Weekend Update

Well, it's been awhile since my last update. Well, that's because there isn't much to talk about. Monday, I fully intended to go to the core workout. Work got in the way. I meant to bike on Tuesday. Work got in the way. Wednesday, I meant to do a bike ride and that didn't happen because of work. See a trend here? On Wednesday, I realized that I had worked out only once in the last 6 days. That changed on Thursday when I got up and ran the 3.15 mile loop around my neighborhood. The extra rest must have paid off because I clocked that loop at 26:42 with an avg HR of 147 and max of 159. I felt great during the run, too. Didn't get to ride my bike later that day at the Texas Iron workout. I showed up, but forgot my trainer at home and they didn't have any spare trainers. Sucks, because I really wanted to ride.

Now, I haven't been working out all week. And I've been eating a decent amount of crap due to V-Day and stuff like that. Well, I weighed in at 190 surprisingly. After my run today, I should be under 190 tomorrow.

Saturday, I did the ATC ride. Like the last time I went on an ATC ride, I had a flat at the begining. Totally sucks, but I got some practice at quickly changing my tire and I made the start of the ride in time. I got my ass kicked again. I got dropped even before I hit Southwest Parkway. I tried hanging onto a group and whenever I looked at my HRM, my heart rate was around 170. I was suppose to do a base ride that day. Oh well. I just kept going and kept hurting but I never gave up. Got done with the ride and did a 30min brick. Nothing special. Hurt, but felt decently well. A little tired since I went so hard on the bike before. However, I think this is good considering that I'm doing sprints and Olys the first half of this year.

Oh, bike ride was 30.8 miles at an avg speed of 18.6mph. Avg HR was 151bpm and max of 180bpm. 52% of the ride my heart rate was in the 157-175 range. Wow. The brick was 28:28 with an avg HR of 157bpm, max of 168.

Today, I did a run around Town Lake. There was almost no one out there because a lot of people were doing the half and full marathon. Did a full 7 miles today and I felt fine. A few small aches and pains but nothing that really registered as a potential problem. Total time was 1:00:43 with an avg HR of 148, max of 164. First 4.1 miles was 34:36 at 145bpm and the second 2.9 miles was 26:07 at 152bpm. What's great is that my pace was 8:40 and I'm happy about that. It felt good today. I've also been working on picking up my knees when I run. When I started running again, I shuffled a lot. My coach yelled at me about it and I've been trying to correct it. It really gets my hip flexors on fire but that's a good thing.

I'm trying to get back into swimming, but it's just too cold. I just need to suck it up and and get my butt in the water.

One more thing, personally, I try to strive to see how low I can get my pulse and my blood pressure. It's another to be competitive among other triathletes. However, we forget the dangers of low pulse and low blood pressure. Here is an email from my coach:

Hi Guys,

I'm not sure how much you may of heard but I had a fall last Sunday at the
long supported run and had to go to the hospital. At the time it was
diagnosed as low blood pressure which caused me to feint and smack my head.
I went home with 3 staples, a concussion and a nasty headache.

Yesterday (Thursday) I had to go back in to the hospital because I thought I
was having a stroke. I lost feeling/control in the right side of my face
quite suddenly. At the hospital, a second CT scan showed a small contusion
on the left frontal lobe of my brain and a fractured skull behind the right
ear. The fracture had allowed blood to pool around a nerve that controls the
side of my face and thus my symptoms.

I am back home but not quite back up to speed. I am on steroids (I'm
juicin!) to promote the healing and reduce the swelling but time is the best
cure. I will be working on schedules and what not in the coming days but I
would ask for your patience with me as things may be a little slower than
normal. I have a large backlog of e-mail which I will be working through and
I promise you a response. if you have sent me an e-mail in the last 36 hrs
the chances are its sitting unopened in my inbox.


I've had issues getting lightheaded from time to time and this is something that to any well trained athlete. I know my blood pressure is about 104/58 and it keeps getting lower as I work out more and let work bother me less and less. This is just a reminder to everyone to be careful and watch your vitals and low as possible always isn't the best.

Shoe mileage: 189 miles