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.
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