Well, I suppose it is not a traditional way to roll, but last weekend the family and I needed a break. So we ran up the road to Charlotte, NC and spent the weekend riding roller coasters and water slides. It was a good way to spend the weekend, but it certainly put a crimp in the training schedule. 26 miles of walking over 2 days though. I’m login to call it a wash and move on. Back to the grind this week.
Weary Legs, Weary Body, Rest Day Blues
I’ve joked a lot about how much I struggle with rest days. Here we are, another week in the books, with less than 10 to go until IM Chattanooga, and it is rest day. For once, I am truly grateful for my rest day. My body is telling me it needs today in a bad way. It is not anything specific, but more of an accumulation of the last 3 weeks combined with a lack of sleep. The lack of sleep is mostly a side effect of work + training + family stresses all hitting high points at the same time. Eventually it all catches up with you, and that is exactly where I am today.
Weary.
It really is the best word for it. Nothing is broken, nothing is injured, but I need a day off nonetheless. The worst part is that by this afternoon, I will have forgotten how worn out I feel this morning and I will have to resist the desire to do something. In the grand scheme of things though, these days are arguably more important than workout days. They clearly indicate that the training days are getting it done. It is however, high time this old body takes the day, so that is what I am going to do.
Bike Alpharetta Kits & Fundraising
For all the local riders, I want to remind everyone to get their orders in soon. Before July 31. This is a great opportunity for us. First, we can pick up these fun kits, with the Share Our Roads logo on the back. The colors are vibrant, but not garish. Second, these are very good kits made my Castelli Cycling. If you don’t know your size, Endurance House next to Publix in Alpharetta has a sample fit kit you can go try on for sizing. Lastly, this is a major fundraiser for Bike Alpharetta. Purchasing these kits helps them fund their counting advocacy and vocal support for our growing cycling community in the Alpharetta area.
Yes, when I say advocacy, I mean advocacy. They are directly involved with the city, they have worked hard to support RAMBO and the mountain bike trails on the Greenways. They worked with REI and the City of Alpharetta to create, publish, mark and put up signage for the designated bike routes in Alpharetta. What they have accomplished on a small budget to date is remarkable. What they can do go forward should be fun to watch and enjoy the results of their work. If you can’t be involved as a volunteer, take the time and get involved with a few dollars for a great kit.
In the words of Woody from Toy Story. “If you don’t have one, GET ONE!”
Running In Circles
I hate doing ‘laps’. Seriously, when it comes to running, this is the hardest running there is for me. I’d rather go climb a mountain than run laps. Last night, with the imminent threat of storms, a need to get some miles in, and a desire to stay closer to home, I ended up heading over to a great little facility not too far from the house. Sweet Apple Park in Roswell is a great little run. It is a 1.05 mile loop of crushed granite running loop. It has a little climb and descend, but it is a 1 mile box around a park and a school ( and passes close to some tasty restaurants, the smells make running even harder ). The goal for the day was 5-6 miles at an easy pace, keeping the heart rate down in zone 2-3. This is a bit of a challenge for me anyways, since I tend to run with a fairly high heart rate anyways. It is incredibly easy for me to push into zone 4 and even zone 5 with a moderate effort.
Putting it bluntly, I am not an ‘efficient’ runner yet. Almost 4 years in, and I am just beginning to figure out how to run efficiently. It will be a long time before I see fast miles at these heart rates, but that is part of the journey. It is part of why we do this. In order to get more efficient and to run better, sometimes we have to do things we do not want to do. Hills, Fartleks, Rest Days, and yes, Running in Circles.
So what about running in circles makes me a better runner? A lot of things, but last night it was working on two very distinct things. Efficiency and form at a lower effort level. The theory is that as efficiency and form become habit and muscle memory takes over, the same motions translate as the speeds and efforts ramp up. Combine that with a concerted effort to go with negative splits, I do feel that the work is valuable and shows an impact. Particularly in areas like how I feel afterwards.
It used to be that these 6+ mile weekday runs were a struggle the day after, but as I have worked on these types of runs, the hardest parts of the recovery have eased.
The observant reader may have noted that I had to go into Roswell to get the kind of facility I wanted to get this run in. The truth is, the City of Milton does not have this kinds of facility open yet, but they are working on one. I can not wait, since it will be about a mile from the house.
Thinking Outside the Box
In an interesting experiment, I tried something today. Rode the exact same route, the same bike, even the same kit to work. The experiment? I added something simple, a backpack. All of the sudden, instead of some feckless bike snob, I am a commuter, and the way I am treated on the road changes. People give a little more space. I suspect this speaks to some deeply rooted psyche issues in the American commuter, but it does raise an interesting question.
Does the appearance of a lycra clad cyclist imply a different usage that justifies a different behavior?
There is an interesting thought, and I wonder if it plays into the success of bike lanes and the success of the city bikes programs around the country. Bikes, and cyclists that don’t look like pure fitness usage do not create the conflict that the lycra wearing road cyclist do. Is this related to the idea that cyclists are law breakers, and hooligans? I don’t know, I am thinking out loud here, but if this is the case, is it something we need to talk more about?
OGRE Adventures – 70 miles in the foothills
Sunday, a couple of the OGRE’s set out to find an open road or two. The plan was simple. Go that north until the odometer said 35 miles, then turn around and come home. It wasn’t an overly complex plan, but it did overlook a detail. North from Atlanta also means up hill. At least uphill biased as the terrain climbs into the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. The net result? 70 miles, 4000 feet of climbing, 4 deer, 5 counties, a couple of dumb passes, a lot of water, and some interesting thoughts on how to sell bike safety.
We got an early start, and focused on roads that are heavily travelled by bicycles, as we worked out way north. As we moved from county to county, it was interesting to see the different levels of signage and support for the bicycles. Along the route, it was curious to see that none of the roads had true bike lanes and only one of the counties even bothered to have “Share the Road” signage. That said, we did see a lot of other cyclists out on the roads, and experienced a low number of poor car/bike interactions on the day, with only one meep meep of a horn and 2 instances of poor judgement passing.
As always, riding with the OGREs, there is a lot of chatting along the way. The topics range, but making the roads safer for runners and cyclists is a common thread.
Over the last few months, we have concluded that there is a deep need to build a grass roots effort to get this done. Our municipal governments simply aren’t focused on bikes and foot traffic right now. So it falls to us to get it done. So the next task, is to build something that enables us to ‘get it done’.
