Of Bees And Horses

In some training article or book I read, I found a fable-esque story about a bumblebee.  According to the tale, some scientists and astrophysicists at NASA couldn't figure out how bees fly, as their wings were too small to generate lift.  But bees don't know they can't fly, so they just do.

Also in the same article, the mentality of a racehorse is discussed.  They blindly follow their trainer and only do what he wants them to do.  Nothing more, nothing less.  And on race day they go out and do their absolute best with no worries that they've lost fitness from their pre-race taper or concerns that they haven't done enough for their race.  

The moral of both stories is fairly obvious... Always believe you can do whatever you set out to do (the bee), and trust in your training (the horse).

One reason why I was never attracted to running is I never could figure out what to do.  Obviously, run for a little while, then run further the next time, ad infinitum.  But I'd try it and within 2 weeks I couldn't walk because I'd overdo it, then think "this running stuff kills my legs" and quit.  It didn't make sense to me since in my experience with cycling I could ride however far I wanted whenever I wanted and never really dealt with soreness or injury.  

Every January, the (Some)Times-Picayune would publish a training plan in advance of the Crescent City Classic.  3 plans actually, aimed at walkers, joggers, and runners.  I didn't understand the logic behind the plans, as one wouldn't cover the distance, another would go way over the distance, the mileages seemed haphazard, etc.  But I'd set out to follow the plan, do so for maybe two weeks, and then fall off sometime in late January on a particularly nasty day when it was 40 degrees and raining.  Then a week before the Classic I'd try to cram 3 months of training in 4 days, and go do the CCC and not be able to walk the week after.  

Finally a couple years ago I got smart when I found the MiCoach site and app.  I saw that you could build a training plan based on goals and distance, set your training days, your long run day, etc.  Since I didn't know any better, I took the mentality of the racehorse and just followed the training plan, and lo and behold, completed a half-marathon.  I actually did it twice, as the day of my last long run I covered 13 miles and change.  Based on that experience, and that of a couple races after, I figured out that a good plan was critical to success in endurance sport.  

Since that first race, I've used a couple other MiCoach plans with great success, as well has Hal Higdon's Marathon Novice 2 plan for the one marathon I've run.  I even built my own plan for the Big Easy Sprint Tri as an exercise in plan building, since the distances weren't daunting and I already had built a decent endurance base.  

The unique circumstances of the Dopey Challenge, however, led me back to searching for a plan.  I don't trust my novice skills at building a training plan for something like the Dopey.  I also don't think that a standard marathon plan is sufficient because of the 4 consecutive days of running in the challenge, so I was hoping to come across something similar.  Jeff Galloway is the "official" running coach for Disney Running, but his training plan seems to be aimed at run-walkers and is focused on just finishing the races.  I looked at his plan and felt the volume was way too light for someone with my level of fitness and endurance (or lack of common sense), so I had to find something else.

Some Googling led me to Brian Johnson's blog, where he's laid out a plan for both novice and intermediate runners.  Brian studied exercise science at Purdue and reading some of his blog posts leads me to believe he knows what he's doing... And he's giving away his knowledge for free!  He's also a Disney running fan and has done a Goofy Challenge, so he's familiar with what this event will entail.  His plans make sense to me, since he's taken into account the volume of the races, the unique challenge of running 4 days in a row, doubling mileage each day, and the necessity of cross training in preparation for something like this.  

I felt his intermediate plan fits me to a 'T', but when I backed it up on a calendar, I found it starts in mid July.  His novice plan started in June.  My last race was at the end of May, so what I'm doing is following the novice plan for now to maintain fitness, and when the intermediate plan starts I'll go to that.  I'm also swimming in place of core training, since swimming is good for the core, and I need the practice because my swimming is so mediocre.  I also plan to sprinkle in some long bike rides where I can simply because I enjoy long bike rides when I have the opportunity.  

I'm still surprised to see such a comprehensive plan laid out and given away for free.  Brian has done a great job putting his plans together.  They're well thought out in building mileage, accounting for the unique challenge of running 4 days in succession doubling the distance each day, and for recovery.  Maybe I'll get to meet Brian in Disney before the marathon to say thanks.

The past couple weeks of training have been mostly non-eventful.  Running distances have been fairly short (2-5 miles) and I've gotten a couple swim workouts in each week.  Swimming isn't nearly as gratifying as running, especially in this age of GPS tracking.  If you go do a 5 mile run and use a GPS app or device to track your run, you can look at a map of the run on a computer and see how far you went.  But the pool is just that... a pool.  And the distances don't even sound impressive.  "I swam 1500M this morning".  Whoopee... I ran 7 miles.  Look at my map of my run.

In the "cheap bike aficionado" department, I scored a bike off Craigslist this week.  Both of my bikes, the Bianchi (aka The Sexy Italian Bitch©) and the Quintana Roo (which is still nameless as of now) both have Look pedals, which means special shoes when I want to ride them.  They're also quite comfortable at a faster pace, so that means the wife on her hybrid isn't keeping up.  So I'd been on the lookout for a mountain or trail bike to ride with the family, but I didn't want to spend a bunch of money on it.  That pretty much left me looking at used bikes on Craigslist or eBay.  

Thursday, I found an ad for a Trek "Series 3" located near Tulane University in Uptown New Orleans. I sent the guy a text and he still had it, so I made plans to stop by to take a look at it on my way home.  In doing some research (looking at BikePedia and comparing pictures to the picture on Craigslist), I figured out the bike is a couple year old Trek 3500.  Basically, an entry level bike with entry level components.  And a retail price of $379.  Pretty much what I was looking for.  I offered the guy a few bucks less than his asking price because the bike was in fairly rough condition (and he said his price was negotiable), and came home with a cheapie beater mountain bike to putt around on with the family.  

Took all of about 12 minutes for a picture of it on Facebook to lure in the obvious "was it cheap because it's a kids' sized frame?" joke as well.  Obvious joke was obvious.

Finally, I want to send some congratulations to my cousins Danielle and Tabitha for running a 5K today.  Between the emails and Facebook messages, I've felt just a little like a coach or a trainer for them in this adventure.  Both have thanked me for my help and cited me as an inspiration, but in reality they're inspiring me.  Having family take note of what I'm doing and feeling like I can help them chase new goals just makes me want to go further/faster so I can learn more about this sport and hopefully get others to take on some of the same challenges.  I got involved in running just as a way to stay active and fit for myself, and it's pretty neat that I'm inspiring others to do the same thing.  That said, I probably ought to send some thanks to my friend Alan (Hackker) because it was his posting about his running that got me curious enough about running to actually consider trying it, and also my wife's boss Denis who urged me just enough after the last CCC I ran with him to try a longer race, and to also run a marathon.

It's also Denis's fault that I'm doing the Dopey Challenge.  He called me after the two beer threshold had been reached where I stop considering the implications of committing myself to something that could result in injury or bodily harm.  So, to Denis, thanks bro!

Always pass on what you have learned - Master Yoda