Holy Smokes!

It's been a long time since I made an entry here. I've done quite a bit since I took my hiatus from running. First of all, it didn't last long. I got back at it pretty quickly. I determined that most of my trouble was caused by running on the indoor track. I used my three sessions with Olympic miler and athletic trainer Jason Pyrah to help me figure out how to work through this injury. Doing fine right now. Events; Zach and I did AdventureMax in early March, and had a great time. It's a very fun race if a little cold. I did a 15k a little later in the month and did well, better than expected at 8:05 pace. In April, Chris made a jaunt down to Claremore OK, to revisit my first tri-course. I had a good race and improved my time by 18'. I was even in 2nd place in my AG for a while. That is until the 2nd wave of swimmers crossed the line. Then I dropped to fifth. I was pretty happy with the end result as it was two minutes faster than my goal time. A little short of a podium finish should motivate me a bit. Next up is Tri-Zou. I've never done this race, but it seems like the whole town is doing it. Just got to stay trained up for it. No big surprise that I bought another bike. I got a 29er MTB. I want to do the Xterra off-road tri in Eureka Springs this June and wanted 29er to do it with. I've been practicing with it a little, but plan to do more after Tri-Zou.

Running hiatus

I've been dealing with a little tendonitis in my left ankle lately, so I put myself on a two week hiatus from running. That means more trainer, more cross training and more swimming. I plan to start up running again next Tuesday or Wednesday. Last week we had an unseasonably warm Friday and I was off work. I managed to get in a group ride east of Springfield. I figured it would be about 20-25 miles. We rode 38. It was a great ride and followed a route I never would have figured out on my own. I realize now that I've been missing out on a group dynamic. I really enjoy getting out with others that enjoy the same activity. Over the last year I've met enough people to get me in the loop on some good group activities. This weekend I'm planning on a Gravel Grinder ride. I've never done one of these, but I'm told they're a good time and it seems to me that they would be. Riders use MTB or cross bikes and ride the gravel roads just like a road ride. A mix of MTB and road riding I suppose. A new swim class for triathletes started last Sunday, and I'm going to do it again. I really want to bi-lateral breathe. I think it'll help me swim straighter in the open water.

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.