New Year.... New Beginnings

So it's that time of year again. You know what I'm referring to. Yup, New Years resolution(s) time. I honestly can't say that I have any this year. Well outside of being more committed to my training regime this year. I also plan on reading more. Oh and to shoot more photography. Oh and to focus on a more minimalistic lifestyle. And to ... awww crap!! So I mentioned that I wanted to be more committed to the workout regime. Well that actually started back in November. At the start of November I created my first Annual Training Plan, as described in the Joe Friel's The Triathlete's Training Bible. It was created to lead me to a couple of "peak" weeks. Peak weeks are weeks in which your trying to perform at your absolute best. They are associated with your "A" races, the races where time is most important to you. Most "age groupers" like myself may have 1 or 2, at most 3, of these a year. More than that and, as I've discovered, your just going to burn yourself out. So what are my "A" races this year. It wouldn't be a race season without the now annual trip to Trinona in Winona MN. By far my favorite race of the season. My other "A" race this year is the Square Lake 1/2 Ironman. I intended to this one this past September, however, a number of changes at work made keeping to the training schedule virtually impossible. I think I've worked through those changes now and should be able to get back to that dedication. I have signed up to do another full marathon. We'll see if I can beat my time. I do plan on doing Warrior Dash again this year and a couple 5/10Ks as well. So what do I plan to do with the blog this year? Well, I want to hold myself accountable to the training schedule. So I intend to publish a set of weekly numbers. Certainly I want to post my race experiences. And most importantly, I intend to talk a bit smack. My primary rival (@TheBiggTree on Twitter) seems to be getting his act together. We'll need to remind him of exactly how many races he beat me at last year.... oh wait, there wasn't one. Ooops. Ok moving on. So yeah, its that time of year again. Time to start taking things serious.

Warrior Dash Race Report

Post Race

Yesterday I did Warrior Dash up at Afton Alps. I'm not a skier so this was my first time there. Pretty cool place with some nice scenery. My wave/heat started at ten and they suggested getting there an hour and a half ahead of your wave, which I think was about right. Having never driven there my caravan left at 7:30. This was plenty of time to get there (note to self Google Maps and Map quest generally over estimate time). 

Parking was smooth. There is however no parking at Afton Alps.  There are three massive fields (think Renaissance Festival) they use for parking  and they are locate about 3 miles away from the event. Each one is progressively farther away. The closest one is obviously where the shuttle picks up (I was able to park in this lot and it was only 1/2 full when I got there around 8:30-8:45). When we went back to the car it appeared that the other 2 lots had to either walk from them to the shuttle, or ride wagon to the far end of the first lot and walk from there. So definitely a plus in being in that first lot.  They had plenty of school buses running so the line moved extremely fast, barely had to wait.

Packet pick up went pretty quick to (once I found it - The sign for the Turkey Legs was bigger than the one for registration!!). They did the usual breakout by last name.  The nice thing is the swag bag wasn't filed with all the crap ads and fluff. Just your number, chip, t-shirt, and warrior helmet. One thing here, they don't give you zip ties or a strap for your timing chip. They do give you safety pins for your number. So you'll might want to bring something if you don't want to mess with your shoe laces. The timing chip doesn't have to be returned but if you go to the beer tent, they'll give you a free beer for it.

Your gonna get messed up on this course so there is a "gear check" service. On your bib is a tag that you can attach to a bag. There was only a limited number of safety pins available for attaching this however. So again you might want to bring something. The tag has your bib number on and is your "key" to getting your stuff back. So don't toss your bib right after the race. One other tip. Whatever bag you bring, make sure it closes all the way. Don't rely on the swag bag they give you, which is just a simple plastic shopping bag. Reason I say this is they just toss your bag on/under a series of tables grouped by bib number. I didn't see it happen but I could see where stuff could get lost pretty easy.  In my bag I packed a towel, change of shorts, socks, shoes, t-shirt, my wallet, and iPhone. Compression shorts under the shorts stayed relatively "clean" and kept the mud out of unwanted places. 

Ok, registration is done and gear is checked. One thing before we get into the goods. The course on the web site didn't exactly match race day. The repel wasn't there and the order of some of the obstacles was different. I also heard a rumor that one of the obstacles (hurdle with barb wire) had to be shutdown as the footing wasn't too secure and people where actually getting into the barbwire!

The race. When you sign up you pick the wave/heat you want to start in.  I don't know for sure how many people they had per heat, but it was pretty good size. The "corral" they stage you in was probably 60ft wide by 30yrds deep. You could get a lot people in it. If your in fairly decent shape  I recommend working your way to the front of the corral. Talking to some people afterwards, some of the obstacles got a little crowded, so your going to want to be running towards the front. The start line is marked with a big metal arch with the Warrior Dash logo and gas torches on either side. The DJ at the start line does a pretty good job of getting you all whipped up into angry mob of warriors just before sending you out. It also didn't hurt that at my start time, mother nature was supplying one heck of a lighting and thunder show. It was right out of the second Lord of the Rings movie...you the know scene where the orcs/goblins are trying to invade the castle as the rain starts to fall. It was crazy, but anywho...So they send you out and its a short little run before you hit the first hill. I mentioned this was at Afton Alps right. Ski Resort. So when I say hill I mean MOUNTAIN! Ouch. Oh and it did have a false summit about 2/3rds the way up. Double ouch. Once on top its a short 100-200yrd sprint to the first obstacle. A junk yard/tire drill. Theres a series of tires laid out in front of a line of partially crushed cars that form a hurdle. That pattern repeats 4 times.  How you get across is entirely up to you.  After that is a short 50yrd sprint to the next obstacle -- The Terrible Typhoon. Tip here, wear sunglasses! What they do is they line up 3 or 4 of the snow machines on the right/left sides of a 20yrd wide shoot and turn them on full bore. Run fast and hard... straight ahead. The footing was/is pretty solid. Ok, now your soaked and your feet are wet. Your on top of the hill. Can you guess whats next? Yup. You get to go straight down the opposite side of that hill you just came up and its about the same slope. Can you say NOOOOO traction. Somehow I made it down without ending up on my rear. A lot of people didn't though. At the bottom there is a bend to the right and then guess what.... Yup up another hill. 1/2 way up is a photographer, make sure to smile. If you can!  2/3rds the way up is a water stop and at the top is the next obstacle. Its a 4.5ft hurdle followed by a barbwire fence. BTW when I say barbwire. I'm not referring to the stuff farmers use for cattle. Nooooo, I'm talking about the stuff that law enforcement and the military use. Nice, good, and sharp.  At any rate that pattern repeats 4 times. Back to running... Down the hill you just came up. Again the footing is pretty slick. At the bottom is a little valley you run through, and the mud begins to make an appearance. Its pretty easily avoided. Which I recommend. You'll have plenty opportunity to get mud covered later. Opposite end of the valley is yet another hill. I admit it, this one cracked me. 1/2 way up I had to walk. ~2/3rds the way up is the next obstacle. Its a low crawl through a tent. Its not much of an obstacle, but going from daylight into pitch black created by the tent, results in little to no vision until your almost through. Inside the tent are just a series of wood barriers that make sure you crawl. Get out of the tent and its back to climbing the hill. At the top of the hill is a cargo net climb. Its probably 25ft tall. One heck of a view from the top! So up and over, pretty straight forward. Then back to running. Down the opposite side of the hill. This time its a much longer decent. If your in a early morning heat and there is dew on the hills, this one could be bad. At the bottom of the hill is a pretty significant sandy area. The sand is really deep so it does a good job of breaking forward momentum. Make the turn  to the left and the next obstacle is in sight. A 12-16ft high rope wall. This thing is made a lot easier by the 2x4 strips nailed across the wall. Up and Over (back side has a ladder).  Back to running. Now the mud is getting more frequent as your going through this marshy area. It won't be possible to avoid the mud but do the best you can as at the opposite end is a narrow beam obstacle. This thing is a ramp about 4in wide and peaks at about 5ft off the ground. Footing is tricky with mud covered shoes. On the other end is the last freakin hill of the course. This one isn't nearly as long or steep but at the base of this thing is about ankle deep mud. Nothing like turning your old/used  super lightweight running shoes into 5lbs ankle weights! At the top of the hill is a 30-40ft water slide. Take a running start at it though if you going for time. You need a little ummph to avoid getting stuck. Keep your head on swivel too. I had a guy come down right behind me and just about take me out.  About 50yrds later is the last timed obstacle. The fire pit. This is actually a line of logs set on fire. Logs are good size though so you do have to jump over them (one guy did flip/summersault!). Get across and the timing mats are right below the photographer. Next, up is the signature obstacle of Warrior Dash. A mud pit that is covered with barbwire, through which you must low crawl.  YOU WILL BE COVERED IN MUD, HEAD TO TOE. How much of your head gets mud covered is up to you. But it is something of a badge of honor to go "whole hog" if you know what I mean. This thing was maybe 3ft deep and a good 10yrds long. At the end of the pit is a photographer. Smile! Out of the mud pit and its a muddy trek to the finish line (10-15yrds).  When you cross, they'll hang your medal around your neck. Water and Bananas are right there too (good luck eating a banana with mud covered hands).

So your covered head to toe in mud. Now what?!? You head over the clean up area. This really amounts to 1 of 2 options. Standing in front of a snow machine on full bore or a honest to God fire house. Both of which were ICE COLD!! I was shaking and my teeth were chattering by the time I was done. Be prepared to spend some time here. First your doing this with 40 of your new best friends so it takes a while to get to the front. Second, the mud takes a long time to get off. Especially, if you stood around taking pictures while it hardens (as I did, oops!). The mud is now relatively off you but your still soaked. You could change clothes in the porta poties. But other people are doing this too, so by the time I got there, the inside is coated in mud. My recommendation, bring a big towel and wrap it around you and just discretely change under it.  Compression shorts (and bras for you laddies) helps with the modesty factor here. Lets just say everyone is pretty understanding about the situation your in. I'd also recommend washable sandals as your footwear post race. Yeah, the post race fun is away from the mud. But you won't exactly want your sunday bests either. There is a place were you can donate your race sneakers. Trust me, after the race your not gonna want to tote those bad boys home. One last thing, at this point re-apply your sunscreen too. There isn't much if any shade at the post race party. 

Post-race festivities. All the food and beer is run off a ticket system. 1 ticket is equal to a dollar. So you need to purchase those before you can get anything to eat (outside of the free beer associated with your timing chip). How much cash do you need? Well, a turkey leg (again think renaissance festival) is 6 tickets. A grilled chicken breast is 5, brat is 4, soda/water are 2. Beers were also 6. One thing of note. They say outside food/beverage is banned, but I didn't see that enforced. Basically, if you don't tote in a cooler I think you could get away with it.  As for whats to do after the race. There are live bands and a DJ, a large 20ft screen showing people in the mud pit, and the people watching is just crazy!! Some of the costumes and outfits where pretty nuts. Along those lines, I don't think I would consider this a "family" affair. There isn't anything for the little kids to do. So they'll get bored. There were also a number of people who were quite proud of the physiques. So if your on the prudish side of the fence you might wanna steer clear too.  That being said, the crowd was pretty tame and easy going. No real loud mouth jerks or anything like that.

Overall, you can probably tell I had a blast and that I'd recommend it if it comes around again next year. Yeah, there were a a couple of things that could have been improved on, but the race lives up to its billing. "The craziest fricken day of your life". 

I Love Shamrock

3 years ago I started down a pretty significant change in my life. One that concentrated more on physical fitness. Little did I know I was rekindling a long since burnt out competitive flame.

The Shamrock Shuffle 5K in Eau Claire, WI has a certain special meaning to me. You see, it was this race (and a challenge by a very close personal friend) that really started my journey. One that I don't plan on ending anytime soon.

This coming weekend (February 12th) marks my 3rd attempt at dislodging a crown from the top of a rather large lumbering tree. I am so looking forward to this one...

Training Log for Feburary 28th

Overall this week was a significant improvement over last week. Training volumes were much improved and the enjoyment factor has returned (partially because of the lessening snow piles).

Training Volumes:
Swimming: 2050 yards (+4.4% vs prev week)
Biking:  27.2 miles (+189% vs prev week)
Running: 14.5 miles (+353% vs prev week)
Weights: 0 lbs (+0% vs prev week)

Nutrition (C)
A couple of bad days on the diet (exceeded calorie intake pretty bad) ruined what was really a pretty good week. Still trying to get the protein/carb/fat mix where I want it. I'm finding it hard to get in the amount of protein that I want. I'll have to forgo that effort next week as it's race week.

Workouts (C+)
I missed a run and two my run were shorter than scheduled. I also missed my swim repeats. The bike exceeded plans and the long run also week very well. The nutritional plan for my marathon is coming together.

Body/Health (A)
No aches or pains to report. Body is feeling pretty good and I feel like I'm getting adequate sleep. Mentally the enjoyment of training has returned.

Training Log for Feb 21st

Changing the date I publish my training log. My training weeks start on Mondays, so the log will now correspond to the starting on the day indicated but be published on the following Monday.

I would say I've been suffering from training fatigue the last couple of weeks. I'm finding training for a marathon as one of the hardest things I've done in my life.

Training volume this week was pretty close to last weeks. I'm finding it easy to stay on my swimming schedule. Bike, Run and Weights are harder.

The problem I see with the run is the in-week runs are pretty much dreadmill runs. Anything over 6 miles is just a grind and I can't stand it mentally. As for the bike, the problem is pretty much timing. Mondays after work is ok. But the saturday long ride isn't happing because I'm trying to do it before the family gets up (aka 4:30am). It just isn't happening, so this is going to need to be move to their nap times. Lastly weight training just isn't happening because I have analysis paralysis on volume and routine.

Training Volumes:
Swimming: .7 miles (+13.3% vs prev week)
Biking: 9.4 miles (+1.0% vs prev week)
Running: 3.2 miles (-85.3% vs prev week)
Weights: ~175 lbs (-1.1% vs prev week)

Nutrition (D)
So two months into this I finally realize that I'm doing a terrible job of making sure I get everything logged. Now that I've seen why (i was very dedicated to the process this week) I think I'll be able to get this turned around.

Workouts (D)
Got all my swim workouts in and I continue to progress well towards my yardage goals. Run/Bike/Weights were a different story as noted earlier. Just need to focus and execute.

Body/Health (B)
Body feels pretty good. Just the usual soreness in the legs. IT Bands are a little tight and so I'll focus on getting all my stretching in next week.

Race Report - Frozen Goose 5K

Date: Feb 5, 2001
Location: Rochester,MN - University Center Rochester

Stats:
-Estimated Participants: <100 for 5&10K total

Conditions:
-Temp: 24F
-Wind: E@3mph
-Race Surface: Wet/Icy in places

Personal Stats:
-Pre-Race Weight: 174.0 lbs
-Post-race Weight: 172.8 lbs
-Sweat Rate: 20.2 oz/hour
-Event Entered: 5K Run/Walk
-Finishing Position: 3rd Overall, 3 Age-Group (est)
-Goal Pace: 7:45 minutes/mile
-Ave Pace: 7:27 minutes/mile

Course Description:
In terms of courses they don't come much flatter than this course. If you are a beginner looking to gain some experience I highly recommend the course. At the time of year this race is held it should be expected to have a few slick spots here and there. This year was no different but the race crew did an excellent job in preparing the course this year. My only complaint this year is the course was narrower do to the unusual amount of snow we received way back in December. To honest, there is nothing the race director can really do about that. Overall its a good course for early in the year. You just have to be careful.

Pre-race festivities:
The whole point of the event is to raise money and awareness for childhood cancer research. Along those lines, every year they have a childhood cancer survivor talk a little about their fight with cancer. It's a very motivating speech and reaffirms why I choose to run - "Because not everyone can". In my mind I'm now doing it for them. In addition to the speaker there are booths for several other causes, for instance one is for a program that brings disadvantaged youths in contact with a mentor with an emphasis on running.

Post-race festivities:
Not much here. This is probably the weakest part of the whole event. They do have post race beverages, bagels and banana's. One does however have to find them - not that its especial difficult. However, I just finished running to the best of my ability so a little direction (and a space blanket for the 10Kers) would be nice. Just saying.

Pre-race Warm Up:
I got the event right when registration opened, which gave me a almost 45 minutes to prepare/warm up. One thing I learned last year and can't stress enough is warming up before a race. Yes I stretch before a race. But what really helps is doing a little jog before the race. It primes your cardiovascular system for whats in store. You simply have to do this if your going for Personal Record (PR).
So what did I do? As soon as I had registered, I stashed my coat and bag. Then I got my standard set of stretches in. Once I was done with those, I went outside in my warm-up jacket and started jogging. I didn't time it or check the distance, I simply wanted to get my heart rate up and my lungs used to the code. Looking back at it, it would appear that I went about a half mile or so. I came back inside and topped off fluid wise. That was about it.

The Race:
Ok, onto the good stuff. After the pre-race directions we all headed outside for the start. This year's cancer survivor started us out with a shot from the official starters pistol. I chose to line up mid-pack. I like to line up here as its a fun mind game to pick off that next runner ahead of you.
First Mile (7:12 pace) - When I drove to the event I drove along part of the course. First thing I noticed were that for the first mile and a half the surface was dry. The problem, there were several points where snow formed a funnel and choked down the path. In others words, this part of the course could be really fast if I didn't get hung up behind other runners. And it was fast. As we headed North out of UCR, I really concentrated on passing the slower traffic while positioning my self for "ezpass" at the choke points on the course. I was also paying close attention to the what Runkeeper was calling out for my 1/4 mile splits. First split I heard was 7:03. My first thought -- "Awesome, I'm feeling good right now. Just keep this pace." At about a 1/2 mile I was closing in on a runner. As I got along side him I he clearly picked up his pace. I thought, "Gamer...ok push it just a little harder and create space". I completed the pass but this fellow stuck within a reasonable distance of me (he was in the 10K) the whole way. I hate shadows. Before I knew it, Runkeeper is telling the split/pace for the first mile. 7:12. "Awesome I've got 33 seconds banked against my target pace.... HOLY CRAP, I'm 5 seconds per mile off my PR at this distance!"
Mile 2 (7:24 pace) - About a mile 1.25 I see my support crew (Parents, Sister, and Brother in-law) along side the course cheering me on. It's always cool to see that, and inevitably gives it you a little burst of speed. No different this time. Following a point and a show of the Hang-Loose sign (to let them know I feeling pretty good at this point) I refocused on the task at hand. At a mile and a half Runkeeper is still calling out pacing data in 7:12-7:17 range. It was about this point that I passed the last person I would pass in the race. At mile 1.8 there is a sharp left turn in the course. Turns like this are time killers especially on slick surfaces. Going into the turn I was 7:20ish pace, coming out 7:38-7:40! It was hard to build up speed after that point.
Mile 3 (7:34 pace) - This mile is the most dangerous part of the course. Because of that its also the slowest.  It winds through neighborhood streets, which are wet and slick because of how they are plowed. At this point I knew a PR was out of the question. But I made one more good push when I saw a relatively dry stretch. I still had a goal pace to beat. I hit 6:46 pace at one point before coming to the last sharp left turn. Again this turn killed my head of steam. It took just about a quarter mile to regain that momentum. Mile 2.3 to mile 2.8 is slightly up hill. Not a lot, but enough that you know its there. By mile 2.8 I was really beginning to feel it.
Home Stretch - By far the worse segment of the race in terms of my performance. Again a turn takes some of the steam out of me. Rocketing my pace over 8:00 pace. I got it back down to 7:34 pace before I thumped my chest with my right hand and pointed to the sky to thank my Lord and Savior for getting me back safe.

Training Log [Week of Jan 10]

Second training log of the year. I hope to be able to publish this every week even though it might be giving my chief rival inside information.

Nutrition (Grade C)

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This new weight control plan in LoseIt is starting to take hold. My weight seems to be in a holding pattern until my body gets convinced that I will continue to give it the proper nutrition it needs for this level of training.  I was under my calorie budget on budget on 4 of 7 days. One of them was my wife's office Christmas party so I'll cut myself some slack there as I had zero control over menu (and zero self control as I'm a sucker for prime rib!). I also completely failed to log anything on Saturday. For the week the nutrient mix of fat/carbs/protein was also not where I'd like it to be. 30/48/22 % respectfully. Thinking I want the protein/fat numbers switched.

Sleep (Grade B)

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Looking over my sleep journal in Sleep Cycle, I did much better this week. I would have scored this an A but Saturday I did something really stupid. I was working on the computer cleaning up our digital photo library, next thing I know its 2am! Not the best of ideas when your long run is the following day. Need to prevent that from happening again.

Workouts (Grade A)

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Yes I did skip my steady/recovery run on Friday. But that was in the best interests of making sure I could complete my long run (See Body/Health notes on why I skipped it). Other than that one run, I got in all of my scheduled workouts. Need to start thinking about getting some bike miles in, but I have a plan to fix that.

Body/Health (Grade B)

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Looking at my health information in iHealthTrax, it looks like on Wednesday/Thursday my lingering cold had finally cleared. However, on Friday my lower body was extremely sore from the tempo run on Thursday and the heavy lower body weight lifting from Monday. Looking at my awakening heart beat log in HeartBeats , you can see a gradual rise over the week indicating higher fatigue through out the week.

The demon on your left shoulder

A fellow triathlon friend shared this motivational quote with me and I can't help but pass it on.

I am the demon perched on your left shoulder, the monkey on your back, urging you to go faster, ever faster until your heart pounds so relentlessly it feels as if it will shake apart in your chest-like an overtaxed water pump with cracked seals....oh you say you are above such pettiness? Well think again. I see you at your club rides sizing up the others, picking out the weaker and fatter members-easy marks you can leave in the dust. You've never been competitive, you only ride for fun right?... But once the niceties end and the ride begins I will urge you to chase down and devour the stragglers and weaklings... A giddy glee will well up in you as your legs involuntarily pump even faster. You will know how the cheetah feels when it overtakes the gazelle....so here I am, riding with you today, your Stygian co-pilot, holding up a mirror so you can view your own sluggish shortcomings. I know that you will sacrifice everything you hold good and true for a chance to go faster.....

2011 Race Schedule [UPDATED 2/5/2011]

One of the activities I do at the end of every race season is plan my race schedule for the next year. Its important as some of these races require significant build up and training.

This years schedule is a mixture of pleasure and pure pain. We start the year off with some 5Ks and build pretty quickly from there. Among the pleasure is my first ever "Warrior Dash". Its a 5K obstacle course culminating with a low crawl through its infamous mud pit. On the pain side of things, we have my first 1/2 Ironman.

So without further ado, here is my 2011 race schedule:

Feb 5 - Rochester, MN: Frozen Goose 5K - Completed: 24:13 7:26 Pace
Mar 12 - Eau Claire, WI: Shamrock Shuffle 5K
May 1 - Eau Claire, WI: Eau Claire Marathon (Full)
Jun 12 - Winona, MN: Trinona (Long Course)
Jun 19 - Rochester, MN: Rochesterfest Triathlon (Long Course)
Jul 23 - Afton Alps, MN: Warrior Dash
Jul 31 - Waseca, MN: Waseca 1/3 Ironman
Aug 28 - Afton Alps, MN: Muddy Buddy
Sep 11 - Stillwater, MN: Square Lake 1/2 Ironman
Oct 15 - Ashland, WI: Whistle Stop Marathon (Full)

If you happen to be in any of these locations, come on out and cheer me on.

Oratory

Up here in the great white north the winters are long, hard, and cold. That's why rivalries abound around here. They heat things up. You got the Vikings and Packers, the Gophers and Badgers, to a lesser extent the Twins and Brewers, and then of course there's 'Sages and Biggtree.

But after reading Biggtree's last post I'm left asking myself, "Self? Do I need a new rival?". You see his last post left me wondering, why the hell does he have to cross a river and wander through the woods just to get to his refrigerator? I've seen his skills in the woods. Davy Crocket he is not, so I'm sure it takes him quite some time to find it on each trip out. For a guy who thinks a cold beer is a "recovery drink" you'd think he'd have that a little closer to home. That's really gotta be pissing him off. But if that wasn't enough, he goes on this oratory about the Queen and some Facebook secret service mumbo jumbo that I only half understood. I'm beginning to wonder "Man, did he move his thinking chair outside too?". I mean that cold seat in such close proximity to his brain would explain sooooo much.

Hey Biggtree, it's a measly little 5k... Not the invasion of Iraq. Come in from the cold, it's ok. It's ok.

Location:Manor Woods Pl NW,Rochester,United States

The Year in Review: 2010

Before we get to far into 2011, I think it important to review the year that was 2010. The year started off with a solid showing at the Winterfest Frozen Goose 5K, where I finished 3rd overall. It was the first race where my parents and sister came out to cheer me on. What an amazing feeling that is! Then came my first and only loss of the year. The Shamrock Shuffle. This race has become my achilles heal. Dispite leading early and for the majority of the race, I ended up losing to BiggTree for a second year in a row. An early tactical decision backfired resulting in too much energy being expended early on. I simply faded at the end. Overall it was a good race and I beat my previous years time by several minutes.

Things quickly changed a month later. I whooped BiggTree at the Eau Claire 1/2 marathon (my first 1/2 ever). I was really proud of this race. It simply felt great. I finished with a time of 1:42:44.

Following the EC half my attention turned to triathlon. Specifically Trinona. I knew BiggTree would be lookin to extract some revenge. Unfortunately I think the bike portion of this race really sealed BiggTrees fate. He was close to me out of the water. And I think the bike I own just gave me the advantage. I'm not sure but after the bike he might have phoned in a part of the run. I really wasn't happy with my overall time but I think my expectations might have been a little high. It didn't stop me from doing it all over again a week later at Rochesterfest Triathlon. This time around I did much better. Far exceeding what I thought I could do at the swim. Somewhere on the run I even caught up and passed my team lead. Always nice to whoop yer boss!

Attention then shifted back marathoning. The target race: Whistlestop in Ashland, WI. Two things ended up changing those plans however. First, even though Trinona and Rochesterfest weren't "A" races I allowed them to take on that mentality. Quite simply, Sprint distance triathlon is just more fun then running the countless miles dictated by most marathon training schedules. As a result I fell behind. One long run resulted in me inducing a case of heat stress/stroke. Then I ended up injuring myself trying to make it up on a long run I wasn't prepared for. The end result was I ran the Whistlestop 1/2 marathon instead. I wasn't as fast at Whistlestop as I was for Eau Claire. I finished with a time of 1:49:17. It was however, the third race in a row where I trounced BiggTree.

So that was my year. Looking back at it I'm happiernow than the day any of those events occurred. But that is just my personality. I'm never satisfied with performances on race day. The biggest thing I think I learned last year, is you need consistency in training. You can't be on one week and falter the next. You have to string weeks of good training together to accomplish some of these goals. Another thing I learned is you need to properly warm-up before a race. I didn't do that at Trinona and my swim times paid for it in a most horrific way. So this year, consistency and preparation will be focused on!

Training Log [Week of Jan 3]

My first training log of the year. I hope to be able to publish this every week even though it might be giving my chief rival inside information.

Nutrition (Grade D)

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This week I setup a new plan in LoseIt that should lead me to my marathon race weight. I was over my calorie budget on budget on 5 of 7 days. One of them was my Mom and Sisters birthday so I'll cut myself some slack there as I had zero control over menu. For the week the nutrient mix of fat/carbs/protein was also not where I'd like it to be.

Sleep (Grade D)

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Looking over my sleep journal in Sleep Cycle, it's pretty obvious didn't get enough sleep throughout the week. I'm not talking about quality sleep either. I just didn't get enough time in the rack. This is partly due to a cold(notes on that below), however. This should be fixable in the week ahead.

Workouts (Grade C)

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I would have rated this higher but I missed my long run this week which is a huge negative to any aspiring marathon hopes. Baseline was established for the swim from which I should be able to build from for Trinona. Need to find time to work in some cycling. Got my scheduled weight lifting in.

Body/Health (Grade C)

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Went into Mayo Express Care on Thursday. Looking at my health information in iHealthTrax, I've had a sore throat since December 29 and during the week my ear began to hurt. Especially in the pool! Strep test came back negative, so it's a viral deal and I just have suck it up.

What to expect from this blog

So a few days ago I said their were some changes to the blog. The most obvious of course is the background and overall scheme. But if you look a little deeper you can see the blog has been repurposed to to just my running/fitness/triathlon aspirations. Gone are the techy, political, and photography content.

So what can you expect from a blog, as I said a few days ago, "with a purpose"? Well, diet and exercise are a big part of what makes my running and triathlon goals possible. So you'll see content about that. I have been doing a ton of reading lately. So expect to see reviews of what I've been reading. I certainly hope you bring what you've been reading to my attention in the comments. Racing and competition is what makes all the hard work worthwhile, so expect to see race reports. I intend to talk about how well (or not) a race is organized, how good the post race refreshments were, what the course was like, and of course how I felt I did. Lastly, you can expect a fair bit of smack between me and my arch-rival biggtree.

I certainly hope you hang around. 2011 is going to be one heck of a ride.

And so it begins...

The first day of the year and what do I get the pleasure of having my breakfast interrupted by? Yup you guessed it. Cast into my face on the winds of old man winter comes a withered leaf from the biggtree mind. A text message...

"Fhatty!!!"

Ok, I admit the off season has been ... um ... well enjoyed. But you can't simply let that slide, so right back at you biggtree...

Heeeello Pot

...and so it begins. The build up to The Shamrock Shuffle 5K. The first volley has been exchanged, who will win? That will have to wait for another day....

Blog changes

Just a quick update to everyone. Major overhaul of the blog tonight with a purpose. Stay tuned more to come!

Location:Manor Woods Pl NW,Rochester,United States

Motivation Pitfalls

Staying motivated in your weight loss or health improvement regimen is very hard work. My father who was a long time smoker used to criticize my mother about her weight. Until he had a triple bypass heart surgery and he himself had to lose weight. Today, he says its harder to lose weight than to quit smoking. Even thought his weight can now be a matter of life and death, it can be still be hard to hit the gym everyday.

Complacency will eat you alive without you ever being aware its happening. If you hit your weight loss goal, look in the mirror and think "Yeah, I look good. I deserve a day off from the gym", the next thing you know it might be two days.... then three.... then its "oh I'll start back up on Monday". Next thing you know you haven't been in the gym for over a month and your ass is back to wiggling like a bowl of jello. The key to avoiding the complacency pitfall is to never have an excuse. If you think you look good now, how much better are you going to look or feel if you just crushed your personal best at the bench press? Another way to avoid the trap is by tracking how many weeks in a row where you make it to the gym 4 or 5 days. Get a string of those going and you won't want to break it. The point here is to always have a goal.

Injuries are another huge motivation killer. I know. I'm working through a pretty bad one right now that pretty much eliminated all cardiovascular exercise from my routine. At the time it feels like a major set back and thoughts of giving up do happen. It's really easy to say "I'm just gonna stay out of the gym until this heals." Guess what, by the time you are feeling good your so out of the routine of going, you never make it back. The key to this pitfall (assuming the injury isn't something catastrophic) is to simply work around the injury. Are your knees hurting because of the pounding from the treadmill, try an elliptical or stationary bike. Not sure how to work around an injury? Ask your doctor or better yet one of the physical trainers in the gym.

Colds. Ah the killer of all motivation. Let's be honest, if your going through dysentery/vomiting probably best you stay home. In fact, please stay there. But for simple things like the common cold, one of the best things you can do is get your butt in the gym. But lets get real for a minute. Don't try to bust your personal one rep max on the leg press (or any other exercise). You have to be intelligent here and understand that the while the exercise is doing you good, you don't want to over tax the system and end up even sicker. This is probably one of the few times that your gym buddies should allow you to slack off bit. A general rule I've heard a couple of times now is that if the cold is above the shoulders, get your butt to the gym. But if its below that stay home (ie. if you have a case of the sniffles or a "tickle" in the throat you don't have a valid excuse).

There are tons of other motivation pitfalls you'll face in your journey. But the last one I want to talk about today is the lack of results. Nothing can kill one's motivation more than busting their ass in the gym while watching their diet closely and not seeing any changes on the scale. It sucks. In fact, in the first 3 weeks of my start I actually gained about 10 pounds. I seriously thought about quitting. If your doing the work in the gym and really being honest with yourself about what your eating, the weight will come off. You just have to put faith in the process and eventually it will happen. The body sometimes just needs time to adjust to what your asking from it. That being said, you shouldn't be using your weight as the only measure of success. Your weight can vary wildly from day to day (for me its as much as 2.5 lbs). You need other data points to help provide a complete picture. For example, if your running you should track the number of miles you can complete each week. If your weight training plot the amount of weight your doing over time. All great motivators.

Eliminating Daytime Distractions

I've fallen into a nasty habit and today I'm taking measures to stop it. You see, I spend a fair amount of time in the gym every week day. While my employer is supportive of this, my responsibilities are slowing increasing and with that comes increasing demands on my time. That means, if I don't want to impact my gym time I need to make sure I stay as efficient as possible when I'm not in the gym.

So what does that mean exactly? Well, there is a great video from Merlin Mann about Time and Attention. In it, he highlights the "time vampires" that just suck the productive hours out of your day. We all have them. For some people it's that stupid Minesweeper or Solitaire game that ships with Windows. I see others looking at Craigslist, eBay or my employers internal classified ads. Still others are using employer work time for writing blog entries. For me, its a combination of Twitter, Facebook, Google Reader and Gmail. Along with all the automatic notification crap that goes with them.

Thats right, I'm turning them off during the work day with one minor exception. Sorry. These things don't get me to where I want to be and only marginally produce anything thats truly worth while. Tough love here, but my life is more important to me than you think yours is to me. In other words, no I most likely haven't seen your latest tweet or Facebook status. Deal with it.

What's the one minor exception? Anyone who knows me will tell you my short term memory sucks. So the exception will be logging into Facebook to record my running/walking/biking into an embedded app called Voomaxer. Thats it. And no, I won't be commenting on other people's status when I do this.

I'm also going to become brutally efficient in Goggle Reader. I have 4 levels of RSS feeds, all sorted on relevant importance to me. Every night the unread count is going to zero in one of two ways. If I read everything by the time I get off the bus ride home or I hit "MARK ALL READ" when I get off the bus. So no, I may not have read your latest blog entry. Again, deal with it.

I'm already a fan of In-box zero so that practice will continue... both for gmail and work mail.

Now, my job does involve a fair bit of mass transit and walking from building to building. During those times and if not accompanied at lunch I plan to use my lovely iPhone for catching up on all this loveliness that people will inevitably tell me I'm missing out on.

One could ask about Instant Messaging. But one thing I've learned is that instant messaging can be a huge productivity booster when used properly. So I plan to leave it turned on for the time being. It can be an incredible time sink, so if I detect I'm in a rat hole of a conversation that really doesn't matter one wit to the outcome of my life... Don't be offended if I politely tell you I need to focus on something else. It'll prolly go something like this.. "Fascinating discussion but I need to work on something right now. Laters."

Speaking of which .... this has been a fascinating blog post but I need to go work on something else now. Laters......

News from the Infirmary

Its been a full three weeks since the Throwdown at the Shamrock and the recovery continues. I had intended to post an update last week but I simply wasn't in the mood. Admittedly, digging out of this hole had me a bit down.

Tuesday, the 17th, was the first full day without the air cast and 24hrs later I was trying out a stationary bike. I limited the time on the bike to 20 mins and made it almost to 4.5 miles. I also hit my target weight of 180 pounds that day. Thursday was a rest day to evaluate how the ankle felt. It was sore but not nearly as stiff. I still had a very pronounced limp. Friday rolled around and I unfortunately didn't get a workout in due to other family commitments. Following my usual fitness regimen I took the weekend off.

This past Monday I was moving around pretty good. I no longer needed meds for inflammation or pain and the limp was pretty much gone. I decided to give the elliptical a go and made 2.4 miles in 25 minutes. I could definitely feel some tenderness in the ankle but it was very manageable. Tuesday I gave it a day of rest but had to make the painful decision on if I would be ready for the Med City Relay. The decision to not run hurt and I'd be lying if I said it really didn't bug me. My heart so wanted to run in that relay, but logic seemed to point to me not being ready. The other team members needed to know they had a team that was going to be there on game day and I just couldn't make that promise. On Wednesday I logged 2.41 miles in 25 minutes on an elliptical machine and felt pretty good. Thursday was somewhat of a rest day. I actually did four sets of the Randy Couture workout. Friday a head cold had started to set in (and I hurt like hell from Thursday's workout) but I still made it to the gym and logged 2.49 miles in 25 minutes on an elliptical.

Yesterday the head cold was pretty tough in the morning. But by the time my lovely wife went out for a night on the town with her friend, I was back to feeling all right. This morning I felt even better.

Monday will be another day on the elliptical as a prelude to Tuesday. I have some time restrictions on Tuesday so the plan is to just utilize the treadmill for the first time since the throwdown. I don't plan to be running but I'm going to push the walk as fast as I can. Wednesday will be more elliptical work and back onto the treadmill Thursday - again at a walk. Friday will be more elliptical. I've been looking at some footwork exercises that I think I'll introduce next week too. I'm supposed to have a BodPod check on Wednesday, but I think I'll post pone that until later in the week as the head cold introduced a couple bonus pounds I want to shed.

Writing out load here, but I think I'll flip that routine the following week - elliptical (T, Th) and treadmill (M, W, F). All at a walk. The week after that I'll flip it back only the treadmill work will be at a run. If that holds true my first running attempt will be April 16th. A full five weeks since the run at the Shamrock. There will be an adjustment to my diet that week as I introduce Creatine supplementation to my diet which should help fuel my muscle growth.

Am I taking it slow? Sure. But my doctor (and several other runners) have told me if this isn't managed correctly it will be a nagging thing for quite some time.

Why do it?

The last two Mondays I've outlined the changes I've made to my diet and the amount of physical activity I do. The next logical question is why put yourself through this?

Flashback to last year ('08). At the time I felt my life was a mess on every aspect and level. I was in such fear of getting laid off, I worked crazy and insane hours. Of course when you do that you neglect other things like: those close to you, your personal finances and your own personal health. Basically your life gets out of balance and falls apart. I was there. Rock bottom.

At certain times you just have to pick yourself up off the floor and say I need to get this mess cleaned up. You have to tell yourself, I'm an adult and no one has to come and save me from this mess (despite what the US Congress might say). So I did. I started looking for an employer that would appreciate my efforts and didn't have a human "resource" policy that made "resource actions" so routine that they no longer had to comply with the WARN act. (Did I just write that out? Yeah, I did. Felt great.) I eventually found my current job which I find very fulfilling. In the process, I had to get my finances in order for me to be able to make such a leap. After making the leap, I suddenly had a life again and was no longer ignoring those who were close to me.

Shortly after starting my new job, my employer came out with a incentive plan that would help reduce my health care premiums. All I had to do was complete a health assessment and find out what my cholesterol levels were at. The opportunity just happened to hit at a time where I was trying to improve every aspect of my life and so I followed through with. It was the incentive (that I shouldn't have needed) to start the journey of taking care my body. After the health assessment I followed it up by joining my employers fitness facilities and the rest is as they say, history.

I realize now that my life could have gotten a whole heck of a lot worse and I really wasn't at rock bottom. But that really isn't the point is it? The point was I acknowledged my life had gotten out of control and I did something about it.

Still Recovering

One week following my lost to The BiggTree, I'm still on the mend. Its been painful at times and with the recent nice weather spell - annoying. Monday morning I hurt like hell. Honestly, I'm not sure how I managed to make it to work. But, I figured if I can run the last half mile on this bum wheel, I certainly owed to my co-workers to get my ass into work. Lets face it, I work at a hospital and I was going there regardless. So I called my Primary Care Physician and got a series of x-rays done along with an exam. The x-rays didn't revel any fractures, although a stress fracture wouldn't show up at this point any way. So for the time being we were treating it as a very severe strain of the right ankle.

My doctor had given me strict orders not to work the ankle in anyway. That meant I was forbidden to run/walk on the treadmill, elliptical, and even biking was out of the question. She didn't say I had to stop weightlifting though! So Wednesday I was back in the gym doing my usual upper body weight training. I could tell the run had taken a lot out of me as I simply couldn't push the weights I was used too. Friday's workout was even worse.

Friday was a check point day. If I hadn't improved somewhat , we planned on having the ankle re-imaged to look for a stress fracture. Friday came and I was was feeling better, although it was nothing to write home about. All week long I was icing the ankle 2 to 3 times a day , taking large amounts of Ibuprofen and wearing an aircast (even while sleeping). After an exchange of emails, my doctor and I decided to give the ankle another week. If by then I'm not feeling significantly better we would setup an appointment with Orthopedics.

Yesterday I completely crashed. I really hadn't had a lot of recovery time since the race. Prior family commitments resulted in going to bed past ten in the evenings and getting up at six for work had taken its toll. So I missed out on a trip to the Minnesota Zoo with my wife and son. I don't think I got out of bed until 1:30 or 2pm. Even after a shower and a good meal, I really never got the cobwebs out. While I waiting for them to come home, I spent the afternoon trying to walk correctly. All week long I had been hobbling along without really bearing weight or flexing my right ankle. This was resulting in my leg below the knee to begin to stiffen up. After a dinner out with my wife, I went to bed early.

Today, my body woke up on its own around 7:30 am. The right ankle had stiffened over night but I feel a quite a bit better than I did on Friday. I've been spending the day catching up on some reading and concentrating on walking with the correct form. Tylenol has really helped today and now I'm starting to think about getting on a stationary bike late in the week (even if its only for a few minutes).

The silver lining to this mess is, it's allowed me to concentrate on my weight lifting. I've notice some form flaws in a couple of my exercises that I've since corrected. I'm also thinking about changing up the routine a little to mix in more compound movements (chin ups and parallel bar dips) over the targeted exercises I had been doing.