Wednesday, August 27

I have a cunning plan... to PowerCrank up my training


So I decided it would be a good idea to replace one of my week's 6-mile runs with something with less impact.

Although I do most of my training on trails, they have been almost as hard as tarmac throughout the summer, and for the fist time ever I've been getting the odd twinge in my knees.

The challenge was that I'm no Michael Phelps, so I won't be going anywhere near a pool. A nicely cushioned treadmill? I hate the damn things. So I thought I might as well dig out my bike and hit the roads...but, wait, that's out too. I started life as a bike-rider and I have to stay away from it otherwise the next thing you know I have a new set of streamlined clothes, shoes, pedals and a new bike and I'm fantasising about riding the Tour de France aged 60. Obsession that way lies. Most of the other things I considered -- from in-line skating to mad push scootering -- are all on Ric's banned list: activities that no runner should do for fear of serious injury.

That's where triathletes come in. These guys! High-tech and early-adopters. And one of the things there's a big buzz about in the triathlon world is PowerCranks.

PowerCranks appeal to the gadget geek and sports scientist in me :)

Simply put, they are cranks that you attach to your bike - but they are independent cranks. That's right, when you push down on one pedal the other pedal does NOT come up -- you have to actively lift it.

Pro cyclists such as Giro d'Italia winner Ivan Basso and American Tour de France hero and Beijing Olympian George Hincapie have adopted PowerCranks for training; the reason being that it is not only the fastest way to get that smooth and powerful elite rhythm, but that PowerCranking forces you to use the hamstrings and hip flexors more effectively -- and they strengthen. The results are documented increases (eventually) in power and VO2 max.

So what's a pair of bicycle cranks got to do with running? Just this. What I spotted was that loads of the triathletes who had used PowerCranks to improve their riding were also reporting alarming improvements in their running. 10k times were falling; form and gait were smoothing out.

The people at PowerCranks don't have many runners doing this type of cross-training yet, but those they do are impressed. Likewise, I was impressed by the rationale behind them, and also by the testimonial and video of masters sprinter and coach Aaron Thigpen, who says on the site, "4 months after starting with the PowerCranks I set a new age group record for 38-year-olds for the 100m dash, running it in 10.34. This time was 0.2 seconds faster than the record that had stood for 23 years."

You'll notice words like "eventually" and "4 months" in there. This is not just because PowerCranks are no quick fix, but also because they are such hard work when you first start to use them that they have reportedly humbled many an elite cyclist who has been tempted to show off at an expo. So forget jumping in and doing an hour on 'em; it's more like 30 seconds to start with!

After doing my due diligence, I asked the guys at PowerCranks if they'd give me a set to test. They agreed, so I'm now hunting for a Lemond Revmaster to fit them to, and I'll be cranking it up in the garage any day now.

It's an experiment that could end in tears (as in eyes and as in muscles), or it could be a solution with a built in bonus for my impact-lessening project. Watch this space -- and meanwhile this video of a runner talking about how PCs worked for him.

Wednesday, August 20

Chaos reigns at the not-so-Peachy 5-miler


Race 12 in the Colorado Runner Racing Series was a shambles from start to finish. Actually, from before the start to well after the finish.

The question we were all asking each other at the finish was not "How did you do?" but "How far did you run?" as a combination of inadequate course marking and insufficient marshals who knew where the course went led to almost all of the runners going off course.

The leaders, following the lead bike, ran the full 5 miles. My group ran 4.2; another bunch ran 4.5. Forget the times; the finishing order became a question of discussion, honesty and give and take. One poor young lad thought he had won his age group until he was asked a question about the feeding station; he couldn't answer it because he never got to it, so had to hand over his award -- a punnet of peaches,

OK, so the Peach Fest 5 Mile in Palisade, way out west near Grand Junction, is a nice laid-back local race, but just wasn't up to scratch for a Series event. We all like to have fun and not take ourselves too seriously, but this fiasco showed a complete lack of respect for runners involved in the chase for points. Many of the leading runners had invested in a round-trip of 400-500 miles, half of it in atrocious weather, plus the cost of an overnight stay.

I have no idea what the final "results" are going to reveal. But as far as we could tell working things out between us, all the age-group leaders -- including me -- managed to hold our positions. So from that point of view, the effort was worth it. And it was an effort. I was at the Wedding of the Year the night before, as my favourite training partner, national champion and world's double medalist Patty Murray married superfast 50-plusser Dave Albo. After the weddding I grabbed a couple of hours sleep and left the house at 2.45am for a horrendous 250-mile drive in torrential rain and, later, hailstones and snow on the high passes, arriving at the race at 7.30am for an 8am start.

I didn't need a warm-up so much as de-kinking after driving for so long and so hard. However, I needn't have bothered being quite so cavalier with the speed limits, trying to make up time after the bad weather delays, as the race was to start 20 minutes late. That was lucky for another reason, as there were only 2 (two) portaloos provided.

We were told the race was delayed because some trees had fallen across the course and a new route was being worked out. Hmm, we thought, must be mighty big trees to necessitate re-working and re-measuring the course. Whatever. Eventually we were dispatched to the far corner of the school playing field where there was no call to the start line -- well, that would have been difficult, as there was no start line -- no "set" or "go!", just a vague waving of a watch while we all milled about. Guys at the back were forced to walk while the field gradually realised we had started and began to point itself in the right direction.

Off we went on a brief tour of the neighbourhood, then onto a paved trail and then -- Big Surprise! -- we found ourselves in a cross-country race. I mean the real thing, with single rabbit-track like paths, bushes and clumpy grass underfoot, logs to jump, trees to duck under, the whole bit. Now bear in mind we'd been given no course description, no route map, no nothing. The course WAS marked with little yellow flags, but where to go and especially where to turn was not clear at all. And there was no one out there to put us right. We all just followed the runner in front - and it didn't work.

The event website did refer to "exciting single-track", but told us "The expansion of Palisade’s Riverbend Park presented a perfect opportunity to hold the event where it is 95% trail or path running and virtually traffic free." Well OK. But really this is an out-and-out cross-country course with a mile or so of paved road connecting the parkland to the 400m or so thick grass start and finish stretch... and mileage may vary.

As it happens, the course is a little gem and I would love to run the whole thing some day. But that's unlikely; I won't be back. The mood among the other old guys chasing Colorado Runner Racing Series points was "Please don't have this in the Series next year!"

The race organizer/announcer ensured us at the prize presentation, "Anyone who went off course -- it wasn't your fault!" Well he got that right. The semi-official explanation for part of the debacle was that police had removed some kind of gate/barrier that had been set up to make the route way clearer. I don't know. Once out on the country the route was complex; what it needed was more human beings to show us the way.

So, what I can tell you is that amid the chaos some familiar names emerged as division winners -- at least unofficially, allegedly, and just for now.... among them Steve Folkerts of Fort Collins (a 600-mile round-trip away) who we KNOW ran the full course at something like 5:40 pace, which was amazing. He is now well clear at the top of the Series open men. Tim Jones from Loveland (500 miles) again scored over local for the day Erik Packard to stay ahead as overall master.

In the 50-54 table John Victoria (500 miles) clawed back another ten points from current leader Robert Kessler (Highlands Ranch, 500 miles), and in the 55-59 race third-placed overall Devin Croft beat me and Heath Hibberd, so we THINK the standings remain about the same. Stephen Berger (Littleton, 500 miles) and Dwight Cornwell from Fort Collins (600 miles) finished in that order, leaving Dwight still well clear at the top.

The redoubtable Connie Ahrnsbark from Lakewood (450 miles) won the entire 60-69 age group at age 68 and has opened a useful gap at the top of the women's 60+ division.

These are just the results I managed to write down as they were announced; not surprisingly, there were no "official" results printed out and pinned up... so all these may change.

On the race website there's no mention of where the results will be available, so the best bet is to check on the Colorado Runner site here, where all the results and latest points tables get put up.

* Next up: the Aetner Park to Park 10-miler, on Labor Day, September 1. Glory be, it's in Denver!! Just 45 minutes down the road.

'Flow like water': suffering downhill in the Evergreen 10k


"I thought you weren't running this", said John Victoria at the start line of the Evergreen Town Race. Hm, well if I'd known just how hard it was going to be, maybe I'd have stood by my original decision... so a word of explanation...



first, I had this race down as a "gimmick" event. I apologise; it isn't. Yes it is a downhill 10k, but it's not one of those super-fast courses that will give you a PR that will mock you for ever more, because it's at 8,000 feet. Not only Derek Griffiths, publisher of Colorado Runner, told me this and urged a re-think, but then Dwight and Em both told me that the downhill was not so fierce that it would wreck my legs.

The final straw was when I checked the Colorado Runner Racing Series points and realized my fellow 55-year-old Heath Hibberd has pulled out a superb series of wins and is now a strong contender to win the series. So I had to turn out :)

Evergreen was the 11th race of the Series, which started in January; there are five races to go.

So, does the altitude offset the downhill gain? Oh yes. Stir in 90-95 degree heat and this race became a desperate battle to keep going.

The first mile is VERY downhill, so comparisons are a little misleading, but I covered that one in 5:53; the last mile, with the heat and the distance taking its toll, took me 6:48.

Yes, distance. Don't laugh you marathoners, but I have been training for a mile and 5k. At the 5k point it took a big mental adjustment to accept I had the same distance to go!

It didn't help that around that point we caught the 5k race tail-enders, by then reduced to a walk. Then ahead of me, I watched women's masters contender Sheila Geere take a walk break, get going again, and then stop for good as the heat got to her. Big problem: my brain latched on to her example and started in on me, whining, that it would be OK to walk, or even to stop, the heat man, the heat....

You know how you can keep some delusions alive your whole life? Like "I could have ridden the Tour de France...blah blah"? I've entertained one about doing one of those ultra-distance desert runs. Kind of, "I could probably do that; I just don't want to". Not any more. I've let that one go. Here I was really suffering in a mere 10k that was a tad too hot.

We could have done with more water stations. On the two I hit it was one mouthful to rinse the dry mouth, the rest tipped over my head. Route-finding became complex on the winding road, sorting the pros and cons of keeping in the shade versus running the shortest distance through the corners.

"Fast downhill course -- extraordinary setting" is the Evergreen tag line. Yes, Evergreen is beautiful, and what took the sting out of the heat was first, plenty of shady trees and second, the continual presence of Bear Creek tumbling alongside us. My mantra became "Flow like water, soar like eagle". I focused on flow, trying to fall effortlessly like the creek. I decided to set my speed at the point where I could maintain good form and stay light on my feet. The mantra sounds Zen-like, but it was American Indian chanting I started hearing in my head. All part of the hallucination :)

So, you're probably wondering.... well, I finished in 40:07; Mr Hibberd beat me by two minutes, but in that last, horrible, staggering mile, I managed somehow to stay in front of Devin Croft, so I get to keep my Series lead, but Heath has whittled it down to a mere 40 points.

The competition is just as close in the 50-54; here Robert Kessler (38:16) handed out a rare defeat to John Victoria (39:13) to retain his lead. John was nursing a problem hamstring, but with this second place to add to his previous five wins, has also closed the gap to 40 points.

Closest of all is the open women's competition. Leader Kara Ford didn't run, so 29-year-old Kris Lawson has now closed to just 20 points thanks to a storming third-place 38:37 at Evergreen.

Top master Tim Jones extended his points lead by taking second at Evergreen as rival Erik Packard slipped to fifth. Karen Smidt scored again to stay clear as women's Master yellow jersey.

Cynthia Flora in the women's 50-54 grabbed another 100 points at the expense of second overall Jenney Weber, who didn't run. In the women's 60-64, Cathy Morgan also didn't show, and may regret it, as Stephanie Weeks won (by almost six minutes) and has taken over the Series lead by 130 points.

Still no let-up in the men's 60-64. Downhill ace Dwight Cornwell didn't have a particularly good day and couldn't take advantage of the slope; he suffered to hang on in front of Stephen Berger, 42:41 to 43:15, and maintain the Series status quo. Their epic is good to watch as they are a complete contrast in build and running styles.

In the 60+ divisions, 68-year-old Jim Romero won at Evergreen by more than 7 minutes (47:20) and consolidates his lead; Connie Ahrnsbark and Myra Rhodes were first and second and stay that way overall.

Every race from now on in is crucial for most of the Series leaders, myself included. Next up is the Peach Fest 5-miler in Palisade; then the Aetna Park to Park 10-miler in Denver, followed by the one we're all dreading, the spectacular Lead King Loop, a mountainous 25k at Marble.


* Impeccable organization was marked by en masse support from race beneficiaries the Alpine Rescue Team, flawless start-finish transportation with a fleet of buses, a bonzer post-race bash that included season's-best grub -- egg and cheese bagles, fantastic! -- AND quick results. A great addition to the Series (thanks Derek).