Shipping out

This week I head out on my big trip. I'll try and post the workouts I do before I leave, and after that I'll probably drop off after I head out (I'll be back in LA on April 1st). I will make an effort to update my spreadsheet at the very least, so hopefully that works out.

(Monday, 2 March)
Easy Doyle lab workout. I did it on the Lifecycles machine (recumbent) which was yucky. It was just an easy, easy workout to see how my HR was doing at low intensity. They wanted to look into these periodic 10-beat oscillations that they've been seeing on my easy data. I guess it's pretty common for trained people to have these sorts of things.

I had a nice chat with John Doyle about my data. He reiterated that he thought my power/weight data was pretty good relative to most folks. I asked him why I would be a relatively lesser-abled runner if I had such good power output; he said that he thought I was probably just better physically suited to a power sport, like rowing or cycling, rather than running, which requires good fitness and good biomechanics. He also mentioned that he'd noticed I walk kind of funny - with weird mechanics - and I thought a bit about my weirdly bad running form. He thought I could probably do better at running if I did more drills and worked on my form.

This raised a lot of questions for me. Would I like cycling more if I took it as seriously as I take running, and got good at it? Would I like running more if I did more drills and they made me faster? Or would I have more fun just running how I feel like it (not doing drills) and being not as fast? Is it better to focus on a sport that you have the best shot at being good at or the one you already love?

What do you guys think... if you could take some magic test and it told you that you'd be the best possible athlete in a particular sport (not running) would it make you want to take up that sport seriously?

(Tuesday, 3 March)
Computrainer workout; 4 minutes at 125, 150, 100, 175, 75W then 2-2.30 at 200W (decreasing to 175 when HR > 180) and 4 minutes rest times 4, then 4 minutes at 125W, then rest for 10 minutes. It was easy and sweaty. I'm thinking about running with the team this afternoon.

(Wednesday, 4 March)
I didn't end up running with the team yesterday, because I was running around freaking out instead. Fortunately I think I'm starting to get things under control finally. I got a book to read about Jesse Owens that I thought would inspire me on my trip, and I got some necessities so I won't die of sunburn, etc. while I'm gone. I had a run with Susan in the afternoon courtesy of Mrs. Gilbaugh (babysitter extraordinaire) that I was really, really looking forward to. I was so glad to get out with Susan before my trip. We did a neat little run.

I was surprised by how far it was, because my watch had us at about 61 minutes; I think we were really rolling it (that's like 7.33s). Awesome run followed by delicious hot chocolate. :)

(Thursday, 5 March)

I guess I'm not returning these shoes.
Departure day. I showed up at JPL looking forward to doing the standard big Brown/El Prieto loop as a good send-off. Unfortunately, I forgot my socks, but it was so pretty outside that I decided to tough it out and go anyways. This may or may not have been a good idea long-term. My feet held up until maybe 25 minutes in, at which point I had worn through the skin at the back of my ankles and it went from being uncomfortable to painful. I wasn't about to turn around though - I was about halfway out anyways, so I just decided to keep on. When I started going downhill, it felt a bit better because I could kind of shove my feet forward in the shoe so that it didn't make the raw spots open up more. Other than the pain, I don't think it affected the run that much, because it was symmetrical and I made good time (72 minutes, parked at Windsor).

I just rinsed out the shoes and I almost threw up because when I sprayed that congealed bit in the photo with water and then dumped it out the water had picked up all this blood that had soaked into the heel so that when I poured it out, it looked like I was just pouring blood out. You should have seen the insoles, they were insane. I didn't get a photo of my feet, however, because I had to rinse them off before I could go inside the house.

Other than the bleeding profusely, I actually liked the feeling of being able to feel the ground a bit better due to the not wearing socks.