Terrible Tuesday

I have long forgotten the name of my defensive line coach from my senior year of high school, however I remember him well. Middle age but built like a ton of bricks, and despite appearances he was one of the nicest most inspirational men I have had the pleasure of meeting thus far. Even before he was not my position coach at first, he knew I wanted to play badly. He constantly gave me pointers, encouraged me to keep a journal, and kept pushing me despite knowing I was the smallest linemen in the conference and without any experience play time was unlikely.

This coach also kept our workouts on a very strict schedule. Mondays we watched tape and discussed anything we sucked at, Wednesday was an average day working on the other teams plays, Thursday was light again running plays, and Friday was the game. Everyone dreaded Tuesdays, it was TERRIBLE TUESDAY! This was the day that he cruelly and sadistically inflicted structure pain on us. He pushed us to our limits running, hitting, and pushing the sled. This was the day he made us stronger mentally and physically.

Right now I am unstructured and trying to figure out what my next focus should be. Since I am still a few pounds off my goal weight for the year I am working on that until I decide what to do next.

While working on the weight loss I am designating Tuesdays for the rest of the year as Terrible Tuesday. In the last few months most of my long workouts have been easy (except a few bricks), going slow and working on my mental conditioning. Today is going to be the opposite, long and hard. The tentative plan is to start with two miles of rowing, a hill workout on the stationary bike for about an hour, a steep hill walk on the treadmill, and then back to the bike for whatever it take to round out 2 hours. My goals are three- first to stimulate fat burn, second to stimulate muscle growth and HGH, and third fulfill the mental hazing I haven't had much of since my last triathlon. This whole workout will be managed by my heart rate monitor so I keep an intensity that is tough but will get me through the end.

ANYONE WANT TO COMMIT TO THEIR OWN TERRIBLE TUESDAY WITH ME??

With today's workout decided, I now am trying to decide what to do next physically. All of the plans I have looked at for my next multisport season start 20 weeks before my A race. CB and I have been discussing my real A race being a 70.3 at either Augusta, New Orleans, or Florida; in addition to competing in the Trysports Series. The training plans should overlap and I will be in a good training place when my first sprint in April falls. However, that gives me a few months before I need to start my training plan. With time to maintain I want to keep motivated. I have a few options- I can complete another 1/2 (maybe RNR AZ if I can get some cash together, if not something local), begin working toward a marathon (probably the Ellerbe marathon in Feb., very low key), or return to my first ever 5k on 1/1/11 an attempt a PR. Not a course PR, a 5k PR. That goal is somewhat lofty because my 5k PR was on a course that was not as hilly as this one,  but it is five months later and I think I am in better shape. I thought about this earlier and remembered that one of my original intentions with this blog was to try a variety of sports and document it. Not knowing which way to go I decided I should put it in my follower's hands. I feel I am up to most any of those three challenges.

WHAT DO YOU THINK I SHOULD DO NEXT?
FEEL FREE TO SUGGEST A NEW CHALLENGE!

My Christmas List

With Thanksgiving past we our now in to my favorite time of year- Christmas and Hanukkah. This has always been my favorite time for year since I was a child. My favorite part is the lights and smells, next is the delicious food, and lastly is the air of happiness. Everyone is so much nicer this time of the year, even if it is brief.

I love gift giving and making people happy. I have always been the thoughtful gift giver, always giving my loved ones the presents they want but would never by themselves or things they didn't even remember wanting but I take notes all year. Contrarily, my family says that I am hard to shop for. I don't understand how, I have many hobbies but for some reason they never understand how to talk to the people at the store to help find gifts.

For that reason I am posting my Christmas list on here so that they can all find it. Here it is is more or less in ranked order-

1. Road bike- all carbon is nice, but I am happy for carbon fork and seat post with good components. (i.e. Trek 1.5, Giant Defy 2, etc.)
2. Spare bedroom cleaned out and organized by someone other than me, coat of paint a bonus, new carpet and I'll love you forever. It would be nice to be able to use the office/pain cave.(let's face it, I'm king of home repair and small projects here, this one i want to enjoy and it would be nice to not have to do it myself)
3. Profile T2 Aero bars
4. Look Keo Pedals
5. Triathlon cycling shoes
6. USAT membership
7. Prepaid Races
8. Digital SLR camera
9. Dive Classes
10. Road ID

Turkey Trot Half Marathon Race Report

I have been contemplating how to write this all morning, theoretically it should be easy just post what I did- Bam! Done! That would be easy except there is much about this race that I want to editorialize, so I am going to try to give that it's own spot at the end.

 

Pre-Race: Up at an unGodly hour to shower, bath in BodyGlide, shave, and make the drive.  For breakfast I had two pieces of wheat toast with peanut butter and honey. On one of them I placed banana slices. I thought I would try this for the first time on just one slice. It was great and I admit I stole it from someone else's blog. (Kovas, I think).



I am never amused to be out of bed this early

Got out of the house making perfect time to make the 35 minute drive and have 30 minutes to grab my packet (issue 2) and warm up (issue 2.5?). I came out of the house poised for the high 20's like the last time I left this early and was met by a startling discovery. It was 48 degrees outside. This run was not going to be as cold as planned. Knowing that it was going to be slightly, but not that warm, I had altered my clothing plan to include shorts, compression shirt, tech tee, calf sleeves, cut off tube sock arm warmers, and a hat. Thank you everyone for your advice and I learned I should invest in a long sleeve tech tee and a vest for the future. As I got there I found a parking spot (issue 1) and made it pick up and then the starting line.

Thank you Fleet Feet Sports
of Huntersville for the hat!!

Goal: Sub 2 hours- around 9:09 mile pace.

The Race: The turnout for the half marathon did not seem all that large, but there was variable mix of college long distance runner in school singlets to walkers. I guess I fall in the rear third of the participant scale. The race started 10 minutes late and once we started the course was two laps going through store parking lots, behind stores, through an apartment parking lot, a service road, and a mile or two of residential street. I started the first mile by running slower than my pace as a warm up. There was a port-o-potty at the first aid station as as we approached the guy in front of me ran to it. I decided to not take water and get to the next one. At aid station 2 I took my bathroom break and looked forward to taking water at the next station.

At the end of mile 4 or 5 the course made a right turn, at the same time the 5k course made a left turn and our courses became 1. This was a cluster. At my pace I ended up in the middle of the kids and stroller joggers. I pushed my pace to get past them and once I was past them the speed of the runners in front of them sucked me in and carried me a little faster than I had been moving. The last mile and a half of the loop was a decent size hill. At the end of the loop we had to enter the chute with the 5k runners and as they stopped in front of us we were supposed to keep going.

The second loop contained an out and back that the first loop did not contain and you could here many runners discussing why we didn't run this the first time. Through this loop I maintained an even pace and learned discovered that you can not use other runners to guage your pace this late. I realized that the other runners were slowing down. I picked off every runner in front of me for the rest of the race until I no longer had any in front of me I could see.

In the end I only had three miles below my target pace-my warm up mile, my potty break mile, and the end of the first lap with the 5k runner obstacle course. In fact, these were the only miles over 9:00 and I had a fastest mile of 8:40. I walked through (as planned) 5 aid stations in total (issue 3).

Note: Forgot about this from the original post- It did start raining in my ninth mile and by the time I was done and back to the car the temp had dropped 5 degrees. Also, I wrote I picked people off during the race, except for a guy who sprinted past me in the chute I was passed no other time and I even finished 2 minutes before the people who were in front of me at my bathroom break (It was three LOUD college freshman I could not forget them)

OVERALL TIME: ??????? See issue 4

Post Race: On site- I walked it off for a minute and had a granola bar and two cups of water (issue 5). When done I stretched and remembered to stop the Garmin. At this point it read 1:37 and only 11 miles. Once home- Ice bath and compression tights.

Post Post Race- Thanksgiving food and a trip to the movies to see Harry Potter.

Thoughts: I had a good time in general despite the issues. I am happy that for the most part I kept a steady pace and ran faster than my planned pace without issue. It actually felt good. I almost feel like I could have run faster, I didn't feel bad at the finish like I do when I run hard. I need to figure out what to do to break that plateau.

Issue 1: I arrived with time to spare to discover that all of the parking was taking (odd since I was in the first race), so was all the parking at the shopping center on the other side of the road, and the adjacent shopping center. I ended up parking over a half mile away at the Michael Waltrip Racing Headquarters. Luckily on the walk over I noticed a port-a-potty on the course.

Issue 2: Once there I spent 20 minutes in line to pic up my packet. It moved at a snail pace and there was no organization. Once I got it I had 7 minutes till race time.

Issue 2.5: I anticipate having to use the bathroom again (and I did have to) so I RAN to the bathroom. There were multiple lines with about 20 people a piece to get to the bathrooms. I asked the guy in front how long he had been waiting and he said 10 minutes. I decided to go back to the starting line and catch the first one I could on the course. This also didn't leave time for a warm up- good thing I was able to walk from my car for a warm up.

Issue 3: During the race their was only water on the course and they only put about half an inch in the cup. The race site said it would have on course advocare brand nutrition and there was none. Luckily, I did bring my own gel flask.

Issue 4: When I got to the finish the clock was set to the 5k finish time, I was not listed on the preliminary results, and I was not listed on the results today. I emailed the company Epic Sports Marketing and they returned an email to me with directions on where to find the results. I again emailed them that I know where to find them, I am just not on them.

Issue 5: When we got done there was only granola bars and water, I think running a race of this distance deserves something a little more substantial. Then again, for all I know they may have had it earlier and the other racers ate everything.

Race Day and Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and if you do not reside in a country with Thanksgiving then I still hope you have a good day.

Good luck to anyone racing or RDing today.

Good Idea, Bad Idea

When I was an early teen there was a short lived cartoon called the Anamaniacs. This cartoon featured the antics of characters Yacko, Wacko and Dot who lived in the WB studios water tower; as well as other shorts such as the goodfeathers, the original pinky and the brain episodes, and one of my personal favorites good idea, bad idea.

An episode of good idea, bad idea only lasted about a minute and an example of my favorite one would be:
Good idea- feeding cats in the park
Bad idea- feeding cats in the park...to a bear!

Today I  had my own version of the show:
Good idea- Taking a rest day before a half marathon.
Bad idea- using your rest day for 9 miles of mountain biking

I have never been one for drugs or even alcohol for the most part, however adrenalin has always been my personal heroin, whether rock climbing, rappelling, mountain biking, or snowboarding I love the rush. I certainly do not push the envelope in any of these and am probably more cautious than you average rider but I love it just as much.

Today I went back to the signal hill trail where I rode Saturday for another ride. I am on vacation this week and am trying to take advantage of my time before school lets out and CB is home, before we dive into family madness, and before I have to go back to my own personal purgatory of a job.

Although I did not hit any trees today I did fall three times in the first 15 minutes on the trail. I blame the first two most likely on my back wheel sliding on a root, one or both of them scraped up my left ankle pretty decent. I am not sure what caused the third fall but I do know that I hit something, I'm thinking the bike, and bruised my right knee. I am icing it as I type.  I may have fallen a few more times but I don't remember. I completed over 10 hike-a-bikes up hills because that third fall made me a bit more cautious for the day.

I did a little better with the technical obstacles today. I rode two of that thing above, I have never known what they are called, but I love them. I rode the skinny I showed the other day twice as far, but not the end. I also found a huge teeter-totter that I did not see last time and rode it. It was awesome but made me nervous because it didn't start to drop until I was about two feet from the end. I also made it over the bridge I fell off of last weekend. This ride left me debating if I should stick to some more novice trails until my skill are back or keep working on this trail. The pro is less likely to get hurt on an easier trail, but the con is easier trails are not as much fun to me.

As you near the end of the trail there is a sign for an extra loop- the circuit city loop, I didn't take it last time but I thought I would try it this time. Once I rode out to the start of the loop I noticed the sign said more difficult and there was a skeleton hanging in the tree. This was probably a bad sign but I tried it anyways. I did have some nice stunts, but I am not sure I would have called it more difficult. I would probably call it faster. It would be flowing really fast and then the bottom of the trail would drop almost straight down out of no where. With all the drops, pedaling back up at the end sucked.

With that out of my system for the day I am committed to not riding tomorrow and making anything worse and impacting my race Thursday. I am prepping my mind for the half marathon. I am trying to think about what to wear because there is a 50% chance it will be 30 degrees and raining. I don't have clothes for that. I am also trying to decide if I should bring my own gels and water bottle. Everything I read says no, but I can't find any reviews for the last four years saying where they have aid station and what they have at them.

On the triathlon front I am still searching for a decent bike. CB says she has a little money put together I can use but not enough for a new bike, I have been scouring BT.com and ebay for bikes. I can not race next year on the bike I have.  It needs more in parts than it is worth and I have already put an equal amount into it. However, I am thinking about getting a trainer (sadly I sold my old trainer from college) and a new back tire for the old bike. This way I can begin following a plan and in case I do get a bike I will be closer to ready than if I didn't ride at all. I was recently offered a discount via sponsorship from a bike company but sadly even with the discount I can not afford the $5,000 bikes.

What do you think about training with a trainer, what to wear for cold rain, or what to bring to a longer race. Your comments are always appreciated!

Lastly a shameless plug. I posted some items on craigslist in NC and thought I would share them here too.

If you, your spouse or your child would like to learn to play bass guitar I have a whole kit here http://charlotte.craigslist.org/msg/2073342452.html. I also have the equipment I used to do recording for the theatre department in college, they would probably would make a great set up for doing podcasts. You can see it here... http://charlotte.craigslist.org/msg/2073316413.html.

Great Week

As I've written, this week has been a week of pain. Oddly, this has also been a great week for training. Mentally, I feel better than I have in a long time. I got in a workout everyday and have been controlling my weight loss. Training has been a great way get my mind off of life, apparently as I am distracted I am happy.

Workouts this week have included:
Monday- First day of the hard phase of my weight training. I hurt the next day.
Tuesday- 3 mile recovery run
Wednesday- 10x400 speed work
Thursday- 5 mile run in just under 46 minutes. Maybe a new PR. I wasn't even trying. Weights. Still Hurt.
Friday- Rest day. Active rest with 30 minutes on stationary bike.
Saturday- 8 mile run and 8 miles mountain bike ride.
Sunday 3 mile run

Totals-
Run- 3 hours 30 minutes, 22.25 miles
Strength- 90 minutes
Bike- 2 hours 30 minutes, 8 outdoor miles

The overall highlight of the week was my ride yesterday. Even though I knew I had an 8-10 mile run single track was calling my name. It has been a long time since I have been on dirty singletrack, their is a learning curve for the skills it takes to ride. I realized that although I have better fitness, I no longer have those skills. By the time I was done with the ride I was doing a lot better though, as I hit some of the berms along the trail I noticed that my instincts were coming back. There were a few spots that would have lead to head over heels flips if they hadn't been there. The best part of the whole ride was being able to ride from the house to the trail and ride home with a detour to go see CB at a church event (you should see the looks from the old ladies when you show up wearing lycra, smelling of sweat, and covered in mud).

First Skinny I have seen in a long time. It used to ride taller, longer, more advanced ones. It only took me a few seconds to ride off the side of this one. If I keep riding it will come back to me. I could always go practice the obstacle, that's how I got proficient at them to begin with.

I fell 90% of the way up this hill. It has been a long time since I have had a climb that steep and short, and slick to bat. You can see some of the mud on me.

After the first fall I decided to walk this 12 inch wide bridge. I was worried if I fell I would end up hitting the old bridge laying to the left.

I was happy when I made it over that leaf covered bridge and up the hill without falling.

I decided to walk this hill, it was just after a sharp turn and was twice as long and steep as the one I fell on at the beginning.

I was often confused by the trail markings. There was only one trail yet often splits with up to 3 arrows.

Good thing I skipped the skinny bridge since I rode right off the side of this one. I found this just after riding a bank around a curve.

This is towards the end of my ride when I ran into a tree. As you can see one of my legs is still attached to the bike. With very narrow trails like this one sometimes their are trees on the side of the trails that are just wide enough for a bike to pass  through. This is one of the most hair raising obstacles for me and it is very common. As a big boy it has always been something that made me nervous. It this instance I did not hold a good line and I ate tree.

On the way home when I stopped to visit with CB and her friend I showed them pictures. They were questioning me about if I was ok from hitting a tree. They didn't understand when I said "it happens, no bid deal"

This takes some practice and getting used to again, but I loved every second of it. All it did was fuel my desire to be out on the trail. It's like a drug to me, I need more.

The Bigger Picture

A few days before I turned 18 I went away to college at Western Carolina University. My family was proud of me for going but did not want me to go. Leaving was something I needed to do for me, there were some things going on in my house I needed to be separated from. However, I was not prepared.

I was not prepared academically, socially, or mentally. In retrospect, I probably should not have gone. I spent a lot of time alone, I spent a lot of time struggling with my coursework at first, and a decent amount of time sad.

I  usually jump head first into most things, and for this one I was not prepared. I look back and think that being unprepared was what left me feeling sad, however then I think about how happy I was after I learned to look at the bigger picture.

I chose Western Carolina University for two reasons. First, it had the cheapest in-state tuition in NC so be default it was the only school I could afford. Secondly and more importantly to me was it's location. The campus an hour south of Asheville, NC sits in middle of the North Carolina mountains. It is steps from great trout rivers, 15 minutes, from great trails, 30 minutes from the Blue Ridge Parkway, and 45 minutes from the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. The campus is literally in the middle of the mountains, the town of Cullowhee is Cherokee for valley of the lillies and the campus sits in this valley surrounded by mountain ridges and peaks. Since I was an avid rock climber and backpacker it seemed like it would be a place for me.

For my first few months I walked around only concentrating on what I was doing and what was in front of me. I was surrounded by tall concrete and brick buildings, like an urban canyon. That is all I saw. One day it dawned on me, look up!

I was walking across campus and the two buildings in front of me, both nine stories tall, were all could see. Once I looked up, I saw beautiful fall mountains a literal stones throw away.

This is one the most important things I have learned in my life to date. My wife will tell you that recount this lesson and this day often. Stop what you are doing at look at the bigger picture. It is simple but it so profound. there were many days after this you would have seen me walking through campus with a smile on my face looking like a space cadet. It is because as I was walking my focus was on the beauty of area.

I often recount this when I am leading hiking trips. I often plan my trips with distance, time and pace in mind. We charge down the trails looking at the pathway in front of us. Then it will hit me again. Stop! Don't stare down the path, look around. You are surrounded by beauty that can be seen in the smallest thing from spider webs to rocks.

If you focus solely on what you are doing you will miss all the good around you.

This applies to healthy living as well. I often think about the workout I am doing or the one that is coming up. I need to think about the long term goal and what the effect of this workout will have on my goal. Also to stop and think about my accomplishments and how my goals have morphed.

As I wrote this I was thinking about what the people who live in large cities away from nature are missing. Then I realized that you can take a large city like Chicago or NYC and ponder the history, the diversity, the architecture, or all of the forces that work in concert to make it work like a living organism and easily find beauty in that. I know I can.

I hope that everyone who reads this will take a moment this weekend to look at the bigger picture; either in the outdoors, in their training, or in their own lives. When you do take this time please come back and share it. I would love to know what your bigger picture is.

I did this on the way to work today just before I turned off the small highway I travel on. I was thinking about the day, what I needed to do at work, chores for the weekend, and holiday plans. Then I looked up and saw the mountains and it reminded my of the first time I did this. Below is a poor blackberry picture of what I was looking at. Have a great weekend!