4.30.13 Texas Tri Series -Track Run

I signed up for a race series called the Texas Tri Series.  It's comprised of 6 races over the next five months.  They start short and end with a half iron distance race is Kerrville.  Not many people from Dallas do the series because all of the races are in the Austin area.  The times are cummulative across all of the races.  I wanted to do this last year but the stars did not align with my schedule.  The first race, Rookie Triathlon, is Sunday in Austin at Walter Long Lake.  It's the same location as Ironman Austin so I am familiar with the area.  I am looking forward to it.  One of the races is two weeks after Ironman Buffalo Springs in July.  That is the one race that worries me.  I hope to be somewhat recovered from Lubbock.

Jeff front loaded my schedule this week and I had the usual track workout today.  Short run but high intensity today.  The run was a warm up mile, 3x (1 mile at 90% effort with 2-3 minute recovery), cool down mile.  My fast miles were 7:21, 6:59, and 7:07.  I have no explanation for the 7:21.  I am usually slow to warm and that may be it.  My legs were a little tired today as well.  I went longer than plan on Sunday and could feel it this morning.  That may have been part of the slow start as well.  I did swim yesterday and came up 400 yards short of 30k yards for the month.  Since this is the end of the month, the totals are Swim: 29,600 yards, Bike: 310 miles, Run: 78 miles.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/305569048

4.28.13 Trail Run Northshore Trail

My trail guys I usually run with were recuperating from the Possum Kingdom race they did yesterday so I was on my own today.  Always dicey, since I seem to fall alot on the trail at Northshore.  I started at the trailhead today and needed 90 minutes.  Jeff's plan said to take it easy and try to stay in HR zone 2.  The only way that was going to happen was if I walked.  I ended up going long for 1 hour and 52 minutes covering 9.6 miles.  That trail is hard work so I decided to run easier than usual.  Most of my miles were between 11:30 to 12:30.  I ran to the chair and my time was short so I decided to run to the MADD shelter and see where I was at that point.  If I was running long, I could always walk it in from the park road.  The weather was great, mid 60s and a litte breeze.  I almost went down once but saved it today.  I loaded my water bottles with Accelerade to get some extra calories in since the weather is warming up.  Potassium pill before I left and a Shark Salt before the run and at the half way point.

Here is the MADD shelter with a map of the trail:

I heard a guy on a plane one day complaining about why he hated Dallas because it's flat and we don't have trees.  This ain't Colorado but it's not West Texas either.  I see trees and some hills.

4.27.13 Bike

The weather is really nice today so there was no need to get up early.  I took advantage of the day and slept until I woke up which was around 8:30.  I decided to hook up my Go Pro camera to my bike and that took some time to figure out.  I found out the battery only lasts around an hour today so I didn't get to use it when I made it out to the country.  Bummer.  I was supposed to ride slow and easy today.  The wind was blowing from the NW at around 14 mph.  I tried to keep my heart rate down and not push the pace but a stiff wind makes it tough.  After the turnaround in Argyle, the wind was at my back and is was easy to lay down 20 mph miles.  The ride back was obviously much more enjoyable.  I saw Jeff going the other direction in Flower Mound and said hi to him on the way by.  Other than that, I really didn't see too many people I recognized.  Just the normal cows, horses, and goats that are usually at the fences when I roll by.  I covered 57.66 miles in 3:40:00 today.  Not terribly fast but that wasn't the objective today.  Wichita Trail was closed today when I got there today.  They were pouring concrete.  I ran into this guy.  I'm not in trouble.  He was directing traffic and had no idea he made my blog today.

For nutrition today I had a Honey Stinger protein bar on the way out.  My gels were a Clif Chocalate Raspberry, 2 Honey Stinger Fruit Smoothie, 2 Honey Stinger Pomegranate, and a 1 Honey Stinger Gold.  I also had a chocolate Honey Stinger Waffle and munched on some orange Honey Stinger chews.  Two bottles of orange flavored Accelerade and one refill of water.  I felt pretty good today.  No issues.

4.26.13 Swim/Bike Ironman Buffalo Springs Registration

It's another double today.  I swam this morning at the CARC.  Friday's are usually pretty empty but today was really busy.  I had to share a lane for the last 500 yards of my workout with an asian guy I have dubbed Mothball Man.  The dude literally smells like he sleeps in a bed of mothballs.  Unfortunately, the water does not seem to dampen that ripe mothball smell.  Strange.  It was 2300 yards this morning and took about 57 minutes to cover the distance.  Started with a descending ladder where the last 100 used the kickboard for each set.  Some speed work in there as well.  I feel pretty good about my swim right now.  I will hit almost 30k yards this month on Monday.  Tonight, I planned on riding my bike easy for an hour.  I got home a little late from work and decided to eat dinner with my wife and then hop on the trainer for an hour.  I kept a steady, easy pace for an hour.  Storms are going to be in the area tomorrow so I'm hoping for a rain free 4 hour window in the morning.

In other news, I hit the register button on computer screen and I am committed to Ironman Buffalo Springs on June 30.  I sent Jeff an email and let him know.  He's from Lubbock and does that race every year so he was excited for me.  Seems like every race I have done lately has been cold, I don't think form will hold in Lubbock at the end of June.  This is supposed to be one of the toughest 70.3 races you can enter.  I'm a little nervous about it but I'm sure it will be fine.

4.25.13 Tempo Run

The Thursday run.  This used to be most dreaded workout of the week but it really hasn't been bad at all this year.  Seems like some of the workouts I'm getting from Jeff are longer and in the mid level HR Zone.  It was a little cold this morning so I decided to give the weather the middle finger and would run when I got home from work.  My own personal protest against the winter that will not end.  This evening consisted of a warm up mile, 4 miles at half marathon pace in Zone 3 with 30 second faster bursts during each mile, and a cool down mile.  I used my usual 6 mile route.  I felt pretty good today and the 70 degree temps are much more agreeable with my joints.  Yesterday's bike ride was on the trainer.  70 minutes of exciting trainer riding.  I got home late and didn't have a chance to get out on the road.  All good.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/303313965

4.24.13 Swim Bike Double

I'm not sure how this is going to come out on the blog page but the image above is from the race this weekend.  The yellow highlight is my bike split.  The race officials updated the distance and my official bike splite is 20mph.  Seems like a ghost I have been chasing for months.  I'm very happy to see it in the actual results.

This morning is my swim workout.  I am going to be close to 30k yards this month but will probably finish a few hundred short.  Today's workout was 2100 yards.  I felt a little tired to start.  I stayed up late watching the Stars blow a one goal lead with 6 minutes left.  I should have cared less and went to bed.  After the 400 warm up, I was in the groove and felt good.  I finished in 50 minutes or less and felt pretty quick today in the water.  Ate a honey stinger protein bar when I got out of the water.  I love those things.  It was cold this morning, around 40 degrees so I'm not sure about the bike workout tonight.  Should I ride the trainer again or head outside.  I'll wait to see how warm it gets this afternoon.

4.23.13 Track Running and My Kick Ass Go Pro Camera

Man, I forgot to post yesterday.  It was a light day after the race and Monday is a swim day.  Jeff gave me the option of taking the day off but I decided to go ahead and swim.  I wasn't really sore or too tired after the race.  It was only a Sprint and I think the Sunday trail runs are harder than a short race.  I bought a Go Pro camera on Saturday afternoon and I decided to use it at the pool on Monday.  I am still trying to figure it out but it is very cool.  I put it on time lapse and here are a few shots that I got:

Today was a my track running day.  I arrived at the track a little before six and the Dallas Athletes were finishing up.  The run was a warm up mile, 4x (1200: 400 in HR Zone 3, 400 in HR Zone 4, 400 3-5 seconds faster), and a cool down mile.  I forgot to start my watch for the warm up mile until the last corner so I only had the 150 yards or so of the first mile.  My heart rate was a little easier to manage today.  I put some vaseline on the connectors and that seemed to help.  I had a little problem getting into zone 2 for the cool down mile.  In fact, I ran an extra cool down mile since I didn't track the first one so I actually ran about 6.3 miles today.  I think my lower zones are just too low.  I will give it some more time but I may need some minor recalibration.  Jeff wants me in a more fat burning mode for some of these workouts instead of carb burning.  We didn't do that today but some of the longer workouts will go into that mode.  There was a bunch of trash laying around this morning at the track so I spent about 10 minutes picking up wrappers and water bottles.  It would be a shame to lose track privileges because some people can't walk a few steps to the trash can.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/302131724

Caveman Sprint Triathlon

The Caveman Sprint is a 275 meter swim, 14.2 mile bike ride and a 3.2 mile run.  The course changed for this years event.  In the past, it was a 13 mile bike ride and a 3.1 mile run.  If you look up the results, the numbers are calculated on last years distances.  The day started on the cool side.  It was about 50 degrees with a breeze from the SSE.

Pre-Race:  I set my alarm for 4:45am but I woke up around 4:30am.  After a shower, it was time to get my stuff together and get to the race.  I tried to pack as much as possible the night before.  Some stuff can't be packed until it's time to leave.  I decided to wear my warmer bike jacket as an option in case the sun didn't warm things up enough and some dry clothes for after the race.  Breakfast consisted of a Honey Stinger protein bar and a glass of Carnation Instant Breakfast.  I mixed up a bottle of Endurox for after the race and took a potassium pill and Enduroshark Salt tab.  By the time everything was loaded up and ready to go it was about 5:35am.  The transition area opened at 5:45am and there is limited parking next to the transition area.  If your late, you have to park in a warehouse district about 10 minutes away.  The bad thing about parking close is you are locked in until the last bike rider has exited the course.  Parking close is better so off I went.  It is a 10-15 ride to the race from Coppell.  The parking lot was almost full when I arrived and I was one of the last one to get a parking spot.  After unloading everything and airing my tires, it was time to get body marked and set up transition.  The line was already pretty long.  There were 616 people in this race and the transition area was huge.  This is my third time to do this race and this was the biggest field.  Once I set up my transition area at my rack, I realized my glasses were still on and had to go back to the truck and put them in the center console.  I can't afford to have them broken.  Next, I needed my timing chip and a bathroom stop.  Once in the bathroom, I realized my swim cap and goggles were in my transition bag in the transition area.  It was now about 6:45 and transition was supposed to be closing.  I had no time to warm up.  Couldn't ride my bike, run and the pool was closed for warm up.  They lined everyone up in the gym this year.  There was a single line for every 50 people and we were to go into the pool area in order.  Much better from last year.  You could go later but you could not jump ahead.  Beautiful!  This had to go better.  Last year was wheels off and no one paid attention to number order.  The way they lined us up, we had to stand outside in the cold before jumping in the pool.  I had two women ahead of me in line that ended up first and third overall in the women's division.  I knew they would be good swimmer's so this was a good sign.  The guy that won my age group in Denton last month was right in front of them.  I felt like I was in the right place.

Swim:  Once we stepped foot in the door, I was literally about 5 people away from starting.  Instead of jumping in the water, I decided to go straight down and push off the wall.  I don't know if this is better or not but it was different.  Big shout out to the 101-150 group, we were all close to the same swim speed.  I had clean water for at least the first 200 meters.  I had one guy pass me right after 200 meters and I tried to stay with him but he was too fast.  It would have been nice to have someone to draft off of.  In the last 50, my timing chip started to come loose and I had to stop kicking.  I managed to pass at least 4 people on my way to the ladder.  I jumped out and went over the timing mat at 4:57.  I had hoped for 4:40 but that would have to be perfect.  I was happy with the outcome.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/301103436

T1:  When I got to transition, I looked down at me timing chip and it was barely hanging on.  I fixed that and then tried to get into my bike shoes.  I had trouble getting my feet in for some reason.  It took a little longer than expected.  I forgot to put my race belt on which will be another discussion later.  It was cold but I decided not to wear my bike jacket.  It was time to toughen up and work through the cold weather.  My T1 time was 1:33.  Seemed a little long to me but the bike shoe problem probably cost me 10-15 seconds.

Bike:  I mounted the bike started out hard.  Immediately saw the wisdom of putting my bike shoes on in transition.  I passed at least 3 people struggling to get their feet into their bikes shoes out on the course.  I was up to speed fast and you go downhill immediately.  It was cold and I was wet.  It was very uncomfortable for the first 10-15 minutes.  The course was two loops and the first loop was really fast because the people on the course were fast.  I was passed a few times but those guys were really fast and I wasn't getting blown away by anyone.  I took this as a very good sign.  At four or five mile in, I decided to take in a Honey Stinger gel and that slowed me down a little.  Some woman (#138) came around me.  Once I got back into my aero position and started hammering again, I went around her.  She came back around me again and slowed down so I went back around her.  She proceeded to verbally assault me on the way by.  Something about how I couldn't stand getting passed by a chick and several other colorful expletives to describe me.  I have no idea where this was coming from.  I was just trying to get around the course as fast as possible.  I really don't care who you are.  I decided the best way to handle the situation was to say nothing.  I couldn't be taken off my game by getting into a verbal sparring match with some idiot.  After about mile 7 or 8, there were a few pretty good hills and I never saw her again.  Thank god.  Once we made the turn for the second loop, there were alot of people on the course and it was pretty jammed up in spots.  You have to wonder if it was wise to have a two loop course with that many competitors.  It only slowed me a few times and everyone was very good about moving to the right when you asked.  I glanced at my watch a few time and I remember thinking my time was pretty good.  I was hoping for sub 1:10:00 but that was before the course changes.  With the extra distance, I didn't really know what a good time would be but I wanted to bust 20+mph on my bike so I sold out all the way.  My running has been excellent so I figured to live with whatever happened.  As the bike finish got closer and closer, I thought my time was really good.  I definitely felt fast and my legs were hanging in there.  Barely, but hanging in there.  I hit the dismount line but didn't look at my watch.  In fact, I forgot to hit the lap button to put myself in T2 for about 30 seconds.  My bike time was 41:58 and translated to 20.3mph average.  I was very happy with the result.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/301103515

T2:  I racked my bike and tried to slide my feet into my new running shoes.  Unfortunately, they wouldn't get in there easily.  Another shoe melt down, what the heck.  I put my helmet on my aero bars and put my visor on and headed out.  What is missing here, my race belt.  It was under my bike jacket that I never put on.  I had run about 10 seconds or so through transition and had to turn around.  Bummer.  The whole thing cost me about 20 seconds in transition.  Very frustrating to say the least.  My time in T2 was 1:29.  I should have been out in a minute.

Run:  When my run started, I think the time was around 50 minutes.  My legs were really wobbly for a tenth of a mile or so.  They recovered pretty quickly.  Most of the first mile was downhill and I was really going pretty good.  Not full out but fast.  The first mile was 7:35.  The second mile was uphill for the first half and then back down the hill.  7:45 for the second mile.  For some reason, I never saw the 2 mile marker and was pretty confused on how far it was to the finish.  The big hill we came down to start the run had to be climbed.  I was a little slower for the third mile.  It was time to kick it in gear to the finish but I didn't know when to go.  Once I realized it was a quarter mile to the finish, I really started to run hard but I had more in the tank at the finish than I intended to have.  I could have run faster.  The third mile was right at 8:00.  The last two tenths were at 6:59 pace but I could have sustained that for a longer distance.  Oh well, live and learn.  I like the new run course through the park.  It would have been really crowded if the course was two loops.  My run time was 24:36.  By my watch, it was 3.2 miles and my pace was 7:45.  Not too bad but I could have been a little faster.  I'm not sure but my time may have been a PR for that distance in a Sprint.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/301103557

Post Race:  My overall time was 1:14:36.  My original goal after the course change was to finish in the top 10 of my age group.  When the times were posted, I was number 9 of 43 and overall 89 of 616.  Not too bad considering I have been in the back half of races for awhile.  Things are coming together a little bit.  Also, finishing in the top 10 qualifies me for a race in November, if I choose to do it.  The Matrix and Joe showed up at the finish line to see me.  It was cool they took the time to come by and see me as it's always good to see a friendly face.  I hung around until they let us get out of the parking lot and headed home.  I left a little time on the course but overall I did about as well as I could.  My goal was achieved and I was only about 5 minutes off the guy who won my age group.  I have registered for the Texas Tri Series.  It's six races in the Austin area and they keep cummulative time for a series winner by age group.  Should be interesting.  The first race is May 5 and they have one a month.  I need to get signed up for Ironman Buffalo Springs in Lubbock this week too.

4.20.13 Taper Bike

When I woke up this morning, it was pretty cold again in the low 40s.  Bummer.  I hung around until about 9:30 to get my ride in.  I am only doing 60 minutes today because the race is tomorrow.  It was an easy 60 minutes around Lakeside Parkway and back home.  Somewhere around 16.5 miles total.  Nothing eventful to speak of.  The wind was starting to blow pretty good.  I picked up my packet at the Tri Shop after the ride.  I am number 149.  They usually stagger the start in the pool every 5 seconds so I should be in the pool around 7:15.  Hopefully, they will do a better job keeping everyone in line this year.  I also bought a Go Pro camera today and can't wait to start playing with that.  Should be fun this summer.  Nothing to do the rest of the day except drink water and stay off my feet.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/300510330

4.19.13 Swim Bike

Had a taper swim this morning.  I picked the shortest of the workouts Jeff gave me this week, 1700 yards.  I was only suppposed to go 30 minutes but I did the entire workout and it took 45 minutes.  I'm not overly concerned with an extra 15 minutes.  500 of the yards were with the kickboard this morning.  My swim and pull felt really good.  I'm not sure how the swim will go on Sunday.  It's only 275 meters but the chaos in the pool was really something last year.  They number you by your submitted swim time.  There are many in the field that have never done a triathlon and don't know their time so you get alot of rope hangers and slow swimmers.  I fudged mine by about 15 seconds to get closer to the front.  The other bad thing about Caveman is after about 20 swimmers, they do not enforce the numbering policy.  More chaos ensues as people who clearly know they are slow jump in line and go.  Maybe it will be better this year.  I get my packet tomorrow and will know my number then.  I am supposed to ride the bike this evening for an easy 60 minutes.  I will have to see if I have time for that when I get home.  Nice morning for a swim and I feel ready.

4.18.13 Taper Run

I woke up this morning around 5am to the sound of thunder and lightning.  I took a look outside and it was raining.  I only had a 4 mile run planned so I tried to give it another hour and see if it moved along.  No good as it rained most of the morning.  It really cooled off as well.  It was back to the 40s this morning after the front came through.  I decided to run this evening.  My race shoes from last year are fried.  I had a pair of K-Swiss shoes for running the shorter sprints and olympic races.  They have officially had it.  Packet pickup for the Caveman race was over in Colleyville tonight.  I wanted to go by Luke's Locker over there to look at shoes and then go get my packet if time allowed.  I ended staying at Luke's until they closed so I missed the pick up.  I'll go to the Trishop on Saturday.  No big deal.  I tried a bunch of different shoes.  The sales guy referred to my Asics Cumulus 14s as bricks.  I didn't think they were that heavy.  I settled on the Brooks Pure Cadence 2.  I should be able to run everything from the Caveman to Buffalo Springs in them.  They are noticably lighter than my Asics and have quite a bit of cushion in them.

When I got home, I put these bad boys on and knocked out my 4 mile run.  It took about 35 minutes and I had a chance to see how they would feel before the race on Sunday.  I think they are going to be sweet.

4.17.13 Swim

It should be a lighter week with the Caveman Tri coming on Sunday.  It's not an "A" race for me but I would like to do well and finish in the top 10 of my age group.  Maybe a little ambitious but I'm not doing a full on taper like I would for a big race.  Jeff gave me three swim workouts this week; 1700, 2000, 2400 yards.  They are typically good for Wednesday, Friday and Monday.  The Friday workout is only supposed to be 30 minutes in the water so I decided to skip the 1700 yard workout and go with the 2000 today.  It had a higher difficulty rating than many of the others.  It took me the entire hour to complete the 2000 yards today.  I wasn't slow at all but the work was really different.  I had a set of 6x75 where the first 25 yards was holding the kickboard in front of my head like a tombstone while kicking hard.  The resistance was pretty good.  I also did a set of 200 yards where I was jumping out of the pool to the deck and doing pushup, situps, or squats.  The long swim sets were with a pull buoy.  My arms and legs were pretty fried after this one today.  I am supposed to do a 90 minute ride this afternoon.  If the weather holds, I will try to get it in outside.  If not, back to the trainer again this week.  My Thursday, Friday, and Saturday sessions are much reduced in workload.  I feel pretty good right now so I'm looking forward to the race.  It's time to commit to the Buffalo Springs Ironman race.  I will probably register on Friday.  Always some anxiety and excitement about committing to the actual registration.  Buffalo Springs is a very difficult race and is supposed to be very equivalent to the conditions in Kona (heat, wind, hills, etc).

4.16.13 Track HR Zone Training

Interesting day today.  I took my VO2 Max data and built out my HR Zones last night.  Two things here, I'm not completely sure the test was run to completion so I built two versions to work from.  I am going to start on the basis built from my test.  If I think the run pace does not match the HR Zone, then I will use table number two.  Based on my test this is how my zones were calculated:

Zone	VO2	HR
1	17.6-20.8	93-109
2	20.8-24	109-117
3	24-25.6	117-125
4	25.6-28.8	125-140
5	28.8-32	140-156



However, from what I have read my max heart rate should be 220 - (age) which would put around 170.  The last measurement on my VO2 test was the highest and I had peaked from a VO2 perspective.  Strangely, the numbers were starting to work back in my direction.  I was not working at max pace and I was asked to stop instead of not being able to go on.  I don't know what to make of this but I did calculate a second table with the assumption that my VO2 could be a little higher with a max HR of 170.  Not relevant for today and I'm not using it at the present time.  I am in a taper mode for the race on Sunday but Jeff gave me a workout based on HR zone:  1 warm up mile, 2x (1200 in Zone 4, 60-90 second recovery), 1 cool down mile.  My data was as follows:

	Distance	Time	Pace/mi.	HR Zone
Warm	1 mile	8:51	8:51	2.8-3.5
1200	.8 mile	5:47	7:15	4.2-4.8
1200	.76 mile	5:50	7:45	4.1-4.5
Cool	1 mile	8:45	8:45	3.5-3.9

The jury is still out for today.  My pacing seems right on for the HR Zone.  I was running a little hot on the first 1200 and the numbers reflect that.  My cool down mile was too fast.  Jeff wants it in high Zone 2.  I'm used to running around 6 miles on track days so it was hard to back off with the light load.  It will be good to know if my pace in certain zones improves over time.  I assume it should, plus this should provide better training data. 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/298790858



4.15.13 Swim

Today is sort of a rest day.  On Monday, I stay off my legs and just swim.  2400 yards today.  I took a Shark Salt today before the swim since I was feeling little twinges of cramps last night when I was sleeping.  Good news is the swimming seems to work the soreness out from a long weekend of riding the bike and running.  The workout today had 300 yards of one armed swimming and quite a bit of kick board work.  I felt it in my thighs all day today.  Major respect to the people who do these races in the physically challenged division.  It's hard not to freak out in the water with all your limbs.  Last, the Boston Marathon tragedy is really sad.  Hope for the best for the victims.

4.14.13 Trail Run

We met this morning at Joe's house at 8am.  Rich is back from India as of Friday so he was with us.  Joe's neighbor, Fred, joined us today as well.  My plan was for 90 minutes and Joe needed about 9 miles so we decided to do the 9.  Rich did 24 miles yesterday on the trail after being in India for a week so he wasn't feeling great today.

From left to right:  Fred, Joe and Rich

I have felt really good the last few weekends.  Today was no different.  After the first few miles, I am getting into a groove and feel really good.  We were running close to 11:15 miles for most of the trail which is pretty good for that end of the trail.  I felt pretty good at the end and picked up the pace slightly.  It didn't seem hard to move a little faster.  The weather was perfect in the high 60s.  Cob webs are back and that sucks.  I had to pick up a stick and be the torch man for the first half of the run.  Don't know where all the bikes and runners were this morning.  Usually, we have help clearing the cob webs.  When we got to the turnaround, we checked out the chair in the lake.  It's up to the seat now.  If we don't get some good rain in the next 6 weeks, the lake is going to be in seriously bad shape mid summer.  My picture did not come out at all.  I want to compare where the lake was to where it is now.  Anyway, I took a loaded fuel belt with water and gels every 30 minutes.  Seemed to be perfect.  I borrowed a salt tab from Joe at 45 minutes.  Before we left, I took a potassium pill and a shark salt.  Breakfast was a honey stinger protein bar.  Those things rock.  The Caveman Sprint is next weekend.  I hope to continue the nice run I'm on and finish well.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/297858406

4.13.13 Bike

After I got home from testing, I decided to get organized for my bike ride.  I had put about 25 minutes in at the lab so I figured a nice 3 hour ride would be good.  The wind really picked up by the time I left.  It must have been close to 15 from the SE today.  I decided to go out to the Argyle police station and back.  This used to take me about 3.5 to 4 hours back in the day.  It covers around 50 miles.  It took me a little over 3 hours today, even with the wind.  I am beginning to manage the head winds alot better than before.  The aerodynamics of my tri bike help alot.  It was a nice ride today.  The wildflowers are out and the cows looked happy.  It was warm today as well. Good day for a ride.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/297359392

Metabolic VO2 Max Testing

This morning I had an appointment at 6:50am to do the metabolic testing.  I called Jeff when I arrived at the lab at Park Lane and Central Expressway in Dallas.  I had to travel across 635 so I left a little early.  Sure enough, a truck had flipped over on the opposite side of the highway but it didn't affect me and I was early.  When we went upstairs, Tom was hooked up to the machine and was on his bike.  If you haven't seen this before, your mouth and nose are covered with a mask with a long tube that feeds into the machine.  You also have a heart rate monitor.  Based on your use of oxygen or carbon dioxide output combined with heart rate, the test is able to tell when you reach your VO2 max which also helps to determine your max heart rate.  From there, you can determine what your heart rate zones are.  Apparently, when doing long endurance racing, you should stay in particular zones to maximize your endurance.  Early on, I was in fat burning mode but as the test got harder, you could tell where I started burning carbs.  I don't quite understand all of the numbers yet.  I do know my VO2 max was a 31.8.  For my age, this is on the lower end of the average scale.  More importantly, Jeff will be able to tell me what heart rate zone I should be in for training.  It really is a cool thing.  How it translates to training or racing should be cool.  The whole thing took about 25 minutes.  Strange thing was I reached my max but I felt like I could keep going.  I don't know what that means.  Anyway, it was a cool thing to do even if it meant getting up real early.

My coach Jeff is in the blue shirt and Tom is doing the run test.

Top Approximately 10 Stuff I Have Learned So Far

.....so I have been doing this for about two years now but only one year of dedicated training with Jeff.  What are the Top 10 lessons learned?  I started doing this because I didn't feel good.  I felt out of shape and the beginnings of general slugging around.  My arthritis was killing me and adding to my general apathy towards doing anything physical.

1. My arthritic condition is a thousand times better when I exercise.  I probably do not need to do as much as I am doing but my general joint health is vastly improved by doing this.  My joints do not stay in a constant swelled condition and keep me in a constant pain state.  I manage pain pretty well because I have lived with it every day for so long.  I was able to hide externally how bad I felt every day but it was really brutal looking back.  Something had to change.  At this point, it would be foolish to not stay active going forward.  Best decision I have ever made given the medical circumstances laid at my doorstep.
2. The strength I have gained in my legs and upper body is night and day.  I feel better.  My rheumatologist was shocked at how good my joints were the last time I saw her.
3. When I get my blood pressure checked, it is down to what I consider normal for me where it wasn't before.  I am healthier as a whole and feel better.
4. I lost about 40 pounds.  I guarantee not lugging that extra weight around is a good thing.
5. This helps solve my need for competition.  I thrive on that.  I need to have something to do that measures what I do against someone else.  My only regret is the competitions do not happen as frequently as I would like.  There is nothing like a race.  If you do one and you don't enjoy it, you are a completely different animal than me.  I was last in my age group at my first race.  It made me want to come back and whip every single person in my age group.  That is how I think and that is how I'm wired.  It drives me to put the work in to be the best at what I do.  I realize this is a double edged sword as a personality quirk and has to be tempered at times but I can't stop being me and make no apologies for it.  I see all of the touchy feely quotes about if you have done the best you can, your a winner.  While certainly true, my reality deep down is to call BS on that.  There are people who win and people who don't.  I want be one of the people that win.  Probably not politically correct but we have too much of that going on today.
6. Seeing results.  As you move along and get faster, it is really addicting.  I want to push past the next barrier.  The barriers get more and more difficult to break down as you reach the max your body has to offer.  Who knows where that begins or ends but it's worth it to find out?
7. I hear people say why would anyone want to run that far or do that.  I don't know.  Maybe because it's the next logical progression to see what your capable of.  The Ironman motto is something like "Making the Impossible, Possible" or something like that.  There is an adrenalin rush that comes with something you have never done.  An uneasiness that permeates your entire being when you embark on something where the end result is in doubt.  When I do a Sprint Tri today, I have no fear of finishing but I do have fear of not improving.  Completely different from registering for a distance I have never done like a full Ironman.  The committment to a new distance is exciting and terrifying at the same time.  The feeling is awesome, especially when you finish.
8. Training is a love/hate relationship.  In order to get faster, training hard is a must.  Some days are filled with not wanting to get up or do anything.  Other days are great and you can't wait to go.  Especially if you have a new piece of gear your trying out or something like that.  I really like it when Jeff gives me a plan with something that seems very unattainable and I'm able to do it.  That is a very good feeling and makes me feel good inside.  It's also a solitary thing for me.  Most of the time I don't have a group of people to train with.  It's just me and that requires a whole different mind set and discipline.  Creating that mind set and discipline will carry over to other aspects of your life.
9. The help you get and give along the way is very cool.  I run into some people who are a-holes but that exists in every walk of life.  90%+ are very helpful, if you just ask.  I met Jeff limping in from a long ride and started picking his brain and asking questions.  That's how I found a coach.  There is a feeling of everyone is in this together.  If you are not involved in endurance sports, you won't get it.  As I have become marginally competitive, I have people who may ask me about how I go about doing things.  I'm no expert but I will do anything to help someone out.  Most of the time that means referring them to someone else since I'm new to all of this but I have learned some tricks of the trade along the way.  The people who have gone out of their way to help me are too numerous to count.  I run with Ultra guys and they have perspectives that completely change how I have done things in some respects.  I would encourage training with a variety of people doing different types of endurance sports.  If all you do is train with triathletes, you may be missing out on something that would help a particular discipline in the sport or maybe even enter into a race you may have never of done otherwise.  Variety is good.
10. My coach Jeff.  Best thing I have ever done for my training.  I really didn't know how to train for the first year.  Yea, you can print some plan off a website but that won't work for the most part when developing speed and endurance.  If you really don't care about how fast you are and just want to finish races, I'm sure that type of regiment will work fine.  However, I care about how fast I am and want to squeeze what I can out of what I have.  You need someone to bounce ideas off of and can tailor what you do to your strengths and weaknesses.  You also need someone who can work with you on hydration and nutrition principles.  Everyone needs someone like that.  Even the guy I have has a guy he works with.  I think it's a must and is one of the most important lessons I have learned to date.

4.12.13 Swim

My primary workout today was the swim at the CARC.  I woke up at 3:40am again last night.  Seems to be a recurring theme that I wake up between 3:40 and 3:50 every morning.  I don't have an explanation for that and don't know what it means.  Went back to sleep and overslept a little.  Damn Rangers on the west coast keeps me up a little longer than I need to be.  I didn't leave the house until about 6:50am and didn't get in the pool until around 7:10.  My workout was supposed to cover 2450 yards but I knew this was not in the cards today.  Almost 2500 yards is at least an hour at minimum.  I stayed with the plan until I ran out of time.  I ended up skipping out on the last 250 yards shortening the workout to 2200 yards which will have to do for today.  I also shortened the rest between sets.  Jeff may not be happy but I needed to get as much work in as possible.  My little stitch in my side did not recur today for whatever reason so maybe that was just a weird anomoly.  Pool was full today (all the lanes) and I had to share a lane for the last 1000 or so.  Everyone deserves to swim but it really jacks with my counting.  I use one side of the lane for the odd 50s and the other side for the evens.  It helps my keep track of how far when I drift off and daydream about other stuff.  When I'm stuck on one side, I have to really pay attention.  Anyone who lap swims knows paying attention to the task at hand is not the easiest thing in the world.  Oh well, this should be my strongest month to date in the water this year.  I should be cranking out some bigger totals in the water.  I am getting the metabolic VO2 max test tomorrow on my bike.  I am very interested in the results.  I have no idea how well my body works from a efficiency perspective.  This should be cool.  The Caveman tri is next weekend.  Hoping to finish in the top 10 for my age group.

4.11.13 Tempo Run

We had a cold front come through last night and it was in the 30s this morning.  It was going to warm up to the 60s this afternoon so I decided to blow off the morning run and wait until after work.  Strange how some days in the 60s seem really warm and others seem cold.  This was a cold feeling 60.  Anyway, the tempo run was 6 miles.  One warm up mile, 2x (1 half marathon pace mile, 1 10k pace mile), and a cool down mile.  I took my usual 6 mile route through Coppell.  It usually puts me around 6.1 miles.  I was able to get done before it got dark tonight.  Good to see the sun making an appearance later in the day.  My times were ok.  I felt really good towards the end again and a little rough to start.  My miles in order were 9:15, 8:43, 8:27, 8:39, 8:07, 8:28.  I really hope this is the end of the winter weather for good now.  We are in the second week of April for god's sake.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/296623820

4.10.13 Bike and Swim

It's the Wednesday double today.  We had storms last night and this morning.  My pool will close if there are lightning strikes as a part of the thunderstorm.  Since it was supposed to clear out in the afternoon, I decided to switch workouts and ride the trainer this morning and swim tonight.  I still don't like the trainer but it is easier for the workouts Jeff gives me on Wednesdays.  Combinations of speeds for consistent intervals work better on the trainer.  I was supposed to go 90 minutes but ended up trimming a few minutes off both ends and going 80.  The hard work was logged so it was a good workout.  Tonight, I went the CARC for a swim.  I got there a few minutes late.  I only had 8pm to 9pm to work with.  I developed some pain in my right side on Monday.  It's kind of like a stitch you get at times when you run.  Strange but it was still there today.  It only hurts when I inhale.  The workout was alot of kickboard work and I rushed through a lot of it in order to fit it all in.  I ran it up to the last moment and was the last one out of the pool.  Tomorrow is a run day and it is supposed to be in the 30s in the morning.  If it is that cold in the morning, I'll probably run in the afternoon.  I've had it with the cold weather.

4.9.13 Track Run

It was an early morning today and I didn't want to get up.  I stayed up late watching the NCAA basketball championship.  I should have bailed and went to bed.  I had to stay up and the one shining moment montage.  Not that great this year.  Yesterday, I had jury duty at the Frank Crowley courthouse for Dallas County.  Joy.  I was hoping to not be there all day and it worked out.  Since I had to be downtown by 8:30, I didn't really have time for my morning swim.  After they decided to let us go after lunch, I made it home in time to get my swim in before it got too far into the evening.  Jeff had a few weird quirks in the plan.  The first was a 15 minute timed swim in which I was to cover as much ground as possible.  I ended up getting 800 yards in.  Right after the timed swim, I was to do 12x25.  Each length would go 3 breaths/2 breaths/1 breath/0 breaths.  I didn't know if I could cover the entire 25 without taking a breath.  Jeff says it is for hypoxic training and teaches efficiency.  I was able to do it, much to my surprise.  Interesting swim.

This morning was a track day.  Jeff gave me a warm up mile, 2x800 at 5k pace, 1 800 at 5k pace minus 3-5 seconds, 2x800 at 5k pace and a cool down mile.  When I grabbed my watch this morning, the pegs that charge the watch must not have seated correctly and it was almost out of battery life.  I took it with me anyway and decided to get what I could out of it.  My garmin died after the first 800.  I don't have any idea how I did today.  I think the first 800 was around 3:58.  I did the best I could without having my garmin to help me with pace.  I am really tired this morning.  I need to get more sleep tonight.

4.7.13 Northshore Trail Run

Good to be back at the trail today.  My legs are much appreciative of the break in the rainy weather.  Rich had to go to India this week for business so it's just me and Joe today.  I forgot my phone today.  I was hoping for some pictures on the new trail.  They have opened a new section of trail and it is pretty nice.  Not as many rock walls to scale and less rocks to run on.  Those little sharp rocks are hell on the bottom of your feet.  I brought out my shoes that I wore at Grasslands.  I wasn't sure if they were completely trashed or not but they did well so they are still in the rotation.  Most of the mud was knocked off from the run today.  My chair at the turnaround is halfway under water and about 15 feet from shore.  We are supposed to have severe rain on Tuesday so I think my chair may be closed to going under soon.  The lake as a whole is still 6 feet under normal.  We were pretty consistently knocking out 11 minute miles today which is good for that end of the trail.  I was worried about my legs after a hard workout on the bike yesterday but I felt really good again today.  Never really got too winded out there.  I definitely could have pushed the pace some but my instructions were 90 minutes of steady run without any hard efforts.  All of the trees have leaves now and the whole trail looks great right now.  No cobwebs to deal with either.  In about a month, we should be swimming in Rich's pool for our cool down.  My coach Jeff was in Galveston running the Ironman Texas 70.3 and qualified for the National Championships in Las Vegas.  He was really fast today.  Next week, I'm getting a VO2 max metabolic test. That should be interesting.  I think Joe is coming with me too.  Good day today.  Running in shorts and tech shirt again.  Thank god for that.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/294785097

4.6.13 Bike

I didn't know what to expect today.  I felt ok this morning.  I was feeling a little sluggish last night so I didn't run or ride the bike last night.  I did swim in the morning.  It wasn't a great day in the water so I wanted to save a little energy for today.  I got all of my work in this week with the exception of last night.  I checked the weather last night and it was supposed to be windy today with better weather as the day progressed.  I woke up around 6:30am and checked the weather on my phone.  Starting around 8am, the winds were going to build to 18-20mph from the south.  It was a little cool to start this morning.  It was in the 50s with wind chill in the 40s.  I am tired of this crap.  It would warm up rapidly so I went kind of light today.  I decided to take the northwest route to the whitehouse and back.  It would be really rough on the way back witht the wind.  I went through Murrell Park and Twin Coves to add a little mileage in case I needed a little extra time.  Jeff had 3 hours on the plan today.  Attack the hills and be efficient on the downhills.  I got out of the house at about 8:30.  The wind was really heavy and it was fast on the way out.  When I turned south to head to Murrell Park at Lake Grapevine, I knew the route home was going to be tough today.  The wind was dead south and wasn't bad at all going east or west.  I got to the turnaround at the whitehouse and stopped to eat my Honey Stinger Mocha Cherry protein bar.  First one of those I have eaten and it was awesome.  I love the Honey Stinger protein bars.  I took a moment to psych myself up and started back.  I felt really good and was managing 16-17mph on the flatter sections dead into the wind.  I figured to fatigue as the miles went on but I was doing really well.  The uphill sections into the wind were a beating but I managed a really good pace today.  I saw Crystal today in a pack of riders today but didn't get a chance to talk to her.  I was in a hurry to get home.  We are going to the Ranger game this afternoon.  I think I can probably put away a boom stick or a Murphadilla today on my own.  I am starving.  I averaged aroun 16.5 with the stops and starts so that is really good considering the conditions.  Good day today.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/294041341

4.4.13 Tempo Run from a Different Point of View

This is going to be a different kind of post.  Statistics are on my Garmin link.  Plan was one warm up mile, 1.5 miles at 10k pace, .5 mile recovery, 1.5 miles at 10k pace, .5 recovery, 1 cool down mile.  That's the only necessary information.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/293094892

3:47am
I woke up and was kind of uncomfortable.  I never sleep all the way through the night anymore.  Hazards of age I guess.  Seems like I have to stumble to the bathroom at least once every night.  I got my bearings and looked at the clock on the DVR.  3:47.  It was cold last night and I had no intention of getting out of my warm spot under the covers and went back to sleep.

~5:00am
This time I had to get up and use the bathroom.  I took a quick peek out the window of our bedroom to see if it was raining.  We were supposed to get rain last night and this morning.  It looked wet but not raining from what I could see in the dark.  At this point, I start contemplating time based scenarios in my head.  I have a conference call at 8am.  The run will take about 55 minutes and an extra 5 minutes or so of quick stretching before going inside.  I need to mix a cup of Endurox and drink that.  I would like to have a muffin because I'll be hungry.  How much time will all of that take?  I don't know give it 20 minutes.  I have to take a shower and would like to do that before the call so I can go to work after the call and be on time.  My boss canceled our 8:30 meeting so I don't have to leave the house until after the conference call.  What's my drop dead start time for the run?  I must be out the door by 6:15ish.  It's around 5am now.  How much time do I need to get ready before the run.  Typically, about 30 minutes to take off.  What was Jeff's plan again today?  Ok, get up by 5:45 and no later than 6:00 or this is off until tonight.  I don't want to run in the evening.  Get your head right.  How do my legs feel by the way?  I rode the trainer yesterday and haven't done that in awhile.  Legs feel a little heavy but I should be ok. ZZZZZZ!

~5:45am
My wife's alarm on her phone goes off.  Thank god, I was out cold.  Why is her alarm going off so early?  She hits the snooze.  It's still before 6am and I run through my timeline again and convince myself that I am still ok.  This time I check the weather on my phone and read my email to make sure our servers behaved last night.  All good but it's cold.  It's in the low 40s with wind chills at 37 degrees.  Son of a Bitch, the winter that will not end.  Trying to decide what to wear.  Too cold for shorts and I decide tights, a tech shirt, another warmer layer, gloves and a skull cap.  Its dark and the hat will work great with my new headlamp.

~6:00am
Wife's alarm goes off again and she gets up.  I decide that I better get moving too or it isn't going to happen this morning.  I'm thinking she is staying up so I turn on the light and gather my stuff.  She grunts at me about the light being on.  I turn it off and get dressed in the living room.  Forgot my Garmin and go back in to get it.  I'm awake now.  Decide on two water bottles in my fuel belt and a Honey Stinger gel.  Grab my iPod and get it going.  My headphones are almost toast.  I realize today there is a sweet spot on the volume slide on the headphones that makes both sides work.  Yes, good call.  Do I remember the plan?  Yes.  Good to go.

~6:20am
This is cutting it a little close.  My head is full of time management word problems.  Shut up brain and go run.  I open the garage door and the chill hits immediately.  I am reminded instantaneously that I hate cold weather.  Turn the light on my headlamp on.  Cool, never really used this for a whole run before.  Turning back and punching in the code to close the garage door is symbolically the point of no return.  The door is closed, I am committed to whatever happens.  Damn the weather.  I take off down the alley.

Run
It is pitch dark and the cloud cover makes it darker.  It's an eerie morning.  The light coming off my head lamp is visible all the way to the ground.  The air is so thick, you can physically see the light through the thin veil of fog.  As I run, a light rain is falling.  The rain looks almost like snow the way it floats through the light coming off my head.  Very cool looking and somewhat mesmerizing.  Wish I could get a picture of that somehow.  For about a half a mile, I argue with myself whether it could possibly be cold enough that it is snow.  I lose interest in my internal argument.  The other cool thing is the vapor coming from my breathing.  You can see every exhale in the light as well.  I wonder how long this will last.  At some point, I have to begin focusing on the plan for today.  My focus isn't great.  When I gear up my watch is on the outside of my orange Columbia running jacket.  I can't always feel the reminder go off as each mile is eclipsed.  I missed the one mile mark even though I know exactly where it is since I run the route all the time.  At 1.3 miles I decide to pick up the pace and just run a nice 10k pace until I get to at least 4.5 and then decide what to do.  I can't remember if the route I'm on is going to get me six miles.  Do I go through the park or go around to the trail by the middle school?  Figure it out later.  I cut up Parkway and decide to run on the street.  It's smoother and a better surface.  Surely the cars will see me with this 90 lumen beam coming off my noggin.  The road is plenty wide but some of the cars have little to no respect for me.  I'm close to the curb and can jump out of the way, if I need to.  I start getting worried if I will have enough distance and start a battle in my head about distance management again.  How is my pace?  Oh no, I am running a little slow.  Pick it up.  Stay steady.  After the section of Parkway without a sidewalk, I cut across the street and run the sidewalk.  This head lamp kicks ass.  I can see great.  I get to the CARC and the sun starts coming up.  I can start to see pretty good and turn off the head lamp.  How's my pace?  Not bad.  Keep going.  Looks like I'm a little less than 9 minute pace for the run.  My legs aren't great today but not terrible either.  When Jeff gave me the plan, he said run at 10k pace, how does he always know what I can do.  I guarantee I couldn't dial up another gear today.  His plan is uncanny in it's accuracy.  I am always amazed and think about how cool that is for awhile that Jeff can give me great plans without laying an eyeball on me.  I turn right at Denton Tap and the cars are stacked up back to 121.  Sucks to be you.  Look at my watch and realize cutting through the park will put me right on 6 miles.  Perfect timing.  I know the distances for just about every step through that park.  I should hit 5 miles at the first light pole on the softball field behind the CARC.  I run pretty hard for that marker and am trying to decide whether I can walk a few steps after hitting the cool down mile.  Nope, I started too late so I better keep running.  I have to get home.  At this point, I am in a great groove and the last mile should be a cruise.  No hills to speak of and just get home.  I hit the light pole at the softball field and am definitely good.  Can't remember what I was thinking.  Must have been daydreaming about something but the path through the woods came up fast.  I remember the Coots are back at the pond and the ducks are still practicing their migratory formations.  Maybe I was preoccupied with that.  I don't know.  As I get the wooded part of the trail, I wonder about the Coyotes.  I have encountered them around the trail but the sun is up and I never see them during the day.  There are not many people out because of the weather.  Who the hell would know if some rogue Coyote were to tear into me?  This quickens my pace some through the woods.  Turn the corner off the trail and head for home.  I'm about two minutes out.  6 mile buzz on my Garmin goes off as I turn onto my street.  Nice work timing that out Lance.  Your the man.  As soon as I get to my house, I shut the Garmin down and turn the mode to watch.  It's about 7:25.  I should still be good.  I went out the garage so I need to go back in the garage.  It's too wet to walk around the yard.  I walk to the end of the street and stretch.  It takes a few minutes and then I walk down the alley and open the garage.

After the Run
Check my watch and time is getting away from me.  It's after 7:30 and I have to mix up my Endurox or it will be too late.  I get the Endurox done and take my arthritis meds.  I forgot to take them before I left.  No one is home.  Patty and Lance left to go to a doctor's appointment.  I walk back to our bathroom and start the shower.  I get out of the shower at 7:57 and dial in to the call.  Beautiful, I'm home free.  This is a morning in the life of me getting my morning run in from a different kind of perspective.

4.3.13 Swim and Bike

It's a cold, rainy day in Dallas, Texas today.  Started this morning with a 2500 yard swim in the pool.  Jeff has been giving me some tough swims lately.  I am really concentrating on form and maintaining speed throughout each set.  I hope the improvement will start becoming more visible.  I started a little late today and was able to get out of the pool just before the Dallas Athletes invaded for their swim.  Nice people and I wanted to give them some room to work.  Given the rain all day I had to ride the bike on the trainer in the living room.  The Wednesday bike workouts are actually easier on the trainer but more boring.  Easier because the plan I am given is much easier to execute.  For example, tonight was 15 minute warmup, 4x(4 minutes moderate effort/1 minute hard effort/5 minute recovery), 20 minutes (4 five minute segments with increasing effort), 15 minute cool down.  When your on the road, executing this plan can be difficult at times.  In my living room, I am watching a clock and just dial it up when the plan calls for it.  I would still rather be outside.  On a completely unrelated note, my Dallas Stars have completely trashed our team and traded everyone away.  I have decided to dump my season tickets with them.  It is a little hard to take.  They seem rudderless.

4.2.13 Track Run

Man is it great knowing it won't be wind chills in the 20s for a morning run.  My thermostat is just not dialed in for cold weather.  For me, this morning was almost perfect.  A little more humid than I would like but 60 degrees with a slight breeze was awesome.  Warm enough to wear shorts and a tech shirt but cool enough that the breeze in your face feels good.  Jeff has me in a build phase so the workouts will be a little more intense this week.  Yesterday, I swam 2300 yards and stayed off the legs.  My swim was really fast.  I was done in about 50 minutes.  Maybe it was a workout that just was designed to end faster, I don't know.  I do feel like I am getting some sustained strength and stamina in the water.  Strange because I haven't been swimming much over the past few months.  Anyway, back to today.  The run was a warm up mile, 4x1200 at 10k pace and then decrementing 3-5 seconds on each interval, and finally a cool down mile.  I did some exercises Jeff gave me on the straights for the warm up mile so that slowed the tempo but it was good for warming up.  I wasn't really sure where to start (time target) for the 1200s.  I am a slow starter when I run anyway.  My first 1200 was a 6:45 at 8:37/mile pace.  Seemed reasonable but I just didn't know.  The rest would have to be faster and I didn't want to overdo it on the first 1200.  The second 1200 was a 6:16 at 8:18/mile pace.  I still felt like I had plenty in the tank so it would be ok.  The third was a 6:09 at 8:11/mile pace.  I was starting to get a little better on my splits now.  The last 1200 was 5:53 at 7:50/mile pace.  I guess my start was a little too slow maybe.  I seemed to cover the distances comfortably today.  My knee feels much better this afternoon following a soft track run vs. the hard ass concrete.  I missed the rain today completely so it's all good.  I have some work to do to figure out these workouts when I get them.  After a year with Jeff, you would think I can do better on my times.  I seem to be in a good place where I am getting faster and have trouble figuring out where I should be at times on these workouts.  First world problems, I guess.  I really need to put a little more focus on my bike workouts for the next few weeks.  I signed up for the Caveman Sprint so I am committed to that one.  I would like to go top 10 in my age group.  It's a goal.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/292253807