Success and Failure on the Trace

Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.

Dale Carnegie

I had 16 miles @ marathon plus 30 seconds scheduled for Christmas Day. I had some worries about this run. It wasn’t anything in particular but just a lot of little things.

· 16 miles is a long way – I have not run that since Boston (April)

· While 7:30 pace is not difficult – it is for 16 miles

· It was 50 degrees outside (not a big deal)

· It was raining outside (not a big deal)

· It was cold and raining outside (VERY BIG DEAL)

· I had run 10 miles the day before at a very easy pace (not a big deal)

· It was Christmas Day (can be a big deal)

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2011 Ole Man River Half Marathon–Charts and Numbers

The 2011 Ole Man River Half PR – wow, what a lucky race.

As I am sure most of you know, everything has to be just right to get a PR. Why? Because it is the fastest you have ever run at the distance. A PR just won’t happen on its own (well, maybe that first year of running, but after a few years under your belt it takes a lot of work).

Race morning was a cool 40 degrees, very little wind but higher than normal humidity. For December, in the South, on a scale of 1 -10, I would give these conditions a 9 (maybe 9.5). A 10 would be 35 degrees, zero wind and no humidity. I want to be cold at the start of the race. But we were lucky with the conditions this year.

Read more at www.powermultisport.com

Ole Man River Race Report - 2011

The alarm went off at 4AM. I normally get up at 5, usually without an alarm. I am perfectly fine with 5AM most mornings, but an hour earlier, that seems ungodly. I rose and clicked the brew button on the coffee maker. I had set out a number of possible running outfits the night before. I was prepared for everything. Before dressing I jumped on the scale. It read 5 pounds higher than my normal. There have been a number of holiday parties and I have not been diligent with my diet. This worried me.

I poured myself two travel mugs and drove in darkness across town to meet friends for the drive to New Orleans.  This race takes place at City Park in New Orleans – one of the largest and oldest urban parks in the country).

Botanical Gardens

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Heat training in December?

I ran a short tempo run at lunch – five miles with the middle three fast. Not super-fast, but where I would like to run a half marathon. It was hard – really hard.

Read more at www.powermultisport.com .

The Basic Week

I have started coaching for an ironman next year. I was extolling the virtues of the ‘basic week’ template. There is nothing rocket science about this but I really believe in it. You just need to look at your week and schedule various types of workouts at the same times each week. It is no different than doing laundry every Sunday afternoon or taking a night class. You schedule the sessions and before long it becomes routine. It is just an appointment on your calendar, just something you do. Easy stuff but it makes a difference.

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Christmas Trees

I helped a friend move a few weeks ago. A moving company was doing most of the heavy lifting.  We were needed for the stuff.

And there was a lot of stuff.  I am having trouble conveying what I am about to say. He had the largest U-Haul that you can rent and more than half of it was full of Christmas stuff.

You know the rubber made totes (the 18-gallon ones that are 2 feet wide by 3 feet long by 2 feet high), well, there were about 50 of them in red and green. We (Raland was the attic man) filled the attic and about a quarter of the garage just with Christmas decorations. I am sure they house is lit up fantastically but in the hot weather, moving this much Christmas stuff was comical.

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Movember update

Well, I don’t have the speed or the moustache of Steve Prefontaine, but I am working on both.

Pre -

"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift."

I don’t have the bangs either.

New sock drawer

Last month I cleaned out all of the shoes from my closet (you can read more here – House Cleaning)  I am happy to say that I got rid of a dozen pairs of shoes.  To be fair, regardless of how the shoes looked some were quite old.  It is just hard to get rid of them.  I guess you really can have too many pairs of ‘mowing the lawn’ shoes.

I was getting ready for a run this morning and opened my sock drawer.  I looked at all of the running socks.  Some were looking pretty tattered.  I closed the drawer.  I needed some help this morning.  I opened up my ‘new sock’ drawer.  It is funny, even though I run a fair amount of miles without socks (the whole triathlon thing – see Summer Feet) I really do like nice running socks. 

I don’t see a problem here (23 pairs).

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Cheaha KOM challenge-The Ride, day 1

It was brisk when we woke up on Saturday. Some were stirring quicker than others. I debated several times on what to wear for the ride. I knew it would warm up throughout the day but presently it was in the high 30’s. I decided on the full gamut – arm skins, leg skins, a skullcap plus a sleeveless compression shirt base layer. I did leave the lobster claw gloves behind.

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Cheaha KOM challenge–The Drive Up

The Cheaha KOM challenge was a lot of fun this past weekend. Seven of us total drove up from Hattiesburg to a cabin located on Lake Wedowee on the Eastern side of Alabama. Five of us were from the original crew two years ago and two were fresh blood.

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Cheaha 2.0

Two years ago a group of us left Mississippi to ride the hills of Cheaha (East Central Alabama in the Talladega National Forest).  We had a great time climbing up and down Cheaha mountain.

Two years later, I would say everyone is a better rider.  This will definitely be a test.  Also, I have tried to get everyone to sign up with Stava (there is a free and paid version – I’m just using the free version).  This is the social networking riding / running website.  You upload your GPS files.  You can compare your ride against others.  I uploaded my files from two years ago.  On the main climb up Cheaha, which someone has named Cheaha Cat 3, I am ranked 6th out of 17.  I was not the first in our group up the mountain.  It will interesting to see how we compare this year.

The segment, Cheaha Cat 3, is listed at 2.1 miles, @ 7.1 % average grade.  It will be fun to see how everyone stacks up this weekend.

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70.3 NOLA and 5150 NOLA on the same day?

Really?  And the finish is not in the French Quarter.

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Day light savings

I went for a run on Friday morning. I left the house at 6:15AM and walked to the trace. It was pitch black. I had my GPS light fully illuminated. I also had my blinky light from my road bike clipped to my waist band. I have been riding in the early morning hours and I know just how hard it is to see runners.

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Movember 1st

Friends, Romains, countrymen lend me your beards!

I missed the kick off for Movember last year. I was in flight from the US to AU. I left on Halloween and landed on Nov 02. Where did the day go? You got me. I still don’t understand how those planes fly at all. The week after I landed the engines started falling off of the A380 (the two story, biggest commercial plane in the world). I still don’t understand how they stay up in the air.

Movember was started in Australia to raise awareness and money for men’s related health issues. You can donate money to an individual, a team or to the Movember cause itself. Funds raised benefit the Prostate Cancer Foundation, LIVESTRONG, and the Movember Foundation.

I will be posting photo updates throughout the month. If you would like to join my team (Hub City Mo) or make a donation please visit my Mo Space - http://mobro.co/HubCity (visit just to see day 01 of Movember – not a pretty picture).

Cold snap in the training

The weather turned cool cold this week in Mississippi. Saturday was our first ever Hattiesburg Century Bike Ride. It was 4o degrees and windy. I am sorry to say that I was not looking for a fast, hard, cold or windy ride.  I skipped the ride.

Read more at www.powermultisport.com .

Taunting your nemesis

I dialed up a hard fast tempo run. It was lunchtime and I have been hitting my paces but I had some trepidation. I did not feel like running fast. I would have preferred a nice comfortable run. The sun was out and the temperature was in the high 70’s / low 80’s. Just about perfect for a 5-mile tempo.

Read more at www.powermultisport.com

House cleaning

My closet has been unbearable for a little while and after my morning run I decided to clean it out. It really was a mess. This is what I pulled out of the closet.

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TIP: Factory Chain Lube

I just replaced my chain and cassette on my road bike last month.  And now that triathlon season is over I plan on doing the same on my race bike.  The question of chain lubrication often comes up.  One of the most often discussed topics is whether to strip the factory lube from a new chain and re-lube or just leave it alone.  The argument is that the factory stuff is sticky and it will pick up dirt and accelerate chain wear on the brand new chain.  The other side states that it is the best chain lube you can get and that is why it comes on the chain from the factory.

I ran across an interview with one of Shimano’s main tech guys regarding the stock chain lube on Bike Rumor.

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BikeRumor: What is Shimano’s official stance on the chain lube that comes stock on a shimano chain? Is it actually a lube, or a grease? And is it best to leave it on until the chain gets noisy and relube, or strip it right away and relube before riding?

Read more at www.powermultipsport.com

Cool weather running 2011

The temperatures have dipped down into the high 30’s.  I have been waiting for an opportunity to wear my long sleeved running shirt.  I have been waiting since April!

They will never know

I work on a college campus.  I interact with a lot of students.  There are a fair number of student workers in my department.  I came across this the other day.

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The hardmen were missing.

I took Friday off from work and played on the coast. Jodie had some work to do and I took a couple of books. I enjoyed the nice weather. I sat on a bench in the shade for a couple of hours. I did take my bathing suit and thought about swimming. Unfortunately our beaches in Mississippi are not good for swimming. You can wade out into the water for a mile before the water gets deep enough to swim. Oh well, I did enjoy the water.

With rested legs I met the group ride on Saturday morning. Some of the usually suspects were missing. Some of the hardmen were missing from the ride. There was a chill in the air. I wore a pair of winter cycling gloves and my arm skins. I also had a sleeveless compression shirt underneath. I was cold for the first couple of miles. Others had on legs skins and jackets. It was about 60 degrees. It was not cold. We are just soft.

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Speed Work before the marathon build

On Monday I got back on the trace.  I ran easy in the morning and easy in the afternoon for a total of 10 miles.

Tuesday I rode the bike for just a few miles but tried to work on my sprints.  I took big recoveries and then went all out for 45 seconds to a minute.  I picked signs and posts and any object that I could find and made them the finish line. I was winning Tour de France stages left and right for the first few sprints and then the speed started to fade.  Oh well, I was having fun.

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Mayhem on bicycles

I have to admit that I actually like several of the Allstate Insurance commercials featuring the character Mayhem.  I like the one where he is a sexy jogger girl and the young man drives his car in the ditch.  But someone recently shot me the following from the Mayhem Facebook page www.facebook.com/mayhemhere

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Mighty Magnolia 2011 Race Report

To tell you the truth, I was not looking forward to the Mighty Magnolia. This is the 4^th year of our local race and I have never done it. I have volunteered several years but there was always a reason I was unable to compete.

I let things get in the way so I would not have to race. You see, I hate racing this late in the year. By the time October rolls around I have already peaked, crashed and peaked again. I am worn out from the summer. I have also already started my marathon base building.

 

Talking with friends post race.

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Rundies Underwear

You have your underwear. And you have your running. Now you can have them both.  We like to think of them as workouts you can wear (and wash!) all year long.  Rundies

Day of the week underwear – REST – TRACK – TEMPO – FARTLEK – RACE – EASY 6 – LONG RUN .

The Ultimate Interval

Basically it is finding how much and how long you can sustain your maximum intensity on the bike.  You then do intervals at this intensity.  Would this be like Yasso’s on the bike?

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Kona gossip

The triathlon community is a gossipy and geeky bunch. I realize that the following will appeal to about five people but I think it is very funny.

Crowie posing with his Ordu

Here is the scoop – 2 x IM world champion Craig Alexander showed up at the Ironman World Championship 70.3 race in Las Vegas (which he won) on an unbranded Cervelo P4.

Read more at www.powermultisport.com .

Iron War

From Lava magazine: 

Editor’s note: We received this unsolicited letter from Scott and Allen on the upcoming book “Iron War.” The opinions expressed here are not necessarily that of LAVA’s editorial team.

An Open Letter to the Worldwide Triathlon and Endurance Communities:

We’re writing this because we believe that the soon­‐to-­be-published book from VeloPress, entitled “Iron War,” inaccurately  and  inappropriately  portrays  us. As  an example, in the advance copy sent to the media for review, the author stated, “In  a sober, clinical sense of the term, Dave and Mark are both somewhat psychologically unbalanced.” We have never been diagnosed as “psychologically unbalanced” by any medical or mental health professional.

Read more at www.powermultisport.com

Big Dam Bridge Century Ride

The weather could not have been better for the Big Dam Bridge Century Ride.  This post will be more of a short review of the event rather than a detailed report of my riding the Big Dam Bridge Century.

Big Dam Bridge

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Boy Racer

We have a good local library here in town. It helps that one of the Pacer officers works there. It seems like there is always a book that interests me.

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Treadmill Yasso’s - revisited

I have 5 months to put up a great marathon effort. To test my current boundaries I have been doing ‘treadmill Yasso’s’ (what is a Yasso?). These are half mile repeats at a challenging but obtainable effort. The treadmill means that there is active recovery. Yesterday I exceeded my expectations.

This does not happen often. I set my goals and my standards at a high level. Most of the time I achieve the goal. Sometimes I fail (I even have a tag called FAIL). But, as I said, the standard is high. I never exceed the expectation.

The heart rate leveled off in the last 3!

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Zen in the art of bicycle maintenance.

I had two full days of riding this weekend (plus a little bit of running). We also were caught in the rain on Sunday. We raced the storm back to Sumrall and we were able to hang out under the shelter for 30 minutes or so while the worst of the storm passed. Good times.

That looks like a mountain towards the end.

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The man with the hammer–short story

Last Tuesday I was running with a local athlete.  I was running a 30-minute TT with them.  These are challenging.  They were pushing hard and unable to talk much.  It was early in the morning and I was trying to entertain.  I spoke of some of the things that I thought about while running.  Later that night I sat at the keyboard to write a short photo essay that was due the next day.

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The Man with the Hammer

I craned my neck around the corner trying to catch a glimpse of the man with the hammer. It was too early. There was no sight of him. I had not been running long enough for him to show himself. Instead I saw the aid station. I stepped to my left and ran past the first dozen water bearers. I checked over my shoulder and made a quick right and grabbed a cup of the elixir. I pinched the waxed papered vessel and drank the tangy green fluid. It was bitter but I knew that I had to take on sustenance. The man with the hammer would punish mistakes.

Read more at www.powermultisport.com .

Pacers needed for Gordon Creek 10K

Can you hold a solid 10 minutes per mile for a 10K race (1:02:08)? How about 9 minutes (55:55) or 8 minutes (49:42) per mile? What about 7 minutes (43:29) per mile for 10K?

Are you interested in being a pacer for the upcoming Gordon’s Creek 3^rd Annual 5K Walk and 10K Run which takes place in Downtown Hattiesburg on November 5^th? See flyer.

If selected as a pacer you would get the gratitude of the www.r3sm.org not-for-profit charity plus a complimentary entry to the race. If interested please send me an email. Please be sure that you can at least run a minute per mile faster than the designated pace and that you can maintain a consistent pace without surges.

Bike, Run, Swim–Mighty Magnolia warm up

On Saturday a group of us met at the Heritage race site. It was mostly b-teamers and a few close friends. Believe it or not there was a chill in the air. I had planned ahead and grabbed a pair of arm warmers and a wind vest for the ride.

We headed out on the course and rode the Mighty Magnolia route. If you have been on hills all summer you will definitely notice the lack of flats. I had brought a new friend along for the ride. They are just getting into triathlon and they have been build base miles on the trace. That first loop was an eye opener. About half way through the course he had dropped off. I held back and finished the ride with him. It took it in great stride. The ride had highlighted some weaknesses (new rider, hilly course) and he started to mentally construct his winter cycling plan know that come spring he would be better, stronger, faster.

Read more at www.powermultisport.com

Hummingbird Frenzy

We have a couple of feeders at the house.  This time of year the humming birds are fierce.  They are feeding like crazy right now so that they can develop a little fat pad.  They will use this energy store to help them survive the flight across the gulf.  I was siting outside while taking this video.  They did not seem to mind.  These guys are fearless right now!

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The helmet–a short story

I’m taking a writing class at the university. Since this blog is really just my journal I thought I might go ahead and post some of the short stories. It might be fun to look back and see if I get any better at writing. 

 

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The helmet

An outstretched hand was dangling before me. The voice boomed, “Are you alright?” I was sitting on the embankment. My head was throbbing, my ears were ringing. My bicycle was twisted on the ground next to the thicket that defines the border of the trace.

Read more at www.powermultisport.com.

After the storm–cool weather

Last weekend Tropical Storm Lee sat over our area and drowned my cycling plans. I did get two solid shoe soaked running sessions logged into the books. I also helped out at the annual Labor Your Legs 5K. There was a bit of bicycle wrench work as well. I have the Big Dam Bridge Century Ride a little later this month and I do not need a mechanical.

Not me.

Read more at powermultisport.com

How to run in the rain–part 2

You can read How to run in the rain–part 1.

Why is there a part 2?  Because of the clean up after running in the rain.  Your clothes and stuff can be washed in the normal manner.  However, the shoes are another story.  Since it is raining they can not be set out in the driveway to dry.  You have to manually dry them.

Read more here – www.powermultisport.com

Insoles out and drying on the bike trainer.

How to run in the rain–part 1

Tropical storm Lee passed through the area this memorial day weekend.  I have been asked several times, “How do you run your long run if it rains?”  Well, you can run in the rain, run inside or reschedule.

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tight shirt

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The Poppery

I used to eat a lot of popcorn.  Not the microwave monstrosity but pure unadulterated air popped corn.  It always amazes me that we can take an otherwise healthily food and turn it into the worst possible substance to put into our bodies.  And it really doesn’t taste any better.

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Cardiac Drift and the Long Run

I was looking at a heart rate file from a local athlete during their 20 mile long run.  I am sure the temperature increased some during this 3 hour effort but I am also sure that dehydration played a role as well.

 

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New treadmills at the Payne Center

The kids are back on campus and the gym is full again.  This will last a couple of weeks and then it will be back to normal.

On the plus side (and a big plus) is that we got all new treadmills in the Payne Center.  I think that I am one of the few people that doesn’t absolutely detest running on the treadmill.  I think it is because of the way that I approach the contraption.  Just as with swimming, if I start a treadmill session without a plan (you plan to fail) then I will run fairly easy and get bored.  If I get bored then my perceived exertion starts to sky rocket.  Before long I have shut the beast down after only a couple of marginal miles. 

So we got much needed new treadmills.  The last set lasted 5 years – they were brand spanking new the month I started at USM.  But they really started to wear out after the first 4 years.  I stopped using them.  First they would automatically shut down when you were running fast – fast for me is mid 6’s.  You would be running along on your tempo and bam the treadmill would power down.  I assume the motor would get hot.  After it completely shut down you could fire it back up and get a another mile of so and then it would happen again.  I started to make a game out of it – treadmill random fartlets.  Not my ideal workout but it was manageable -  I could still run my comfortable 8 minutes per mile paces and listen to a podcast for an hour.

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Exercise has saved my life, twice.

If you remember, last year I was still very guarded about my past. Only handful of people y knew anything about my past. I kept it to myself. I was not ready to put myself out in the public eye.  After much soul searching I posted about it (5 years …).  Your compassion, empathy and kindness were overwhelming.  Thank you so much.

Today, it has been six years since I lost my wife and daughter. They will always be a part of me. I think of them both daily. Since that series of posts last year, I have grown. I have allowed myself to talk about my experiences and I have gained new perspectives.

In fact, just this past weekend I gave a presentation to the group fitness instructors and the personal trainers at the Payne Center. I talked about my experiences. I talked about how exercise has helped me conquer challenges. I talked about how exercise has made me a better person. I talked about how exercise helped saved me.

Keep in mind that this was a presentation – there might be some typos, etc.  And it is a rather long post.  I had considered breaking it up but decided to just post it in it’s entirety.

 

 

My daughter and I at Indiana Dunes State Park

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Specialized - you tri–we fly

I’m not going to Kona (but I know someone who is  - more on that later) but I thought this was a very innovative marketing campaign from Specialized Bicycle.  Basically, if you qualified for Kona on a Specialized bike, they will ship your bike for free.

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Don’t be a fool or a coward on race day

Whenever you race _________ (marathon, ironman, half marathon, any distance event) don’t be a fool for the first half or a coward on the second half.

What a great line.

When on the starting line and the excitement of the race is upon you, it is so easy to throw the race plan out the window. If you are not careful, by the time you notice your pace it can be too late. Running minutes faster in the first few miles will rarely result in success. In fact, you will only have success if you were sandbagging on your tempo runs and you really are much faster.

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Don’t be a fool or a coward

Trek the Trace, August 9

Tuesdays, August 16, 23 and 30.
6pm - USM Gateway Pavilion on the Longleaf Trace
2 mile fun run for adults / Kids run
Prizes and awards
Main dish and drinks provided
Please bring a dish for potluck (deserts, salads, vegetables, etc)

We had a lot of fun at the Trek the Trace last night. For those unfamiliar, the trek the trace is a 2 mile predicted time race. You don’t have to be the fastest - just the closest to your predicted time.

Prizes were awarded to the closet and furthest from their predicted times.  Congratulations to Ken Dobson (-0:14) and Crystal Sticker.

It is also a fun social event and a time to catch up with running friends. We had 25 participates – a lot of new faces! We also got lucky with the weather. Sure it was hot but there was some cloud cover that provided some shade.

There will be 3 more of these events – same time / place – including a 1 mile kids run -

Tuesday’s in August at 6PM at the Long Leaf Trace gateway.

I would like to thank all of the pacers that helped out last night.  You guys make these events easy!

King of the Mountain Epley Challenge

We were headed to the coast early Saturday morning for some back to school shopping. No, not for children but for us. Anyway, this meant I would have to skip the 7:00AM Winn Dixie ride. Now, I really like this ride. We got a good 50 miles last Saturday. Instead, I jumped on the 6:00AM Jackson Station ride, or more appropriately the B-team ride.

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Recovery runs–more harm than good?

The recovery run is much debated. It is commonly heard that a complete rest day will do you better than a few easy miles. And that might be true for an extremely challenging race effort or while training for short distances. Just so we are on the same page, I define a recovery run as a relatively short run (3 – 6 miles) at a very comfortable pace – for example a minute slower than a long run and about 2 minutes slower than marathon pace.

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Video Bike analysis–take 1

You know I have been playing with a video camera for the past few weeks.  Well, I set up my bike trainer in the garage and took the following video.  I have done a dozen + sprints, several Olympic, 2 70.3’s and a full ironman on this bike in this basic configuration.  Boy I look cramped.  Any criticism is welcome.

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You have seen the best, now the rest

I agree, that 88 MPH on Tyler Farrar’s Stage 3 win seems questionable – even fantastic.  But if you look at the speed chart it is not even a spike – there is a large block at the end of the stage that is 70+ MPH.  INCREDIABLE. -

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/97231307

Now for the rest. 

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TDF 2011 Garmin Connect Files

Ever wonder the stats of the riders during the TDF.  I do.  I found the Garmin Cervelo Garmin Connect account - here.  Wow, is all I have to say.

 

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Resting Heart Rate and Overtraining

What is over training? From Wikipedia:

Overtraining is a physical, behavioral, and emotional condition that occurs when the volume and intensity of an individual’s exercise exceeds their recovery capacity. They cease making progress, and can even begin to lose strength and fitness. Overtraining is a common problem in weight training, but it can also be experienced by runners and other athletes.

Some of the symptoms of overtraining are:

§ Persistent muscle soreness

§ Persistent fatigue

§ Elevated resting heart rate

§ Reduced heart rate variability

§ Increased susceptibility to infections

§ Increased incidence of injuries

§ Irritability

§ Depression

§ Mental breakdown

Sitting at my desk

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Tour de France–rider via Twitter

Have you been following the Tour de France?  This is one of the most exciting tours that I have ever witnessed!  There really are several riders that can win the race.

On top of that it is the most interactive Tour de France ever.  Have you been following the riders via twitter?  I have.

Read more at Power Multisport.

Ankle better–check, back to running

I stayed off of the run all week, since I turned my ankle last Sunday while trail running.  In addition to the turned ankle I got a crick in my neck last Tuesday.  Well, the only day that I ran was when I was shooting some video – watch the video here.  I ran less than 100 yards on the swollen ankle and the stiff neck.  We must be bobble heads while we run.  That little bit of running really tweaked the neck.

Speaking of the video, I really appreciate the comments.  I am not sure how to go about ‘correcting’ my form but I am going to work on it.  My stride reminds me of swimming and crossing the center line.

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Two yoke frog in the hole

I just got back from a 10 mile run with some friends.  I eaten breakfast before the run.  Hunger was setting in quick.

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Toasting

And a successful flip!

Video Run analysis–take 1

Recently I have been playing with a video camera.  I wanted to take a look at my running form – gait, stride, etc.  I thought, what better place than the football stadium.  I knew it would flat and smooth.  Even more important I knew that it would have straight lines.

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2011 Sunfish–Lessons Learned

I have raced three triathlons this year. They have all been hot and tough. Last weekend was the Sunfish. This was my first triathlon 5 years ago. Let us look back at this race.

A hard effort!

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Trail running with turned ankles

We were all a little stiff getting out of the car after the Sunfish.  Nothing major since the race is short but we could feel it in our legs.
Monday’s are generally my off days (at least for the legs – just Master’s swim) so I wanted to get a few mile running.  However, since there was fatigue in the legs I did not want a block of structured hard miles. 
I have been a ‘product tester’ for Reebok for a while now.  Last week I received a pair of trail walking / hiking shoes.  They have some kind of zipper technology and are made from gore-tex.  I thought I might find some standing water and stream to run through.  I have been wearing them everyday.  They are comfortable and fit me well.

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2011 Sunfish Race Report

I had my alarm set for 3AM. The coffee maker started at 2:45AM. I woke up without difficulty. The truck was already loaded up. I prepared a bowl of oatmeal and had a cup of coffee. I made my way to Lance’s just a couple of miles away.

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Back to Mississippi

After a good visit with family it is back to Mississippi.  I got in a couple of good hot and hilly runs and spent some time at the lake with my nieces and nephew.

I’ll leave you with a photo of Big George Hincapie’s legs.  They have always been like that but people are always amazed when they see them during the tour.

Wow – !

Jillian at the Wellness Center

After the hill repeats I went to the Wellness center with my father.  Since the beginning of the year he has quit smoking, started exercising and writing a blog …

His routine consists of a mile or two warm up on the treadmill at a brisk walk.  Brisk is really brisk meaning 3.5 to 4.5 MPH with bursts up to 5.5 MPH – all at an incline of 1.5.  That is a fast walk.

This is Body Pump

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Hill repeats

I woke up early here in East Texas.  I had my coffee and then headed outside.  At the end of the driveway is a hill on both sides.  I let my GPS watch sync up and slipped on my racing flats.  I also grabbed my orange cones. 

Not my hill …

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