Week Recap

Well, it looks as if I may be running in a couple of weeks. My foot has been healing rather quickly and I suspect that my podiatrist will give me the go ahead at my next appointment. Slow and steady wins the race this time around. Just in time, this healing, as I am beginning to get the itch to run again.

Last week I achieved my weekly fitness goal of stationary cycling 200+ miles. 203 miles in 7 rides. I put in a hard 35 miler on Friday to meet, and then surpass, the benchmark. Every one of those miles was with a good effort. Though 200+/week is no thing for cyclists, it proved almost difficult, in turns of time. The miles fly by on the cycle, of course, when compared with running. The thing that I still can't get my mind around is the fact that 203 miles isn't even my furthest distance travelled in a week via self-propulsion. I had a 204 mile running week last September. Thought of that sort of running mileage currently makes my knees quake. Anyways, it was a great week of cycling. My fitness is good. My heart is strong.

Lord of the Rings

Frodo, Bilbo, Gandalf, Gloin, Lagelas, Elrond, Strider, Sam and Tom are my favorite characters of Middle Earth. Gandalf is likely the most venerable. Tom is rather likable as well. Frodo and Bilbo, of course, are the carriers of The Ring and, consequently, rise as inextricable, lovable Hobbit-folk. Great characters. Gloin is fairly hard-edged dwarf. Strider is an incredible ranger. Elrond is godlike. Lagelas an excellent archer and Sam is, well, Sam is loyal and astute.


So far this week in stationary biking (in miles):

SA: 28 (tempo)
SU: 32
M: 26
TU: 27 (high, steady heart-rate)
W: 28 (high RPM)

This may end up being a 200+ mile stationary bike week, it may not. We will see.

Bilbo Baggins, stationary century, etc.

I just finished my first go around with "The Hobbit". A delicious read. And I mean delicious in the truest sense of the word. It was tasty. Sometimes we eat - now I am talking about food - for nourishment, sometimes for health, often for both. Sometimes we eat food simply because it is delicious - it tastes a little like heaven though it may give us a little hell. "The Hobbit" is delicious. It is a tasty adventure tracking the journey of Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf and the dwarves as they battle goblins, elves, Smaug and wargs en route to reclaiming a treasure that rightfully belongs to the small, bearded-folk. Bilbo is the champion of the ring and the champion of stepping out of a homely comfort zone. Through Bilbo we learn that when adventure knocks at our door, challenging our beliefs and assumptions of the world - oh dreadful risk! - we are foolish to pass, lest we die standing up. Thank you Tolkien.

I just completed another stationary bike intensive week. Here it is:

SA: 26 miles

SU: 24 miles

M: core work out

TU: 14 miles

W: 28 miles (intervals)/core

TH: 26 miles

F: 27 miles (intervals)/core

145 miles total

I have decided to have a go at a stationary century ride. My goal is to put in the 100 miles in less than 4.5 hours. I don't think that this will be a problem - it won't be easy, but it will be a nice challenge. I will probably go for it next weekend. Game on.

Etc. - I have begun the transition back to shoes. My left foot is healing quickly. I have been wearing stiff-soled, hiking books every other day, in lieu of the left boot. Feels great to walk with some semblance of normalcy. A couple more weeks and I should be able to start jogging again. Yeehaw. But all in good time. If it takes longer, fine. I am fine with that. The point is to heal fully. That is what I am aim to do.

This week in training

Whelp, I did a lot of stationary cycling this week. Quite honestly, that is all I can do for my heart presently. Swimming is out of the question. I am a horrible swimmer. Now, let me be clear, I can swim and for quite awhile, but I am in no way an efficient or graceful swimmer. I am a thrasher, to be sure. I admit this could all be changed if I buckled down and focused on becoming a good swimmer. Without question, such a move would be a boon to my training - both broken foot and in full health -, but presently, I have absolutely no desire (in fact, my stomach churns at the very idea - the antipathy of desire, the abhorrence of my day) to fight the precocious throngs of fish at the university pool. The very thought of the time - the total percentage of my day dedicated to that which I am not keen on - required to change, swim, shower and change again is, well, insurmountable at this juncture in my training life.

In short, I don't own goggles.

This week in training (stationary biking miles):

SA: 14 miles, weight lifting/core

SU: 25 miles

M: 20 miles

TU: 22 miles, core

W: Off

TH: 27 miles (intervals), core

F: 19 miles

Total: 127 miles

Lying by omission

Yesterday I had an appointment with a podiatrist to do sort of a 3 week checkup on my foot - x-rays, pushing here or there to incite pain, waiting in a series of subsequently smaller rooms, etc. The doctor was baffled by my fracture. How did it happen? I didn't know. Any changes in your footwear just prior to the incident? Not that I could think of. Hmmm. A mystery. No, not quite doc, I thought, knowing full well that my own foolish, unbridled tenacity for all things extreme - in this case excessive barefoot running - was the culprit. I was too embarrassed to admit it. Anyways, the outlook he gave me was good; over the next three weeks I can begin transitioning to shoes, the fracture is healing quite well. I plan to apologize for withholding damning evidence and tell all! to the doctor at our next visit in three weeks.

Yesterday afternoon, I threw down (and nearly threw up) on the bike. I cranked out a little over 27 miles in 1:05 at the upper levels of the exercise bikes limits (and mine). It was great. Sweated profusely, burned the caloric equivalent of a double whopper w/cheese and had fun. I did feel quite nauseous toward the end of the ride, but held it in, fought it off and succeeced in completing the ride, sans projectile expulsion. Yeehaw. Doubtless, I miss running, but these exercise bike rides have been enjoyable and provided great mind, body and soul work outs. What more can one ask for? It is time for work. Peace.

Running for good: Bryce Gaudian

Bryce Gaudian, age 51, resides on a 42-acre farm in south-central Minnesota (Hayward) with his wife, Cindy; they have four children. Raising organic beef and vegetables provides sustenance for short and long runs near the Iowa border through beautiful countryside. Bryce is a business-development manager at Agilis Company, which provides donation-processing services for nonprofit organizations. Bryce has been a running enthusiast for 35-plus years and has completed 10 marathons, with a personal best of 3:22:08. He has also run close to 50 other races, from 5K to half-marathons. He will be a member of the Twisted Blister team at the 2009 Hood-to-Coast Relay in Oregon in August (bio from Marathon and Beyond Magazine).

Bryce is an outstanding running and, most importantly, an incredible man. A part of nearly all of his running accolades is the idea of running for good. Bryce is an elite fundraiser for Operation Smile and a host of other great causes. Bryce brings meaning to his endurance endeavors through service to his fellow man. Running for good.

Guns don't kill people

Barefoot running doesn't cause injury; indiscriminate dispensation of time-tested, sage advice concerning mileage build-up causes injury.

Broken foot...was my 70 mile barefoot week the culprit? Of course. Does this incident debunk the barefoot running myth - the one that claims barefoot running is easier on your body? Nope. Not a chance. Just as guns don't kill people, barefoot running doesn't break feet. Hapless mileage build-up breaks feet. I went from zero barefoot miles a week to 70 in less than 4 weeks. Bad idea. I refuse to approach life cautiously - this gets me into trouble less often than you would think. More than that, I was so enjoying barefooting that I took every chance I had to get out and tear it up.

Now, I sit, in reality, in the reality of the consequences of fearlessness; of the indestructible complex. Limits, yeah, turns out that, in reality, we are all subject to a set of rules that govern how far we can go. Dispensing with conventional running wisdom from the outset, I have been creating my own terms of the game, erstwhile discovering, the hard way, my personal limits. My body is capable of running 204 miles a week - this I discovered last year. I am capable of maintaining 100+ mile weeks without a day off for over a year. I am capable of running a 6:22 50 miler. It is possible to run a half-marathon in the morning and a 50k in the afternoon - with a full day of work sandwiched in between. The point is, I was able to do those things, and we are all capable of much more than we know, but we cannot know our limits until we have crossed that threshold and suffered the consequences of going too far. Only in hindsight can we see where the edge of the realm of possibility lies - and by then, it is too late, the damage done.

I found my limit with barefooting; at least as far as haphazard mileage build-up goes. Now, I sit, defined by the reality of a fractured foot for the next several months. Rue the run? Nah. No regrets. I am not completely wreckless. We learn from our mistakes. Doubtless, my next training regime, upon full recovery, will be significantly more structured. Ah, the evolution of the runner. We are always learning and evolving based on those limits that we either seek to define or choose to destroy. For now, I take the conservative route. Rest, recovery and a careful build-up to next spring. Game on.