Speeding in a velomobile

I have a Versatile velomobile on loan for the weekend. This entirely human-powered vehicle is criminally fun. Velomobiling is a lot like joggling: You get a great workout, you laugh at yourself and a lot of people stare at you and ask questions like: "What is that?"

The high-intensity, uphill cooldown

Here's the article from Explore magazine. Just click on the photo for a readable version. Hey, does that photo look familiar? What a great shot by John Chou, the Longboat Roadrunners photographer. It's one of the few joggling photos where one of the beanbags isn't "clowning" directly in front of my nose.

One of these days I might actually update my oft-neglected main site, http://www.thejoggler.ca/, with all these press clippings.

On the training front, I wasn't able to pry myself out of bed yesterday morning for my planned speed workout, but I did end up running home from work despite a time crunch to get back to see a personal training client. After a 2-mile warmup, I hammered a 3-mile tempo (uphill, with a backpack, but no juggling).

The last mile of my run home from work iincludes a very steep climb, so it ends up that my "cooldown" ineviteably involves strenuous uphill toiling. I could just add an extra mile after the hill, but that would make too much sense.

Tour de France dog crash

I guess his front wheel was not designed to withstand the impact of a yellow Labrador retriever.
This reminds me of the time I was joggling the Boston Marathon against Zach and was nearly tripped up by a little white dog that was running around on the course. It would have been a spectacular sight if I had fallen - juggling balls and fur balls flying everywhere.

Back on track

This morning's workout took me back to my old stomping grounds: the East York Collegiate 400m track. I spent endless hours pounding the blacktop here in the early 2000s with my old training partner, Charles Bedley (who recently ran a 2:23 marathon).

My joggling training has mostly involved speedwork on the roads, estimating distance and time. For this summer's training phase, I'm going to hit the track again once a week. Today's workout was 5 x 800m in 2:30 with a one-lap slow jog in between each. The track is very humbling, in that the distance is fixed, the clock is running and you'd better get moving to hit your time goal.

The great thing about the track is that you know what kind of shape you're in, and I'd say I'm actually in pretty decent shape at this stage in my training for the fall marathon.

From 0 to 60 in ... one week

Some cars can go from 0 to 60 in four seconds. It took me a week.

But I'm talking about running a total of 60 miles rather than reaching 60 mph. My top joggling speed is about 14 mph. Some day I'll find out my 0 to 14 performance rating. Until then, I'm pleased with my first full week of quality marathon training, which I just wrapped up with an early-morning 19-miler (the family's still asleep).

A couple of night's ago, we watched the movie 'Wordplay,' a surprisingly gripping film about crossword puzzles. Benjamin from Chump Change Productions said he's making his documentary about record breakers based on a similar formula. 'Wordplay' has no voice-over narrative, the story is told in the words of the crossword maniacs themselves.

I haven't done a crossword in several years, but Dianne and I recently subscribed to the Sunday New York Times, so we're going to tackle Will Shortz's puzzle today. Let's see if we can do it in the time it takes me to joggle a marathon.

Note to Merriam-Webster: Where's "joggling"?

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary has added nearly 100 new words to its 11th edition. Below is a partial list ... but where's "joggling"? They have "joggle" listed in their online dictionary, but it's only defined as "to shake slightly." It's time they joggled their definitions to include the greatest sport in the world.



1. agnolotti
2. Bollywood
3. chaebol
4. crunk
5. DVR
6. flex-cuff
7. ginormous
8. gray literature
9. hardscape
10. IED
11. microgreen
12. nocebo
13. perfect storm
14. RPG
15. smackdown
16. snowboardcross
17. speed dating
18. sudoku
19. telenovela
20. viewshed

How much joggling should a joggler joggle?

For the next joggling marathon world record bid, I've decided to mix things up a bit. In my preparation for Salt Lake City, I juggled for about 95% of my training runs.

For the Scotiabank Marathon, I'm going to start out doing most of my running without juggling, then gradually phase in more and more joggling, with the idea that this will boost my running speed base. If I'm a faster runner and my jjoggling technique is properly honed on race day, chances are that I'll post a faster joggling time.

Last night I went out for a fantastic speed session along the Toronto Beach boardwalk. It was an 8-mile run and I did four 1-mile intervals, plus a big sprint up a 400m hill near the end. Less than a week into my training, I'm already starting to feel fit.