Unqualified Offerings

Been awhile since we had Landis links. The big recent news is the report that other Tour samples, upon retesting by the same French lab, indicated synthetic testosterone, as reporterd by – naturellement! – L’Equipe. Below that item are links to other coverage by cyclingnews.com. Landis’ team’s charges are escalating as time goes on. They’re now calling for the US Justice Department to investigate the US Anti-Doping Agency.

I don’t know what I think. I believe that the protocols are rotten and biased against the athlete. But an awful lot has to be fouled up or fraudulent about this particular case for Floyd to be innocent. Meanwhile, I have to admit that the scandal has about killed my interest in professional cycling. Whether Floyd has his title justly removed or the anti-doping regime is revealed to be irredemably corrupt, we’re left with a sport where we can’t trus that what we’re seeing in front of us today will count as official truth next week.
But enough about Floyd. Let’s talk about me!

The log.

Yesterday I ran the Pathways 5K, which passes within a hilly half-block of my house. My public goal was to finish in less than 27:00. My private goal was to beat my last time on this course, 26:09 two years and two injuries ago.

I made the first goal but not the second, finishing in (unofficially) 26:39. What happened was, I went out way too fast. I needed to do 8:25 miles to meet my goal. I hit the half-mile mark in 3:30. After that I was running with the double whammy of physically having blown much of my anaerobic power on the rare inoffensive flat stretch of the course and mentally kicking myself for bad pacing.

On the bright side, my 8:35 pace was a full minute per mile faster than my speed the 3-mile time trial Coach Jason put us through back on March 8.

Other highlights of a light exercise week: Did my first brick – this one a swim-bike combo – Monday evening, which let me use my bitchin’ new bike lamps. And I now feel like a real cyclist, since a car clear on the other side of Sligo Creek Parkway angrily demanded that I “get off the road.” And yesterday, the Coaching Trinity of the Y-Tri team put us through a mock race so we could practice transitions. (The time you spend switching between swim and bike and bike and run counts toward your total race result.) This was within three hours of the 5K finish and I found it slow-going and painful, especially the run. (We swam 200 yards in the Y’s outdoor pool, biked around the block five times and ran around the block once.) But the transitions went smoothly enough.

Last week was a stepback week. This week it’s back to full duty. I will probably swap in some elliptical-trainer time for running though, since that hilly 5K took a lot out of my legs. My left shin and right knee have been increasingly cranky. I may well bag Thursday night’s team speed session too.

Meanwhile, courtesy of Loyal Reader Dave Lull, the New York Times discovers interval training. I kid – the article is pitched at the casual exerciser, not the committed endurance athlete, so it has a reason for existing.