Snippets

This just feels like a good day to write about random snippets of things.

In the past week, for example, my blog was found by complete strangers who were searching the following things:

"carbohydrates in Cabot Trail whiskey"

"how to train for a 7k marathon"

"My curling shoe is too slippery"

I'm ok with the first one. I'm not sure how different Cabot Trail whiskey is from regular whiskey and I'm not sure that either have any carbs worth mentioning but it's kinda funny that someone found me that way. Perhaps they figured out my secret love of the single malt?

As for the second one, well, I can't really expect every person on the planet to know that there is only one marathon distance and that it is 42.2k. It is a little teeny bit sad though that my blog comes up as a place to find the answer of how to train for a 7k marathon.

For the record, I have never ever trained for a 7k marathon nor do I plan to.

Ever.

The curling shoe one - well, I'm not sure how to say this but curling shoes are just about the slipperiest things on the planet.

Other snippets...

Since January 1st I have been faithfully logging all of my workouts on Training Peaks and, as the days go by, I enjoy looking at the pretty little pie graphs on the side of the page. I have one that shows the distance I've gone in each sport (relative to each other) and I have another that shows the time spent doing each sport. The distance one doesn't mean much since it doesn't make much sense to compare the distance I swam to the distance I've cycled. It takes me 2 minutes to do a kilometre on the bike, 6:15 to do it running and about 18 minutes in the pool.

Time spent doing each activity is interesting though. It's been an odd few weeks because the extreme cold has forced me to switch a few runs for bike rides on the trainer but, so far, in the month of January, I have spent the exact same amount of time doing each of the three sports I do.

I spent 3:30:00 time swimming (33.3%)
I spent 3:27:30 time running (32.9%)
and I spent 3:32:41 time cycling (33.7%)

As fun and random as those times are, it did get me thinking about time spent doing things.

Example: an Olympic distance triathlon is divided up, for me anyway, this way. The 1500m swim takes just over 30 minutes. The 40k bike ride takes about 90 minutes. The 10k run takes about 70 minutes.

1:3:2.3

Does that mean that if I were training for an Olympic distance triathlon, for every hour I spend in the pool I should spent three hours on the bike and 2.3 hours running?

Not that I would be that strict about it of course, particularly because I train for different events simultaneously (open water races, half marathons and triathlons) but it does bear thinking about.

If nothing else, it's yet another reminder that, except when we're experiencing cold weather alerts, I don't spend nearly enough time on the bike.

A few more snippets:

I had a discussion the other day with a co-worker who is not (I should make this clear) a runner. We talked about running races and how most of them provide finisher's medals. I argued that finisher's medals are really important for a lot of people and that crossing that finish line, no matter how far the race, if often a huge accomplishment for someone. They have had to overcome a lot of physical as well as mental challenges to get to the start and even more to get to the finish. The medal symbolizes this.

He argued that medals are for winners and, in almost every other sport, that is who they are reserved for. In running, he argued, we should all get a t-shirt or a hat or something but only the actual winners should get a medal.

We argued back and forth a few times and I finally had to agree to disagree. I understood what he was saying but I couldn't agree with him. There is something really motivating about getting a medal and I didn't think that should be taken away from people. And I did point out that the winners often get a different medal so they still stand out as winners.

As with most conversations I have, I got me thinking. I have brought home a medal from every running race I've ever done. On the other hand, I have never received a medal for any of the duathlons or triathlons I've done. Doug, on the other hand, often comes home with one because he actually places in his age category. I was bothered the first time I finished a multisport race without getting a medal simply because I was used to getting medals. Now I don't really care but I do know that, if I ever do get one - it will be because I earned my spot on the podium. I can guarantee that it will be my most prized.