Jumper 2.0

I have moved!

2011-08-25T04:18:00.001-07:00

http://jumper2point0.posterous.com/#

Just a few thoughts!

2011-03-26T05:40:00.000-07:00

I received an email this past week from Triathlon magazine that included a free digital issue of Competitor magazine. Maybe you can by just clicking on this link too? Anyway, I liked the magazine, but I question if I need yet another subscription when I have too many as it is.

But that's not my point!

In this free issue, the editor, TJ Murphy made this statement about why he does marathons. "It was really about how I'd lost the butterflies I had felt before games and track meets in high school. I was in my mid-20's and sliding into the routine of work and weekends, and I began to notice how a layer of boredom had descended over my life like a warm fog. Days and weeks would pass like flat white noise, everything turning into a blur. When I signed up for my first marathon, I felt like I was planning an escape from a low security prison".

Despite the differences, which are many, I really connected with this thought. I did not run track or cross country in high school. In fact I was rather ummm, non- active. And it wasn't until I was turning 40 and had lost the little bit of fitness I had from playing rugby and lifting weights that I decided to do something about the routine of work and weekends. And heck, I even worked most weekends, being a RN and all.

Also, a layer of boredom seems harsh. I wouldn't want my family, friends or anybody think that it is something to take personally. I certainly wasn't bored with anybody. Why running or triathlon or specifically marathons to solve this boredom problem? Maybe it should have been something more along the lines of serving others in our society in some capacity? Volunteering!

Yet, looking back, "a layer of boredom" also describes accurately a huge problem I had in my life. Life was passing fast, I could believe how fast a season or a year went by. It felt like my life was flashing before my very eyes without a real traumatic event to cause it.

Then I went out on my first run in over 15 years. I only did some running in college as an adjunct to to trying to be in better shape for rugby. I was always getting injured. It sucked. I didn't know what I was doing and it was just working out to be in better shape.

But I had to run! I had signed up for the Lifetime Fitness Triathlon in Minneapolis.

I had no idea at the time how much it would change my life. How much better I would feel and that I was escaping a life that would "pass like flat white noise, everything turning into a blur". Now when I reflect on a year or a season, it feels right. Yep, that felt like 3 months or 6 months or 1 year. I am enjoying my wife more, my kids more, my faith more.

And I feel that I have the capacity to fit other things in my life as well. Like serving others, volunteering as I mentioned earlier. I don't in what capacity yet? Maybe not even til my 3 kids are older. But whether it's tomorrow or 5 years from now, I know that I'll have the physical and mental energy and strength to do whatever, because of running and triathlon.

Go out there and escape the white noise.

Lucky 7k

2011-03-19T20:09:00.000-07:00

The Lucky 7k was not so lucky for me.

Or maybe it depends on how you look at it?

I ran it @ 90 seconds slower than last year. In of itself, that sucks... but it didn't bother me anyway. I ran hard, it felt good to run hard and I knew that my lungs were restricting me from my potential. My legs wanted to go faster.

I can't believe how many times that I just wanted to stop. Anytime I had that thought my legs would seem to carry me a little faster. Well, for a minute or so. But no matter how much I wanted to stop, I didn't seem to get worse as the run continued. My heart rate would seem to confirm this as it was 175, 175, 179 and 177 for the last 3+ miles.

At around the 6k mark, I heard as I was passing between 2 guys, "he needs an inhaler!" or something like that. Hilarious!!!! I did sound asthmatic.

The lucky part was that I finally got in a hard tempo run. My first in over 2 weeks because of this sinus infection from hell. I'll take it. My only "complaint" is that I don't have a very good measure of my fitness for the Cemstone Run for Others 10k in about a month. Would I have been able to do this a minute per mile faster if I hadn't just had my first night of no drugs in 2 weeks? Not a clue!

As you can see there are many "new" runners because with a slightly better than 8 minute pace, I still placed in the top 7% overall

Well, Am I going to blog or not?

2011-03-15T15:05:00.000-07:00

Things have been tight in the Jumper household for the last couple of years. Which is one reason my blogging has really slowed down compared to prior to that. And it was 2 years ago when my 5 year old computer went dead as in motherboard, not a hard drive or something like that. Well finally I have 27 inches of iMac goodness to use again and so I expect that gradually you will see an increase in blog activity. I still read a lot of blogs but often don't comment since I was reading it on my iPhone.

So, I have been really sick. It has to be just a cold since I had no fever. Regardless, coughing fit, the congestion won't stop no matter what I take nastiness. I couldn't sleep because of the coughing. Finally I figured out the right combination of cold medicines like mucinex dm and benadryl at night to sleep a good 6 hours. Never mind the fact that I'm somebody that needs at least 7. Oh, and I am going to be a loyal neti pot user for now on. Call me weird if you like but it's proven to be effective.

It's slowly getting better. So yesterday I ran. If you know me on facebook you may have read that I'm a loyal celebrant of Pi day so I ran 3.14 easy miles. Perfect for my first run in 2 weeks. Ran it with my son and he was nice enough not to comment about my breathing. My heart rate was 159 for an average, which would be 7-10 beats faster than normal.

Today, the run went better except that it was on the treadmill. It's beautiful and sunny now, but 2 hours ago it was pouring rain. And although rain is rarely a deterrent for me I thought better of it because of still getting over the plague.

I did 30/30's. 30 seconds at 6:48 pace with 30 seconds cool down. After completing 10 of them I was thinking of how I should be doing 60/60's now but, well, do I need to repeat that I've been sick? I thought, what the hell, lets run a 60 to just get mentally prepared for next week. Ended up doing 2 of them at a 6:53 pace. Saweet!

The next two days will be recovery runs then I have the Team Ortho Get Lucky 7k on Saturday morning. Last year I ran it at a 7:34 pace. I think I can still match or beat that despite, well, never mind. I am a little concerned that I'll tire out after a few miles though? We'll see I guess.

At the latest I'll post about the results on Saturday.

Good Running everybody!

Race Schedule for 2011

2011-02-06T08:24:00.000-08:00

Here is my current race schedule for 2011. You may notice a focus on running and less on triathlon. There is a reason for this; triathlon takes more time, more money and more energy. I don't mind spending the money on triathlon, but I have other financial goals and obligations right now. I have a 15, a 13 and an 8 year old that is a higher priority. That combined with a finite budget (what's with that?) and finite time (again) leads me to take it a bit easy for a couple of years.
Notice, this doesn't mean I won't be busy! And my health and well being is still a high priority (as well as good for them to see). It's just that this is how I can balance those sometimes competing goals or agendas. It won't be long and they'll be busy with their own things, off to college, etc., and then I will possibly be thinking of completing my first Ironman. I'm 44 this year, maybe it will be a 46th, 48th or even 50th birthday present to myself?
Or maybe I'll have no interest in Ironman at that time? Who knows?
This also gives me time to add strength and speed to my run and eventually Boston Qualify. It's going to happen.

January 16th - Completed - RnR Az Marathon
March 19th - Registered Get Lucky 7k
March 26th - Free for MDRA members - MDRA 7 mile
April 16th - Cemstone Run for Others 10k
May 1 - Registered Minnetonka Half Marathon
May 12th - TC 1 Mile
May 22nd - Gear West Duathlon
June 4th - NewBri Tri
June 5th - Registered Minneapolis Marathon relay (3 or 4 person)
July 24 - Twin Cities Triathlon
August 19th, 20th - Registered - Ragnar Relay
October 2nd - Registered - Twin Cities Marathon

What I need to do different!

2011-01-30T15:16:00.000-08:00

Here is a list of what I need to different for my next marathon training.

1) Run more!
     There is lots of debate about quantity of running versus quality of running. This is not that debate. I need to run more no matter what philosophy you subscribe too. In 2010, I ran 751 miles. I am proud of those miles, I am faster now and will continue to get faster. However, when you look at the fact that 412 miles was a part of my marathon training, you can see that it was too abrupt of a shift up in miles. Yes, I had a base in my training plan, but I should have had more of a base when attempting a significantly faster marathon.

2) When the miles add up, don't drop the core!
     I, of course, never plan too! But it happened again anyway, and I paid for it.

3) Avoid winter marathons!
     I did a lot of treadmill training this year. We had record amounts of snow, we had rain that froze, we had everything that made it difficult to run outside this past December. Cold weather is not a factor with my running, no paths or room on the roads do. Therefore, I did a lot of treadmill training. I do not mind treadmill training except for the long runs. This year I did a 20 mile run on the treadmill. Harsh!

     My conclusion regarding treadmill training is that it is just as good as outdoor training up to the half marathon distance. Granted I don't know for sure, but I attribute my severe left hip and buttock pain at the marathon as a result of not running outside for a good 6 weeks prior to the marathon.

4) Strength and Core!
     I know, I already mentioned core, but if there is a bigger factor in my lack in success at the marathon, I'd be surprised. You should see me trying to jump on one leg, Leg leg no problem, but with the right leg, I can barely get off the ground. This is an imbalance that I have to remedy and my involve help from a PT.

A Comparison

2011-01-24T19:55:00.000-08:00

A quick comparison of the miles in my last 2 marathons. Columbus looks odd in that my Garmin had trouble starting up at the beginning of the marathon. The last .2 is missing and I did not take a 12.50 pace to finish the 1st mile. Also, I turned off my Garmin a little late after the marathon, so if I really wanted to, I could trim off about 37 seconds on the last ".28" of RnR.

It seems that I don't ever remember details about the race. I am always amazed about how people can talk about their marathon mile by mile. But here is a little bit of what I do remember.

I always have to pee relatively soon into the marathon. It doesn't matter how much I use the porta potty prior, I just have to go after moving. It must be nerves or something because it doesn't happen during training.

I was also going a little too fast the first miles. My pace should have been 8:23 and I had quite a few miles faster than that. The fact that a friend of mine was able to run the same pace and was talking rather comfortably to others as well should have been a warning sign. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't breathing TOO hard, it just felt a little closer to half marathon pace breathing than marathon pace breathing.

The marathon course for RnR Az is much less impressive than the 1/2 marathon in my opinion. There was some beautiful areas but the crowds and the music was much better when I ran the 1/2 in '08.

For the first time in a marathon, my mom and Dan (her husband, who we love) got to see me run. In fact she grabbed a photo of me.

Where to start?

2011-01-22T14:52:00.000-08:00

Where do I start?

I'll just ramble until something gets going.

But first of all, this is not a whine fest! It is a little bit of venting, but it is simply mostly simply what happened. Things happened, I screwed some things up and I have to learn from them.

Much had changed since my post on December 11 when I stated that I was beginning to believe in a 3:30 marathon. That was the day of our biggest snowstorm. December was the snowiest on record, so running outside was very limited. So limited, that I eventually gave up on it.

On December 12th, I ran 18.7 miles on the treadmill. It didn't actually go to bad considering how warm it is inside and how hard it is mentally to run for 3 hours indoors.

Monday was a rest day, Tuesday I ran 6 miles at base pace (@ 9 minute pace) and then Wednesday I attempted to do my mixed intervals. Well, attempted is not the best description. It was a recovery week so I ran a warm up mile, then 2k at 7:48, 1 mile at 7:25, 1k mile at 7:04 and then was only able to run .15 of my .5 mile at 6:54. I only remember just breathing too hard and not being able to complete it. But I also shrugged it off. Not a big deal.

Losing 4 pounds in the next 4 days was a big deal though. A total of 6 pounds in 7 days. Some bug hit me in the stomach and I couldn't seem to recover. Then when I did recover, the stomach still wouldn't tolerate me running.

To the point that I only ran 14 miles the week after being sick (in which I only ran 10). My body just shut down and wouldn't let me do it. I know how to be stubborn and I also know when not to be. I just had to wait until it was ok to run more again.

Finally I had a 23 mile week. It was actually better than it sounds because I hadn't yet reached my Saturday and Sunday which are a significant amount of miles.

Unless you get sciatica!!!!! I was frustrated. But it was also my own damn fault. Suddenly in the month of December, I dropped my core workouts, yoga dvd's and other minor strength exercises. Then, as mentioned, I got sick, which of course, means I was inactive. So everything that I was just barely keeping in balance suddenly was no longer in balance. I was in bad shape and it was time to taper.

Or as a friend said, my taper started a bit early. Yes, it did. Too early.

4th Marathon Complete

2011-01-17T07:02:00.000-08:00

If I judge this marathon strictly on time, I would have to say it was dissapointing. I thought I could do a 3-3:45 marathon. However, there is much to celebrate about my 3:56:02 marathon. It's my first marathon under 4 hours, it is a 13 minute personal best and I was able to work through some pretty severe hip pain.

I don't ever want to come across as having excuses for not meeting my goals, but I do have many reasons to talk about. Not only that, but I already have a plan on what I'm going to do about them for my next marathon, which is likely to be Mankato in October.

I'm still in Arizona. I absolutely promise more about this next weekend.

Snow Day!

2010-12-11T09:18:00.000-08:00

A Snow Day means I have time to blog! How bout that?

I am beginning to believe that I can run a 3:30 marathon next month. The workouts are working out and if I am to believe in my training plan, it's doable. The last time I blogged I was talking to you about 1 mile intervals and tempo runs at 5k pace. Well, since then, the training has turned more race specific. This week is my 3rd week of peak training. Next week is a recovery week, then two more weeks of hard training before the taper starts.

So, what does peak training look like for me? This week was a little skewed because I was on call last weekend and ended up working about 27 hours (in addition to the 40 hour work week). Because of that I wasn't able to get my long run in on Sunday and had to run it on Monday. In the plan there are two types of long runs. I had run 18 miles the Sunday prior, but this Sunday called for a marathon pace run.

So, on Monday, I hopped on the treadmill and ran 2 miles warm up, 8 miles at 8:06 and then 2 miles cool down. Then on Wednesday I ran mixed intervals. 3k at 7:48 pace, 2 minutes active recovery (ar), 2k at 7:25 pace, 2 minutes ar, 1k at 7:08 pace, 2 minutes ar and finally .5 miles at 6:52 pace! And then finally, Friday night, I again hopped on the treadmill. (Notice a pattern here?) My Friday workouts are my tempo runs. 1 mile warm up and 7.5 miles at 7:48 pace.

Sunday is a 20 mile run. Am I going to have to treadmill this as well? We are getting greater than 12 inches of snow today, over 7 so far, and then it's only suppose to be a high of 5 tomorrow and very windy. I don't mind running in the cold for 10 or 12 miles, but 20? With a fresh batch of snow that won't be cleared from the side of the road! I'm thinking not!

I'm looking at a few options. I may have a friend that can guest me indoors at a club with an indoor track? If that doesn't work out, I may run some miles outside then go to the club and finish on the treadmill or I may just run it all on the treadmill.

Treadmill runs are something that has worried me some. Mostly because everybody says that it is easier to run at a faster pace on the treadmill. That's just doesn't seem to be the case for me. I find that I run faster, easier outside on most occasions. What I try to do is mimic outside running while I'm on the treadmill. The incline setting is set at 1% for me as a general rule, but then I decrease and increase it at certain unspecified intervals. So, for example, on Friday I ran at 1% incline for the first 3 miles with an increase to 2% for .3 miles towards the end of that 3 miles. Then I went to .5% for a mile and back to 1% for the next mile. During these times I'll make some short adjustments for a few tenths of a mile. I can feel it when I make the adjustments and find it interesting the .5 and 1% are easiest for me. I'll even have the setting at 0 from time to time to mimic downhill running.

This article has also helped alleviate my concerns about treadmill running.

On my last post, I stated that I would talk about how I go about injury prevention. Sorry that I haven't done that, but that post is in the works and I'll post it soon. It won't be a month!!!

How is your training going? Hopefully most of you are giving you bodies a break and doing other things or simple base training. Do you ever read Joe Friel's blog? He has very good info about base training right now.

A bit sore! But, happy

2010-11-06T17:59:00.000-07:00

I think I'm happier when I'm in marathon training.

I understand it better than triathlon training and I have a plan that I like better than triathlon plans. It's also easier. Run! No bike, no swim, just run. Not that I don't still do some biking and swimming, I do. It's just that it's not required. I don't have to, if I don't want to. I like that! ;-)

Swimming and biking have fallen off the radar this past few weeks though. I am in build 2 of the marathon training and it is by far the hardest training period for me. It's when I have reasonable speed work and longer duration runs at the same time. At least in the peak phases coming up, the speed work is slower (half mary and mary paces) and only the distances increase.

So, here is what I have been doing. These are the key work outs only. I do have Mondays off, a base run every Tuesday, and recovery runs with core, etc on Thursday and Saturday. Due to work, I sometimes have additional days off, except for key workouts. They can be a different day but are not to be missed.

Build 1:

Wednesday was 1/4 mile intervals on the track or the treadmill. At 3k pace which was somewhere @6:55 for me. Week 1; 8 intervals, Week 2; 10 intervals, Week 3; 12 intervals then a recovery week of 8 intervals again. 2 minutes at a recovery 10 minute pace between intervals.

Friday was 1 mile intervals. This would be at a 10k pace of @ 7:25. The weekly intervals were 2, 3 and 4 each successive week, with recovery week of 3 intervals again.

Then Sunday would be the long run (Monday if I was on call at work). These progressed from 11 to 12 to 13 with a recovery week of a 5k time trial (the only key workout I have missed)

Build 2:

Wednesday: It's amazing how much more difficult 1k intervals are than 1/4 mile intervals. I slowed down to a 7:03 pace (5k pace) but the longer time is definitely a stress. Especially the first week. 3 intervals the first week, 4 this past week and 5 next week.

Friday is now tempo runs at 10k pace! Goal is 7:25. The first week, 4 miles I missed the goal at a 7:28. I think we can overlook that small increment. This week is a little harder to accept with 4.5 miles at 7:40 pace. Again my goal is 7:25!!!! There are two things terribly different about this weeks slower run. The first is that I had to run around the lake due to being on call. It's 1.25 miles and hilly for such a short course. In fact I had twice as much elevation as the previous week. Secondly, I ran it in the morning. My speed workouts are ALWAYS in the afternoon or evening!!! We will see what next weeks 5 mile tempo run will bring.

The Sunday long run is a little different at this point. Progression runs! Last Sunday I started with the first 7 miles at base pace. Base pace is a decent range for me. 8:41-9:31. Anyway I generally run @ a 9 minute pace on the long runs right now. Except on progression runs I have to increase each mile by 10 seconds a mile for the last 7 miles.

The problem is that I just barely feel like I'm keeping my body together. I just have 9 days left of this build before a recovery week and hopefully the soreness, sometimes limping goes away.

I'll soon post what I am doing about the minor injuries and what I'm doing to make sure they don't become major.

Rare Political comment!

2010-10-10T08:08:00.000-07:00

And really, it's not very provoking!

I was taking a look at my bedside stand and a little corner of my closet, realizing that it's time to get rid of this pile of magazines.

The pile is too big!

Again!

Magazines are definitely one way that I'm not environmentally ummmm, good, I guess. And I'm not ready to do anything about it. Digital copies are cool and everything but not easy to read at the bedside, which is where I do most of my mag reading. BTW, keep your minds out of the gutter. Maybe an iPad would make things different?

Any mention of the environment can drive people crazy it seems. I don't get it. I don't care what your political persuasion is, being environmentally conscious is smart. Don't believe in global warming? Well there is still being conservative with resources to save money, capital, etc! And then there is the pollution, waste, landfills. Any less of that is always good. So sure, have your differences on the political solutions or non solutions regarding the environment, but we should definitely all be on the same page with our personal solutions. Which is simply being smart and not wasteful. Even if you can afford to be wasteful, be smart with your money anyway. I may not be able to do it for a few years, but this is one thing I'm looking forward to using at my household.

Ok, that's all for now!

Marathon Training!

2010-10-09T19:13:00.000-07:00

I am full into marathon training and I'm happy!

I am happy because I find marathon training so easy compared to triathlon training. It's just so "easy" to get the important runs in then having to worry about swimming and biking too. I AM doing swimming, not so much on the biking. I will be biking for a recovery day once a week soon but not until my 2 build phases are done. Swimming is about twice a week if I'm good. Don't get me wrong, I love triathlon, it's just I haven't been able to match a plan that I can follow like with my marathon training. If things keep going the way they are, I am so going to PR in January. Possibly by a margin of 20 + minutes. (My pr is Columbus 09 of 4:08:41)

I also love marathon training because of Matt Fitzgerald's training plans in his book, Brain Training for Runners!

Tomorrow is the long run and the completion of week 10 (of 24). It is also the 2nd week of "Build 1".

So this is how my week went:
Monday: Day off
Tuesday: Base Run with Drills (Stiff legged and Running no arms) 2 sets of 20 seconds is all. I ran 6.65 miles (1 hour) at what is called Base Pace which is even slower than marathon pace.
Wednesday: 400m intervals, 10 of them this week (8 last week, 12 next week). Total 7 miles
Thursday: Recovery run at really slow pace, 3.17 miles, and Core Exercises.
Friday: 1 mile intervals, 3 of them this week (2 last week, 4 next week). Total of 5.1 miles
Saturday: Recovery Run, 4.1 miles.

Planned Sunday is for a 13 mile run at "base pace"

I say planned because I am on call at work and I can never know if I will be called in for 12 hours or not be called in at all. Since I have to be available to call, I will be planning a long treadmill run. I don't mind so much, it's gotta be done. If I am at work, then Monday after work, outside, long run and a smile.

The next 2 weeks will be kind of a recovery. I will miss a run or two because I will be travelling to my Dad's in Southern Ohio. I will not miss key runs but I may miss the recovery runs. So it is the less miles that make it possibly a recovery week next week and then the week after is a planned recovery week.

On other notes, my son, Zach is running CC this year for the first year (he's in 9th grade) and it's not going so well for him. His right knee is hurting. I know why, but unfortunately he's just going to have to deal with it somewhat. On most days it's feeling better but he's had trouble at many of his races. I have him doing foam rolling and trigger point massage with a tennis ball. He isn't doing too many exercises yet but I have had him do some stretches which in improving his incredibly poor range of motion. His hamstring stretches are horrible. Some of this will help!
The other issue is that he went from virtually no running to running 5 days a week. He needs the off season to recover, time to strengthen his core and other muscle imbalances and he will have a good high school "career".

I have to get serious about cutting down on my sweets. I eat very good food, but I eat bad food too. Anybody out there with suggestions?

Slightly greedy but want to share as well!

2010-09-04T07:31:00.000-07:00

Considering I haven't posted in a month and then I post this. Well, perhaps I'm being a bit selfish. But I want to win and I want you to feel like you could win! ;-)

Rainmaker is giving away another Garmin Forerunner 310XT!

Head on over to Rainmaker's Blog to find out how to get signed up and to learn how the Garmin Forerunner 310XT can help you improve your training and racing.

Good Luck (and I do mean that)

Your blog friend,
Tim (Jumper)

Pictures!

2010-08-01T14:06:00.000-07:00

I don't post many pictures so I thought that I'd put up a few now! Today I'll post some Tri related pics and then I'll also post some family pics soon.
The pics that have "Minnefoto moments" across them are ones that I am thinking about purchasing!

And here are 2 more photos of my first triathlon (Lifetime Fitness in 2007).
Notice any differences? Believe it or not, it's about 50 pounds difference.

To my wife Angela

2010-07-17T05:41:00.000-07:00

Whenever there is a problem
I just have to look past my pride
to see how I am blessed
with the greatest (and loveliest) of brides

We've have had a lot to gut out
but love and respect has prevailed
I just can't imagine
what love the next years will unveil

In our 17 years,
I believe by design
love, passion, strength
and care has made our love shine

In the next 17 years,
I promise you this
through both of our wills
it will be (almost?) nothing but bliss!

Exhaustion!

2010-07-08T19:41:00.000-07:00

I've been exhausted the past few weeks.

There is a condition called Overtraining Syndrome.

Hopefully these two aren't related!

Symptoms for Overtraining Syndrome can vary but they generally include; fatigue, a higher than usual resting heart rate, mood changes, persisting muscle soreness after training, poor race performance, poor workout quality, and others.

I've had fatigue, haven't paid attention to my resting heart rate, have been a little on the depressed side and my legs seem to be more sore than they should be. When I hopped on the bike at the Minneman tri my legs felt tired and sore, feelings that I was not expecting. (BTW, Minneman race report soon)

There is also a term called over-reaching. It's less than overtraining as overtraining can take months to recover. I think this term makes more sense for my condition because I am starting to recover with one week taking it easy and then one week completely off!

The awful thing is that it's not over-reaching from training alone, it's trying to keep the training up despite my insane life. I have simply been working too much and then acting like I'm working normally. One has to give. And fortunately right now, it's the work. We have a nurse back now that has been off a few months for her new baby and I have the month of July off for weekends. That's right, the whole month of weekends off!!! But it would be wrong to just blame it on that. I have to be wise about how to have enough rest even when work is nasty busy like it has been.

Unfortunately there is one loss to all this! WIBA. I won't be going. I'll start training again Saturday morning but WIBA will be too much right now.

I need to rest!

It's time to compete!?!

2010-06-07T20:19:00.000-07:00

I came to a new realization this past weekend!

I am no longer slow!

I realize this is all relative. I was talking about my time to another participant after the race and she seemed taken back by my time. And I don't mean that she was impressed. She looked surprised that I didn't state a faster time. She expected me to be faster. I guess I look reasonably fit and I look like I should be faster.

I should be faster!

And really, I should take it as a complement shouldn't I? (I have considered that I read her facial expression wrong, but my zipper was up and I hadn't farted so I don't know what else to think).

And I don't say this in any sense of criticizing myself or disappointment. It's more of a realization. You see, until now, triathlons have been about survival! Surviving through the swim, working hard on the bike, but leaving enough for the run! Without stopping! With some sense of strength. And yet, enjoying the experience. (I realize enjoyment may sound contradictory for any non-racers reading this)

I still want to enjoy the experience! But, I think it's time to turn it up a notch. It's time to put it all out and see what I can do. No, I am not talking about podium finish. Not even close (talk to me in a couple of years about that).

I finished 19/30 in my age group. When I look at who finished 10/30, I see that I can compete with that on the bike and the run. The swim is still a problem, but I'll talk about that later! Probably in my next post.

In addition, I finished in place 100/204 males. Take a minute off my time and I'm around 89th, another minute 75th! Overall, I finished 127th out of 347! Just 2 minutes faster and I could have been the 100th!

What I'm getting at is that I'm in the middle of things. I could have finished this race 2 minutes faster. It used to be if I finished a minute or two faster, it wouldn't of meant any difference in where I placed.

Now it does. And I finished this race knowing I could have worked a little harder. I left some effort out on the course as they say!

I can only conclude that it's time to really think about racing, not just completing a triathlon! It's time to take that risk that I'll have to slow down because I went too hard. Or at least be better at finding where that limit is.

But it's also true that this wasn't an "A" race. I do have to give myself a break in that way. Just two days prior I had done 7 minute paced 2k intervals and then mashed it out for 45 minutes with bike intervals as well. That's not a taper for me! And did I ever feel it when I was on the bike leg of the triathlon. My legs were sore.

So here are my results:

Swim 16:17     1:51/100 yards
T1 1:40
Bike 40:24       20.8 mph
T2 1:09
Run 24:06        8:02 pace

Total 1:23:34 (Last year was 1:28:18)

127th overall out of 342
100th male out of 204
19/30 in age group 40-45

I'm not fast yet, but I have to start racing like I am!

More specifics about the New Bri Tri to come!

Waiting for Results!

2010-06-05T18:54:00.000-07:00

I know I raced the New Bri Tri @ 1:23:30 which is just shy of 5 minutes faster than last year. I also know that I have another "easy" 5 minutes to take off this race as I get to be in better shape.

But I also want my individual swim, bike, run results before I talk about this race.

So,

we wait.

Tomorrow morning, I hop on down to 46th and Godfrey to volunteer as a Run Course Marshall for the Minneapolis Marathon.

I am going to love this. I love watching people, especially new runners (or triathletes) on the course. They remind you of where your enthusiasm should be. Which, of course, is the accomplishment, the fun, the comradery. There is nothing wrong with being concerned with your time but it is wrong if it becomes your sole focus, your only measurement of success. Am I right???? Granted, that's easy for me to say since I'm not fast. ;-p

I should have a race report tomorrow. Good luck Kari, Julie, Kristine, Jill, Beth and anybody else I know (and don't know) with the Minneapolis Marathon. And good luck with Amy, Nat and anybody else out in Buffalo for that triathlon as well.

I Train Alone!

2010-05-31T05:06:00.000-07:00

I Train Alone,
Yeah, with nobody else.
Yeah, you know when I train alone, I prefer to be by myself.

Now, every morning, just before breakfast,
I don't want no coffee or tea.
Just me and my good buddy Saucony.
That's all I ever need.

I Train Alone,
Yeah, with nobody else. (repeat)

Yeah, you know when I train alone, I prefer to be by myself.

Well, the other night I got invited to a workout,
but I stayed at home instead.
Just me and my pal Fuji and Spinervals
And his brothers pain and sweat.

Ok, Enough of that. George Thorogood's song "I drink alone", while amusing, is kind of stupid. And my adaptation may even be worse. ;-) But it goes through my head frequently because of my work and family schedule. I find that I train alone ALL the time. And you know what, for the most part I prefer it that way. But sometimes, no frequently, it gets old. I really need to figure out a bike, swim or run with others a little more frequently. About every 2 weeks maybe?

So this weekend has been a very pleasant change. Yesterday, I rode my bike 50 miles as part of a group supported ride sponsored by TCMC. And today, I'm out to the Gunther's, to swim, bike and run. If you don't know Steve and Helen, then you're missing out. Not only on great workouts, but they are also great people. Not to mention all in the community that join them.

I also appreciate the invites that I get from Steve. It's just that he has a knack for picking an evening that I can't make it. One days the stars will align though!

There will be more TCMC rides and I am going to WIBA in July so (start crooning Thorogood again "if I do really prefer to train alone, I better get over myself".

So this weekend is a respite for me in several ways.

I'm smiling.

Happy Memorial Day and remember our Veterans.

How a duathlon kicked my butt!

2010-05-27T20:45:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday I participated in the Gear West Duathlon! This people, is a serious duathlon with serious athletes. I am not worthy to participate, but they let me anyway.

I signed up for this duathlon for 3 reasons. First and foremost, I knew there would be friends and acquaintances there that I wanted to see. Secondly, it's a good workout, no matter where I was in my training and thirdly, awesome prizes. (which of course, I didn't win. I don't win prizes.)

For those of you that didn't know, I have not signed up for a marathon yet this year. I have been working on my speed on shorter distances including the TC 1 mile that is in previous posts, a 5k, a 7k and my first 10k. Wow, off subject for one moment. I have had a first mile race, a 5k pr, a first 10k that went well and my first duathlon so far this year. Cool! Ok, back on subject now. My point is, I have not had a workout longer than 45 minutes in a very long time. And the ones I have had, have been few and far between. It just hasn't been my focus!

So, what the h e double hockey sticks am I doing, racing a duathlon that will take well over 100 minutes. And why the heck do I suddenly, like a day or two before the duathlon, decide to race it hard and try to break the top 25% in my age group? (Yes, it may be because I'm an idiot, but I was looking for a bit of a more substantial answer than that) ;-)

And yes, somehow, I come out with this blinding optimism that tells me that I should try to finish the race somewhere @ 1:37- 1:38! The Gear West Duathlon is a 5k Cross Country run (didn't know it was off asphalt), 28k hilly bike and then a 4k Cross Country run! I took my 10k training pace for my run and figured I could do a good 20 mph on the bike.

Pause!

See, now I pause to think!

Figures!

I am in the best shape of my life! Period. Look at these pictures from the race. Thanks for the pics Steve Stenzel!

Ok, yes, the heel is striking first but only at the end of a long race!

That is a butt that's in shape!

I've shown this before, but here is a picture of my first race in 2007!

Notice a little difference?

I am 192 pounds now! The best weight I've had except fleetingly when on my highest mileage for the last marathon. Right now, I am nowhere close to high mileage.

Pharmie, Steve Stenzels wife, even commented prior to the race, about how I look like I'm losing weight. I've actually lost very little (from 196 lately) but my body composition or something has changed quite a bit in that I am being told it frequently.

I'm feeling strong, more flexible, better looking, smarter. (the last two may be an exaggeration).

A great formula for me to suddenly having a goal and an unreasonable goal at that, for a duathlon! Full of Minnesota's stars of Tri's and Du's!

I went to the duathlon and setup being quite anxious and nervous about the race. I haven't felt like that in a while. Ehhh, it's good for ya, don't ya think?

It's weird. I am a friendly sociable person. Not overly sociable mind you. I'll go up and talk to anybody. It's just that I'm not likely to unless there is a good reason. So here I was, at the du, seeing lots of familiar faces and just standing there, not talking to anybody. It's quite common for me. I think part of it is just that I do ALL of my training alone. It's really been necessary with my past job but I should look into making sure that changes so that I work out with others sometimes at least.

Anyway, I run a warm up mile, do some active stretching and get ready to race.

I really loved the race from the beginning, as in, before it even started. We had to walk about 1k to the start line. There was something about that walk that built up, yet also released some of the anticipation of starting. I'm not sure how else to explain it. Basically, since the first run is a 5k, we had to start 1k away from the bike transition. So the first 1k is on the road and parking lot. That's my kind of running.

After the 1k and passing the transition, their is a gravel trail that goes along the school to the back of the school, We run along it until it ends! And when I say ends, I mean the gravel ends and the grass starts.

I really liked it actually. Nice and soft. I was feeling strong, so much so that 1st mile was a 7:15 pace. So this trail was up and down, around this court and through the woods. It would change from grass to wood chips, back to grass. Oh, did I mention up and down? Over wood planks! My second my slowed down to 7:49 but that was just natural since the surface was soft. Not feeling too bad. Unfortunately the 3rd mile slowed down even more to a 8:53 pace. Of course, this hill may have had something to do with it.

Pic stolen (borrowed?) from Steve Stenzel at this specific blog post!

My 5k time ended up being 24:41. About a minute slower than my fastest 5k and it was cross country. It was a good run but I ran too hard for a duathlon and my current abilities.

Too bad the race didn't end there! (as far as finishing time I mean)

More later and thanks for stopping by!

I know, I know!

2010-05-26T04:45:00.000-07:00

How do you guys have time to blog!!! I have a few things to write about, including last weeks Duathlon and promise that I'll get to it in the next couple of nights.

(What seemed like) The Longest Mile!

2010-05-15T04:59:00.000-07:00

Have any of you run a 1 Mile race? It is TOUGH!

And really, so much fun.

And addicting.

And for me, full of mistakes that hopefully I learned from.

I signed up for the TC 1 Mile for a couple of reasons. I had a 2009 goal of reaching a 6 minute pace that I never actually tried to achieve and I wanted to increase my odds of getting into the TC 10 Mile race that takes place on marathon day this October. The highlight of my night was my son. He ran too, although he didn't run it hard (or even plan too). Yet, he ran a 7:31. So I'm still a little faster than him for a little bit longer (insert mischievous laugh). It won't be long when he is faster than me and stays that way. My guess is that he could have run it about a minute faster. The highlight part though was how much he enjoyed it. For the first time this spring he ran track and field and now "gets it". He understands how rewarding it is, and how fun running hard is and thus he also loved running and cheering others. Saweeeet! I think he also understands how putting in the training is worth it. We shall see.

The weather kind of sucked. It could have been worse but 50 degrees, cloudy and windy is not ideal. Ok, I was fine with the 50 degrees. But the rain 5 minutes before my wave and wet feet from running in the grass as part of my warm up wasn't part of my plan for trying to attain a 6 minute pace mile. The weatherman said that it was suppose to clear @ 5 pm. The wind had picked up and you could see lighter sky and even a little blue on the horizon to the west but that just meant wind and drizzle above us.

Oh well.

My biggest problem is that I did not plan my mile enough. I was running a 1 mile but still thinking 5k when it came to strategy. I DID NOT place myself in line where I should have. The gun went off and immediately I'm working to pass people including jumping onto the sidewalk and back off, weaving etc. This may be ok for the start of a 5k or longer race but it certainly is not when you are trying to run your fastest mile evah!

So that's what I'm doing for the about the first 1000 feet. My Garmin tells me I averaged a 6:19 pace the first 1000 feet. I do wonder how much was lost in my effort.

My reaction is what lost the mile for me. After I was free from passing people, I ran @ a 5:15 average pace for @ 1000 feet. Way too fast for me! Segments of that 1000 feet was faster than a 5 minute pace for a few hundred feet. Again, I can't do that and maintain!

And the last 1/2 mile was proof of that. I ran @ a 6:24 pace. My calculation was that I thought I was about 10 seconds behind at the half way point and I guess I was right. And although I ran really steady that last 1/2 mile, even steadily picked up the pace by around 5 -10 seconds, I couldn't find any reserve to run harder when I saw the finish line. It just wasn't there.

I suppose you may think that I'm unhappy with my result based on what I have written so far. But I am honestly not. I do feel like I have unfinished business, but it was still quite the accomplishment for me. I had not started training for this pace at all until 3 weeks ago. Prior to that I had been doing 10k training and had run intervals of 400 yards at @ 6:30 pace and 1k at @ 7 minute pace. And that was the fastest intervals I had ever been involved in. A six minute pace was a little bit of a stretch, yet if I didn't screw up the beginning of this race, I just may have done it???????

This is not my last mile race. And it may not even be my last mile race this year! Duluth in September?

Official results:

Average Pace 06:19
Overall Place 429 out of 2358
Gender Place 356 out of 1123
Age Group Place 53 our of 132 males 40-44

I have a couple of pics that I stole from Julie. It was great to meet you in person Julie and I'm amazed we noticed each other as there were a lot of people there. I'm also glad that I found you online. I'm blogging a little bit more now that I have found a new group of people that still do blog. A lot of my blogging peeps have petered out and/or Facebook took over. Facebook is part of my blogging problem too, but I love it. The old friends I have found there continues to amaze me. Regardless, I've wanted to blog some more and now feel more motivated.

For those of you that are a lot faster than me. Sure, you try getting 195 pounds moving down the street! ;-)

I don't know who the guy on my left was? Nice guy though. My running advice to him. "If you don't make it to the tracks before the train comes by, you're running too slow"

Yep, I'm helpful like that.

Proprioceptive Cues

2010-05-06T20:39:00.000-07:00

I use (as everyone should) proprioceptive cues to help improve my stride. I think that I can safely say that these cues have improved my running form more than any other aspect that I have learned. At the same time, it's a subtle, slow improvement compared to Yoga, strength workouts, etc.

Why? Because they require concentration and discipline. And that concentration and discipline is why I run to begin with. It clears your mind of "other things" but at the same time fills your mind with the ammunition to run faster.

I have a few favorite cues to show as examples if you're not familiar with them.

1) Falling Forward: This one is simple, just leaning a little forward at the ankles (not at the waist). This cue is great for preventing over striding.

2) Navel to Spine: This is concentrating on pulling your belly button inward toward your spine while running. What is does is use your deep abs that stabilize the pelvis and lower spine. This is turn puts more of the force you generate to the ground.

3) Pulling the Road: This is imagining that the road is a giant non-motorized treadmill. A non-motorized treadmill requires you to pull the belt back with your feet. It teaches you to generate thrust earlier and minimize ground contact time.

4) Floppy Feet: Simple, concentrate on relaxing your feet. I always found this amazing. I would concentrate on this late in a long run and find my pace quicken without any additional effort. But remember this isn't floppy legs, use your legs to generate the force, relax your feet.

5) Butt Squeeze: This is concentrating on squeezing the cheek on the side of the body that your foot is landing. It primarily helps yo build stability in the hips, pelvis and lower back. Again, the result is more force to the ground instead of wasted internally.

There are more! And I can talk about them or explain the above further. But what I want to talk about is one that I haven't found that helpful, until now.

I am trying to increase my speed for the TC 1 Mile run! And I haven't had the time to make it out to the track so the treadmill is my buddy right now. Today I ran 6 intervals at a 6 minute pace for .25 mile with a 2 minute fast walk or faster break in between. My other fast intervals of each week has been 5 minute pace intervals of about .15 miles. These are faster than what I am use to running. Much faster.

These are TOUGH for me! And I start feeling like that I can't make it at times. That is when DRIVING THE THIGH is the most helpful cue. It's weird! Would you think that concentrating on making a more forceful (forward and up) movement of your thigh, make that much of a difference? I promise you, it does. It's amazing how more strong you feel when you do this. Basically a more forceful upward swing cause an equal and opposite reaction on the down swing of the leg onto the road. It may be that at first, this cue only works when working hard on short intervals but I am sure that it will help for long runs in the future as well.

That's all for now! My next post is likely telling you how the 1 mile run went. I know I can run a 6 minute mile. I don't know if I can do it by next Thursday!

P.S. Have you met Julie? She seems pretty sweet and it is energizing to see her posts because of the excitement that she has about running. Now to get her to a triathlon! ;-)
Oh, and she has some free swag for you to win!

Can I run a 6 minute mile?

2010-04-23T19:01:00.000-07:00

Can I run a 6 minute mile?

That is what I am going to find out in 20 days!

TC 1 Mile!

I have my doubts. I have been trying to run faster but I have not been training on such a short distance. The 5K and 10K has been my focus since that is a more common distance in triathlons of course.

Based on my training and the McMillan Running Calculator I can expect to run about a 6:38 mile.

Despite these facts, I took a week off of running. Had a bad cold and just felt like I needed it.

We shall see what 2 weeks of training and a couple of days of rest can do!

An Actual Race Report!

2010-04-17T18:31:00.000-07:00

(Pre-Postscript. The results are up 47:48 for a 7:42 pace.)

This is my third race of the year and finally I'm writing a race report.

Today I ran the Cemstone Run For Others 10k. The 5k was an option too! It's called the Run for Others because it raises money for Habitat for Humanity. It's also cheap, thus easier to contribute more to the cause.

Anyway, another race that has the option to pick up your race packet the day of the race. Thank you!!! I love that for small races.

I have to say that I was worried about the 10k for several reasons. First and foremost, this was my first 10k. I feel like I know how hard to work on a 5k now, but I obviously don't have the experience with the 10. Secondly, I started having a really bad cold, including congestion, sore throat and other weird symptoms. The most concerning was the fluid loss. I was peeing all the time the last 48 hours. In trying to increase my fluid intake, I just peed more! I was up every 2 hours the last two nights with a full bladder! Seriously!

I guess it worked out anyway! I had a good race. It's nice finding out 3 minutes before the start that it's really hilly. At the start line, all I can see is uphill. Funny! So, I took off taking it easy to see how I feel. I figured that running an 8 minute mile average 10k would be a good first 10k for me. After that first up hill there seemed to be more downhill than anything else on the way out.

First mile: 8:06

An important aspect on this race for me was to hold steady on the hills then let the hills take me down by increasing my leg turnover and shortening my stride.

Second mile: 7:49

Third mile: 7:57
This may seem like a slowdown but this mile was a lot hillier including an 8% slope over 2 minutes.

Fourth mile: 7:32
Feeling strong. In fact I was feeling stronger than at any other point of the race.

Fifth mile: 7:51
That was a long mile. It seemed to take forever. No steep hills here but it seemed to be rolling more.

Sixth mile: 7:46
I knew I was finishing under 50 minutes but by how much? Will I beat 48 minutes?

The disparity distance. According to my Garmin I ran 6.12 miles. But this is a certified course saying that I ran 6.2 miles. Final distance at a pace of 7:17. I don't know what else to say except that sometimes my garmin is wrong (which means some of those miles were faster than I have recorded) and, I count this as 6.2 miles.

I'm happy with this race. The 5k and 7k races last month was at a 7:34 pace and this race was a 7:41. A 5 second per minute slow down is not bad at all for the hills and increased distance. (Did I say that it was about a 650 feet uphill and 650 foot downhill race?)I worked hard but also seemed in control. I was stronger every mile despite the hills and despite mile 5 feeling like forever. I liked my form and I liked how I ran in my new shoes! It was great feeling the ground so well and having the sole flexibility but also feeling comfort. I am sold on Saucony!

What's also funny about my shoes, is how much attention they got. I was getting comments before and then during the race. Many commented about how fast they look. I had to keep saying that they are faster than I am, which seemed to produce quite a few chuckles. Even during the race, an older male volunteer yelled out, "there's my favorite shoes"!

I'm not used to that kind of attention. I was thinking, so this is what it's like to be Steve in a Speedo!

The church where this event is had a pancake breakfast. How awesome for a post race. So what did I do? I left. Had to help some boy scouts earn their bicycling merit badge.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

I'm a FREAK!

2010-04-11T16:43:00.000-07:00

I don't believe that I have ever talked about my feet. Well, here on post 120, I'm finally admitting it.

I'm a freak!

(In addition to that I'm a Brooks traitor and have ethical problems of not buying shoes frequently enough! More on that later!)

My wife, Angela, doesn't think that anyone will be too awfully surprised. I haven't asked her exactly what she means by that???????

;-)

Here we go! I have two different feet!!!!

And I don't mean that by left and right, although that's true too.

Feet!

So here it is! They are different sized! And not just a little but dramatically!

The "Shoe Guy" at the running store said that my feet probably aren't different sized when I'm sitting because then my arch on my left isn't collapsed. As you can see below, that's not so true!

So I wasn't able to (or at least shouldn't) get the neutral shoes that I wanted based on the fact that my left foot "collapses" a little bit. He said that I didn't need much support and would be a mistake to get too much because of my neutral right foot.

Right foot! Look above and below at the huge differences in my arch in the two feet as well.

Left foot!

So here is my old pair of Brooks Axiom shoe's! They have over 750 miles on them. That's right 750!!!!

That may be a few miles too many?

Out with the old

And here are my new Saucony's! I tried them on and instantly fell in love! (Storge)

I introduced them! The Brooks is still going to be around for everyday use!

But I didn't stop there! I bought some race shoes too! Look at these beauties!

Don't they look fast just sitting there? And they are super light! Saucony Fast twitch 4

Look, I don't look like THAT much of a freak!

I always forget that some of you aren't on facebook (do you really exist if your not on facebook?;-)

So I want to say Happy Golden Birthday to my 7 year old daughter. Here she is with her new American Girl Doll, Felicity (and her new dress).

Does Angela know how to bake or does she know how to bake?

If at first you don't suceed,

2010-04-07T17:03:00.000-07:00

Repeat Build 1

It's a little odd not having a specific race plan to follow during the first 3 months of the year. Well, weird for me as compared to last year when I was preparing for the Stillwater Marathon in May! Even now, I have plans as far as workouts but have not assigned any "A" races except for the October marathon. Everything else, at this time, is just about working on speed, strength and racing strong.

Granted, this may change! But.......,

there are some sweet advantages to not having "A" races planned. Perhaps I'm really screwing up and should hire a coach (no money for that) but with my built in training flexibility, I've been able to make adjustments as I wish. The funny thing is, prior years I may have not been motivated enough to have this flexibility. In other words, I may have let my week to week workouts be too flexible and not attained the fitness that I want too. This goes in line with other changes as well. Previously, if I forgot my hr monitor, then forget it. Today, well I figure since I don't do heart rate training anyway, what can hurt from missing one workout without it?

To avoid getting to my point even longer, every runner seems to have their strengths and weaknesses! What are yours? ................................................................... ................................... .............................(Dora or Diego pause)....................................................... ...............................(If you have young kids you know what I mean)...............................;-)

Some athletes strengths are endurance, some are intervals speed and some are better at the tempo runs. My running weakness seems to be the tempo runs! It is rare for me to have a bad long, slow run and 1/4 mile intervals r da bomb! Tempo runs, well, I usually fall a little short of my goal pace.

Which is exactly what happened a few weeks ago. After a great long run on Sunday, a rest day on Monday and then a strong 10 X 400m one weeknight, Friday nights 5 - 1k intervals fell short. In fact I only started the 4th interval when I just cut it stopped. I didn't have it. Again. Again as in this just wasn't one of those days, it was one of those days AGAIN. I was a little frustrated. Or maybe really frustrated!

What to do? My recovery runs are getting on the easy side. My intervals are hard but strong and I can finish them and then go to work if I do them in the morning. But my Tempo runs (longer intervals at this stage of training) tell me that I'm trying to run too fast.

Why not repeat build 1? Which is exactly what I did. My running plan, like many, has several phases.

Base phase
Build 1 phase
Build 2 phase
Peak phase
Taper phase

Each of these phases have an objective and are 4 weeks with the 4th week a recovery week. So for example, In build 1 I would have my 400m run at 3k pace, my 1k run at 10k pace and a base pace endurance run as my main training days for the run. For the 400m runs the weeks would increase from 6 to 8 to 10 intervals with a recovery week of 6. The 1k intervals would start with 3 to 4 to 5 with a recovery week of 4.

So, I just repeated the whole build phase and this past week I was able to run my 5 - 1k intervals at a 7 minute pace! This week is recovery week. WooHoo!

The next challenge of course is build 2. For build 2, my short intervals become 1k intervals at 5k pace (instead of 400m at 3k) and my long intervals become 2k at 10 k pace. Just 3 intervals each for the first week though. Those 2k's at a 7 minute pace kind of scare me.

But they don't scare me enough not to do it!

Racing - It does a body good!

2010-03-27T06:38:00.000-07:00

Hi Everybody!

First, I am not going to comment on how I am going to post more often. I say this, then I don't post for 2 months again. We will just have to see what happens.

I am actually going to only run 1 marathon this year and that will be in the fall. I'm pretty sure that it will be the Whistlestop Marathon. I may then do another marathon in January again. Rock n Roll Arizona.

For now, it's all about speed. Or at least my version of it. I started running/triathlon in 2007! In late 2007, I knew I wanted to race an Ironman distance race. I even signed up once! Nothing has really changed except that I am finding myself surprisingly patient. Ironman distance race in 2010? Nope! 2011? Pretty doubtful! 2012? Well, I'd say a greater than 50% chance. I'm looking at a possible Rev3 race though I should do an "official" Ironman once. Or maybe it's not that important. The distance is the distance, why should I care about a trademark?

Anyway, back to speed. I want the speed to make it easier to increase my distance to an Ironman distance. If I go into Ironman training with a 1/2 Ironman time close to 5 hours than to 6 hours, then all the more easier it will be to finish the full distance. Right? Plus the most competitive and successful long distance races came from a background of shorter distance training! I think I should copy their approach.

It's working. I am only in the beginning of my training and have run a 7:34 paced hilly 5k and a 7:34 paced 7k. I plan on racing a 7:30 pace 10k next month. There are 3 really cool things about this!

Being in the front of the pack is fun. Oh, I'm not in the very front but to be on the 1st page of the posted 5k results and to be the 208th person out of > 2500 to finish the 7k is just a lot different than being the 2000th person to finish. Nothing wrong with being # 2000, or the last for that matter, but their is nothing wrong with being the 208th too!
I have not been training at a steady pace yet, so I think 7:34 is a little slow compared to what I'll be running by summer.
Since running these two races, my interval training has been easier. I've been good at my 1/4 (6:30pace) mile intervals but the 1km (7 pace) intervals always kill me. These two races seemed to have kicked my 1km intervals back into gear. When I finished my five 1k intervals on Friday, I wanted to be finished, but I was able to finish and with a little energy to spare for a change.

I really do have a lot to talk about so I'm pretty sure I'll be posting again soon!!!!!????? ;-)

I want to talk about diet. As in what we eat, not dieting! Some of this is triggered by this article.
I commented on it, but as usual, when sleepy, my grammar is awful. Regardless I have more to say about it.

Have a great weekend!

90

2010-01-13T19:46:00.000-08:00

I am a little over 2.5 years into the first time that I decided it is time to get out the door and run!

That first year was hard! ITB, back pain, shin splints and worst of all, lacking the knowledge to use bodyglide!

The second year I had a bike accident causing a break in my scapula and collarbone. I hate mentioning that because I'm tired of it, but it's significant. I lost most of a summer of training.

This past year, I had a full year of training! And the difference is amazing. A breakthrough is coming.

I can feel it.

I have read, and attended classes, and watched training videos and I think I even have dreamt??? about having a stride count (cadence) of 90 per minute while running.

So I made it a goal! And I bought this!

Apparantly it was a goal that I couldn't reach. Day after day, month after month, no 90. I would have an average of @ 84-85 and maybe a high of 87-90 during short intervals. Sure, there were a couple of times that I would purposely have a really short fast stride but it was a ridiculous stride and one that I couldn't maintain anyway.

There have been some coaches that have suggested that tall runners may have a slightly smaller cadence!? Honestly, I forgot all the explanations that I had for not reaching 90. Too slow? My height as was just mentioned? I'm too sexy for 90? I don't know.

But it doesn't matter!

I am running a cadence of 90 now!

Even more during my 1/4 mile intervals at the metrodome last week I had a cadence of 96 or 97!!!!!

My easy (recovery) runs @ 9:15 pace, a cadence of 89!!!!!

I don't specifically know what it's going to mean for me when it comes to my races this year.

But I have a pretty good idea (massive pr's) and I'm incredibly excited to find out!

I'll be back!

2010-01-04T16:02:00.000-08:00

And soon!

Promise!

(to all 4 of you)

I like Off Season!

2009-11-14T14:22:00.000-08:00

I took 3 weeks off from running after the Columbus Marathon! This is in addition to the biking and swimming that I haven't done since September 13th!

The first 10 days were easy! After that, I was starting to go a little stir crazy and I wonder if waking up at @ 3 am was partly due to not being active? I do realize that I could have done other physical activity but it just didn't happen!!!!!!

Anyway, I'm back at it and I have different goals for all 3 disciplines.

Swam twice this week. I am just working on form and muscle memory so I haven't swam more than 500 yards. I am definitely feeling the improvement but the problem is that as soon as I'm a little short of breath my poor form returns and I too easily become short of breath because I lose my form when I take a breathe. This will pay off though and I know I'm close.

In addition to swimming, I am working out with weight to swim specific exercises as well as counter- swim exercises. I have this book called Championship Triathlon Training. No, I won't ever be a Champion but that doesn't mean that I can't train as one. At times anyway. I digress. So I'm doing exercises that help with the swim but also counter the forward shoulder rotation (and thus rotator cuff injury) that can happen due to all the swimming.

Running is all about speed this winter. I can't run fast for any sustained time and I need to change that. So my plan is to run a 6 minute pace for 2 minute intervals and to increase the amount of intervals I can do weekly. In addition, I will be racing short races that I was introduced to by Steve and his blog. These are Charities Challenge races. They are indoors and involve the 200, 400, 800 and 1 mile runs. I can do this since I have most weekends off now! ;-) My initial plan is to attend all 5 indoor events but either way this should help my speed considerably over the next couple of months.

Biking is all about the base. My bike is set up in the basement. It's football season, the netflix que is updated and I'm ready. It is my biking base that actually hurt me this year because of my focus on the swim and run. Having a good base this winter and then not overdoing the running next spring should make a big difference.

Immediate race plans?

Probably Tri-U-Mah
Highly likely Fargo Marathon
New Bri Tri
Buffalo Olympic
Chisago Long Course

and more!

Columbus Marathon Recap!

2009-10-22T20:04:00.000-07:00

I was fairly quiet prior about the marathon because I didn't want to have excuses! I wanted to just take what I had and go with it.

Training for this marathon was a bit different then training for my first marathon of the year in May! I had over-trained for Stillwater and was now slightly under-trained for Columbus. So you may (or may not) ask "what do you mean by under-trained Tim"? Well, let me show you! Here are my weekly total miles starting with the week of the marathon (including the marathon).
Marathon week - 30.20
-1 week - 24.61
-2 weeks - 19.20
-3 weeks - 8.00
-4 weeks - 14.24
-5 weeks - 13.10 (this was the half iron distance triathlon)
-6 weeks - 25
Most of the prior weeks were good enough since the miles didn't need to be that high at that time. Things just kept working against me; a little injured from the 1/2 iron, work hours (schedule), a funeral, family schedules and more. I was a bit worried that I was increasing my miles as the marathon was approaching. And even then, I ran less than my plan or else it would have just been too much. So I just made sure to temper my plan so that it tried to resemble a taper.

As you may already know, I will not have work schedule as an excuse anymore. Next Monday I start my new day position. Yes there are on call hours but this is a lot different than my 12 hour, days, eves, nights position. It is M-F days, one night a week on call, one weekend every 4-5 weekends on call. This is going to be great for me, my diet, my family and because of all that, my training. (amongst other important things in my life).

I can't even begin to express how happy I am about this!

I was also actually purposely training @ 10 seconds slower paces for all my runs. But this is not an excuse, it is a positive. Yes, my miles were much less, but my key workouts were phenomenally better. Especially my tempo runs. God, I love tempo runs. When do you feel better or stronger as a runner than after a tempo run?

Both my interval runs and tempo runs were on target. For the next marathon, I'm going to nail these runs and get my miles in as well.

I suppose that I should talk about.....

The Actual Marathon!

I really wanted to run a 4 hour marathon despite my miles, and I had planned on going for it. But I also know that I haven't run a whole marathon without run/walking the last 6-8 miles. So my plan was to run @ 9:15 pace the first 5k, be up to a 9:00 by 10k and hopefully hold that pace, if not actually increase to an 8:45 or 8:50. My marathon pace is suppose to be @ 8:35 based on intervals and tempo runs.

This was a very crowded start which is probably my only complaint regarding the marathon. There was no way for me to get to my pace group that I thought I might join (still not sure about joining a pace group).

The sun was just coming up as the start gun fired.

A few minutes later and I was off. It only took a mile before I was warming up but I waited until mile 2 to get rid of my sweatshirt contribution to the homeless. My Garmin wasn't working yet due to that it was "lost" in Columbus and it just wouldn't make a satellite connection. So: mile 2 was an 8:56 pace.
Mile 3 9:00
Mile 4 8:53 Loving the support in this neighborhood. Reminded me of Twin Cities.
Mile 5.... What? I gotta pee already? I peed moments before the marathon started! 9:47, Very short porta potty wait. This marathon rocks.
Mile 6 8:51 and my heart rate was still only averaging 153. I should pick it up just a little bit.
Mile 7 9:00 Back onto Broad street. A small amount of uphill but only compared to the non hills prior to this.
Mile 8 8:57
Mile 9 Had to pee again 9:28
Mile 10 8:54
Mile 11 9:05 Just about back to High Street and the 1/2 way mark.
Mile 12 9:56 Guess what I had to do? Also, I spotted my son and dad and decided to take off my long sleeve shirt. It was getting warm. Sorry about the sweaty shirt buddy! Thankfully he had my backpack to keep it in.
Mile 13 9:08 Halfway done and feeling decent. The only thing I didn't like is that I continued to feel tired, like I just needed a little nap. Caffeine may have helped but then again with my apparent diuresis and then later intestinal problems maybe it's a good thing that I didn't.
Mile 14 9:12 Passing quite a few people taking walk breaks. Now I know what a runner feels when passing a walker. I always wondered during my first two marathons. They feel absolutely NOTHING and are too busy doing their own work. It may have been part of their plan anyway?
Mile 15 9:10 Not feeling bad, but not feeling like I should either. Especially since my hr was still only 156. Which is really impressive considering all the college girls around cuz we were in dorm country. (For the record, I'm married, 42 and was running so I could really care less about the college girls. Which is fortunate also because they could really care less about me. But for some reason, I just still like to joke that I do care). Anyway!
Mile 16 11:26 That's right. I had issues! And it had nothing to do with my heart, my breathing or my legs.
Mile 17 9:11 Ran right next some of the gates of OSU stadium, which was kind of cool (unless you don't think its cool, of course). The college football history there is just amazing.
Mile 18 9:34 Another visit! Let me say right now that this marathon is well planned! Plenty of porta potties and no waiting once the half marathoners were done. Once I was done here, I knew this is where I fell apart with my first two marathons. So, my first goal was to not run/walk before 22 miles.
Mile 19 9:22 - A little better
Mile 20 9:16 - Feeling Stronger
Mile 21 9:02 - Hmmm, this is how I want to feel. Reach mile 22 Tim! I was really happy at this moment. Running at a 9 mile pace this late in the marathon!!! Woohoo!!!
Mile 22 10:22 - Yep, bathroom.
Mile 23 9:07 recovered
Mile 24 10:36 Where is IronJenny and her exlax when you need her? This is the first time I've had this problem during a race! I know what to do about this so it doesn't happen again.
Mile 25 9:43. I'm just done, but I'm also happy as I have, except for porta potty breaks, run this whole marathon. This is what it's like to run through the pain. I like it, but I want it over with.
Mile 26 9:22 I was not feeling any almost done glee. I was ok, I think, but I just wanted it done. Marathons should be 24.2 miles! ;-)

Mile 26.2 not sure as my Garmin was "off" compared to marathon due to it would connect to the satellites the first mile. The finish was downhill!

One of the amazing things about the porta potty stops was how hard it was to get started again. It was easier to just keep running and my pace was pretty decent if I didn't have to stop. This fact was a lot different than during my first 2 marathons were it was hard to start and easy to walk. At the water stops, I stopped less than 5 seconds if I stopped at all.

My hr hit 160 for an average at mile 18 but stayed around 160 until 163 in mile 25 and 26.

If you want a relatively flat fall marathon with 60 bands, 22 water/gatorade stations, great volunteers, great people cheering for you and porta potties with little to no wait, then Columbus should be in your future. In 2008, 20% of participants Boston Qualified. Personally, I don't think it's all course. Ohio is into sports and I think that there may also be a higher percentage of good and fast runners. Nevertheless it is a flat course so that has to be a big factor.

I plan on going there again sometime, but I'm thinking Detroit next year. I have family in Windsor Ontario that I haven't seen in 10 years.

Thank you to Angela, my kids, my Dad and my Sis Erin and her daughter for being there. You guys don't realize how much it helps to know that you are at the finish when there are miles and miles to go.

Improving is fun!

2009-10-20T04:21:00.000-07:00

Soon I will have a post on my marathon thoughts. But for now, just a comparison of my first 3 marathons that I believe shows the work that I have put in to try to understand and conquer the distance. I finally did it. I ran a marathon. There is NOTHING wrong with run/walking, it's just that it has never been my goal.

Twin Cities - October 5 2008
bib number:   5033
age:   41
gender:   M
location:   Roseville, MN
overall place:   7332 out of 7979
division place:   751 out of 784
gender place:   4516 out of 4806
time:   5:26:52
pace:   12:08
chip time:   5:17:52
5k:   32:01
10k:   1:03:42
half:   2:18:17
30k:   3:19:30
20 mile:   3:39:09

Stillwater - May 24 2009
bib number:    275
age:    41
gender:    M
location:    Roseville, MN
overall place:    295 out of 453
division place:    47 out of 68
gender place:    222 out of 314
time:    4:28:21
pace:    10:15
10 k:    55:39
13.1:    2:01:14
20 m:    3:11:22
last 10k:    1:17:00
gun time :    4:29:12

Columbus - October 18, 2009
bib number:    2457
age:    42
gender:    M
location:    Roseville, MN
overall place:    2193 out of 4076
division place:    253 out of 387
gender place:    1588 out of 2563
time:    4:08:41
pace:    9:30
10k:    57:26
half:    2:01:21
20 mile:    3:08:01

I can deal with being "slow" (though I don't want to be, just saying my self-esteem is not at risk here). It's the effort, ability to keep going through pain, discomfort, doubt that means a lot to me. So lets compare last 10k's. TCM = 1 hour 37 minutes, Stillwater = 1 hour 17 minutes and Columbus = 1 hour.

I improved my marathon personal record (pr) by 20 minutes. Based on my tempo runs and other workouts, I think I can easily improve by another 15 or 20 minutes. After that, I really have some work to do. Especially if I want to Boston Qualify (BQ), which is a 3:20 marathon.

We shall see!

Square Lake

2009-09-04T11:11:00.000-07:00

I am racing the Long Course at Square Lake on September 13th. I am doing a swim and bike taper but not a run taper as I don't want to ruin my marathon training.

My first long distance tri! Heck, I haven't even completed an Olympic distance triathlon yet.

Despite this, I keep forgetting that I'm not racing this! I'm just doing it. I don't care if I even take 7 hours, though I don't think that'll be the case. If I can have my legs even after the long bike, I think I can even break 6 hours relatively easy. Unfortunately although a 56 mile bike is easy for me, it's not easy enough to run a 2 hour or sub 2 hour 1/2 marathon.

Just enjoy it Tim, just enjoy it!

TurtleMan

2009-08-11T06:24:00.000-07:00

Wow!

This was a foul weather triathlon to the extreme!

It was also a triathlon that re-enforced the fact that I made some pretty big mistakes this spring. My bike is not good enough! This past spring, I chose a marathon training plan that was too advanced, as in too much, of a build for only my second marathon. I went from a 500 mile running 2008 to a 500 mile running by the end of May 2009! Therefore I neglected the bike and it's showing. Obviously!

I really wanted to swim. The course had been shortened from a .9 mile swim to a .5 mile swim. My only other tri so far this year had been a .5 mile swim and I am confident that I have cut minutes off of that! But no dice! It will have to wait til next year as some incredible storms and lightening forced a cancel of the swim.

It was actually kind of fun waiting to see what we'll do and talking to people I normally would not have had the time to meet.

It was too difficult to change the tri into a true duathlon. There wasn't much of a run option except to have a 5 mile run then the bike then a 2nd five mile run. I would have totally gotten into that as a challenge but understandably that would have been a problem for many people. They weren't able to do it anyway as it would have really affected the police and volunteers, especially on the bike course.

So the swim was basically a run from the start into the water and out through the swim finish chute. Apparently, I really took my time as it took me a whole 40 seconds which placed me in 445th place. ;-)

You know there were times during the bike when I was like "this is so fun"! I mean how many opportunities do you get to ride your bike in the middle of normally busy roads during a storm and feel relatively safe from cars? But then there were other times when I was freaked. Large puddles that I can't see the bottom of! Turns when it's wet! My accident last year still having somewhat of an impact on my bike comfort! After the race I thought I had an 18.4 mph which was rather disappointing for me. It turns out that I had a 19.3 mph which is a lot closer to the 20 that I expected. If I race this next year, 22 average at least. I guarantee it.

Look how dark it was during some portions of the bike!

Another fun part of the bike was that I knew a good portion of the course as I was close to 3 houses of friends (from small group) at varying parts of the course. Somehow in my mind, knowing that I was close was kinda like having them there cheering, it boosted me!

The run was awesome in that I was able to run an 8:30 pace for the 5 miles after biking relatively hard (though not hard enough). There was a few times that it was tough for me but I just kept plugging away. My slowest time was from 4 to 4.5 miles I think. I did not wear my garmin. I'm trying to get away from wearing it on tri's shorter than olympic distance and go by feel instead. It's too much of a bother for short course to my way of thinking!

I felt pretty good about my race until I saw my age group ranking! 55/64 I expect more of myself than this but I also have to remember that Turtleman brings in some serious athletes. There were lots of hard bodies there and the competition was more than what I am use too. Next year, I plan on breaking 50%! I do have to remind myself that I have not tapered for my races the last 2 weeks and am nowhere near peaking!

Distance    Intermediate
Clock Time    1:51:36
Overall Place    373 / 486
Gender Place    285 / 349
Division Place    55 / 64
Divtotal    66
Sextotal    371
Swimtime    0:40
Swimpace    1:20
Swimplace    445
Tran1    1:33
Biketime    1:05:13
Bikemph    19.3
Bikeplace    390
Tran2    1:43
Runtime    42:30
Runpace    8:30
Runplace    340
Penalty

The big point of pride for me this past weekend is the fact that I was able to run 12+ miles the following day, Sunday. My marathon training plan called for a 14 mile run but I knew that I shouldn't expect that with racing just the day before. At the same time I wanted to try. So I did an out and back. Ended up running 10 miles with only 2 minute stops at mile 4 and 8 (planned). My heart rate wanted to stay high after that. Too high. It was quite hot and humid which us Minnesotans are not so use to this year. I then ran another mile, ended up at Lake Johanna and decided to hop in the water. I seemed to attract a bit of attention but I'm not sure why? I did keep my pants on when I was stripping everything else off!

After the awesome feeling of cold water, I ran one more mile to get home and then walked to cool down. So 12 miles run, about 2 miles walked.

Must... Peel... away.... from Facebook!

2009-08-05T17:24:00.000-07:00

Tim Litzinger has been amused by other's comments about being a bad blogger! Compared to me, these people are angels!

But enough to the facebook talk!

I am once again in marathon training! But can I just train for a marathon? No! I throw in a little 1/2 mary here, a sub-olympic tri there and a dash of a long course tri for a little more spice.

The half marathon is done. Last Saturday, I ran the Urban Wildland in Richfield, Minnesota! I pr'd with a 1:54:48, which is cool. I was really strong up until mile 9 when I just withered in strength. This makes sense as my training has mostly been shorter intervals. The prior week I had run 8 - 400 meter intervals at 3k pace on Tuesday and then Thursday ran 4 - 1 mile intervals at 10K pace. My longest run was 12 miles but this was just at a base pace. As you can see, running 8 to 9 miles of a half mary pace would be hitting a limit on preparedness for Urban.
In fact, my training plan called for running a 5K this weekend (I laugh in the face of training plans apparently, hahahaha). The funny thing is, I love this race still but not as much as I thought I did! Last year, I loved it because of all the turns and distractions, etc. This year, those turns and distractions were, well, distracting. They slowed me down damn it! It takes effort to speed back up!
Regardless, have to be happy with the result! A 6+ minute PR from the same course as last year. There were times that I wanted to stop, but I just kept going! Hopefully this all bodes well for the Columbus Marathon in mid October.

This Saturday, I have the Turtleman Triathlon! It is suppose to be very close to an Olympic distance with a 1.5k swim, a 38k bike and an 8K run. However the swim has been shortened due to our very low lake levels, so I have know idea what to call the distance. I have only competed in 3 sprints up to this point and 1 indoor of 30 minutes each discipline. Turtle Lake is normally a bit on the disgusting side and I expect it to be so much worse this year. Fortunately it has been sprayed and apparently we do not have to worry about "swimmers itch". We'll see.

Angela is close to her 3-day Breast Cancer Walk goal. Yea!

So, I'll plan on updating this blog on my Turtleman results right away this weekend and will try to be a more regular contributer to the blog world. I know all 3 of you miss me ;-)

Midlife Crisis Over?

2009-07-01T20:24:00.000-07:00

Otherwise titled, "finally getting back to housework"!

My wife teases me about running and triathlon being part of my midlife crisis! And in some respects there may be a little truth to it. Well, not the crisis part. A crisis would have involved in making drastic changes in my life, like with career or marriage! But I did have a "midlife" evaluation and decided to make changes regarding the direction of my health, how my time is spent and in what way do I want to be an example to my kids.

I think I made the right decision. Just "working out" didn't work out so I became involved with better goals and thus running and triathlon!

These changes to my daily routine was pretty hard on me at first. It was just tiring, exhausting to me. I now can exercise AND get things done around the house. I did do dishes, laundry etc. but projects were put on hold.

And I present to you example 1:

This is our gas fireplace shortly after building the house (2002 or 3)! BTW, when I say building, I mean it. With help, we did the electrical, insulation, sheet rock, mudding and paint, hardwood floors and tile and finally finish work.

The plan was to put a cabinet above for the TV, etc.

We didn't like it.

So, I did this!

As you can see, not even finished with the sheet rock for Christmas of 2005!

Now here is Christmas of 2006

Look, I finished the sheet rock!

And here we are Christmas 2007

I think we did a good job of hiding the sheet rock screws! Don't you? And oh, take a look at my gut because it is GONE!

In 2008, we largely avoided pictures by the fireplace. I think that Angela may have even been a little pithy about the issue. ;-)

Here's one that snuck through. Still no mantle for my wife!

Finally, in 2009, we will be able to have a Christmas picture by the fireplace without dry wall screws. The pics are a little blurry. I may replace them tomorrow but you get the idea!

Those taking a good luck may notice a couple of details I need to finish. A cover for the dimmer switch for a start. I promise Angela, it'll be done by the end of the weekend. No waiting another 4 years.

Now for the pantry!

10 days off and free shoes!

2009-06-18T06:05:00.000-07:00

I am on my 9th of 10 days off from work. Took a few vacation days to be with the family once school was out and to get a few things done around the house.

Still haven't done much training since Stillwater and now the NewBriTri but that doesn't mean I haven't done anything. I've been on a few bike rides including two with my son on the Gateway. He hasn't been biking, he's almost 14 and he is on my older bike that weighs like 12 pounds more, so we covered 14 miles the first ride and then 25 the next. That is the distance for the trail from the Maplewood Community Center to Pine Point Park and back. He rocked the the last 2/3's of the return trip. I am going to have to find a road bike for this kid soon as he'll do much better than I could possibly hope to imagine for me within a couple years. And I can imagine really good! ;-)

I also went to Lake Minnetresta at the Gunther's for the weekly Wednesday a.m. OWS. I plan on being there most Wednesdays.

Pictures to come.

Oh, almost forgot. Steve of the infamous Steve in a Speedo blog is having a contest to be put in the drawing to win a $75.00 gift certificate to OnlineShoes.com.

Race Schedule

2009-06-10T20:47:00.000-07:00

Having an easy race schedule this year!

June 6th - New Bri Tri (obviously I have already completed this)

August 1 - Urban Wildland 1/2 marathon

August 8 - Turtleman Triathlon (long swim, I chose this because it hits my weakness hard)

October 18 - Columbus Marathon

And then likely the addition of some 5K's and/or 10K's sprinkled in.

2009-06-07T13:27:00.000-07:00

New Bri Tri!

I honestly forgot how fun a triathlon is. It's the Rock n' Roll of endurance sports! I realize that I have not been active long with endurance events with only 2 marathons, 1/2 marathon and now 3 sprint tri's but tri's have a completely different feel. I'm not sure why! Is it the transition area preparation?, Is it the music? Is it the instructions and cheering before the race? Is it the suits?, wetsuits?

Either way, there is an excitement at the beginning of the triathlon that just isn't rivaled by any marathon I've run or marathon start that I've witnessed.

And I was exceptionally blessed that my Dad and son were at the beach to watch me. I was able to see my wife, mil and daughters on the bike as well! That was sweet.

The Swim - I was just too chicken to go out and warm up! 48 degrees at start time is what I am told. The water was nice and warm, at least with a wet suit it was. My fear was not warming up but coming out of the water after my warmup.
Anyway, I somehow wasn't anxious. A little worried but not anxious. I was only in a lake twice last year before June 13th and those swims were not so good. My only other 2 open water swims were in 2007. Would I be able to swim freestyle? Or will I panic? I haven't been swimming because of marathon training, what if that hurts my progress. And so on!
Despite those thoughts, I was positive. I have swam .5 miles before with very little freestyle and survived. I knew at the least that I could get through it.
I swam all freestyle for the first 1/3, almost 1/2 actually. It was amazing!!! Once the horn blew I just casually ran out until it was time to dive in and then started freestyle. I was in a crowd but nobody on top of me so I just kept swimming using the other swimmers as my mark on what direction I was going. Suddenly I looked up to see where I was and "where the hell is the buoy?" I looked back and was already past it. Saweeet, freestyle is fast. So I went back to swimming. My form was nowhere right and I was still too "anxious" to swim with bilateral breathing and I was taking a breath with every stroke. Things weren't as well once I was at the turn around buoy. My second half was much slower but I was able to always go back to freestyle even if it were only for 25 to 50 yards at a time.
After the 2nd turn around to come back to the beach, I reverted to my old swimming. It's weird, how can I be trying to swim, think I'm going straight but be going left really strong? Once I was half way back I was able to sight other swimmers again and then go straighter!

Pro's:      I was able to do freestyle, something that alluded me on other OWS's!
              17:01 for 1/2 mile

Con's:     Not able to freestyle the whole 1/2 mile
                17:01 for 1/2 mile is still pathetic.

Future goal: 14 minutes, then I'll go for 12! In other words freestyle the whole 1/2 mile.

The Bike:

I just felt pretty good on the bike. There wasn't much for hills so that helped with my lack of training. And I just got stronger and faster with every mile. The truth is, I didn't want it to end. It was my first outdoor bike of the year and it felt awesome. In fact I think that it's only my second outdoor bike since the accident.
That needs to change!

Pro's:     About a 20mph with only having trained 60 miles in the last two months.
               I passed many and was passed by few!

Con's: I'm very lucky that the little hills we did have didn't kill me. They seemed to slow down a lot of people that were around me though!

Future Goal:     I can do this so much faster. I'll be back!

The Run:

I wasn't sure about the run at first! My legs felt so heavy and I was breathing hard. But after about 1/2 mile, they loosened up and I ended up finishing in 24 minutes. The time mat must have been bad at the finish because everybody was given a run score rounded to the minute. What if I ran the 3 miles in 23-1/2 minutes meaning I finished in less than 1:28.

Pros:     Felt good, the marathon training did me good here
             Passed many, only passed by a couple

Cons:   None, this is my speed now and I didn't push this race!

Overall: A good effort by me. Improvement shown in the swim and run. I need to learn to open water swim! I can do this race faster than 1:20 or better if I master the swim.

New Bri Tri!

2009-06-06T17:28:00.000-07:00

This was a fun race for several reasons! One definite reason is that it is only 5 miles from my house. In fact, the bike course has a turn around point that is less that half a mile from my house! Secondly, I forgot how fun triathlons are. I have only done 2 of them, both sprints in 2007. I was registered for 4 races last year but was unable to race them due to that silly little bicycling accident.

Anyhow, this was a solid performance by me. This is the first (outdoor) triathlon that really shows that I have some promise in competing. I don't mean for any age group awards, I just mean really good performances that's not too far from the top age groupers!

So here are the results:

New Bri Tri

Number of Finishers:    359
Number of Females:    116
Number of Males:    243
Average Time:    1:33:48

bib number:    227
age:    41
gender:    M
location:    Roseville, MN
overall place:    141 out of 359
division place:    14 out of 32
gender place:    117 out of 246
time:    1:28:18
swim:    17:01
trn1:    2:33
bike:    42:58
trn2:    1:17
run:    0:24

And here are some comparisons to 2007!

Average time in 2007 race = 1:47:47, my time = 2:04:39. This is just less than 17 minutes slower than the average participant

Averate time today at the NBT race = 1:33:48, my time = 1:28:18. Which is 5-1/2 minutes faster than the average participant.

Swim pace in 2007 = 2:13 pace, Swim pace today at NBT race = 1:56 (2:55 earlier that summer at lifetime)

Bike average in 2007 = 17, bike average today at NBT race = just missed 20. I think only biking 60 miles this past 2 months kind hurt my potential here ;-)

Run average in 2007 race = 10:19 pace per mile. Run average today at NBT race = 8 minute pace.

I loved this race today. A solid performance with the excitement of seeing an easy 5 minutes taken off the clock and even more if I work hard at it.

More details to come!

Not good at this!

2009-05-29T11:32:00.000-07:00

I am not good at asking for money!

Granted, It's not like I'm asking it for myself, but it's still hard.

My wife is walking the 3 day for Breast Cancer this year. That is 3 days of 20 miles each day!

There are so many worthy causes that we would like to donate to! However, this one hits a little closer to home for most of us. My mother just finished chemo after a double mastectomy, we have a friend, Cheryl, who is recovered and another friend Kari who is still dealing with breast cancer that has metastasized to the brain and spinal cord!

And now I have a coworker RN who is on LOA for surgery and treatment of breast cancer!

It seems to be everywhere!

If you are so inclined please donate toward her goal here!

Thank you!

A few Stillwater thoughts!

2009-05-27T06:29:00.000-07:00

Just a few thoughts to remind myself of later when I train for the next marathon.

1) I need to train more long, I didn't respect the distance well enough! I do respect the distance but I didn't. As I said in my last post, my long runs are on Sunday. I work every 3rd Sunday, 12 hour shifts, and then a Holiday or two fell on Sundays as well. That in itself is not a problem. The problem is that I didn't make up for it. I would just chalk it as a loss and figure the next week will be enough.

So here are my long runs this year:

1/25 - 10 miles 9:57 pace
2/22 - 13 miles 9:31 pace
3/1 -   10 miles, suppose to be 15 but I had a full day of downhill skiing with my son. Cross training. 9:09 pace
3/15 - 15.8 miles 9:18 pace
3/22 - 15 miles 9:18 pace
4/5 - 18 miles 9:42 pace
4/26 - 20 miles 9:27 pace
5/3   - 16 miles 9:18 pace. Suppose to be 22 miles!

And that is it!

2) My blood pressure is slowly getting better! 144/84 this morning, 145/86 yesterday! I'll keep you updated about this. The reality is that there is a certain level of caffeine that has a real negative effect on my blood pressure, and it appears to be cumulative. I can have a coke today, as long as I don't have 2 of them everyday. I am not sure why but this seems to have been "proven" by me a couple of times at which I ignore later thinking that it's stupid to think it's the caffeine. But I can't argue with my blood pressure.
I will still see my doctor about this but obviously it is not as urgent as if the bp had remained really high like the 170/110 I had one day last week.
One thing for sure, high bp like this could very well have had an effect on my training and may have been why I thought I was over-trained a few weeks ago.
Look at my paces above. These were long runs without a taper. You can see why I thought I could do a marathon at a better than a 4 hour pace!

3) My nutrition didn't feel too bad. They didn't have a free gel pack @ mile 18 like at TC so I should have prepared a little better. On this day I accepted oranges from people along the course. I forget what miles they were at but when I ate them they felt like they completely revived me. I just may have to bring my own orange slices on future marathons and training runs.

bib number:    275
age:    41
gender:    M
location:    Roseville, MN
overall place:    295 out of 453
division place:    47 out of 68
gender place:    222 out of 314
time:    4:28:21
pace:    10:15
10 k:    55:39
13.1:    2:01:14
20 m:    3:11:22
last 10k:    1:17:00
gun time :    4:29:12

No family out at this one so pictures are few. I don't mind. Do not think I'm putting myself down but I am just not photogenic. I am shocked when there is a photo of me that looks good.

Me and the highly loved IronJenny. I wonder if I always slouch or is it just for pics?

IronJenny, I and Dan whom IronJenny ran the marathon with!

If there are any pics of me on the course, I'll post them once they're put online!
Unless they are pics after mile 20! ;-)

Stillwater Marathon

2009-05-24T18:40:00.000-07:00

First things first.

If you run marathons, this one is worth the trip. Small town, incredibly well organized and beautiful.

You must be able to handle hills though!

And don't forget to train down hill as well as uphill!

Hmmm, I'm not sure if I know how to do this. I want to talk about everything I did wrong but I don't want it to be whinny excuses. It just is! I have learned so much with my training for this marathon. I am living in the moment that I finished a hard marathon, but I am also looking forward to faster times. I know I can do it.

I had a good training plan, I just didn't use it right. I need to adapt my plan around the fact that I work every third weekend and the fact that I work 2-12 hour shifts a week. Now 2-12 hour shifts may not seem like too much of a big deal but one weekend they are night shifts and the other weekend involves these shifts; 12, 12, 12, 8, off, 12, 8. Brutal for training.

I don't get how I can ever train for an Ironman! Work, kids, household. At this time, it is unimaginable.

I've got some figuring to do about that.

About the training plan! I really started enjoying the speed work, but when the tempo's starting getting longer like 8-9 miles (with 2 mile warm ups and cool downs), I couldn't do it. And when I did have a weekend, or I had to ski with my son, or there was a holiday, my long run was missed.

Summary of training: Too much increase in speed and not enough long runs.

Before the start!

I'm getting out of my event shell. I've been pretty quiet before races and usually don't see anybody I know. The exception would be my first marathon. Anyway I had a relaxing pre-race. Leah, a pharmacist at work and her fiance Ryan was there. Theresa, a co-worker RN was running her first marathon (she started running because of me) and I talked to strangers and offered sunscreen and like socialized and stuff. I also saw Miss Allycat after the race as well.

Anyway the marathon started about 10 minutes late. And boy did I love the beginning, all down hill for about 3 miles. It did concern me though, what goes down, must come up! (don't question me, I know science)

It was easy to be positive for the first 7 miles. First mile was 9:20 with an average heartbeat of 140, but by mile 9, I had a heartbeat of 161 with a 9:08 pace. A 161 pace meant that I should slow down. But I was fine! My fluids and nutrition was good, my pace was natural, easy and comfortable. I had some hip pain, which is really unusual for me. I assume it was because of all the downhill running. It hurt, but I was able to ignore it most of the time. There were even times that it was gone. I really slowed down at mile 12 and 13, but they were up hill. I finished at the halfway point with a 2:01:14! I needed to negative split so that I could finish in 4 hours. At this point I thought "why not"?

I was really wrong.

BTW, my half marathon was a pr by 7 seconds. I so could have run a halfie much quicker if I didn't have the other half!

Laps 13-19 were ok. I was a little slower but still averaging at @ 9:23 pace. I am a runner that is worst in the middle miles so I was really looking forward to after mile 20 for the downhill into town.

Unfortunately I was toast by the end of mile 20! My last 10K was 1:17

1:17! Ack

Compare this to my first 10K of 55:39

Not good! The funny thing is it wasn't my legs that were a problem. Yes they hurt but we all know what pain is!

The problem I think was my blood pressure. I have gone 4 days without Coke (Jenny look away). The reason is that my blood pressure has been out of control. Try like 170/100 as an example. The last time this happened to me I quit drinking diet drinks and my bp came down after about 10 days. I thought it was the diet. But now I was wondering if it was some kind of caffeine sensitivity, I thought maybe I was just having too much. Anyway as my week progressed I measure a bp of 140/95. Still too high but headed in the right direction.

My bp yesterday 160/100.

I didn't tell anybody!

Anyway during the last 10k, my hr was was only about 158, yet I was feeling like it was much higher. I was feeling my bp. It made feel a little faint. So I would walk (downhill, which really bothered me) for @.1 or .2 miles then make a goal to run .5 miles before giving myself another break. I was really nauseas and a little dizzy at the finish line. I sat down for about 1/2 hour before feeling better, hopped on a bus to my car and went home.

I didn't even grab a free meal or a free beer.

And yes, I will see a doctor this week if my bp is not better. I know all too well the problems that high bp causes.

I hope that I find pictures of the course. It is beautiful and the crowd support for a small marathon was amazing. My plan right now is to run it again next year.

I'm not good at remembering my thoughts and specifics about the run but as I do, I'll take notes and share them later.

And a thank you to Kristin Palmer, another co-worker of mine that I saw two times out on the course. She had a few friends running and she was such an encouragement to see.

Limits (and getting beyond them) or Random Thoughts.

2009-05-02T21:03:00.000-07:00

I don't read the horoscope. Yet, I am definitely a Gemini, there are two me's! Most of the time, these two get along well enough! It's when they don't get along that trouble, for me, occurs.

The one me (I should name them) is very focused. Just ask my wife. I am very difficult to live with because of this, which is why I always joke about getting my wife a sympathy card on our anniversaries.
This focus gives me ideas and very quick problem solving ideas. They bring me success.

The other me is careful, not very risky! My job would be an example. There are many reasons why I'm an RN but one of them is job security. I have so much respect for people that have their own business or who are part of a business startup, making something out of what was nothing. I have often said that I would rather make 50K a year than make 100K one year and 30K the next. The uncertainty of income would be a stress that I know I wouldn't handle very well.

Heck, maybe there are more than two "tiny me's". (I just made this up, I was going to say mini-me's but then thought hey, my name is Tim, so I"ll use tiny instead). Those that know me well, without a doubt, say that I am extrovert! I am not. I definitely have extrovert tendencies but they take a toll on me. My job takes away a lot of energy. Often, when I get home, that energy is gone. Or I at least use to think it was! I've learned that I (or any person) need some time to recoup, there are limits, rest is needed. But I have also learned that my limits are higher than I previously thought they were.

So, I have a focus and ability to succeed, but I'm not very good at taking risks, especially when I have others depending on me.
And I am an extrovert, wait no, I'm an introvert.
And I have limits, or not!

It is my running that has really brought me on to thinking about this. I love and just get pumped when I hear quotes of Prefontaine or bloggers about h.t.f.u and other thoughts of doing what it takes to succeed at your goals.
But at the same time I have had limits that I had to accept! My first summer and fall of running and tri (2007) had a longest run limit of 3 or 4 miles due to injuries and the wrong kind of pain. I worked past that limit and ran my first half-mary in January of 08. The following spring was going great. I improved my 5K pr by a few minutes and I had signed up for 4 tri's with 2 of them the 1/2 ironman distance. Then the bike accident happened which led to me running my first marathon, Twin Cities, with less than a 1/3 of the training that I have put in for Stillwater in three weeks.

Yes, by the time I am done with the marathon I will have put in @ 600 miles of running compared to 200 total for my first marathon. This is despite limits I have run into that would otherwise have me running more. I have run into two limits (pun intended). I can only run @45 miles for two weeks in a row before needing a decrease for a week. So I play it safe and cut back so that I don't injure or cause another setback. My second weakness I noticed have been my tempo runs on Friday have been the weak link of my active training. Is it because I nail my intervals on Wednesday? Is it that I need to have two days between my intervals and my tempo instead of just one day off? Or is it other factors like the end of my work week and I'm just simply too tired to perform well?

My tempo run just this Friday went terrible. My legs just weren't there. I was suppose to run 8 miles at what is considered my 1/2 marathon pace of 7:57 (which does not mean that I can run a whole 13 miles at that pace, but I know I can run greater than 6.5 miles at that pace). I had just nailed this pace for 6.5 miles a couple of weeks before. I still put in the effort and at times my legs felt good. When they felt good I knew I could nail this but I couldn't make it stay. I finished the run at a 8:22 for those 8 miles!

An 8:22 is not something for me to complain about. Before training for this marathon, I could not have done it, especially with the hills I ran up as opposed to indoors. The pace isn't my complaint. How I felt is what I don't like. How I couldn't fix it! How I don't know what to do about it? How is this going to impact my 22 mile run on Sunday? How do I avoid this repeat next Friday, the last real tempo before I start my taper!

I'm actually thinking of skipping my mixed intervals and doing the tempo run on Wednesday followed by a marathon pace run on Friday. This is for two reasons. I want to get a good tempo run in at 8 to 8.5 miles and I have to work around my sucky schedule that starts next weekend. Starting next Saturday I have 4-12 hour shifts and 2-8 hour shifts in 7 days.

I get to run my first marathon that I have been able to train for in just 3 weeks.

I'll miss you Fargo marathoners next week. Wish I could be there.

Happy 6th!

2009-04-07T18:53:00.000-07:00

The Seemingly Inevitability of Judgment

2009-04-07T17:34:00.000-07:00

It's been a while! I know!

It seems that I have so much to say and little time to say it. Every day I have a thought that I want to share here and then that thought runs away, probably forever, by the time I can write it down.

I am in my ~~17th~~ 18th week of Marathon training. 24 weeks of training means that there is only 7 6 weeks left until May 24th.

It's going pretty well.

It is still pretty obvious that I am inexperienced but the improvements are amazing. When I look back at last year my long runs would be at close to or greater than an 11 minute pace. If I was doing really good my long run would be 10:15 pace. This would not include stops that I would turn off my timer but would include walking which was ~~sometimes~~ all too often needed when my run was greater than 12 miles.

This year! What a difference. My 16 and 15 mile runs were a little more difficult than they should have been but still the pace was 9:17 including all stops for lights, traffic, etc. If I have to pee, I'll stop the time, but that's it!

Yesterday, my training plan was to run recovery for 1.5 miles then, 1/2 marathon pace for 5.5 and finally cool down for the last 1.5. I achieved my 5.5 miles at a 8:12 pace, which is cool because if I was able to extend that pace to 13.1 miles I would have a 1/2 mary pr of less than than 1:50, an 11+ minute improvement of my current pr. Next week I increase the 1/2 marathon pace to 6.5 miles and the following week 7.5. Despite this good run (especially good due to 800 feet of ascent as opposed to indoor or treadmill 1% grade running), it's this "steady state" pace that has been my biggest question mark. According to my pace chart, when I started training for Stillwater, my 1/2 marathon pace was 8:27. I have increased the goal to 8:17 and am trying to move it up to 8:07?

That just hasn't been happening! I have been able to increase my interval speed at a faster pace than my steady state speed. For example my 5K pace for this training started at 7:56 but has increased to 7:18 and sometimes faster. According to my pace chart, this is a "4" step improvement in speed versus my "2" step improvement in my steady state!

Why? I wish I knew!
(but yet, trust me, I'm NOT losing sleep about it)

Here are some possible explanations.

1) Intervals are on Wednesday, Steady State Friday! I'm simply more tired on Friday!????
2) Mental. With intervals I know I get a break after 1k or 1 mile or whatever. Steady state is obviously different.
3) I'm harming my steady state run with my harder than planned intervals?
4) I suck!
5) Give it some time, last week was better and wait and see what happens next week.

3 is a likely option, but I'm doing 5 for now.

UPDATE:

Ok, I started this post a couple days ago! I haven't even made it to the "title" subject. I think I'll just publish and continue on the next post. I'm still thinking about it anyway.

BTW. I had a really hard run on Sunday. Didn't get to it until Sunday afternoon with church, snow, whatever. It was windy! 19 mph with 25+ gusts. It wasn't often enough that the wind was at my back either. Regardless I felt pretty decent. I ran it at an overall 9:43 pace. Anytime that the wind was gone (due to me being in a "little valley" or in the trees) I would notice a pace improvement to 9:05 to 9:15, which would be perfect for my long runs right now.

I thought I would be too sore to run today (4/7) but felt awesome for my 9 mile base run.

Stronger!

2009-02-21T19:02:00.000-08:00

When I look back to my first run less than 2 years ago, I am just amazed at how weak I was! Part of this amazement is that I always considered myself pretty strong.

Who did people go to to help with patient lifting? Me!

Whose 6'4", 230 +/- pound frame discouraged some other guys from getting out of control at a party or bar? Me (luckily people didn't know that this discouragement was undeserving)

Who would start working out with weights and a month later have progressed in pounds and reps more than his friends?

That's right, Me!

It turns out that I had no core! And of course, by core, I'm not talking abs, I'm talking about the why I was too frequently injured playing rugby, why I had shin splints every beginning of the rugby season, why I couldn't jump as well as I should have been able too! Why I had problems with sciatica and other pain.

I was weak!

I still have a lot of work to do and will keep with my running strength exercises twice a week for the rest of this marathon training but, based on my progress so far, I can claim that...

I am strong!

And this strength is really going to show on May 24th in Stillwater!

Tri-U-Mah indoor triathlon

2009-02-18T06:56:00.000-08:00

I signed up for Tri-U-Mah because I wanted to race a triathlon! With the 2008 season ruined, I just had to race because it had been since August of 2008! It was an itch and not your typical itch and scratch and then it's all better. I mean a psoriasis itch, an "it won't go away until I do something about it" itch.

So I signed up for it.

Then I found out that I was going on a school trip for 4 days with my daughters 5th grade class. This trip was Monday through Friday during a week that my schedule was, you guessed it, Monday through Friday. Well I didn't want to use 40 hours of vacation so I exchanged hours with a coworker (and friend) that included her working my 12 hour shifts on Monday and Tuesday and then I work for for on Saturday and Sunday. Sunday was Tri-U-Mah!

Whoops!

Fortunately, Lisa (said coworker) agreed to work for me 4 hours that Sunday morning. My time slot for the race was at 8:30 and work was at 11:00. Sweet, I was able to participate and not lose too many vacation hours.

Do you think I regretted switching hours once the weekend was coming up? (Hint: I'm nodding my head up and down)

What is done, is done!

The timing of the race was perfect. It was at the end of my 8th week of marathon training, which is a taper week and my taper week was during the school trip, so I only ran once 5 miles and did some cross country skiing. Apparently, I take tapering rather seriously.

So I went into this with base training done and the results show it perfectly. It was my favorite triathlon so far as far as my performance. Then again, it was only my 3rd triathlon, so maybe that's not saying much.

The swim: 0.758 miles in 30 minutes

It was my first time at the Aquatic Center at the "U" (University of Minnesota)! It has a 50 meter pool (of course)! I have wanted to swim in a 50 meter pool for quite some time now and I guess technically I did swim in a 50 meter pool! Unfortunately we swam the 25 something yard width of the pool (which is at the far end of this picture, the pool was "cut" in half by a floatable walkway at the 25 meter mark). I am still a s...l...o...w... swimmer, but this time things were still different. I DID swim and a swam this technique call freestyle! Pretty good thinking huh? It felt great! I swam 25 laps which makes sense in that is how many laps I would swim in 30 minutes while training, except that 30 minutes did not count breaks. Meaning I swam for 30 minutes straight, without stopping, for the first time ever. And there were times in the swim that I felt like I could just keep swimming and swimming, which is a first. I did have to take breaths with just about every stroke though! I still have lot's of work to do!

Apparently the width of this pool is greater than 25 yards because I received credit for swimming 0.758 miles while 1250 yards is more like 0.71 miles.

There is one thing that surprises me though. According to results I swam faster at my last triathlon in August of 2007 which was mostly a side stroke swim! What is that all about? I guarantee you that as slow as I swim, there is no way I could swim just as fast with the sidestroke. The only thing I can think of is that I had the benefit of draft and the lake taking me back to shore on the open swim as opposed to the pool with no draft and I still do not know how to turn a lap like others. I get to the wall, stop momentarily, take a breath and then push off. That is my next project, flip turns. I bet the lack of flip turns really slow down my lap times.

The Bike: 9.120 miles in 30 minutes

How hard do I push and still have legs for the run? The bike kind of amused me, I could barely fit my big shoes into the toe dealio on the bike and I'm still not sure if I adjusted the seat to the best height and it certainly isn't anything like being on my trainer. Overall I am happy with the results. Yes, if I had biked more often (my own fault) the past month, I could have been stronger and faster. But I had focused on running so it is what it is. Still only 1 guy in my age group (of 14) biked for a longer distance and he only beat me by .05 miles.

The Run: 3.4 miles in 30 minutes.

Ok, I'm tired now, my legs feel used and I was hot (no, not THAT kind of hot unfortunately). My treadmill was in front of a glass window, no fan, no wind and I think that I had trouble with the fact that I knew I had to be at work in less than an hour. (Why do I have to be on my feet the whole shift, saving lives, can't I save lives from a desk, on my butt?)
So, I really feel that I could have easily run 4 miles if I put my heart to it. But I am not disappointed, I ran faster throughout the whole 30 minutes, running @ 7.6 mph when finished.

Total distance was 13.278 miles. The results are not ranked except for winners but taking a quick look reveals 5th place of 14 in my age group! But mostly happy about it because it was just solid, I kept swimming and feeling good, I kept biking and speeding up and I kept running faster throughout the whole run. Although I was happy to be done, I know that I could have done much more!

Next year, I may just plan this as a more important race!

Tri-U-Mah was on February 8th, yesterday was February 17th. I was just suppose to run a base run which should be no faster than a 9:04 pace! In other words, take it easy, not recovery easy, but easy! Well anyway, I didn't feel like running outside so I went to lifetime, thinking maybe 4 miles on the track and 3 on the treadmill. Now, I am actually pretty good at going slow, when I need to go slow, but my body would not respond. I kept telling myself to slow down, frequently seeing an 8 mile pace and managing to slow to an 8:30! Finally, I looked at my heart rate and saw that I was running an 8:15ish pace at my usual heart rate of @9:15 pace. So I just shrugged my shoulders (metaphorically) and ran. Finished with an 8:18 pace for 7 miles. We shall see if that has any affect on my 10 quarter mile intervals today (7:18 pace).

Life Density!

2009-02-09T15:39:00.000-08:00

My wife has been typing up professor evaluations and I thought that the term 'life density' was funny, an apt description, even if pathetic if you let it be an excuse for things!

I don't know how to explain life right now!

It is busy! Very busy!

But I'm not complaining. And I mean that. In fact, I like it most of the time. The only time I don't like it is my 1 week out of 6 in the work schedule that is awful and when I think about my blog! The only other time is when it comes to this blog. How often do you think during the day, "oh, I have to mention that on my blog" or something to that effect but then when you sit down at the computer, nothing!, blank!, emptiness?

But there is also something strange going on! I don't know what to call it because it's not like I'm satisfied with life, at least not in a complacent sort of way! Anyway, to explain, life has been going by at a perfect rate! Sometimes I think a certain week went by fast and maybe even a month but when I look back at a year or a season, it just seemed it went by perfectly. Time isn't flying, but it isn't crawling either. Which considering all the mistakes I make in life (trying to learn to have a budget for one example) is pretty darn amazing. I accept where I am at the moment but I also have goals for the next moment. When I don't meet it, I set it again.

And that's all I have to say about that! (for now)

With all that said, I have to talk about Tri U Mah, review a product and who knows what else, this means more frequent posts! Maybe even like 3 or something this week. I have to slowly increase my typing to prevent any rss of the hands! ;-)

You're gonna hate me...

2009-01-14T06:07:00.000-08:00

...or at the least question my sanity!

(note: base training is over)

But, I love treadmill running.

Not any unconditional love mind you, there are limits! Long runs? no way! In fact anything over an hour, well honestly, I haven't even attempted that! So maybe I just haven't developed this hatred for the treadmill as it seems everybody in bloggerville has!

What I do love about the treadmill is some of the workouts that I am otherwise unable to do during the winter. It can even be argued that they are easier to do on the treadmill anytime of the year.

1) Speed Intervals! (for me anyway :-)
         Warm up for five minutes, usually I walk the first 2 minutes then a 10 minute pace for 2 then a 9 minute for 1.
         Then I run 2 minutes at a 6:58 pace, 2 minutes active recovery at 10 (which I may have to change to 9:40), then a 2nd 2 minutes at a 6:58 pace with another 2 minute active recovery, the third interval of this set is 1 minute @ a 6:00 pace with 2 minute active recovery before repeating all of the above.
         Right now I am at 2 sets of these intervals but plan to increase to 3 over the next month (by adding an interval each week). After that I will bring it back to 2 sets and increase the pace!

2) Hill intervals: I believe that I attained this routine from Runners World. It's called 6-7's and is a very important workout for us flat earther's! (I am referring to people that live in flat area's like Minnesota as opposed to the mountaineers)
            Warm up for five minutes!
            Run at a 6% grade at my current marathon pace of @8:41 for 90 seconds, active recovery for 60 seconds then a 7% grade for 60 seconds, again at 8:41, with a 2 minute active recovery. Repeat for the amount of intervals you planned. Again I am at 6 intervals with a soon to be increasing to 9 over the next month.

Another reason that I enjoy the treadmill is that the pace is set by the treadmill. Some view the treadmill as easier running but I think it's harder because you have to maintain the pace that you have set for your planned duration.
With the pace being set by the treadmill I am more easily able to focus on my stride or breathing or any other part of my form that I notice.

And then of course there is no stopping at stop lights or car worries!

2009: Year of the Wife

2008-12-14T13:48:00.000-08:00

Ok, before we move on, lets get a few things out of the way!

1) Yes, I know, every year should be the "year of the wife"!
...
If you're married.
...
Or at least that would be smart.
...
Which I am not often accused of, now that I think of it!

2) No, I do not know what the Chinese year is, so this has no correlation to me deeming 2009 the "Litzinger Year of the Wife" (TM)

3) Yes, I am going to race in 2009!

Angela and I always try to have a priority of giving! Which really isn't all that easy on one income, 3 kids and well, me!

We have discovered that the best way to give is for it to be a natural part of our lives. So, for example, when I signed up for the marathon last year, I took the option to donate. If I don't have the money to donate, then I don't have the money to register. Much in the same way as if you don't have money to tip the waiter/waitress then you don't have the money to go out to eat!

The model for this came to us from my two trips that I made to Guatemala. As part of the mission, I would not only buy an airline ticket and pay $300 for food and shelter (to the organization) but would also give $300 toward supplies, etc. for the organization to buy and employ Guatemalans! Of course, this was still only a part of all the spending involved in a trip like this.

This is freely done, there is no guilt about it, no worries, no anything, it just is. In fact I think that it is fine that we are such a wealthy nation and guilt in an ineffective method to encourage giving. But I also think that amount of giving by us Americans (as a percentage of income) is well, not fine! Statistics have shown that the more we have had over the years, the less we have given. Did you know that typically Americans spend $450 billion dollars a year on Christmas but that it would only cost $10 billion to dig wells so that everybody can have clean water? Again, 450 billion; no problem, 10 billion; problem! Let's be wealthy, but let's also live!

Last September, I took a slip for Ironman Wisconsin (this is somehow related to the conversation, I think). The very next week, my wife and I took off on vacation and by the time we were back home, the window to pay for my slot was gone. My fault, I didn't check my email, thought I had plenty of time, yada, yada, yada. But I didn't pursue it too hard other than an email asking for me to be able to purchase it. When I didn't get a response, I probably felt a little relieved.

But I also came out of it more convicted. If I can't pay for a community slot, then I can't race an Ironman. And right now, I can't pay for a community spot. But who knows, maybe in a couple of months I can????? This does not mean that I think anybody else should have this conviction. Everybody has there own way of giving! I'm just sharing with you one example of how I have chosen to make it a part of my life. An important part of my life, in the same way that I have made my wife and kids a part of my life, my work, my training and exercise and so much more. Of course, I too often have to renew these commitments being all too human.

This leads to the fact that Angela, my wife, is going to register for the 2009 3 Day walk for Breast Cancer! Here in the Twin Cities, it is from August 21-23! It is my plan to help her raise the money, support here steep increase in activity (sorry honey) and take off from work that weekend so she doesn't have to think or worry about the kids.

I am also planning to send (or hopefully bring) Angela to the 2009 4th annual Gluten Free Culinary Summit. The 2008 Summit is why we went to Providence, RI this past September. Hopefully (please, please, please) it's back in Colorado where it usually is this year. But there are lots a places I would love to go, so I'll be happy with anywhere as long as its not the same weekend as the 3 day. Unfortunately, we don't have a date or place yet, but we expect to find out soon.

Those are our priorities. Truthfully, it is also possibly our limits as far as affordability. But also truthfully, I have had plenty of opportunity for overtime and maybe those opportunities will continue? If I feel my savings are going well, that I'm able to help others in a pretty bad economy and there is some additional money, then I may just race an Ironman by the end of 2009! I am absolutely, definitely saving for a 2010 Ironman and I always first think of Lake Placid when I think of where I want to race. We shall see.

Marathons are not looking so great for me this year, at least as far as scheduling goes. At least for the big ones. Grandma's, Fargo, Twin Cities are all on my weekend to work this year!!! So, I am considering Madison on May 24th? or possibly Illinois on April 11 or I may just consider no spring marathon and either race Chicago or Whistlestop in the fall!

I am also planning on Minnesota Border to Border July 28-31! In fact I have enough people interested that there may be 2 teams formed if more are willing? This will be a great time as Bigun, TacBoy, Trimama, IronmomJenny and possibly more are racing this!

I will race more just to keep the enthusiasm going, but I'm not sure what yet. I do want to race a 1/2 Ironman! Or maybe an Ironman distance that is not done by NA sports? Same distance, same accomplishment! Hmmm, I better keep that on the 2010 burner.

Some of my plans for Minnesota races may depend on you Minnesotan's. Can't wait to see if we can align our calendars.

Have a good week!

My daughter!

2008-11-29T07:03:00.000-08:00

Just this past June my daughter was having so much trouble with keeping up with her soccer mates! Compared to the prior year, she was running around much better. The problem was that her soccer mates had improved and developed their skills to a much greater extent. How can she work on learning the sport, when she had to put so much effort into just keeping up? Worse yet, she couldn't keep up!

To understand, let's go back a few years!

Every kid develops differently! So Angela and I were patient when she wasn't talking at 1-1/2 years. Finally at 2 years, she was sedated to do a "bear" test, which tests not only her hearing response but the response in her brain to the stimuli of sound. She passed with flying colors. The problem wasn't hearing.

We were then referred to the Minneapolis Public School System (we lived in NE Mpls at the time) and she started school, at 2. Can you imagine watching your 2 year old taking off in a school bus? The biggest feeling I remember is "vulnerable". She was significantly developmentally behind. Throughout the next year she was improving in communication with what is called a PECS system! Which is basically using pictures to communicate.

Neurologist, dermatologist, psychologist, educationalist, and whatever other more appointments was making little to no improvements into understanding what was going on. What we did know was that since 6 months of age, she had never had any baby fat, she only like to drink juice or eat bread and noodles, her poop just squirted through and she was always black around the eyes. She was essentially malnourished for 2-1/2 years of her life.

Finally at 3, a doctor suggested that she is showing the classic symptoms of celiac disease. In fact, he said he wouldn't know anything about it except for learning from one other patient and then applying it to another patient. It really wasn't overall a hard decision. Yes, some reservation, fear!, how do you live in this country without eating wheat products? Have you seen the pyramid?

It is both easy and hard to get rid of wheat. The easy part is the eating. The hard part is that any contamination, any ingestion of gluten (a part of wheat) can ruin months of progress, especially in the beginning. We were also ready in some respects compared to other families in that we had already adjusted to a no milk household. Angela actually has had anaphylactic reaction to eating rice in a restaurant that the chef had placed 1 tsp of butter into the boiling water that it was cooked in.

So, wheat be gone. And within 3 months, our daughter had gained 10 pounds, grew 3-1/2 inches and was talking with 4 word sentences. Her hair started to grow. She had only spoken 15 words, individually before, mostly "no"! She was starving for protein!

What happens for people that have celiac is that the small intestine is damaged. Therefore proteins, amongst other things that are normally too large to be in the blood stream, are in the blood stream causing an immune response that leads to effects on the brain that are similar to an opoiod intake.

She has been trying to catch up since.

And she is doing wonderful!

But she has to put more effort into things than her peers. This seems to be especially true physically!

A year ago, her school started the kids running a mile. She took over 20 minutes, in fact I think it was 22 minutes. We started making sure that she took regular walks around the lake (1.2 miles) and this past September she had improved to 18:02! You see what I mean about seeing an improvement? But, I walk faster than that! 18:02 is still wrong. Not only that but she would be so tired after a walk and the last part of it, she would practically be dragging. She always wanted to stop at a bench and rest!

Then one day, "Dad, I want to run the Turkey Trot 5k"!

and yesterday, she did.

She took just over 52 minutes! Outwardly, she can seem overwhelmed at times. But this girl does not give up, not in the long run!

I will always be proud of my girl! But it is moments like this that I get to share that pride!

From Turkey Trot 5K

Angela has since, become somewhat of an expert on cooking gluten free. She has been on the local news, she has been asked for opinions and/or options from speakers and workshops and will be a speaker in the future. She teaches classes locally and has started creating e-books. We want for Angela to provide these at a low price to help others but hope to sell in volume to make a difference in our budget! If you know anybody who is gluten free and needs help, refer them to www.angelaskitchen.com

2009 Goals

2008-10-26T19:00:00.000-07:00

You'll be happy to know, I'm sure, that I have goals. The thing is, I have never been that good at writing them down. Don't you hate it when your performance review involves goals? What are your performance goals this year, what are your leadership goals? What are your strengths, what are your weaknesses?

Amazingly, my larger goals involve running. When I started thinking about triathlon, running was my least favorite part. Now, I love it.

Which leads me to one of my two long term (multi-year) goals.

1) BQ. I want to Boston Qualify. I want to run the Boston Marathon!

This is going to take a lot of work!

Micro steps to goal #1

Goal #1) A 6 minute mile. The fastest pace I have recorded on my Garmin so far is a 4:08 pace for 7 miles. But that was when I forgot to turn it off and drove home from a hill workout. ;-).
Seriously, the fastest mile that I have run, that I am aware of is 7:58, my fastest 1/4 mile is 6:29.
I have work to do. But to be fair, I haven't tried to run a fastest mile except twice to get below an 8 minute mile. You might wonder why I don't try for a 7 minute mile? Well, that's because I plan on working on that for the rest of 2008!

Goal #2a) A 22 minute 5K (by May)
Goal #2b) A 21 minute 5K (by October)

Goal #3a) A 1:50 minute half mary (by June)
Goal #3b) A 1:40 minute half mary (by November)

Goal #4) A 3:45 marathon

Goal #5) Swim comfortable in open water (this friends, has been a problem for me).

Are these goals unrealistic? Tough, yes, but not completely unrealistic.

More to come!

Marathon post #3: The Conclusion

2008-10-13T23:00:00.000-07:00

Warning: This entry may be even more boring than usual. It's more about my thoughts at the moment, it's not about being right or positive or negative. It's just what it is.

Is it just me or is there a HUGE difference between the spectators along the Minnehaha area of the course and the Summit area. It's not that one area is better than the other, just different. The Summit area is a laid back party with grills, beer, chicken, and well, anything. I suppose this makes sense, the party on Summit is longer and into lunch time versus the Minnehaha area is done fairly early. I guess it just didn't occur to me til now.

Anyhow, at Mile 22, I was feeling better. I felt that I could run, albeit slowly, the rest of the course. So somewhere during that mile I ran @ 12:30 pace, but it only lasted for about .6 miles when my left ITB screamed and when I would land on my left foot my knee would feel wobbly, weak! That's not good. So I walked .3, ran .3, walked .5, ran .5. You get the picture! Basically, after walking a certain time, my ITB would relax and I could ~~run~~ jog slowly.

Mile 22: 15:06
Mile 23: 15:00
Mile 24: 14:56
Mile 25: 17:23
Mile 26: 17:22

Once I hit mile 25, I was done. Physically, mentally, I didn't have any more. There just wasn't a reason to fight it. I was going to take longer than 5 hours and it didn't matter if it was 5:05 or 5:20 so I walked and conserved that left knee for the finish. I wanted my kids to see me running across the finish, not walk. And it worked, I was actually able to run a 10 minute pace for the last .5 miles (except for the stop to give my girls a kiss)!

And just like that, it was over. It actually seemed surreal to me. I was handed a foil to warm up, given my finisher medal, handed a water, shirt, banana, chips. Every once in a while looking over to my left to see my family walking along to meet me when they can. I didn't stop to have a picture taken (stupid). It's just at the time, I didn't feel like seeing what I looked like. It was cloudy, I was cold and I am NOT photogenic at all.

I can't say that I was thrilled. I was happy! I am a marathoner now! I guess it's just hard to reconcile the difference between my time and what I feel that I am capable of. Yes, I had a couple of big injuries this year and yes, perhaps it's even amazing that I finished my first marathon with so little experience and training. I guess, it's more of the fact that I have been under-trained for most of the events that I have participated in. My first two triathlons in '06, the 10-miler last year, my first 5K last October, my first 1/2 marathon in Arizona and now this. It looks like a pattern. A pattern that I thought would be different this time. I am suppose to be Jumper 2.0, not 1.0. I am suppose to be more resilient, stronger, better focused and constant. Somebody that is perceived by others as hard working and willing to put it all on the line. Somebody that is tough, not weak, somebody to look up to (and not just because i'm 6'4" tall) and respect. These aren't things to be said, they have to be earned and I haven't done that yet.

In April I did my second 5K in 24:48, a 1:15 pace improvement and in August I ran a 1/2 marathon in 2:01:21, which was a greater than 7 minute improvement from January. And that had happened after only 2 weeks of training after almost 6 weeks off due to my broken shoulder. Which gives you an idea of how well my training was going this spring and also gives you an idea of my expectations. It would not have been unrealistic for me to have finished my first marathon in less than 4 hours.

Don't get me wrong, I am not ashamed of my time. In fact, during the last few miles, I observed the other racers with me. A father/daughter team, some people my age, some people older, some people younger and I thought about the pride that I feel finishing with these group of people that have persevered. I can't say from experience, but it may be possible that I should be just as impressed with this group than say a 3 hour finisher. In the sense that obviously, something was a lot harder for a 5-6 hour finisher than a 3 hour finisher. There were some that were doing it for the first time in honor of someone else, there were others that were injured and there were some that just don't care about the time, it's about the experience and completing the marathon, they could care less about running it faster. Just living in the moment, which is something that I could certainly improve upon.

The walk to my car was slow and painful and so was the rest of the day. By Monday evening, when I had to go to work, it wasn't too bad. Tuesday was even a little better, except my right ankle started hurting (which was what I was expecting during the marathon, not all that left sided stuff). Wednesday I ran/walked a mile with my 10 year old daughter for her 5K preparation. I am so proud of her. Eli is weak due to health issues and symptoms associated with her autism spectrum diagnosis. She wants to do the Lifetime Turkey Trot 5K and she started with a 1 mile time at school of like 19 minutes. We have that mile down to 15 now and we can see the strength in her when we are just walking around.

I then ran a second mile with Marty, our big dog, in 8:58. I just progressively ran faster during that mile starting at a 10 pace and finishing @ 7:30.

Thursday, I went to Lifetime to swim a little, row a little and then worked on back and shoulders. It's time to get back to my core, now that I can. It is my core that made me strong and flexible this spring and so it only makes sense to make it a priority.

If you read this whole thing (poor you) then thank you for listening. They are thoughts that I had to get out and whether I'm right or wrong about my attitude, this is why I blog. But then again, blogging has become so much more than I expected. I did this marathon because of you. Without your support, confidence, knowledge (or was that all just a setup;-), I think I would have just let it pass for another year, thinking that I just didn't have enough training in.

And again, thank you Sarah! I hope we race together again!

Marathon post: part 2

2008-10-09T09:08:00.000-07:00

When I look back at it, I think that the most successful part of the first half of the marathon was mental. I didn't let the fact that I had only 1 (unsuccessful) 20 mile run 2 weeks prior bother me, I didn't let the fact that I didn't have any sleep bother me, and I didn't even want to mention to anybody that I had a "tight" gut! For some reason, my stomach was really uneasy. Not quite feeling nauseas, but feeling like if I did anything wrong I would be in trouble.

Sarah and I took our time getting to the start line. I bet there were only about @100 people behind us when the ~~gun~~ horn went off. In fact we were so far back we only assumed that the marathon had started because it was 8:05 when we looked at our watches wondering "has it started"?

We started!

There isn't much to say to be honest. I remember that I was having fun. I was taking in the atmosphere, looking around at the spectators, the buildings, the streets that I have driven by so much but am unable to really look at while driving. I remember, "hey, were close to the Wedge" (food coop) and man I hate driving on this street (Lyndale). I remember seeing a man playing the tuba, not realizing it was Alan Page! I remember loving the spectators along the course. The crowd was so different than my 1/2 mary in Arizona last January. I don't know how to explain it except that it was more personal. Yes, Phoenix RnR had a band every mile and there were plenty of spectators, but Twin Cities had musicians along the path that were there by choice and the spectators were actively cheering for everybody, not just the person that they were out there for in the first place. I knew that I had made the right choice for my first marathon. And I knew then that this will be a marathon I want to do over and over again.

I started with a throw away sweatshirt on. I took it off at around mile 2 but kept it in my arms for awhile. It was kind of weird, but when it started raining really hard, I didn't want to let it go. I had it tucked in my arm like a football and it provided a little warmth and as strangely as it may sound a little security for me. I did finally set it on the side of the road when we had a bathroom break at mile 8 which means I carried that thing 6 miles.

The first 11 miles went awesome. I was running at just the right pace to not even remotely feel tired and I was thinking to myself, I could do this all day! My stomach remained uneasy but I was able to keep that under control. My right foot/ankle hurt but that is to be expected (from me) when I don't have the miles in. My right achilles was a little tight too, but everything was just at an awareness level. I was aware of it, but it just wasn't having any effect on me.

Mile 1: 9:34
Mile 2: 9:54
Mile 3: 10:39
Mile 4: 10:04
Mile 5: 10:06
Mile 6: 10:03
Mile 7: 10:06
Mile 8: 12:22 (3 minute bathroom break with Sarah. well not with her, she was in the next stall, come on people)
Mile 9: 9:59
Mile 10: 9:51
Mile 11: 10:03
Mile 12: 11:58 (stopped for Laura, Greg, Erik and the Mom)(and shot bloks)
Mile 13: 10:16

Ooops, those shot bloks don't feel so good! My stomach was acting up. This was never an issue with training and I was a little freaked. But with water only and a little time it subsided. Why is my left ankle and knee hurting? The pain is never on the left side, always on the right!

Mile 14: 10:29
Mile 15: 10:09
Mile 16: 10:54
Mile 17: 10:08
Mile 18: 10:48

Ok, you may have noticed that a couple of those miles really slowed down. I was lucky to have Sarah as a running partner because she is a great person. But these miles, I was lucky to have her because having the partner is how I was able to rebound some and keep going through mile 18. By this time, I was really hurting on the left side (again, why with the left today?). I was really tight in my ankle, my knee and the psoas muscle. The psoas muscle is comes from the front of your help, through the pelvis and attached to your tailbone/ aka, part of the lower back. So yes, my lower back hurt quite a bit too.

I had to let Sarah go (go Sarah, they'll get me first and you can escape)!
I think that she knew I was having trouble. I was quite talkative the first 13ish miles and then I was quiet and running behind her instead of next to her. It was about mile 18.6 on my Garmin (which was about .3 mile ahead of the course?) when I stopped and told her to go. She was reluctant at first but I relented. I wasn't giving up, but I knew that my pace was over and that I would only slow down the multiple marathoner for the rest of the course. I walked for a little bit @18 minute pace and then came upon some porta-potties. I stretched while in line and that really felt better. The line was taking too long so I turned around to start running again and there was IronJenny. So I ran with her up the hill of the Franklin bridge and at the start until she wisely decided to keep going faster.

Mile 19: 13:33
Mile 20: 14:43
Mile 21: 14:30

I actually ran @ 7/10ths of mile 20 and Mile 21. At this point I was thinking about how to keep this a sub 5 hour marathon. I didn't want it to be more than 5 hours.

You can't always get what you want!

Marathon post: part 1

2008-10-06T11:01:00.000-07:00

When you just look at time, finishing the marathon in 5:17:54 is well, not so good (awful) for me and my previous expectations.

But this is a race in which time is practically irrelevant.

I finished my first marathon.

And I finished it during after a summer that some would argue, I had no business running (the marathon, not running in general). Of course, those some were non-runners. You guys said, "just do it".

So I did.

Let's start with some interesting facts (in other words interesting to me, boring to you).

Running Summary since June 01, 2008
Runs: 23
Avg time: 01:18:26
Total Time 30:04:11
Avg distance: 7.5 Mi
Total distance: 173.6 Mi

Which means that on Sunday, I ran 1/8th of my total distance all summer. With no prior experience of running more than 14 miles. I had "run" 20 miles once 2 weeks ago in Providence while my wife was at her meetings. Well, I sat by the river for 5 minutes after 10 miles, took (left) a s*** at mile 14 and then walked for about 3.5 miles of the last 4 miles and then had the audacity to call it a 20 mile run. But it was an achievement. I had never covered 20 miles before that, even with rest and walking. And the route was beautiful.&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/ri/east-providence/760394775684"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;10/07/2008 Route&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br/&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyrun.com/find-run/united-states/ri/east-providence"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Find more Runs in East Providence, Rhode Island&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;
Hmm,

I just noticed that I am avoiding talking about the actual marathon.

Ok, here we go.

Mile 0 -

No sleep! Nope, not one wink. But amazingly I was totally, completely relaxed all night. I just accepted it, I just don't sleep well before something like this. I was all like zen or something.

Finally, just got out of bed at 4am, had some breakfast and then laid down again on the couch after setting the oven alarm. At 5:30, I had a high protein boost drink and took off to the Kelly Inn (for those not in the know. The Kelly Inn is close to the finish and where you can take a bus to downtown Minneapolis to start). I wanted to be at the Dome in plenty of time to see the 10 milers take off. Alberto Salazar talked to the crowd and hit the starting horn. It was pretty cool watching him as well as the women starting off the 10 mile National Championship race.

I watched all 3 corrals for the 10 miler start then headed back to the dome to warm up and psych up.

Earlier in the week, Iron Girl Nyhus left a voice message asking if I wanted a running partner that was also really, really slow! I'm kidding Laura! She did not say that! But it was hilarious because she was trying to tell me that I wasn't slow, but I wasn't fast, but well, I wasn't necessarily slow either which fit in great with her sister who also reads my blog.

I think I always claim 10 people read my blog (perhaps down a few since facebook is gaining in popularity), but now I can say 11. ;-)

I was a bit nervous about running with someone. I have probably only run with other people about 5 times, ever. What if I slow her down?, What if she slowed me down (doubtful), What if she was embarrassed to even be next to me, for whatever reason? (high school memories).

Sarah, Laura's sister, was a Godsend! Sarah has run a few marathons before (I think she said 7) but hadn't been able to prepare for this one much. So a 10 minute pace would be perfect for her. I was confident about a 10 minute pace for the first 15 -16 miles and thought that because of racing and spectators and just the atmosphere in general, 20 miles shouldn't be a problem. Admittedly, I was a little scared of beyond 20. But I didn't want the fact that I was scared be what limited me.

Sarah was relaxed, I met her husband Erik (please, please, let have remembered his name right) and their (remember, this is Laura's sis) mom as well. With everything, including the sudden appearance of IronJenny, I didn't have time to feel nervous about running my first marathon. At least that's how I remember it. Maybe I was nervous and it was quite obvious?

What I do remember is that after about 1/4 of a mile, I said to myself, "I'm going to do this for 26.2 miles". Then I wondered if I could run that distance. Then I continued this little self conversation with "well, come hell or high water, I'm finishing this today", "I am going to be a marathoner"

It was high water!

Awful and Fabulous

2008-10-05T12:51:00.000-07:00

I finished my first marathon.

I have many thoughts about it and they are mostly positive despite my time!

I want to thank my running partner for the first 18+ miles, Sarah. Also thanks to Laura and Greg, Erik and Laura's mom, and of course the fantaboulous Iron Jenny for their support.

More later!

No Ironman (Yet)

2008-09-27T15:25:00.000-07:00

What a shocking surprise!

Last evening I was catching up on my email (over 300) that I did not pay attention to during vacation. Did I tell you about vacation? Angela had a workshop in Providence, Rhode Island. We were going to fly and stay at the Biltmore, but then we figured that with the same money we both could drive and enjoy some alone-time for the first time in over 13 years. So we both took off in (start echo voice) "the minivan of love". So named because we were together alone, not because of any unmentionable acts in said minivan.

Anyway!

We drove straight through the night and landed in Erie, Pa. I really liked Erie from the little that I was able to see. We ate and a "Eat n Park" and then went down to Presque Isle State Park. I would move to Erie for this park alone. Unfortunately, Ike was passing through town, wreaking some havoc. Yes, the color of the picture is accurate. That is how wicked it looked, high winds and starting to rain.

The next day we drove up through Buffalo and into Niagara. New York is just beautiful and it was amazing to see all the grape plants for wine that was not there when I was a kid. And Niagara was fun. I always bought into Canada having the better side and as far as horseshoe falls goes, they do! But the American side is a New York State Park that has been really made nice. Canada is all tourist and casino, which is fine, but New York is all park and nature, my preference.

We then went to the Adirondacks. Lake Placid is definitely a future Ironman place for me. Perhaps 2010?

After 2 days in Lake Placid, we took a car ferry across Lake Champlain to Burlington, Vermont, drove through Vermon, New Hampshire and Southern Maine before it became dark while driving through Massuchussets.

I'll add a few more pictures on my next post. Back to Ironman business now. As I said in the beginning of this post, I was looking through emails and finally found one from NA Sports. Clicked on the appropriate links and voila, I'm too late, registration is closed.

I was just stunned at first. I have sent an email, asking for a second chance. We'll see! But if not, I don't think I mind. With the summer I have had, I can just work on more triathlon experience and get a couple of half-ironman's completed. I might even form a team for Minnesota Border to Border.

Anybody want to be a part of a 4 person team? Steve?, Borsch?, Pharmie?, Rural Girl?, IronGirl Nyhus (and Greg)?, anybody?.

"Oh, that's (not) so cute"

2008-09-23T16:13:00.000-07:00

There is a new t-shirt around that I saw at Ironman Wisconsin. It says something to the effect of "You're running a marathon? Oh, that's so cute".

I think it's a funny shirt!

It is a little weird to see an obese Dad and Mom wearing it, but still a cute shirt! (Don't you think the only people that can really wear it are those that have run an Ironman distance race?)

But another thang about that shirt right now, is that a marathon is not looking oh so cute to me.

While in Providence I ran a 20 mile run along the Seekonk River! Well, I ran 16.5 then walked 1.5 than ran about .8 then walked the rest.

It really sucked!

But it was my first 20 mile run, so what should I expect, I guess? My legs as far as movement was fine for the run. In fact I maintained a good 10 minute pace or a little slower but that counted stopping at some lights, etc. The Problem is my core. Prior to the accident I could do 30 push ups in a minute, now I can only do 2 push ups. That six pack I was developing (up from 2 to 4 ;-), gone. 90+ second bridges? Nope, a shaky 30 seconds now! And it was my core that gave out on me during the run. I AM WEAK! And I can't get my strength back by marathon time!

My lack of running (mostly due to that pinched nerve) doesn't help of course.

Last week total (week 1) = 32 miles
Week 2 = 3 miles + 43 mile bike in Wisconsin
Week 3 = 17.2 miles
Week 4 = 21.43
Week 5 = 0
Week 6 = 0
Week 7 = 15
Week 8 = 17.2 (including my 1/2 marathon)
Week 9 = 22.25
Week 10 = 15.58

Has anybody seen a marathon training plan that looks like this?

I am not whining, just facing some facts and figuring out what to do about it.

Possible solutions!

1) No long run taper, I run 20 miles this weekend. See how it goes and then decide on marathon.

2) Don't run marathon. There is a difference between hard work, some normal pain and just being stupid. You had a major injury this year Tim (2 really with the pinched nerve), give yourself a break.

3) Run the marathon. If I only make it 17 miles, so what! Or 20, big deal. Can't go longer than 22, well than I made it up to 22. Next time will be better.

Angela and I at Niagara Falls (Yes, I married up, but you already knew that)!

It's not paid yet!

2008-09-08T13:05:00.000-07:00

But,

I have a slot for Ironman Wisconsin 2009!

www.ironmanwisconsin.com

A Fine Melancholy!

2008-08-20T15:56:00.000-07:00

I have not been talkative (blogative) lately!

I'm not sure that it matters in that I'm not sure if I know how to share what I feel. There are two reasons for this. 1) I feel so many things and 2) I don't blog so that you can comment and try to make me feel better. I blog to be a friend, to share, to be real. And, as you know, life isn't all rosey!

Knowing that you are there, being a friend, sharing and being real is all I need. You are not there to be used by me to help me feel better. But of course, if others are down I want to help them feel better so I guess being real involves a little hypocrisy!? ;-)

I haven't been able to run but one time since the half-marathon. It was suppose to be a long slow run that ended up being longer and slower than imaginable. I have a pinched nerve on my right side that affects my right shoulder and arm. This is from compensating for the lack of use of my left arm as a result of the clavicle/scapula fractures. It hurts so much more than the fracture. And I am a bit down that I haven't been able to train for the TC marathon coming up. Then again, I'm also over it! I have a decent half marathon base now, I'll still get in a few long runs and I'll complete my first marathon. I won't be near my four hour goal from this spring. But, hell, there are plenty of marathons in my future to worry about that. This one is just going to have to be about the fun of completing my first marathon and what is there to complain about that?

Work has been hard! Can you imagine what it's like to be around coworkers that need your help and you can't, because you can't lift? And then to have that be for two months now and with another month to go? Some may think I have it easy and I guess I would if I could let it go! But that is real tough to do in a neuro-critical care setting. There have been some good though. I understand an inkling of long term illness now and pain. I have been able to help my coworkers learn how to use our software better, I have been able to help them get paper work done, I have been able to train in new nurses to our unit and I have been training in to be charge.

Last Sunday, I volunteered at the St. Paul Triathlon. That was cool and I received a free race entry for any event that Vacation Sports manages in this next year. That was doubly cool. Oh, and talking about pain. Near the end of the race this one female crossed the line and was just in severe pain, it was her calf and it needed a massage. Badly. How do I say this, this woman was HOT looking, so I just know that when I offerred to massage it, to her mind, I was crossing into creepy territory. But you know what, while acknowledging that she was really good looking, I truly had compassion for her pain. And her looks just doesn't do me any good! What does it matter? I would have offered the same thing to anybody else and in fact I did to a man that crossed with the same lower leg cramp too! You see, I think it comes from being raised by a single mom some of my childhood, or maybe it comes from that I work with almost all women (and many of them attractive as well), and of course I have seen tons of people naked as a nurse, but I just know better than to treat a woman by her looks and I am able to turn off what I call "sex-talk" in my brain. I AM NOT SAYING THAT I AM A SAINT IN THIS DEPARTMENT! Like I said, I did notice that she was quite attractive. But I am a happily married man (thanks to my girlfriends;), I would never want to hurt my wife, my kids, the rest of my family, so what does it matter if she was good looking. And then there is a fact that a person shouldn't be judged for their looks alone to begin with (it's my understanding that attractive women may have a brain and a personality that men are suppose to pay attention to*, ...hey men, don't blame me, it's what I've been told) Like I said, it doesn't do me any good. Why should it matter to me. But it doesn't work that way, to her I'm probably a creep. And I don't judge or blame her, it's just the way it is. And maybe she didn't think I was a creep and was appreciative that I offered and just didn't want the help. Regardless, it's a shame that the potential barrier to helping her was there. It kinda made me sad.

Things are looking up though. Slowly my arm is feeling better and I get to look forward to a little vacation soon. My wife has a workshop in Providence, RI in September. It was going to be that we were going to fly together a few days early, enjoy the city and then I was on my own while she was at her event. But since these plans, I have lost a lot of income due to my injury and expenses have sky-rocketed. Plans changed and she was just going to fly out. While planning this, I calculated how much it would be to drive out (not green I know, but I've been taking the bus to work) and stay at a cheaper hotel.
Conclusion? We can both leave town for 8 days (thanks to the g-parents) including camping in outstate New York at Niagara and then the Adirondacks, then stay at a hotel for a day or two in Boston then finish off in Providence, for cheaper than the plans we had for her flying out alone and staying at the hotel of the event.

We love camping, the areas we will be at are beautiful and I need this.

Sorry for all the run on or incomplete sentences today. Perhaps I'll proofread later.

*You better understand sarcasm when you read it (or else).

My First Ironman?

2008-08-06T10:56:00.000-07:00

Man, do I have decisions to make. Financially, Wisconsin makes the most sense and unfortunately, financially is important these days. Then there are a few bloggers thinking Arizona in 2009.

But how does one not at least think, wonder, if Cozumel is the way to go?

Urban Wildland!

2008-08-02T12:31:00.000-07:00

You know what's tough about a report like this? How do you show an appreciation for what you accomplish but at the same time state the facts on why I could have done better?

One of my favorite peeps that I don't know is rural girl. I love her attitude, I love her commitment and hardness in training and racing and I love the fact that she's a nurse (well, nurse practitioner)! This all totally makes her HOT!

Recently, (I forget what post) she commented about all the whining that her sister observed before a triathlon. "I didn't practice my swimming", etc. You know, excuses for why you aren't going to perform a certain standard.

Being that I respect her so much, I am reluctant to talk about it. The thing is, I don't think I'm a whiner so please don't take it that way. It's just facts. (Doesn't matter anyway, she hasn't had reason to visit my blog lately).

Plus, I am happy with my results. And I think when it's put it into perspective, I'm really happy with my results. But the truth is, I should be faster at the 1/2 mary distance.

Anybody that visits me here (all 5 of you ;-), knows about my broken clavicle and scapula on June 13th from a bicycling accident. That shoulder is FINE! I am not allowed to lift anything at the shoulder but I can run and I'm so happy to be doing something after 5 weeks off of training.

But what you don't know is that I have a pinched nerve, with a decent amount of pain on my right shoulder, travelling down that funny bone nerve (i know, not very technical for a nurse) and into my hand. It's from all the lifting and compensating of not being able to use my left arm and it also limits my neck range of motion.

Well, that was pleasant for running 13.1 miles. The truth is, I almost quit the first 1/2 mile, it hurt so much. Amazingly I was able to have my arm in a firm position with some swing to it and put the pain on the back burner. It was always there, but with much less affect on my race than it could have.

I like this race. It alternates between parks, lakes, neighborhoods and grasslands. It even had a decent amount of spectators for about 1100 people racing. I hope to do it next year and I hope some of you join me.

Ok, so to keep my whine list updated. ;-)

1) No training 5 weeks!

2) Only started running again less than 2 weeks ago.

3) No speed work because of #2, concentrated on getting my miles back up.

Now, I remember. There's this little thing about leaving my shotblocks and gel packs on the ottoman at home. Not much good for racing if I can't use it, now is it?

So I ran the whole 1/2 on water and a little powerade. Not adequate for this fellow. And I really felt that the last 2 miles. Mile 8 was a 9:17 pace, then 9:21, 9:05, 9:04, then 12 and 13 were 9:35 and 9:27. You see, I normally speed up the last couple of miles but was just not able too. One gel pack and maybe I could have beat 2 hours. I should have had the balls to ask somebody for one, maybe!

Nevertheless, I ran the 1/2 in 2:01:21, a freaking 7-1/2 minute pr from my only other half mary in January.

I am very pleased with this result. But not pleased enough to be satisfied for the next 1/2 (halloween dash?). I feel that if I didn't have my injury and had my gel packs, I would have had the ability to run 8:30 for 13.1 miles by now.

Last, but certainly not least, my son ran the 5K in 33:30. A PR for him. I am proud of him, I just wish he'd train a little;-) He'll be 13 later this month.

Big behind

2008-07-27T19:23:00.000-07:00

I am not talking physically, its just that I am so far behind on posting, etc.

Part of it is that I am trying to get in a little bit of that facebook action.

For now, I want to share a recent experience my wife, Angela had last Thursday!

She was on Channel 4 news with Ameilia! How cool is that!!!!

Click here for the link. You'll see her, Angela Litzinger, shortly after the 3 minute mark.

I think I get it!

2008-07-24T16:20:00.000-07:00

or,

"How to look really ridiculous on your run".

Had a very difficult run yesterday.

It shouldn't have been, It was only 8 miles.

And the average pace was only 10:33.

But I felt like I was doing intervals or something.

It was all because I was trying to increase my stride rate.

You see, I have a Garmin 305 and I have a foot pod attachment for it. I don't often use the pod as it's on my New Balance shoes and lately I have been using my Brooks! Time after time, I have read, heard or have been coached about the necessity of having a cadence of 90 (one foot hits the ground 90 times per minute).

I AM NOWHERE NEAR THAT!

On May 27th, my average cadence was 78-80 and on May 18th it was 74 which included cadences of 86 when running 1/4 mile intervals at @ 6:45 pace.

Yesterday, I made it a goal to start changing that and let me tell you, it was hard. My heart rate sky-rocketed, I really became tired and yet other runners easily, and in a much more relaxed state (including a slower cadence), passed me. There were many times that I questioned whether this was even worth my time. My cadence will increase with my pace, right? So stop worrying about it.

Of the 8 miles, only 3 of them were good as far as meeting my goal. Several times I purposely increased my cadence to well over 90, even 100. And it was at this time that I really understood. My stride felt right in every way (except a little short) as far as foot landing, time that my foot was on the ground and power. Unfortunately, I was only able to keep that cadence for minutes at a time. During the last few miles, I felt like I had run my longest distance ever.

I really, really get it. You see, the difficult thing about increasing pace is increasing your stride rate. It takes more energy to increase your stride rate than it does to increase your stride length. And once your body is neuromuscularly (is that a word?) trained at the higher stride rate, you can more easily increase your stride length. Therefore, the method to increase your pace, as well as improve your stride, is to increase you cadence to 90. This is what I have read, have been told, intellectually understood but yet couldn't grasp anyway, until now.

Does this make sense? Do I even understand the concept correctly?

Most people don't do this, by my observation anyway. Honestly, it is too difficult to do all at once, so I am going to have shorter runs with just a cadence goal as well as involve them in part of my longer runs.

If anybody has been through this, please leave me some hints and ideas.

Thanks

Reality really does bite!

2008-07-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

Perhaps you already figured it out, but I am definitely a dork! An unrealistic one at that. Honestly, I don't consider it a negative or as putting myself down. It's simply descriptive.

The last couple of days I created these fantasies of maybe participating in a triathlon yet this year. First, at the end of August with the Lakes Country Triathlon up in Baxter and then even thinking, "Hey, I could just fake the swim on the Chisago sprint" (instead of racing the 1/2).

So, I saw the surgeon yesterday. Everything is healing great. But due to the type of fractures I have, I have what is called an "unstable shoulder". I'm unstable!

So what can I do? Hey, I can lift my own arm now. A little thing called Active Range of Motion.

FOR A MONTH!

That's all for a whole month. No weight, no pushing, no pulling or anything. No nothing except moving it. After a month I can lift anything under a whole 2 pounds for the following month. Then finally at month 3, I will be able to start increasing weight.

I knew this would be long, but man, this is truly depressing!

Except!

I CAN RUN!

:-)

The Mute Button, Please

2008-07-12T19:20:00.000-07:00

"For the perfect balance of fuel effieciency and performance, we take energy from exhaust and recycle it"

"For the perfect balance of fuel effieciency and performance, we take energy from exhaust and recycle it"

"For the perfect balance of fuel effieciency and performance, we take energy from exhaust and recycle it"

And then this happens sometimes within a couple minutes of each other! ugh!

Some of you know what I am talking about. (Or are they only repeatedly playing it in my area?)

But this is worth not having the mute button on. When you have a chance watch all 7 skits. It's called Armstrong and Miller. This is sketch 1, I think #5 is my favorite, though that is tough to decide.

Macca?

2008-07-08T15:47:00.000-07:00

Macca's not looking too great! Look at his old lady droopy breasts! ;-)

4th of July and Minneman!

2008-07-05T14:53:00.000-07:00

Well, I don't have any pictures, so you may subscribe to the theory that none of this happened.

But I had me some fun the last couple of days.

First of all, to any of you that have met Trimama, Tacman and the infamous tribe, know that you can't fail from accepting an invitation to celebrate with them. Just ask my kids; with plenty of little ones, food, watergunfights and fireworks that are right above you, Independence day was "fantastic!" according to my oldest daughter.

I had the pleasure of shooting the ... uh, well, talking with Bob, IronJenny's hubby or T-storms, whom I haven't seen since volunteering at IMmoo, or a family member or friend whom I had never met before. I just love getting to know people better in a fun setting. And although I never need beer to be sociable, having a couple just doesn't hurt.

So we are home shortly after midnight and before I know it, I'm wide awake at 6:40. This is significant for two reasons. 1) I seem to just want to sleep, sleep, sleep since the fractures and 2) I had time to drive to and watch Minnesota's favorite sprint triathlon; Minneman! I wanted my son to come along, and to my surprise, he did. I did have add in a little lunch at SpaceAliens.

Anyway, we were there by the 4th wave of swimmers taking off. We went to the volunteer tent and before I know it, I'm helping Jerry, our infamous tri-announcer, set up and prepare for the finish line. My son, was the results runner. He took the results from the van and posted them as they were updated for all the see. I had the fun of giving everybody there results. It was easy, all I had to do enter there race # and a paper printed out giving them their splits, t-times and final times.

Have you ever heard of volunteering being thankless? Well, not this job. So here I am being thanked by everybody, including some Minnesota triathlon celebreties like the Cathy Yndestad, David Thompson, Julie Hull and Samuel Hauck. There was also a Sara that was impressive but I forget her last name as well as many other impressive athletes. Cathy Y has a blog that I read sometimes, so I know that her step daughter was racing her first race. Watch out world, another rockstar is going to be around soon.

Location, Location, Location. Before I know it, I'm helping pick winners for the bike as well as just throwing out numbers for gift receipts at one of our sponsored local running stores, Marathon Sports. (Marathon, you know owe me money for plugging you, I'll send a bill). I'm glad that I'm used to making a fool of myself. Calling numbers of racers that are no longer present over the microphone for everybody to hear is just so ever anti-climatic. Jerry and Bill (the race director) adjusted and we started giving winners to the number closest to what I called.

I had fun, my son had fun, we stuffed ourselves for lunch and we had the satisfaction of volunteering.

I was suppose to have raced though! Sigh!

Ok, I'm over it.

On to watching lifetime next weekend!

My helmet!

2008-07-01T15:35:00.000-07:00

I am sure that you have all seen worse! But this is how hard I hit my head!

So far, So good!

2008-06-30T13:11:00.000-07:00

Well, I get to do Passive Range of Motion now (PROM)! It turns out that if you take my type of clavicle break and my type of scapula break and separate them, the breaks are no big deal.

The problem is that I have both! And one can displace the other while healing.

Which would mean surgery!

But that hasn't happened yet. It is still possible, I take xrays again in 2 weeks, but I have passed the most important time with flying colors.

So, still no lifting or any type of weight/ pressure against my shoulder. And no running until I can do Active Range of Motion (AROM).

The doctor was fine with me doing the LifeFitness bikes at the club as long as i don't lean on my shoulder. He was less excited about the elliptical and my one armed swimming. (look to the right at my workout summary).

So, I guess I won't do that for a little longer. I'm not happy about it though! But I am realistic. Healing with no loss of ROM and with no scar tissue is the top priority. Two weeks of elliptical and swimming is a stupid trade off for not healing properly and possibly needing to have surgery.

How do you do that?

2008-06-26T16:23:00.001-07:00

How do you keep up with all these blogs?

Had a friend ask me the other day, "How is it that you respond to my blog so quickly, like all the time?"

Yes, she said "like"!

That is so, like, last century, to say like!

Anyway, the answer is easy!

I stalk all of you!

Oh, oooops! Ok, that's not really the answer.

The answer is RSS! Now, I don't know how RSS works for you PC users! I do know that IE 7 supports it.

What RSS definitely does, regardless of computer platform, is save a ton of time! My email application lets me know when you have made a new entry! As much as I love you, I don't have to go to your site and see if there is something new. I am able to keep track of tons of blogs because of RSS, blogs that I might not otherwise be able to keep up with.

Let me show you how it works on the mac (and if you are a pc user and want to guide us on how to do it on the pc, let me know, I'll add your link or whatever you like).

Let's first use a good example of a blog to RSS. Everybody loves IronJenny and she posts irregularly (not that there's anything wrong with that)! If you look at her url, you will notice an RSS or icon for RSS on the right side of the url toolbar.

Click to enlarge this picture: You will see two browser windows open. The Safari browser (safari is the mac browser that comes with the mac os) window has RSS on the right side of the url tool bar and the Firefox has the RSS icon.
What you do next is click on this icon. Sometime you get a choice of RSS or Atom Feed, sometimes there are other options. My understanding is that Atom is the best choice.

(again, click on picture)
After making your choice, you have this window.
Again, I don't know about windows, but on the mac, with Safari, if you look on the choices on the right side of the web page, you will see the "Actions:" section. I chose for you (because you are special), "subscribe in mail".

And voila, I will now be updated when I check my email, anytime IronJenny updates her blog!

Here is a pic of my email client: See all the RSS items on the left side?

You may want to check your preferences!

I must admit, it is a little bit of work to initially set up! For one thing, you have to click on all the "new" entries that aren't new so that your computer is updated to what you have visited. If you go back to the picture above, you will see it shows that IronJenny has 25 new entries. Well, that's not true, I've seen them all. So yes, I had to click on them but once that is done, I am set. I can keep up with all of you without taking the time to visit each site.

I highly recommend it.

Watching Ironman

2008-06-22T20:35:00.000-07:00

It was only a few minutes ago that I saw (very clearly) momo cross the finish line.

I'm confused about TacMan though. His time is only 10 minutes ahead of momo but I swear I heard him cross at @ 1255. Hmmm, I must have been hearing things.

This is very cool watching from home. Not as cool as watching in person of course.

You all look Hawt crossing that finish line. Good Job

Addendum: Damn it, I missed Bolder. Great Job Bolder. Subfun, I hope?!

Addendum 2: Way to go Greyhound! Woohoo!

Addendum 3: superlinds, you rock! Did you finish first among the bloggers? And Blink and TriDogMom, holy cow! (I can't keep up with everybody)

Addendum 4: Woohoo, Spokane Al just crossed.

Man this is fun!

Addendum 5: Bigun, if you cross while I go void, I'm going to be pissed (no pun intended). Where's my urinal?

Addendum 6: What my computer desktop looks like (click to large)

Addendum 6: Late Congrats to Sweet Baboo, Scottie, Iron Shane, and Iron Eric. And a sorry to Tea, not sure what happened but next time (which I realize doesn't help now!)

Addendum 7: Woohoo Bigun. Look at all those 5's your given.

Addendum 8: Wedgie did it. Congratulations Ironman!

Final: Ok, I'm back to work tomorrow, so time for me to wimp out!
Good night!

Congratulations to all the Ironmans!

No (real) news

2008-06-18T07:25:00.000-07:00

There hasn't been any declared decisions about my shoulder yet. The orthopedist wants the orthopedist surgeon to decide. It looks like the decision is leaning toward surgery. It depends on how the positioning of my shoulder is in this next 10 days I guess. I have a better splint and I am to do no range of motion.

I'm doing ok. I know that my value, esteem, etc does not come from running and triathlon. But I also know that it's going to be tough not participating in races and swims and century rides with the people that I had planned to. I don't get to show how much I have improved at everything.

Well, next year I'll be even stronger.

This weekend I was suppose to run the 1/2 marathon at Grandma's. Good luck to Steve, Pharmie, Miss Allycat, Lifetime Run Club members and others racing this weekend

Should have gone camping!

2008-06-14T03:16:00.000-07:00

I am not suppose to use my left hand which is in a sling until I see the orthopedist on Tuesday. So who knows how long it's going to take me to type this.

My Dad is visiting from southern Ohio. The plan was to go camping along the north shore, which (for you non-Minnesotans is the shore along Lake Superior between Duluth and the Canadian border.

View Larger Map

We didn't. Even though the weather started getting nice here, it was expected to continue getting wet in Northern Minnesota. So Thursday we went to the Mn zoo (which is much improved if you haven't been there in years) and our plans were open on Friday. I decided to get up at 5 and get a long ride in.

I was out of the house by 5:30. A little bit of a slow start due to small bike problems plus my first 17 is stop and go anyway until I get out to the country. Miles 20 - 30 was nice and steady with a 18.1 mph avg. Stopped for about 5 at the park at the end of the Gateway trail, the most northern part of my ride, and started my return home (after deciding not to ride into Stillwater).

06/05/2008 Route
Find more Bike Rides in Roseville, Minnesota

My Garmin shows an abrupt stop at just greater than mile 35 and that I was somewhere faster than 21 miles. Now for years the pundits will argue back and forth ;-) but the main discussion will be "why did jumper get off the paved trail?" Was he not paying attention? Did the wind grab a hold of him? Is he an idiot? or just not coordinated?

I really don't know myself. This all happened so fast, no slow motion, no nothing, just fast.

Suddenly I was off the new blacktop and I had to get back on, after all, there was a tree in front of me. Unfortunately, the blacktop had a high lip at this spot. I remember the front tire returning but the rear bounced. And I mean bounced from the side, as in the rear tire was essentially "grabbed" from underneath me and pulled perpendicular to the surface.

There is very little road rash, because I didn't skid. I was slammed onto the pavement. I felt the shoulder and head hit hard. My helmet is cracked and my head is bruised. I was stunned! I am sure that it was a minute before I even sat up. An older man helped me by setting my bike against the tree I was avoiding as well as collecting my scattered water bottles. I sat up, told him that I just needed to sit for awhile and he biked off saying that he'll be back in a little while. I think I thanked him, I hope so!

Eventually I was back on my bike. The handle bar is not aligned with the wheel and there are a few scrapes on it but my bike is otherwise ok. It was about 2.5 miles to the Fleet Farm gas station. I walked across the light across 36 as by then I was shivering. Called home and waited.

My doctor appointment wasn't until 1:20. I couldn't ice right away due to it took about an hour to stop shivering. I suppose I was experiencing minor shock. I told Angela some symptoms that if shown to call an ambulance. Only because she didn't like what was happening, not because of any melodrama on my part. At the same time it felt good to tell her what to watch for. You never know.

I had convinced myself that nothing was broken. After all, no pain if I didn't move. I was not able to lift my left arm very high but i was able to do some r.o.m. with the help of my right.

The doctor examined me, performed r.o.m. and prodded lightly on my shoulder area. I told him when it hurt but it all looked good. X rays were indeed called for. But I was confidant. Well, until the tech pops her head in and asks if I have ever injured my shoulder before?, then returns for one more picture.

"You have a high tolerance for pain I guess?"

"I've been told that", I responded "but how do you compare your pain to others"

"You have a high tolerance" he affirmed.

"You have a broken clavicle, which isn't too much of a problem. I'll give you a sling and some pain meds. However, you will need to see an orthopedist about the broken scapula"

I am of the type to pray. But I do not discriminate. And while I realize how good I have it compared to much of the world. I need prayer, mojo, whatever you can dish out regarding, hopefully not needing surgery for the scapula, a quick recovery - for my job more than anything else, and that my boss will use me for paperwork etc. so that i do not have a loss of income.

Thank you!

And the season ends

2008-06-13T13:28:00.000-07:00

before it even began.

More later as I am typing with one hand. In short, I'm on the bike, get pushed off path by the wind, high shoulder, must avoid tree. Before I know it, I'm landing on my shoulder hard, slam my head, huge crack on my helmet. Forgot cell, so had to bike 3 miles to civilization.

Broken clavicle, broken scapula. Orthopedist on Tuesday.

No Grandma's 1/2 for me too.

A deep breath and ...

2008-06-05T13:43:00.000-07:00

...a big thank you to my wife Angela. She was more than glad to tag along with me to Lake Johanna, which is just down the street from our house, and watch me swim some along the shoreline. Our youngest played on the slides and swings.
I probably only swam 150 to 200 yards but it was a boost. I was able to swim in the lake and not die like yesterday (see yesterdays post). It's mental from here, I need to adapt and I just need to get in the time and the distance. I'll let you know how next Wednesday's open swim goes.

In the meantime take 2 minutes to watch this video of my little one doing yoga with me! Notice how she sets up the table with her friends, and at @ 1:05 she sneaks in a little something. Does my daughter know how to exercise or what? At the end she notices that she is on camera.

Encouraged and Discouraged!

2008-06-04T06:47:00.001-07:00

I wish I was a note taker. I always have so much to share, then I sit in front of this computer and ... nothing. Or at least nothing interesting.

I've been thinking lately (a dangerous past time in my case). Why is it that endurance athletes are more susceptible to getting sick? Of course one of the reasons is not enough protein! Carbs are very important but not at the expense of protein. Protein can be converted but it cannot be converted to! What I am saying is that you have to eat protein to get protein unlike carbs which can be converted from protein and fat (or at least used as fuel), nothing can convert to protein. Take your weight and times it by .6 to equal the grams of protein that you should be eating if your active (herbivores included)!

But that can't be the only reason. Many athletes seem to get sick and I really got sick about a month ago and I know I'm eating plenty of protein.

So, let's go back to the question! Even if you have a hard workout that depresses your immune function for a day, why wouldn't their be enough immune function to handle it? Where would the cold or flu or whatever come from? A possible answer came to me at work! As I have mentioned before I work on an ICU, thus we have many patients that are intubated. One thing required every 4 hours is mouth care. The reason is mouth care prevents pneumonia (or more pneumonia if they already had it). These patients are more prone to pneumonia because of the direct access the mouth organisms have to the lungs via the intubation tube.

When we run, are we breathing through our nose, using the defenses of hair and mucous membranes to protect our lungs? Is it possible that we have bacteria in our mouth that we are breathing deeply into our lungs?

So my pre-workout routine now involves flossing, brushing and listerine. I can't prove that it's helpful but it seems like common sense to me.

Discouraged by Swimming!

Went to the open water swim brought to us Twin Citians by this wonderful couple in Chanhassan. Despite my improvement in the pool I am close to no better in the lake. I just get short of breath so easily and then I can't swim. I am not tired after swimming, just unable to freestyle. Fortunately I have at least 4 more opportunities for open water swims before my first triathlon. The first thing I need to pay attention to is just to swim slowly. I think I try to move to quickly when I don't have the orientation of the bottom of the pool.

But when it comes down to it, if I can't swim, there is no way I can do the 1/2 ironmans that I have planned this summer.

As discouraged as I am about swimming, I am equally encouraged by my bike and run. I will talk more about that later but I am up to 60 miles and I trimmed 10 minutes off my 14 mile lsd run with only a 2 avg. heart beat per minute difference.

How fast can I run 13.1 in a race now? I don't know, but I no longer fear the distance.

I want it all and I want it now!

2008-05-24T18:30:00.000-07:00

You know, I really don't get into the whole horoscope thing! Yet, I seem to so be a Gemini! There are literally two me's (spell check says me's is not a word, I'm such a rebel). Sometimes that me that I want to be is also the me I am. Other times, not so much. This morning, I went to the infamous city of Medina to participate in the first MN TriClub Century Ride of the year (but it doesn't have to be a century ride). Anyhow, you heard me talking (well, ok, writing) about my weight loss. I am looking better than I have in years, if not ever. OMG, the bodies that I saw today, just amazing and humbling. If I want to look like that, I have a long way to go.

Then there was the actual ride. It's my own fault but today was only my 5th venture out on the bike this year. So my miles, endurance, speed and power is a little bit on the short side now. Nevertheless I had a good first loop at a comfortable pace with Tri-mama. (Is it possible to be anybody more personable than Trimama? Any conversation is a great conversation with her, even all the unfinished ones we had). Then we had a few more in our group for the second loop, most notably, IronJenny and TacMan! The presence of TacMan pushed me a little harder then I'm use too! Yet, how do I explain this? Have you ever watched nature video's where the lion or tiger caught its prey, but let the prey kind of feel like it had a chance to get loose and escape? Ultimately it was a no win, the prey was going to die! Well, that was kinda like me trying to keep up with TacMan, it would seem, at times, that I could keep up with him. But then, at any moment, if and when he wanted to, he would pull away as if I were riding an undersized tricycle.

Let's not even talk about the incredible bikes and accessories that I saw!

Which brings me back to the song above by Queen.

Sometimes, even if momentarily, my thoughts go to "I want it all". I want the body, I want the bike, the powertap, and I want extreme (for lack of a better word) fitness, the ability to not be lions bait.

But the funny thing is, I don't want it all, or at least not now. Not only that, I'll accept whatever it is that I get. I am enjoying the new people that I am meeting now and in the past year. I am enjoying the new body and fitness I'm creating. I'm enjoying the increase in speed that I am experiencing. I am enjoying my "it's all I can afford right now" bike. I'm enjoying what I am learning and the fact that I have so much more to learn.

If I just had it all, now, the accomplishment and hard work to get wherever I get to, wouldn't exist. And I just can't imagine that.

Summary: @ 44 miles:

Garmin time: Conditions hilly and 15+ mph winds
1st 10: 14.9 mph
2nd 10: 14.8
3rd 10: 15.6
4th 10: 17.9
Last 4: 14.3 My legs ran out the last couple of miles. Can't call it a bonk, I felt fine and my nutrition and hydration was good, just no more legs.

Thanks to everybody that was there to make this really fun.

It may be that part of my legs being tired at the end of the bike was the fact that I ran 9 miles at a avg 8:59 pace just 12 hours earlier. It was a good feeling tempo run. I had just finished working 40 hours in 4 days and couldn't go another day without a workout, so I ran.

Oh, and I also ran my first 14 mile run (and longest since January) about a week ago. It took a whole 2:26 but lsd is what its all about.

Only 2 weeks of school left. It is just amazing how busy May is for us. band concerts, orchestra concerts, piano recitals, baseball, soccer, field trips.

My youngest, just finished preschool, she is so proud to be a big girl now in that she starts kindergarten in 4 page turns (turning the calendar 4 months). I have to take a picture of her with me doing yoga to one of the DVD's I have. She's adorable!

A PR and a Hug!

2008-05-11T14:25:00.000-07:00

Getting started has been tough for me lately. I'm not sure why. Friday evening, after work, I just sat around trying to decide (or was that not trying to decide?) whether or not to go for a bike ride! I did and loved every 26 miles of it. Averaged @15 miles an hour but that includes stops and all. If you just look at the straight aways with no traffic stops or hill there are a couple of 20 minute spots that I averaged 19-20 mph.

The flat tire sucked. I have to get in my head that I can't take off without checking the tire pressure. I am so spoiled by my old bike tires that never went flat except for the necessary inflate in the spring. Live and learn I guess (unfortunately some people seem to just live).

Saturday I just worked on strength, yoga, recovery and playing with the kids. My little 5 year old just loves to do the Yoga DVD with me!

This morning I drove out to the Mall of America to run the Susan G. Komen Twin Cities Race for the cure. I signed up for this quite a while ago being motivated by a friend of Angela's (my wife) breast cancer diagnosis. Add this on top of another friend, Cheryl , having surgery and chemo a few years ago as well as coworkers and other acquaintances, I just felt a need to do my part. So I registered, kicked in another $100 and had a 5K on the schedule for May.

If you didn't know, I am an RN! Therefore, I work with women, I'm around women all the time, much more than men. I hear and see how women and particularly mothers get the major household responsibilities. I see how some doctors, some patients and family treat me differently than my coworkers. Usually to my advantage, that is, but not always. Personally, I think some of this natural (if you've got the breasts, you've got the food), but I also think some of it is societal. I am not claiming to be any better. Angela gets the bulk of the responsibility here too. Some of that is situational, she was home to learn the gluten-free, casein free diet while I was at work + overtime. If the kids need something, they go upstairs and ask her instead of me sitting right next to them. Then add my decision to start training for endurance events, you start seeing the picture of a typical "American" household. For the record, I often do dishes and laundry and I really, really try to be sensitive to doing my part and getting her free time in. (also for the record I probably fail too many times to mention)

But all of this just makes me more sensitive to the effects that any illness, let alone breast cancer with its many more societal aspects, can have on the woman of the household. And thus on the rest of the household. The woman (mother) is the caregiver, she is the one you go to when you have a boo boo. She is not the one that is suppose to have the boo boo. She is the one that you go to for strength and encouragement, not the one that needs it! I'm not saying that this is right, I'm just saying it is what it is.

So even the scare of illness, cancer is unimaginable in many aspects. We're praying for you momo!

On that note, I rocked the 5K.

If you want to compare to my last 5K in October, I improved from 28:30 to 24:48. This is a 3 minute 42 second PR.
You can argue that this is the obvious. I just started running last May and worked on my run quite a bit this winter, so of course I PR'd being that it's been so long.
And you would almost be right.
So I looked up my training 3.1 pr's. On April 17th, I ran it in 27:31, so that is still a pr by 2:41

It could have been a little better but this was a Komen run, not a racer's race. You couldn't help being a little emotional looking at people's pictures on their backs and some with tears in their eyes. You couldn't help love the fact that this cancer had people out running that otherwise might not be running.

But one thing did surprise me. At @ the mile 2 marker there was a left turn that a group of people made into a survivors corner (or perhaps the event planned it?). There was a huge sign stating "survivors corner" and "hug a survivor" and nobody, and I mean nobody, was stopping to hug anybody. I'm thinking "what the hell?" Yes, I wanted my best time, but why am I here? So I stopped and gave someone a hug. Yes, just one person, not more! I didn't look back to see if anybody followed my example. I think that some of the slower runners later probably did! I'm sure some people had there reasons for not stopping, why didn't I hug 2 or 3 people? So, I'm trying not to be judgmental.

As far as my racing, I am most pleased with the fact that I know I have more potential. I could have raced a little harder I think but I just don't know how to gauge it yet. I don't know what that potential is, but I plan to find out.

Lap 1, 8:13
Lap 2, 7:58
Lap 3, 7:59 (first time I have run consecutive sub 8 pace miles)
Lap 3.1 6:51
Avg pace 8:00
Total time 24:48

Happy Mothers Day to Angela and all the mothers out there!

2008-05-08T19:30:00.000-07:00

I suppose I should start by saying Hi! I don't know how many days its been since I posted but it seems to be a long time.

It is so hard to train this year. The late spring, a case of the flu and now the end of school year band, orchestra, piano, baseball, soccer, church groups, birthday parties and a few things that I am sure I'm not thinking of now, causes a bit of problem in the time department when it comes to training. Oh, lets not forget 16 hour workdays every once in a while.

It is also so hard to post. I think of you guys quite a bit, at all different times, like while training or just driving down the road. Usually it's something that crosses my mind that would be great to post about but then I sit here in front of the computer and have nothing exciting to say!

Maybe I need some sort of notebook to jot reminders down? Hmmm!

Anyway, I have a 14 mile run that will be my weekly LSD for the month of May! Last Sunday, I only made 12.5, my calves and heels just tightened up too much for being my first long run since the flu. The first 8 miles was in about 75 minutes, lets not talk about the last 4.5 miles. It just shows how important stretching/yoga is for me. It may be important for all of us but for me, its required to function. Below is the map of my 14 miles. It is sweet with very little areas that traffic is a concern. In fact some of it is on gravel at a reserve.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmytri.com/run/united-states/mn/roseville/344329527508"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;15 mile Roseville/Shoreview Run&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br/&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmytri.com/find-run/united-states/mn/roseville"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Find more Runs in Roseville, Minnesota&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Speaking of yoga! Tara Stiles shows a great shin/calf stretch. It kills but it works. Here's the link.

Is a speedo a speedo when it's loose fitting?

2008-04-27T07:15:00.001-07:00

Ok, technically I don't own a Speedo, the brand is Nike! I bought it when I weighed 230 pounds. Wednesday I weighed in at 202. It's kind of funny how fascinated I am now about my weight. About 2 years ago, during a presentation, I questioned a doctor about the obesity scale (isn't some of the increase in obesity because the changes in the scale?) in which part of his response was that I was borderline obese!

I thought the guy was nuts! And who was he to call me obese when he clearly had a huge spare tire?

Well, I agree with him now! I had the fortune and misfortune to have my overweightedness (new word, I like it) to be very well distributed. I saw other 30 and 40 year olds that were obviously obese and separated myself from them because I didn't look like them. At least I didn't in my little delusional world.

But, as I have already said, now I weigh 202 pounds and I think I can lose another 10-12 fairly easily. If this is true then I will have lost almost 50 pounds that I didn't even know I had to lose. I thought being at 215 would be great but doubted that I could achieve that.

Which brings me to the speedo. Does a person look ridiculous if the speedo is a little loose? It's a swim "jammer" not a brief, I do care about the general public. I know, it seems a bit shallow to care but really, I can look ridiculous for a while and it would be just fine, I don't care. And I guess it's not much to replace a swimsuit.

I think I may be making a big deal out of this because I'm absolutely afraid of putting on and finding the wetsuit too baggy. ;-(

I am finally getting over the flu or whatever it was, it certainly felt like the flu. I thought I was all better Tuesday night, so Wednesday I prioritized working out since I had done nothing since Saturday. I had a great swim and interval run. Very pleased with it, in fact three of my .5 mile intervals were @ 7:20 pace.

Then (dramatic music please) Thursday I suddenly have a 101.6 temp and Friday 102.5 and hurting all over! The head, the diaphragm when I coughed or even breathed hard, everywhere along my neck and back. I know us guys are supposedly wimpy (and it's probably true) when it comes to being sick, but whatever, this sucked like nothing I have experienced in a long time.

Finally, Saturday I felt half as much as better, highest temp was @ 100.6 and today, no fever and while weak and achy, I can move without wanting to fall down and whimper on the floor.

Well, perhaps I'm being slightly over dramatic.

Speaking of drama, as much as I'm looking forward to the 1/2 marathon in Duluth, I really want to sherpa IMCDA. But I anticipate meeting some great people up in Duluth. People I know and have met at the running club as well as Steve, Pharmie, MissAllycat and perhaps even SimplyStu! I might even have some NRF's (non running friends) and NTF's there! (non-triathlon friends)

Anybody else going to be up in Duluth for the marathon or 1/2 marathon?

Earth as Art

2008-04-22T16:37:00.000-07:00

Earth Day is for everybody! It doesn't have to be political! Not knocking political, just saying that it transcends it.

So, here is a link to Earth as Art!

The F Word

2008-04-21T06:33:00.001-07:00

Flu

A Tale of Two Runs

2008-04-19T18:13:00.000-07:00

My little 5 year old is back to her normal self! Here is a picture of her at preschool on her 5th B-day earlier this month!
Her personality is just as adorable as she appears. I feel that as her Dad, it's my job just not to ruin her.

But, I am not feeling so hot!

I should have listened to the warning signs. I was cold even bundled up at my son's scrimmage baseball game and I didn't feel better even after a 30 minute nap.

I had a plan and apparently I needed to keep it.

Another warning sign!!!! My HR was up, up, up so soon into my run even though I was only going at @ 9:45 pace. By my 5th mile I had a HR of 172 at only a 10:28 pace. Compare this to my last 10 miler when I had a HR of 174 at a 8:51 pace. My legs felt awful, my butt felt awful, my back felt awful and my stomach felt awful. Several times I wondered if I was going to spew.

I kept going.

I took it slow, but I kept going. Avg pace 10:17 vs 9:35. I kept my avg HR about the same, which is good.

Believe it or not, I have managed to be proud of this run anyway. I ran smart for how I felt but I kept going even though I wanted to quit. You will read that putting miles in just to get the miles in, is not helpful for training and can even be harmful. Getting the miles in is certainly what ended up happening today. And you know what, "they" may be right that physically, my run did not help me today. However, this run was very effective in other ways. Completing 10 miles (actually 12, 2 mile walk/run after the 10 miles) while feeling like this just magnifies what I have suspected lately. That is, 10 miles is a much shorter run for me than it use to be!

Here's a toast to 10 miles.

I get a week off for a long run (next weekend starts the worst part of my 6 week work schedule) then I'm up to 14 mile long runs for all of May!

Now to recover, so that I can work on fartleks and other speed workouts the next 2 weeks (and get on the bike for crying out loud). Warm weather, where are you!!!!!

My little girl

2008-04-18T13:34:00.000-07:00

My little girl is sick today. Vomiting all last evening and this morning. She's finally holding down some water now.

New Favorite Quote (well, I am 40)

2008-04-18T13:21:00.000-07:00

"If you can keep him healthy and motivated, then the 40-year-old is the most dangerous athlete you'll come across"

-Paul Check, Clinical exercise specialist and trainer to Laird Hamilton

The Next Step to Ironman!

2008-04-17T22:28:00.000-07:00

This year I am racing in two 1/2 Ironman distance races, Chisago and Pigman.

And now I am registered for my first marathon, the Twin Cities Marathon (of course).

Now, an important goal is for me to keep my life balanced so that my wife can enthusiastically support me registering for IM Wisconsin in 09.

BTW, I am volunteering at Ironman Wisconsin this year. Is anybody else going to be there or am I really missing out on meeting bloggers due to the huge group at CDA?

I deserve this!

2008-04-17T11:48:00.000-07:00

"I deserve this" is probably one of my least favorite statements. Sounds kinda weird huh? It even sounds kind of un-American! Or at least with our current culture.

But it leads to so much trouble!

It leads to eating what you shouldn't (or don't want to) eat!
It leads to more debt!
It leads to _________(fill in the blank)

But most importantly it leads to emptiness!

This doesn't necessarily mean that we don't deserve things or can't have it at all. I enjoy a beer or two, a candy bar, etc. It's just that the "I deserve this" attitude is unfulfilling. That Ben & Jerry's or Almond Snickers (new purchase, alcohol or cigarette for some) may feel really good at the time, but when it's consumed out of rationalization of deserving it, there is only regret, emptiness and helplessness. In fact, I have felt better about myself after resisting a temptation to buy something "I deserve" rather than the short term elation of buying or consuming whatever it was I desired. Haven't we all felt this?

The only real lasting fulfillment in this world is loving others as a description of feeling as well as in action.

That is something we all deserve!

Patience!!!!!

2008-04-13T18:42:00.000-07:00

It is my instinct not to be patient. If I think about it, notice that I'm not being patient, then I can correct myself. Most of the time!

But patience can be added as another reason to why I tri! It takes patience for your health, your physical and mental ability to learn and improve. It's not just hard work, although that's certainly required. It's hard work for years (and years) to attain an ability that is so much greater than you were able to before. My AT has apparently only gone up from 157 to 162 between mid October and April 3. I think the MAP test I took at Lifetime Fitness may be off a few points. I will train as if my AT is 165. I can still somewhat talk with a heart rate of 165, breathing is a little hard but tolerable.

What I can't wrap my head around, is how I let myself not get so out of shape to begin with. No regrets though, I am 40 and while there are many 40 year olds I know that are seeing that they are slowing down, I get to improve my speed and ability for years to come.

Today, I ran 10 miles again. If you read this blog enough, you may notice that I have stayed with 10 miles for 3 weeks now. I want my body to adjust and tolerate my activity for the rest of April, then in May I will increase my long runs by a few miles. Since I am doing Fartleks and speed workouts at paces I haven't done before, I am trying to not shock my body too much. I think it's working.

Yesterday was catch up day. I had another busy week at work and home and the weather sucked. So this is what I did.

50 minute spinning while watching Ironman 70.3 championship on NBC. Cool to watch. 50 minutes may not seem much but I am learning that all these years I have been a low rpm bicycler. All 50 minutes at 90 rpm was the goal and I pretty much achieved it.

1300 yard swim. I am slowly able to handle breathing better. This is going to take a while but I'm enjoying the challenge. I'll probably be slow all year but being a good swimmer will be something that I achieve.

Quick 2 mile run on treadmill after swim.

Hey, I did a mini backwards triathlon yesterday. Sweeet!

Today I did a 10 mile run. Oh, ooops, already mentioned that. I've got more to say though. It was kind of a sweet run. The weather was sunny and (I was) beautiful. LSD is suppose to be the way, but after 7 miles of it, I looked at my Garmin. What I saw was a HR of about 156 @ 9:45 pace. I said to myself "Tim, your HR was @ 154 at about the same pace in mile 3. You, buddy, have a base. Let's pick it up a bit"

Mile 1 9:45 pace, avg HR 142
Mile 2 9:40 pace, avg HR 152
Mile 3 9:26 pace, avg HR 156
Mile 4 9:39 pace, avg HR 161
Mile 5 10:02 pace, avg HR 147
Mile 6 9:59 pace, avg HR 156
Mile 7 9:46 pace, avg HR 158
Mile 8 8:51 pace, avg HR 166
Mile 9 8:46 pace, avg HR 171
Mile 10 10:00 pace, avg HR 165

Total avg 9:35 pace, avg HR 157
Total time 1:35:57

Ok, this run is significant in a few ways.
1) 2nd 5 miles quicker than first 5 miles
2) Except for 2 miles (8th and 9th), I took it fairly easy, yet finished 16 minutes faster than my TC10 mile run last fall, which was the absolute best that I can do.
3) The first few miles, I had to keep reminding myself to pick it up a little, my HR was too low (140's)
4) My next 1/2 mary in June should be well under 2 hours, I think my goal will be 1:55.

Patience is good.

(But I wonder when (not if) I can average better than an 8 mile pace for a 10 mile or greater race)

Fartlek

2008-04-09T20:35:00.000-07:00

Fartlek is the damn funniest clean word that I have ever heard of.

And one hell of a work out!

Tuesday.

2 mile warmup! @9:10 minute pace.

5 minutes at 8:00 pace, 2.5 slow
4 minutes at 8, 2 slow
3 minutes at 7:20, 1.5 slow
2 minutes at 7:20, ok you get the idea
1 minute @ 6:50 (just about killed me)

ran back to the club!

Total 6.2 miles, total run for week so far - 17.2

I love speed work (well, it's speed to me anyway)

I might run a 10 mile on Saturday even if the weather is crappy.

Training!

2008-04-07T09:29:00.001-07:00

In many ways training has been going great. Except biking, which is sad because I have had a new bike since Christmas and nothing to show for it. (except a new bike of course)

That will change!

Although that change didn't start out as planned. I went out on the bike Friday and at 9.8 miles had a flat. Not a big deal right? Well, except I wasn't prepared for it. No spares, no repair kit, no pump. I should have been prepared. But I thought maybe, just maybe I could get away with a few local rides. Not!

Swimming is getting better all the time! (Singing), "I believe I can breathe, I believe I can touch...". Never mind, I am a horrible singer.

It's kinda strange but running is what I have enjoyed the most lately. I never would have thought that a year ago. Yesterday was a true LSD day. For the benefit of my body and my mind, I purposely kept my heart rate down for the whole 10.7 miles. Some of you could have crawled just as fast. Regardless, I truly enjoyed it! I had worked 12 hour nights on Friday and Saturday so after sleeping from only 8:30 to 1pm (and 6 hours the day before), so I was tired. But I knew I needed to put my run in and I also knew that I have been poor at keeping my base lately. The weather sucked. But I was not running inside for 10 miles, I've had enough of that. So I step outside from the club and its pouring. I had a jacket on so it was only my shorts that became wet rather quickly. It was 48 degrees, so not too bad and due to the fact that I was running, I never really felt cold. It is a little weird, running in the rain, in shorts, next to snow.

So this is what I did.

Mile 1 - 11:39 Avg Hr 141
Mile 2 - 11:17 Ahr 145
Mile 3 - 10:51 Ahr 148
Mile 4 - 10:44 Ahr 152
Mile 5 - 10:38 Ahr 151
Mile 6 - 10:15 Ahr 156
Mile 7 - 10:30 Ahr 156
Mile 8 - 11:14 Ahr 157 (started some hilly area)
Mile 9 - 10:57 Ahr 153
Mile 10 - 10:21 Ahr 161
+ .7 mile - 10:43 Ahr 161

Now, I don't want you thinking that I am always taking it easy.

On Thursday, I ran 5- 800m repeats with the running club.
I ran them pretty well, timing them at 3:40 - 3:55, which is an average pace of 8:17 minute miles.

I also ran just about 9 miles the week before with an average pace of 9:34. To be fair there was an hour break after 4.81 miles as I ran that with the club, stretched and talked for a while, then went home and finished the rest of the run. Still, I am running faster for a longer amount of time. I have also been doing 5 minute intervals with @ 8 - 8:15 pace.

Did I tell you that I ran my first sub 8 mile? Yep, on mile 3 of an 8 mile run (though I did have to walk for a few minutes after that mile) I ran a 7:54 mile. I know that technically I could have attained this a while ago but it was never in my plan, so it hasn't happened. I expect that I will see a sub 8 mile in my next 5K!?

So that was cool! But this post has got to be boring for you (if your still here)!

I've recognized that I am being a little negative lately. Part of that you can read in my last post but there is more. Generally, I think I accept change pretty well, but all the podcasts and some blogs have really slowed down lately. These are something that I have looked very forward to and had a lot to do with the excitement of starting this new thing to me called Triathlon. I remember listening to GYGO and SimplyStu podcasts hour after hour when I first discovered them.

Take this past week. I was a little disappointed about not having planned for the SimplyStu world triathlon with my kids. Last year, I listened about it, was frequently updated about it visiting his website, etc. This year, it was just here all the sudden, with what seemed like little warning. Also GYGO, podcasts have been seemingly few and far between with their episodes. Then add all the EvoTri voting (and voting and voting), there just seemed to be a whole different vibe to our little blogosphere. And I didn't like it.

But you know what. I am the one that didn't calendar the SimplyStu triathlon. It's hardly his fault. And why should I expect GYGO to broadcast any more than they do? If we're going to be friends in our little part of the world, the friendship can't be based on filling some quantitative expectations of each other. Friendship is just being there for each other, period. And I, for one, plan on being a friend. I hope I am forgiven for straying from that a little bit.

Uno

2008-03-30T16:56:00.000-07:00

I have to admit it! I'm a little down.

And that fact is a little weird because I shouldn't be!

I am swimming longer!
I am running faster!
I am biking _ _ _ _! (well, it's only March and I live in Minnesota)

I am pretty sure that it's just the time of year.

Some people have problems around the Holiday's, not me, it's February and March!

But this year it is also conflict!

My first conflict is conflicting schedules:
I love my work; I love those that I work with as well as the patients that I take care of. For those of you that do not know, I am a neuro critical care RN. It is so intense that sometimes at the end of my shift I am so emotionally exhausted that I hardly know what to do. I am usually not physically exhausted anymore (thank you triathlon) but even that well happen on my 4th day of work in a row in which the previous 3 days were a total of 39 hours of work. We take care of many types of patients but we tend to specialize in a type of hemorrhagic stroke called Subarachnoid hemorrhage!
I couldn't imagine doing anything else and even though I get paid fairly (you could really never get paid enough to be an RN, hence the shortage), I still feel that I am serving people. And I really like that fact. I usually don't express service as a reason since to me serving isn't the same if your advertising (hey, look at me) your service.
Other times, I can imagine doing something else. Finding a job that isn't so exhausting so that I can use my energy and time to serve in other ways. But some of the other reasons are selfish, like having more energy for training!

And then there is my schedule! Every third weekend and 12 hour shifts til 7:30 pm or evening shifts means that I really don't have any training partners. And EVERYTIME there is some triathlon club event or training class it is when I am working.

Hence, the title of my post today! Uno!

I really feel alone with this little part of my world right now.

And really, its not any body's fault! If there is a finger to point, its pointed to myself.

What's most important, is that I have started doing a few things about it.

Just recognizing the problem is a start! I realize part of it is the season, it will be better in another month or so when group swims and rides start up.

I also finally joined the running club at my Lifetime Fitness. Well, I have been joined, the fact that I showed up is the big news. You see, feeling sorry for myself that most running events happen while I'm at work, I let myself just not go. Yesterday, however, I ran with a few people and it was nice. I will join them for some track work on Thursday this week, then see what I can join them with the following week. I am committed to just showing up when I can.

A second conflict has been changes in our blogosphere.

I have changed my priorities when it comes to some of the blogs about triathlon and have focused on you, that is those of us that are about having fun, being friends, encouraging each other as well as learning how to do this thing we call running and triathlon better.

To be continued!

Happy Easter Everyone!

2008-03-23T11:48:00.000-07:00

I'm a loser..., a big loser (but not the biggest)!

2008-03-08T11:35:00.000-08:00

Man, has my schedule been crazy! Today was finally a day of relaxation (with a little training mixed in) and I hope to complete this post as well as contact (reply to ;-{) some people that I am long overdue about. I have been so busy that I haven't even listened to the latest Tac n Bigun podcast that has been out for 4 whole days.

Now that I think of it, I think I was tagged recently too. Hmmm, that will be the next post (when i remember or find who actually tagged me.

First, I must provide full disclosure.

When I say that I've been really busy, I am including fun. Last Friday night, I watched some high school hockey. Wow, Hill Murray versus White Bear Lake was one heck of a game to watch (actually it was one hell of a game but I don't swear).

Then the next night I saw U2 3D on a huge imax screen. That was amazing. Here's a rare political comment by me; I don't care what you think about Iraq, etc., but any person has to love the idea of no war. Of people of different faiths, ethnicities, differences living in peace. And you have to love the genius of his One and Red Campaign. Hey, I have some problem with his push for Governments to contribute money to Africa. Not because of the tax money, more than proud for us to be generous with our extreme wealth in our society (if your reading this, your are in the top 5% of wealthy people in this world). My problem is that I feel we should be giving money directly to organizations that help people with water, food, starting business, etc., rather than to corrupt governments. Fortunately that is what Bono's campaigns also does. My favorite is Opportunity International. Check it out when you have a chance and if you like U2, see the movie concert. They play a lot of their old songs.

Let's see, I've also been to a couple of Wild games, science fairs, parent/teacher conferences and my lovely wife has been out of the house teaching people how to shop and cook a gluten free/ casein free diet.

Let's not even talk about work! I love it, but it is simply high stress most of the time!

Training is going well! After watching some bloggers/athletes I respect use buckeyeoutdoors.com, I decided to give it a try today. So I'll show and talk about training more. I still lose my breath too easily while swimming but it's getting better. One huge difference that I like is that I can lose my stroke because of needing to take a couple of breaths and recover easily. Before, I just had to stop, rest, be frustrated and start over. I'm base training with the running, I am quite confident that I'll finish my 5K in May in less than 24 minutes. Not much biking yet. Unfortunately my work schedule doesn't often match spinning classes at the lbs. I finally bought a used trainer for my bike but I don't get it for about 2 more weeks. Hopefully, the snow is melted by then anyway. Of course, I say that and its snowing NOW.

Oh, I'm running the Grandma's 1/2 marathon. It's the only kind of lottery that I'll ever win.

Speaking of Marathon's this is the one I'd like to do in either 2009 or 2010. Anybody else interested?

Paleo diet is going well too. I probably fall off the wagon a little too much, nevertheless, it's working. I am recovering from training more quickly and haven't had a nasal cold since PF Chang.

One more thing.

For any of you that has been reading my blog, you know that I have started this all from scratch back in May. You may also remember that last summer I weighed in at 235- 238. During the fall, I flirted with 220 but was pretty much around 224 until the Holidays and January that I hit and stayed at 220 and 221.

I'm 209 now.

Which makes me a big loser. 25 pounds and counting. A BMI of 29 to 25.6. Studly to even more studly! ;-)

SWIM! (if you want to call it that)

2008-02-21T20:07:00.000-08:00

I am really focused on the swim right now! I have to, I suck. I must admit that the fact that I suck at swimming kinda surprised me. One of the few things that I remember as a kid is being a good swimmer. I don't mean competition swimming, just good 'ol YMCA swimming.

I don't know, maybe I am a decent swimmer IF you don't count freestyle. After all, I swam .4 miles and .5 miles last year and didn't drown. That's a start!

I cannot get away with that this year. There is a big difference between slowly swimming breast stroke, back stroke and sidestroke for .5 miles and then trying it for 1.2 miles.

So, I've been to Lifetime to swim this past week. 4 days a week is the plan, which certainly beats a total of, oh, I don't know, a dozen practices last year. Yep, not only do I suck, but I didn't but the time in to not suck.

To be a little fair, it's a bit discouraging to swim when you CAN'T BREATHE. I bought books and cards, and worked on this technique and that technique. Nuttin going!

Things are changing a little though and thank you finis. What's been great about having the Finis Swimming Toolkit is that I am able to put on my snorkel and just work on my freestyle technique without the worry of breathing. So I learn to position myself for efficiency, keep my head down and have my lead hand in the perfect position to help keep my hips up.

So my starting routine is simple (and possible pathetic to some of you). I swim about 5 laps slowly (40 feet length pool) with the snorkel on and just focus on technique. Then I swim another 5 laps without it and work on my technique with breathing. I then swim another 5 laps with the snorkel and work on speed (with at least decent technique)

Amazingly I can do it. This past week I swam a lap, for the first time, without stopping or changing my stroke to breathe. It's working so well that I now swim the first 10 laps without the snorkel though I do use those hand paddles some. And then a second 10 laps with the snorkel. Thats only a .3 mile swim, with breaks, but it beats anything I've done before.

Remarkably, I really am confident that my swim will at least be decent by the Lifetime Triathlon in July.

I went to see "Spirit of the Marathon" tonight. If you haven't seen it, do!

Swimming, weight lifting, running, yoga DVD's, core exercises, a massage today; things are going great.
I miss my bike though, I can't wait for the snow and ice to be off the ground.

Locks of Love!

2008-02-15T07:48:00.000-08:00

A True Valentine, my oldest daughter (10) decided to give something that is very special to her!

Her hair!

http://www.locksoflove.org/

I want Spring!

2008-02-01T11:12:00.000-08:00

I really do. I don't mind cold so much, but I want the ice off the road and room for bikes along the curb and pathways.

I am so ready to get ready for this next season.

When I finish 2008, I will have completed 1-2 sprints, 1-2 olympic triathlons, 2 half ironman distance races and I will have completed my first marathon.

And I will know if I am completing my first Ironman in 2009.

It's going to be a big year!

2007 was also a great year.

I went from a 238# couch potato to a 220# 1/2 marathon runner!

Maybe, I'll be under 210#'s by the end of this year? Although weight in of itself is not a high priority.

As much as I want spring, I also no better than to live for the future. I have started a new yoga DVD (yoga for endurance athletes), yesterday I showed up for my first spinervals class with my new bike at the LBS and I am weight lifting. I will also slowly get started with my running again.

Just as important, no, more important, I have registered my son in baseball for this spring and my oldest daughter is playing soccer again. I am definitely working on her endurance this year.

(Ok, apparently I'm aging in the brain a little too much, I had to fix the years at a couple of places above, thanks Danielle in Iowa, arrgh)