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.

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?

As promised.

I find it sad (and I think you will too) that it’s the summer after my senior year in high school and I can’t find time to sit down and write (or post pictures.) So I’ll start with some pics. On June 13 during reunion weekend I had been working for about two weeks at the college preparing for reunion, but I hadn’t seen any of what was actually going on. So I took a run around Williamstown to check out the festivities. I got some cool pictures of the area at dusk. The last three pictures happened on the way back from a run/rollerski in the rain, when we saw a gigantic rainbow right above us on the road.

Pretty cool. The other thing that kept me busy was taking pictures of fireworks and sparklers which are pretty sweet too.

Hopefully now that I’m past Reunion I can work on my real jobs: doing some web work for williams, listening to chill summer music, skiing, and taking sweet pics.

Went rollerskiing yesterday for the first time. Did 28 double pole 30-30 intervals up Petersburg pass. Felt good but heart rate was low. (Yeah its not MotionBased anymore…it’s Garmin Connect) Maybe it’s because of the fast skis. I need to drag those things through dirt for a couple of hours… just kidding.

But seriously I need slower ones. I’m waiting for all the rollerski reviews to come out on Fasterskier.com then possibly selling mine to a deserving junior skier and getting nice new ones for the first time ever. Stay tuned.

I wasn’t planning on it, but after running easy for about half an hour on the track yesterday at Weston Field I decided to get the 3000m test over with. While it disappointed me that my time was 11:45, I reminded myself that I am not, nor will I ever be, a runner and moved on.

Today I think I’ll take a long bike ride and move on from yesterday’s pain. I heard a rumor the other day that Mt. Greylock was open again so yesterday I took a trip a short ways up Notch Rd. and discovered that the rumor was true! After 3+ years of construction here is the final result:

A random thought: during bike season someone pointed out how they thought my calves were enormous and I had a sudden epiphany that I’m a perfect victim for compartment syndrome: a nordic skier with big calves and bad foot circulation. Lets hope that I am wrong.

Another cool photo: http://nezzysblogski.blogspot.com/2009/05/supertour-sprint-finals.html

later guys
Ian

This will be a short one. I recently got a Twitter account, and I am fascinated with it. I find it such a cool idea that you can follow your friends and celebrities all in one place.

If you want to follow me, I’m at http://www.twitter.com/iannesbitt. I’m thinking of posting more workout-oriented stuff there.

Yesterday was unbearably windy, so when we decided to go west to Rumney, we were basically blown backwards. We weren’t able to go up Hall’s Brook because it took so long to go west. On the other hand when we came back on Rt. 25, I was able to cruise at about 37 at some parts. Today we’re doing intervals and I’ll be lifting tomorrow.

I can’t believe it’s that time of year again. It seems just yesterday that I started running season! When I realized that last week was the last week of classes before thanksgiving break, I was ecstatic. I badly needed a break from schoolwork. Thanksgiving camp was what I needed to get back on track. Having snow was an added bonus.

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