Author: davecriswell

The Pumpkinman is tomorrow and I’m feeling really good. I calculated out what I think my time will be – around 1:20. If I can stick to that, based on last year’s times, I should finish pretty high up in my age group and even on the overall.

The former hurricane Hanna is charging up the coast but it looks like the race will be happen before it moves in. Temps look like they’ll be in the upper 60’s to low 70’s and cloudy – should be perfect for racing. It’s a club race for GSTC so there should be a good contingency there.

I watched a great movie last night called Running on the Sun about the Badwater 135. A 135-mile running race from Badwater in the middle of the California desert up to Mount Whitney (Amy has already told me there is absolutely no way I’m doing this race!).

There are plenty of inspirational stories, sad stories and stories that make you say WTF! But I laughed outloud at the quote below. It was said by Ephraim Romesberg, 68, at the 65 mile mark of the race.

“When I start these events with very loft goals, like I think I’m going to do something special and after a point of body deterioration the goals get evaluated down. I always get to a point, which is basically where I am now, where the best I can hope for is to avoid throwing up on my shoes”

This is a great documentary that I would recommend to any endurance athlete.

I’ve been focusing so much on the Pumpkinman race coming September 6th that I haven’t thought too much about the fact that I’m signed up for Ironman which takes place in 11 months!

I was checking out the Lake Placid website and figured I’d look up my name in the participant section. I’m not sure why it surprised me as much as it did, but there it is!

Think it is too early to count down?

I had a great weekend. Amy and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary and used a generous gift to go to Bar Harbor for the weekend. After the horrible weather we’ve had this summer, we weren’t sure what to expect but it turned out to be beautiful. Dry, sunny, low humidity and a beautiful resort.

We went up on Friday and that morning I did a swim at the outdoor pool in Dover. We wanted to get an early start so I got to the pool for their opening at 6AM. The outside temp was in the 50’s and it was a clear morning. It made for a great sunrise with a mist on the water while I was getting my swim workout in.

Saturday morning I took advantage of the carriage roads in Acadia National Park and did an 11 mile run on them. It was very nice to run on crushed gravel all morning with no cars and only cyclists and runners. I felt great afterwards. Amy and I actually went out for about 1 1/2 hours on the mountain bikes later that morning.

Sunday I had a 1 1/2 hour bike on the training schedule. Again, I took advantage of the carriage roads and ended up staying out for 2 1/2 hours (which included probably about a 1/2 hour of picture taking and stopping to check out the views).

I actually laid by the pool for a couple of afternoons also, which I normally do not like to do, I get too restless. But I think with all of the training I ended up doing, it was good for my body to just take it easy.

Another benefit….I was able to enjoy a lot of great food without having to worry about the caloric intake!

It’s been a good but challenging week of training. I was hiking this weekend up and around Mt. Cardigan (pictures to follow soon) and I started off the week already sore from the terrain. It was more challenging than I was expecting. Sleeping in a tent didn’t help either.

I’ve had to rearrange the week’s training because my 15th wedding anniversary is next weekend and I figure Amy wouldn’t want me training all weekend while we are celebrating.

So last night I had to get in both a swim and a run, but it’s getting dark pretty close to 8. So, I had Amy drop me off at Masters and swam from 6:30 to 7:30, then got on my running shoes and reflective vest and started the 7 mile run home. About 1/2 way into it I turned off of the main roads onto back country roads, with no street lighting, and no day light. Luckily I knew the roadsd and could tell roughly where I was but it was a little strange running in complete darkness, since I didn’t bring a headlamp or any other lighting.

The upside – the temps were in the 60’s, the air was crisp, dry and perfect for running. I’ll have to plan a little better next time and make sure I have some lighting.