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.