5.31.31 Race Wheels and Workouts

I didn't have a chance to post yesterday.  Work is crazy right now combined with trying to get my workouts in.  Yesterday, I ran six miles at a fairly slow pace, half marathon and marthon paced miles.  At this point, I consider half marathon around nine minutes and marathon ten minute miles.  It is hard to force myself into a slower pace on a short run although I know it is the right thing to do.  Jeff wants me to work on training my body to be more efficient in a fat burning mode.  Same thing will occur on Sunday when I am going to be asked to keep my HR in a fat burning zone.  I was able to get home from work in time to get to Bicycles Plus with about 10 minutes before close.  JT saw me pull up in my truck and was ready to get the wheels put on my bike when I walked in the door.  About 3 guys descended on my bike and I walked out the door with a couple of minutes to spare.  I really didn't want them to have to work after close and felt bad about getting there a little late.  I will definitely ride them on Saturday morning and maybe a little this evening.  I had to get to work early today so I headed to the pool a little before 6am.  My workout was 2650 yards, which is slightly longer than the usual workouts for the past few months.  I did not have any issues with the length.  The fatigue is starting to wear off a little bit from the past few weeks so I feel better about that.  I have an optional ride tonight.  I am a little excited about spending some time on the Zipps, so I may go ahead and do an easy ride.  I am doing hills with Jeff tomorrow morning in south Dallas.  It will be interesting to see how the bike performs with the new wheels.  I am considering a new cassette.  I think my Cannondale came with a 12-25 and I am thinking about going with a 11-28.  I get a better fast gear and better gear for climbing on the other end.  Around here, I really never get out of the 3-4 lowest gears but it would be nice to have a better climbing range for Lubbock or the few hills we have around here.  They moved my current cassette over to the new wheels so it may not be apples to apples if I buy the new wheels.  Decisions, decisions...

5.29.13 Thunderstorms

I was able to get my swim in this morning but thunderstorms hit this afternoon and I couldn't get my bike ride in.  Swim was somewhat better than Monday and I felt my strength coming back a little bit.  The next two swims are much longer on Friday and next Monday.  I am thinking about buying race wheels and JT at Bicycles Plus has some Zipp 404s I can use for the weekend for test run.  I will have to see how that goes.

5.28.13 Birthday Track Run

Today was my birthday and I did not feel great this morning.  I don't know if it was something I ate last night but my stomach was a little queasy this morning.  My legs were still feeling the effects from Saturday and Sunday.  I have shorter, lower intensity workouts this week.  Good thing, because I was not feeling it at all for the past two days.  This morning I did a warm up mile, 4x (400 at 5k pace followed by a 400 recovery), cool down mile.  My fast 400s were not great.  They were in the 1:54-1:57 range which equates to a little over mid 7 minute per mile pace.  They were a struggle to maintain.  Probably the hardest 4 mile track workout I have had in quite some time.  I saw Jeff at the track.  I was able to spend a few minutes with him before starting my workout.  Always good to bounce things off of Jeff.  I ate some sour cream chicken enchiladas at Blue Goose tonight and ate some cake.  Work may create some problems for my workouts in the morning.  I'll have to see.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/319334235

5.27.13 Swim

I was able to wake up late today due to the holiday.  The CARC opened later than usual today.  My legs were really tired and sore this morning.  I probably pushed it a little too hard yesterday.  The Monday swim is good for working out soreness but today I don't think anything was going to work.  I fought through the swim.  My body was really tired after a tough weekend.  Jeff sent an easier workout schedule this week so my body can hopefully get a little recovery time.  I hope the track workout in the morning goes ok.

5.26.13 Half Marathon PR

We had rain again last night.  I'm not sure how much but the streets were wet when I woke up this morning.  It was really humid outside (90%) and around 73 degrees.  My plan called for 110 minutes.  I wanted to do the usual trail run out at Northshore this morning but DORBA said the trail was closed.  I decided to do something a little different this morning.  The concrete Campion Trail out of Valley Ranch is smooth and is scenic through the woods along the the Trinity river.  It is fairly flat and I started out doing some easy mid nine minute miles with the intention of going 55 minutes and then turn around.  I saw Joe's neighbor Fred at the 4.5 mile mark.  He trail runs with us sometimes on Sunday.  You never know who you will run into out there.  I stopped for a few minutes to talk to Fred and then took off.  I started feeling stronger as time went by.  Around the 5-6 mile mark, I realized my time was going to be right at a 2 hour half marathon.  I either had to turn around at 55 minutes or go to the 6.55 mark and turn around.  I decided for the latter.  If I couldn't make the time, I could just stop at the 1:50:00 mark and walk it back to the truck.  At the turnaround, I tried to find a good sustainable pace that was less than nine minutes per mile.  I was a shade over an hour at the turnaround and only had to make up about 30 seconds on the return.  At about 9-10 miles, I didn't think I could keep the pace.  I saw Fred coming the other way on his return and it made me feel a little better knowing I didn't have far to go.  Seeing a friendly face was a big motivational lift.  As I started looking at my watch and counting down the miles.  I passed under the 635 bridge and was really close on time.  I passed under the Valley View bridge and was a little ahead.  Once I got to about 2 miles to go, I thought it was possible but I was fading and having a hard time hanging on to the pace.  I got to the levee and had to get over it before finishing.  The end was in sight and I was close.  Once I got over the levee, I could see my truck in the parking lot and kept the pace to the truck.  When my watch hit 13.1 miles, I was at 1:57:46.  It has been sort of an under the table secret goal to bust a 2 hour half marathon.  I took the Skratch Labs drink mix with me today.  I have to say it worked great in warm, humid conditions.  There may be something to that stuff.  Never cramped at all.  I'm pretty stoked about today's run.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/318389860

5.25.13 Long Bike Ride

I texted my neighbor Justin last night and asked if he was thinking about riding today.  He planned to ride with Joel this morning at 5:15am.  The weather was a little crazy last night and there looked to be a hole in the storms this morning so I jumped on.  My plan had me going 4-5 hours today.  Joel is really in good shape for Coeur D'Alene and he was going at least 100 miles today.  I did not intend on going 100 but somewhere in the 70-80 range would work.  We rode over the dam at Lake Grapevine and through Irving back to Coppell.  Justin had to go but Joel moved on and then I decided to go to the whitehouse and back to add another two and a half hours.  It took us about two hours on the first loop so I would be right on track at four and a half.  I have been training around three hours so I felt pretty good up to that time.  The last 90 minutes were a bit of a struggle.  The bottoms of my feet hurt from pushing the pedals and I was tired.  I drank two bottles of Skratch Labs formula and I think that stuff really works.  I had a bottle of Accelerade as well and reloaded it with water.  It was really humid today and there were no cramping problems at all.  I remember getting to 66 miles and thinking how hard 112 must be for a full ironman race.  I guess with proper training, it wouldn't be that bad but it isn't what I have been training for this year.  In the end, I covered 76 miles in four and a half hours.  I think 76 miles is the longest ride I have ever had.  I need a nap but I feel pretty good.  My trail running brothers, Joe and the Matrix, are in Jemez, New Mexico doing a 50 mile trail run race today.  I guess a little suffering and pushing the envelope was in order on their behalf today.  The rain held off which was great.  Getting up at 4am is not fun but it feels good to get everything out of the way early.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/317778019

50th Birthday Thoughts

......so on Tuesday, May 28, I turn 50.  My brain rattles at 100 miles per hour just thinking about it.  In Triathlon terms, I am fine with this.  I aged up and let's face it, the 40-44 and 45-49 age groups are some of the most competitive groups out there so I was happy to say goodbye to those groups.  It was all good this year while I was still 49 and racing in the 50-54 group.  It felt like cheating a little bit.  Now that the reality is upon me, I'm not so sure.  How did this happen to me?  I remember when my Dad turned 50 and we had a big party at the house.  It seemed like a milestone so far away in relation to where I was at the time, yet it seemed like yesterday now.  I don't really feel any different today mentally than I did at 20.  Sure, I am probably more mellow and have better perspective but I'm still as goofy as ever.  I can't see without my glasses now, my wife says I can't hear and there are definitely more wrinkles on my face so things are different even if I don't think so in my brain. 

My family keeps asking me what I want to do for my birthday.  I'm like a deer in the headlights.  I don't know if I want to crawl in a hole and let it pass quietly or find something to do and celebrate the moment.  I have never been very comfortable with being the center of attention since most of my formative years were spent trying not to stick out in the crowd.  Which is impossible when you look at least 3 years younger than everyone around you.  As a late bloomer in the growth department and I mean really late, there were a lot of people who dismissed, ignored, or belittled (no pun intended) me based on perception.   I had a job at Tom Thumb in high school and wanted a promotion to stock groceries.   The manager outright told me no based on my size.   He said I couldn't keep up.   I asked him what the most amount of cases he thought could be worked in one night.  I don't remember the number but I asked for one chance and I beat his number that night.  Having to prove myself to others was a pretty common theme for me and has shaped me to some degree with a most probable out of whack competitive edge.  One thing is for sure, I never conceived this day would come so quickly oh so many moons ago. 

I have had a few days in my life that could have ensured this Tuesday would have been a completely different kind of day.  I certainly barely escaped a very close encounter with the grim reaper about five years ago and that has given me a different perspective.  My near death experience changed how I feel about my mortality and maybe there will be a day when I can write about that but it won't be today.  I do know that making the most of every day is something not to be taken for granted.  Persistence and not giving up matters.  It applies universally, I promise.  Whatever is important to you, do it to the best of your ability and pursue your chosen path with passion.  Enjoy the time you have with your family and your friends because there is an expiration date.  Don't be afraid to try things outside your comfort zone.  Anything is possible when it comes to the human spirit.  I am very lucky to have my wife and kids to enjoy the ride with.  I have great parents and friends in all areas of my life that make each day special.  I am a truly blessed guy.  Going on this adventure that is endurance racing can't be done without the patience and understanding of your family.  They are the most impacted.  Thanks Patty, Meghan and Lance.  Love you all!  Maybe that's all I really need for my birthday and a kick ass cake.  Stay classy, planet earth!