Adventures in running

So yesterday I have a bike, run workout planned. The workout goes well enough, at least the bike portion goes ok. After riding for 1 hour and changing into my running gear I hear a distance rumble of thunder. However I'm determined not to let this north Florida weather keep me from my workouts. On a side note I'm also running with a new piece of gear. It's a water belt for running and I have no idea if I'll like it or hate it but I'm heading out for a 1+15 hour run to see.

The place that I found here to run has miles of mountain bike trails. Of course I don't have a map but why would that stop me! How big can it really be?? I jump off the road and onto a trail, in the distance I hear another rumble of thunder. Everything is going well up to about 40 minutes. By this time I'm following signs that say "trail run." It's a great trail and I've only had to double back a few times because it keeps taking me to a small stream that I'm just not ready to cross. In the meantime the thunder is getting louder and closer. I finally came out to a dirt road and decide that I needed to stop following the "trail run" signs. By this time the storm was in it's full fury. I ran about 5 minutes down the road and came to a T-intersection (by this point I was totally confident that I had no idea where I was). When I turned around to look back down the road I had just ran up I saw a sign on a tree. I thought great this will be something I can use. Here is what it said "Stalking area only, no hunting dogs". Great I distinctly remember seeing a sign when I started that said no hunting!! So I started back down the road and decided that I'd just keep following the "trail run" signs and hope that they don't take me on a 50K route. Once back on the trail with lightning, thunder and driving rain I came back to the stream again. This time I decided that it was time to cross. The stream was crystal clear and had a white sand bottom with small patches of trees. I took a few steps on the firm white sand and then on my third step my left leg sank all the way up to my hip. My right leg was still on firm ground and I was hanging onto a small tree for dear life. Luckily I was able to use all my crossfit squatting skills and executed a near perfect one legged squat to recover my missing left leg. Quick sand?? Really?? As if the thunderstorm wasn't enough!! Once safely on the other side I found another trail called "learner" and started heading down it. I finally started to hear cars between the thunder and realized that I was getting closer to the road. Just before I finished I ran into a mountain biker, the first person I had seen since leaving my car. He confirmed that I was on the right path back to my car. I finally reached the car after 1+10 hours of running. Just 5 minutes short of my goal. It was an adventure that I'd like to do again just minus the thunderstorm.

As for the running belt I mentioned earlier. I really liked it and think it will really come in handy on those long hot days of summer.

Have a great Memorial day!!

Friday and Saturday

Friday - I did a nice swim on Friday and nothing else. I established my T-pace for the training book I'm using. T-pace is basically my 100m pace after swimming a longer distance. I can do a flat out 100m faster than my 100m time over 500m. So here is what I did. Warmup - 400m free, 300m pull, 200m kick then; T-pace interval of 3 x 300m (20 RI), I swam 4:51, 4:52, 4:56 for an average of 4:53 and a T-pace of 1:38 per 100m. Then I did 5 x 100m, 16 x 15m and a 400m cooldown. Total distance was 3100 meters.

Saturday - I was up early today for a long bike and short run. I rode on Ranger Camp rd, which is on the Eglin AFB reservation. The nice thing is there were very few cars. My ride today was 3:30 minutes and I covered 62 miles. After the ride I ran a very short 20 minute run. I was going to run a little longer but I started hearing thunder and decided to cut it short.

Now I'm off to work and I'm exhausted.

Have a good weekend.

Wednesday and Thursday

Sorry about missing yesterday. I flew late and just completely forgot. So let me try and catch you guys up.

Wednesday - I was up early at 0600 for a 0630 crossfit workout here in Ft. Walton Beach. We did the crossfit total which is 1 rep max, back squat, press and deadlift. I have to admit that I'm terrible at the squat. With that said, I'm not talking about the squat you were taught to do in high school. These are real squats with the buttocks going lower than the knees, head neutral and a good lumbar curve before you push through your heels to the full upright position. I was able to do 175lbs on the squat. The next event is the press. This is a standing press with your feet flat on the floor. No use of the body is allowed. Just rack the barbell/weight and press it straight up. I did 135lbs. The deadlift was next and after a few warm up rounds I was able to lift 305lbs. That gave me a crossfit total of 615 lbs. The goal is to get to 1000 lbs total. I don't see that happening in the near future but I'll keep trying.

I then had a good breakfast and took a break before getting on my bike. I waited a few hours and did a crossfit endurance bike. The workout was 2 x 5 min with 2 minute rest then; 5 x 1 minute with 30 second rest between rounds. Here is the break down: 1) 1.83 miles @ 21.9 mph, 2) 1.52 miles @ 18.3 mph (into the wind), 3) .33 miles @ 19.9 mph, 4) .34 miles @ 20.3 mph, 5) .32 miles @ 19.1 mph, 6) .30 miles @ 18.2 mph.

I then went to the pool for a short swim. I did a total of 2700 meters with a warmup or 12x50m, 200m and a cooldown of 100m. The main set was 400m (20 RI), 4x100 (20 RI), 300m (20 RI), 3x100 (20 RI), 200m (20 RI), 2x100m (20 RI). My average pace was 1:38. Which means I'm finally getting faster.

Thursday - Today I did a swim and run. The swim was an endurance swim from a training swim book I have. Here is what I did today: warmup - 300m, 300m kick. Main set - 8x150m (20 RI), rest 1 min, 8x100m (15 RI), rest 1 min, 8x50 (10 RI). Cooldown - 100m easy. Total distance was 3100 meters with an average pace of 1:32. I'm only timing the main sets when I do a swim workout.

I then did a hill repeat run. My hotel is about 1/2 mile from the intercoastal and the main road has a big bridge. So after a 10 minute warmup, I did 6 hill repeats of the bridge. I was planning to do more but the heat and auto exhaust was killing me. I finished with 4.92 miles and 39:21 minutes which is right at an 8 minute pace.

It's been a long day since I just finished flying 4.5 hours tonight. Everyone have a good Friday and Memorial day weekend.

I did my best to make it to the pool for a swim today but I came up a little short. My real job held me up but that's ok because I have a great job that allows me time to train. Today the issue was just not enough time to make it to the pool before it closed. I did find time for a nice crossfit endurance workout at the local crossfit gym. Crossfit Fort Walton Beach is ran by husband and wife, Jordan and Jesse, they had a home brewed Tabata workout today that I'm definitely going to be using in the future.

Here is it: Tabata 2 miles, 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off until you complete 2 miles. During the 20 seconds on it was an all out pace and during the 10 seconds off you could walk. I was able to finish in 13:39. It was a good workout that I'm sure I'll be feeling tomorrow when I ride my bike.

Have a good day!

It's always an adventure finding someplace to swim in a new location. I found a pool on Hurlburt field here. However I couldn't find a number to call them and get there swimming hours. So this afternoon I drove over and found 50 kids doing swim team practice. I asked if there was another pool on base and was told no. So my options are to swim in the ocean with the sharks (not going to happen) or I can swim between 1100 and 1400 daily. I'll just have to work my schedule around those swim times.

Since I didn't get to swim I decide that I'd stop by the crossfit gym to check it out. I met the owners and decided that since I was already there I'd go ahead and workout. The WOD today was FRAN which is 21-15-9 thrusters/pullups at 95lbs. It doesn't sound that hard but it's a real ass kicker. I did it in 6:20 which is about 15 seconds slower than the last time I did it. I'm just glad that I did some type of workout today since I'm off my schedule.

Hopefully my bike will be here tomorrow and I can start riding here as well as running, swimming and crossfitting.

Have a good day!

Traveling again

Well tonight I find myself in Ft. Walton Beach, FL. I'm here for 2 weeks of Army training. I got in about 3pm and had plans to go for a long run but for some reason I fell asleep and took a nice long nap instead. I woke up around 5pm and finally got out the door for a run around 5:30pm. It's hot and very humid here!! I probably should have done a short run today just to acclimate to the heat and humidity but I didn't. I started the run on the white sand beach but that only lasted about half a mile. The sand here is like powdered sugar and I was only averaging a 10 min mile pace on the beach. So I got off the beach the first chance I had and ran on the beach access road. OMG it was hot!! I was planning to do an out and back but I ran into a military installation that I didn't know about. So I had to turn around and head back the other way. Lucky for me the other way went right passed my hotel and I stopped for some water there at about the 40 minute mark. When I left the hotel, again, I followed the road toward town and took the bridge over the inter-coastal waterway. That was a nice hill both ways. I turned around after the bridge and ran the road back towards the military installation. When I was heading back toward the hotel I could hear thunder and the sky didn't look to favorable so I cut the run short by about 15 minutes.

Overall it was a pretty good run. I ran 1:15:50 for a distance of 9.4 miles. Not to bad considering the heat, humidity and my lead legs. Tomorrow I'm working all day and doubt I'll get in a run or swim. I'll just have to wait and see.

Have a great day!

Long Day!!

Today was the longest workout day of the week for me. If I could have only made room for a crossfit workout...haha. I started the day at 0530 with a peanut butter and honey sandwich. After letting that settle for a few minutes, I got out the bike and was on the road at 0600. The schedule for today was to do a 3 hour bike followed immediately by a 30 minute run. The bike was ok although traffic got a little crazy around 0800. I did the ride in exactly 3 hours for a total distance of 53.8 miles. Not as fast as I'd like to be but it was a good workout just the same. I took about 5 minutes to change into my running gear and took off for the Sea Shore state park trail. I must admit that I felt great and running is thankfully my best event. I was able to cover 4.28 miles during the 30 minute run. I love running when I feel good.

I took about 5 hours off and then met my friends Bill G. and Scott K. for some swimming around lake Christopher in VA Bch. We did one lap around the lake which is about .98 miles. I feel like my swimming is getting a little better since I was able to do the swim today in 28:11. My last time for that swim was 29:01 so I'm starting to see some improvement. I'm just going to keep hitting it until swimming is my best event.

Tonight I'm having pizza with all my girls.

Have a good weekend.

Wednesday and Thursday

Sorry about missing last night. I was just exhausted and had to get to bed early. I have had a couple of good days training.

Wednesday I spent about 1 hour in the pool doing lap after lap. OK there was more to it than that and here it is. Warm up - 300m, 200m Kick, 12x25m then 4x(200m, rest 20s, 75m, rest 15s, 75m rest 30s), 200m fast, 100m fast, 400m kick, 100 cooldown. That was my swim workout and I felt great for the entire swim. I really feel like my swimming is getting better.

I then went to work and when I had some time for a bike ride I once again set up my trainer. I really hate that trainer, but at work we have a machine call a Hypoxia trainer. You basically strap a mask onto your head, turn on the machine, set the altitude you want and start running or biking. I set the altitude at 5000 feet and then rode for an hour. I was 30 minutes into the ride before I realized that I had the hose connected wrong and was just breathing normal air and wearing a silly mask. Once I fixed that problem I could really tell a difference in my breathing and in my capacity to do work. I'm going to try and incorporate one run and one bike per week (when I'm home) to using this machine.

Thursday - I had great plans for today but my real job got in the way again. I did manage to get in a one hour run this morning. I left my house and my legs felt like bricks. I never really shook that feeling and had a pretty slow run at 8:07 per mile. Overall it was a very nice and relaxing run, just not very fast. I was only able to cover 7.45 miles in one hour. I had also planned to do a long swim (2 miles) today but like I said my real job got in the way of my dream job. Anyway, I'm pushing the swim to tomorrow afternoon.

I'll report on that little event tomorrow.

Have a great day!

Brick Day

Once a week I'm doing a race pace brick workout. Actually it's every Tuesday as long as my real job doesn't get in the way. This week the workout was a 45 minute bike followed by a quick change to a 30 minute run. My bike distance was 13.25 miles. I rode on my trainer tonight since it rained most of the day and I got a late start. I then quickly put on my running shoes and took off for a 4.37 mile run.

I'm feeling good and enjoying my workouts.

Have a great day!

It's great to be back at home even if it's only for one week. Today I was able to get back on my training schedule and should be able to do it all week. Tomorrow I'm buying a bike travel case that I'm going to ship to the places that I work so I'll always have a bike to train. I have a Trek 2300 road bike that is going to be my travel bike for training. More to follow on that.

Here is what I did today. I started the day with a short 2350 meter swim. Warm up - 200m free, 2x(50m free, 100m kick, 50m free) then, 300m, 200m, 100m, 200m, 100m, 50m, 200m, 100m then, 5x100m pull. I really felt good today in the water. I'm trying to concentrate on technique and not power/speed.

I then went straight to crossfit. It was good to get back to Jeannie's Beach Crossfit and see all my crossfit buddies. We did a very good workout and here it is: Front squat immediately followed by Push press. We did the front squats in descending order and the push presses in ascending order. The number workout like this: 10-1, 9-2, 8-3, 7-4, 6-5, 5-6, 4-7, 3-8, 2-9, 1-10. I used 95 lbs and it was an ass kicker like all crossfit workouts.

This afternoon I did a crossfit endurance run. It was pouring rain and windy but I just had to get it done. I did a 1.95 mile warm up which took 15:03. I then did 6x400m at best possible pace, 1) 1:37, 2) 1:22, 3) 1:20, 4) 1:22, 5) 1:20, 6) 1:30. I did a 2 minute cool down between each interval. I then ran back home 1.92 miles at 14:24. It was a good wet run.

Have a good day!

Back in the 757

Well I'm back from my trip to NY. I should be here just long enough to wash clothes, hangout with my kids and my sweetheart before another trip. I do plan to get a full weeks worth of "normal workouts". We'll see how that works out but I'll do my best.

Saturday was my last workout day. I did crossfit in the morning and a medium distance run in the afternoon. The morning crossfit workout was one I have never done before. Here it is: 1 minute max reps deadlift, 2 minutes max reps box jumps, 3 minutes max reps kettlebell swings, 4 minutes max reps double unders, 5 minutes max reps squat cleans. Total time was 15 minutes with a total of 244 reps completed. I used 165 lbs for the deadlifts, 32 inches for the box jumps, 45 lbs for the KB swings and 75 lbs for the squat cleans. Those weights might seems light so please give it a try. I'm still sore from that workout today.

Saturday afternoon I finally had time to get in a short run. I was scheduled for a 1+30 run but my real job kept getting in the way. So I finally got out the room and did a nice short easy 38 minute run. I didn't wear my GPS or heart rate monitor. I just took it easy and cruised. I did lots of running these last two weeks so getting on the bike is going to be my priority this week. I also bought a bike travel bag and will be shipping my old bike everyplace I travel for work so that I can continue to train while I'm out of town.

Have a good week.

Thursday and Friday

Ok I admit that I've been a little slow getting these post out to my loyal following (thx guys I really appreciate all of you). My trip to NY is coming to an end, so I will be back to normal for at least next week.

Thursday I just did a crossfit workout. It was somewhat of a crossfit/crossfit endurance workout and I really enjoy it. The workout was; run 1 mile, row 2000 meters, run 1 mile. My time was 20:29 and it broke down like this, Mile 1 - 5:53, Row 2K - 7:54, Mile 2 - 6:42. The row was the worst part since I don't row that much. It was something like the bike to run transition. I'm going to have to use that workout more often.

Today I took the day off. I was flying last night and didn't get back to my room until around 0200 in the morning. I ended up sleeping in until nearly 1000. It's been a good day and tomorrow I'll be back at it again.

Have a nice day!

Have you ever been swimming and felt like you had bricks in your hands? Well today that is just how I felt. I just couldn't get it going today. I thought about just getting out and going back to the hotel but decided that even when I'm having a bad day I need to train. Here is what I did slugging it out at the pool: 1x300m, 2x200m, 3x100m, 18x50m for a total of 1900m. That is not that far for a workout but I felt like I was swimming to England. Friday will be better.

My crossfit workout was an ass kicker too. Not because I was having an off day but just because it sucked. Here it is: 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 reps for time of: Power cleans, thrusters, back squats, push jerks. I used 65 lbs and did it in 18:34. I know that is not much weight but once you start slinging that around it gets real heavy really fast. After yesterday's 100 pullups and 100 pushups I'm nice and sore today.

Tomorrow I'm going to take it kind easy and just do a crossfit workout.

Have a good day.

Monday and Tuesday

I apologize for not writing every night. I'm a little busy up here in NY with my real job. Hopefully I'll win the lottery soon and then crossfit, crossfit endurance and triathlons will be my full time job. Oh, it's ok to dream.

Monday - I was back at the pool Monday morning at 0550. The master's swim team here is very serious about kicking my ass. We ended up swimming 2800m Monday morning and I was smoked. Here is the breakdown: 8x50m, 4x100m, 8x50m, 6x50m, 5x200m, 3x100m. Most of that was freestyle with a few hundred meters of kick boarding in between.

After a good breakfast I went to crossfit where I did 20x125lb squats. I then did a 1 rep max clean and jerk. I was able to do 165lb clean and jerk. I also did a 175lb clean but my little monkey arms couldn't get it over head. I'll work on it!!

Tuesday - Today I had a friend drive me to the local Globo Gym where I spent 45 minutes spinning on a spin bike. I then got off the bike and did a 28:04 run covering 4.1 miles. I can't wait to get back on my real bike!!

This afternoon before work I went to crossfit and did "Angie" - 100 pullups, 100 pushups, 100 situps, 100 squats, done! My time was 16:55 and I felt pretty strong for the entire event. Most notable was that I did the pullups in 6:25 which is a new PR for me. Hell the entire workout was a PR for me.

Today was a good day!

Saturday & Sunday

I'm here in NY without my bike and it's driving me crazy. Saturday I went to a Globo gym and rode a spin bike for one hour. I made it interesting by increasing my rpm and resistance to do a 4 x 5 min crossfit endurance workout. After that I did 3 hill climbs for one minute each. Actually it was a pretty good burn, not that I want to make spin bikes a habit. I guess I'll have to ride it a few more times before I leave here next weekend.

Today was cold and windy. I was determined to get out and get my Forrest Gump on. I was told about a running trail that is near my hotel. After running in circles for about 15 minutes I finally found the little rabbit trail and started following it. After about 100 meters I came out on this awesome single track trail. For the next 1:17:11 I ran on this trail. It was awesome and secluded!! I can't wait to run it again next Saturday.

Have a good day!!

Swim Far

Today I went to the local masters swim team practice. The best way to describe the workout is, well they kicked my ass!! The pool was awesome! It's a 100 meter pool which would have been great to use except that it just happens to be 25 meters wide so their were about 30 lanes. The workout was in fact brutal. Here is what I did: 10 minute warmup then 2x150m, 4x125m, 4x75m, 6x25m, 4x75m, 4x125m, 2x150m; then 4x25m kick, 4x25m free, 4x25m kick, 4x50m free, 4x25m kick, 4x75m free, 4x25m kick, 4x100m free; finished.

Now if my math is correct that is 3900 meters of swimming. This is just what I need to prepare for Ironman Louisville. I can't wait til Monday to do it again.


Have a great weekend!!

I got to the workout early today. Which begs the question..Why am I just now doing my blog? I guess it's because I just like to do it right before I go to bed. Which is just minutes away for me.

I didn't run to the gym this morning because a) I hate running first thing in the am and 2) the workout was "Griff" which is a running workout. But before we could start the "running" workout we had to do 20 squats at 65% of our one rep max. That is 120 lbs for me. After we all finished our 20 reps we then started the WOD. I don't like to get up and go run right away but once I'm warmed up I do love to get down the road. Here is "Griff" Run 800m, Run backwards 400m, Run 800m, Run backwards 400m, finish. It didn't look that hard when I was reading it on the white board and I grossly under estimated my potential finish time. I thought I could do it in about 8-10 minutes. I actually did it in 11:03 which isn't bad considering I ran half a mile backwards.

Tomorrow I'm getting back in the pool in the am and then I'm going to go sit on a spin bike tomorrow night.

Have a good day!

Well I'm here on Long island and I don't have my bike. It was suppose to arrive today via helicopter but that just didn't happen. I'm going to have to buy a good bike case so that I can ship my bike everyplace I travel. I can't let traveling for work get in the way of my ironman dream.

I ran to crossfit again today, 2.3 miles in :17:02. The workout was 5 rounds for time of: 50 double unders, 35 knees to elbow and 20 yrd walk with overhead barbell. I used 115 lbs for the overhead barbell with a time of 25:30. It was good workout. I then ran back to the hotel (2.3 miles) in :16:28. I'm not sure why the return was faster.

I have a place to swim here so I'll be getting to that later this week. I'm also going to find a spin class to keep the bike legs moving.

Have a good day!

I'm back to working out now and I apologize for not posting lasting night. I'm on Long Island, NY working for the next few weeks and just fell asleep last night without posting. Anyway.....

Yesterday was my first day to workout since the Half Ironman. Here is what I did:

I ran 2.3 miles to the crossfit gym in Old Bethpage, NY. Once there I did the WOD, which was AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) in 20 minutes of; Row 500m, max pushups. I did 6 rounds of rowing and 178 pushups. I then ran the 2.3 miles back to the hotel. It was a good workout and it really felt good to run.

Have a good day!

White Lake half report

Well is was a beautiful day for a triathlon. The temp at sunrise was 70 degrees with light winds and clear skies. Bill G. and I left our hotel at 0515 on our bikes with all our transition gear. It was only about 3 miles to the start/transition/finish area and parking was sparse. We arrived and got our bodies marked, picked up our timing chips, setup our transition area and then waited....and waited.....and waited. I'll never understand why I show up so early, but the one time I decided to show up "on time" is the time I'll forget something or the porti-potty line will be 2000 people deep.

The official start time was 0700 and my age group start time was 0725. I was ready to go at 0715 with my support team in place. Thank you Lisa! I entered the water and spent about 5 minutes warming up. I then took my place in line for the start and we waited....and waited...and waited. Finally at 0735 my age group (45-49) got the start horn. I have to say that if I need to work on anything it's my swim and especially my swim start. I took off like a marlin and got about 100 meters when I suddenly realized that I couldn't breath. OMG I went out waaaaay to fast. It took me 400 meters to settle down and get into a good rhythm. I was able to pass a few people on the way to the swim finish. My time out of the water was 38:01. I was really trying for 30 minutes but came up short.

The swim to bike transition went really well. I was in and out in 1 minute and 55 seconds.

The bike was mostly flat with OK roads, you know when you drive over a bridge and it sounds like...thump, thump, thump....well that was most of my 56 mile bike. We started with a nice tailwind but that soon turned into a headwind and cross wind for most of the race. The only issue with the bike was the lack of water points. There was one point at mile 18, mile 28 and mile 52. I'm not sure who set them up but I was out of water by the time I got to mile 52 and I ride with three 24 oz water bottles. Overall the bike was good and I hit my predicted time. I finished my bike ride in 2:45:48.

The bike to run transition went smoothly also. I can tweak a few things but overall it was pretty fast. I was in and out in 1 minute and 26 seconds.

When I started the run I had a cramp in my left leg. I was worried that if it didn't get better I might be walking all day. The best thing about these triathlons is the water station at every mile. So at mile one I was yelling for some salt tablets and a young lady calmly handed me a small dixie cup with one salt tablet and a cup of water. I said thank you, took my pill, drank my water and took off. By mile 2 the cramp was history and I was moving. Of all the events in a triathlon the run is my favorite. I was enjoying this run because I was slowly picking off guys in my age group that had passed me on the bike. I think I pass 5 or 6 but whose counting? The heat was a major issue and I ended up walking through every water station. That was a big help because just a few seconds walking and getting a good drink of water makes a big difference when it's that hot. My run time was right on. I finished strong with a 1:46:45.

My total time was 5:13:53 and that got me a 7th place age group finish. I'm very happy with my results. Now it's time to crank up the training for Ironman Louisville. I've been half the distance, now I want to go the full distance.

I want to say a very special thanks to Lisa my girl for being there for me all weekend. Thanks Baby!! And my parents, Jack and Linda for watching my girls while I was out playing.

Have a good weekend friends.