Okay, I know it's nearly the end of week 8, so I'm going back in time here a bit. In fact I've published my last 3 blog updates in the reverse order that they occurred; however, now that I have them published, you can read them chronologically. After 2 weeks of hardly any running, I hit week 7, well...running. I knew I needed to get back into the habit of running, but at the same time, with my triathlon scheduled on Sunday, I knew that I was going to have to front load my miles and take it easy on the last two days so I would be rested before the race. With my longest workout being a 12-mile/1 hour, 35 minute run the previous week, and anticipating the triathlon would take nearly a full hour more, I knew that I had to be smart about my workouts or risk "crashing" during the race. All in all I was pretty successful, finishing one 8+ mile run (though a noticeably slower pace than when I was running in chilly San Antonio), a 7.7 mile run, and 5 other shorter runs. Counting the 10K (6.2 miles) that I ran on Sunday, my Week 7 totals were:
Total Runs Logged: 7
Total Miles: 30.6
Total Time Spent Running: 3 hours, 50 minutes, 17 seconds
Average Pace: 7:31 minutes/mile
At the end of Week 7 (20 Feb), my "as of" totals were:
Total Runs Logged: 39
Total Miles: 230.6
Total Time Spent Running: 28 hours, 42 minutes, 37 seconds
Average Pace: 7:28 minutes/mile
Reflection Time!
Alright, spoiler alert for week 8...I didn't log any runs. I'll attribute the first couple of days of no running to my thumb injury (didn't seem like a good idea to get it sweaty and nasty), but the last couple of days were more of being consumed with work. I did participate in an exciting event on Saturday, that I'll blog about in the very near future. Also, with February nearly over, and still being ahead of my 100 mile/month goal, I'm still feeling good. I do feel like I've made several excuses for not running recently, partly real and imagined. I know if I want to stay on this goal, I'll have to drop the excuses and get to running. This is especially true with the Guam Marathon less than 4 weeks away. I've got some work to do!
1200 in 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
My First (Olympic) Tri
Alright, let's do the rewind bit again. This time, go back about 7 days to Sunday morning. Long before I put 4 stitches and a deep gash in my thumb. Several hours before my blog entry that week; hell, before most people were even up that day, I was standing waist deep in "freezing" water. Okay, the water was probably about 78 degrees, but for someone used to temperature in the mid 80's, 78 is chilly. I'm on the far right of the pic with a silver swim cap. It was right around this time when I found out about 40 of the people in the water were doing a Sprint distance triathlon, and only 10 of us were doing the Olympic distance tri. I was a little nervous with such a small field of competitors, but my main goal was just to finish.
My legs felt like lead. I was tired and a little dehydrated, but before I could call it quits, I had to run 10km (6.2 miles). My only real goal was to finish at this point. I wasn't quite sure how many people were in front of me or behind me, and I really didn't care.
45 minutes, 38 seconds after starting the 10K I was done...my total time was 2 hours, 30 minutes, 23 seconds. I ended up placing 4th overall, not bad for a first time, but more than anything I was glad I finished.
Here I am almost done, and the prize for finishing was better than any t-shirt or medal...a ridiculously big breakfast at Denny's. I am sure I replenished every calorie burned with their famous "Scrambler," but it was good, I was tired, and I totally earned it.
A little bit after 6:30 the buzzer/horn went off and we were swimming...2 laps (750M) for the Sprint Triathletes, and 4 laps (1500M) for the Olympic distance triathletes. The picture below shows me taking a much needed breath as I struggled to round one of the buoys. I'll be honest, the 1500M swim was a little bit slower than I had anticipated. That is probably due to two factors. One, I haven't swam since my last triathlon which was the 3rd race in the Sprint Tri Series in July 2010 (check out the blog HERE). Not only did my lack of swimming play a factor in the slower time, but the tide did a number on all us. It seemed that for most of the swim I was fighting the current one way or another. after my 3rd lap of swimming, I pretty much figured that I was the last person in the water. Sure enough all of the 750M swimmers were out of the water, but there were actually a few 1500M swimmers behind me. It wasn't a huge lead by any means, and I took little satisfaction out of it, as my first Olympic distance triathlon was a race against myself more than anyone else. Most importantly as swimming is far from my strong point, I was just glad to be done with the water. Total time recorded for the swim was: 32 minutes, 57 seconds.
I didn't exactly rush through the transition from swim to bike knowing that I had 40 Km (~24 miles ahead of me), but I wasn't strolling either. The picture below is my finishing one of the six laps. What you probably can't tell is that there is a water bottle duct taped to the front of my bike. I had inserted a straw into the bottle so I could drink without leaving the "aero" position (a homemade version of this), but I wasn't counting on the bumpy road. Shortly after reaching the half way point of lap 1, my straw bounced out of my bottle, and I was left with no way of drinking my Gatorade/water mix. It didn't really matter...most of it splashed out as I seemed to hit every bump in the road. Total time for the bike ride: 1 hour, 11 minutes, 48 seconds.
My legs felt like lead. I was tired and a little dehydrated, but before I could call it quits, I had to run 10km (6.2 miles). My only real goal was to finish at this point. I wasn't quite sure how many people were in front of me or behind me, and I really didn't care. Here I am almost done, and the prize for finishing was better than any t-shirt or medal...a ridiculously big breakfast at Denny's. I am sure I replenished every calorie burned with their famous "Scrambler," but it was good, I was tired, and I totally earned it.
Me and my so called "plans"
Rewind about 6 days ago when I had typed in my last blog entry that I was going to add two more blogs to my site THAT day. Now, fast forward about 7-8 hours and you'll find me at work organizing my desk and preparing for the week ahead. It's not particularly out of the norm, I do this every Sunday evening (the exception being that I'm at a new desk now). A framed and matted photo is wedged between the wall and my desk, and as far as I can tell it's been there since about Aug 2009. It was supposed to be a going away gift for someone, but they made an error on the plaque, so it was cast aside and forgotten. The photo was a nice military picture though, almost identical to this one:
I thought it would be worthwhile to remove the plaque from the matte and hang the picture. Of course i didn't want to ruin the matte, and what better way to remove a firmly attached plaque than with the an exceptionally sharp knife? (Does anyone see where this is going?)The following picture is not the result of me using a knife (Benchmade by the way) to remove the plaque, it is the end result of about 3 hours in the ER, the handy work of a Navy Hospital Corpsman, and about 6 days of healing. Sorry if it's a little graphic...
Yeah, that is four stitches in my thumb, all in all I'd say it's not the best way to spend a Sunday night, but for the record, I did bandage myself up at work and drive home before Stephanie took me to the hospital. Also, the doctor and nurses complimented me on my bandaging job.
As a result of the injury, I avoided running for the week, and never got around to blogging...that is changing now. I'm feeling better, and I've got some stories. Stay tuned...
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Serious Catching Up to Do (Week 5&6)
Okay, it's been nearly 3 weeks since my last post, and just when I thought the break in Texas would provide more blogging time. I possibly could have blogged more; however, for a running blog, it would have been slim reading. Instead let me recap week 5&6 now, and in my next post (later tonight, I promise), I'll give you week 7's recap and a BONUS!
31 January was the last day I ran in Texas. I did 6.1 miles in the afternoon, and the weather was a little warmer than usual, but very nice. I'll admit I was optimistic for a few more great runs before leaving San Antonio, but late Monday/early Tuesday the cold front hit, and the temps dropped below freezing. I was barely able to tolerate temperatures in the 40's, so when the thermostat says 20 degrees (note you'd have to multiply that by FOUR to get the average Guam temperature), I am not going outside. Perhaps, if I had running pants, multiple long sleeve shirts, gloves, and a running cap I could have managed, but all I had were shorts and t-shirts, so I stayed warm, and stayed inside. Now I know cold weather is an excuse lazy people make, and that I could have run on a treadmill in the gym across the street. True, there was a gym 200 yards from my room, but the one time I went over there and did some cross-training, the short sprint over there was so brutal, I lost all motivation to suffer through the cold.
As such my sad total for week 5 was:
Total Runs Logged: 1
Total Miles: 6.1
Total Time Spent Running: 40 minutes, 53 seconds
Average Pace: 6:42 min/mile
I'd love to say that after that dismal running week that I was reinvigorated and hit Week 6 in full stride, but that is not the case at all. Most of the week was spent at my parents' house in Belton, TX, and I opted to spend time with the family rather than go run. The weather was a little warmer, and I could have managed, but I knew my time was with them was limited, so I neglected my running. To add to that, on Wednesday I left TX to return to Guam. It was about 17 hours of total flying, and because of the time change, I landed in Guam on Thursday evening. Still, this week does have a happy ending.
Friday, my first full day back in Guam was a Wing Run day. Now the Wing Run is a 1.5 mile run that we do in formation. The pace is very slow, as it is more for the Esprit De Corps than the actual physical fitness, but I try to get the most out of the time. I made a point to run before and after the run, to get some extra miles. Saturday, I had my longest run to date, and my first night run. I left my house at 7:30 PM and ran for 12 miles. I kept the pace fairly moderate as I didn't have any water to hydrate along the way, but it felt really good, and the temperature at night in Guam is much more bearable than during the day. I remembered that the hard way when on Sunday I decided to do a 6 mile run in the middle of the afternoon. It was brutally hot, but it felt good to get the 25 miles in for that week, in 3 short days.
My week 6 totals were:
Total Runs Logged: 3
Total Miles: 25.3
Total Time Spent Running: 3 hours, 18 minutes, 11 seconds
Average Pace: 7:50 min/mile
That Brought my "as of" total after Week 6 to:
Total Runs Logged: 32
Total Miles: 200 (that's pretty cool)
Total Time Spent Running: 24 hours, 52 minutes, 24 seconds
Average Pace: 7:28 min/mile
So it wasn't a great two weeks of running, but that is to be expected from time to time. Distractions, like obstacles, are something everyone has to overcome. This time it was the weather and spending time with family, but next time I could be sick, injured, too busy at work, or looking to do something with friends. This reinforces my mentality of making sure to get as much running as possible when I DO have the time. It's also important to weigh the pros and cons of the "distraction" versus running. Distraction won this time, but I know that won't always be the case.
More to come including photos from TX and other "blog-worthy" events.
31 January was the last day I ran in Texas. I did 6.1 miles in the afternoon, and the weather was a little warmer than usual, but very nice. I'll admit I was optimistic for a few more great runs before leaving San Antonio, but late Monday/early Tuesday the cold front hit, and the temps dropped below freezing. I was barely able to tolerate temperatures in the 40's, so when the thermostat says 20 degrees (note you'd have to multiply that by FOUR to get the average Guam temperature), I am not going outside. Perhaps, if I had running pants, multiple long sleeve shirts, gloves, and a running cap I could have managed, but all I had were shorts and t-shirts, so I stayed warm, and stayed inside. Now I know cold weather is an excuse lazy people make, and that I could have run on a treadmill in the gym across the street. True, there was a gym 200 yards from my room, but the one time I went over there and did some cross-training, the short sprint over there was so brutal, I lost all motivation to suffer through the cold.
As such my sad total for week 5 was:
Total Runs Logged: 1
Total Miles: 6.1
Total Time Spent Running: 40 minutes, 53 seconds
Average Pace: 6:42 min/mile
I'd love to say that after that dismal running week that I was reinvigorated and hit Week 6 in full stride, but that is not the case at all. Most of the week was spent at my parents' house in Belton, TX, and I opted to spend time with the family rather than go run. The weather was a little warmer, and I could have managed, but I knew my time was with them was limited, so I neglected my running. To add to that, on Wednesday I left TX to return to Guam. It was about 17 hours of total flying, and because of the time change, I landed in Guam on Thursday evening. Still, this week does have a happy ending.
Friday, my first full day back in Guam was a Wing Run day. Now the Wing Run is a 1.5 mile run that we do in formation. The pace is very slow, as it is more for the Esprit De Corps than the actual physical fitness, but I try to get the most out of the time. I made a point to run before and after the run, to get some extra miles. Saturday, I had my longest run to date, and my first night run. I left my house at 7:30 PM and ran for 12 miles. I kept the pace fairly moderate as I didn't have any water to hydrate along the way, but it felt really good, and the temperature at night in Guam is much more bearable than during the day. I remembered that the hard way when on Sunday I decided to do a 6 mile run in the middle of the afternoon. It was brutally hot, but it felt good to get the 25 miles in for that week, in 3 short days.
My week 6 totals were:
Total Runs Logged: 3
Total Miles: 25.3
Total Time Spent Running: 3 hours, 18 minutes, 11 seconds
Average Pace: 7:50 min/mile
That Brought my "as of" total after Week 6 to:
Total Runs Logged: 32
Total Miles: 200 (that's pretty cool)
Total Time Spent Running: 24 hours, 52 minutes, 24 seconds
Average Pace: 7:28 min/mile
So it wasn't a great two weeks of running, but that is to be expected from time to time. Distractions, like obstacles, are something everyone has to overcome. This time it was the weather and spending time with family, but next time I could be sick, injured, too busy at work, or looking to do something with friends. This reinforces my mentality of making sure to get as much running as possible when I DO have the time. It's also important to weigh the pros and cons of the "distraction" versus running. Distraction won this time, but I know that won't always be the case.
More to come including photos from TX and other "blog-worthy" events.
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