After one month of trying to track calories, I only managed to keep count on 8 days. It's a start.
Date Calories/Fat(%)/Carb(%)/Protein(%)
11-05-09 3453/31/52/16
11-06-09 3201/35/40/26
11-11-09 3603/28/55/17
11-12-09 2836/29/56/14
11-17-09 2904/25/60/15
11-18-09 2973/27/59/14
11-19-09 2945/22/62/17
11-20-09 2295/18/64/18 (dinner skipped or not logged)
11-23-09 2325/25/63/12 (dinner skipped or not logged)
12-03-09 3683/27/60/14
Friday, December 4, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
2 Weeks from Cozumel
Last long workout before Cozumel IM.
Weight in the morning was 166.4. Total time working out was between 5:50 and 6 hours. Still haven't downloaded the Garmin data. Weight at end was an even 161. Water consumed was 90oz + whatever fits in the 32oz container with 12 scoops of Infinit. Cool day, but I still ran out of water at around mile 85. Need to lug the camel back or stop at more gas stations. Only refill was around mile 40. Carried large AeroDrink and two 20oz bottles. Peed once during workout, but didn't measure. Nasty.
Calories was all from Infinit. 1800 calories in 6 hours. All consumed during the 5hr 15min ride. Nothing during the run. Breakfast was a bowl of frosted shredded wheats and Ensure.
That's the basics while it's fresh in my head. I'll add the Garmin data later... maybe.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Diet
In an effort to save some money, I'm going to see if I can keep track
of everything I eat and drink for a few weeks. If I still can't
figure out how to drop at least a pound every 2 weeks, then I'll
seriously consider hiring a nutritionist. At around $600 for 8
weeks, they aren't cheap. My goal is to weigh between 150 and 155
pounds by April 19th, for the Boston Marathon. I haven't been that
light in the last 10 years.
Heaviest I've weighed is 190 lbs, in June I think of 2007. After losing 20 lbs in about 8 months, my weight is unchanged over the last 2 years.
Initial stats are:
11/5 - 2845 cal - 58/17/25 Carb/Pro/Fat
11/6 - 165.4 pounds
of everything I eat and drink for a few weeks. If I still can't
figure out how to drop at least a pound every 2 weeks, then I'll
seriously consider hiring a nutritionist. At around $600 for 8
weeks, they aren't cheap. My goal is to weigh between 150 and 155
pounds by April 19th, for the Boston Marathon. I haven't been that
light in the last 10 years.
Heaviest I've weighed is 190 lbs, in June I think of 2007. After losing 20 lbs in about 8 months, my weight is unchanged over the last 2 years.
Initial stats are:
11/5 - 2845 cal - 58/17/25 Carb/Pro/Fat
11/6 - 165.4 pounds
Friday, September 18, 2009
Good day without training
Yesterday the inside of my legs were sore from rubbing while running. Tried to bike last night and it was miserable. This morning I skipped any attempts to run or ride.
Aside from training, it was a great day. I registered for the Boston Marathon this morning. After work I went to pickup my new bike. It should be fun to ride.
Friday, September 4, 2009
No Posts
It's been almost a month since I posted anything. I can't use this in the future if there's nothing here, so here it goes...
A few Monday's ago (Aug 17th) was the first "cool" lunch run I had in forever. Thanks to tropical storm Ana, there was a nice breeze, lots of clouds, and a little cool rain. The rest of the week was about 10 degrees cooler than normal. There's lots of hot summer left, but the taste of fall is motivation.
August 23rd I slept in, went to church, then tried to figure out how I was going to do a long run in the middle of the day. Decided it would be best to split into two runs. The first run felt great. I ran 9 miles in the afternoon in Aug, and my shoes were not soaked after 4 miles. Amazing. The 2nd run felt even better. My 2nd to last mile I let myself coast down a hill, and I didn't slow down when it leveled out. 7:00min/mi. For the last mile I went ahead and pushed the pace to a 6:20. Incredible. I didn't think I was capable of that at this time.
This weekend I would like to test my nutrition with a 5 hour ride followed by a 2 hour run. It will help my confidence to know that I can provide the needed calories on the run without upsetting my stomach. Roctane worked in my marathon, and Infinit worked for long rides, so I'll try to put the two together.
A few Monday's ago (Aug 17th) was the first "cool" lunch run I had in forever. Thanks to tropical storm Ana, there was a nice breeze, lots of clouds, and a little cool rain. The rest of the week was about 10 degrees cooler than normal. There's lots of hot summer left, but the taste of fall is motivation.
August 23rd I slept in, went to church, then tried to figure out how I was going to do a long run in the middle of the day. Decided it would be best to split into two runs. The first run felt great. I ran 9 miles in the afternoon in Aug, and my shoes were not soaked after 4 miles. Amazing. The 2nd run felt even better. My 2nd to last mile I let myself coast down a hill, and I didn't slow down when it leveled out. 7:00min/mi. For the last mile I went ahead and pushed the pace to a 6:20. Incredible. I didn't think I was capable of that at this time.
This weekend I would like to test my nutrition with a 5 hour ride followed by a 2 hour run. It will help my confidence to know that I can provide the needed calories on the run without upsetting my stomach. Roctane worked in my marathon, and Infinit worked for long rides, so I'll try to put the two together.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Wrenching Blues
Friday I realized that I left my Garmin and sunglasses at work. No big deal, I'll go for a long run Saturday AM, buy the bike computer I was looking at getting anyway, then do a short ride. Save the long ride for Sunday.
Saturday's long run started off great. A very nice breeze, lots of clouds, and some thunder in the distance. I did the first of three 4.6 mile loops, and it was lightening on top of me. Cut that run short.
Purchased a bike computer, and chain tool at the LBS and looked forward to finishing putting together my new wheel, and changing my chain for the first time. Putting the new tire on the new wheel, and the trainer tire on the old wheel was a pain, but it worked. Taking out pins in the chain was easy, but putting them back in was horrible. Certainly there was an easier way to do this?
Get it all together and go out for a test ride. The chain is slipping like crazy! Must of not taken enough links out, but better too long than too short.
Take another link out Sunday morning, and still slipping. Take another one out, and still slipping! In addition to the chain issues, I also clean my old cassette and install my new computer, and it's almost noon. Instead of being 4 hour into a 5 hour ride, I still have a broken bike. Unsure of what else I can do, I put my old tire and cassette on with the trainer tire. It works great, but I don't want to ride on the trainer. I figure I can limit the damage of not getting my workouts in and go on a 28 mile ride. 20 miles into the ride and it's raining. 21 miles into the ride and it's pouring. 22 miles and it's lightening all over, so I take a shortcut home.
I'm not sure if the new chain is for a 10 speed or 8 speed. Tuesday I stopped at the LBS and bought a 10 speed chain. That should fix it. Wednesday I took the time to actually count the number of gears on my old cassette. Eight. I should have known that. Now I have a 10 speed cassette and a 10 speed chain to take back. What a way to lose an entire week of biking.
Saturday's long run started off great. A very nice breeze, lots of clouds, and some thunder in the distance. I did the first of three 4.6 mile loops, and it was lightening on top of me. Cut that run short.
Purchased a bike computer, and chain tool at the LBS and looked forward to finishing putting together my new wheel, and changing my chain for the first time. Putting the new tire on the new wheel, and the trainer tire on the old wheel was a pain, but it worked. Taking out pins in the chain was easy, but putting them back in was horrible. Certainly there was an easier way to do this?
Get it all together and go out for a test ride. The chain is slipping like crazy! Must of not taken enough links out, but better too long than too short.
Take another link out Sunday morning, and still slipping. Take another one out, and still slipping! In addition to the chain issues, I also clean my old cassette and install my new computer, and it's almost noon. Instead of being 4 hour into a 5 hour ride, I still have a broken bike. Unsure of what else I can do, I put my old tire and cassette on with the trainer tire. It works great, but I don't want to ride on the trainer. I figure I can limit the damage of not getting my workouts in and go on a 28 mile ride. 20 miles into the ride and it's raining. 21 miles into the ride and it's pouring. 22 miles and it's lightening all over, so I take a shortcut home.
I'm not sure if the new chain is for a 10 speed or 8 speed. Tuesday I stopped at the LBS and bought a 10 speed chain. That should fix it. Wednesday I took the time to actually count the number of gears on my old cassette. Eight. I should have known that. Now I have a 10 speed cassette and a 10 speed chain to take back. What a way to lose an entire week of biking.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Red Bull
I'm tired of finding out how far I'm going, then what my average speed will be, then how long it will take, then take the number of hours multiplied by 300 calories per hour, and packing the needed calories. For this ride, I found a Ziploc of 9 strawberry newtons, made a pbj sandwich, left the 2 Clif bars in my Camelbak, and stuffed a handful of gels in my jersey. I was going to take two 20oz bottles of Cytomax, but one of my bottles already had cold water in it, so I only took 20oz of sports drink.
Mile 36 I stopped at a gas station and filled up my empty Cytomax bottle with Gatorade. Average speed to this point was 18.8MPH. My goal was to keep it between 17 and 18 MPH.
Next stretch was 30 miles where I kept my average speed at a much better 17.8MPH. I felt good, but I think I slowed down taking in calories during this stretch. Over the next 20 miles I felt like crap. My back was sore, no energy, sweat in my eyes, legs were tired, you name it, and I had it. Thoughts of laying on the grasss and taking a nap went through my head. I stopped and connected my earphones so I could call Travis and continue riding. Anything to take my mind off how miserable I was. Our conversation didn't last long, so I had to find something else. 20 miles at 16.2MPH, and it felt like I was giving it all I had.
I couldn't remember the last time I took in calories, so at 4hrs 10min I took another gel even though I didn't want to. Shortly after that I stopped at a gas station to buy a Red Bull. Caffeine has never helped in the past, but I had hope. The gel I just took had caffeine, Red Bull did, and the last 2 gels also had it. There was no long brick planned, so I just needed enough umph to get me 12 miles on my bike. Shortly after the gas station I took my 2nd gel, and washed it down with the Red Bull that I put in my water bottle.
To my surprise, it appeared to be working. I'm sure it was partially because I was near home, and the fact that I now had fresh calories, and maybe even the caffeine. At 4hrs and 50min I decided to take my last gel. That was 460 calories in the last 40 minutes. Whoa, that's a lot. I pictured myself walking into a buffet with my trainer and bike for my next long ride. Last 12 miles of the ride at 18.2MPH and felt good.
Mile 36 I stopped at a gas station and filled up my empty Cytomax bottle with Gatorade. Average speed to this point was 18.8MPH. My goal was to keep it between 17 and 18 MPH.
Next stretch was 30 miles where I kept my average speed at a much better 17.8MPH. I felt good, but I think I slowed down taking in calories during this stretch. Over the next 20 miles I felt like crap. My back was sore, no energy, sweat in my eyes, legs were tired, you name it, and I had it. Thoughts of laying on the grasss and taking a nap went through my head. I stopped and connected my earphones so I could call Travis and continue riding. Anything to take my mind off how miserable I was. Our conversation didn't last long, so I had to find something else. 20 miles at 16.2MPH, and it felt like I was giving it all I had.
I couldn't remember the last time I took in calories, so at 4hrs 10min I took another gel even though I didn't want to. Shortly after that I stopped at a gas station to buy a Red Bull. Caffeine has never helped in the past, but I had hope. The gel I just took had caffeine, Red Bull did, and the last 2 gels also had it. There was no long brick planned, so I just needed enough umph to get me 12 miles on my bike. Shortly after the gas station I took my 2nd gel, and washed it down with the Red Bull that I put in my water bottle.
To my surprise, it appeared to be working. I'm sure it was partially because I was near home, and the fact that I now had fresh calories, and maybe even the caffeine. At 4hrs and 50min I decided to take my last gel. That was 460 calories in the last 40 minutes. Whoa, that's a lot. I pictured myself walking into a buffet with my trainer and bike for my next long ride. Last 12 miles of the ride at 18.2MPH and felt good.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Feeling Good
I admit that over the weekend I should of done much longer workouts, and a much lower intensity. However, on the positive side, I did run and bike faster than I thought I could in the heat, and it felt good. Today I did my 6@6 and felt great. It was only 7:30 pace, but I've run that pace before and felt like my legs weighed a ton.
According to the gizmo at the gym, my body fat is 11.8% today. I'd love to only carry 155 pounds around on my runs instead of 165, but it's hard to complain about that body fat.
According to the gizmo at the gym, my body fat is 11.8% today. I'd love to only carry 155 pounds around on my runs instead of 165, but it's hard to complain about that body fat.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Feast or Famine
After cycling for 300+ miles two weeks ago, I've been feeling fatigue late last week and early this week. Over and over I've been telling myself "go slow when increasing volume." Today I felt good, so did I follow my own advice? Of course not. My 28 mile bike route has a new record. If that was not enough, I did a hard 4.5 mile run afterwards. Why can I not listen to my own advice?
Maybe I'll have better self control tomorrow when I'm on the trainer for four hours.
Maybe I'll have better self control tomorrow when I'm on the trainer for four hours.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Rare Swim Workout
Wife and I had to leave at 4am to get her to the airport. Since I was already going to be in Pensacola and Mark was swimming at the beach, it would be foolish to not go. However, there was rain and lighting the entire way, so I was sure we would not do it. I was tired and looking forward to sleeping in the car in my work parking lot while it rained.
Text to Mark: "Swim cancelled?"
Reply: "I'm headed out there now to see."
Text to Mark: "Storms all around. Clear at beach.
Reply: "Sounds good!"
Dang, so much for sleeping. Time for my first swim workout in over a year. The cool thing was that there were other people and in open water, so I could practice drafting and swimming straight. Both of those are hard to practice in a pool.
Swimming behind Ty was easy. His feet moved slow, and he moved slow. I could see his entire body by tilting my head up a little. Drafting off of Mark was not so easy. The only thing I could see was bubbles. The bubbles were all around, so I didn't know if I was heading toward the center of the bubbles or not. 90% of the time I wasn't.
As we were leaving, Mark asked if I wanted a ride for the 1.5 mile trip back to my workplace. I told him I'd run and his reply was "that a boy. just testen ya." It's good to be around people that encourage more working out.
Text to Mark: "Swim cancelled?"
Reply: "I'm headed out there now to see."
Text to Mark: "Storms all around. Clear at beach.
Reply: "Sounds good!"
Dang, so much for sleeping. Time for my first swim workout in over a year. The cool thing was that there were other people and in open water, so I could practice drafting and swimming straight. Both of those are hard to practice in a pool.
Swimming behind Ty was easy. His feet moved slow, and he moved slow. I could see his entire body by tilting my head up a little. Drafting off of Mark was not so easy. The only thing I could see was bubbles. The bubbles were all around, so I didn't know if I was heading toward the center of the bubbles or not. 90% of the time I wasn't.
As we were leaving, Mark asked if I wanted a ride for the 1.5 mile trip back to my workplace. I told him I'd run and his reply was "that a boy. just testen ya." It's good to be around people that encourage more working out.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Pain Threshold and Fitness Threshold
Someday I'm going to write a well thought out post on this topic. It all seemed so clear during my workout yesterday. Results are definately a combination of pain threshold, fitness threshold, and how willing you are to near each of those points. It seems obvious to me that as I get older, I can worry less and less about the pain tolerance, and simply go at the pace that I know I'm in shape to perform. More to come...
Monday, July 6, 2009
Group Ride to End the Week
With 98 miles on Friday, I planned on some easy miles Saturday, then a long ride Sunday to get 300 for the week. Why I choose to meet up with a group, I have no idea. I rode with them once last year, and knew nobody, so it's not like I felt obligated.
There did happen to be one person there that I knew. Johnny is the fastest tri guy in our small city. I've only talked to him about 5 times, but I look forward to training with him over the next few years and tapping into his years of experience.
Around the halfway point we stopped at a gas station. I made the comment that I'd break off and head back home since I only brought 2 water bottles and 2 gels. I had not planned on 70+ miles. Johnny was "nice" enough to offer to buy me some water, thus negating part of my excuse to head back early. There was also a reference to me being an Ironman, that was meant
to encourage me to tough it out. Against my better judgment, I stayed.
Although tired, it wasn't hard to keep up for the next 20 miles or so. However, at the end of a long gradual ascent, I couldn't keep up. About 100m after I dropped back, they stopped at another gas station to rest and refuel. It was less than 20 miles to get back, and I thought I would be fine.
Most pulls were around 22-23 MPH, and felt easy when drafting. Then Johnny would pull 25 MPH and I'd die. To make things harder, I was right behind him, so it was my turn to pull after being beat. After my pull I fell to the back and Johnny dropped back just a bit farther so I could catch his draft and catch back up to the group. What a nice guy. Someday when I'm a strong rider I'll have to remember to do that for someone struggling.
Home was getting closer, and I thought I was going to make it, until Johnny was pulling again. 5 miles from the finish and I couldn't stick to his wheel. Very disappointed with myself.
When I got back to the start of the group ride, I was still 7 miles from home. I'd been without water or calories for over an hour, so I called my wife. She asked if I needed picked up, and I just told her to bring cold water and sports drink and I could ride home. I stopped sweating a while ago, and now my skin was clammy and very salty. Dehydration is not how I wanted to end my ride. Next time I'll be prepared.
85 miles on Wednesday, 98 on Friday, and I felt fine after both. The 60 miles with a group on Saturday killed me. Monday morning my legs are still sore.
Numbers:
Cytomax - 40oz - 450 cal
Hammer Gels - 2 - 200 cal
Time - 3.5 hours (185 cal/hr)
There did happen to be one person there that I knew. Johnny is the fastest tri guy in our small city. I've only talked to him about 5 times, but I look forward to training with him over the next few years and tapping into his years of experience.
Around the halfway point we stopped at a gas station. I made the comment that I'd break off and head back home since I only brought 2 water bottles and 2 gels. I had not planned on 70+ miles. Johnny was "nice" enough to offer to buy me some water, thus negating part of my excuse to head back early. There was also a reference to me being an Ironman, that was meant
to encourage me to tough it out. Against my better judgment, I stayed.
Although tired, it wasn't hard to keep up for the next 20 miles or so. However, at the end of a long gradual ascent, I couldn't keep up. About 100m after I dropped back, they stopped at another gas station to rest and refuel. It was less than 20 miles to get back, and I thought I would be fine.
Most pulls were around 22-23 MPH, and felt easy when drafting. Then Johnny would pull 25 MPH and I'd die. To make things harder, I was right behind him, so it was my turn to pull after being beat. After my pull I fell to the back and Johnny dropped back just a bit farther so I could catch his draft and catch back up to the group. What a nice guy. Someday when I'm a strong rider I'll have to remember to do that for someone struggling.
Home was getting closer, and I thought I was going to make it, until Johnny was pulling again. 5 miles from the finish and I couldn't stick to his wheel. Very disappointed with myself.
When I got back to the start of the group ride, I was still 7 miles from home. I'd been without water or calories for over an hour, so I called my wife. She asked if I needed picked up, and I just told her to bring cold water and sports drink and I could ride home. I stopped sweating a while ago, and now my skin was clammy and very salty. Dehydration is not how I wanted to end my ride. Next time I'll be prepared.
85 miles on Wednesday, 98 on Friday, and I felt fine after both. The 60 miles with a group on Saturday killed me. Monday morning my legs are still sore.
Numbers:
Cytomax - 40oz - 450 cal
Hammer Gels - 2 - 200 cal
Time - 3.5 hours (185 cal/hr)
Friday, July 3, 2009
2nd Long Ride of Week
Took a few wrong turns that added some miles, but still only 98.3 miles today. The speed and average HR were up some from Wednesday's ride and it felt good.
gatorade - 20 oz - 75 calories
cytomax - 20 oz - 225 calories
pbj - 327 calories
honey gels - 3 - 300 calories
total calories - 1527 (277 per hour)
Problems:
Shortly after leaving I realized I forgot my gels. I thought it wouldn't be a problem since I had other calories.
Ran out of Endurolytes around mile 70. Next time I'll top off the container instead of guessing there will be enough.
Sports drink ran out about mile 70 also. This would not of been a problem if I was smart enough to buy a refil at the gas station. However, the only thing I could think about was buying more water since I ran out of that.
Numbers:
figs - 12 - 600 caloriesgatorade - 20 oz - 75 calories
cytomax - 20 oz - 225 calories
pbj - 327 calories
honey gels - 3 - 300 calories
total calories - 1527 (277 per hour)
water - 140 oz
hours - 5.5
temp at finish - 95
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
No 5k
Yesterday I decided that the 5k this weekend is no longer a "maybe." It's a "no." For the last 2 weeks my legs were heavy and my times were slow. Yesterday I did the 6@6 at 7:18 pace, but it felt much slower. I'm happy about that.
Still, even if I get a 5k PR or quality speed work, that's not what this week is about. This week I'm packing in the cycling miles without dropping below 20 running miles. I have a long way to go before I can finish 112 miles on the bike and feel ready for a marathon. Doing 5k's isn't key for me to get there... at least not at this point in my training.
Still, even if I get a 5k PR or quality speed work, that's not what this week is about. This week I'm packing in the cycling miles without dropping below 20 running miles. I have a long way to go before I can finish 112 miles on the bike and feel ready for a marathon. Doing 5k's isn't key for me to get there... at least not at this point in my training.
Short Century
Took a wrong turn today on my first attempt at a solo century. It's only fitting since my only other century I also took a wrong turn. Both times resulting in less milage, so I've yet to pass the 100 miles/day mark.
Started at 6:30 this morning after having a small banana and an Ensure. High temp of 92 today, but I was lucky to have some cloud cover. Just about drained all 100 oz of my Camelbak, and the second 20 oz bottles of Cytomax emptied around mile 75. In addition to the sports drink, I had 6 fig newtons, PBJ sandwich, and 3 PowerBar Gels. Thought about stopping to buy a Red Bull but didn't test it today. Forgot about the banana or I would of ate it.
Numbers:
Calories:
Fig - 300
PBJ - 327
40oz Cytomax - 450
gels - 300
Total - 1377 (275 per hour)
Endurolytes - 8
weight loss < 8 lbs
miles - 84.2
time - 4:54:47
Avg HR - 118
Started at 6:30 this morning after having a small banana and an Ensure. High temp of 92 today, but I was lucky to have some cloud cover. Just about drained all 100 oz of my Camelbak, and the second 20 oz bottles of Cytomax emptied around mile 75. In addition to the sports drink, I had 6 fig newtons, PBJ sandwich, and 3 PowerBar Gels. Thought about stopping to buy a Red Bull but didn't test it today. Forgot about the banana or I would of ate it.
Numbers:
Calories:
Fig - 300
PBJ - 327
40oz Cytomax - 450
gels - 300
Total - 1377 (275 per hour)
Endurolytes - 8
weight loss < 8 lbs
miles - 84.2
time - 4:54:47
Avg HR - 118
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Slower
Last Saturday my 5k was 45 seconds slower than I predicted. 3 days later my tempo run went worse then they have been. On Thursday I could barely keep from walking during the 6@6. However, I believe I'm still improving. The plan is to keep increasing the volume, decreasing the intensity, and wait for a taper to look for measured improvements.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Numbers
We're halfway though 2009, and I thought I'd record some numbers that can be referenced in the future.
950 - miles I've biked in last 6 months. Goal was 4,000 for the year.
131/82 - Blood Pressure this week. Much better than it has been in the past.
163-167 - My weight range throughout the week.
1.67 liters/hr - Sweat rate over a 1.5 hour run on June 7th. Started at 9:12am, 80 degrees.
950 - miles I've biked in last 6 months. Goal was 4,000 for the year.
131/82 - Blood Pressure this week. Much better than it has been in the past.
163-167 - My weight range throughout the week.
1.67 liters/hr - Sweat rate over a 1.5 hour run on June 7th. Started at 9:12am, 80 degrees.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Grandman Race Report
Fairhope Grandman Triathlon Results
Prerace: 1 ensure and 1 banana at the house. Tested using glide and no sox for a .5 mile run at 5:30 pace. Rode 7 miles to the race and had one more endure with 4 Hammer Enduralytes.
Swim: Course description states 1/3 mile swim. It seemed like we walked the first 200m, swam 100m, then walked the last 200m. the fastest people did lots of dolphin dives, which I have no practice doing, but I still tried. Guessing I looked like an idiot doing random acts of a belly flop with a jumping jack motion. Finished 22/41 in age group. Not disappointing since I no longer practice swimming.
Bike: Start of the bike is up a slight incline for 25m or so, then up a steep hill. I never got rolling up the incline and had trouble putting my feet in the shoes. Eventually one shoe became unclipped before my foot was in it, so I had to circle around to go pick it up, unclip my other shoe, and do it all over. Only one person that passed me was in my age group. After looking at results, I see that I beat him out of T1, but I remember passing him first. Not long after, he passed me for good. My goal was to keep him in sight so I could pass him on the run, but he didn't stay in sight for long. Somewhere around mile 7 I lost sight of him. Surprised myself by averaging 20.8MPH and being 4th of 41 in age group. Surprised with both my speed, and that more people in my AG were not faster.
Run: Caught up to that guy in my AG that passed me on the bike after 3/4 mile, which made me feel a lot better. Splits were right on my goal. 6:38, 6:30, and 6:40 according to the Garmin. Managed to get 1st in age group for run with 20:08.
The results showed that I was 4th in my age group, and I left my raffle ticket at home. No reason to stick around, so I gathered my stuff and rode my bike 7 miles home feeling upset and promising to increase volume, consistancy, and intensity. The results posted now show I was 3rd in my age group. Guess I should of stuck around for my medal...
Overall: I counted almost 10 penalties in the results! That's surprising in a small sprint triathlon. The race officials were on the back of big Honda Goldwing trikes, which I must of seen 5+ times on the bike course.
Consumed 10 oz of Cytomax and no h20.
Prerace: 1 ensure and 1 banana at the house. Tested using glide and no sox for a .5 mile run at 5:30 pace. Rode 7 miles to the race and had one more endure with 4 Hammer Enduralytes.
Swim: Course description states 1/3 mile swim. It seemed like we walked the first 200m, swam 100m, then walked the last 200m. the fastest people did lots of dolphin dives, which I have no practice doing, but I still tried. Guessing I looked like an idiot doing random acts of a belly flop with a jumping jack motion. Finished 22/41 in age group. Not disappointing since I no longer practice swimming.
Bike: Start of the bike is up a slight incline for 25m or so, then up a steep hill. I never got rolling up the incline and had trouble putting my feet in the shoes. Eventually one shoe became unclipped before my foot was in it, so I had to circle around to go pick it up, unclip my other shoe, and do it all over. Only one person that passed me was in my age group. After looking at results, I see that I beat him out of T1, but I remember passing him first. Not long after, he passed me for good. My goal was to keep him in sight so I could pass him on the run, but he didn't stay in sight for long. Somewhere around mile 7 I lost sight of him. Surprised myself by averaging 20.8MPH and being 4th of 41 in age group. Surprised with both my speed, and that more people in my AG were not faster.
Run: Caught up to that guy in my AG that passed me on the bike after 3/4 mile, which made me feel a lot better. Splits were right on my goal. 6:38, 6:30, and 6:40 according to the Garmin. Managed to get 1st in age group for run with 20:08.
The results showed that I was 4th in my age group, and I left my raffle ticket at home. No reason to stick around, so I gathered my stuff and rode my bike 7 miles home feeling upset and promising to increase volume, consistancy, and intensity. The results posted now show I was 3rd in my age group. Guess I should of stuck around for my medal...
Overall: I counted almost 10 penalties in the results! That's surprising in a small sprint triathlon. The race officials were on the back of big Honda Goldwing trikes, which I must of seen 5+ times on the bike course.
Consumed 10 oz of Cytomax and no h20.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
3 Mile Bridge Race Report
There's 2 reasons I wanted to do this race.
1. Each time I drive over this bridge, I think about the race they have each year to swim from one end to the other. Since I drive over it going to and from work, that's a lot of thinking about it.
2. People keep asking how someone can swim that far. It's really not a big deal if you know how to swim. Nearly any adult can walk briskly for 3 hours. Walking fast and swimming slow seem like the same amount of effort to me, so I wanted to prove it.
The swim only field was small (118) and the aquathon was even smaller (32).
Run:
My goal was to take it easy on the run since I didn't know if I was capable of finishing the swim. The start of the race was great. I was talking to someone about how he strapped his Forerunner 305 to his neck for open water swims. He was mid-sentence when someone yelled "Go!" so I turned around and took off. Worst part of the run was after seeing a bumper sticker, I had the song "Jesus Loves Me" in my head. As for pace, I knew I'd go out too hard, so I tried to keep it at what I thought was a 10k pace. Next year I'll treat it like an open 5k. After getting in the water, it's only a little over waist high for 100+ meters. The official start of the swim is about 150m out. Plenty of time to walk and catch your breath. If we were jumping into deep water, then I'd be more concerned about going hard on the run. Finished in 20:21 and feeling good.
Swim:
Took a GU in transition and started swimming for the first time in 11 months. Even though I didn't need to, I took 2 gels while swimming. Luckily the "Jesus Loves Me" song didn't follow me into the water. Zero, by Yeah Yeah Yeahs was circling in my head for well over 2 hours. Finding the end was not fun. If I have to run an extra 200m due to getting lost, that's fine. However, swimming a few extra hundred meters after being in the water 2+ hours was frustrating.
With the exception of putting body glide on underarms and neck, there's nothing I wish I would of done differently, but there's a few small things that I'll probably forget about next year. 2 small stitches in my side that were not bad enough to change my stroke. Wish I would of had some drinking water, but it probably would not of helped the sore throat. Sore throat went away within an hour or two of the finish.
Result:
3/3 in my age group. The award was a beach towel... so much cooler than a medal. The better reward was the great BBQ and kegs of beer. Every race I've done around here ends with beer. I haven't figured out why, but it's nice. Shoulders were sore for over a week, but that's what I get for not training.
Next year:
Run hard.
Bring bike and someone to drive the car home, so I can bike 60 miles home.
Practice with the Garmin strapped to me somehow and use it during the race.
Resist the temptation to do the 10k swim if it's available as they say it will be.
Swim fast instead of swimming to finish.
Do not do the 10k. 2010 motto is "Faster, NOT longer."
1. Each time I drive over this bridge, I think about the race they have each year to swim from one end to the other. Since I drive over it going to and from work, that's a lot of thinking about it.
2. People keep asking how someone can swim that far. It's really not a big deal if you know how to swim. Nearly any adult can walk briskly for 3 hours. Walking fast and swimming slow seem like the same amount of effort to me, so I wanted to prove it.
The swim only field was small (118) and the aquathon was even smaller (32).
Run:
My goal was to take it easy on the run since I didn't know if I was capable of finishing the swim. The start of the race was great. I was talking to someone about how he strapped his Forerunner 305 to his neck for open water swims. He was mid-sentence when someone yelled "Go!" so I turned around and took off. Worst part of the run was after seeing a bumper sticker, I had the song "Jesus Loves Me" in my head. As for pace, I knew I'd go out too hard, so I tried to keep it at what I thought was a 10k pace. Next year I'll treat it like an open 5k. After getting in the water, it's only a little over waist high for 100+ meters. The official start of the swim is about 150m out. Plenty of time to walk and catch your breath. If we were jumping into deep water, then I'd be more concerned about going hard on the run. Finished in 20:21 and feeling good.
Swim:
Took a GU in transition and started swimming for the first time in 11 months. Even though I didn't need to, I took 2 gels while swimming. Luckily the "Jesus Loves Me" song didn't follow me into the water. Zero, by Yeah Yeah Yeahs was circling in my head for well over 2 hours. Finding the end was not fun. If I have to run an extra 200m due to getting lost, that's fine. However, swimming a few extra hundred meters after being in the water 2+ hours was frustrating.
With the exception of putting body glide on underarms and neck, there's nothing I wish I would of done differently, but there's a few small things that I'll probably forget about next year. 2 small stitches in my side that were not bad enough to change my stroke. Wish I would of had some drinking water, but it probably would not of helped the sore throat. Sore throat went away within an hour or two of the finish.
Result:
3/3 in my age group. The award was a beach towel... so much cooler than a medal. The better reward was the great BBQ and kegs of beer. Every race I've done around here ends with beer. I haven't figured out why, but it's nice. Shoulders were sore for over a week, but that's what I get for not training.
Next year:
Run hard.
Bring bike and someone to drive the car home, so I can bike 60 miles home.
Practice with the Garmin strapped to me somehow and use it during the race.
Resist the temptation to do the 10k swim if it's available as they say it will be.
Swim fast instead of swimming to finish.
Do not do the 10k. 2010 motto is "Faster, NOT longer."
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Nutrition Test 1
Numbers:
56 mile bike at 17.8MpH. Ave HR 119.
9 mile run at 8:33/mile. Ave HR 156.
Calories consumed per hour 190.
Weight change:
167.2 pre workout -> 160.2 post workout
Did not track volume of water taken
Pre workout:
2 chocolate chip cookies, Ensure, Banana
During workout:
2 Powerbar Gels (200), 1 GU Roctane (100), 1 PBJ sandwich (300), 30 oz Cytomax (270)
1 Endurolyte during bike, 2 during run
Improvement opportunities:
Use the Endurolytes, don't just toss them in Camelbak
Tape nutrition to bike instead of leaving in Camelbak
No short socks
Run slow after getting off bike
Get enough ice for bath
Setup bike, clothes, and nutrition the night before
Try fig newtons
No stomach issues. Calories per hour was not too high. No soreness or fatigue after the workout.
56 mile bike at 17.8MpH. Ave HR 119.
9 mile run at 8:33/mile. Ave HR 156.
Calories consumed per hour 190.
Weight change:
167.2 pre workout -> 160.2 post workout
Did not track volume of water taken
Pre workout:
2 chocolate chip cookies, Ensure, Banana
During workout:
2 Powerbar Gels (200), 1 GU Roctane (100), 1 PBJ sandwich (300), 30 oz Cytomax (270)
1 Endurolyte during bike, 2 during run
Improvement opportunities:
Use the Endurolytes, don't just toss them in Camelbak
Tape nutrition to bike instead of leaving in Camelbak
No short socks
Run slow after getting off bike
Get enough ice for bath
Setup bike, clothes, and nutrition the night before
Try fig newtons
No stomach issues. Calories per hour was not too high. No soreness or fatigue after the workout.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Good Progress but Need Speed
Nailed my weekly volume goals! Bike mileage was 28 Friday, 25 Saturday, and a tough 33 Sunday since the seat broke and I didn't have tools on me :/ Legs are restless and achy, but not sore at all. Saturday's tempo was cut short at 1.5 miles. Average pace was 6:13. Went out too fast, but I hope to learn from it. Bless my wife for pacing me, but it's tough keeping that speed while going up a hill on a heavy bike into the wind and towing a kid. Partial company is way better than no company! Tuesday's 2 mile tempo was better. 6:20 and 6:25 in the hot and humid air.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Weak Week
After promising to bike every day, I stopped after only 3 days. My requirement was only 15 min a day, and I couldn't stick to it. 15 min a day isn't going to improve my fitness drastically, but it would help a lot with my following through on commitments and creating a good new habit.
The excuse I had for skipping yesterday's 15 min easy bike ride was so I could sleep earlier and get a better quality workout this morning. Quality did NOT happen.
Woke up 30 min before the alarm to the sound of my sprinklers spraying through the window and into the bedroom. Instead of shutting the window, I immediately headed for the garage to turn off the sprinklers. Only problem was the bedroom door was shut. I hit it at full speed. Now I was awake.
Being wide awake, did I use the extra 30 min to workout? Nope, I debated on what route to take. When I finally left, I did not have enough time to finish my 28 mile route. After 1/2 a mile, I concluded it was way too foggy to be out on the road, so I went back home, took time to setup a computer so I could watch 24 while on the trainer. Maybe I need to sign up for a race that's before fall in order to get motivated.
The excuse I had for skipping yesterday's 15 min easy bike ride was so I could sleep earlier and get a better quality workout this morning. Quality did NOT happen.
Woke up 30 min before the alarm to the sound of my sprinklers spraying through the window and into the bedroom. Instead of shutting the window, I immediately headed for the garage to turn off the sprinklers. Only problem was the bedroom door was shut. I hit it at full speed. Now I was awake.
Being wide awake, did I use the extra 30 min to workout? Nope, I debated on what route to take. When I finally left, I did not have enough time to finish my 28 mile route. After 1/2 a mile, I concluded it was way too foggy to be out on the road, so I went back home, took time to setup a computer so I could watch 24 while on the trainer. Maybe I need to sign up for a race that's before fall in order to get motivated.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Last 3 Weeks
The 3 weeks following my marathon have been picture perfect. If I can train for 12 hours this week, it's going to be a really good start to my IM training.
30 Days of Biking
Feeling good about my 75 mile ride and 9 mile run over the weekend, today I updated the log and realized that the weekend ride is all I did. The only other ride was cut short (3 miles total) because I wasn't dressed warm enough, and I was too lazy to get on the trainer.
I am now committing to 30 days of biking. For the next month, I won't need to figure out if I should bike today, or rest then go longer on the weekend... I'll know that I can count on a bide ride every single day.
I am now committing to 30 days of biking. For the next month, I won't need to figure out if I should bike today, or rest then go longer on the weekend... I'll know that I can count on a bide ride every single day.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Mullet Man Triathlon
Woke up at 4:20 with intentions of being out the door by 4:45. This would give me 2:15 to ride 40 miles. Left a 5:00am and found out it's hard to look down to read directions when it's pitch black. Only got lost once, which added 2 miles to the trip.
When I arrived at Flora-Bama's Mullet Man Triathlon, the race was supposed to start in 10 min. Someone asked me if I needed body markings, and it felt nice to say "no, I'm just here to watch." The race was delayed while the lifeguards corrected the buoys, but I still didn't have enough time to pick out anyone I knew in the race.
The swim looked like a blast! Waves were crashing over peoples heads. Lifeguards were rounding groups of people up that had been pushed almost back to the beach. If I was the RD, everyone would swim out for 200m, then straight back in. I can see the head-on collisions now. Nevermind, bad idea. Still, it sucked to see so many people walking because it was hard to swim parallel to the beach.
Off to T1 to watch the action. I saw Johnny Harrison, someone I share the same zip code with and recently met. I'm excited to get some training days in with him in hopes to absorb some of his knowledge. I heard he did the 70.3 championship, so I checked the results and saw he went 4:33 in 2006. Good enough for 11/112 in the M45-49 AG. Half the bikes were gone, and I still didn't see Mark. Assume I missed him, so I hopped on my bike with flip-flops and "coasted" 2 miles away to the only hill (a bridge). Pretty soon Johnny came by, then Mark followed 2 min or so behind. After giving my support at the 1 and 3 mile mark, I headed in to chat, then leave for home.
Around 10 miles after I left the race, a PT Cruiser woody turned right when I was on his right shoulder. He sounded really sorry, my bike was working, and I only had a little rode rash on my butt. I did my best to stay cool, asked him to be extra careful in the future. He said he saw me, but he thought I was going slow enough that he would clear the turn before I got there. If I hadn't hit my breaks, I'm sure I could of been hit by the front of his car instead of the back door. And if I wasn't on my aero bars, I may of been able to break faster and avoid the collision. Oh well, life goes on.
Rest of the ride went pretty well. 75 miles for the day. Nutrition was 4 small packs of honey from Whataburger and a PBJ sandwich. No sports drinks since I still can't find my water bottles.
When I arrived at Flora-Bama's Mullet Man Triathlon, the race was supposed to start in 10 min. Someone asked me if I needed body markings, and it felt nice to say "no, I'm just here to watch." The race was delayed while the lifeguards corrected the buoys, but I still didn't have enough time to pick out anyone I knew in the race.
The swim looked like a blast! Waves were crashing over peoples heads. Lifeguards were rounding groups of people up that had been pushed almost back to the beach. If I was the RD, everyone would swim out for 200m, then straight back in. I can see the head-on collisions now. Nevermind, bad idea. Still, it sucked to see so many people walking because it was hard to swim parallel to the beach.
Off to T1 to watch the action. I saw Johnny Harrison, someone I share the same zip code with and recently met. I'm excited to get some training days in with him in hopes to absorb some of his knowledge. I heard he did the 70.3 championship, so I checked the results and saw he went 4:33 in 2006. Good enough for 11/112 in the M45-49 AG. Half the bikes were gone, and I still didn't see Mark. Assume I missed him, so I hopped on my bike with flip-flops and "coasted" 2 miles away to the only hill (a bridge). Pretty soon Johnny came by, then Mark followed 2 min or so behind. After giving my support at the 1 and 3 mile mark, I headed in to chat, then leave for home.
Around 10 miles after I left the race, a PT Cruiser woody turned right when I was on his right shoulder. He sounded really sorry, my bike was working, and I only had a little rode rash on my butt. I did my best to stay cool, asked him to be extra careful in the future. He said he saw me, but he thought I was going slow enough that he would clear the turn before I got there. If I hadn't hit my breaks, I'm sure I could of been hit by the front of his car instead of the back door. And if I wasn't on my aero bars, I may of been able to break faster and avoid the collision. Oh well, life goes on.
Rest of the ride went pretty well. 75 miles for the day. Nutrition was 4 small packs of honey from Whataburger and a PBJ sandwich. No sports drinks since I still can't find my water bottles.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Blood Pressure
On Monday I bought new tires at Sam's Club. While waiting for them to be installed, I saw the machine that measures blood pressure. 119/76. That's the first time that my BP has been below the standard 120/80 that I can remember. Even in high school (I was not overweight or out of shape then) it was consistently slightly higher than 120/80. It was so exciting that I sent a text to my wife, and now I'm recording the event in a blog. My life is full of thrills...
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Disney
Riding in Disney proved to be a difficult task. The shoulders of the roads are ... not there, and if normal vans, trucks, and SUV's aren't enough, they have big Disney buses everywhere. My plan was to get up at 6:00 when there was less traffic, but most nights it was after midnight when we returned from the parks.
In the end, I didn't eat healthy all week, but I did run and bike enough. I was lucky we could drive there with my bike instead of flying, and we didn't rush to the parks at opening time, so I was free in the mornings.
On top of that, I needed the break, and it was fun. It's nice that my daughter is so excited about talking to a woman dressed as Cinderella. Someday that won't be the case.
In the end, I didn't eat healthy all week, but I did run and bike enough. I was lucky we could drive there with my bike instead of flying, and we didn't rush to the parks at opening time, so I was free in the mornings.
On top of that, I needed the break, and it was fun. It's nice that my daughter is so excited about talking to a woman dressed as Cinderella. Someday that won't be the case.
Georgia ING Marathon Report
Even though I followed a good training plan from Paul, I had my doubts that I'd be able to qualify for Boston. There were 2 things that worried me about the race; race nutrition and going out too hard.
Nutrition - Each long run I tested my nutrition, and I was always good on the LSD runs, but as soon as I did some miles at race pace, I felt horrible. 4 days before the race I checked out GU Roctane gels, and decided to gamble. I've never used them before, and there were no more chances to test them. Trying something new on race day is a really bad idea, but I felt I had nothing to lose. Everything else wasn't working. The next problem was carrying the gels and endurolytes. Both of my belts turn sideways on me. At the expo I found another belt. If it didn't work, the fallback plan was to carry everything in my hands. I went on a run at 8:45 Saturday night and the belt worked.
Pace - Not only do I go out too fast on races, but I do it in training. To make matters worse, the beginning of this race was loaded with downhills. Each time I went down a hill, I got worried that I'd have to go up it at the end of the race. Plus, my GPS was showing the mile markers well before the course markers. My goal was to stay between 7:10 and 7:15 per mile, but since my GPS was off, I estimated it should say 7:00 to 7:05 to be safe. Plus with all the downhills at the start of the race, if I was a little under 7:00 for the first half, that might be a good thing. I was not trying to "bank" time, but I didn't want to run up hills at 7:00 min/mi for the last 10 miles to reach my goal time.
The first 18 miles were uneventful. At mile 18 I got a small stitch in my side, but it didn't worry me at all. If there was a big nutrition problem, it would of showed up long before. The gels did their job. Anything uncomfortable that came up I could run through.
Mile 22 is when I decided to do some math instead of guessing from the GPS. I crossed the mile marker at 2:37. So, I had 32 min to run 4.2 miles... I couldn't figure what pace I needed. Since I was feeling good, I thought if I just run 7 min miles, I'll be at mile 26 by 3:05. Then I have 5 min to go the last .2 miles. Sounded like a good plan at the time.
Somewhere after the mile 24 marker is the first time I felt like I was no longer holding back. The next mile was mostly downhill, and I did it in 7:29. The mile after that took 7:50. If there was a mile 25 or 26 marker, I didn't see either one. I couldn't see the finish, but I could hear the crowd and the announcer. When he said "these runners are coming in at just under 3 hours and 9 minutes..." I about freaked. If the finish line was 1/4 mile away, I was screwed. I thought about that for about 15 seconds, then turned a corner. The finish line was about 50m away, and the time was just past 3:09.
Motionbased info
Elevation change 3,000 ft
Official time 3:09:18
Overall - 54 of 2105
Male 31-40 - 23rd of 475
Saturday nutrition (stuff i remember)
Ensure, Banana, 3 pancakes from Cracker Barrel, 32oz Gatorade, clif bar, mean bar and snack bar samples at expo (330 cal total), 24 oz milk, spaghetti, minestrone soup and rolls from Spaghetti Factory.
race nutrition:
1 ensure, 8 oz Gatorade, and half banana 60 min before start. 1 ensure 15 min before start, 4 GU Roctane gels (miles 6, 11, 16, 21), Gatorade at first and last station, water at each other station, 8 - 10 Hammer Endurolytes.
Nutrition - Each long run I tested my nutrition, and I was always good on the LSD runs, but as soon as I did some miles at race pace, I felt horrible. 4 days before the race I checked out GU Roctane gels, and decided to gamble. I've never used them before, and there were no more chances to test them. Trying something new on race day is a really bad idea, but I felt I had nothing to lose. Everything else wasn't working. The next problem was carrying the gels and endurolytes. Both of my belts turn sideways on me. At the expo I found another belt. If it didn't work, the fallback plan was to carry everything in my hands. I went on a run at 8:45 Saturday night and the belt worked.
Pace - Not only do I go out too fast on races, but I do it in training. To make matters worse, the beginning of this race was loaded with downhills. Each time I went down a hill, I got worried that I'd have to go up it at the end of the race. Plus, my GPS was showing the mile markers well before the course markers. My goal was to stay between 7:10 and 7:15 per mile, but since my GPS was off, I estimated it should say 7:00 to 7:05 to be safe. Plus with all the downhills at the start of the race, if I was a little under 7:00 for the first half, that might be a good thing. I was not trying to "bank" time, but I didn't want to run up hills at 7:00 min/mi for the last 10 miles to reach my goal time.
The first 18 miles were uneventful. At mile 18 I got a small stitch in my side, but it didn't worry me at all. If there was a big nutrition problem, it would of showed up long before. The gels did their job. Anything uncomfortable that came up I could run through.
Mile 22 is when I decided to do some math instead of guessing from the GPS. I crossed the mile marker at 2:37. So, I had 32 min to run 4.2 miles... I couldn't figure what pace I needed. Since I was feeling good, I thought if I just run 7 min miles, I'll be at mile 26 by 3:05. Then I have 5 min to go the last .2 miles. Sounded like a good plan at the time.
Somewhere after the mile 24 marker is the first time I felt like I was no longer holding back. The next mile was mostly downhill, and I did it in 7:29. The mile after that took 7:50. If there was a mile 25 or 26 marker, I didn't see either one. I couldn't see the finish, but I could hear the crowd and the announcer. When he said "these runners are coming in at just under 3 hours and 9 minutes..." I about freaked. If the finish line was 1/4 mile away, I was screwed. I thought about that for about 15 seconds, then turned a corner. The finish line was about 50m away, and the time was just past 3:09.
Motionbased info
Elevation change 3,000 ft
Official time 3:09:18
Overall - 54 of 2105
Male 31-40 - 23rd of 475
Saturday nutrition (stuff i remember)
Ensure, Banana, 3 pancakes from Cracker Barrel, 32oz Gatorade, clif bar, mean bar and snack bar samples at expo (330 cal total), 24 oz milk, spaghetti, minestrone soup and rolls from Spaghetti Factory.
race nutrition:
1 ensure, 8 oz Gatorade, and half banana 60 min before start. 1 ensure 15 min before start, 4 GU Roctane gels (miles 6, 11, 16, 21), Gatorade at first and last station, water at each other station, 8 - 10 Hammer Endurolytes.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Why endurance events?
There's no faking it, and no handicap. It's not who you know, or who's on your team, and it's not as much about natural ability as other activities. For the most part, your performance is a direct result of how much you put into training.
It would be even more fair if you couldn't buy speed, and if everyone didn't get the same finishers medal. Those are such small factors in the grand scheme, it's hardly worth mentioning.
To compare with strength training - I hate the gym. Traveling there, public showers, shared equipment, crowded, bad music, to get the list started. Get me outside where I can sing loudly, enjoy the scenery (without leering at the one hot chick in the gym), listen to the dogs, mowers,birds, waves, and leaves in the wind. Workout equipment at home takes care of most of those things, but I just can't confine myself to one room for 10+ hours a week.
Team sports - They don't allow you to practice at your convience, it's on their time. The performance is determined in part by myself, but mostly by the team. I want results that reflect what I put into it.
Measured results - Some people have the personality that doesn't require a competition. They want to exercise to live longer, socialize, or look better. I need a race. I get nervous about the races, and even get nervous about the hard workouts that will improve my race. The race is the reward for all the work. When the race is happening, I'm not having fun, but as soon as it's done... that's when it's all worth it. I sit back and know that my work has paid off, or know what I need to do for better results. There's no wondering if I'm getting the results I want. I know for certain if I've achieved my goal or not.
It would be even more fair if you couldn't buy speed, and if everyone didn't get the same finishers medal. Those are such small factors in the grand scheme, it's hardly worth mentioning.
To compare with strength training - I hate the gym. Traveling there, public showers, shared equipment, crowded, bad music, to get the list started. Get me outside where I can sing loudly, enjoy the scenery (without leering at the one hot chick in the gym), listen to the dogs, mowers,birds, waves, and leaves in the wind. Workout equipment at home takes care of most of those things, but I just can't confine myself to one room for 10+ hours a week.
Team sports - They don't allow you to practice at your convience, it's on their time. The performance is determined in part by myself, but mostly by the team. I want results that reflect what I put into it.
Measured results - Some people have the personality that doesn't require a competition. They want to exercise to live longer, socialize, or look better. I need a race. I get nervous about the races, and even get nervous about the hard workouts that will improve my race. The race is the reward for all the work. When the race is happening, I'm not having fun, but as soon as it's done... that's when it's all worth it. I sit back and know that my work has paid off, or know what I need to do for better results. There's no wondering if I'm getting the results I want. I know for certain if I've achieved my goal or not.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Road Trip
2 weeks from my marathon I spent the weekend driving nearly 2000 miles.
Thursday - In the morning I ran with the 6 @ 6 group. After work I started driving to Ohio. That night I slept in the car at a rest stop because I'm too cheap to get a hotel. Next time I need to bring a blanket because covering up with extra shirts and sweatpants is not effective. I slept supprising well from 11:00 to 2:00, then drove for an hour and slept again from 3:00 to 7:00.
Friday was all driving. At one point I stopped long enough for a 10 min easy run. It's tough to do a workout without sweating, but I tried.
Saturday - No training. Drove from Lima to Fremont to Massillon filling up a rental truck. Went to bed about 1:00 and got up at 6:00.
Sunday - Woke up tired and no training for the 3rd day in a row. Drove from 6:00am till after midnight.
Monday - 6 miles at lunch, then another 14 miles after work. Went right to bed after the 14 miles instead of getting an ice bath. Tuesday and Wednesday I felt the soreness from skipping the ice bath.
Thursday - In the morning I ran with the 6 @ 6 group. After work I started driving to Ohio. That night I slept in the car at a rest stop because I'm too cheap to get a hotel. Next time I need to bring a blanket because covering up with extra shirts and sweatpants is not effective. I slept supprising well from 11:00 to 2:00, then drove for an hour and slept again from 3:00 to 7:00.
Friday was all driving. At one point I stopped long enough for a 10 min easy run. It's tough to do a workout without sweating, but I tried.
Saturday - No training. Drove from Lima to Fremont to Massillon filling up a rental truck. Went to bed about 1:00 and got up at 6:00.
Sunday - Woke up tired and no training for the 3rd day in a row. Drove from 6:00am till after midnight.
Monday - 6 miles at lunch, then another 14 miles after work. Went right to bed after the 14 miles instead of getting an ice bath. Tuesday and Wednesday I felt the soreness from skipping the ice bath.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Lost
Saturday - What I wanted to do was a 30 mile bike ride and 5 mile run. What I did was lose my Garmin on the bike ride, then lose my wedding ring while searching for the Garmin.
Sunday - Goal was to warm up with 8:30 min/mile then knock out 9 mile at 7:10, followed by 8:30's for a total of 18 miles. Wife was a gem to ride her bike with me to let me know every 1/2 mile that went by. However, my warmup was too fast, the first few miles at race pace were too fast, and my nutrition plan was horrible. Took a PowerBar Gel at 30 min, 45 min, 75 min, then whenever I remembered. These are about 22 calories each, so I planned on taking one every 15 min. Left the endurolyte pills in the car. It was very hot and humid, so if I ever needed them, Sunday was the time. Whatever... it was a good workout and I had good company. It just wasn't the race rehersal that I wanted.
Sunday - Goal was to warm up with 8:30 min/mile then knock out 9 mile at 7:10, followed by 8:30's for a total of 18 miles. Wife was a gem to ride her bike with me to let me know every 1/2 mile that went by. However, my warmup was too fast, the first few miles at race pace were too fast, and my nutrition plan was horrible. Took a PowerBar Gel at 30 min, 45 min, 75 min, then whenever I remembered. These are about 22 calories each, so I planned on taking one every 15 min. Left the endurolyte pills in the car. It was very hot and humid, so if I ever needed them, Sunday was the time. Whatever... it was a good workout and I had good company. It just wasn't the race rehersal that I wanted.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Failed Workouts
Someday when I'm going over my training logs and trying to figure out what worked and what didn't work, I might want to know why I did what's logged. This was my main goal of the blog, but it's ended up being more about my thoughts, and less about facts. Today I'll try to get closer to that original purpose.
Feb 1st, 2009 - 11.2 miles and the end of a painful football season. One excuse after another, but I did finally get out the door about an hour before kickoff. Felt great. Should of kept going, but the game had already started and we had company coming over, so I stopped early.
Week of Feb 9. Took 3 days off instead of my usual 1 day. 10 miles short for week.
Week of Feb 16. Another 3 days off because the long day on Feb 15 was a marathon with no following ice bath. Long run goal was 18, with 12 at MP. Quit the run at 13 (6 at MP) because I couldn't keep up.
Week of Feb 23. Tried the 5 mile tempo run but could only hang on for 3 miles. 20 mile LR the day after felt fine. Possibly lacked motivation for tempo run or the 30 mile bike ride before killed my legs.
Feb 1st, 2009 - 11.2 miles and the end of a painful football season. One excuse after another, but I did finally get out the door about an hour before kickoff. Felt great. Should of kept going, but the game had already started and we had company coming over, so I stopped early.
Week of Feb 9. Took 3 days off instead of my usual 1 day. 10 miles short for week.
Week of Feb 16. Another 3 days off because the long day on Feb 15 was a marathon with no following ice bath. Long run goal was 18, with 12 at MP. Quit the run at 13 (6 at MP) because I couldn't keep up.
Week of Feb 23. Tried the 5 mile tempo run but could only hang on for 3 miles. 20 mile LR the day after felt fine. Possibly lacked motivation for tempo run or the 30 mile bike ride before killed my legs.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Fat
Yesterday I had the gym measure my body fat. 13.5%. Last winter a personal trainer measured with those calibers and said it was 7%, and one of the $200 weight scales at a marathon expo said I was 10%. At that time, I think I was 8 lbs heavier. Odly enough, if 13.5% is accurate, I'm more relieved than bummed. Just a little relieved... everyone wants to have a low body fat, right? However, what this means is that I have rooom to lose weight without looking like I'm malnutritioned! I'm only 5'7.5" and weigh 167. That's officially a BMI of "fat." My guess is there are not a lot of sub 3 hour marathoners carrying that much weight on such short legs.
My plan is to get a daily nutrition plan this week, and stick to it next week. See if I can drop 1 - 1.5 lbs per week between now and my marathon. Now it's time for some fun with FitDay to guess at my caloric intake needs and protein/carb/fat distribution.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Pensacola Race Report
When I asked Paul if it was a bad idea to do a marathon instead of 22 miles as part of my marathon training, he said it was a great idea if I ran the right pace. Of course Paul is the race director, so obviously he said to run it. My goal pace for my A race 7:10, so I asked if I could run 8:00's to get a PR. He said no, more like 8:30. I laid in bed the night before the race wondering what pace I should go out at. 8:20 is the number that I settled on before falling asleep.
Since it was a local race, there were lots of people there that I knew. At the starting line I ran into Steve, Ty, Ron, and Mark. The one person that I didn't see was Eamen. He was the person that was going to run close to my pace.
The first 2 miles I felt like I was shuffling but my Garmin said I was going too fast (7:52 and 7:45), which I thought was fine. I'd rather look down and see that I need to slow down then look down and see I need to speed up. Soon I saw Christine, whom I've seen a few times at the morning group runs. She was running the half. We chatted a little, and I found out she was doing the Flying Pig Marathon in May. The Flying Pig is the only marathon I've done, so I told her what I thought of the course and my experience. We didn't talk about much else before seperating.
The next few miles were consistant and I felt great. 7:51, 8:05, 8:06, 7:58, 7:53, 7:51, 7:57, 7:51, 7:56. My ave HR never went over 148 for the mile splits. With about 1 mile to go before the half marathon finish, I saw Suzanne at the bottom of the hill. I let myself speed up on the downhill to catch her. Her husband (Ty) had a goal of running under 3:30, which would put him right around where we were, but she said he was up ahead somewhere.
Shortly after the halfway point I grabbed 2nd gel. Usually I can stomach 3-4 before getting sick of them, but the 2nd one did it for me today. The idea was 3 gels and water, but I took Heed instead of the 3rd gel. Next long run I'm going to try sports beans or the gummy things. I can't have my stomach feeling upset during a race.
Mile 15 or so I caught Ty. He was on pace for a sub 3:30. Excellent considering his first marathon was 4 months ago, and I think it was a 4:45. I let him know I was there, but I didn't want to try to have a conversation with someone working on getting a PR. He dropped back a bit and I continued my 8 min/mile pace.
Then I went past the 23 mile marker. There must be something about that mile, because it's where I slowed down in my other marathon. For 23 miles, I felt fine. In fact, I felt like I was holding back. All the sudden my feet hurt, my ankles hurt, my muscles were sore, and my legs were heavy. Mile 24 was 8:54. Next mile was 9:59, including some walking, then the last mile was 8:57.
Finished in 3:32:17. 12 seconds slower than my other marathon. I wasn't bummed about missing a PR, but I was bummed that the end of the race hurt so much. It was supposed to be easy. Aemen finished in 3:45, which would would of been a much better pace for em.
Here is all the data from my Garmin on the race:
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/7633144
Since it was a local race, there were lots of people there that I knew. At the starting line I ran into Steve, Ty, Ron, and Mark. The one person that I didn't see was Eamen. He was the person that was going to run close to my pace.
The first 2 miles I felt like I was shuffling but my Garmin said I was going too fast (7:52 and 7:45), which I thought was fine. I'd rather look down and see that I need to slow down then look down and see I need to speed up. Soon I saw Christine, whom I've seen a few times at the morning group runs. She was running the half. We chatted a little, and I found out she was doing the Flying Pig Marathon in May. The Flying Pig is the only marathon I've done, so I told her what I thought of the course and my experience. We didn't talk about much else before seperating.
The next few miles were consistant and I felt great. 7:51, 8:05, 8:06, 7:58, 7:53, 7:51, 7:57, 7:51, 7:56. My ave HR never went over 148 for the mile splits. With about 1 mile to go before the half marathon finish, I saw Suzanne at the bottom of the hill. I let myself speed up on the downhill to catch her. Her husband (Ty) had a goal of running under 3:30, which would put him right around where we were, but she said he was up ahead somewhere.
Shortly after the halfway point I grabbed 2nd gel. Usually I can stomach 3-4 before getting sick of them, but the 2nd one did it for me today. The idea was 3 gels and water, but I took Heed instead of the 3rd gel. Next long run I'm going to try sports beans or the gummy things. I can't have my stomach feeling upset during a race.
Mile 15 or so I caught Ty. He was on pace for a sub 3:30. Excellent considering his first marathon was 4 months ago, and I think it was a 4:45. I let him know I was there, but I didn't want to try to have a conversation with someone working on getting a PR. He dropped back a bit and I continued my 8 min/mile pace.
Then I went past the 23 mile marker. There must be something about that mile, because it's where I slowed down in my other marathon. For 23 miles, I felt fine. In fact, I felt like I was holding back. All the sudden my feet hurt, my ankles hurt, my muscles were sore, and my legs were heavy. Mile 24 was 8:54. Next mile was 9:59, including some walking, then the last mile was 8:57.
Finished in 3:32:17. 12 seconds slower than my other marathon. I wasn't bummed about missing a PR, but I was bummed that the end of the race hurt so much. It was supposed to be easy. Aemen finished in 3:45, which would would of been a much better pace for em.
Here is all the data from my Garmin on the race:
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/7633144
Thursday, February 12, 2009
cause or effect?
This morning I felt great after my morning run. It got me thinking... I try to justify the days that I don't exercise by telling myself I'm feeling overtrained. What else could be the reason for feeling so lethargic? Well, I think the lack of energy could be from skipping a session. Sometimes people "listen" by only hearing what they want to hear. The same is true when it comes to listening to your body.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Plan to Qualify for Boston
Just in case this works, I thought I should document my training plan. In order to qualify for Boston, I need to run a 3:10 marathon. My goal is a 3:07 pace, just in case I need to slow or stop for something, I won't have to make up lost ground. The person that created my plan is the local shoe store owner, Paul. He's in his early to mid 40's, and ran 2:46 at New York last year.
38 Total 12 Long (3 tempo) - first week of plan
42 Total 14 Long (4 race/tempo) - 4 weeks ago
45 Total 14 Long (8atMP) - 3 weeks ago
37 Total 10 Long - 2 weeks ago
47 Total 16 Long (4 mile tempo) - last week
50 Total 18 Long - This week
52 Total 20 Long - Next week
45 Total 16 Long - 7 weeks out
60 Total 26.2 Long - 4 mile tempo, Marathon at 8:15/mi
56 Total 17 Long (12 at MP)
55 Total 20 Long (5 mi Tempo)
48 Total 18 Long (12 at MP)
44 Total 16 Long - 2 weeks out
37 Total 10 Long - 1 week out
?? Total Race week
Breaking it down... 656 miles over 14 weeks. 46.8 miles per week average. Each week I do a long run and a medium long run. Both of these runs start at 20% (8:36) of my marathon pace for up to 5 miles, and end at 10% (7:53) of my marathon pace for up to 5 miles. The other miles should be somewhere between these 2 paces. Every few weeks I do a long run with a significant portion of the miles at my marathon pace.
The goal pace for a tempo run is 6:20. Originally I didn't think I could do that, so I aimed for 6:30 the first week. The second week I did a 4 mile race at 6:11 pace. I guess I can do tempo runs at 6:20.
A portion of my miles have been way to fast (7:10-7:30 pace) for 6 miles on Tuesday and Thursday mornings with a group. During lunch I account for the rest of my miles. Lunch miles are between 4 to 6 miles, and around 8:00 pace.
Other than that, I do four 75m strides once a week after an easy run. No hills, no reapeats, no weights, no water running, no parachutes, or lunges. I have biked 170 miles in the first 7 weeks, but that's far from my goal of 50 miles/week.
38 Total 12 Long (3 tempo) - first week of plan
42 Total 14 Long (4 race/tempo) - 4 weeks ago
45 Total 14 Long (8atMP) - 3 weeks ago
37 Total 10 Long - 2 weeks ago
47 Total 16 Long (4 mile tempo) - last week
50 Total 18 Long - This week
52 Total 20 Long - Next week
45 Total 16 Long - 7 weeks out
60 Total 26.2 Long - 4 mile tempo, Marathon at 8:15/mi
56 Total 17 Long (12 at MP)
55 Total 20 Long (5 mi Tempo)
48 Total 18 Long (12 at MP)
44 Total 16 Long - 2 weeks out
37 Total 10 Long - 1 week out
?? Total Race week
Breaking it down... 656 miles over 14 weeks. 46.8 miles per week average. Each week I do a long run and a medium long run. Both of these runs start at 20% (8:36) of my marathon pace for up to 5 miles, and end at 10% (7:53) of my marathon pace for up to 5 miles. The other miles should be somewhere between these 2 paces. Every few weeks I do a long run with a significant portion of the miles at my marathon pace.
The goal pace for a tempo run is 6:20. Originally I didn't think I could do that, so I aimed for 6:30 the first week. The second week I did a 4 mile race at 6:11 pace. I guess I can do tempo runs at 6:20.
A portion of my miles have been way to fast (7:10-7:30 pace) for 6 miles on Tuesday and Thursday mornings with a group. During lunch I account for the rest of my miles. Lunch miles are between 4 to 6 miles, and around 8:00 pace.
Other than that, I do four 75m strides once a week after an easy run. No hills, no reapeats, no weights, no water running, no parachutes, or lunges. I have biked 170 miles in the first 7 weeks, but that's far from my goal of 50 miles/week.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Golfing Next Year
This weekend I attempted to make progress in getting a nutritional plan. At 6:30am it was raining pretty heavy, so I setup the trainer and laptop in the garage. This was probably a good thing. My HR stays lower when I'm on the trainer, and it's easy to adjust my nutrition.
Logged on to Hulu.com and started watching 24. Four episodes, 2.5 hours, 1 banana, 2 gu gels, half a clif bar, and 30 oz of gatorade later, I was ready for my run. The plan was to run 16 miles, but my runs have not been going according to plan lately.
I have a 4.5 mile route that I was able to add another half mile to. As expected, I started off way too fast. Goal was 8:30 for the first 5 miles. One would think I would slow down after passing the first mile at 7:30, but I didn't. Maybe I was thinking I wanted to get done faster. Maybe I thought I was in much better shape than I was a few days ago. Maybe I wasn't thinking.
After 5 miles I ate half a banana, mouthful of gatorade, grabbed the headphones, and started the next 5. Passed my house again around mile 10, drank more gatorade, and started the hard part. My first 5 miles of a long run should be at 8:30 pace, and the last 5 should be at 7:40 pace. Miles 11 and 12 felt fine. Mile 13 I wanted to quit. Mile 14 I started to walk, and Mile 15 was basically a cooldown. Mile 16 never happened.
Logged on to Hulu.com and started watching 24. Four episodes, 2.5 hours, 1 banana, 2 gu gels, half a clif bar, and 30 oz of gatorade later, I was ready for my run. The plan was to run 16 miles, but my runs have not been going according to plan lately.
I have a 4.5 mile route that I was able to add another half mile to. As expected, I started off way too fast. Goal was 8:30 for the first 5 miles. One would think I would slow down after passing the first mile at 7:30, but I didn't. Maybe I was thinking I wanted to get done faster. Maybe I thought I was in much better shape than I was a few days ago. Maybe I wasn't thinking.
After 5 miles I ate half a banana, mouthful of gatorade, grabbed the headphones, and started the next 5. Passed my house again around mile 10, drank more gatorade, and started the hard part. My first 5 miles of a long run should be at 8:30 pace, and the last 5 should be at 7:40 pace. Miles 11 and 12 felt fine. Mile 13 I wanted to quit. Mile 14 I started to walk, and Mile 15 was basically a cooldown. Mile 16 never happened.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Falling Off Plan
Up until last week, I was following my training plan for running very well. If the training log is accurate, I was 8.5 miles short. It was a recovery week, so maybe I'm just more recovered? Don't think so. This week I'm going to be more than 2 miles over. This morning I was planning on doing my 16 mile long run, but it turned into a 9 mile medium long run. Woke up at 3:10, but didn't get out the door until 3:55 due to issues with the dog and a lost glove. Sub 30 degrees, so going without a glove did not sound like fun.
Now I need to do 16 on Sunday. Hopefully this will give me a opportunity to test a nutritional plan. If I can manage a 3-4 hour bike ride before my run, it will be a good week.
Now I need to do 16 on Sunday. Hopefully this will give me a opportunity to test a nutritional plan. If I can manage a 3-4 hour bike ride before my run, it will be a good week.
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