despite feeding and drinking the power level drops so much that the last two miles it's seems I'm pedaling through wet concrete.

Done and heading home the radio talks about winds to 30. The funnel of the river just sends the wind right up your kilts...

My legs are tired and I'm just a little wacked.

Ankle is holding up well, right knee a little sore but no worries. (It took a hit last summer with crutches and walking boots and such)

I loved it.

W had a great Thanksgiving here at home. Big thanks to Kim and Jim and Janet and Fiona for joining ML and I. Here's to friends.

I hate it...

I hate cancer.

It killed my parents but that was self inflicted.

My last remaining uncle has it.

It got Mary.

Malia.

Kathy.

Suzie.

Many others I know.

And now it has Mike.

He's a friend. A man who turned his life around and went from an over weight out of control type to someone who runs 100 milers.

A good guy. I admired him.

Lung cancer. Stage four.

It sucks.

No one gets out alive but I've seen that and it's ugly.

But it's is a part of life. It's the way many of us leave.

I wish him well and hope he has all the time he needs.

I've put the bracelet back on for Mike.

Newbie 2.0

If you have been running down the path with me (which is funny now, because I can only run on paved paths) you know I am the owner of a repaired ankle. Following the advice of a stellar running coach and author of a great book on running and having been through the RRCA certification process to become a running coach myself I've set a schedule for my return to running. Things have been going well for the last few weeks, but the milage has been low and slow.

I'm a newbie. I'm starting over. Being off from running for almost 15 weeks means I have to start over. Sure, I was able to bike and build my CV system and my muscles up some, but that was on the bike. I could bike for about four weeks before I could start running again.

Running is running. Nothing prepares you for the pounding on the pavement like pounding on the pavement. Biking doesn't help though walking does. Still...I feel like I did years ago and I mean years...

It hurts some times. Breathe hard when I shouldn't be. Dread hills. Feel all akimbo (my favorite word) when I run. Have no speed. Have no endurance.

I feel like I did 40 years ago this October when I first started to run in PE class after Coach Payne (Coach Pain!) asked for volunteers to help flesh out the cross country "B squad" for the Allegany County Cross Country Championships. I was over weight from stress eating. I wasn't an active kid...although that summer I had started to rock climb near home with a few friends and knew I need to drop fat. Running was it. Ran every day in PE class and a few weeks later the race came. I ran in cut offs and Chuck Taylors ("B squad" didn't get uniforms). Dad watched. I threw up. Loved it. Haven't stopped since. Had some thin years, like when I was raising a daughter, but I still managed to get out and run a few days a week. Mom said I lost my hair because I was running so much. Raced everything you can race from the 100 meters to 100 kilometers. Run all night. Run all day. Like Forrest "From that day forward, if I was going somewhere...I was Runnnning!"

So, I'm back at it. It sucks from time to time. I love it, this new rebirth to running.

Yes, I'm a Newbie!

Get your shoes! Lets go for a run!

HoBbled...

Two-thirty in the morning with a sore crotch. Yup! it's the 24 Hours of Booty! The only 24 Hour road bike ride that benefits the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

Last weekend was the time and Columbia , Maryland was the place for riding a long time on "The Circuit of Suffering".

As events go...it's not a race although some treat it that way. It's not Ultracycling, but there are some UC's out there crawling into that little space they go to.

It's not a party, but you'd be hard pressed to find someone say it isn't. It's full of bike posers in the latest kit with 6K bikes and full of folks on cruisers with out a stitch of spandex.

What it is, is a group of people coming together who have been touched by cancer. Their Mom's or Dad's, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Sons, Daughters...themselves, touched by the disease.

They ride to raise money for the LAF and the Ulman cancer fund, great organizations that do so much to help cancer victims with quality of life issues.

It was up in the air that I would even be able to ride this year since, having broken my ankle, I was still on the mend, when i started building milage to get ready for the event. With the Doc's Ok, I could cycle and so I started with about 7 weeks to go. Lots of hours on the trainer in the basement. In fact most of my milage was done down in the dungeon. After a few weeks, I got the go ahead to begin cycling outside...which was a huge rush having been limited to what I could do during recovery (NO running!)

In a few weeks I had built up to 150 mile weeks, which is nothing compared to what I had built up previous years. I would be enough though.

On the events weekend, after a week long taper I was off to Columbia in what would prove to be just stellar weather. Riding began about 1 in the afternoon after speeches and and what not.

The first miles were nice... settling in and getting used to the flow. I tend to turn inward at events like this..saving energy for what's to come. A few hours pass and the crowd thins out. It's HOT and I think it's taking a toll and I even hear a few folks talking about bagging it and coming back out in the evening after the sun goes down. Dinner break REALLY drops the numbers out on the loop. I stop for a nosh but am back out quickly. I had been coming in regularly for fresh bottles of Infinit and pocket snacks. Dinner break just came at a time when I needed to break, or I may not have stopped.

Miles fall away and it's fun to see the other folks riding...Full kit bikies hammering the loop. It's obvious they are taking long breaks on a regular basis. They come out fresh, mash for awhile, whip past you, then disappear for quite a bit of time. If you're not stopping, your either getting passed on a regular basis or you're doing the passing. I talk for a bit to a couple of UC's (Ultracyclists) quietly cranking out miles. Turtles and rabbits, and we all know how that turned out. 1 in the morning...2 and the number of riders thinned out to the point that for awhile I feel like I'm riding alone.

For my part, not much to tell really...just a quite spin paying for the donations so many kind folks made in my name for the event. Keep pushing food and fluid, keep checking the color of my pee to make sure I'm not dehydrated. Crawling into that little space in my mind.

100 miles, 120, 150, 180 and I'm done. The lack of time for proper training, which includes getting my bum used to being on a bike seat, takes it's toll. I tell my self to get some sleep and see what the morning will bring. It's 3:00. At 5 I'm up and decide that's it.

No worries. Very happy to have been a part of the event for another year.

Not going to wax on about mom or dad or the other folks I know who have died from the disease or who battle it now. Death is, after all, " Just another path. One that we all must take."

Snap Crackle Pop (weather,not ankle)

Woke to a big 'ol thunder storm this morning...A right gully washer. All around us the community is without power but the neighborhood here is just fine...

Got out this morning for my longest run since ankle surgery. Four miles. Yes, I know it doesn't seem like much but baby steps getting back up to where I was.

I'm following the Galloway method...a mix of running and walking. Gives me a chance to keep an eye on my ankle and to make sure I'm not overdoing it.

Have used this method since it really took off and have done a goodly number of marathons Ultras and Ironman using it.

For training right now I'm going 5 minutes running and 1 minute walking, or 5/1. For marathons walking for one minute at each mile marker works well for me. I've finished everywhere from 4:00 hours to 5:12. No injuries. No burnout and I actually like myself the next day.

The pic above is from a event last year where I ran 100K (62 miles) in about 16 hours following Galloway's method.

Still riding the bike well and am almost two weeks out of the 24 Hours of Booty.

Hope to get in a bunch of miles this weekend before I start my taper.

Ankle at 12 weeks...

12 weeks since ankle surgery! Mobile! Moving! Biking! Running! Pushing metal around! The ankle no longer flops around! ROM sucks!

Actually the ROM is improving and I just have to work at it everyday. PT says that I'm advanced now and that she's quite happy with where things are now. At the doctors last week he was very impressed to see me able to do toe raises on the foot and ankle involved.

Running continues to improve but I'm still acting the soul of caution. No reason to push it. Pushing it now could set me back and that's the last thing I want.

Biking is sorta normal...was out for 51 miles on the canal towpath yesterday and it went well. Could have used a bit more food...just wasn't sure how long I was going to be out and one thing led to another and 3:15 later I'm back at the car and starving. Ankle held up well and no swelling post ride or this morning.

Have to keep up the biking...24 Hours of Booty in 23 days. I may not be able to bike as much a I'd like but here's the plan: Bike as consistently as possible taking frequent breaks and hit a century. Take an extended break then lather, rinse, repeat. Just see what I can get into.

This event has become important to me even though I'm not much of a fund raiser. I'm not interested in providing funds to find a cure for cancer. I'm interested in the quality of life that cancer victims are leading and how best to improve it...since that is the aim of The Lance Armstong Foundation and the 24 Hours of Booty, I'm in.

As noted at the top of the page I'm also pushing metal around..body weight exercises and work outs with kettle bells...curls for the girls. that sort of thing. feels good and Mr. Ankle tolerates it well.

School starts soon...and that's fine with me. I left school early due to surgery and hated to miss the end of the year. It really wasn't a longer vacation since the first three weeks I was propped up and painless. After that it was life on crutches or in the boot or at PT....getting back to school will make things seem normal.

Had a great time at IMLP even though I didn't get a chance to volunteer all day on race day...my ankle finally started barking after 8 hours and I couldn't ignore it anymore. It was great to see Scott and John and meet some new folks. Made some more observations about IM's and the folks that do them...but that's fuel for another post.

ML and I got out for a hike to the top of Cascade peak ( near Lake Placid) one day...beautiful and tough...that's our summit pic above.