The missing long run

Last week I took a mini-vacation at a cottage in Port Elgin, Ontario. The running there is spectacular. You can run along the Lake Huron beach or on a beautiful trail bordered by wildflowers that occupies a now-defunct railroad track.

I went on a few very nice runs and also did a little 5-ball joggling while out on a run with my kids, my niece and nephew.

Juggling on the beach was treat as well – ceiling unlimited! – and built-in audience of sunbathers. The 3-ball juggling is getting to the point where I could put together a decent routine. I'm not Tim Kelly, but I can now string together some combinations of Mills Messes, Burke's Barrages, boxes, showers and 441s to make things look impressive to the non-juggler.

On Saturday, I set my alarm for an early-morning long run, but decided to sleep in. I might have to make up for this this week sometime.

Versatile velomobile review

This weekend, I had the pleasure of zipping around in a Versatile velomobile, courtesy of bluevelo.com. I drove this human-powered machine all over town and found it truly addictive.

On Saturday, I went for a long ride along the waterfront and then stopped by my sister and brother-in-law's place in the Annex. It was surprisingly easy to manoeuvre the trike through city traffic. I quickly became accustomed to the shifting and steering, but going uphill was slow and labour-intensive. It was a hot, sunny day and the compartment got stuffy when I stopped at a light, but the ventilation was fine when I was moving.

The ride itself was very smooth. The mesh seat was luxurious - like pedalling in a lounge chair. The steering mechanism consists of two hand levers on either side – a comfortable and fun way to make turns, reminiscent of those Green Machines we drove around as kids (only this trike costs about $13,000 more).

The grip shifter on this one was a bit stiff, but Ray from bluevelo tells me these actually loosen up over time. The Rohloff internal hub is brilliant. Not only are all the gears on one shifter, but you can change gears at a standstill, which is particularly useful for shifting down into an easier gear to get the velo moving again after getting cut off by moronic cab drivers in city traffic.

I took the Versatile out again on Sunday. This time I rode all the way up into the north end at Avenue Road and York Mills, where I was going out for a family dinner. I stupidly took the Bayview Extension, which is probably the longest, steepest hill in Toronto, and was sweating like a pig as I crawled up in the granny gear, moving at about 7 km/h. I was smart enough to bring a towel and a change of clothes for the restaurant.

The ride home was exhilarating. I hit somewhere in the neighbourhood of 70 km'h on the Bayview downhill ... and I was braking.

Today, I took the velo to work and the looks I got from people in downtown Toronto were priceless. I locked it up on King Street in the heart of downtown and people immediately swarmed around me as I was locking it up. I walked past it a couple of times during the day and got a kick out of watching the passersby ogling this strange and wonderful machine.

And now, sadly, I have to return it to bluevelo. I'll definitely miss the Versatile, and I'm more convinced than ever that this is the ultimate rolling billboard for the right advertiser.

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.