Body Fat Check

I went in this morning and got my body fat checked. It was 16.2% It's higher than I would like but here are the stats:

Chest: 14
Abs: 25
Thigh: 16
Weight: 184
Pounds fat: 29.8
Pounds lean: 154.2
Body fat percent: 16.2%

Higher than I wanted and I was somewhat surprised that it was that high. I'll just use it for more motivation. For other motivation, I'm really, really sore from the core workout on Monday. My lats, chest, and shoulders are hurting somewhat badly. I want to keep going to get back in shape from the workouts.

Tuesday's workout was a spin in the morning that didn't happen. I got to the gym and I had everything set up on the bike except for my shoes. They were at home. I spun after work and then went on a hilly run workout. After a 15min warmup, I was suppose to do a 6-8x1 mile hilly loop that we did 2 weeks ago. I only did 5 of them. It was 98 degrees when I started at 7:30pm so it was hot. Also, my legs were just really, really fatigued on the 5th loop. My time fell off by 20 seconds so I called it a night. I went to soak in Barton Springs for 10 minutes to cool off and that felt good. I was going to swim today, but I couldn't fit it in. I decided to rest since I'm still sore and I had to work on the house today since my countertops were installed.

New Balance mileage: 99.5 miles
Nike mileage: 115 miles

Q: What do you call a broken gecko?

A: A reptile dysfunction! (say that out loud to yourself)

Today's workout was actually a workout. Usually Monday is a rest day but I decided to tell work to fuck off and left early to go to the first core workout that I've been to in over 4 months. I wasn't that out of shape, but I have a feeling I'm going to be a little sore tomorrow. My lower abs were the weakest as well as push ups. It'll get better, though. After that, it was an 8x200yd swim in Deep Eddy. There was some nice scenery there today, too. That water felt great because it was over 95 degrees outside today. It was relaxed and I worked on form. It was a great swim.

My knee hurts

My knee hurts today. I think I did something to it running yesterday. It is more on the medial side of my right patella and it's more muscular than joint related. That's good. My PF has been acting up lately and I did some exercises for it this morning. My back also spasmed when I was putting in my contacts so I nearly poked my eye out because of it. I did some exercises for that as well and it seems to be a bit better now. I keep getting scar tissue and heel spurs in my left foot. I'm thinking about getting something done with it because it's pretty bad. Whenever I roll a ball under my foot, there are about 3 different places where it goes "Crunch!" because of the rough materials in my heel. It doesn't really hurt, but it can't be good either. Ultimately, I know that I need to get rid of the PF, but that just seems really difficult at the moment. I'm really worried about it when marathon season approaches over the winter. I've said it before, but I just need to get serious about this PF.

Also, a weight update. I was 185.5 on Friday and then 186.5 today. That's not the correct direction. I probably should get my body fat tested to see how much of my weight gain is muscle and which is not muscle. I'll try to do that this week.

EDIT: Since I'm at work and I'm being super passive-aggressive today and avoiding all work and everyone that'll give me more work, I've been surfing the net. One of my guilty pleasures is the Starbucks pumpkin scone. I know these aren't healthy for me, but I have one maybe once or twice a month if that often. Well, here's the nutritional info on one of those suckers:

Pumpkin Scone: Zone 20/22/29 (710 cal/37 g fat/1 g fiber/90 g carbs)

Zone 29 for Starbucks is the Austin/San Antonio area. I found this information from here and as you can see, this zone has the worst pumpkin scones. I think I'll be putting more thought into it when I decide if I want a scone or not. However, all things pumpkin are one of my guilty pleasures so this is going to be a difficult decision.

Another naked run

I do these from time to time where I go out and run without an HRM or a watch on. Pretty much the only thing that I go by is distance. Today, it was 7 miles around Town Lake, I mean Lady Bird Lake. When I got out of the car at 9:45, it was already 91 degrees. I think not having an HRM was beneficial today because I would've been frustrated running at 9:30min/mile and having my heart rate at 160bpm. I just ran at what felt like a comfortable pace. It was getting tough after about Mile 5 but I kept it up. I tried working on my form a bit but I don't think it went that well. Also, it was 97 degrees when I finished running. It was hot today. Overall, the naked run felt pretty good and I probably need to do more of these runs without being constrained to a number on my wrist.

New Balance mileage: 99.5 miles
Nike mileage: 108 miles
Weekly run mileage: 13 miles

1 second!

This week has been a recovery week. I love recovery weeks. I can have somewhat of a normal life again. It's nice! After my Tuesday run, I swam on Wednesday. Nothing special. I moved up a lane and I was the slowest person in my lane which is expected. Nothing special from that night that I can remember. Thursday was my favorite workout. The 8 mile time trial around South Mopac. I just love TT'ing for some reason. Well, I know I love it because I'm good at it. I did the loop in 19:37 which is one second faster than my last time. 1 second! That's nearly insignificant but it's still an improvement. Also, the conditions were bad. It was about 95 degrees and somewhat windy. I still beat guys with disc wheels and aero helmets which makes me smile because I have a normal helmet and my training wheels. It's all about the engine, baby! My 19:37 time is an average speed of 24.4mph. I'll get sub 19min soon enough. Friday was a rest day and Saturday was suppose to be an easy ride of 90 minutes and then a 60 minute swim. However, I ended up doing a really easy 2.5 hour ride with Rachel so that was fine for me.

Well, that's it so far. I'm about to go on a recovery run in about 15 minutes and I'll write more later.

It's hot!

It's now hot here in Austin. Not, kinda hot and humid. It's hot and dry. I like this weather. Much better than the humidity. I went on a fartlek run of 50 minutes. It was 15min warmup, 5x3min fast, 1min easy, 15min cooldown. Nothing special. Also, my Monday weigh in was 184.

Last week's run mileage: 13.5 miles

New Balance mileage: 92.5 miles
Nike mileage: 108 miles

Venting (helmet issues)

You know how I thought I lost my helmet over the weekend. Well, I just got to work now and it's sitting on my desk. I came into work and checked my desk twice on Saturday. It wasn't here. I'm trying to be cool about this, but one of my coworker's joke cost me $130 and I'm not happy about it.

Fatletes can podium!

Well, I guess I'm proof that fat athletes can get on the podium. Ok, I'm just kidding. I finished 3rd place in my age group in the Jack's Generic Tri today. Now, here is my race report from last year. I guess it worked out that I didn't work out hard yesterday. I got 7 hours of sleep last night and woke up pretty rested this morning. I also wasn't very stressed about this race. I got to the race site and got everything set up. I still find it amazing how little stuff that I have in my transition setup compared to most other people. I saw a lot of people that I haven't seen in awhile. I went for a swim to warm up. I never run or do anything like that for a warmup swim. I almost always just go for a short swim and that's it. I just waited around until the gun went off.

The Swim
The water was warm, but not that bad. Obviously no wetsuits were allowed. The warmup swim helped me to figure out to sight better on the swim. It was kind of rough at the start but I need to get used to that. Actually, there were people around almost the entire time. I got kicked in the calf a few times and it felt like my calves were going cramp but they didn't. Also, I didn't kick anyone in the nuts like I did last year. I came out of the water in 8:35 which is about 30 seconds slower than last year, and it was a pace of 1:43/m for 500 meters. However, I was 6th in my age group so that's not bad and I was 69th overall.

T1
My T1 time was 1:18. My T1 times are usually pretty fast and I was actually the fastest T1 time in my age group. I'm pretty happy with that. All I had to do was put on my helmet and go. I had my shoes on the pedals. I didn't go with sunglasses today because it wasn't that sunny and they tend to get covered in sweat. I didn't feel like dealing with that today. I grabbed my bike and was out of T1.

The Bike
The last time I raced, I had issues with my shoes and pedaling and crap. This time, I was able to actually start moving and not nearly crashing 4 times. That was actually the guy in front of me. I started out on the bike and I kept remembering to take it easy because that was my goal. The bike was pretty uneventful. I passed a few people in my age group and I was passed a few times. Overall, I didn't drop any places on the bike. I kept my heart rate at around 155bpm for most of the way. It would go up on the hills but that's to be expected. Nothing really hurt since I'm used to my left lower back hurting. When I go hard on the bike, my legs get tired and crampy. That didn't happen at all today. It was different. I came off the bike in 41:15 for a pace of 21.5mph. That was good enough for 6th in my AG and 68th overall. Avg HR was 154bpm or something like that. My time was only about 9 seconds slower than last year.

T2
I came into T2 and noticed something was different immediately. I didn't have jello legs when I got off the bike. Oh, it was kind of cool at the dismount line. I came in hard and fast and scared the crap out of people. I also locked up my rear wheel and fish tailed a bit. That was fun. I got to my spot and saw Noah right behind me. I put on my socks, my shoes, grabbed my race belt and hat and started running. Noah ended up passing me in T2 and was on the run course before me. Damnit. T2 time was 1:06 which was 7th in my AG. Not bad, but I could shave a few seconds off my T2 time. I just need to figure out how since I don't think I could shave off more time besides putting on socks or just running faster. Socks do take up a lot of time, though. Fastest T2 was 0:56. Ok, back to the run.

The Run
I was on Noah's heels the entire first half. He would get about 10 yards in front of him and then I would get back to about 2 yards. He passed me within the last mile at The Rookie Tri. I was expecting him to break me but that didn't happen. I just kept him in my sights and I was exactly where I wanted to be. I run a lot faster chasing someone than when I'm getting chased. I noticed that I would gain on him on the uphills, too. This course isn't flat and has a few small rises on the course. The last rise is up to the turn around point and I closed to within a few feet of him. He stopped to get some water and I grabbed a cup, poured it on my head, and didn't stop. I dropped Noah very quickly after that and I dropped him pretty quickly on the subsequent downhill. I'm pretty good at the downhills because I know how to use my weight to gain moment and get going quickly without taking up to much additional energy. I kept running expecting someone else to catch me but I kept pushing myself. I got passed but it was by people in other age groups. I just kept running and I never stopped to run the entire run. It seems like my experiment with going easier on the bike paid off. I came off the bike with fresh legs, I felt good, and I had a great run. I crossed the line at 21:27 for a 3 mile run. That's a pace of 7:09 which is the fastest I've ever run in a race, including The Rookie Tri back in April which was 7:14 pace for 2 mile run. I just can't express how good I felt this run and it shows. I was also 1:40 than my run time from last year's Jack's Generic. However, I still need to work on my running because I was 17th in my AG and 98th overall. That doesn't matter as much as me having a great run for me! I'll get there. I'm sure of it.

Overall
Like I said, I came in 3rd in my AG with a time of 1:13:43. 1st place ran a 15:43 run and was just smoking. 2nd was 5 minutes in front of me so no chance of running him down soon. My time was 49th overall out of 755 people. I did a lot better compared to last year's race. I'm just really happy with my race today and I was able to get on the podium. Also, I just want to note that I was 6th on the swim, 6th on the bike, and 17th on the run but I was 3rd in my AG. I think a lot of it was my transitions and that I'm pretty consistent across all 3 sports. Oh, I was about 30 seconds faster than last year. What other numbers can I put up here? Oh, I was top 5% of my AG with 59 people in it. I was also top 7% overall because I was 49th out of about 755 people.

Ok, I'm done now. I'm going to bed pretty happy tonight.

I promote safe blogging!

And why do I do that? Because I'm wearing a cycling helmet as I type this post? Why am I doing that? Because I'm a dumbass. Why am I a dumbass. Well, just because, but the most recent excuse is that I know I woke up with my Giro Atmos cycling helmet in my possession and when I woke up this morning, I was no longer in possession of said helmet. I have absolutely no fucking clue where the damn thing is at. The problem that I have is that I have a race tomorrow. So, I went to Jack & Adams and bought a Bell Speed R helmet. I'm wearing it to make sure I don't have any problems with it before I race tomorrow. So far, I think it's more comfortable than the Atmos and it fits better. I like the Atmos' adjustment system slightly better though. I kind of needed a new helmet but I didn't want to drop $130 on a helmet today though.

Ok, now my workouts. Thursday was an easy 30 minute run during lunch and a canceled Mopac time trial. Friday morning was a swim with T3. I really think that I just hate swimming that early in the morning. Today, was suppose to be a 3.5 hour ride and then a 45min run. I didn't do that because of my missing helmet conundrum. I mowed my yard instead. My intention was to go the long run and run today and then do the race tomorrow. I'm doing the race just to do the race so I didn't care that much if I had tapered for it or not. Now that I accidentally tapered, I guess I gotta do well now or something. Speaking of, I'm going into the race tomorrow with a different strategy. I'm going to try to go easier on the bike and then see how that affects my run. I usually have cement feet once I get off the bike and I'm going to experiment a bit with that tomorrow.

New Balance mileage: 89.5 miles
Nike mileage: 102 miles

Feeling Good

For once, I'm feeling pretty good this week. On Monday, my weigh in was 182 which is a number that I haven't seen in awhile. Tuesday at lunch was an easy 75min spin with 4x5min simulated hill climbs. Tuesday night was a run. After a 15min warmup, I did 5x1 mile on a hilly loop. I held the intervals pretty well. The last one was the fastest at 7:42 and that was because I wasn't saving anything. Did a cool down for a total distance of 7.5 miles. Today was a swim at night instead of the morning. I think I like night swim better than morning swims. I lead the lane the entire workout, too. Well, that's about it. I just feel like I'm having a good week with workouts.

New Balance mileage: 89.5 miles
Nike mileage: 99 miles

A 4 hour ride doesn't lead to a 2 hour run very well

I tried to run today. It hurt. A lot. It was hot, humid, and my legs were friend from yesterday's workout. That's pretty much the only thing that I can say. I ran 9 miles in 1:33 which is around 10 minute miles if that puts it into perspective. I was suppose to do 2 hours but there was no way that I could do it today. Ok, I could but I didn't want to. I went to swim and my feet kept cramping. It hurt, too. My toes were pointing in directions that they've never pointed before. I only got 600yds in and then I was done. I'm not going to complain more about my workouts this weekend because I know why they were bad workouts. However, they give me more motivation for the future. Now, I'm home and I'm recovering.

New Balance mileage: 89.5 miles
Nike mileage: 91.5 miles
Weekly run mileage: 24.5 miles

3 Hours

That's about the amount of time that I can ride my bike now before my legs get really tired. I'll get to that in a minute though. Thursday's time trial was canceled due to the rainy weather. It sucks but it happens. Friday morning was a swim and I made a conclusion. I'm just not enjoying swimming lately. I almost despise it, actually. I just get in the water and put one arm in the water. I don't have the passion for it that I used to. I just can't wait to get done. I don't feel like pushing myself as much as I used to. It's just annoying at this point. I'm not getting any faster. Maybe part of it is that I have to get up at 4:30 in the morning to swim and I'm doing good to get to bed by 10:00 the night before. Lately, I've been loving my sleep so when I'm not well rested, I'm grumpy. When I get up to swim at 4:30, I'm not well rested and I'm grumpy and I don't like being grumpy. What am I going to do about this? Hell if I know.

Saturday was actually on OK day. I rode 3:40 and the weather was pretty good. Started off somewhat cool and cloudy. Later on, the sun came out and of course, it rained a bit. Luckily, it just sprinkled about 5 minutes from the end of the ride. Like I said, it wasn't until about 3 hours into the ride where my legs starting hurting and I was getting a bit slower. This was my longest ride in a very long time. I was suppose to do some 45 minute intervals at race pace, but I just needed to see if I could do this long. From today's somewhat painful ride, I need to make sure I do the rest of the long rides until my HIM in October. I also did a 42 minute brick run after the bike ride. It was better than my usual horrible brick runs, but it still hurt. I would be going really slow trying to keep my heart rate down and my heart rate would stay 160+ and sometimes I would hit around 170 when I didn't feel like it should be that high. Also, I was completely burning up during the run. I had 4 bottles of fluid during the bike which is a lot lower than it should've been. I felt like I had enough calories in my though. I don't know what to do to get over this besides just keep training for it.

New Balance mileage: 80.5 miles
Nike mileage: 91.5 miles

Another 3800yds but I was tired

I swam 3800 yards this morning. I was tired though. Very tired. Not physically exhausted, but just sleepy tired. I have been ramping up my training lately and I think my body is requiring more sleep because of it. Then, when I don't get 7-8 hours, I feel it a lot more. It makes sense though. Other than that, not much else is going on right now. I'm resting the rest of today and then I have a South Mopac time trial tomorrow night with Texas Iron. I love those! However, I don't think I'll be able to improve on my time from last time. I feel like my biking has been suffering lately since I've been putting focus on running and then swimming which is to be expected. We'll see how I do. I have been slacking off on my long rides on Saturdays due to the weather. I need to get my ass in gear because I have a half Ironman in just over 2 months and my longest ride so far this year has been about 35 miles.

Oh, I guess I can talk about my medical terminology class. I'm learning about the different systems of the body. It's not quite an anatomy class, but it is close. I have gone through most of the chapters so far and most of the time I'm fine. However, the urinary system, especially the kidneys, and the section about the skin completely gross me out. Most of the time, people freak out about the digestive system because they have an aversion to poo or something like that. For me, seeing a diagram of a cystic kidney just grosses me out. Also, seeing all different kinds of skin issues like lesions and different forms of advanced skin cancer just turns my stomach. I'll get over it by the time I'm done with anatomy in the spring or I'll end up throwing up on a cadaver. Right now, I'm studying the endocrine system. This shit is tough because I have to memorize a bunch of hormones, what their 3 different names are, what they control, and where they are produced. Also, I have to say that it's pretty amazing about how much of the body these very tiny glands control. The parathyroid glands are each the size of a grain of rice. The function of the pineal gland is poorly understood and the function of many other structures of the endocrine aren't that well known either. I also find it amazing that these tiny glands produce so many different hormones and I'm really curious about how they do it. How much of a hormone is needed in the blood stream to make a noticeable change in the body? Is just a single drop enough to use for an entire year? It's amazing stuff and I love learning about it.

Good run and good wine

My weigh in yesterday was 184.5. The yoyo is getting shallower but hopefully it'll start a downward trend soon. Part of that work for a downward trend is the run that I did tonight. It was very similar to my Tuesday run 2 weeks ago. After a 15 minute warmup, it was 8x1 mile repeats. Each odd one was on the track and the even ones were on the trail. The track mile repeats were coming in at about 7:20-7:35 or so with a heart rate of around 160-165bpm. Oh, these were suppose to be at half mary pace and I think that was about right, maybe just a little too fast. The trail repeats were fine. It's tough to judge since I go by time instead of distance. After a 10 minute cooldown, I did about 11 miles. Once again, I feel absolutely fine. I'm really happy that my body is adjusting to running distance now. i skipped swimming this morning. Shit has been bothering me from work and I couldn't sleep last night and I just needed to sleep in this morning. I almost took a "sick day" today, but I had a glass of wine last night and I'm having a glass of red wine tonight as well. It's decent wine. Somewhat on the dry side with a bit of fruitiness as well. Also, I'm on track to run 31 miles this week if I get all my run workouts ins this week. I'm running with my orthodics and they are feeling fine.

New Balance mileage: 80.5 miles
Nike mileage: 87 miles

Yoga, Swim, Run, No Bike

I went to yoga on Friday night. I thought it was going to be bad, but it wasn't. I was a little tight at first, but I eased into it and was fine. I was a little bit tight and not as flexible, but it wasn't bad at all. My balance was a little off, though. I'm surprised that I didn't lose much flexibility because I almost never stretch these days. Afterwards, I went to the Central Market Cafe and ordered the thai yellow curry noodles. Now, I normally don't send food back because I'll eat almost anything, but I had to send this back. The texture was just disgusting to me because it was made up of mostly slimy, clear noodles that I've never seen before. I got the penne pasta instead and it wasn't much better.

Saturday was a skipped workout because I was working on the house. I did make some quinoa and salmon again though. It also rained about 4 times on Saturday.

Sunday was a 3200m swim. Nothing special. Then, I did a 75min run which was slow and was a distance of 8.2 miles. I feel great so far today. However, I think I got sunburned on my face, though. I'm usually pretty good about putting it on but I just forgot today. Part of it was that I was still wet from my swim and it wasn't going on very well.

Oh, something interesting. I get a lot of free gels from various things. I decided to take a HammerGel since I don't like them that much. I looked at the expiration date and guess what it was. 07/22/2007. just in time!

New Balance mileage: 80.5 miles
Nike mileage: 76 miles
Weekly run mileage: 14 miles

Pretty good run

I had a pretty good run last night. It was with Texas Iron. The run was a 45min fartlek run with intervals of 5,4,3,2,1min with 2min easy in between. I got in close to 5.5 miles in about 44:45 which is a pace of about 8:10/mile. My knees were really creaky at the beginning but they warmed up and then my IT band on my right was hurting a bit. Nothing cool to note besides I was running on the trail and a black lab was coming straight at me. I stopped and yelled at the dog and scared the crap out of it and the owners of the dog were laughing. It was just a good run. Oh, I ran in my orthodics and they were fine.

I weighed in at 183.5 this morning so I have this yoyo thing going on again. I'm going to go to yoga tonight because I haven't gone in awhile and I just need to try something different that I haven't done in awhile.

New Balance mileage: 72 miles
Nike mileage: 76 miles

3900yds

I swam 3900 yards this morning. It was a tough workout because I didn't swim but 1200 yards last week. It's weird that skipping a week of swimming because it feels almost the same as skipping swimming for 3 months. This was a tough workout as well. We usually do 3200-3400 yards but this morning we did 3900 yards. We were doing sprints and intervals all the way to the end, too. I know that is where you really get faster so I stuck it out even though I was stinking it up. I feel good that I finished it completely, though.

Eh, just a ride

After resting since around noon on Saturday until 6pm tonight, I did a workout on the spin bike at the gym at work. I could've rode outside, but I've found it to be tough to get good intervals in on the road. If I want to get a good workout in and follow what my coach tells me, then I do it on the spin bike. If I just need to get outside, I'll go outside. The workout was a 75min spin with 2x(4x4min fast, 2 min easy). Man, I'm feel like I'm getting out of shape a bit on the bike, but that is expected with me concentrating on running and then swimming more. I'll bounce back pretty quickly though.

Cool website

Not much to add besides the fact that I found this website which I think is pretty good for the amateur nutritionists out there:

http://www.nutritiondata.com/

Also, my weight this morning was 186.5. This was to be expected after I had a decent amount of beer this weekend and I also went on a calorie replenishing weekend as well.

Sunday run on Saturday

Yeah, I did my long run on Saturday today. For some odd reason that I have no clue why, I seemed to have a better run than when I do a long bike and a brick run the day before. I did 13.1 miles in about 2:03. It was humid again and my body felt fine. I felt my hip a bit, but just a little bit and it didn't really bother me. I then went and swam 1200yds in Deep Eddy. I would've swam more, but I was starting to cramp. Also, I did drink the pool water this time.

New Balance mileage: 72 miles
Nike mileage: 70.5 miles
Weekly run milage: 24.5 miles

Ouch

You know that "recovery" ride that I did on Wednesday? That ride completely toasted me. I did a brick workout on Thursday with Texas Iron. We were suppose to do 2-4 loops of a hilly 4 mile bike and then a 1 mile run. I did only 2 of them. Even on the warmup one, my legs were on fire and then on the one that I was suppose to go harder, I couldn't go. I called it quits and realized that I needed recovery. Because of that, I also skipped my swim workout this morning as well. I just needed sleep and rest because I haven't been doing much of either lately. Also, I weighed in at 185 this morning. What the hell? My plans this weekend are to do my long run tomorrow instead of Sunday. Sunday is the Couples Triathlon and I'm volunteering for it. I probably won't get a chance to work out that day because I have some people coming over to finish up my bathroom so I can finally get that done.

New Balance shoe mileage: 59 miles
Nike mileage: 70.5 miles

Hard ride with guys from work

Ok, they really aren't from work, but we used to be part of the same company. I rode during lunch today with some guys from AMD. They usually have group rides during lunch 3-4 days a week and today was the first time I rode with them. We left at 11:30. The pace at first was a little too slow for me. We also had a group of about 8 of us of differing abilities. Once we got out onto the open roads, it was 5 of us in the front group. Man, those guys made me work today. My problem is that I would get dropped on hills or right after I would pull. Not fun and my heart rate was nearly pegged. I had a total time of 1 hour 30 minutes on the road so I probably had about 1:20 of ride time.

I was going to point out about how rainy and cloudy it has been lately because I don't have the nice triathlete tan lines. You know what I'm talking about. The outline from the sleeveless jersey and the sharp lines from tri shorts on the legs. Well, I developed the sleeveless jersey tan lines today. I put sunscreen on my face and my tattoo but didn't put on the arms or legs. I usually get these tan lines in March or April if that's any indication of how it's been here lately.

21.5 miles in 60 hours

Well, I did somewhat of a track workout tonight. Did 15min for warmup and then 6x1 mile repeats. The odd ones were around a track and the even ones were around the trail. I did them in about 7:45 which is about half marathon pace for me which is what was on my workout. Then, did 10 minute cool down. This was about a total of 9 miles or so. I did 12.5 miles on Sunday so this was 21.5 miles in about 60 hours. How do I feel? I feel fantastic. Nothing hurts or aches really badly. Right now, I don't feel like I just ran 9 miles. My knees aren't aching at all. I think the strategy this year of ramping up very slowly is working great. My body is getting used to the increased load and I'm increasing it at a pace that my body can handle. It's working out for me and I'm happy about it.

New Balance mileage: 59 miles
Nike mileage: 68.5 miles

Wart Update

You remember the bane of my existence last year which caused me to have 4 injuries last year? If not, here is the before picture.



Well, I've been going to the doc for almost a year now, actually over a year, to get rid of this fucking thing. Well, I think it's dead now. My doc has been treating it with Bleomycin and it appears to be working. Here is a picture of this fucker from 2 days ago.



Ah, much better! I have hopefully the final checkup on this guy in 2 weeks and I'll be done with this damn thing.

I can't sleep but I have to be up at 5:30 to do a track workout. Blegh. I weighed in at 183.5 yesterday. The cycleof 183.5 on Friday/186.5 on Monday has been broken! Woohoo! We'll see how this week goes but I'm starting to feel thin again.

I was so thirsty that I drank the pool water and it was good!

Yes, I drank the pool water today. On purpose. And it was very, very refreshing. But let's back up a bit. This morning was my usual long run. I was suppose to 1:45 today and I did about that. It was closer to 1:50 or so. I stopped my watch at one point and forgot to start it again. Either way, it was my longest run since IMFL. I did a total of 12.3 miles as well. It was hot and I tried to stay on top of my hydration, but I only peed once during the run. On a good note, nothing really hurt during the run so my hip issues are going away. I felt them a bit, but not much. While I was running, I realized that I've done only 5 runs that have been a half marathon or more. I did two half marathons last year, a half Ironman, a 14.5 mile training run, and then Ironman Florida. Wow, that's really not that many long runs. I started thinking about this because I know that I have a 2 hour run next Sunday which will put me over 13.1 miles. Also, I run so much faster in a race than I do on my training runs because my heart rate was really high again today, but I was able to keep moving today. Also, I've been running relatively injury free for 6 months now. That is the longest injury free stretch that I've had in my entire life. I'm quite happy about that.

OK, that go way off track. I did a 12.3 mile run today and I was suppose to do a recovery swim of 60 minutes afterwards. I wasn't going to swim 60 minutes, but I'll still do a swim. I headed over to Deep Eddy, showered off the sweat and jumped in. Like I've said before, it's a spring fed pool that is about 68-70 degrees. I'm not used to cold water but this water felt so good after the heat of Austin. I just did 6x200yds and called it quits. On the first lap, I was dying of thirst from the run. I was completely tired and hot and dehydrated. The water was very cool and refreshing. So, I opened my mouth and swallowed a gulp. Oh, it tasted so good. It was as refreshing in my mouth as it was swimming. I just needed a drink of water pretty badly and the pool water was just wonderful. Yes, I know that it's disgusting and people pee in it and all that stuff, but I needed water at that point and I was surrounded by it. I probably wouldn't have done it in a chlorinated pool but this fresh water pool was just what I needed. I finished my very easy 1200 yards and now I'm home. I'm exhausted and I don't want to move for the rest of the day, but I know that I'll have to.

Ok, some random thoughts now. My injuries are clearing up it seems. I've been injury free for about 6+ months now. There were a ton of women not wearing bras at Town Lake today. Town Lake looked like a fast moving river with some rapids in a few parts because of the flooding. I have a blister on my big toe on my right foot that every pair of shoes gives me. I need to start putting Body Glide on my crotch when I do long runs. I think my form is getting better and it's getting more natural so that I maintain my form when I get tired.

New Balance mileage: 59 miles
Nike mileage: 59.5 miles
Weekly run mileage: 16.5 miles

Horrible brick workout

Man, I just had an absolutely horrible brick workout today. Let's begin with the beginning first, though. I got up early to ride and as soon as I walked outside, I say some dark gray clouds to the south of my house. Unfortunately, that was the direction that I was planning on riding today. I went back inside and got on the trainer. Man, that's boring. After about 35 minutes, I couldn't stand it anymore. I looked outside and it looked pretty decent. Then, I checked the weather and there wasn't any rain to the west. Screw the training, I'm going outside! I went outside and rode for another 2 hours and 25 minutes. I did 2x30min at race pace with 15min easy in between. Nothing special there but I'm glad I rode because the sun starting coming out after the clouds cleared up. That was the nice part of my workout.

Now, the hellish brick run. I don't whether I was dehydrated, bonking, not use to the heat, not well rested, or whatever, but that run completely sucked. I couldn't breathe very well. My heart rate was sky high as well. I felt like I was running really easily but I would look down and my heart rate would be at 170bpm. What the hell? I ended up getting just over 4 miles in about 42 minutes so I was S-L-O-W. Hopefully, my long run tomorrow will be a lot better. I just can't figure out what happened to me. It definitely wasn't mental alone because my heart rate was so high. It had to be dehydration. I usually drink a liter of water in the morning before I work out, especially when it's hot, but I didn't do that today. I also lost 4 pounds of weight while I drank 4 liters during all of my workouts. It had to be dehydration, possibly with a bit of bonking.

New Balance mileage: 46.5 miles
Nike mileage: 59.5 miles

Why do I do what I do?

This thread is just a brief reason why I do triathlons. Seeing that many people turn their lives around is just wonderful to see. It's just amazing some of the before and after pics. I'm sort of jealous because I can't ever say that I've lost 100 pounds. My the lowest I've ever been since I started college was 168 and the highest was about 202 so that's only a 34 pound range. Ok, enough of me. These people are truly inspiring.

Rain sucks

Man, if you pitiful non-Texans, ;-), haven't been reading the news lately, Texas has been getting dumped on with rain. Seriously, we have more rain so far this year than all of last year and all of the year before that. It's good because I haven't had to water my grass so far. The bad thing is that I've had 2 workouts canceled this week because of the rain. And it's a crap shoot whenever I try to go for a long ride on the weekends. I'm taking Fiona, the Fuji beater bike, out for a ride on Saturday and I don't care if I get wet.

This morning was a swim of about 3300 yards. Not bad. Yesterday was a missed brick workout because of the rain. That's my update since Wednesday. I do wish my swim workouts started a little later in the morning. Right now, they start at 5:30 on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and at 5:45 on Tuesday and Thursday. That's just really early to get up and if I want to get 8 hours of sleep the night before, I have to go to bed at around 8:30 which just seems lame. It's what I choose to do though.

I weighed in at 183.5 this morning. I seem to be in a pattern where I weigh 183.5 on Friday and then 186.5 on Monday for the last few weeks. I have to break that pattern. The good thing is that the bane of my existence is gone now. There was this lady at work who kept a candy jar full of chocolate, my weakness, about 9 feet from my cube. Now, she's left the company and her candy jar is gone, too. Woohoo! My goal is to be at 180 by the end of the month and I think I can do it.

Also, does anyone want to see anything else on my blog? Do you want to see more of a mental aspect of the struggles that I face sometimes? Do you want to see my thoughts on the triathlon community because I have a lot of thoughts about triathletes and the triathlon community that are positive and negative? I'm trying to see what people want to see because I don't mind sharing but I'm wondering how deep people want me to go.

July 4th Update

Well, it appears that my coach has a mini swim block for me. Today was my third swim in 4 days and I have a total of 5 swim workouts in 8 days. Sunday was about 3200 meters. Monday was a rest day. Tuesday was another 3300 meters with a track workout that didn't happen because of the rain. Wednesday was about 3000 yards with 75 minute easy spin later in the day. Oh, the weather was pretty damn nice today. About 80, mostly cloudy, and not that humid. Windy though since it is Texas. The swim this morning was a horrible swim. Not horrible but I was fatigued from yesterday's workout. It's amazing how having a rest day in between workouts will help you heal and how much you can noticed it when you do back to back days with the same discipline. Oh, on the Tuesday workout we did 6x100m sprint. I lead the first 4 and that was fucking tough. I was tired, but I kept pushing because I wanted to work. Another dude went on the 5th one and he was behind me on the previous 4. Afterwards, he said he burned himself out on that one that he lead. I told him it wasn't so easy in the front and he agreed. We then had Nellie go on the 6th one and once again, she said it was so much harder not drafting off anyone. And that's why I like to go first; it's harder in the front and it'll make me a faster swimmer. Oh, and Maurice is saying that my stroke rebuilding is coming along nicely. There are some things that are quite different than when I first learned how to swim so it's a little difficult to adjust. What else? Oh, I weighed in at 186 on Monday.

Weekly update

I've been busy lately. I've given up on my tile job in my bathroom and I'm paying someone to do it. I just don't want to do it anymore. I'm also trying to study more for the medical terminology class that I'm taking right now.

Ok, enough personal stuff. Wednesday was a 3500yd swim. Not much to write about there. Actually, when I'm in a lane, I usually lead on the swim sets. For paddle and fin sets, I'm at the end because I suck at them. However, Maurice let me borrow some other fins. Wow, I'm fast! I need to get some longer fins. I ended up leading the last few intervals of the fins.

Thursday was a brick workout with Texas Iron. It was a bunch of mini duathlons. After the warm up of a 3 mile loop on the bike and a 1 mile run, we did 3 intervals of 1/4 mile run, 3 mile bike, 1 mile run. These were suppose to be hard intervals and I really pushed myself. Of course the last one was the fastest for me. I held off Fast Freddy on the last one because he beat me the first two 1 mile runs. Woohoo! Oh, and I completely embarrassed Betsey because I told her that her shorts were worn out and I could see the crack of her ass. That was funny.

Friday was a crappy day. I skipped my swim workout because I just wasn't feeling it.

This morning was a 60 min run. I ended up getting 6.5 miles in today. I was also dehydrated because I got up, ate a Clif Bar, and pretty much without drinking any fluids. Once I hit about 35 minutes into the run, my heart rate started to skyrocket and I was going SLOW. It felt really slow even though I was going downhill. I came home and used MapMyRun and found out that the course I ran had an elevation gain of about 150 feet over the 3.25 miles. That's not much but it isn't insignificant either. Even going downhill on the way back, I was still slower with a higher heart rate. I came home and drink the first liter of water in 3 gulps and about 3 seconds and drank the second liter in about 3 minutes after that. Wow, that felt good. I also developed chaffed nipples again which are annoyingly painful.

After doing some yard work and studying (I got through another 1.5 chapters), I went on an easy bike ride. It was hot but started cooling off a bit. I took it nice and easy and it was a pretty good ride. Also, I had a courteous driver! I was riding along and there was an SUV that passed me and was turning right. Instead of cutting me off and turning right in front of me, they stopped until I passed. That made my entire ride!

Oh, I weighed 183.5 yesterday. And I finally got over 20 run miles in this week and this week was a recovery week, too.

New Balance mileage: 46.5 miles
Nike mileage: 55 miles
Weekly run mileage: 20.5 miles

Bittersweet

I wanted this to be a great post. I try to be very positive, but I know that I tend to be negative sometimes and bitch a lot. I had a great morning this morning until I learned about a piece of bad news. I really needed a totally great day, but today wasn't it. However, I'm going to try to have the enthusiasm that I wanted to put in this morning before I found out the news.

First of all, congrats to Jodi who kicked ass on her first Ironman.

My weight check in yesterday was 184.5. Today was 186 but I'll get to that in a minute.

This morning, I went on a run. I thought I had a fairly short run, but my coach wanted me to a 15min warmup, then (6) 1 mile repeats with 2 minutes rest with increasing effort each interval, and then 10 min cooldown. I left my house at around 6:00 and was back by 7:30. The first mile repeat was 8:13 with 146bpm. Second was 8:42 with 154bpm. I noticed that this was a lot slower because this is uphill and the rest of the splits show it. 7:49 with 160bpm, 8:12 with 167bpm, 7:32 with 169bpm, and finally 7:54 with 173bpm. Now, here is what made me so happy. On that last interval, I really pushed it. I mean REALLY pushed it. I wanted to get my heart rate up as high as possible. Why? Why not? Towards the end of my interval, I kept pushing and pushing to see how high I could go. I saw 180. Then 183. I felt like I had more so I put my head down and kept going. I reached the end of my interval, stopped my watch, and saw 189bpm on my HRM. I yelled "Fuck yeah! Woohoo!". Man, I'm stoked about this. My previous max HRM since I left college on the run was 183. I've seen 184 on the bike in the last 3 months and 188 in the last 2 years. I've always wondered why the max HRM on the bike was higher than the run when it should be the other way around. Well, I found out that I kept pussing out. Now, I know that when I push myself, how much more that I can go. Even hitting 189 today, I felt like I could've gotten it higher to 190 or even 192. This was just a huge mental boost that I needed for my running. It felt great, too! I did my cool down and had a smoothie. I've been using OJ instead of chocolate milk and it's good.

Oh, one more thing. I weighed 186 this morning before my run. During the run, it felt more like a swim than a run; it was just damn humid. I didn't drink anything during the run so I got back and weighed myself. 182. I dropped 4 pounds of fluid during the run. And I was completely soaked in sweat and it was only 75 degrees outside.

Now, the bad news. I got to work and went to Slowtwitch. I found out that Doug Stern passed away yesterday. Talk about a total buzzkill since I was in such a good mood this morning. Doug posted on ST a few months ago about his battle with cancer. I didn't follow it that closely, unfortunately. He was oldish, around 62 or so, but he definitely didn't look that old. He didn't act that old either. He's been swimming for something like 40 years too. He's just a great guy with a lot of character. He was able to put complex techniques of swimming into simple terms that people could identify with. I owe him a lot of my swim stroke since I was a fan of his theories of swimming. I even met him at a clinic that he taught in November of 2005. I was also looking forward to going on one of his amazing training vacations that he puts on in Curacao. He used to have 1 per year, but it gained in such popularity that he was going to offer 2 of them. I was always waiting until I met him again. Like I said, he's a great guy, very wise, and someone that you could look up to. This is really important for me since I'm not close to my family and don't really have a strong father figure. Well, I didn't realize that our first meeting would also be the last. There's not much else I can say about this. I'm deeply saddened by it. Once I found out about his death, I close the window to ST because I just didn't want to mourn this today. Rest in peace, Doug.

Now, after something like that, I don't really want to write more, but I need to. I went to see my PT today for the first time in like 8 months. I had to get my PF, TFL, and IT band issues looked at. Well, I do have some PF going on. I also have some TFL and IT band issues like I thought. Found out that my hips are super duper weak. I have some exercises to get them strong again. I also took my running shoes in there as well. She pretty much confirmed what I thought. My New Balance shoes are better for my feet than my Nike shoes. I actually look better in the New Balance without my orthodcis than in my Nikes with orthodics. Also, nothing about me is simple. When I'm standing, she was more worried about my lef foot because it tends to pronate naturally and fall in more. Also, it isn't as stable on the ground as my right foot is. However, in my shoes, my right foot falls in more. It's more prevalant on the Nikes, too. They've been bothering my feet a bit, too. Once they are worn out, I won't buy that model again. So, I'm in my orthodics every day now. Also, the Nikes are limited to short runs now with orthodics. New Balance are short runs with orthodics and long runs without until I get used to them. I have to do some ball on the foot, rocking back on the heels stretches, and calf stretches for the PF. for the TFL and IT band, I need to do 2 different exercises for my hips. Other than that, I'm doing good. I needed to go in and have her yell at me a bit to get me back on track and it worked.

That's my story for this bittersweet day today. Like I said, I really wanted a great, upbeat day all day long, but that didn't happen.

New Balance mileage: 41.5 miles
Nike mileage: 48.5 miles

3 minutes

3 minutes is the time from when I left my house yesterday morning on the bike until the time I was almost taken out by a car. I was just riding through my neighborhood and some !%&$# in a car cut my off by turning right in front of me. It wasn't that close, but she still came within 6' of my front tire. When I'm going 16mph, 6' really isn't that much distance.

I continued on my ride and I was just going easy. I'm still feeling sick from last week. Not really sick, but I don't have my full strength back yet, I'm always tired, I have a bit of a sore throat still, and I've had a mild headache since Wednesday. I kept going and the skies started getting gray. I turned around since my bike was nice and pretty from getting the new aerobars put on. I kept riding towards home and felt something strange on my skin. Is that, is that cool air? What? This is Texas in June. It should be at least 90 degrees now. What is this feeling of coolness? Apparently, I just crossed over a cold front. And what happens around cold fronts? Rain. It started raining, not hard, but I still got wet. I kept riding and then I heard the PSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHH! I flatted. I had a big piece of glass in my tire. I found it almost immediately. I pulled it and started changing my tire. About half way through changing the tire, it started raining. Really raining. I was about 3 miles from my house so I just rode home and dried off. That was my workout on Saturday: a 55 minute bike ride with a flat, some rain, and a near run in with a car.

Sunday was my long run. I started out and I just didn't feel good. I was tired and my headache was weird. I would get jabbing pains about every other heel strike on the right side of my head. It also felt like I had fluid sloshing around in my head. Just weird. I was suppose to do a 90min run with 30 easy, 40 tempo, 20 easy. Since I was sick last week and not feeling great, I was only going to do 4.5 miles. I stopped at that point and sat down for a few minutes. I realized that I actually felt a lot better than when I started running. So, I did another 4.5 miles. I'm actually pretty glad that I kept going. I had already quit running for the day after my first lap, but I decided to keep going. I'm glad that I did. Like I said, I was SLOW today. Usually, I can run 8.2 miles in 1:12 or something like that. Today, I ran 9 miles in 1:28. You could say that it took me 16 minutes to run that extra 0.8 miles or I was just a slug butt (for me) today. I vote for the slug butt. I went to run a mile barefoot around the track, but I just didn't have it in me today.

Also, my right IT band and TFL were acting up again. My PF was bothering me a bit as well. I think it's time to go in and see my PT just to get checked up a bit and get these lingering problems taken care of before they get worse.

New Balance mileage: 32.5 miles
Nike mileage: 48.5 miles
Weekly run mileage: 14 miles

The flu weight loss plan!

Hey, having the flu is great for weight loss! I was down to 183.5 today. I took a sick day from work yesterday. Most of the time when I do, I feel like crap in the morning but get better throughout the day to the point where I can do stuff later in the day. Yesterday, I was on the couch all day long. I felt horrible. I had a fever and I had no strength at all. I'm much better today though and I'm back at work.

Getting sick happens, but I'm really pissed that it happened this week. I was on pace to run 25 miles this week and that isn't going to happen now. I did 5 Tuesday and on Thursday, I was suppose to run another 6-7 miles. A brick run on Saturday would have put me at 5 more and then I expected to do 10-11 on Sunday. That would have been 27 actually. Now, I didn't get the Thursday run in and Saturday's brick run probably won't be that long. Sunday I should be good enough to do 10 miles so I'll still get in 18 or so. Next week is a recovery week so maybe the week after I'll get 20+ miles in.

By popular demand, the Sunday Smoothie

Well, here it is:

1 scoop vanilla protein powder
1 cup fat free vanilla yogurt
1 handful frozen raspberries or mixed berries
2 handfuls frozen strawberries
1/2 cup lowfat chocolate milk
1 dab of peanut butter

Throw it in a blender, mix it up, and enjoy. It's very delicious. I think the touches that make it great are the chocolate milk and the dab of PB. Yummy.

I skipped my workouts today. I'm feeling sick today so I skipped them and I'm trying to get a lot of sleep tonight. I don't know what caused this, though. It seems that I get a bit ill whenever the temp gets really high the first time each summer. It may have been because I'm a little worn out from the run on Sunday and the workouts on Tuesday and my body isn't happy. It also could have been all the crap that I breathed in last week working on my bathroom. Either way, I need some rest.

Also, I think I got a touch of poison ivy from my run on Sunday. I have a bit on the inside of my right arm. It's probably the smallest case I've ever had though. I have bandaids on it because it's kind of funny. If I don't see it, it doesn't itch as bad. If it's exposed, it itches like crazy. I'm pretty sure I got it on Sunday because there is all kinds of poison ivy around Town Lake trail. The next time I run, I just have to make sure to not touch anything green.

Sternocleidomastoid muscle!

That's the muscle that I learned when reading my medical terminology book the other day. I like it because it's a long word and I can remember it. BTW, this medical terminology stuff is cool to learn. I didn't know that the skull has 20 bones in it. Also, the human body has 206 bones in it. Now, let's take away the hands and feet which have over a 100 bones between them. Then, you have roughly 27 vertebrae (that's a rough estimate off the top of my head). Now, we are already up to 150 bones and that's not counting the pelvis, ribs, arms, or legs. Anyways, that's just cool.

Monday was a rest day, but I did weigh in at 185. I think work is causing me to gain weight because they day that I come back to work, I have a brownie, some cookies, a Snickers bar, a piece of lemon cake, and a Dr. Pepper. That's all crap. I know that it's my own will power and discipline (or lack of) that is making me eat these things but I still like to complain about the environment that I'm in here.

Tuesday was a 2700m swim. I cut it short because we had a fin set at the end and it was causing all kinds of issues with my calves and feet. Also, I hadn't swam in a week so I wanted to take it a bit easy. I was leading my lane as well. Maurice actually asked if I wanted to be in a quicker lane and I said no. If I'm in a quicker lane, all I want to do is to go faster. Right now, I'm trying to rebuild my stroke and I can't rebuild my stroke and go fast at the same time. As long as I lead my lane, I'll be fine because I usually get stuck behind others and I just can't swim in a smooth fashion because I'm delegated by as fast as the person in front of me. I'll be up in the next faster lane in a month or two, though.

Last night was a run. A hot run. The temp was around 98 degrees or so according to my car. After a 20 minute warmup, I did 4x1/2 mile repeats. I wasn't able to hold the intervals with times of 2:54, 2:48, 3:01, 3:11. I just fell apart at the end with my side cramping and I couldn't breathe. Maybe I ate too much before the workout. I didn't feel dehydrated though because I had at least 4 liters of water before the workout last night. Eh, oh well. I just need to get over this heat. I don't think it's a physical thing as much as it is a mental thing.

New Balance mileage: 32.5 miles
Nike mileage: 39.5 miles

Another Sunday Run

Another Sunday run today followed by a Sunday smoothie. I did 8.75 miles around Town Lake Today. THen, I did 3 barefoot laps around the track so I did a total of about 9.5 miles today. It feels good to run fast because my form feels much more natural. It was very humid as well. I was getting stitches in my sides and I don't know why. No pain or blisters or blood from today's run. However, my lungs were acting up and it felt like I couldn't breathe. Not good. I have to be more consistent with taking my asthma medication.

Oh, I didn't do anything yesterday because it rained in the morning and I actually laid tile in my bathroom yesterday!

New Balance shoe mileage: 27.5 miles
Nike shoe mileage: 39.5 miles
Weekly run mileage: 15 miles

Quick Update

I've been taking it pretty easy this week. I'm off of work and I've been working on my bathroom remodel all this week. Right now, that's more important than a regular training plan. The only workout this week that I've done is a run last night. I did 5.5 miles in 44 minutes around Town Lake. It was about to rain and Jamie sent us off on a fartlek run just to get something in. I was feeling slow and heavy like I have been feeling lately when I run. A part of it is that once I try pushing myself, my lungs seem to give out when I run. They are fine on the bike and the swim when I push myself, but they don't work on the run. I'll start taking my asthma medication more religiously. Oh, the run left me with a bloodied toe. I didn't even feel it during the run but I got home, took off my shoe, and my sock was red. Apparently, the pinky toenail was digging into the next toe which caused some bleeding. This weekend I plan on starting to do some longer rides to start building up for the half Ironman that I'm doing in October. Long boring rides in the Texas summer heat. Fun!

Weight update: 184.5 lbs this morning. Makes me happy because it's going down again.

New Balance mileage: 27.5 miles
Nike mileage: 30.5 miles

Sunday Run

I did my Sunday long run today. Did 8.2 miles as usual and like the previous long runs lately, it was hot and humid. I was completely soaked by about 30 minutes into the run. I did see Betsie and Spencer so it was somewhat of a social run, too. I wore my TNT shirt and I had 10 people that I've never seen before in my life say hi to me. Kinda cool. I really need to get some sleeveless performance fabric shirts to run in. I really think that would help with the heat. The only sleeveless shirts that I have are cotton tshirts and the only performance fabric shirts I have are short or long sleeved. My body felt OK today on the run. Once again, it was just an easy run. My left knee was bothering me a bit but it's fine now. Lately, the biggest problems that I've been having are blisters. Last week, I got one on my second toe on my left foot from where my big toe was rubbing it or something. Got the same problem today with a different pair of shoes. I also got a blister a few weeks ago on my right foot on the 2nd toe as well. I think I need to cut off my 2nd toes on each foot. After the normal run, I did 2 laps around the track barefoot. Seriously, that was the easiest part of the run today were those 2 barefoot laps. That was when the run felt the most natural and effortless.

New Balance mileage: 22 miles
Nike mileage: 30.5 miles
Weekly run mileage: 18 miles (Would've had over 20 if I ran on Thursday)

Laziness Abounds!

Ok, not really, but I have been busy lately. Wednesday was a missed bike workout because I was working on the house. Thursday was a missed run and a missed bike workout because I had a friend in town and I wanted to hang out with them instead. Friday was a rest day. Today was a 2 hour bike ride and a 28 minute run. The bike should have been an hour longer and the run should have been 17 minutes longer. I had to cut them short because a plumber was suppose to come by at noon. Well, he was late so I'm a little miffed that I cut my workouts short because of it. I really need to do a full workout next Saturday since I tend to be slack on doing the full workouts on Saturdays. I'll call Colleen up and see if she wants to go on a ride with me. That'll be more motivation to not do an abbreviated workout.

Also, my bike is looking a little sexier now. I have been itching to do something to my bike just to keep it fresh and doing something to my bike is a lot cheaper than getting a new bike. Well, I bought new aerobars and here is a pic of them on my bike now.



They are the VisionTech TT Clip On aerobars. I got the flat black base bars from ATC and then the carbon aerobars used from Richard for about $40 which is one hell of a deal. I also dressed up Sophia in new red Fizik handlebar tape which is great stuff. I also got new cables because during the CapTexTri, my bike sat in the rain for about 12 hours and pretty much everything got crudded up.

New balance mileage: 13.5 miles
Nike mileage: 30.5 miles

Tracky Hill Workout

Well, I had a tracky hill workout tonight. We did mile repeats around the mile loop at Barton Springs. The reason why I call it a hill workout is because there is a nasty hill on this mile loop. I felt like crap and I failed to maintain my intervals. Not much to say about it. Actually, I just had a crappy workout day overall since my swim this morning wasn't a great workout either. I didn't sleep well last night and I just wasn't there mentally today. I'm in kind of a funk the last few days and that has been affecting me.

New Balance mileage: 13.5 miles
Nike mileage: 27.5 miles

Sunday Run

Nothing special but I did a long run yesterday. I went out with the mentality that it was going to be a slow, long run and it was. I wasn't pushing myself that much and my times reflected it with about 8:45/mile. It didn't hurt as bad as the run on Saturday, either. It was hot and humid as expected. I felt fine but I felt my metatarsals on my left foot a bit and that is starting to bother me. I guess it's time to start wearing my orthodics again and see if they help at all. Today, my ankles are a little sore and my right hip is pretty sore, specifically in the tensor fasciae latae. I guess I need to do more exercise this week. I really tried to work on my from with a slight forward lean from the ankles and not the hips. Oh, mango Powershots are nasty.

New Balance mileage: 7.5 miles
Nike mileage: 27.5 miles
Weekly run mileage: 16 miles

I hate my body

I'm about to sound like a 14 year old girl minus the extreme attraction towards Justin Timberlake. I have only a moderate attraction towards JT. I hate my body. Let me tell you why. Oh, and those people that maintain a constant weight pretty easily, screw you! Just kidding. Last Saturday, I was making progress towards losing weight. I weighed in at 184. Not bad. I was pretty happy with that. I was watching what I eat and everything last week and being pretty disciplined. I started doing mild carb loading on Sunday and I upped my calorie intake. Monday was the day of the race, but the race didn't happen. I still ate pizza and drank beer, but I didn't consider it that excessively. I weighed myself on Wednesday morning and I was at 192.5. Holy shit! That's a lot. I know that I retain water and my weight increases when I drink, but 8.5 pounds in 4 days is ridiculous. What the hell happened. I thought maybe it was a temporary weight gain or something like that. So, I weighed myself again on Friday. I still weighed 190. I gained 6 pounds in a week. That's why I hate my body.

Ok, workout update. Tuesday and Wednesday were rest days for me. Why? Because I was busy and lazy. Sometimes I just have weeks were working out is the last thing on my mind and this week was one of them. I was getting ready to start remodeling my bathroom and just had other errands as well. Thursday was a morning swim of 3300m with T3. That night was a track workout with Texas Iron. Man, this workout was killer. It was a fartlek/lactic threshold workout. We only ran 6000m but it was a constant run with fast intervals followed easy recovery. I would explain the workout, but it was somewhat complicated and I can't remember it anymore. I do believe that I was holding my intervals throughout the workout though. Oh, I hurt really badly after the workout as well. My legs are still fatigued. Oh, this was my first run with my New Balance 1061s. They felt fine.

Friday was a missed swim workout due to my bathroom remodel. I'm exhausted from demoing the bathroom. It really is a lot of work and physical exertion that I'm not used to. But it's fun except when I break a water line and flood my house for 45 minutes. Yeah, you read that right. You'll read about it soon on my other blog. This morning was suppose to be a 2.5 hour base ride and then a 40 minute brick run. I did about 1.5 hour base ride and then a 20 minute run. I left my house at 7am this morning to do this workout. I had only a limited amount of time this weekend since I still had a lot of stuff to do for demoing my bathroom and I had to be somewhere at 10am. The bike was fine, but the run was tough. Very tough. The Austin summers are starting. For those that don't live here, it sucks all the time during the summer in Austin. It is cooler during the morning, but it's humid. It gets dryer throughout the day, but I think the high temp today was around 94. It's like that until September. I think that was part of the reason why my run hurt today. And probably because I was still tired from the Thursday track workout.

New Balance mileage: 7.5 miles
Nike mileage: 19 miles

Regrets

I have a regret today. I had this same regret at some point last year and I've been kicking myself all day long today about it. Why is that? Because I normally don't have a chance to do stuff like this. What do I regret so badly? I regret not putting on my swim cap and my goggles when I was soaked from the canceled triathlon this morning and then running and jumping into a mud puddle head first and started playing in the mud and the water. I mean, how often as a "responsible adult" do you get to play in the rain like you are 9 years old again? On one hand, my life must be pretty decent if this is one of my biggest regrets. On the other hand, these missed little moments are what defines life and I missed out on an opportunity for one.

CapTexTri Race Report: Rained Out

I paid $125 dollars to stand underneath a tent for an hour and a half this morning before they called off the race. I'm not that pissed about it but it does suck because I love racing. I was under the tent but my bag wasn't and everything in there is soaked and is now strewn across my garage floor drying. It was fun playing in the rain though. Even though I didn't race, I'm still going to sit on my ass all day long, eat pizza, and drink beer.

Prerace Update

Eh, not much to say here. After my last updated, I was suppose to swim on Thursday. That got rained out. I did a short 3.15 neighborhood run in 25:40. I have to admit that working out in the morning really changes my mood for the rest of the day. Since I didn't work out on Thursday, I was kind of pissy all day. Friday, I was in a great mood all day long for the most part. I even got out of work early at 4ish. I was suppose to do a short workout, but I went to Home Depot to pick up stuff to remodel my bathroom instead. Saturday was a rest day with some light yard work. Today, I did a 15 minute swim with some 50s at race pace. After that was a 20 minute spin with some 1 minute pickups. Finally, a 10 minute run with 3 strides. The weather has been horrible all weekend. Hot, humid, and rainy. Tomorrow should be the same so it could get interesting.

I almost didn't race this weekend. I think I almost broke my toe on Thursday. It was raining and I was walking around in my driveway in my flipflops. When I stepped from the driveway into the garage, my flipflops were wet and my left foot slipped out from under me. My left foot was forward and I was pushing off with my right foot which was in the back. When my left foot slipped, all of my weight came down on the top of my right big toe. It hurt like hell as I hopped around the garage for a few minutes. Even now, it still hurts to the touch. If I touched it the day after, it would hurt really, really badly again. It doesn't bother me when I run so I 'm good for the race tomorrow.

Oh, one last thing. Going to the race expo today reminded me once again one side benefit of doing triathlons: girls with great butts and hot legs. Damn!

New Balance mileage: 0 miles
Nike mileage: 19 miles
Weekly run mileage: 7.5 miles

Midweek Tapering Workouts

Since I'm doing CapTex on Monday, this week is a taper week. I was suppose to do a shorter swim workout yesterday, but I did a full 3300m workout with T3 in the morning. It was OK. I was making sure my new goggles were OK. Also, I hate swimming with paddles and fins. The fins were a problem because everyone else in my lane had these huge fins and I have these short Zoomers so they are way faster than me.

Last night's run was a 15 minute warmup. Then, it was 4x800ish meter repeats. They were around 800 meters because I was did the first one in about 3:08 and I know I can't do half a mile that fast. Second one was 3:13, third was 3:10, and 4th was 3:11 so I maintained my intervals pretty well. Each interval had about 200m active recovery. Then, about a mile cooldown. The intervals hurt, but they were good. I felt like I was getting slower but I was obviously maintaining my intervals. Also, each interval was about 165bpm average and I had one with a max HR of 177bpm. Not bad.

Today was an easy spin of 75min with 4x4min at race pace. Nothing special there.

Also, my weight was down to 185.5 today from 187 on Monday. I knew I was retaining water or whatever.

New Balance mileage: 0 miles
Nike mileage: 17.5 miles

5 pounds of shit in a 5 pound sack!

As I'm quite vocal about on my blog, I'm trying to lose weight. Somewhat for asthetic reasons and somewhat for athletic reasons. Also, I've always had love handles. Even in high school when I was 150 pounds, I had love handles. I guess I'll never have a nice toned six pack, but there are worse things in life. Since I'm a little sensitive about it, I was worried about wearing my new form fitting would accentuate my love handles and make it look like I have a muffin top, or that I'm trying to fit 10 pounds of shit in a 5 pound sack. I first wore this new tri top at The Rookie tri last weekend and as these race pictures show, I don't have much flab hanging out. Luckily, I can now eat my dinner tonight without sticking my finger down my throat afterwards.

I totally changed around my workout schedule this weekend. Friday was suppose to be a rest day, Saturday a brick workout, and an easy spin on Sunday. Friday was my easy spin since I rode my bike to work and back. Saturday was a rest day because I woke up and started doing chores around the house. Usually, when I get into this mood, I don't want to stop so I keep going. Sunday was my brick workout and I did the entire thing plus some yard work as well. My brick workout was 30min warmup on the bike and 10min warmup easy run. Then, it was 2 intervals. Each interval was 5min run fast, 20min bike fast, 10min run fast with 5 min easy something in between. Those bricks hurt. Then, it was a 20min spin easy on the bike for a cool down. I tried my best to keep pushing but traffic and stoplights got in the way on the bike and the run wasn't as fast as I wanted to go because I suck at running. It was a good workout still and I felt somewhat fast on the run. It felt like I was actually moving my legs decently quickly and I was getting bigger strides instead of the foot shuffle that I do when I'm tired. With CapTex next weekend, I'm feeling pretty good about the race.

My weight this morning was 187. I had beer on Saturday night and went to a BBQ last night so no surprise there. I was 185 on Saturday and I'll be under 185 by Friday for my last weigh in before CapTex. I also put in Yankz in all my new shoes and broke 2 of the 4 plastic triangle pieces already. This blows.

Nike shoe mileage: 11.5 miles
New Balance shoe mileage: 0 miles
Weekly run mileage: 11.5 miles

Ride Your Bike To Work Day

Today was national Ride Your Bike To Work Day. So, I rode my bike to work. I got in about 31 miles. A lot of places around town had food for cyclists so I ended up eating breakfast 4 times today. Nice! I also had 4 near death experiences and 1 really, really near death experience. I got buzzed by a utility truck by less than a foot. It seemed like that fucker was trying to hit me. Pissed me off. On the way home, I rode with a coworker who regular rides his bike to work so I now have a route going to work and home that is off of most of the busy roads. It's about 15 miles or so.

Thursday evening was a 3250 meter, not yard, swim. I started off pretty crappy but once I was warmed up pretty well, I was feeling awesome and my workout showed. At the end of the workout, we had to do 10x50m repeats on a 0:60 interval. I was holding 0:40-0:45 for each of these 10 intervals. Everyone else in my lane was slowing down but I held them even after being fatigued from the rest of the workout. I also need to get new goggles because mine are pretty cloudy now.

I got my New Balance 1061 shoes in today. I got the silver/blue color, too. I'll start wearing them to break them in over the next few days. They feel pretty good for the 5 minutes that I've worn them.

My weight this morning was 185.5 so down is always good and I've lost 1.5 pounds in a week.

Long Update

Ok, I have a lot to write and not much time. Let's begin.

They reposted the results from The Rookie with the transition times split out. Here is how I did:

Swim - 5:20.6 - 1:47/100m pace - 5th in AG - 66th overall
T1 - 1:15.1 - NA - 3rd in AG - NA
Bike - 31:55.2 - 20.9mph - 2nd in AG - 25th overall
T2 - 1:13.1 - NA - 15th in AG - NA
Run - 14:28.2 - 7:14min/mile - 14th in AG - 82nd overall

It still holds true that once I get off the bike, I get in trouble. I was 4th in my AG, and 36th overall out of 701 people that finished so top 5% isn't bad.

Monday was a rest day. Tuesday was an hour long swim in the morning and then a run at night. After the warmup, I did 3 x 1 mile repeats. My times were 7:20, 7:08, and 7:14. I was really tired that 3rd one. After that, we did 2 x 900m repeats with times of 4:02 and 4:07 and once again, I was tired. Both of these loops were not flat and were actually quite hilly so I'm happy with these times. Also, this was my first run in my new Nike Air Pegasus and they felt fine. I also asked my coach to critique my run form and luckily, what I thought I was doing correctly and incorrectly is what he saw as well. I am a midfoot striker. It seems a lot easier in the Pegasus because I think they have a shorter heel than the 1060s. I'm also landing my feet underneath me and not out in front of me or behind me. These things are good. However, I am doing some things incorrectly. I think I'm leaning forward slightly but what is happening is that I'm bending forward at the waist instead of the ankles. I've been trying to correct this but running this way really feels awkward to me. Also, when I get tired, my head moves back and I need to move it forward and tuck my chin slightly. This will help move my center of gravity forward which will help the forward lean. I didn't do any barefoot running, but I did go soak in Barton Springs for 10 minutes and that felt great. Today's workout was 75min spin with 10x1min fast, 1 min easy. Yeah, those sucked. I'm getting tired so I think I'll sleep in tomorrow and go to the evening swim practice instead of the one at the butt crack of dawn. Also, I'm really dehydrated since the temp yesterday was about 92 degrees. I peed this morning after my workout and it was about the consistency of sand.

Ok, that wasn't so long.

Nike shoe mileage: 6.5 miles

Sunday Workouts & More Rookie Tri Analysis

Today, I had my long run. I did 2 laps around Town Lake for a total of 8.2 miles. The first lap felt pretty good which is odd considering I usually fee better the second lap. Once I started on the 2nd lap, I started feeling crappy. I took a HammerGel at a water stop and felt better after that. I saw Sophie & her boyfriend Dave, Cam, and Shelly so it was quite a social run. Total time was 1:07:32 for a pace of 8:14min/mile. Average HR was 151bpm. First lap was 33:42 at 145bpm with the second lap 33:49 with 158bpm. I didn't feel like I was going that much harder though. I know the second lap I was trying to concentrate on my form more and picking up my knees more. I noticed that whenever I concentrate on form, my heart rate tends to go up a bit, but I don't feel that bad. Afterwards, I decided to go to the Austin High track and try something. I keep hearing about how barefoot running will really help you fix your form because if you get lazy running barefoot, it'll hurt. So, my shoes and socks came off and I did 2 laps in the grass on the inside of the track. It was cool. I may try it some more in the future. My feet hurt a bit at first but I changed my stride a bit and it didn't feel as bad. I tried to land with more of a flat foot or more on the balls of my feet instead of my heel. Overall, I had a good run today. Oh, and my New Balance 1060s are officially retired after today.

Later today, I rode on the trainer for 90 minutes doing an easy ride watching a movie. Nothing special about it. Well, that was about it for today.

Now, a little more about The Rookie Tri. Average heart rate was 159bpm. Swim average was 155bpm. Bike average was 158bpm with a max of 174bpm. Run average was of 163bpm with a max of 168bpm. Here's the deal. The 174bpm on the bike was nothing. The 168bpm on the run was torturous. I can push harder on the bike than I can on the run and that isn't right. I'm still happy with the race though.

Shoe mileage: 361.5 miles
Weekly run mileage: 22 miles (I actually got 20+ miles in this week!)

The Rookie Tri Race Report

Before I get into the race report, my workouts the last 2 days weren't anything special. I did a 40min run on Thursday morning with 4 strides. I didn't do the bike workout that I was suppose to do because I got hung up at work and I needed sleep more than I needed to work out. Friday was a short swim. I weighed in at 187 on Friday morning so I lost a pound last week.

I volunteered for the Shiner Ride last weekend and since I volunteered, there was a party at someone's house last night. I ate way too much very, very good food such as ceviche, toasted whole wheat tortilla chips, amazing tortillas, grilled chicken, and this cream sauce that was amazing and I have no clue what was in it. Oh, there was beer, sangria, cookies, and some Mexican style cinnamon pastry. Let's just say that I didn't exactly eat properly the night before a race, but man that food was good. And the best part was this very dumb but completely lovable yellow lab named Dude. He was so soft and he was just funny. He had one kinda bad habit though. When he wanted to play, he would put your hand or arm in his mouth and pull. He wasn't biting you, but he was just letting you know that he wanted to play. He was a very sweet doggie and makes me want to get one. At the party, I realized that I forgot to pick up my packet for the race. Luckily, one of the race coordinators was there and she told me that there was packet pick up in the morning.

I got up and gathered my stuff this morning. I was very, very tired and really didn't want to race. However, I got my butt out of bed and drove the 45 minutes to the race site at the Texas Ski Ranch. I didn't pack anything for this race until this morning. Got there and got into transition and got set up. I saw Rachel and it was her first triathlon and she was pretty nervous. I got my packet, chip, etc and went out to the water. The race is really short with a 300m swim, a 11.1 mile bike, and a 2 mile run. I swam the 300m swim course and that was my warmup. I was in the wave behind the open wave so we got an early start which is nice. The gun went off and we were in the water. There isn't much to say about a 300m swim but it was one of the most violent swims I've been in. I usually get into a groove and get away from people, but I was swimming within 3 feet of someone the entire swim. I got out and checked my time across the mat. It was 5:22. Not bad, but my official time was 6:35.7 because it included the T1 time as well.

I took my time running through T1 because the last time I was here, I ended up hurting my feet running on the asphalt. I set up near the bike out because I don't like running with my bike. I think it slows me down. I had a pretty minimal setup this time for T1. I just had my helmet and my bike. I had my shoes on my pedals already and I wasn't racing with sunglasses or gloves today. I crossed the mount line and I tried to get my bike. I was having problems wit the shoes on the pedals this morning. I screwed up 3 times before I got going on the 4th try. What would happen would be that my foot on the left pedal and push down to get rolling. Then the right pedal would come over the top, come down, and then the shoe would hit the ground and throw my moment completely off. I finally got it but it was annoying because I've done this before. I was passed at least twice while fucking around with my damn pedals. I got going and I started going pretty fast.

The bike wasn't much either. Wasn't much wind, but it was slightly hilly. One guy and myself kept playing leap frog with each other for awhile and he happened to be in my age group. At one point, he got in front and kept going. We passed Jeremy who trains with Texas Iron with me and he was in our age group as well. So, I gained a spot on the bike so far. My legs were hurting a lot during the bike but I just kept going. Jake from Texas Iron passed me on the bike but he's a much better cyclist than me. I passed a couple of girls from the open wave, too. I came into T2 hard and fast with my feet on top of my pedals. I swung my right leg over the top tube and took off running through T2. As usual, my legs were Jello and I almost stumbled over. My official time was 31:55 for a speed of 20.9mph.

T2 was slow for me. I put on socks and I had to tie my shoes. Other than that, I just had my hat and race belt. I really need to get some quick laces for my shoes but I just haven't done it yet for some reason. I also probably could've ran without socks but I just didn't do it. I ran out of T2 and I was on the run. I was hurting from the first step but I kept going. Not much to write about on a 2 mile run either. I wanted to puke the entire time though. I really can't stand sprints because they hurt just too much. I kept pushing though and ran through it. I dropped a spot on the run when Noah passed me about 1.5 miles into the run. I knew that was going to happen. I crossed the line and I was so happy to be done with this race. My total time was 54:13 so I did about a 14:27.9 for a pace of 7:14min/mile. Not bad.

I ended up finishing 4th in my age group of like 54 people. I came out of T2 in 2nd, dropped to 3rd and then passed Jeremy to pick up 2nd place again. I came out of T2 in 3rd and then dropped to 4th on the run as I expected. The guy that I was playing leapfrog with on the bike ended up winning my age group. I had the 2nd fastest swim, the 2nd fastest bike split, and then the 14th fastest run time in my age group. I really wish I could run faster because as usually, it's holding me back. I'm working on it though. I finished 36th overall with 800 people in the race. Overall, I'm quite happy with the race. I mean, 4th place in my age group isn't bad at all.

Shoe mileage: 353 miles

New Shoes

Well, I went out during lunch and got a pair of Nike Air Pegasus. They felt a bit better than the Asics Nimbus. Also, they were about $40 cheaper. I'm wearing them now to break them in and I should be ready to run in them on Tuesday or so.

My shoes are flat

Well, I went on a 7 mile run with Texas Iron last night. That would put my shoe mileage at 346.5 miles at the end of the run. In the middle of the run, my metatarsals started hurting. I also noticed that my shoes just felt flat like the cushioning had really broken down. My feet are a little sore today as well. Luckily, I ordered new shoes this past weekend. The problem is they won't be here until the end of next week at the earliest. I have 2 choices. I can either get a pair of Nike Air Pegasus and start running in them without breaking them in first (I usually break in a pair of shoes by wearing them as daily shoes for a week) or I can put up to 50 miles on my current shoes until I get the new ones. I think I'm going to go to RunTex today and get a pair of Nikes and start breaking them in. They should be go to go for running on Tuesday of next week then. Running in my current shoes is just too much risk for injury especially since my metatarsals are sore today and I have had 2 incidences of bruised mets last year. Also, from now on, once my shoes get down up to 250 miles, I'll go ahead and buy another pair and have them broken in and ready once the others hit 300-350 miles.

Our workout last night was a 15min warmup. Then, we did 3 loops that were about 1 mile long. About .8 miles were hard and then the last .2 was an easy jog. I did 4 of them. The times were 4:56, 5:20, 5:17, and 5:17 for the hard parts of the loop. Obviously, I went out too fast, but I kept my pace for the last 3. Then, it was another 15 minute cooldown back to the cars.

I swam yesterday morning. I was late and just started off on a bad foot and I couldn't get in a rhythm. Once I got warmed up, I owned my lane, but it wasn't fun swimming with 7 people in a 25m lane. I also swam this morning. I cut it early because I was just tired from swimming yesterday as well. My pace and my form were falling off pretty badly right before I cut it short. I really need to keep up with the swimming since I still feel pretty awkward in the water. I need to concentrate on one thing and when I get it perfected in 2-3 weeks, I'll find something else to concentrate on. I don't feel smooth at all and my form is pretty erratic as well. I'll get there though.

Also, my focus right now is to get better at running. Then, swimming is the next focus and cycling I'll just do since it's my strong sport.

I also had spaghetti for dinner last night. After successfully avoiding it for about 4 months now, I let it back into my house. Hopefully, I won't go back to my old habits of eating it 4 nights a week.

Shoe mileage: 346.5 miles

Laziness, Horrible Run & Healed Tattoo Pics

As I'm sitting here listening to Nine Inch Nail's new album, I'm wanting to recap the horrible day that I had today. Ok, it wasn't that horrible since I am listening to NIN, but I had a horrible workout day. I got up and did some things around my house this morning. You know, picking up the festering, still wet from sweat workout clothes from Thursday night. Throwing 6 pairs of dirty underwear in the dirty clothes pile in the closet instead of the dirty clothes pile which consists of my entire bedroom floor. Sweeping the kitchen. Surfing the net for 2 hours. Stuff like that. I really didn't want to work out today. I needed to, but I couldn't really get in a good mood for it. However, I finally forced myself out the door at around noon.

And let me tell you that I had a sucky run today. Maybe it was because I was running a new route today or something. Maybe I didn't have enough nutrition or hydration. Maybe it was too hot and humid today. Maybe I just wasn't there mentally. I stopped and walked about 8 times during a 60 minute run. I wouldn't stop for long, but I would walk for about 10 yards and then start running again. I just couldn't motivated myself to not stop. It was really, really humid today and that was bothering me a bit because I'm just not quite used to it yet. Ultimately, I still think that I could've had a much better run if I was just 5 pounds lighter, but I'm working on that. Long story short is that I had a crappy run and I can't do anything about it now. I was suppose to do an easy spin for 90 minutes today but that didn't happen. After my run, I went and got some gingerbread pancakes, saw my tattoo guy, and did some minor grocery shopping. When I got home, I crashed because I was just extremely exhausted. It'll be interesting seeing if I can go to sleep tonight. This was just one of those times that I felt like I needed rest so I did.

I showed my tattoo guy my healed ink job. It looks great. He took some pictures of it and I also took some pictures of it. And here they are.



Here is one where you can see the shading between the gray and the black a little better than the above one since the flash washed a bit of it out.


I'm very happy with it.

Shoe mileage: 339.5 miles
Weekly run mileage: 17 miles (One of these weeks, I'll actually run more than 20 miles instead of having 20 scheduled and me only doing 17-18)

Impulse Buy

I will not go to REI to just "browse".
I will not go to REI to just "browse".
I will not go to REI to just "browse".

I went to REI today just to browse. I walked out with a North Face Cat's Meow +20 degree sleeping bag and an REI Half Dome 2 tent. My plan is when I go to spectate at CdA this year, I'm probably going to camp out instead of getting a hotel room. I found a campsite about 2 miles from the host hotel. While I'm out in Idaho, I plan on doing some camping on my own either before or after CdA. I'm also going to go out and visit a friend that lives in Montana. It should be fun.

Yesterday, I weighed in at 188. I dropped 2 pounds this week. Nice.

Today, I had a weird workout from my coach. Did 20 minute warmup on the bike and then 10 minute run. After that, I did 3 intervals of 10min strong on the bike and then 5 minute strong on the run without any rest. Then, 20 minute cooldown on the bike. It was fun.

Today, I ordered some new New Balance MR1061 shoes today. I got the silver and blue ones. I've had at least 4 pairs of orange shoes in a row now. I'm also thinking about getting a second pair of shoes in a different brand. I've heard that doing this will keep your feet changing and it will help strengthen them. I'm thinking about getting the Asics Gel Nimbus 9 or the Nike Air Pegasus. The Asics look cooler especially in the black color, but the Nike's are about $40 cheaper. I'll get another pair in about a month or so.

Shoe mileage: 332.5 miles

New Autobahn PR!

This morning I ran. I did 30 minutes with 3 strides which is about 3.5 miles or so. Nothing special there.

Then tonight was the autobahn time trial with Texas Iron. I love doing this time trial loop. It's about 8 miles long and it's pretty intense. It isn't flat and it's subject to wind so it isn't easy either. It's fun. The first time I did it was in 2005 and I had a time of around 20:18. It was really, really hot that day and I really pushed myself. I remember seeing my heart rate hit 188. After that, I got heat exhaustion or something like that and I ended up getting sick the next day. That started a string of me getting sick 4 times in 4 weeks and each one was different. The last time I did it was in August of last year. My time was 19:45 so it was an improvement. It was very windy so it was a tough day. Today, I was really, really looking forward it. I got out there and went as hard as I could go. I felt like I was going to puke about 3 times. The first time was when I burped and I tasted bacon, guacamole, and orange Gatorade. Yum. I kept going and I kept hurting. I didn't take the hills as hard as I used to but I still took them hard. At the turn around, I came in at around 10 minutes. Usually, I can do the back half of the loop in about a minute faster so I was looking to go under 19 if possible. I kept going and man I was hurting. I was pushing it and trying to use my momentum to work up the hills the best that I could. Oh, I passed a ton of people, too. I topped the last hill and looked at my watch. I wasn't going to break 19:00 but I couldn't give up. I crossed the line and found out that my time was 19:38 with an average speed of 24.4mph. I PR'ed by 7 seconds and was the 4th fastest person of the night. I'm happy with it. My max heart rate for the time trial was 174bpm and my avg HR was 165bpm. So, that's how I PR'ed this loop tonight and I'm looking forward to getting another PR the next time I do this loop.

And tomorrow is a well needed rest day.

Shoe mileage: 329.5 miles

Well, I'm trying to swim.

I'm trying to swim. I actually got in the water for the first time in a month on Monday. Man, the first 1000yds were rough. I just couldn't get it together at all. I started getting the hang of it again towards the end of the workout, but I still didn't feel like a fish in the water. It also started raining during the workout and that was a first for me. It was odd swimming in the rain. I only did 2600 yds just getting back into it. My shoulder was already hurting, too.

Today, I did another workout with T3. It got lightninged out, but I felt much, much better in the water. I was doing 25m in about 19s and I did 200m in 3:10. Not fast, but not bad for me.

I was suppose to do a fartlek run yesterday. Work got in the way. Boo. I did a quick neighborhood run this morning. I picked up the pace and did it in 24 minutes and change. That's good because I usually do it in 26-27 minutes or so. And I started pushing it about half way through. One of these days, I'm just going to go all out and see how quickly I can do the 5k neighborhood loop.

Also, I need to take responsibility for something. During the month of April, I just became a tubby bitch. I'm up to 190 when I was down to about 184 just before my last race. I just had no discipline or will power to not resist the candy dish at work or beers on the weekend. I've been doing good this week so we'll see how I weigh in on Friday. I just need to be more accountable. My goal is to get below 175 so I need to realize that when I want some Hershey's Kisses at work.

Shoe mileage: 325.5 miles

Need a place to stay for CdA

I'm going to spectate and volunteer at CdA this year, but I'm not racing. However, I would much rather stay with someone that I know or somewhat know instead of getting a hotel room by myself. So, anyone have a spare spot that I could use? I don't have to have a bed so a couch or a floor would be fine for me. My dates are flexible since I'm taking 2 weeks off of work and going to see some friends that live out West before and after CdA.

Thanks.