Rides and Revelations

Allen has been reading my blog. How do I know? Shortly after posting last night he texted me. He read my tentative plans for riding, and being a somewhat Jimmyesque opportunist, saw a chance to slip a ride in himself.

His plan was for me to ride down to Mitchell right after school. We would meet, then we would ride back to Bedford, then do the 5:15 run. His wife would collect his bike after the run, so he wouldn't have to do a return ride. Jimmy had his running gear. Whether or not we rode to Parkview to do the exchange or got to Jimmy's office was a matter of timing.

Good thing the Allen/IronBill cooperative is a well-oiled exercise tandem.

I got a late start (ISTEP week - don't get me started on that fiasco), and there were winds from the south/southwest that had the potential to delay me. Allen wanted to be at Spring Mill Vet by 4:20. I left my house at 3:40. Got that? Forty minutes to do 13 miles. If you're paying attention, that means I would have to make 18-19 mph to get it done. My legs were still aching from last night's run. Could I do it?

Yes, I could, with time to spare. The recorded pace was a perfect 20 mph to the meeting place. We left the clinic by 4:17. Pretty dang good if I say so myself.

We were able to take things a bit easier heading back. He had ridden from his house, and finishing this bit would give him 25+ miles. Allen was concerned about THE CUT and THE RUN. He shouldn't have, really. The cut isn't that hard, and our scheduled run wouldn't be either.

Still, though I wanted the miles, I let him decide which way we took back. He opted for the highway, though we didn't ride flat out. We dropped down the incline at a pace the hill gave us, then I settled back to the agreed-upon 20-or-so mph pattern. I watched for his shadow behind me. If it fell back, I backed off. We stayed together and on the highway all the way to Bedford. Traffic wasn't terrible, but I'm sure he noticed it. I do it all the time so I don't think much about it anymore.

We got back fast enough to end the ride at Jimmy's. Since Allen had ridden a different course, he had one more mile than I had. That wouldn't do. As soon as I left him I told him I would do another, which I did.

Here is the bike.

A quick turnaround took us to Parkview track, where we tacked on a 4-mile run (or so). I could still feel my sore calves, but the new shoes helped alleviate the pain I was feeling. There wasn't a whole lot to talk about here, except for a sudden revelation.

Chicks don't like Allen.

I don't know how I could have missed it - the proof is plain to see. Let's rewind a year and add it up:

• A coed at Wellesley College refused to kiss his cheek. I have never seen this happen before.
• Allen's arrogance offended WinD to the point she was compelled to defend her honor at Cicero.
• Allen's singing inflamed the ire of Mary Whatserface during the Crane ride. 
• Huck's girl doesn't even know he exists, apparently.
• And now, Robin found the need to kick his butt in a swim-off during last night's swim. 

The evidence is irrefutable. There's something about him that triggers a reaction, no doubt about it. I suppose there'd be little to note if that was all there was to it, but those legs of his have been drawing so much attention... It's actually inspired me to pen a new American novel. I'm thinking, "Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Thighs". Kinda has a ring to it, eh? 

Okay, so I've been hard on Allen. I suppose I should throw him a bone, so here it is...

Jimmy talked about going to the track meet in Mitchell after our run tonight. I needed to be home when Leisa and Erin got there, but I figured I could just squeeze it in. I threw on my shorts over my running compression shorts and scooted out. 

I got there and had a great time seeing my girls run and talking with their parents. I even ran into an old high school chum. To top it off, I talked to Jo Scott and waved to the girls' bus as it pulled out. I climbed into the car to leave. That's when I noticed how loose my pants felt.

That's right, my fly was wide open. I basically flashed every single person I talked to all the time I was there. Lovely. Now that was a revelation...

Ominous Clouds Gather

It could be I'm a Nervous Nellie. It could be there is nothing to worry about. For years I've warned Jimmy I might not be good for sub-1:30 at Indy. I've always meant it, but never so much as now. Often I surprise myself with how easily the run goes. Maybe it will happen again.

But tell me, when the crows start gathering over me while I run, should I worry? Getting all Biblical, when the birds of the air gather, disaster is close behind. Seemed like a lot of cawing tonight during my run.

My thought, despite the significantly warmer temperature, was to go ahead and start out at a smart clip. I had my Garmin and heart rate monitor on, so I wanted to see what level I would achieve for a 3-mile effort. My splits were 7:10, 6:55, 6:59, nothing too tough. How did the heart handle it?

Check it for yourself.

This is not good news. The heart rate was way too high for that pace. It is clearly not a rate I could have sustained for 10 miles, much less 13.1. To be fair to myself, I rode 80 miles yesterday, and perhaps that had me a bit less than recovered. I'd even say it's likely true. But man, this sure wasn't a confidence booster.

I guess I could also point out that 3rd mile was going uphill, and that would cause a spike. Good news there is Indy doesn't have a hill like that. I suppose that makes me feel a little better.

Another point I could make is the course is long, given I did two turns around Hillcrest. That added time no matter how you slice it. I also added to the end to get to 5 miles even.

In the end there are the inescapables - I am woefully out of running shape. I can't afford another experiment like tonight, I'll have to taper and hope for the best. Even if it's hopeless.

4 miles tomorrow night. I will ride as well. All easy. 

Desperation 80

In a nutshell; Indy Mini is next week. I'll have to rest at the end of the week if I'm going to have any shot at hitting Jimmy's goal, even for only 10 miles. I don't want to sacrifice my cycling at this point for a pointless race, so I'm trying to get in as much biking on the front end of the week as possible.

I have a track meet after school tomorrow I have to supervise. I'll also have to run. That's the evening, no getting around it. Tuesday is another run I need to hit. I could get a short ride before or after, but the weather is supposed to change for the worse by then too. Wednesday isn't looking a whole lot better. Thursday is possible, but that cuts into the rest.

You see the point. Whatever I could get done today needed to get done. Only one problem though... lousy weather. It rained all night and into the morning. It really wasn't safe to go out as early as I would have liked. I opted to wait until noon. That was my cutoff time, because I was shooting for 80 miles.

This was already a push. 80 is 25 more than I've gone this season, a pretty big jump. Add to that wet roads and the threat of rain, cool temperatures... part of me was screaming, "Rent some tapes, stay inside!", but I couldn't. No matter what, this one had to be an outdoor ride.

I hit the likely suspects for company. Galloway, in classic Galloway style, gave me the thumbs down after the morning run. I love that about him - no quibbling, a straight yes or no. John T. begged off. Roy didn't understand the text that suggested folks meet me at Huck's and said he couldn't make the noon starting time, but I didn't have time to explain. Only Allen failed to answer, and I wasn't waiting around.

My timetable was to be at Huck's by 1:15. Leaving at noon, this was shaving it close. It's actually almost 22 miles from my house, and with a building wind from the southwest I had to fight to get there on time, though I made it. No one was there. I decided to stop and check my messages. Allen had hit me. We exchanged messages, and once the minor misunderstandings were resolved, he agreed to meet me in Livonia.

I got there first. I rode through, turned around and started back to town, and spotted the car pulling into the church. Oddly, there were two people climbing out of the car. At first I thought James must have joined Allen, but as I got closer, I saw it was Lester.

Allen told me Lester had no shoes this time, so he'd take it easy, maybe going only 10 miles. Then Allen looked for his shoes. They weren't in the car. So now both Burrises had to go in street shoes. We wound up doing a very easy 10 miles on Saltillo Road, whereupon we parted company.

Now I thought I'd have a very rough time of it for the next 15 miles or so. I had to go back into a headwind, sorta. Turned out it didn't hurt me too bad, in fact, I had some of the most consistent speed I maintained all day. However, by the time I turned north on the Amish Super 2 I was pretty tired. I could still maintain speed, but I was 60 in and it wasn't taking much to hurt my legs.

Not much to tell after that. I doubled back the course, added a couple of miles back in town, and finished with the 80 I sought.

You can see the data here.

Gonna try for 70 more this week, likely in two more rides. I can't say for sure what days those will be.

A double with trouble

You haven't lost your mind; I am really trying to make an effort to post more here. It's been some crazy busy, and I let it go for a while.

OOOH! Watching UFC prelims, and the next fight is chicks. Chick fight! This should be good.

Back to the post...

The Louisville Mini was today. The runners seem to have had a good day. Two in particular, Rand and Scott did very well. Rand ran 1:33:27, which is quite possibly a PR. Scott ran 1:43:04, a great first time. It was nearly a perfect day to race. Great, great races.

Indy is only a week away, so our run today was shorter. We did 8 miles, starting a little earlier. This worked out well. Allen, John T. and I started our planned ride a bit quicker, and it was a great one. Lighthouse to Huck's and back, with a tailwind home. I took the opportunity to test my Garmins side-by-side. They gave nearly identical results, as I suppose should be expected.

I need to run early and get ride on the bike tomorrow. I'm hoping for a long ride, 60-80 miles in total. That would help me buy time to rest at the end of the week. I will try to weave interested parties into the mix as the ride proceeds. 

Edge 500 - The Edge of Truth?

I made a virtually Jimmy-esque bargain on a slightly used/highly loved Garmin Edge 500 cycling GPS over the weekend. I didn't steal it from the guy - he was slobbering, I just wiped his chin - and we both left the deal feeling we got the best of it. Win/win.

Garmins are fairly simple to set up and run, which is fortunate as this one did not include English instructions. Once again, my interest in history bailed me out. How? It's because I love history I studied German. The Garmin had German instructions, ergo I had usable directions. Sure, I could download English, but this was funner. Win/win/win.

The Edge was easily mounted to my favorite steed, "The Truth" (my black-and-white Kestrel Airfoil). I'd already put a ride on it Monday afternoon, the day I received it, and noted a few changes I wanted to make to the setup. In particular I wanted to have the ability to stop time when the bike stopped for a break. That was easily corrected by setting autopause to kick in when the speed dropped below 2.5 mph. Why not zero? Because mobile GPS's are not precise instruments, and it's possible a lower setting might have detected satellite searches as movement. By setting a slow speed below a reasonable riding speed, I overcorrected for a possible problem. Worked like a charm. Win/win/win/win.

There are 5 possible screens for use, which you cycle through using the Enter button. Each screen is customizable from approximately 20-30 options. Each screen can display up to 5 options. Pretty neat! I set up 4 of them with a variety of purposes, including heart rate, speed, time, distance, grade, calories... the list goes on. Win/win/win/win/win.

The only problem I had was getting the Edge 500 to sync up with my Garmin software on my computer. It just wouldn't. I already have the software set up for my 910, so it should have been a snap. I wound up having to manually search through my Garmin directory for the particular file to upload to Garmin Connect and Beginner Triathlete. This is well beyond the capabilities of the average user. Major loser.

I have been running the GPS and bike computer side-by-side. The lag on the GPS is slightly longer, and of course the distance always winds up shorter, but in truth no two computers ever display exactly the same either. I'm sure the bike computer is far more accurate in instantaneous speed change, but who's to say which is more accurate on total distance - one is dependent on radio connection, the other on satellite. Also, the bike computer's accuracy largely depends on being successfully calibrated. I figure the difference is insignificant so I won't sweat it.

The one final thing I think I want to set is mile split alerts. It's nice to see how speed varies over a course, and to match that speed with terrain changes. That's for next time.

Forty-two miles tonight with a stiff WNW wind, 18 mph average. Not an easy ride, but not too hard either. Looking to ride again on Saturday. 

Rides and stuff

The riding season is ramping up even as the running racing season peaks with the upcoming Louisville and Indy minis. The winter hasn't been nearly as pleasant as last year, and it's been awfully hard to get in steady training on the bike - other than to spin, which is not as much fun. For this reason, when the opportunity presents itself to ride outside, we take it.

My chief cohort in cycling has been Allen, though a close 2nd and 3rd would have to be Dan and Galloway. John T. has tossed in a couple as well. Oh, and Roy! Yup, I guess there have been a few of us regulars that are trying to get a jump on the season.

Over the last few weeks we've been able to make something happen on the weekends. Saturday and Sunday afternoons have featured rides between 30-55 miles. These aren't big rides by common standards, but considering the weather we've had, it's good. Often temperatures have been in the lower to mid-50's, which though not impossible can be uncomfortable if the conditions aren't right. Windy, cloudy, and damp makes this temperature range hard to take.

That's where Allen has been so great. He's the first to call when the conditions are marginal. There have been times when I wavered between spinning and riding, and his call made the difference. It's nice to have reliable training partners.

Just this past Monday four of us went out - Allen, Galloway, Dan, and I. We started from Lighthouse and headed to Huck's, where Galloway and Allen turned back. Dan and I wanted more miles, so we continued to the county line.

The way out was mostly uneventful - it was a beautiful day, warm and sunny with virtually no wind. In other words, a perfect riding day. Except for the bugs. Galloway learned this the hard way, when, on the way back from Huck's, a bee struck and stung his lower lip. After an hour or so his "Elephant Man" Halloween mask was ready to go.

The other event that transpired came in two parts - one before the split, one after. The first part featured not one but two riders going off-road. Galloway did it first, on the "Amish Super-2" as he likes to call it. I'd like to give you a cause, but there really was none. It's as if he got tired of being on the road and just left. He pulled it back on though, no harm done. Allen, ever the Galloway wannabe, soon followed, again for no reason, and pulled it back on the road. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, as they say.

After the split, it happened again - Allen again left the road on the Amish Super-2, this time taking the stunt to new heights of daring-do. Rather than reporting, let's hear it from participants in the act.

IronBill(IB): So, Allen decided to take the show OFF the road on the way back, eh?

Allen's Calves(AC): I know, right?! We were like, just cruising along, like, talking and stuff, and he like goes all spazoid.

IB: Spazoid?

AC: (rolls eyes) You know, like freakin' out. Omigosh, and did you hear that scream?

IB: Don't tell me!

AC: Sissyest. Scream. Ever.

IB: That's a pretty high bar. Were you there in the infamous "Corn Incident" last fall?

AC: Are you kidding? We were all like, "stop flailing us around in all directions", and like, "put us back on the pedals" and stuff. We were flopping around on top of that bike like a bronco buster. All the time he's screaming like a girl scout in a haunted house.

IB: This was worse than the Corn Incident?

AC: Absolutely. For one thing, he was like headed for these like huge rocks. Then we were all like in the air, and time like, slowed down. That's when we saw it.

IB: It?

AC: Ya. We looked up then, and we like saw why we were off the road.

IB: Why?

AC: He was staring at us. Again. That same like, creeper stare. Like that creepy guy in math class that keeps looking at you and smiling that creepy, weird smile, but like never talks to you.

IB: Let me get this straight - you're saying you went off the road because Allen turned his head around to stare at you guys?

AC: Duh! That's what we're saying! (sighs, rolls eyes) Look, we know we look all, like, fabulous and stuff. We get it. But no need to get all creepy and stuff about it.

IB: Okay, okay... but what about a scream? Allen's scream is famous. Did you hear one?

AC: Yes and no. Yes, once he like realized we were going off-road, he started to let out a scream. But it stopped, only it didn't stop. We could see his Adam's apple bouncing up and down, so were all like, "That's REALLY weird", but no sound came out. It must have been really, really high, where maybe like, only dogs could hear?

IB: Or maybe Mariah Carey or Whitney Houston? Okay, seriously, so you guys walked away from it, I see.

AC: Yes, somehow we did. We're that good. We were all like, "Hah! We just saved your BUTT!", but you know what? That dumb butt didn't even thank us!

DE: Did someone say, "Butt"?!

Tempos and stuff

Why waste time?

Athlete	Mile 1	Mile 2	Mile 3	Mile 4	Mile 5	Mile 6	Total	Avg
Aaron R.	6:13:00	6:27:00	6:31:00	6:22:00	6:17:00	6:40:00	38:30:00	6:25:00
Bill	6:51:00	6:50:00	6:53:00	6:44:00	6:46:00		34:04:00	6:48:48
Jimmy	6:52:00	6:49:00	6:53:00	6:44:00	6:46:00		34:04:00	6:48:48
Scott	6:52:00	6:49:00	6:53:00				20:34:00	6:51:20
Tim G.	6:52:00	6:53:00	7:10:00	6:53:00			27:48:00	6:57:00

Jimmy (whom I hate) popped it on me this week (finally) that he planned to race Indy. Race, as in going for a sub-1:30 time. This had been denied over and over, and foolishly I bought it, though every fiber of my being knew it to be a lie. For that, I have only myself to blame. I've known him for over 20 years, I have no excuse.

It wouldn't be a problem ordinarily. What is not ordinary this year is my poor running fitness. I had made the choice to pare down my running to try to get healthy before resuming training. So much for that.

Of the options for this Tuesday's workout provided by the nameless one I hate, the 5-mile at 6:52 appealed to me most. It had distance at pace, and the way I saw it, answered two questions at once. Could I run far, and could I run that pace? Might as well find out.

It went surprisingly well. We struggled to hold the pace down, which is a good sign. I feel confident I could have doubled the distance tonight and kept the pace overall. Beyond that, I can't say, but does it matter? I figure if we get to 10 miles before I collapse, at least I will have helped him that far. Beyond that, well, he's on his own.

Scott stayed with us for 3. Jimmy tried to work his magic and get him to go farther with us, but he played that card too early. Just after the 2-mile mark he started talking about going on after 3. It was way to early for Scott to wrap his mind around it, and the opportunity was blown. An experienced runner is already lying to himself, saying he will stop, knowing he will go on. It's a silly mental game we all play. If you run enough, you know what I'm talking about. Scott isn't there yet, but soon will be. Jimmy misjudged.

Next time he waited a bit longer to drop the line - on me. As we were in the final 1/10th straight for the 5th (and agreed upon final mile) he started saying, "okay, when we hit the end of the mile, let's go on for another half."

"What? Are you playing me? Look, if you want to run 6, just say so!" I said sharply. Toy with me, will you?! Truth is, I was already considering 6. I didn't let him know that though. Remember, I hate him.

We climbed Industrial one final time. I was pretty concerned about it, because we were over 8 miles of running by this point, the place where my back can really start to hurt. Pressing up the hill would definitely aggravate it. Thankfully it was okay, if a little slow. We hit the half and stopped. I was soooo close to going on, but didn't. Better safe than sorry.

Galloway had lost us in the second mile, but manned up and went 4. Aaron did 6 miles at a good average pace, even if his splits were all over the place. I must admit, listening to him talk about his run afterwards reminded me that the two of us interpret our results very differently. More than one way to do things, I suppose.

I know Danny G. and Chris both ran tonight, and Chris in particular ran very well from what I could tell. I didn't get splits from either, as we were still running when they finished.

We're coming down to the wire now, with less than 3 weeks until the race. Guess I'd better get my miles up...

Special Interview

I've been holding this piece of special interest news for a while, and with the advent of true riding season I felt it was time to get it out there.

Over the last few weeks, stalwart riders have been making the effort to get out there and ply their fortunes on the roads of Amish country. While it may be true the numbers were low, the quality of the attending riders was nonetheless high. The training affects were immediately noticed. Most notably, athletic fortunes changed as Allen B’s calves suddenly acquired sentience.

Your author wasted no time garnering an interview. The following is a transcript of the taped conversation.

IronBill(IB): So… as the newest member of this riding community, how does it feel to get out there and hit the roads this spring?

Allen’s Calves(AC): I tell ya, it’s just great. Getting outside I mean… we mean… well, you know what I/we mean. What you may not know is our training actually started indoors.

IB: Oh?

AC: Yes. Allen spent at least 30 minutes a day flexing in front of a mirror, admiring himself. In fact, that’s where we awoke. Our first memory was of him turned away from the mirror, staring over his shoulder, admiring us. It was creepy. We’re not sure how we feel about him right now, so we try to keep turned away from him when possible.

IB: I suppose that would be a tough situation. Has it impacted your performance?

AC: Not at all. We’re pros, you know, and we have a job to do. We get the call to stomp on it, we stomp. And that call comes more and more often nowadays.

IB: It seems Allen isn’t the only one who’s noticed you lately.

AC: You’re right. Brett S. has been sending us love letters since we shared a ride. They say things like, “I can’t believe how big you’ve grown”, or “I can’t take my eyes off of you.”  As impossible as it sounds, that was even creepier than Allen. We had to take out a restraining order, so it may be a while before Brett S. rides with us again.

IB: Ugh.

AC: Tell me ‘bout it. It’s like that everywhere we go, though not often that bad.

Miller’s Abs(MA): Hah! You think YOU have it bad? Every chick in town is in love with us!

AC: We would LOVE it if every chick in town loved us. Heck, we would be happy if only one chick in Orleans loved us. But noOOOOooooo. Noooo, she doesn’t even know we exist. It was a crushing realization. We won’t go into it, but suffice to say she’s into younger calves. Or at least taller, darker ones.

Denny’s Eyes(DE): Did someone say “chicks”?!

AC: Oh, for the love of compression socks, can’t you guys control yourselves?

DE: Oh, excuse US! Is it wrong to admire fitness? Is it wrong to admire beauty? Anyway, that photo was misinterpreted.

IB: Uh-huh…

AC: Anyway, Huck’s used to be one of our favorite stops. No more. Once we learned our fan base was much smaller than we’d thought, well, all thoughts of a cool, refreshing drink melted away. We’d rather ride on by. Maybe the Amish chicks will dig us.

DE: Did someone say “chicks”?!

<end tape>

'Nuther night, 'nuther tempo

We had a nice crowd tonight! Ten runners left Parkview track, ten returned, though not all did the tempo. S'Ok, it's your run too! The results of those participating weren't bad. Let's look.

Athlete	Mile 1	Mile 2	Mile 3	Total	Avg
Aaron	5:59:00	6:04:00	6:08:00	18:11:00	6:03:40
Josh A.	6:19:00	6:10:00	6:18:00	18:47:00	6:15:40
Scott	6:49:00	6:48:00	6:29:00	20:06:00	6:42:00
Bill	6:51:00	6:43:00	6:30:00	20:04:00	6:41:20
Jimmy	6:51:00	6:43:00	6:39:00	20:13:00	6:44:20
Tim G.	6:50:00	6:43:00	6:50:00	20:23:00	6:47:40
Chris S.	7:08:00	7:22:00	7:03:00	21:33:00	7:11:00
Dan G.	7:29:00	7:53:00	8:02:00	23:24:00	7:48:00
Kathy	7:42:00	7:28:00	7:26:00	22:36:00	7:32:00
Sandy	8:15:00	8:45:00	8:43:00	25:43:00	8:34:20

The short synopsis: Aaron and Josh were in another zip code, so we didn't have a lot of contact or discussion. Clearly they both ran well, though I'm guessing Aaron wasn't pleased with his pace since he went three. He generally pushes for the 6:00-6:05 range, and the third mile was outside that range. Don't be too hard on him though... he recently learned he is going to be a papa. Congrats!

Josh had a very solid run. The middle split was a bit fast, but it didn't cost him on the the third. Very nicely done, especially with the uphill final mile.

Kathy put a ring in Sandy's nose and drug her through the run. It was hilarious to see Kathy up there, 5 yards ahead of Sandy jabbering away. No way Sandy could hear her. It didn't matter, it was enough to keep Sandy going, and she did a great job.

Dan got ahead of his pace a bit early and paid later, but it wasn't nearly as severe as he first made it sound. Downhill first mile, good second mile, slipped a bit on the last uphill. Really not that bad. Overall time was pretty good, considering.

Chris tried for the 7-minute time again, and slipped a bit in the middle. However... that Garmin won't read accurately for the second mile, giving a long mile (and therefore a short third mile). SO... realistically we're talking about a pretty even run. I'm guessing the second mile was slightly slow and the third mile came back to pace. Chris has enough experience now I think he can control the pace for that long.

Now we come to Jimmy, Galloway, Scott, and me... Jimmy was in charge of the run. He wanted 6:52 pace, and for the first mile it was nearly perfect at 6:51. We headed into the second mile pretty smoothly. I warned Scott that this course requires a bit of pressure right at the start of the second mile (because of the incline), then smooth back out at the top, finally gliding downhill to the end of the mile. He did the first two steps alright, but as we headed downhill on Washington Avenue, Scott picked it up. That would have been fine, in fact I kind of thought it might happen since we were running a slower pace than last week. The trouble was Jimmy kept pace. He finally said something as we rounded the circle, Scott slowed, but the damage was done.

Our second mile was 6:43, a lot better than it would have been if we hadn't slowed, but faster than the plan. We (Galloway, Jimmy, and I) continued to encourage Scott to extend away if he felt able. Over the next half mile we took turns talking about where to make a move, how to do it, the purpose, etc. The plan I tried to sell was for Scott to start the move as soon as he felt recovered on the flat before the final drop. Runners are weakest as they top a hill, so if your conditioning is good and you can recover fast, that's when you want to move.

As we started the downhill I made one more plea for Scott to start his move. Then Galloway offered his advice: wait for the last 50 yards and out kick us. That was good advice of course, because Galloway correctly understands that Scott has a much better kick than any of us. Since a lot of my strategy was designed to defeat a kicker, I decided to make my point - right then.

I eased away. Jimmy and Galloway undoubtedly knew what I was up to, and I can't be sure if they sent Scott after me or he did it on his own, but he did follow. Good. I used the downhill to press harder and harder, not all at once, I just let the pressure build. I didn't want to be flat-out before the start of the hill. I simply wanted the pain to build and doubt to creep in.

As the course turned up for the final time, Scott was immediately to my right and slightly behind. I was watching his shadow cast by the setting sun; it reliably gave me his position at all times. If he moved to draw up to me, I ran a little harder, watched for the shadow to fall back a bit, and carried on. He kept making micro-pushes at me, and every time I did just enough to discourage the move. It wasn't like I had a lot of gas - I was getting close to my limit too. However, the plan was to project as much strength as possible. Above all, I didn't want him to draw even. If he did, mentally he would have conquered me and would have easily sprinted past. By keeping him slightly behind, even though he ran the exact same mile pace I ran for the whole mile, I discouraged a kick I couldn't hope to cover.

Now I hope this doesn't read like a great big pat on the back for me - it's not my point. Racing isn't just about the physical training, it's also a chess match. It's situational, and you have to be able to think and adapt as conditions change. If your race focus isn't there you stand the risk of losing to inferior athletes. Tonight I was the inferior athlete who simply has more racing experience I was able to exploit.

I think one of the truisms of sport is one of the best ways to beat an opponent is to get them to play the game the way you want to play. If you can do that, you can play to your own strengths and nullify theirs. In tonight's example, when Galloway made his observation, I had a snap decision to make. With half a mile to go, I had precious little time left to break Scott's will to sprint. It was truly a "now-or-never" moment, which I took. This time it worked out. Scott, if he reads this, will know better next time, and will realize that no matter what I do, he can still out kick me in the end. It may hurt, but if he decides to go, there isn't a darn thing I can do about it. His only task is to be there when the time comes to kick.

I'm really up about this group we have this year. The four newcomers (Scott, Chris, Dan, and Sandy) have all grown immeasurably during this cycle, and will all make great racers. I see a time in the not-too-distant future when Chris and Scott won't be able to train with us any more -we'll be too slow for them. I think big time drops are on the way for all of them, way more than they can imagine. It'll be fun to watch.