August 16th, 2009
This year, plans for many of the races I’ve done have materialized just a couple days beforehand. Like for example, my team for last Thursday’s Northern Columbia Triathlon came together the night before, and then for today’s V2 Rollerskis Climb to Mountain Top, I wasn’t positive I was going until yesterday. I invited Dimitri too, but since he is phone-less, I wasn’t sure he would even be there for me to pick up in the morning.
I’ve been experimenting with pre-race caffeine this summer, and I’ve found that it doesn’t make a real difference in how I feel during the race, but it affects my performance a little. Before each of these last three races (Pedal and Plod, a run/bike race in Adams, MA where I was cycling on a team; the Northern Columbia Tri, a swim/bike/run where I also cycled on a team; and today’s rollerski race) I’ve driven to Dunkin’ D’s, ordered medium Cappuccinos and finished them before the end of the drive. Coffee is not a regular occurrence for me, but I know that it can work for some people when used in the right amount.
The Northern Columbia worked out fairly well, even though we had a couple mishaps. The swim went okay, Greg definitely held his own against a deep field. Going into the bike I think we were about 12th for teams. I started out really fast and maintained a solid pace until the hills, the first of which I took easy, then hammered at the next couple. I forgot about the last big hill, so I ended up not going too hard there, and I was a little bit cooked in the last couple miles. I came in as the second team. Then came the transfer, and I came into the zone looking for my teammate Evan, who was nowhere to be seen. I then looked up the hill towards the porta-potties and there was Evan, in line. It turns out that they had arrived barely 5 minutes earlier, and he hadn’t warmed up at all. There are several different speculations about what amount of time Ev was there for, but I ended up running up and putting the timing chip on his ankle after he had spent anywhere from :25 to 1:30 up there. Either way, my bike time suffered because the timing map was at the end of the transition, and I think I was the fastest if you don’t count the transition. Evan crushed the run, even though he hadn’t warmed up and had barely time to get to the transition. He was third fastest for the run, with about 5:15 miles. That put us first for teams, so we were happy anyway. Results for the Tri teams are here. Individuals are here.
The Climb to Mountain Top is a 10k+ rollerski race that starts just north of Rutland. The course record for men is held by Andrew Johnson, set a couple years ago. The course rolls and goes slightly uphill for the first 7 kilometers, then goes sharply uphill for then next 2.7 ish k to the finish. It would have been hard even if it were 40ºF cooler. It was probably 87ºF and humid at the start, and hotter at the finish.
The race started slowly. In fact it was so slow that I was able to be about 2nd or 3rd in the pack for the first couple kilometers. A guy that Dimitri said he though was from the US Nordic Combined B-team attacked at about 2k, and Dimitri himself soon followed. They yoyoed off the front for a while. All of a sudden I was leading the pack on my fast skis at about 4k, and I soon skied away from the pack to join the two leaders. We had a decent sized lead at one point, but the pack kept catching us. Eventually, Dimitri dropped back to the pack, and when the pack started catching us, the USST guy motioned for me to take over. That was my opportunity. Since I knew the hills were going to be deathly, I wanted to have a sizable lead and have people catch me. Since I was never in any trouble physically on the flat/rolling section, I knew I could gain a little distance on the pack. I could have gone a lot harder because of my skis, but chose not to knowing what was ahead. The finishing hills start abruptly, and from the time they start to the finish, there is no stretch of road that is even close to being downhill. I started hurting almost immediately, as did everyone else. The heat really got to us. I got caught with a little less than 2k to go. Despite the conditions, I managed to hang on to 5th. The only people who passed me were Peter Hegman, a guy I didn’t recognize on fast skis who ended up winning, Jimmy Levins, and Noah Brautigam. It was impressive that Peter was in such good shape, but he really suffered in the heat (him laying down in a ditch post-race to cool off was painful to watch). I attribute my good result to my zippy rollerskis. I really wanted to have the slow skis for the race, but they only offered one pair of SNS matched V2 skis, which they gave to Dimitri. Guess I’ll have to wait till the early season time trials to know how I stack up to the rest of the college guys. Results are here.
The best part of the race may have been the trip to the reservoir (“the Rez”) afterwards, where Sam and Lucy both made us laugh really hard. Not to mention the water was awesome.
This week is an intensity block, which means:
Tomorrow: ski up Greylock. Workout: 3×15 intervals. Temp? low nineties again.
Thursday: probably level 4s, but it’ll be a little cooler.
I’m trying to decide what to do with the blog now that I’ll be a freshman in college. I will probably keep it, because it has valuable info that I’ll draw from later, but I definitely won’t update as much. Especially since Williams has a much cooler blog anyway. It is possible that I will post links to Williams blog articles.
I am ecstatic about college, and all the Williams people I meet through my job at the office of Alumni tell me is (1) that I’ll have a fantastic time, and (2) how jealous they are of me that I will be a freshman. I can’t wait!
And, here’s to not suffering heat stroke today!
No commentsAugust 7th, 2009
Disclaimer: I started this post on August 6th I think, and I tried to find time to finish but it didn’t happen. It was supposed to be posted 8/7, but was actually posted today, 8/16. Read it like it was 8/7!! 
—
I misspoke in an earlier post…the week ending 8/7 was actually my week of training the most hours.
Last week (ending 8/7/09) was an absolutely balls-out training week. It was the big volume push of the summer. Not too difficult, just more hours training than I’m used to doing. And so I’ve noticed that with more volume training at once comes more learning about my own body and limits.
Here’s the rundown from the last 7 days.
Thursday: level 3 skate rollerski intervals up the North Adams side of Mt. Greylock. (1 hour 20 minutes)
Friday: hour recovery run. (1 hour 5 minutes)
Saturday: level 4 classic rollerski intervals up the Lanesboro side of Greylock. (1 hour 45 minutes)
Sunday: off.
Monday: level 3 bounding intervals up the Hopper trail to the top of Greylock, then back down. (2 hours 37 minutes)
Tuesday: 3 hour distance run on the Taconic Crest Trail into 3 states, skiwalking the steep grades, to find the VT/NY state corner marker, the Snow Hole, and the VT/MA/NY tri-state marker. (3 hours 7 minutes)
Wednesday: hour warmup run and then Hilary’s Decathlon Circuit, explained below. (2 hours 32 minutes)
Thursday: distance skate rollerski from 5 corners in S. Williamstown to the Mt. Greylock summit (2 hours 57 minutes)
That means in a rolling 7-day period ending yesterday, I did about 15 hours of training, give or take. I’ve logged 12 hours so far for this calendar week.
Here is Hilary’s Decathlon Circuit. It actually contains 11 exercises, done in any amount of reps at a time, in any order adding up to one of the three amounts specified. If that doesn’t make sense, think of it as a workout where you must do 160 pushups, 45 pull ups, and all the other exercises any way you can to complete the workout.
Here are some photos that I’ve neglected to post since last time.
July 28th, 2009
Patrick Stinson knows his stuff. If you read Ian Nesbitt and don’t read Patrick Stinson, you must be crazy. His latest article “Why I Sucked In College” is a boiled down version of an article on letsrun.com by the same name. It highlights xc and track running, but it really could pertain to any endurance sport’s training.
If you’ve got 20 minutes to spare, it would be in your best interest to read this: http://www.letsrun.com/2006/collegesuck.php. I just bookmarked it, so if I ever feel like I’m not performing to potential in skiing, I can look back at the article. This is the holy grail of training: knowing how ‘hard’ or ‘fast’ to go during training, and knowing to believe in yourself during competition.
No commentsJuly 26th, 2009
I was thrilled to be able to do three races in two weeks, two of which were triathlons. I have been spending some of my lunch breaks in the pool, which I was surprised actually paid off, because I was much more comfortable in the water and was able to turn former struggling into much more efficient forward motion. I did not do so well in the swim the first time, but I felt much better the second time after failing once. The tris went fairly well, and I don’t have quite the time to discuss them in detail, but they both were good experiences in racing, and I was satisfied and I had fun in both.
On Thursday I got recruited to be the cyclist in the Adams Pedal and Plod, which was held this morning. I was to be racing with Nick Fogel, former Williams runner (turned Williams IM Hockey player) and even though he is training for hockey, he is still quite fast on his feet. I wasn’t surprised when he was up in sixth after the tough 4 mile run. I started my race with an older guy from the Berkshire Cycling Association, and we proceeded to hit the first hill (route 116 in Adams, it climbs for almost 1.5 miles) really hard. We caught ironman Kent Lemme pretty early on, then he passed us and kept a 15 or so second lead on us (there was no drafting allowed) around the second half of the first lap. I took the bottom of the climb really hard to catch Kent, and then went really deep into the ‘pain locker’ to stay with him over the top of the climb. Coming down into Cheshire was unexpectedly painful too, and once we got onto route 8, it took me all I had to stay with them. It was kind of epic, the three of us three wide in the middle of Route 8 battling. As we went past Berkshire Outfitters and came over the bridge, the BCA rider attacked but died going over the top. Kent attacked on the last hill coming into Adams, and gained 5 meters on me in the last straightaway. Surprisingly my legs held up to put in one last huge effort, and I took a huge risk coming around the last corner really hard. It paid off when I straighened up and was right behind Kent. We started to sprint in that last 100m and unfortunately for him, his cleat came out of his pedal and he wasn’t able to finish. Nick and I took second in the team classification and Kent was first for ironmen. I think I had the 2nd fastest split time in the bike, but they didn’t do splits so I’m not sure.
I still love bike racing!
Here’s what the bike course looked like. Very hilly.
July 14th, 2009
Today was a difficult day for me emotionally. One of my high school teachers died last night of thymic carcinoma, a rare and aggressive cancer of the thymus gland. Sean Glew was an outstanding man: well spoken, friendly, smart, and understanding. He leaves behind his wife, Nicki and two children.
Its days like today, when you have something to work for, that often turn out the best workouts. Today I skied for Mr. Glew and his family, and it ended up as one of the most focused, productive workouts Ive ever had. It just shows how a strong mental attitude can change anything. Thank you, Mr. Glew, for your insight into Cold War History, cross country running philosophy, and life. You will be missed and always remembered.
My first workout happened at the pool today. I swam for 0:30+ minutes, focusing on efficiency and breathing. I swam ten lengths in a row which Im pretty sure Ive never done before despite a winter of swim lessons and numerous vacations to Marthas Vineyard and Block Island over the years.
Our group workout today (MotionBased maps coming soon) started out with a brief warmup from the Hancock school down past Ioka Farm and back. Then we did some Hancock-Police-Speed-Sign sprints (Patty, Topher, and I all hit todays high score of 18 but couldnt reach the 19-20 zone) and a little no-pole technique. Intervals started from the black tar line near the wooden posts on Whitman Rd. and took us all the way up to the second tier—there are two tiers of flat pavement, separated by fairly steep gradients. I tried to take the first one easy and I think I succeeded, although my heart rate monitor says my HR spiked up to 192bpm at one point…I dont know if thats true or not. What I do know is that I went farther on each successive interval with slightly more effort and higher heart rate, which is awesome and is exactly what I aim for every time I attempt any intervals. There were around 5-6 minutes rest separating each of the level 4s, which is more than usual, and may have contributed to my success. On every interval, I started out in the lead and Topher caught and passed me at the end of the first tier of flat. However during the last interval I found the strength and efficiency to, after getting dropped a little, fight back and pass him just before the second tier and have a few meters lead when the interval ended. Not always am I able to find the extra energy I had at the end, so I felt like todays workout was special. Thanks, Mr. Glew, for all youve done.
No commentsJuly 12th, 2009
That was it? It seems like my longest week in terms of training hours sort of breezed by. I specialized a little this week when I did ski-related workouts, with 30/30 classic intervals on Monday, specific explosive strength (not too painful when you’re doing it, but it sure hurts afterwards) on Wednesday and a distance skate ski on Thursday. What I tried to do on Thursday was improve my degrading skate technique, but that didn’t actually happen much because my rollerski poles are still too short.
Tuesday was interesting. I went out on what was supposed to be a 50 mile bikeride with a small but determined Tuesday night group, but what happened was we got to 40 miles and we got demolished by a thunderstorm. Hail, 25 mph sustained winds, blinding fog, a sudden 30 degree F decrease in temperature, frequent lightning and drenching rain stopped us, shivering, in the doorway of a roadside restaurant. We ended up riding for about two hours and calling Craig’s wife who, despite her apprehension about thunderstorms, came to pick us up. The four of us rode home with towels around our shoulders and the heat blasting at our hands.
Friday I took a trip to the pool to try to ready myself for the upcoming triathlon (thursday july 16). I learned a lot from the woman who coached me. I found out that I have to lengthen my glide and make the most out of each stroke just like skiing! The difference of course is breathing…I’m having the most trouble with that. Once I can figure out how to breathe I think I’ll be an okay swimmer! I’m heading to the pool at some point on Tuesday and possibly at lunch on Wednesday to ready myself once more. Seeing as I’m not allowed to graduate Williams College without knowing how to swim (just search that PDF for “swim test”) I figured I should start learning.
And finally yesterday I travelled up to Hanover to ride in the 28th annual Prouty century bike ride benefitting the Norris Cotton Cancer Center and Dartmouth Medical. I rode with the “Holderness Bull Riders” but saw a lot of other people I knew, including SMS and my understanding is that there was a larger contingent from Williams also riding, but we didn’t encounter them.
All in all this week I trained 12 hours with workouts every day. I still feel really good. I do feel guilty because cheated and carried some of the hours from yesterday’s Prouty over to today, though. Hope no one minds.
No commentsJuly 2nd, 2009
Today we had a sweet OD ski into New York. They have some awesome roads down there. 25mi, 2:30 in total. Incredible scenery and a great day overall.
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/invitation/dashboard.mb?episodePk.pkValue=8564277
June 26th, 2009
Here’s a break from traditional posting:
I love photography, especially lightning shots. But lightning photos are so hard to do right. Getting a flash in a frame is not the hard part, the hardest part for me is focusing your lens the right distance. In this case I think I had it right but I must have touched the focus ring sometime before the second photo. Both are actually kind of cool as photos go, but they could have been better.
This was the first one: not spectacular, but how often do you see a glowing cloud? Notice that the focus is decent in the first photo.
the second one had potential, but was fouled up by human error…
As for training: maybe a power skate workout tomorrow with Topher and Pat?
No commentsJune 25th, 2009
The training group ran part of the Taconic Crest trail today. Unfortunately I forgot my GPS so I don’t have a cool map but I did get a few good photos from the ridge above route 2. (+1 from my 2.5 hour bike on tuesday.)
I really struggled today probably because I didn’t eat enough. I ate a bar beforehand and then was starving by the end of the run. I have weird metabolism lately though–I can be completely full at the end of a meal, but be searching for food two hours later. This is especially troubling at work, where there is not always healthy food around every two hours. (by the way, designing this website is what’s been keeping me busy. It’s also going to pay for new skis)
Love Justin Freeman’s new post…hilarious. No comments
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