A Code Geek's Tail

Check Point

2012-01-24T14:25:00.001-05:00

Saturday, I got on Haint for my second round of Trainer Road. I chose the Free 30 workout again, as I’m not ready to do any serious riding yet. I am finely tuned to my crotch muscles, and they are telling me to TAKE IT SLOW.

Still, I was able to put more of an effort into this one, raising my power threshold by almost twenty percent. I would have thought that all the running I’ve been doing would have kept my cycling muscles in pretty descent shape. Reality, strongly evident by my heart rate reaching into the 150s, indicated otherwise. I’ve got work to do before I give the 6 week base training plan a go. This week, I want to ride twice for 45 minutes, then we’ll go from there.

That afternoon, I went back to the pool try out my Tempo Trainer Pro. This was a Christmas gift from my daughter, and I’ve been wanting to try it out.

There are three different ways to use this beauty. You can set it to beep every stroke/stride, or you can set it to beep at every interval. I thought I would try some bilateral breathing exercises and hit the wall every 24 seconds, for a pace of 1:36 per hundred yards. After setting the digits, I stuffed it into my swim cap and took off. I think I managed to stay on target for 6 of the 10 100’s I wanted to get done. After that, I winged it. Can’t take this training too seriously at this point.

The tempo trainer is a definite winner. I can use it on the run to hit my 90 strides on one foot per minute, and I can use it on the swim to pace my intervals/strokes. I love the fact that I was hitting the wall at exactly the interval I wanted. I’m looking forward to using it some more in the future.

Backing up a bit, last Thursday, I went to the gym to do a graduated run test. Basically, I warmed up for a mile, then at the 10 minutes mark, I began increasing the speed on the treadmill by 0.2 mph per minute.

I did not look at my Garmin the entire time I was running. My goal was to hang on for dear life, or I reached 9 mph, which ever came first :-) You can see there around 12 minutes that my HR spikes up into zone 2. This points out my aerobic threshold (AeT). The jump in Zone 4 where I went anaerobic is a little harder to assess. The last time I took this test, my result was a long gradually rising line with no clear indicators. LOL. Based on my AeT, and the fact that I ran almost a mile in last year’s Zone 5, I think its pretty safe to say my zones, for running at least, haven’t changed all that much from last year. Not to worry though, I’m going to test them again. Often!

My goals for this week: 6 miles in the Vibrams, and a long run on the weekend with Teh Bug.

Have a great week, y’all!

Wes

A. F. E.

2012-01-19T09:26:00.001-05:00

Sometime around Wednesday of last week, the s*%t literally hit the fan. My head was suffering from an intense fog like state. I’m reasonably sure, no make that positive, that it was alcohol addiction. That night I passed out around 8 PM on Dee Dee’s shoulder.

Thursday morning, I woke up feeling… better. I was refreshed, and my head was a good bit clearer. I worked from home Thursday, and since Dee Dee was off work, we went to Canyon Burgers in Woodstock for lunch. I had the option of a chicken, turkey, or vegetarian burger, but I decided to go with the meat. My “no red meat” diet is a choice, not a moral issue. I’ll cheat when I wanna, and it were good.

Speaking of cheating, Dee Dee and I had a date night Friday night. We went to Outback Steakhouse for the second time eva. I drank a bit, and enjoyed a rather healthy fish dinner. My lack of alcohol over the previous two weeks made me a light weight. That whole “use it or lose it” thing is totally true. My poor kidneys were not ready for a stress test. After more wine on Sunday, it took me until Wednesday to recover. Needless to say, my beer cheat night this weekend is cancelled.

Since I’ve started feeling better, I have come to the (probably duh) conclusion that my bad drinking habits has had such a negative effect on my training. I coined the term Alcohol Fueled Endurance. See, I work in computers, and I was in the military. Three letter acronyms are a way of life. AFE is fine if you are happy with it, but I realize now that it pretty much made me feel like crap. All the time. I have resolved to work harder to break this habit, and maybe turn it into one that is more healthy. We shall see.

A friend of mine introduced me to TrainerRoad. It’s a rather neat concept. It uses the known power curve for your trainer, along with your Ant+ cadence and speed sensor to generate a power reading. I’ve been dying to try it out. Last night, I dragged Haint out of the basement and hooked her up to the trainer. After installing the software, I spent a few minutes registering my heart rate monitor and speed/cadence sensor. It was stupid simple. After clicking go on the Free 30 workout, off I went.

OK. So I haven’t been on my bike since July, but this is cool. I picked Cycle Ops 4 for my power setting. I assumed that meant the Cycle Ops was on setting 4. I don’t really care if it’s exactly accurate, just that the numbers go up and down as I work harder/easier. As you can see, I held a nice range of 115-120 for the first 20 minutes of the workout, then I started to dial it down towards the end. The power output responded accordingly.

Very.cool.

The web site has seven training plans, and I believe over a hundred workouts. I even exported my workout as a TCX file and loaded it into SportTracks 3.0 for further analysis. This digit boy is a happy camper!

Oh yea. I ran a couple of times :-)

Happy training!

Wes

Operation No (Red) Meat

2012-01-09T16:29:00.001-05:00

Week 1

I thought it might be interesting, if not down right appropriate, to document my transition from a meat eating red blooded American triathlete to a vegetarian American triathlete. If this stuff doesn’t interest you, come back later :-) I may actually do something soon (in the next 5 weeks of so) other than maintain my running base.

Transitioning to no (red) meat has been pretty easy. As a matter of fact, over the last 7 days, I have only had chicken once, going practically meatless that entire time. Giving up beer at the same time has been “interesting”. In general, once I cut myself off from beer, it takes 2-3 days to restore my sleep pattern and feel well rested. The first night is particularly bad. I’m usually dehydrated and suffer from insomnia. Once that passed, I started to feel pretty good, at least my body did. My brain has been in some kind of fog. Again, I think the beer/alcohol is mostly to blame. If you don’t believe that alcohol has a negative effect on you, let me be a witness. It does. My brain, over the past 25 years, has gotten quite used to the flood of carbs/sugars and alcohol.

Around day 6, I felt better. Just in time for me to eat some chicken :-) Truth is, I wanted the chicken to help me in my transition, but I probably didn’t need it.

Finding no (red) meat recipes to eat has been relatively simple, and I have been enjoying the taste of new dishes. Some of the things I have prepared include:

A lentil based marinara sauce
sautéed cabbage
black bean burger
black bean fajitas
sautéed collard greens and tofu over rice

and I even ate vegetarian at the Mexican restaurant last night.

Everything they say about eating vegetarian has been correct, so far. The food has been tasty. I haven’t felt stuffed, like I’ve over eaten, and while at times I have found myself hungry, I have always managed to make it to the next meal or snack.

In order to ensure that I’m meeting my nutritional requirements, I’m taking a multivitamin, fish oil, and tracking my calories on a popular web site. I am attempting to keep a proper 20/20/60 ratio, but so far, it has panned out, more often than not, that my fat content has been in the 30% range. After perusing my food log, I realized that I am not taking in enough fruit! Brilliant. Fruit is all carbs, no fat and no protein. My dedication to my digits is already paying dividends! For the most part, I’m not having any problem taking in between 80-110 grams of protein per day. My target is 114.

Through all this, I have definitely been running. There has been no change to my schedule. I’ve even run twice in one week in my Vibrams. I really need to get one of my Vibrams runs up to 5 miles, and that is the next step in that process. In the mean time, I’m going to keep my base long run where it is now (10 miles), and let that carry me through the half marathon in March and my first tri at the end of April.

So, in a nut shell, that’s where we’re at :-)

Wes

Healthy

2012-01-03T15:11:00.001-05:00

First of all, welcome to 2012. May your year be exciting, in a good kind of way, and prosperous.

With my race schedule in hand, I sat down and did something I haven’t done often. As focused on the digits as I am, I have never really sat down and laid out an annual plan. The first year in triathlon, I winged it. The next two years, I was coached. The year after that, I followed block periodization, no annual plan required, and last year, my triathlon season ended in July. That’s hardly a year’s worth :-)

Utilizing a free resource, from www.trainingbible.com, I sat down to map out my year. I plugged in Monday, January 2, 2012 as the first day of my “year”. I then went and plugged in each of my six races, and assigned them a priority. It looked something like this:

Georgia Half Marathon – A
West Point Oly – A
Callaway Gardens – C
Tri the Mountains – A
Fall Cree Falls Oly – B
Augusta 70.3 – A

With that done, I set about assigning the tradition “periods” to my training year. To make a long story short, it ended up being a convoluted mess. I mean, I was fine up to the West Point Oly, and Tri the Mountains, but after that, it just got difficult. I just wasn’t quite sure what to assign the weeks after an “A” race leading up to another race of a shorter distance.

Finally, it dawned on me to Keep It Simple, Stupid. Really, my only annual goal for 2012 is to go sub-6 at Augusta. Therefore, it behooved me to make that my most important race of the year. Those other ones just didn’t matter. I decided to start backwards from Augusta, using a 3 week (old peeps) cycle for each block, and have two blocks of everything except for the Peak period. I’ll be damned if that training season didn’t end three weeks after West Point Oly. Throw in a Preparation Block, and the first part was done.

Counting back from West Point to the Georgia Half Marathon is seven weeks, an almost perfect fit for a Time Crunched Triathlete training program. Throw in a four week transition period prior to the Georgia Half Marathon, and I just gave myself six more weeks of nothing but running and cross training.

I love my coach (me!) :-) Now, my race schedule looks like this:

Georgia Half Marathon – C
West Point Oly – A
Callaway Gardens – B
Tri the Mountains – C
Fall Cree Falls Oly – B
Augusta 70.3 – A

Imminently more reasonable, dontcha think? and I don’t have to freeze my buns off getting ready for my first triathlon of the year.

Now that that is out of the way, let’s move onto the topic of today’s blog post: Healthy. That is my New Year’s Resolution. I want to work on developing the healthy and positive aspects of my life in all the things that I do: family, sports, money, relationships, my job, and just work hard on making improvements and becoming the kind of person that I want to be.

One aspect of this resolution is certainly nutrition. I have started operation “No Red Meat”, and so far so good. I would really like to cut out all meat, but I just don’t think that is doable at this time. Baby steps right? No sense in jumping off the cliff. I’m also trying to cut out beer and liquor this year. Stop laughing. I want a power meter. I’m thinking about using that as the carrot to encourage me to make healthy decisions. Let’s see… If I spent $20.00 a week on beer and liquor, how long would it take me to save up for that power meter I’m craving. I dunno, but at some point, I should probably do the math!

Here’s to a great 2012, y’all! Let’s commence to rockin….

Wes

Merry Christmas

2011-12-23T12:01:00.001-05:00

Have yourself a merry little Christmas.
Let your heart be light.
From now on,
our troubles will be out of sight

I am still alive. Admit it. You’ve missed me. Do not worry. I have been busy. The kids have been out of school, so I’ve been slumming it a little bit in the morning. Add in a slow period at work, and things have just been kind of dog lazy. I could get used to that.

I’ve still been trying to run three times a week, and I have been very successful. I am now up to three miles in my Vibrams! but only once a week. I’m going to try and expand that out to four miles before adding a second Vibram’s run. I can certainly tell the difference between running 3 miles in my Vibrams and running 3 miles in my K-swiss. All the little muscles in the lower half of my legs are just bitchin, but that is the point, right? Strengthen those muscles without hurting myself. So far so good.

After work today, I am off for 10 whole days. Some of that time might include a trip home to see my our families for New Years. We’re trying to figure something out with the dogs. From Christmas Eve till at least Wednesday, I am off with nothing but time on my hands. I’m looking forward to it.

I’ve been sitting here at work planning out my triathlon season for next year. Right now, I’m looking at 6 or 7 races, depending on whether or not my pals come into town to do the Chickamauga Marathon in November. I’m running the Georgia Half Marathon again this year, with Dee Dee. Then, I’m going to hit up the West Point Oly at the end of April. They moved it this year from June. No more sweltering heat runs! Woot! After that, it’s back to Callaway for my sixth or seventh time (who’s counting?). July has another trip to the Blue Mountains for Tri the Mountains. August was a bit perplexing, but I decided on the Fall Creek Falls Olympic again. It was a fun race, and I’d love to head back north to Tennessee. Finally, I’m going to wrap up my season with a half, and the target is Augusta 70.3. I have a bone to pick with that one.

Tie all that in together with Dee Dee’s plans, and it looks to be a busy year.

While all that is fine and dandy, tis the season… to eat, drink, make merry, and bring joy and happiness into the lives of those you love. Thank you all for another wonderful year. I wish you and your family a safe, happy, and wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Wes

Barefootin (and quick steppin)

2011-12-07T16:40:00.001-05:00

My last weekend of soccer related activities is OVA! I do have one more match coming up this Sunday, but for the most part, I’m about to be inundated with free time. Yes. Teh Bug is glad, as am I. Sunday morning found me standing in the dark outside the stadium at Kell High School. There were buses and teams in the parking lot, but nobody inside the stadium. Given that the teams were from out of state, they weren’t quite sure how to get in. The lights weren’t on or anything. To make matters worse, the field wasn’t even set up. Not good for a very important tournament.

In short order, I ended up with four teams inside the stadium. I knew there were soccer fields in the back (two to be precise), so I hopped in my car and drove back there to confirm the field was set up and ready to go. There was another lone referee back there, but the field was indeed lined and properly marked. After getting the teams situated, we commenced to footballing. Of course, on my field, we had to delay 15 minutes for more daylight, as no one was there to turn on the frickin lights.

All in all, it was a good day of soccer, if a little dry. In the three games in which I participated, only one goal was scored. The high light of my day was when the coach of a highly ranked team from California told me that my match was “the best he’d had in years”. The crew did a fine job.

I had to run by the headquarters at the Embassy Suites before heading off to my adult match at 3 PM. I managed to nab some lunch. When I showed up at the field, I noticed the crew was short. I ended up running the line for half a D-1 match before my own D-3 center. I guess you could say I got my running in on Sunday.

Monday, I could feel it too. I try not to hobble. The best way to recover sore muscles is to put them through a normal range of motion, but Tuesday, I wasn’t feeling very “normal”. Still, I felt compelled to go run and run I did. Since it was raining, I opted to go to the gym and hit up the treadmill. My normal “easy” run is 4 miles now, and this time, I remembered to bring my Vibrams.

To begin with, I warmed up for 4-5 minutes before settling into a 6.5 mph pace. After 1.5 miles, I put the treadmill on its lowest setting, changed into my Vibrams, then hopped back on again and revved the engine. I ran another mile before switching back to my trusty K-swiss. Running a mile was probably a bit risky, but I managed OK, and my legs were ready to be done!

One of the things I noticed during this exercise caught my attention. While running at 6.5 mph in my K-swiss, I was maintaining about 89 steps per minute with one foot. When I switched to my Vibrams, I was running 95 steps per minute at 6.2 mph.

There is some insight here… Let me explain.

A lot of people who injure themselves running, find salvation when they switch to minimalist shoes. I think too much credit is given to this “natural method”, when in reality, it is a change in form, required by barefoot running that is the cure. If you haven’t tried to run barefoot, give it a go, even if its just for a couple of hundred yards. You will quickly learn a couple of things. Running on your heels hurts, and to lessen the impact, you need short quick strides. Both of these things are conducive to developing a mid-foot strike. Even if you don’t plan to switch entirely to running barefoot, once a week will help strengthen your muscles and improve your form.

With that in mind, I have decided that I am going to run this years Guns and Hoses 5K in my Vibrams, and maybe the Georgia Half Marathon as well. I say maybe because I don’t know if I’ll be ready to run a half marathon in Vibrams by March. Since I’ll be pacing Dee Dee, it should be OK.

Happy hump day, y’all!

Wes

Flitting Aboot

2011-12-02T10:10:00.001-05:00

I have discovered fresh (ly unfrozen) fruit and yogurt. WT? Where have I been? I’m on a mission to improve my diet. Yes, I know. That means a major curtailment on beer. I’m actually doing pretty good on that front. After my marathon, went through a case or so, but hey… We all need to let go at sometime! My short term goal is to include healthier choices in my diet. My long term includes giving up red meat, then most meat (except seafood), then meat entirely. Not sure if I’ll make it that far, but we shall see. I’m currently in the research phase, with Operation Give Up Red Meat scheduled to begin at the first of the year.

Matthew’s soccer season is winding down. He had his last practice at a high school in Cobb County. I’m liking my fitness membership. One of their facilities was about 10 minutes down the road. I jumped on one of their treadmills in front of the ESPN TV. See, I can learn :-) Rather than do my ho-hum usual workout consisting of: warm up, run x minutes at y pace, cool down, I hit one of those little program buttons. I chose: Random Hills.

How much do you weigh? 185 lbs (ok, plus a little Thanksgiving fat)

Max speed you would like to go? 7.0 (about an 8:30 pace)

Max elevation? 4.0 (unsure about this one, so thought 4.0 was conservative)

How long would you like to run? 40 minutes (or 4 miles, which ever comes first)

The treadmill took me through a warm up, which was nice. Ya know I’m a digit guy, and the warm ups always skew my main set pace. After about four minutes of warm ups, the random hills began. The machine had me run at 7 mph at a 0 incline, and a 6.0 mph pace at a 4% incline. I think I did 6.7 mph at 1.5% and 6.3 mph at 3%. Each interval lasted for 2-3 minutes.

I was pretty amazed to be somewhat comfortable at the 7.0 mph pace. I even took the time to check my heart rate using the little handles. After it warned me about measuring heart rate over 4.0 mph, it said 151 bpm. LOL… That made my eyes widen! That used to be the bottom of Zone 2 for me, when I was heart rate training.

After running my 4 miles in 37:40, hit the weights again for about half an hour. I’m just getting back into it, so I’m very careful about how much weight I take on. Today, my hammies are NOT happy with me. Gonna give them a day or four off before getting back to it.

And that’s the plan for December. I’m going to run, fairly frequently, but only because I wanna, and I’m going to throw anything else into the mix that strikes my fancy, like 4 full 90 minute soccer matches this Sunday!

Have a great weekend!

Wes

Winding Down

2011-11-30T10:48:00.001-05:00

For the last two weeks, I have done a whole lotta nuthing, including this blog. That’s to be expected right? You really need to take some time to let yourself go at the end of a long hard year.

This was not the down year I was looking for…

The vast majority of my running over the last two weeks has been soccer related, and that’s about all my legs have been able to handle. I officiated six games the day after my marathon. I know! Crazy, right? Not to worry though. It was the little guys and gals. Just enough running to make me feel absolutely shellacked at the end of the day.

The weekend after that, I officiated three adult matches, one of which was my assessment match which is required to maintain my grade for next year. I passed. First try, which is always a good thing.

Thanksgiving rolls around, and I find myself knee deep in my favorite beverage: beer. Between that, the turkey, and the PIE, I’ve already manage to put five pounds back on this sleek physique. The day after Thanksgiving, I left at the butt crack of dawn to drive to Mobile to visit with my father. They were having a birthday celebration for him on Friday, then Saturday, the children gathered in his hospital room for the Iron Bowl.

My youngest sibling brought the boiled peanuts and beer in a cooler. Unfortunately, I was the one chosen to run out at half time and restock. When I got out of the car in the parking lot, I realized that carrying beer and a bag of ice into a hospital probably didn’t look very good. The good news was that I snuck in the basement door and made it almost all the way to my Dad’s room before the nurse popped out of his room and saw me. LOL!! She said not a word.

That night, Mee-Maw said she couldn’t believe they let us drink beer in Paw-Paw’s room, and my response: We didn’t ask. We were quiet, well behaved, kept it in the room, and didn’t give a drop to Paw-Paw, and we cleaned up before we left.

Before the Iron Bowl on Saturday, I did manage to get out and run 5 miles with my sister. It was so nice in Mobile. It’s a perfect time of year. Kelly told me she wouldn’t normally run that fast, and I was thinking that was the pace she wanted :-)

Finally, last night, I got my second official run in at the gym on the treadmill. I did a mile, then switched into my Vibrams, ran a half mile, then back into my shoes for the remainder of my four miles. Afterwards, I lifted weights and did a bit of rowing for half an hour. I’m only 110 miles from having an official 1000 mile year. I know with all the officiating I’ve done, my unofficial mileage is way over that, but I’m all about the deets. I’m pretty sure I’m going to let this one go though! HA!

In looking back at 2011, it was not quite the “down year” I had planned. Training for and running a marathon is hard work. One thing I am proud of though, I set six PRs in 2011, and this after suffering a dry spell for almost 20 months.

I hope you all have a great December, happy holidays, and ring in the new year with some fun and excitement! I’ll be seeing ya around.

Wes

Dream it. Believe it. Live it.

2011-11-14T16:16:00.001-05:00

A Chickamauga Marathon Race Report

The skies were clear. The sun shined bright on the field, somewhat offsetting the chill of the cold Saturday morning. Twenty-two eleven and twelve year old combatants waged battle on the hundred yard field, repeating a scene held on tens of thousands of fields all across America. Football.

The image in my mind is still clear as day. I was the quarterback on what would soon be a championship team. The only championship team I have ever been on. I take took the snap and dropped back deep in the pocket between my two tailbacks. It was at this moment that time slowed to a crawl. The front line is blocking, protecting their QB. On my right, the defensive tackle breaks away from my linesman and comes running up the middle of the pocket. I’m about to get crushed. I waited until the last possible second to release the ball, angling it high up and throwing it as far as I could, knowing the wind was going to push it further down the field. As soon as I released the ball, a shoulder pad and helmet is inserted into my arm pit, and I’m buried under a kid one and a half times my size.

My speedy wing-back caught that pass. He scored a touch down. You can’t make this stuff up. You have to live it. Experience it. Embrace it. This is why I race.

Dee Dee and I arrived at the Chickamauga Battlefield before dawn’s early light. If you know your history, Chickamauga was a solid victory for the Confederacy, shortly before getting their butts handed to them in Chattanooga. I did the 10 mile race here several years ago, and I’ve always wanted to come back and race the marathon.

Unfortunately for me, I didn’t time it very well. We were stuck in traffic thirty minutes before packet pickup was supposed to end, and I had no idea how far we were backed up. Fortunately for me, it three-tenths of a mile or so. I left Dee Dee in the car and hustled off to packet pick up. It was like thirty something degrees out. No use starting the freezing process early!

All my worrying, of course, was for not. I grabbed my packet and headed for the port-o-potties. There was no line there. I’ve just about got this GI thing figured out. This was going to be my third race with no GI issues what so ever. The sky was starting to lighten, but if anything, that made it even more difficult to track Dee Dee down. I looked around for her before heading back to the tent. Lucky for me, she has better eyes than I do. I heard her call my name. Together, we went back to the tent to get the race belt ready and stay warm.

About fifteen minutes before the race start, I went outside to run a bit and get warmed up. The cold made my feet hurt, and I felt something akin to arthritis in the big toe on my right foot. While walking back to the start area, the RD came over the PA and announced that the race would be delayed fifteen minutes to allow the stragglers to get in. Dee Dee and I immediately headed back to the car to keep warm. No more than five minutes later (or so), she came back on again and said everybody had arrived. I thought that the race would get started on time, but evidently the delay was still in effect.

I kissed Dee Dee good bye and found a place in the middle of the street, slightly ahead of the 4 hour pace group. The McMillan Pace calculator suggested I try a 8:45 per mile pace for the marathon. I was thinking closer to 9, but either way, it was slightly ahead of a 9:09 sub-4 pace. I saw a friend of mine, Nat, who was their with her youngest child, cheering on another friend going sub-4. After she snapped my picture, we went back to waiting. Nat’s friend Chris grabbed me and said “hi”, and we made small talk while we waited.

The RD came over the loudspeaker and announced the wheel chair division was going to start. She explained that she was going to start their race with a horn, but when the horn sounded, the cannon went off right behind it. Lucky for them, none of the runners started running. We waited about five minutes to both give the wheel chair racers a head start and to reload the cannon. After the national anthem, the cannon went off with a boom, and we the race got under way.

The race started kinda funny. We ran in a big circle around the Museum. We actually ran past the place I started at before making a right out onto the race course. We ran a short distance down a road before making a left onto the battlefield proper. This stretch of the race was rolling, but mostly down hill. It was nice, but not conducive to holding pace. My Garmin was reading an 8:35 pace, and I let my legs run freely.

Almost immediately, my nose had started to run from the cold. Not only did this make it hard to breath, but as I cleared my throat and spit out the gunk, I was losing quite a bit of fluid. A mile or so into the race, I found myself getting thirsty. I should have definitely drank more before the race. The race description had said that there would be aid stations every 1.5-2 miles, and they were, once you reached the battlefield. The first aid stations was more than 4 miles away (I believe), and that’s just not a good way to start the race.

To top it off, the 4 hour pacers passed me around mile 3, even though I had registered an 8:35 first mile, and several 8:45 miles before then. That kinda pissed me off. I convinced myself to ignore them and stick to my paces. At this point, the Garmin was beeping off the miles about 20 yards in front of the signs. I was OK with that, as long as it was consistent. I passed the pacers at the first aide station and discarded my t-shirt. I probably wore it too long and sweated quite a bit as a result.

Miles 5 through 8 were pretty fast, and I was steady holding a sub-8:40 pace. I came up on the main road through the middle of the park, and I heard Dee Dee yell at me from the middle of the field. She was taking pictures near the cannons. I waved at her. Nat was standing up by the road, and she screamed at me as well. Nat’s enthusiasm was infectious!

Running along the left side of the park, we had a long gradual up hill climb. This was followed by one short steep hill near the half way point. One of the runner’s pointed out a doe tramping through the woods. As I passed the half marathon point, I saw a whole heard of does crossing the battlefield on the left. I believed the does thought us silly to be running on the road, and I laughed to myself.

At this point, I’m holding my pace. I 3-4 minutes under a sub-4 performance. I had seen Dee Dee again around the 11-ish to 12 mile mark, and I had thrown here my gloves. My legs were starting to tire, and I could feel my left hamstring sending me cramping signals. I was not concerned at all. I knew how to run without cramping, and I held my pace.

Miles 16 to 18 were a struggle. I easily convinced myself that if I could hold a 9 minute pace, I would be happy, and I did. After mile 18, the wheels came off. I didn’t cramp. I don’t believe that I hit the wall. I had been pretty religious about taking in gels and drinking up to this point. My legs, ankles, and feet just hurt like Hell. By the end of mile 19, it became apparent that I was defeated, and with that, my hopes of going sub-4 went out the window.

Enter the slogfest. The 4 hour pace group passed me around mile 23. I tried to run with them for a bit. The effort wasn’t serious. I began to pick out spots on the route. I would run to that route and then walk again, until I could pluck up the strength to run again. We made a left back onto the road that would take us to the finish. Near the point where it exited the woods, a young lady, already finished, stood giving us all encouragement. I gave her a genuine smile of appreciation. The race route took us through what looked like a parking lot for a medical center before dropping us off on the hill above the finish line. A family was sitting out in their yard, cheering on the runners. They got a thumbs up.

Running beneath the houses along the back stretch, I heard Dee Dee yell my name. Thank God it was a downhill to the finish. I picked up a new friend, Mark, who had hurt his toe. Together, we ran it into the finish. I hammed it up a bit for the finish photo, but the smile on my face was not a fake. I raised my arm in victory, and crossed the finish line with a 4:16:53 showing on the clock (4:16:30 chip time).

Sir, may I take your timing chip, a sweet young girl asked? Sure, I said, as I doubled over in pain. Are you alright sir? I’m going to be fine, I replied. Thank you.

I grabbed my medal and headed for the athlete area. Dee Dee met up with me a long the way. I flopped down on my back next to a table and rested my feet up in the air, using the table for support. I stayed there for four, maybe five minutes, closing my eyes, waiting for the throbbing to ease. I probably could have stayed there for an hour, but thirst and hunger took over. I grabbed a bottle of water before heading to the food tent. THEY HAD BANANA PUDDING. It was dewiscious. That and the cold pizza.

Dee Dee went with me back to the car to change. I put on my race shirt and some jeans I had brought. We headed back over to the race area for a bit before departing. I’m so glad Dee Dee took the day off to come with me. I’m not sure I would have made it home on my own. With that, my fifth marathon is in the books (third stand alone).

Now, we must deal with the hard facts of this race. I did not meet my goal of going sub-4. I blame it on three things:

not training properly
going to hard at the Silver Comet Half Marathon
improper pacing at the start of the marathon.

All of these things are, of course, fixable. Am I happy with my result? Of course!! But let’s be realistic. It’s not so much the 57 minute PR. We all knew that I was going to PR this race. Rather, its more like a reset. I needed to put a “realistic” number next to the “Marathon” on my personal records page. That PR will be much harder to beat, and that itself will be more motivation. Also, I NEED to feel like I have mastered the marathon distance, like I have the half marathon. I would rather run a 4:16 marathon with a consistent per mile pace than fade at the end.

That ends my 2011. I think Dee Dee and I are going to do a Turkey Trot, but nothing else. I haven’t decided what I’m going to do next year. Going sub-6 at Augusta is appealing, but so is doing nothing but sprints. We shall see. I have friends who have tentatively scheduled Chickamauga for next year. If they come to Georgia, I’ll definitely be heading back to do that race again.

Thank you all again for your support! I’ll be around.

Wes

Marathon Eve

2011-11-11T16:01:00.001-05:00

It’s been a really really messed up week… errr I mean a really really long time since I’ve run a stand alone marathon. That would have been the Disney Marathon in January of 2008. Back in April-ish or May, I decided to cut my triathlon season off in July and return to the Marathon. With a PR over 5 hours, it seemed the right thing to do. That number is just out of whack! We need to set it straight, ya know?

Tuesday night, I was back on the track during my son’s soccer practice. The Silver Comet Half Marathon took a lot out of me, and I’ve been struggling to recover. While my muscles have come around OK, my knees and my ankles have been slow to recover. The training plan called for a tempo workout, and I wasn’t sure I had a tempo run in me. About the time I was set to get started, my son’s soccer team came prancing around the track. The competitive juices fired up, and I took off after them. Well, suffice to say, they were running a bit fast. However, the 8:34 first mile I turned in convinced me I did have a tempo run in my legs, and so I did my three miles at an 8:30 pace (8:34, 8:20, 8:00), and finished up my run with two 10 minute miles.

All day Wednesday, I was debating on whether or not to run at all. The soreness was back. I finally decided to go hit up the treadmill for my five miler on a softer surface. Unfortunately for me, I did not prepare well. I had nothing to drink since coffee at noon, and I was quickly dehydrated. I cut the run short at 4 miles and called it a day.

Which brings us to today…

It was rather fortuitous that I had the day off today to relax (Veteran’s Day). After dropping Matthew off at school, I stopped at the Kroger to pick up 8 gels. Funny, I should have checked to see if my belt would hold eight gels before I got started. Oh well, I may have to run the first thirty minutes with a gel or two in my hands. No worries. All my gear is laid out. I’m ready to go.

For those of you on Facebook, I’ll try to get get Teh Bug to post my progress on my profile. For everybody else, I’ll see you on Sunday or Monday!

Have a great weekend!

Wes

Where The Impossible Happens

2011-11-09T14:34:00.001-05:00

An Ironman Florida 2011 Spectathlete Report

Many months ago, I had casually mentioned to Dee Dee that I would like to go down to Panama City Beach to watch the Ironman this year. Unfortunately for us, it would take a bit of doing. I would have to get off work. Somebody would need to watch Matthew and get him to and from his soccer match.

As late as Thursday, we weren’t sure if we would be able to go. The weekend plans were completed, but Matthew had yet to find a ride home from school on Friday. I’m fairly easy going. I would have cancelled the entire trip in order to pick my son up from school. He texted me Thursday evening that he had found not one ride, but one and a back up. Everything came together just fine.

Friday morning, we dropped Matthew off at school and drove down to Panama City Beach. I looked for the signs and course markings along Highway 231, but I didn’t see any. I wondered if they had a different routine this year (I later found out the bike course had changed). We checked into my Dad’s place at Venture Out before heading to Walmart to pick up a few necessities. Then, it was off to the Expo to meet up with CJ and Murtha.

We had a great time meeting up with old friends for the first time, and I got to meet John’s lovely wife, Kelley. Dee Dee and I did browse the expo for a bit. Being and Ironman finisher, it was totally legit for me to buy sumfin. Unfortunately, the only thing I liked they didn’t have in my size. Dee Dee, however, managed to snag a pink and white running technical shirt. I don’t under stand how these things happen.

At 4 PM, we went to the pagoda behind the Boardwalk for a blogger meet up. There, we met old and new blogger friends, including: CJ, Murtha, Colleen, and Laura, amongst others!

After the blogger meet up, I felt the rumbling in my stomach. Dee Dee and I decided to beat the crowds and get an early dinner. This is where being on Eastern time has its advantages. We went to Pinapple Willies, located just down the boardwalk from the race site. We got there plenty early and sat down right away. I was really wanting to eat on “the cheap” this trip, but I gave in and ordered on seafood meal for myself. The waiter asked me if I was really hungry (I think he believed I was racing). I laughed and said, “No, and please leave off the potatoes”.

Good thing too… That was one huge plate of food. I ate almost all of the seafood and left some of the vegetables and the bread on my plate. I was stuffed! After dinner, we returned to Venture Out for the night. I got caught up Kitchen Nightmares and didn’t get out for my run until 8 PM central time. My legs were still feeling pretty sore from my race the previous Saturday. I opted to take it easy and cut the run to four miles from five.

Saturday morning came, and we got up early. Again, being on Eastern time is a small advantage. We took off for the Walmart and found a spot to park in the crowded lot. We opted not to take the bus and walked the short distance to the race site. It was just beginning to get light when we arrived on the beach.

The swim start was bustling with activity. Athletes in wet suits were every where. Spectators and family were mixed in as well. I looked around for my peeps, but unfortunately, I couldn’t find them. We went down to the left of the race start and found a place to stand. While we were waiting, Murtha found us.

We chatted with him for a few minutes before he had to take off and get into the swim corral. At 6:50 AM, the cannon sounded for the pros. Shortly after that, the cannon went off for the age groupers, and Ironman Florida 2011 got under way.

Dee Dee and I tried to keep an eye out for CJ and Murtha as they came through for their first loop, but we just weren’t sure we saw them. We finally gave up and thought it best that we go find a good spot at the swim finish. As more and more people finished the swim, Dee Dee and I moved up to the front.

This is not necessarily a great pic, but when the finish chute was empty, you could see the swimmers in the background stacked up like huge birds. It.were.awesome. CJ was the first one to come in under the arches.

and about three minutes later, Murtha came tearing through:

I was thinking, GOOD! I could get around to the bike exit and see them both take off. We hustled around to the other side of transition and starting walking back to the car, keeping an eye out for our friends. We saw Murtha come through. Unfortunately, we never did get to see CJ. I think he was taking his time in transition, which is always a good thing for your first Ironman!

Dee Dee and I decided to head out on the bike course and cheer on our friends, but first, WAFFLE HOUSE! There’s one a bit further down the beach towards St. Andrew’s State Park, and we were lucky enough to score a table with no waiting. After breakfast, we took off for the bike course.

Your’s truly didn’t look at the new bike route properly. I thought the race course crossed over 231. Unfortunately, it was crossing over County Highway 2031. We headed up Highway 77 past Lynn Haven, only to arrive at the bike route in a huge back up. This was not where we wanted to be, so I jumped the median and headed back south. We headed east to 231 before turning north. After what seemed like a really long time, I saw another highway I had noticed on the map, Highway 388 and turned down that road. There was a flashing sign up warning motorists about the race. Quite by accident, we came up on the bike turn around. This was not where I wanted to be, but it would have to do.

We didn’t have to wait too long before Murtha came through, and we had company cheering on the athletes.

Andy’s got that smug smile. I’m GETTIN'ER DONE!! LOL!! We waited about another 15-20 minutes for CJ to come through. I said something stupid like “pick it up”, and I could tell that CJ was not happy. He was not a happy camper on the bike this day!

We hung around for another 15 to 20 minutes after that ringing cowbell and cheering on the athletes before we headed back to Venture Out. I fired up the computer to keep tabs on my peeps. I knew it was windy, but I was starting to get concerned when their 95 mile cut off failed to appear. We finally got tired of waiting. I figured it was some kind of technical glitch. We headed down to the front of Venture Out and set up our lawn chairs on the run route.

I have no idea how long we spent there. We must have rang the cowbells for something like two ours. I noticed a friend of mine there cheering on more of his friends, and I got to catch up with him on how things were going. Andy was the first one to come through on the run.

He wasn’t feeling very well, and it showed, despite the outward appearances. I walked with him for a bit, and while I could tell he appreciated it, he was totally focused on getting the job done. Shortly after that, and a lot sooner than I anticipated, CJ came tearing through.

I don’t know if you are familiar with CJ, but he has lost a ton of weight and turned into quite the runner. He looked strong and refreshed, which was a relief to me after waiting for him to get off the bike. Once our friends passed through, we hung out for a bit more before the cold wind urged us back inside. We ordered a pizza, and while we waited for it to be delivered, we caught a nap. The pizza arrived late, and somewhat cold. The driver had been delayed by the Ironman. Still, it was good enough to us, and Dee Dee and I had a few slices while we watched the start of the Alabama-LSU game.

At this point, Dee Dee asked if I wanted to go the finish line to wait for CJ and Murtha, and I opted not to go. I wanted to go to the finish line around 10 PM and hang out till midnight. Hanging out for four hours was not appealing to me. I wasn’t worried about Murtha and CJ. They finished the race in fine style. Dee Dee and I both watched them cross the finish line on the laptop.

At 10 PM, Dee Dee and I drove to the Alvin’s Island near the race finish and parked. We walked to the finish line and found an empty spot in the bleachers. As midnight approached, the crowd got bigger and the electricity began to build. With one hour left, they cranked up the dance music and the crowd got jiggy with it. Each runner that came through the chute was greeted with vigorous enthusiasm. Some of it was down right deafening. The last runner came through the chute with a couple of minutes left, and that ended Ironman Florida 2011. No last minute dashes for the finish line.

My pillow never felt so good! I had a blast. I’ve never been able to back to an Ironman finish line after my races. I’ve just been exhausted. This was a special treat for me, and I can’t thank Dee Dee and my friends who raced too much for putting on such a fine show.

I slept relatively well Saturday night. I woke up around 9 AM eastern time, but with being on Central Time and daylight savings time kicking in, it was more like 7 AM. I needed to run 12 miles, but there was no way I was going to give that a go without eating breakfast. I woke Dee Dee up and we went back to the Waffle House. After eating, I ran around the lagoon then back down the board walk where all the crazies were standing in line to sign up for IM Florida 2012. After taking a shower and cleaning up, it was time to head home. With children still in the house, Dee Dee and I have “sponsibilities”.

and that my friends, wraps up an entirely different aspect of this thing called: triathlon.

Wes

But for the Grace of God

2011-11-02T16:20:00.001-04:00

A Silver Comet Half Marathon Race Report

After my last long run on Tuesday, this race kind of snuck up on me. I ran the seven mile easy run scheduled for Thursday, but opted to rest on Friday. No use pushing it. I checked the weather one last time before laying all my gear out. It was supposed to be forty at the race start, and not much more than that by the time I hoped to be finished.

Forty degree weather calls for long sleeves from start to finish. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like being cold. This race was a solo affair for me. There would be nobody there that could grab a jacket for me. I dug through my old white t-shirts, and settled on one that was good enough to donate to charity. I laid out my shorts, shirt, compression sleeves, technical shirt, socks, race belt, and running belt, and called it a night.

Dee Dee’s alarm goes off at 4:20 AM, and she usually kisses me good bye and turns on my alarm around 5 AM. I’ve gotten into the habit of getting up early early for races so I don’t have to feel rushed. I got right up out of bed as she was leaving and felt strong and refreshed. I had slept pretty good. I ate my breakfast, drank some coffee, and dallied a little too long before slipping out the front door. I drive to the Silver Comet Trail all the time and was pretty confident that I would get to where I needed to be in plenty of time.

There were two parking spots listed in the pre-race email: the race start (Mable House) and the middles school. The middle school was closer to the race finish (start and finish were in two separate places). I opted to park at the middle school. I needed to leave in somewhat of a hurry to get back home and take my son to his game.

My legs, especially my ankles, were a little sore from my 20-miler on Tuesday. I knew a good warm up was imperative. I jogged most of the half mile to the Mable House. A large crowd had already gathered. It took me all of two minutes to get my race bib and get in line for the port-o-potties. The lines were moving fairly fast, and by the time I was done, it was still 35 to 45 minutes before the race start. I found a spot near the buses and used the crowd/buses to block the wind and stay warm. I scanned the crowds for familiar faces but didn’t see anybody I knew.

Around 7:35, the buses moved out with the folks doing the fun run. The runners moved into that area. They asked us to line up behind the pace signs, and I chose the nine minute mile sign. The wind started to pick up a bit. I kept my joints loose with some dynamic stretches, but nothing too heavy. We were supposed to go off at 7:45 AM, but as the clock ticked by, we were still standing there. The next thing you know, the crowd began to move. We walked down the side street and out onto Floyd Road. There was only one other pace group in front of me, the eight minute or less milers. I looked at the cars stopped in the street and wondered what they thought. I looked behind me and admired the 2000 or so people filing their way down onto Floyd Road.

Up ahead, I could see the ladder, and I heard a voice. I wasn’t sure what the voice was saying. Without any fanfare, the race started, how I don’t know, and the crowd started moving forward. I crossed the start line to a chorus of beeps and pressed the button on my Garmin.

My biggest challenge with this particular engagement was setting my goals. I have a really hard time knowing how hard I should and should not go, especially since I had trained right up to the race. I had settled on a goal of a 9 minute per mile pace, and with that thought in mind, I took off down Floyd Road towards the Silver Comet Trail.

I used the rolling undulation of the first mile or so to complete my warm up. A good portion of it was downhill, I wasn’t really all that surprised that my pace came in around 8:45. I thought that I might slow down a bit, but my body was having none of it. The second mile is a short downhill to the Silver Comet Trail, then a left and out along a flat-ish part of the trail. I threw my t-shirt onto the grass where the road meets the trail head. I decided to settle into what I felt was a comfortable pace and just see how long I could hold it.

Somewhere towards the end of mile 3, I look down at my Garmin see that I’m running an 8:10-ish per mile pace, and I wasn’t even struggling very hard. Sure, for the most part the first half of the race is mostly downhill, but I was ecstatic. If I could hold that pace, I might PR. I might come in under an hour fifty. In a worse case scenario, I could ease up on the way back if my legs weren’t “feeling it” and fall back onto my original plan.

In the back of my mind, I wondered how far out this race went. The finish line was located at the trailhead near Floyd Road, almost two miles from the start. That meant, we had to go out about 5.5 miles on the trail before turning around. Sure enough, we reached a long gradual uphill section of the trail that I was very familiar with from riding my bike. I kept an eye on my Garmin and held my pace steady. More and more people were coming back towards me now. Finally, I reached the turn around at about the seven and a half mil mark. If I remember correctly, the race volunteer had put a cone on the trail to mark the spot. I thought that was kind of funny.

It was about this time that I took my first Power Gel. I had been pretty consistent about taking in water and Gatorade. I needed to take my gloves off to get my pouch open, and I opted to leave my gloves off for the rest of the race. I was really starting to feel it now, but I kept my turn over high, and it paid off on the pace clock. Miles 8, 9, and 10 came in at 8:09, 8:11, and 8:12 respectively. I knew miles 10, 11, and 12 were mostly up hill, with the biggest hill of the day around mile 12, before leveling out into the finish at the Floyd Road trail head.

Somehow, I managed to hold my pace, although I did give a little bit back on the hill. Once I leveled out, I hit the 12 mile market and wanted to make mile 13 the fastest of the day. I gave it a valiant effort, but came up a couple of seconds short. Once you cross over that last street, you can see the finish line up ahead. As I drew nearer, I saw a 1:47:xx on the clock, and I wondered if I could make it to the finish line before 1:50:00. I gave that last little bit everything I had, and I surprised myself, crossing the line in 1:48:51 (actual chip time: 1:48:58).

I grabbed a medal from a helpful volunteer and headed off to find my race shirt and some food. I ran into my speedy peep, Christina, who came in first in her age group. I spent a few minutes chatting with Christina before heading out to pick up Matthew.

Well, what can I say about this race. I surprised myself. My average pace, my HALF MARATHON pace was 8:18 per mile. That used to be the 5K pace that made me just suffer, horribly. The PR is nice as well, but the digit I’m really proud of is the 88 steps per minute average cadence (one foot), moving me closer to an ideal cadence of 180. There is always room for improvement.

This great result is a huge confidence boost going into my marathon in a couple of weeks. I’m off to sunny Florida to watch the Ironman, then its into the home stretch for the Chickamauga Marathon.

Happy hump day, y’all!

Wes

What’s Done is Done

2011-10-26T11:35:00.001-04:00

Do not underestimate the power of a good coach.

It’s time like these that I miss Teh ELF. Not necessarily because the workouts would be any better or worse, but she would instill the confidence in me that I was doing the right thing at the right time.

It seemed like it had been forever since my last long run. Heck, forever since my first twenty miler. I did that one on a Friday before work. I did my second one on a Monday, a holiday. I had every intention of doing this one on a Sunday, but nooooooo…. of course it didn’t work out that way.

I tried really really really hard to take it easy Saturday. I had four games on my ref schedule. I thought I could easily handle two 70 and two 80 minute matches and save a little sumfin for my Sunday long run. Oh, and save a little sumfin from that for my two adult 90 minute matches Sunday night.

Sunday morning, I woke up exhausted. I tried to sleep in. I guess 10 PM to 8 AM is a lot of sleep for me, but my body was just plumb wore out. I made the executive decision to chill ax for the day. I spoke with Dee Dee about maybe getting my long run in on Tuesday, and she agreed, after expressing concern about my race on Saturday.

My body felt old and broken on Monday. Running the soccer pitch is hard work, even for Division 3/recreational soccer. I guess my ref shoes have less padding and the grounds a little harder than expected. (hmmmm, maybe that’s why my trail marathon hurt so bad…). All day at work, I wanted to go run long, until I got up from my desk for something.

Tuesday afternoon rolls around and I’m both determined and dreading the run. Despite the hills in my area, I decide to run from the house. I come up with a rather clever plan to run the 2 miles down to the Publix, and then run the 2 mile loop on Rose Creek Drive 10 times, then run home. This would give me my 22 miles for the day, and it would mean I would never be further than 3 miles from the house and have access to drinks and bathrooms.

My biggest fear was that my officiating over the weekend would trash my run. Wise decision…

It was a beautiful day. Temps started in the low 70s high 60s and dropped from there. I felt surprisingly good. The highlights from my run: only getting yelled at by two rednecks and watching a juvenile squirrel get splatted before my eyes.

Around mile 14, my legs really began to hurt. At mile 16, I decided to do one more loop then head home. As I trudged up the hills back to my house, it proved to be a wise decision. My legs were aching, even more it seems than after an Ironman.

With that, my last really long run of the raining schedule is over. I have a half marathon race this weekend, then a 12 miler the Sunday before the race. Have I done enough to break 4 hours? I think so. I hope so. My easy pace is now in the 9-9:30 range. That’s pretty close to my marathon goal pace. I’m hoping with a proper taper, my legs will have the strength to carry me through the day.

What do I know for certain? Those last six miles are going to really suck.

Happy hump day, y’all!

Wes

Slackin (on the blogging front)

2011-10-21T13:04:00.001-04:00

I try to keep this blogging stuff in perspective. When I got into it, it was a big deal. I was the new kid on the block, and you could just tell who the “old school” was. With the advent of social media, blogging has become more of a “chore” than a joy. With that thought in mind, I have continued to maintain that this blog is all about me. I want to record my thoughts, my history here. If you get something useful out of it (and I’m glad you come around), then that is icing on the cake.

With that said, I haven’t felt like blogging much since my last post. I ran my planned workouts up to Friday, and since it was an “easier” week, I opted to use my officiating activities as my running for the weekend. Seemed like a good idea, but I think I either ran more than I should, or I ran harder than I should. Four matches on Sunday (2 centers) really did a number on me and left me wondering if I had sabotaged my workouts for the rest of the week.

Tuesday, I went for my 5 mile run at lunch time. It was a gorgeous day, a little warm, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to run under the clear blue sky. That night, the cold front pushed in and brought rain, chills, and winds. It was nasty enough to push my Wednesday run onto the treadmill. I was supposed to do eight Yasso 800s and a total of 10 miles. At about the second or third Yasso, I thought there was no way I was going to be able to finish this, but after each one, they got harder on my body, but easier on my mind. I did all of them. I did, however, cut the cool down to half a mile (for a total of 9 miles). I thought I was going to do my long run on Friday, and I wanted to save something.

While I was resting up on Thursday, I decided not to do my long run on Friday after all. Officiating is part of who I am, and I need to integrate that with who I am as an athlete. I decided to do the six mile run I have planned for today as normal, and do my long run on Sunday. I have four matches to officiate Saturday, and two Sunday night. It’s up to me to do something Sunday that is equivalent to 22 miles, and not jeopardize my Sunday night matches. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Have a great weekend, y’all!

Wes

Faith

2011-10-12T10:39:00.001-04:00

I would swallow my pride,
I would choke on the rinds,
but the lack thereof would leave me empty inside,
swallow my doubt
turn it inside out
find nothing but faith in nothing.

At some point in my life, I suppose, I’m going to have faith. Just shut up and do it. Trust my body to do what it is going to do. If it crash and burns, that too will teach me something.

After work on Friday, I went down to the gym beneath my building and changed into my clothes. it was around 4:30-ish by the time I hit the street. I was hoping to be done with my workout by 6 PM. It’s hard (for me) to do a Friday workout. No sense in prolonging the pain longer than necessary.

I took it easy climbing the hill from my office, giving my permission to get thoroughly warmed up. See. I am learning something. By the time I crossed Powers Ferry Road and entered the park, it was time to hit up the rest rooms. Yes. Another delaying tactic. I had about 0.15 miles to finish my warm up, and when the Garmin buzzed, I took off at speed.

The 310XT reported my pace at 6:30-ish per mile. I laughed. My goal pace was sub-9 for 8 miles, not 5K pace. I reigned myself in and watched my pace climb up to eight and a half. I knew the euphoria of the start would wear off, and reality would begin to weigh me down like a ball and chain. As the first mile clicked off, the negotiations began.

If I can hold this for six miles, I’ll be happy.

Five. Five would be good.

Nah. I can do them all, but I might take the last two miles easy.

I felt that particular spot in my mind harden with resolve. My legs felt good through the halfway point. I wanted to push to miles seven and see how I felt. Sure enough. At mile seven, it started to get hard. Really hard. I held on for the half mile back into the park, then turned down the crushed gravel path along the river. In my mind, I believed that I could do anything for a mile, and I did. I all but collapsed when I reached the far end of park.

The water from the water fountain never tasted so good. I took it quite easy climbing the hills out of the park, and I thoroughly enjoyed my slow downhill jog back to the office. I was totally spent. So much so that Dee Dee asked me if I was OK talking to her on the phone. I was more than OK. I was golden.

The next day, we piled in the car and headed for Statesboro, Georgia to visit my oldest son in college. We attended a pretty awesome game of football between Georgia Southern and Chattanooga before driving the rest of the way into Savannah. We booked a hotel room, site unseen, on Priceline and ended up in the Westin Resort across the river. The hotel was amazing. The ferried us across the river for a fabulous dinner, then back again when it was over. I slept real good that night.

The maid woke us up at 8:30-ish. We forgot to hang the little sign on the door. No worries for me. I wanted to break my new K-swiss shoes in on my four mile run. The first thing I noticed as I ran around the resort were signs with “RunWestin” on them with mile markers. Evidently, this was 2.5 mile loop through the golf course. To add the extra 1.5 miles, I ran back towards the interstate. There, I saw signs hanging from the light posts that said “Welcome Runners!”, and I laughed, pretending they were just for me. Little wet white signs hung limply from poles. I could make out “5K Parking” above the arrows. I finished up my 4 mile run back at the hotel, just as it was starting to rain.

We dropped Jimmy back off in Statesboro before driving home. The next morning, I woke up at my usual time to drop Matthew off at school. Once I had that accomplished, I headed straight to the Silver Comet Trail for my twenty mile run. My legs were feeling very sluggish, but I again surprised myself with another solid long run. My time was just about the same as my last 20 miler, but this run had more elevation. I also managed to nail my nutrition and hydration, which is always a good thing.

With one more long run on the schedule, a 22 miler, I’m looking forward to an “easier” week. Never in my wildest dreams would I have believed an easier week for me would be 46 miles of feet pounding fun, but this is marathon training.

Wes

Is there ‘Try’ in Running?

2011-10-07T13:10:00.001-04:00

Do, or do not. There is no ‘try’. -- Jedi Master Yoda

Coming off my twenty mile run on Friday, I was on a euphoric high. I believe that’s the furthest I’ve ever ran where I both met my goals, and my legs felt fairly good at the end of the run. No, they weren’t “awesome”, but I wasn’t waddling around either.

On Saturday, I officiated a couple of U-12 Girls Academy games. The fields are half size, so not a lot of running. Just enough to activate the muscles and flush out the bad stuff. Sunday, on the other hand, was just a huge day for me. I had four games to ref, starting at 1 PM and not finishing until 9 PM at night.

For the 1 PM game, I failed to do my homework. It was the first place team against my club’s team, which was in a three way tie for second. The first half went splendidly. During half time, several of the opposing team’s parents stopped by on the way to the concession stand to compliment me. The second half? not so well. Unfortunately, it was my own doing. In general, I like the players to try to play though fouls if they can. It keeps a nice flow to the game and allow me to focus on what’s important. This time, however, I let one go that I should not have. The attacking player pulled a defender to slow him down so that he could get around him to the ball in the box. The attacker won the ball, and then got promptly fouled. I blew my whistle. The attacking team (visitors) thought they were getting a penalty kick. They were mad as hornets and not understanding (duh) when I awarded the ball to the home team (defenders). In retrospect, it is a mistake in execution that I will not make again. If I choose to let the first foul go, it is gone. over. caput.

Later in the second half, I had to give one of the visiting team’s players a straight red for coming in cleats up to a young man’s crotch. Yea, the second half pretty much sucked. The good news? There’s always good news. The rest of my games, even my Competitive Adult center went well. It didn’t stop me from losing sleep over the first one. That’s just how this officiating thing rolls sometimes.

With four soccer matches under my belt, I estimated that I ran anywhere between 12 and 20 miles on Sunday. Running the pitch is hard on the ankles and knees. It’s not in a straight line, and most of our soccer fields ain’t exactly grassy. I took Monday off, as scheduled. I was tempted to take Tuesday off too, but I went ahead and put in my 4 miles. Felt pretty good too. Wednesday, I was supposed to do a seven miler, but I pushed that back to Thursday. My 7 miles on Thursday went well, but voted quite strongly that I should have waited another day for the 4 miler :-) LOL!!

Which brings us to today… I have 10 miles on the schedule with 8 of them at race pace. Just so happens its one mile from here to Cochran Shoals, and an 8 mile loop to the end of Columns Drive and back. Perfectly flat too, mind you… The problem is my ankles are sore. My knees are sore, and my legs are feeling a little tired. I plan to give it my best shot, try if you will. The problem is, if I don’t already believe that I can get it done, then I probably will not. A lot of times, after my warm up, my legs come to life, and I get it done. Sometimes, they don’t, and I suffer.

That’s what I plan to do then. Give it a try, and hope I don’t cop out. I’m travelling to Georgia Southern to spend the weekend with my son. I plan to break in my new red K-swiss Blade Run Lights while I’m there. I need to decide which shoe to wear for my twenty miler on Monday.

Have a great week end y’all!

Wes

Twenty Sumfin

2011-09-30T14:41:00.001-04:00

The hills are alive (with the sounds of my bitchin and moanin)….

That’s, honestly, not too far from the truth. Unless I want to run around in circles of 400 meters, half a mile, or a mile, I have to deal with hills, for the most part. What a difference flat makes.

If you read my posts for the week, you’d know that Friday, today, was long run day at the McFizzle Training Camp. I crawled my happy butt out of bed at 5 AM to get ready to go. You’d a thunk I was doing a race or something the way I slept. (Note to self: beat the children). Breakfast: oatmeal, yogurt, and coffee on the way out. Stopped at the gas station to fill up the car and buy two Powerades.

It was o’dark-thirty when I pulled into the parking garage at work. I took my laptop upstairs to my desk and assured my co-worker that no, I was not actually going to start working and hinder his Subversion upgrade. “See ya in 3-4 hours”, I said. Off I went.

Did I mention it was dark? I had the sidewalk up to Powers Ferry Road, then I had to run along a trail in the grass down to Cochrane Shoals Park. Did I mention it was dark? I was sure I was going to twist an ankle or something. Finally, I made a left into the parking lot and onto sure footing. My Garmin beeped one mile as I left the parking lot and got out onto the trail. It was eerie running along the river in the fog and darkness. The Cochran Shoals Trail is a 3.1 mile loop (perfect 5K!). I got off the trail on the far side and headed down Columns Drive. Combining the two gave me a nice 8+ mile loop.

I pretty much stuck to my pacing the entire run. A few of my miles were over my suggested pace. A few were significantly under. I tried my best to pace myself and not go too hard. I’d like to throw some excitement into the twenty mile run, but let’s just say it was “repetitive”! LOL… After about mile 6, I would stop after every mile and drink. I learned this lesson last weekend (and last year too, evidently). I was hoping to stay strong until mile 15 and see what I had left. I was pleasantly surprised to learn the answer was: a lot.

Every mile came in at or under pace up to the twentieth mile. I did one small extra loop in the park to make sure I was at mile 19 when I left. I walked the up hills up the street, careful not to twist anything again, and the daylight helped. Once I got up the hill on the other side of Power’s Ferry, it was a downhill shot to the office. I actually tried to get my last mile under 9:52, but at 10:06 pace, I finally gave in and finished up.

After showering, I headed up to the office for second breakfast. The weekday long run experiment didn’t go too badly. Not too shabby at all. I’m thinking I’ll definitely try to get my next twenty miler in on Thursday, ad I have to head out of town this weekend.

20 miles @ 9:52 pace: 3:15:14, 9:46 over all pace. Nothing wrong with those digits.

Have a great weekend!

Wes

I Yasso (therefore I run)

2011-09-29T13:22:00.001-04:00

The news came in around 3:15 PM. Youngest son had gotten a ride home from school, and I could relax at work and head home when I was ready. The traffic gods smiled on me, and I was home changing my clothes by quarter to five. I toyed with the idea of heading north to Canton and doing my workout on the high school track. At that last minute, I diverted to Hobgood Park and the half mile track around the baseball fields. While not ideal, it would suffice. I would just have to deal with the slight inclines at the top of the loop.

I started out with an easy mile warm up. The warm up, cool down, and recovery intervals had gotten permission before hand to be “sandbagged”. By the end of my mile warm up, I felt the ever so slight tingle of butterflies in my stomach, excited for my first attempt at Yasso 800s. The track is not quite a half a mile, more like 0.46 miles long. I back tracked so that each of my Yasso intervals would end at the top of the track.

Pressing start on my Garmin, I took off running at a 6:15 per mile pace, my target was 7:54. LOL!!! Not to worry… The top of the circle is slightly down hill. Once I hit level ground, my pace slowed to upwards of 7:30 per mile. Still, by the time I reached the end of the first interval, I had slowed down considerably and came in way under pace.

The next two intervals were paced much much better. The effort was smoother. Much like a race, towards the middle to end of the second interval, the euphoria wore off, and the hard work began. By the fourth interval, I was wondering if I could managed the final intervals. Not only did I manage, I nailed them. It wasn’t my legs that were tired. It was my lungs, and my mind.

I wrapped up the session with a 1.5 mile cool down, unwittingly cutting my workout a mile short. No worries though. I hit each of the 6 Yasso intervals right on target, and I was happy with that. Given the level of effort over the weekend, a slight cut back was both warranted and welcome.

Now, on to the twenty miler tomorrow. This was a nice confidence boost on my road to the marathon.

Wes

Tattered Remnants

2011-09-28T10:35:00.001-04:00

The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers…

Somehow, I managed to survive my first weekend of combined marathon training and soccer officiating.

IT WAS NOT A PLEASANT EXPERIENCE.

I did but one game on Saturday, which, fortunately for me, started an hour earlier than the usual time. Another plus was that it was a U-16 match, which runs 80 minutes rather than the full 90. I brought along my Garmin 310XT to measure my mileage. I wanted to get my long run on after the game.

It took about 15 minutes into the game before the 310 caught the satellites and was happy. At least, that was how long it took me to finally get to pull it out of my pocket and start the timer. It wasn’t a particularly fast match. I’ve been known to put on 7-9 miles running a U-17 center. This one did about 4 miles + whatever I missed in the first 15 minutes. I was happy to go with “4”.

Leaving from the fields gave me many options for my long run. When I run long, I prefer one loop or an out and back. No way to chicken out on those. I somehow got it into my head that was “bored” with the traditional running places, and at the last minute I decided to head out to Kennesaw Mountain. I was perfectly aware that this was a grueling trail run, and I was totally comfortable letting my target paces go.

Recently, the national park added another parking lot off of old Hwy 41. It was plenty full when I arrived, indicating a large number of people out on the trails. I enjoyed taking my time. Dee Dee was working, and Matthew had spent the night with a friend. I walked to the visitor center (selfishly finishing my coffee) before hitting the trails. It was a beautiful day! The temps were nice and cool in the shade, and there were plenty of other peeps on the trails for company. My longest out and back at Kennesaw Mountain had been 5 miles (10 total). This time, I went out seven and came back for a total of 14 miles. My reward was new territory and a snake. LOL… He was sunning himself on a bridge near the turn around. I saw him on the way back and immediately wondered if he was there when I passed by the first time. I soon left him alone and continued my run.

As expected, the final 3 miles or so were just brutal, and I slowed considerably. I did not, however, quit. I finished up my 14 miles and limped back to the car. I needed to get home to take Matthew to his soccer match.

The next day, I picked up another U-17 center and had two adult matches on the schedule. Needless to say, by Sunday night, my body was in shock. I don’t have the exact digits, but I know my mileage was easily over 40 miles for the week, which would, of course, be a new record for me.

This week, I’m staring my first twenty miler square in the face. I’ve decided that the best decision is just to chunk the plan and go back to training by how my body feels. I’ve dissected the plan. What I have left is the spirit of the training plan. I’ll use that to guide me going forward.

Matthew is out of school the next couple of days, and Dee Dee is on vacation. I’m going to get my long run in on Friday, and officiate soccer matches on Saturday and Sunday. We’ll see how that goes.

Happy hump day, y’all!

Wes

I Raced (for the Biscuit)

2011-09-23T12:05:00.001-04:00

A Race for the Fallen Half Marathon Race Report

Honestly, I had debated whether or not I should even do this race. My focus is the marathon, and I need little motivation between now and then to get my run on. A couple of things finally convinced me that I should go. First, the race was for a good cause. The sponsors of the race, The Police Benevolent Foundation, support the families of fallen heroes all over the country. Second, the race was in my backyard.

I woke up Saturday morning at 6 AM, about an hour after Dee Dee had left for work. I wanted to get to the race site around 7 AM to avoid any last minute difficulties. The sun was just beginning to brighten the sky as I made the 10 mile drive to Red Top Mountain. The race was starting at the Iron Hill Trail, which just happens to be the first trail head on the left if you come into the park from the south. They had opened the back gate at the parking area, and volunteers directed us to park in a field. I was surprised at the number of cars already there.

The temperatures for the day were supposed to be really good, not even climbing out of the sixties by the time the race was over. I sat in my car and finished my coffee before heading over to packet pickup. The tents were set up in a little clearing. There was only one person in front of me at the table. The volunteer couldn’t find my name on the sheet and tried to direct me to registration. Fortunately, my keen eyes spotted my name in the dark, and I was able to correct her error. She apologized profusely, but I waved it off. As long as we all knew I was supposed to be there, it was all good.

With 45 minute before race start, I headed back to my car. On the way over, I bought a couple of Powerades. I used the red one for pre-race fuel. About twenty five minutes before the race start, I headed down to the start line. A few people had gathered there, but not many. I took off down one of the trails to my warm up in. I ran for about 8 minutes, at reasonable pace, before heading back to the start line. Ten minutes before the race start, the rest of the people began to show up. They were trying for 300 participants in this first race, and I think a couple of hundred showed up. Many of the participants were associated with various police jurisdictions, and quite a few of them where overweight and out of shape. It was fun listening to them talk about the upcoming race and how they were going to take every available second to get it done.

A few minutes before race start, we all gathered in the little “corral”, which consisted of wooden traffic control barriers. I heard one of the race officials say: I’m going to say “On your mark…. set… then fire the pistol”. Without much fanfare, that’s exactly what she did, and we were off.

We ran up the gravel parking lot and back onto the road, where we made a left into the park. I didn’t bother lining up front. It really wasn’t that crowded. I had it in my mind that I wanted to run at “marathon pace” or nine minute miles. Oh reality, how I doth hate thee…. The good news was that the first mile was mostly down hill. The bad news was that the first mile was mostly down hill, and it fed my ego.

At the end of the first mile, we left the road and hit the trails proper. I, personally, have run quite a few times on these trails. I should have known what to expect. I did not. By the end of the second mile, my pace had settled in the 9:30 to 9:40 range. I found some people that were running at my pace and hung on. My legs were feeling pretty good, but I didn’t taper at all of for this race.

Near the end of mile two, we came off the trail and into the parking lot next to the Lodge. This is the parking lot where we meet for open water swims. The triathlon club was actually meeting that morning. Lucky for them, there was plenty of parking down at our end of the park. After crossing the parking lot, we hit a trail on which I’ve never been before. I was surprised to look up and see runners coming back at us down the trail. Evidently, we were hitting an out and back about a three quarters of a mile long. At the turn around, I noticed the rocky outcropping we always swim to on our open water swims. I had always wondered how people got to that side of the lake. Now, I knew.

There was no passing on the out and back. On the other hand, I wasn’t being slowed by other runners either. A few times, I had to go off trail to make room, but it was really no big deal. At the end of the out and back, we made a right turn and headed for the Homestead Trail. From the Lodge, this is part of the five mile loop I had run quite a few times. At the entrance to the Homestead Trail, the race had its first aid station. The kind, but oh so wrong, volunteer was telling everybody they were at the four mile mark, when actually, it was three.

At this juncture, my pace took a nose dive. Up and down the hilly terrain I went, and the Garmin registered paces in the 10’s instead of the 9’s. My running companions hand dwindled to about four, and I worked hard to keep up with the runner in front of me. The Homestead Trail is about a three mile loop. I paused at the aid station to drink again on the way out. My poor body was complaining. It was at this point that I realized that if I didn’t take it easier, I might not even finish, much less reach any conceivable goals.

We followed the hilly trails back out towards the main road and emerged from the woods right by the cabin they use for registering campers. That one small hill there at the cabin really dealt the pain. I walked to the end of the parking lot before crossing the road and getting back out onto the trails. I had never been on this section of trails. Thank God they were relatively flat.

By now, I had left my running companions behind. I was running solo. I passed a few people over the next couple of miles, before rejoining the Iron Hill Trail. I had run this trail before as well, and I remembered it being a 3.5-4 mile loop or so. About half way through the trail, with maybe 3 miles to go, I was joined by a guy running with a 25lb backpack. SHOW OFF!!! LOL… We basically kept each other company all the way to the finish. My legs didn’t want to run anymore, but I still managed sub-10 paces, even 9:21 for my 10th mile.

Near the end, the had a little out and back that reminded me of Rev3 Knoxville. It was two-tenths of a mile up hill to a turn around, then back down. Fortunately for me, once I got to the bottom, the end was near. I made my way back up to the clearing near the tents, hung a right, and ran through the finish line. My watch had a 2:05 time on it for about a 9:30-ish pace.

I grabbed my shirt (in Dee Dee’s size, I promised it to her) and some food and sat down to eat. One of the food options was Chik-fil-A biscuits, and I heard one of the other runners state: I raced for the biscuit! I thought that was really cute. I raced for the Fallen, but it still made me chuckle. One of the volunteers teased me that nobody was taking her sausage biscuits, and I laughed and told her it was just too hard to pass up a Chik-fil-A chicken biscuit!

I really didn’t have any hard goals for the race, but I hadn’t planned to trash myself either, and that’s exactly what I did. After about a half an hour, I went and checked the standings. When it became apparent that I wasn’t going to place in my division, I got in my car and went home. The next day, I reffed three soccer matches, with two of them being centers. ouch…

My running week has just been blah blah blah. I’ve been desperately trying to recover. I took days off. I ran a short recovery run. I took another day off. Then, yesterday, I tried to get back on track with my plan. I was supposed to do 9 miles, with 7 of them at marathon pace. I managed 8 miles, with 5 at marathon pace. Somewhere, in my sixth mile, my body just quit.

*sigh*

This weekend, I have an 18 mile long run to integrate into three soccer matches to referee. Let’s hope things get back on track and go better.

Have a great week end, y’all!

Wes

Tangled Webs

2011-09-16T10:57:00.001-04:00

If you had told me even three months ago that I would run 30+ miles during a recovery week, I would have scoffed at you. Even during my peak of Ironman training, I seldom got into the thirty miles per week range. Hmmmmm…. maybe that has something to do with my poor run performance at Ironmans? LOL….

Marathon training, as an exercise in and of itself, is a different beasty. Yet, I love the way my body has responded. (LOOSE THE WEIGHT DAMN YOU!) There are days when I wonder if my legs can do (x) miles at (y) pace, and after my warm up, they do just that.

This week marks the half way point of my training plan. I am celebrating by running in the Race for the Fallen at Red Top Mountain on Saturday. What a better way to celebrate life than to dedicate a race for those who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our people? I love the fact that the race is practically in my backyard.

Soccer season is in full swing. I managed to keep my obstinate decision to “never ref again” through the pre-season. Watching my son’s games left a small ache in my heart. It took but a few emails from people I care about to change my mind. Despite my bally-hooing and whinage, I found myself running the pitch last Saturday on a U-13 Classic IV match. I loved every minute of it. The problem is not the game of soccer, the players, or the spectators. The problem is me: pure and simple. I have to go out on the pitch with the right attitude, and leave with the right attitude.

My return to the pitch has struck during prime time. The longest runs of training plan are coming up, and I need to integrate my weekend activities with my plan. I basically took the rest of my plan and boiled it down to three key workouts per week. Right now, it looks like I’m going to need to move my long run to Thursday. I’m not sure how Teh Bug is going to take that. I haven’t checked in with her yet. If I can swing it, it will free up a lot of time on the weekends for both family and soccer.

I like the canned plan that I am using, but I don’t need a plan. Improvement comes from dancing the fine line between uncomfortable and hurting one self, and I know how to listen to my body.

What’s the easiest way to clear the webs out? Fire? A sword? A good run? take your pick :-)

Have a great weekend, y’all!

Wes

in memoriam

2011-09-09T13:53:00.000-04:00

Never forgive. Never forget.

Surrender

2011-09-07T13:11:00.001-04:00

The rain was blowing sideways as we pulled up to Nana’s house. Jimmy and I had managed to sneak in a six mile run earlier that morning, before the rains came. Now, the winds and driving rain was in full force. Poor Nana got blown every which way as she tried to make it the six feet from the door to the car. Still, it was wedding day, and nothing was going to get us down.

As we drove west towards the wedding site, the skies cleared a bit and the rain let up. Tropical Depression Lee was spawning all kinds of trouble further to the east of us. Dee Dee had spent all day Saturday moving the wedding from outside to inside. Smart move. The wedding went off without a hitch, and the storm kept many of the 250+ invited guests away.

The reception was… well… a reception. It’s hard for me to pass up a party, and I spent a good part of the night drinking and dancing. Coupled with the storm, it made it very very difficult to get up for my long run on Sunday, which of course, didn’t happen. Instead, I went straight to my Dad’s room at the long term care facility and spent the day keeping him entertained. He’s made great progress since the last time I saw him. We are still hopeful for his recovery.

Monday, we made the long drive back to Atlanta. The weather was nasty in spots, but drivable for most of the way. I swear we drove through a tornado east of Montgomery. There was a swath of the interstate covered in debris, and as we drove through it, junk was flying all over the place and hitting one side of the car. Fortunately for us, no harm was done. The minute we arrived home, the tornado sirens were going off. A tornado hit a few miles from our house and cut a quarter mile path through my county for 24 miles. I’m feeing very fortunate.

I had been debating on whether or not to try and get my long run in, or just skip it and go on to the next. I decided on Tuesday to get up and give it a go. When I woke up at 6:20 AM, it was raining. I went straight to work (in my kitchen) and did my long run over lunch. I didn’t quite get in the 15 miles I needed (14.5), but I felt like jumping from 14.5 to 16 is a lot better than 13 to 16. This was the first run in a while that I felt pretty well rested starting out. It was cool, and I had a slight drizzle the entire time. VERY.NICE. My underarms weren’t so happy later, when I put on deodorant, but I need to get back into the habit of using Body Glide.

After talking to Dee Dee and exchanging some emails, I’ve decided to not quite hang up my referee whistle. I’m going to set my frustrations aside and do a little reffing this weekend and next, and see where I stand. Of course, this throws a wrench into my training plans, but I’m pretty good at figgering stuff out.

Happy hump day, y’all!

Wes

Ordinary

2011-09-02T16:03:00.001-04:00

Greetings from soon to be wet Mobile, AL. Yesterday evening, we penned the dogs up, packed up the family and headed south. My niece is getting married this weekend. She is having an outdoor wedding with 250+ guests and one tropical depression. It should be a blast. I don’t mind getting wet in my brand new black suit. I mean. Suits? They’re so 18th century.

I got up early this morning and tried to run. I entertained the thoughts of sneaking across the bay to see my Dad before starting work remotely from my mother’s house. Alas, my motivation escaped me, and I didn’t get out the door until late. My Garmin died before I even started my run. I had to do the whole thing by feel. Since I am sans Garmin charger, I will have to do my six mile run tomorrow and the fifteen miler on Sunday in the same manner. Hopefully, I won’t get drenched.

While I was sitting here tapping on the keyboard, a spot on CNN came on featuring a physically challenged triathlete. The young lady came from China at the age of seven, and she was missing half of her right leg. During her segment, the young lady talked about people wanting to know about her: where she came from, how she got to America, who her parents were. Her response was even she didn’t know. She went on to tell the (all too familiar) story of how triathlon and being an athlete gave her the confidence in her life that she needed.

People outside our sport look at triathletes, especially Ironman triathletes, and say things like: that’s incredible. It’s insane, but incredible. They look at the physically challenged athlete and admire their determination and perseverance. We, on the other hand, know that these kind of people, the everyday triathletes and physically challenged triathletes are the norm, and besides the personal goals is a huge draw for people. In our world, they are ordinary in an extraordinary sport, and I think that that sense of belonging is something that makes our community so special.

Have a great (and safe) Labor Day weekend,

Wes

Knowing When (to say when)

2011-08-31T10:35:00.001-04:00

I capped off my thirty three mile week with a long run on the Silver Comet Trail. The Silver Comet Trail and I are old friends. I can probably count the number of run-only workouts I’ve done there on one hand. Bike workouts, however, are another story.

Matthew’s second tournament of the year was this past weekend. In order for me to get to his game on time, I had to get up at 5:30 AM and be feet down running at 7 AM. Totally nailed it.

For the first part of my run, I felt like total crap. Drinking six light beers the night before will do that to you. About half way through, the endorphins over powered the yuck feeling, and I actually began to enjoy my run. I spend so much time training alone, it was nice to be out on the trail with other peeps, even the triathletes that were buzzing me, a bit.

Sports Tracks corrected my distances and indicates I ran a 9:37 average pace over 13.2 miles, well below my target pace of 9:58. I kept my effort high the entire run and successfully resisted the urge to slack off at the end, completing my last mile at a 9:40 pace.

Despite finishing strong, I was exceptionally sore on Monday, and despite sleeping well Sunday and Monday night, I was sore Tuesday as well. Last week, I decided to move two of my runs per week to the softer treadmill. One of those runs is my Tuesday easy run with strides. Well, this run did not go well. I was sore, somewhat dehydrated, and I didn’t eat enough before running at lunch. I took a walk break at mile three and managed to salvage the second half of the run. I canned the strides. Yes, I want to get faster. No, I do not want to hurt myself.

Last night, I was reading the latest issue of Runner’s World, and a little snippet caught my eye. The article was about overtraining. It mentioned that age groupers are less likely (by twice) than elite athletes to over train, but it also said that elite athletes almost never stick to the canned schedule. They make adjustments as necessary to remain healthy, active, and progressing towards their goal.

On paper, I might appear to have enjoyed my jump from a 27 mile week to a 33 mile week, my body is telling me that I *might* be over doing it a bit. I have a six mile hill run schedule for tonight, no pace target. I wouldn’t be surprised if I cut it short, or turn in a few 13 minute miles.

Happy hump day, y’all!

Wes

Hips don’t Lie

2011-08-24T08:44:00.001-04:00

I tried something new.

Which begs the question: what could possibly be “new” five years into this endie experience?

Let me tell you. The day I stop learning new stuff about my passions is the day I take the celestial dirt nap. For those of you in the know, that will not happen (voluntarily) for at least five more years :-)

It would be foolish of me to say that during this entire triathlon experience, I have always felt rushed. That’s just not true. However, many many times, I’ve always felt “hurried” to squeeze in my workouts. This resulted in a “get in, get done, get home” attitude. I’ve decided to slow it down a bit. Stop and smell the roses. Enjoy myself more.

What’s the big deal you ask? I warmed up. I took five minutes of my precious time and actually warmed my legs up properly before starting my workout, and I didn’t include that distance in the mileage.

It was wonderful. Sure, my digits were off a bit, but I’m a smart guy, and I did the math. I ran at about a 9:40 (treadmill, 1% grade) pace for four miles, versus the prescribed 9:58 pace, but my level of effort and heart rate validated my speed. I focused on running from my hips.

Have you guys ever done this? It was pretty cool. This stems from my cadence training as well. I find its easier to keep my cadence at 180 steps per minute if I run from my hips. One of the things I also notice was that it was easier. My heart rate barely climbed above Zone 2, and while heart rate is not a factor for me this training year, it was comforting having that corroboration.

After my 4 miles, I did 4 “strides”. I ran for 20 seconds at 8 mph. That was fun too. In the past, I always thought strides were meant to be done during the workout. After actually researching them, I came to realize that they were meant to be done at the end of your workout.

Never stop learning.

Wes

Domestic Goddess

2011-08-22T14:35:00.001-04:00

It was not exactly my idea of a recovery week. What’s up with that? Recovery week on a running training plan is just different from a recovery week on a triathlon training plan? My mileage for this week came in at 27 miles, just 3 miles shy of the previous weeks mileage. Serzly. Haven’t they heard of the 60-70% rule?

I capped my week off with a hot muggy 10 miler, and I left the house at 8 AM. I swear I heard the blue jays screeching in the yard. They only come through when the seasons are changing. I am SO ready for some cooler weather. BRING.IT.ON….

The local soccer tournaments are in full swing, and for the first time in about 10 years, I find myself sitting at home with nothing to do. I would be lying if I didn’t say I miss running the pitch, but with each passing day it becomes clearer that my decision to abstain from reffing was the right one. I came to reffing late in life, and I just don’t have the attitude nor the patience to do it well any more. It’s time to move on.

It’s kind of funny. I never realized how much I had neglected my home over the last dozen years, until I find myself with a lot of free time on my hands. I cut the bushes. I vacuumed, washed clothes, grocery shopped, cooked dinner, all without the direct supervision of Teh Bug. Last night, I whipped up my famous Mongolian Beef recipe for myself and the kids, while Dee Dee got a blue cheese crusted filet mignon, made special by yours truly. I think this was the first time I cooked a filet perfectly, and I was excited to learn a new cooking technique. Ahh, well…..

This week, things start to twist and turn a bit. My Tuesday runs call for strides at the end of the run, and my Friday runs have some miles at marathon pace. I’m super focused on listening to my body. I’ve been eyeing my stats with some concern. I have over 100 miles in the last month, and I’m already at 85 miles for August, versus 59 for the whole month of July. If my legs don’t feel somewhat recovered before each run, I’m going to lighten up the mileage a bit.

Have a great week, y’all!

Wes

Not so Bad

2011-08-18T10:32:00.001-04:00

I admit to being selfish. Thursday is my off day, under usual circumstances, and I wanted the day off. I got it into my head that I really needed to get my run in Wednesday. Actually, my plan called for a 1 mile TT on Thursday, but I’m just not excited about leaving a lung on the track.

Having not slept well in 3 days, I was mentally exhausted when I got home. Dinner and some time with the family perked me up, plus I changed into my running clothes the minute I got home. At 8 PM, I left the house to try and run.

It has been a little cooler in these parts lately, and much less humid. I started off with a run one minute walk one minute routine. I did that twice, and I was thinking the leg felt pretty good, and then it started to hurt. It wasn’t a sharp pain. It was just a dull ache, the kind of pain you have when your calf cramps during a race. That’s what it felt like to run last night, a permanent cramp in the right calf.

After twice repeating Run 1/Walk 1, I did two sets of Run 2/Walk 1, then I felt well enough to just run. The longer I ran, the better I felt, and I only really felt it on the up hills. Funny thing… I felt the tightness all the way from my heels up and into my hammies.

I got my five miles done. I did not permanently injure myself. My pace wasn’t too far off the norm. I’m happy. Today, I get to do nothing. That one mile TT just ain’t happenin, and I’m fine with that.

Wes

Just Dayum

2011-08-17T11:43:00.001-04:00

well… I’ve done gone and tweaked that same muscle in my right calf I hurt reffing soccer back in June. Why do these things happen during the most innocuous of movements? I opened the bathroom door to leave, made a left, struck my right leg out to make a left turn down the hall way and OUCH!

Fortunately for me, it wasn’t nearly as painful as it was at the soccer fields. I’m debating right now whether or not to run on it this evening. Last time it happened, I reffed the whole weekend with it like that. This time? meh… We’ll see how I feel this afternoon.

I wore my Vibrams on my 4 mile run yesterday. Only, I was a little smarter. I did the first two miles in the K-swiss, then stopped at the car to slip on the Vibrams. I then did two more miles in those. Everything was fine. My pace was a wee bit slower in the Vibrams, but other than that, it went really well.

I don’t think my little calf issue today had anything to do with it, but you never know…

Wes

Leaps of Faith

2011-08-15T11:30:00.001-04:00

Challenges.

We all have them. They come big. They come small. They come every where in between. My challenge for the weekend was to get my mileage in, despite having to travel to Birmingham, AL for my son’s soccer tournament.

Using the interwebz, I identified some possible running routes for my 5 miler on Saturday, and my 12 miler on Sunday. Basically, I wanted to run around the campus on Saturday before my son’s game. Sunday, I thought I would just run from the hotel to the soccer fields, about 8.3 miles, and tack on some extra at the end to get in the required mileage.

My mouth fell open when we pulled into the parking lot at the host “hotel”. It was billed as an “Inn and Suites”, but I suspected trouble the moment I saw the sign with the words “extended stay” on it. Never the less, we checked in. The facility was more like apartments than an inn. The first thing we saw after passing through the gates was the van with the shattered glass. It was getting dark, and there were gangs of teenagers roaming the facilities, and all different kinds of denizens hanging around outside.

It took all of ten minutes to decide to leave, but the damage was done. We went up the road a bit and checked into a better hotel. The next morning, we tried to get to the soccer fields a tad bit early, but failed to do so. That only left my 40 minutes or so to get in my five miler. I wasn’t up for a five mile run at an 8 minute pace. I settled for 5 miles at an almost 9 minute pace instead, and missed the very start of my son’s game. Fortunately for me, there was a small trail right outside the soccer fields. There were tons of runners, and I was super excited to be running along Shady Creek (it was shady!), on a new trail, with a bunch of running peeps.

The long run on Sunday was just a no go. I was not comfortable running through that part of town, that early in the morning in unfamiliar territory. Instead, I opted to run on the treadmill after my return to Atlanta. I did 12 glorious miles on the dreadmill at the gym. I consumed two bottles of Gatorade, and promptly chaffed my nips and my nether regions.

Dayum, these little reminders are painful.

and that my friends, wraps up a thirty mile week for me. I think that’s my second or third thirty mile week ever.

I am putting a lot of faith in this running plan, and in truth, I’m feeling kind of torn. Going from 10-15 miles a week of running during tri season to 30+ miles a week of running only is a serious leap of faith, and fraught with peril. I do not want to injure myself. I am, as of yet, uninjured, ever. There is also a part of me that questions whether sub-4 is the proper goal for me? My marathon PR is 5+ hours. Sub-4 seems imminently reasonable, but is it truly challenging enough for me. Based on my half marathon back in March, I wonder.

I haven’t been sticking strictly to the paces in the plan. I have allowed myself some freedom to up the speed when I felt good. The high mileage and the need to “do it all again tomorrow” has kept my free spirit in check. Still, one does wonder. I guess I can always run harder than planned in the last 5-6 miles of my race, eh?

Have a great week, y’all!

Wes

DOVeS

2011-08-12T10:49:00.001-04:00

-- with an appreciative nod to Tea…

Less you think all is rosy in my world… We wouldn’t want that now, would we?

The day after my Vibram’s run, those small muscles that were complaining began to knot up, especially in the calf area. How ironic that I should get an email from a good friend, stating that she was “holding her breath” after my 3 mile run in Vibrams, having not done 1 or 2 miles.

Yea, I’m a risk taker. I like to push the envelope. I like to introduce chaos into order. Sometimes the effort falls flat. Sometimes, something wonderful happens. Often, I’m in trouble. That’s a risk I’m willing to take.

I woke up at 5 AM on Wednesday for my hilly run. All of these runs specify “no pace”, which is nice, because I can go and trash myself on the hills with no pressure. Good thing too, because me legs were not happy. That afternoon, I experienced the beginning of Delayed Onset Virbam’s (eeeeebul) Soreness. Walking was starting to hurt.

Still, I had all day Wednesday to recover. Thursday was supposed to be an off day, but I need to go to Birmingham this weekend for a soccer tournament. At the last minute, I decided to get my “easy” run in at my son’s soccer practice, in the 90 degree heat. Not.much.fun.

The lessons are reinforced, not learned, because I knew this already. I’m still planning to run in my Vibrams, after my legs heal. I’ll just start out at 2 miles :-), and stop at the car to put my old shoes back on, until I get my mileage up.

In the mean time, I need to put 17 miles on my legs in Birmingham Saturday and Sunday.

Have a great weekend, y’all!

Wes

Back To Basics

2011-08-09T10:28:00.001-04:00

Before I went to bed last night, I laid out my last pair of clean running shorts, a technical t-shirt, and I dug my Vibram Bikilas out of the closet. The schedule run for today was three miles, and if I ever was going to introduce the Vibrams back into my training, now would be the time.

When I woke up this morning, my legs felt very tired, more so than anticipated. I stubbornly clung to the idea of running in the Bikilas, despite the trepidation I was feeling. I’m in my third week of marathon training, and I just don’t want to do anything stupid. With the dogs all squared away, I slapped the VFFs on my feet and headed out the door.

It was noticeably cooler this morning. Temps were in the 70s, and we had a nice breeze. My Garmin synched way too fast this morning, and with no more excuses, I took off running. I made it about a minute before slowing to a walk. There’s a small climb out of my neighborhood, and I always use that for my warm up. At the entrance to the sub-division, I started running again.

Running in Vibrams is just different. Landing on your heels is not an option. I am still dealing with nagging heel pain on my right foot, making a heel strike doubly not an option. Even though my desired pace was 10 minute miles, I let my pace goals go. Instead, I focused on my form and landing on the pad of my foot. I could just tell the difference in how my body generated power in the Vibrams versus the K-swiss. I hit my first mile in 11:34, but the Garmin buzzed a bit later than normal.

Somewhere in this process, my legs shook off the soreness, and I hit my rhythm. It showed in my second mile, coming it at 9:34. I made a conscious decision to take it easy up the hills on the way back, turning in a fine 10:34 for the third mile.

I thoroughly enjoyed my Vibrams today. It was like running free, effortless. If I didn’t feel them between my toes, I wouldn’t have even known they were there. It’s been a little more than an hour since I finished my run, and I can feel the small muscles in my legs complaining.

Shut up. I’m happy. We’re going to do more of this.

Smartly of course….

Wes

Operation Sub-4 Summary Week #2

2011-08-08T10:11:00.001-04:00

It just didn’t seem right. You could feel my father’s presence every where. The vacation home just wasn't the same without him being there. Still, you don’t want to damper the family vacation too much. We seem to go on vacation together every couple of years, and wasting it was just not an option. After giving it some thought, we decided to cut our vacation short by one day. Originally, we had planned to return to Atlanta on Wednesday, spend Thursday at home, then back to work on Friday. The new plan was to drive to Mobile on Tuesday, spend Wednesday with my Dad, then drive home on Thursday.

Once again, I woke up early on Tuesday morning to get my run in before we left. Sleeping in late was not high on my vacation priorities. I was out the door by 8 AM. Anything after that is just downright asking for trouble. Originally, I thought I had to do five miles, but after checking my schedule, I was delighted to see another four spot. Unlike my last four miler, this time, I carried a Gatorade with me. It actually helped a little. Hitting my required pace was difficult, but on the upside, I probably sweated off eight pounds.

We left shortly after lunch for the 3-4 hour drive to Mobile. Dee Dee wanted to take the scenic route, so we travelled Highway 98 to Pensacola before getting on I-10 to Mobile. We got there early enough for me to visit my father a couple of hours that evening. Wednesday morning, I got up early and drove with my son Jimmy back across the bay to the hospital. We spent all day with him. He was very tired. He’s not rambling as much as he was, but he just didn’t seem all that better to me. Still, if you paid attention, you could see some improvements in his mind and functioning.

Unfortunately, I missed my five mile run Wednesday. I got up early on Thursday to make it up. I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea or not. Rest days serve a purpose, and putting 24 miles on my feet over four days may not be a good idea.

If you were wondering if the heat and humidity in Mobile is better/worse than Panama City Beach, I can tell you: bout the same. I carried a Gatorade again and ran some hills. By the time I got back, I was soaking ass wet. After showering and rousting the the boys, we drove back to Atlanta that afternoon.

Saturday, my legs actually began to feel like their old selves. I ran the hilly route in my neighborhood, and they held up fine. I was ecstatic to hit my pace target, but I was very mindful of my long run on Sunday. I didn’t want to be too aggressive and muck up my next days workout.

The alarm went off at 6 AM for me on Sunday. I was craving something different. I wanted to do my long run at either the Silver Comet Trail or Cochran Shoals. I decided on the latter since it was a little closer, and almost perfectly flat :-) I got to the park along the Chattahoochee around 7:30 AM. Good thing too, the park was filling up fast. I filled up my Fuel Belt with Gatorade and took off running along the river.

The temps were in the 70s. The sky was overcast. I even felt a few rain drops along the way. The humidity was still pretty bad, but humid and seventy is a far cry from humid and eighty. The run went rather well. I was supposed to do 9 miles at a 10:04 pace, but I came in at a 9:42 pace over all. I don’t want to hold myself back or anything! There were just tons of people running in the park and along Columns Drive, and that always helps make it interesting.

With my Sunday long run, that brought my mileage to 28 for the week. I see my highest mileage week ever in my not so distant future. This week will prove interesting. We are shaving a mile off my first run of the week, but adding 3 miles to my long run on Sunday. Happy training!

Let’s make it a great week y’all!

Wes

Operation Sub-4 Summary Week #1

2011-08-05T13:22:00.001-04:00

I have returned from vacation. Boo!

This is significant in that it has been a long, long time since we have all been able to take a vacation together, sans the daughter, as she had to work. We went to Panama City Beach last Friday, and planned on staying through Wednesday.

As most of you know, vacations have a way of tossing a few wrenches into the training plan gears. I, on the other hand, view vacation as an opportunity to get my workouts in without the usual time induced stress. I especially get excited when I travel to someplace flat, like Panama City Beach. I awoke early Friday to get my 4 miler in before the drive down. Little did I know, that was to be my “coolest” run of the weekend.

Saturday, I awoke at the beach at what I thought was a good time to run. I left the trailer around 8 AM and immediately noticed the heat and the humidity. It wasn’t especially hot (around 81 degrees), but the humidity was something awful. Normally, when I run for an hour or less, I don’t worry too much about hydration. Bad idea… Fortunately for me, I was smart enough to carry a few bucks with me. On the way back, I stopped at the shop-a-rob and bought a Gatorade.

The family and I spent the rest of the day at the beach and the pool. I spent quite a long time body surfing, which while fun, is not necessarily conducive to running. This, I found out, on my long run Sunday. My Dad’s place is in Venture Out, next to the State Park. I followed Thomas Drive down the beach towards The Boardwalk where Ironman Florida is held. Using my God-given abilities of foresight and prescience, I drank a Gatorade before I left, carried one with me, and bought another one while I was running. It was barely enough. I should mention that I thoroughly enjoyed the over 50 feet of elevation change on my run :-) By the time I got home, I was just soaked in sweat. It looked like I had taken a shower, and my legs where chaffed something awful, as I quickly found out when I returned to the beach that afternoon.

That long run wrapped up 25 miles of running for the week. That is a lot coming off where I was with my triathlon training, almost too much. This pretty much reinforced a lesson I already knew. Triathlon fitness does not run fitness make. I’m cutting myself a little slack on the training paces until my body gets used to this running stuff!

Have a great weekend, y’all!

Wes

The Hills are Alive

2011-07-28T09:19:00.001-04:00

I spent all day Monday feeling like I should be out doing something. Marathon training was under way, and here I was, loafing. I assuaged my feelings of guilt and justified my decision based on my race performance. It had, after all, only been one day. It was a bit of relief when I actually looked at my plan and discovered that Monday is a rest day.

Yea, I’m good like that…

Tuesday was my first run back, and despite the soreness, I managed to hit my goal of 4 miles at a 10:04 pace. I guess I should throw it out there that I am training for a sub-4 hour marathon. My 1:52:xx at the Georgia Half Marathon suggests this is a reasonable goal. Hell, the computer tells me my goal is 3:42. I don’t think so.

I followed this run up with my second run on Wednesday. The training plan called for “Hills”, and I chuckled. Teh Training Plan doesn’t know where I live. This, however, is where creativity comes into play in all of my training. Rather than head out on my normal route which involves six hills, I went out the back. I never left my immediate neighborhood, and I did 10 hills over my four mile run. None of my hill runs have a pace target, but I was pleased to come in under 10 minute miles. Still a little sore.

So, off with a bang! I’m perusing my training plan trying to figure out where to fit my Vibram’s into the plan. It looks like Tuesday is the best day for that. Time to ease back into some minimalist running!

Wes

Escape to Blue Ridge

2011-07-25T15:38:00.001-04:00

A Tri the Mountains Race Report

This race caught my eye last year. Blue Ridge is about an hour or so away from my home. Here in Atlanta, that' makes it “local”. Unfortunately, I had other priorities last year, including fundage, and I let this one slip away from me. This year, I had the option of doing last week’s race with Dee Dee, or this one, and I chose this one. I thought it would be cool to sherpa Dee Dee then do the race I wanted to do.

I slept in my own bed and got up at 4 AM in the morning, about twenty minutes before the alarm normally goes off on Dee Dee’s work day. I gave Dee Dee a kiss and went downstairs. All of my things were laid out on the kitchen table. I had a modest breakfast: cereal and yogurt. This would come back to haunt me later. The coffee machine had gone off on schedule. Nothing left to do but load up the car, make coffee, and get the hell outta Dodge.

Taking back roads, I soon found myself on I-575 heading north into the mountains. Just north of Canton, GA, I-575 ends and Highway 5 begins. The only significance to this is that you can have stop lights on a highway, not so much on an interstate. Still, I factored that into my time and only caught two lights on the way to Blue Ridge. I pulled in behind a small convoy of vehicles heading to the race. I was looking for a specific road to turn right on when I saw a sign that said “Race->”. The convoy made an abrupt right turn. This was not the road I was looking for, but the signs showed us the way. I arrived at the race site just before 6 AM, giving me an hour to pick up my packet and get setup in transition.

Whilst setting up my bike in transition, the announcement came over the radio that the race could not start until all cars were moved from the road leading into and out of transition. I had parked my car off the road in front of a building. Being unsure as to whether or not my car needed to be moved, I decided to just go ahead and go back and move it. There weren’t many cars arriving at this point, and I ended up being one of the last cars to pull into the marina. At least I was a lot closer to transition.

The sun came up over the lake, and it was beautiful. On cue, the Purple Martins too flight and dipped and weaved over the calm waters. About twenty minutes before race start, I went for a warm up swim. The mountain lake was warm, and a lot clearer than the water I’m used to closer to home. I swam out to the first buoy, then turned around and accelerated back. I felt that old fear of open water swimming in my gut. My mind was waffling back and forth about how hard I wanted to take this swim. I had one of three plans. Plan A: casual. Plan B: casual to the back side then balls out. Plan C: balls out. I thought about a recent blog post a friend wrote, and I decided to just go with how I felt and have fun.

If you feel it, let it happen…

The waves began to gather on the boat ramp. I found myself standing about half way up while they sang the national anthem and gave out last minute instructions. The race was delayed a few minutes for some reason. My wave was supposed to go off at 7:03, but the race didn’t start until 7:10 AM. There was one blind para-triathlete that went off first. We all clapped when the horn sounded and he got under way. The RD wanted him to have a five minute head start, which was fine with all us. As the first wave got into the water, I began to move down the ramp and to the left. I wanted to start to the outside and up front. From the way the buoys were sitting, it was a direct line to the first buoy from the far left, and more like a box then a triangle.

The first wave went off and I exited the boat ramp at the side and onto the rocks. They hurt my feet, so when I slipped, I let myself fall into the water, careful to not let my butt hit the bottom. I then crab crawled out to deeper water where I could stand. The RD counted down the start to our wave. At thirty seconds, I hit start on my Timex. At 3 seconds, I pressed start on my Garmin 310XT, situated snuggly in my swim cap. The horn sounded, and we were off.

From the far left of the line, I had a good view of my wave as we surged from the start. I quickly lost the two or three fellas around me and found open water. I feel a dull ache in my arms, and I regret not warming up more, but nothing to be done about that now.

Again, I’m surprised to see the number of people in front of me out of the gate. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in triathlon, that’s to pace myself well on the swim. The closer I got to the first turn buoy, the closer I got to the leaders in my wave. I had to dodge a few blue caps from the previous wave, but pretty much clean water up to the first turn. I felt turbulence in front of me, and I tried to find feet, but to no avail.

By now, I’m into my grove and swimming fast. I’m trying hard not to swing too far on the outside of the second turn buoy, but I managed about 8 yards or so. The swim back to the boat ramp is uneventful. I start to tire. Desperately, I channel that feeling I have in the pool of a 1:25-ish pace, and I try to emulate that stroke. Reach, pull, breath, repeat.. I swim past the waders until my hand touches the concrete boat ramp. My legs feel wobbly as I run up the boat ramp and across the timing map, noticing the 11:14 time on my Garmin.

Swim: 11:14, 8th out of the water in my wave, 2nd in Age Group, 1:37 per 100 yards.

I knew better than to allow my ego to get the best of me. That would be a poor time for a 600 yard swim, but I was confident it was not a 600 yard swim. Besides, there was racing to be done! I changed into my bike gear. The longest part of this transition was getting my HR strap on. Other than post-mortem analysis, I’m questioning the worth of doing this during a race.

T1: 1:30, which is fairly good for me.

The bike course started out with a long climb out of the marina, where we made a right turn out onto the highway proper. The RD said that this road had been closed, and they opened it up strictly for this race. Rather than ramble on about the elevation, I’ll just show you:

There wasn’t anything flat about this course. After the first climb, I was enjoying the downhill, only to realize there was more to come, and even worse after that. Some of the hills I was able to use my momentum to power through, and on others, I slowed to a crawl. That last particular long climb there in the middle was just brutal. I felt like I gave way way too much of myself during the first 8 miles or so. I tried a little harder on the way back to be more consistent with my power.

Somewhere around the 28 minute part (of the ride), the lead woman passed me. I tried to hang with her for a bit, as a matter of fact, I blew past her like she was standing still on that long downhill, but she passed me again soon enough, and this time for good. I think I was passed by four ladies in total by the time I reached the end of the ride. I did 2 of the miles at 27 mph, and 2 more at 25 mph. Overall, I did 8 of the miles at 20 mph or over. I glanced at my HRM every now and then, and I was squarely stuck at the top of Zone 4, and sometimes, I peaked out in Zone 5. The digits tell me I spent 97% of my ride in Zones 4 and 5, and I’m satisfied with that!

Bike: 55:10, , 9th in AG, 19.3 mph average

T2 was fairly uneventful. I managed to transition in slightly over a minute. I would have been a little faster if I hadn’t had to stop and reaffix my race number to my bike. I didn’t want any hassles retrieving my bike after the race!

T2: 1:17

That same hill we had to climb to reach the bike route was waiting for us as we started out the run. The run course for Tri the Mountains is point to point. It starts at the marina and ends in downtown Blue Ridge.

One of the things I like about running off the bike is that my heart rate is already high. Climbing that hill taxed my lungs and certainly my strength, but I was already used to going hard. My run started out just fine. Once you reach the crest of the hill, you have almost a mile of the sweetest down hill.

I tried to open it up here to make up some time, and I was not disappointed when my first mile came in at 8:27. Right at about the half way point, the long up hill climb began. The longer I climbed, the more I began to feel it in my legs and hips. My hips were hurting! I began to feel terribly hungry. As I made that long climb up that second hill, I had to stop and walk a couple of times. It was getting hot. I saw my pace slipping, and I began to let “I don’t care” rule my run. Once I got to the small down hill, I though, “Yea! The worse is over!” LOL… only to find the rest of the race was up hill to the finish.

Literally, about three to four tenths of a mile away, I could see the finish line. It was a straight shot into downtown Blue Ridge. I so wanted to walk again, but I so wanted this race to be over. I talked myself into picking up the pace, an for the last tenth of a mile, I sprinted to the finish at 7:44 pace. I crossed the finish line pretty much spent. I bent over to catch my breath.

Would you like some water, a race volunteer asked?

Yes, please, I responded.

A sweet child’s voice said, “Sir, I need to take your race chip.” I stood still as the little fingers removed the strap from my ankle. Another child shoved a water bottle from the local bike store in my hands, and I wandered off to the food table from some fruit.

A blue grass band was playing under the gazebo. I sat for a while and enjoyed listening to them. Eventually, I got bored and wandered over to the bus stop. Dee Dee had to work that Sunday, and I really didn’t know anybody at the race. The bus made the short ride back to the marina in short order. I changed out of my wet gear into some street clothes, packed my bags and left. As I pulled out of the marina, the last bike rider, followed by a race vehicle, was making her way into transition.

On the way out, I stopped at McD’s for a healthy breakfast and at the Mercier Orchards. I was hoping to score some of those sweet apples, but alas, the apples haven’t fallen from the tree yet, and they mostly had peaches. At least I tried! I don’t think Dee Dee would have let me come home without trying.

Total: 1:37:21, 8th AG

Now, my triathlon season is over. I’ve had the chance to ponder the race and all the digits. One of my friends had said that she hoped I ended my season on a high note. While I am not on a “high”, I am satisfied. According to my super accurate Garmin data, the swim ended up being closer to 700 yards than 600, and who wouldn’t be happy with 2nd out of the water? I was rather impressed with my wave. My bike ride was pretty good. I would have liked to have a more even effort, but that just comes with more experience (and maybe a power meter!).

If I’m disappointed in anything about this race, it was the run. In reviewing my digits, I barely kept my effort in zone 4, and that’s just not acceptable in a sprint. I keep having these reoccurring themes over and over again, where I feel like I am just undertrained on the run. One of these days, I’m going to figure this part out.

Also, I didn’t exactly train for the race course, and I never ever scout out the race course before hand. So, there’s still work to be done there, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll be back next year to take another crack at this one, and try once again to reach my super-sekret goal.

In the mean time… marathon training starts today! :-)

Wes

Remiss

2011-07-22T12:26:00.001-04:00

Forgive me, friends, for I have sinned. It has been twenty-six days since my last blog post…

I’ve been suffering from a serious case of déjà vu. Been there. Done that. Blogged about it. Meh… The motivation to blog about déjà vu just has not been forth coming. There to fore, I have been remiss.

I have not been idle.

Training has been coming along. While I have been my usual consistent self as far as workouts go, I have not been hitting all the prescribed workouts. I had a couple of days where I did power intervals and tempo runs, and my legs just felt trashed. Instead of blindly following the plan, I opted to back off the intensity a bit and give my body time to recover.

This past weekend, I went with Dee Dee to Jefferson, GA for her first full sprint of the year. It was a blast. Being a spectathlete is just a whole nutha experience than racing, and I enjoyed myself tremendously. It was fun running interference for Dee Dee and making sure that her day went smoothly.

We arrived out in Jefferson before 6 AM. Dee Dee needed to pick up her race packet, and she wanted to have plenty of time before the 7:15 AM start. I teased her about it taking all of 10 minutes to set up transition for a sprint, but she was having none of it. While I was getting our stuff out of the back of the SUV, I dropped my blue tooth headset out of my ear and into the tall grass. With it being dark, and my headset black, it was proving very difficult to find, despite the assistance of friendly spouse with a flash light. I didn’t want Dee Dee to get all uptight about me wasting time, so I sent her off to transition.

What a great way to start of your day, huh, the friendly spouse asked?

I have the entire day to turn it around, I replied with a smile.

A few minutes later, I noticed a particularly dark spot in the grass, grabbed it with my hand, and recognized the feel of my headset. I thanked the lady for helping me, then hurried off to transition to find Dee Dee. She was by the entrance to transition, trying to get her race numbers in the right place on her equipment. I quickly helped her get situated, then walked her into transition. While she set up her space, I snapped some pictures. With transition set up, we set off to find some bathrooms, then back to transition to wait for the race start. Around 7 AM, we walked down the lake to the starting line. This was a point to point swim.

Tri2Remember – Crowe’s Lake is held at a catfish farm. Yea. There are five lakes, and I believe the triathlon is held in the largest. Dee Dee thought swimming in a catfish pond was icky, but I didn’t see anything wrong with the water. They used the lake for skiing, so it wasn’t like solely for the use of catfish. This wasn’t a large race. There was maybe four waves?! Dee Dee went off in the last one.

The horn sounded. The ladies took off. This wave consisted of women over forty and Athenas. I walked along the lake to the boat ramp and watched for Dee Dee. I could see her out in the water and was delighted to see she was a head of a few people. At Callaway, she swam around a 10 minute 400 yards. At this race, she came in around 13 minutes. I learned after the race that she had been kicked in the head and swallowed some water.

I waited for Dee Dee at the bike exit and snapped some good photos. She look pretty HAWT on her new Quintana Roo. I figured it would take Dee Dee about an hour to do the 15 mile bike. Lucky for me, a small convenience store was located across the street. I used the facilities, grabbed a cup of coffee and a big fat cinnamon roll. Then it was time to find some shade. I sat down right across from the bike dismount line and waited for the riders to come back.

Let’s just say the dismount line was interesting. A few talented individuals did the flying dismount. Impressive. A few couldn’t follow instructions and rode past the dismount line, to the chagrin of the volunteers. Then there were those who didn’t quite know how to get off the bike and ended up on the ground.

As expected, Dee Dee came toodling in after about an hour. She was a bit flumaxed after dropping her chain five times, but she soldiered on. She quickly changed into her Zoots and headed off down the trail that led around the lake. I posted myself at the lake shore, hoping to get a good picture of her running along the lake. Forty minutes or so later, I saw Dee Dee crest the hill on the far side of the lake. I got some good pictures of her as she crossed the lake and ran down the chute. I gave her a big hug and helped her get settled in after the race.

We hung around for a bit, then packed the car and headed home. We stopped at Waffle House for breakfast. This is becoming a tradition that I rather like! Dee Dee doesn’t currently have anything on her schedule for the rest of the year, but I know what she’d like to do, and I’m sure she’ll share our plans with us when she is ready.

As for me… My last triathlon of the year is coming up this weekend. I’m as ready is I’m every going to be. I don’t know if I’ll get that top 5 in age group I’m looking for, but I’m planning to flash and burn.

Is it terrible that I’m already excited about marathon training? Finding the time and the place to swim and bike has just been wearisome. I’m looking forward to the simplicity of just running every day. I still plan to bike and swim once a week, but nothing is set in stone.

On the down side, I’m nursing a bit of heel pain that I’m trying to control. Switching from triathlon to just running will not go well if I get injured!

That’s where we at :-) See ya around….

Wes

Transitions

2011-06-27T16:38:00.001-04:00

I looked through my handy dandy training manual and settled on the last week workout of the transition training program. It called for five hours of training, which was more than the second week of the intermediate sprint program, but less intensity. I doubted seriously that I would get my workouts in over the weekend. That meant missing one bike and one run workout. The virtual coach, however, said to do whatever I wanted the week after a race. So, I did.

Friday, I headed down to Mobile straight after work to see my father and pick up Matthew. Paw Paw is doing a little better. After he wakes up, his mind is a little sharper, and his conversations make a little more sense. As the day wears on and he tires, his mind finds it more difficult to stay with us, and that’s fine. He has a long road ahead of him, and we will be there to carry him when necessary.

As for me… The next phase in my training starts tomorrow. I have four weeks until my last sprint of the year. I can hardly believe my tri season will be over so soon this year. Believe me. It’s ENTIRELY necessary. Triathlon is not the only thing transitioning in my life these days. I’m not fool enough to believe that I am in total control. I am fool enough to believe that I have some control over the process.

I’ve set an ambitious goal for my next race. I want to finish top 5 in my age group. It’s challenging, doable, and it must not affect my responsibilities. Everything, after all, has it’s worth…

Wes

And They Shall Fall

2011-06-20T13:25:00.001-04:00

A Callaway Gardens Super Sprint Race Report

The alarm clock kicked off at 4:20 on back to back race weekends for me. For Dee Dee, it was to be her first race of the season. We loaded the car up to head out as close to five as possible. I was pleased to see Dee Dee bring her tri-bike out to the car. Yes, I assured her, the bikes were securely fastened to the bike rack.

We were just a few minutes shy of 5 AM pulling out of the drive way, and the sky was visibly lightening just as we reached the other side of Atlanta. Around Newnan, a few more automobiles with bikes on the back began to appear on the road. We waved “hi” to our Waffle House as we exited the interstate for the 10 mile drive or so to Callaway Gardens. No time to dally. Somebody was about to have an impending explosion. We hustled through the entrance and found a parking spot right next to the pavilion where race registration was ongoing. This was the perfect spot for our immediate needs, but not so good for race logistics.

The biggest challenge at Callaway is finding a good spot on the racks for the bikes. We gathered that this year was less crowded as they were taking race day registration for the first time ever. As I walked the bikes to transition, it became apparent that this year’s field was smaller. I put Dee Dee and my bike on an open rack right next to a big tree, then walked back to the pavilion to pick up my registration. Dee Dee met me there, and we breezed through packet pick up and marking. This race is rather casual in that they don’t put race numbers on helmets or bikes, and they only mark your wave number on you calf. The usual assortment of bikes was present, and Dee Dee and I laughed quietly at some of them. A few bikes had three (or more) bike bottles on them for a 9 mile bike course!

Our bike pump was in the car, so we stopped by there on the way back to transition. We spent a few minutes getting setup, and I pumped up both our sets of tires, then walked the bike pump back to the car. At 7:30, Dee Dee and I headed down to the lake for our warm up swim. I told Dee Dee I would meet her at the far corner and got bizzy wid it. They had moved the buoys further in, and in some places, the water was barely 3-4 feet deep. The good news was that unlike previous years, the skies were overcast and the water was relatively cool. I guess the lake had gotten some rain recently.

At 7:45, the race announcements took place. Starting at 8 AM, the various age group waves hit the water. I was in the third wave. Dee Dee was in the 8th, I think. After the first wave went off, I kissed her good bye and lined up behind the second wave. You got to get in the water early to get a good position on the end of the line. After the second wave went off, I quickly moved into position on the end of the line. The water wasn’t as deep as it usually is. While we were waiting to get started, one of the triathletes stated that somebody had drowned last year (but resuscitated, I think). That was why the buoys were closer to shore. Another guy was complaining that his 310XT wouldn’t pick up us heart rate. I laughed and recommended to him that he not wear his HR strap in the water. I heard the RD start the count down from 10 seconds. I hit start on my watch, and we were off.

This race, I was going “nekkid”: no Garmin for me! For the first 40-50 yards, my wave surged, and I’m right in the mix. I begin bumping up against the guy on my right before he passes me, then the guy on my left begins to dance with me. I’m holding a straight line to the buoys and he is trying to go off course.

Man, I think to myself, these guys are fast!

By the time we reach the first buoy, I’m behind the lead pack of 5-6 swimmers and I’m going hard. I’m trying to decide at this point if this is the effort I want to hold for the entire swim. I was at puke pace +5. I decide its not a good idea and slow down a bit to catch my breath. I’m at the first turn buoy in no time. I feel a guy on my right hip, and I leave him a little room at the turn. I peak my head up to site on the next buoy, and all I see is a swarm of yellow caps from the preceding wave. What a coincidence that the buoys are also yellow. None the less, I see it sticking out above the crowd, and I settle back into my swim. Periodically, I feel somebody drafting on my feet, and I dodge the breast strokers and walkers. At one point, I have to dolphin dive to get around a group of walkers. From this point onward, the swim into shore was pretty easy. I achieved a rhythm that was comfortably hard for me, and brought it home. The only question was when to start running through the water. I swam a little further than most people and started my run about 30 feet from shore. Unlike previous years, I wasted no time getting up the hill and across the timing mat. I hit “lap” on my watch at the waters edge, and I was rewarded with a 6:19 swim time, my best ever.

Official swim time: 6:47 2nd in Age Group. This proves there is no need to get flummoxed by burn and crash swimmers at the starting line!

I tried to run through transition this year, but I was seriously out of breath, and the rocky pavement is just not conducive to running. I quickly found my bike and got everything on, grabbed my bike and trotted to the other end of the parking lot. This year, I made sure my chain was on, and my bike was in a low gear. I had a wee bit of trouble getting clipped in, but nothing serious. Wheels were on the pavement and rolling in no time.

Official T1 time: 2:07

They bill the bike course as a 10 miler, but the reality of it is that it’s an 8.4 mile loop around the lakes at Callaway. There are a few slight up hills, a few sharp turns, but for the most part, it’s built for speed. All the excitement of the bike ride happened in the first 3 to 4 miles. I’m behind some dude on a ten speed when I heard a loud “POP”, and his front tire went flat. I had to slow down a bit to both let him over and to make sure he wasn’t going to crash.

Not more than a mile later, I hear the whir-whir-whir of a tri-bike coming by with race wheels. I’m not really worried about what anybody else is doing, but I don’t like being passed by people in my age group. This guy goes past me, gets up the road about a 75 yards, and I hear the sound of metal on pavement, followed by a crash. The man had gone around a corner in aero, bent over too far, and his pedal had hit the ground. I slowed down a bit to check on him, but when I saw a volunteer rushing over, I continued with my race.

The rest of the bike course was one Z5 blur. I did my best to hold effort, but there were times that I wondered if last week’s race was making it’s presence felt. I pulled my feet out of my shoes on the final straight away into transition. I jumped from my bike with no problem, but my left shoe came off the pedal (again!), and I had to stop and pick it up. I found my row and started trotting back to my spot in transition. An older lady with “racoon eyes” was coming towards me with her bike. Gotta love a woman that wears eye make up to a triathlon. She asked me where the bike course was. I guess she was a wee bit confused with all the cyclists coming and going. I pointed her in the right direction then hustled over to my stuff.

Official bike time: 22:36, 9th in age group, 22.3 mph

I smiled when saw Dee Dee’s bike was gone from the rack. In our excitement for her to use her new tri bike, we had neglected to get her a tire changing kit for her new 650 wheels. I teased her about not flatting, and told her to “run it in” if she did. Bike to run transition was pretty quick. I dug out my old Zoots for this race, even though they are about ready to be retired. I grabbed a cup of water on the way out of transition, but again, given the length of the parking lot, my T2 time was nothing stellar.

Official T2 time: 1:52

From past experience, I knew I could gauge my run pace when I hit the halfway point on the other side of the lake. I took off at a hard pace, and I just felt like I was gonna die. After you round the nearest side of the lake, what usually happens is you emerge out on the far side in full sun light, with no shade until you reach the aid station. This year, however, was different. It was overcast, and a little cooler. Funny thing happened on the far side of the lake. I found my running rhythm. The pace was still hard, but I was no longer dying.

At the aid station, I decided I didn’t need to stop this year. Usually, I cop a walk, because that’s my way of giving in. Not this year. I glanced at my watch, and I knew there was a chance that I could go sub-50. If you remember, that was my goal for this race in 2009, at which I failed miserably. After the aid station, there is just enough uphill to tweak your legs and remind you how tired you are, then its back to flat and fast running.

I kept asking myself over and over again. How bad do you want this? I ignored the runners in my wave that passed me. This was about me. I heard the band and the finish line through the woods. At the edge of the woods, we make a right onto the side walk. I glance at my watch and mistakenly believe I have two minutes to reach my goal. As I crest the small hill there, I look at my watch again and smile. I was off by a minute. I really had 3(!) minutes to reach my goal. I run down the hill and enter the finish chute. I didn’t sprint this year. I had run a pretty even pace/level of effort for the entire run. I did, however, raise my arms as a crossed the finish line, and I was happy. I hit stop on my watch, and it reported a time of 49:16.

Official run time: 15:59, 8 min pace 17th in age group

I went back out on the course and ran Dee Dee in. She finished in an hour fourteen, two minutes faster than last year. I was very proud of her. It had been almost 18 months since her last triathlon. We spent a little time browsing the expo after the race, and of course, we stopped at our Waffle House for breakfast on the way home. What a fabulous way to start off Father’s Day!

This makes my third PR this year in a row. This is really really sweet after going through all of 2009 and 2010 without really setting any. I don’t want this to end, although I know that it will. For now, I’m going to focus on my final sprint triathlon in July, then its on to the marathon!

Wes

The Lighter Side

2011-06-17T07:57:00.001-04:00

After my race on Sunday, I’m walking back to the car with Richard, his lovely (and very pregnant) wife, and Eyrleigh, their little bundle of joy (trouble? :-). There’s nothing quite like the long walk to the car after the race. We were heading back to their hotel room for a quick shower then a lunch. I remembered that I had left my wallet and my cell phone lying in the cubby hole in front of the gear lever. I was worried somebody would break my window and steal my wallet, not that there was anything of value in it. When I got to my car, the windows was STILL DOWN from when I had rolled into the park. I had grabbed my gear, locked the doors, and left the window open. LOL… My wallet and cell phone were, of course, untouched. This is the kind of thing that happens when you hang out with the right crowd.

My father has been fighting bacterial meningitis. He’s a tough old coot. The doctors said that the number they use to gauge the severity of the infection was 15,000, and he’d never seen anybody survive over 10,000. Not only did my father survive, but he is well on his way back to recovery. Dee Dee and I drove down to Mobile Monday morning, one of the perks of being able to work off site. The back road we took to the hospital goes past a small lake, and as we were passing, I saw a little box turtle just a bookin it across the road. I make a quick u-turn and pull up in the middle turn lane, just as the turtle enters the traffic lane in the other direction. I see that a car is coming, and I won’t reach the turtle in time, so I stick my hand out the window and point at the turtle.

Well, evidently, the driver thought I was trying to flag him down, cause he kept going and pulled up beside me. I cringed and listened for the sickening crunch, but heard nothing.

What can I do for you sir, the driver asked? Oh nothing, I said. There’s a turtle crossing the road and I didn’t want you to run him over. I’m not sure what the guy thought, but without further comment he took off, and there was the turtle, in his shell on its back, undamaged. The car tire had hit him and flipped him over. I rushed to him quickly and grabbed him by his shell and the little bugger hissed at me. Yup, I thought. The little guy is going to be just fine.

My dad was pretty out of it. Talking about all kinds of strange things and just rambling on and on, making no sense. While we were there, Janette, his wife and my step-mother, checked him to see if he was wet, and he tried to be funny, opening his eyes wide and going “woo woO WOOO!”. When we all laughed, he pulled up his night gown and did it again. At that point, we knew he was going to be just fine.

Karma.

Wes

Old Haunts and New Digs

2011-06-15T09:54:00.001-04:00

A West Point Lake Olympic Triathlon Race Report

This is not the PR you are looking for…

The pattern for this year is slowly emerging. It looks like all of my races are taking place on days my Sherpa is working. While I, on the other hand, will be sherpa-ing Dee Dee’s races with relish. This is perfectly fine for me.

I spent all day Saturday getting ready for my race. I was done with my 30 minutes of workouts by 9:30 AM or so, then I had the whole day to find stuff to do. I cleaned. I washed. I packed. I even removed Ironman Arizona’s dirt and grime from Haint, Dee Dee came home from work, and we grabbed a quick bite to eat, then it was off to bed. I planned on getting up early and driving 1.5 – 2 hours to West Point Lake in the morning.

The alarm clock went off at 3:45 AM, although I had been awake since around 3:30-ish. There was no time for phaffing. By the time I got situated, the car packed, and ate breakfast, it was time to leave. The ride to the lake was uneventful. I pulled into the park at dawn’s early light. I had an hour and ten minutes before transition closed. This, of course, is much more time than one needs to setup transition for an Olympic distance race, but I don’t like to stress first thing in the morning. I got body marked and picked up my chip. It took all of ten minutes to get my stuff laid out, then it was time to hit up the port-a-potties and get in my warm up.

On the way out, I began to run into my friends. Teh Cube was there. Cube is an age group athlete that has really been pouring on the performance lately. I also ran into Richard and his family, and brutha Murtha was there as well. I followed the run course for about half a mile before turning around and heading back. It wasn’t exactly hot, but it was extremely humid, and my tri top was already wet. As I entered transition, another friend, Danielle, grabbed me to say “hi!'”. She commented that she liked the kit I had put together. Dee Dee had ordered an HTFU tri top from their web site, but it wouldn’t fit, so I claimed it. I had paired it with a new pair of red tri shorts and my Tri Bike Transport visor from Ironman Arizona. I was flaming red for sure!

One final check of transition, then I grabbed my goggles and swim cap and headed down to the lake. I went for a short swim in the 87 degree water before being called back to the beach for the race start. This race does a time trial start, with two people entering the water every three seconds. They made some attempt to line us up by bib number, but I ended up standing with Murtha and Richard. My bib number was 98, and Richard’s was 135. It took us about five minutes to reach the lake. The starter held up his arms. The assistant punched in our numbers, then the starter said “Go”, and we were off.

Richard started out a lot faster than I did, and he hit the water first. I had been experiencing my usual open water trepidation. It wasn’t a huge issue. It just felt like I was being rubbed the wrong way. Once I got going, I focused on finding my rhythm and not drinking the nasty lake water. They had changed the course up this year a bit. Rather than heading out for 2-300 meters then turning right, we only went out for a hundred to two hundred meters then turned right to follow around the peninsula.

Since this was a time trial start, there was no thrashing and fighting at the start, yet I did manage to bump into a young lady who scratched then proceeded to push my hip out of her way. I didn’t mind the pushing, but the scratching was a new experience. She had nails. I was actually swimming in a line towards the buoys, and I had to cut her off to keep my angle. I wore my clear goggles for the swim, which was fine, except that the sun was coming up over the race start. When I made the first and second right turns, I had it right in my face. It didn’t affect sighting, but it was a little annoying.

For the most part, I kept a straight line. If you zoom in on the picture above, you can see where I drifted to my right and then made a correction. I’m pretty happy with those lines though. At the race start, I had placed my 310XT in my swim cap, and I was a bit surprised when I felt it buzz while I was still in the water with about a 150-200 meters left to go. WTH? I reached the boat ramp to transition just as the sprint triathlon was getting under way, and all of the triathletes doing the sprint were crowded on m left. Now, I’m not dissing this event, nor the race organizers. I love me some GA Multisports, but its really hard to compare year over year results if the course distances are not the same, and having a swim course long or short seems to be a reoccurring issue for most race companies.

The 310XT reported my swim time as 31:04, a minute slower than my race 4 years ago, and 15 seconds per 100 slower than my Ironman pace. I cringed, but I didn’t let it get me down. Being frustrated is fine, but that’s not a reason to feel defeated!

I arrive at transition with everything laid out nicely. I put on my HRM, my race belt, grabbed my helmet and sun glasses, and then stopped. Where were my shoes? LOL… I had forgotten to take them out of the bag. No doubt, this little snafu cost me precious seconds, but still, I was out of T1 and onto the bike in a respectable 1:42. I CAN have great t-times when I try :-)

Before the race, I had mapped the bike course on a popular web site sose I might peek at the elevation chart. After looking at it, I thought to myself: self? That doesn’t look quite as rolling as I remember it. Famous last words. It was. The first couple of miles out of the park are slightly downhill, a great time to get pacing and heart rate under control. Teh Cube came flying by me around mile 2, and that was the last I ever saw of him. He was motoring. My HR was in the high 150s/low 160s, which was completely normal, but not the long term plan.

Once the rollers started, my heart rate settled down into the 148-150 range that I wanted. I tried to conserve some of my energy on the down hills, and I allowed my HR to drift higher on the climbs. Over the course of the bike route, I played leap frog with a twenty year old girl in a Georgia Bulldog kit. She would pass me on the uphill, then I would fly by her on the downhill, only to hold her off for 5-10 minutes before repeating.

At about mile 17, I think, we enter a park by the lake where the aid station is. I dropped my empty water bottle expecting to be given a bike bottle or a bottle with a top on it in return. I was a bit flabbergasted when the volunteer handed me a bottle with no top. How was I supposed to put that in my bottle holder? I spent the next three or four miles drinking my water and riding with it in my hand. That was annoying. I finally dumped out the remainder and put the empty bottle in my aerobar holder.

I passed twenty-something about 2 miles from the end of the bike and teased her about still having time to pass me once more, which she didn’t. I pedaled into transition on top of my shoes and hopped off the bike with no problems. I was very calm and relaxed in T2, remembering to grab my gel and visor. I was out onto the run course in a minute-thirty.

The run course for West Point is deceptively flat. It starts out going slightly downhill, then there is a long period of slight uphill that is annoying. I started out at an 8:40-ish pace. My entire goal for this race was to set a new stand alone PR on the run, and to do that, I wanted to keep my pace in the 8:30 to 8:50 range.

Both of my thigh muscles were starting to cramp as I neared the first mile marker. My right hamstring had cramped on the swim (I forgive you wet suit!). I kept my stride short and quick and sent relaxing thoughts to my muscles. All of the runners were sticking to the shade as much as possible. Once we hit the bridge over the dam, there was no shade, and things got hot.

The pace on my Garmin started to go into steady decline and walking through the aid stations did not help. Within a couple of hundred meters of the turn around, Richard picked me up. I had swam around five minutes faster than he had, and it had taken him up to this point to make it up on the bike and the run. As we headed back across the bridge, we crossed paths with Murtha.

BRUTHA MURTHA! I bellowed. Getting it done, today!

Andy was nursing an injured foot, and I was glad to see he was having a great day. Richard and I chatted a bit on the back, but the heat was taking its toll. Richard told me that he liked to sprint at the end, and I mustered a laugh.

You go right on ahead, I said. I don’t want to hold you back.

The final aid station and the lone hill on the run course finally did me in. I couldn’t hold pace and my overall average drifted up into the 9-9:10 range. That little crescent where we follow the lake in the image above is right before the hill. That stretch of road from the hill to the left turn back to the finish was the longest ever. Just like last time, I could feel my thighs threatening to cramp, but I hung on.

Now that I was back on the other side of the bridge, I was able to utilize the shade, and it felt ten degrees cooler. It took every ounce of perseverance I had to keep running all the way to the finish. Within a couple of hundred meters of the finish, twenty-sumfin chicked me on the run for good measure. There was no sprint to the finish for me this year. I maintained my pace and crossed the finish line with a smile.

Two young boys were claiming the timing chips, and it took some effort from me not to fall over. I grabbed a water and went for a short walk, before heading to the sprinkler tent for a nice cool down. I chatted with Richard and his family and watched Andy finish. Then, we packed up our stuff and headed home.

A few days later, the results arrived in my inbox. My 10K run time was 56:52, a mere 28 seconds off my stand alone 10K PR. drats!! My overall time was 2:48:37, a 3:08 PR over my results from four years ago. That wasn’t quite the PR for which I was looking, but I’ll take it. Not a bad result for “just having fun” this year.

Up next… The Callaway Garden’s Sprint Triathlon…

Wes

Struggle

2011-06-11T13:41:00.000-04:00

Fun and games...
Fun and games...
Fun and games...

I learned something about struggle in the pool Thursday afternoon. Training for these short races essentially means the letup in intensity is modest during taper. I backed off from a power swim set to a basic swim set on Tuesday, then Thursday, my workout was shorter, but included a 6x100 VOS set with 20 sec recovery in between.

I call VOS puke pace...

While I was warming up, I thought about my last VOS swim set (and my first one), and in particular, I thought about how my pace declined as the workout got longer. There are people out there in the world that are much faster than me. What are they doing that I'm not doing? Then it dawned on me.

I struggle.

Oh, I had realized this before, but I had never thought that my fighting the water actually made me slower. This seemed like a great time to test my theory. I paid particular attention to my swim style and form on the first 100. I came in at 1:23. Typical, and well below my target pace of 1:27. I then proceeded to duplicate that feeling on my second 100. My reward was another 1:23. I slipped a little on my third 100, coming in at 1:25, but I bounced back with another 1:23 on my fourth 100. Interavls 5 and 6 came in at 1:24 and 1:25 respectively.

These little breakthroughs are nice. It wasn't a physical breakthrough. I wasn't even breathing hard. It was a mental and form breakthrough. Sometimes, these kinds of improvements are the hardest to grasp.

Tomorrow, I am off to Lake West Point for the West Point Oly Triathlon. This was my first ever Oly so long ago and my current course PR. I rode my bike 20 minutes this morning and ran off the bike for 10. I was done by 9:30 AM wondering what to do with myself for the rest of the day. So far, I've straightened downstairs, upstair, ran the dishwasher, washed towels, washed Haint, and thrown all of my tri gear on the kitchen table.

My strategy for West Point this year is simple. I want to PR the 10K run. In order to do that, I've stripped Aerowyn down to just the bear essentials. I'll put my tire kit in my bento box, and my bike bottle between my aero bars. Other than that, she is unadorned. I will wear no socks. I will wear no gloves. I will not daily in transition. Go, go, go!

If the weather forecast holds up, I should be done before the temperature reaches eighty. A lot of my friends are going to be there. My first triathlon of 2011 is going to be a party....

Have a great weekend, y'all!

Wes

Word

2011-06-09T13:05:00.001-04:00

–noun, a unit of language, consisting of one or more spoken sounds or their written representation, that functions as a principal carrier of meaning.

It seems like such a long time ago. Hitting rock bottom has that affect on you, I guess. It’s so dark down there, once you claw your way back to the surface, it’s hard to see from whence you came. You guys diggin my proper English? :-)

Dee Dee and I had closed the family business. We had our house, our cars, our kids, our dogs, and a little bit of money. The charge sounded, and together, Teh Bug and I did everything in our power to keep an air of normalcy for our family. The kids went to the same school. They participated in the same activities, and we started rebuilding.

A goal was set, and a carrot was offered. If we could save (x) amount of dollars, we would buy Dee Dee that tri bike of which she had been dreaming. (admit it, you’re impressed with my English skillz). The first six to nine months, our savings account blossomed. As a matter of fact, we almost reached our goal. Then the long drain began. As our savings sank towards zero, the reality of it all sunk in and Dee Dee and I got with the program. We cut our expenses.

Since that time, the needs of the family has changed. We have a son in college, and a daughter who has moved back into the house. We are slowly but surely climbing back onto a sound financial footing. I am pleased to announce that this month, we have reached that goal.

Being a man of my word, we bought Dee Dee this:

If you take material things out of the equation (all material things will return to dust), all a man is left with is his word, and I value mine above and beyond all other things.

Wes

Interview

2011-06-07T16:07:00.000-04:00

Joseph over at Tri for Time sent me some questions for an interview. If you'd like to gain a few more insights into your faithful blogger, you can find the article here!

How it Is

2011-06-06T12:39:00.001-04:00

Continuing with my theme of this year being “different”, my weight is creeping back up towards the 190 mark. It’s not really a big deal for me. I’ve been enjoying my beverages on a daily/weekly basis, and for the most part, my training has been going fine. With my first race a week away, I’m ready to tighten things up a bit now. The learning process never ends.

With no soccer matches on the schedule this weekend, Dee Dee and I took advantage and had some multisport fun. We arrived at All3sports.com shortly after the store opened. I still love that place. It’s the best candy store in town. Earlier this year, Dee Dee bought an HTFU tri top that would not fit her. My boobs aren’t quite as big as hers, so I claimed it :-) I’ve been wearing the same tri shorts (when I use them) since day one, and I felt quite strongly that now was the time for a new pair. Rather than spend upwards of $100 on a matching pair from HTFU, I opted to by the $50.00 pair of LG tri shorts from All3sports, in red of course. Yea, that’s right. I’m going to be a flaming bad ass.

Along with my tri shorts, I bought new goggles for Dee Dee and I, and one of those torpedo bottle mounts for the aero bars. That’s the one you mount between your aero bars, but it takes a standard bike bottle.

Dee Dee had been wanting to swim in the lake for a few weeks now. After lunch, we grabbed our things and headed up to Red Top Mountain. At that time of the afternoon, more than a few casual swimmers and boaters were enjoying the cove. I swam with Dee Dee out to the buoy at the entrance before turning around and heading back. I would have liked for her to go a little bit longer, but 850 yards is a good starting number.

Sunday morning, we were up early for Dee Dee’s first ever Bud Plant ride. We didn’t quite get there at dawn, pulling into the parking lot around 7:15-ish. Since this was Dee Dee’s first trip to Cartersville, she didn’t realize there weren’t any bathrooms. She made a side trip up the road while I prepared the bikes.

Originally, we had planned on doing the 45 mile route. After 12 miles or so, it became apparent that Dee Dee wasn’t quite ready for that distance. We split off onto the 32 mile route and finished up in a little over two hours. I was really proud of her grit and determination while tackling the rolling hills. After the ride, I treated her (us!) to Waffle House :-)

My original schedule had called for something like a 2.5 hour ride with 10 over/unders, but this year, that’s just not important to me. This year, it’s not about me at all.

I’d like to keep it that way…

Wes

Burning Bridges

2011-06-03T13:30:00.001-04:00

I’m not sure what happened last Friday. My run around lunch time on Thursday got hot fast, and I’m sure that it depleted my sodium and potassium stores. The lingering effects of that run, no doubt, put a damper on my Friday VOS swim set. By design, I should have had Friday off to recover, but I needed to get the swim in before the weekend.

My new motto: Humble Pays!

Not 12 minutes into my first center on Saturday morning, I twinged my calf muscle. The pain was excruciating. I spent the next few minutes trying to decide whether or not I wanted to work through the pain for the rest of the game, or give up the center to one of my assistants. I endure, although it was not pleasant. As the tournament carried on, I found that if I nursed my calf, I was getting closer and closer to “normal”, and I made it all the way through.

My Tuesday swim was used for recovery. I did the prescribed yardage, but my pace was by feel. Having neglected my bike, Wednesday morning found me on the Silver Comet Trail at the butt crack of dawn (6 AM). It was just me, the crickets, and the fat cat rabbits (big ones!). The bugs were out in full force as well, reminding me to keep my mouth closed while I ride.

Since I had been doing so much running on the weekend, and would be this weekend as well, I opted to do another VOS swim set on Thursday. This time, I was better rested, and it showed. I was able to do all 12x100 below a minute thirty, and most of them below my target pace of 1:27. I calculated my t-pace for this session at 1:27, a full 5 seconds faster than my last VOS set.

Boy, do I look like a fool? <== not humble.

Later Thursday evening, my assignments for this weekend’s games came in, and my heart sank. I had forgotten my previous experiences with State Cup here in Georgia, and the reality of it all was sinking in. The politics and cliques and “golden child” syndrome was still present. The quality of the matches was just terrible, and my assignments for the weekend were terrible as well.

My response to the State Assignor: no, but thanks anyways.

I have now been officially removed from his list. I was well aware that this would happen when I made my decision. My father taught me a long time ago not to burn bridges. You never know when you are going to need a relationship. For the most part, I have accepted this as a core principle of my life. There are times, however, when you need closure, the stamp of finality. Nothing is more final then dancing flames, a bridge flambe. From this point, there is no turning back.

Now, I don’t even know if I want to be a referee any more. The disappointment I feel is strong. The sense I have of not getting what I want from this, nor getting back equal or greater value to what I put in, is also strong, and the feeling is unpleasant to say the least.

Like my father says, these decision are best made with a clear head (a dish served cold). I plan on doing nothing, making no decision, and if that holds true till the end of the year, then my registration will expire, and my decision will be made for me.

We’ll just call it semi-retired, and that may or may not be a good thing.

Wes

My Review: e21 Recovery

2011-06-01T13:42:00.001-04:00

I am a skeptic…

Why are you snickering?

I don’t believe in gimmicks. No… I scoff at gimmicks. I believe in hard work. I take most claims with a grain of salt, until I have reason to believe otherwise. Most, if not all, of the time, that information comes from personal experience.

Two to three weeks ago, I was feeling particularly run down. I remembered a friend had recently joined a new triathlon team that claimed to have found the secret formula for recovery. I messaged Molly on Facebook and asked her what it was she was taking. Why e21, she said! She asked me if I would like a sample, and I responded: of course!

A few weeks later, my little packet of e21 capsules arrived, just in time for a big soccer tournament weekend. I had three games on Saturday, and five games on Sunday. I took one capsule in the morning before my games, and two capsules after my games on Saturday. It seemed kind of strange, but I could almost feel the fatigue leaving my body. Sunday morning, I took two more capsules before heading to the fields, and another one between games three and four.

Usually, by the end of these tournaments, I am just beaten up: Ironman like beaten up. My fourth game was canceled, but I had the center on my fifth game, and it was a full 90 minute match. I had plenty of energy and stamina left in my legs to give the players a quality match!

Fast forward to this past weekend. Jimmy and I went down to Columbus, GA for State Cup. Each referee is assigned three games a day for three days. The temperatures are just brutal. I took two e21 capsules per day, and I even shared a couple with Jimmy. For my last, and most important match, I was running the line on a U-17 game at Columbus State University. The winner would go through to the next round.

Seventeen year old young men are fast, but I was there on every play. I mean, I can’t keep up with seventeen year olds when fresh, but with the help of e21, I was no more than 2-4 steps behind the kids the entire game. This was a tremendous boost in my efforts to give a fair game.

Unlike my first tournament, I didn’t get that sensation of fatigue leaving the body, yet I could tell that my legs were a lot less fatigued than normal. After, not one but, two tournaments, I am firmly convinced that e21 not only does a great job of supplementing my electrolytes, it boosted my energy and reduced fatigue as well.

As I mentioned earlier, Molly sent me a free sample to try before I buy. Now, I need e21 to pony up a year’s supply for free :-) Barring that, I guess I’ll have to look into purchasing my own. This stuff is just amazing.

http://blog.recoverye21.com/

Your mileage may vary…

Wes

Progressing

2011-05-27T11:51:00.001-04:00

Looks like I’ll be bagging yet another long ride this weekend. I had thought to take my hybrid with me to Columbus GA for the soccer tournament, but after giving it some thought, I changed my mind. I’m not overly worried about it though. I was pretty pleased with numbers from Tuesday’s interval ride. I have committed myself to a long ride next Thursday of at least two hours. That will pretty much be my last chance to get a long ride in before the race on the 12th.

I had zero luck finding a place to swim in Columbus this weekend. They have a big ole river there, so one might think they’d have places to swim. Evidently not. While I’m willing to skip one workout to get in 9 soccer matches, I’m not willing to skip two. Thusly, I dragged my happy ass out of bed at 4:30 AM this morning to get my swim on.

My workout for the day had me chuckling. I always dreaded coach’s swim tests. They came in different flavors: 10x100 w/10 seconds rest, 1x400, 1x500. I guess it kind of depended on her mood. That’s why I laughed when I saw a VOS set on my schedule today, with 10 seconds rest. For those of you not in the know, VOS is a VO2 max swim set. For me, that’s a “swim as hard as you can pace”, or as I like to think of it, swim hard enough to puke.

So, I drag my happy butt out of the bed at 4:30 AM and head to the gym. I’m the fourth person to arrive. I counted. I was the first person in the pool. I was the only person in the pool for the whole time I was there. I warmed up with a 200 yard easy swim, then 300 yards of drill. I gave myself a short breather before hitting start on the watch, and off I went.

Typical. My first 100 was my fastest, coming in under my target time of 1:27. From there, I got progressively worse. As a matter of fact, that was the only 100 beneath my target time. I had a few close to one thirty, before settling in at 1:32. My final five were all in the 1:34 range.

After analyzing my digits, a calculated my T-pace at 1:32, a full second off my previous time. Now, there’s some improvement! My swimming has been plateaued for a while. I’ve seen plenty of running and cycling improvements this year, but my swimming over the last three years has been stagnant.

While I’m not willing to do anything about swimming this year. It has been noted, and next year, this just won’t do at all…

Have a great weekend, y’all! See ya on the pitch…

Wes

The Inevitableness of It All

2011-05-25T14:53:00.001-04:00

Well, it was bound to happen. I missed a long ride. I should be up to about 2 hours now. I don’t think I’ve gone longer than an hour thirty. I reffed eight soccer matches over the weekend, starting Friday night. Four of the matches were a full 90 minutes. Needless to say, it was a long weekend. I managed to squeeze in my long swim on Saturday, between my matches and Matthew’s game, but the bike ride just wasn’t happening.

I won’t agonize over it. I get to do it all over again this weekend.

This time, however, I am taking a different approach. I did my normal two a day yesterday. I swam, then I rode my bike on the trainer while we watched American Idol/Dancing with the Stars/The Biggest Loser, all of them finales. By the way…. Thanks a lot for that network television. You suck.

The good news… My legs were ready for the 5x3 minute power intervals, and I hit them all dead on. I am putting out some power/speed that is encouraging. Tomorrow, I will do my midweek medium run. Then, I’m moving my long swim to Friday, and taking my hybrid with me to Columbus this weekend. I’ll be damned if I’m not getting in my long ride :-)

I have three matches a day, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. My running fitness is moving right along!

Wes

Enter The Krazies

2011-05-18T10:35:00.001-04:00

Well, its that time of year. School is ending. The State Cup soccer tournament has arrived. My first triathlon of the year is 3 weeks away. My carefully laid out schedule and plan is in taters.

Oh joy…

Am I whining? no. Is my hair getting greyer? no. Is that even possible? :-) This is all part of the grand plan. The grand plan trumps the details and guides me on my path.

Reminder: this triathlon season is non-competitive, a have fun kind of year.

I have 1, 2, 3 weekends of tournaments. That’s kinda going to make it hard to get in my “big training days” on the weekend and follow this plan as outlined in the book The Time Crunched Triathlete. This is where a coach makes their money. The coach keeps you hoppin and a skippin and a jumpin on the path to triathlon greatness, while factoring in the requirements of real life.

I don’t need a coach anymore. Doesn’t mean I don’t want one. It just means I don’t need one.

Now, I’m juggling my schedule to get in that long ride and long swim. I’ll get plenty of running in on the pitch at these tournaments. As a matter of fact, State Cup should help me shed some excess poundage in the form of sweat. Columbus is HOT in June.

So, long bike and long swim on Fridays now. If I can swing it, I’ll swim long one day on the weekend. I’m already ready to go for the Olympic distance June 12th. The question is, how ready do I want to be?

Wes

Where the Wild Winds Blow

2011-05-16T10:48:00.001-04:00

I wish I had brought my camera…

The alarm went off at 6:30 AM on Saturday. I had asked Teh Bug to set it for 7:25 AM, but that was the second request. She had complied with the first request, and that was good enough. I reset it and went back to sleep. After the second buzz, I got out of bed and went downstairs to make breakfast. The Concorde Tri Club was meeting at Red Top Mountain for the their third open water swim of the season. After the swim, I was headed to Cartersville and the Budweiser Plant for my long ride.

The crowd in the cove was smaller then I remembered. It seems there were many races going on this weekend. I quickly signed in and slipped into my wet suit. The Neosport Sprint is very easy to get in and out of with its cut off legs and sleeveless arms. The water was a cool 68 degrees and perfect on a cloudy day.

After receiving our instructions, we took off. New this year were the swim buoys marking our route across the cove then out the entrance. I wanted to take it easy on the way out, and pound water on the way back. That would simulate the written workout nicely. Instead, I got caught up in the crowd and went out quickly, but controlled. By the time we hit the second buoy, I was well behind the lead pack, swimming with a few other peeps. I checked around as I hit the wake bouy and headed out into the lake. I wanted to be sure I was not swimming alone. I made it to the rocks on the far side of the lake in 14 minutes.

There was a couple of swimmers catching their breath on the rocks when I arrived. I gave myself a 45 second rest interval before heading back. I immediately felt like I was working with the tide, not against it, and I picked up my pace. While it was impossible to follow the same exact route back, I did hit the buoy across the cove before heading back to the start. I made the swim back in 15 minutes or so, giving me about a 29 minute mile swim. I was happy with that.

I slipped out of my wet suit, dried off, and hit up the bathroom at the lodge to change into my bike clothes. I drove out of the north entrance of the park which gave me a fifteen or so minute ride to the Bud Plant. The parking lot was a lot emptier than I expected. After gearing up, I slipped out onto the road at 10:30 AM.

The first part of the ride is always the scariest for me. After leaving the Bud Plant, you make a couple of right turns that put you back on the road that runs to the interstate. This is the busiest part of the ride, and the place where the cars travel the fastest. Still, I’ve never had any problems with the folks out there.

At the end of that road, there’s a stop sign where we make a left, leading up to the small town of White. At the four way stop sign there, we make another left onto a main road that takes us four miles out of town before making a right onto a country road. It was here that I began to notice the damage from the recent storms. Trees were bent over, and debris was lining the road. As I rode further along, I noticed some trees that had been snapped off twenty feet up, and I noticed the path that the winds took. I marveled that a lone house was still standing, and it also looked like the school had been missed entirely.

As I passed through the community of Pine Log, I noticed even more damage. Trees were down. Barns were destroyed. Unfortunately, the big sweet gum trees do not an oak tree make. There was a tree that was big enough around that it would have taken six people holding hands to span its circumference. It was laying on its side in a yard. The little back road I took back to the main route was a mess. The road had been cleared, but the shoulders were full of downed trees and limbs. I passed a worker clearing trees and he smiled. I’m sure I was riding with my mouth open.

Just like that, I exited the path of the wind. Forty-five minutes into my ride, I started my power intervals. I went by memory, and instead of doing 7x2 minute power intervals, I did 7x3. I’m still regretting that decision today. On the way back, I crossed paths with the storm again. Huge swaths of forest had their tops cut off. Homes were destroyed. Barns and houses I had ridden past for years were shattered hulks, and long sheets of roofing material were wrapped around stubs of trees like tissue paper.

The ride back to the car was somber. I’m not one to shed tears over things that happen to us, rather things that happen because of us. My heart goes out to the people of Pickens and Gilmere County, and all those other people and places in the path of this terrible storm. I wish you peace, recovery, and prosperity in these difficult times.

Wes

My Review: Vibram Bikilas

2011-05-13T15:44:00.007-04:00

This whole barefoot none sense had been going around the interwebz for a while. It wasn’t the in your face kind of nonsense. It was very subtle. You heard bits and pieces about it here. Others talking about it there. Questions were asked. Answers posed.

My curiosity was piqued. I could never bring myself to either run nekkid nor buy any barefoot type shoes, until one day we went to The Big Peach looking at shoes for Teh Bug. They had the new Vibram Five Finger Bikilas in stock, and they were specially designed for running. I tried them on and liked them enough to ask Dee Dee if it was OK if I bought them, and she graciously assented. They only had a half size to large for me, but I was fine with it.

Besides, who does not want their toes curled up while they run? Got ELF?

The first thing I noticed when trying them on is that you have to wiggle your toes, just like you do your fingers when putting on a glove. Once inside though, the fit is snug and comfortable. For me, the material that runs across the top of the foot is a little snug, but some adjustments fit the bill nicely. Vibrams put a little strap in the back to help you get the Bikila on and off your heel. The single strap across the front keeps the Bikila securely in place.

The first time I took the Bikilas out, I ran for 5 minutes. Why I was surprised, I don’t know. It was just like running barefooted. There is no padding. The sole is stiff yet compliant. You can feel everything through the bottom of your feet. I followed up this run with runs of half a mile, 1 mile, 3 miles, and my longest run to date (today), 4 miles.

Yea, I got lambasted for jumping from 1 to 3 miles, but no harm done. I seem to be fairly resilient, and I am always careful.

As for the Bikilas themselves, I love them. Right now, I’m planning on running in them once a week, up to 6 miles. You have to learn to run all over again when you get into barefoot running, otherwise, you might hurt yourself. I may add some more runs later this year, when I return back to strictly a running regimen. The only question I have left is: how durable are they? It might take me a while to find out.

I purchased these Vibram Bikilas with my own money for my own use. For those of you interested in barefoot running, these are a good choice.

Wes

The Day Nothing Happened

2011-05-11T12:13:00.001-04:00

Mother’s Day weekend dawned: bright, hot, clear. As often happens this time of year, Dee Dee, Matthew, and I were up early for a soccer tournament. Matthew’s club team was playing in the President’s Cup, even as his high school team wrapped up their play offs. I was going to work this tournament, in preparation for State Cup, but after getting a few subtle hints from Dee Dee, I dropped my availability.

During Matthew’s morning game, I met an old friend that was assessing the referees. This gentleman had been in the soccer bidness for upwards of thirty years. I chatted with him a bit about the state of affairs in Georgia Soccer, which also gave me the chance to whine about the new stringent testing requirements for Grade 7 referees. There are over 4,000 referees in the state, half of which are first year (Grade 9). There are only 80+ Grade 7s, and fewer than 40 grade 6 and below. We will lose half of the Grade 9s for various reasons, but most of it due to coach/parent abuse. It just didn’t make sense to me to make it “harder” to maintain a grade 7.

After Matthew’s club game, we were off to Columbus, GA and back for his high school match, which they won. I wanted to get some youth matches under my belt before State Cup, so I signed up for a match on Wednesday night. Unfortunately, this is the next round of the high school play offs, and I’ll now have to miss Matthew’s game. I admit to being disappointed, but such is the games I have to play to balance my life with that of my family.

I am looking forward to the girl’s match this evening, more so than I was the adult match I had Sunday night. My assignor had mistakenly believed I was still training for a marathon. As a result, he had been giving me mostly division 3 and over thirty/forty matches. I asked for a more competitive match for a “change of pace”.

The teams I reffed Sunday night were division 1 teams. Being of African/Caribbean ethnicity, both teams had a very casual, laid back style, and they both were very skilled. The last time I had done one of these teams, things had gotten out of hand a bit, even though it ended well. I was determined to do a better job on this game.

Part way through the match, I had to pull a player from each team aside and tell them to stop the extracurricular activities. They were kind of roughing each other up. I then proceeded to call fouls on each player whenever they touched the other. They got the message. One of the teams began to run away with the score. To keep the other team happy, I tightened up on the winning team, not giving them much lee way foul wise. I learned this technique from a very wise assessor in my first year.

After the game, the players were shaking hands with me, the assistant refs, and each other when one of the players remarked:

Wow! No red cards…

He said this in a very casual nonchalant kind of way. I caught it, but I did not respond. Inwardly, I was beaming. I’ve had players tell me how great the game I reffed was, and I’ve also had them tell me how bad I sucked. It just comes with the territory. In all our matches, we strive to have our presence felt while being as innocuous as possible. To have zero drama, and to have one of the players give such a subtle compliment is the result for which we strive. It keeps us coming back to the game.

Now, if I can just get these 12 year old girls to treat me right… They’re such trouble makers!

Wes

Controlled

2011-05-09T10:18:00.001-04:00

If there was one word to describe my training so far, this would be it. It sure beats the alternative. This is why we take the fitness tests. We use the digits as guidelines to control our training.

There is a school of thought (old school) that says loudly, base before speed. The latest thought (new school) says (a good bit of) speed before distance, using the fitness you currently have. If you were, I dunno, crazy enough to use your digits from last year, then you would have nobody to blame but yourself when you get hurt.

I have also found, during this process, that I am enjoying my workouts more, a lot more. My data files from my ride yesterday at Columns Drive show me consistently hitting miles in the 21-22 mph range during my 10 minute under/over intervals. Yet, I wasn’t suffering. What a huge confidence boost this was for me.

There’s a place in a triathlon training plan for suffering. But not now, and not in mine, nor this season. My first race is now officially five weeks away. My plan is shifting to power, and I have just tons of refereeing stuff coming up with State Cup.

Things should get interesting. I hope y’all had a great weekend!

Wes

Fuzzy Swim Math

2011-05-04T09:30:00.001-04:00

We used to tease The ELF about this all the time. She would “sneak” these little snafus into her swim workouts. The described yardage a bit shorter than the actual yardage.

It doesn’t hurt to be an anal retentive digit analyzer….

Based on past experience, I’ve gotten into the habit of adding up my swim yardage for every workout. You know. Just to be sure. The prescribed workout in my book called for 1800 yards, but the digits only added up to 1600.

This just won’t do.

What to do? What to do? The main set consisted of a power swim set (+/- 5 seconds off my critical swim pace) of 4x200 yards on fifteen seconds rest. It was obvious that by simply adding another 200 to the set, my problem would be solved, and I’m sure that this is what the book’s author had intended.

My power swim set interval is 1:34 to 1:42 per hundred, and I nailed every interval the top side of that range. The swimming is coming back. I’m much more focused on what I should be doing, rather than what I want to be doing (going fast). Training smarter allowed me to save some energy for my hour long bike ride that afternoon.

Sometimes, mental progress is just as significant as physical progress.

I have saved every swim workout that my coach ever gave me. The workouts I am doing now are simple and effective, but they in no way compare to the creative ass-kicking variety that is the ELF produced workout.

The upside… I don’t have to bring a stack of sandwich baggee wrapped index cards to the pool…

Wes

Intervals

2011-05-02T12:03:00.001-04:00

Be careful what you wish for…

Seems like all I am doing these days is intervals. Intervals. Intervals. more intervals. If you want to race fast, you have to train fast. If you want to be competitive on 5-8 hours a week, then you need to do intervals, and lots of them.

Never mind that you have not a base in any other discipline but running. That’s why we take those dayum tests. We do our intervals with the fitness with have, at the proper pace, for the proper amount of time.

Don’t be stupid…

After my test on Thursday, which wasn’t on the schedule, by the way, I was not looking forward to Saturday’s forty-five minute run. It called for three, six minute steady state intervals with four minutes of recovery.

I waited a little late on Saturday to get started, but I needed the sleep. Hobgood Park’s half mile track was my course of choice. A girl’s softball tournament was being held at the site, and it provided some distraction from misery. I warmed up for five minutes before starting my first interval. My idea was to hold around an 8 minute pace, although anything under 8:33 would have been fine. As is often the case, each interval got harder as the day got hotter. I ran a little over 5 miles in my allotted time for an over all pace of 8:56. I wrapped up the training day with a 1500 yard swim in the pool. Just basic endurance stuff, but it did serve to cool my body down.

Sunday, I woke up feeling the stiffness in my legs, and I wondered if the prescribed workout was the “right thing to do”. I’m all about listening to my body. Following standard procedure, I decided to give it a go and see how I felt. There’s always time to make adjustments.

I’m not a big fan of interval training on the road. This workout called for 3x10 minutes of under/overs. The idea was to hit one heart rate zone for 3 minutes, then a higher heart rate zone for 2 minutes, then repeat. That brings us to the necessary ten minutes, after which I would rest for five minutes. I gave myself 25 minutes to get warmed up before starting the first interval. I was flying.

You know you are doing something right when you hit known points along the Silver Comet Trail five minutes early. I hit the turn around at the midway point of my second interval and started back. The wind was in my face, but it didn’t matter. The workout was prescribed by heart rate, and that’s what I stuck too. Still, I managed to negative split the ride back by 1.5 minutes.

When I leave to go workout in the morning, invariably I always wonder what I forgot. On this day, it was my socks for my run off :-) Good thing the K-swiss Blade Run Lights were designed to be ran in bare feet. I quickly changed and hit the restroom on the way out, which led to the discovery that I had put my tri shorts on backwards. HA! After quickly rectifying the situation, I hit the trail for my tempo run off. I knew this was going to hurt.

Fortunately for me, the first mile of the Silver Comet Trail is slightly down hill. I was able to hit my pace at a more relaxed effort. Still, I had to come back up that path to complete my workout. At the turn around, I settled in about thirty yards behind another runner, who was running at about my pace. I gained on her a little bit when she had to wait to go around some walkers. About one hundred yards from the trailhead, I passed her and led the way into the finish. In fifteen minutes, I ran 1.85 miles for an 8:07 pace.

I was very pleased to have nailed my workouts for the day, and I rode home feeling so very blessed to have the health and fitness to do the things I love to do.

Wes

CTS Field Test

2011-04-29T09:56:00.001-04:00

Triathlon training is in full swing. For this training cycle, I have decided to follow the training plan from Chris Carmichael’s “The Time Crunched Triathlete”. I chose this plan not so much because I am time crunched, but because I want to be competitive yet still have more time to do other things, like enjoy that beer I mentioned. The intermediate Olympic plan as three (or more) days off each week, and I find that I am liking it.

After the Georgia Half Marathon, I had exactly 12 weeks until the West Point Olympic Triathlon. For the first four weeks, I executed the transition plan, also available in the book. At the end of the four weeks, I wanted to take the fitness tests. The swim test went off fine. Not much to say about that. On that final weekend, I went to Columns Drive to take the bike/run test, only to find that I had left my heart rate strap on my laptop at home. MINOR FAIL! I made it an easy workout instead.

Those of you on Facebook know that I have been on staycation all week till Friday. I got a bunch of stuff done around the house and really enjoyed being able to get my workouts in when and where I wanted. I thought it would be a good idea to make up the test on Thursday, my last day of staycation. I brought Dee Dee along to make sure I didn’t screw up again.

You could not have asked for a more beautiful day to take the fitness test. It was sunny, a little windy, and seventy perfect degrees. The CTS field test is no secret. You execute a warm up, then the test itself is 2x8 minute all out efforts with a 10 minute recovery period between tests. After the last test, you have 10 minutes to recover and get ready to run, then its an 8 minute all out run effort.

All you have to do is bring it…

The warm up consisted of a couple of 1 minute high spins followed by 1 minute recovery, then a couple of power intervals in the same vein. When the charge sounded, I took off. It helped that the wind was at my back, but I was pretty sure I would give a “max effort” going in either direction.

If you know anything about me, I do not like to test, but I do them. I worked hard, huffing and puffing, and kept an eye on my speed, to make sure my effort was consistent. I intentionally ignored HR in order to optimize my chances for an accurate measurement. After the first test, I spun lightly for the 10 minutes, and was delighted that my course took me back to the parking lot at columns drive, just in time to start the second test with the wind at my back. That test was more of the same, except I felt like (and later proved) that is was slightly lower than my first test.

Unfortunately, the end of the second bike test found me at the far end of Columns Drive. It took me about 8 minutes to pedal lightly back to the car. I took a little longer getting ready for my run than the requisite 10 minutes, but I felt like my effort was good. I started out the run by warming up for 7 minutes or so, including 5x15 seconds of striders.

At the bell, I started out at the recommended pace (5K), which for me is about a 7:45 mile. One thing I have learned in this process (and you think I would know this already), running after riding is not the same as just running. It was hard to hold my 5K pace, and my effort suffered as time elapsed. When the final bell tolled, I ran slightly over a mile at a 7:53 pace.

I couldn’t wait to get home and upload my data and analyze the tests. The results were surprising but not unexpected. My max HR on both bike tests approached my LT threshold from last year, but the average for both was 160 and 158 respectively, 5 points below last years test. My run test was spot on with the results from my 5K in February.

Despite some concerns, I’m happy with those numbers. They will guide me through this training cycle, and I can retake the tests after my race(s) in June, if I so choose.

With that out of the way, we can get back to our regularly scheduled programming :-)

Wes

What? Me? Worry?

2011-04-22T16:15:00.001-04:00

The idea is to run more, swim and bike less, and just enjoy my triathlon season. Somehow, I think that has gotten away from me. I’m barely going to get in 1.5 hours of running this week, provided I stick to the plan.

Where’s the fun in that? (who am I kidding?)

My running workouts this week consist of three runs, but two of them are off the bike for 15 minutes. You don’t get a lot of mileage in “off the bike”. I’m tempted to go into a maintenance running program and swim and bike as cross training. So far, I am holding out.

I did my first interval session on the bike trainer Thursday. It was hot. 3x8 minutes in Zone 4 had me sweating. The floor was covered, and droplets where clinging to the underside of the top tube. If I had any doubts about my ability get my HR in Zone 4 on the bike, they were quickly dispelled.

The previous Tuesday, I was supposed to do the same basic workout, but ride for an hour. I opted to ride the hills in my neighborhood instead. After downloading my data to Training Center, I saw that I spent 23 minutes in Zones 4 and 5. LOL… Damn near perfect. The 1300 feet of total climbing certainly took its toll on my body.

Starting tomorrow, Dee Dee and I are off work until next Thursday. We plan to get a mini-camp thing going next week, and I’m hoping to make up the fitness test I blew last weekend.

Have a great weekend, y’all!

Wes

Training Starts Today

2011-04-19T11:06:00.000-04:00

My training for the half marathon found me running six days a week for the first 2-3 weeks, then it tapered off to 5 days, and that suited me just fine. I worked hard through the winter, and I finally achieved a time (not a result) of which I was proud. very. proud.

After the race, I began to ease myself back into tri mode. Sugar plum fairies danced in my head, and I had visions of greatness. I made plans. My plans had plans. I needed to do this. I needed to do that. and I worked out, a little.

Then it hit me... I could no longer see the forest through the trees. I had lost sight of the big picture. I was doing all the right things for the wrong reasons.

This year is supposed to be... I don't want to say an "off season", but rather a "down season". Don't ask me what kind of fool wants to PR a half marathon and a marathon in their "down season" either. We all drink from the same kool-aid. I just want to set a few running PRs and enjoy my wife, children, and beer a little more this year.

In the last month or so, I've basically cut back to 2-3 hours of training. I made good faith efforts to do my fitness tests. I set my swim T-pace last week at the pool, and I was pleasantly surprised to see it come it at 1:33. That's about five to six seconds slower than where I left off last season, but we can't be too serious, right? I went to Columns Drive to check my bike/run fitness on Sunday, and left my HR strap at home. Totally pissed me off, but again... C'est la vie...

Today, I find myself eight weeks out from the West Point Olympic distance triathlon. It's the course on which I currently hold my International distance PR. Today marks the day were I start to get a little bit more serious about training. Today marks the day where I end my 18 day streak of beer/wine/liquor drinking and get a little more serious about eating healthy.

Who knows what will happen at West Point... I may bust a move. I may PR... but that might be a little too serious, and it's totally not a goal for me this year.

Wes

Mini-camp

2011-04-11T12:51:00.000-04:00

From the top of the bay bridge, I could see for miles and miles. The sun glistened off the waters of the bay and in the distance, the waters of the gulf were an emerald blue. The nostalgia was strong, and a small space in my heart ached with the act of leaving. I had been coming to Panama City Beach since I was about four years old, and now, I was leaving my son there, with my father, in the hopes that he too would cultivate memories he would long cherish.

Back in the real world, I slaved at my desk job and watched the circus that is our Federal government work out their partisan/class warfare bickering in search of a budget. The highlight of my week was having the strap on my laptop bag come undone (for the third time), which sent my expensive work laptop crashing to the ground. This time, the damage was severe, and she was no longer functioning. Friday, my boss asked me to call him at work. He informed me there was a possibility I would be furloughed on Monday if Congress did not get its act together. Oh joy.... The carnival just got personal.

Dee Dee and I decided we would put our faith in Ole Betsy, a.k.a. The Silver Streak, and take our bikes with us to Panama City for the weekend. Unlike the previous Saturday, this ride was rather fast and uneventful. We pulled into PCB just in time to hear the good news, a budget had been agreed upon. We were a little too tired to fix the flat on Dee Dee's back tire. We laid out our plan for the weekend. Saturday, we would run, swim, and fix Dee Dee's tire. Sunday, we ride.

Saturday morning, I got up at 9 AM EDT, 8 AM local time, and got ready to run. The sun came out, and I knew that if I didn't get going, it would be very hot and humid. Dee Dee joined me, and together we ran a mile or so down the road before turning around and heading back. Dee Dee's tummy was bothering her, and she'd already put in most of her mileage for the week. After dropping Dee Dee off, headed back out on my own. I wanted to get in between 8 and 9 miles, but the heat and humidity encouraged me to cut it short. I cut through the neighborhoods and managed to find the Ironman Florida running route along the lagoon. It's always fun for me to catch up with old(ish) memories.

After we ate breakfast, we packed up our stuff and headed up to the big pool by the beach. The water in the pool was cold! I grabbed my wet suit and headed down to the beach after Matthew and his guest. They were mucking around in waist deep water. The gulf was just as cold as the pool. I slipped into my wet suit and proceeded to get acclimated. Even so, putting my face in the water to swim still took my breath away. I headed down towards the St. Andrew's pier for about ten minutes before heading back. I wasn't all that comfortable swimming by myself. Most of the beach goers were opting to sun themselves for some reason. I swam back to the place where I had left Matthew, and I spent about another 25 minutes floating in the gulf. It was quite refreshing. I was even able to get into the pool afterwards sans wet suit.

Upwards of 1 PM-ish or so, a fog rolled down the beach and obscured the sun for the rest of the day. I haven't been in PCB during April very often, but that was a new one on me. We spent the rest of the day getting ready for and cooking dinner, fixing Dee Dee's bike, and sitting out on the patio with my father, talking and drinking beer/wine. PCB is definitely a low stress kinda place :-)

Sunday morning we were up and at'em at almost exactly the same time. Dee Dee and I were out on our bikes by 9-ish. I needed to do an hour and a half, but given that this was Dee Dee's first ride of the year, I compromised and asked her if she wanted to just ride to the pier and back. That's almost exactly a twenty mile loop. We both enjoyed the tail wind on the way down, but on the way back.... not so much. Still, Dee Dee was a trooper, and she hung tough until we got back to the abode. We showered, ate breakfast, then packed up and headed for home.

My father stayed behind in Panama City to wait for my sister and her daughter to arrive from Spain. He earned the right to call Panama City Beach (his second) home. My opportunity for following in his footsteps has probably passed. I don't regret the path that I have chosen. We each march to the sound of our own drummer. Yet the allure of the beaches, the sweet smell of sea, will always call to me like the song of the Siren. That soft tug at my heartstrings will probably never go away. It will just have to be dealt with. I am my father's son.

Tidbits, and such

2011-04-04T17:24:00.001-04:00

Go back to your bench… I pointed down the sidelines to the place where the players had dropped their bags.

You can’t make me go anywhere, the player responded. While its true, he wasn’t playing, nor was he in uniform, he had identified himself as a member of the team. The Laws of the Game applied.

It required some effort on my part not to let out a snicker. The onus is on the referee to remain professional at all times, even when the players do not. The game belongs to the players. Without them, I wouldn’t have a job to do. They bring courage, skill, and passion to the game. As a steward of the game, it’s my job to keep that passion within limits to ensure a fair and balanced game and to look after the safety of the players.

But there are certain things we just don’t do during a match. Like walk up and down the sidelines berating the referee.

That’s fine, I told him. There will be no more soccer played until you do as I ask.

I pondered walking over to my chair on the sidelines and firing up a cigar. Alas, the young man did not give me enough time. He sheepishly returned to his technical area, and the match continued.

Overall, I thought I handled that well, and the crotchity old bastard that insulted me in the over 40 match afterwards. Such is the life of a referee. At least I wasn’t tired like I was the night of the Georgia Half marathon. I’ll never do THAT again. I was a little tired, after dropping Matthew and his friend off in Panama City Beach for the week, but I felt like I gave the players my best, and it was a good effort.

My goals for the two games was to run hard and make up for a lack of workouts for the week. I took my running stuff with me to Panama City Beach, but I just couldn’t get the mojo to get out the door and run. I drank beer instead. I managed one ride on the trainer during the week, one swim, and today, I rode outside, in the wind and sunshine, for the first time since November.

It reminded me that running fitness is not cycling fitness is not swimming fitness. My VO2 engine is huge from the work I put in over the winter. I’m hoping and praying that it won’t take long for my muscles to catch back up again.

Have a great week, y’all!

Wes

Square One

2011-03-28T12:42:00.001-04:00

There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold
And she's buying the stairway to heaven. – Led Zeppelin

In many ways, I feel like I am starting over. I guess a lot of us feel that way coming off the “off season”. In many ways, I’m fitter at this point of the year than I ever have been before. I’d like to think that I am confused, but we all know that isn’t true.

After the Georgia Half Marathon, it was definitely time to unwind. Other than put the pedals back on my bike, I did nothing at all Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday, I spun my delayed onset sore muscles out on the bike for half an hour, even though it took me till 9 PM to finally climb aboard. While my body was sore, my mind was not handling the lack of activity very gracefully.

Thursday, it was time to get back in the pool for the first time since, oh, November. After my trip to Savannah earlier this month, I developed a very much real pain in my left shoulder. It was so bad, I couldn’t really use the arm at all, much less lift it over my head. It was rather perplexing to say the least, since I really didn’t do anything with it all. I started out with my usual 500 yard warm up, then I did 5x100 at a comfortable pace. I was careful not to hurt my shoulder, even though I felt it often. At the end of the swim, I dare say that it even felt a little better.

After taking Friday off, I decided Saturday that I wanted to both run and swim. I got up around 8 AM-ish and had my coffee while waiting for the rain to come in. Not wanting to get wet, I thought I would do 3 miles on the treadmill at the gym, then hop into the pool for a swim. On my way to the gym, I saw some guy running in the rain and his VFFs. Doh! Why is it there is always somebody more HTFU than you are? LOL….

When I got to the gym, I noticed that the pool was empty. The aquaerobics class had abandoned ship at the first flash of lightning. Taking this as a sign/gift, I quickly changed into my swim trunks and hopped into the pool. The water was much warmer this day for some reason, and I hope the reason wasn’t THAT obvious :) I basically repeated the same workout from Thursday, but I added some intensity for the second 50 yards of every hundred, and I as a reward, I finished the same workout five minutes faster.

I quickly showered and headed upstairs to the treadmill. I was looking might fine in my Bikilas, but I always feel so short. LOL… I took my time warming up before settling into a 6.5 mph pace. I’m getting pretty good at this treadmill thing. I hit 1 mile in almost exactly 10 minutes. Then, it was time to switch over into my new K-swiss Blade Run Lites. I could immediately tell the difference between the K-ona Cs, the Vibrams, and the Lites. The cushioning, the heel angle, the form, it really does all change based on the shoe, or lack there of. I put in 2 miles at 9-9.5 minute pace, and I really like the Blade Run Lites. I can’t wait to put more miles on them.

Dee Dee and a nice breakfast was waiting on me at home. After which, she and I changed and headed out to Chateau Elan for a delayed 22 year anniversary celebration. Despite some rather nasty weather (or maybe because of it!), we stayed busy at the Chateau. Let’s just say what happens at Chateau Elan stays at Chateau Elan :-)

More (and longer) workouts this week! The first 4 weeks of this 12 week block is all about getting back in the groove of things, then its on to West Point Oly distance and the Callaway Gardens Super Sprint!

Let’s make it a great week, y’all!

Wes

Veni. Vidi. Vici.

2011-03-21T09:47:00.001-04:00

A Georgia Half Marathon Race Report

It’s kind of hard to believe that I am starting my sixth year of training and racing. For all of those years, I have been training to see what I could do. I never felt compelled to set goals and train towards those goals. My simple accomplishments were enough to keep me going.

Then, I had a breakthrough. I remember the exact moment. It was at the start of the run for the Cohutta Springs Triathlon in 2010. I hit the ground running, and I was running hard. Look at me, Dad, I’m flying! More importantly, I wasn’t dying. That moment, more than anything else over the last five years, opened the window to possibility.

I came off my 5K race at the end of February with a huge confidence boost. My race simulation on the fifth, while not going exactly as I wanted, showed me that I needed to back off my expectations a little bit, but the fitness was there. I managed two training runs the week of the race, both of them with a little tempo. I DID NOT run in my Vibrams. There would be time for play after the race. I wanted to run Friday, but Daddy duties got in the way, and I was totally cool with taking another rest day. The knot in my calf was almost healed, and I still had some residual soreness from reffing the weekend before.

Saturday, I got up relatively early, after sleeping for 10 delicious hours. Having abstained from beer for much of the week, my sleep was deep and sound. I ate breakfast and watched me some Premier League soccer on ESPN before heading downtown to the expo. For some reason, I thought the expo was in the World Congress Center. I walked the length of the building, through the little girls waiting for their cheerleading competition, all the way to the back and out the doors. I realized I needed to check my consent form, and sure enough… The expo was at the Georgia Dome :-) I walked to the dome and found the expo. Packet pickup was all the way to the back, and there was no waiting in my line. The helpful volunteer tried to give me somebody else’s packet, but another volunteer caught the mistake immediately.

The expo was fairly nice. There were quite a few vendors. I managed to walk out with one new pack of socks. LOL… I did try on the K-swiss Blade Light Runs, and I loved them. As a matter of fact, I ordered me some online. I found the same shoes for $25.00 off AND free shipping. I like to support my local running store, but that was just too good of a deal to pass up.

I stopped at Publix (Georgia Marathon title sponsor) on the way home and picked up some hamburgers and chicken burgers for dinner. I made four of each, and since the kids weren’t excited about the chicken burgers, I ate two! They were surprisingly good, and they hit the pre-race dinner sport just right. I got the kids situated and went to bed at ten. I figured six hours of good sleep would be just about right.

My slumber was disturbed one time, around 1 AM in the morning. Other than that, I slept well. Everything was coming together so well, it was almost spooky. The alarm went off at 4 AM, and I jumped right up and got ready to rumble. After breakfast, I enjoyed two cups of coffee while I waited for my friends to come down from Canton and ride with me to the rest. The idea was take care of all pre-race business BEFORE heading downtown, and it worked well… sorta….

Jenn and Lamar showed up right on time. We all piled into my car and headed downtown. We made good time until we got to the exit for the race. Cars were backed up a bit. Note to self: next time, leave earlier. Once I got up the exit ramp, I hopped over into the car pool exit lane and made a quick left away from the race site. I went about 50 yards when I noticed an open parking spot on the street. I slipped into it and parked my car. The signs even said it was free parking on Sunday. SCORE!

Did I mention this was going so smooth it was scary?

With an hour before the race start, we mosied on over to the race site. This was Jenn’s first half marathon, and she was nervous. She wanted to go to the port-a-pots. This made me nervous. I had visions of the forty deep line at the first Georgia Marathon/Half Marathon I attended. I was pleasantly surprised to find port-a-pots a plenty, and the lines short. I even hopped into line myself for one last visit before being “race ready”.

Did I mention this was going so smooth it was scary?

We made our way out of the park and onto the street. We came out at corral “F”. I was in corral “G”, while Jenn and Lamar where in corral “M”. We said our good byes, and the waiting began. I was one of the few people in the corral already. I moved around, jigged to the music, and stretched a little to warm up my muscles. As the corral began to fill, I noticed some Japanese runners with “Pray for Japan” shirts on.

After the national anthem, the dignitaries spoke a few words, and the wheel chair race started promptly at 6:50 AM. The count down to our race went by pretty quickly. The race starter counted down from ten, yelled “go”, and we were off. Given that I was in the seventh corral, we didn’t move very fast. We all started walking, and after we crossed an intersection, we came to a screeching halt. Still, no one was fidgety or impatient. The crowd started moving forward again. It took me five minutes to cross the start line. I pressed “start” on my Timex and my Garmin. The Garmin would be auto-lapping, while I would have to manually hit the lap button on the Timex.

The race started out on a small uphill before hitting a long 2-mile downhill stretch with a few rollers. As expected, it was crowded at the start, but it was perfect for getting my pace under control. Everybody was running fairly close to my pace, and I only had to weave a little bit to create space for myself and keep my pace where I wanted it to be.

Since I was heading downhill in this stretch, I opted to allow my pace to settle in the lower end of my starting range of 8:30-8:45. I only had to remind myself twice to slow it down. Somewhere in the middle of mile 2, I came up on my friends Steph and Nat (who is a great marathon runner) who were running the marathon together. Nat asked me how I felt, and I said, “Good!” We had a nice little conversation for a quarter of a mile or so. I don’t think I’ve heard had a conversation running an 8:30 mile! LOL. The road then split into two with an island in between. I opted to take the high road, and the girls took the low road. After that, I was on my own again.

My Garmin had been beeping a couple of hundred yards ahead of the mile markers. I fully realized that this would affect my pace, but I wanted to use the Garmin for pace control, and I accepted the fact that my actual pace would be slower. I hit my first three miles right on pace: 8:33, 8:27, and 8:30. It was here that we began a long stretch of flat with rollers. For the next six miles, I wanted to keep my pace in the 8:15 to 8:30 range. I would allow my pace to fall into the low 8’s on the downhills, then watch it climb back up in to the 8:20s as I climbed the small rollers and went through the aid stations. At the aid stations, I would walk if I grabbed Gatorade. If I grabbed water, I kept running and drank it down the best I could.

My body had now reached its rhythm, and the real work began. As I ran past the Martin Luther King center, through Inman Park and Little Five Points, my mind registered the sites and buildings that I had seen before. My body still felt really strong, and I admit to being a little surprised, although I shouldn’t have been. I knew the pain and hard work was still ahead. The last three miles or so were mostly uphill. I felt like if I could hold this pace for 9, maybe 10 miles, I would have accomplished all that I wanted to accomplish.

Shortly after mile 9, we passed through the gates of Piedmont Park. I had used a long downhill stretch to turn in my fastest split of the day: 8:05. I knew the hills commeth, and I wanted a bit of padding to prepare. We exited the park on the south side and were immediately rewarded with the start of a mile or so long uphill stretch. I reminded myself that I only had to do this once, and I still managed to turn in a sub-8:30 mile. So far, I had been following the game plan to a “T”.

We all enjoyed a nice downhill stretch that took us to the campus of Georgia Tech. We ran right by the football stadium before starting our long uphill climb to the finish. Approaching the finish, I heard one spectator say we only had a “couple of minutes”, only to find out we were still half a mile away. Grrrrrr! Still, I heard the finish line up ahead, and I kept working hard. At the entrance to Centennial Park, we made a left, and I could see the finish line up ahead. I saw 1:52 on the clock, and I was just ecstatic. I crossed the finish line. pressed stop on the Garmin and Timex, and started walking.

I was tired! That last 5K was hard work, but I managed to hold my pace for the most part. I picked up a bottle of water, my medal, and a space blanket, then began to make my way through the finisher’s area. There was a long line of volunteers handing out food and drink from Publix. It was TOP NOTCH. I got chocolate milk, trail mix, pretzels, bagels, and yogurt. I can’t heap enough praise on Publix, the race, and all the volunteers. They were simply wonderful. There were bands on the course, cheer leaders, and cheering sections. Overall, the race was very well done, and I can’t wait to get back.

An online friend of mine, Fred “The Cube” grabbed me at the gate to the park, and we chatted while we waited for my friends and his wife to come in. It’s always fun meeting old friends and new faces at race sites!

Here are my splits from the race:

Spli	Garmin	Timex
1	8:33	8:50
2	8:27	8:33
3	8:30	8:36
4	8:26	8:31
5	8:27	8:34
6	8:25	8:57 (late)
7	8:16	7:57
8	8:23	8:41
9	8:05	7:50
10	8:28	8:41
11	8:30	8:36
12	8:31	8:33
13	8:44	9:47
14	2:20
Total	1:52:14	1:52:14

A 15+ minute PR. In retrospect, I learned so much from this race experience. I knew going into the race of what I was capable. I had done it in training. I put my plan together, and then I nailed it. I believe that is a first as well. It has a lot to be said for it :-)

and now? The hard work is over. I still plan to run a fall marathon. I mean. There’s a PR that needs to be corrected there as well! In between now and then, there’s triathlons that need to be done. All of them will be “for fun”, but I want to set some new goals and see if I can keep the momentum going.

but for now, we rest. I’m really tired….

Wes

The Plan, Stan

2011-03-18T11:12:00.001-04:00

Ya, ya, ya… I too debated the wisdom of trying out the Vibrams before my race. What could a half mile hurt, right? It was a reasonably beautiful day. Temps were in the 50s. Sun was shining. I was actually a little embarrassed to run around Hobgood Park in them, fully realizing that I just needed to get over that, fast. I heard a couple of comments as I ran by the walkers, but nothing to be embarrassed about :-) It didn’t take very long to realize that running in Vibrams on one’s heels is not an option. I ran a little bit on the pad, and then I switched to a light full flat footed landing. Overall, I was very pleased with this first half mile. It was definitely, just like running barefoot.

Back at the car, I switched over to my K-swiss Kona-C(s). Back when I purchased these shoes, the salesperson told me they would probably last about 300 miles, due to wear and tear. I’m happy to say I have now surpassed 400 miles with them, and they are still going strong. Even though I was supposed to run “easy” that day, I finished up the three mile run at an 8:51 pace. My legs felt well rested after two consecutive days off.

Arriving back home, I felt a long forgotten knot in my left calf. That night, I gave it some self massage. I wasn’t too worried about it, but these kinds of cramps have a way of biting you in the arse in the latter stages of a race. I held nothing back on my tempo run on Thursday. Knot be damned. I ran negative splits: 9:20, 8:39, 8:30, and 8:13, for an overall pace of 8:41. I could still feel my calf, but it hasn’t bothered me. I’m hoping after Friday and Saturday, it will be long forgotten.

Tomorrow, I’ll get up early and go to the expo. I wanna be home before my beebee wakes up from her beauty sleep. She’s not going to be able to go with me to the race on Sunday, at least she shouldn’t, but you never know with The Bug. I’m looking forward to browsing the expo. I want to try on those new K-swiss Blade Run Lights and Kwickys….

Race morning, we’ll do our thing. My plan is to start off the first three miles at an 8:30-8:45 pace, then settle into my race pace of 8:15-8:30-ish for the next six miles. Somewherez around mile 9 is where the uphill battle begins, and I intend to just give it everything I have left. Everything I have done since IM Arizona points to a PR, and a big one, provided my body cooperates. As I always like to say though, the proof is in the pudding.

Have a great weekend, y’all!

Wes

Oh Noze! (2x)

2011-03-14T10:44:00.001-04:00

A Shamrock and Roll 5K Spectathlete Report

I’m going to go out on a limb and just say it. Dee Dee is taking the racing bit too far. I mean. She just finished one 5K, and the very next day, she signed up for another one. What’s the matter with this woman? One would think she didn’t race at all last year :-) Then, to make it worse, she rope a doped our daughter into doing the race with her! What a bad influence! I, on the other hand, managed to fend off the evil mental persuasion and declined to participate. With my race coming up this weekend, I just felt like it was a bad idea.

The clocks sprung forward an hour Sunday morning. Lucky for us, this race’s start time was 9 AM. That was a blessing. We got up at 6 AM-ish, ate breakfast and left the house at 7:15 AM for the 45 minute drive downtown. The race is held at Atlantic Station, a development right off the interstate near downtown Atlanta. Unlike previous races, this year, they opted to put packet pickup, the race start, and the finish lines out back in a parking lot. Still, by the time we had picked up Dee Dee and Jessica’s race packets, we had fifty minutes to kill.

We could not have asked for a more beautiful day. Outside, the sun was shining, and the temperatures were brisk. We decided to wait near the car. It was noticeably warmer in the parking deck. About twenty minutes before race time, we headed back down to the starting line. I gave Teh Bug a kiss, then walked down the street to position myself for pictures. After the GetFit Atlanta peeps warmed everybody up, the race director counted down and set the runners in motion.

There were twenty-seven hundred registered participants in the race this year, a thousand more than last year. This little race is also getting big! The first runners came sprinting by, and I began the unenviable task of trying to identify Jess and Dee Dee in that sea of humanity. I smiled as a seven or eight year old girl came sprinting by, just behind the lead runners. Me thinks she was starting out too fast :-) By the time the dogs and walkers arrived, I pretty much admitted defeat. I never saw either one of them come by.

Given the shortness of the race, I went ahead and walked to the finish line. I picked out a good spot. I was one of the only people there, except for the race crew. I didn’t have long to wait. The same guy that won the Guns and Hoses 5K finished first in this race as well. His time was a little longer, but I understand he took a slight detour, and still, he finished first! LOL…

I pretty much figured that Jessica would come in around thirty minutes, and given Dee Dee’s time from last week, she would come in around forty minutes. Around the thirty minute mark, I’m relaxed, biding my time, checking out the runners as more and more begin to cross the line. Here comes this dad, pushing his 2 year old son in a jogging stroller. He’s pushing pretty hard, and the stroller begins to veer while good ole dad continues to push it straight. One thing leads to another, and the next thing I know, the stroller tilts forward, and baby is doing a face plant over the finish line, to be followed up by dad crashing into and over the stroller.

Mesmerized by the whole affair, I just stood there, unashamedly looking on in amazement. Some woman yelled “OH MY GOD” behind me and took off to help right the stroller. I was fearful that more people would get hurt, as the finishers were coming fast and furious. The helpful spectators up righted the dad and the stroller and quickly moved them off to the side. Fortunately for all involved, the dad and the stroller had taken most of the damage. I don’t believe the child had suffered a scratch, although he registered his displeasure in a loud and appropriate manner.

Not two minutes later, I’m off in la-la land, watching the runners, and the finish line gate comes crashing down, almost on the head of one of the runners. Evidently, one of the dogs had decided to take a short cut through the gate, and the leash had pulled the poles down. UNBELIEVABLE! This was prime example of how NOT to conduct a race. UGH! The poles were quickly up righted, and THEN the sand bags were put into place. They were lucky that more runners were not underneath the finish line when it came down.

At 34:50, Jessica came across the finish lines. I was able to pick her out of the crowd and snap some pictures as she came in. She didn’t see me standing there until I said something to here, and she bent over at the waist, quite intent, I believe, on barfing into her shoes. I patted her on the back and told her to keep moving. She came back to join me and wait for Dee Dee, who crossed the line in 39:52, a little better than her time from last week.

The girls drank water and rested up a bit. We then walked back to the car and headed for home. We managed to stop at the Waffle House on the way home for a traditional southern breakfast, and still made it back to the house by lunch. Now that’s what I call a great day at the races!

Wes

Troubled Times

2011-03-11T09:25:00.000-05:00

My heart goes out to the people of New Zealand, and now Japan. Let's keep them all in our thoughts and prayers....

Join me in celebrating life and remembering our kiwi friends down under. The website for this is here.

Instilling Confidence, sorta

2011-03-09T12:54:00.000-05:00

Priorities. I love that word. Priorities depend on one's value, and everybody's values are different. I'd go so far to say that if you find two people with exactly the same value, then you've found an alternate reality! LOL... As far as training goes, my referee activity and training are about on equal footing. I'm not going to give up time on the pitch this year for training. That's kinda how this race has sneaked up on me.

You see. I have two (or less) weeks until race day, and I wanted to do two half marathon race simulations. The first one, obviously, to see what went wrong, and then second one to nail my pacing. Three weekends of reffing in a row infringed on this, and I only managed one race simulation.

We've been having some really nasty weather here in the south lately, which is fine. BRING IT! I need water back in my lakes. But yea, I know... It's nothing like the blizzards my friends up north have been experiencing. Just wet, soggy, and cold. I don't mind running in the cold. I don't mind running when its wet. I do mind running when its wet AND cold. Brrrrrrrr!

After much thought, I surrendered and went to the gym. I always hate driving to the gym to run on the treadmill, only to see some overachiever out there braving the elements :-) The thought of 12 miles on the treadmill did not excite me. It helps to prepare one mentally for the boredom. I arrive at the gym to find the treadmills pretty empty. The middle of the day on the weekend is a great time to run at the gym. I pick out my treadmill, key in my stats, and off I go.

The idea was a 1.5 mile warm up, then 3 miles at 8:45, 3 miles at 8:30, then 3 miles at 8:15, followed by a 1.5 mile cool down. I knew this was going to hurt, but that's all part of the preparation :-) I do my warm up, kick it in, and the Garmin reports I'm running a 8:20 pace. Fine. They are never in sync anyways. I bang out my 3 miles and everything is fine. I up my pace and start my second 3 miles. I'm a little sore, and it was starting to get hard. People come and go around me on the other treadmills, but I am a fixture this day.

I complete the second set of 3 miles right after my 60 minutes was up. I got a short short break while I reset the treadmill and took off again. I groaned as I upped the speed again. Garmin reports an 8:10 pace. Half way through the first mile, I'm dying, and the negotiations start. At the end of the first mile, I finally give in and slow down. I finish up the last 2 miles of the third set at a sub-9 pace. The warm down... meh... it was a warm down. I did whatever I wanted.

Overall, I ran 12 miles at 9:03 pace, well below what I need to go sub-2 at my race next weekend. In this regard, I am pleased. I would have liked to match my buds that have been turning in some impressive half marathon times/PRs. Reality is that I'm not quite ready for that pace. I want a healthy PR in this stand alone half marathon. There will always be time later, for harder efforts.

Happy hump day, y'all!

Wes

Meant to be Broken

2011-02-28T09:37:00.001-05:00

A Guns and Hoses 5K Race Report

The Year 2011 is still in its infancy, and already, it is a year for the record books. The Cleveland Cavaliers broke the record for the longest losing streak in NBA history. The Caltech basketball teams snaps a 310(!) game conference losing streak. ANNNNDDD… Your humble servant finally manages to PR :-) A year for the record books, indeed.

The honest to God truth is… you want the truth don’t you? Can ya handle it? When the alarm clock went off at 6:20 AM, I didn’t want to get out of bed. What was I thinking? I needed a mental re-evaluation. I haven’t slept in for ages. It was cold outside. The bed was warm. But. I really needed to test my fitness. I really needed to see where I am on this journey. I deserved my cake.

So, I got out of bed. All of my fitness clothes were dirty. I found a long sleeve tech t-shirt and my orange Mizuno running shorts and slipped those on. I threw on a super warm and comfortable Mizuno running jacket and headed downstairs. I decided to eat just enough Apple Jacks to hold me over until after the race. I did not want a full stomach on his run!

Dee Dee and I hopped in the car and drove the 1.2 miles to the park. A lot of people had already arrived. We went and picked up our packets. I failed to register for the race early by one day. They were all out of our t-shirt sizes. Dee Dee grabbed an XL, and I opted not to take a t-shirt at all. My drawers are full of race shirts! LOL… We went back to the car to keep warm. It was 40 degrees out, a little cold to be sitting still, but I suspected it would be fine for the race. We watched Dee Dee’s friends from work arrive.

About twenty minutes before the race start we got out of the car. Our friend, Christina, had come to do the race as well. She’s a sub-20 5Ker on a good day. With fifteen minutes to go, I left Dee Dee to chat with her friends and did a warm up run around the park. My legs were still feeling a little sore, but I was confident that they would carry me through the day. Dee Dee was still chatting when I got back. After several minutes, I noticed the crowd coming out of the park to stand behind us. I didn’t realize it, but we were standing at the starting line. I was even more chagrined when I found out I was at the front of the line. I moved back 2-3 rows of people to a place that was more comfortable for me.

The bearded hunting cap wearing starter guy made his way through the crowd to the front of the line. He told us he was going to say: on your mark, set, go, but don’t go, he quickly added. Then, 2 seconds later, he set us off.

Before the race, I had set the Virtual Partner on the Garmin 310XT to a 7:45 per mile pace. As the crowd surged, I hit start and took off with them. I saw Christina up ahead, and I toyed with the idea of racing out in front of her, and laughing, but given her pace, I decided it was probably a bad idea. It was slightly uphill to the end of the parking lot where we made a u-turn and headed back down the parking lot and out into the street. At this point, my lungs started to burn.

This is what it means to feel alive…

The endorphins were kicking in early, aided, no doubt, by the mostly downhill first mile. I knew the last mile, coming back, was going to be tough, and I had decided to bank some minutes. At the bottom of the hill, we made a left onto the parkway that leads into my neighborhood. Shortly after that, we hit the first mile marker. A glance at my Garmin indicated I was 45 seconds ahead of pace.

Good, I thought to myself. Let’s hang on to that for dear life…

The Garmin buzzed about fifty yards on the other side of the mile marker. A short distance later, we made a right turn into the water treatment plant. The entire second mile is mostly flat. I was pleased to see my “banked” time holding steady, even improving a little bit. The lead runner came by, followed by other runners, including Christina. She yelled something at me, but I was really focused on grinding this one out. I made the turn around and picked the pace back up. I knew the hard work was still ahead.

We made a left out of the treatment plant back onto the parkway. There was a little dip there that set the tone for the last mile. On the far side of the dip sat the second mile marker. My Garmin buzzed right on target, and I was still 40+ seconds ahead of pace. At the end of my subdivision we turned right and headed up hill back to the park. I shortened my steps and increased my turn over. I managed to pass a couple of runners here. The further along we got, the steeper the hill. My heart rate started to climb. All I could think was to tell myself that this was OK. This is the only real hill, and the hard work would soon be over.

At the parking lot entrance, we turned right back into the park, then made another right onto the side walk that circles the baseball fields. I latch onto a young woman in front of me who is running at about my pace. I fail to gain on her, but she is not leaving me behind either. A hundred yards down the side walk, we are shunted off to the right onto an asphalt path. It takes us down a hill to the amphitheater, then back up the hill and back onto the sidewalk again. That short steep hill really got the heart rate pumping.

The track around the ball fields is just about half a mile long. I am exactly on the opposite side of the finishing line. I’ve run at this park dozens and dozens of times. I know there is slightly more than a quarter mile to go, and despite the small rise there, I pick up the pace. At the top of the circle, the Garmin buzzes, and I’m rewarded with my slowest mile of the race. I fully expected this, but now, it’s slightly downhill to the finish. I kick it in and begin to close the gap on my pace bunny. Through the fence, I can see the race clock. I get excited to see the number “23” in the minutes column. I start to sprint for the finish. I decide at the last minute not to race my pace bunny. I ease up as we enter the chute and finish right behind her.

The Garmin 310XT reads 23:49. This wasn’t a chipped race, so I’ll just go with what the Garmin says is my official time. I couldn’t have been more excited. Christina came over to check on my and give me a high five before taking off on her 3 mile cool down. Overachiever. I felt pretty confident that I had placed in my age group. Mine was the third card in the 40-49 year old box, although sometimes, people toss their cards in late. I went to the car and grabbed my jacket and waited by the finish line for Dee Dee to come in. She crossed the line at about the 40 minute mark, with a smile on her face.

At the awards ceremony, they announced that the “Guns” had won the competition for the first time in 5 years. They had 437 registered participants, raising over $2500.00 for local charities. Our little 5K is all growed up now. As for myself, I did place 3rd in my age group, and I haz bling to prove it. Even better than that, I PRed the 5K distance by one minute and twenty-one seconds, on a slightly harder course. The last time I PRed a 5K was in 2007.

Draught over :-)

Wes

2011 Race Season

2011-02-25T14:02:00.001-05:00

My race schedule is up, with the exception of my fall marathon. I could not be more pleased with the way it has worked out.

I will kick off my year with two running races. Tomorrow, I am racing the Guns and Hoses 5K down the street from my house. I’m pretty sure I signed up to be a hired “gun” :-) Dee Dee does work of the Dept. of Public Safety, ya know…. Next month is the half marathon. I have one last weekend of reffing, then it’s a couple of weeks of race simulations to boost my confidence for the big day. It’s even better that the weather is warming up.

My first triathlons will be in June. I will return to the West Point Olympic on June 12. This is where I set my Olympic distance PR, and I’m looking forward to doing this race for the second time. I will follow this one up with my usual Callaway Gardens Super Sprint the following weekend.

In July, I have the Tri the Mountains Sprint on my radar. I wanted to do this one last year, but it didn’t work out. It’s not too far from the house, and it should be super fun. I’m planning on my big triathlon for the end of the year possibly being the new Rev3 in South Carolina. That one looks like loads of fun too. I’m waiting to sign up for both of these pending last minute time resolution.

There you have it. I’ll be adding a full marathon in November/December time frame, and that should end my year of rest :-)

Have a great weekend, y’all!

Wes

Making the Tough Choices

2011-02-22T12:28:00.001-05:00

Everybody has a different perspective on life, and isn’t it a wonderful thing? If we all thought and believed the same things, the world would be a boring place. Take me for example… I view life as a journey down a river, the end of which, of course, is my death. I can dictate my spot in the river, and some days, I can even paddle against the current, but the end result is going to be the same. Others view life as a tapestry, and they hop from thread to thread based on the choices they make. All the threads combine to paint a picture of their life, and this perspective of the world pleases them. Then there are those who see the world as a dark, foreboding force of chaos in their life. They are constantly reacting to what is being thrown at them, and they feel out of control, lost, and often lonely.

Hold your nose, I told my child, and jump in with both feet, then hang on for the ride…

Here I am, three months out from Ironman Arizona, and my life is carrying me at an every increasing pace towards the Georgia Half Marathon. I continue to run 5-6 times a week, but my reffing schedule has been interfering a bit. Periodically, I get on the scale to check my weight and my nutrition status. I am maintaining at 180. In the five years that I have been participating in endurance sports, this is the first time this has ever happened, and all I have been doing is running, and drinking beer, and eating better.

With this in mind, I have come to a tough decision. I have decided that I am no longer a triathlete. Yes. I know. I am now a runner, again. You see… I’ve found that balance of drinking beer, eating, and running that allows me to maintain my weight and enjoy the finer things in life, like a good dark beer.

Don’t be jealous. I know that you all work hard to achieve some sort of balance in your life: work, kids, running, triathlon. It’s not easy, but it can be done. My advice? Scale back your balance to beer and running. Simple really. It’s much easier to balance when there are fewer variables involved. If I can do it, anybody can do it. Someday, you’ll thank me.

After missing my long run last weekend, I thought that I would take advantage of President’s Day to get in a 14 miler. At the last minute, I diverted from my planned run at The Silver Comet, and instead went to Kennesaw Mountain. My legs were very tired and sore, and as a result, I threw all time considerations out the window. It ended up being a wise decision. I followed a different path on this run, and ended up on a different trail in the park. It was, pretty much, a straight out and back, in the middle of the afternoon, at a most leisurely pace. Just what I needed!

I have my first race of the season coming up this weekend. It is a 5K less than 2 miles from my house. I’m hoping… no, I need to PR this race, but I also need to wait and see if my legs are recovered enough to give it a go.

We shall see. Often, the tough choices take time…

Wes

Coming of Age

2011-02-14T13:29:00.002-05:00

Once upon a time, I refereed soccer matches because I both loved the game, and I loved being in charge. No. We don’t do it for the money. While reffing soccer matches brings in plenty of spare change, it isn’t a living here in the United States, yet. After one learns and grows, one learns to really appreciate the beauty of the game. Matches really are all about the players. Referees are merely caretakers of the Laws of the Game, and spectators are the reward.

Officially, my mileage for last week was not all that impressive. I skipped a day and only banged out three runs for a total of 11 miles. I woke up Saturday morning at 5:40 AM to get ready for my matches. Georgia State Soccer Park is on the southwest side of Atlanta, a fair distance from my house. Thanks to the interstate system, it’s really not that much further time wise then most of the other venues. I arrived a little early to see frost laden fields and young people bundled up and running. I stayed in my car for fifteen minutes before hitting up the port-a-potties.

Have you ever tried to use a port-o-potty when its sub-freezing out?

My first center of the morning was at 8 AM. It was a game I had “picked up” just in the last day or two. Six games in a tournament is a lot, but not unheard of. Seven is starting to push it. The 14/15 year old boys playing the match were not from the Atlanta area. At half time, one of the boy’s fathers came over to tell the crew how good he thought the officiating was, and how it was “refreshing”. We all chuckled at that and told him that we still had half a game left to turn it around.

It was a good start to the day, and that’s pretty much how the tournament went. After the sun came up, the gloves came off and it warmed up a bit. Not warm enough to ditch the long sleeves, but warm enough to lose the hat and the gloves.

I wrapped up my last game around five and headed straight home to shower, grab Dee Dee and head out to Alpharetta to meet up with Ryan the White Hot. Ryan brought his daughter Teegan down from North Carolina to visit the All American Girl’s store at North Point Mall. Is he a great dad or what? We enjoyed some fine cuisine and beers at Taco Mac before calling it a night. Teegan made it perfectly clear that she could only handle so much adult conversation :-)

After getting back home at a decent hour, it was back up at 5:40 AM to rinse and repeat. It was few degrees warmer out, but unlike Saturday, I had three games in a row, wrapping up right after lunch. My final game of the day was between two U-15 Elite girls teams, and they came to play. They were fast, skilled, and very well behaved. One team was just a little more skilled than the other, and the match ended with the best team winning.

This was one of those tournaments where not a discouraging word was heard. All of the parents, players, coaches and other spectators were on their best behavior, and it made for a fantastic weekend. This is the kind of experience that keeps me coming back.

And that whole thing about running? If my legs are any indication, the soreness says that I put at least twenty miles on them over the weekend. Yea, I’ll be hobbling a couple of more days, and I’ll try to speed up the healing process with a short recovery run tomorrow. Next weekend should be even better, weather wise, and I’m looking forward to hitting the pitch again, hard.

Wes

Busta Move

2011-02-11T16:14:00.001-05:00

This week has been a bit crazy. In response to the craziness, I have withdrawn a bit from the blogging world. I felt like I needed to take the pressure off of myself for awhile, and keeping up with all the reading and blogging and FBing and such was just becoming a bit too much. I think for the time being, we are going to be seeing a bit less of me. How will you stand it?

My next three weekends will consist of reffing tournaments. It was my hope that I would be able to fall back on my Ironman training and get my long run in on Thursday. Dee Dee having to work and yet more winter weather ruined those plans. I opted to to do a tempo run on the treadmill at the gym. I was feeling rather pleased with myself and it showed. I banged out a 9:17, 8:12, 8:00, and 7:50 mile, negative splitting and still having something left in the tank at the end. I had actually taken an unplanned rest day the day before, and it really helped.

While I’m sure that 7 soccer matches will somehow magically equate to a “long run”, it’s the following weeks schedule that has me concerned. It’s getting close to go time, and I need to be getting in these long runs so that I feel confident come race day.

Have a great weekend, y’all!

Wes

Hill Simulation

2011-02-05T11:26:00.001-05:00

I have found that the most difficult part of this journey has been the soreness in my ankles and my feet. I mean, I am running more than I ever have in my life. The first couple of 30+ mile weeks were fine, but when I got around to the second set, I noticed that the soreness in my foot joint is rather pronounced. It often goes away after a proper warm up. I fully realize that this might be "normal", but having not been here before, I have no experience with this normal.

So, I changed things up a bit this week. I took one extra day of rest, and mixed up my second tempo run. I've been doing most of my week day training on the treadmill, and I have to admit that I've been rather enjoying it. I am running at a sub-9:30 pace, and my heart rate barely climbed out of Zone 1. This is light years ahead of where I was last year, when Ironman training was staring me full me in the face. Back to the tempo run... Rather than do my mile repeats on Thursday that I normally do, I thought I would simulate some hills. I warmed up with increasingly faster miles: 11:21, 9:13, 8:32... Then, as is often the case, I took a potty break before starting my hill work :-) One of the definite advantages to running at the gym.

Having not done a simulation before, I had visions of grandeur in head. I thought I would do 6-8 4 minutes on, 1 minute off at a 6% grade, but the first hill interval set my perspective properly. I quickly backed off to 4x3 minutes on, with 1 minute recovery. My rewards was several minutes in Zone 5, and no, I wasn't training by HR, merely observing! LOL... The race in March does have some hills, mostly at the end. It will be necessary to do more hill training in the final weeks, even as I ramp up the race simulations.

In other exciting news... Dee Dee and I are registered to run a 5K on February 26. It will be a repeat race for us. The start is at Hobgood Park, which is 1.7 miles from my house :-) I was hoping that the race was on a recovery weekend, but alas, it is not. I'm going to have to figure out how to throw that into the mix AND handle three weekends of soccer referee-ing.

Have a great weekend, y'all! I have it on good word that things are going to start warming up soon!

Wes

Hiatus

2011-02-03T11:29:00.001-05:00

Do you ever feel like a plastic bag floating on the wind wanting to start again? – Katie Perry

Wow… it’s been 10 whole days since my last post. When last we heard from our intrepid indie, he had just completed a painful long run and was thinking… WTF?

Not to worry… I am still here, and I am fine. Back to back 35-ish mile weeks had taken their toll on me. I logged my highest mileage month ever, coming in around 122 miles, and this boy was fried. Being on a master’s cycle (2 weeks on, 1 week recovery), I had a recovery week to look forward to, and I did what any aspiring “I wanna PR my next half marathon” indie would do. I went on a beer binge. Which, while I’m sure contributed to my fried-ness, did not do so well for my recovery.

Not to worry… I did not miss a single workout. Although my state of fried-ness did leave me wanting in the creative blog arena. We actually entertained some friends for the first time in ages. We whipped up our Sesame Chicken special (soooo good), and I made a cheese cake, which was, in itself, awesomeness…

This is my final cycle for adding mileage. I want to get my long runs up to 14 and 15 miles respectively. Somewhere between 13 and 17 miles is my sweet spot for a half marathon long run, and I need to find it. I’m still doing tempo runs twice a week. The first is some kind of intervals, and the second is usually mile repeats at better than half marathon pace.

My next recovery week will involve a 5K race (!) to test the fitness, then some race specific weeks to get ready for the big day.

Got Spring? I’ll be around :-)

Wes

Painful

2011-01-23T12:26:00.000-05:00

It was cold yesterday. Too cold. Maybe not THAT cold for my northern friends, but still... cold enough for here. The running group met at 8 AM, but I opted to sleep in. It was so delicious, getting out of bed at 9 AM. With Dee Dee and Matthew sleeping in late, I spent a quiet morning pondering where I would like to get my long run in for the day. Temps would peak at 42 or so around 3 PM. I decided to give Kennesaw Mountain a go.

After spending some time with Dee Dee, I got dressed at 3 PM and left the house at 3:30. I thought surely the cold weather would keep people indoors, but I was rather surprised to pull up to the mountain and see the parking lot was full. I had noticed a new parking lot on the right as a drive by. I can't remember the last time I ran at the mountain. It must have been a year or more. I turned around and drove the half mile back to the parking lot and found a good parking spot. I waited at the entrance for my Garmin to sink up, then took off running towards the mountain. Due to the wind, I had opted to wear a short sleeve and a long sleeve technical shirt. At the start of the run, it was kinda warm. By the end of the run, I was grateful for my foresight.

The road to the mountain was going to be the only flat stretch of this run. I stopped at the visitor center to drink some water and use the facilities, then took off down the trail. My goal for the day was 14 miles. As I started going up and down the hills, I got to thinking... The park probably closed at dark (actually 5:30 PM). It was supposed to get dark at 6 PM. If I did 14 miles, I would not be back until almost 6:30 PM. About three miles in, I decided to just do 12 miles, and get back to my car by 6! I didn't want them to close the gate and lock me in.

I ran out past the Cheatham Hill visitors center where I had to cross a rather busy road. Evidently, the good citizens of Georgia still aren't aware of the law for stopping for pedestrians in a cross walk. Grrr! After crossing the street, I made my way along the road for while before meeting back up with the trail. I ran a short bit, and my Garmin went off, indicating I had reached the five mile point. This was the farthest I had ever ran. One more mile meant new territory! As I followed the packed gravel road into the forest, up ahead, three white tail deer crossed the road. I continued on for another five minutes or so before hitting mile six and my turn around point.

At this point, I started to get worried about my car, and I picked up the pace. I noticed the deer in a field off to my left. I counted nine of them as I ran by. I crossed over a wooden bridge, and I heard some rustling in the leaves to my right. A small possum was staring me down. I kept running, not wanting to hang around to hear him hiss. The ups and downs had taken their toll on my muscles. I was tired and I was kicking about a 9:30 per mile pace. I passed a few people on the trail, but for the most part, it was just me. The dwindling light made footing even more of a challenge. Twice I stepped on a rock or root that bent my right foot up, causing intense pain. Fortunately for me, it wasn't serious nor permanent.

Near the visitor's center, the trail exits the wood next to the road. I opted to follow a little path down to the road and get on the side walk. I followed the road back to my car. The Garmin beeped 12 miles just outside the entrance to the parking lot, and it felt so good to stop running. My legs were just shot, certainly from running up and down the hills, but also from kicking up the speed a bit. All that worrying about the car was for naught. Everything ended up just fine.

This morning, as I reviewed my schedule for the next couple of weeks, I realized that I made a few mistakes. I have one more build cycle in which to increase my mileage to fourteen then fifteen miles. No need to rush. Also, I added a fourth mile to my cruise intervals on Thursday, and this after doing a tempo-ish run on Wednesday. A bit much don't you think?

This week coming up is a recovery week. Plenty of time to ponder where to go from here... and I'm itching to get back into the pool :-)

Wes

Ain't that Special

2011-01-17T15:46:00.001-05:00

The weather was hard last week. We had snow. It melted a bit. Then it froze. The result was havoc on a city deep in the south. I found it amusing that even the locals made fun of the City of Atlanta for not having enough equipment. I was waiting for those same people to volunteer their income to make more purchases. People love to complain about their government. They key word being "their". The kids were out of school all week, which I thought was a great idea. The roads were just too dangerous. We lost a young vibrant woman in a senseless accident blamed on ice.

Most of my running for the week had been done on the treadmill. By the time the weekend arrived, I was determined to get my run in outdoors. It was supposed to be fairly warm, with a high in the fifties. The problem was that the sidewalks and trails just would not thaw out. I thought, to be safe, I would head down to the Silver Comet Trail to run. I brought my Saucony trail shoes just in case. When I arrived, the trail head was covered in ice and snow. I quickly changed out of my K-swiss and into the Sauconys. It was a smart decision. Parts of the trail were clear. Parts had tire tracks in it from a four wheeler. Parts of it were just blah.

Once I got started, I decided I needed to throw any time goals out the window. It took a lot of concentration to keep my ankles from going in directions they were not meant to bend. I passed a few slower runners on the trail, and one guy on a mountain bike passed me, but he turned around at about mile 4. I, however, continued another four miles or so out past the Floyd Road trail head. A few elderly people were out walking, but none were feeling particularly friendly.

I decided after turning around, that I would begin to pick it up a bit. The air was warming. More and more of the trail was turning to slush. The McMillan pace calculator said that my half marathon race pace "could be" 8:35 miles. I was happy to keep the pace below 9:09 (sub-2 hour half mary). I rattled off miles 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12, with the final mile being slightly up hill all the way. I was spent. My ankles and feet were sore. Surprisingly, my legs felt pretty good. It's been a long time since I ran 12 miles and felt so good afterwards.

That night, after I got out of the shower, I decided to check my body fat percentage with wet feet. Yea. A small technicality I neglected on my last weigh in. I'm pleased to report that my body fat percentage dropped 4 points, to 19 percent, with wet feet. I did it twice to be sure. It would seem wet feet help the current run through your feet. So... just like that, I dropped 7 pounds of fat. Don't be jealous...

Wes

Those Other Digits

2011-01-14T09:48:00.001-05:00

I got on the scale yesterday morning, and much to my pleasure, the scale told me that I was back below 180 pounds. Given the fact that I drink to excess (OK, not so much anymore, but you know, the holidays and all), and I haven’t been tracking my food all that much, I’m amazed I don’t weigh more. I’m only 4.5 pounds over my best Ironman training weight. THIS IS A GOOD THING.

My current love interest is Racing Weight, another book by Matt Fitzgerald. Weight and nutrition isn’t nearly as exciting as training. The going has been slow. I have just finished the part where we determine what a good target weight would be. Can you feel the suspense? My Tanita scale, pictured above, told me that my body fat percentage is 23. 23!! It determines this by shooting a low voltage current through your feet and measure the resistance. Evidently, electricity moves through fat pretty quickly, and I have 41.285 pounds of it. OH.MY.GAWD.

At my age, 23% (or 41.285 pounds of fat) puts me somewhere near the 35th percentile for my age group. Yes. That’s right. Sixty-five percent of athletes in my age group have less fat than I do. OH.MY.GAWD ROFL…. I’m right at the border line recommendation. I can either shoot for the 80th percentile (16.3% body fat) or try to improve by 25 points (18.8% body fat). I, being all HTFU and stuff, decided to pick a point in between. I am shooting for a body weight of 168lbs. I haven’t weighed 168lbs since I was a college freshman. Is 12lbs doable? I think so. Here we go :-)

Yesterday was my second tempo-ish run of the week. With my race less than 10 weeks away, I am beginning to steer my training towards race pace efforts. I decided to run some mile repeats at what I thought would be a good pace. I did a mile warm up, then I did 1 mile at an 8:35 pace, followed by a half mile recovery. I repeated this three times for a total of six miles. My effort was pretty low on the first mile. The second and third mile caused my HR to spike up into zone 4. I felt pretty good on the last one, just a little tired. In reviewing my McMillan pace chart, 8:35 is what I should be racing at *sigh*, not doing mile repeats. C’est la vie. There is always tomorrow.

Rainmaker is giving away another Garmin 310XT over at his place. Go by and register!

Have a great weekend, everybody!

Wes

The Reward

2011-01-12T09:13:00.001-05:00

For every stick, there must be a carrot. For every risk, there must be a reward. Why else then would one take risks in the first place? My reward for executing a most excellent test was a plethora of digits for me to play with and analyze.

As you can see from the splits, I started out way too fast, which, while not unusual, is easier to avoid during a test than a race. That number would indicate that my first mile was a PR, with one small problem. My Garmin 310XT beeped at me before I crossed the 1600 meter line, much less the 1609 meter mile mark. A mile PR? not so much…

I am much happier with the second, third, and fourth splits (yes, even the last 0.11 miles). It shows that my effort was consistent, and I even managed to turn it up a little bit at the end. Overall, these deets tell me that there is room for improvement in my execution. Running well is not entirely about fitness, execution and economy are important as well.

The chart below shows my heart rate during the test:

As you can see, the level of effort is pretty consistent. My max HR was 171, and my average heart rate was 167. This puts my Zone 5 heart rate seven (!) beats below where it was last year. That’s a huge difference. How could this be? Well, I have my theories…

Ever since I switched over from training by heart rate (running) to training by pace, I’ve noticed that my heart rate has been lower, even though my pace has improved. Certainly, some of this is due to greater fitness, but I’ve had a stinkin suspicion that a lot of it had to do with my preoccupation with heart rate during my training/tests. My mind was forcing my heart rate to match my perceived level of exertion. By totally ignoring HR during my test, I believe I have a truer picture of exactly where my zones are.

Using the handy dandy calculator at Training Peaks, I plugged my average pace into the calculator, and I’m now the proud owner of pace ranges for each of my five zones. Coupled with the information from the McMillan Running Calculator, I now have a pretty good idea of how and where I should be doing my training. The McMillan calculator, by the way, says I should run a 1:52 half marathon. I don’t think I have the confidence for THAT, yet….

With 67 days to the Georgia Half Marathon, its time to get bizzy…

Wes

A 5K Time Trial

2011-01-10T12:28:00.001-05:00

Saturday morning arrived with little fanfare. The sun was shining, and it was cold. This was expected. What I didn’t expect was the 20+ mile per hour wind gust. Had Dee Dee not been sleeping next to me, I would have groaned audibly. Instead, I kept it to myself. As quietly as I could, I gathered my things and went downstairs. The cold, silence of the downstairs was broken by eight pairs of paws as the dogs bounded across the hardwood floor. The little one, my princess, stands up on the door and arches her back.

Do you mind, she says? I have to pee.

The smell of food is no longer enough to roust my kids from their slumber. I enjoy a solitary breakfast of waffles and sausage. With the basics out of the way, I turn my attention to replacing the screen casing on my son’s laptop. Of its own accord, the screen casing had cracked and the hinge broke. This seems to be a common theme with Dell laptops. Through the power of eBay, I procured a new casing at one half to one third the cost a professional repair would have been.

When you look at one of these laptops, one wonders how exactly they come apart. On Jimmy’s Dell, it all started with a little screw underneath the battery. Once that is removed, you pop the top plate off over the keyboard and a wonderful world of wires, screws, and connectors begins to appear. In order to unhook the display, the keyboard has to be removed, and one of the screws was stripped. We had purchased a special tool for that, but it failed ignominiously. In desperation, I grab the screw head with a pair of pliers, and got quite a shock when it actually turned! With the keyboard off, I disconnected the display. The antennae wires for the wireless card disappeared beneath the motherboard through two separate holes. I should have disconnected those first. Not perturbed, I removed the bottom panel to find that one set of the wires wasn’t even being used, and only two of the four connectors on the other wire were being used.

After that, things moved quickly. I removed the video connector and the integrated webcam and popped out the display panel. I installed the case, screwed back into the display, and then it was time to put the wires back into their proper places. I had an “uh oh” moment, but eventually, every wire was restored, and the casing was snapped back in place. It was good as new. Jimmy gave the repair job a two thumbs up, and in his words, the new black cover was “sick”.

Dee Dee woke from her beauty sleep around 2-ish PM. Working the night shift is rough, especially when trying to get much needed rest with a house full of people. We are in the process of replacing our dishwasher, and Dee Dee wanted me to go with her to look at some discount models.

Go out for your run now, so you can with me to the store, she said.

BUT I DON’T WANNA!!!!

Of course, I couldn’t say that out loud. Instead, I dutifully suited up. Let’s see. Forty degrees. Twenty mile per hour winds. Thermal long sleeves. Tights. Hat. Gloves. Off we go. I drove the fifteen minutes up Bell’s Ferry Road into Canton and made my way to Boling Park. I parked above the Little League baseball field next to the track. A cold brisk wind slapped me in the face as I got out of the car. At least the sun was shining.

From my starting point where I entered the track, I began my mile warm up. On one side of the track, the wind blew directly in my face. On the other, it was like it wasn’t even there at all. On the last two laps, I did a few pick ups to get my legs ready for the effort ahead.

Up to this point, I had been intentionally ignoring what was about to happen. As I walked a half a lap to the starting line, I decided to continue with this theme as long as possible. When I hit the starting line, I pressed start on the Garmin and took off.

As usual, I started off too fast. By the end of the first lap, I was huffing and puffing. I wanted to hold something back, but I also wanted to get uncomfortable. There was a very real fear that I would settle into a pace that was “too comfortable” and totally blow my test. Shortly after lap two, the negotiations started. It takes some real mental toughness to run twelve and a half laps around the track.

Lap after lap, I huffed and puffed, staying true to my ideal of totally ignoring the Garmin. I peaked one time around lap 6 to check my cadence and was rewarded with a “92”, well above my goal of 90 steps per minute. As I wound down the final mile, I consciously reminded myself to keep my pace up and not drift into comfortable. I even kicked it in for the last two hundred meters. I hit the stop button on the Garmin as I crossed the finish line. The Garmin said, “24:23”. That’s over a minute faster than my 5K PR. I smiled.

I walked around the track one time before breaking into a slow jog. I ran a mile to cool down before heading back to the car. A text message was waiting for me on my cell phone from Dee Dee. Our handy man had found us a dishwasher at a good price.

This was turning into an absolutely fabulous day…

House of Pain

2011-01-07T10:33:00.001-05:00

not much happening in my world these days. work. run. family. rinse and repeat.

I decided to make this week a recovery week, which actually fits nicely into my three week cycle. I’ve been pretty focused on 4 miles. 4 MILES. every day :-) Except for today. Today, I am going to run 3 miles easy, in anticipation of my 5K time trial tomorrow.

You see, I’ve been doing my easy runs on flat at a 9:30 pace. I’ve been doing my tempo runs on hills, at a 9:30 pace, and my heart rate never climbs out of zone 2. This tells me that my fitness has improved, and I, in truth, have no idea where that fitness is.

That is why, tomorrow, in the sub-40 degree weather, I will be heading to the track to run a 5K. My goals will be as follows:

Ignore the watch (don’t look)
Ignore the heart rate (don’t look, no cheating)
hold a little sumfin sumfin back

The idea here is to set a benchmark, but at a level that I can continue to race against for the rest of the year. I don’t want to entirely sandbag. That would be a waste of time, but it should be challenging enough to make me work harder to beat it for the rest of the year.

Can I set an unofficial 5K PR? My fitness tells me that I can, but actions speak louder than words…

Have a great weekend, y’all!

Wes

Ugh!

2011-01-03T16:17:00.000-05:00

First off, Happy New Year! I’m sure I’ve splatted this on countless Facebook statuses and blogs, but here it is again, for the last time. I hope that 2011 exceeds your expectations, and I will be stalking you to find out :-)

I kept pretty busy over the holidays. I shifted from offseason triathlon mode to base building runner mode. I am still reading my book, Run: The Mind-Body Method of Running by Feel, and I have to say that it is one of my favorite endurance books to date. It got better since I last mentioned it, only to settle down into some dry and tediousness towards the end. I’m hoping to finish it and give it a full review soon.

During Ironman training, I ran 4-5 times a week, depending on how much reffing I had on my plate. The schedule looked like this:

Tuesday	Transition Run
Wednesday	Tempo
Thursday	Long
Saturday	Transition Run
Sunday	Transaction Run

Kind of on a whim, by feel should I say, I decided to give the “basic week” as laid out in the book a go. Where have we heard the term “basic week” before, eh? :-) The basic running week looks like this:

Monday	Off
Tuesday	Speed Work
Wednesday	Medium Recovery
Thursday	Medium
Friday	Tempo
Saturday	Short Recovery
Sunday	Long

I was rather pleased with myself when I hit 24 miles for the week before my long run on Sunday. Oh, I was concerned. I wanted to do 10 miles on Sunday, but that is roughly my highest mileage week EVER. Both of my previous long runs had been eight miles, but my highest mileage week had been 15 or so. Jumping to 34 could be dangerous. I decided to listen to my body and give myself permission to turn around if I started hurting too much. With the exception of my feet and ankles being slightly sore, the long run went splendidly. It was around 50 degrees with a breeze, but the sun was shining, making it all the more bearable. I finished the 10 mile run in an hour and forty-one minutes, for a ten minute seven second average. Perfect!

So as not to push it, I’m going to take it easy this week and cut back to 60% of last week’s mileage, but I’m going to cap it off with a 5K time trial. I need to set my training paces, and I also want to see where my run fitness is at.

As usual, after being off for a while, my body was just not ready to go back to work today. I slept like crap last night, and today, I feel like I haven’t gotten any rest at all over the holidays! Ugh! Hopefully, tonight I will fare better.

Here’s to a great year, y’all!

Wes

Merry Christmas

2010-12-24T20:37:00.000-05:00

To you, your family, and all your loved ones...

Wrapping

2010-12-22T16:02:00.001-05:00

Bear with me. I’m on the 48th rebuild of my work laptop. It has this little feature. It likes to spontaneously reboot. I am at the point now where I am determined to figure out if the problem is software or hardware. I have added nothing to the laptop. If it reboots on its own now, I plan to rip out the hard drive, put in a spare, and install Linux. If that reboots, then I’ll know fer sure.

This, of course, means keeping up with your blogs has been somewhat problematic. I’ve been restoring my personal directory from a back up. When I do this, it restores my blog reader back a couple of weeks. Yea, I know. I used to use an online reader. I should probably go back…

With that out of the way, the topic of today’s discussion is my current read. Run: The Mind-Body Method of Running by Feel. I’m trying to wrap my brain cells around the first couple of chapters. What? You thought I was talking about Christmas? Pfffffft…

The entire book boils down to three rather important concepts. First, train your confidence. Second, listen to your body, and finally, have fun. Wait a second… I thought one trained their body to do a race?!? Waz up wid dat? Well, let me tell you… You either believe that your mind pushes your body, or you believe your mind is a slave to your body. Just forget about that last one. You learn rather quickly as a marathoner or Ironman that your body will keep going, if your mind wills it so.

What does training your confidence mean? Well… It means doing the workouts that will give you the confidence to reach your goals. Not to worry. Confidence building includes distance, and for some people, over distance. It also includes training fast. EVERYBODY has a time goal. Do the “fast” workouts that give you the confidence to race that way.

Listening to your body is a basic tenant of training. For most of us, we are following a canned plan or a set schedule. What do we do when our body doesn’t feel like 8x800?! Do we modify the workout? What about the next one? What this book suggests is not having a set workout. Have a broad plan of what types of workouts you would like to run, and on what days, then decide at the last minute what kind of workout you are going to do, by assessing your body, your mood, and where your mind is.

And the whole idea behind all of this is, of course, keeping the fun in running. If it isn’t fun, then you are doing something wrong. Keep track of your fun meter. When its low, figure out why. Figure out how to get it back to high, and what is the process required. Then, the next time this happens, you will know.

I decided to pick up my pace a bit on my long run Monday. Sunday, I was travelling and missed my run. I completed the same 8.4 mile circuit as last week in five fewer minutes. Improving is definitely fun. I can’t wait to read the rest of the book and see where my mind will take me.

Wes

Nostalgia

2010-12-19T10:31:00.000-05:00

I've never seen anybody train for and cross the line at an Ironman, and come out crap on the other side.

This is one of my favorite mantras about the Ironman, and it is so true. You can't go through the crucible of Ironman training and not change, and rarely, so very rarely is that change not a good thing.

Quite by accident, I returned from my thirty minute run just in time for the Ironman World Championships on NBC. I hadn't meant to run hard, but I've been listening to my body, and my body wanted to run hard. The fact that my father's neighborhood is flat here in Mobile did not hurt. The temps were in the fifties, and there was a strong wind blowing. My stepmother, God love her, asked me if I wanted a hoodie or a jacket to run in :-) I laughed and told her that I was running in short sleeves.

As usual, it took me a minute or two to get warmed up, but I managed a 9:17 mile or something like that for the first mile, and after that, it just got better: 8:51, 8:28, and 8:11 for the last half mile. I've never run here before. My reward for being brave was a beautiful view of two different lakes. It was a good run.

These Ironman shows always bring tears to my eyes. The hard work, the dedication, the stories of survival and failure, they bring a connection. I've never been strong enough to hang around the Ironman finish line until midnight. The final hour is especially moving. Around mile 17 at Ironman Arizona, the enormity of my year weighed heavy on me, and I was so ready for all of it be over. Training from January to November, and training the last months alone, had taken its toll.

The second Ironman has been birthed. Things have settled down. The pain, the struggle, the heart ache, they are all distant memories, and only the happy memories, the pride, the joy, the accomplishment rise to the surface now. I know that I will be back. I'm on a three year plan to my toughest Ironman ever, and I want nothing more than for those that have the desire, to share in these things.

Anything is possible...

Whoa…

2010-12-16T17:22:00.001-05:00

It’s been a tough week. The weather has been cold and nasty. I’m trying to remember why I haven’t been able to make it to the gym, but the reasons escape me. I’m sure the reasons were important. I’m not a slacker by default.

At least, for yesterday, I had a good excuse. The weather gods connived to force a bunch of black ice on North Georgia right before rush hour. Fortunately for me, I was early in early out, and I was well on my way home when it started freezing. I was about 2-3 miles from my house when I noticed that traffic was backed up WAY further than normal. I decided to take a back road. Well, the back road was moving extremely slow, and it was apparent why until I went past the over turned car in the ditch.

We all took things very gingerly the rest of the way home. Traffic was crawling up Mount Doom, and when I got to the top of the hill, I came to a complete stop. There were some cars at the bottom of the hill that were refusing to try Ass-kicker. After sitting there for a few minutes, I got frustrated and pulled my car off into the neighborhood. I grabbed my work computer, a present for my son, and two boxes of pizza and walked home. My hands were frozen, but at least the pizza was still good.

This morning, I got up at 6 AM to check on the road. Dee Dee was on her way home from work. Most of the roads in our neighborhood was clear, but the hills outside the entrance had a sheet of ice on them. They are notoriously bad about this. There was a car that had gone over off the road and started down the hill. Luckily, a tree stopped it, leaving its arse sticking up in the air. Cars were parked all over the road, randomly. One looked like it had skidded sideways into a parked car, and a sheriff's car had skidded sideways into it. What a mess!

Lucky for me, I was able to go back and get my car by 8 AM and drive around to the back entrance to the neighborhood. Dee Dee had made it through here OK, and so did I. Around nine, we were able to leave for work and school, and while traffic sucked, at least the roads were passable.

At lunch today, I was able to get on the treadmill for my second run of the week. I decided to make my warm up a little faster, and I was rewarded with a 3 mile run in 29:00, for a 9:40 average pace. What really got me excited today was that my cadence was 186! I have been working so hard to get my cadence up to 180, and something has just seemed to “pop”, and its all falling into place naturally now.

Dee Dee, Matthew, and I are off to Mobile for the weekend. I haven’t been home this year, and I really need to see my Dad. The temperatures are supposed to be in the fifties there this weekend. I’m bringing my bathing suit…

Have a great weekend! Y’all stay warm, dry, and safe for me…

Wes

Welcome Back, Long Run

2010-12-13T12:06:00.001-05:00

I am tap dancing between the weather. I’m not one to bitch or moan about hot or cold. The weather is what it is, and no amount of whining or complaining is going to change that.

BUT DEAR GAWD THE WEATHER HAS BEEN SUCKING…

That is all. I wanted to get in a long run this weekend. Sunday wasn’t looking so good. There to fore, I waited until the warmest part of the day Saturday and got my run on. The temperature was right around fifty degrees, and I nailed the outfit with shorts and a long sleeve T. I always enjoy re-learning the clothing thing every year.

The 8.4 mile hilly circular route in my neighborhood was calling to me. I felt that was a nice compromise between what I wanted to get done, and what my body would allow. I brought along the Garmin to keep my HR below 150, but I wasn’t taking it too seriously. I haven’t even downloaded the digits yet.

The first half of the run went well. As I climbed that last hill to the four mile mark, I was definitely feeling it in my feet and my hamstrings. I wanted to push myself a bit, but hurting myself was not an option. I managed the 8.4 miles in around an hour twenty-four, for a 10 minute pace. I was happy with that, as it involved a bit of walking at the beginning and at the end.

My goals for this week are: 3 easy runs and a long run. I’d also like to attend one spin class and MAYBE a yoga class. We shall see. In the mean time, numba one son and I are going to hit the weights three times a week too. He’s a strong guy. I’m hoping he’ll motivate me to pack on some muscle.

Stay warm out there!

Wes

and so I ran

2010-12-08T14:45:00.001-05:00

The idea was to return to running this week, but I did a LOT of running over the weekend reffing soccer games, and I didn’t want to hurry myself. I have used the latest issue of Runner’s World to divide my time between now and the Georgia Half Marathon in March into five 21 day cycles, with each cycle having the same basic layout. This first cycle is going to involve a lot of thirty minute runs. The goal is to establish my running schedule with some consistency.

So, you know, as to not hurry or anything, I waited until Wednesday to run, AND, given that its freezing out, I opted to use the treadmill. I’m on a roll. I will pause while you catch your breath.

First order of business… Impress the gym rats with my Ironman Arizona technical shirt. I doubt the three chicas in the basement gym know what an Ironman is.

Second order of business… Do not allow my heart rate to go over 150. There will be plenty of time to bust my own arse later. A walking warm up, then bumped the speed up consistently every minute until I hit 7 mph. At an incline of 1%, that’s roughly a sub-9 pace. :-) Yea, that makes me smile. I held that for 16 minutes, before starting my cool down.

and yes, my legs still look damn good. Thanks for asking…

My race schedule is firming up, although very much still tentative. I’m still waiting on she who must not be named to figure out her schedule, and that won’t happen until the round robin of vacation choices is made at the end of the year.

Go, run or sumfin :-)

Who Am I?

2010-12-06T12:25:00.001-05:00

Really? I should know better than to answer my cell phone when an unrecognized number calls late on a Friday afternoon. It was the assignor for the Nike Cup, a huge end of year soccer tournament held here in Atlanta. The first year I took up reffing, I did the Nike Cup. The entire weekend was in the twenty to thirty degree range, and the winds were gusting upwards of thirty miles per hour. I vowed, never again.

Yet, I said yes. The assignor and her husband are pillars in the Georgia soccer community. That doesn’t hurt :-) Four games on the first day. Three on the second. There was a little bit of concern there. Had I recovered enough? Would my legs hold up? Despite tweaking my right heel, yet again, nothing was sore that was not normal for these kinds of things. Funny that. My right heel never bothered me once during the Ironman. The first time I ref after that, TWEAK! LOL…

I am still trying to come to grips with 2011. What races I choose are entirely dependent on what Dee Dee wants to do. It is her year after all. The distance is the big question. Do I or do I not want to do a half Ironman?! There is a huge part of me that wants to revisit the stand alone half marathon (which I will in March) and full marathon. The other part of me sez that I am a triathlete who goes long. I NEED to do a half Ironman.

Mulling things over in my mind. No rush. No quick decisions. There’s plenty of time to pick up a half Ironman in 2011 if that is what I want to do. I can still be a triathlete and focus on short course success. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with making my final “A” race of the season an international distance race.

To facilitate this, I continue to add books to my library. My latest acquisitions: The Time Crunched Triathlete, Your Best Triathlon, Racing Weight, and Run: the mind body method of running by feel. Except for the first, these were all birthday presents. I have to admit. I have just about exhausted the depths of triathlon knowledge that I need. I just don’t need any more books with plans in them. I am of the mind, teach me to fish, don’t give me fish! You heard it here first. These are the last endurance related sports books I plan to buy.

So, that’s the loose plan at the moment… A spring half marathon, a fall full marathon, and a bunch of short course triathlons in between.

A Season in Review: 2010

2010-12-01T12:01:00.001-05:00

It’s pretty amazing that I am at the point where I actually WANT to have a season in review. I’m at the stage in my triathlon career where I have ridden the wave of euphoria just about as far as it is going to go. The newness, the excitement of something new, is not that big a part of what I do now. The onus is on me to keep the excitement alive and find new ways to stay invigorated.

I feel like I had been training all year. A big race in May will do that to you. I started swimming in January, running, and riding the trainer as well. I didn’t have any lofty goals. I wanted to do three half Ironmans and one Ironman. I would have liked to go sub-6 in a half Ironman, and under 13 in the Ironman, but time goals are subject to so many different factors.

My first race of the season, Rev3 Knoxville, was a disappointment to say the least. I was over weight, undertrained, and my expectations were way too high. The hills of Tennessee have a way of correcting expectations. Going into survival mode at a race of any distance is about as low as you can go, and still have fun :-)

Next up on my agenda… Eagleman 70.3 I had originally intended to do this race, then backed out to support Dee Dee, only to take up the reins when she had to drop out due to her mother’s illness. Given the course, this was my best chance at going sub-6. Yea, the weather has a way of correcting expectations, LOL… I remember the disappointment looking at my watch after the swim and seeing my worse swim time ever, then the satisfaction I felt of having my fastest half Ironman bike split ever. Then, the heat drained me on the run, and I was back in survival mode.

The week after Eagleman, I did Callaway Garden’s Super Sprint for fun. Good thing too, as I had my worst time ever. It’s hard letting go of the digits, but I just wasn’t feeling it.

Cohutta Springs is officially my redemption tri! LOL… I’m probably setting myself up for failure next year. Every year I go there, I have such a blast, and I never worry about my time. Perhaps that’s a clue?!?

Finally, Ironman Arizona. The Ironman is such a beast. Finishing, is in itself, a great victory. I' know that I’ll do better someday, and I’m totally not worried about it.

So, in review… I did two half Ironmans and a full. I had to settle for Cohutta Springs because the cost of another half Ironman just wasn’t in my budget. I didn’t PR any of my race distances, although I did have a course PR at Cohutta, a bike split PR at Eagleman, and marathon PR at Ironman Arizona, even if it WAS only six seconds! HA!

With all that said, I didn’t meet ANY of my time goals for 2010. My goals have not been unreasonable, but they have been rather obtuse. I kinda said, let’s train this way and see if I can hit my goals. Well, that didn’t’ work out so well. What I did learn is that I did not train nearly enough for any of my half Ironmans. Training for Ironman Arizona has shown me the way. It also taught me much about the difference between being a self coached athlete and a coach coached athlete. These are all things that are so very important for the future.

I’m at this point in my career where there is this huge gap between how fast I can get and where I currently am. This gap is shrinking due to age. My goal has to be to close this gap from the bottom, faster than age is closing it from the top.

In my next post, I’ll talk about a little bit about what I have planned for 2011!

Wes

Ironman Arizona: wrap up

2010-11-29T13:48:00.001-05:00

First off, let me say that I LOVE THIS WOMAN! From the moment I stepped off the plane in Arizona, she did absolutely everything in her power to make sure that my stay with her was as pleasant and as smooth as possible. Even when I was tired, cranky, and stubborn, she stepped in firmly to make sure that I didn’t make any mistakes. When Dee Dee finally arrived, I had to ask myself, “Truly, this must be Heaven?”

I can’t say enough about the people of Arizona. They were simply the best. Everyone I met, from our mutual friend Karen, to perfect strangers at the hotel, coffee shop, and restaurants, they were just pleasant to deal with, and almost always had a smile on their face.

The race itself gets an A+. Registration was quick and painless. The expo was pretty much spot on. Getting to and from the race was a breeze. They had a whole parking deck just for the athletes. The volunteers at the race were awesome, from start to finish. Not surprising since most of them, no doubt, lived in Arizona. The visiting volunteers were awesome as well!

The race venue was fine. You couldn’t really ask for a better course. I rather liked the 3 loop thingee on the bike and run, as it brought you back by family and friends multiple times. I won’t dwell on the environmental factors. If you don’t like cold and wind, then don’t race in November in Arizona! nuff said…. They took really good care of me after the race too, from the handlers, to the blankets, to the food. All was most excellent.

If my bike shows back up on time, then Tri Bike Transport gets an A+ too! Not having to worry about my bike on the way down or back is huge!!

Finally, I give The Long Course Training Manual from Endurance Nation an “A” as well. While I’m not reading too much into it, I DID finish within two minutes of my IM Florida time, using a totally different training methodology. I didn’t purchase any of their training plans, but I did purchase a few other things to kind of “thank them” for giving me so much free stuff :-)

Special thanks as usual to my beautimous wife who put me first A LOT during the last couple of months, and all the time during race week. Paying her back is going to be sweet for me! And thanks to all you too. Me lurves our community.

Wes