Dog running

To support my triathlon lifestyle, pay off the huge yoga bill I have accumulated at Be Yoga, and push back the yonige (see my May 2006 blog posting), I have been thinking I need to find other sources of income. Since so much of my time (15 hours again last week) is pure training time, my colleagues have encouraged me to generate income from the sport I enjoy so much.

Alas I would have to improve by extraordinary lengths to generate prize money, my casual, instinctive training mindset does not lend itself to coaching, and as far as I know this blog does not achieve the level of traffic that could be monetized.

One thought is to hook my indoor cycle trainer to the electric power grid. Even better is the huge new industry of "dog running" as outlined in yesterday's New York Times article "They Take the Bounce Out of Bowser" In New York the going rate is $20 - $40 per dog , per run and business is growing 20% per year. Apparently pet owners find their dogs are too hyper to deal with, and simply walking the dog does not adequately exhaust the pet. I know from my own vast experience running with dogs how much they love to run and they are fine training partners, especially for tempo runs on trails.

Sudden frenzy of half-ironman training

At the airport lounge in New York I am seized by a burst of inspiration and I register for the Lake Stevens Half-Ironman.  Suddenly the prospect of actually competing in a triathlon to be held only a month later launches me into a week of frenzied of training:

June 9 -
I wake at dawn (jet-lag) and ride through empty streets to the Arakawa River.  Unsurprisingly I find my teammate Keren Miers is also cycling along the river this morning (Keren's training regiment for Japan Ironman is so intense that I presume he is doing intervals on a 24x7 basis).  On this morning he is comfortably cruising along at his ironman race pace.  I desperately struggle to keep up for a 20km stretch.  Keren talks about his ironman race strategy, but I am too winded to say anything in reply.

June 10 -
I wake a little past dawn (still jet-lag) and join Chuck, Mary, Manuel and Gary at Oi-futo.  In the afternoon I do painful and slow 15k run.

June 12 -
I strap my running shoes to the back of my bicycle and head up to a running track alongside the Arakawa bike trail.  I can just feel the disgust and dismay emanating from the other cyclists when they spot my shoes and bike bag clumsily bundled to the awkward-looking bike rack I affixed to my bike seat stem.  Cycling is 95% about looking cool and streamlined on your ultra light-weight bike.  The fact my shoe laces and bag are flapping in the wind is a grievous affront, a slap in the face to everything these more serious cyclists hold so dear.   But it is great training to jump off the bike after 75k and step right onto the 400 meter tartan track for a 5k at 20:00.

June 13 -
The one constant in my life - I run the grueling track intervals with Tokyo's most "serious" international running club.

June 14 -
I make the effort to swim in a "grown-up size" pool after months of lazy, hedonistic swim sessions at the 20-meter Roppongi Hills Spa.  Halfway through the first length of the 50-meter Sendagaya public pool I begin to worry about drowning -- 50 meters is just so far to swim without the comfort and reassurance of touching the side of the pool. I manage to calm down, collect myself, and do 2,400 meters. 

June 15 -
A long day of work combined with a short swim and a medium-length run.

June 16 -
An hour of furious pedaling on my indoor trainer followed by 24-kilometer long run.

So all this adds up to some 19 hours of triathlon training.  The experts do not recommend such a burst of training - any effect at all is more likely to be counter-productive.  But mentally I feel better knowing that I have done all this.

Running in New York

 

Of course the highlight of this week's business trip to New York is the opportunity to run in Central Park where I joined my friends Robin and Subash for a 10k jog with the Reservoir Dogs, a group of friendly and  relatively casual runners.  

It was the club's Recovery Run which was good for me since I was recovering from jet lag (OK, I tend to always be recovering from jet lag - being jet-lagged is my natural state) 

 
The 10 block run from the Waldorf Hotel to the Park up Lexington and Park Avenue at evening rush hour is not a smooth cruise, but a combination of walking combined with brief bursts of running in the bus lane allows me to cover the distance in less than 10 minutes.

The river of runners and cyclists circling the Park was remarkable on this summer evening - a steady stream  of twenty-something Wall Street types, many of them racing past us.  As intense as these runners appeared, Central Park did not seem nearly as high-caliber as Sydney's Harbor, or even Tokyo's Imperial Palace, perhaps because there were enough extremely slow joggers to bring the average speed down. 

Both the number and speed of the runners were even greater this morning when I ran with Jim Weissman at 6:30am.   What really impresses me is the packs of cyclists circumnavigating the Park at high speeds.  Next time I need to bring my bike.
 

5,000 meters - 17:26

Last night I attempt to shift gears and run a fast 5k at the Godo Time Trial.  Back in the halcyon days before my ironman training began, I have rose-tinted memories of  running much faster in shorter distances. 

I had no idea what to expect when I arrived at the track, but fortunately my teammate Juergen knows my condition better than I do, and told me firmly that I should run a 17:30.  I was also fortunate that another teammate, Gordon, was targeting 17:30 and led me through the first 3k.  Thanks to the cheers of other teammates who endured pouring rain to support us, I managed to  pick up the pace on the last 2k and run a respectable and gratifying 17:26.  Here are my rough splits:

3:31 / 3:29 / :3:35 / 3:27 / 3:24