12.31.12 Last Workout of 2012

Today marks the last workout of the year.  I swam today.  It was a 2700 yard swim with alot of intervals.  I did some off the wall things today as well.  Sailboat drill, one armed swimming, Tarzan drill, pull buoy, kickboard, just about everything you can do. I mixed in some speed work too.  My swimming has come a long way this year.  I took about a month off of swimming after Austin or I might have reached 300k yards in the pool.  I ended up with 263,345 yards in the pool or almost 151 miles.  It's really hard to fathom that much distance in the water.  In 2011, I really had some fears in the water.  In 2012, I did not worry about the water and was more concerned with time.  It was a nice transition to go from a position of dread to a position of confidence.  I wish I was a little faster this year but that will come.

12.30.12 Trail Run

Final run of the year.  It was cold again today so Rich and I waited until 11am to leave.  It was about 40 degrees and the wind was blowing a little bit so it seemed really cold.  After about 30 minutes, I started to get a sweat going and felt pretty good.  For trail running, we averaged about 9:58 miles today which is really fast on the Northshore trail.  Didn't seem like we were running that fast but I guess we were moving pretty good today.  We covered about 8.3 miles in around 1 hour and 22 minutes.  I have one day of workout this year and then it will be in the books for 2012.  I think I will look back at this year as very successful and am looking forward to 2013.  If it would warm up just a little bit, that would be great.  I am going back to the bike shop for my official bike fitting tomorrow morning so that will be cool.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/255919473

12.29.12 Bike Ride

The weather was very cold by Dallas standards this morning in the 20s.  I just don't ride in weather that cold so I chose to wait until this afternoon hoping it would be better.  I left on the bike at about 1:30pm and it was still 39 degrees.  I bundled up and decided to determine what the distance would be after I rode about 30 minutes.  I definitely planned on riding out to the lake and back at a minimum (~26 miles).  I got out to the lake and decided to add on a few more miles through Flower Mound.  The wind seemed to be off and on a little bit.  It was supposed to be 7mph from the NW so I was into the wind going out and with it coming back.  It felt stronger at times but maybe it was just the cold wind.  I did stop at the Marina to check on my chair out in the middle of the lake to see how much the lake has risen after the snow and rain this week.  It was still on dry ground.  I ended up going almost 40 miles in 2 hours and 32 minutes.  It was cold and a little bit of a gut check today to be out there.  I hope the weather will be better tomorrow for my trail run with Rich.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/255536155

12.28.12

Starting to close in on the end of the year and I'm starting to click off some milestones.  I will have to dedicate another post to the work done this year and what is possible next year.  My wife and I woke up early to get to boot camp this morning.  I have become accustomed to getting up a little late over the past week so it was a little harder than usual to get out of the bed.  We haven't had boot camp this week because of the holidays but it seemed to go really well.  I definitely feel like the extra strength work has been very good for me.  I am getting close to the point where I am going to have to decide how to maintain the strength training combined with the triathlon training.  After boot camp, I rested for a few hours and went to the Aquatic Center to swim.  I had a 2400 yard workout from Jeff that took about 55 minutes to complete.  I was wearing my Alabama hoodie and a girl swimming in one of the lanes gave me a "Roll Tide".  She was going to Alabama right now.  I have been trying to figure out a way to get a Alabama swim cap so I asked if she knew how to get one.  She said her roommate is on the team and offered to send me one.  I gave her my address.  If she sends me one, I will be very happy.  How cool is that?  You never know who your going to meet.

12.27.12

Thursday is tempo run day.  I decided to wait until this afternoon in hopes of running when the weather was warm.  We still have some snow on the ground and I didn't want to hit a patch of ice while running today.  The run plan was a two mile warm up, 1 mile at 8:45, 1 mile at 8:15 and a two mile cool down.  I took a Cherry Lime Roctane gel with me.  I love those when I'm running.  I didn't take any water with me as it was about 40 degrees outside.  My two fast miles were faster than plan by 10 seconds or so.  I felt pretty good and stayed warm.  Pretty good training day to put on some base miles.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/254958244

12.26.12

Slept in late today since I am on vacation this week.  It was really cold last night and I think the high today was about 30 so all of my work was inside.  Too bad I can't stretch the legs on my Cannondale but there will be plenty of days.  I printed off all of the swim workouts Jeff sent me on Monday.  The one today was 2700 yards.  The clocks were broken at the pool so I have no idea how long the workout was.  I know it was at least an hour since the lifeguards changed shifts at least 3 times.  The plan called for an hour on the bike.  I couldn't get outside so I rode the stationary bike at the Aquatic Center today for an hour.  Treadmills and stationary bikes are brutal.  I hate every minute on them but you gotta do what you gotta do.  It's supposed to be cold the rest of the week but hopefully warm enough to get outside a little.  My daughter has a friend on her college gymnastics team from Colorado coming in tomorrow but I should be able to get all my work in.

Christmas 12.25.12

We had alot to do yesterday getting ready for Christmas so I didn't work out yesterday.  I intended to ride the bike but just didn't get to it.  Things have settled down somewhat so I decided to run today.  We had thunderstorms last night and it was raining hard all morning.  It seemed to lighten up around noon and I checked the weather radar.  The radar said there was a gap in the storm and it should be good for a little while.  I changed clothes and took off.  When I went outside it was a light to moderate drizzle.  About a mile in, the rain was starting to come down pretty hard.  Two miles in the rain turned to sleet.  The wind was blowing at least 20mph and the sleet was stinging my face.  It was about .6 of a mile to my turnaround so I decided to stay with it since the wind would be at my back most of the way back.  After the turnaround, the sleet was mixed with snow.  From about mile 3.5 until I finished it started snowing hard with big flakes.  It was very cool running in the snow, especially on Christmas.  We don't get much snow in Dallas.  I finished today at about 5.3 miles in about 50 minutes.  I think the plan was for an easy 4 miles but I felt like doing the full park run.  I did see a few people out on the park trails today.  It was not for the faint of heart out there today but ended up being fun none the less.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/254313799

12.23.12

Maiden voyage today on my new TT bike.  Wind seemed to be heavier than yesterday so maybe my plan backfired on flipping workouts today.  I rode out to Argyle and back which is almost 50 miles.  It took right at 3 hours to finish.  The bike really cuts through the wind well and is much more aerodynamic.  My positioning on the bike seems to be more aggressive when not in the aero bars.  I was able to maintain some good pace going uphill.  It's hard to tell but I think I was at least 1-1.5mph faster today on the new bike.  I went over 3000 miles today on the bike for the year.  I should get a few more rides in before the end of the month depending on weather and holiday activities.  Felt pretty good to get in 50 today as I haven't done that in a while.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/253863003

12.22.12

Flip flopped my workouts this weekend.  Looks like the wind may settle down a little tomorrow and Justin has a group riding tomorrow.  I asked Joe if he could trail run with me today instead of tomorrow.  His plan calls for a long day and a shorter day of running on the weekends.  Joe was cool with switching days too so it all worked out.  I was really tired this morning and overslept a little bit.  Sent Joe a text and let him know I was running late.  We took off about 9am this morning.  It was cold this morning, around 43 at the start.  Probably overdressed a little bit as it seemed to warm up throughout the run.  I wasn't really feeling great all day.  Seemed like every rock and root was finding a way to snag my foot or roll under my feet with alot of slipping and sliding.  I stubbed my big toe on my right foot again on the way out.  I continue to jam the same toe on that foot every few weeks.  Hurts like hell.  On the way back, I got snagged by a sawed off tree on my right foot again and ate it on the trail.  Tough day, I just couldn't find a rhythm and it seemed like the trail was angry and conspiring against me.  Joe logged a milestone for him passing 2,000,000 meters.  Christmas may bog down some training next week but I am going to try and get everything in.  Tomorrow, I will take my new bike out for its first real ride.  I am very excited to see how that goes.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/253551303

12.21.12

Well, the Mayans were wrong and we are still here so I better keep training.  Wednesday was a boot camp day.  Had a long day at work so I came home and didn't do anything else.  My vacation for the rest of the year started yesterday so I had lots of time on my hands.  I went to the pool yesterday morning.  First time in the water is quite some time.  Felt good to swim again and I really felt strong in the water.  I was turning over 1:40 hundreds really easy.  When I got out of the water, I decided to rest for a few minutes and then run on the treadmill at the Rec Center.  Treadmills suck by the way.  That was a long hour.  I ran 6 miles and then walked the remaining time as a cool down.  I was running 8:57 miles on the treadmill.  I had an appointment at Bicycles Plus at 1pm to look at Triathlon bikes.  JT was going to get a few set up for me to try.  The wind was blowing 25-30 yesterday and is was about 50 degrees.  I rode two bikes.  A Cannondale Slice 4 and a BMC TM02 105.

Cannondale Slice 4:

BMC TM02 105:

I rode each on a 10 mile loop.  Straight into the wind going out and with the wind coming back.  The Cannondale has SRAM Rival components and carbon shifters.  The BMC had Shimano 105s.  The BMC seemed like it had a longer top tube and wasn't quite as comfortable as the Cannondale.  The BMC seemed a little heavy and was harder to manage into the wind and uphill but was pretty damn fast with the wind and downhill.  The shifting was a little clunky with the 105 components.  I run Ultegra on my road bike so I guess it was maybe a little hard to take a step back.  The SRAM shifting was really smooth.  The Cannondale also cut through the wind and was really smooth through the hills.  In the end, I chose the Cannondale.  A better package, fit me better and felt like a rocketship compared to my Trek Madone.  I'm anxious to get some longer mileage on my Cannondale and see how it goes.  JT at the bike shop didn't have time to do the fitting so I'll go back after Christmas sometime and get that done.  I'm very excited about getting a real Tri Bike.  I moved my Mavic Ksyrium SL's over to the Cannondale so I have some excellent wheels on it as well.  Should be fun.

Last, I went to boot camp today.  My knees were a little sore from all of the work I put in yesterday but it went well.  I had my monthly injection for my arthritis this morning so I should start to feel alot better pretty soon with my joints.

12.18.12 Record Setting Day

Today was a very good day.  I didn't really feel any better than usual when I woke up.  It was cold, 39 degrees cold and I don't like that.  I debate mentally what to wear for several minutes.  Don't want to be too warm or too cold.  The battle ensues for several minutes.  I finally get out the door kind of late at around 6:30am.  It's a track run so I should be home in an hour.  The warm up run to the track didn't feel any different than any other day.  It is a slow and easy climb to Coppell Middle School North.  During the warmer months the track is covered with people from the Dallas Athletes and training sessions from the Run On store around the corner.  On a cold 39 degree day, I am the only one at the track.  Peaceful and I feel good about it.  You get the sense that everyone else has given in to the weather and I am making ground on those who don't have the will to get out here.  Probably not true but it makes for a good motivational thought.  Jeff's plan for me today was four 800s at 5k pace today, followed by another 800 where I was to run with high heel form, and finally a 1600 at half marathon pace before running home.  I can't say I felt terrific to start the first 800 and decided not to glance at my watch.  I know it usually takes a pretty good effort to start these intervals below 8:30 pace.  When I hit the lap button on my watch it was 7:43 pace.  I was shocked and thought the time had to be wrong.  I walked for about 30 seconds and then started the second interval.  I felt better on this one and was maintaining good pace.  I finished the second interval at 7:24 pace.  For a while I was close to 7:00 pace.  For the third, I decided to step it up a notch.  I have never run a half mile at sub 7:00 pace.  I didn't know if I would be totally trashed or not.  I ran the first 400 and was really close to 7:00 pace.  I tried to put a strong effort in for the second lap.  Going into the last curve, I was at 6:59.  I sprinted with what I had left and looked at my watch.  6:56 pace.  I couldn't believe it.  I was very happy and had to let out a yell.  No one was there to hear it but it was a very satisfying moment, a ground breaking moment for me.  The kind of moment where you get all tingly inside because you accomplish something that you feel really good about.  I was concerned about the rest of the workout but no bother.  I did the last 800 at 7:29 pace and the last track mile in 8:42.  Amazing how slow 8:42 seems when your running at 7:00 pace.  I have to say the boot camp conditioning with my core has to be paying off.  I have no other explanation.  I am feeling stronger from a core perspective and the boot camp sessions are not leaving me as tired and sore as they did at first.  Bottom line, do not ignore core strength conditioning.  I will have to see if the improvement continues.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/252693780

Monday 12.17.12

Yesterday was trail run day on the Northshore trail at Lake Grapevine.  The Matrix was back from literally circling the globe the past few weeks.  He is fast when he turns it on.  We met at Joe's house and took off at the regular winter time, 8am.  The weather was a little cool (low 50s).  Decided to go without gloves and arm warmers.  Good decision as I warmed up pretty fast.  Joe wanted to do a little extra mileage.  Rich and I ran to the chair in what is usually the middle of the lake.  We had some rain on Saturday so I was hoping the chair might be close to underwater.  No such luck.  The chair had a few new friends gathered up next to it.  I should take my phone and get a picture every Sunday.  Rich and I walked around a little bit and then decided to go and meet Joe on his return.  We found him about a .25 mile in or so.  We ran the return route on the one way back.  That trail is fairly new and really rocky and steep.  It is hard.  We were about .75 miles from the trail head and Rich asked me to pick it up and really go.  He was behind me.  I figured he might be a little out of shape after traveling for the past few weeks and took off.  I really put the hammer down and tried to drop him.  Every time I thought there was a gap, I would hear the pounding of his footsteps behind me.  We were doing close to 7 minute mile pace for brief periods of time.  When we hit the trail head, I was really spent.  It was fun going that fast but it was tough.  Nice change of pace.  It's always much more fun running with Rich and Joe.  Good times.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/252240595

Today was boot camp day.  Really tough today.  Lots of ab and core work.  I sprained my thumb doing burpees but was able to fight through it and finish.  It was a tough boot camp day.  My last day of work for the year is on Wednesday.  I am going to ramp the training up while I'm off.  Thursday, I'm going to ride some triathlon bikes at Bikes Plus.  I'm looking forward to that.

Saturday 12.15.12

Tough week for training this week.  I went to boot camp on Monday and ran on Tuesday.  I had to work on Tuesday night and did not get home until about 3pm on Wednesday.  I was too tired to do anything.  The weather was in the 20s on Thursday morning.  I was still pretty tired and decided not to run.  I forgot my son had a hockey game on Thursday night.  No matter, I was beat and probably would not have run anyway.  Friday, I went to boot camp and tried to get back on track.  Today, I rode the bike.  The wind was heavy with gusts to 30 per the news this morning.  There were some times where fighting the wind was very difficult.  I took a 46 mile route around the airport and through Irving back to Coppell hoping to get some wind at my back on the way home.  There are some pretty steep hills in Valley Ranch and they were all straight into the wind.  Tough day for a ride but it was good to get back in action again.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/251993493

Sunday 12.9.12

Me and Joe again today for the Sunday trail run.  Matrix is somewhere in India this week.  We ran to the chair at the lake bottom and back.  It was about the same route as last week.  We took the more difficult return route today.  The one way back to the trailhead is really rocky and steep in sections.  I felt ok for the first half of the run but didn't really have it on the return trip home.  There will be days like this.  The weather was great for December.  It was in the sixties this morning.  A little humid but the run was really nice.  We covered right at 8 miles in one hour and 37 minutes.  Didn't really push the pace too much and kept it comfortable.  I am at almost 860 miles running for the year.  Looks like 900 is in reach for the year.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/250570331

Saturday 12.8.12

I woke up today and decided to wait until about 9am to head out for my ride.  The weather was a little cool (50s) and the wind was about 5mph out of the north.  It didn't look like the wind would strengthen during the morning so I gave the sun a little time to warm.  Plan called for 2-3 hours this morning.  I chose a route out to Argyle and back.  I should have headed into the wind on the way out and had it at my back coming home.  Didn't seem to work that way.  It was blowing in my face on the northerly route on the way out.  However, the wind seemed to shift to the East on the way home.  It wasn't very strong so it wasn't much of a problem.  Legs felt pretty good today considering boot camp yesterday consisted of leg work and core.  I thought my legs may have been a little dead today but that really wasn't the case.  Covered 46.2 miles in an hour and 52 minutes so my time was just about right.  Haven't been out to Argyle in a while so it was nice to get out in the country again today.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/250244174

Thursday 12.6.12

I guess I'm on the every other day plan for posts.  The mornings I do boot camp aren't very exciting so I have been skipping those days from a blogging perspective.  Don't get me wrong, the boot camp is starting to go well and I feel ok after each workout.  In fact, there may some resemblence of a muscle making an appearance on my arms soon.  This morning was about running.  Jeff wanted me to do a Tempo run which is specific times to meet that vary.  He gave me times that were a little faster today so that was interesting.  I also took a completely different route than the one I usually use for my 6 mile runs.  They opened Deforest Road on the other side of MacArthur so I ran up Deforest and worked my way through the neighborhood over there before jumping back on the familiar Parkway route, through the park and then home.  Ended up at slightly over 6 miles so my guessing was spot on.  Running a new route in the dark was challenging.  It was hard to make out the street signs at night and I am not real familiar with the roads in that neighborhood.  The workout was supposed to be a warm up mile, 9:00 mile, 8:40 mile, 8:20 mile, 8:50 mile and a cool down mile.  I couldn't remember all of this when I left so I was just winging it.  I knew I was supposed to be in the 8s.  It has been a while since I pushed the pace so I went ahead and took some liberties here today and stretched it out a bit.  My pacing for the morning was 9:36, 8:30, 8:32, 8:30, 8:34, 8:50.  Kind of close.  I never got to 8:20 but I pretty much stayed consistent in the 8:30 range.  I haven't lost too much fitness in November.  I haven't logged the miles or sustained the same hours of workouts each week so I am fairly happy with the run today.  I hope I'm not trashed for tomorrow's boot camp.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/249801602

Tuesday 12.4.12

Track day.  It was pretty nice for running this morning.  I think it was mid 50s outside.  It was dark when I left this morning and I was wearing shorts and a tech shirt.  It was a little cool for a half hour or so and then I warmed up and felt good.  I did the usual 1.5 mile run to the track and back home.  Jeff had me doing something a little unusual today.  Once I got to the track, I was to do 10 400s.  The odds were to be done with my shin parallel to the ground when my leg was moving forward.  The evens were normal running.  Definitely felt strange doing the odd sets and I can't imagine what I looked like from a distance.  I'm kind of like Ron Burgundy and the teleprompter, if Jeff says do it then I am on it.  I'm sure there is method to the madness and it has been working all year.  I'm starting to miss the pool a little bit.  I feel like I should be in there working so it's been a little hard mentally to not go to the pool.  Boot camp tomorrow.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/249208473

Sunday 12.2.12

Been a few days since my last post.  It's been a pretty good weekend.  Alabama defeated the Georgia Bulldogs to move on to the National Championship in Miami.  After a win, several of my friends from college text during the game since we are all over the country and have something we dub the Cup of Victory.  Here is mine, full of Corona, after the game last night:

As for training, Friday was boot camp day.  I am finally to the point where I don't feel terrible after boot camp conditioning. 

Saturday, I rode my bike with Justin.  We rode out to the Whitehouse and back.  Right around 42 miles and we were gone for about 2 hours and 40 minutes.  The wind was 10-15 from the south.  We were pretty fast on the way out and our time back into the wind was pretty good too.  For all the people who moan and complain about the Texas summer, December with 70 degree sunny weather does not suck.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/248304275

Today, Joe and I went on our usual Sunday trail run on the Northshore trail.  Our other running compadre, Rich the "Matrix", was out of the country somewhere on the way to Australia.  Last report had him in South Korea.  We did 8.5 miles today in an hour and 45 minutes.  Weather was great.  Sunny and 70 degrees with less humidity than yesterday.  Awesome. 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/248659219

I brought my phone today to get some pictures of the lake.  We haven't been getting any rain and the lake level is really down.  Here I am sitting in some chair that was sitting at the bottom of the lake a few months ago:

This is some old make shift boat ramp that isn't used anymore.  The boats at the Twin Coves Marina in the background are about to hit bottom.

This whole area here is usually completely underwater.