Confessions of a Cycling Convert

Meet Isaiah

2011-05-31T07:51:00.000-07:00

A little off-topic, but my favorite scripture as of late has been this one from the Old Testament: "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." ~ Isaiah 40:31

Isaiah didn't specifically mention bike riding, but I think it's implied, don't you? With that as inspiration, may I introduce you to my new bike... (Okay, so it's really my old bike, just repainted. And retooled with an all-new drivetrain!)

Recap - April 2011

2011-05-03T13:05:00.000-07:00

I knew April was going to be a tough month, mainly because my kids were out of school and we had a lot of fun family activities planned that were going to take time away from exercising. Still, it ended up being a pretty good month. Now that we're through the first third of the year, lets go back and review the goals I set at the beginning of the year and see how it's going, year to date:

These are the goals I set for 2011, back in January.

1. Exercise at least 300 hours. As of April 30, 2011, I have put in 105 hours 50 minutes 35 seconds. That's almost 6 hours ahead of schedule (100 hours is the 1/3 goal). That's an A.

2. Get BMI down below 25. In January I was at 27. As of today, I weighed in at 196.4, or a BMI of 25.9. More than halfway there! That's an A.

2a. Get body fat below 16%. Currently 19%. Haven't had this measured recently, so no idea here. Stay tuned.

3a. Run 800 miles in 2011. From Jan 1 - April 30, that works out to 266 2/3. I'm at 227.7 which is 85%, or a solid B. I'm hoping this picks up over the warmer months.
3b. Bike 2500 miles. For 1/3 the year, this would be 833 1/3, and I'm at 452.7. Way behind here, but again, the warmer months will help.
3c. Get in the gym 100 times, As of April 30, I've been in the gym (including group fitness classes) 52 times. This is way ahead of schedule. Some of the group fitness aren't great workouts, but I'll still consider this ahead of pace. That's an A.
3d. Swim. At least some. Well I did swim some in April on vacation in St George. Still not nearly enough. But now that I have my race calendar and there are no triathlons on it for this year, that's okay.

4. Do some races and feel good about it. Well the first race is in the books, and I feel good about it. It was a 5k PR. And I have other races planned. They are:

June 4 - Art City 5k. Probably won't run my race here, but will pace my daughter to a PR and hopefully an age group award (6-8 y.o. girls!)
June 11 - Utah Valley Half Marathon. Again, not running "my" race here, but running with the wife for her first real distance race (other than a few 5ks). However, her pace is still better than my last 13.1 PR, so I will probably PR here as well, even if it's not "my" race, so to speak.
August 5-6 - Bikes4Kids bike stage race. This will be my first "real" USAC bike race. I'm really looking forward to it. And it's on my birthday weekend. That's just cool.
Possibly a fall half marathon, just to keep my running up over the summer (and my wife's too.) We're looking at maybe the Spanish Fork Half Marathon.

Specifically, in April, I:

Ran 14 times for 64.9 miles, 10 h 23 min 24 seconds, an average pace of 9:37 and an average distance of 4.63 miles per run. There were some very short runs and some double-digit runs in there.
Biked 7 times for 163.1 miles, 10 h 10 min 57 seconds, an average speed of 16 mph and an average distance of 23.3 miles per ride.
In the gym or a group fitness class 9 times total. 6 hours and 15 minutes.
Swam 350 yards while on vacation. :) It was surely more than this, but those were the laps that I counted.

Now the weather in April was well colder and wetter than normal (and we're all a little concerned with melting snowpack and potential for flooding here along the Wasatch Front.) I know May will be nicer and warmer and hopefully I'll get outside more for more miles. So far so good. I'm not goign to worry *as much* about weight training this month in order to fully prepare for the half marathon and get the cycling base where it needs to be to hammer June and July for the race in August.

5k PR!

2011-05-02T08:32:00.000-07:00

Saturday Robyn and I headed down to run the Salt Lake Running Company's free 5k race/fun run. I wouldn't call it a "race" because there were no bib numbers nor "winners" or age groups or anything. But it was a closed 5k course with mile markers and a finish line, so that's close enough for me.

After standing around in the store and out on the parking lot for nearly an hour watching the raffle and not winning any prizes, they played a recording of the national anthem (really? couldn't find a singer?) and we walked over to the starting line almost a block away. It was cold, probably in the upper 30ºs, but I'd dressed for it, and the sun had finally come out. The race director dude didn't have a megaphone so I didn't hear anything, but soon enough we all started running. I hit "start" on my watch when I crossed the painted line on the street. After bobbing and weaving through the crowds for the first minute or two, Robyn told me to "just go" because she was tired of trying to weave through people. I got out of the masses into some space and was able to run at a good pace. I felt good and I was pushing it pretty hard, which I paid for later.

With all the bobbing and weaving and crowds in mile 1, I hit the mile marker at 8:40. At that point I was out of the crowd, and hit mile 2 in 8:04. By this time my early blistering pace started to catch up with me and I faded to an 8:46 mile 3. The last sprint to the finish line saw me cross in a total clock time of 26:31, watch time 26:15. That's a 90 second PR over my previous 5k best at Art City in 2009. I didn't wear the Garmin, so I don't know how "official" the distance was... pretty sure it wasn't USATF certified, but I'm counting it. It felt like a 26:15 5k.

Now training picks up for the half marathon on June 11, then the Bikes4kids stage race on August 5-6. Good times!

10 miles and a giveaway (but not mine)

2011-04-12T14:07:00.001-07:00

Saturday my lovely wife and I ran a great 10 mile run. What made it great, you ask? Well, let me tell you.

First of all, we were tempted to bag it. The weather was horrible (rain/snow showers, a good breeze, temps in the 30ºs). But we didn't. We got my stepfather to give us a ride up Provo Canyon so we could run down the famous Provo River trail back to our car. We managed a 10:03 pace, my fastest ever pace for a double-digit (mileage) run. Oh, and did I mention this was a distance PR for her? Yeah, we rocked it. Crappy weather and all.

And... I entered Jen's giveaway over on her blog "Why I Run". Here's hopin for a win!

Yesterday's headwind

2011-04-06T08:55:00.001-07:00

Yesterday afternoon I went out for an hour-or-so ride. My plan was about 18 miles, and I should finish in an hour or so. It started off alright, despite a bit of a head wind. I headed mostly east and south for the first 20 minutes, into a south wind. "No problem," I thought. "Pay for it now and enjoy the tailwind on the way home."

Yeah... what's that old joke? "If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans," or something like that?

After heading south into the wind, I turned westward to climb up to the exposed bench on the west side of the Salt Lake Valley -- the better to enjoy the tailwind to blow me home. Yeah... So just as I turned northward, our anticipated cold front arrived. The temperature dropped, the wind shifted from south to north, and I had a headwind for the last 8 miles. There's a hill on this route I can usually fly down at around 30-35 mph. Yesterday, I was pedaling my little heart out to hit 18 mph at the bottom of the hill.

So... I will now be a stronger, faster rider for having faced this challenge and persevered (meaning I didn't die), right? Even so, I would have loved to have had someone to draft behind.

March 2011 Recap

2011-04-01T08:57:00.000-07:00

March was a good month. I think I did much better than previous. Of course, the weather is starting to turn the corner, and that helps. Also, I'm training with my wife for a half marathon in June, so the running has picked up some as well.

1) 31 hours, 24 minutes, 59 seconds. WAAAAY ahead of 25 hour/month goal. I'll take it. A++

2) Down to 200.2 lbs, BMI of 26.4, moving in the right direction, and picking up steam. This success is largely due to the awesome calorie counter website I discovered at www.myfitnesspal.com. If you want to do a great food journal, I can't recommend this site highly enough. Check it out. Giving this one an A for the month as well.

3a) ran 68.8 miles. This is ahead of the 66 2/3 miles per month I need to get my 800 miles for the year, but I need to play some catch-up from the Winter months. For the month, though, I'm giving it an A.

3b) biked 92 miles. Not bad, considering none of it was on the "more-mile-than-you-really-earned" indoor cycle, and only 14 was on the trainer. The rest was all outside, and this is picking up. Still way below the monthly pace, however. C+

3c) Did weights 6 times, but group fitness 11 times. That's 18 total. 3 of those group fitness classes were yoga, which is fun and challenging in its own way, but it's not a real calorie burner or muscle-builder, so count 15. That's an A-. Still need to lift more on my own.

3d) Didn't swim at all. None. Fail.

Overall, I'd say that's a very solid month, and I'm giving it an A-. Spring is here, so this month will be a great test of what I'm really made of, however in April we have about a million family obligations including a mini-vacation, so I'm not expecting TOO much. We'll see. I'm just glad the weather is nice today!

Before and after...

2011-03-08T13:30:00.000-08:00

From July 2007 to August 2010. Who knew.

February recap

2011-03-03T10:57:00.000-08:00

Darn short months. February wasn't as good as January was, but it's still cold and wet outside... as it warms up, I'm sure things will improve.

1) 21 hours, 10 minutes, 23 seconds. Behind scheduled pace of 25 hours / month. However, February is 2 days short... figure an hour a day... B+

2) Down about 5 lbs for the year. Slow but steady progress. C+.

3a) ran 48.5 miles. Again, this will be higher in the warmer months when I can get outside and make daily runs more like 6 miles on average than the 3-4 I manage on the treadmill most times. Again, I'm giving it a solid B.

3b) biked 48.4 miles. Pitiful, even for February. D-, and barely that.

3c) Did weights 3 times, but group fitness 9 times. That's 12 total. I'll give it a B. I need to get in the gym on my own more.

3d) Didn't swim at all. None. Fail.

Time to pick up the pace for March. February was just bad.

I gave up milkshakes for this?!

2011-02-23T14:13:00.001-08:00

Okay, to be honest, I will still have the occasional milkshake. But it's more like one a month tops, rather than one or two a week. What am I having instead?

Zach's Peanut Butter Smoothie:

1 banana
1 cup ice cubes
1/2 cup chocolate milk
1 handful baby spinach (about 1/2 cup)
1 big spoonful of peanut butter (probably about 2 TBS)
A squirt of honey
1/2 tsp vanilla

Blend and enjoy. Yum.

428 calories
20 grams fat
52 grams carbohydrate
35 grams sugar
6 grams fiber
13 grams protein

Compared to my usual chocolate PB milkshake:

969 calories
62 grams fat
83 grams carbohydrate
6 grams fiber
29 grams protein

I think I'm coming out ahead!

Here's another of my favorite smoothie recipes:

Zach's Citrus Smoothie:

1 banana
1 cup ice
1/4 cup diced pineapple
1/2 cup orange juice
1 handful baby spinach
1/2 tsp vanilla
squirt of honey

211 calories
1 gram fat
51 grams carbohydrate
4 grams fiber
3 grams protein
158% of your daily vitamin C

Good stuff. Have a favorite smoothie recipe? Include it in the comments!

Shameless contest entry

2011-02-04T08:49:00.000-08:00

I really want one of these cool body composition scales, and it just so happens that a certain triathlete is giving one away on his blog. Check it out.

January's progress

2011-02-03T09:03:00.000-08:00

So my annual goals, broken down by month, average out to:

1. Exercise at least 300 hours. That's 25 hours per month

(Goal 2 is long term. I will say that I lost about 2 lbs in January, or so it appears.)

3a. Run 800 miles in 2011. That's 66 miles a month.
3b. Bike 2500 miles. That's 208 miles a month.
3c. Get in the gym 100 times, or 2x / week avg. That's 8.3 (call it 9) times a month.
3d. Swim. At least some. Yeah.

-----------------------------------

So how'd it go? Well...

1) 26 hours, 15 minutes, 52 seconds. Ahead of scheduled pace. A+

3a) ran 45.5 miles. This is going to be higher in the warmer months when I can get outside and make daily runs more like 6 miles on average than the 3-4 I manage on the treadmill most times. So whereas that's only 68% of the pro-rata goal, I'm giving it a solid B.

3b) biked 149.2 miles. That's again going to be lower in the winter months than the summer months anyway, so even though here it's only 71.7% of the average goal total, I'm going to give it a solid B+.

3c) Did weights 7 times. 7 of 8.3 per month is 84%, or a B. However, my employer has also started a "wellness program" that includes weekly group fitness classes. These generally aren't killer workouts and end up being more aerobic than strength, but I'm counting them towards this goal... and that means I'm going to have to modify this goal, since I get to go to 3-4 of these per week. So for now, I'm sticking with a B.

3d) Didn't swim at all. None. Fail.

So overall, I'm going to give the month a solid B to B+ average grade. On to February!

Who Am I?

2011-01-20T08:45:00.000-08:00

I've come to the realization that I need to decide what my goals are, long term. I work with a guy who runs the Wasatch 100 every year. He's the ultimate endurance junkie in our office. He's not über fast or anything, but he can go all day, that's for sure. He and I often workout at lunch together. The other day I was doing a weights workout, and he, knowing that I like to run marathons and have been eying some cycling road races and even contemplating long course triathlon, said something that caught me a little by surprise. I don't remember it word for word, but it was something to the effect of "Be careful with all that weight lifting. You don't want to pack on a ton of muscle that you'll have to haul around during a marathon (or an ironman)."
Now the truth of the matter is I already have plenty of extra weight to haul around. I need to lose a good 20 lbs or more to be at a good "racing weight." But I need to think at what my long term end-all be-all goal is. Do I want to be an efficient marathoner and triathlete and cyclist? Is that my ultimate goal, to see how fast I can get, see if I can qualify for Boston or finish an Ironman standing up? Is my goal to become a Cat 3 or maybe even 2 cyclist, and win some races and compete in the Masters division(s)? Or is it something else?

I think I started running mainly to lose weight and get in shape. I was tired of being left behind on group hikes and mountain bike rides. I know I began mountain biking for the sheer fun of it, and its fitness benefits were just gravy. But running, and consequently distance running, and marathoning, and then triathloning and biking all evolved from the desire to not look like I was pregnant. Not too long ago the "When are you due?" jokes began at a family party, and they were directed at one of my wife's cousins. At that point, I realized that it's been a long time since someone's made that joke about me, and that made me happy. I want to look good with my shirt off at the swimming pool. So, do I worry about how packing on extra muscle is going to effect my endurance sport performance?

Like I said, at this point, I've got enough weight to lose that putting on muscle will only help in that effort, so for now, I'll keep exercising and building muscle and hopefully shedding fat. Yeah yeah, I know there's the whole diet/nutrition component. And I'm working on that, slowly. Baby steps.

I think my goals can be summed up, at least in part, by this quote from Teddy Roosevelt:

“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotion, spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who have never tasted victory or defeat.”

2011 fitness goals

2011-01-13T13:47:00.000-08:00

Okay, after much thought and deliberation, I give you my goals for 2011:

1. Exercise at least 300 hours. This would be 55h 54m 05s more than last year, and 31 h 11 s over my all time high in 2009. How to get there: 6 hours per week average, or 5 hrs / week in Jan - Mar and again Oct - Dec, and 7 hrs / wk in Apr - Sept. Or so. That will fluctuate, of course.

2. Get BMI down below 25. Currently at 27. This one should come easily-ish. How to do it: Eat better. Less snacks. More good stuff. Smoothies instead of shakes. Method: food journal 80% of the time.

2a. Get body fat below 16%. Currently 19%. This and BMI will happen simultaneously, since I'm not getting any shorter.

3a. Run 800 miles in 2011. 2010: 359 miles. 2009: 1000+ miles
3b. Bike 2500 miles. 2010: 2408 miles. 2009: 1000 miles.
3c. Get in the gym 100 times, or 2x / week avg. 2009: 46 times.
3d. Swim. At least some.

4. Do some races and feel good about it, but more on that later.

End of an era... or just 2010.

2010-12-29T12:14:00.000-08:00

So now that 2010 is drawing to a close and we prepare to ring in the two-zero-double-matchsticks, I figure it's time to reflect on the year gone by and set a goal or two for the 365 to come. I didn't set too many goals in 2010, other than to eat better and get more sleep. I think I did alright on the eating better. I've all but eliminated red meat and white grains from my diet, except for tortillas and occasionally white rice. So that's a step in the right direction. There's still major room for improvement, however. As for more sleep... meh, don't even mention it. Didn't happen.

Here's a summary of fitness activity for 2010, to this point (still got a couple days to go!)

359.4 miles
61 hours, 43 minutes, zero seconds
81 runs
avg 4.44 miles per run
avg 45 minutes, 42 seconds per run
avg pace for the year: 10:18 per mile

Cycling
2384.3 miles
145 hours, 2 minutes, 33 seconds
121 bike rides
avg 19.7 miles per ride
avg 1 hour 20 minutes per ride
avg speed for the year: 16.44 miles per hour

Weights
45 occurrences
27 hours, 8 minutes total
avg 36 minutes per occurrence

I also played a little basketball and swam a little, but not enough to really be of note.

Not a bad year! Total logged healthy activity/exercise time is 241 hours, 50 minutes, 55 seconds. And like I said before, I'm not done yet. I'll add 2 or so hours to that over the next 2-3 days. That's 10 days and change of working out/exercising 24/7, or just over 6 forty-hour work weeks. Sounds like a lot. But it could be more. I didn't train for or run any marathons this year. In fact, I only got in one double-digit run the whole year, and that was New Years Day, 2010. I did, however, do one triple-digit bike ride (the Ghost Town Century in May), and 5 other rides over 50 miles in length. And I did 2 short but fast criterium races.

For 2011, I haven't set any fitness goals yet. I'd like to run at least a half marathon with my wife, and I like to run at least one full marathon as well. Also, I want to keep up with the cycling and do several RMR criteriums and a couple of road races -- specifically the Bear Lake Classic in May and the Sanpete Classic Road Race in August. And of course, the 4th of July triathlon... maybe. Those should help me get close to 1000 miles of running, maybe, and perhaps get close 2500 miles of cycling again. Time, indeed, will tell.

A non-fitness related goal I have for 2011 is to log every book I read. I read a ton of books in 2010, but I don't know how many or which ones. I plan on continuing to make frequent use of the local library, and to continue to sacrifice sleep to read. Ya just gotta, ya know?

What are your goals for 2011?

All natural, raw, vegan yumminess!

2010-12-10T07:56:00.000-08:00

Okay, so not too long ago I tried a Låra Bar... basically it's an all natural, raw, vegan energy bar. Now I'm not a raw foodist by any means, or even vegan, or even vegetarian for that matter. But I have discovered that eating healthy is good for me, and that involves a few things. For instance, I almost never eat red meat. Ground turkey is our thing now for tacos, enchiladas, even Italian pasta bakes. Turkey burgers are WONDERFUL -- in fact, I just had one for dinner last night. SPeaking of burgers and pasta, the carbs are whole-wheat. Whole wheat pasta, whole wheat buns (the thin bun variety. So good and so much better for you!). Now I don't very often use whole wheat tortillas in our Mexican cooking, but I'm trying to do better with that. We do use more corn tortillas than flour in most things these days.

Anyway, back to the Låra Bar. It's made of dates and nuts and spices, and that's about it. Some flavors have chocolate chips, but I used them sparingly when I tried making these. I googled the recipes, but ended up just winging it on my own. I dumped a bunch of raw chopped dates bought in bulk into my food processor with a handful of peanuts, and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Then I blended/chopped/processed. I added dates and nuts and a little water until I got the right consistency. My recipe could have used a pinch or two of salt. Unfortunately I didn't really measure, so I can't share an exact recipe. When it was there, I added in a handful of mini chocolate semi-sweet chips, and I have a yummy chocolate-peanut butter flavored energy bar. They're calorically dense because of the dates, but they're very yummy and a great alternative to a power bar or even a clif bar. Also, they're super high in fiber, so keep that in mind if you're heading out on a run, etc.

But man, they're GOOOOOD.

Indoor riding

2010-11-29T10:17:00.001-08:00

Because our weather outside is indeed frightful, I have been relegated to getting miles in indoors. This picture is pretty accurate, and although I've heard that some people will ride in this, I'm not one of 'em.

Until recently, my indoor miles have all taken place at work, riding a Cycleops 300PT indoor cycle. It's a pretty nifty machine, but I can't take it home with me, and if something comes up at work where a lunch break becomes infeasible, I'm out of luck.

Recently, however, a friend has loaned me his Cycleops Fluid 2 trainer, which I have dutifully set up in the basement and recently loaded my beloved road bike. The pain cave is set up nicely in the downstairs family room with the TV and a fan in front of the bike. I've now spent an hour plus on the trainer on my bike twice, and I must say, it's not as bad as I thought it would be. Maybe it's because I've long been used to countless hours on the treadmill this time of year. Maybe it's because I'm not pushing it as hard as I probably oughta. I don't know. All I know is I'm going to survive the winter and emerge hopefully stronger in the Spring!

End of season Century Ride report

2010-11-11T10:46:00.000-08:00

The fellas over at Infinite Cycles thought it would be a great idea to end the year with a big old group ride for 100 miles, or a century. I jumped in and helped plan the route, and decided it'd be fun to attempt. I also invited a friend to come along, whose longest ride to that point had been 60 miles, mostly flat.

So at 7:30 on October 30th, a group of about 16 cyclists set out on a gray morning just as the sun was rising. The group steadily declined until there were only 5 of us continuing on for the whole century route. Everyone else had decided to make it a 20 or 30 or 40 mile day. Going up Wasatch Blvd near the Sandy/Draper line caused quite the separation, as three of the stronger riders took off, leaving me and my buddy behind. They did wait at the Big Cottonwood Canyon park and ride lot, as we had determined, and we stuck mostly together up the east bench on Wasatch. My friend, however, was really struggling. Every time we encountered the slightest incline, he'd pop off the back of our little paceline. Eventually, about mile 70, among the buildings of the University of Utah campus, we told them to continue on and not wait up for us. We're big boys and we have phones and spare tubes and all that, so don't worry about slowing down for us.

Once we got out of downtown we enjoyed the very flat section of the ride through Rose Park and around the bike path that goes around the airport. At the gas station in the international center, we noticed how slow our average pace had dropped to and how frequent the rest stops were becoming, and we decided to call my wife and have her meet us at the WalMart another 5 miles up the road. The timing turned out to be just right, because the long-anticipated storms began arriving during that last 5 miles. All in all, we made it 84 miles in 5 hours, 20 minutes of riding time (and almost 7 hours of actual time).

I was feeling alright and I'm sure I could have finished the route, but with the frequent stops we were making for my friend's sake and how long those stops were becoming, we would have been gone all day. The route was brilliant, if I do say so myself, and I really want to give it a go again, perhaps solo. Sadly, it looks like the weather has become mostly un-ride-able for the foreseeable future, so it may have to wait until Spring.... depending on what kind of winter riding digs I may get for Christmas....?

Running Races vs. Cycling Races

2010-10-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

As I become more and more immersed in the local cycling scene, I'm realizing there's a huge difference between the way cycling race directors run their shows compared to how running races do it.

Here's an example, the Boston Marathon sold out this year in 8 hours. 8 hours! And the race isn't until April. And you have to qualify to get in, meaning only roughly 10% of the .1% of the population that runs (and finishes!) a marathon are even eligible to register! (I pulled the 10% number out of the air. I have no idea how many people actually qualify for Boston, but it's not a lot.)

Another example: The Ogden Marathon, a small-town-Utah marathon that I ran back in 2008, is sold out for 2011. The race is May 21, 2011. That's just under 7 months away. 7 months!

Another good example is the St. George Marathon. You enter a lottery in April that is decided the first week of May for a marathon that's run in October, 5 months later.

Bike racing? The first race I'm planning on for next year is the Bear Lake Classic road race, which should take place on May 14. I say "should take place" because so far, their website only acknowledges the 2010 race, which took place in mid-May. I have no idea when it will update the information for 2011, or when registration even opens. I will need to keep my eye on it as the date approaches.

And did I mention that the governing body for bike racing, USA Cycling, requires you to have a license to register that is good for a calendar year at a time and costs $65. If you don't have this, you have to buy a "one-day" license at your race for $10, and your results aren't tracked over the course of the year as they would be if you were a "licensed" racer. Contrast this to the governing body of running races, USATF (USA Track and Field), which sets down some rules but lets just about anyone anywhere run in anything they want to.

I don't get it. I just don't get it.

This looks insane

2010-10-21T15:25:00.003-07:00

.... but I kind of want to do it someday. A new item for the bucket list, maybe?

http://www.peakraces.com/deathrace/results/race-report/

I love racing

2010-09-24T07:07:00.000-07:00

This week I completed my second go at the D Flite at Rocky Mountain Raceway's criterium. I went into it with the goal of staying with the lead group and not getting stuck out in the wind. I'm happy to say I accomplished both. I was able to stay with the leaders every time there was a selection, which really wasn't much. I think I finished around 11th or 12th out of 20 or so, so we never did drop that many. I made a really sweet move on the back side of the last lap, going from the back of the pack with maybe one person behind me up to 3rd wheel coming around the last turn. The pace picked up and I stayed with the wheel in front of me... only to discover that he wasn't moving fast enough as the bunch swarmed around us. I don't know if there was a gap between where I finished and where the winner was, but I don't think there was.

These last two races have been so fun for me. I just love riding with a group, but even moreso in a race. I love the dance as everyone jockeys for position, the way the group ebbs and flows as it goes around corners and the order gets reshuffled. I love the subtle moves and differences in pace that it takes to move up from the back of the pack to near the front, and yet staying out of the wind the whole time. I love the challenge of not getting dropped as I take the slightly wrong line out of a turn, the 5 second sprint to get back on the wheel in front of me. I love the education I get as I realize what a sprint is like and know that I'm not ready for one. Yet I love that I'm able to hang with the guys that have been racing all season when I've just started.

Sigh. I love racing.

2010-09-13T14:08:00.000-07:00

My weekday rides usually consist of a lunchtime jaunt up City Creek Canyon. The canyon is open to cyclists on odd-numbered days between Memorial Day and October 1st. The rest of the year you can ride it everyday if you so choose. It's a gorgeous place to ride, and just enough of a climb to keep your legs remembering what it feels like to work a little.

My boss and his wife often ride the canyon at lunchtime as well, so I like to give them a head start and I see if I can catch them before the usual turnaround point at the water treatment facility. Most times I'm able to if I give my boss about a 10 minute head start. Today they got a little bit more of a head start because I had left my sunglasses on my desk, and had to head back up to my office in all my spandex glory to retrieve them. Long story short, I caught them both just before the turnaround point, and managed to PR the climb from my office by 5 seconds.

I'm sure I'll write more about City Creek in the future... It's a favorite ride of mine and about the only one I'll do at lunchtime.

Rocky Mtn Raceway Crit - race report

2010-09-07T21:04:00.001-07:00

Well a Tuesday night finally opened up and I was able to go race the Rocky Mountain Raceway Criterium series. Unfortunately, this late in the season they're not assigning any numbers, so I didn't get to get an official result, and it seemed that there was some confusion as to the finishing order, but I'm pretty sure I know where I finished. More on that in a second.

I loaded up the bikes (Yes, bikes -- all 3 kids had to bring their bikes too) on the rack and got to the raceway as the A's and B's were still cruising at breakneck speed. I signed in with a buddy of mine that I talked into doing the race just this morning. I was able to take a couple of warm up sprints up and down the straightaway (which is about 1/2 mile long). It wasn't the warm up that I wanted, but it would have to do, as soon they were calling the C and D flites to the line.

I lined up on the outside in the second row. I didn't get a good count, but I'm estimating there were 18 or so in our flite. As soon as the start was given, the guy I was behind went to the front and I found myself in second position going a lot slower than I anticipated the first lap would be. I had conveniently forgotten my speedometer, so I have no idea how fast we were actually going, but it wasn't very fast at all and I had to resist the temptation to go to the front and pick things up. We were riding 2 across for the entire first lap at a leisurely pace. As we hit the first corner in the second lap, one guy decided to give it a go on the inside and the group accelerated, not giving him any room. I went from 2nd to 4th wheel as we merged to single file.

The wind was out of the south, but I didn't really notice it as I was staying in the pack pretty well most of the time. I stayed near the front in 2nd, 3rd, or 4th position for a couple of laps as the pace increased each time as someone else from the back half would give it a go on the first corner. That was right where I wanted to be. At one point I took the first corner too tightly and found myself on the front of the pack, pulling for about half a lap (about 75 seconds). That was completely and totally unintentional, but alas, there I was. I figured I'd make this an easy lap for the group and kind of soft pedaled, but the group was happy to just sit on, so I led. Just before the final turn I peeled off and jumped on the back of the lead group, now in 8th or so. As we roared down the straightaway, the pace really started to pick up, and when we hit turn 1 again, the group split for good, losing about half the riders off the back, including my one and only "teammate" buddy. I stayed with the lead group for another lap or two, when I got caught taking the first corner too wide putting myself into the headwind, and the 8 riders I was with took off, never to be caught again.

So there I was, out in the wind, all alone, where I would remain for the rest of the race. 2 laps later I heard the "Two laps to go" announcement made just for me, as there was no one in front or behind me. I watched the lead group enter turn 1 about 15 seconds ahead and counted 9 riders, so I knew I was in 10th. With a lap and a half to go, I passed two ladies, one that had fallen from the lead group, and one that I had passed before but she had caught on to the back of C flite and made up some ground (big no no). When C flite went by me, I asked to make sure I wasn't getting lapped and saw her on the back, at that point she knew she was caught and dropped off and let them go. I stayed ahead of those two gals and finished in what I am pretty sure was 9th place, all alone, lapping two guys who had blown off the back of the back group just before the line.

All in all, it was extremely fun, very challenging, and somewhat painful. I can't wait to do it again!

Catching up, and what's new

2010-08-10T13:02:00.000-07:00

So much to say...

If you've been following my twitter feeds or looking at my workout log, you'll know that I'm not running AT ALL (just about) these days. I've kind of become hooked on cycling. Case in point: So far this year I've biked almost 1600 miles and run a total of 207. In July alone, I biked 331.4 and ran 27.9 miles. And I'm getting faster as well. Now, I want to try my hand at cat 5 racing, just for kicks, to see what I can do.

In July, my family and I took a day to go to Bear Lake, where my in-laws were camping. I took my bike and rode the 50+ miles around the lake. I knew there was a half ironman that had this for its bike leg, but I soon learned that there's also a road race that goes along this same route. Well, I looked up the results of this year's race, and as it turns out, had my ride occurred during this race, I wouldn't have finished last. Mind you, I was going it solo, where in a race I would have had a group to draft off and pace from, etc., so I would have been significantly faster over the 50 mile loop. I think I could reasonably have finished in the first or second group of cat 5 racers.

As you may know, when I rode my century ride back in May, I was a little nonplussed at the thought that there was no clock or reason to do your best. It was just a ride with supported rest stops. I suppose there's a place for that in the realm of cycling, but having come from running marathons, I'm used to having that objective standard with which to measure myself against. I know I'm not going to win any marathons, but if there wasn't a clock and at least a semblance of competition, they'd be just another long run, and really, what's the fun in that? (Okay, long runs can be fun, but that's not the point here. You don't pay $60 or $70 or $100 to go for a long run...)

So anyway, I've been looking for bike races that would fit my schedule. I fully intend to do the Bear Lake Classic next year, but that's so far away. I really needed a fall race to focus on.

Enter the Rocky Mountain Raceway Criterium Series. For $10, anyone who wants to give bike racing a try can go down and race around a 1.3 mile circuit for half an hour + 3 laps. Last Tuesday (August 3) I went and watched the tail end of the Cat 1/2 race and the Cat 3 race (known in the crit series as "A Flite" and "B Flite"). After that there was the Cat 4/5 ("C Flite") race and the beginners ("D Flite") race. Watching the D Flite gave me a lot of confidence, thinking that I could keep up with those guys. It's hard to tell from a spectator's point of view, but it didn't seem as if anyone from D Flite really attacked at all until the final sprint. I don't know if there were any unsuccessful breakaway attempts prior to that, as I could only see about 1/3 of the course, but it looked like everyone was content to stick together and sprint it out.

In any case, I'm going to give the RMR Crit "D Flite" race a try, probably next Tuesday, the 17th (providing I'm in town), and I will gleefully report on it when I'm done. And then there's a race in September that I'd also like to do... more on that later (probably).

A potential goal race AND a final call

2010-07-09T09:38:00.000-07:00

So I have had all but 0 interest in the jersey/fund raising idea. To proceed with this, I need at least 25 confirmed jersey buyers or it's just not worth it. I know this isn't THAT popular of a blog, but please, if you know anyone who is or has been affected by cancer, please get one of these jerseys. You'll get a great jersey at a great price, and you'll be helping a great cause.

Okay, done begging. For money. Sort of.

The second thing that I'm going to beg for (haha!) is teammates. I'm looking for 4 people to run the Dirty Dash with me on September 25th. It's only a 10k run, and it's not your usual 10k run. Check it out. It's $35. I have one "verbal" commitment, but I'll need 3 more before I can register the team. Let me know via a comment on this post if you're interested. Could be (should be!) tons of fun!

Pepperwood Triathlon race report

2010-07-03T15:18:00.000-07:00

Amid conflicting emotions I got up at 5:30 this morning and got ready for the Pepperwood Independence Day Triathlon. I wasn't really excited to go, as unlike last year I wouldn't know anyone there -- no cheering section, no friendly competition, nuthin. Oh well.

A little different from last year is that instead of seeding yourself according to projected swim times, they just divided the group into two heats: women & children in the first, men in the second. Okay then. About 6:45 the timekeeper shouted "go" and into the pool I went. I felt a little stronger on the swim this year than last year, and finished the swim in 14:21... 500 yards. Not a great pace, of course, but I finished it. I really really want to and need to work on becoming a stronger swimmer, especially if I have any sort of pipe dream to do a 70.3 or even (gasp!) a 140.6.

Out of the pool and into T1 - Loved having actual tri shoes for the bike this year, they're awesome. Struggled with my jersey a little again, but was in and out in 2:45. I'll take it.

On the bike I was having a hard time finding a rhythm as I headed out of transition and up the first hills. Once I got to turn around and head back down the hill after almost a mile, I started to cruise. I just couldn't believe how much the swim had taken out of me. Again, got to spend more time in the water!! Bike split: 19:53, avg speed 18.08 mph. 6 miles.

T2 was cake, off with the bike shoes & helmet, on with the socks and running shoes. Still no speed laces, but that wasn't a big deal. 1:15.

The run was okay. I hadn't done a single brick workout in I don't know how long, so the first couple hundred yards I had to keep reminding myself that I was likely going much faster than it felt like I was going. I settled into a groove pretty quickly, and ended up running the 3 miles in 29:31. My only goal was to beat my overall time from last year. Struggling with my jersey in T1 didn't help much, but I still managed a 1:07:51... 1:47 faster than last year. The finish line was a little further into the transition area parking lot, so I was probably about 2 minutes faster overall with that figured in. I wasn't feeling the mojo to begin with, so I'm happy with this new course PR, and likely I'll be back next year... hopefully with some friends or family in tow!

Sweetening the Pot

2010-06-15T08:26:00.001-07:00

For all who donate to my Livestrong challenge, either directly or indirectly, your name will be entered into a hat to win one of 5 copies of the new book The Ultimate Runner. This book is over 50 stories, photos and expert tips from extraordinary runners like you.

So go ahead and donate today! I'll keep the contest open until I have enough interest to actually order jerseys (I need about 25 willing purchasers!). This is for a great cause, so please, donate (or comment about purchasing a jersey!) today!!

Jersey update

2010-06-11T08:43:00.000-07:00

Okay, the jerseys are going to cost you $57, plus shipping. They are going to be made by Blackbottoms, which means they're going to be amazing quality. Blackbottoms makes the various leaders jerseys for the Tour of Utah, they also make Burke Swindlehurst's TeamGive kits, as well as many other professional-level kits. Trust me, you're going to want one of these jerseys. And it's for a great cause.

Again, leave a comment on this blog with how many and what size. Thanks again for supporting such a great cause, and getting a great jersey in exchange!

Get Your Jerseys HERE!

2010-06-10T13:33:00.001-07:00

Okay, here's the low-down on the jerseys. I'm still working out pricing, but I know it will NOT be more than $60, shipping INCLUDED. Not a bad price for a nice jersey! If you want to order one, please leave me a comment on this post with how many and what sizes (race or club cut is available, just state your preference). I do have minimums to meet, so if there's not enough interest, I won't take your money and we'll all just go our merry ways. But please, tell your friends, your cycling friends, your friends who have battled cancer or know someone who has. Let's raise some money and help LAF and FatCyclist to beat this disease.

Jersey design

2010-06-08T11:08:00.000-07:00

Here's the preliminary design. There's room on the sleeves and the sides for sponsorship opportunities (leave a comment with your email address if you're interested). Price is not yet firmly nailed down, but hopefully will be $50-60, which is a great price for any jersey, and this one's for a great cause. Stay tuned for more info!

Raising Funds

2010-06-07T14:45:00.000-07:00

Okay folks, this is where I beg shamelessly for donations.

I've decided to jump in and set up a fund raising site with the Lance Armstrong Foundation. I want to start small and raise $500 to help folks with cancer battle the disease. I've set up a fundraiser website here, where you can go donate.

Also, in the next day or two, I'm going to be selling some sweet cycling jerseys and donating the proceeds to LAF as well. I'll include ordering details with the design when I post it, so check back soon and often. I promise they'll be uber-cool. I think they'll go for $50 each, which is a great deal for a cycling jersey at anytime, fund raising philanthropy aside!

Thanks all!

Fatty's a lucky guy

2010-05-25T07:22:00.000-07:00

Some of you may know that I love to read FatCyclist's blog. He's a guy who's crazy about cycling, from right here in Utah, and he writes a great and funny blog. Last December, he wrote a funny post about how he'd be a great pro cyclist and how Johann Bruyneel should let him try out for Team RadioShack. Well, Johann read that and a lot of cool stuff happened, including Fatty being able to go to the Tour of California this past week and ride in the team car during the time trial stage. How awesome is that!?

He also got the opportunity to meet a bunch of the riders on the team and get his picture taken with them. That all sounds cool and everything, but I don't think I want to do that. After all, at 6'1" and over 200 lbs (and shrinking, slowly), I'm huge compared to those 125-lb-dripping-wet pro cyclists. I think I'd just look fat. :)

Ghost Town Century report

2010-05-05T11:54:00.000-07:00

Saturday I woke up to a very wet morning at 5:30, and proceeded to get dressed in my cycling garb anyway. My ride was due to arrive at 6, and I wanted to have something to eat before he got there. One PB and Honey sandwich later, along with a little Powerade, and I was good to go. The drive from West Jordan to Tooele was wet, snowy/sleety, and really intimidating. I did NOT want to ride 100 miles in that kind of weather, especially since I had (have) a pretty nice head cold. Fortunately, when we got off the freeway in Tooele, the precip had lightened up a bit, and by the time it came time to start, it had stopped.

We get to the staging area and check in, and I opt for the water bottle instead of the cycling socks... and it's a good thing I did. When I got back to the car to pin on my bib and change shoes, etc., I realized that the two water bottles I had filled at home with powerade were... still at home on the kitchen table. Oops. So I filled the one water bottle with water, and hoped the aid stations would be frequent enough to supply refills. Fortunately, they were, thanks to the cool weather I didn't drink as much as I otherwise would have.

Anyway, We were off, passing more than being passed in the first 10 miles until we arrived at the first rest stop... which wasn't even set up yet. It was early enough that I was still feeling fresh and still had plenty of water, so we soldiered on. The second rest stop was at the thriving metropolis of Ophir, Utah. It's a little tiny mining town at the top of a steep, beautiful little canyon. I didn't enjoy the 4 mile climb that averaged 7% and topped out at 15% grades, but I sure enjoyed the stop. I ate a granola bar and a baby potato with salt, and filled the water bottle with Powerade. Then I got all zipped up for the descent back down the canyon, which was fast and fun, but COLD. Temps at this point weren't yet to 40º. Aid station number 3 was in Fairfield, another 23 or so miles away. That was the "lunch" stop, where they had Subway sandwiches and chips and other goodies. I opted for a PB & J on a tortilla... surprisingly yummy. The route from here headed back westward into Tooele County (Fairfield is just over the Utah County line... think west of Eagle Mountain). This is where the wind picked up and it got downright miserable. We even got hailed on for a few minutes -- just little tiny stuff, but still... it kinda stings. We also hit some rolling hills, which slowed our pace down to about a 15 mph average. Here we hooked up with a couple of other riders, one of which turned out to be a Cat 2 racer who offered to pull us the rest of the way in if we'd help keep his wife out of the wind. It was her first century ride too, her previous long ride having only been 40 or so miles. Yikes. So we gladly accepted the offer, and I was happy to settle into a draft for the next 15 miles or so to the 4th rest stop, which was basically a truck pulled over on the side of the road with snacks in the back.

A short stop and we were off, finally out of the direct headwind into more of a side/tailwind for a couple of miles as we headed north from Faust towards Rush Valley. Fortunately, except for the couple of minutes of hail, we had stayed precipitation-free. There were still 4 of us working together, which helped to minimize the effects of the wind. Garrett, our Cat 2 racer, would slow on the inclines to let his wife catch up, which I was grateful for. It meant it took us longer to finish than I had initially wanted to, but at the same time it kept me feeling like I had plenty of energy in the tank. We picked up a 5th rider into our group before the Rush Valley rest stop at mile 74. For the next section I took a couple of turns at the front riding next to Garrett and chatting with him about races, etc. At about mile 88 the hours and hours of rolling hills and climbing paid off, and we hit the descent. This is where our little peloton, now numbering 6, split up. I went with the faster group, and we quickly formed a nice little rotation of 3 of us all taking very short pulls, cruising down the hill working together at 30 mph. Our paceline lasted until we hit Grantsville at mile 95. Once into town our speed dropped of necessity and we just cruised and chatted... wondering what happened to the rest of our group. The three of us pedaled on in to the finish, with my total riding time being 6 hours, 28 minutes. Slower than I wanted, but then the course was hillier than I expected and it was a windy day, which didn't help. 105 miles total, over 4800 feet of climbing, with an average speed of 16.24 mph.

It was fun, but I don't know if I'll do another century ride. I just don't see the value in the registration. There's no clock, there's no "race", it's just a ride, and I can do that anytime. Sure the rest stops are nice, but $10 and a few well-planned convenience stores would have been just as nice. No, I think the next ride I pay money to ride in will have a clock and a race associated with it. I'll let you know what that'll be...

SLC Marathon Bike Race --- er, I mean, Tour

2010-04-19T08:04:00.000-07:00

So I volunteered this year to ride the Bike Race.... er, I mean "tour" that precedes the SLC Marathon. I was a "bike marshal" which basically means ride for free, and make sure everyone obeys the rules and offer assistance where needed. Fortunately, everyone was on their best behavior and nobody crashed or anything, and I got to have a really really really good time.

I had assumed that the bike marshals all rode toward the back of the pack to pick up stragglers, etc., but when I got there, I was told that we were to just ride along with basically anywhere we wanted to. So I headed to the starting line and tried to get as close to the front as I could, which was still a couple hundred people back, I'm sure. Anyway, they blow the horn and we're off! Well, not really. There was a lot of near-misses as people tired to clip into their pedals and get going without running anyone over, etc. But by the time we actually crossed the starting mats, things had worked themselves out and we were able to ride.

The pack took a while to gain speed, and I was passing people right and left as fast as I could. It's not a race, it's a tour, but all that means is 1) there's no "clock" and 2) you don't have to pay for a racing license. Oh, and 3) anyone and everyone can ride it. It's "family friendly." Anyway, for the first half of the course, there wasn't anything organized developing, everyone was basically riding at their pace. I did a lot more passing than being passed, occasionally jumping on to someone's wheel as they passed me, then using that pull to pass them. It wasn't until about the halfway point on 6200 South until I was cruising along and looked behind me to notice there were a half dozen people on my wheel. "Okay," I thought. "I'll pull for a while." I tried to put in little surges, but they stayed with me. "Looks like we might have a paceline developing here. Cool." Just after we turned onto Van Winkle, our little paceline, which I was still leading, got passed rather quickly in succession by two pacelines of guys in matching club jerseys (for the most part). I thought "Now that's what I'm talking about!!" and jumped on, along with 3 or 4 from my paceline. Which was fine, because I wasn't pulling anymore. Our group grew as we caught up to other packs of riders in front of us, and soon it seemed like there wasn't anyone in front of us, though I'd find out later there was. There were probably 25 or 30 of us in this little peloton as we turned off of Van Winkle onto 45th, then again onto 5th East. Those quick turns shed a few off the back, but the group was still cruising along at about 26 mph up 5th. About 33rd or 27th South someone decided to attack, and our group split in two. Fortunately, I was able to go with the "breakaway" and keep up with the first group. I hung with them until we turned onto State St. and began heading up the dreaded "hill". At that time, our smaller group splintered again and I fell back with a couple others. As we meandered around to the Gateway and crossed the finish line, I was surprised to a) have been handed a medal, and b) to see there were fewer than 100 of the over 1000 riders that started that had already finished. It took me 1:04:xx, which put me at an average speed of 22.5 mph for the 25 mile course. And it was a BLAST.

This experience showed me that maybe I would after all be able to hang with a peloton in a real bike race... at least with the cat 5 crowd. So now I'm looking for a couple of bike races to enter, probably starting with the Rocky Mountain Raceway criterium series... Bike racing -- er, I mean "touring" -- turned out to be sooo much funner than I thought it would!

Feeling better, ramping up

2010-04-06T09:33:00.000-07:00

3 1/2 weeks until my century ride... Did I mention I'm riding the Ghost Town Century ride instead of the East Canyon Road Race? I figure I'll get a couple of good months of real training in before attempting a real "race"... so for now it's just the century ride, on May 1. Then there's a road race in the fall I'd like to train for.

10 days ago I went for a ride with a group from the old neighborhood from Sandy up to the top of Little Mountain pass. The mountain didn't seem so little to me then, though. I even surrendered to the granny gear (triple chainring) right toward the end. It didn't help that I didn't know where the end was. It was a good ride, almost 50 miles, and it gave me some confidence for the century ride. Running has slipped to almost nothing at this point (March - 19.3 miles run, 214 miles biked), but that's okay. The running will make a comeback slowly but surely this summer as lunchtime rides are relegated to odd-numbered days only.

Oh, dear health

2010-03-05T09:33:00.001-08:00

It is so easy to take a normal, functioning body for granted. After all, that's the state we're in most of the time, right? So it's natural to not think anything of it, until something is out of kilter, then you long for the time when you don't have to think about your body and can just let it be.

This past week has been an adventure for me. Sunday I woke up with back pain, which is not entirely unusual but usually doesn't last long. Monday it began to evolve into back spasms, but I went riding at lunch anyway, after all, I've got a race to train for. Tuesday I rode as well, again with the back aches. Wednesday it had finally gotten bad enough that I decided to take the day off. Yesterday it was bad enough that I had it massaged by a good friend who happens to be a massage therapist (it's who ya know, I tell ya), and then went to play basketball last night. It felt fine all evening. This morning it was mostly better, but I took a pain pill just to make it completely go away, which seems to have worked. However, this morning I also had a nice half-hour or so long bout with light-headedness and vertigo with the accompanying cold sweat. I'm mostly recovered from that now, but I don't think I'll be running today as I had planned after all.

I just want to feel normal. Maybe tomorrow. Then I can go for another bike ride. Maybe. Crossing my fingers (and bending my knees...)

Homemade Granola Bars

2010-02-22T07:53:00.001-08:00

These are so yummy. I wanted to go all "mommy blog" and take pictures as I made these last night, but I was just too darn tired. So all you get is the recipe.

The "glue":

2/3 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup extra crunchy peanut butter
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla

Bring to a simmer, stirring almost-constantly. Then pour the glue over:

2 cups whole oats
1 cup rice krispies (or similar)
1/4 cup flax seed meal
3/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/2 cup crushed almonds

Stir well, make sure all of the dry ingredients are well mixed and well coated. Line a 9 x 13" pan with waxed paper, and press the gooey mixture into the pan. Make sure to compact it good, I use a second sheet of waxed paper over the top. Sprinkle a few carob or mini chocolate chips on top as well and press them into the granola bars for a little extra treat. Let the bars cool completely (I usually refrigerate them overnight, but it really doesn't take that long, a couple hours will do), then cut into bars. You can individually wrap them or just store them in the fridge. I imagine they'd keep for at least a couple of weeks, but they never last that long at our house! Makes 18-20 bars.

These are calorically dense, so keep that in mind. They make a great pre-workout fuel or mid morning snack, just only have one (that's the hard part for me!) They're about 180 calories each, but very healthy!

The Races You've All Been Waiting For

2010-02-16T14:55:00.000-08:00

Somewhere in the back of my mind I figured this year would be the year of the triathlon, as I finally felt like I knew how to do a marathon. Sure, a PR of 4:34:40 isn't anything to write home about (however, knocking over an HOUR off of my first marathon is!), but I figured out how to train to accomplish my goal, and I think I could conceivably cut more time off a marathon if I so chose. However, when I was contemplating what to do for this year, another year of marathon training just didn't sound appealing. It sounded to me like a "been there, done that, time for something else" proposition. So I contemplated triathlons. And I'm still contemplating them.

However, in the meantime, I've tentatively decided to ride the East Canyon Road Race on April 24th. Yes, I said ride. It's a real life, honest-to-goodness bike race, with pros and everything (and non-pros too, no worries there! Not going pro!) It's 60 miles with a couple of decent climbs, out-and-back style course.

Additionally, I plan on doing the Art City 5k again (probably with the family again), and hopefully I'll be able to PR there again for the 3rd straight year. Also, I plan on doing the Pepperwood Triathlon on the 3rd of July, so while I may hold off on the pool membership for right now, there will be some swimming happening. I may even try to figure out flip turns. We'll see.

Then there's the fall race. I'd like to do the St. George Marathon again, and will probably enter the lottery again. There may be lodging issues this year, however, so that's not entirely certain. If I end up not running it, I may run the inaugural Layton Marathon instead, which is the following weekend. This is a little up in the air, but there's lots of time to decide. Yeah, I say that now...

So that's the plan for 2010. Hopefully 2011 will see me doing a couple more triathlons and maybe even a 70.3... but there's really LOTS of time to decide on that. Yeah. Lots.

Zone 2 runs

2010-01-28T14:55:00.000-08:00

So the Coach had me do a zone 2 run for 50 minutes today. I did this on the treadmill for time constraints, convenience of HR monitoring, and the fact that it was cold outside and I just discovered my running pants have holes in *ahem* unmentionable places. Not that you'd notice on the average run, but still.

So, Zone 2 goes up to 153 bpm. Normally, in 50 minutes on a treadmill I can run 5 - 5.2 miles with no problem at all. Today, my heart rate kept creeping up into zone 3 - high 150s, even 160 at one point. I felt fine, but in an effort to try to keep it to the proscribed workout, I'd slow down and take it easy, even walking twice to get the heart rate down. I ended up with 4.8 miles, or an average pace of 10:28 per mile. Ick.

I've enjoyed getting faster over the last couple of years (knocking over an hour off my marathon time from marathon 1 to marathon 4)... and trying to keep it in zone 2 was just hard. Saturday I'm supposed to run in zone 2 for an hour, with 3 minute "surges" into zone 3 every 20 minutes. I'm just hoping I can keep the "surges" to 3 minutes long!

To the Max

2010-01-21T13:50:00.000-08:00

Yesterday my prescribed workout was a max HR test... it was a one-mile warm up followed by one mile "As fast as I can possibly go for one mile, and then really pour it on for the last 300 meters." I did this on the treadmill, which give me distances in miles and fractions thereof, so I interpreted the last 300 meters as the last about .17 miles. Yeah it's a bit off if you do the math, but it's close enough.

Anyway, I figured as I headed into this workout that I'd do the test as prescribed and then get in another 2 or 3 miles just to make it worth my time. The thing was, I was supposed to leave it "all on the track (or treadmill in this case)." And I did. I got done, took about a 2 minute break, then started back up. Yeah, I could barely make it through another half mile. I ended up with a log entry of 2.5 miles and 23:56 (the warm up and cool down were really slow!)

Anyway, the reason I'm writing about this isn't just to put some words down on the HR test. I was thinking about my best 5k, last year at the Art City 5k in Springville. It's the only 5k I run in a given year, so I like to go "all out" and see how much I can PR by. The thing is, I've never gone "all out" like I did yesterday in a 5k. I figure it's supposed to hurt like it hurt yesterday... I really need to try that out and find my true "5k race pace" I think. I wonder how fast I can really go. I've never felt like that at the end of a 5k. After all, it's only a 3 mile run, right. He he... yeah. Like yesterday was "only 2 miles"... right.

Water

2010-01-13T07:33:00.000-08:00

Saturday I went for a swim at the local pool. It cost me $4 and another $5 for a lock (that I get to keep) for the locker. I was going to have my cell phone and wallet in there, and the pool isn't in the best neighborhood, so I figured it'd be best to lock them up. I really am going to get a membership. Really. Maybe even tonight, if I'm not doing anything else.

Anyway, this was the first time I went to a pool just to swim laps. I think I've figured out just enough about swimming form (in the freestyle stroke) to know what I should be doing. Breathing to the left is still awkward for me, but I'm going to work on that. I got to try out the jammers my sister got me for Christmas, and I must say, they are much better to swim in than board shorts!

I can't believe what a newbie I am. I can run marathons, ride a bike all day (almost), yet swimming a straight 50 meters is hard for me. It only takes half a minute of catching my breath before I'm ready to do it again, but it's hard. I watch others effortlessly glide through lap after lap and I want to be that person. I'm sure it will just take time to build by endurance in the pool, just as it took time to build my endurance running. Back in 2008, when I got my bike, I couldn't believe how hard it was to ride long, considering riding is supposed to be easier than running (for the most part), yet I had a hard time anytime the road turned up. A summer of riding hills made me much stronger (though I still have a ways to go yet), and now it's not nearly as hard. I know the progress will come in the pool as well, as long as I stick to it and try to be somewhat consistent.

Saturday? I did 1000 meters in 43:01. (that includes all the rest time between laps) for an average of 4:19/100. Yeah, I got some work to do.

Ask The Experts

2010-01-07T13:31:00.000-08:00

Okay, anyone out there who claims to be a fitness expert or coach or mentor or just really good at figuring things out, help me out here.

Right now it's hard for me to determine exactly what to do on a day-to-day basis, because I don't have any goal races specifically scheduled for 2010. Tentatively, I'm planning on the Salt Lake Century ride on May 15 and the St. George Marathon on October 2. Neither of these are concrete at this point. I'd also like to do at least one triathlon this year, probably either the Daybreak Triathlon May 29th or the Stansbury Park Tri on July 24th. In any case, I really want to get better at swimming, just for overall fitness. I'd also like to drop about 20 lbs (currently 6'1" 210 and no, it's not all muscle.)

Got all that?

Now, as far as time/equipment goes... we have a gym at my work that has dumbbells and a few machines, as well as an indoor cycle (Cycleops 300PT) that even has a power meter. I have access to a treadmill both at work and at home in our HOA clubhouse. I generally do something at lunchtime at work, either a ride on the indoor bike (or on my road bike, weather permitting - that is, north of 40º), a treadmill run (or an outside run, weather permitting), or an upper-body (or full body) dumbbell workout. I plan on getting a membership at a local pool/rec center very soon for early morning lap swimming. When the weather improves and I'm not risking life and limb by slipping on ice, I'm not opposed to early morning running as well. That said, I would probably (on my own, but this isn't set in stone) limit 2-a-days to 2-3 times a week. Also, I don't work out on Sunday at all. That's non-negotiable.

So, as of late and because I haven't really narrowed down a goal, I've just been mainly exercising at lunch M-F, usually doing 1-2 bike rides (indoor this time of year), 1-2 runs of 4-6 miles each, and 1-2 dumbbell workouts. I also like to do combination cardio/dumbbell workouts where I'll run hard for 5 minutes, then do a couple of sets of an exercise or two, then run really hard for 5 minutes again, etc.

By the way, I'm a 35 year old guy, for those that don't know.

Assuming I'm going to ride the century in May (goal of under 6 hours), the Tri in July, and the marathon in October, what do you think I should be doing on a weekly basis? I'm just looking for general guidelines here, not necessarily a specific plan. Let me know what you think. The more opinions/input the better.

2010

2010-01-04T07:38:00.000-08:00

It's time to set goals for 2010. I'm not sure (100%) what they're going to be, yet, but I think I'm getting a better idea.

One goal I know I have is to be healthier, in general. You know I've been a bit of a fitness fanatic for the past couple of years, but I haven't really focused on health. This year, I'm going to pay better attention to what I put in my body, food-wise, and try to focus on more fresh, less processed food. Also, I'm going to focus on getting more/better sleep. That is, get the kids in bed, and get ready and in bed as soon as possible afterwards. This will enable more/better opportunities for AM exercise such as swimming, running, 2-a-days, etc.

Other than that, I don't have any number-based goals yet. I'd like to see if I can swim 100k this year, in addition to keeping the bike/run numbers comparable to last year. I also don't have a firm race-schedule. Tentatively, I'm planning on the Salt Lake City Century ride in May and the St. George Marathon in October, but those are tentative at best right now.

2009 Recap - so far

2009-12-23T12:49:00.000-08:00

So there's still a week or so left in 2009, and I plan on doing at least some running and probably at least one weight session in the next 8 days. But I reached another goal today, so to summarize:

Running

1020.8 miles
117 hours, 11 minutes, 57 seconds
160 runs
Avg 6.38 miles per run
Avg pace 10:25/mile

Biking

1000.0 miles ☺
58 hours, 49 minutes, 25 seconds
71 rides
Avg 14.08 miles per ride
Avg speed 17.0 mph

Swimming

Approx 3 miles
No idea on time or pace
13 Occurrences

Weights

21 hours, 46 minutes
40 Occurrences

This info will be very helpful when it comes to setting 2010 goals... which I currently do not have. But I will, shortly...

End of the sugar fast?

2009-12-11T13:31:00.000-08:00

I'm seriously considering ending my sugar fast. I have two weeks to go and I've been doing it for two weeks. I had two basic purposes for trying this:

To see if I would feel any healthier by replacing refined sugar with more natural foods, like honey.
To see if I'd lose any weight.

I'm not entirely sure that 15 days is long enough, but I think by now I have a good idea. I don't really feel any healthier -- in fact, I think I feel a little less healthy. I'm gassy a lot, and I'm ironically a little more tired. I don't know that these two things are directly related to the change in diet or not, but they have coincided. And I haven't lost any weight, despite exercising the same amount (or a little bit more) than I was before... And I'm a little grouchy because I'm missing out on some really yummy food!!!!

So, has it run its course? Does anyone think that more time would yield more benefits? Would I feel more like making this a lifestyle change if I gave it two more weeks?

Now, to be fair, I have discovered some new recipes that I really like and that are a bit healthier than their sugar-laden counterparts... at least, I think they are. I'm not considering ending this and going on a junk food binge or anything, and I'll probably ease into the former "diet" gradually. Also, I think I'll be more moderate in general when it comes to refined sugar consumption if for no other reason than I now know of at least a couple of good alternatives.

So with all that in mind, what say ye, o blogosphere?

Day 4, no sugar

2009-11-30T08:46:00.000-08:00

To recap, I going from the day after Thanksgiving to the day before Christmas Eve with no refined sugar. Today is day 4 of this experiment, and it's going rather well. Day 1 was particularly hard, because I hadn't planned for it and hadn't prepared any substitutes for the candy and snacks, etc., that are laying around our house perpetually, and especially this month of the year. Serendipitously, my sister emailed me a recipe for peanut butter bars the same day that Frayed Laces posted a similar recipe on her blog. I sort of combined the two into a really yummy snack that has been my fall back when I need a cookie-ish treat. Basically, this is my version of the recipe:

1 cup chunky peanut butter
3/4 cup honey
about 1 cup nonfat dry milk
1 1/2 cups oats
1 TBS unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp vanilla extract

Microwave the PB & honey together to make it more stir-able, then add oats, cocoa, and vanilla. Add dry milk until it becomes non-sticky enough to roll into a ball (about the size of a cookie-dough ball before you bake it). Refrigerate on waxed paper until firm. Enjoy.

They're goooooooooooood. They're not calorie-free or anything like that, but they're good. I think overall I'm running on fewer calories, mainly from missing the soda and all the candy that finds its way into my gullet. I will weigh in today as an official "beginning" weight after my run at lunchtime, and then again weekly and on the 23rd to keep track of any progress. I do plan on continuing to run and exercise at normal (for me) levels during this experiment. Keep ya posted.

Diet month and updates

2009-11-20T13:30:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I think I figured out what's up with my foot. It's the shoes. The doctor suggested as much when I went in back in September, just before the marathon. However, he indicated the wrong shoes. Here's the deal. Today I went outside for a 5 mile run in my Nike Vomero 3s. It felt fine... for the first half mile. Yeah. Then it felt a little wanky. At the end of 5 miles, it was definitely irritating, if not a little bit painful. The day it started hurting, way back in September? Sure, it was after a 20 mile run in my New Balance 805s, but that run was a day after 6.1 miles in the Nikes. Then the trial run the next Thursday, when I only got through 2 miles before walking it in? Yeah, in the Nikes. The marathon? You know, where my foot hurt the whole freaking time? Again, the Nikes. Then, the next trial run 2+ weeks after the marathon... where I did only 2 miles on the treadmill because my foot started acting up... yep, you guessed it, the Nikes. Incidentally, I've done a few other runs in the 4-5 mile range in the last few weeks, NOT in the Nikes, and I've been great. Until today. 5 miles in the Nikes, and ouch.

So the Nikes are for sale. Anyone want a pair of slightly used Vomero 3s? I have 100.9 miles on them, still lots of life left (200-400 miles easy). Just not for me.

On another note, the lack of any real long runs or rides or anything in the last 6-7 weeks since the marathon is starting to take a toll on my waistline (yeah, Halloween has something to do with it too.) And Thanksgiving and Christmas and just December in general coming up aren't going to help, really. So here's what I decided to do: No sugary junk foods (including soda - oy vey!) for a month for yours truly. Now, there may be a sugary component to a meal, such as teriyaki sauce (lots of sugar there) on chicken, or something like that, but that will be it. There will be no candy, no non-diet soda (HFCS, that means you), no brownies, cookies, or pastries, no cinnamon rolls, no maple syrup, no hot chocolate, none of that. This will last from the day after Thanksgiving (I get to bring the cheesecake, and I'm not going to miss out!) until December 23rd (because Christmas Eve is the traditional family cinnamon roll breakfast, and I'm not going to miss out on that either!) So it's not quite a month, but still. Anyone who knows me will know this is a major undertaking for me, and I'm not entirely sure I'll be able to accomplish it, but this will be my goal. I'm going to allow myself 2 cheats for the month, just so I don't get derailed if I fall off the wagon for a shake or something just once. But only 2. That's it.

I'll be posting updates, including weigh ins, etc., as I go. This should be interesting (to me, at least).

4 miles! Happy Day!!

2009-11-02T12:00:00.000-08:00

Today I decided to give the peroneal tendon another test. I've been sick for about a week, give or take, with a cold/cough/weakness fit that kind of came and went from last Tuesday through Saturday. Never got a fever or chills or aches, thankfully. So, since last Monday I've not only been off my foot, but I've been off of everything. I'm feeling about 90% recovered today, so I brought in running clothes and shoes and hit the treadmill (torture on a beautiful day like this one!) at lunch time. Again, I wanted to be able to stop whenever I wanted if I felt the tendonitis wake up.

I hit the treadmill and started off at an easy 10 minute pace... went a mile, no problem. Bumped up the speed to 6.1 (9:50 pace) and went another mile, no problem. My foot did feel a little wanky in a lot of places, but not where it's been hurting, and they all worked themselves out. In short, I ended up at 4 miles in 39:12, a 9:48 avg pace, and NO PAIN. BooYah!

After I stopped the treadmill and stepped off, I could feel slight tenderness where the pain has occurred in the past. (Hear that!? In the PAST! WOOHOO!) But nothing that's going to alter my gait or even cause any real discomfort. I will take it as a sign not to run tomorrow (at the least), but I will be back running now. And that's a good thing. I was starting to go insane.

New Goals....

2009-10-30T12:47:00.000-07:00

So, 2009's marathoning season is in the books, and now I enter "maintenance mode" also known as "base building" in preparation for 2010. In 2009, for the first time I ran two marathons in a calendar year, setting 2 PRs and finally busting through that 5 hour barrier with my 4:34:40 finish at St George. I feel that at St George I ran what could possibly be my best marathon effort. Now I have to ask myself...

"What are you going to do next!?"

I wish the answer could be "I'm going to Disneyland!" but it appears that the finances thereto will be insufficient. However, that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about setting goals for 2010.

Should I aim to:

Run more marathons? (perhaps achieving a sub-4:30 or even target a 4:00 marathon range?)
Try a triathlon? (including open-water swim, something I haven't done yet)
Do a duathlon? (That's usually a run-bike-run format - like a tri, without the swimming)
How about a half-ironman? (There's one in Utah Lake in August...)
How about a bike race? Lotoja? 1000 Warriors? Something else? A century?

I'm just not sure. I did get approached at church last week to run in the 2010 Ragnar Wasatch Back Relay, which I think I have my wife talked into letting me do, which will be fun and won't require nearly the training commitment that a marathon (or any of the other above choices) would. But that's in June. The year is only just half over at that point. I need more goals to keep me going, keep me training.

What oh what should I do????

Couple of weeks "off"

2009-10-21T12:48:00.000-07:00

So I thought I'd throw a little update up here just to let anyone who follows know that I'm still around. Until today, I hadn't run at all since the marathon. I've been hitting the gym doing a full-body workout regimen that I'm growing fond of, and I've been cycling a couple times, both indoor and outdoor. I've been staying off my foot, as far as running is concerned, to let the peroneal tendonitis heal, and it's been feeling good. Last Saturday was my 11th wedding anniversary and I took my wife to Lagoon, our local amusement park, where we spent the afternoon and evening walking around and standing in lines and going on rides. After 5 hours of that, I expected to feel something in my foot, but to my delight, I was pain (and pretty much any other sensation)-free in my formerly-inflamed left foot.

So, with that bit of good news, I thought I'd try a short run today and see how it goes. I jumped on the treadmill at lunchtime and started off at a fairly manageable pace of 9:50/mile. My entire left foot felt kind of funny right off the bat, but not on the outside where the peroneal tendon is that has been giving me grief. As I ran, most of it kind of worked itself out, and it felt great to be running again! Not as great as it would have felt outside, but I'm taking baby steps here (metaphorically speaking). Anyway, at about 1.6 miles or so I began to feel the twinge in the side of my foot, so when I got to 2 miles, I pulled over and stopped. I could have run farther. It really wasn't to the point yet that I'd call it "hurting", but nevertheless, I decided to err on the side of caution and let it go. I tried using the eliptical, but that thing is just weird. For those of you that like that machine, I ask only, "Why? How!?" I couldn't stand it for any more than about 100 seconds and I was done.

I guess this means a couple of more weeks of no running and letting the foot really heal up all the way. That's frustrating, but I don't want another major setback, like the marathon turned out to be (as far as foot recovery is concerned). Looks like I will be doing a lot of weights workouts and biking (indoor and out when the weather permits)... which reminds me, I'm accepting donations for (and/or gifts of) winter cycling gear, including but not limited to:

arm warmers
cycling jackets (they're cycling-specific so they don't ride up in back when you're bent over on the handlebars)
cycling vests (see above)
leg warmers (not the 80s fashion statement)
full-fingered gloves
long-sleeved cycling jerseys
tights (think black lycra and warm, not ballet)
skull caps
balaclava

If you really want to give me any of these or donate to the cause, leave me a comment or shoot me an email and I'll be happy to provide you my paypal address and/or size information. And you'll have my eternal gratitude. What, that's not enough for you? :)

St. George Marathon 2009 Race Report

2009-10-05T10:29:00.000-07:00

We drove down on Wednesday night, spent Thursday running errands and checking out Snow Canyon, Friday with friends in the area and a little swimming at the Washington City Rec Center (I even did a couple of laps in my board shorts with no goggles), and Saturday I woke up at 3:30 and headed to the early buses. Just missed the first two (there goes the massage fast pass!) and didn't win anything either. I'll take a later bus next time and sleep in a little. My foot hadn't been bothering me at all the time we'd been in St George, but I hadn't tried any running on it either.

With about 25 minutes to go, I entered the POP lines and shivered for a while, got done with that, put the warm-up pants in the drop bag, dropped it, and I was off, just next to the 5:00 pace group. I quickly left them behind and thought if I could just stay ahead of them, I'd be happy.

Nothing felt quite right for the first couple of miles. I wasn't warmed up, everything felt kind of wanky. My foot wasn't bothering me, though, so I figured I'd just go with it. My first couple of mile splits were really slow, but it had probably more to do with the crowds than with my self-control of not going out too fast.

1- 10:28
2- 10:53
3- 10:44
4- 10:30

About mile 3 my foot started to ache. I knew that walking wasn't going to make it feel any better, so I kept going. I felt certain I was headed for my first DNF, and I was mentally and emotionally ready to accept it. I think that kept the pressure off and helped, in some strange way, to keep me going. I figured once it got too painful to run, that'd be that. Fortunately, that point never came. It never really got better, but it never really got worse either.

As long as I was keeping it below 11:00 miles, I was happy. As I approached Veyo, I got to chatting with a guy (Travis) who was running his 2nd marathon and hoping for a 5 hour finish. He's from Texas, living in Syracuse, and works nearby in West Valley City. We chatted about our families, college football (he's an Aggie fan, I'm a BYU fan -- made for a fun chat), about work and running. He told me to leave him as we headed up the hill, and on I went. I trudged ahead and didn't walk at all, but made sure to take it really easy:

5- 10:13
6- 10:04
7- 10:13
8- 11:41 (Veyo hill!)
9- 10:50

In 2007, my first marathon and my first SGM, it was the miles after Veyo that did me in. The road keeps heading up. I was ready for it this year, and managed to control my pace, still feeling pretty good, except for the foot. My nutrition plan that had worked pretty well in training was to take a Clif Shot Blok and a swig of water from my fuel belt at every even mile marker, and a swig of Gatorade from the aid stations at every odd mile marker. This, I must say, worked like a charm. Cresting the hill around the half way point made my day. I really wanted to come in around 4:45, and I wanted to run a negative split, with the first half at 2:25 and the second at around 2:20. When I saw the clock at the half way point and it read 2:28, I looked at my Garmin and figured I was about 8 minutes behind gun time, putting me at about 2:20 for the first half... way ahead of schedule! I didn't know if I could hold the pace, but I did know that the second half is a lot more downhill than the first half, so I just kept going.

10- 10:56
11- 11:01
12- 10:33
13- 10:26
14- 10:40
15- 10:05
16- 9:54 (!!! This was not part of the plan!)

I knew the Ledges hill (or "Heartbreak Hill" as I like to call it) was looming at around mile 19, but I was still feeling pretty good. As I headed up that hill, I got to chatting with a lady from Southern California who lives only about 15 miles from where I grew up. She was taking it easy, shooting for a 4:30 or so which was slow for her. I told her I was on pace for my first sub-5, and she was very encouraging, saying that I could probably hit a 4:30 depending on whether there were any more hills. I told her it rolled a little after the Ledges, but nothing significant. She decided to take a little walk break, so I bid her adieu and kept trudging along.

17- 10:11
18- 10:16
19- 10:36 (Ledges hill - it seemed so much bigger in 2007)
20- 10:28
21- 9:38 (!!! Again, what the !?!)

I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep that pace up once I got into town. The last couple of miles in town are a mental challenge for me. You know you're close, but you're just not there yet. The crowds really were thicker than in 2007 (of course, it helps if you're there an hour earlier than I was then!) I just kept asking myself as I ran down Diagonal Street and 300 West, "Can I go any faster?" and I'd pick it up, little by little, but I was definitely starting to fade. I was twittering and texting my wife as I ran (yes, it's really not that hard!), and she told me she'd be just before the chute at mile 26. Sure enough, she was there. I stopped just long enough to high-5 the kids and kiss the wife, and I was off.

22- 10:17
23- 10:21
24- 10:18
25- 10:24
26- 10:22
26.2 2:30 (9:19 pace - a little kick for the end).

Overall time: 4:34:40 (garmin time was 4:34:45). That's a 29 minute PR over Salt Lake 2009, and over an hour better than SGM 07. I'm quite pleased with the result, wanky foot and everything. My foot's really been hurting since finishing the race, and I'm sore otherwise, but overall I feel pretty dang good. I'm hoping staying off the foot for a couple of weeks will let it heal right up and it won't be an ongoing issue. I've had foot pain in this area before, and a month or so off really did the trick then... I hope it does again. On to the next challenge!

Updates, taper, leaves, and leaving

2009-09-30T07:22:00.000-07:00

So, for some updates...

Those of you that follow me on twitter or facebook will know that I've had some foot pain since my concluding 20 mile training run on Saturday, 9/19. I stayed off it for a few days, went for a bike ride, and it was feeling good, so on Thursday the 24th I took it out for another spin. Yeah, didn't go so well. So I gave a call to a relatively famous sports doc here in the SLC area by the name of Dr. Toronto, and I got in to see him on Monday the 28th. After a couple of x-rays and some poking ad prodding, he determined it was likely caused by my shoes and that it was an inflamed peroneal tendon with an accessory occicle. Basically that means I have an extra little bone embedded in a tendon on the outside of my foot, which isn't a problem, but can be irritated in the wrong shoes or running on the wrong surfaces, or a combination of all of the above. So, the idea is to reduce the inflammation and the resultant pain so I can run the marathon, and to that end I'm on prednisone for 5 days (Monday-Friday, and probably Saturday too). So far, knock on wood, 3 doses in and no real side effects.

So, I will be running the marathon (that was in doubt for a couple of days there as I was nursing an owie foot). And with any luck, I'll be gunning for something in the 4:40's, but again, anything under 5 hours will be success for me. My taper has been all of non-existent with the foot injury, consisting so far of a couple of bike rides, a few minutes of soccer, and one failed run. That's okay though, it's all good.

One of the bike rides was yesterday, when I headed up the road in City Creek Canyon at lunch. The Autumn colors are in full swing, and it was absolutely breathtaking to see the hues of some of the leaves up there. Some trees looked like they were on fire, so vibrant were the reds and yellows. Today, however, it's raining or snowing in the mountains, and I'm sure the leaves are going to take a big hit. Oh well, at least I got to see them once before the storm.

Tonight we leave for St. George, giving us a couple of days to rest and relax and recreate before the big event on Saturday. My next post will likely be my race report. Here goes!

1000 words.

2009-09-22T12:30:00.001-07:00

Click to enlarge.

Monthly recap - or - 3 Freaking miles? Are you kidding me?!

2009-08-31T19:07:00.001-07:00

August was a pretty good month, training-wise. I finished with 114.7 miles running at an average pace of 10:20, 116.6 miles biking at an average speed of 14.4 mph (keep in mind that virtually every ride this month was in City Creek Canyon -- that is, climbing practice), approximately 1500 meters swum, and 1 hour, 42 minutes of weights work.

And did I mention that last week I ran all of 3 miles? That's not to say that was all I did, but that's all the running I did. Yeah, I had 50 on the schedule, and I did 3. Cool. I ended up doing weights only on Monday, biking on Tuesday, letting Wednesday's workout fall through to bring my wife lunch (take that all you ladies that think that my exercise always comes at the expense of doing nice things for my wife!), Thursday I got up early to run, and due to some surprise GI issues had to make a beeline for home when my previously-well-frequented porta-pottie wasn't at it's designated location (curse you, progress!), I did bike at lunch on Thursday, it's much easier on the tummy than running, and Friday I woke up with some weird back pain, which sidelined me Friday and Saturday.

So, in case you missed it, that's 3 miles running, 40 minutes in the gym, 26.9 miles biked. I did a little swimming Saturday, but I didn't keep track of it.

Yes, I'm 5 weeks from marathon day, and I ran 3 miles last week. Huzzah.

A dose of humility

2009-08-20T07:39:00.000-07:00

You know, lately I've been feeling pretty good about myself, fitness-wise. I'm getting thinner, I've had a couple of really good long runs, I feel pretty strong on my bike, and I'm even putting in some time in the gym and even starting to see the beginnings of the results I want. So when the opportunity came for a free open-water-swim clinic in a new little reservoir in Herriman, I jumped on it. Swimming in a 15-yard pool just hasn't been conducive to getting into a rhythm that will let me know whether or not I can do this swimming thing. I need a bigger pool, so to speak, and a nice big open lake should give me that opportunity, right?

Well, sure. But it was cold. I was one of about 2% of the "class" that didn't have a wetsuit. And it was opaque. And deep. And I freaked. I swam what I could, and just had a hard time finding any sort of rhythm. I wasn't prepared for how completely different it is. It basically sucked.

But the good part is it gave me a demon to slay. A challenge to overcome. And one that's necessary for me to be able to complete a non-pool triathlon (or several). I think triathlons are a big part of my future, but I've got to nail this swimming thing down. I think my technique is pretty good, finally, but I've got to get the endurance and the open-water confidence down. Lots to work on, I'm definitely not there yet.

Weekly recap

2009-08-10T09:59:00.000-07:00

Time for a weekly recap. I did bag a couple of early morning runs, which I fit in later in the day, which means I did zero in the weights department. I'll get back on them this week, but it was good to have a run-focused week, I think.

Monday - Early run, 6.15 miles, 1:03:52, 10:24 pace. Lunchtime bike ride, 11.4 miles, 48:51. Avg speed 14 mph. Had derailleur difficulties that still need fixing, hence no more biking during the week.
Tuesday - nada.
Wednesday - Morning interval run. This was fun. 7.2 miles, 1:11:49, 9:59 pace. Afternoon swim, 850 meters.
Thursday - Lunchtime run, 6.1 miles, 1:03:05, 10:21 pace.
Friday - Lunchtime run, 6.1 miles, 1:00:55, 10:00 pace.
Saturday - Long run in the morning. 20 miles, 3:31:48, 10:36 pace.

Totals:

Running: 45.6 miles, 7:51:29, avg pace 10:21/mile.
Biking: 11.4 miles, 48:51, avg speed 14 mph.
Swim: 850 meters
No weights.

Total time exercising: 9 hours 25 minutes 20 sec.

Would have been a killer week had I not slacked. :)

New Kicks

2009-08-07T14:12:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday was my birthday, for those of you that didn't know already. And my wife and kids went all out to make it awesome, for which I will forever be grateful. My present was a new pair of running shoes. Since I'm always looking for bargains on closeouts, etc., I rarely end up with the same model twice. (There have been exceptions, I've run in 3 pairs of Asics Fortitudes, and a pair of New Balance 1060s followed by 1062s - a later incarnation of the same shoe). This time, I ended up with a pair of Nike Air Zoom Vomero 3. These are some pretty soft freaking shoes. They're like running on pillows. I took them out for a 6 mile run today and was consistently amazed at how cushioned they are. Cushioning may or may not be a good thing in the long run, but man, it sure is comfortable. I will keep you posted on the long-term results. I'll put in a couple of good long runs on them then stick them in the box and save them for marathon weekend, now just 56 days away!

A "cutback" week, sorta

2009-08-02T20:01:00.000-07:00

This last week was my first easy week of my new and intense training plan for St George. Basically, that means there was no weights and no 2-a-days. However, after letting my long run last Saturday slide, I really wanted to squeeze in 21 miles of running between Monday and Friday so I could still end July on a double-century total (and I did, 100.7 miles running, 142 miles biking). And since I let that aforementioned long run slide last Saturday, I figured I'd tack it on to the end of my easy week, so I did 18 yesterday.

First, the July recap:

Running:
100.7 miles
17:34:40
avg pace: 10:29

Biking:
142.0 miles
9:35:10
avg speed: 14.8 mph

Total weight training
2:25:00

Approx 2800 yards swimming.

Total time exercising: 32h 19min 26sec

Not bad.

Yesterday's 18 miler was really good. I tried Clif Shot Blocks for a change, cola flavor. I really like them. The deal is that 3 shot blocks are the approximate equivalent to one gel. So I took a shot block every 2 miles, and it worked out really well. I didn't feel like bonking at all. In fact, I felt rather strong the whole way. The last 2 miles of my route were uphill, and they were the only 2 miles where I was below an 11 minute pace. Average pace for the run was 10:49. If I can hold that pace for St George, I'll be very very happy. That would be a 4:43 marathon, or a 20 minute PR. I took 18 minutes off of my first marathon PR in my second, and 14 minutes off my PR in my third marathon. If I can PR by even 5 minutes I'm going to be thrilled -- 20 would be incredible. I am training my guts out, so hopefully it pays off.

Oh, and I'm down to 198 lbs. too. I'm hoping 200 is in the rearview mirror for good, and continues to fade.

Tunes....

2009-07-23T08:04:00.000-07:00

My run on Monday morning was mediocre at best, following a hard week of training last week. Tuesday morning's bike ride was about the same -- the legs were having a hard time getting going. Yesterday's run/interval/weight workout was pretty good -- that is to say, it beat me up nice and handily -- but the run wasn't anything special. Of course, it's hard to judge exactly how you feel when you're doing one minute on/one minute off repeats.

This morning I reluctantly, slowly, painstakingly dragged by rear out of bed and got dressed for my run. I didn't have any new podcasts loaded onto my iPod, nor did I have any audiobooks loaded on that I hadn't listened to yet. These are the things that typically keep me going while on a run, and I love the entertainment and potentially educational value I get from them. I debated about leaving the iPod at home completely, but in the end decided to go with the running songs playlist that's on there, which consists of pretty much any music I like with an up-tempo beat (for the most part -- there are a few slower songs on there, but they are among the elite of my favorite music).

And today, I was back to a sub-10 minute/mile pace for my 5 mile run. (9:57, to be precise.) Now this is a good thing, and I'm happy that the run went pretty well, but I really hope that it's not just because of the music, because I really like my podcasts and books. Hmmm... food for thought, I suppose.

Another killer workout

2009-07-22T13:32:00.000-07:00

I've been looking into trying some combination exercises and supersets with my weight lifting (when I do it) to add to my overall fitness, especially upper-body fitness that is largely neglected when one focuses on running (and to a lesser extent, biking and even swimming). So today, I mixed up my 3-2-1 workout today like so:

1 mile run with intervals (2 min warmup, then 1 min fast, 1 min recovery, etc.) - 9:30
3 sets of: push ups with one-arm rows, sit-ups with tricep extensions, DB deadlift to shoulder press, and DB front raise
another 1 mile run with intervals, but with only 1 min warm up - 8:59
3 sets of: hammer curls, lateral raise, concentration curls, triceps kickbacks
another 1 mile run with intervals, 1 min warm up - 8:41

This was a nice butt-kicker that will (hopefully?) leave me nice and sore tomorrow. :)

First week down...

2009-07-20T18:31:00.000-07:00

The first week of "serious" training is in the books. I only bailed on one workout the whole week, but it was a HARD week. It went like so:

Monday: 5 mile a.m. run, 13.3 mile lunchtime bike, evening swim with the kids (managed to get in 500 yards)
Tuesday: Lunchtime "confusion" workout, which works out to 3 miles run, 35 minutes of weights.
Wednesday: Lunchtime bike ride scheduled, bagged to run home at let my family in their locked-out house.
Thursday: 6.25 mile a.m. run, 35 minutes of weights at lunch, 400 yd swim with the family in the evening.
Friday: Bailed on the AM run, I was WASTED. 13.3 mile ride at lunch.
Saturday: 16 mile long run.

Totals:

Swim: 900 yds
Bike: 26.6 miles
Run: 30.3 miles
Weights: 1 hr 15 minutes

A total of over 9 hours training. The long run really SUCKED on Saturday. It was hot and I didn't want to do it and I was tired because to get it done before the day hit 100+ I had to get out the door before 6 a.m. It was long and hard. And then this morning I got up at 5 for another run, I managed only 5 miles and it was SLOW too! (10:51/mile) As long as I'm consistent, though, my body will adapt. The first week of ANY new training program is supposed to be hard, right?

Anyways, it's in the book and week 2 has begun. Tally ho!

So it begins

2009-07-13T13:11:00.000-07:00

Serious training for the St George Marathon began today with a 5:30 a.m. 5 mile run, and continued at lunch with a beautiful 13 mile bike ride in City Creek Canyon. My plan is two workouts a day, three times a week, with one workout a day the other three days, taking Sunday off as a "Day of Rest", if you will. Saturdays will be long runs or long bike rides on the cutback weeks. The rest of July will be essentially "base building" with only short speedwork sessions and lots of cross-training. In August and early September, I'll get serious about the running with double-digit tempo runs, double-ladder intervals (I'm excited about these... more info on this to come!), etc. All the while I'll be biking and doing weights, and swimming a little (usually a couple of laps here and there while the kiddies play in the 50' pool).

I WILL RUN A SUB-5 MARATHON IN ST. GEORGE ON OCTOBER 3RD!

I tri'd

2009-07-09T10:15:00.000-07:00

As an almost-spur-of-the-moment idea, I decided to participate in the Pepperwood mini triathlon on July 4. I was told it was a 500 meter swim, a 3 mile bike ride and a 1.5 mile run. Piece of cake, except for that swimming part.

Turns out when I got there it was still a 500 meter swim, but they doubled the bike and run portions to 6 and 3 miles, respectively. That was fine by me, as it de-emphasized the swim a little and more nearly approached a standard sprint triathlon. So with almost no swim training, in I went.

I suck at swimming, but I was in the second heat anyway (12 athletes per heat, it was a small event - maybe 30 people - 6 lanes in the pool that you shared). I was dead last out of the pool, though I think I probably finished faster than some in the first heat did. Swim split was 14:36, and my effort was a combination of crawl, backstroke, and even a little aqua jogging.

T1 was fun, although putting on a cycling jersey over a wet body was harder than I thought, otherwise it was a piece of cake. I was there maybe 2 minutes. On the bike, I passed a BUNCH of people, many on mountain bikes and all kinds of two-wheeled contraptions. I almost caught the guy on the really nice Cervelo P2C triathlon bike (who was pulling 2 kids in a trailer)... but I didn't. :) Made up a lot of ground, had a decent T2 (note to self, get speed laces for the running shoes, and make sure your socks are right-side out so you don't have to screw with that in transition), and took off running. Bike + Transitions split was 24:34

My legs felt like -- yep, you guessed it -- bricks when I took off running, but I still did alright with a 30:27 run over 3 miles. The whole thing was a rather hilly course, so all in all I'm pleased with my 1:09:38 total time.

Not sure what "place" that is in the overall, but I was 2nd in my 30-35 age group (out of 4). No hardware -- not even a t-shirt. Did I mention it was free? Yeah, I'll be doing this again next year.

Double Century!

2009-06-30T13:01:00.000-07:00

No, I didn't go on a 200-mile bike ride, at least, not all at once. But that's not what I mean.

What I mean is that June, 2009, is the first month that I have ever run over 100 miles and biked over 100 miles in the same month!

Recap:

RUNS
16 days running
101 miles
17 hours, 33 minutes, 7 seconds
Average pace 10:26 / mi
Average distance 6.3125 miles/run

RIDES
8 days biking
122.1 miles
7 hours, 52 minutes, 23 seconds
Average speed 15.5 mph
Average distance 15.26 miles/ride

That's pretty cool. There were also weight lifting days and some light swimming thrown in there as well. Hopefully July will be as productive... with a scheduled camping trip and a couple of holidays, it's anyone's guess at this point.

More confusion

2009-06-24T12:48:00.001-07:00

I'm trying out a foray into "extreme fitness", which for me, so far, boils down to mixing it up a bit. A good example was Monday's push-up/run day. After a bit of googling, I came across another workout that I tried today. It's called a 3-2-1 workout, and I freely admit to hijacking this from mensfitness.com, however this is modified for my own usage. Goes like this:

10 minutes cardio warm-up (no-brainer here... that's a mile run)
3 sets, 20 reps each, of 3 exercises. I chose incline dumbbell press, shoulder press, and incline two-arm rows. 30 second rest between sets.
Interval cardio. I did a one-mile run with 2 minute warm-up, then 4 one-minute tempo intervals @5k or faster pace, then cooldown until I reach one mile.
3 sets, 20 reps each, of 2 exercises. I did preacher curls and triceps pull-downs. 30 second rest between sets.
Repeat Interval cardio.
Core. 2 sets of 20 reps each: hanging leg lifts, laying leg push up things, and incline sit-ups. I didn't make it to the last set of incline sit ups, I had nothing left in the tank.

When I began the first interval session, I couldn't get my left arm to lift to my normal running bend. It hung a little lower than normal. This was a great workout, and I aim to do something similar 2-3 times a week, or more. We'll see how this goes.

Too much, too soon?

2009-06-22T12:53:00.001-07:00

The previously-mentioned 45 mile week turned out to maybe have been too much. Last week I struggled to get in 8 miles, in two 4-mile runs. My legs were hurting pretty good around the shins/ankles. So instead I biked twice, did weights one day, and took Saturday pretty much "off" (walked around downtown with the family, no real "exercise", per se).

Today I went out for a 5-miler at lunchtime, with 15 push-ups thrown in approximately every mile. Yes, that's 75 push-ups total. I hear it's good to mix it up a little like that. More about my forays into "extreme fitness" in the future, once I get it figured out a little. In the meantime, I'll be throwing in a little cross-training into each run. I think. The legs were still a little tender today where they were really hurting last week. I'll bike tomorrow (and maybe some weights?), and see how they feel on a run on Wednesday. Stay tuned.

PR for longest week

2009-06-15T11:29:00.000-07:00

So I ran last week on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (6 miles each, or so), biked on the indoor bike on Thursday, and ran 7+ miles of speedwork on Friday, all with the intention of a 10-15 mile run on Saturday, thus kicking off St George Marathon training with a 35 or so mile week.

Well, turns out on Saturday I got an opportunity to do the "run to work" thing, which is a 19+ mile run. As I don't have this chance every week, I decided to take advantage of it. I completed the run in 3:37:55, or an 11:11 pace. That's not too shabby, considering I wasn't planning on running anywhere near that distance, and I did it on tired legs from a 7+ mile interval workout the day before. That left me with a 45.2 mile week, a distance PR by 1.2 miles from peak-Ogden training time. I feel pretty confident that I could taper from this point and in 2 weeks get my sub-5-hour marathon.

Yeah, the only problem with that is that my marathon is over 3 MONTHS away. I've never done a 3 month marathon maintenance-type schedule before. I'm going to have to fiddle with my training plan now and see what I can come up with so I'll be even more prepared to run an even faster race at St George on October 3rd.

Tempo Intervals

2009-06-12T13:12:00.000-07:00

A couple years ago Powerbar teamed up with Chris Carmichael and released two free audio workouts for runners. In them, Lance Armstrong and Chris Carmichael blabber in your ear about how great all things Powerbar are and also letting you know when to speed up and when to slow down. Today I did the second of these workouts (I wrote about the first one here.)

Basically, with this one there's a 10-minute warm up, then four 20-second stride outs with one minute recovery, and then you start the intervals. Basically you run at tempo pace, or as Carmichael puts it, and 8 out of 10 difficulty, for 4 minutes, 6 minutes, 8, 10, and 12 minutes, with 2 minutes of active rest/recovery between each. I was doing this outside with no garmin, so I couldn't really imitate any specific pace, but I tried to keep it feeling like a 5k pace for each interval. I'm sure as I got to the longer and longer intervals I got slower and slower, but I tried to keep a constant effort.

Unlike the other CTS workout, this one royally kicked my heiney, but I kind of liked it. I'll come back to this one again and again, but probably on the treadmill to make the pacing a little easier to maintain.

Been a long time...

2009-06-09T07:15:00.001-07:00

So long in fact, that I don't know when the last time was that I got up early on a weekday/workday to run. But today I did it. Because of an afternoon commitment that is going to force me to leave work a couple hours early today, I decided I'd work through lunch and get my run in in the morning. So I did it. I woke up at 5:10 and got dressed and out the door by 5:25 or so for 6.2 miles. It was a great morning for a run, too. Mostly cloudy, with the sun just peeking through as it rose, the streets wet from an overnight rain, temperatures hovering around 55º, a light breeze. This gives me hope that I'll be able to keep this up for longer AM training runs as St George Marathon training intensifies, and for some good 2-a-days where I can run in the morning and do a bike ride (or maybe another run) at lunch. I'm just glad I remember how to run that early, I thought I'd forgotten.

Now, I need to remember how to stay awake throughout the rest of the day...

Art City 5k race report

2009-06-06T20:42:00.000-07:00

What a fun race this morning! I woke up and was slightly dismayed to realize that I'd forgotten to bring my iPod down to my mom's house (where we slept over last night). I haven't run a race without an ipod since my first 5k back in 2002. Yeah, it's been a while. Oh well, alone with my thoughts for this one.

At one point I wasn't sure if I was going to run this race for my own PR or if I was going to hang with my kids and let my wife run for her PR. Well, she's been pretty sick and not sleeping well all week, so she wasn't thinking she could gun for a PR today, kids or no kids, and since she ran a 5k solo a couple weeks ago and set a nice PR for herself, she decided to hang with the kids and let me gun for my own PR.

At the start I lined up in the front-middle of the pack, next to the most ambitious stroller-pusher (they tell these guys to line up in the back, but they don't). I thought my placing was a little ambitious, considering my only goal was to beat last year's time (and PR) of 28:43. I knew that would place me squarely in the middle of "the pack" that was there to run, but I also knew that there were many that I'd be tripping over and weaving around in the first 3/4 mile or so that don't know how to corral themselves properly in a race of over 2000 entrants.

The gun went off and we were off. Sure enough, I was bobbing and weaving around many that were walking within the first quarter mile, but then I'm sure there were faster folks that had to bob and weave around me that were equally as frustrated. Turns out I really didn't miss the iPod at all, and I hit mile one at 9:31. Slower than I needed if I was going to PR. Granted, mile 1 has the only significant hill on this short course, so I expected it to be slow, but I've never been very effective at negative splits, so I was a little disheartened, fearing the PR may be out the window.

Nevertheless, I tried to pick it up a little on the back straight and ended up turning in mile 2 in 8:49. I've never run a sub-9 minute mile off of the treadmill, and then only in interval training, so I was pleased. Still not quite fast enough to PR, but if I could hold the pace, anything was possible at this point. Just before I hit the mile 2 marker I was completely cut off by a guy who was cutting over to the side of the road to high-5 a couple of spectators. I seriously hit the dude with my arm swing as it came forward, he cut me off THAT closely. Pissed me off, but I was glad I stayed on my feet.

Down the hill and into the stadium we ran. I noticed the mile 3 marker, which I don't think was quite in the right spot, but that's okay. I hit the split for mile 3 at 8:40. That's three consecutive negative splits (or two splits over three miles... you get the idea). Something I have NEVER done before, not even in training (I think). The last .1 zoomed by at a blistering sprint of 41 seconds (a 6:51 pace!!), for a total time of 27:43, or a PR by one minute exactly over my 5k time at this race last year. WOO HOO!

I missed the wife and kids' finish as I was getting the camera and blanket out of the car as they went by. Turns out I spent longer than I thought I had in the chute and they were faster than I thought they'd be. They finished in the 36 minute range. What a great race for them! Unfortunately, no one won any door prizes, again, but at least we had great weather to sit around and wait in. Can't wait to do this race again next year!

Updates

2009-06-05T13:41:00.000-07:00

Still running, 3 times this week at 6 miles each. The Art City 5k is tomorrow, and if all goes well, I'd like to PR. I'm not sure how realistic that is. Last year I ran it in 28:43, and it's still my current PR (haven't run an official 5k since). A race report is surely soon to come, don't fret.

Today I rode the bike up City Creek Canyon again, to the water treatment plant, and for the first time, I never dropped into the "granny gear." You see, my bike came with a triple front chainring, and normally I need it on one or two steep spots in that canyon. Today that wasn't the case. Maybe it was the nice weather (about 69ºF and misty rain), maybe it was just determination, maybe it was my improved fitness, maybe I'm finally getting over this sinus infection that's been plaguing me for a good month or so now... who cares what the reason is. Now I'm going to have to start timing the climb, and see if I can get faster at it. A new challenge!

Measurable Results

2009-06-01T20:27:00.001-07:00

It's been a long time since I've had a diastolic under 130. Usually I'm in the 135-140 range over 75-78 or so. Today while grocery shopping I took a break by the pharmacy and got a nice happy result:

Looks like not only am I headed straight out of the clydesdale class, I'm actually getting healthier too. Huh.

Running backwards

2009-05-21T19:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I ran my favorite 6-mile loop in City Creek Canyon and the Avenues neighborhood of Salt Lake City, but I mixed it up a little. Instead of running up City Creek Canyon, across 11th Avenue and down Virginia St., I ran UP Virginia St., across 11th Avenue, and DOWN City Creek Canyon. This way, I end up running fewer uphill miles (about 2 instead of about 4 the other way), but obviously, since the net elevation gain/loss is the same, the uphill miles are steeper, and teh downhill miles are milder. I completely and thoroughly enjoyed this.

I think this is a good idea, to mix up your "usual" route every now and then by running it in reverse. No no, keep your eyes ahead of you, just run the route in reverse -- don't run backwards. It's a nice way to view your route a different way. It almost makes the same old neighborhoods look completely different. Try it. You'll like it.

I'm alive -- and I'm in!

2009-05-18T10:36:00.000-07:00

For some reason, my access to blogger from my work computer is spotty. Maybe it's related to all the troubles Google has been having lately, who knows for sure. But right now it's working, so here I am.

The big news around these parts is the successful playing of the lottery... that is to say, I got in to the St George Marathon for October 3rd. What does this mean? Well, for one, it means I'm going to redo the title image on the blog, as I won't be triathlon training this summer as I had anticipated. Rather, I will be focused on improving overall fitness and getting faster so that I can finally, FINALLY nail the sub-5 marathon in St. George. I'm going to be so bold as to train for and aim for a 4:45 finish. It will require me to push myself, but I think I can do it.

The plan? Long tempo runs, long interval runs, double-ladder interval runs, tempo-interval runs, and just a whole lot of miles too. Ready or not...

In other news, my darling wife ran a killer 5k last Saturday. It was her 3rd 5k overall, but the first run she's done without me or anyone else running with her. It was really her first chance to open up and see what she could do. I expected her to do well and come in around 35 minutes or so. Instead, she blew that away and finished in 31:22! What an incredible run! I was really proud, she was really tired and is now really sore. She said she nearly puked a couple of times, I told her that's the sign of a well-run 5k. Congrats again, babe! You ROCKED it!

Now I have to go running. It's nearly 80 degrees outside. Don't know exactly what I'm going to do....

The Lottery, and At Least It Waited....

2009-04-27T13:24:00.000-07:00

.... until after the marathon. That's what people tell me when I tell them how sick I was last week. Tuesday I went out for my first post-marathon run, which went alright. It was just a quick 4-miler outside at lunch. When I got back, I started to eat my leftovers-lunch, and just wasn't all that hungry. For some reason, it just wasn't at all appetizing, so I left half of it on my plate (and in my trashcan). By the time I got home that evening, I had pretty much hit the wall. I choked down dinner and ran some errands, but by the next morning I had a 101° fever. Wednesday and Thursday I was pretty laid out. By Friday I was pretty much over it, but still really weak, which lasted into Saturday as well.

Part of all this downtime gave me time to think. I really really want to run a sub-5 hour marathon. I got really really close last week. I don't know when I'll be ready to try again, but I decided to go ahead and enter the lottery for the St. George Marathon in October. This was my first marathon back in 2007. As you know, I didn't get in through the lottery last year, so this would be my second running of it. They've upped the limit of runners this year, as well as eliminated the "second chance" option, so hopefully the odds will be better than ever. I know what to expect this year, I'm starting in a much better position, fitness-wise, and I know what to train for. I'll be ready this time. I'm going to shatter that sub-5 goal.

...... if I get in.

Oooooh so close.

2009-04-18T13:16:00.000-07:00

For those regular readers (yeah I know there's like 2 of you), you'll know that it is my (seemingly never-ending) quest to run a 5-hour marathon. Yes, I can run faster than the 11:20-something average pace needed to accomplish this feat (feet?), but not for 26+ miles. At least, not yet.

The race started off well. I got to the starting line with about 5 minutes to spare, just in time to hear them send off the wheelchair/handcart racers. I didn't have time to meet anyone that I knew was running in one of the two events that started when mine did (the half- or full-marathon), other than my neighbor. I basically had just enough time to turn on my garmin, take off my sweatshirt and warm-up pants and stuff them in a bag for later pickup, and that was it. They boomed the cannon, and 5 minutes later I crossed the starting line in the middle of the back of the pack.

Mile 1 - 10:44. I was trying to start off slow, slower than this.
Mile 2 - 11:09
Mile 3 - 10:52 - I started settling into a groove here, feeling pretty good.
Mile 4 - 10:40
Mile 5 - 10:45 - This is where the half marathoners split off for a bit while the marathoners make a loop of Sugarhouse Park. That's a hilly little loop, but nothing I couldn't handle at that point. I let 'er rip on the downhills and just tried to maintain form on the short but steep uphills. At this point the sun was still behind the clouds and it was a GORGEOUS morning.

Mile 6 - 11:08 - most of Sugarhouse park actually occurred during this mile.
Mile 7 - 11:15
Mile 8 - 11:02
Mile 9 - 11:19 - This is the area where I think I could have/should have gone a little faster
Mile 10 - 10:49
Mile 11 - 10:56
Mile 12 - 11:06
Mile 13 - 11:15

Halfway split: 2:28:05 (garmin) - should have known at this point that I wasn't likely to hit 5 hours, but I knew most of the hills were behind me.

Mile 14 - 10:50 - This is really very good because I saw the family just after the halfway point and stopped for hugs and kisses.
Mile 15 - 10:57
Mile 16 - 11:29 - Van Winkle is a long, boring place to run.
Mile 17 - 11:31
Mile 18 - 11:15 - I think these miles should have been a little faster too, but this is where I faced my first realy mental battle when I was trying to convince myself not to walk. I was leapfrogging a couple of Gallowalkers repeatedly, but eventually left most of them behind.
Mile 19 - 11:25
Mile 20 - 15:14 - This is where I saw the family again and stopped and talked for a few minutes. I don't know how the boost I got from that rest and the emotional lift of seeing everyone there compare to how I would have done if I hadn't stopped for so long (probably around 3 minutes... yeah, I know...)
Mile 21 - 11:42
Mile 22 - 12:00
Mile 23 - 13:00
Mile 24 - 12:07
Mile 25 - 12:45
Mile 26 - 12:32
Mile .18 (Garmin) - 3:12. My 2 girls ran in with me at the end... not that I would have been any faster without them there. I had nothing left.

Total time: 5:03:09 (Garmin). 5:03:13 chip. I'm pleased, but not satisfied. The sub-5 marathon is going to have to wait. But I know what I need to do to get there. At least I ran the whole thing, minus about 45-50 feet at one guy's impromtu aid station around mile 21-22.

All in all, I loved the Salt Lake Marathon. I seriously don't know what all the fuss is about (minus the flak about the organizer dude).

Organization - 8/10 (not enough food in the finish shoot when I got there, but at least there was still plenty of chocolate milk. Yum!)
Course - 7/10 -- that d*** hill they threw in going up State St. to South Temple this year really needs to go. Bad bad bad.
Medal - 8/10 -- Nice size, very attractive, but it doesn't have the year on the medal, just on the ribbon.
Crowd support - 7/10 -- Sparse in parts, but great at the end, and my wife and kids made it great at mile 14 and 20 as well. Also there were lots of residents that came out of their homes on the route to cheer on runners and put up impomptu aid stations.
My training - 6/10 -- I think I did pretty well, but a few more miles wouldn't hurt, and I need to do more long tempo runs / interval runs in the last couple of months. This is going to be key.

T-minus 15 hours

2009-04-17T14:50:00.000-07:00

By this time tomorrow the Salt Lake City Marathon will be but a happy memory. Tonight, I have quite the "to do" list, including charging the iPod, new batteries in the Garmin, find my white running hat, blister-proof feet with liquid band-aid, pin bib to shirt, cut my hair and shower, make 2 peanut butter & honey sandwiches for pre-race nourishment, gather GU and powerade for the fuel belt, ad nauseum.

So, hopefully I'll have good (that is, sub-5 hour) news to share tomorrow. Either way, I'll write up a race report when I get back, after I've showered and possibly napped. The good news is there's no hotel bed to toss and turn on tonight. No, I get to toss and turn on my very own bed. This will be wierd. At least I slept well last night.

Where I'll be...

2009-04-14T07:33:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I know dozens of people running in one of the events at the Salt Lake Marathon. Most I know will be running the half marathon, but since we all start at the same place, I thought I'd post where I'll be in case you'd like to meet up at the starting area. I will be under the last tree as you exit the runners staging area and head up the road to the start mat. I labeled the map below as best as I can remember from last year, so I hope it's about right and they don't change much. Worse case, I'll have my phone on me and my number is 801-755-9628. I can't believe I just posted that on the Internet.

Disclaimer: I may leave said post to hit the porta-loo or get some water, etc. But I'll be back.

Pretty dang perfect

2009-04-13T14:06:00.000-07:00

Admittedly, it's still 6 days out, but this is looking just right...

Updates, a Podcast, and a Taper

2009-04-10T07:27:00.000-07:00

So the last long run is in the books. It was a grueling, bonk-infested 21 miler last Saturday. My fueling plan was off, to say the least, but it's done. Now I'm smack in the middle of tapering, which I'm finding more enjoyable than ever, having run three times this week, 4 miles each, all outdoors. The thought of a treadmill just does not sound appealing at all right now. Fortunately Spring is here and I don't have to worry about it.

This past Wednesday I was honored to co-host the Runners Round Table podcast. That was a blast. We talked about running, cross-training, swimming and biking, and yoga. It was so fun, and I hope I get another chance to host again.

In other news, Devine Racing, the organizers (and I use the term loosely) of the Salt Lake City Marathon are proving their doubters correct and cementing for themselves a very questionable reputation in the eyes of runners everywhere. It seems they have a hard time paying their bills. Here we are, 8 days from the marathon, and they have yet to file an event permit with South Salt Lake, which houses about 2 miles of the marathon route. They haven't paid the police department there either, so who knows if we'll have course security support for miles 19-20. All that said, let's hope as a runner on April 18th, that all I notice is the news stories, and that I don't see any evidence of the apparent incompetence of everyone involved at Devine. I don't want to feel ashamed to have that name on my shirt and my medal, ya know?

Last Long Run... and it's gonna snow

2009-04-03T09:48:00.000-07:00

Okay, sneak preview. Tomorrow is my last long run before the marathon, and it will be something in the neighborhood of 22 - 24 miles. And it's supposed to be crappy weather. My aim is to start out around 5:00 a.m., so I can be done by 10:00 a.m. allowing for plenty of time for traffic lights and a possible re-fueling stop.

Alternatively, I could head over to our clubhouse gym, which has a treadmill with a 30 minute time limit, and try that out... maybe put on a movie or something (or two or three)... however I'd have to restart that thing like 8 times, and 4+ hours on a treadmill does not sound like fun. There's also a nearby indoor 1/4 mile track I could run on, but 92 laps? I have no idea how I'd keep track, let alone how I'd stay sane. And it doesn't open until 8, so I'd be running until after noon, and I have something I want to do at 10...

So, I'm going to go ahead with the original plan, and head out the door -- rain, shine, snow, darkness, or otherwise -- at 5-ish a.m. and run from home to work, the long way. Why? Well, because I really need to get this last long run in, and because the marathon is in two weeks. You never know what April weather is going to throw at you, so I'm going to run in whatever I get tomorrow so that I'll be that much more prepared to run in whatever weather I get on the 18th. Get it?

Now, it will be just my luck that the 18th will have 85° sunshine and high humidity. And I didn't do any long training runs in my dryer.

It's gotta be the shoes!

2009-04-02T12:36:00.000-07:00

As someone who runs, and who makes it publicly known that I run (see twitter, facebook, this blog, etc.), I often hear from people phrases such as:

"I wish I could be a runner."
"Running hurts, why would you do that to yourself?"
"I tried running once... my shins hurt so bad I had to quit."
"I don't have the knees for running."

Oh, the shame! If these people only knew! Running doesn't hurt. Well, it doesn't hurt that much. Not if it's done right. And the first step is to GET THE RIGHT SHOES.

I'll tell folks this and they'll say "But I did! I went and got $150 running shoes!" And I'll ask where they bought them, and they'll say something like "Big 5" or "Sports Authority" or perhaps even, *gasp!* "the mall!"

Here's the thing... when you run, your foot goes through a certain motion called pronation. Pronating is the action of your foot's arch collapsing to absorb shock, your ankle rolling slightly inward, followed by the rolling outward as you push off with your toes. People pronate to varying degrees, based in part on how high the arch of the foot is. People with low arches tend to over-pronate, which can cause excessive stress on the ankle, shin bones and tendons, knee, and hip -- and various other muscles, tendons, and bones in that general area of the body. Fortunately, the running shoe companies have figured this out, and they now manufacture shoes specifically to counteract these biomechanics (big word, I know). These shoes are called stability shoes, because they provide extra support to keep the foot and ankle properly aligned while going through your natural gait motion.

I'm not going to go deeply into the different styles and purposes of running shoes here. The point here is to emphasize that until you have someone look at your foot who knows what they're looking for, you're very likely running in the wrong shoes for your foot, and that's what makes it hurt. If you need a stability shoe and you're in a neutral shoe -- or vise-versa, not to mention the intracacies of motion-control shoes, cushioned shoes, lightweight racing flats, etc. -- you are going to hurt yourself. So... GET THE RIGHT SHOES. And to do that, you need to go to your local running-specialty store so they can analyze your gait. Trust me here. I'm about to complete my third marathon and I've never had any significant running injury.

Feel free to email me or comment if you'd like more information on this topic. :)

The latest

2009-04-01T07:44:00.000-07:00

Here's the latest... I decided to make last week a de-facto cutback week, and bagged the Saturday run. I tell ya, if I do crappy at this marathon, it will be from not doing semi-long runs on my cutback weeks. Oh well. So this week I'm running 6 miles four times and then a long 22-24 mile run on Saturday -- and the weather's horrible, but that's part of the fun. Once this week is over, the taper starts, and let me just tell you how excited I am for the taper! Next week I'll run 6, 5, and 4, then two bike days, then 12 on Saturday. The following week will then be 4, 4, 2, one bike day, one rest day, then the MARATHON.

I'm so ready for this. Sub-5, baby.

Choices and burnout

2009-03-25T15:12:00.000-07:00

Here's the deal. I'm getting to that point in marathon training where I'm feeling pretty confident and wishing the race were this weekend and not 3 weeks hence. I have been at this point for each of the previous marathons I've run, and I didn't run either of them as well as I'd wanted to. So I'm hoping I'm not experiencing the same kind of thing. This week it's been difficult for me to want to get any miles in, and consequently I didn't run at all on Monday. I did do 5 yesterday and 6 today, so I'm not too far behind, especially if I double up on Wednesday or Thursday.

As I mentioned, there's 3 weeks until the marathon from this Saturday. I can either make this week my last long week, and then do a 3-week taper before the big dance, or I can take it easy-ish this week and go long again next week, and follow it up with a 2-week taper. Or... I could go long-ish this week and long-ish next week, and then go with a 2-week taper. I'm leaning towards the first option or the last option -- three-week tapers just seem too long for me, since my max weekly mileage is still under 45, and doesn't look like it's going to exceed that point unless I build this week and next week -- which I think I'd like to do. Overdoing it? Maybe...

I tend to be more motivated by the possibility of overdoing it than by trying to maintain or take it more "sensibly" from now until race day.

So... am I more likely to burn out if I keep going long until a 2-week taper? Or would it be smarter and possibly less-motivating to play it safe and take an easy week this week -- or even go long this week and do a 3-week taper? Decisions, decisions....

A hard Saturday run, but I'm okay with that

2009-03-21T14:29:00.000-07:00

Today I did 22 miles in 4:00:47, and it was hard. Really hard. Don't get me wrong, I ran the whole way, but I didn't finish as strong as I kind of wish I had. But I'm okay with that. Here's why...
That's the elevation profile from today's run. Note the steady 3% uphill grade near the beginning, and the intermittent 3% grades at the very end. And I still managed to hold a 10:57 pace (more or less) for the whole thing. (That doesn't count the pit stop at the grocery store at mile 15.5 to pick up more PowerAde.)

In contrast, here is the elevation profile for the marathon for which I am training, and in which I WILL finish in less than 5 hours.
Note the lack of any uphill grade greater than 2%, and that's just one little climb near the halfway point. Also, the uphills in miles 5 through 13 look scary, until you realize there's not a bit of them over 1%. I think I'm going to be ready.

4 weeks to go. I can do this.

TIART - Spring Training

2009-03-19T08:57:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm going to try something that I've never done before, and that's contribute to the Runner's Lounge "Take It And Run Thursday". The topic of the week is Spring Training.

I love Spring Training, but then I've always been a baseball fan, ever since I can remember. These days, Spring Training means more than the return of the Dodgers to Vero Beach, Florida, however... (scratch that, they play their Spring ball in Arizona now... doh!) When the players report to spring camp, it means that the days are getting longer, the mornings are getting warmer, and the running starts to transition from the treadmill to the great outdoors once again. Indeed, Spring is a great time of year!

A couple of tips for those of us emerging from Winter treadmill hibernation:

Don't pay attention to pace. Treadmill pace and outdoor pace rarely match up evenly, so get your first few runs in at whatever pace feels right, and don't compare to what you've been doing on the treadmill all winter long. Chances are you'll be much faster (or much slower). Don't stress over it, and use this newly-established "outdoor" pace to gauge your progress from here on.
Dress for the conditions. Spring can be tough, because you can start a morning long run in chilly weather and warm up quickly as the hours go by. Dress in layers that can be tied around your waist as the day progresses, or plan your course to run past your house or a familiar place where you can ditch superfluous clothing.
Don't forget to hydrate! Especially on cooler days, you can forget to drink enough because you're not sweating much, and when you do sweat, the cooler air (and hopefully your hi-tech wicking clothing) will pull the sweat off of you into the air so fast you'll stay relatively dry. In these conditions it's easy to go too long between swigs. Drink up!

So there you have it; my first contribution to "Take It And Run Thursday". Enjoy! I feel honored to be participating in such a distinguished community of great runners!

Joe's Goals

2009-03-17T21:02:00.000-07:00

I found this cool new website called Joe's Goals. I guess some guy named Joe made up the website, and it's pretty nifty. Basically it gives you the opportunity to set goals for yourself and keep track of your progress on a day by day basis. You type in your goals, and you can leave a check mark if you've accomplished it for the day. You get a total score for each day based on how many check marks you have for that day. Then you can pull up graphs and charts showing how you're trending, etc.

Currently I have 7 goals listed (the screenshot there is NOT my list), and I'm sure I'll come up with more. Chec it out. The URL is www.joesgoals.com

Ramping back up!

2009-03-12T14:00:00.000-07:00

So last week was an impromptu cutback week, to let a blister heal and take care of car problems (which didn't work out, but that's another story).

This week, I'm ramping the mileage back up, with runs so far this week of 4, 5, 6.75, and 5.1 miles. The last two of those have been outside on variably hilly terrain, substituting as speedwork for the week. This is a total of 20.85 miles for the week so far, with a 20 miler on tap for Saturday. Tomorrow will be a bike day.

Next week, we'll throw a 22 miler into the mix, and at least one double, which I didn't get to this week... yet(?). The marathon is 5 weeks and 2 days away. I think I'll be ready. I hope I'm not peaking too soon. :)

Darn blister

2009-03-06T07:26:00.000-08:00

During Saturday's awesome long run, I got a blister under my big toe on my left foot. This is a new occasion for me, as I rarely get blisters, and when I do they're always on the instep of my right foot. In that case, I'll just pop them with whatever's handy, and let them drain, cover with a bandaid or two for a day or two, and we're good to go. The skin seems to fuse back together where the water bubble was, and away we go.

This one is a little different. Because it's in a place where two sides of a wrinkle come together (that's not the right phrasing, but I think you get the point), it seems to feel bigger than it actually is. I've popped it a few times, and was able to run Monday and Tuesday on it, but Wednesday I tried putting moleskin on it for a barrier, but it didn't stick. I guess that part of my foot is sweatier than most?

So anyway, I'm taking a couple of days off to let it heal, which means that this week is turning into an impromptu cut back week. That's okay, because I pushed last week and got ahead of schedule anyway. I'm not completely relaxing -- I'm biking instead of running, and it's keeping me busy and my heart rate up. Hopefully I'll be able to get out for a shorter long run tomorrow... perhaps I'll try the moleskin again.

A pound of flesh...

2009-03-04T14:25:00.000-08:00

Or, more accurately, a pound of fat. One of the common things one hears as one begins to research diet and exercise as relating to weight loss is that one pound of fat contains 3500 calories, and therefore to lose a pound of fat you need to increase your calorie deficit by 3500 calories to "burn off" a pound of fat, and therefore be one pound lighter.

I've been searching across the interwebs and haven't yet been able to find any concrete studies to back this up, but something about it seems fishy to me. It seems over-simplified, as if any calories we eat go into the same bank, regardless of the "quality" of the calories, or the source of the calories, and then any calories we burn, regardless of the way we burn them (weight training, cardio fitness training, breathing, thinking, etc.) all withdraw the calories from this same bank. I don't think this is necessarily the case.

When I started back at running in January of 2008 after slacking off after my first marathon, I weighed in at 225 lbs. Within a week I was down to 219. According to the "3500 calorie" theory, I created myself a calorie deficit in that ONE WEEK (?!?!) of 21,000 calories???!! Um, no. The running, totaling maybe 10 miles, may have added 1000-2000 calories to my "deficit" total, but nowhere near the 21,000 that the theory would suggest. I believe metabolism is more complicated than the theory suggests.

Does anyone have information or peer-reviewed studies, etc., that can back up the theory one way or another?

Spring Fever

2009-03-03T13:21:00.000-08:00

It is absolutely beautiful outside. Okay, so it's a little windy -- so much so that when I was running south, into the wind, I couldn't really hear the iPod very well -- but I can deal with a little wind. I still turned in a great 5.1 mile run today in the Avenues/City Creek Canyon in 50 minutes flat. It was 62°F outside (that's about 17°C for you metric types). The breeze actually helped it to not feel too hot.

I may have to run again later, just to soak up some more of the gorgeous weather!

Long run, nothing special

2009-03-02T07:34:00.001-08:00

I went for a really long run on Saturday. It seems that every marathon training session will include at least one point-to-point run from home to work. It shakes out like so: My wife will come pick me up from work Friday afternoon for a family activity of some sort, so I'll leave my car at work. Saturday morning I wake up early, get on the running gear, and head out for what is usually a circuitous 20 mile route, and come pick up my car. This weekend, however, was the first time I'd attempted this since we moved further away from my place of employment. The result? It wasn't a circuitous route, it was pretty direct. But it was still 19.6 miles, which is about 2 miles further than I had scheduled for that week's long run. I finished it strong, however -- surprisingly so. This puts me weeks ahead on my training schedule, which is good. I plan on another long 20 miler this weekend, then a much-deserved cutback week.

So far, a very good start to 2009!

Weekly recap and February totals

2009-03-02T07:06:00.000-08:00

Last week was a good week for me. Here's how it shook down:

Monday - 5.1 miles outside in the Avenues for a "hilly" run. 10:02 pace
Tuesday - 4 miles outside in the Avenues at lunch, pace 9:55; 4 miles on the treadmill that night, pace 10:00
Wednesday - Easy 2.5 on the TM as warm up for weights. 20 minutes of weights.
Thursday - 5 mile interval training on the TM - 9:44 avg pace w/ warm up and cool down.
Friday - Bike 15.76 miles in 42 minutes including intervals and a 400+ watt sprint.
Saturday - 19.6 mile long run from home to work. Pace 10:46. I loved this run.

Weekly total: 40.2 miles run, 15.8 miles biked

Totals for February:
122 miles run
80.4 miles biked
1 hr 35 minutes weights

It's official, I'm in.

2009-02-25T14:20:00.000-08:00

Weekly recap

2009-02-24T21:20:00.000-08:00

For some reason, blogger won't open at work, so my normal blogging time is disrupted. :)

Anyway, here's last week's totals:

Monday: 5 miles at lunch, 6.1 miles that evening - 11.1 miles total
Tuesday: 1.8 miles, 15 minutes weights
Wednesday: 6 mile tempo run
Thursday: 4.5 miles easy
Friday: 14.6 mile bike ride
Saturday: 15.6 mile long run

Totals:
Running: 39 miles
Biking: 14.6 miles
Weights: 15 minutes

The first twice

2009-02-17T07:02:00.000-08:00

I've done one two-a-day workout before, and that was last fall when I went for a morning run and a lunch time bike ride. I thoroughly enjoyed it. When triathlon training begins in earnest here in a couple months (post-marathon), I'll be doing more of those, as my swimming will always be taking place in the early morning, with bikes or runs later those same days.

Last week was a cutback week. For those that don't know, a cutback week is intended for your body to have a chance to recover and rest a little from the stresses of endurance training. It's also good to have the emotional and mental break from it that you need as well. So all of my runs last week were shorter, I let one day of cross training fall out, and then there was Valentine's Day...

For Valentine's Day, my gift to my wife was to paint our bedroom. Whoever lived there before us had had something odd screwed into the wall, and had not patched it or painted over the bad patch properly, and ever since we moved in we've been trying to decide what to do with those walls. Well, now they're a mossy/sagey green. This task, however, took almost all of the day on Saturday, leaving me no time to get in a longish run. (Remember, it was a cutback week, so the long run was set to only be 8-10 miles). Anyway, so that run fell through as well, leaving me with a 12 mile week. Not a good plan when you're marathon training.

So yesterday I decided to make up a little for lost time. I did a 5 mile run at lunch while watching the Tour of California on TV. Then, after the kids were in bed, I hammered out another 6 on the treadmill while watching The Client. It made for an 11.1 mile day. Not bad for a Monday. I may double up again today or Thursday, and I may throw in a two-a-day once a week or so, just to get the miles up there. As they say, there's no substitute for time on your feet when it comes to marathon training.

Am I bragging?

2009-02-09T14:35:00.000-08:00

The way I see it, I'm a very average runner, as far as runners go. I guess as far as your average Joe is concerned, I'm sure I'm more active than "he" is, but still.

Allow me to explain. Those of you that follow me on Twitter or on Facebook will know that I post my runs in my "status" or as a "tweet"... mainly because I know that some people who follow me there are interested in keeping tabs on my training, etc. However, just about everyone I've ever really known is a friend on Facebook, and this last weekend, after posting the results of my long run, I got a comment that went something like this:

"Zach why do you post everytime you run with how far you went in your status report? I feel like I should be giving you feedback or coaching advice."

The guy wasn't someone that I know very well, so cutting him off from my Facebook updates didn't cause me a lot of inner turmoil or anything. I was just wondering if it comes across as bragging or something similar. I'm just using it as another way to log my training, and for those who are interested to follow along. It's by far not the only thing I post there.

Thanks for reading. I had to vent. :)

Weekly recap

2009-02-07T11:33:00.000-08:00

Monday - 6.1 treadmill miles in the late evening after the kids were in bed. Watched the fist hour of "Oscar" with Sylvester Stalone. Great flick.

Tuesday - 5.12 miles outside at lunch in the Avenues. Great, hilly run. Took off my long-sleeved shirt and ran in short sleeves for the second half. Beautiful day.

Wednesday - 40 minute bike ride on the Cycleops. 14.2 miles.

Thursday - Interval run, 5.58 miles on the treadmill at lunch.

Friday - Easier bike day on the Cycleops. 10.8 miles in 30 minutes, early AM before work.

Saturday (today) - 14 mile long run in the foothills of the Oquirrh Mountains. 10:42 average pace. Long, hard run all the way to Copperton and back (the long way). Butt kickin.

Total: 30.8 miles running in 5:15:56
25 miles on the bike in 1:10:00
No weight training this week. Oops.

Looking forward to the cutback (rest) week next week!

Different Intervals

2009-02-05T13:46:00.000-08:00

I tried a different interval workout today. This one was a Carmichael Training Systems workout that I got free in a Power Bar email newsletter a couple years back. At the time, there was no way I was going to do 50+ minutes of intervals, so I just saved it in my iTunes and kind of forgot about it. Well, last night, I dusted it off and loaded it onto the iPod to use today.

Basically, it goes like this:

10 minute warm up, including four 20 second stride outs, then 5 sets of:

1 minute hard, 2 minutes easy, 2 minutes hard, 2 minutes easy. Then a 10 minute cool down.

Maybe I didn't push it hard enough on the hard parts, but it didn't seem like it was as hard of a workout as the Get Fit Pod workout that I'd done the previous two weeks. I do love the coached workouts, though. It's nice to have someone yakking in your ear telling you when to speed up and slow down, etc. Today I ended up covering 5.58 miles in 55 minutes.

I think I'll keep this one in the repertoire for future interval sessions, but I think I'm going to favor the other one for now. And I'll constantly be scouring iTunes for other podcasts with coached running workouts.

January Totals

2009-02-03T07:08:00.000-08:00

January I had my 2nd best running month ever, second only to last April, the month before I ran the Ogden Marathon. All in all, in January I ran 106 miles in 18 hours, 57 seconds - an average pace of 10:12. I also biked 92.9 miles in 4:21:45.

I'm well on my way to achieving the 1000 biking and running miles for 2009.

Intervals!

2009-01-29T12:53:00.000-08:00

So on my new training plan, Thursdays are speedwork days -- that means either a tempo run or intervals. I had planned on doing two tempo runs and one intervals run during each three week "on" training cycle. (More about training cycles in a future post, I'm sure.) Well, last Thursday I tried an interval workout I had downloaded from the "Get Fit Pod" podcast. It basically goes like this:

Warm up for however long... I think the podcast has you warming up about 5 minutes as it introduces the workout, etc.
Find your base jogging pace. This is pretty much the pace you runs on a "normal" weekday run -- quicker than your long run pace, slower than an interval pace. I set this at 5.9 mph on the treadmill, or about 10:10/mile. Do this for 2-3 minutes.
Then the intervals start. The first is one minute all-out running.
Rest for one minute at your base pace (5.9 for me).
2nd interval - 2 minutes of all-out running.
Rest again for one minute at your base pace.
3rd interval - 3 minutes of all-out run-as-fast-as-you-can go-go-go running (see a pattern here?)
Another recovery jog - this time 2 minutes.
4th, and longest, interval - 5 minutes as-fast-as-you-can-for-that-long.
3 minute recovery period. They let you walk if you need to on this one. How generous.
3 minute interval
2 minute rest/recovery
1 minute interval
30 second recovery
30 second interval -- this is the absolute fastest you can go.
Cool down.

I stretched out the warm-up and cool-down periods so that the entire run would be 5 miles for me today. Last week when I did this, I just extended out the cool down into a 4.5 mile run. Today I added to the front side of the workout as well. Let me tell you, this workout is KILLER, and it's fun to do on the treadmill. It definitely breaks up the otherwise monotonous 50 minutes that would be a ~5 mile run. I highly recommend it. I like to call it a "Spin Class For Runners." Try it!