My October o' running was overall on the C+ to B- side. I had two unplanned low mileage weeks (one where I started to get the flu and another where I actually got it), a decent race, and a hip problem that I was almost sure was not going to end well.
So here it goes:
Week ending Oct 2: 61 miles, 413 minutes
Week ending Oct 9: 35 miles, 239 minutes
Week ending Oct 16: 32 miles, 223 minutes
Week ending Oct 23: 51 miles, 358 minutes
This week:
Sun: Mayor's Cup 8k - ran 26:50.
Felt pretty god awful from the start of it but I picked it up a lot the last minute, which means I should have been picking it up from about 3 miles in. I'd like another crack at my 8k PR from college (26:38 @ VCP) so I might find a 5 miler somewhere around Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving.
about 10.75 miles on the day
Mon: DNR
Tue: Insanely warm.
AM: 7 miles with one Mr. Crabtree at Cold Spring.
PM: 6.5 miles up and down Comm Ave.
13.5 total
Wed: Grotesquely long intervals, ones that would offend the very heart of a decent man.
4 x 7 minutes on, 3 minutes off - sucked it up in the back with Mr. Alliette.
about 12.25 miles total.
Thu: Woke up and it felt like someone took a hammer to my hip joint. DNR. It kind of came un-stuck eventually during the day but I was leery of running on it.
Fri: 10 miles down to Cleveland Res, 2 loops, and back.
Sat: Woke up with my hip frozen in place again, but it came together enough by the time I'd finished warming up to run the workout.
The workout was 6 x 4 minutes on, 1 minute off - other guys did 8 but I kept it on the lower side and the slower side because of the hip problem. Total 8.75 - cut the cool down shorter to stretch.
Week: 55 miles.
The hip thing is aggravating but at least I woke up today without it going nuts. I may have just pulled something in a minor way during some run this week (probably the workout on Wednesday if anything). My hip flexor has been bothering me for a long time (since...February?) but that's not quite the same thing as what happened this week.
Pretending both problems don't (didnt?) exist probably won't help, though - I asked Archard / Ballard for a good masseuse-y-chiro-thera-wonderworker and I'll see if I can't set that up soon.
Launch Control
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
I got a chance to actually drive my car a week ago. I promptly received the flu, forestalling me writing about it or doing much of anything else. I've wanted to take Apollo out where I can drive with a bit of wild abandon without endangering myself or another, and autocross is a pretty easy way to start out without the risk of damaging my car or forestalling my burgeoning & profitable professional track career.
In an autocross race you navigate a course of traffic cones (somewhere around 40-75 seconds in length, depending on how fast you're traveling and the course design) for time, with cars going through the course staggered so that cones can be replaced if they're knocked over. Two seconds get added to your time if you knock a cone out of the 'box' or tip it over, so you can't just barrel through the course. I gotta wonder what hurdling would be like if it worked this way rather than on the 'good faith' principle...David Oliver would have a rough time of it.
It sounds pretty simple, I guess. I have to admit that I'm a person of habit and doing something new is not necessarily easy for me, even something I've wanted to do for as long as this. Plus, while it doesn't look particularly that fast, MAN. It is a whole different world inside the car. I get decently nervous before track races, and while this is a different sort of track - same rules applied. I was shaking before and after the first two or three runs...(though some of that could have been the cold).
In case you've never heard of or been to an autocross, here's two videos that will, combined, explain it a bit better:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BzqQ8mE77U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF6ZRA6oFys
One for each part of what it feels like to drive a car really fast: on one hand, it is fucking scary. On the other hand, it is fucking awesome.
One of the guys at the event posted a huge crapton of pictures over on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nowin/sets/72157625145359178/ Good thing! There were a lot of really awesome and not-too-often seen cars at the meet. Can you call an autocross a meet? I don't know, but I'm doing it. We'll see how the authorities respond in kind.
Somewhere in all those pictures is a Lotus Europa, two Elises, a heap of Corvettes, a Triumph Spitfire, a small army of Miatas, and some very scary homebrewed non-street-legal cars. There was also a Volvo C30 that I'm fairly certain wasn't driven by Kevin, as it did have an orange front bumper and racing stripes. But whoever the owner was proceeded to beat me soundly, as one might do with a hefty rod of salami to an interloper in their domicile.
In other news, I have had a cover of James Taylor's "New Hymn" stuck in my head for the past twenty four hours and it made a somewhat maddening companion to today's workout. The cover I speak of is none other than one by the Whiffenpoofs, that most hallowed a capella group with the silliest of names. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWPBM3Lx20c
The fellow doing the solo on the version of the song I possess (not the one above) is a friend of Sarah's and has an insane voice.
I wish I could suss out exactly what James Taylor is talking about here, but I still like what he's saying - so I'll leave it for wiser head's consideration:
Even our own feeble hands
Ache to seize the crown you wear
And work our private havoc through
The known and unknown lands of space
Absolute in flame beyond us
Seed and source of Dark and Day
Maker whom we beg to be
Our mother father comrade mate
In an autocross race you navigate a course of traffic cones (somewhere around 40-75 seconds in length, depending on how fast you're traveling and the course design) for time, with cars going through the course staggered so that cones can be replaced if they're knocked over. Two seconds get added to your time if you knock a cone out of the 'box' or tip it over, so you can't just barrel through the course. I gotta wonder what hurdling would be like if it worked this way rather than on the 'good faith' principle...David Oliver would have a rough time of it.
It sounds pretty simple, I guess. I have to admit that I'm a person of habit and doing something new is not necessarily easy for me, even something I've wanted to do for as long as this. Plus, while it doesn't look particularly that fast, MAN. It is a whole different world inside the car. I get decently nervous before track races, and while this is a different sort of track - same rules applied. I was shaking before and after the first two or three runs...(though some of that could have been the cold).
In case you've never heard of or been to an autocross, here's two videos that will, combined, explain it a bit better:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BzqQ8mE77U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF6ZRA6oFys
One for each part of what it feels like to drive a car really fast: on one hand, it is fucking scary. On the other hand, it is fucking awesome.
One of the guys at the event posted a huge crapton of pictures over on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nowin/sets/72157625145359178/ Good thing! There were a lot of really awesome and not-too-often seen cars at the meet. Can you call an autocross a meet? I don't know, but I'm doing it. We'll see how the authorities respond in kind.
Somewhere in all those pictures is a Lotus Europa, two Elises, a heap of Corvettes, a Triumph Spitfire, a small army of Miatas, and some very scary homebrewed non-street-legal cars. There was also a Volvo C30 that I'm fairly certain wasn't driven by Kevin, as it did have an orange front bumper and racing stripes. But whoever the owner was proceeded to beat me soundly, as one might do with a hefty rod of salami to an interloper in their domicile.
In other news, I have had a cover of James Taylor's "New Hymn" stuck in my head for the past twenty four hours and it made a somewhat maddening companion to today's workout. The cover I speak of is none other than one by the Whiffenpoofs, that most hallowed a capella group with the silliest of names. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWPBM3Lx20c
The fellow doing the solo on the version of the song I possess (not the one above) is a friend of Sarah's and has an insane voice.
I wish I could suss out exactly what James Taylor is talking about here, but I still like what he's saying - so I'll leave it for wiser head's consideration:
Even our own feeble hands
Ache to seize the crown you wear
And work our private havoc through
The known and unknown lands of space
Absolute in flame beyond us
Seed and source of Dark and Day
Maker whom we beg to be
Our mother father comrade mate
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