Great Ski Day and Blowing a Front Tire Blows

So I want to tell these 2 stories in order as to preserve the chronology and to illustrate how quickly things can change. So Friday was a beautiful day here in Spokane, clear skies and temps in the upper 70's. Jayne and Tony and I splash the Nautique about 9 am. We basically have the whole lake to ourselves. There was no wind so water was like glass, perfect. This is going to be the 1st time for all of us skiing in the slalom course for the year. So none of us is expecting to do much. Jayne started us off with some solid skiing for her. She working on skiing more aggressively and getting around those outside balls. Next up is Tony, better known on here as "the Hobbit". He starts at 32 mph and 15 off and runs his 1st pass, then his 2nd. Wow! Not that this is anything great but for 1st run of the year not bad. He runs 2 more and decide we should bump the speed to 34. His streak continues as he runs back to back 34 passes. Now its my turn, I too start at 32 and run 4 in a row, then bump up to 34 and run back to back passes. Tony and I ecstatic, we are both thinking hell if I don't ski again this year I would be happy with what we just did. The 2nd round went about the same for Jayne. Tony though decided to go out at 34 and struggle a little but not bad. So now that Tony was skiing more like we thought we both would ski I was less than excited but what the hell. So I go out at 34 and bada bing bada boom I ski just like I know what I'm doing. I put together 2 nearly perfect passes. At one point I had gotten behind a little but was able to remain patient and pull hard and I caught back up. We left the lake with a renewed excitement for skiing and were talking about when our next day on the water would take place....... Saturday was going to be a busy day. I was going to ride up Mt. Spokane with a group of Tri-Fusion teammates and Jayne was going ride Mt.Spokane on her MTB. So she dropped me off at 0830 and went on to her ride. Our group got on the road about 0900 for the grind to the top of Mt. Spokane. This is about a 45 mile total. Of coarse that means ~ 22.5 miles of climbing then 22.5 miles of descending. I'm not exactly sure how much climbing there is but my Garmin had it at ~4800 ft. training peaks puts it at 5900 ft. At any rate it was a lot of up. My goal for the ride was to keep my cadence above 90 as long as a could but to cap my HR at 150. At the beginning of the ride this kept me off the front of the group a little until we got to the base of the hill. Josh "the Machine" Hadaway then pulled a train of about 5 guys by me like I was parked. I was tempted to go with them until I noticed my HR had climbed to 161. I decided to stay with my plan, I need the aerobic work way more than I need to get anaerobic. So I fell off the back and just plugged along. It was an absolutely perfect day for a climb, not to hot. Shortly after I started up Summit road I was starting to fantasize about my protein bar in my back pocket, so I stopped and ate it. Greg and Natelie caught up to me about the time I finished the bar so I rode the rest of the way with them. It was nice riding with them during those last couple of miles. Once on top we joined the group and took a picture and waited for the last couple of people. Dave had missed the turn up to the summit but made it about 15 minutes later. After standing on top in the slight breeze we were all getting pretty cold. Now for the fun part. I love descending. My bike is so smooth and responsive it's like driving a Mercedes on a twisty mtn road. The very top section is pretty bumpy and narrow and the road surface is less than predictable. But once we got off of Summit road we were able to let em run a little faster. But there are some pretty tight turns so you really have to get on the breaks. Greg and I were off the front a little and running a real sweet line. We were on a straight away preparing for what looks to be a pretty tight left hand turn. I was on both breaks trying not to overload either one. When all of a sudden the handlebars are being yanked out of my hands and down I go. On my way down I had time to yell "FUCK" and that was about it. Boom crash bang head back elbow head back hands and knees, STOP! I wasn't sure how far the next rider was behind me so I was hoping they were not going to pile into me. I think it was Nate and he was able to stop. Everyone was great!!! They did everything right. They assessed my injuries quickly and got me and my bike out of the middle of the road. Then began a comedy of errors so to speak. A few guys on motorcycles came by and stopped and we decided to have Greg ride down with them to get his truck. After he left with them, I thought my car is just a few miles down the road because Jayne was riding her MTB bike. So we then sent a couple of guys with my keys to go get my car. But about 2 minutes after they left someone noticed that I had another key sticking out of the back of my jersey. And sure enough it was was the key to the Tahoe. So the guys that already left could get in the Tahoe with the remote but could not start the car. So we send someone else with that key. A few minutes later a ranger drives by and waves.....A few minutes after that he comes back and asks what happened and do we need any help. We thank him and he is on his way only to return about five minutes later with a lawn chair for me to sit in, that was nice of him. In the meantime we were finally able to reach Jayne on her cell. She had already left where she was parked and was headed back to where she had dropped me off. So now Greg was on his way back up with his truck. Matt, Craig and Dave were riding down to find a car that was no longer there and Jayne was in that car and driving back up the mtn. She rescued me and off the the ER we go. Long story, short, seperated AC joint. More commonly know as a seperated shoulder. Lots of bumps and bruises and some good road rash. Bike has bent handlebars and dinged up seat but so far that's all I've found. The real bummer for me, other than the pain, is that we are headed to Pentictin to watch IM Canada this next weekend. On Saturday I was going to ride the course with Heather Wurtele and Tony and Jayne. As I sit here right now I don't think that is going to happen. But we will see how fast I heal. I'll keep you posted. Enjoy the pics.
So remember when I was talking about how happy I was with my skiing. Turns out that just may be my only ski of the year.

The Scenic Challenge

Saturday's race was my first triathlon this year. It was also going to be my longest run since the marathon back in May. So I really did not have any performance goals other than that I wanted to feel like I did my best for where my fitness is right now. This race has a wave start separated by 10 minutes and I was in the 2nd wave. So as I stood on the beach watching the 1st wave swim away. I set a new goal for myself, catch someone in the 1st wave. I remember when I did this race 11 years ago that I got passed by a couple of guys in the wave behind me, so I wanted a little revenge. When my wave started I went out pretty hard,for me. I was just trying to stay on Ron Crenshaw's feet. At about 3/4 of the way to the 1st turn I noticed that Ron had veered a little wide going into the turn as I was beside him. I took the shortest route and was headed for the next buoy. About 1/2 way to the 2nd turn I realized my 1st goal and passed someone wearing a neon green swim cap, color of the 1st wave. Then something weird happened. I passed a couple more green caps, then a few more. Then I was bitch-slapped back to reality when I was passed by a gray swim cap. He/she was in the 3rd wave. This turned out not to be an anomaly as I then got passed by a few other gray caps. I chugged along swimming a very straight line as smooth as I could and was soon standing up and running up the beach.
T1 was a complete disaster from a time standpoint. I have to wear socks, I hate blisters. Getting socks onto semi-dry feet is one of those things that the harder you try the harder it gets. Nearly 4 minutes later I roll out on what is sure to be a great bike ride. My goal was push hard for the whole ride. Since my run was going to be slow anyway I might as well try to push as hard as I could. I passed a lot of people on the way to Higgins Point. When we hit the big hill my legs felt good so kept left and continued to pass riders up the whole hill. I let it rip on the downs and kept my cadence up on the flats and continued to move through the "young" people. Did I mention that the 1 st wave was people 39 and younger. I does help the ego to pass a 25 yo guy on a hill. When we hit the final downhill I let the Serotta fly. I got right on the center line and let her rip, top speed 49.5 mph. Once we were back on flat ground I kept the cadence up picking off as many people as I could. T2 went better than T1 and as I took off on the run I was able to see Roger coming in for the win. You really need to read his race report, it's a good read.
As I said this was to be my longest run since the marathon in May. It was also my 1st brick run of the year. If you have never run right after riding your bike you need to. Until you get used to it, it's like running on a couple of canned hams. Jayne was all over the place taking pictures. I saw her at the beginning of the run. About 1.5 miles later I look up and there she is again. This really blew me away not that she was taking pictures, all of you that know her know that she is always taking pictures. But how in the hell did she cover the 1.5 miles fast than I did, I knew she could not have drove we parked to far away, she did not bring a bike, WTF. Turns out that she sprinted through the neighborhood, it was probably still a mile. The run went well no pain in my foot, but my run fitness was definitely not there. I just kept plugging along, I was still passing some of those 20 somethings though. However I did get passed a few times as well but mainly by team people. As I got back towards the finish line I saw Jessi and once she saw me, I was not in "uniform" she was screaming at the top of her lungs, totally pumped me up. As her voice began to fade I could then hear Jayne screaming, again this totally got me fired up. At the same time this guy tried to pass me, so I picked it up a little to get back in front of him. Apparently he did not like that so he passed me back and I was trapped behind him and next to 2 other runners. This pissed me off, as soon as I got and enough room I blew by that guy like he was standing still and finished strong.
Overall I was pretty happy with my race. I have made progress on the bike and the swim and I know that as I'm able to run more that fitness will return.
Speaking of running tonight is the 2nd race in our tri-clubs series Hot Summer Nights.

Hot Summer Nights 5K

Tonight was the 1st race of a series of 4 being put on by the triathlon club that I'm a member of, Tri-Fusion . The series is called Hot Summer Nights, and is each Tuesday in August. This was the 1st fast run I've done since before the marathon back in May. I also worked last night and only got about 5 hrs of sleep today. So my expectations were not that high. I hoped I could run 7 min/mi. The course is good in that there are some small hills, enough to get the HR up for sure, but not real steep or long. Otherwise there was minimal traffic and quite few people for the clubs 1st running race. So my 1st mile was in 6:48. I paid for that a little in the 2nd mile 7:37 and was then able to settle back down and # 3 was 7:07. Overall time 22:09 which is 7:07/mi. I'll take for my 1st real "hard " rune for a while. I think I got 4th in my age group.
This Saturday I'll be racing over in CDA doing the Scenic Challenge. This will be my 2nd time doing this race the 1st time was back in 1998. It will interesting to see how much,or little I've improved. The course is a little different than it was back then, but similar. this is an Olympic distance race so 1.5 k swim, 24 k bike and 10 run. I'll let you know how it goes.

Bike time

The last 10 days or so have being very good as far as bike riding goes. Not only has the Tour de France been very fun to watch. This year there is cool thing you can do with MAPMYRIDE.COM. You can upload the gps info from your rides and they have some sort of Voodoo they do to prorate and compare your ride to that days stage. Everyday that you submit a ride you have the chance to win prizes. Some based on performance and other based on a random drawing. So far I have not won a damn thing but I have been riding quite a bit. I have submitted 8 rides out of 17 so far. I know that sounds shitty now that I type it. But it is what it is.There is also a GC as in the Tour and right now I'm 484 out of 15323. Anyway I have riden about 250 miles since the 10th. This past weekend was really good. 45 mile flat out and back in which I was able to negative split by about 20 min. Then the next day 58 mile ride with Jayne which had about 4 k of climbing in it. Today begins my week off and I will build on what I've done. We are riding in the Loreen Miller 100 miler on Sunday, it supposed to be 101 degrees, so that will be a big day. Today I'm going to do a ~20 mile TT as is the TDF, they are doing 40 k actually.

Another Great Quote

I just came accross this quote from David Goggins. If you don't know who he is Google him before you go to his site. He is a humble and modest guy and his site does not do him or his accomplishments justice. Anyway the quote is something that I think is at the heart of all endurance sports. "I don't train my body on runs, I train my mind and hope my body can keep up". If You have read Matt Fitzgeralds book Brain Training for Runners, this sentence pretty much sums it up.

Fair Swim, Good Ride

Yesterday I participated in the Steve Omi Memorial Swim. This is a well attended as well as well intended event. The race raises money for scholarships for graduating seniors planning to swim at the collegiate level. The race is a 1 mile open water swim on lake CDA. This was my 1st open water swim of the year also my 1st wetsuit swim of the year. I have had 1 other swim this that was 1 mile but it was in a pool with several stops at the wall. So needless to say I took it easy. But who are we kidding I always take it easy when swimming. I finished in 31:47 in 112 place out of 226. To put in perspective for those of you that may not follow swimming. The kid that won is 13 and finished in 19:42. The little shit could have almost lapped me.
After the swim Ron and Virginia(Tri-Fusion team members) and I rode the CDA olympic course. Ron and I stuck with Virginia to the base of the big climb but at this point it was everyman for themselves. This is a tough course with a lot of climbing. My gps said I climbed 1656 ft, Training Peaks says it was 1903 ft. and mapmyride.com has it at ~950 ft. All I know is that it was tough climbing with a fast decent. All in all it was a good training day.

Find fault with this logic, I dare you!

You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that, my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.
-Adrian Rogers

A good week

As the 1st week of July comes to an end it's hard to believe we have already put half of this year in the books. Time seems to flow faster and faster the older I get.
Last weekend as most of you know I played in Hoopfest. For those who don't know this is the largest 3 on 3 basketball tournament in the world. This year I think there were 6700 teams breaking the previous record. I played on a team with some guys from my triathlon club. So needless to say we are all in good shape. However swimming,biking and running does not really prepare you for all of the start and stop in a hlf court basketball game. We did manage to win our first 2 games though. Basically our stradgedy was to run them to death. This worked well until game 3 win we came up against a team that could move the ball better than we could run. We got stomped pretty good. Our next game pitted us agianst the team we beat in our first game, and they wanted revenge. Thnaks to some good outside shooting and several made free throws they were able to hold us off. Oh well, it was fun.
The good thing that came out of the basketball was that I was running around like a crazy person and had no foot pain. So after I recovered from the b-ball I went for my first run in about a month. It was not good but my foot felt fine. So I'm going to start real slow and start base building. I'm really starting to ride quite a bit. Pat and I climbed Mt. Spokane this week and Jayne and I got in a ride as well. It's nice to not always ride alone. With the Tour starting this week it's easy to be motivated to get on the bike.Also got out on the lake skied a little this week. We still don't have our course in the water yet but that's ok, I'm not in shape for that yet anyway, but soon. I'm taking my boat over to the Hobbit's next weekend for his daughter's Re-wedding. Don't ask me it's some girl thing. I always thought the renewing vows thing was something you did if you both lived to be 80 or something. These kids have been married about 3 years...wtf.Oh well, free food.

a NON Triathlon related post

This is nothing more than a shameless plug for my son's band Drawing Two. One of our local radio stations has built a webpage for local musicians to upload their music to. This is a cool way for bands to get heard. It's also an opportunity to download some good NEW music. It cost the same as iTunes 99 cents per song. The band with the most downloads gets to open for a concert the radio station is promoting. So go HERE and check them out, if you like it buy it.

IM CDA

it's that time of year again for IM CDA. This year though we will be sitting on the side lines cheering on our friends. For anybody that has been around an Ironman event you know how contagous it all is. How the excitement is everywhere. The inspiring stories of obstacles overcome and countless hours spent in preparation just suck you in. You can't help but want to DO something. This week I was able to go over to CDA and ride the bike course with Kevin Purcell a coach from San Diego. We had chatted a few times here in the blogosphere but had never actually met so it was great to get to put a face with the web page. He is up here coaching I think 5 different athletes that are doing the race. He was here to race last year but double flatted and was not able to continue so he wanted to ride the course. So after a little phone tag we were off for a windy 56 mile ride. We headed out towards Higgins Point and I was sort of playing tour guide and at the same time getting to know Kevin. The whole while he is making mental notes to pass on to his athletes. We slightly modified the course to avoid a little of the midday traffic through town. As we headed north on 4th street the sun was shining and we were cruising, then came the hills. Me being me, not to smart, I'm cranking up these hills like I've been training for months, instead of like this going to be first ride farther than 40 miles of the year. For the 1st 35 miles this was no problem. By the time we hit ~ 45 miles I was hurting. It's about this part of the course where there are several miles of relativly flat terrain that is just a grind. This is not my strength. I have not had much success with high cadence steady cranking. This was kind of timely because Kevin had just been talking to Gordo about this very issue. As a matter of fact he just published an article about it on xtri.com. After reading this article it's clear, not that it wasn't before, I have alot of work to do.
As for the race on Sunday I'll be there cheering on my friends and planning on my next IM, Canada 2010.

Plantar Fasciitis

As you can tell I have not had much to say lately. Well I have had things to say but have been to busy doing everything but training to to take the time to write anything.Jayne sparked a fire under my ass this past week and we have been working in the yard, alot. This is the problem with over an acre of yard, not to mention the other 4 acres. It has all kind of taken the back burner for a while but we are getting it dialed in. At any rate the training has morphed into swim and bike only. My left foot is still pretty painful to the touch. I'm 98% sure that it's plantar fasciitis but need an x-ray to rule out a bone spur and maybe an MRI to rule out the other possible but very unlikely causes of my pain. So I need to talk a few people and see what I can get done. So for now I'm swimming 2-3 days a week and biking the same. The 1st real race I care about isn't until Aug. so I have some time to turn it around and the biking and swimming should keep me fit.

Back to the Drawing Board

What can I, other than I didn't qualify. I had a terrible day, plain and simple. I struggled from early on in the race, with my foot. By the time that settled down I had already run a few miles mile an inconsistant gait. But it wasn't a pain issue as much as it was just a stuggle. My effort felt high eventhough my pace was not. I was right on pace throught the 1st 13.1, at which point I had to pee. This put me back just a little I made it up within the next mile. That increased effort combined with the very slight hill after crossing the river really zapped me. When I crossed Argonne I new I was in trouble. My pace had fallin off and my legs were just not responding. I had also some moderate GI stuff going on through out the race but it was just uncomfortable. But by the time I turned on Upriver I was in pain. I was nearly doubled over a few times with some "diarhea" type cramps that I thought may lead to a Spokane river ass washing. By the time I reached Green street I was at a mear shuffle pace. I was in complete survival mode. Which I did, survive, I mean. To say that I'm dissappointed is a gross understatement.
Unfortunatly The "Hobbit" also had a crappy day. We both about 25 mins slower than predicted. The thing is we both understand that the Marathon is not like any other race, at least at our level. It can and will humble you, did me.
As for the inaugral running of the Windemere Marathon....it was Just ok. For their 1st try I guess it was a good effort. There is one thing that I just don't understand though. How in the world do you screw up the mile markers on a 26 mile point to point race. There is only 1 of each number..... but they did.

A Few Thoughts

So the marathon is in 3 days. Wish me luck!! At this point it doesn't really matter if I'm ready or not, it's here. I'll just have to give it my best shot. My foot is pretty sore, but I think it will be fine for the race. Afterwards though I will need some time to let the thing heal.
Last week was Bloomsday. I had a less than stellar performance 54:43 to be exact. That is about 3:20 slower than last year. And I can only attribute about 1 min to my starting position in the yellow section. From back there the amount of zigging and zagging does slow you up and probably does take its toll but no excuses. I just was not as fast this year. I have been consistanly slower in all races this year.
Ben Greenfield had an interesting post on his page asking the question "Why do you do Triathlon" his article was thought provoking and the comments posted were interesting. This was what I came up with.

To me life is all about experiences. The anticipation leading upto an experience and the memories of experiences past. Triathlon offers physical and mental challenges that are unique yet also transend all other aspects of life. Like Al, I'm often humbled by these endurance activities. kind of like standing at the edge of the ocean or at the foot of a mountain. The precipice of an Ironman, while overwhelming, can put things into perspective.There is order even in the most chaotic but there is no easy way, ever, at anything.

So Cool I had to steal it.

Long, long run

This past Sunday the Hobbit and I were set to do the dreaded 20 mile run. I really hate this run. Mainly because up to this point I have never had a 20 mile run that did not leave me feeling like I had been hit by a bus. This run was a little different. Again we ran the race course but this time we moved a little closer to where the race will actually start in Post Falls. We did make a slight miscalculation though, which became evident when we reached Liberty Lake. That was where we started from a few weeks back when we ran a little over 16 miles. The problem we had this time was when we got to Liberty Lake we had already run a little over 6 miles....oops, that would be my fault. The Hobbit then started whining about how this was going to be 22 miles....cry,cry,cry, whine, whine. And when I stopped to pee, for the second time, the little girl took off without me. And not only did he go on without me, he hiked up his skirt and picked up the pace too. So the rest of my run I was alone with my thoughts. It was just about the perfect day for running about 50 degrees and overcast. For the most part I had the whole trail to myself. There were 2 races here in Spokane that day so most runners were running one those races. I needed a long run more than I needed a race,which is why I wasn't racing. I felt pretty good during the entire run. I was even encouraged by my ability to accelerate to cross Argonne, a busy road, for those of you that don't know Spokane. That was about mile 16 or so and I remember thinking at the time that mile 16 of the Portland marathon I was in no shape to accelerate. I did finally catch Tony at mile 21. The big pussy was walking!!! and had been since mile 20. He then started running with me again. But now that he was all rested and recovered he wanted to talk. I had to tell him to shut the f**k up. At that point it took every bit of brain power I had left just to keep all my shit going in the same direction. The cool part though was we ran the last 1-1.5 miles at about 8:30 pace, which meant I sped up. Another good thing to come out of that run was that I ran a negative split, which I've been able to do on all of my long runs this year. So when it was all said and done it ended up being 22.77 miles in 3:12 and change. And all and all I felt pretty good. I went home ate and then helped Jayne's dad run the sawmill for a few hours.
Monday was a total rest day except for painting my house, I was a little worried about climbing ladders and tired legs but it went ok.
Tuesday Pat and I road our bikes. When I hit the first hill, my legs quickly reminded me about my long run. So we just cruised and chatted it's always great to ride with Pat.
Today the Hobbit and I ran most of the Bloomsday course nice and slow and still felt pretty spanked on the hills. Tomorrow I plan on a tempo run with 7 miles at 7:43 pace. That will hurt, I'll let you know.

5 WEEKS OUT

With just under 5 weeks until the race every workout counts now. So even though this is a work week Sunday morning was a long run, 16 miles to be exact. Long runs after working all night are tough and hopefully they will make me tougher. It was touch and go for the 1 st couple of miles until I got warmed up. Then I settled in to a pretty comfortable pace ~8:25-40 or so. I ran an out and back from the hospital which puts me on the actual race course for most of the run. Of course on the out part I'm running the course backwards. So at the turn around I was trying to motivate myself by reminding me that this IS the course. On race day when you are right here you will be at about mile 19, "lets practice that strong finish"!!!! I think it helped because for the 2nd week in a row I was able to negative split my long run. This weeks negative split was not as profound as last weeks but I'll still take it as moral victory.
After my run Jayne and I watched the movie Seven Pounds before I went to bed. What a great movie I highly recommend it. Guaranteed to provoke a whole host of emotions/feelings. This coming from the guy described as the man with 1 feeling.
This next week will be my biggest week for training with the dreaded 20 mile run on Sunday. I hope that won't be to big of a jump but I need to get it under my belt.

Up and Moving

My Achilles and I have kissed and made up. Last week was an ok week on volume, I was able to run 30 mile for the week but 15 of those were on Sun. The other 15 came from a 7 mile easy run and an 8 miler that was made up of 3x1 mile intervals. I ran this with the Hobbit on the Centennial trail. Our goal was to hold 7 min/mi. pace. It went more like 6:45, 6:48, 6:55. The other 5 miles was run ~ 8:30.
Our long run, as I mentioned, was a 15 miler. Well actually I ran 15. The Hobbit was suffering from the sandy gina on Sunday. Whining and crying about how tired he was, he turned around at 7 miles. And later when we/I stood in the lake to "ice" my legs he cried little Hobbit tears and got out after about 30 seconds. Even after 2 real girls, I mean 18-19 yo girls, came and stood in the water. He was not able to nut up and stand in the cold water. No worries, he knows he totally pussed out, and he would admit it. We ran, for the 1st time, but not the last, on the Columbia Plateau Trail . We started/stopped at Fish Lake and ran to Turnbull. This is a trail we will run a lot more this year. This is a converted railroad grade. The 1st 3.75 miles was paved then it turned gravel, but good gravel. Along the paved part it was very cool. Due to all of the runoff this year there were small rivers running along each side of the trail. But the most spectacular sight was a ~10-15 foot waterfall that came cascading down the basalt, very cool. The geology along this section is really cool too. Basalt columns 20-30 ft high in places lined both sides of the trail. I can't imagine all the work that went into building this back when they were laying the track. We also ran passed several small lakes. When we entered Turnbull we both were hoping to see some Elk. There is a huge herd there. Looking forward to running there again.

My Achilles is Mad at Me

This past weekend the Hobbit and I thought it would be a good idea to run part of the marathon course. We were to start at the Liberty Lake trail head and run to Mission Park. We thought it we be ~17 miles, turned out to be 16.2. At any rate it was not a very nice morning. The temp wasn't that bad, but when you add rain and wind and shorts.....no gloves and a ball cap. Not the best planning. The run itself went OK though we were chugging along at a pretty good pace ~8:00/mi. until about mile 14. It was at this point I started feeling my Achilles of my left leg. Not a sharp pain like a tear but more of dull constant pain of a strain/generally inflamed tissue. It did help, at first, if I really focused on foot position at the time of foot strike. But towards the end of the run it just plain hurt no matter what I did. Since then I have only been able to run once, 5 miler, and it was uncomfortable from about 2.5 miles. So I've been on the vitamin I and rest and elevation. I have been able to ride my bike some, outside once, which was great. I plan on a short 3 miler in the am when I get off work. If it feels OK I will go a little longer on Sunday. If it is still sore in the am, I'm screwed. It's to close to the race to have a long rest period, I'll begin to lose fitness. The bike and pool will help but I need to run. Keep your fingers crossed.

St. Paddy's 5 Miler

Sunday was not only the St.Paddy's 5 mile race,my 2nd race of the year. But also the last day of my biggest training week so far this year. The race was hard...cold and raining the whole race. To compound the conditions, as I mentioned in an earlier post, the Hobbit met me at the hospital when I got off at 0800. We ran from the hospital to the race ~ 5 miles, ok 4.6 miles, in the cold rain. Then we stood around and waited for the race to start, in the rain. Then we ran the race, in the rain. If that wasn't enough I ran back to the hospital, and yes it was still raining. Total for the day just under 15 miles. As for the race I was a little dissappointed. I was 2 minutes slower than last year. My time was 36:21 on my garmin. This year I had a few more mile on my legs leading up to the race. This past week I ran 49 miles and 12 miles on the bike. This same week last year 27 miles, but about 100 miles on the bike as well. All in all I think my progress is ok eventhough my 2 races so far have not had the results I would like. The next big race is Bloomsday I really want to break 50 mins this year. Last year I ran 51:36.
This week is rather ominus in that I have my 1st 20 miler scheduled for Sun. I don't care who you are or how fast you run. 20 miles is a long way and it is always hard!!!
I'll let you know how it goes.

MORE Pictures from Snake River

If only I was in front of everyone. Cool backdrop though.





Here comes the Hobbit, he is #129.





I want you to take a good look at the Hobbit's hands......hmmmm Gloves????, Mittens???? Socks aha! clean socks??? let me just say.... it was his ONLY choice :)

Training is in Full Swing

Now that I have the 1st race of the year out of the way, and have a pretty good feel for were my fitness really is right now. It's now time to pick up the volume. So this week has gone like this. m-8 miles,tu-8 miles(3x1mile@7:05),w-9 miles,th-brick 45 min bike,5 mile run. If all goes well,and so far it is, I will get another 1 hr on the bike and 5 mile run on friday, sat rest. Sunday is the 2nd race of the year, The St Paddy's 5. The beauty here is that I work this weekend so I will work all night then run from the hospital to the race, about 5 miles, then run the race, then run back to the hospital. This will give me a 15 mile run with a fast tempo session in the middle. It will also give me about 50 miles for the week. For me this is a good week. I hope to be able to continue to maintain this volume and increase the bike time and oh yea I may even swim a little too. 9 weeks until the marathon!Shit

Snake River Half Marathon

Well as expected I did not set the world on fire at this years race. I did however do a little better than I expected. First let me set the scene a little. The Hobbit an I left Spokane at 0730, because he was late,again. Then we had to stop because his bowels make most of his decisions. So we get there with 15-20 min. to kill. This time is needed to go through the gym bag and find just the right combination of warmth/wind protection. I had a few options and if you ever run this race you'll want to make sure you have a few options too. It was a about 24 degrees with a biting wind. As it turned out this year we started the race running into the wind. The wind speed was between 10-15 mph with some gusts a little higher. This is just a guess by I've read that for there to be white caps on a body of water you have to have at least 15 mph winds, and I saw white caps. I did run this race caveman style. Which was kind of a pain not really knowing what your splits were. I did asked this guy what time we were at a few times during the race. And they had someone calling out the time at the 1st mile, kind of dumb really, half way would have made sense but 1 mile into a 13 mile race???? at any rate my 1st mile was 7:23. The guy said at 4 miles we were right at 32 at 9 miles ~1:08. From that point on I just ran. The wind was helping now but it had died down quite a bit. But I could feel it pushing me. I was really focusing on my cadence and my breathing. I only got passed by 1 guy on the way back, more about him later. I was trying to constantly reel people in that were out in front of me. With 1 mile left I really started to pick up the pace. If I had to guess I would say the last mile was run at about 6:50 pace. So with about 100 yds to go I passed that guy back that had passed me. However with about 50 ft to go he sprinted back in front of me. I tried to answer but I was to little to late. The clock at the finish shows me crossing at 1:40:22, but they have me listed at 1:40:20, whatever.











oh yea and the Hobbit did beat me, bastard. And we had to stop on the way home too.

13.1 miles fast hmmm

Well with just a few days left until the race. Yesterday I threw in a little speed work on the treadmill. After a mile to warm up @ 8:30 pace I sped up to 7:30 pace and held that for 2 miles. Then I sped up again to 7 min pace for 0.5 miles then 0.5 miles at 6:30 pace. At this point I can say with some certainty that breaking 1:30 for this 1/2 marathon aint happening. Last year I ran 1:37 at this race. This year I'll be happy with 1:45. Well maybe not happy but Since my real goal is the marathon in May I don't want to risk an injury and I think I will be better served by running again maybe 7-8 miles the day after the race. This I won't be able to do if I go balls out. The Hobbit is running pretty good right now so it will suck to get beat AGAIN by the little furry bastard but oh well, eye on the prize.

caveman run

Saturdays long run was nearly a complete caveman run. My garmin was dead, battery does not hold charge as good as it used to. My watch has had a dead battery for about 1 month now, so I never know what day or time it is. The only piece of gagetry I had for 10 miles of running was my Blackberry Storm, ie music. I had worked all night so I was a little tired. Definitely affected my ability to think clearly, otherwise I would have used the GPS in the phone to track the run. Or maybe at least I would have look at the clock to know what time I started. It didn't matter though it was a beutiful morning about 30 degrees and clear skies. I tried to keep my effort comfortably difficult. It felt pretty good but I did miss the pace and time info.

BEEN BUSY,BEEN TRAINING

So I've gotten back into the grove, for the most part. This past week I logged 34 miles with a 15 mile run on Sunday. The HR is a little higher than I would like but it is coming down. The last mile of the 15 miler I was able to hold 7:40 pace. So to put that in prespective though the week prior I ran 21 miles with a long run of 10 miles. So all in all I feel ok for where I'm at right now. The 1st race of the year is next weekend The Snake River Half Marathon. I hope to have a good race but I'm not going to kill myself. This will basically be a fast long training run. Last years race had a brutal head wind for the last half of the race, and no we did not have much of a tailwind for the 1st half. The wind really started blowing as we made the turn for home. Hopefully this year it will be dead calm. That's about the only way I'll be able to improve on last years time.
This past week was also a sad week. Jayne's grandma Gladys died. She was 92. She and Jayne were very close and alot alike. Both nearly completly selfless. Jayne spent ~33 hrs baking hundreds of treats that her and her grandma always made. I did dishes and ran to the store. Gladys was a great lady and she will be missed.

GIVE THIS A TRY

"Twenty-One"
20 push-ups/1 sit-up
19 push-ups/2 sit-ups
18 push-ups/3 sit-ups
17 push-ups/4 sit-ups
16 push-ups/5 sit-ups
15 push-ups/6 sit-ups
14 push-ups/7 sit-ups
13 push-ups/8 sit-ups
12 push-ups/9 sit-ups
11 push-ups/10 sit-ups
10 push-ups/11 sit-ups
9 push-ups/12 sit-ups
8 push-ups/13 sit-ups
7 push-ups/14 sit-ups
6 push-ups/15 sit-ups
5 push-ups/16 sit-ups
4 push-ups/17 sit-ups
3 push-ups/18 sit-ups
2 push-ups/19 sit-ups
1 push-up/20 sit-ups

OK, Get off my ASS

Man, Between the Hobbit and Hop Along Fraser I can't get any slack. So I'm up and moving. 7 mi. on M,4 on Tues(intervals), 5 on We, with the Hobbit. And I will run 7-8 today and hopefully a little bike time. I start back to work tonight so,as is always the case, training over the next 7 days will be the challenge. With the Snake river half marathon coming up in a few weeks I need to ramp up pretty fast. It would take a perfect day for me to run better than last year, with my late start this year, but I'll give it my best shot.

Getting fat,new tv,cold weather,no skiing

Well the title pretty much sums up my life lately, oh yea and working my 2 jobs. I did get a badass 52" tv. The picture is incredible. Can't wait to watch the super bowl on it. I just hope the game is a good one. I have ridden my bike on the trainer a couple of times, still hate that. This week was shitty for running. I still have not got into the groove. I have to figure it out pretty soon ~18 wks until the marathon.
I also got some new skis this week. Skied Thursday and it was awful. Icey! we have not had any precip since the 1st of the month. My buddy Pat and I are going to Salt Lake next Thursday for a couple of days of good skiing, I hope they get dumped on.
I will post some pictures from Alta next week.

And it is Snowing AGAIN

We are supposed to get another 5-8 inches tonight. We have more snow here than the ski areas do. It made for an interesting but slow run today, The Hobbit and I ran 6 miles, nice and easy.

A NEW LINK

I just added a new link to Heather and Trevor Wurtele's page. There is a lot of good info so check it out. Ironman triathlon tips

2009, Here We Go

Well it's been a while since I've felt like writing anything on here, Mainly because I have not had anything new to say. Our hunting trip a few weeks ago fell victim to the weather,as has almost everything in the northwest. We had to abandon our hunt to ensure that we would be able to get out of the mountains that we were camping in due to drifting snow 4ft deep in places. We really only got to hunt about 6 hours total. We spent almost as much time putting our camp together and taking it apart as we spent hunting. But we are hopeful that we will get back down there again. We have the whole month of Jan. But it's also time to ski.
I have only ran a few times over the last few weeks. But I have gone snowshoeing several times. The longest trek was on new years day. Otis and I covered a little over 3 miles in 1 hr 24 min(2.2 mph).I know it doesn't sound like much but my average HR was 134 with a max of 158. So this was basically a real good MAF workout. It also works your legs in some very different ways. You really have to get your feet up, or you will fall on your face. I was sinking 8-10 inches so it's like climbing stairs, except it's flat. Unless of coarse it's not flat then it's uphill and like climbing stairs too..... so it's a double workout. Plus with every step you have the added weight of the snowshoe and any snow that happens to be sticking to or piled up on the snowshoe. This last snow was pretty wet so the extra weight was significant. At least my hip flexors thought it significant. So anyway now that the new year is here and I have blossumed to my normal fighting weight of 185. It's time to get busy and so it begins. I plan on laying out the race schedule over the next couple of weeks. I also started using a workout video series I actually bought for Jayne, called P90x. So far I've done 2 of the workouts and they did kick my ass. I'll keep you posted.