2010 Run Mileage

I ran a total of 545.75 miles in 2010. How many did you run? That averages to 10.5 a week and 45.5 per month. I really wanted to average more like 15mpw but I had a couple of injuries that laid me up for awhile. I hope that 2011 is better for me for running and I can run more consistently. I had a good workout on Tuesday which helped and I'll have another "easy hard workout" on Tuesday before I start cranking up the intensity and speed again. The great thing about 2010 running is that I PRed the 10k distance by about 1:40 and I hope to take another 1:40 off of my time in April. As usual, injuries is going to be the big thing and I hope to get my weight down a bit as well. I lost 3 pounds this year so at this rate, I'll be down to my goal of sub 180 in about 3 years.

Another Mileage Update

Man, work has been busy which has prevented updates, but really hasn't prevented training that much. It has had some impact but I've been working out in the mornings more. Well, here's my run mileage the last few weeks:

Two weeks ago: 14 miles
Last week: 9 miles
Asics run mileage: 173.5 miles

Mileage Update

Been busy lately so not much time for updates. Yeah, I've used that excuse WAY too much before. Anyways, my toe is getting much better and I don't really think it is bothering me much anymore. But my hip flexor still bothers me frequently but it is getting better also.

Weekly run mileage, 3 weeks ago: 5 miles
Weekly run mileage, 2 weeks ago: 12 miles
Weekly run mileage: last week: 14.5 miles
Asics run mileage: 150.5 miles

Frustrated/Injured

After my long run two Sundays ago, my toe started hurting. I was concerned because it felt like a stress fracture. I went to see my PT later in the week and he thinks I have a stressed out flexor tendon in my foot. I took all week off of running and then ran 3 miles this past Sunday. My toe hurt again so it looks like I'm back on the DL for the time being. This is really frustrating because I seem to be injury prone. I try to ramp up my training regarding running and I keep getting hurt. This is preventing me from making progress running because as soon as I start making progress, I get hurt and then I can't train for awhile. This is difficult mentally since I am trying really hard to get better at running but I need months (6-24 months) of consistent, injury free running to really see some gains and that just isn't happening with my body. This fucking sucks!

Weekly run mileage: 3 miles
Asics mileage: 119 miles

An on time update OR 19 miles!

For once, I think I'm getting an update on time this week. Not much to add this week except that I am increasing my mileage fun and actually ran 19 miles this week. I don't want to hit 20 quite yet since I know my body tends to get injured once I start doing 20+ per week. I think I might hover in the 19-20mpw range until the end of Dec and then ramp up to about 25mpw. I do have a story to share. I had a date planned for Friday night. I got downtown about 45 minutes early for my date and had some time to kill. I had access to a shower so I decided that I had enough time to go for a 3 mile run and shower before my date. Ah, the life of an athlete. I did my 7.2 mile long run this morning and it was absolutely perfect running weather in the low 50s. The breakfast tacos and coffee afterward were great as well. I love this time of the year. Everything seems to be going well at the moment and I'm pretty happy about that. My weight is stagnant but my body composition seems to be changing.

Weekly run mileage: 19 miles
Asics mileage: 116 miles (my 3 mile run were on my old shoes)

Two Weeks Of Updates

I think I'm owed 2 weeks of updates. Damnit, me being lazy. Well, I'm still running and weight lifting and I feel like I'm making progress with both so everything is going well. I can't drop weight but why complain about that anymore since I haven't been able to do that for a couple of years now it seems. I am going to try to throw in more spin classes and/or bike rides. Well, only 1 per week but I'll try to fit it in.

2 Weeks Ago: 11 miles (yeah, not a good week)
Last Week: 18 miles
Asics Mileage: 100 miles

Last Week & Donkey Dash 5K

Not much going on last week. Weight lifting is going well and so is running. I put in about 16.5 miles last week which is OK. I did the Donkey Dash 5K and it was my first 5K in awhile. I really need to work on my pacing in 5Ks but still did 22:40 for a pace of around 7:18/mile. Not that bad but first mile was 6:40 and last mile was 7:49. Yep, need to work on pacing. It was good though.



Weekly run mileage: 16.5 miles
Asics mileage: 71 miles

IBM Uptown Classic 10K

The highlight of last week was the IBM Uptown Classic 10K. It is my fall baseline 10K to see how I much I improve over the winter and I did it last year. I've been iffy about my fitness lately so I really didn't have many expectations for this race. So, I'll skip the details because a 10K isn't really that exciting. I did a few tuneups during the week though and carbo loaded a bit.

Started off on the race and I was taking it fairly slow but not too slow. Actually, I was going hard. Well, it is difficult to say but I was pushing it a bit from the beginning. First mile clocked in at about 7:46 which is about what I did last year if I recall correctly. Second mile was about 7:42 and it felt pretty good. I was surprised at the time and how well I was feeling so I decided to push it a bit more. Came in at 7:28 for Mile 3 and then Mile 4 was a nice gradual downhill with a time of 7:12. I was pushing it the last 2 miles, and still feeling good, because I knew that Mile 5 was the hilliest mile on the course and I would go off pace in that mile. Well, that didn't happen. For Mile 5, I averaged 7:39 while climbing about 150 feet. I pushed it up the hills but not to the point of blowing myself up. Also, there were lots of people following the curve of the road and not running tangents. When my Mile 5 split came in and saw that it wasn't 8:20 like it was last year, I got excited. I started thinking that I could beat last year's time so that was more motivation to keep running strong. For the last mile, I knew that half of it was downhill and half was uphill. On the downhill, I was cruising easily at about a 7:00/mile pace. Did I mention that I love the gradual downhills because I can run them well? Turned around to go up the gradual uphill and crossed Mile 6 at 7:14/mile. I was way ahead of last year's time and still feeling great. I kicked it up a gear to finish the last partial mile with a pace of 6:22/mile and a total time of 46:38. This was 1:40 faster than last year and I am very happy with that result. I wasn't expecting to go this fast and I just ran the race that I wanted to race. I was looking at the splits of many others and I actually negative split the 5Ks by about 1:00 while most other people had a positive split of a few seconds to sometimes minutes. I like to ease into the race instead of going out too hard and blowing up early.

Overall, I am very happy with my race and my fitness and I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do over the winter.

Weekly run mileage: 12 miles
Asics mileage: 54.5 miles

EDIT: Forgot to post my Garmin data.

Random Thoughts

A few random thoughts:

- Did the last Splash N Dash of the year at the end of Sept. It wasn't that fast for the swim, but it was actually my fastest run ever. Weird.
- Interval work with Texas Iron last Tuesday felt great!
- Doing a long run the day after lifting weights isn't good.
- I'm done with biking and swimming for awhile to concentrate on weights and running. I'll swim and spin occasionally but it won't be on any frequent schedule.
- Also changing up my diet to see if it'll help.
- I'm sleepy.
- Got a new pair of running shoes.
- Got a benchmark 10K this Sunday with the IBM Uptown Classic. It'll be interesting to see how my fitness compares to last year.
- Got the Donkey Dash 5K the weekend after that.

Asics Mileage: 42.5 miles
Run Mileage, Last Week: 17
Run Mileage, 2 Weeks Ago: 12.5
Run Mileage, 3 Weeks Ago: 13

I'm running again!

After bruising my toes in the Austin Triathlon and taking 2 weeks off, I got back to running this week. I ran 2.5 miles on Monday night, 4 miles on Friday morning, and then 6.5 miles this morning on Town Lake. After taking 2 weeks off I thought my hip flexor would be a lot better. It isn't. I ran on Monday and my hip flexor was hurting pretty much the entire time and it was fairly bad, too. It was actually more painful than before taking off the 2 weeks. After the run, my hip flexor hurt on Tuesday and Wednesday but was feeling a bit better on Thursday. Ran again on Friday a hip flexor hurt bad for first mile and then the pain lessened a lot but I still felt it. Today, I had the same thing going on but by the end of the run, the pain had gone away almost entirely and I was running about an 8:30 mile. I see my doc tomorrow to assess the situation but I think I'm back to running. I've lost a bit of fitness though which sucks, but it happens. The good thing is that it seems that the weather is about to change and it is going to get a lot cooler soon.

My slowest Oly time ever and I'm very happy with it

Well, I did the Austin Triathlon this past Monday. I was a bit intimidated by it because my training this year has been really inconsistent except for the last month or so. Last year, I felt the same way but I dropped down from the Oly to the sprint and ended up with 3rd in my AG. This year, I actually felt worse but decided to tough it out and use it as motivation.

I did taper a bit for this workout but didn't really do much carb loading. Last week's workouts were definitely lighter and I did do a tune up on Sunday. Got everything done on Sunday and was up most of the weekend getting ready for a cookout on Monday. So, it wasn't the ideal taper that I would try to do for an A race. Got up and went to the race site on Monday morning. Said hi to a lot of people and did a lot of waiting around. Wandered down to the water and put on my wetsuit for the first time in over a year. Got in the water and it actually felt great at about a nice 73* or so. I thought it was near perfect water temp for racing. I swam and didn't get much traffic and just tried to take it fairly easy. It was actually a pretty relaxed and comfortable swim for me. I tried staying on feet the entire time but every time I caught up with a pair, they weren't going fast enough for me. I need to work on starting out faster and settling in to stay with someone to draft off of. Time was 27:30 which I was happy with since I'm swimming about twice a month for the last 9 months or so.

In and out of T1 fine. Took awhile to get my wetsuit off though so lost time there but no other issues otherwise. I did it in about 2:35 which was fairly fast for the rest of my AG but not in the top by any means. I do remember that I was running faster than others with my bike. A lot of people forget that transitions are still part of the race and take their time. I actually race them.

Got on the bike and there is the usual bunching of people right after the dismount line. They annoy me. I got past them and got going on the bike. It wasn't until about a mile into the bike that I had my feet in my shoes though. I just wanted to get going comfortably before trying it. However, I do need to try to the rubber band trick with my shoes to get going a few seconds faster. The bike was fun and I really like that course. It wasn't too crowded the first couple of laps either. I think I went a bit too fast on the 1st lap and tried to dial it back a bit on the 2nd. On the 3rd, it started raining. I took it cautiously around the turns but dialed it up a bit on the straights. There were a few parts where people were taking bad lines and I tried riding the tangents and there were definitely a few spots where I took much better lines that other racers. Finished with a time of 1:07:51 for 21.9mph according to the race results. Oh, I didn't have areo wheels or an areo helmet.

T2 was meh as well. I got into T2 and realized that there weren't many bikes around me at all. My socks went on fairly quickly this time but I still need to figure out how to do these races without socks. Got running and could've been going a bit faster.

Got on the run and checked my time and was shocked. I was just at 1:40 or so which left me 0:50 to break 2:30. Before the race, I was thinking that I would've been happy with anything under 2:40 or 2:45 due to my lack of fitness. Well, this was my longest race of the year by far and I just went fairly strong on the bike and I haven't done many brick runs nor running in the heat and humidity, but let's give it a shot anyways. At first, it felt like I was running 9:00/mile but I clocked in an 8:06 for the first mile and I felt good. It was hot and humid but I still kept going. I just remember the entire run that I tried to keep my form going which will make my coach happy. I noticed a few times where I was letting my body get upright, tilting my head back, and shuffling my feet and tried to stop that immediately. I got through the 1st loop and was still on pace for a sub-2:30 race but was waiting for the wheels to fall off at any moment. I thought they would at around Mile 5 when I clocked a 8:45 mile, but I had only 1 mile left to go so I turned it up a bit the best that I could. Crossed the line at 2:29:02 with a run time of 49:30.

Shit, I broke 2:30! I was ecstatic because this was way better than I was hoping to do. I guess this race really reinforces that I race much better than I train. My bike and run splits were faster this race than any other race this year and this was my longest race. I will also say that this was probably my most intelligent race too since I raced the tangents whenever I could. My GPS watch said that the run course was only 5.92 miles compared to the 6.21 miles an official 10K is. Either the distance was off or running the tangents on a twisty course like that really, really adds up.

But I finished, I was very happy wit my slowest Oly ever, and I can't wait for the next one.

Weekly run mileage: 13 miles
Asics mileage: 231.5 miles

Actual Update!

It's been awhile but I have an actual update this weekend and it is a good one. I've seemed to have turned a corner with my workouts lately. I'm actually not dreading them and I'm completing more than I skip. I'm looking forward to them and I am actually making progress. Fucking feels great! We'll see if I can keep it up for a couple of weeks before it becomes habit but I am trying to sacrifice workouts less for workouts because the work will be there tomorrow. The biggest thing is that my runs have actually been very nice the last 2 of the 3 weeks.

Yesterday's ran was just fantastic. It started out at a nice, cool 64* and Mile 1 was 8:35. They got progressively faster and I kicked it up a lot the last full mile for a time of 7:39 for Mile 7. Cooled down after that and had a generally pleasant run. Today was a bike and a brick and my legs were definitely fatigued from yesterday's run. Overall, I am making progress again and I'm enjoying it.

Weekly run mileage: 19 miles
Asics mileage: 218.5 miles

Mileage Update 2

Another update since the last update. I've been running but I haven't been diligent about logging my miles. This is a decent estimate based upon my Garmin data. For the last week, I have been more motivated though and I think it is showing in my training. I actually had decent workouts on Thursday, Friday, and today. My run today was actually not bad with the last 3 miles of the 6 miles at about an 8:30/mile pace which is decent for me considering my recent long runs. The last 3 miles really felt good and I just ran based off of PE instead of heart rate. We'll see if I've turned a corner with my training.

Asics run mileage: 197.5 miles

Mileage Update

I have completely lost track of my mileage lately so I'm going to do my best guess since my last update. Been sick a few times in the last few weeks and other excuses for not being more consistent with training. It isn't anything but my own fault but I think I'm starting to turn things around. I just have to realize that sometimes I'm going to work out tired or fatigued and I just have to pull on my big girl panties, suck it up, and do it.

Asics mileage: 142.5 miles

Humidity

So, at Tuesday practice last week, I had a "come to Jesus" talk with my coach about running in the heat. He said that what I'm suffering (1:00-1:30/mile slower than winter base pace) is happening to everyone. He said that it is usually the humidity that slows people down and that is definitely true. I've noticed that I can run fine at 98* later in the day, but running in the mornings at 80* and 80% humidity kills me. I should be going off of perceived effort instead of pace and/or heart rate. OK, this makes me feel a bit better, but not much. I'll keep chugging along though. We also talked about my hurting foot and he said to not change my gait at all because that'll cause injuries. Yeah, I don't want anymore of those.

I did have a great run workout last Tuesday. We did two 1 mile loops and then we did 4x900m intervals. My times were 2:59 (uphill), 2:53 (downhill), 2:52 (uphill), 2:38 (downhill) so I got faster each one and my heart rate got up above 180bpm as well. The last one felt great because I was really concentrating on form and it shows.

Other than that, I ain't got much other news besides the fact that I'm still having motivational problems for what seems like 2 years now.

Weekly run mileage: 15 miles
Asics mileage: 107.5 miles

Varsity Triathlon

I really do mean to write these on Sunday or Monday when things are fresh in my mind, but life is busy. So, the run mileage last week was 16.5 miles or so which isn't bad. The problem is that most of those miles were junk miles just to get the miles in and not any quality miles. I bit problematic but I did get the a bunch of LSD miles in.

I did the Varsity Triathlon last Sunday put on by Red Licorice Events. Long story short is that I finished 1st in my age group. Actually, there were two others in my AG that finished ahead of me, but they finished in Top 3 Overall so that bumped me up to 1st in my AG. It was a small race so I take that into consideration, but I still won! Swim was shallow with some dolphin diving and it hurt since it was so short and fast. T1 was quite a jog to the area up a hill and on concrete with bare feet. That hurt a bit. Came out of T1 and tried to get going on my bike. Some freak accident happened and my shoe got caught between the ground and the pedal and when I pushed down, I heard a "pop". I thought it had come out of the pedal but when I got to the side of the road, I noticed that the shoe plate snapped in half at around the ball of the feet. Eh, they're 6 years old so it is time for new ones anyways. Kept going on the bike and thought I was doing great. At the turn around, I saw that I was 4th overall at that point. I turned around and ran into a wall of wind. 25mph going out and 18mph going back in. Brian caught up with me and we chatted a bit. Got on the run and I hurt immediately. It was really humid and I averaged about 8:18min/mile which is slow for a 2(ish) mile run. I came in and finished and after talking with a few others, I found out that I podiumed but then figured out that I got 1st in my AG. Sweet!

Other than that, I think I swam once and got a spin class in. I'll write more tomorrow for this past week.

Weekly run mileage: 16.5 miles
Asics mileage: 92.5 miles

17 Miles

I've been meaning to write an update since last Sunday, but I'm just now getting around to it. Oh well. From what I can remember, I did run 17 miles last week. It was hot and slow, but I ran. I think I got a spin class, a bike, and maybe a swim in, too.

Weekly run mileage: 17 miles
Asics mileage: 76 miles

More Fat = Better Cholesterol Numbers

Yeah, this is going to be a good one. But let's start. I've been on an alternative diet for about 6 months now. I started out on a paleo diet, but that didn't work for me. There were too many foods that I liked that were forbidden on the paleo diet. However, I've heard the health benefits of paleo diet as well as the Omnivore's Dilema diet and other alternative diets. Here is one thing that pretty much all of them have in common: they all promote eating of natural, unprocessed foods. So, I decided to ditch the paleo diet and move to more of a "paleoish" diet but in actuality, I just try to eat clean, unprocessed foods. I did drastically change the intake of macronutrients. For example, the typical low-calorie American diet is something like 60/10/30 for carbs/protein/fat. The typical triathlete's diet is closer to 60/20/20. My diet is more like 30/35/35. Drastic reduction in carbs and pretty healthy increases in protein and fat.

Now, what are the tenants of my current diet? Here they are:
- Meat. Lots of lean meat with some bacon thrown in there. I eat bacon 1-2x/week and most people consider this very unhealthy but my cholesterol numbers below show differently. Most of my protein comes from fish and poultry but I won't turn down red meat either.
- Fruits and veggies. Lots of them; pretty much unlimited of both of them. Try to eat them raw but can't tolerate most raw veggies so I end up lightly cooking them. Avocados are great for any time of the day and I put them in many dishes. Again, most people consider them unhealthy because of their high fat content.
- Nuts, beans. Yep, lots of them. Nuts are mostly for high fat content and a balanced ratio of carbs, protein, and fat. Beans are good for carbs, if needed, and fiber.
- Whole grains & legumes. This is where I start to diverge from the typical paleo diet. They say to basically don't eat anything that humans have started to eat as a result of agriculture. With my whole foods approach, I feel that things such as quinoa and oats are OK. Also, legumes like peanuts and chickpeas I consume.
- Wheat, corn, & soy. I'll continue to eat wheat and corn, but they are in very limited quantities. I'll actually seek out some gluten free dishes but the truth is that I still eat about 3-5 servings of wheat a week. Compare that to the average American that eats 3-5 servings of wheat per day. Limited corn as well with virtually no HFCS. As for soy, I haven't been a fan for years. Soy is OK, but if you eat too much of it, there are chemicals in it that are very similar to estrogen and this could produce hormonal changes in your body for both men and women.
- Dairy. I have low-moderate dairy consumption. At the moment, it is mostly Greek yogurt and regular yogurt for smoothies. Cheese is cool too, but not too often. Don't get me wrong though because I still love cheese.
- Other. Sugar is the big thing which I try to avoid unless cheating, but things such as olive oil and spices are fine.
- Cheating. I allow myself 2 cheat meals a week. Sometimes, I don't even take them. I'll still cheat during the week with a soda or a piece of chocolate, but my cravings for those things are starting to go away.

So, that is basically the diet that I've been on through the last 6 months and I've been sticking to the 30/35/35 pretty well so far. I haven't lost much weight on it, but my pants are looser and I just feel damn good, too. I rarely have those afternoon crashes from huge lunches because I'm eating lower GI foods that don't spike my blood sugar as much. I just feel great on this diet.

Now, I had some blood work done last week. I wanted to see how this affected my blood chemistry. I don't have numbers from the past year or so so I don't have a good baseline to compare these to.

Numbers from 02 JUNE 2010:
Total: 159
HDL: 59
LDL: 84
Triglycerides: 82
Total/HDL Ratio: 2.69
LDL/HDL Ratio: 1.42

As for the results, my HDL has never been higher. All of the other numbers are within normal and acceptable ranges. Actually, I have damn great cholesterol numbers! I've heard about people going to paleo diets and their cholesterol numbers skyrocketing. Although I am not on a true paleo diet, I am definitely consuming more fat in my diet and it has had a good effect on my cholesterol numbers. Now, tell that to the average American and watch them get a confused look on their face.

Now, time to discuss my workouts. I consider the workouts on Monday as part of last week so I won't talk about those. Nothing on Tuesday because I skipped the Texas Iron run workout to go to a happy hour instead. Can't remember what I did on Wednesday, if anything. Wait, I think maybe I did a light elliptical. Yes, I did because I was watching the crime where Armando Galarraga was robbed of a perfect game. Thursday was suppose to be a TI aquathon but it got rained out. Oh, I did do 3 miles in the morning. Friday was 3 miles when it was 96* outside and I think I set a new PR for my neighborhood 5K time of 24:41. It was an easy run but it was hot and I was tired. Saturday was a 2 hour ride where I felt really strong on the ride but averaged only 19.5mph for it. Damn headwinds. Got off the bike and ran 10min/mile for 3 miles. Fucking horrible. It seemed that I was stopping to walk 50m every quarter mile or so. Not the best run at all, but it was a brick and they hurt when you're trying to get back into them. Today was a humid 7.2 mile run around Town Lake. I was completely soaked with sweat when I was done and there wasn't a dry piece of clothing on me. I maybe averaged about 8:30/mile which is OK.

But here's the thing. Last weekend's workouts completely defeated me. This weekend, they weren't nearly as tough, but they were tough and I stuck them through. Part of this heat acclimation is just getting out there and getting it done and this weekend, I got it done. It ain't pretty, but it was done. So, I am trying to stay positive and focus on pushing through these barriers. Also, this is 4 straight days of running for me.

Weekly run mileage: 16 miles
Asics mileage: 59 miles

Rough Weekend Workouts

Man, work is keeping me busy. I had a rough weekend of workouts this past weekend. Friday and Saturday were "rest days" where I didn't do anything. Sunday was a bike ride where I just rode around the Bee Caves loop. Then, I went down Lost Creek and decided to keep going on Lost Creek to see how it was. It was BAD. It was hot out and I almost called in some SAG support because those 3 hills back there were kicking my ass. Then, on Monday, I was under nourished, under hydrated, tired from the day before, hot, humid, and had bronchial spasms from the day before and had a miserable 5.5 mile run with 9:00/mile. Just horrible, but it is done. Still ended up with 15 miles for the week. What else? Oh, I weighed in at 190 on the 1st so I was flat for all of May. Why the fuck can't I lose weight? I'm on a super clean diet and still can't lose weight. Oh well. Because of the rough workouts this past weekend, I need to have some good, strong workouts this weekend and to get back on track.

Weekly run mileage: 15 miles
Asics mileage: 43 miles

Motivated

After fighting laziness for months it seems, I seem to have a spark of motivation back when it comes to working out. I've had some great workouts the last 2 weeks and I just have the desire for the next work out and to kick ass at it. A couple of my recent great workouts were a long run last Saturday night, a tough brick workout with Texas Iron on Thursday, a portion of the Real Ale Ride on Saturday, and then a long run followed by an "easy" bike that had me averaging 18.6mph this morning. Seriously, I took the ride at about a moderate pace and my legs woke up and kicked ass during it. I had a lot left in me but took it kinda slow because B&G were taking it slow.

There were some downs though. I tried to do the Splash N Dash on Tuesday. Well, I did it but it wasn't pretty. I got some kind of stomach bug a couple of hours before and did the entire race wanting to throw up. Yeah, that wasn't fun but got redemption on Thursday from that brick workout. It was one of those work outs where I can't look down at my heart rate monitor and must keep going no matter how much it hurts. I needed that work out.

Weekly run mileage: 12.5 miles
Asics rul mileage: 28 miles

10 Miles

10 miles last week. I really need some spare motivation all around if anyone has any that they want to give me. Also, I'm done with my current pair of shoes due to blisters. Getting new ones tonight. Man, I feel like crap at the moment.

Weekly run mileage: 10 miles
Asics mileage: 248.5 miles

15.35 Miles

I ran 15.35 miles over 3 runs last week. Not bad. I also did two bike rides. Oh, that reminds me. One of those runs was a brick run. The highlight of the week was a tempo run with Texas Iron where I pushed the same pace that I did at the Texas Round-Up 10K. It was only about 4 miles, but I was a bit fatigued. I should've gone faster though. Also, my weight for April started at 192 and ended at 192. Sucks.

Weekly run mileage: 15.5 miles
Asics mileage: 238.5 miles

Looks like I'm in need of new shoes.

I've run half marathons faster than that!

First thing first, last week, I ran exactly 15 miles. Since it was over a week ago, I've completely forgotten what else I did.

This week, I was leading up to the Texas Round-Up 10K on Saturday. A bit of tapering and work getting in the way. I did the race on Saturday and it went OK. Usually, I pick it up a bit in the last mile, but at around Mile 5.25, there was a pretty large hill, actually the largest one on the course. After that, I was dead so my last mile was actually one of my slowest. I guess this is good because I held steady pretty much the entire race. I felt OK. The end result of this race was suppose to be a measurement of how I did in regards to run training over the winter. At the IBM Uptown Classic 10K in October, I did 48:18. On Saturday, I did 48:34. So, I was about 16s slower. The course was tougher but the biggest thing was I was hampered by 2 injuries over the winter. Now, I'll do the Updown Classic again in October and see how I improve in the heat over the summer. Oh, my title. When I did a half marathon in 2006, I averaged 7:40/mile. On Saturday, I averaged 7:50/mile. I can't wait to get faster.

I also rode outside today for the first time in awhile. Yeah, I need to ride more. Somehow, I still managed 20.1mph. My ass hurts now. I did a 2.5 mile brick run and yep, bricks still hurt.

Last Week Run Mileage: 15 miles
This Week Run Mileage: 13.25 miles
Asics Mileage: 223 miles

15 Miles And Focus

Well, I got 15 miles of running in this week. Not bad at all, but I'm going to hold this for about 2 more weeks and let me body get used to the mileage. Other than that, I did a couple of weight sessions and a spin class. Yeah, still lazy/busy with work but I'm getting more focus and discipline about getting workouts in.

Weekly run mileage: 15 miles
Asics mileage: 194.5 miles

Better

Last week was a bit better. I was pretty consistent about running, but I know I didn't do a single swim and I did maybe 1 bike. Actually, I don't think I did a single bike workout last week. Since I'm working again, I have a tough time remembering what I did each week since my day now focuses around working and then fitting in the workouts versus the unemployed mentality of workouts and then everything fits around it. Anyways, I'm getting more into the mental discipline of trying to fit in more workouts. I still need to do core/strength stuff because my body is hurting from being in an office chair again and I need to keep my back strong and psoas loose.

I did 14.5 miles last week on the ground. This week, I'm shooting for 15 miles and then holding that until after my 10K on April 24th. I think I've ramped up my mileage fairly quickly and just want to hold my mileage steady while my body rebuilds itself.

On a bad note, I gained 2.5lbs in March. I'm back to eating better so far this month and trying more paleo-ish/whole foods diet and not cheating as much. But when I cheat, do I cheat! Easter Sunday was a gorgefest of all kinds of good food. Between three people, we devoured 2 lbs of bacon and it was delicious.

EDIT: Garmin has updated their Garmin Connect interface and it looks a lot better. A lot more good info is easier to get to instead of clicking 4 or 5 times to get to anything good.

Weekly run mileage: 14.5 miles
Asics mileage: 179.5 miles

Back to running

I logged about 13.5 miles last week which was 2 more than the previous week. I'm shooting for 14.5 this week but both weeks (this and last) have had tough Texas Iron workouts which are great for me. I think I did maybe 1 weight session, 1 elliptical session, and then 1 bike ride last week with the 3 runs. So, 6 workouts in a week which is actually pretty light for me, but the new job is throwing things off a bit. I'm getting used to being all "Go! Go! Go!" all day long and for the most part, it is good for me. Another week of one-a-days and then easing back into two-a-days most days next week. Oh, the bike ride on Sunday with Brian and Geri was actually a fun ride. It was windy as hell but we tooled around this neighborhood off of Wm. Cannon with some nice hills and that was pretty awesome.

Weekly run mileage: 13.5 miles
Asics mileage: 165 miles

Overdue Update

I started a new job this week so I really haven't had time to really update much. I did workout a decent amount last week and I actually put in 11.5 miles which is the big thing. I haven't been in the pool in a long time but I was hitting the weights a decent amount and got maybe 2 bike rides in. Now that I'm working again, my goal is to get in one workout per day for a couple of weeks and then try to move back to two-a-days after that. My weight has gone up a couple of pounds this week which isn't good but I don't know why because I haven't been drinking so I don't know what's going on. Oh well, I'll get back on the wagon and start losing weight again soon. I'm actually above 190 again at the moment which doesn't make me happy.

Weekly run mileage: 11.5 miles
Asics mileage: 151.5 miles

We now return to your regularly scheduled workout program

After the bike wreck, 3 weeks ago today exactly, I'm back to a normal workout schedule. I ran on Monday, rode twice on Tuesday, ran on Wednesday, no freaking clue what I did Thursday, core and spin class at 0'dark thirty on Friday, nothing on Saturday, and then 4 mile run and 22 mile ride today. I'm still having a bit of rib pain but it is definitely decreasing. My hip is sore to the touch but doesn't impede me at all while exercising. I thought my ribs would hurt more on Friday from the core work but it wasn't that bad. I'll be doing upper body tomorrow so we'll see how that goes. I'm glad that I have nearly full range of movement in my torso again because my posture was being affected negatively from the bike wreck i.e. I was slightly hunched over all the time. As expected, working out hurts like hell because my LT is pretty low, but after today's ride, I feel it coming back already. On Tuesday, I'll be back with Texas Iron and that run will surely make me want to puke, but I love it.

Weekly run mileage: 10 miles
Asics mileage: 140 miles

Back To Running

I'm still recovery from my wreck, but I did get back on the bike last week on Thursday. It was for only about 45 minutes, but it felt good. I am still a bit mentally wary on the bike, but it'll get better with time. My hip was OK on the bike but the ribs were still a bit sore, especially breathing heavy or getting out of the saddle and really cranking on the pedals. I also went for a 1 mile run on Saturday night and my ribs and hip hurt for about half a mile. After half a mile, the hip stopped hurting and my ribs hurt less. Did nothing yesterday because I was hungover, but ran another 3 miles today. Fuck it, I'm running again. It felt way too good to run again and I can suffer through the pain of the bruised ribs for the joy that running brings me. So, I'm back! In addition to that, I have silky smooth legs again for the first time since the wreck.

Weekly run mileage: 1 mile
Asics mileage: 130 miles

February Weight

On the first day of Feb, I weighed 190. I jumped up to 192 pretty quickly, but came down to about 188 9 days ago. 8 days ago, I had a bike wreck and the only physical activity that I've done since then is 30 minutes of elliptical twice. Today, I still weighed 188. On my old diet, I would've been up a couple of pounds by now. Since I'm on this paleoish/natural foods diet, I was able to maintain my weight even without exercising. And that's a good thing. I started running again and that felt OK, but the bike wreck has delayed my training a bit. One week out and I'm feeling a lot better, but still not nearly as active as I want to be. It'll get better and I plan on getting back on the bike this week and maybe trying running again on Sunday.

Wreck

I crashed my bike. I'm OK though. The next question is how did it happen? Well, I had stopped to adjust something on my bike. I started going again and I was in the back of the group. I was going to try to catch up with the guy in the front since he and I were of similar speeds. So, I stood up to accelerate and as soon as I started on my downstroke of my right leg, the chain skipped or popped off. You know the feeling that you get when you are walking up or down stairs and you are expecting one but it isn't there for some reason? Yeah, that's what I felt at that exact moment. The problem is that there are a few more laws of physics that come into play. I was completely off balance and started swerving? I swerved right, then left, and then right again. This time, the wheel turned perpendicular to my frame and over I went. I was thrown from the bike a bit because I didn't have the telltale bruising on the inside of my legs and I ended up with my feet caught in the brake pedals. I remember everything of the wreck and I even remember hitting the ground and my head whiplashing onto the asphalt. The impact caused my glasses to come off and go skidding along the road and I remember hearing that sound, too.

I just laid there for awhile to kind of assess the situation. I remember moving my hands and legs and they were fine. Since my head hit the ground, luckily I was wearing my helmet, I had a slight headache. The thing that hurt the most were my ribs and I had trouble breathing for awhile. I could feel the burn of road rash already and I was seeing blood, too. And my hip hurt. My riding buddies were on the scene by then and I just continue to lay there until I felt like getting up. A few people in cars stopped and asked if I was OK and I gave them a thumbs up.

So, I got up to assess the damage. It was by far my worst wreck in my life, but not bad compared to other wrecks I've seen. My money maker was OK, but I had road rash, cuts, and scrapes in 14 different spots. I was mobile and Alicia checked my pupils and there weren't dialated or anything like that. I just remember that if this happened to me as a kid, I would've been screaming and crying. Anyways, I had half a thought to continue on the ride, but since I was only 1 mile from my house with a cracked helmet, I just bagged the ride and went home. I told my friends to have a good ride. Then, I went home to lick my wounds.

Got home and my roommate helped me out. The bike was OK, surprisingly. The handlebars, saddle, and skewer got a bit of damage but luckily my body protected the bike. I cleaned my wounds in the shower and that wasn't exactly pleasant. I had someone around for the rest of the night in case any symptoms of head trauma presented themselves but I seemed to be OK. I got some bandages the next day and that really helped. I put 2nd Skin on my elbow because that had the worst road rash. It is in a part that moves and it was just very annoying. My shoulder and knee cap had Neosporin and large bandaids on them. My ribs and hip were pretty well bruised. Laughing hurt like hell for about 2 days and moving because of the hip wasn't pleasant either. Sleeping that first night wasn't fun.

Six days out and I'm feeling a lot better. My hip is still sore as well as my ribs. I'm done with bandages on the scrapes because they are heeling pretty well. Running and swimming are out, but I did the elliptical very easily yesterday. I could do a spin bike but I'm not ready to be back on the road. In case I need to make a sudden move, my ribs are going to hurt so I just need to protect myself. I am moving around very gingerly still which sucks but I've had an accident and I need to heel. I'll be better in about 2 more weeks and then I should be back to normal.

First Run!

First run in 6 weeks was yesterday. I did a 4.1 mile loop around Town Lake and it felt great. Here is the data for that run. I was really, really happy to be able to run again. At the end of it, nothing really hurt. Well, my toe didn't hurt and that was the biggest thing that I was worried about. Even a day later, it still feels OK. I'll get a few pangs every once in awhile, but it is nothing like what it was when I first hurt it. The soleus on each calf was bothering me yesterday day but they are fine now. This morning, my quads and hamstrings are a bit sore but that means I was working hard yesterday. It seems that the aquajogging paid off because my pace was OK at about 7:58/mile yesterday even though my heart rate was a bit higher than I wanted.

Other than that, some good news is that I'm officially below 190 now. I weighed in at 188.5 this morning. This paleo-ish diet seems to be working because even though I'm not strictly paleo, I'm definitely eater cleaner.

Other than that, I had a good week of workouts. Had a hard swim with some tough spin workouts and some outside rides. I even did a few weights and core workouts as well. Now that I'm starting to run again, I can't wait to see how much ass I'll kick in training over the next couple of months.

Weekly run mileage: 4 miles
Asics mileage: 128.5 miles

Born To Run versus Paleo

This morning, I took a trip to the local coffee shop to finish up reading Christopher McDougall's Born To Run. It was a good read and I enjoyed it thoroughly. It has definitely motivated me to have a kick ass run which will be my first run in 6 weeks.

Long story short is that this book is about ultra runners, runners who regularly run 30-100+ mile foot races. It goes into some of the philosophies behind running these distances and what intrigued me even more was some of the evolutionary biology as to why humans evolved to run and evidence that points to these conclusions. It also focus on the Tarahumara people of Mexico who are known as the greatest distance runners on this planet. It also explains their training and diet techniques that they use for running these great distances.

And that's kind of where I want to pick up with on this post. I've recently adopting a paleo-ish diet recently and the purpose of this post is to kind of share my thoughts of comparing and contrasting the BTR methods and the paleo methods.

For paleo, there are several great sources of information out there that can provide a much more clear picture of what it entails, but in short, the diet consists mostly of meats, veggies, fruits, beans, legumes, and other foods that were available to human ancestors for the last 2 million years. The lifestyle promotes the avoidance of any dietary elements that have been developed in the last few thousand years and the main ones are dairy, grains, oats, and starchy foods. Lots of protein and fats are essential with few carbs. What these means is no milk or milk products (cheese, ice cream, etc), wheat, corn, rice, potato, etc. For the typical Western diet, that is a lot of foods that are now staples. Expanding upon the diet, a lot of the paleo concepts include little cardio work and more focus on sprint/speed work as well as weights. Intermittent fasting is also another concept that is promoted within the paleo community.

As for Born To Run, it seems to be a vastly different philosophy. In it, it says that humans have evolved to be creatures of chronic cardio where early human ancestors needed to run 20+ miles a day to run down their prey. And meat was a rare treat, but a necessary one. Most of the early humans ate carbs, grains, and basically any plant source that was edible. So, most of the people in BTR eat a high carb diet with some meat. In addition to that, BTR promotes barefoot or minimalist running. Most of the people in that book have no shoes or thin leather coverings on their feet mainly to provide protection from rough, sharp surfaces. The theory is that with barefoot running, you'll develop a more natural running form that humans have evolved over the years. You'll also strengthen the bones and soft tissues of your lower body that will actually help you run further. You'll be less injury prone because modern shoes pamper the human body, gets it weak, and therefore it isn't able to take the punishment of even running 10 miles per week a lot of times.

To compare, BTR is about chronic cardio whereas paleo is about short bursts of speed and strength. BTR is about high carbs with some meat while paleo is about high protein and fat with minimal carbs. The thing that they have in common is to go back to lifestyles that humans have developed over thousands of years instead of the modern lifestyle which is frankly very lazy for ancestral humans. I guess that one advantage that has set us apart from the Neanderthals is that modern humans have developed the ability to become more efficient and adapt to changing conditions. Unfortunately, it seems that our genes haven't caught up and a lot of the modern comforts are actually killing us.

During this post, it seems that the paleo diet should be considered more of a Neanderthal diet. While it worked for our cousins, they are now extinct.

There are good points that both viewpoints make. I'm not saying that one is better than the other because both are very one sided and once you have made your mind up about a particular issue, it is a bit difficult to pull yourself back and see it from the other side as well. I'm glad that I've learned about both recently and can compare and contrast them against each other as well as modern medical knowledge. If anything, it made me think about a lot of things and thinking is always good.

Nothing

Nothing really to talk about. Not much new on the training front; well nothing to mention. I get to run in about a week and I can't wait. I did a spin class on Wednesday night and averaged 160bpm for the entire ride with a max of 184. That was a big thing for me. My shoulder is still bothering me. It is the short head of the biceps where it attaches to the coracoid in my shoulder. I don't know if swimming bothers it but I'm pretty sure weights (biceps curls) bother it.

Oh, almost forgot!

I almost forgot my update for last week. Not much to really say except that I swam once, did a bike ride, more weights, and an aquajog. Not really a full training week, but I felt good. I'm lifting weights more and I like it for the most part. Still not the same as a hard run workout, but it is enjoyable. I saw Phil on Friday and I'll be able to run in about 2 more weeks. 10mpw at first and then adding 10% per week from there. Hopefully my toe is healed well and I have no issues getting back into running. Also, my weight at the end of the month was 190 so I was down from the high of 196 at the beginning of the month, but only down 2lbs from 192 which is what I weighed on 01 JAN. At least I made a little bit of progress but I do feel a bit thinner.

Week In Review

Well, another week is in the books. I hate aquajogging. I'm doing the shorter interval stuff during the week but I'm skipping the long, boring aquajogs on the weekends. My toe is feeling better though and it has been 3 weeks since I last ran on it so hopefully I have no more than 1-3 weeks before I can put my running shoes back on. I am doing more weights though and I think I need it. I was doing a lot of spin classes each week but I did a bike ride yesterday and I now believe that spin classes are a piss poor substitute for time in the saddle. You can try to imitate hills in spin classes, but you can't imitate the effects of gravity and the change in position of your pedal stroke in a spin class. So, I'm only going to do 1 spin class a week and try to get more time in the saddle. With that, I'm going to try to do about 2 hours tomorrow with some weights. Also, I swam 1600m today which is the first major swim that I've had in months. It felt good. Not much back pain and no shoulder pain. It'll be good to get back in the water regularly.

Now, the bitching. My body hates me still. Even on this paleo-ish diet, I'm not losing weight or it is fluctuating wildly. Here are some weight values for the week:
Mon: 191
Tues: 190
Wed: 189.5
Thurs: 189
Fri: 191.5
Sat: 192
Sun: 193.5

WTF! I can't figure out what is going on. I've also been going crazy with cravings and I binged on some Dr. Pepper and Girl Scout cookies today. Maybe I'll feel like a fat ass tomorrow and really buckle down. I guess this paleo-ish diet would be better but I'm getting bored with what I'm eating because it is almost always eggs and fruit for breakfast, salad for lunch, and meat and veggies for dinner. I need more variety. I've been feeling better and I thought I was getting skinnier. My jeans were fitting looser and I was getting cold easier which are signs of losing weight for me. I'll give it another week to see what the fuck is up.

Things I can't do:

Running, elliptical, swimming, yoga. Things I can do: bicycling, water running, weights. With a combination of my stress fractured toe and some weird back thing that I have going on, my activity at the moment is pretty limited. However, I am trying to get as much bicycling, water running, and weight in as possible. Bicycling is through spin classes with cute chicks but I want to get out on the road and play with my new toy: Garmin 310XT. I'm doing a bit more weights and trying to do physical therapy, body weight, and core stuff instead of trying to squat plates and bench press. I just need more functional stuff. As for water running, it is still boring as hell, but interval training while water running makes it better.

My diet is going OK. I weighed in at 190.5 this morning. Of course, I would like to be lower, but I've been struggling with the no wheat thing the last few days. Wheat tastes delicious and when I go out, I can't get about 80% of the things on the menu which is tough. I'm getting tired of my breakfast fare and need something new. I'll try this diet for about 6 months and see the results (weight, body fat %, and blood work) before I decide to try something different.

Fuck! (stress fracture)

Here is the timeline:
Dec 26: Ran a 8.4 mile run for Tammy's birthday. I started feeling some soreness in my foot about 5.5 miles in. I did notice that the camber of the road was so that my right foot was higher than the left foot for pretty much the entire run.
Dec 27: Off
Dec 28: Off
Dec 29: Off
Dec 30: 4 mile run. Foot felt OK, but I could feel it.
Dec 31: 4 mile run. Foot felt OK, but I could feel it.
Jan 01: 8.5 miles of total running and I was feeling it a bit more during the runs and after it.
Jan 02: Toe was a bit sore but off from running.
Jan 03: 7 mile run. I was feeling the foot pain a bit more. It was sore afterward. Not good.
Jan 04: I woke up and my toe/metatarsal area was definitely hurting first thing in the morning. At this point, I knew there was a problem and I had to go see a PT to figure out what was going on.

Previously when I did my IM training, I had bruised metatarsals which felt very familiar to this injury. There were a few differences though. With the metatarsals, I would get the pain a bit on the foot strike and then a the beginning of the push off. With this one, I would get the pain towards the end of the push off. While at yoga on Monday night, I was feeling around on my toe and that was when I realized what was wrong. I felt around on my metatarsals and they didn't hurt. I went further up on my toe and that was hurting. It hurt both on the top and the bottom of the toe but not the joint, not the metatarsal, and not the middle toe bone. At that point, I knew what the likely injury was.

Talked to Phil on Tuesday and I said that I needed to come in and see him most likely. He agreed and I saw him on Friday. He did his exam and then said "I'll be back." He came back with the tuning fork and I knew I was right. He did the this is what it is suppose to feel like. Now, what do you feel when I do it to the hurting toe. I said I feel a sharp pain almost like a stabbing or tattoo needle pain in that toe. Then he said the words. Stress fracture. So, I have a suspected right 3rd proximal phalange stress fracture.

What does this mean? No running for 2-6 weeks as well as no elliptical. Weights, cycling, and swimming are OK. Also, I have to wear stiff soled shoes to minimize the amount of pressure on the bone and allow it to heal. No tennis shoes so I'm in hiking boots for at least 2 weeks before we reevaluate it. The toe is feeling better already though. I'm back to aquajogging which is not fun, but I gotta do it. Luckily, I'll take this as an opportunity to get in to the weight room more, back in the pool, and to take lots of spin classes with 2-3 water runs a week. So, 2010 is starting off not in a good way already.

First Week of 2010

Well, I'm at the end of the first week of 2010. OK, it's only a partial week but who really cares? This has actually been a decent week for me. I ran 4 miles on Wednesday, 4 miles on Thursday, and then two runs on Friday. One was about a 4 mile run with HCRC for a New Years Day run and then another NYD run with J&A later in the morning. That run was about 4.5 miles. The first run was slow and lazy and I felt like crap afterward. The second run was much faster and I felt great after that one. I like running fast and I like feeling great after a run. Saturday was a lazy day because I felt like I was getting sick. Sunday (today) was the 6.88 mile run around Town Lake and I felt fantastic this morning! I thought I was going to feel like crap but it was great. I wasn't pushing myself but I felt fast with good form (high knees). Total mileage this week was 23.5 which is fantastic for me. However, I'm feeling a bit of a sensation in my right metatarsals so I have to be careful about that. Oh, I lubed up my taint so now chafing at all.

After many attempts to resurrect it, my Sports Instruments Pro9 heart rate monitor is dead. This is actually the 2nd one. It just is on the fritz and isn't reliable at all. I really liked it and it has served me well for something like 7 years, but it is time to move on. At this point, I'm looking at getting a Garmin Forerunner 305. The GPS is really cool and using it on the bike is great as well. I actually want a Garmin Forerunner 310XT, but I can't justify the money for that one considering my work situation.

As for my diet, it's going pretty well. I feel good on it. I don't get hungry that often anymore and I'll end up eating only 2.5 meals a day instead of 3 meals and 3 snacks a day on a higher carb diet. There is still a bit for me to learn. My discipline is actually pretty good so far. I do cheat, but not that much. I did have a couple of donuts for breakfast this morning since it is my birthday, but I felt like crap afterward. The fact that I recognize this makes me want to stay on this diet more. I will cheat tonight with my birthday dinner where I'll likely have some pizza and beer, but I'm back on the paleo/primal diet tomorrow. I haven't lost that much weight yet because of the cheating. We'll see how it goes next week though. If not anything, I just feel better physically and mentally on this diet.

What else. I plan on getting back in the pool on Tuesday. I also plan on either getting on the bike more or going to the spin class at the gym more. Oh, and weights and yoga and core, too. Eh, sounds like the usual. I'll get 2 workouts in a day and see how it goes.

Weekly run mileage: 23.5 miles
Asics mileage: 124.5 miles