Finish on the Court House

Finish on the Court House
Originally uploaded by EnduranceJunkie.

Hut, Hut, HO!!!

Hut, Hut, HO!!!
Originally uploaded by EnduranceJunkie.

Before the start...

Before the start...
Originally uploaded by EnduranceJunkie.

2008 National Champions!

2008 National Champions!
Originally uploaded by EnduranceJunkie.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their substance.

The Declaration of Independence

Are you sure "He" is the king of England?

Anybody who says that the economy is as bad as the great depression has no grasp of history. The truth is that its going to be as bad as the Carter administration but no worse. The media continues to push the depression line only because the worse the economy, or general perception thereof, the better for their presidential candidate. With any significant market dislocation, opportunity is created. The last few weeks I have been more active in the market than since I left New York. Dislocations like this only happen once a decade and while I will keep tight stops on many additional investments, I am in it for the long haul and you know how that story goes.

A friend sent me this photo. It illustrates the proper method for sanding the bottom of your kayak

Three Pass loop - Widget powered by: EveryTrail

One tough ride.

Evolution
Noun
An unfolding
Opening out or working out
Process of development
Gradual, progresssive change
A movement that is part of a series or pattern

Those of you who know what I read will know the source and reason for this. I read a book where the participants described the workouts they were doing as "Evolutions". This took a while to sink in but it makes perfect sense. After all, those who do specific training for specific races are hoping to achieve anatomical adaptations that lead to better performances. The evolutions that we do lead to changes in our bodies that ultimately help us to win.

With that in mind, is there a specific reason for a workout that you are doing. Is it part of a larger training plan or evolution. If not, why are you doing it? Are you calling it a training when in fact it is just wasted time? I need to ask myself all the time, what benefit will this training do for me? How will it lead me to improve. How would I classify it? What specific anatomical adaptation will it achieve?
I have three primary goals for 2008
1. Qualify for and win the USARA championships
2. Win the checkpoint tracker series
3. Win the US rogaine championship

This weekend was time well spent toward those goals. Saturday I ran 20 miles up at Green mtn. My winter was spent injured and my running suffered. I have been attempting to increase my mileage and time on feet. It is a slow process of increasing mileage in order to avoid overuse injuries. I wasn't real fast but I ran all the hills and was completely pain free. Pupose - endurance and hillsToday I paddled around Bainbridge Isl. all 26.3 miles of it. Same deal working up my mileage and endurance. I have many other workouts including, speed, hills, tempo, and recovery. And of course, these are applied to my three main discipline sports.

What are you doing to get you to your goal?
Lord Cromwell

More Photos from the baja adventure..Return trip

What happens when you pull hay? The dogs go wild for mice. that's my Sister in Sonoma getting hay for the horses.

The horses are better trained than the dogs. When its time to move them from the pature to their stalls for the night, put the food in the stalls and just open the gates. No guidance necessary. They just run for it.

What I wouldn't give for an orange tree in my back yard. Fresh oranges year round and the blossoms are great smelling.

This is what my legs look like when i leave a gap between my tight and my socks. Ouch! for some reason they looked like this on the back too. I can't figure that out.

Lord Cromwell

We had an incredible weekend up in bellingham. It is a great place to workout and train. Seegs came down from BC and Cyril even had a wedding on Lummi island so he joined us for Sunday. Saturday morning we had breakfast and headed down to Laraby SP. We ran the 30k center of the chuckunut 50k course. The 10k beginning and end is just a railraod grade in and out and not worth running. It was a geourgeous day. This was JVG's first big run since BVG joined the family. I would bet that she is fairly sore today. I don't hink that I could run that distance so soon after a C section.

After the run we loosed up with some frisbee and transitioned to paddling. We got it just over an hour. I was hoping to 2-4 but such is life. we also found a great climbing wall that we can top rope next time out.

Seegs went home on Saturday night and Sunday we hit Galbraith. this was my first time riding up there and it was great. It is a nice mix of terraine and stunts. It was alot like capital forest, banner and a bit of seatac all rolled into one. i will definitely be back for more.

Photo above is RVg riding a log skinny

RVG adjusting his seat for the downhill ride.

Running the back valley of Chuckunut. normally during the race, this is a 10k mud pit. Best conditions I have ever seen.

View of Baker from chuckunut ridge

Jen taking in the view.

These are what my shoes look like after a few hours treking. I knew that something didn't feel quite right but I couldn't be bothered to fix it.

I've had just about enough at this point.


















Ahh the maps. all the excitement of seeing the course.














Glenn and Sean showing off a bit before the race.

Step up to the plate. Time to hammer into the surf.

Its great to be home. The computer is broke so pics will come later. David didn't recognize me with the shaved head but all is good now with 5 kids running around screaming and generally causing chaos. I'm going back to bed

Lord Cromwell

It is Wednesday morning the day before I am leaving for baja. I has been a typical pack for AR. My bike is still in pieces in the garage, my gear is strewn all over the living room and Kevin was up puching last night. No stress huh? I am picking up Ryan Flemming at 5AM tomorrow and we are heading south. I will be gone for a while and will miss the kids. They are going to set us up with live GPS tracking so be sure to tune in to www.bajatraversia.com.

Think about us next week in the middle of the night when we are making our way across baja.

Lord
Cromwell

whidbey island loop at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail:Share GPS tracks

Some kind of funky tree growth

Lunch

blake Isl Trail map

aaron on the fly

Paddling gear laid out to dry during our run

Coming around the SE corner of the island after the run from alki

Another hard day in the books. Today Aaron and I hooked up to paddle to Blake island in the middle of Puget sound and then run its trails for 2-3 hours. We were both late to our Alki meeting point and if one of us had offered to bag, the other would have gladly agreed. We were both tired from yesterday and just getting there was the battle.

We headed out with a North wind and 2 foot swells giving us a fast ride to the SW. We were both cold on the start but once paddling we warmed up quickly. We swung around the south side of the island and beached on the NW tip at the marine campground. The place was deserted except for what seemed to be a lonely lady ranger who wouldn't stop talking even as I took off my wetsuit to reveal my wet undies as I changed.

This is a great place that I am definetly returning with the family to camp either by kayak (nanooke style) or on the sailboat.

We began our run and Aaron just lit it up. We were both sore and tired from yesterday but he just wanted to hit it. After about 4 miles, he finally stabilized and we ran together. Except for his funny nuance of speeding up whenever he gets excited. Variable speed running. If you need some speed, just ask him about one of his passions. 15.5 miles later after hitting every train in both directions we stopped for lunch sore and tired.

we waided into the frigid waters to lossen our legs and then warmed in the sun as we ate a feast. We were so warm and sheltered that I convinced Aaron that we should leave our paddle jackets in the boat for the return.

This was a mistake as we got out into the main channel only to find the winds were stronger but the swell was much less with some confused chop. It was a grunt back to Alki. As we approached, there was some crazy guy cheering on the beach. My eyes are so bad that I didn't recognize RVG but I did notice that he had a nice looking Arc'Teryx jacket on.

When we got in, he said he saw us coming across and told Jen that it had to be us because nobody else was stupid enough to paddle the sound in winter with no top.

One hard week in the books. Preparing for Baja, this week and next are the toughest in my training plan. Aaron and I have been hitting it pretty hard.

...............................................................Ave.......%
........................Sessions..Hours..Miles..Session..Time

Total Biking.........4...........13.......168.......3.25.....49%
Running...............3.............8.5.......41.......2.85....32%
Paddling..............4.............5..........21........1.25....19%
Total..................11...........26.5....230........2.40

I look at average session time because as an endurance athlete I believe that I get the most benefit from long workouts. During the winter, I try to focus exclusively on Long Slow Distance. I beleive that anything under an hour adds very little to the physiological adaptation I am trying to achieve. After baja, I will begin to layer in shorter speed works.

Also, the balance of workouts looks very good. I am trying to overemphasize my bike because that is my weakest discipline. Normally I would also have some strength training and swimming in the mix but not this week. All core disciplines.

Areas for improvment include continued focus on hills primarily on the bike. It is very apparent that my weakness is hills. While riding I am usually dropped so I need to continue with strength training and add hill repeats to the mix...More Power.

Here is our route from today:
road bike up north at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail:Share GPS tracks

Kimberly saw the major malfunction in my bike reconstruction. I would just add in my defense that all five kids were screaming at the time and since it is a single speed there is no derailuer or other identifying hardward to confirm the correct side.

But if that wasn't enough. I my mind after I noticed the problem and was trying to figure out how not to spend another hour with the kids screaming while i worked on the bike, I thought, this might be a good way to ensure that my legs stay balanced if I ride bikes with cranks on different sides. Of course that wouldn't work unless I wanted to ride backwards. The freewheel only works one way.

Lord Cromwell

Kimberly where should I deliver the jam.

The single speed has been reborn. Ressurrected from the twisted ashpile that was formed from hard asphalt and Jaguar bumper. Pieces of which are now mounted on my wall of fame. I was able to purchase some used parts and salvage a few. Now I am running with a combination black and red/white. The reconstruction took place in my living room. Forged with screaming infants and toddlers at my back and crabby teanagers with attitude. Paying close attention to detail I gently carressed the parts back into place. She is a thing of beauty.

There is only one problem. Can you see it. I told RVG so he can't have a bite at this one. A jar of homemade peach jam to the first person who correctly identifies the major F-up with my rebuild.

Lord Cromwell

20080126 Harstene Kayak at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail:Share GPS tracks


another great day of paddling. This time Aaron and I got around Hartstene Island in the South Sound. We are running out of Islands in the Puget Sound

Lord Cromwell

20080120Vashon Kayak at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail:Share GPS tracks

This is a pic from our Sunday paddle. Notice the open water as we were heading down the east side of Vashon running with the wind. On the way back up the west side, we fought a strong head wind all the way and pretty much stayed on the shoreline. also notice the line gap on the NW corner. This is were the wave got huge in a nice tidal rip and it must have lost the signal.

What a great weekend. aaron, Hayes and I went to roll practice on Friday night with the guys for the Outdoor adventure center. I forgot my nose plugs but was finally able to get it done. Next time I am going to bring the sea kayak and work with it. Aaron lost his roll and was doing underwater helocopters. And Matt Hayes was a fish going over and over in circles around us.

I you ever have an inclination to improve your kayak skills, the are in the Juanita pool every Friday night from 9:00-10:30. After that I drove down to the Cap Forest FA trailhead and slept in my car. It was a great race. I have never seen so many people there and the tent/fire/food setup was way nicer than it has ever been. It is bordering on becoming a normal race and losing its FA quality.

Because there was so much snow at the top, they excluded the top half of the loop and added a Lost valley loop. Lost valley is a great place with lots of mud. This made the course a bit longer but lopped off a bunch of elevation. still it was a great course and it was a nice change to run Lost valley. I only did one loop becasue my knee is having serious problems. But I did go Mtn bike riding with Matt Hayes and Robin Smith afterwards in the mud and rain.

Needless to say, When I woke up on sunday i could barely move my knee. something is seriously wrong and i am hopefull that when i see the Dr tomorrow, he will fix it. the goos news is that my knee go a good long rest on Sunday as we paddled around Vashon Island. RVG, Aaron, and Frenchie all headed out clockwise with the wind. We portaged and thereby didn't go around Mury isl. But on our way back up to the N side of the Isl, the wind that helped us down punished us unmercifully. 28.5 miles and 6 hours later, we returned to the launch and sat down for some great mex food.

My plan had me riding long and hard today but at this point I am sure that anything short of resting my knee will only cause more problems. so we are just hanging out enjoying the sun.

Lord Cromwell

Some final 2007 pics. When i was out setting the course for the race on the olympic peninsula, I ran into this fellow. Never seen a bear in the wild before. He wasn't too happy to see me and made quick tracks for the brush

More pics from 2007. Just like halloween, we don't merely go to the tree stand, we go to the source. We usually head out to the olympic peninsula for our Christmas tree. The trees are kinda tall, thin and scrauny but it is a good day with the family. My oldest daughter really hates these family events. She tries to just sit by herself in the back of the car with her mp3 player. Next year I am going to lay down the no electronics rule.

Christmas tree

I haven't been posting much lately because my online speed has been unbelievable bad. I assumed that it was the dialup until it just stopped working for the most part. I called the ISP and they said all was fine. I called the phone company because there was this static sound but they said it was fine. I even took the computer to some shady computer shop. I knew before I even called that this was a bad idea. They charged me $80 bucks and told me that all I need to do was pay them $150 and they would remove my Mcaffee and put in a "better" anti virus scanner.

I was at my wits end and pissed. So I called the phone company again a waded through their stupid phone tree. The guy came out again today. He found a short on the poled and fixed it. Go figure. Stupid technology. I like the old days when I could pull the engine in my car take it apart put it back together and it would work better. Now its just money down a rathole.

PS: I looked into cable and DSL. for at least $50 a month i could upgrade but I would lose my email address. And for what, faster email?

Lord Cromwell
The frontier of loss is not visable until it has passed.

Here is a picture from last halloween. Knowing me, most of you would probably assume that I really don't have a life beyond training and racing. But I do. normal people get their pumpkins at the supermarket. We go to the source. This is a great family business in the puyallup valley. Our family only has one rule, whichever one you pick, you have to carry it to the car.