4.27.14 Pilot Knoll Trail Run

Plan was for almost 2 hours today.  Easy pace.  Joe, Fred and me went out to the Pilot Knoll trail and ran there.  It looked like rain but the weather didn't really call for any in the morning.  We decided to head towards Old Alton Bridge and just keep going till we turned around.  We haven't really explored the trail beyond the bridge going in that direction.  It's really nice heading in that direction.  We went a little further than plan until we hit the bridge at 2499 and then headed back.  Of course, the skies opened up and started raining hard for the next 20-30 minutes.  Our shoes were caked up with mud and that made the run tougher than usual.  Fueled every 30 minutes and took two Shark salts at the turnaround.  It was really humid.  My last two miles were my fastest miles but it didn't seem like it.  The guard shack there had a running hose so we were able to clean our shoes.  Joe found a tick on him and the humidity brought in the mosquitos today.  I brought dry clothes which was good for today on the ride home.  Run ended up at 11 miles and went a little long.  I'm tired.  It's been a long build cycle.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/488403933

4.26.14 Red Balloon Ride

Jeff asked me a few weeks ago if I would consider going to Muenster with him for the Germanfest ride.  He decided to not go but I found a ride out of Plano for Children's Hospital.  The ride was due north to the Celina area and then back covering 72 miles.  Jeff needed 100 miles so we started early before the 7:30am official start.  We rode for about 45 minutes to an hour and headed over to the race site.  We missed the official start by around 20 minutes so we were on our own for a while.  It was an easy ride heading out with the wind at our backs.  These rides are great because they have aid stations and support if you have a problem.  The aid stations were great.  Lots of food and drink.  They had police manning all the major intersections across the entire route which is kind of rare.  It was kind of confusing at the start in Plano and I had to consult my phone for the route.  We starting catching people in McKinney.  We were smoking fast all the way out and then we turned around in Weston.  I was able to pull off Jeff for about 10-15 miles against the wind and then my legs started to tire.  That dude is so strong he just powers through like it's nothing.  The wind had to be 20+.  With the extra mileage the route was almost 86 when we made it to the finish.  Jeff kept going and was going to run after his ride.  I grabbed some fruit and had a bottle of water before heading home.  I was kind of disappointed not to get a full 100 in but there is plenty of time in the next three months.  I probably could have done it but I would have been trashed for the Sunday run.  Good times for the Red Baloon Ride.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/487577667
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/487577671

4.24.14 Tempo Run

The plan was very simple.  2 mile warm up, 6 miles at half marathon pace, and 1 mile cool down.  I chose my usual 8 mile route and found a way to add mileage in places to get me to nine.  It was a nice cool morning but very humid.  I can declare running tights season officially over.  I was soaked with sweat.  It's running shorts and short sleeve shirts from here to Boulder.  My half marathon miles were a little off.  Seemed like most of those miles were between 9:10 and 9:30.  I would typically run closer to 9 minute miles.  I did get faster as the miles clicked by but I was definitely not feeling great.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/486252945

4.23.14 Swim/Bike

Wednesday is my double day.  I swim in the morning and ride the bike after work.  It is also the most unstable day for me at work.  I got called at 3am and then had trouble getting back to sleep.  I woke up for my swim around 5:30 and things looked good at work so I went to swim.  When I got back, things had gone horribly wrong and had to rush to work.  I didn't get much rest so I was fairly fatigued in the water.  This is the second week of a build cycle so I'm going to feel more beaten up than usual.  When I made it home, I went to the FloMo CAC to ride with Shelby's group.  They were only doing about an hour and I was scheduled for 90 minutes so I finished up without them riding loops on Spinks Road.  Wind has hammering me again but that makes for tougher conditions.  Good mental work as well.

4.22.14 Interval Run

When I received my plan from Jeff, I didn't think the workout for today looked overly difficult.  I had to write it down and put it in my pocket because it was a little confusing.

1 mile warmup
6x(15 second pickups with 10 second recovery)
2 minute recovery
6x(3 minutes at 5k pace, 1 minute recovery)
2 minute recovery
6 minutes at best sustained speed
5 minute recovery
6x(1 minute fast, 30 second recovery)
1 mile cool down

This was a real ass kicker this morning.  I totally underestimated the effort that would go into this.  Probably one of the harder Tuesday interval runs I have done.  I was working on little sleep as well.  I went to the Stars playoff game and didn't get home until 1am so the 6am alarm was not a welcome sound.  All of the fast times were generally sub 8 minute mile pace.  Good stuff this morning.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/485013029

4.21.14 Swim

A rest day of sorts with only a swim on the agenda.  2500 yards this morning with 400-500 of the yards using the kickboard which slows me down some.  My legs feel good after the swim.  Pool was really crowded and I had to wait 10 minutes or so for a lane and then everyone left at the same time.  Go figure.  Really felt good in the water again today.  I hope Shelby starts the open water swims at Lake Grapevine soon.

4.20.14 Easter Trail Run

Just me and Joe today for our Sunday trail run.  We went a little north and ran from one of the trailheads of the Pilot Knoll trail off of 2499.  We ran by some of the public accessible trailheads on the last run we did.  We didn't really know how many miles the trail had in it to the south.  One undeniable truth is trail maps are useless.  We ended up hitting a few dead end trails and losing the main path here or there.  Once the public trail ended, we picked up another trail that extended along the lake in the Highland Village area.  We did not exhaust that trail so I have no idea how far it went.  We did a little over 9 miles today.  It is possible to do at least 15-20 out there.  The good thing about this trail is they do not allow mountain bikes, only horses, hikers and runners.  Bad thing is the cobwebs are back and mountain bikes really clear those out.  It's a really nice run so we'll be back to do some more exploring.  It looked like we were going to stormed on but it stayed away.  We only had a few light sprinkles today.  My plan called for 100  minutes with the last 10 at moderate pace.  I ran the last mile at 8:49 pace which is fast for me on a trail.  My legs felt really heavy to start but settled in well after a few miles.  It's been a busy build week.  Jeff sent the plan for next week and the mileage goes up again.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/483613302

4.19.14 Long Bike

Plan called for four hours on the bike.  I met Shelby's group at the FloMo CAC at 7:30am meaning I left my house at 7:00am.  The weather was going to warm quickly despite the early morning chill.  It was cold until the sun came completely up.  Marcel was the only one going with me for the full 4 hour ride.  My legs were not as responsive from the work throughout the week.  Wind was from the south so we fought it all the way home.  I ended up going four hours and 15 minutes for almost 71 miles.  It was the longest ride of the year.  Had some dehydration issues after the ride so I need to get that squared away.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/482894406

4.18.14 Swim Bike

Fairly easy day, one hour in the water this morning.  I was supposed to back that up with an easy 30 minute bike ride.  I didn't really have enough time to do both together so I had to split the workouts.  I followed the 2500 yard workout in my plan.  Finished right at the hour mark.  Arms were a little sore today.  I have been trying to swim a little harder this week.  The 30 minutes on the bike was real easy.  No push at all.  Just knocked our 15 minutes and came back home.

4.17.14 Wed and Thu

Yesterday, I overslept.  I had to be at work a little early and didn't have enough time to get to the pool and get my swim in.  Shelby's Enduroshark group does a ride and swim after work so I decided to opt for that.  Their ride starts at 6:30pm so I hustled over there hoping to start early.  They start the swim at 7:45pm but typically get kicked out of the pool by 8:30pm.  I started my ride at about 6:20pm to get an early jump.  I think it was about 73 minutes or so.  The wind was really whipping again.  Ended up putting in 20 miles and then headed back to the parking lot.  Fairly hard work against the wind.   Made it to the pool and got in the water at close to 7:50pm.  Shelby told me he had to leave early and just stay until they kicked me out.  I tried to stick with Jeff's plan.  I converted any kickboard work to a swim to speed things along.  I was able to stay in the water until about 8:40pm getting in 2100 yards.  I was in a hurry so my effort was stronger than normal.  My feet started cramping up again.  I really need to resolve this problem in the water.

This morning was an 8 mile tempo run.  1 mile warm up, 2 miles at marathon pace, 2 miles at half marathon pace, 2 miles at 10k pace, and 1 mile cool down.  I have a decent 8 mile route through Coppell that includes some decent hills.  I figured to be a little slow after the work from yesterday but I really felt good for the most part.  My warm up pace is close to marathon pace so I only sped those miles up by 20-35 seconds.  My half marathon miles were in the 9:20 range and the 10k miles were mid 8s.  I was getting faster every mile so that was a good indication my legs were responding well.  Weather was cool this morning.  Great running weather.  My iPod was giving me good music today.  Always a bonus!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/481734351

4.15.14 Track Run

On Monday, I decided to swim in the morning.  Jeff told me to take the day off if I was sore from the race.  I didn't feel bad so I went.  I used the Monday workout from last week since I kind of abandoned the formal swims from the previous work.  I felt good in the water which is a good sign.  No real fatigue.  Jeff sent the workouts for the week.  Longer and more endurance based.  He guaranteed fatigue this week.

Tuesday morning I headed to the track.  One mile warm up, four 1600s at 10k pace with 400 recoveries in between, and followed by a mile cool down.  All of my 1600s were in the 8:13 to 8:16 range.  I was surprised with the consistency.  I was beat when the run was over in a good way.  I had some weird pain in my left leg later at work but it went away.  I will keep an eye on that.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/480498883

Caveman Sprint Triathlon 4.13.14

Texas weather in the spring can be a very unpredictable element.  Conditions were perfect last year but this was completely different.  For most of the week, predictions were for thunderstorms late in the day on Sunday.  Seemed like out of nowhere, the threat of severe weather changed to Sunday morning.  Awesome.

Pre-Race:
Woke up at 4:30am and took a shower.  I like to be clean before a race.  Most of my stuff was packed the night before but I had a few odds and ends to pack.  The race is site is only 10 minutes from the house.  I packed an extra set of clothes and a rain jacket for after the race.  I ate a honey stinger bar and drank a bottle of Skratch Labs to top off my electrolytes.  Since it looked to be very humid, I went ahead and took a Shark salt as well.  By the time I loaded my bike in the back of the truck, it was time to head out.  Transition opened at 5:45am and there is a small parking lot next to transition that fills quickly.  As long as you get there before transition opening, you can get a spot.  I pulled on in and the parking lot was almost full at 5:30am.  Grabbed my stuff in my transition bag and got in line for body marking and transition set up.  When I made it to my rack there were about four  bikes racked and three of them were on the aisle.  Not perfect but it would have to do.  I brought some big zip lock bags to put my bike and running shoes in to keep them dry.  It was sprinkling already so that was my original plan.  My aero helmet and race belt would go on the aero bars on the bike.  Trudging back to the truck, I changed my mind.  The wind was really starting to come back up.  I unloaded everything out of my bag and went back to transition.  I decided to put the shoes inside my transition bag with the zipper on the top of the bag open, a double layer of protection against a bad storm.  By the time I got this done, hit the bathroom one last time and picked up my chip, it was about 15 minutes to race time at 7am.  Time was flying.  I thought about a quick warm up swim but decided to wait and let it rip at the start.  This is the fourth time I have done this race.  There is a guy who has beaten me every year.  It started as a fairly large gap and it has been shrinking through the years.  I lost by 8 seconds last year.  It is a nice carrot.  It helps to do a race with some sort of goal in mind.  We swim close to the same speed and once again we were next to each other in the swim line.  They seed you (bib number assignment) by your estimated swim time. I estimated 4:45 for the 275 yard swim and was number 143.  There were over 600 registered but only 483 showed up to race.  The weather must have kept a lot of people away.  My Sunday running crew showed up to watch and it was nice to see those guys.  The support helps when your out there.

Swim:
They line you up in the gym by number.  There was some number jumping but most everyone follows the rules.  The race organizers don't give you a swim cap so any cap will do if you want one.  I used the Hamline University my daughter was able to get for me from their swim coach.  Unfortunately, before getting in the pool, I tore off a piece but it was still functional.  The swim was one of the best pool swims I have ever had.  You are spaced 5 seconds apart so there can be chaos at the walls and trying to pass in a 25 yard pool.  The people in front of me and behind me were right on pace.  All I had to do was swim.  My guy behind me passed me with about 75 yards to go so I drafted on him the rest of the way.  I passed one person as well.  That was it.  The timing mat is on the way out the door.  My time was 4:50 which includes climbing out of the water.  This is very fast for me.  I didn't really feel winded or tired either.  Really nice.

T1:
Upon leaving the pool, I was hammered by the winds preceding the storm.  There was light rain at that point.  The bikes on the rack were all swinging back and forth wildly.  My helmet and race belt used to be on my aero bars.  They were now scattered all over the place.  My aero helmet has an eye shield that is attached magnetically.  The rain was coming and I knew I had to have something covering my eyes.  I found it in the next row and put my helmet on.  Shoes were in the bag so no problem there.  My race belt was MIA so I didn't bother spending any more time looking for it.  My buddy racked next to me left at the same time so we were together.  A slow 1:57 in transition.

Bike:
I was ahead coming out of transition and the sky's opened up.  The rain was coming down hard.  I mean stinging hard.  The wind was whipping everywhere.  Gusts had to be mid 30s at the least.  My guy passed me within the first mile so I decided to just stay with him since I am a better runner.  We worked our way to the east on the first loop and my legs felt great.  I was worried about the 3+ hours on the bike yesterday but it was no problem.  I decided to pass my mark and let the chips fall where they may.  We made a right turn to the south and it was brutal.  The wind was just nuts.  Somewhere in here and around the warehouse area for the return, we got some hail.  The concrete around the warehouses was slick with oil and very slippery.  You really had to be careful.  I saw several people go down hard around the warehouses.  The entire first lap reminded me of Lieutenant Dan in Forest Gump on top of the mast of the shrimp boat.  After finishing the first lap, the rain subsided some but the roads were not trustworthy with a lot of standing water.  The winds were still brutal.  It would have been far better to have waited until later to swim.  The weather was really bad for those who started early.  I thought my time was going to be really bad but I finished the bike in 46:44 which is 18mph.  Not bad considering the conditions.  If were nice, I think crushing the 20mph mark was definitely possible.

T2:
After getting off the bike, I saw my boys at transition.  Good to see them.  I was very happy to survive the ride without crashing.  When I got to transition, one of the bikes racked next to me was off the rack and laying on everybody's transition gear. Nice.  I was able to get to my stuff.  I put my helmet in the transition bag and grabbed my running shoes.  I beat my guy to transition and when he got there, his stuff was not accessible.  I helped out with the bike that fell down and re-racked it for him.  I took off running at that point and spent 1:25 in T2.

Run:
It was cool but the humidity was very high from the rain.  There was still a little rain but not much.  The route was new this year and was a winding path through the park to the east of the CAC.  I looked at my watch a few times but knew I was off pace from last year.  No chance of hanging on to that.  I tried to get my legs moving as fast as possible.  My training has been more endurance related for Ironman Boulder so my short distance speed is not quite up to par.  The out and back followed the same path with a few derivations.  I told the aid station people to just throw water all over me.  I didn't drink much of anything.  I made a mistake at one aid station and poured Gatorade on myself.  I felt good and didn't really need any hydration.  On my way back, I saw Joe, Fred and the Matrix one more time and really kicked it in.  I ended up a few minutes ahead of the guy I was using as my carrot.  My run was 25:32 and averaged 8:14 minute miles.

Overall, very memorable due to the weather.  The race is right next to the house so hard to pass up.  Sprints are not really my focus for this year so I wasn't really trained to kill this event.  I ended up 8th in my age group and 80th overall.  Not really all that important in the big scheme of things but it was enjoyable.  Nice to be racing again.  It's been at least six months since my last triathlon.

4.12.14 Bike

It's the day before the Caveman Sprint and my plan calls for an easy 4 hours.  I decide to take this really slow and try to never get on the gas.  The weather, however, had different plans.  At 7:30am when I left, it was blowing 15mph from the south.  Great going out.  The crosswinds were rough but easily managed.  I rode out to Argyle and decided to wait on making a distance decision until I arrived at the city hall.  The wind had begun howling at around 20mph and I decided to slowly work my way home.  If I wanted extra miles, I would pick them up closer to home.  There is no real good way to take it easy fighting a 20mph head wind.  I decided to just go home.  I ended up with 3 hours and 15 minutes.  I hoped the legs would not be trashed for Sunday.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/478379415

4.11.14 Taper?

So Jeff diverted me off the Ironman plan everyone else is on for a few days.  This morning was a 30 minute ride and a 30 minute swim.  I rode one of the spin cycles at the CARC for 30 minutes before jumping in the water.  It said I did 10.2 miles in 30 minutes.  Who knows what that really means in outside riding conditions.  I decided to do 1500 yards which should be 30 minutes.  It was basically right on.  Thus concludes my taper.  Tomorrow was a 5 hour ride but Jeff clipped an hour off and told me to go slow.  Right, the wind is supposed to be 15mph out of the south.  No way to take it easy into that.

Invest in the Journey

My friend Joe sent out a tweet with a link to this article.  It's written by a guy who seems to be a somewhat disillusioned lawyer who competes in Ultra distance races.  It's a little all over the place at times but does a good job at summing up why anyone would want to do things like an Ironman.  I will most likely never be as fast as this guy but the reasons for working towards a goal are applicable in everyday life and not just running a sanctioned race.  Bookmarked for my own edification here.

http://www.richroll.com/lifehack/why-you-should-stop-lifehack-and-invest-in-the-journey/

4.10.14 Slow Tempo Run

My plan was for an easy 80 minute run this morning.  Nice and slow.  Weather was perfect.  Low 60s with a real feel in the upper 50s.  I decided to run a familiar 7 mile route and add on if necessary.  My miles actually got a little faster each mile.  I didn't feel too bad but definitely didn't want any pace.  I haven't caught up on sleep so I'm still tired today.  Caveman race is on Sunday so I'll dial back slightly in the next few days.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/477242047

4.9.14 Long Day

I had to be at work at 3am due to overnight software deployment activities at work.  Unfortunately, our servers conspired against me all evening never allowing for more than an hour or so of sleep before having to get up.  Not exactly what I was hoping for respective of any extracurricular activities that may have been planned.  I didn't get back home until around 1pm.  Couldn't decide whether to bite the bullet and swim or take a nap.  I didn't really feel too terribly sleepy at the time so off to the pool I went.  After leaving the house, I had not printed my swim workouts for the week so I figured to just swim continuously for whatever felt comfortable.  I did 3000 yards a week or two ago so that was the quasi plan.  While swimming, I kept going over the math in my head for an Ironman swim or 2.4 miles.  One mile is 1750 yards so 3500 yards would be two miles.  I would probably have to get to around 4400 or so to get to the 2.4.  I decided 3500 would be a good goal.  My body was dehydrated and I wasn't really prepared for this.  I forgot to take shark salt or down any Skratch before I left the house.  My calves and feet started cramping at around 2500 yards and I really thought 3000 was about the best I could do.  I had some strange breathing problems again here and there but not bad enough to stop.  Must be spring with all the pollen plus my throat was really dried out after an hour in the water as strange as that sounds.  When I got to 3000, I decided to keep on moving.  The cramps in my feet started to get debilitating in the next few hundred so I quit at 3600 yards.  Slow but not too bad for being up almost 30 straight hours and not hydrating appropriately.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/476782067

On the way home from work, I called Jeff and asked if he was doing the DA ride.  He said yes and he wasn't planning on going all out so I could ride with him.  After swimming, I drank a bottle of Skratch and loaded another on my bike for ride.  It is usually a very fast ride lasting around 80 minutes or so.  I met Jeff at the parking lot.  They send three groups off.  We were going with the fast group but there is no expectation that anyone will wait if you get dropped.  I didn't know the route but Jeff said he would pull back if I got dropped.  These guys are really fast so I didn't hold much hope of hanging with them.  It was a fairly relaxing ride for the first few miles until we got to some longer stretches of open road.  No problem hanging on for the first 7-8 miles into Irving then the pace quickened and I was dropped along with a few others.  I really didn't have much trouble staying with the chase group.  I had no idea what the route was, so that was a good thing.  Coming back north with the wind in Las Colinas, we made contact with the lead group.  Jeff looped back to get me and I missed him somewhere along the way.  Due to the traffic lights, I lost him until we got to Valley Ranch.  The fastest guys got away a little bit in Valley Ranch and a few of them clipped tires.  There were bikes and bodies all over the road.  Jeff caught up with me there.  There were two guys that looked pretty messed up and everyone else looked ok.  We hung around for a few minutes and then took off.  Ambulances were on the way and there wasn't much we could do.  I rode with Jeff until he cut off to go home.  I found a good group to ride with on the way back.  Coming back north with the wind it was easy hitting 28-30mph for brief periods of time.  I was proud of myself for not getting completely dropped and losing all contact.  No way I'm fast enough to stay with this group but I wasn't terribly far off either.  Progress comes in small increments.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/476895358

4.8.14 Tempo Run

I swam on Monday.  Still a little fatigued from the travel but a fairly good swim overall.  I received my workouts from Jeff on Monday.  Less intensity this week with a little added mileage.  I have the Caveman Sprint on Sunday so my week will be a little different but not much.  The run on Tuesday was 60 minutes long.  20 easy, 20 easy/moderate and 20 easy.  I overslept so did the run after work.  I am still a little tired from the travel and lack of sleep.  It wasn't a great run and really should have felt better.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/476357164

4.5.14 Tuscaloosa Run

To get caught up, I did swim on Friday 4/4 and I felt really good.  Best so far this year.  I was running short on time due to overcrowding at the pool.  2500 yards in an hour.  Very encouraging.  We were leaving for Tuscaloosa in the afternoon so there would be no other workout in the afternoon.

We left the house at 4:30pm on Friday and did not get to Tuscaloosa until 1:30am on Saturday.  I slept until about 9:30am and then got ready for my run.  We had to stay in Cottondale which is east of Tuscaloosa.  I really didn't know where to run so I decided to stick with Highway 11 which turns into University and heads directly into campus.  Plan was for 90 minutes so I started heading that way and would turn around at 45 minutes.  The road was mostly two lane blacktop with little to no shoulder.  Not fun at all.  At my turnaround point, I finally got a sidewalk that I could take into campus.  I called Patty and asked if she could meet me somewhere on campus and give me a ride home.  She asked me to call her when I was done.  When I got to campus, I decided to stop at my fraternity house and see if someone there could give me a ride.  It would keep Patty from having to drive the ten miles out there.  My son was going to attend the spring party at my house later in the afternoon.  Someone kindly offered a ride so I ran another 20 minutes through campus and went back to the house.  It was a great day, cool and sunny.  The campus was very busy.  Almost all of the fraternities were having parties, the football team was having a private scrimmage for the boosters, sororities were having functions, etc.  I really felt good during the run and could have gone much further but we had stuff to do.  Two of my fraternity brothers made an appearance on campus so we were able to hang out with them all day.  Turned out to be a great day.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/475729774

Sunday it was raining and we needed to get going back to Dallas so it was a lost day.  I was really tired and needed the rest anyway.

4.3.14 Tempo Run

On Tuesday, I went to the track.  No one there again but at least the gate was open.  Similar run to last  week except every interval had a 400 recovery instead of a rest.  I ran an extra cool down mile to make the distance a little over six miles.  Sluggish to start but felt better towards the end.  Not a bad day.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/471568062

Wednesday I swam in the morning and rode the trainer in the evening.  I felt ok in the water.  Can't seem to get right swimming yet.  I don't know why.  Very strange.  Swimming is the most intimidating part of the Ironman for me.  Maybe my nerves are just not right.  I was really tired when I got home and was a little late heading to the Flower Mound CAC to ride with Shelby's guys.  I took a brief nap and then rode the trainer for a little over 70 minutes.  Very fatigued last night.

This morning I ran 6 miles.  One mile warm up, four moderate miles and a cool down mile.  I took the hilly Sandy Lake route which is right at 6 miles.  My stomach wasn't feeling good when I started but I finished the run ok and was better by the end.  Hope I'm not getting sick.  My miles got faster as I went.  It was good to sweat in a short sleeve shirt and shorts again.  I only wish the pool was warm enough to jump in after the run.  It is a great way to cool down before heading to work.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/472760614