Time is a weird concept.
The sun rises, the sun sets. We wake up, we go to sleep. Time keeps on ticking, ticking, ticking. Into the future. I think I tend to notice time more following a bigger race. For instance, 10 days ago I ran a marathon. It feels like a lifetime has passed since then. In the days following the marathon, I didn't run, I didn't ride my bike. I took Sunday and Monday completely off, and then tried to get in the pool on Tuesday. I felt terrible. I actually got out of the pool after getting through just 1000m, something I hadn't done in a long time. Wednesday I was able to swim a little more, 3000m. I finally ran again on Thursday, an easy 6 miles with Kris. It did not feel good. Mostly it was just muscle soreness and tight hamstring/piriformis, but I was surprised at how beat up I was.
The weekend weather forecast looked less-than-stellar, which was good, because I committed to spending an inordinate amount of time in the pool. Alyssa had 4 swims scheduled between Friday and Sunday, and, due to a tired Thursday morning, Coach Hill said "just do Thursday's workout on Saturday morning, and Saturday's workout in the afternoon." The swims looked like this:
Fri: 3000m/2500m
Sat: 3100m/4700m
Sun: 3700m
17,000 meters in three days across five swims. I swam 15,000 meters ALL of last January. Alyssa's workouts are very specific, while for me, as long as I'm in the pool, physically touching the water, I think that's good enough. She tends to have a lot of pulling, and a lot of work with the band. I don't like to do either of these things. Actually, I will rephrase. I like pulling, but I've always been of the "keep it to less than a third of your total swim volume." The Saturday afternoon swim called for 500-1000-1500 main set with paddles, pull buoy, band (PBB). I PBB'd the 500 and 1500, but just swam the 1000.
Perhaps most notable was how I felt better on Friday and Saturday afternoon than their respective morning counterpart. And, even more surprising, was how awesome I felt on Sunday. To quote Drake, I was "on one." Too bad that many, many hundreds of meters were with the dreaded Band. In fairness, it was a lot easier since I didn't do anything other than swim all weekend, but still, it was a lot for me.
Needless to say, my body was pretty displeased with me on Monday. I convinced myself to run again, and ended up muddling through 70 minutes just barely under 7:30 pace. I kept thinking, "you better check yourself, before you wreck yourself." And, when this morning's 6am swim came 'round, it was another exercise in futility. Not only did I get smoked by Alyssa, I barely made our pretty generous time interval on our 10x200 main set. I then decided to lift and stretch a bit. I now have a new 2012 goal:
BE ABLE TO TOUCH MY TOES
Seriously, when did I become this inflexible? Once upon a time I did actually go to yoga class on Wednesdays at the gym, and wasn't this bad. After the meager lift/stretch session, I was feeling plucky and thought man, I should ball. You know, pick up the rock and hoop it up. 15 shots and one made basket later, I was walking back into the locker room after jamming my thumb hard enough to make it bleed. Playing basketball. By myself.
With a light workout load over the weekend, I took the opportunity to engage in some fun activities:
1. Went to the Baltimore Comedy Factory (www.baltimorecomedy.com) to see one of my favorite comics, Iliza Schlesinger. She won the last Last Comic Standing season, and until now had never had the opportunity to see her live. It was hilarious, and a great start to the weekend.
2. Went to the University of Maryland Indoor Invite on Saturday to watch some of my TWSS teammates run, and ran into some familiar faces along the way. The "Save UMD XC and Track" campaign is still alive, but with $4.2 million to raise by July 1, it's still a big task.
3. Went to see The Artist with Alyssa on Saturday night. When I heard about this black and white, silent film a few months ago, I was really excited. This 90 minute journey back to a better time of film making was well worth the trip to Arundel Mills on a Saturday night (I hate going there). Jean Dujardin was incredible, and was nominated this morning for Best Actor, and Berenice Bejo was an absolute star (she's nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role). The film is up for Best Picture, and the screenplay got a nod for Best Original Screenplay. If you have the opportunity to see this, do it!
This week it's all about college hoops, as I am going to the Maryland vs Duke game on Wednesday (thanks to Larry!) and then Seton Hall vs Pitt on Saturday in NJ with my dad. Remember to keep the balance!
Showing posts with label Terps. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Terps. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Save Maryland Athletics!
I had something else in mind for today's post, but since this news popped up today, it's really been all I've been able to focus on. Yesterday the announcement was made that 8 sports teams were expected to be cut from Maryland's athletic department, including men's cross country, and men's track and field (indoor/outdoor). Being an alum of the program, it's beyond sad for me to see this happen. Here's the Reader's Digest version of the story:
1. Maryland's athletic department is required to be self-sustaining, meaning that, unlike many other schools, the only money it has to operate with must be generated by itself.
2. Due to poor budgeting, and some poor financial moves, the athletic department currently faces a $57 million deficit, and expects it to grow significantly unless drastic measures are taken.
3. Maryland currently has 27 sports teams. Football and basketball, like at any school, are generally expected to be the bread-winners, and also generally support the other teams. However, football also loses money on an annual basis, and women's basketball bleeds it.
4. Over the past decade, Maryland has won National Championships in men's basketball, women's basketball, women's lacrosse (many times), women's field hockey (a couple of times), men's soccer (a couple of times), and has sent numerous individuals to national championships.
5. A board was commissioned with the task of making recommendations on how to stop the bleeding, so to speak. They came up with their decision, which was primarily focused at first on cutting some teams. The 8 teams they have recommended cutting are of course men's xc, men's track and field, men's tennis, men's swimming and diving, women's swimming and diving, women's water polo, and women's acrobatics and tumbling (had never heard of that one).
So basically, 160 or so athletes are impacted by this decision, which, although it's not final (yet), it looks like it's a done deal. These teams would be eliminated as of July 2012. At least, for any of those teams that happen to give scholarships, the school will honor those through graduation, and will honor the coaching staff's contracts through their terms.
I can't say it's a surprise, I always figured Title IX would get the track team at some point, but to go down like this is terrible. A lot of the blame can be placed on an administration who is no longer there: an athletic director from the era of overspending who thought that building suites and adding seats to a football stadium that already struggled to sell out was a good idea. Who then thought it would be a good idea to hire a football coach for a lot of money, who produced great results at first but then fizzled out. And then, after that AD rolled out for a "better" position, the new administration decided they were not satisfied with said football coach, and decided it was easier to buy his contract out and hire a new coach. So currently, Maryland pays two coaches, only one of whom actually coaches (if you can even call it that, I'm pretty sure I could instruct players on how to lose 8 or 9 games a season).
For now, it's not about which sport deserves to stay over another, or who is to blame, but rather about how a school needs to fix itself before it doesn't carry enough teams to be considered a Division I program. The ones who are losing here are each one of the athletes, most of whom are not on scholarship, and are just out there because they have a desire to compete and represent their school. It's a matter of pride. Your first ACC Championship event is just something special, even if you finish 2nd to last in the race and your team is DFL (me, XC 1999).
The stark reality is that a school which has the ACC record for most championship titles in track and field, both indoor and outdoor, is about to disappear. A school with a storied tradition of great athletes, fading into obscurity. Olympians, World Record holders, heck, even the 2012 US Olympic team head coach (current MD track coach, Andrew Valmon) have passed through College Park. And it's all about to go away.
And yes, I realize that this is not a new situation, and that Maryland is not the first who has had to make some cuts. Delaware, Towson, James Madison, to name a few, have all had their track teams stripped in recent years amid public outcries. But with due respect to each of these schools, Maryland is a school in the ACC - a BCS school and full eligible member of Division I sports.
In the years since I've been involved with Maryland Athletics, it's not often that we've fielded truly competitive teams. Every so often someone will make it to NCAAs in cross country or track and field, but for the most part, we're all "going professional in something else." For me, I knew my capabilities were never going to put me at the top of the conference, or even at the top of the team. I was just proud to be able to have that chance to compete. Had the team been any more competitive, I probably wouldn't have been able to run. As it was, I ran for two years and then went off to become a triathlete, a weird sport at the time for a college kid to get into. But not once have I forgotten my time on the team. My days there provided me with some of my fondest college memories, and some of my best friends. As I approach ten years since I graduated (well, it's still a little ways off, 2013), I still have "Go Terps!" in my email autosignature, and have to explain it at least once a month.
Maryland Cross Country and Track and Field provided me the platform to reach for higher goals. I still compete, and at a high level. It's in my blood now. When you're around winners, whether they were on soccer, basketball, lacrosse, whatever, it's contagious. You want to be a part of it. If you were an athlete at Maryland in the early part of the decade, it was a feeling that is hard to describe in words.
It also comes as no surprise that student-athletes are also among the highest academic achievers, track and cross country in particular. Every year they are in contention for, and often do, record the highest average GPA as a team. Strive for excellence, every day, in all things, right? I, for one, earned All-ACC Academic honors my freshman year. And while classes were definitely not that hard that year, I would wager some of that had to do with our required study hours each week. They provide you the tools to be successful, that's for sure. I know that swimming and diving, and I would also have to wager that tennis, also produce high GPA averages. With a basketball graduation rate at 0% (yes, 0%), how are you going to tell the students keeping the legitimacy in the "student"-athlete to take a hike? If I were in charge, I would want those kids around.
I know that words are only words, and that, in this case, what the athletics department needs is money. Unfortunately, I'm not going to make an impact there. From what I understand, men's track/xc needs about $200,000 to operate annually. What is it going to cost to allow these kids to still compete, at the minimum? All they need are some uniforms and entry fees to events. I hope whatever happens to these teams, they all still keep training and competing, because it's a part of who they are. I'd even volunteer to help organize them into a cohesive club if they needed it. Go out and be the baddest club around.
But, all we can do is keep spreading the word, and hope that someone out there is listening. Taking these teams away hurts the kids, hurts the coaches, and hurts the school. It alienates them from feeling like valued members of the alumni community. It discourages them from striving to be their best. It tells them that we are doomed, that everything we hear about the economy, and big business, is true. More than anything, it leaves us all feeling not as proud to be a Terp.
Good luck, Maryland Athletics, I hope to see you on the other side.
#saveumdxcandtrack
1. Maryland's athletic department is required to be self-sustaining, meaning that, unlike many other schools, the only money it has to operate with must be generated by itself.
2. Due to poor budgeting, and some poor financial moves, the athletic department currently faces a $57 million deficit, and expects it to grow significantly unless drastic measures are taken.
3. Maryland currently has 27 sports teams. Football and basketball, like at any school, are generally expected to be the bread-winners, and also generally support the other teams. However, football also loses money on an annual basis, and women's basketball bleeds it.
4. Over the past decade, Maryland has won National Championships in men's basketball, women's basketball, women's lacrosse (many times), women's field hockey (a couple of times), men's soccer (a couple of times), and has sent numerous individuals to national championships.
5. A board was commissioned with the task of making recommendations on how to stop the bleeding, so to speak. They came up with their decision, which was primarily focused at first on cutting some teams. The 8 teams they have recommended cutting are of course men's xc, men's track and field, men's tennis, men's swimming and diving, women's swimming and diving, women's water polo, and women's acrobatics and tumbling (had never heard of that one).
So basically, 160 or so athletes are impacted by this decision, which, although it's not final (yet), it looks like it's a done deal. These teams would be eliminated as of July 2012. At least, for any of those teams that happen to give scholarships, the school will honor those through graduation, and will honor the coaching staff's contracts through their terms.
I can't say it's a surprise, I always figured Title IX would get the track team at some point, but to go down like this is terrible. A lot of the blame can be placed on an administration who is no longer there: an athletic director from the era of overspending who thought that building suites and adding seats to a football stadium that already struggled to sell out was a good idea. Who then thought it would be a good idea to hire a football coach for a lot of money, who produced great results at first but then fizzled out. And then, after that AD rolled out for a "better" position, the new administration decided they were not satisfied with said football coach, and decided it was easier to buy his contract out and hire a new coach. So currently, Maryland pays two coaches, only one of whom actually coaches (if you can even call it that, I'm pretty sure I could instruct players on how to lose 8 or 9 games a season).
For now, it's not about which sport deserves to stay over another, or who is to blame, but rather about how a school needs to fix itself before it doesn't carry enough teams to be considered a Division I program. The ones who are losing here are each one of the athletes, most of whom are not on scholarship, and are just out there because they have a desire to compete and represent their school. It's a matter of pride. Your first ACC Championship event is just something special, even if you finish 2nd to last in the race and your team is DFL (me, XC 1999).
The stark reality is that a school which has the ACC record for most championship titles in track and field, both indoor and outdoor, is about to disappear. A school with a storied tradition of great athletes, fading into obscurity. Olympians, World Record holders, heck, even the 2012 US Olympic team head coach (current MD track coach, Andrew Valmon) have passed through College Park. And it's all about to go away.
And yes, I realize that this is not a new situation, and that Maryland is not the first who has had to make some cuts. Delaware, Towson, James Madison, to name a few, have all had their track teams stripped in recent years amid public outcries. But with due respect to each of these schools, Maryland is a school in the ACC - a BCS school and full eligible member of Division I sports.
In the years since I've been involved with Maryland Athletics, it's not often that we've fielded truly competitive teams. Every so often someone will make it to NCAAs in cross country or track and field, but for the most part, we're all "going professional in something else." For me, I knew my capabilities were never going to put me at the top of the conference, or even at the top of the team. I was just proud to be able to have that chance to compete. Had the team been any more competitive, I probably wouldn't have been able to run. As it was, I ran for two years and then went off to become a triathlete, a weird sport at the time for a college kid to get into. But not once have I forgotten my time on the team. My days there provided me with some of my fondest college memories, and some of my best friends. As I approach ten years since I graduated (well, it's still a little ways off, 2013), I still have "Go Terps!" in my email autosignature, and have to explain it at least once a month.
Maryland Cross Country and Track and Field provided me the platform to reach for higher goals. I still compete, and at a high level. It's in my blood now. When you're around winners, whether they were on soccer, basketball, lacrosse, whatever, it's contagious. You want to be a part of it. If you were an athlete at Maryland in the early part of the decade, it was a feeling that is hard to describe in words.
It also comes as no surprise that student-athletes are also among the highest academic achievers, track and cross country in particular. Every year they are in contention for, and often do, record the highest average GPA as a team. Strive for excellence, every day, in all things, right? I, for one, earned All-ACC Academic honors my freshman year. And while classes were definitely not that hard that year, I would wager some of that had to do with our required study hours each week. They provide you the tools to be successful, that's for sure. I know that swimming and diving, and I would also have to wager that tennis, also produce high GPA averages. With a basketball graduation rate at 0% (yes, 0%), how are you going to tell the students keeping the legitimacy in the "student"-athlete to take a hike? If I were in charge, I would want those kids around.
I know that words are only words, and that, in this case, what the athletics department needs is money. Unfortunately, I'm not going to make an impact there. From what I understand, men's track/xc needs about $200,000 to operate annually. What is it going to cost to allow these kids to still compete, at the minimum? All they need are some uniforms and entry fees to events. I hope whatever happens to these teams, they all still keep training and competing, because it's a part of who they are. I'd even volunteer to help organize them into a cohesive club if they needed it. Go out and be the baddest club around.
But, all we can do is keep spreading the word, and hope that someone out there is listening. Taking these teams away hurts the kids, hurts the coaches, and hurts the school. It alienates them from feeling like valued members of the alumni community. It discourages them from striving to be their best. It tells them that we are doomed, that everything we hear about the economy, and big business, is true. More than anything, it leaves us all feeling not as proud to be a Terp.
Good luck, Maryland Athletics, I hope to see you on the other side.
#saveumdxcandtrack
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
A Whisper of Love, A Whisper of Hate
I have put it off for way too long, so this will be my race report for Columbia, as well as the week since the race.
Columbia
In the 10 years I've been around for this race, I can only remember two times it being even remotely nice. 2001 wasn't bad, and 2008 was nice. Every other year has been cold, rainy, or cold and rainy. When the weather prognosticators indicated that this year the conditions were going to be better than perfect, I couldn't even believe it. I didn't want to say anything that would jinx it, because I've seen it be nice the day before the race, only to dilapidate on Sunday morning. Saturday I headed down to Columbia and did all the pre-race mumbo jumbo that has become second nature for the event, and ran a quick lake loop with Ben and Prada. Our first mile was just under 8 minutes and I thought man, I better run faster than that tomorrow. While most of Baltimore partied for Preakness, I settled into bed just before 11pm, with a 4am wakeup call for Sunday morning.
I awoke to the most ideal conditions of all time. The air was warm, comfortable enough to go to the race in just a t-shirt and shorts, and there was no wind. I mean none. While waiting in the line to get into the park, all the trees and bushes were still. It was almost too perfect. I got my stuff settled and it's always a fun morning in the Open Wave because it's all the dudes I train with and see on a pretty regular basis, mixed in with some guys I only see at races. Like a May reunion of pretty great athletes.
I went for my warmup and was thoroughly warmed up within seconds, as I came back dripping. I got into my wetsuit, opting for the Orca 3.8 that I had just picked up the week prior. I was hesitant at first, because I didn't like the way it felt, but it didn't seem to be a problem for me on Sunday. Just my swimming was. The water was warm, and particularly warm within the confines of the suit. The gun sounded and off in a flash went all the sharks. I may have been one of the last off the line. My goggles were allowing in a little too much water and I started freaking out about getting pink eye, so I stopped briefly on two occasions to adjust them. I thought I was swimming good lines, but I knew I was way in the back. I was really disappointed to see 22:57 on the clock when I got out of the water. This was at least a minute slower than I was really looking to swim, and put me in a severe disadvantage heading onto the bike.
I got on the bike and immediately started picking up a bunch of chicks who outswam me. I then passed a few guys, and time was going by pretty quickly. I didn't feel great climbing, but I didn't feel tired. I picked up Pat as we made our way back home from the big traffic circle and then it was a few miles of just myself before I saw another athlete up ahead. I caught up to him on 108, and passed him briefly before sitting up to stretch out my back before heading onto the run. My bike split was 1:04:40, which is just 4 seconds faster than I went in 2008. At first I was pleased when I realized it, but I'll elaborate on why I'm not as psyched about it now.
Heading onto the run with the other athlete, he completely took off and my legs refused to match the pace. I hit the first mile in 6:23 - maybe my slowest first mile there ever - and knew I was in for a rough day. I hit the same split for mile 2, which is about where Pat re-passed me. Climbing up and out of the park and into the neighborhood was just not pretty, and my splits were getting slower. I was dejected, but my body simply wasn't going to respond to anything. CTR passed me around mile 4 and looked like he was cooking. I came back up the wall and down onto the lake, which at least allowed me to get excited about finishing. I saw a bunch of my friends who had made the early trip out to Columbia to watch and was pumped as I crossed the line, but sad when I saw the 2:11:38 on the clock.
Not my worst, but far from my best.
In 2008 I went 2:08:40. 2009 was 2:11:00. I legitimately thought I could swim around 22, ride under 1:03 and run under 38, which would have been a 2:05 and change day. I guess I just didn't have it. And I was excited about my ride until I saw the splits and saw just how fast everyone else had gone - it seems as if most people have stepped up their cycling skills because 3 years ago that was the 13th best split of the day and this year it was around the 30th. Andrew Yoder took 2 minutes out of Chris Lieto's 56:30 course record en route to a bike course and overall course record. My 2:11:38 was only good enough for 42nd on the day. Occasional training partner Ben W. had what I think was the fastest amateur bike split of the day at 1:02:30, and went just under 2:06. Pretty insane considering he just recorded a 9:55 IM St. George two weeks ago. Pat PR'd, CTR PR'd, just about everyone I know had really, really good days. That's what made the race tough for me to swallow, because I appear to be the only one that's on the opposite end of improvement. My run split (40:58) was 3 minutes slower than I thought I could go (and the slowest I've run there), but even if I had done that, I would have only gone 2:08:40.
Sometimes it's just not your day, and it seemed like I blew a perfect opportunity because the conditions were truly spectacular. Maybe I've conditioned myself to expect shitty weather and I would have performed better in it. Maybe because I can actually somewhat ride my bike again (unlike last year when my bike splits were slow in the few races I did) it's taking something out of my run.
I was of course excited to see such a competitive race, and great days for my friends, but I won't lie and say I wasn't bummed about my day. The important thing for me was to not focus on the bad day, instead put it behind and try to look forward to Eagleman and the rest of the summer.
Post Race
I took it appropriately easy on Monday and Tuesday, and attempted to go out to Wednesday Night Ride. Somehow I wound up on the front for almost the first 15 minutes of the ride, and when a few of the Kelly pros decided to heat it up, I got shot out the back. Again, not pretty, and it was no fun riding for 75 minutes then by myself. But, at least I was able to just ride my pace, because my legs were still clearly not recovered. I took it easy Thursday in advance of my favorite weekend of the year:
Memorial Day
This weekend is the focal point of my spring. In 2008 I met Joe Liberto and Nick Zohdi out in Cambridge to ride the Eagleman course. It was my first time out there, and while I am a strong cyclist, I am not a power cyclist, so the relentlessly flat roads of Cambridge threw me off. You just have to pedal...so...much. You can never stop pedaling out there. We reprised the ride in 2009, this time adding OJ and Double K (Nick wasn't there). We had a good workout and I went out to modest success two weeks later at EM (2:18 bike split).
This year was primed for an insane day. Benda was in, David Lee was in, OJ, Pat, Zero - all in. Double K was coming out and then brought 3 dudes with him. All told there were 10 of us, all reasonably quick dudes riding time trial bikes. It was seriously like the Postal train of the old Tour days. It was an Eagleman kind of day out there, hot and sunny. There is no shade on the EM course. After 33 minutes of warming up we hit an hour of hard riding. I figured we could have everyone ride a minute on the front and that way each person would get about 6 pulls in the hour, and we would be able to keep the pace high. Mission Accomplished, we took a few minute break before doing another 20 hard minutes to Dorchester HS. Aided by a tailwind, we averaged 30mph for this section (the headwind on the way out was very, very unfriendly) and all told had 80 minutes of really solid work. We cooled down back to the transition area and got ready for a run.
The goal of this run was to do 2 miles at race pace, then a mile easy, another mile hard and a mile easy cooldown. I was hoping that I could run 6:10 pace, but wasn't sure if I could or not. We start out and it feels hard - really hard. It's now 12:30 and the temp is near 90. The sun is unforgiving. Pat is out front, and as we get closer to the mile I realize we are running pretty fast. Pat hits 5:30 and I come through at 5:38. Uh-oh. I obviously have no business running that fast, as I won't touch a mile under 6 in this race, but at this point I'm committed, so I slow only to a 5:48 second mile (11:26). We jog easy for a couple of minutes before running hard from mile 2 back down to mile 1. I kept this effort more in check and was surprised it was a 5:43. An easy mile around 7:20 back to the car and my 5 mile brick was done in 32 minutes. We all slipped into the Choptank to cool off, and it felt good to be done. For the ride we were under 2:28 (22.5mph or something in that range I think) and 5 miles under 6:30 pace meant that a hard effort had been done.
It was time to drive back home now and rest up for Saturday.
"Fucking May 28th" - OJ Keller
Saturday morning was significantly cooler, which was nice to start our ride. The larger group we thought we might have had dwindled to just be me, OJ and Benda, with Alyssa joining us for a little over an hour. We headed out from Meadowbrook just after 8am and rode north, uphill, to do the Lineboro ride. I was looking to ride as easy as possible until we made it to at least Lineboro, but we pretty quickly assumed a little paceline and the effort was not tremendously easy. We covered 18.5 miles in our first hour, and then after Alyssa left us, we brought our average up to 19.1, then in just a 4 mile stretch of Lineboro Rd were at 19.6. We kept the intensity and I didn't know how long I would last. Through 3.5 hours we were at 20.5mph.
The temperature had risen a little, and unfortunately back on York Rd, where we would have around 30 miles back to MB, we faced one of the stiffest headwinds I've ever seen. It had picked up significantly from the morning wind. OJ's favorite new phrase is "every man for himself", which seems to be a feature of every ride now. His plan was to go as hard as his body would allow for the 12ish miles to Hereford. This would be no easy task into the wind, especially with now 120 hard miles in the last 24 hours already in the legs.
OJ and Benda took off, leaving me in their dust. I was pissed, mostly because there was nothing I could do about it. But as I kept them in sight I noticed a few things. One, when Benda was in front, the pace slowed a little. Two, when they were out of the saddle to climb, I was gaining ground. So I used my smarts and made big efforts to catch them, finally reeling them back in. It was no small feat. But, upon catching them, I was promptly dispatched again. This time, I knew I would be okay, though, because I was riding the hills well. And soon enough, we had made it through Hereford.
It gets no easier from there, however, and when we finally got back to Timonium, it started raining randomly. Really annoying. We made it back to the pool in just under 5 hours, which for 96ish miles is quite fast, meaning our average had only slipped a mile per hour over the last two hours into the wind and hills. I was shocked. Unfortunately for me I still had to ride home 8 or 9 miles. Bleh. I got into the pool in the afternoon but could only muster 2000 very slow meters.
Went to see Hangover 2 on Saturday night (disappointing) and then Sunday woke up to spectate the McVETs 5k/10k. I felt like garbage so I opted to not ride that morning, and instead I swam about 2400m. It was all I could do. I picked up Alyssa and Brennan and we made our way two hours to Winchester VA to visit Ben and Kendra and do the Loudoun Street Mile on Monday. When we got to Winchester, I ran 6 miles with Ben. It was 5pm and 95 degrees, and I thought I was going to die. It was the worst I've felt in a long time.
Then I started to feel worse. I am really allergic to cats and dogs, and particularly when a house is carpeted, I seem to really struggle. Both of this factors were leading me to feel awful at Ben's. I tossed and turned at night after taking some Claritin (thanks Kendra) but woke up and didn't feel much better. My legs were cooked and the sunburn I endured Friday and then again Saturday was not feeling good. Unfortunately for me, it was race time.
"Cultimation" - OJ Keller
On Friday, OJ uttered these words, which I believe were intended to mean "culmination". Still, this is our new word for the week. Monday was the cultimation of a long weekend. I don't know how I used to do so much more on Memorial Day Weekend, I guess I just don't have what I used to pre-injury! After warming up, I felt no better, and knew it was going to be a rough day. The nice thing about a mile race is it's only a mile, the worst I would do would maybe be 6 minutes of running. The mean thing about a mile is how often you want to drop out, and then you think it's only a mile, how is it possible that I feel so bad?
The first 350m was downhill, and then there was a short uphill to the quarter mile followed by about 500m of steady incline, then dropped down to the 3/4 mile and it was flat for the last quarter. I got out in 73 which was already slow and hard, and then ran a 79 uphill quarter. While it was slow, I passed at least 15 people in this time. The downhill mile was placed so that it didn't really help me run any faster, but it was helping me not run any slower. 77.3 for that quarter and then I just gritted it and tried to hold on for one more quarter (77.1) and finished in 5:07. The amazing thing was how stacked this race was. Ben was 16th with a 4:42, Brennan 25th with a 4:53 and I was 36th. Moise Joseph won in 4:06, negative splitting the race like it should be done. On our cooldown I realized I had met him at Alan and Julia Webb's wedding, which was pretty funny.
I now felt like complete death and we had to drive home 2 hours. Alyssa and I were going to go to the Terps vs UVA Lacrosse National Championship game, but as we got back to Baltimore and it was 100 degrees and I thought I was going to die, we opted to watch inside. My health has deteriorated ever since, and last night was particularly rough as our house is a piece of shit and the air conditioning doesn't work. We told our landlord about this last Tuesday and it is scheduled to be fixed finally today. I realized there are plenty of people in this world without A/C, but 95 degrees in the house is just too much. I sweated all night as I again tossed and turned in my bed. The fever I was running did not appreciate the temperature.
I can't remember being sick yet this year, and this one has hit me hard. The good thing is that it's this week, not next week, and that I'm within two weeks of EM so I don't have any workout objectives. I need to focus on feeling better and allowing my body to absorb the good work from this weekend.
Columbia
In the 10 years I've been around for this race, I can only remember two times it being even remotely nice. 2001 wasn't bad, and 2008 was nice. Every other year has been cold, rainy, or cold and rainy. When the weather prognosticators indicated that this year the conditions were going to be better than perfect, I couldn't even believe it. I didn't want to say anything that would jinx it, because I've seen it be nice the day before the race, only to dilapidate on Sunday morning. Saturday I headed down to Columbia and did all the pre-race mumbo jumbo that has become second nature for the event, and ran a quick lake loop with Ben and Prada. Our first mile was just under 8 minutes and I thought man, I better run faster than that tomorrow. While most of Baltimore partied for Preakness, I settled into bed just before 11pm, with a 4am wakeup call for Sunday morning.
I awoke to the most ideal conditions of all time. The air was warm, comfortable enough to go to the race in just a t-shirt and shorts, and there was no wind. I mean none. While waiting in the line to get into the park, all the trees and bushes were still. It was almost too perfect. I got my stuff settled and it's always a fun morning in the Open Wave because it's all the dudes I train with and see on a pretty regular basis, mixed in with some guys I only see at races. Like a May reunion of pretty great athletes.
I went for my warmup and was thoroughly warmed up within seconds, as I came back dripping. I got into my wetsuit, opting for the Orca 3.8 that I had just picked up the week prior. I was hesitant at first, because I didn't like the way it felt, but it didn't seem to be a problem for me on Sunday. Just my swimming was. The water was warm, and particularly warm within the confines of the suit. The gun sounded and off in a flash went all the sharks. I may have been one of the last off the line. My goggles were allowing in a little too much water and I started freaking out about getting pink eye, so I stopped briefly on two occasions to adjust them. I thought I was swimming good lines, but I knew I was way in the back. I was really disappointed to see 22:57 on the clock when I got out of the water. This was at least a minute slower than I was really looking to swim, and put me in a severe disadvantage heading onto the bike.
I got on the bike and immediately started picking up a bunch of chicks who outswam me. I then passed a few guys, and time was going by pretty quickly. I didn't feel great climbing, but I didn't feel tired. I picked up Pat as we made our way back home from the big traffic circle and then it was a few miles of just myself before I saw another athlete up ahead. I caught up to him on 108, and passed him briefly before sitting up to stretch out my back before heading onto the run. My bike split was 1:04:40, which is just 4 seconds faster than I went in 2008. At first I was pleased when I realized it, but I'll elaborate on why I'm not as psyched about it now.
Heading onto the run with the other athlete, he completely took off and my legs refused to match the pace. I hit the first mile in 6:23 - maybe my slowest first mile there ever - and knew I was in for a rough day. I hit the same split for mile 2, which is about where Pat re-passed me. Climbing up and out of the park and into the neighborhood was just not pretty, and my splits were getting slower. I was dejected, but my body simply wasn't going to respond to anything. CTR passed me around mile 4 and looked like he was cooking. I came back up the wall and down onto the lake, which at least allowed me to get excited about finishing. I saw a bunch of my friends who had made the early trip out to Columbia to watch and was pumped as I crossed the line, but sad when I saw the 2:11:38 on the clock.
Not my worst, but far from my best.
In 2008 I went 2:08:40. 2009 was 2:11:00. I legitimately thought I could swim around 22, ride under 1:03 and run under 38, which would have been a 2:05 and change day. I guess I just didn't have it. And I was excited about my ride until I saw the splits and saw just how fast everyone else had gone - it seems as if most people have stepped up their cycling skills because 3 years ago that was the 13th best split of the day and this year it was around the 30th. Andrew Yoder took 2 minutes out of Chris Lieto's 56:30 course record en route to a bike course and overall course record. My 2:11:38 was only good enough for 42nd on the day. Occasional training partner Ben W. had what I think was the fastest amateur bike split of the day at 1:02:30, and went just under 2:06. Pretty insane considering he just recorded a 9:55 IM St. George two weeks ago. Pat PR'd, CTR PR'd, just about everyone I know had really, really good days. That's what made the race tough for me to swallow, because I appear to be the only one that's on the opposite end of improvement. My run split (40:58) was 3 minutes slower than I thought I could go (and the slowest I've run there), but even if I had done that, I would have only gone 2:08:40.
Sometimes it's just not your day, and it seemed like I blew a perfect opportunity because the conditions were truly spectacular. Maybe I've conditioned myself to expect shitty weather and I would have performed better in it. Maybe because I can actually somewhat ride my bike again (unlike last year when my bike splits were slow in the few races I did) it's taking something out of my run.
I was of course excited to see such a competitive race, and great days for my friends, but I won't lie and say I wasn't bummed about my day. The important thing for me was to not focus on the bad day, instead put it behind and try to look forward to Eagleman and the rest of the summer.
Post Race
I took it appropriately easy on Monday and Tuesday, and attempted to go out to Wednesday Night Ride. Somehow I wound up on the front for almost the first 15 minutes of the ride, and when a few of the Kelly pros decided to heat it up, I got shot out the back. Again, not pretty, and it was no fun riding for 75 minutes then by myself. But, at least I was able to just ride my pace, because my legs were still clearly not recovered. I took it easy Thursday in advance of my favorite weekend of the year:
Memorial Day
This weekend is the focal point of my spring. In 2008 I met Joe Liberto and Nick Zohdi out in Cambridge to ride the Eagleman course. It was my first time out there, and while I am a strong cyclist, I am not a power cyclist, so the relentlessly flat roads of Cambridge threw me off. You just have to pedal...so...much. You can never stop pedaling out there. We reprised the ride in 2009, this time adding OJ and Double K (Nick wasn't there). We had a good workout and I went out to modest success two weeks later at EM (2:18 bike split).
This year was primed for an insane day. Benda was in, David Lee was in, OJ, Pat, Zero - all in. Double K was coming out and then brought 3 dudes with him. All told there were 10 of us, all reasonably quick dudes riding time trial bikes. It was seriously like the Postal train of the old Tour days. It was an Eagleman kind of day out there, hot and sunny. There is no shade on the EM course. After 33 minutes of warming up we hit an hour of hard riding. I figured we could have everyone ride a minute on the front and that way each person would get about 6 pulls in the hour, and we would be able to keep the pace high. Mission Accomplished, we took a few minute break before doing another 20 hard minutes to Dorchester HS. Aided by a tailwind, we averaged 30mph for this section (the headwind on the way out was very, very unfriendly) and all told had 80 minutes of really solid work. We cooled down back to the transition area and got ready for a run.
The goal of this run was to do 2 miles at race pace, then a mile easy, another mile hard and a mile easy cooldown. I was hoping that I could run 6:10 pace, but wasn't sure if I could or not. We start out and it feels hard - really hard. It's now 12:30 and the temp is near 90. The sun is unforgiving. Pat is out front, and as we get closer to the mile I realize we are running pretty fast. Pat hits 5:30 and I come through at 5:38. Uh-oh. I obviously have no business running that fast, as I won't touch a mile under 6 in this race, but at this point I'm committed, so I slow only to a 5:48 second mile (11:26). We jog easy for a couple of minutes before running hard from mile 2 back down to mile 1. I kept this effort more in check and was surprised it was a 5:43. An easy mile around 7:20 back to the car and my 5 mile brick was done in 32 minutes. We all slipped into the Choptank to cool off, and it felt good to be done. For the ride we were under 2:28 (22.5mph or something in that range I think) and 5 miles under 6:30 pace meant that a hard effort had been done.
It was time to drive back home now and rest up for Saturday.
"Fucking May 28th" - OJ Keller
Saturday morning was significantly cooler, which was nice to start our ride. The larger group we thought we might have had dwindled to just be me, OJ and Benda, with Alyssa joining us for a little over an hour. We headed out from Meadowbrook just after 8am and rode north, uphill, to do the Lineboro ride. I was looking to ride as easy as possible until we made it to at least Lineboro, but we pretty quickly assumed a little paceline and the effort was not tremendously easy. We covered 18.5 miles in our first hour, and then after Alyssa left us, we brought our average up to 19.1, then in just a 4 mile stretch of Lineboro Rd were at 19.6. We kept the intensity and I didn't know how long I would last. Through 3.5 hours we were at 20.5mph.
The temperature had risen a little, and unfortunately back on York Rd, where we would have around 30 miles back to MB, we faced one of the stiffest headwinds I've ever seen. It had picked up significantly from the morning wind. OJ's favorite new phrase is "every man for himself", which seems to be a feature of every ride now. His plan was to go as hard as his body would allow for the 12ish miles to Hereford. This would be no easy task into the wind, especially with now 120 hard miles in the last 24 hours already in the legs.
OJ and Benda took off, leaving me in their dust. I was pissed, mostly because there was nothing I could do about it. But as I kept them in sight I noticed a few things. One, when Benda was in front, the pace slowed a little. Two, when they were out of the saddle to climb, I was gaining ground. So I used my smarts and made big efforts to catch them, finally reeling them back in. It was no small feat. But, upon catching them, I was promptly dispatched again. This time, I knew I would be okay, though, because I was riding the hills well. And soon enough, we had made it through Hereford.
It gets no easier from there, however, and when we finally got back to Timonium, it started raining randomly. Really annoying. We made it back to the pool in just under 5 hours, which for 96ish miles is quite fast, meaning our average had only slipped a mile per hour over the last two hours into the wind and hills. I was shocked. Unfortunately for me I still had to ride home 8 or 9 miles. Bleh. I got into the pool in the afternoon but could only muster 2000 very slow meters.
Went to see Hangover 2 on Saturday night (disappointing) and then Sunday woke up to spectate the McVETs 5k/10k. I felt like garbage so I opted to not ride that morning, and instead I swam about 2400m. It was all I could do. I picked up Alyssa and Brennan and we made our way two hours to Winchester VA to visit Ben and Kendra and do the Loudoun Street Mile on Monday. When we got to Winchester, I ran 6 miles with Ben. It was 5pm and 95 degrees, and I thought I was going to die. It was the worst I've felt in a long time.
Then I started to feel worse. I am really allergic to cats and dogs, and particularly when a house is carpeted, I seem to really struggle. Both of this factors were leading me to feel awful at Ben's. I tossed and turned at night after taking some Claritin (thanks Kendra) but woke up and didn't feel much better. My legs were cooked and the sunburn I endured Friday and then again Saturday was not feeling good. Unfortunately for me, it was race time.
"Cultimation" - OJ Keller
On Friday, OJ uttered these words, which I believe were intended to mean "culmination". Still, this is our new word for the week. Monday was the cultimation of a long weekend. I don't know how I used to do so much more on Memorial Day Weekend, I guess I just don't have what I used to pre-injury! After warming up, I felt no better, and knew it was going to be a rough day. The nice thing about a mile race is it's only a mile, the worst I would do would maybe be 6 minutes of running. The mean thing about a mile is how often you want to drop out, and then you think it's only a mile, how is it possible that I feel so bad?
The first 350m was downhill, and then there was a short uphill to the quarter mile followed by about 500m of steady incline, then dropped down to the 3/4 mile and it was flat for the last quarter. I got out in 73 which was already slow and hard, and then ran a 79 uphill quarter. While it was slow, I passed at least 15 people in this time. The downhill mile was placed so that it didn't really help me run any faster, but it was helping me not run any slower. 77.3 for that quarter and then I just gritted it and tried to hold on for one more quarter (77.1) and finished in 5:07. The amazing thing was how stacked this race was. Ben was 16th with a 4:42, Brennan 25th with a 4:53 and I was 36th. Moise Joseph won in 4:06, negative splitting the race like it should be done. On our cooldown I realized I had met him at Alan and Julia Webb's wedding, which was pretty funny.
I now felt like complete death and we had to drive home 2 hours. Alyssa and I were going to go to the Terps vs UVA Lacrosse National Championship game, but as we got back to Baltimore and it was 100 degrees and I thought I was going to die, we opted to watch inside. My health has deteriorated ever since, and last night was particularly rough as our house is a piece of shit and the air conditioning doesn't work. We told our landlord about this last Tuesday and it is scheduled to be fixed finally today. I realized there are plenty of people in this world without A/C, but 95 degrees in the house is just too much. I sweated all night as I again tossed and turned in my bed. The fever I was running did not appreciate the temperature.
I can't remember being sick yet this year, and this one has hit me hard. The good thing is that it's this week, not next week, and that I'm within two weeks of EM so I don't have any workout objectives. I need to focus on feeling better and allowing my body to absorb the good work from this weekend.
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