Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Feeling Good

I'm feeling really good right now. I just wanted the world to know that.

Tuesday morning was a run of 3.15 miles around my neighborhood. Total time was 27:26 with an avg HR of 147bpm. I don't know how this compares to the other 3.15 mile runs that I've done. I should put a graph together and show this because it could be interesting. Also, max HR was 159bpm. This run felt great, really. I could breathe the entire time and I'm no longer dreading the first part of a run. I tried to keep my heart rate low and consistent as well. The only problem was that my left Achilles hurt for about 5 minutes and then loosened up. It was coldish outside as well so that might have contributed.

Wednesday was a bike workout. 20min w/u, 10x1min fast, 1min easy, 10x30sec 1-leg drills, and then a cooldown. The intervals hurt but I only got my HR up in the 160-165 range. I could've gone harder. Skipped the core workout tonight. I'm sore from Monday, I have a strength workout tomorrow with Texas Iron, and work got in the way.

As I'm keeping track of my calories, I'm definitely increasing my physical exercise, I'm cutting out junk more, and I'm actually getting a 400-900 calorie deficit every day. For example, today I've eaten 2800 calories, exercised about 900 calories, and my RMR is about 2600 calories since I've been up and moving a lot today. That's about 700 calorie deficit and I feel slightly hungry, but OK overall. I think this is a good thing.

Shoe mileage: 147.5 miles

Monday, January 29, 2007

Much Needed Update

Unlike some people, I like to keep my fans update of my training on somewhat of a regular basis. Yes, that basis may only be twice a week like lately, but I'm going to try to update every day. Ok, let's begin:

Wednesday: I did about 60 minutes on the bike. I can't remember exactly what I did, but there were some simulated hills and fast breaks in there. Oh, yeah, this was at the gym at work on the spin bike so I had Janee to keep me company for awhile. I meant to go to the core workout but work got in the way.

Thursday: All it was was a 3 mile run at the track around work. 3 miles was in a time of about 27:11 or something like that. Bicycle Sport Shop had their pro night that night and I went and had some free beer and pizza. Quite nice.

Friday: Damnit, can't remember what I did. Oh, I lifted weights that night. Nothing special.

Saturday: Started off on the 30 mile ATC taco ride. I actually had a flat at first and I started out 5 minutes behind everyone else. It sucks because that tube had never been ridden before. Well, I finally caught up with everyone else which surprised me. I actually stayed with the main group until the hill going up to William Cannon Dr. That's about 3 miles and I usually get dropped almost immediately. I just tried to stay calm and keep my heart rate low. After that, I was blown and slowed down a bit. I caught my breath and then ended up sucking the wheel of a couple of girls. Nice view, but pretty sad that it took a lot to stick with them. About 5 miles from the end, I was going hard to keep up with the group. I put my head down, look up just in time to see a rock in the road. I hit it and popped my front tube. I pulled over and I then replaced the second tube for the day. Got back on the bike and pushed myself hard again back to the bike shop. It was a hard ride and it felt good. After that, I ran about 2.5 miles and it was my first brick since before IMFL. I really didn't feel that bad. After that, I came home and was lazy.

Sunday: Did a 4.5 mile run. Nice and easy and I actually did it in about 40:47 which is a pretty good pace of about 9:05min/mile. Avg heart rate was about 150bpm. I felt fine the entire run, too. I came home and had a Sunday smoothie which I always enjoy.

Monday: I went to the core workout at J&A. It was tough but it was worth it. Afterwards, I went to Casa De Luz for dinner. Wow, it was awesome! Basically, it is an organic vegetarian restaurant. The dinner that night was actually gluten free as well. It was very, very enjoyable and was probably one of the best meals that I've had in awhile. I can't say enough about this place but it was excellent. Also, it was $12 all that you can eat and that included tax and tip as well. If any of the out of town fans come to visit me, I'll take you to this place because it's excellent.

Ok, that's it for now.

Oh, weight today was 194 pounds. I'm back to keeping track of my calories so that's why I'm stating it.

Shoe mileage: 144.5 miles

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Tuesday Run

I went on another 3.15 mile run this morning. Total time was 28:11 with an avg HR of 147, max of 173 (WTF!?!?). The run felt nice and easy the entire time. My left Achilles where it inserts into the heel was bothering me a bit. Not a good sign.

I weighed in at 191 yesterday. Down is awesome! Hopefully, next Monday I'll be under 190 and that puts me at ease.

For the rest of the day, I plan on either swimming 45 minutes or going to the gym. I'm leaning towards the gym because I think I need it more. The schedule now is tough. I have at least 1, most likely 2 rest days a week. The other 5-6 days usually are double workout days and I'm suppose to throw in 2 weight training sessions per week. That's a busy schedule. I really need to fit in the weights because my focus right now is weights and running since both have been neglected for quite awhile. Plus, both of these are great for weight loss for me. I'll edit this post later today and inform all of my fans what I did today.

Also, yesterday, I posted that I had to make a choice between doing Buffalo Springs and volunteering for Ironman CdA. Right now, I'm leaning towards CdA for various reasons. I've done BSLT before and doing it again this year wouldn't be anything special. If I go to CdA, I get to volunteer which I don't do enough of right now. Plus, I know someone that's doing their first IM there and I want to be part of that. Also, I have some friends that live 2 hours away from Coeur d'Alene and I want to go see them as well. Plus, I get to take 2 weeks off of work and have a nice vacation in the middle of the year. My mind has pretty much been made up already and luckily I haven't paid for BSLT already.

AFTERNOON EDIT: I lifted after work today. Nothing special except that I didn't get out of work until almost 9pm. It's sucking lately.

Shoe mileage: 134 miles

Monday, January 22, 2007

2007 Race Schedule

Here's pretty much the solid portion of my race schedule for this year:

Texas Tri Series

I'll also do Buffalo Springs. I might also do PrairieMan, IronStar, and the Tri One O One. I also expect to spectate and volunteer for Ironman Couer d'Alene as well. Should be a fun year with anywhere from a minimum of 6 up to a max of 10 races and volunteering for an IM. Should be fun.

Ok, here it is in a better format:

01 APR - Lonestar Triathlon, Galveston, TX - Sprint/Oly/HIM (haven't decided which distance yet)
12 MAY - The Rookie Triathlon, Austin, TX - Sprint
28 MAY - CapTexTri, Austin, TX - Oly
24 JUN - Buffalo Springs, Lubbock, TX - HIM
24 JUN - Ironman CdA, Coeur d'Alene, ID - Ironman volunteer
15 JUL - Couples Triathon, Austin, TX (I need to find a girlfriend for this) - Sprint
05 AUG - Jack's Generic Triathlon, Austin, TX - Sprint
03 SEP - Austin Triathlon, Austin, TX - Oly
09 SEP - PrairieMan, Grand Prairie, TX - HIM
07 OCT - Longhorn Triathlon, Austin, TX - HIM
28 OCT - IronStar Triathlon, Conroe, TX - HIM
11 NOV - Tri One O One, The Woodlands, TX - 3km swim, 130km bike, 30k run

Shit, CdA and Buffalo Springs are on the same weekend. That's going to be a hard decision. Do I race a HIM or do I volunteer for an Ironman and see some people across the finish line for the first time?

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Thoughts (Long)

This will be somewhat of a long post, so grab a cup of tea or a beer, get comfortable, and enjoy.

Training this week has been off and on. Lots of stuff like weather, laziness, and work have gotten in the way. But here's a run down of what I did this week.

Monday was a rest day on the schedule. I also didn't go to work due to the weather so I sat on my couch all day long watching TV. I hate that.

Tuesday was very nasty as well. Schedule called for a swim and a run. Neither of those happened.

Wednesday was a trainer ride. It was about an hour long with 5x1min fast, 2 min rest thrown in there. Avg heart rate was 127bpm. My heart rate at the end of each of those intervals was anywhere from 161bpm to 168bpm. I was pushing it. I meant to run after that, but the weather was nasty. Also, whenever I lay on the couch all day, that's the toughest to get up and do stuff and that's when I'm the most tired. When I get up and do stuff, I actually feel better than doing nothing.

Thursday was going to be a strength training and run workout with Texas Iron. Since I'm a complete pussy when it comes to the cold, I decided to skip that. I went to yoga after work and intended to go for a run after that. Instead, I went home, ate and went to bed.

Friday, I got up early and went for a run before work since I skipped running pretty much the entire week. I'm really glad that I did that. Most days, it's just really tough to work out after work before shit just comes up at work. I meant to go lift weights after work on Friday. That's kind of tough to do when you go in at 8am and don't leave until just before 10pm. I wasn't happy about that and work pissed me off that day. The good thing about that is that in strengthened my resolve to go back to school and become a physical therapist and get away from dealing with the bullshit at my job. For the run, I have an avg HR of 150 with a max of 165bpm. Total time was 27:30 for my 3.15 mile loop. Once again, about a 8:45 pace. At times it felt my heart rate was too high. I'm trying to run slower, but I just want to go faster.

Saturday was a trainer ride. I really hate the trainer at my house. I can do the spin bikes at the work gym pretty well, but the trainer at home just sucks. I watched a movie and that helped a bit. Did a total of 1:17:00 on the trainer with an avg HR of 120bpm, max of 147bpm. A very easy ride.

Sunday was a "big" run. I did 4.5 miles around Town Lake. That was the first time that I've been to Town Lake since right before IMFL. Ran that 4.5 miles in a time of 44:02. Max heart rate of 168bpm and average of 151bpm. I felt like I was above 150bpm for a significant amount of time and I don't like that. Once again, I wanted to run fast but I know that I shouldn't be doing that right now. Speed will come with time. I could start doing speed work, but my goal for this year is to just run injury free. Speaking of, I woke up this morning and my left Achilles was tight. That was the leg that gave me so many problems last year so I'm very aware when something hurts. I have to make sure to stretch a lot to keep it loose and to sleep with my foot hanging of the end of the bed to keep it lengthened at night. I may invest in a Strassburg sock to help prevent anything happening in that foot. During the run, I felt fine. Once again, my periformis in my butt cramped when I stopped. That hurt. Overall, it was great to run out there again. I missed it and the nice "scenery" in Austin. Supposedly, there was a Lance sighting but I was so in the zone that I must have missed him. Average heart rate was 151bpm. Max was 168bpm. The pace for the day was 9:47min/mile which is a whole min/mile slower than my 3.15 mile runs around my neighborhood at the same heart rate. Strange.

This morning, I checked my resting heart rate. It was at 55bpm. I think something is up with my body because it's usually slightly lower than this. Maybe it's the stress from work on Friday is still affecting my physically. Maybe I'm getting sick. Maybe I just don't know. I'm going to take it easy the rest of the day and try to rest up and get some sleep.

I had a mole removed from my butt. Yeah, I know that's funny. The unfunny part were my test results. It was benign, but they also said that it was slightly atypically and changing. Looks like I caught it just in time. That's the second mole that I've had removed, but luckily both have been negative. It's just scary to be 28 and have to worry about cancer already. My grandpa has had it at least 4 times already and I have similar skin to him. I'm pretty good with sunscreen and I will start going to the dermatologist once a year to get my moles mapped out. I just decided on a whim to have him check me out while I was getting another injection into my wart on my foot and luckily this one mole was caught. It was just scary.

Speaking of, my troublesome wart is finally going away. I've tried duct tape occulation, freezing, a prescription strength salicilic acid, lasers, and candida. Finally, I'm getting a response by injecting it with bleomycin which is used to kill cancer. It's working so far.

Finally, some deep thoughts. I'm having trouble with motivation lately. I really want to get back into training. I miss doing 10 workouts a week and having most days be double workouts with the occasional triple workout day. However, most of the time the weather outside is frightful and I'm content to sit on my couch and watch TV. I really, really do want to get trim and lean again, but something is just missing. Maybe I don't have a training partner to challenge me. Maybe I just have the winter blues and I don't like being cold even if the pool is heated. Maybe I'm just being a pussy and I need to suck it up and kick some ass. Maybe I'm letting my foot injury hold me back. Whatever it is, I don't like it. I really think I just got used to not doing the workouts right after IMFL. I know that there are at least 2 people reading this blog that'll be doing their first IM's this year. My advice to you is to schedule something immediately after your races. Ok, not immediately, but schedule a fun run 5k about a month after your IM. Doing an easy 30 mile charity ride 6 weeks afterwards. Get back in the habit of working out and training and don't get too used to sleeping in on Saturdays and enjoying beer most nights of the week. My early season is pretty light this year, but my late season is going to be tough with at least 3, maybe 4, HIMs and the Tri One O One within 10 weeks at the end of the year. To keep me going after this, I'm probably going to be doing the Distance Challenge in 2007-08 with the season finale being the Austin Marathon. After that, I'll be picking up my training to hopefully do two Ironman's in 2008. It's a lot between now and then, but I just need to keep having goals to prevent myself from getting lazy. Once you're lazy, it's hard to get motivated again and I need a swift kick in the butt right now.

Finally, I think I found a new sponsor: Get Big Guns. I'm sure this is the best way to get all the tri chica hotties to swoon over me.

Shoe mileage: 131 miles.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Nasty Weekend

This weekend is completly nasty here. It's about 35 degrees and rainy and this to me is the worst weather possible. Hopefulyl, I won't have to go to work tomorrow because it'll be nasty outside, but that's just wishful thinking.

The weather this weekend limited my workout options. I did 45 minutes on the trainer yesterday. I actually didn't get up until almost noon and then went to bed at like 10:30. All I did was watch TV so it was kind of nice.

Today was pretty nasty as well. I slept in once again today. I just cleaned up the house and stuff like that. I decided to go to yoga. Since I missed the teacher I usually go to, I decided to see who else was teaching this afternoon. Well, of course I decided on the hottest teacher, Lizzie, and I wasn't disappointed. Besides being very cute, she was a great yoga teacher as well and I was quite pleased since this was the first time that I went to a hatha flow class. Afterwards, I went for another 3.15 mile run. Did it in 27:36 again with an average heartrate of 147bp with a pace of 8:46. That isn't bad at all. I felt good but my ass muscle cramped at as soon as I walked inside my house.

Shoe mileage: 123 miles

Friday, January 12, 2007

Morning Run

First off, I weighed 192 this morning. I've lost 2 pounds this week and that's very good. Hopefully in about 2 more weeks, I'll be back under 190 which puts a smile on my face.

I ran this morning. Did the normal 3.15 mile route from my house. Did it in 27:35 this morning since my coach told me to run faster. I tried to keep my heart rate below 150bpm and I did pretty good at that. Overall pace was about 8:45 and I'm pretty happy with that with my heart rate around 150bpm. I felt fine, too. A little sore from the tough run on Tuesday, but nothing bad.

Oh, I also cycling for 55 minutes yesterday morning with some intervals thrown in. I've noticed that when I consider myself "out of shape", my long, slow endurance is maintained pretty well, but it hurts to go hard too quickly. I have to warm up to it and after awhile, it doesn't hurt as bad. I did 5 4min intervals on the trainer yesterday. The first couple hurt really bad with a heartrate of 160bpm. By the last one, 160bpm felt like nothing.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Dinner

Last night, I had this for dinner:


- Spinach salad with fat free ranch dressing
- Far East mushroom & herb couscous mixed with quinoa with roma tomatoes, red bell peppers, salt, pepper, cumin, ginger, garlic powder, and paprika
- Spicy crusted salmon that's my own recipe

I tried the couscous/quinoa mixture earlier this week but this mixture is a lot better. It has more color and the flavor is a lot better. The other mixture was missing raw veggies and now that's included. This is so much better than eating spaghetti 4 nights a week.

Tuesday, January 9, 2007

I missed the smell of chlorine

I went for a swim this morning. It's over 12 hours later and still smell like chlorine after a shower and a run. Oh, I missed that smell. I did 8x200yds at the warm, nice waters of Stacy Pool. Just trying to get back into it since this is the 3rd time I've swam since IMFL. I'm surprised at how well I did. I thought I would be out of breath or forget how to swim, but my stroke was about 97% on. It felt good to be back in the water, but I still hate the jaunt from the water to the locker room when it's 40 degrees outside.

A run tonight was actually a little harder than I expected. I did a 1.5 mile warmup nice and slow. Did some strides and then did 4x0.5 mile repeats with 90 seconds rest. I did each repeat at around 3:47 which is about a 7:35 pace. Not bad, but I did feel like I was going a little too hard. Right now, I feel fine though. We'll see how I feel tomorrow. Finally, did a half mile cooldown.

I talked with my coach about my running recovery plan. This week and next week will be a run every other day. He wants 3, 3, 4.5 or so. The 3 mile run will be faster than what I'm running now so my heart rate will be in the 145-150 range whereas now it's in the 130-135 range. This will help me clean up my form since I definitely know that I run better when running faster. After the end of next week, I'll go to a 2 on, 1 off, 1 on, 1 off, 1 on schedule. Basically, I run an Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, and Monday. I'll do that for about 3 weeks and then I'll try to get back into the normal training schedule. The only thing that I don't like is my coach wants me to do 1 aquajog at least every other week. After doing that for 3.5 months last year, I don't want to do another aquajog. I asked him even though I'm running 3-4.5 miles at a time if it'll really beat up my body that much and he said yes. I just don't know if I can through it again.

I was going to mention something else, but I'm completely enamored with the announcement of the iPhone. I'm completely looking forward to this device because this is exactly the thing that I've been looking for and Apple can pull it off. Wow.

Shoe mileage: 116.5 miles

Monday, January 8, 2007

Funday Monday

Yesterday, I did a short pick up for the last half mile of my run. Today, I'm sore a bit in my quads. It's a nice feeling because even after all the IM training, when I started back, I wasn't sore. I miss being sore but I guess that's one of the downsides to being in shape like having to buy new clothes because you lost weight or you save money because you can't stand eating out anymore.

I went back to the J&A core workout tonight. It wasn't that tough, but it was still a great workout. Afterwards, I talked with Adam and a couple of other people about nutrition. I'm glad I stayed because I think that was the kick in the gut to get my off of sweets and crap at work. Tomorrow, I'm going cold turkey with the sweets and candy at work again.

As part of that, tonight I came home and made dinner and I actually didn't have spaghetti! I made up some broccoli and cheese couscous made by Near East. It's usually a pretty strong flavor so I made a cup of quinoa as filler. The thing is that it's very nutricious and is actually really healthy for you. I grilled up some chicken, added some garlic powder, cumin, ginger, and pepper. Mixed it all up and had some dinner. It makes 3-4 servings and was actually pretty good. The spices flavored the chicken and the flavor of the couscous mixed well with the quinoa. Very delicious.

Sunday, January 7, 2007

Toenail Pics (Gross)

I'm warning you that some people can freak out and get totally grossed out, but if not, here are some pics of what happens when you get a black toenail and it then tries to fall off during yoga class.

Toenail Pics

Weekend Update

Not much to talk about this weekend. I did a bike ride on Saturday. I intended to do a 10 mile warmup, do the ATC taco ride, and then 10 miles back home for a total of 50 miles. It was kind of cold and nasty. I met up with the ATC ride and kept going. Usually, the "race" doesn't start until we turn onto Southwest Parkway. Well, some J&A guys joined the ride and tried to upstage the ATC people and started going hard on the hill on Mopac. Assholes. This isn't going to be good at all because if they keep doing this, everyone will start bitching about the ride and it won't be fun anymore. Not good at all. Anyways, I went on the ride and got dropped almost immediately again. So, warming up didn't do much for me. I kept going and I felt like I had completely blown up. Also, I got cold all of a sudden and it started raining. I turned around, then decided to not quit. Then, I quit 5 minutes later. I was working and I was still cold and that wasn't a good sign. I headed back to my place but I still put in about 30 miles. And it was a hard 30 miles, too. My punishment for being a pussy on the ride was no breakfast tacos for me.

Sunday was yoga first and then a 3.15 mile run. Yoga was good and loosened up my ankles a bit. The class was packed. The teacher was Angela and she's good, but she talks a lot. The run was good. I did the 3.15 mile loop and I was feeling good. The weather was about 62 degrees and sunny. The last half mile of the run, I decided to pick up the pace a bit and push it. I did the last half mile 03:43.9 which is a pace of about 7:30/mile with a heart rate in the mid 160's. Total time was 29:08 and average bpm was 133. The pickup was good because the pace that I ran at was about what I ran at before I got hurt last year. It just felt awesome to actually run with a lengthened stride instead of a short stride. Hopefully this running slower to get faster thing will pay off.

Shoe mileage: 112 miles

Friday, January 5, 2007

Random Thoughts

1) I haven't worked out in a few days. I was busy on Wednesday since I was out late Tuesday hanging out with friends. After work, I went out with the same friend for my birthday and was out until 2am. Thursday, I was tired and had to take my car into the shop which took all day. Today, I had a doctor appointment at 8am and ran errands before going into work. I may run tonight but we'll see.

2) I went to get my tattoo tonight. I made sure to call first. Apparently, the tattoo guy that I was going to go to worked there on Wednesday, but doesn't work there today. Sucks.

3) I didn't shave my legs for like 2 weeks until Wednesday. I have really sensitive skin so I now have the back of my legs covered in razor burn. It's itchy and nasty, but not nearly as bad as the first time I shaved my legs.

4) I'm so fucking sick of spaghetti. I'm going to the grocery store tonight and I'm not buying spaghetti. I'm forcing myself to eat something else. Anyone have any recommendations?

5) Even though I'm barely working out, my cardio system is awesome, still. At the doctor appointment, by blood pressure was 112/66 and my pulse was 49bpm. Having my pulse below 50bpm is the magic number and I would love to get it down to 45bpm resting and keeping it there. I think it's low now because I was always slightly overtrained during IM training and now I'm not overtrained. I'm just a slightly pudgy guy with a great heart and lungs.

6) 194lbs. I'm getting serious this weekend!

Wednesday, January 3, 2007

Shoe mileage

Shit, I lost track of my shoe mileage.

I ran 3 yesterday (02 JAN). I ran 3 on Sunday (31 DEC). I ran 2.5 on Friday (29 DEC). 2.5 on Wednesday (27 DEC). 2.5 on Monday (Christmas). 1.5 before that but since IMFL. That's a total of 15 miles since IMFL. After IMFL, I had a total of 93 miles so I now have 108 miles. Throw in another mile for random walking.

Shoe mileage: 109 miles.

Monday, January 1, 2007

Update

Let's see, Thursday was an off day. Friday was a 2.5 mile run. Saturday was a 30 mile bike ride with ATC. Sunday was a 3 mile run. The runs are going OK. I'm keeping my heart rate in the 130-140 range and I'm doing about 10min/mile. I wish I was running faster though. It's hard to keep my heart rate that low though because I feel really slow. I may do an experiment soon and go out and run at a heart rate of 160bpm for 3 miles and see what my pace is from that. Nothing is hurting when I run though.

The bike ride was tough. The group goes out too quickly for me since I'm not warmed up. During the second half of the ride, I'm riding strong and at that point I think I could hang with the group. Next weekend will be an experiment where I ride my bike to the ATC ride to get warmed up first.
 

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