Team Supreme

The problem with swimming

Hopefully you had a chance to catch some of the Olympic Trials for swimming last week. And unless you've been living in a hole you've no doubt heard of Michael Phelps. Among Phelps' accomplishments in the swimming pool are 6 gold and 2 bronze medals from the 2004 Olympics and seven gold medals at last year's World Championships. Trying to keep up with the number of world and American records he has broken is a rather daunting task. While his strengths are the freestyle and butterfly strokes, he has medaled in backstroke and regularly wins the individual medley which involves breaststroke. The man is a very versatile fish. And
therein lies the problem with swimming. Phelps now has the potential to medal in up to 8 events in Beijing.
Now consider that there are 17 swimming events (12 individual + 5 relays)  available to the men in the Olympic Games. He alone could bring back  nearly half the men's gold medals. Does that seem right?
There are no other sports in which one individual could potentially win  so many medals. In track, 4 is about the most and the sprinters/long jumpers have typically had the best shot at that. Other sports with the best potential are skiing, ice skating, and gymnastics. Maybe 3 medals  are possible in those disciplines. For most sports you train for years on end with a slight chance to medal in only one event. But swimming is a potential bonanza for one person to medal in. Why should swimmers have an  opportunity to take home an inordinate amount of medals? It just isn't  fair to the other athletes.
It helps to better understand the swimming events. Backstroke,  breastroke, and butterfly are offered in both the 100 and 200 meter distances. Is there really much of a difference between 100 and 200 meters? I suggest they offer 100 meters and 400 meters for those strokes. That would allow for individuals to be a specialist in either the sprint (100) or distance (400) events. By doing so, you open the sport to other  swimmers and you don't see the same swimmers doubling up in the 100 and  200.
Freestyle is currently offered in the 50, 100, 200, 400, 1500, and 10000 meter distances. That's plain crazy! Again, cut the number of offerings. There ought to be the 100, 400, 1000, and 5000. From 6 events to 4 and a good enough range to allow different types of swimmers a chance to medal.
Now, to address the most awesomest of the swimming events, the individual  medley. The IM requires the individual to swim each of the 4 strokes. The  IM is offered in two distances: 100 or 400 meters. This ought to change to the 400 and 1200 meters. You are already a bad@$$ if you do the IM,  might as well create an opportunity for someone to do the 1200 IM. I propose the winners of the 1200 IM be named King and Queen of the Pool.
Naturally, the relays have to change too. The 4x100 and 4x200 freestyle relays should change to 4x100 and 4X400.
The current 4x100m medley relay needs a counterpart. So I propose a 4x400  medley be added.
These changes would level the playing field. Fewer sprints and more distance, and less of a chance for doubling up. I urge athletes in other sports to take a stand on this and push for fair play.

Did you know...

Did you know that the Tour de France starts this Saturday, July 5th?
Did you know that Ireland has had only one Tour de France victory? Stephen Roche won both TdF and Giro d'Italia stage races in 1987.
Did you know that Ireland is not a member of NATO? The reason is the country has a policy of neutrality.
Did you know that NATO is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium?
Did you know that Belgium hosted the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp?
Did you know that it was at the 1920 Olympics that the 5-ring Olympic Flag was introduced?
Did you know that the 6 colors on the Olympic Flag (white, blue, yellow, black, green and red) were chosen because they appeared on all the national flags of the world at the time?
Did you know that the flag of the country of South Africa incorporates these 6 colors?
Did you know that the Kingdom of Lesotho is an independent enclave completely surrounded by South African territory?
Did you know that one of Lesotho's primary exports is mohair?

Team Supreme's Mileage Run-Up!

A little over a month ago the team decided to hold a little intra-squad competition to see who could finish the first half of the year with the most mileage.  I was immediately eliminated from the competition since my mileage thus far this year has been a bit irrational. 

When the competition was kicked off Sattler had a comfortable lead over O'Toole, who had a comfortable lead over Byram.   The trash-talking during training runs immediately ensued, O'Toole and Byram were inspired by Senator Clinton's Shermanesque effort in the Democratic primary and vowed to erase Sattler's "seemingly insurmountable lead".  Then both Sattler and O'Toole shot themselves in the foot by taking family vacations during the last week of June.  When the dust settled, Sattler had 1,000 miles, O'Toole out-leaned him at the tape with 1,013 miles, but Byram put in a mind-boggling last-ditch effort and ended up with 1,072 miles! 

Congrats to Mr. Byram and best of luck to all...yesterday we all re-set our odometers to zero to kick off the team's July mileage competition. 

By the way, the total TS mileage for the first half of 2008 was a whopping 4,979 miles!  Not bad when you consider that that number is split four ways.  Come on guys, we couldn't squeeze out just 21 more miles for a nice, even 5,000?!

Race Report: Cranmore Hill Run

Well, I officially kicked off my mountain racing career this morning at the Cranmore Hill Run in North Conway, New Hampshire.  It was TWO trips up and down Mount Cranmore for a total of 10K and it was brutal!

To start off, Mother Nature decided that the race wasn't difficult enough already and opened the skies up just before the race started.  It was the kind of downpour where your clothes are plastered onto you within one minute of standing outside.  She also threw in some thunder and lightning (yes, lightning) for good measure.  I thought for sure they would delay the race because of the lightning, but I guess mountain race directors have a different policy (or different insurance carriers) and the gun went off at 9am sharp!

I was expecting an absolutely grueling and torturous race from start to finish.  It was worse.  My quads felt like lead within the first several minutes and thanks to the deluge of rain, the course contained a great deal of mud which made the steep uphills especially difficult, especially on the second loop after the course was pounded up during the first loop.

There was one part of the course that was a bit deceiving because when I looked up I couldn't see any tree line, which gave me the impression that the uphill section was over and hey, it wasn't so bad really.  That impression was false because the really steep part of the climb occurred soon after, which reduced me to walking.  I was only partly relieved to look up and see that everyone ahead of me, including the race leaders, were walking as well.  Much of the last third of the uphill section was just so steep that walking and running produced the same speed but walking required half the effort.  So despite the relatively short 10K distance a decent percentage of it was spent walking.

On the downhill section I discovered two things.  First, downhill running during a trail race is a skill.  Second, I do not posses that skill.  There were many a runner who I vanquished on the uphill only to watch them zoom past me on the downhill.  I think a lot of one's overall personality shines through on downhill trail racing and my conservative personality proved to be a liability.

My family and part of the extended family informed me that I finished 20th overall and no clue as to my age group finish...I'll have to wait for the online results.  I'm used to finishing a bit higher in the standings, but I managed to survive my first mountain race and I'm perfectly happy with that fact.  And since the race offered cash to the top finishers I think the quality of the field was a little higher than usual for local races.

Well, now that I've gotten all of the Indiana Jones stuff out of my system (Nipmuck Marathon and Cranmore) I can now focus my training on launching an all-out assault on the 2:40 barrier for the marathon in mid-September.  And that will be a flat course on asphalt, thank you very much!

K-Law's Cranmore Hill Training Log: 6.25.08

Posting remotely from Madison, New Hampshire, where I have set up my own little 2-week training camp (as well as partake in a family vacation) to simultaneously wrap up my training for the hellish Cranmore Hill Run in North Conway, NH on Sunday and to start building a training foundation for my sub-2:40 attempt at the Dutchess County Classic Marathon in my hometown of Wappingers Falls, NY in mid-September.

The first stage of training was, apparently, focused on building my psychological toughness (something that should come in very handy on Sunday).  It's a long story, but for the first few days of the trip we had no less than 7 children, all under the age of 8, and 4 adults crammed into a relatively small log cabin with very wet weather.  Words like "chaotic", "stressful" and "misery" don't quite cover it.  But the company is clearing out this morning and things will presumably calm down.

In stark contrast to life at the cabin, my early morning training has been wonderful.  Lots of challenging hills, beautiful scenery, scores of backroads to explore and extra training time in the morning since there is no need to zip off to the law practice.  Another week-and-a-half of this and the fitness level should be pretty high heading into the fall marathon training season.

I've been able to get a good look at Mt. Cranmore a few times since we've been here and all I can say is that the race report should be interesting.

Only 3 training days until Cranmore!

Team sweaters anyone?

Imagine the looks my teammates would have had on their faces at Christmas when they opened my present to them and found a beautiful new running sweater. That's right, a running sweater. I came pretty close last night to being able to provide the team with sweaters. And seeing how they would have been made from local wool it would have been an environmentally-conscious decision as well. Think about how a natural, breathable fiber may have felt to run in during the winter. Lightweight, warm and breathable. Wouldn't that have been unique? We could even have our team logo emblazened on our wool sweaters. How many other running teams wear wool sweaters during their winter runs? We could have started a new trend! The envy of all.
Alas, twas not to be. My keen eyesight, quick reflexes and superior driving skills removed this possibility. Let me explain.
Last night shortly after 9 pm I was driving my oldest daughter home on Route 17 and we were near ye Olde Cider Mill. I suddenly noticed in the darkness near the edge of the road some movement. Since they were large, lighter shaded animals I initially thought they were deer about to cross the street. As we got closer I quickly realized these were not deer but rather sheep! 4 sheep were about to venture into the busy road and I was on a collision course with them. I braked and swerved to the left to avoid a wooly bully run-in with Ovis aries. The car directly behind me also veered left and avoided the calamity.
When was the last time you nearly ran into a herd of sheep in the suburbs? These sheep must have escaped from the farm at ye Olde Cider Mill and were now trying to have a good night out on the town. Upon getting home and telling my wife the story she called the police and in between giggling reported to the dispatcher something to the effect of "Sheep are on the loose." The police indicated they would send someone out.
So I'm sorry I won't have team sweaters for everyone this winter but I guess I did a good thing by avoiding the sheep. We'll have to find another source for our natural fiber running sweaters.
What exactly is mutton?
I don't know and I didn't want to find out.

K-Law's Cranmore Hill Run Training Log: 6.17.08

Still feeling relatively horrible, but pushed through a nice run with Sattler this morning.  We hit a few big hills and then I tacked on a short bike ride after the run.  I don't know if I'm suffering from allergies, a stubborn common cold or something else.  Whatever it is, I hope I shake it off soon since the race is coming up fast!  Looking forward to a couple weeks of training in New Hampshire soon.

8.9 miles of running and 5 of cycling this morning.  11 training days until Cranmore.

The problem with 'Hearing Impaired Child' street signs

On my run this morning I noticed a street sign in the Buttonball area stating Hearing Impaired Child. This got me thinking. Do we really need these? Are they serving a valuable purpose?
Its time to explore this issue.
There seems to be a single purpose for these signs: to alert  motorists that a child in that vicinity is hearing impaired and should that child be near the road they may not hear vehicles coming.
Okay. The child isn't blind is he/she? Shouldn't the parent's child have taught him/her to stop and look both ways before crossing the street? Does this child not have enough intelligence to know that they are unable to hear well, therefore they need to rely on their working sense of sight to look first?
When was the last time you relied solely on your sense of sound to  cross a street? Probably never. We don't because sight is a more reliable method of determining when it is safe to cross. Between  today's cars are getting quieter and bicyclists on the roads its very possible that you can't hear something coming towards you  anyway. So use your eyes! 
Another reason against putting up these signs is the stigma that  may come with labeling a neighborhood child with some disability. I'm sure these children wish to feel as "normal" as all the other  kids. And you know there are going to be some kids who may think differently about the hearing impaired child and perhaps exclude them from play. So these signs could be causing mental anguish to these children.
Exactly how much do these signs cost to make and install? Can't the town or state money be better spent by buying these children some cochlear implants? Let's stop this practice of alienating them and instead enable them to hear and include them in our  society.
Can you recall the last time you drove through a neighborhood with  one of these signs and actually saw children playing out front? I can't remember a time. Kids typically play in their backyards where they are out of harm's way. 
Other valid points for getting rid of these signs include:
How do motorists know where the zone ends? What if the child goes outside the zone?
Who is responsible for taking down these signs when the child has  grown up or moved away? I've seen some of these old signs that look like they've been in place since the Nixon administration. They can't possibly still be "children". Unless those parents have been raising one hearing impaired child after another for the last 2 decades I think its safe to remove the old signs.
Its time to be sensible, stop the stigma, reduce costs, and end the practice of these signs.

K-Law's Cranmore Hill Training Log: 6.16.08

The congestion continues, but I dragged myself through a tough, hilly 1-hour run which included Chestnut Hill, Littel Acres, Mosely Terrace, Knob Hill and the tough climb on Overlook.  Forcing myself to do all of these hills has been working...whenever I look up and see a tough climb ahead it now takes very little motivation to pick up the pace and launch an all-out attack.  Unfortunately, I haven't trained on anything even remotely as steep as the ski slope that awaits me at Cranmore, but I'm trying my best with what I've got!

8.4 miles of running followed by 7 miles of cycling.  12 training days until Cranmore.

K-Law's Weekend Cranmore Hill Run Training Log

I've developed some kind of congestion/runny nose/stuffy head/sluggish-as-jello condition, so training was a bit challenging this weekend. In fact, it's debatable as to whether I should have trained at all, or perhaps I shouls have just slept in and let my body rest and recover. But despite how horrible I felt I did appreciate the lack of a big, fat "zero" in the weekend training log.

I did a long run of 13.7 miles with Sattler and O'Toole yesterday. The plan this morning was an easy, flat 30-minute run (since I felt ESPECIALLY horrible) but then I unexpectedly ran into Mr. Byram on High Street just a couple minutes into the run. So the plans then changed to 60 minutes of hills since I'm apt to step up the effort when I'm running with someone (maybe I was just trying to prove what a tough guy I am?). In any case, the company was MUCH appreciated since the tales of Byram's trip to the Netherlands took my mind off of the internal suffering. It was rough, but I was proud to log 8.1 miles in the training log for today. And it was 69 miles for the week, so if I knew I was that close to 70 I would have thrown in one more mile!

13 training days until Cranmore.