Tomorrow afternoon, weather permitting, I head out to Jackson Hole (of the snow variety, not the diner).\u00a0 With three friends and reported great conditions on the mountain, this will assuredly be a great trip.\u00a0 Thing is, the NYC local snow report calls for 3-5 inches of snow, thus jeopardizing the departure of my flight which has to connect with another to make it into Jackson.\u00a0 My buddy Craig and I are flying together and if we miss that connecting flight, we could potentially be stuck in the airport and maybe miss a day on the mountain.\u00a0 That would be the worst case scenario, but with it being out of my control, all I can do is hope for the best.\u00a0 In preparation for that scenario however, I’ll be bringing some basics onto the plane with me, like a toothbrush, a change of clothing, all the re-charging elements for phone, iPod, Mac, etc.<\/p>\n
Craig is also a triathlete and a very good one at that.\u00a0 We’ve raced maybe half a dozen times head-t0-head and most if not all of the time, he beats me.\u00a0 I’m okay with friends being faster; of course, my super competitive nature still exists in these kinds of things, but in endurance events, it’s really more about me vs. me, not me vs. another person… unless we’re sprinting for the finish in which case, I’m going to own that person!\u00a0 Of most sports though, I take great pride in being athletic and expect that I should be perfect in every aspect, despite the irrationality of it.\u00a0 When I drop a pass in football, or miss a lay-up, etc., I literally lose sleep.\u00a0 The other day, my good friend Darren visited for just one night from California on a layover, and we headed to a sports bar with friends Brad and Karen to watch the Olympics and play beer pong.\u00a0 On two occasions, I was tasked with the last shot and all the pressure.\u00a0 On both occasions, I hit it.\u00a0 That night, I slept so well and with a huge smile.\u00a0 Over beer pong?\u00a0 Seriously?\u00a0 What can I say; I want to step up in every nature of competition.\u00a0 I want to be the person who has to hit the two free throws to win it; I want to be the go-to guy with the last at-bat; I want the best coverage guy on me and have the ball thrown to me; it goes on.\u00a0 I don’t know what percentage of the time I’m successful in these scenarios, but when I am, there’s hardly any way to describe the feeling.\u00a0 At a minimum, it does wonders for my self-confidence, and it gives me endless day-dream distractions when board in meetings!<\/p>\n
Anyway, back to Craig; he’s an interesting guy.\u00a0 We could not be more opposite in our religious and political views, but he’s such a good guy in so many ways and with such an open-ness with respect to music and culture that we have forged a great friendship.\u00a0 We actually met while he dated my good friend Laurel.\u00a0 When they stopped dating, it was under amicable terms, and he and I actually became closer.\u00a0 He was a Marine (is the etiquette to use the present tense, as in, “Once a Marine, always a Marine?” I don’t know), and works as a federal law enforcement agent.\u00a0 So his stories of take-downs, stake-outs, and office pranks are endlessly entertaining to me.\u00a0 He also has had incredible celebrity encounters since he trains at Chelsea Piers, in NYC.\u00a0 Just last week, he was next to Mick Jagger.\u00a0 In the past, he’s been the lane next to Michael Phelps.\u00a0 He also shared an elevator with Phillip Seymour Hoffman and offered up something akin to a pick-up line.\u00a0 What a goof.<\/p>\n
I’m sure we’ll be great buddies on this vacation.\u00a0 My other friends with us are Sandie and Kelly, both of whom I’ve known for years through one of the football leagues here in NYC.\u00a0 With any luck, my brother will drive up from Denver.\u00a0 That would make this trip incredible special for me.\u00a0 Last year, he and I got to spend two days on the mountain at Vail and it was unbelievably fun to do so.\u00a0 He’s an amazing skier in every possible way imaginable.\u00a0 I’m in such awe of his ability.\u00a0 Though I mostly snowboard these days, we take on the same terrain, just in different ways.\u00a0 Plus, I value the opportunity to spend any time with a sibling no matter how brief; they are extremely rare… for a variety of reasons.<\/p>\n
As for training, things continue to improve.\u00a0 Last weekend, I did a double indoor cycling session with my team.\u00a0 The first session was designed to be primarily aerobic with longer sets of varying intensities, but the second one was a lot different.\u00a0 Coach Robert, in one set, had us shift to the hardest gear then stand up and put forth the absolute maximum effort we could, and sustain it for 15 seconds, then recover for two minutes.\u00a0 Seemed fairly benign when initially described, but it was super tough.\u00a0 We did this ten times.\u00a0 On my fourth attempt, I hit 41.3 mph which is fairly remarkable, I thought, for being stationary.\u00a0 By the eighth one, my lungs were coming through my throat and my legs were searing with pain.\u00a0 It was only 15 seconds, but it felt longer.\u00a0 How crazy.\u00a0 After the sessions, I did 20 minutes on the treadmill at an easy-to-moderate pace to flush out some of the lactic acid.\u00a0 That night, while relaxing at home, I flexed my legs a bit kind of out of boredom I guess, and felt tremendous fatigue.\u00a0 But, it was the good fatigue, the kind that comes with a smile since it’s from good hard work.<\/p>\n
The next morning, the team had planned a run from the fountain in Central Park to a brunch spot just over the Brooklyn Bridge in Dumbo.\u00a0 I charted it to be about 8 miles, and including my run from my place to the meeting spot, I figured the day would total 11.45 miles.\u00a0 That’s about 3 miles more than my longest run this year, and it would be the most mileage for me since my knee injury in early October.\u00a0 But, by doing it with a group, I’d likely be distracted enough to survive.\u00a0 Frankly, I didn’t know how I’d fare, but I had premonitions of having sheer will power help me finish if things got tough.<\/p>\n
I had to run hard to get to the meeting spot on time because of lollygagging at home.\u00a0 Not the best strategy for a long training day.\u00a0 When I got there, I saw about 30-35 people finishing their stretches under Coach Robert’s direction.\u00a0 Thereafter, we broke up into different pace groups with the goal being to choose the group that was 60-90 seconds slower than one’s normal 10k pace given that this longer distance run should be at a lower intensity.\u00a0 I chose the 9 minute-per-mile group that Robert happened to be leading.\u00a0 Surprisingly, the plan was to run west to the Hudson River, and run along the path all the way down to Battery Park, wrap around the bottom of the island, then head to the Brooklyn Bridge.\u00a0 That was not the path I charted and would definitely add distance.\u00a0 Oh no!<\/p>\n
We took off at a reasonable pace and for some reason, I was leading a group of 8 people.\u00a0 One guy left us, and for a few more miles, I dictated the pace.\u00a0 I guess my pace started to slow a bit, so others stepped up and did the pace-setting in my stead.\u00a0 At one point, I felt myself getting dropped despite what I figured to be a sustained pace and effort level.\u00a0 Were they going faster?\u00a0 I didn’t want to be alone, so I picked up the effort (and corresponding heart rate) and stayed with them.\u00a0 By the time we got to Battery Park City, I was back in front leading the group around the bottom of the island.\u00a0 As we headed onto the approach of the Brooklyn Bridge, we saw a long climb to the main span of the bridge.\u00a0 One guy took off, and another followed, and another.\u00a0 I decided to pick up the pace to stay with them and before long, there were five of us all huffing and puffing as we ran uphill for perhaps a mile.\u00a0 So much for the low intensity effort goal; I was working at an anaerobic rate but I felt pretty good despite it and despite the fact that I was at mile 13 or so.\u00a0 By the time we got to the brunch spot, I figured I had done close to 14 miles.\u00a0 Not bad!\u00a0 And, I felt good and strong!\u00a0\u00a0 Jeez, who knew these legs would support me like that.\u00a0 I’m frankly amazed.<\/p>\n
This week has been somewhat disjointed with vacation preparation and various other things, but I’ve gotten in my workouts and will do a double session tonight with a run and swim.\u00a0 Tomorrow will be a travel day, though I might be able to fit in a short bike ride on the trainer before heading to the airport.\u00a0 Then, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday will be mountain days in Wyoming.\u00a0 I’m sure the legs will respond, but my primary focus is finding the crazy stuff on the mountain.\u00a0 Last night, one of my triathlon teammates gave me two names of guides in Jackson Hole, so I may call one of them up to hit some back-country terrain.\u00a0 We’ll see.\u00a0 Might be expensive.<\/p>\n
When I get back, I’ll be in NYC for just three days before heading to Chicago for a boys weekend.\u00a0 A week later, it’s the Miami Triathlon.\u00a0 I’m really looking forward to the race.\u00a0 I’ve begun daydreaming about how I’ll do, and that’s always a good sign.\u00a0 I just bought a new base bar for my triathlon bike, and on it will attach flat aero bars that I’ve had for a few years but never mounted.\u00a0 With this new set-up, a new disc rear wheel, and a few other modifications, I’m figuring to have the equipment primed for great execution.\u00a0 And, with better conditioning at this point of the season than in any other year, I’m hoping for a great bike effort.\u00a0 The swim will remain an iffy proposition, but I expect to run hard off the bike.\u00a0 Really though, this event is just a training race for me given my primary focus on other events later in the season, but I can’t help but get amped up for it.<\/p>\n
That’s it for now.\u00a0 I’ll try to get some pics of me thrashing about at Jackson Hole on the next post. Hopefully none will be of me in the hospital… though I’ll probably be smiling in either scenario.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tomorrow afternoon, weather permitting, I head out to Jackson Hole (of the snow variety, not the diner).\u00a0 With three friends and reported great conditions on the mountain, this will assuredly be a great trip.\u00a0 Thing is, the NYC local snow report calls for 3-5 inches of snow, thus jeopardizing the departure of my flight which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-training"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=292"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":293,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292\/revisions\/293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}