Keep movin'

A year on and I think I've mostly put my neck injury behind me. I exceeded all the goals I set for this year. I did four triathlons, two duathlons, a ten mile race, several 5ks, and 10ks. I set PRs in all events. Faster, faster, faster, that's the goal each race. Finishing an Olympic distance tri was my main goal for the year and my secondary goal was to finish a 1/2 marathon especially since I didn't get to do the one I had trained for last year when I was injured. My Olympic was about as close to a shambles as a person can imagine. Trashed from a mis-marked double distance swim course, I was terribly slow on the bike and barely held on to the run. I was happy to cross the finish line, legs cramping on the verge of shutdown. The 1/2 marathons were less dramatic, but no less satisfying. I came in way under my 9'/mile pace goal for both and the second one was faster than the first. I want to marathon at some point, but next year's main goal will be a 70.3 race.

Yesterday, Don and I had a great time on a 5 mile trail run followed by 12 miles of MTB at Honey Run near Lake of the Ozarks. I made it through two runs without a crash. A milestone for me. Mountain biking requires balance, discipline and some calculated wrecklessness that seems counter-intuitive at times. I seem to spend half of any MTB ride just figuring what the hell I'm doing. I rode Don's 26" instead of my Trek 4300. It has some finer things that my Trek doesn't have. I enjoyed the disc brakes, air-shock and dual action shifters quite a bit. He rode his new 29er. I'm gonna start shopping for one myself. The trail run was interesting. I'd never done one and I enjoyed it. It certainly works different groups of muscles. This I can attest because of what's sore the next day.

1/2 Marathon...check

So a couple of weeks ago I completed my first half marathon. What an experience. I got thwarted on this race last year after lots of hard work when I herniated a disc in my neck. I came back this year even more determined to complete the race. I think this helped me to train because I took it pretty seriously. So, about the race; again, I ran in a huge group of people. 1210 finishers. I finished 166 right behind/beside my good friend Don. He paced me and kept me in the zone with his coaching. I ran a good race I think, and exceeded my goal of 1:57. I laid out a strategy to try to average 8:30/mile, and would up with 8:25/mile with a total time of 1:50:08. Very happy with the final result. Negative split from front to back half and almost every mile. A lot of thoughts run through your mind when you run for a couple of hours, and this was no different, but toward the end all you think of is getting to the finish. Next up is the Turkey Trot 5k. I was thwarted on this raceI'm thinking I'll do another in December and I'm contemplating a full in April. I can't believe I'm actually thinking about it...

Bike Slut/ 1/2 Marathon training

Last month I found a Cervelo P2 on Craigslist. I decided that if it was still available after I got back from Chicago with my money from the USS Constitution I built that I would buy it. I know I just bought the Felt S32 and I haven't even ridden it. The Cervelo is much better equipped though. I got a few extras on the Cervelo too. I'm going to take the computer off of the Felt and maybe the aero-bars. I'll hold onto the Felt until next spring and I think I can get my money back out of it. I love bikes.

Cynthia Bradley, Don, and I had a great 12 miler today in preparation for the Bass Pro half marathon. We ran the course as marked, with a few errors in navigation. It's the furthest I've ever gone. I felt good and turned an average of 8:48 with negative splits, and an 8:12 last mile. Afterward, we had a huge breakfast, my favorite part of the run. I felt good and running in a group is something I don't get to do often. The camaraderie, and conversation is a great way to pass the time. The topics were training, bikes, racing, and life in general. Cynthia dropped off about mile nine and Don and I went on with our 12 mile plan. The weather was gorgeous, you couldn't have ordered up better weather. I am ready for it. If the weather is even close to what it was today, it will be epic. Maybe another in December, if I can keep up my training appetite.

Feeding the Beast

About a month ago, I decided that I needed to keep track of what I eat. A few folks at work use a calorie count tool on the web. The way they described it, it was just what I was looking for. I created a profile, set some goals and started tracking my intake and output. I hope I've been honest about quantities and content. I'm not trying to lose weight, but if I do, I'm okay with it. I think getting to a 165# race weight would be great. Lower than that, I think I'd be sacrificing muscle mass to get there. Something I've discovered about this process is that it's very difficult to get the right calories without eating too much fat and/or sodium. It's forced me to make some different choices about what I eat and when, but not how much. Basically, I eat all the time and lots of it. Activity is the key. When you work out about 30 minutes every day, you have a lot of leeway in caloric intake. Getting the right stuff has become more important to me and I'm less likely to eat junk. If I do eat junk, it better be good. I'm not going to waste calories on a crappy donut. I'll wait until there are good donuts! This is a big change in attitude for me. What I hope this will lead to is a more healthy body. Lighter and with less fat too.

Switching to 1/2 Marathon training is going fine. I turned down my friend Don's invite to partner in an adventure race the day before my first 1/2. I was afraid that I would not perform well the next day if I tried to go back to back. I'm planning on doing that one with him next year though. I want to maintain that base into next season.

Switching gears

Time to change gears I suppose. Triathlon season is over. I ended it with the Branson Sprint that ran along with the 70.3. Now it's time to switch to 1/2 marathon training. I think I've lost a little speed over last year, but I'm ahead on getting my miles up. I had a small setback this week by means of a cold and a week without training, but I should be on track to make my goal without a lot of trouble.

Don and I had an epic MTB ride a few weeks ago. The new White River Trail near Table Rock Dam is great. It was challenging, but not impossible. I crashed a few times, but nothing serious. I did some of my best riding on the last 1/4 of the trail. We will definitely be back.

Branson Sprint thoughts; I would have had a very good race had it not been for my back tire going flat at about mile 8. I had given up my repair kit to another rider who had nothing to repair his own flat. I rode about another half mile and had my own flat. Luckily, I came upon some others that were repairing their flats and they had spares to help me along. It cost me about 15-20 minutes. I would have more than met my sub 2 hour goal had it not been for the flat. I did my first wet suit swim, and I really liked it after I got over the constricted feeling. Thanks to Pete for the loan. I sighted on the wrong buoy for a while and that cost me a couple of minutes. I had a great swim though. The run was really good and I felt great after the halfway point. It poured rain soon after the sprint was over and rained on a lot of the 70.3 athletes. I think most were through T2 before the rain started. Several folks I know were doing the 70.3 and I hope they met their goals.

Season wrap and autumn plans

My last triathlon this season will be the Branson Sprint that's running alongside the 1/2IM the same day. I didn't think I was going to be able to do this race. I was supposed to be out of town that weekend, but those plans have been modified a little. I'll be home that weekend, and I intend to race. I think it will be a good time.

As I write this a few people I'm acquainted with are in the middle of IM Canada. I've been tracking their progress on OMC's facebook feed. I wish them all well. It's inspiring and humbling to see what the human body is capable of achieving with some determination.

It must be August, because I bought a new bike. A Felt S32. It needs some minor work that I didn't detect until I got it home. It works fine, but has some wear. I'll get it all going in time for next season. I don't think I can bear to get rid of my Trek though. It's an awesome ride and even moreso since Don put the tune to it. I'll split my riding up a bit next year on the two to see which one I like best, but I intend to race on the Felt. The Trek will be more for straight road rides.

It looks like a 50k relay, the Sunshine Run 10k, the Bass Pro 1/2 marathon and the Turkey Trot will round out the year. Then I'll rest into the holidays, and work on some off-season strength stuff. I'm considering Cross-Fit, but may come up with my own thing. I need to get back after my shoulder. It's doing better, but I've neglected it over the summer unless you count swimming (I don't).

Better Race

Megan, me and Katie from swim class, along with Vic Pardue. Taken by Katie's Mother.

The Republic Tiger Tri is the premier sprint distance race in the are in my opinion. Ultramax runs a class act. I had a good race, despite coming in slower than I wanted. I was shooting for 1:09, but finished just under 1:11. Faster transitions would have helped quite a bit. I still finished 6th in my AG and I'm pretty happy with that. Coming on the heels of the Concrete Man, it gave me back quite b bit of confidence. I enjoyed every aspect of this race.

The swim; I had a good swim and seeded myself in a very good spot. Throughout the 300 yards I had nearly a whole 25 between me and the swimmers ahead and behind.

The bike; I had just knocked out a 25 mile 19mph average training ride previous to this race and felt very confident. I cranked it as fast as I thought I could get away with. After passing several faster swimmers, I wound up battling it out between my neighbor Dennis and another young Asian fellow. I could have pushed harder toward the end and perhaps gotten closer to the 19 I was hoping for.

The run; I felt remarkably fresh on the 5k run. By this point in a race, you're just thinking about the finish line. The 5k was pretty flat and well staffed with three aid stations. Offers of a splash and/or a drink were on offer. When you hit the running track in the park, you can smell the barn and see the finish line. I cranked it up a notch when I saw I was in danger of coming in over 1:11. I finished strong at 1:10:56.

I waited for some of my friends to come in and hung around to see Dennis, Katie, Megan, and Zach get awards in their AG's. Pizza and other snacks along with an icy-pop at the finish topped it all off. I was glad that my Brother-in-Law Chris was able to come down and do this race again this year. I know he's been limited on races and training this summer. He and I did three races together last year.

Concrete Man post mortem

Well, I finished. I felt a little under trained for this event, and I may have been right. I had a rough race, slow on the bike and slower on the run, which I walked most of. Many thanks to my good friend Don for this video and moral support and general camaraderie.

The swim; It looked intimidating. When I first surveyed the course it didn't look that bad, then I saw the third buoy. It seemed a little long, but I was told that it was set using GPS, so it should be right. Getting to the first turn was a mental exercise, constantly telling myself, that I could do this. I've swam further and I know swimming is quite a bit mental and that's amplified in the open water. I didn't check my stopwatch after the first leg, but it seemed like an eternity. The second wasn't so bad as I finally felt like I was in a rhythm. I got out of the water after the second lap and I saw someone finish that I had started with (I think). I checked my watch, and it showed fifty minutes! That's five minutes longer than I had figured my total time at the outside limit would be. So it turns out that the swim course was long, maybe by as much as double. This makes me feel a little better about my final time, but not better about my bike and run performance.

The bike; The bike was not real eventful. I did okay, but I backed out of the speed quite a bit because the swim had really sapped me. My stomach was a little sick and that mad it hard to take on any nutrition. There were a couple of times I thought I might throw up, but it passed quickly. I forced myself to hydrate and eat a little. I felt awful after the bike and was happy to get into transition.

The run; What can I say? It was rough. I started out at a trot and did okay for about half a mile. Then I started a run/walk routine that turned into more walking than running. The aide stations were a Godsend. Cold water and towels felt great and kept me moving. So my strategy became, run till you cramp, then walk till it stops. I guess some folks got worried about me and sent out some recon in the form of Al Trumbo. It was great to see him actually and he helped me along by just showing up. I took on a gel at the four mile aide station. I made my way to the final mile and thought I'd be able to run the rest of the way in, but it was not to be. When my quads weren't cramping, my hamstrings were. I limped along until I could see the finish line. I was determined to actually run across the finish line. That's what you see in the video. At the end I was given ice for inside my hat, water, watermelon. Don and Dennis helped me haul all my stuff back to the car. I came home and took a great nap sincerely happy to have just finished this very difficult race.

Getting to the finish line...

Sitting here on the eve of the longest race I'll do this year. I set a goal of doing an Olympic distance race this summer. I settled on the Concreteman which will be tomorrow. In a few hours I'll be in the water waiting for the horn. I'm feeling a little under-trained and spent the day talking to other tri-athletes I know hoping for some reassurance. I heard a lot of the things I wanted to hear and I'm as ready as I'm going to get. I did a few calculations and I think something in the low threes is attainable. I'm well hydrated, evidenced by my frequent trips to the restroom today. Gear has been packed, and prepped. I picked up my packet tonight and stowed everything in my bag. I've done all I can do to this point. From here forward, it's all mental. I'm looking forward to the finish.

Open water swim practice and OMC

Getting in some open water swim practice. I think I covered the distance well enough. It'll be much different with other swimmers in the mix. I'll have to remember to do things at my pace.

At this point I'm feeling a little under-trained for an Olympic distance. I'll know more after my 15/3 brick tomorrow. I may skip my weekly long run and do something else this Sunday. There's still two weeks to go and plenty of training time. Ultimately, I'm committed to Olympic distance and will stick with it even if I finish ugly. But finishing well is still the goal.

I got aero-bars today and put them on. I'm looking forward to trying them out. I may have to play with them a bit to get them exactly where I want them. So far, so good though.

I joined Ozarks Multi-Sport Club the other day when I was buying a few things at The Starting Block. I even went on a group ride with some of the other club members. I'll see if I like the club. It does allow for 10% discounts at many of the run and bike stores in town. I think the new board is committed to more group training events as well.

Prepping for an "A Race"

My main goal this year was to complete an Olympic distance triathlon. The Olympic seems to require equal balancing of all three skills. I start two-days twice a week today. I'm doing my speedwork and mid-run on days I do my swimming. I'll include a weekly open water session as well. I know I can cover the distance, but everything changes in open water. Bike distance jumps this week as well. I'll add 5 miles to my long bike. I'm sticking with 8 miles for a long run for a while. The ConcreteMan is July 30th and if I stay injury free, I think I'm gonna make it.

Willard Triathlon

A photo from the Du-Series I found last week on Facebook.

Just knocked out my first tri of the year. It was fun. I outdid my time from last year by nearly seven minutes. I was very pleased with that. Every aspect was faster this year including transitions. The back half of the bike leg seemed very slow to me, but it's terribly hilly. I seem to be better than many climbing, although I hate it. I like seeing the younger folks at these races. I wish I had taken up this sport at a younger age. Not that I would be better at it by now. But I could enjoy it for that much longer. It really is kind of a habit forming sport and there are some great folks involved in it. My time this year would have been good enough for me to place in my AG last year. It seems that everyone this year was faster. I noticed that attendance this year was slightly less than last year. I'm wondering if I'll do this one next year myself. It didn't seem very well supported. One big beef I had was the shirt situation. I know doing no one runs any of these races just to get the shirt, but at the same time I could hardly believe that all they had were small and X-large shirts. Post race snacks and drinks were kind of sparse as well. I'm considering the Tin Man for next June's race.

Du-Series #4 & MTB

Well, Don and I did the 4th race in the series Tuesday evening. I traded places with a woman on the race about five or six times. She and I finished within seconds of one another. She pushed me harder the entire way. This is why I like to compete even if I'm pretty far from turning in a winning time. Keeping track of times at the Du-Series is kind of a pain. It's done by stopwatch and pencil. I kept my own time on this race and I'm happy I did. I completed it in 1:09:43. Three minutes faster than last year. Any improvement from year to year is worth the training in my book.

I went on an MTB outing with Don last Thursday. It was hot, sweaty, dirty, rocky, hilly and awesome! I really enjoyed it even though I suffered through some of the hill climbs, had two flats, and slid down the ridges several times. MacGruderville as it's called, is a privately owned piece of land with eight miles of trail hacked out of the Mark Twain Forest. It's pretty challenging, and graded as "Intermediate" on an MTB website. I'm still working on my proficiency on these single-track routes. They are way different than road riding. One of the coolest things about this place is the owner has a cookout/campfire for post ride comradery. Beer is drunk, food consumed and stories swapped. I got in very late and stayed the night with my folks, which was a bit of a bonus in itself. Thanks for the invite Don.

Du-Series race #3

This evening I finished my first multi-sport event this season. The local multi-sport club runs a series of races that become progressively more difficult. It's a series of four races in this format: #1-run 2mi, bike 11, run .5; #2-run 1, bike 11, run 1; #3-run .5, bike 11, run 2; #4-run 2, bike 11, run 2. I guess I did ok, unofficial time was 55 minutes and change. I don't really have anything to compare it with. I did race #4 last year and will do it again this year if I can.

I've been varying my swim workouts the last couple of weeks. I'm trying to get my endurance built up for the 1500. I'm toying with doing a 1 mile open water swim race. I jacked up my ankle recently, and I'm hoping it'll pop back into place soon.

Bringing it together

This spring has gone pretty well so far. I completed a 10 mile race and exceeded expectations with an average 8:33 pace. I set a couple of goals for myself early this year that I hope to meet before this coming November. I wanted to go under 24 minutes in a 5k and under 50 minutes in a 10k. I met both of those goals in consecutive weekends this month. I ran a 22:53 in the Kitchen Run and I ran a 48:06 on a fairly short Habitat for Humanity 10k. I feel best about the 10k. Mostly because it comes on the heels of a couple of poor training runs. I credit the speedwork I've been doing with the improvements. I also credit my good friend Don. He has inspired me to get faster after he won a local 10k and won his AG in the Kitchen Run.

I've noticed quite a return in shoulder strength lately. This seems to be how it goes; work on strength and make small gains, plateau, the leap forward. I just had one of those leaps about a week ago. Lifting a 10# dumbbell to 90 degrees was a struggle and I couldn't quite get it there. Then in a weeks time, I can raise it over my head. Next I'll test myself with a 15#. I'm very pleased with where I'm at in this regard.

I had a breakthrough in swimming recently. I don't know what happened, but last week I was doing 400y repeats. Every time I began a set, the first 50 was just so smooth. Now I'm working on maintaining that feel for further. Tonight I was able to sustain it for 100+. Smooth is fast...

SORT certifications in a couple of weeks. I'll be happy to get this behind me. I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to do it this year. I was fully prepared to wait until the fall before I might be capable of the upper body strength required to rappel and complete the Obstacle course. I'm very pleased that I'll be able to certify with the rest of the guys.

Trying to make it fun

I've taken a new approach to training lately. After a really long road ride and a couple of very fun and challenging MTB outings, I have a new philosophy. Training to race is one thing, but training to enjoy the activities is another. I'm choosing the latter. I think it's paying off too. Rather than rote obedience to a training program, I've been picking activities that still train my muscles, but are just as much fun as a race.

Last year at this time I had a 5k and a sprint tri behind me. So far this year, I have a 10k. I wish I had made a commitment to the Claremore race, but I really didn't have much confidence in my bike fitness in time to make that commitment. Turns out I probably had the stuff to do well anyway. I was going to do the Panera Bread 8k, but the weather was so crappy, I ditched it. I've been training for a 10-miler and did a long run with that end in mind. The 10 should be a fun event. A couple of friends are doing it too.

Swimming is very good lately. The class and clinics I've done since I closed out last season are really paying off. I swim just once a week, sometimes two. I've gotten so much more efficient that 2k doesn't make me as tired as 1k did last year.

I'm over this neck surgery for all intents and purposes. I'm still strengthening as much as I can stand. It's been discouraging at times, but for the most part, I have the strength I need to do most things I like.

I've set a couple of goals; <24min. 5k, and <50min. 10k. I also want to do the long course ConcreteMan or another Olympic distance race. If that goes well, who knows, 70.3 next year?

Pitter Pat 10k and O-Course

Well, I'm getting back into it. Today I ran my first 10k race since before I was injured. I ran with my good friend Don. He has acted as kind of my pace-car in a couple of races now. He's a great running partner, he can tell when to push you a little and when to back off. I was very close to a PR, even though that wasn't my goal. I set out to finish ~9'/mile. I ended up at about 8:20/mile. The race was an enjoyable two loops through mid-town Springfield beginning at Drury University.

With SORT certifications only a few weeks away, I've been dreading getting back on the Obstacle Course. My shoulder is still weak, but getting stronger. I've been pretty faithful about doing my workout/therapy. I finally ran the entire course Thursday. I didn't time it, but I think it was probably an okay time considering. I was going to put it off as long as possible and do it in September, but I think this little test has encouraged me to go ahead and do it when the rest of the team certifies. The monkey bars was the obstacle I was most concerned about completing injury free. It was no problem. The rope climb did give me a little trouble, but that had less to do with my shoulder than it did with my timing. I think I'll be good to go when the time comes.

I think I've got my race season figured out. Multi-Sport; Maybe an indoor in Lebanon next weekend, maybe some Du-Series events May-June, Willard in June, Concrete Man in July (Olympic if training goes well), Republic in August, then we'll see. Foot Races; 10 mile Frisco run in April, Sunshine Run 10k in October, Bass Pro 1/2M in November, and Turkey Trot 5k also in November

Another swim clinic video

I wanted to see how I looked after the 8 week swim class I just took so I took the video clinic again. I think I'm a little faster. My stroke is a little cleaner, but my kick needs some real attention. Regardless, I'm way ahead of where I was last year at this time with regard to swimming. I think from here on out 1 mile swim workouts are going to be the rule, just like 3 miles is the rule for running and 15 miles is the rule for cycling. The top video is the newest, and the bottom is from last August.

Season starting to gel

Ahhh, a photo from a better time. A 10k PR. Two weeks later I was all jacked up.

Well, after kind of feeling around the edges for what my season might be like this summer, I think some of what I'm going to be able to do is starting to gel. I'm looking at a 10k in March or April, I can't remember when. The Claremore race is out, but Willard is still in play. Concreteman Olympic distance..... maybe. I will most likely do the Republic Tiger-Tri and Branson Mountain-Man races if I can get some quality bike time. I'm waiting until after my next follow-up to make some of these decisions. Strength continues to return. I have to credit my PT with setting me up with a program that I can do at my own gym. As I progress, I still struggle with the reality of how slowly this is happening. Right now, I'm three months post-op, and looking forward to seeing where I'll be at the end of May.

Return to running

Well, I finished my first run since 11/22. It felt really good to be out moving again. The elliptical is fine and I may use it as a way to phase the running back into my routine. I ran 30 laps on the indoor track at the Meyer Center. 9 laps make a mile, so I ran about 3.3 miles. I ran a respectable time too. Not too bad for being out of it for so long. I guess I was getting more good out of the cardio I was allowed to do since my last follow-up.

Swim class is going really well. I hope I'm building some good habits. I know it's terribly easy to revert to the old ways. I found that out tonight during a swim workout that didn't include drills. I may miss class this Sunday. I should be able to get in a technical swim regardless. The drills are hard, but helpful. I don't know if I'm getting any faster, but I think I'm becoming more efficient. I also know that I'm way ahead of where I was this time last year.

PT is going well. I decided that PT is going to have to be my strength training for the time being. Doing some of the things I was doing was causing me some shoulder pain, so I decided to lay off of it until I'm stronger. My therapist challenges me more each time I go, so I'm making progress. Sometimes it doesn't seem like it though. It's little things that help me to tell that I'm getting better though. Things like palming the wheel when I drive, putting away dishes or laundry, and drying my butt with a towel. I couldn't do any of this stuff a month ago without shrugging my shoulder.

Follow-up & Therapy II

I go for another follow up today. I've been going to therapy three times a week and making progress. It feels good to get stronger, but it's happening at a pretty slow rate. I've managed a few workouts lately, abbreviated as they are. Doing the trainer and walking gets pretty boring. My wife and I joined a health club through her employer that I plan to take advantage of this year. They have a nice six lane lap pool and I've been there to swim a few times. I start a swim class there this coming Sunday. I'm really looking forward to that. My friend Zach said it helped him get faster. I'm hoping to do the same. I'm ahead of the swim game based on where I was last year at this time. My season my be salvaged after all. Even if I don't get to do all the sprints I did last year again, I may get an Olympic distance event under my belt after all. Joining the Meyer center will allow me more opportunities to swim without having to be concerned with conserving gym visits. Hopefully after my follow up appointment, I'll be released to run and do some more aggressive strength training. All this sedentary living coupled with the holidays has caused me to pack on a few unwanted pounds. I'm ready to get back after some real training.