As you have no doubt noticed I have not written anything for a while. Not only have I not written anything but I've also not done much of anything either, but work. My motivation to exercise has been totally in the shitter. I've been running about 1-2 days a week and maybe swimming once every week or 2. Not sure what has me in this funk by I know I will come out of it soon, or I'll have to buy some bigger pants, and I hate buying pants.
The Hobbitt and I are going elk hunting this weekend which is always alot of fun not to mention a good workout. Elk are amazing animals and travel up and down some of the most rugged terrain. And we are hunting with muzzle loaders which means you have to get pretty close to them, < 100 yds, 50 is better. I'm going to wear my garmin to see just how much I climb and how far we walk, I'll let you know next week.
I'll leave you with a quote that should help those of you stressed about the economy.
Most of us miss out on life's big prizes. The Pulitzer. The Nobel.Oscars. Tonys. Emmys. But we're all eligible for life's small pleasures. A pat on the back. A kiss behind the ear. A four-pound bass. A full moon. An empty parking space. A crackling fire. A great meal. A glorious sunset. Hot soup. Cold beer. -- Anonymous
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Monday, November 10, 2008
Yes We Can?? Maybe
Wow! what a week!! I would love to go off on some political rant about the power of democracy right now. To offer my support and appreciation for our system of government as a citizen of our great country. The hope of a colorblind society and the dreams of every boy and girl to truly BE anything you want to BE. Even as a republican it's hard to ignore the significance of this past week. However, the problems we face are so great that I'm not sure any amount of optimism can overcome them. I am hopeful though, what other choice is there? Time will tell all.
A brief recap of the vacation would be difficult at best. As this trip was full of blunders. That started when we dropped off our car at the park and ride lot only to realize 5 mins later that I had forgot to lock the car. The guy gave us the option to turn around to lock it or assured us that he would do it for us. We took him at his word. Blunder numero 2 was Alaska Airlines'. They actually had a few on this trip. Starting way back when I booked this trip. It's very frustrating for me to try to plan these trips anymore. You do your best to get as many direct flights as possible you pick the seats you think you want. Always fear full that you will put yourself next to the 300# lady that wears to much perfume, won't shut up and has about 150# of her fat ass is your seat. Or you'll have either the guy with the nagging cough behind you. Or if your really lucky the screaming baby. I went 2 for 3. But you do your best and keep your fingers crossed. Not that it does you much good. In this case I got an email from Alaska air telling me that they had to change my flight selection because they were eliminating the direct flight to LA. Great!! So instead of getting to Cabo at 1:20 pm would will now get their at 5:42 pm, with 3 hour layover in LA. We made the most of the layover by having Jayne's sister meet us at the airport and take us to lunch and meet her new baby, cute kid. Onward to Cabo we go only to discover upon arrival that my luggage did not make the trip with us. Jayne's did but not mine. So by the time we talk to the Mexican rep for Alaska it's 6:30. We finally get to the condo at 7:00, thanks Alaska air. Remember this is day 1 and I have nothing to wear for day 2. So the 1st order of business of day 2 is go buy some board shorts so we could go surfing.
The next major blunder came 2 days later when went scuba diving at Cabo Pulmo. This is a trip we have made several times in the past and has almost always been worth the trip. But not this time, except for the fun we had laughing at the comedy of errors that the day had brought. Including but not limited to a misplaced reservation, a French divemaster that had no idea where he was going, getting stuck in the sand and going on detour through the desert with absolutely no idea where we were going. The following day was to be a deep sea fishing trip. 4 of us opted for the trip including my 2 friends form Indiana that had met us down there, and the Hobbit and me. Everything started out fine, as they usually do. And within about 30 min. Tony had caught a huge dorado. It went right down the shitter from there. The seas were quite rough and it was decided that we go up the coast about 20 miles further to go after some marlin that the crew had heard were biting over the the radio. When we got up there it was unlike anything I had ever seen. There must have been 50 boats within this 1 square mile and it looked like everyone of them were catching marlin. They were jumping all around us. there were even fish jumping that weren't caught. They were flying all over the place. Well except at our boat. It turns out that we had the 2 dumbest fishermen in Mexico. First let me explain something about deep sea fishing in Mexico anyway. You really don't fish, they fish, then if they hook something they give you the pole and you reel it in. So dumb and dumber catch everything but fish. They catch the bottom, a couple of times. They caught each others lines at least twice. Once they even caught the line of someone fishing from another boat and man were they pissed. The little fiasco actually resulted in loosing the pole into the ocean, which I retrieved. As a result the pole retrieval they ended up with about 200 ft of fishing line piled up on the deck of the boat. Now most people would have cut the line and started over but not Curly and Mo they were going to untangle it. While we stood there and watched every fat assed gringo in Mexico catch marlin we did not even have a pole in the water. Needless to say the ride back to the dock was a long ride. I bet they both went home and got out their English to Spanish dictionary and looked up "clusterfuck" because we were saying it alot. Thus ended the first 5 days in Mexico. The next 5 five were great. Filled with lots of sun and surfing, drinks and great food. I think this trip is a perfect illustration of the idea that attitude is everything. This could have been a real disaster of a trip if we would have let it be. But the bottom line is shit happens everywhere to everyone. What are you going to do stay home and whine about it ??? Not me
The Hobbit
Me
A brief recap of the vacation would be difficult at best. As this trip was full of blunders. That started when we dropped off our car at the park and ride lot only to realize 5 mins later that I had forgot to lock the car. The guy gave us the option to turn around to lock it or assured us that he would do it for us. We took him at his word. Blunder numero 2 was Alaska Airlines'. They actually had a few on this trip. Starting way back when I booked this trip. It's very frustrating for me to try to plan these trips anymore. You do your best to get as many direct flights as possible you pick the seats you think you want. Always fear full that you will put yourself next to the 300# lady that wears to much perfume, won't shut up and has about 150# of her fat ass is your seat. Or you'll have either the guy with the nagging cough behind you. Or if your really lucky the screaming baby. I went 2 for 3. But you do your best and keep your fingers crossed. Not that it does you much good. In this case I got an email from Alaska air telling me that they had to change my flight selection because they were eliminating the direct flight to LA. Great!! So instead of getting to Cabo at 1:20 pm would will now get their at 5:42 pm, with 3 hour layover in LA. We made the most of the layover by having Jayne's sister meet us at the airport and take us to lunch and meet her new baby, cute kid. Onward to Cabo we go only to discover upon arrival that my luggage did not make the trip with us. Jayne's did but not mine. So by the time we talk to the Mexican rep for Alaska it's 6:30. We finally get to the condo at 7:00, thanks Alaska air. Remember this is day 1 and I have nothing to wear for day 2. So the 1st order of business of day 2 is go buy some board shorts so we could go surfing.
The next major blunder came 2 days later when went scuba diving at Cabo Pulmo. This is a trip we have made several times in the past and has almost always been worth the trip. But not this time, except for the fun we had laughing at the comedy of errors that the day had brought. Including but not limited to a misplaced reservation, a French divemaster that had no idea where he was going, getting stuck in the sand and going on detour through the desert with absolutely no idea where we were going. The following day was to be a deep sea fishing trip. 4 of us opted for the trip including my 2 friends form Indiana that had met us down there, and the Hobbit and me. Everything started out fine, as they usually do. And within about 30 min. Tony had caught a huge dorado. It went right down the shitter from there. The seas were quite rough and it was decided that we go up the coast about 20 miles further to go after some marlin that the crew had heard were biting over the the radio. When we got up there it was unlike anything I had ever seen. There must have been 50 boats within this 1 square mile and it looked like everyone of them were catching marlin. They were jumping all around us. there were even fish jumping that weren't caught. They were flying all over the place. Well except at our boat. It turns out that we had the 2 dumbest fishermen in Mexico. First let me explain something about deep sea fishing in Mexico anyway. You really don't fish, they fish, then if they hook something they give you the pole and you reel it in. So dumb and dumber catch everything but fish. They catch the bottom, a couple of times. They caught each others lines at least twice. Once they even caught the line of someone fishing from another boat and man were they pissed. The little fiasco actually resulted in loosing the pole into the ocean, which I retrieved. As a result the pole retrieval they ended up with about 200 ft of fishing line piled up on the deck of the boat. Now most people would have cut the line and started over but not Curly and Mo they were going to untangle it. While we stood there and watched every fat assed gringo in Mexico catch marlin we did not even have a pole in the water. Needless to say the ride back to the dock was a long ride. I bet they both went home and got out their English to Spanish dictionary and looked up "clusterfuck" because we were saying it alot. Thus ended the first 5 days in Mexico. The next 5 five were great. Filled with lots of sun and surfing, drinks and great food. I think this trip is a perfect illustration of the idea that attitude is everything. This could have been a real disaster of a trip if we would have let it be. But the bottom line is shit happens everywhere to everyone. What are you going to do stay home and whine about it ??? Not me
The Hobbit
Me
Monday, November 03, 2008
Back from Vacation
I just wanted to put some pics on here real quick. I will write about the trip later and post more pics.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Not Done Whinning
Well the good folks at the Portland Marathon were kind enough to give me a time and a place in their race. However the time they gave me does not make much sense to me. As I stated in my earlier post at various point along the course my time,according to my Garmin, did not correspond to times that were being called out by race officials. This, I thought, was due to the fact that the time they were calling out was from the start of the wheelchairs that started 1-1.5 min. before the runners. But when I got to the finish line and my Garmin showed a time of 3:35:01 the clock at the finish showed 3:37:41 which is the time they gave me. If this was the difference between going to Boston or not I would be real pissed and demanding an explanation. But since I choked and this discrepancy did not affect the outcome. I will move on with my life and try to figure out how to fix the problem that cost me.
As Lucho pointed out this is really all I can do at this point.
As I mentioned several times before this race my training had seemed to have stalled. I was getting pretty burnt out and just wanted this race to be over. After basically taking 2 weeks off, the one before the race and the one after. I have a new found fire. I also have a new plan. The reason I expected to better in this race than I did is because my IM marathon was ~4:30. So I figured that if you take away the swim and bike, I should be able run quite a bit faster. But the problem is I also cut out my swim training and cut my bike riding way down and quit riding it altogether in the middle of Aug. This wouldn't have been a problem if I would have added all that training time to running, but I didn't. My IM training had me running about 25-30 miles a week. Prior to Portland I was running ~30-40 miles a week. So I lost about 6 hours a week in aerobic training. I know, what a dumb ass. I won't make that mistake again. As a matter of fact I going to use this little bit of knowledge and I'm going to train like I'm going to do an IM but I'm not. Unlike Lucho I can't take the pounding of 100 miles a week but if I use the time to ride and swim my fitness will be better. So I'm going to sign up for a new race that is starting next spring here in Spokane it too is a Boston qualifier so we shall see. This course is also very familiar to me as I run portions of it all the time. And If you want a flat course this one is actually down hill very slightly the whole way. It's not until May so this gives me plenty of time. I'll also run a few halves over the winter and spring as well. I also hope to go to one of Chuckie V's camps in the spring too. So all in all I'm looking forward to a winter of good training and also some skiing as well. Hope for snow in the mountains. Next week though it's off to Cabo. Jayne and I are headed back to Mexico with our friends and this year we will be joined by my best friend from high school and his girlfriend. Should be a great trip with a lot of diving and surfing and some fishing. Might even manage a hangover or 2 as well.
As Lucho pointed out this is really all I can do at this point.
As I mentioned several times before this race my training had seemed to have stalled. I was getting pretty burnt out and just wanted this race to be over. After basically taking 2 weeks off, the one before the race and the one after. I have a new found fire. I also have a new plan. The reason I expected to better in this race than I did is because my IM marathon was ~4:30. So I figured that if you take away the swim and bike, I should be able run quite a bit faster. But the problem is I also cut out my swim training and cut my bike riding way down and quit riding it altogether in the middle of Aug. This wouldn't have been a problem if I would have added all that training time to running, but I didn't. My IM training had me running about 25-30 miles a week. Prior to Portland I was running ~30-40 miles a week. So I lost about 6 hours a week in aerobic training. I know, what a dumb ass. I won't make that mistake again. As a matter of fact I going to use this little bit of knowledge and I'm going to train like I'm going to do an IM but I'm not. Unlike Lucho I can't take the pounding of 100 miles a week but if I use the time to ride and swim my fitness will be better. So I'm going to sign up for a new race that is starting next spring here in Spokane it too is a Boston qualifier so we shall see. This course is also very familiar to me as I run portions of it all the time. And If you want a flat course this one is actually down hill very slightly the whole way. It's not until May so this gives me plenty of time. I'll also run a few halves over the winter and spring as well. I also hope to go to one of Chuckie V's camps in the spring too. So all in all I'm looking forward to a winter of good training and also some skiing as well. Hope for snow in the mountains. Next week though it's off to Cabo. Jayne and I are headed back to Mexico with our friends and this year we will be joined by my best friend from high school and his girlfriend. Should be a great trip with a lot of diving and surfing and some fishing. Might even manage a hangover or 2 as well.
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
I Didn't Want to Go to Boston Anyway
Yep, I blew it. I tried real hard and came pretty close but not close enough.
The race started out fine except for the guy bragging over the PA system that it has never rained on race day before, total idiot. By about mile 11 it was poring. But that did not bother me I run in the rain all the time. At that point I was still very confident and was a couple of minutes ahead of goal pace. This continued for most of the remainder of the race. At the half way point I was at 1:40:50 and feeling pretty good. Things started to get tough,as they usually do, at ~ 16 miles. At the 16 mile mark I was at 2:05:08 still on goal. But then came the hill. Now I was told this is a flat course. Bullshit! The hill going up to the steel bridge is a real hill. Not a gradual climb or a gentle slope it's a steep fucking hill. And it's less than convenient at 16.5 miles. Now this is when I start to get confused. As I crossed the bridge and passed the 17 mile mark my GPS had me at 2:13:38. Now according to my gadget I was a over a 1/4 mile a head of were I needed to be. Also I was wearing a pace chart bracelet that was provided by the race pacers that showed that at mile 17 I needed to be at 2:16:18. So at this point based on 2 different systems I was ~2 min 40 seconds in front of where I needed to be.....So why then did I get passed at the 17 mile mark by the pace group carrying the 3:30 balloon??? Well this was clearly not the time to stop the guy and argue with him about his pacing. So I jump onto the back of the group and kept plugging along. All the while thinking I have to be OK I mean even if my GPS is not 100% accurate about the distance it can certainly tell time...So as I watched the 3:30 group slowly pull away from me I try to comfort myself with my irrefutable logic. At mile 20 my gadget had me at 2:38:01. This is still 2 min. ahead of 8 min/mile pace. Do the math 8 min/mile for 20 miles is 2 hr 40 min. I look down at the pace chart to double check and sure enough it says I should be at 2:40:28. I'm golden, except for the fact that the 3:30 group is now nowhere in sight. But onward I plod. 21,22 here is where we come to another hill. Only this hill is going down. It's a gentle hill but it's also about a mile long. Now normally I like running down hill, I'm usually good at it. But not today, this thing is kicking my ass. My hips,knees and feet are killing me. I don't feel like I have the strength to let them run and the only pace that feels comfortable at this point is slow, 8:36 to be exact. At the bottom of the hill I try picking up the pace but it's not happening so much. At about mile 23 I reenter the twilight zone as the 3:35 group pace me. WTF my time at 23 3:03:41 the pace chart for 3:30 says at 23 I should be at 3:04:14. Then how in the hell is the 3:35 group passing me. I hang with them as best I can. But by mile 24 they are pulling away. At 24 I'm at 3:13:24, oh shit, the pace chart says I should be at 3:12:28, I'm a minute behind. But I can still make this a little over 2 miles in a little less than 17 min. I've done this a thousand times. I think people are cheering but I'm totally focused. It is taking everything I have to keep all my parts going in the right direction. It's floored, all the coal is on the fire. But not much is happening in the speed department. mile 25 3:22:50 on my gadget, damn it 7:10 to run 1.2 miles. No way.....I've blown it. I round the last corner running as fast as I possibly can. As I approach the finish line I hear a lady call my name and congratulate me. As I cross the line I stop my gadget and look at the time 3:35:01. Close, but no cigar....
I'll write more later as I still have alot to say about the Portland Marathon. As it stands right now according to them I didn't even finish. According to their results page the last time they have for me is 21.1 miles. But I look forward to seeing what they actually have me at when they fix their problem.
The race started out fine except for the guy bragging over the PA system that it has never rained on race day before, total idiot. By about mile 11 it was poring. But that did not bother me I run in the rain all the time. At that point I was still very confident and was a couple of minutes ahead of goal pace. This continued for most of the remainder of the race. At the half way point I was at 1:40:50 and feeling pretty good. Things started to get tough,as they usually do, at ~ 16 miles. At the 16 mile mark I was at 2:05:08 still on goal. But then came the hill. Now I was told this is a flat course. Bullshit! The hill going up to the steel bridge is a real hill. Not a gradual climb or a gentle slope it's a steep fucking hill. And it's less than convenient at 16.5 miles. Now this is when I start to get confused. As I crossed the bridge and passed the 17 mile mark my GPS had me at 2:13:38. Now according to my gadget I was a over a 1/4 mile a head of were I needed to be. Also I was wearing a pace chart bracelet that was provided by the race pacers that showed that at mile 17 I needed to be at 2:16:18. So at this point based on 2 different systems I was ~2 min 40 seconds in front of where I needed to be.....So why then did I get passed at the 17 mile mark by the pace group carrying the 3:30 balloon??? Well this was clearly not the time to stop the guy and argue with him about his pacing. So I jump onto the back of the group and kept plugging along. All the while thinking I have to be OK I mean even if my GPS is not 100% accurate about the distance it can certainly tell time...So as I watched the 3:30 group slowly pull away from me I try to comfort myself with my irrefutable logic. At mile 20 my gadget had me at 2:38:01. This is still 2 min. ahead of 8 min/mile pace. Do the math 8 min/mile for 20 miles is 2 hr 40 min. I look down at the pace chart to double check and sure enough it says I should be at 2:40:28. I'm golden, except for the fact that the 3:30 group is now nowhere in sight. But onward I plod. 21,22 here is where we come to another hill. Only this hill is going down. It's a gentle hill but it's also about a mile long. Now normally I like running down hill, I'm usually good at it. But not today, this thing is kicking my ass. My hips,knees and feet are killing me. I don't feel like I have the strength to let them run and the only pace that feels comfortable at this point is slow, 8:36 to be exact. At the bottom of the hill I try picking up the pace but it's not happening so much. At about mile 23 I reenter the twilight zone as the 3:35 group pace me. WTF my time at 23 3:03:41 the pace chart for 3:30 says at 23 I should be at 3:04:14. Then how in the hell is the 3:35 group passing me. I hang with them as best I can. But by mile 24 they are pulling away. At 24 I'm at 3:13:24, oh shit, the pace chart says I should be at 3:12:28, I'm a minute behind. But I can still make this a little over 2 miles in a little less than 17 min. I've done this a thousand times. I think people are cheering but I'm totally focused. It is taking everything I have to keep all my parts going in the right direction. It's floored, all the coal is on the fire. But not much is happening in the speed department. mile 25 3:22:50 on my gadget, damn it 7:10 to run 1.2 miles. No way.....I've blown it. I round the last corner running as fast as I possibly can. As I approach the finish line I hear a lady call my name and congratulate me. As I cross the line I stop my gadget and look at the time 3:35:01. Close, but no cigar....
I'll write more later as I still have alot to say about the Portland Marathon. As it stands right now according to them I didn't even finish. According to their results page the last time they have for me is 21.1 miles. But I look forward to seeing what they actually have me at when they fix their problem.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Feeling Better
I must say that I feel better about my chances next week. Sunday's run, a 10 miler, felt good. My legs had some spring in them and the effort felt comfortable, considering that had worked all night on about 7 hrs of sleep. This run was basically caveman. I did have my watch and there are mile markers on part of the curse I ran so I did check up on my pace a few times. But for the most part it was just by feel. I was about 4 seconds/mi faster than my goal pace and I felt like could hold it for a long time. So I will continue the same rest,hydration,diet as I head into the race weekend. The pisser is that I'm working an extra day this week for a total of 8 nights= 80hrs in a row. Which does take it's toll on my old ass. But nobody said it would be easy, or at least not to me.
In my quest for for complete and total understanding of everything :) I have ordered a couple books that I'm looking forward to reading. The first came to me from Gordo and will hopefully help me make some sense of the economy going forward. The other book has more to do with this blog and may be more interesting to my faithful readers ALL of you. :) Lucho has been reading this book by Mat Fitzgerald about the mental aspect of running. So being the thinker that I think I am I think it may give me some things to think about. I will let you know waht I think when I think it.
In my quest for for complete and total understanding of everything :) I have ordered a couple books that I'm looking forward to reading. The first came to me from Gordo and will hopefully help me make some sense of the economy going forward. The other book has more to do with this blog and may be more interesting to my faithful readers ALL of you. :) Lucho has been reading this book by Mat Fitzgerald about the mental aspect of running. So being the thinker that I think I am I think it may give me some things to think about. I will let you know waht I think when I think it.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
The Final Stretch
With only 11 days and just a few more training runs before Portland there is not much left but to get'r done. I would be less than honest if said I was ready. I'm really not sure. After yesterday's run I came home and looked back at my training plan and compared it to what I actually did. NOT SO GOOD....I got a 70%. Now this grade is miles ran divided by miles should have ran. I also did not quite make the mark on hitting all of my paces. And in the last few weeks my motivation has been for shit. But as I head into this last week and try to absorb the training that I did do. I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I just hope it's not a train. Bottom line I going to run Portland and I'm going to do my best, even though I didn't do my best in training. At the end of the race I will either qualify or I won't. Neither my life nor my livelihood are dependant on this race. I will have as much fun as you can have while running 26.2 miles as fast as you can.
On another note you will notice a something new on my page it is the Endurance Corner badge. This is an online community set up by Gordo that has some great discussions as part of the forum. This is unlike some of the forums out there in which there is a lot of information spewed by so called "experts". These are some of the top athletes and coaches in triathlon. If you're interested in taking a look let me know as Endurance Corner is by invite only at this point.
On another note you will notice a something new on my page it is the Endurance Corner badge. This is an online community set up by Gordo that has some great discussions as part of the forum. This is unlike some of the forums out there in which there is a lot of information spewed by so called "experts". These are some of the top athletes and coaches in triathlon. If you're interested in taking a look let me know as Endurance Corner is by invite only at this point.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
LAST LONG RUN
I have to apologize for my last post as I know it was a bit of a ramble. I was totally procrastinating my long run on Thurs. Normally I do my long runs on Sun with the Hobbit but I have a real hard time with runs longer than about 10 miles after I have worked all night. So to solve this problem I decided that I would do my long run on Thurs. which is the day I start back to work. Confused, me too. Anyway I was not looking forward to this weeks run, a 20 miler. So rather than getting out the door when it was nice an cool. I came up with a whole host of things to do first and blogging was one of them. Again ,sorry. As I predicted 20 miles is along way and in no way fun. I did, however work on my nutrition and hydration with some success. The course I ran was brutal lots of hills something like 4700 feet of elevation gain. All this up and down took it's toll not only on my body but also on my pace. The goal was to average 20-50 sec slower than goal pace which would make it 8:20-8:50 pace.How about 9:30 pace.....3 pee breaks and 1 stretch. Boob and the Hobbit assure me that I'll be fine at Portland. I, on the other hand, am less than confident. We shall see.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Sunday Sundae
This race course as I mentioned in the previous post is tough. My goal for this race as with all races is to do better than last year. Well this was the 1st race that I did not improve my time on in the last couple of years. I was actually about 30 seconds slower this year. The week leading up to the race I had to many excuses not to train. Notice I did not say reasons, but excuses. Normally I hate excuses they go against everything I believe in. But the fact of the matter is my motivation is waining and getting out the door just did not happen. So one would think that I was well rested for the race, and I was. But I still just felt kind of bla. A 10 mile race on some tough hills just did not sound like much fun and it really wasn't. Anyway I started out running with a girl that lives down the lake from me who I ran the course with a few weeks ago. She and I had the same pace goal, 7 min/mi. The 1st 2 miles is nice and flat then comes the steep downhill that is about 1/4 mile long. My goal was to have us right on pace when we got to the bottom of that hill. I nailed it almost perfectly. The next 5 miles are mostly flat with couple little hills. But at about 7 3/4 miles you start a climb that last until just over the 9 mile mark. The last 3/4 is pretty steep. Then it is flat to the finish. So back at about the 4mile mark of the race Kerrie, the girl I was running with, pulled away from me. She did not speed up I had slowed down. I felt like I was in survival mode already. I was really trying to stay focused because if I didn't I would began to slow down. Anyway I putted along trying to muster the motivation to pick up the pace but legs were having no part of it. When I got to the 8 mile mark I was right at 58 min. So I new with the big hill still to come I was going to have a tough time beating last years time. And as I started up the hill my legs felt like they had no spring at all. At the top of the hill some guy passed me that looked like he was race walking, that was it. I had to pick it up. I started calling myself all kinds of names, making promises to myself I knew I wouldn't keep. I pulled out all the psychobabble bullshit I could think of to try to get my ass moving a little faster. Then I looked at my gadget and saw I had 3/4 of a mile to go. "Dude it's 3 laps, you've been doing those at 6:30 pace". Finally I started to speed up. When I rounded the last corner for the finish I could hear footsteps and that was the push I needed. I was able to put the hammer down for the last 800 I passed about 5 people. And when I ran through the shoot a voice behind me said "man I tried to get you but I couldn't". I turned around and shook his hand, he was about 25 yo, and I said " I heard you coming thanks for the push".
We hung around for the awards because they usually give away some good stuff. And to my surprise they called my name as 3rd place in my division.Wow! I even got a little coffee cup for my trouble. My friend BOB got 2nd in his division. And the girl I started the race with got 1st in her division and by the way ran 1:10 flat with no gadget, now that is knowing your pace. The Hobbit set a PR by 5 sec. but the 45-50 yo group is pretty tough.
The next day they had the official times posted and much to my dismay I actually did not get 3rd. They must have missed someone or had someone in the wrong division but I actually got 4th. So I will give up my coffee cup.Damn! My time was 1:14:28
The next race is the big one Portland Marathon on October 5th, my 45th birthday. I need to run 3:30 to qualify for Boston. Wish me luck I think I'll need it.
We hung around for the awards because they usually give away some good stuff. And to my surprise they called my name as 3rd place in my division.Wow! I even got a little coffee cup for my trouble. My friend BOB got 2nd in his division. And the girl I started the race with got 1st in her division and by the way ran 1:10 flat with no gadget, now that is knowing your pace. The Hobbit set a PR by 5 sec. but the 45-50 yo group is pretty tough.
The next day they had the official times posted and much to my dismay I actually did not get 3rd. They must have missed someone or had someone in the wrong division but I actually got 4th. So I will give up my coffee cup.Damn! My time was 1:14:28
The next race is the big one Portland Marathon on October 5th, my 45th birthday. I need to run 3:30 to qualify for Boston. Wish me luck I think I'll need it.
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Training,races,work and poiltics
Yes I'm going to touch on all of those topics, but just touch. Training has been sparce since Sunday's run....0 runs. Which leads me to the 3rd subject in the title work....If you know any Pharmacists, will you send them to Deaconess Medical Center please. I would really like to get someone to take my job so that I could start my new job. As it stands right now I'm doing both jobs but only getting paid for 1. But to be fair I'm really only doing the new job about 1/2 assed, so maybe I should get 1.5x pay. As for the 2nd item in the title I will be running the Sunday Sundae this Sunday, DAH. This is a tough 10 mile race that has 2 killer hills. The first one is a down hill that is a quad killer. It come about 2 miles into the race. The 2nd is an uphill gaurenteed to peg your HR. It begins at the 8 mile mark as a rather gradual climb then the last .5 miles is not quite "oh my God" steep but will definitly get your attention.
And as for politics I'm going to vote and so should you.
And as for politics I'm going to vote and so should you.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Rainy Days and Mondays
This is a picture from our deck. I would put our sunsets up against any in the world.
Well today is a rainy day and a Monday so it is a good time blog. This past weekend I had the whole house to myself, except for the dogs and cat. Jayne went up to Penticton to watch IM Canada. We had several friends doing the race one of which Jess is a good friend who has always been so supportive of Jayne. She, by the way took ~ 1 hr of her previous IM times. They were on different courses but it is still a significant accomplishment. Jayne is such a good friend to people. The most selfless person I have ever known. Jess did not finish until ~8:30-9:00pm and Jayne stayed until the end to see her finish. It's about 4 1/2 hr drive from Penticton and Jayne had to be at work this morning at 0745. She got home at 0220 and the alarm went off at 0600. She is going to be dragging her ass today. But to her it was all worth it because she got to see the look on her friends face when she finished. And I'm sure there are a 20-30 pictures to document the occasion.
Another friend Jon Moen did his first IM. Jon and I met last year at IM Canada. We were there to watch and he was signing up for this years race. Jon and I rode the course together, kind of, he kicked my ass. He had a great race 10:45 with a 5:19 bike split, good job Jon. Jon is on our tri team Tri-fusion. We had a couple of other people from the team do well as well Martin and Vicki Scates both went ~ 10:50.
The weekend did give me time to paint and to run. I ran a total of 32.5 miles. Friday was an easy 6.5 Sat. a fast 10 and Sun. 16. 16 miles is just hard. I held my goal pace for 14 but the last 2 had a couple of good hills and they spanked me. I ended up a little slower than planned and mentally I was whipped. This was ~ 30 seconds/mi slower than what I need to run in Portland to qualify for Boston and right now I don't see it. We will see what happens the next long run is 20 miles, that doesn't even sound fun.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
addendum
I went to see a ENT(ear nose and throat doc) yesterday. Apparently the ER doc was wrong and I did not rupture the eardrum. Instead it is bruised with a bit of a blood clot behind the eardrum. Bottomline good news, I'll be skiing today.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Pleasantly Confused
Today I planned on doing a MAF test followed by some 1 mile repeats,which I did. However, the results have me a little confused. The MAF went terrible, from a pace vs HR standpoint. A total backslide from my last test. I don't know if this means I'm ready to add more intensity. Or did my drop off in volume last week have that dramatic of an effect. Or was it just a bad day, dehydrated etc. I don't know. But since I'm 8 weeks out from Portland I will assume it is time to add more intensity. So I did that today in the form of 5 x 1 mile repeats. The plan was to do a ladder off sorts with times not distances. So I would adjust my pace for each mile. I was to start at 7 min/mi for 1 st mile then 6:45, 6:30, 6:45,7:00. This is how it turned out.
mile 1 6:50 HR 169
mile 2 6:38 HR 172
mile 3 6:21 HR 175
mile 4 6:41 HR 171
mile 5 6:49 HR 170
Now the part that is cool, to me. The last 2 miles felt easier and not just because I was going a little slower. The pace seemed slower and easier with each rep. My 9th and 10th mile of this whole workout felt good. I've always had a tough time with the concept of perceived exertion. Hard is hard and easy is easy and all the rest is either not hard or not easy....I know you'd think I was smarted than that. but I'm not. But today I actually could tell that miles 9,10 were easier from an effort standpoint than miles 6,7. I liked this workout and will repeat it a few more times before the race. I will track them and see if there is any trend.
AS for the MAF here are those numbers. As I said a little disappointing.
mile 1 8:40 HR 141
mile 2 8:49 HR 145
mile 3 8:46 HR 147
mile 4 9:00 HR 149
mile 5 9:29 HR 147
So HR's are a little all over the place and this was my 1st 5 mile test as opposed to the 3 mile tests I've done in the past.
mile 1 6:50 HR 169
mile 2 6:38 HR 172
mile 3 6:21 HR 175
mile 4 6:41 HR 171
mile 5 6:49 HR 170
Now the part that is cool, to me. The last 2 miles felt easier and not just because I was going a little slower. The pace seemed slower and easier with each rep. My 9th and 10th mile of this whole workout felt good. I've always had a tough time with the concept of perceived exertion. Hard is hard and easy is easy and all the rest is either not hard or not easy....I know you'd think I was smarted than that. but I'm not. But today I actually could tell that miles 9,10 were easier from an effort standpoint than miles 6,7. I liked this workout and will repeat it a few more times before the race. I will track them and see if there is any trend.
AS for the MAF here are those numbers. As I said a little disappointing.
mile 1 8:40 HR 141
mile 2 8:49 HR 145
mile 3 8:46 HR 147
mile 4 9:00 HR 149
mile 5 9:29 HR 147
So HR's are a little all over the place and this was my 1st 5 mile test as opposed to the 3 mile tests I've done in the past.
Saturday, August 09, 2008
WHAT! I CAN'T HEAR YOU
Well the best laid plans can often go to shit. So yesterday I went skiing,as I often do this time of year. Actually before I got into the triathlon thing this was how I spent most of my time in the spring,summer and 1st part of the fall. The past few years though I have stayed off the water until my major race was over.This is because I didn't want to take a chance on getting hurt. If you have ever watched competitive water skiing then you'll understand this. But suffice it to say that the combination of speed and water can prove to be very painful. The picture is of a pro showing what the turn should look like. My turn coming out of the 4 ball did not go quite as planned. As I came around the ball my ski washed out and I basically smacked the side of my head on the water. The force was enough and the angle just right to cause my eardrum to rupture. OUCH! Long term prognosis is good. However I do have to stay out of the water for a week or two. So no race today. No water skiing for a while. So needless to say I'm pretty disappointed in how my summer is turning out. Next week I will go see a ENT and see how it is healing and find out if it will have to be surgically repaired. This could really screw up a dive trip planned for October but I will wait until I know for sure before I get pissed about that.
On a better note I am very happy to report that my brother has safely made it home from Iraq. I know his wife and 2 kids are thrilled to have dad back in the house. Welcome home Ron and thanks for all of your service to our country and the sacrifices that I know you have made.
Friday, August 01, 2008
TOUR DE 9 MILE
I went on a great ride yesterday with my buddy Pat. We always have great conversations with lots of laughs. It was Pat's longest bike ride ever, with just a little climbing. Needles to say he is in pretty good shape for an old man. And if you ever find yourself lost in the back country he IS the man you want looking for you.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
CHANGING PLANS
Due to a work conflict I will not be able to do Troika this year. So instead I 'm going to do the CDA Scenic Challenge. This is an Olympic distance tri. It is actually the first "big" tri I ever did back in 1998. Of course the definition of big has change quite a bit since then. In 1998 I defined a long swim as a mile, a long bike was 30 miles and a long run about 8 miles. That same year I ran my 1st 1/2 marathon and it nearly killed me. The day after the race I went deer hunting and my legs were so toasted all I could do was walk out into the woods about 110 yds. and take a nap.I digress, I remember back then as I was training for that 1st oly. thinking how big of deal this was. Yea I've come a ways since then. Of course that makes me wonder what "big" will be in 2018.
This weekend I'm also going to run a little 8k cross country race that a friend of mine puts on The Toaster Splash after the race I'm heading up to Deer Park for our tri clubs kids triathlon to help out, should be fun/funny.
This weekend I'm also going to run a little 8k cross country race that a friend of mine puts on The Toaster Splash after the race I'm heading up to Deer Park for our tri clubs kids triathlon to help out, should be fun/funny.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
MAF Test
Yesterday I did a MAF test prior to doing some 800's with Bob. The results of the test are pretty amazing. First though let me show you what my previous test results were.
test #1 11/3
mile 1 @ 141, 8:51/mi
mile 2 @ 144, 9:08/mi
mile 3 @ 143, 9:16/mi
test #2 12/4
mile 1 @ 143, 8:34
mile 2 @ 145, 8:48
mile 3 @ 145, 8:58
So as you can see I was making progress. This was doing exclusive MAF training. Of course since Jan. I was building up for IMCDA so most of that training is pretty low intensity as well but alot more volume. Then as you get closer to the race you add more intensity.
test # 3 7/15/08
mile 1 @ 144, 8:09
mile 2 @ 144, 8:14
mile 3 @ 144, 8:29
notice that my 3rd mile is faster now than my 1st mile was back in Dec. I guess that's progress.
test #1 11/3
mile 1 @ 141, 8:51/mi
mile 2 @ 144, 9:08/mi
mile 3 @ 143, 9:16/mi
test #2 12/4
mile 1 @ 143, 8:34
mile 2 @ 145, 8:48
mile 3 @ 145, 8:58
So as you can see I was making progress. This was doing exclusive MAF training. Of course since Jan. I was building up for IMCDA so most of that training is pretty low intensity as well but alot more volume. Then as you get closer to the race you add more intensity.
test # 3 7/15/08
mile 1 @ 144, 8:09
mile 2 @ 144, 8:14
mile 3 @ 144, 8:29
notice that my 3rd mile is faster now than my 1st mile was back in Dec. I guess that's progress.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Sharing Ideas
In the past couple of days I've some interesting,at least to me, interactions on the Internet. A couple were simple Q&A kind of things with Lucho another was a little support/pat on the back thing with Angela. The one that I found the most interesting though was a discussion with KP. He had quoted something on his website that I had commented on over at Alan's blog. The discussion in general is about aging as an athlete. Attitudes about it and attitudes in dealing with it and the like. So I wanted to share part of our discussion. You can go to the specific sites to piece it all together if you like but the last couple of emails should give you the gist.
KP-"Thanks for your post on my forum. I like to have lots of ideas on there and they don't all have to agree with me. However, I understood that you and I mostly agree on this subject of aging; but I wanted to comment to you privately so that it doesn't look like I am at odds with you if we are actually agreeing.
The point should be made that as we age and slow down we may be performing better than ever relative to our competition. Gordo's blog article on the 'aging athlete' http://www.gordoworld.com/gblog/2007/11/aging-athlete.html uses Ron Ottoway as an example. At 65 he went 11:57 and was second in Kona by 3min. At 70 he went 13hrs and was first by 60min. If he had stopped training and racing because he would never go sub12 again he would not have been the champion and missed great experiences along the way.
Are you sure you meant to convey the message you wrote about "aging big time athletes that won't quit and move on" to be part of your post? That doesn't sound like part of what I have been talking about and goes against what I hope we continue to see from Gordo and Molina, which is staying in the sport and maintaining great perspective."
Me-"Thanks for the chance to clarify my meaning. I'm talking about athletes whose prime in their sport is behind them and there is no room for future growth. For sports like football and basketball where there really is no way to continue to compete past a certain point.It would be great if MJ could play forever but I don't want to see him get smoked by Lebron. For Gordo and Molina and you and I we can continue to compete. Our times may get slower relative to our previous times but we can improve within our AG.Actually just continuing to push our bodies this way into the later years is a huge victory in and of itself. I'm kind of banking on that very thing. Like I said on AC's blog I did not even start this until I was 43 so I have lots of room for improvement. I'm kind of hoping that if I can stay healthy that at some point I can go to Kona. But hell at CDA this year I was 180/332 in my AG. Not exactly competitive, but an hour better than last year. This year I plan on qualifying for the Boston marathon not because I've gotten so fast but because I turn 45 on the day of the race and the required time decreases by 10 minutes.
I can see in Gordo's writing that he is coming to grips with the reality of age. I think he is dealing with all of those questions we all have as we get older in a very public way with alot of people watching and with an enviable amount of class. I personally can't wait to see what he is capable of accomplishing. He and Molina and all of you Epic guys pushing yourselves is one of the things that motivates me on a daily basis. I'd like to see Gordo be the first 60 yo go under 10hrs or whatever. It is about perspective. Even in the example I used above I would like to see MJ play with a bunch of guys his age. I'm sure he can still dominate them.
Does that make more sense?"
So what is so interesting to me about this?? For one thing all of us are spread all over the place and still able to have essentially live conversations. Secondly, people can actually have civil discussions and truly share ideas. And 3rd is the old idea that if a butterfly flaps it's wings in Japan does that cause the wind to blow in California. Sometimes it does.
KP-"Thanks for your post on my forum. I like to have lots of ideas on there and they don't all have to agree with me. However, I understood that you and I mostly agree on this subject of aging; but I wanted to comment to you privately so that it doesn't look like I am at odds with you if we are actually agreeing.
The point should be made that as we age and slow down we may be performing better than ever relative to our competition. Gordo's blog article on the 'aging athlete' http://www.gordoworld.com/gblog/2007/11/aging-athlete.html uses Ron Ottoway as an example. At 65 he went 11:57 and was second in Kona by 3min. At 70 he went 13hrs and was first by 60min. If he had stopped training and racing because he would never go sub12 again he would not have been the champion and missed great experiences along the way.
Are you sure you meant to convey the message you wrote about "aging big time athletes that won't quit and move on" to be part of your post? That doesn't sound like part of what I have been talking about and goes against what I hope we continue to see from Gordo and Molina, which is staying in the sport and maintaining great perspective."
Me-"Thanks for the chance to clarify my meaning. I'm talking about athletes whose prime in their sport is behind them and there is no room for future growth. For sports like football and basketball where there really is no way to continue to compete past a certain point.It would be great if MJ could play forever but I don't want to see him get smoked by Lebron. For Gordo and Molina and you and I we can continue to compete. Our times may get slower relative to our previous times but we can improve within our AG.Actually just continuing to push our bodies this way into the later years is a huge victory in and of itself. I'm kind of banking on that very thing. Like I said on AC's blog I did not even start this until I was 43 so I have lots of room for improvement. I'm kind of hoping that if I can stay healthy that at some point I can go to Kona. But hell at CDA this year I was 180/332 in my AG. Not exactly competitive, but an hour better than last year. This year I plan on qualifying for the Boston marathon not because I've gotten so fast but because I turn 45 on the day of the race and the required time decreases by 10 minutes.
I can see in Gordo's writing that he is coming to grips with the reality of age. I think he is dealing with all of those questions we all have as we get older in a very public way with alot of people watching and with an enviable amount of class. I personally can't wait to see what he is capable of accomplishing. He and Molina and all of you Epic guys pushing yourselves is one of the things that motivates me on a daily basis. I'd like to see Gordo be the first 60 yo go under 10hrs or whatever. It is about perspective. Even in the example I used above I would like to see MJ play with a bunch of guys his age. I'm sure he can still dominate them.
Does that make more sense?"
So what is so interesting to me about this?? For one thing all of us are spread all over the place and still able to have essentially live conversations. Secondly, people can actually have civil discussions and truly share ideas. And 3rd is the old idea that if a butterfly flaps it's wings in Japan does that cause the wind to blow in California. Sometimes it does.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
POST IM GOALS
Well now that I feel fairly recovered and have started hitting it again. It's time to lay out the goals for the rest of the year. The original plan was to waterski a lot. With the new boat sitting in the garage all winter and spring it was calling loud. However thanks to $4/gal gas I can't seem to hear it calling as much. That combined with the fact that our ski clubs slalom course got totally trashed over the winter. Thanks to the people in the club that used it on a daily basis but seem to think that they shouldn't take it out without the help of those of us that have always done it. I digress. Next race Troika 8/3, local 1/2 IM with great point to point route. I've never done a half, but all the while I was training for CDA I was thinking that a 1/2 sounds like the perfect distance. One that I actually feel like I should be able to race, not just do, like IM. After that it's Portland's marathon 10/5. This just happens to be on my 45 birthday. Which means that my qualifying time for Boston gets pushed back by 10 min. So I need to run 3:30 to go to Boston, and that's the plan. My run fitness has gotten so much better since my only other marathon. Not to mention that I've learned so much about fueling and hydration. I know I can break 3:30 and I'm going to.
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