Seattle, WA
My aunt died on Wednesday. Sad, but expected. Anyway, I had to fly Thursday night to Seattle for the funeral. Driving from the airport to my mom's house past downtown and all the nice scenery, I thought to myself "You know, Seattle is a pretty cool city. I don't know why I used to bitch about it so much." That was before I set out for my 9-mile run the morning before the funeral.
Run - 90 Minutes
2 Lipodrene
I have exactly one running route in Seattle, and I'm glad I got to use it as part of this training cycle. Green Lake is a public park where the entire city decides to go every time the sun dares to come out in this city. It's 3 miles around, making for a nice loop if you can park your car in the main lot. Friday morning it was 50 degrees and overcast. So obviously, pakring was ample.
I took my iPod and set out on lap one (I used to do only one lap, sometimes walking when I was younger. I thought it was laborious. So this was a fun perspective). The weather didn't seem too bad. Brisk, but, ya know, not unbearable. But, about 2 miles in, the rain started. And the thing about Seattle vs. Florida is that once the rain starts, it typically doesn't let up until late-May. So despite feeling pretty strong on the run, I was perpetually slowed by the perpetual drizzle.
It got harder and softer as I ran, but it was constant. Several times I found myself just yelling "Fuck this place!" to nooone in particular, and wanted to stop the other morning runners (and dog walkers) at Green Lake and ask them why, exactly, they wre out on a morning like this. Are you ALL training for an Ironman, becasue that's really the only reason I could see. Then I wanted to ask them how the fuck they lived here, with weather like this 10 months out of the year. Yeah, definitely realized why I left and am never moving back.
I stopped after every loop, not because I was tired, but more because I wanted to dry off my iPod. I wasn't even that thirsty, as you lose a lot less fluid running in 50 degree miserableness than in 90 degree sunshine. At one point I turned the iPod around to face my so it didn't get as wet. But it still got a lot of moisture. I took one gel at the 45 minute mark. But god damn, the fucking rain.
Also got to try out the second half of the Ironman Final Training Mix, and learned that some songs I thought would be great for running in fact sucked. And somehow the iPod managed to make it 90 minutes in a Seattle Downpour, but can't last over 2 hours in "dry" condidiions normally. Whatever. Only another month with the thing and I need to wean myself off it anyway.
But most of all, it was cool to breeze throguh 3 laps around Green Lake in 88 minutes (including stops to dry the iPod and drink), a course that once upon a time had one lap looking daunting. I love measuring progress like that. Despite the rain, I felt this was a solid run. But I also forgot how much my knees hurt when I run in the cold. Worse than getting kicked in the balls, seriously. And there's nothing you can do. Yet another reason never to live North of I-10. And yet again how I don't understand how anybody in a cold weather city can train for something like this.
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Monday, October 5, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
T17 - Releasing the Glitch - Bike
Gainesville
I've had this fucking song in my head. For like 4 days now. It's called "Panic Switch" by the Silversun Pickups, a band I had been subjected to a great length by my ex and had never really had an opinion about. Until I heard this song on the radio the other day. It's a great song, but even after reading the lyrics twice, I have absolutely no fucking clue what it's about, or even what any of the lyrics mean. The chorus has a line that says something like "Will you fall in line, or release the glitch," and for the entire bike ride today, I had the bridge and chorus of this song in my head. And though I'm still not sure what exactly "releasing the glitch" entails, if there was a glitch in my riding, I released it today.
Bike - 2 Hours
2 Lipodrene
It was hot as fuck today. I mean by the time I hit the road word on the TV was that it was 99 degrees with humidity around 80%. So I packed an extra water bottle. Well, as I may have mentioned all of my rides in 2009 have been complete shit with a few exceptions, and even the good ones this cycle were merely improvements over what I'd been doing in the Spring. I have no idea why, in the Fall and last Summer I was crushing rides, but as I've discussed earlier I think the cold and some other circumstances just hampered my biking abilities. Not today.
I think the heat was the first thing that motivated me. It was nice and hot and there was no breeze. I had even stretched out a little beforehand and had taken 48 hours off. So on the way to Hawthorne, where I usually take it slow, I was averaging about 23. And this didn't really let up much the whole way down Hawthorne, as I kept singing the same ten bars of this "Panic Switch" song, out loud at some points (the guys at Nigbridge gave me some very funny looks)and made it to the end of Hawthorne in 56:30. That's a full 7 minutes faster than the last time I did this ride. I just kept telling myself to release the glitch. Even though I had no fucking idea what that meant.
I had a gel, refilled all my bottles, and took a leak before heading back. I was able to keep that pace up until about halfway back when the heat finally got to my legs and lower back and I found myself doing 13 on a small incline. I took a brief break, then continued on, going strong but not averaging over 20 as I had been. I had some difficulties with inclines on the way back, doing a solid 9 up the final hill in the hammock. Despite this, though, my average speed was still 18.5, easily the best solo ride of 2009. Whatever it was that had been glitching me so far this year, it has officially been released. Perhaps the fact that this song comes from a band I associate with someone, and that whole experience was something I think adversely affected my last training cycle, and now that I really am moving on and my training is getting better maybe that's really what releasing the glitch means. Or maybe I'm looking a little too far into a pretty nonsensical song lyric. I don't know.
This is not to say all rides are going to be this good, but I am consistently improving on each one. The warm weather definitely helps, maybe the stretching helps. Maybe singing Silversun Pickups helps. Although I don't think I can do that for 6 hours during the Ironman. Who knows.
I had an overnight guest last night too, and despite being up with her until 5, and then up again before 11, I still had an outstanding ride. My only point here is that I'm starting to think sex in and of itself does not hamper workouts, but rather the alcohol and occasional stress that goes along with it. Shit, maybe it's even getting to be like the old days of lifting where it motivates me. No matter what the reason, I'm very happy about today's ride. I feel like I'm back. The glitch has been released, and I'm ready to start really riding when Base 1 starts a week from Monday.
I've had this fucking song in my head. For like 4 days now. It's called "Panic Switch" by the Silversun Pickups, a band I had been subjected to a great length by my ex and had never really had an opinion about. Until I heard this song on the radio the other day. It's a great song, but even after reading the lyrics twice, I have absolutely no fucking clue what it's about, or even what any of the lyrics mean. The chorus has a line that says something like "Will you fall in line, or release the glitch," and for the entire bike ride today, I had the bridge and chorus of this song in my head. And though I'm still not sure what exactly "releasing the glitch" entails, if there was a glitch in my riding, I released it today.
Bike - 2 Hours
2 Lipodrene
It was hot as fuck today. I mean by the time I hit the road word on the TV was that it was 99 degrees with humidity around 80%. So I packed an extra water bottle. Well, as I may have mentioned all of my rides in 2009 have been complete shit with a few exceptions, and even the good ones this cycle were merely improvements over what I'd been doing in the Spring. I have no idea why, in the Fall and last Summer I was crushing rides, but as I've discussed earlier I think the cold and some other circumstances just hampered my biking abilities. Not today.
I think the heat was the first thing that motivated me. It was nice and hot and there was no breeze. I had even stretched out a little beforehand and had taken 48 hours off. So on the way to Hawthorne, where I usually take it slow, I was averaging about 23. And this didn't really let up much the whole way down Hawthorne, as I kept singing the same ten bars of this "Panic Switch" song, out loud at some points (the guys at Nigbridge gave me some very funny looks)and made it to the end of Hawthorne in 56:30. That's a full 7 minutes faster than the last time I did this ride. I just kept telling myself to release the glitch. Even though I had no fucking idea what that meant.
I had a gel, refilled all my bottles, and took a leak before heading back. I was able to keep that pace up until about halfway back when the heat finally got to my legs and lower back and I found myself doing 13 on a small incline. I took a brief break, then continued on, going strong but not averaging over 20 as I had been. I had some difficulties with inclines on the way back, doing a solid 9 up the final hill in the hammock. Despite this, though, my average speed was still 18.5, easily the best solo ride of 2009. Whatever it was that had been glitching me so far this year, it has officially been released. Perhaps the fact that this song comes from a band I associate with someone, and that whole experience was something I think adversely affected my last training cycle, and now that I really am moving on and my training is getting better maybe that's really what releasing the glitch means. Or maybe I'm looking a little too far into a pretty nonsensical song lyric. I don't know.
This is not to say all rides are going to be this good, but I am consistently improving on each one. The warm weather definitely helps, maybe the stretching helps. Maybe singing Silversun Pickups helps. Although I don't think I can do that for 6 hours during the Ironman. Who knows.
I had an overnight guest last night too, and despite being up with her until 5, and then up again before 11, I still had an outstanding ride. My only point here is that I'm starting to think sex in and of itself does not hamper workouts, but rather the alcohol and occasional stress that goes along with it. Shit, maybe it's even getting to be like the old days of lifting where it motivates me. No matter what the reason, I'm very happy about today's ride. I feel like I'm back. The glitch has been released, and I'm ready to start really riding when Base 1 starts a week from Monday.
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