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Week 40 – One last week of training

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This week was the last week of serious training before a week of tapering and a massive effort to beat 5 hours on the Athens Marathon.

One of the nice things about being between jobs and being blessed with a reasonable amount of savings is that I can take some time off, and I did. One whole month.

I thought with all of this extra time training would be easy, because well I have no job…

Except that my wife and kid are way more fun than pounding the cement or sitting on a bicycle.

And this made me appreciate, just a little bit the life and times of professional athletes.

Being mentally disciplined to actually do the training is hard when it’s the only thing you have to do. There is always something way more fun to do at any point in time.

And then the eating becomes a mess.. When you don’t have a job, and you’re with your wife there is a temptation to eat out. And you meet friends for lunch and eat out. And before you know it you’re eating more than you ever did.

And because training is something I do for fun, being tired makes you feel guilty…

Well the good news I am going to Greece, going to do a marathon and then going back to a job … Something about real life intruding …

 

Garmin Rocks

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After my Garmin was lost during my first triathlon, I called Garmin and asked for some kind of discount… They graciously sold me a refurbished unit for 99$.

Given that they has no reason to do that, after all it was a  force majeure, their gesture is greatly appreciated.

Their UI sucks but their customer support rocks.

Week 30-31 Blistering Heat

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After finishing my triathlon, my family and I went to Greece for our annual pilgrimage to my family’s ancestral home in Santorini Greece.
 
The only downside to this vacation is that I find myself having to continue my training to prepare for the marathon’s I intend to run in the fall.  And the reason training is a downside is the damned heat.
 
Running in 27 degree Celsius or 80 Fahrenheit heat is hard. If you’re fat like me, your ability to dissipate heat reduces your speed significantly. And man does it make me admire folks who do Kona even more… Running a marathon in that kind of heat with humidity just sounds awe inspiringly painful.
 
And if the run involves 800ish feet of climbing, then the net effect is one of pain and misery and despair.
Last year when I was doing long runs as part of the Hal Higdon Marathon Training plan, I almost died out on my long runs. Since I was not using heart rate or time but distance alone, I found myself dehydrated, delirious and puking along the roads of Santorini. After one long run, I showed up at our home exhausted, and some nice woman asked me: How do you feel? And I replied: Tin poutsisame… which translates roughly into: I am so f*** up. Turns out the nice woman was  my sister’s soon to be mother-in-law… Thankfully the wedding was not cancelled.
 
This year, I was determined to not have any repeats of that performance. So using my heart rate monitor as a gauge of effort in the heat and over hills, I moved at a much slower pace than I am used to. Net effect is that although the runs were annoying I didn’t puke or make a complete ass of myself to any charming ladies…
 
After my first couple of slow runs, I woke up early in the morning and had some nice cool weather. And all of sudden, my speed picked up significantly as I ran in cooler weather. Which was a relief. I was convinced that all of the fine eating in Santorini had blimped me out sooo much that I was going slow because of my weight.
 
Now I am looking forward to a nice cool south bay run, and a nice cool marathon in San Jose… And I am not looking forward to a private meeting with my scale…