3 DAYS = 50 MILES RUNNING

On Friday I got up early and put together a good, solid 8 mile run. I started at a 7:30 minute per mile pace and tried to increase the speed each mile. I finished up the run at just about 7:00 minutes per mile with an average of 7:12 for the 8 miles.

I was planning on running again at lunch but got wrapped up in a racquetball game. It was good fun and probably a good idea to skip the run – I was already committed to running after work.

I wanted another 8 miles after work. I met Jim at about 5:15 and I was running home. Jim was going to run the first couple with me. This run was at an easy pace. I did, however, cut the run short. It just plan got dark – QUICK. I got 6 miles and called it a day. After I cleaned up - my legs were sore. Much more sore than they would have normally been. I guess it was just from the accumulating fatigue of 3 exercise sessions.

Jim came over to the house early on Saturday. We had planned on putting together a pretty long run. There was also a group ride a little bit later in the morning that I had wanted to do.

We went out at an easy pace. It took about a mile for my legs to loosen up. Jim dropped off at about mile 9. At the 10 mile turn around point I stopped and spoke with some cyclist. Jim never showed up. I turned towards home and put together some of my fastest miles – even up hill. This was the best that I had ever felt at the 10 mile mark. This feeling kept up and I felt great at 12 miles. At mile 14 I was still feeling pretty good – then it started to hurt. The last six miles were tough. I kept the pace up and I even ran mile 19 deep into the 7 minutes per mile area. I was a little sore after the run. I got 20 miles for the run and 34 miles in 2 days. Jim was waiting at my house when I finished. He got about 18 miles.

Sunday I was going to do the group cycling ride but laced up the shoes again. I headed out on the trace and my legs were slow and sore. I was thinking about only running 3 miles. Then I saw Neil heading my way. I turned around and ran with him for 2 miles. He had just finished up an 8 mile tempo run. I did the 2 mile ‘cool down’ at about a 7:20 minute per mile pace. I was now headed towards campus and would end up with 12 miles. I kept running and I was doing the numbers in my head. This was an easier run than the 20 miler the day before and if I just got 16 miles total I would complete 50 miles running in 3 days – a long weekend if you will. And that is what I did. 50 miles for Friday / Saturday / Sunday. I did something similar to this over the winter holiday and had a minor peak for the First Light Half Marathon. I am hoping for the same for “the WALL” 30k next weekend. So much for training smart.

Short, fast, hard – FAIL

It has been a little while since I failed at one of my exercise sessions. It is frustrating but that is part of the game. I went outside this morning and wanted to put together a 5 mile run at a 6:30 minute per mile pace. McMillan says I should now be able to run it at a 6:22 pace (in a race and all of that) – in addition my 5k times are in the low 19’s (sure it has been a year but I am sticking to it). I set up the GPS ‘virtual nemesis’ guy for said distance and pacing. He did not start out as slow as he usually does but at a manageable pace. I thought, “Not too bad”. My legs were still sore from the speed work on Tuesday night but I have seen sore legs before. At the start of almost all of these races over the last 6 weeks my legs have been sore at the starting line. I have had my doubts at each of these starting lines but the legs have not let me down. And today it was a little warmer - the temperatures in Southern Mississippi have returned to normal – 65 degrees and 100% humidity.

I was just not on game today – not physically or more importantly mentally. At the mile and a half mark I was holding steady but then I let me slip away. I pulled up – I let the digital nemesis go – he had been holding my shoulder and waiting for a break - he passed with authority and never looked back. I turned around at headed back to base camp. I was a dejected. During the much slow run I was able to pick myself up by my boot straps. FAILING is part of the process. Every night I push that trophy just a little further away. I remember when I thought it was too far out of reach in the past. I look at those lines in the sand. Some of them took years to cross (breaking the 20 minute barrier in the 5k) – but I step over them regularly. They are easy now. Some of the milestones are now easy training days. I remember the fear and trepidation of swimming 10 laps in a row in the pool much less the panic of my first 1/3 mile swim in a triathlon. I failed in the pool way back when. I failed at my first open water swims. Those are nothing now – I mean not even a warm up!

We like to succeed. We like to succeed all of the time. It feels good to accomplish things. However, these days it seems like so many accomplishments now are so easily achievable. They require no real work and therefore they have no real value. The successes are only worth the effort involved! If I don’t push the trophy a little further away each day then what value does a trophy have if you only have to walk across the run to get it?

I failed today – I pushed the limit and came up short. I like to say – “I’m never down. I’m either up or in the process of getting back up!” Today I am getting back up.

10 YASSOS!!!

With an extra day off I rested. My legs were tired after the race. I got up early but took a nap in the early afternoon. However, the weather was beautiful and I took the bike outside for the first time all year. I put together an easy 30 mile ride. My legs were a little tired but the day was so nice.


I got up early on Tuesday and wanted to get in the water. I got to the gym early but the pool lights were off. I was not the only one wanted to swim. I guess the pool guy slept late. Having this happen to me in the past I had a contingency plan. I changed into workout clothes and went up stairs and put together a tough strength training workout.

I did quite a few sets of chest, back, legs and abs. I am sure that I will be sore for a couple of days. There was no workout at lunch do to classes starting up.

After work I went to the track. I saw several pacers but Jim was absent – he was a no show. The plan was for 10 Yasso 800’s! This would be hard. The original plan was to do them at marathon pace – but that is a moving target right now. Last week I was able to do several at below 3:00 – that would be my mark tonight. I started out too quick – the first one clicked off at 2:51 – way too fast.

I tried to slow it down a bit but the second clicked off at 2:55. I now had to slow it down or I would blow up. I slowed it down and was able to complete the set. Slowing down made the sets challenging but achievable.

01. 2:51
02. 2:55
03. 3:00
04. 3:06
05. 3:05
06. 3:04
07. 3:05
08. 3:03
09. 3:06
10. 3:02

Ten Yasso’s were the goal when I started and I can check them off the list. Now I just need to get a little faster or extend these repeats out to 1200’s!

Larry Fuselier State Championship 25K Race Report

I got up early this Sunday morning following a wonderful Saints playoff win. I went over to Jim’s house and watched the game. Charles was there also. Jodie made a kick ass Saints cake for the game. I ate too much and drank a couple of beers.


For the 25K race in New Orleans I had to get up at 3:10 AM. I thought to myself – Who’s idea was it to do these races. Such an early morning after a Saints playoff win – remember, you have to celebrate these – this has only been the 3rd win in history.

So, we got to New Orleans at 7:00 AM about an hour from the start of the race. I was definitely not feeling good for the race. I was a little scared about the distance. Sure I had run 15 miles before but I have never raced the distance. I was unsure of my pacing.

I decided to set the GPS watch for the same time as last week – 6:55 minutes per mile. This would be a challenge. This 25K race (15.5 mile race) is on a levy along the Mississippi River. This means that there will be a wind – a strong wind. I started out and tried to follow the virtual trainer and I was successful for the most part. The wind was brisk but tolerable. I soon found myself in a group of strong girl runners. I tucked in behind them to break the wind. I kept with them for several miles. They started to break up and slow just a bit and I had to take the wind on by myself. This was brutal. I got caught up in no man’s land. I trudged along. As I neared the half way point the wind got even stronger. It was in your face. Another runner caught up with me. He was wearing a 70.3 New Orleans shirt from last year. I started to get chatty. We talked about the race for a couple of miles. I asked him his age to make sure that I would not get beat out – he was 30 – 34.

As we rounded the turn around the wind just stopped. There was no wind on the way back – the air was still – it almost got hot. As we talked he said he was from Hattiesburg – we had not really looked at each other but I quickly realized that this was Chris S. – a local triathlete – I know this guy. This is a small world.

I had been chasing a guy in a purple Louisiana shirt for all of the race and he was a few hundred feet ahead of me. Chris and I had run along for a couple of miles but I picked up the pace with 4 miles to go – Chris fell back a little bit.

I was on my own but my pace quickened. I was making good time and gaining on the man in purple – just not gaining quick enough. According to the virtual trainer guy I had lost 200 feet to him at the turn around but I was making time now. At mile 11 or so I broke even with the virtual trainer guy. And I just tried to put more time into him. I never caught the guy in purple – he finished 15 seconds ahead of me but I did put 300+ feet into the virtual guy. I finished 10th overall with a 1:46: xx time for the 25k averaging 6:53 minutes per mile. I saw one of the girls after the race and thanked her for breaking the wind the on the way out – she got a kick out of that!

Jim was not happy with his run at 2:01 but Charles beat his time of 2:20 by a minute. These races have been hard but they are paying off!

Mid week tempo

Wednesday was an easy day – my legs were tired after the Yasso 800’s from Tuesday. So I only did an easy bike on the exerbike during lunch. I did this just so that I could read a book. I followed the short bike with some strength training.


Thursday, I did the bike trainer in the morning and I prepared for a tough run workout during lunch. I had arrived at work early so that I could take a little longer at lunch. My training plan called for a short warm up with a tough 10 mile tempo run. Working the FIRST training plan all of the workouts are challenging. The pace in that the plan called for was at a 7:26 minute / mile pace. This is for the 3:15 marathon training plan. This pace seemed too easy. I flipped to the 3:10 marathon training plan and it demanded a 7:15 minute / mile pace. This was also not as challenging. I was perplexed as to my pace.

I decided to go out at a 7:10 minute / mile pace. This seemed comfortable – almost conversational. Heading out from the university is very slightly uphill. I tried to stay at the designated pace but it quickened at the turn around. It was hard turning around. I was about an eighth of a mile from my house. The pace topped out at 6:50 minutes / mile – the pace that I ran Sunday’s half. I finished the run with an average pace of 7:02. It did get hard. This was a solid run for the middle of the week.

I am reevaluating my pacing for the marathon. I can play it safe or hug the edge.

More Yasso's

Monday was a ‘recovery day’. I got in the pool for lunch and did an easy 1500 yards (3 x 500). This was much better than last week. I did not time any of the repeats but the swim is coming back. It has still been cold at work so I took it real easy and jumped in the sauna for about 10 minutes. It felt awesome.

Tuesday was back to the plan. I woke up and the legs were tired. Trying to get back into the routine following the holiday – I jumped on the bike trainer for a 45 minute spin. As I said, the legs were tired but I was glad that I did it.

Lunch time was going to be another easy workout. I was either going to jump in the pool again or do easy spinning on the exerbike (read a book). However, I ended up playing racquetball for 30 minutes. After the racquet sports I headed upstairs for just a little bit of strength training. This would be easy stuff. I have not worked out with weights in a while and wanted to take it easy so that I am not so sore that it affects my running. I did three sets of the bench press and then a couple sets of stiff legged dead lifts. Nothing heavy but I did feel it – and I am sure I will continue to feel it for the next couple of days.

The real workout for the day was right after work – at the track. I wanted to increase the Yasso 800’s by two. I completed 6 sets last week with an average time of 3:05 for the 800 meters. I met Charles and Jim at the track and we worked out the details for the 25K race this Sunday. It looks like we will be driving down the morning of the race. The temperature should be much better than last week’s race – more like 40 degrees. This will be perfect weather. This race is along a levy near New Orleans – the wind could be a factor. Looking at the McMillan Running Calculator (turn down your speakers) my times are falling into line. It indicates that my 25K pace time should be 6:56 minutes per mile – and on top of that my marathon time is now projected at 3:08:41 at a 7:12 minute per mile pace – we will see about that!

Back to the track workout– I wanted to complete 8 of the 800 meter repeats at 3:05. I started out too fast, as usual, and completed the first set at just under 3:00 minutes. These were hard but achievable. I tried to keep the pace up. My times were as follows:

WU - 800 repeats
1. 2:59
2. 2:58
3. 2:59
4. 2:59
5. 3:01
6. 3:02
7. 3:00
8. 2:59
CD

First Light Half Race Report - PR

My legs were tired on Saturday. There would be no running prior to the race on Sunday morning. I did, however, jump on the bike trainer for 45 minutes. It was cold in the house (good for the trainer) and I did not turn a fan on me. This was a mistake. Even at a comfortable pace I was dripping sweat within minutes. I took off my shirt and continued to spin away.


For the First Light Half Marathon I left the house at 4:00 AM and picked up Jim at his house. It was COLD. I brought 2 large mugs of coffee with me for the 2 hour drive and even picked up a third cup during the drive. At packet pick-up I even topped off my mug. I picked up a couple of extra race packets for people that were not able to make the race. The race people asked me if it was because of the temperature – I’m sure it was a factor. It was in the very low 20’s at the race start. I ran a few warm up miles (a couple of blocks – not miles) to determine how much clothing to wear. I had compression socks (knee highs) on my legs, compression shorts covered with tights, a compression shirt covered with a long sleeved zipped shirt, some old socks with the toes cut out for arm warmers and an ear warmer type headband thingy. Although my feet were frozen – and would stay frozen for a couple more hours – I decided to ditch the tights and put on shorts. This would work out well. Prior to the start we ran into Neil and Aaron. They were both at the Ole Man River race. At that race I tried to hang with Neil (who went out at a 6:35 pace) and I blew up at about mile 2. That was a tough race – a PR but a tough race. Today I would race my own race!

This race does not use timing chips so I inched my way towards the front. I had set my gps watch for 6:55 minute miles (for 13.15 miles – just to be safe). I was going to try to follow my pacing as close as possible. I started off and made my way through the crowd. There were people passing me but I was working the plan. I did not see Neil or Aaron at all. So the weather was cold – and it was also very windy. Working my own pace, it soon left me in no man’s land – and into the wind. I saw a group of runners a couple of 100 feet ahead of me but it would have been too hard to close the gap without blowing up. At about mile 3 I could hear foot steps behind me. I was pleased that someone was passing me and I jumped on their shoulder and let them carry me to the pack ahead. In this pack I got a little chatty – I was running at my goal pace and I was still chatty. One of the guys had a Boston Marathon jacket and I said that I was working on getting one of those. This guy and one other were running the marathon and shooting for a sub-3. Just about my pace. I jumped in line with them. At mile 7 we passed Neil. He had gone out much slower than in the last race – I had seen him just head for a long time. I tried to get him to jump on as we passed but he was hurting a little bit. He said he was going to try and log some 7 minute miles – I was a little faster at this point.

I enjoyed the ride from these marathon guys but had to leave them at mile 8 – where the half and full split ways. I was alone again and I would have to pace myself now. I was all alone for about 2 miles and about 2 tenths of a mile ahead of my ‘virtual trainer’.

At mile 10 a strong runner in his 20’s passed me. I grabbed his shoulder and got pulled along. This was a hard pace. At the water stops I had to slow and walk a step or two while I drank – he was able to drink on the run. I mustered the strength and got back on him again. However, he started pulling away. I had also heard someone behind me with much labored breathing. They were slowly gaining and that encouraged me to keep the pace up. I knew it was not Neil – it was a girl. I tried to keep her from passing me but she was persistant. I never slowed she just steady gained on me. As she overtook me with 2 tenths of a mile remaining she said – “Come on” – or something to that effect. I dug deep and tried to sprint out the end but it was just not there (my last tenth of a mile was at a 6:30 pace – just not fast enough). If it had been Neil I might have been able to pick it up more – but…

This was the smartest race I have ever run. The first half of the race felt too easy. It was very hard to maintain this ‘easier’ pace. The race did get hard and it was tough but SO MUCH EASIER than all of my recent races. The splits were much more even and the heart rate had few spikes. This is how you are supposed to run these races. I am glad that I decided to race so much for this marathon training. Not only are these races more valuable than training runs in fitness – they are much more valuable in race experience and strategy. The plan is coming together.

I ended up in 14th overall and I won my age group with a sub-1:30 (1:29:38 – I also think the race was a little long – not by much – but several people recorded 13.2 miles – no biggie). By my watch I ran a 6:47 pace and by official time it was a 6:50 pace. It was evening paced with one slow mile and one fast mile - back to back.  There might have been a small hill.  My average heart rate was 179 beats per minute- three beats per minute faster than my last half. This is interesting because I went out so much easier. My confidence is building for a Boston Qualifying Mardi Gras Marathon.

Next weekend is the 34th Annual Larry Fuselier RRCA Louisiana State 25K (15.5 miles) Championship.

Splits for the First Light Half

01 0:06:44
02 0:06:52
03 0:06:42
04 0:06:52
05 0:06:38
06 0:07:01
07 0:06:29
08 0:06:53
09 0:06:52
10 0:06:46
11 0:06:45
12 0:06:47
13 0:06:48
0.15 0:06:31

First Light Prep

It has been a hard week getting back into the groove of work. First, the gym was closed on Monday and Tuesday. This threw off my schedule. I only ended up making it to the pool on one occasion. Second, the cold weather that has moved into Southern Mississippi has been brutal. I know that this is not like other parts of the country but it has been difficult this week – my office at work has finally warmed up some – I still wore my jacket all of Friday while at work.


On Friday at lunch I was supposed to go for a run outside with Jim – to make up for the missed tempo run from Thursday (freezing temperate and heavy rain). I suited up with a couple of base layers as well as tights. I almost never wear tights but thought that they might be a good idea. After I was completely dressed I ran into Jim – he said that we would have to run indoors – he did not have the proper clothes for an outside run. I offered him some of my extra base layers and extra jackets and even the tights. No go! So we ran on the indoor 1/8th mile track. This track circles above several basketball courts and is always cold. To simulate the colder temperatures that I would experience on race day I wore thin running shorts and a running singlet. It was pretty cold. We warmed up for a couple of miles in and around 8 minutes per mile. I’m not sure why but I pushed the pace on the 3rd mile to 6:40. The fourth was slower but mile five was faster. It ended up being 6:35 for the final mile.

This was a good effort but not too hard. It was comfortably hard for me. The highest that my heart rate monitor read was 178 – not that high. For example, a week prior, at the Steam Whistle 12K (7.45 miles) my heart rate averaged 181 for the race (6:39 minutes per mile).

I felt strong during this short indoor track run. I have been working on my pace stagey for Sunday’s half marathon in Mobile (the First Light half and full marathon). My last half I PR’d with an average pace of 7:09 and at the Steam Whistle I had an average pace of 6:39 (7.45 miles – a little over half of a half). Both of these races I went out a bit fast. I am wondering if I just try to run my goal half pace of 7:00 or if I should be a little more aggressive and try to hang on again. That is what I have done for all of my races and it is HARD – it is NOT FUN – and it probably is not the fastest way to run the race.

On top of the pace concerns, the temperature at race start looks like 23 degrees. I am debating whether to wear the tights.

Body fat scan ...

My legs were still tired. Not so much from the running on Tuesday but from squats this week. This always happens. Anytime that I do any strength training with my legs – it takes days for them to recover. And these weren’t like I was pressing a ton of weight. On Monday and Wednesday I did several sets of ‘body weight’ squats. Just body weight squats. My legs were just tired.


I stepped on the scale the first thing in the morning and I weighed 159.0 – this is the lowest I have been in months. This was encouraging. I felt good about my sticking to my diet and seeing results. With my legs tired I skipped the morning workout. Jim and I had already planned for a good tempo run at work.

I walked over to the HPR building to meet Chris. We talked a bit and then he did the Dexa Scan. As I had mentioned earlier, my body fat scale reads 8.x in athlete mode and 18.x in normal mode. I would be happy if it split the difference. I was very frustrated with the results. The Dexa Scan indicated that my body fat was 17.5 percent. I was surprised that it was that high. Chris was surprised that it was that high. I mean I can see my ribs and some of my abs (very vague but they can be seen in just the right light). There is slight definition. But the Dexa Scan is very accurate. What are you going to do?

Chris and I talked for a bit about diet and exercise. We have talked before. I always eat too few calories and I need to work on this area. When I want a calorie deficiet I cut too much.

The run got skipped at lunch. The weather has been cold and rain started to move into the area. Lunch brought cold temperatures and rain. Jim and I both passed on the run. I thought about doing the tempo on the treadmill. I actually wanted to do the tempo run but my legs were still fatigued. I played racquetball instead.

Body fat? I wonder...

I got up on Wednesday and all that I knew was that I did not want to go for a run in the 25 degrees. Having run the Yasso 800’s the night before the legs needed a rest. The fitness center would be opening back up toady and I had trouble deciding just what I wanted to do today. I could ride my trainer and watch some television on the internet or I could go to the gym and ride the exercise bike and read a book. I have been enjoying reading but with my race bike on the trainer it is difficult to read - I am in an aero position in the aero bars – it just does not work well for the reading. Watching television is not a problem.


Anyway, I weighed the pros and cons and it cost me valuable time. I do so much better when I actually work a plan and just follow it. With the running I have not been following a plan but there is some structure. I am doing my main workouts – intervals, tempo and long runs – with several races spaced throughout the plan. It is the cross training where I am having difficulties.

So I decided to just stay home because driving to the campus and then walking to and from the gym would eat up even more minutes. I only rode about 20 minutes on the trainer – it was a little more intense but I should have managed my time better.

At lunch I got in the pool for the first time in about 2 months. I took my wetsuit but, fortunately, it was not necessary. I do wish that swimming was like a bicycle. I feel like I have lost a lot of swim fitness. Sam and Chris were also in the pool and we just worked on drills. I only got about 1000 yards (20 minutes or so) but it was productive – the numbers are just not impressive. I spoke with Chris about a Dexa Scan – so that I could get a baseline on my body fat. I have a Bioelectrical Impedance scale but it is not accurate, however, I do believe that is precise. I have always just used it to track trends. Used in this method it is functional. But, I would like to know the offset. In the athletic mode the scale reads my body fat in the 7’s but in the normal mode it reads about 20 – big variance. I had calipers done a year or so ago and it was around 15 or 16. Before the ironman they had a Bioelectrical Impedance scale at check in and it read 12 percent. So I do not know where I am – with the Dexa Scan, the new gold standard for body fat analysis, it will give me the offset – I will know how much to add to the 7.x. Much better tracking.

I had some time on my hands after work and I hit the gym again. I wanted to run on the treadmill at a 7 minute pace – to see how that felt and make a determination if that is the pace that I want to run this weekend’s half marathon. That was my gold medal pace for the Ole Man River Half. I ran that at a 7:09 but I went out way too fast. I think that I have some more speed – just not sure if it is 7 or FASTER. The last race that I ran – the Steam Whistle 12k – I was able to ‘hang on’ for the 7.45 miles at 6:39. I have been thinking – wondering – if I could have held on for another 5 miles. The answer is NO – but what about a 6:50? Not sure on that one but I would love to see a 1:29: xx!

The run did not work out – my legs were just too tired. In addition, I lack motivation in the evenings. It is much harder to get the job done. I canned the run after mile and did a little strength training. I then called it a day.

I am still working the health eating plan and I am having success. I weighed in at 159.8 – the first time that I have been in the 150’s since just before my ironman (just prior to the taper in fact). I have been eating very well and it has been easy. I do very well when bad food is out of sight – it truly is out of mind. This is what my dinners have been looking like – good stuff.

Frozen tundra -

I rode the bike trainer for 30 minutes on Tuesday morning. I was planning on do a short warm up and then do a 20 minute TT. I just could not hold a decent pace. I aborted. The legs were burning. I do need to start upping the cycling intensity but with the running it has been hard. Something I need to get under control.

At work it was Day 2 of the frozen tundra. Let me explain. The university campus shut down for the holiday. The furnaces were shut down. So we got back to work on Monday and the physical plant was coming but out to each building and restoring the heating system. It was cold in the buildings. My building is one of the oldest on campus and I have a wall of not very insulated windows.  It was 50 – 60 degrees cold inside. I realize that it does not sound that bad. But, when you come in from the 30 degree outside and then sit at a desk for 8 hours in 60 degrees – YOU NEVER WARM UP!

In addition, the fitness center’s heat would not come back on so the facility is still not open (should open tomorrow). I thought about going for a run outside at lunch but I backed out. I was worried about coming back to the office a little sweaty and then not being able to warm back up.  I know that the pool will be super cold.  I am going to take my wetsuit with me in the morning.

After work I met Charles at the track. The sun was going down and it was COLD - the temperature was in the low 30’s. We did a warm up for 1.5 miles and then we each did out own 800’s. I was playing it smart. The Yasso’s call for 800 meters at 3:15 (a 6:30 minute per mile pace). I almost always go out too fast but this time I was going to just do the time. The last time I did these I only did 4. I was going to add to that – I completed 6 800’s – the slowest being the first:

1 0:03:10
2 0:03:03
3 0:03:05
4 0:03:06
5 0:03:07
6 0:03:05

I have another half marathon this weekend and it should warm up to the 30’s for race day. Perfect conditions.

On the food front – it has been going great. I have been doing very well. I have been very good food – both taste and nutrition. This is falling into place.

No SWIM for you!

I got back to work today –not real excited about swimming but ready to get back in the pool none the less and guess what? The fitness center here at the university was closed. The heating is broken and the center will not open back up until Thursday. Bummer – I was planning on getting back to the swim. It has been freezing here in Mississippi (actually in the 30’s – I know it is not that cold – I did live near Chicago for a dozen or so years so I do know the cold). The pool is going to be a block of ice! I think I will have to bring my wetsuit.

With no fitness center – what was I to do? Jim wanted to go for a run at lunch but I am trying to be smarter than usual and I said “No way” to the run. My legs feel fine but I know that the recovery time is when you make your gains. I really want to bank some of the “Holiday Running Camp” miles. I did get a few body weight exercises done in my office. A couple of my co-workers joined in – it was just 3 sets of 30 pushups / squats (super set) with 1 minute of recovery. That does not sound like much does it? It was tough and none of us completed the pushups. To be fair these were REAL pushups – controlled and slow. But still – we all should have been able to nail these.

It was also nice to see the bulletin board wiped clean and several people had already updated their weights. There are lots of unhappy people this time of year - I know because I am usually one of them. It is always back to the grindstone. As they say – you can manage what you measure!

I am looking forward to my body mass getting back into line. I have been doing very well with eating health and enjoying the results. I brought 5 lunches and 10 snacks to work and I will follow through. I have also started the diet log once again. I was even tempted to start a diet photo log - take a picture of everything that you eat. That is real motivation - it is a lot harder to put some crappy food in your mouth if you have to show everyone exactly what you are eating. I'm not sold on the idea yet but it will be put into place if necessary (you will have to put up with the boring pictures if I go this route).

Holiday Running Camp

Well, with the holidays officially over I have not only been able to maintain my weight, I have actually lost a little bit. I have been watching what I eat and avoiding my trigger foods. I have also upped my exercise during this holiday.

I decided to take advantage of my time off (2 weeks –and no travel). I did go to New Orleans the first weekend for a race (Ole Man River Half Marathon– 1:33:53 PR) and I behaved for the most part. I did have two ice creams for dessert at lunch post race. I also had a few drinks in the French Quarter the night after the race. But other than that I have been on task regarding my diet.

Further taking advantage of the holiday, I conducted a little running camp. I thought that this would be a good time to really up the mileage and increase some of the paces. Without having to go to work it gave me time to get some time to do some long runs without having to run in the dark hours of the morning or evening. Even more importantly, the time off, has giving me time to recover from these endeavors. I have been impressed with my recovery this past 2 weeks. This is an area that I have really struggled with in the past. I remember my first half marathon in November of 2008 – 14 months ago. It took me nearly 2 weeks to recover from that race alone. I tried to run a little bit and push the pace and it just was not there. So during this time off I was able to successfully race twice by meeting or exceeding my goals. The chart below shows my running for the 2 weeks – 16 days. I took a total of four complete days off from running and had two days where I ran really short but pushed the pace. These short intense sessions were to decide on paces for the upcoming races. I also did the longer runs in groups of 3 and then took a day off (on these off days I rode the bike trainer – total time on the trainer during the holiday was 6 hours). The three day run groupings broke down as follows:

1. 28.71 miles / average 9.57 miles per day
2. 33.16 miles / average 11.05 miles per day
3. 43.13 miles / average 14.37 miles per day

I finished up the holiday with  12 miles (7.45 miles at race pace), 16 miles and then another 15 miles - back to back.  I never felt any discomfort while running – sure the legs were tired and a little sore immediately following the runs and also during the morning the next day – but it was manageable.

2009 Weight - a year in review

I have been weighing and recording the number for nearly 7 years now. I like to look at the data at the end of the year. I know that you are not supposed to weigh everyday and I do get frustrated when my weight is up. For example, I seem to be really influenced by salt. There would be many occasions this year where I would go and do a VERY HARD session consisting of an hour open water swim followed by 50 or 60 miles on the bike (in extremely hot and humid conditions) followed by a 10 + mile run (same damn hot humid conditions). I would be drinking a lot of water and a lot of sports drink. I would eat a healthy dinner and I would wake up weighing 7 – 10 pounds more than the day before. Yes -  frustrated would be the word. I know that it is water weight but – come on. Anyway, I do like to record the data and try to ‘nip it in the bud’ when my weight rises. Easier said than done – and it seems like it is getting harder and harder. You read all of the year end 'lose 10 pounds' diet advice. They always say just cut out the full strength soda and go for a walk for a few minutes a day.


It gets harder when you have already done all of that. Looking at the chart below, It always looks like this - this is the trend. My weight will peak in the winter and gradually go down as the race season progresses. I have made a commitment to my self to lose 10 pounds (I would like for my race weight to 155) prior to the Mardi Gras Marathon – that gives me 8 weeks!

Stats:

2009 Ave – 163.8
MAX-         169.6 (10/19)
MIN –         158.0 (08/12)

New Year 2010 and Steam Whistle Race Report.

Closing out 2009 – This was a year of many firsts. I stepped into the deep end and signed up for my first ½ ironman as well as my first full ironman. I enjoyed the experience of both races. I also increased my volume in all three disciplines – the swim / bike / run. While increasing my volume I was able to achieve a Personal Best in almost all of my races (actually all of my races except for the Jazz Half Marathon – I ran this race for fun). I believe that this is typical of your third year in endurance sports. I am hoping to continue this trend by dipping into my ironman base.


Races in 2009:

Run for Love 5K – 19:19 PR
St. Thomas Irish Italian 5K – 19:09 PR
April Fool’s Duathlon – PR – 57:07 ***
70.3 New Orleans – 5:30 PR ***
Heatwave Triathlon – 2:09 PR (by 5 minutes)
Dragonfly Triathlon – 1:36 PR ***
Sunfish Triathlon – 1:17 PR (by 6 minutes)
Heart O’Dixie Triathlon – 2:13 PR (by 10 minutes)
Ironman Louisville – PR – 11:18 ***

Jazz Half Marathon – 1:40 (NO PR)
Baton Rouge Beach Half Marathon- 1:37:07 PR (by 8 seconds)
Ole Man River Half Marathon – PR – 1:33:53 PR (by 4 + minutes)
*** First time at this distance

2009 Totals –

Bike:        4459.58 Mi - 249h 19m 14s Pace: 17.88 Mi/hr
Run:         1023.25 Mi - 148h 28m 31s Pace: 08m 38s Mi
Swim:  231014.00 Yd -   76h 31m 30s Pace: 01m 59s /100 YdAvg

As you can see in the chart below – my volume for October and November really dropped off of the map. I did not meet any of my mileage goals for the year (5000 bike / 1200 run / 300,000 swim) but I count this year as a huge success!  On a side note, last month was my biggest running month for the year – I guess that is what happens when you shift to a running based goal (to BQ at the Mardi Gras Marathon).

Now onto The Steam Whistle 12K New Year’s Day race.

This race is on the trace just out my back door.  Jodie and I rode our bikes down to Jackson Station and picked up our race packets.  I programmed my GPS watch to run at a 6:40 minute / mile pace. This would be a reach for me. Last week I ran a strong 4 mile tempo run with the last 3 miles being at 6:40 pace. I though that in race conditions I could, maybe, push this pace and last for the entire 12K (7.45 miles). This would be tough. It was a cold morning lining up at Jackson Station and we were all anxious to run. I spoke with Steve C. before the race and hoped that I could pace off of him. He was not sure of the pace that he would be running. I stuck to my plan and ran off of the ‘virtual partner’. He was set for exactly 6:40 minutes per mile which should allow for me to finish the race at just under 50 minutes. This would be my Gold Medal goal for the race.

First the first 2 K’s I was in fourth place – first and second being way out in front and pulling away fast. I was running a little too fast and quickly got about 180 feet ahead of the ‘virtual partner’. This guy just goes out too slow – or maybe I was a little too fast. I tried to slow down just a little bit and run even pace. I was slowing during the middle part of the race – Terry and Robin paced me easily. They were just doing a ‘training run’. They passed me easily. I was able to pick up the pace towards the end of the run and achieve my goal time. I finished the race in 49:38 with an average pace of 6:39. I met my goal and I am going to continue to try to race myself to a Boston Qualifying Time of 3:14:59 (7:28 minutes / mile pace). I ran this race hard with an average heart rate of 181. I ended up finishing 6th out of 97 and first in my age group. Everyone that beat me was years older (8 of the top 10 were older than 42). These guys were always fast and have just gotten older.  After helping clean up and getting Jim's truck unstuck (a huge effort by many pine belt pacers) - Jim and I decided to get a few more miles under our belts.  We got another 4.6 miles to end up with just over 12 miles for the day.

Wet Nasty Billboards

I’m still riding the trainer every morning and getting into the groove. I have ridden the trainer more minutes this month than I think all last year!

I have also continued to increase my running mileage during this holiday. The day after the 15 miles I met Charles and Jim on the trace to mark out the Steam Whistle 12k (about 7.45 miles) route. I did an easy warm-up from my house to Jackson Station (1.4 miles) and met Charles. A few minutes later Jim arrived. It was a beautiful day with the temperature in the 50’s. We marked the start / finish lines and headed west. Charles and I had reconfigured our GPS watches to read kilometers. Charles seems to start a little fast and Jim and I jumped in line behind him.

We ran past Lake Thoreau Drive and then past even Clyde Depot. The turnaround for the route would be just past the ‘Christmas Tree’ about a quarter of a mile west of the depot. Charles stopped and got a drink of water and said to not wait up for him. Jim and I ran and pushed each other with several surges between marking the course – I still had to stop every kilometer.

Once we past Lake Thoreau again we were at the home stretch. I was thinking how this would feel on race day. It is a pretty good ways to the finish – about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles). This will be a HARD home stretch. Jim and I finished up. We crossed paths with Charles as he was running back into Jackson Station. I had invited Jim and Charles over for a beer after the run. Charles said he was going to drive because he did not think he would want to run the 1.4 miles back to his car after the beer. Charles would beat Jim and me to my house.

We had a beer and talked about more running plans. I had already filled out the First Light Half Marathon race registration and gave it to Jim. I told him to decide if we wanted to drive down the day of the race (Jan 10 – we will have to leave town at about 4:00AM to do the race). We all also committed to running the Billboards the following day. I ended up with just over 10 miles for the day.

On Wednesday I did the bike trainer again. I had some breakfast and headed to Jim’s house to run the Billboards. Charles had called me and said that he would meet us at the Billboards in case the weather turned nasty. And nasty it did turn. As I drove to Jim’s house the rain had started to pick up. It went from a drizzle to steady state. We were committed.

I got to Jim’s house and changed clothes. I had brought a wind breaker type cycling jacket and I put on a short sleeved shirt on underneath. I had planned ahead and had a change of shoes. I knew it was going to be wet and I was running in the same shoes from the Powerlines.

It was 1.6 miles from Jim’s house to the Billboards. We met Charles right when we turned off of the road. The temperature had dropped and it was wet and muddy. We hit the hills. I had never run the Billboards.

The Billboards are a red clay packed earthen road that parallels a major highway. It is rolling hills. It was also muddy but nothing like the Powerlines from the week before. We did 4 lengths of the Billboards - a length being one way so 2 laps – to use swimming terms. It was a good challenging work out. I only got 7.8 miles for this day. But, that was 7.8 miles that I would not have normally gotten.

We all commented that the weather was so nasty that NONE of us would have ran if we had not made the commitment. That is called being accountable. This accountability will allow each of us to achieve our goals at the Mardi Gras Marathon!

Running Long

After the breakthrough tempo run I took the next day off of running. I did ride the bike trainer. I have been doing well on the bike trainer – having ridden for 45 minutes 5 out of the past 6 days.

So after I rode the trainer I ate some breakfast and got a little stir crazy. I had planned on going to the track in the early evening and doing some intervals. I actually hate to train in the evening. That is the time that excuses creep into my mind. I thought that if I waited until later then there might be a chance that it would not happen. I had also been neglecting the long run.

So, even though the temperature was in the 30’s I hit the trail so to speak. That race in Baton Rouge was at 32 degrees and although I was cold at the start and finish – in retrospect the conditions were just about perfect. I knew that I would not be running at that intensity so I put just a little bit more clothing on. Actually, I wore just about the same outfit. I ran in triathlon shorts, a base layer and a thick performance light weight pull over. And of course gloves.

I headed out with the latest running / fitness / triathlon podcasts loaded up. I also had two gels stuffed in pockets. This would be an easy run and I was going to keep my heart rate in the 140’s. I also ran along the trace in the soft pine straw. This was not a hard or fast run but I was determined to get a little distance. I took a gel at Epley Station (about 6.25 miles into the run – 50 minutes) and then I jumped off of the trace and ran along the undulating horse trail. It was a nice change of pace. I had thoughts of running further and further out but I have a better understanding of my limitations. A year ago I got into some trouble when I just felt invincible. I had turned an 8 – 10 mile run into something like 16 miles – on and off the trace – and I paid the price. It was too much too soon and my body responded. My Achilles started to really hurt. I called for an EVAC (first and only time – I was embarrassed) and limped to Clyde Station. I had to get a ride home. I was lucky because I never run with a cell phone.

I would play it smart this time (no cell phone – anyway). At 7.5 miles I turned around and headed home. Back at Epley Station I took another gel and continued. My pace stayed consistent throughout the run and I was not hurting. It did get a little harder as I wrapped up but nothing that would cause me to slow down or walk or anything. Towards the end of the run I was listening to an interview with an ultra marathoner / ultra marathoner coach. They were asking him how you train for a 50 mile race. Do you just run progressively longer – like a 40 mile training run? He said no – You will not be able to recover very well with that kind of mileage but that you work up to running 20 miles back-to-back (like on a Saturday and then again on a Sunday). He said “You learn to run on tired legs.”

I finished up with 15 miles at 8:34 pace. I need to be almost exactly 1 minute per mile faster and for the full marathon to Boston Qualify. This is going to be tough

I am meeting Charles to map out the Stream Whistle 12k - link to pdf registration (New Year’s Day) route today – so with running from my house I should get over 10 miles – I guess that will be running on tired legs!

Mental BREAKTHROUGH - tempo run

I took Christmas day off from the run and just rode the trainer. I have been trying to build my cycling base up – this has been a lot of steady state riding at moderately / low intensity. I also rode the trainer the day after Christmas but I was ready to hit the pavement. I am trying to make most of my running miles count – no garbage miles. Having read a number of books they always seem to state that there are really only three runs that push improvement.

1. Hard Intervals at or above VO2MAX – example Yasso 800’s or ¼ miles or mile repeats.
2. Tempo runs at LT (lactate threshold / anaerobic threshold – your maximum intensity that you can hold for about an hour).
3. Distance runs – long runs at a steady pace

Everything else is supposed to be extraneous – although if you talk to anyone that is fast they will tell you that there is no substitute for mileage. Go figure.

Anyway that being said I was going to go for a tempo run at just above what I believe to be my LT – which is in the mid 170’s by heart rate. This is a hard area to run – a hard area for me to sustain. It is easy for me to let my mind wander and slow down a bit. It is easy for me to think about the discomfort and want to slow down a bit. It is easy to want to stop.

Last Tuesday (Monday was an off running day following the half marathon PR on Sunday) I tried to see how I would have felt / faired if I would have raced at my own pace (instead of following a faster runner and blowing up and suffering through 11.5 miles of the race). I set the ‘virtual trainer’ on the GPS watch for 5 miles at a 7 minute pace. I could not do it. I gave in to the voices – my legs were dead and I was hurting. I turned around at 1.5 miles and slowed way down.

Well, yesterday I decided to not look at the pace (much) and I wanted to do a mile warm up and then push the pace at LT for 4 miles. Then follow up with a mile cool down. The temperature was only in the 50’s but I was looking for excuses and felt cold. I warmed up a little during the ‘warm up’ but my heart rate seemed a little high for the pace I was running. My feet were hurting and I stopped to adjust the laces. I picked the pace up at the one mile mark and it was hard. I already doubted myself. I pushed on and it was still hard – but I was not going to be defeated this time. I had a real mental toughness BREAKTHROUGH with this run. No – I never fell into some kind of bliss zone – it was hard the entire time but I did not stop and I did not slow down (well the first mile was a little fast). I passed a guy and his daughter who were riding bikes – yes they were riding slow – but the guy said that he had never been passed by a jogger before. We were going close to the same pace and I could not slow down – not even just a little bit. I HAD to keep it up!

I got a huge amount of satisfaction from this run! Tempo runs are always hard for me – especially when I run them alone. It is much easier for me to run hard during a race or with someone who is a little faster than me. Others really push me and allow for me to excel. When out there by myself it is a different story.

Miles –

WU – 1 mile
1. 6:21 HR AVE 168
2. 6:40 HR AVE 175
3. 6:39 HR AVE 177
4. 6:40 HR AVE 178
CD – 1 mile

Christmas - Off Day

On Christmas Eve I went for another 10 mile run. I was not planning for anything fast and the weather was cool. It was perfect conditions. I have been really surprised with myself regarding recovery. I have run 10 + miles each of the last 3 days (if I include the race last Saturday then about 44 miles in 5 days). I would not have been able to do that last year. In addition, I have completed 3 half marathons since Halloween – 2 being in December and only 2 weeks apart. Last year when I raced my first half marathon it took me nearly 2 weeks to recover!


But for this Christmas Eve run, at about 5 miles I started to fatigue. Nothing was hurting I was just tired. I started to do a run walk (I never do these in training and I have only raced it once – during the ironman). But again, the difference it makes. I had been running along at about an 8:10 – 8:15 minute pace. Then I started to walk one minute at each mile. My times slowed to between 8:45 – 9:00 minutes per mile but these miles were so much easier. I am sure that I could have pushed on and finished the 10 miles without walking but I still got the miles in (I did have to get home after all).

On Christmas day I took it easy and rode the trainer for 45 minutes.

Yasso 800's and the Powerlines

The weather was beautiful after the race. There was a pancake machine – one of those round automated contractions that you see at Kiwanis Clubs and Rotary Clubs when they have the all you can eat pancake breakfasts. They also had krispy crème donuts and the other usual fare. I was good – no donuts – but I did have a large stack of pancakes. There was also the beer truck. A lot of Louisiana races have Abita beer but this was Budweiser. I had a small cup of the new Bud ‘Golden Wheat’ – it is okay.


We sat around on the tuff in the infield of the track stadium and swapped race stories. The camaraderie was great. After the race Terry and Eric were going their separate ways. Charles, Jim and I made it back to the house to shower up and then it was lunch time. We met Jim’s wife at the ‘New Orleans Hamburger and Seafood something or other’ and I had a shrimp po-boy. They also had the best soft serve ice cream that I have had in forever. I caught a lot of jabs from the crew as I went back for seconds.

Charles, Scott (Charles’s step son) and I made it down to the French Quarter. We checked into the hotel and Charles and I took a nap – yes we are old -while Scott went out to the quarter. I did not get too much of a nap – maybe an hour – but I felt so much better. I made my way to the quarter and found Scott at a club on Bourbon Street. There was so much Black and Gold. The Saints had lost on Saturday night and Southern Miss was playing in just a few hours. Charles met up with Scott and me about an hour later. We had a couple of drinks but nothing major.

We did the Bourbon Street thing for a few hours including dinner.

…

I took Monday as an entire day off for recovery. My legs were tired and my feet and Achilles tendon was sore – nothing major but I took the day off. On Tuesday I tried to run a fast 5 miler. I really wanted to see what my heart rate and perceived exertion would have been like if I would have followed my game plan on race day. I set the virtual training partner for 7 minute miles and I hit the trace with zero warm-up. The conditions were just about the same as race day and I pushed the pace. I only lasted one and a half miles at that pace and I cut the run short. I slowed and even walked for a few feet. There was no way that I could hold the 7 minute pace. I was amazed at what a difference a race makes. I can push myself so much harder on race day – but during training I just gave up – I threw in the towel. I clocked only 3 miles in somewhere around 24 minutes. I was a little frustrated but I knew that my legs were just tired. They hurt! They hurt in my calves and the bottom of my feet. My calves are almost never sore…

Being off from work I showered up and took a short nap during the afternoon. I got a text from Jim saying that he and Charles were going to meet up at the track just after 5 PM. I was feeling a bit more rested and decided to get a few miles in – I did not have a plan.

When I got to the track I saw Jim and Steve (the postman – he just finished up IM Arizona) running easily around the track. I joined them and they joked that they were not sure who I was and they were not going to let me run with them - Ironmen only – but then they saw it was me. Ha-ha. So us ironmen ran slow around the track devising our track workout. Charles showed up soon enough. I mentioned that many of the training plans that I have looked at call for Yasso 800’s. Last year I had also talked to Robin (the track coach) about these. Yasso 800’s are ½ mile repeats at your estimated marathon time – for example I would like to qualify for Boston with a 3:15. That would mean that I need to run the ½ mile repeats at 3 minutes and 15 seconds (a 6:30 minute pace). Jim said we need to work up to 10 repeats with a quarter mile easy lap in between. 10 repeats were not going to happen tonight but we gave it a shot.

Jim and I cranked out 3 good sets and then Jim had to leave. I got one more on my own. Jim said that we should be able to work down to 2:5X in just a few weeks – we will have to see about that! With the warm up and cool down I ended up with 7.75 miles (Charles’s knee was hurting him so we nixed the last lap) plus the 3 miles earlier in the day I got a total of 10.75 miles.

Lots of WU / CD with 4 x 800

1. 3:12

2. 3:08

3. 3:07

4. 3:11

On Wednesday I jumped on the bike trainer. I did not have any DVD’s but I was able to watch some television on the internet. This was more base building at a moderate pace – 45 minutes later I was covered in sweat. Not too much of a work out but I was meeting Jim later in the day for a run.

I arrived at Jim’s house and we had a choice of running the Billboards or the Power lines. Both of these are trail runs that are very hilly. I have not run either of these so we picked the Power lines – not because they are easier but because they are closer. We ran along the streets for just under a mile before we tackled the trail.

The Power lines are a swath of clear cut land next to the highway – obviously this was cut for the large telephone and power lines running north and south. Unfortunately this has become somewhat of a dumping ground and it was littered with all kinds of trash. It was not so much that you had to run on it or around it – it was just an eye sore. We started off and immediately had to secure our footing. The undulating hills were a challenge – both going up and down. And the down parts were criss crossed with streams of mud. Most of the crossings were hard packed sand and did not pose much of a problem. I soon found out that the ugly gray / black soil was the most hard packed and I started to pick these places for footing. However, there was one area that this was deceptive. I leaped a small stream and my right foot sank until about mid-calf – the other foot had no place to go and also went in deep. I managed to power myself out of the mud suck but I was now wearing black shoes and socks. It took us 30 minutes to complete the first 3 mile loop. This was challenging!

Jim and I completed one additional 3 mile loop – we were careful to avoid the known pitfalls. I still almost lost my shoes again but we wrapped up the hilly trail workout with 8 miles under our belts. I had actually run / walked 2 miles earlier in the day so I ended up with exactly 10 miles.

My next race is on New Year’s Day – the Steam Whistle 12k and it is right outside my back door!

Ole Man River Half Marathon Race Report

I rode down with Charles to New Orleans Saturday afternoon. Scott, Charles’s step son went with us – he is 27 and came along for the ride – more interested in New Orleans than a race. We met up with Jim and his wife. We stayed in a house that is for sale down in New Orleans so we all brought air mattresses. The Saints were playing Saturday night and USM was playing Sunday night – both games would be in the Superdome.

We went to a sports bar not far from the house. Jim’s wife would be doing some Christmas shopping. I was preparing for a PR race and only drank diet coke – all night – about 20 of them. From the kickoff the Saints were in trouble. Jim was sure that Charles had brought bad mojo down to Nawlins – and this would be proven correct. The sports bar was packed and the negative vibe was locked in – we had a good time but the game was rough.

I woke up early to a flat air mattress – yes it leaked – and took a shower and grabbed a small bite – I had a granola bar in my race bag. We stopped for coffee on the way to the race. Eric and Terry had gotten to the race venue early – real early and had great parking spots – we had to walk a little ways.

Race packet pick up went quick and we ditched our outer layers in Eric’s car. The weather was perfect. I wore shorts, a short sleeved shirt, some old tube socks that I cut the end out off (temporary – disposable arm skins if you will) and white compression socks. Gloves would not be needed. This was just about perfect. I was not shivering or shaking like in Baton Rouge two weeks ago.

I had a lot more nervious tension for this race. I knew I could get a PR. I knew that I needed to execute well. I set the ‘virtual trainer’ on the GPS for 7 minute miles. This would be a challenge. As we started to gather for the race start I saw a few more local runner friends. Neil was there with a couple of other guys. I had used Neil to pace off of at a couple of 5K’s last year. I asked him what pace he would be running – he said 7 minute miles. Neil’s half PR was a 1:33 something. I decided to try and follow Neil – big mistake.

There was a lot of congestion at the race start and although the race is chip timed it is gun started. It took a few seconds to get going. I was standing next to Terry and Neil at the start but Terry just simply disappeared. I was able to follow Neil even though he was weaving in and out of traffic like a race car driver. I was about 3 strides behind Neil and hurting when we passed the first mile marker – 6:37. Damn, I was not running my own race. I was going out too hard. My heart rate was sky high but I tried to keep the pace up – I was a 400 feet in front of my ‘virtual trainer’ on the watch – I was going to just try and hold this number steady. I backed off of the pace and watched Neil power on.

However, I was not able to hold that 7 minute pace. The 400 feet dropped to 300 feet in the next mile. I was running this half marathon like a 5k – out of the gate too fast and just trying to hold on. That can work for a 5K but trying to hold on for 11.5 mile – this was hurting. I had to slow down but I still NEEDED a PR. I was not going to let up but at the same time I just could not hold the pace. I would be demoralized if I did not beat my last half marathon time – considering those conditions. I just kept at it.

Mile 1 – 6:37 - Ave HR 172 – Max HR 184
Mile 2 – 6:55 - Ave HR 179 – Max HR 180
Mile 3 – 7:09 - Ave HR 176 – Max HR 179

I had slowed considerably by this time – there was no way to hold 7 minutes a mile and I had already pushed into my red zone - HARD. Once your heart rate is up there – you do not get that back – it is just spent and there is not much recovery that will take place without slowing to a crawl. I had blown up in the first mile and a half! I hunkered down – it was tough being passed and watching people pull away. That does not normally happen in these races. I usually am able to pick a pace and hold it for most of the race and then put together a hard kick at the end. But people were passing me and there was nothing I could do – I definitely was not chatting during this race. My breathing was labored and I was in pain. These next few miles were the slowest of the race. I was burning up and I ditched the sock arm warmers at mile six. I was determined to try to keep up a respectable pace.

Mile 4 – 7:20 - Ave HR 175 – Max HR 178
Mile 5 – 7:24 - Ave HR 173 – Max HR 174
Mile 6 – 7:20 - Ave HR 174 – Max HR 175

I had recovered from the initial shock and was actually starting to be able to push a little bit and race MY race. I passed a couple of guys but it was not with any kind of authority. One of these guys came with me. I could hear him right behind me and we ended up racing side by side for a lot of the race. It was at this point that I passed the guy running backwards. He was trying to set a Guinness Book of World Records for the fastest half marathon time running backwards. He had two spotters with him on either side and a guy filming the race on a tricycle. I was just relieved that I was not going to be beat by the backwards guy. In hind sight he must have been given a head start – Terry was flying on the course and did not pass backwards guy until several mile into the race and I am sure this guy was not running anywhere close to 6 minute miles. I was still pushing hard but feeling better – I was just getting to the half way point.

Mile 7 – 7:15 - Ave HR 173 – Max HR 176
Mile 8 – 7:15 - Ave HR 173 – Max HR 177
Mile 9 – 7:15 - Ave HR 175 – Max HR 177

At this point I was running with two guys – not talking just putting out some consistent miles – working hard but running well – then we heard someone coming up. We were getting passed by a couple of boys. This was the back portion of the out and back course and the people still going out were shutting encouragement to the kids. The boys looked like they were about 8 years old! (In reality they were 13 – they were running strong. I could not hang with them - my mind wandered at this point and I was thinking that I was getting my race handed to me my some little kids – but if I pushed on and tried to out kick them then I would be the jerk - …

At mile ten the pace picked up a little and one of the guys that was running with me fell off – the other guy - well, I just tried to keep his shoulder. He was pushing hard and struggling. I was doing the same. One of the little kids started to crash a little bit and was fading. I passed him up at about mile 11. The other kid was also starting to fade now but was still strong. I also ended up passing this kid at about mile 11.5. And then there was another kid – this one was maybe 16 years old and caught up with the one kid and really started to lift him up. It was pretty awesome! These kids, the 13 and 16 year old ended up passing me in the last half mile or so – I was just done. I even had to stop at the last water station – just for a freaking break – I was so gone. This was the hardest race that I have done!

Mile 10 – 7:06 - Ave HR 177 – Max HR 179
Mile 11 – 7:05 - Ave HR 180 – Max HR 184
Mile 12 – 7:07 - Ave HR 181 – Max HR 184
Mile 13 – 7:00 - Ave HR 183 – Max HR 186
Mile 13.15 – 6:46 – Ave HR – 183 – Max HR 184

I did get my PR by over 3 minutes and I learned a LOT about racing and myself. This was not a smart race but I did push myself HARD – and I did not give up. I will count this as a major BREAKTHROUGH training session!

Terry ended up with a HUGE PR - 1:23:XX and won his age group (15th overall). Neil PR’d with a 1:29:59 and won his age group. I ended up with 3rd in my age group (by 40 seconds – 7:09 pace) with a 1:33:53 but the awards are only 2 deep – oh well.

I had wanted to push hard in this race and I did that - I just pushed too hard at the beginning (my average heart rate was 8 beats higher than Baton Rouge) . I believe that with a smarter race I can bring this time down a little more.
 

Planning for a PR - Ole Man River...

I was looking at my heart rate information from the Baton Rouge Beach Half Marathon from two weeks ago. Don’t get me wrong – I had a good race – a PR after all – but I know that I can pick up the pace. My heart rate zones are not set in stone – they are in fact pretty generic, but I would like to see a lot more time in ZONE 4 SUB-THRESHOLD. For me that calculates to between 168 – 174 beats per minute. This is where I would like to see all of my time – with the exception of giving everything at the end of the race.

Also, I tried out the ‘virtual partner’ on the Garmin this morning for the first time. I tend to do pretty well in races if I have someone to pace off of – and I am afraid I might be caught in the middle tomorrow. Between Terry who is just too fast for me and Jim who is treating this race like training run. So I just might be able to make this little digital figure on the watch my nemesis for this race. It would also be the first time that I have actually raced by pace. I almost always race short stuff by feel – all out and just try to hold on - and longer stuff strictly by heart rate – never letting myself get too high and blowing up. (Blowing up is a huge fear of mine – it really has not happened BAD yet – I should probably just go out sometime and see what happens – but I really do not want to blow up and FAIL in one of these races).

The weather looks perfect for the race – about 40 degrees and sunny. In addition, this is New Orleans so it should be flat and fast. On top of all of that I am reworking my pre-race routine – this should be a much better race than two weeks ago. I am planning for success!

Half Marathon race plans

I played a little racquetball at lunch on Thursday. After work I jumped back on the trainer and got another 30 minutes. Easy peasy – no sweat (not really – this is the trainer after all).
It was only 30 minutes because I was meeting a group of guys at a local sports bar to discuss this weekend’s race. There are a bunch of us going down to New Orleans for the Ole Man River half on Sunday. There were 5 of us at the table and Charles orders a ‘goal post’ – this is a 120 oz (10 beers) pitcher with a spigot. We had a fun time talking about the upcoming weekend and watching the Colts play. I got some razzing but I did not have a single beer. I did however have a nice grilled chicken salad. Look at me – I’m being good!

After discussions, we unfortunately determined that we are taking about 4 vehicles to the coast (it is only 90 miles – but…). Some are going down on race morning but most are going down the day before. I will be going down the day before. We are staying in a vacant house that is for sale – it has power and water but no furnishings. I am packing an air mattress, blankets, towels, etc.

There is also Saints game on Saturday and we are planning on watching the game in New Orleans – that should be fun. Jim wants to go to the post game radio show – I think I will pass – it will be a late night anyway. For Sunday, there are several heading back but I might just stay one more night and play in the French Quarter. Charles has already got a room near the quarter for him and his step son – Charles said I was welcome – and since I am home alone right now I just might.

I was talking with fast guy Terry during the outing and trying to gauge whether I could hang with him – he said he would be running between 1:25 and 1:30 for the half – (6:30 – 6:51 pace). That is a little too fast for me – however – I have set the bar pretty damn high after my last race. I PR’d with a 1:37:xx under less than ideal conditions. If I do not SMASH that time then … I am working on my game plan.

I hate tempo runs!

I was not able to get a trainer ride in on Wednesday morning and I even skipped the STADIUMS at lunch. I was planning for a ‘BREAKTHROUGH’ running session. I was not sure if this would be mile repeats or a hard tempo run pushing my anaerobic threshold. Either of these are hard runs.


I decided on the tempo run on the treadmill. The treadmills are getting a little bit old at the gym. I always use the same one but it was occupied. It took me a total of three attempts to get a treadmill that would 1. Turn on and 2. Let me set the incline (I always set the incline to 1).

I was all set to go and I thought that I could do a 4 mile tempo run at the pace that I last did mile repeats. I ran 3 x 1 mile @ 6:30 with a quarter mile recovery in between on Saturday. I remember this being challenging but achievable. Last spring I PR’d in the 5K with a 19:09 which equates to a 6:09 pace. That was really fast for me – obviously it was fast for me - it was a PR. But it was fast for me because I was pacing off of someone that I knew and I used them to get that PR. This just does not happen in training. In addition, I feel a bit slower than last year after training so much for ironman. Anyway, I thought that 4 miles at a 6:30 pace would be hard but achievable. I was wrong! I was wrong on a couple of levels. I was not willing to get into the RED zone – the deep RED zone anyway. I wanted to stay at or just barely above my anaerobic threshold. I know that I can average in the low 170’s while running hard for 30 minutes and averaging my heart rate for the last 20 minutes. In the last half marathon I ran (2 weeks ago) with an average heart rate of 168 (with a max at the end of the race at 186). This means that much of that run was in the mid 160’s and the level of exertion was picked up at the end (at mile 11 to be exact). A heart rate in the 160’s is a comfortably hard level for me.

For this tempo run I tried to keep my heart rate between 172 – 175. This is obviously just a little too high for me right now – I can hold it there for a while in a race but not on a treadmill in the middle of the day. I think that I need to back off of the speed in the tempo run and bring it up slowly (last Friday morning after warm up I ran 4 miles at an average pace of 6:52 with an average heart rate of 178 – and a MAX at 185). As much as I hate to say it - This week’s run was just a little too much too soon.

A little frustrated having only run 2 miles at the pace that I wanted I decided to ride the trainer after work. I geared up and set the trainer up for a steady zone 2 ride for 45 minutes. The DVD was on and I was ready. I made it about 5 minutes and then I aborted. My legs were burning at what should have been a pretty easy steady state ride. I gave myself a break and would let the legs have a rest.

I got up this morning and tried the same trainer workout again with much better success. While it was not SUPER easy - all cylinders were firing as they should be. I clocked off the 45 minutes. A good night’s rest makes a huge difference.

Power test - FAILED - NO PR

I took the day off on Monday. My legs were tired and the Sunday Run was harder than expected – I had not taken a day off since the last half marathon. Granted, all of the workouts were not “breakthrough” but my legs were tired none the less.


We had our work holiday on Tuesday so I only got a short bike ride on the trainer. I did a quick 15 minute warm up and then tried to do a 6 minute all out POWER test on the trainer. I have my numbers from the previous run and I try to best it each and every time. This time I met with disappointment. I thought with the previous day completely off I would be able to put together a good run. It did not happen. You would think that 6 minutes all out would not be that tough. But when you know the numbers you want to produce and it is a really hard effort to maintain them – it is painful. The last time I did this run was just before Thanksgiving. I remember that I was grunting and groaning on the trainer and when I got off my legs were burning so bad. I just sat down in an office chair and hurt for a few seconds. Surprisingly, the recovery is really quick and everything was just fine in a couple of minutes.

This time I was just not able to bring the numbers. I brought the power up to just over what I needed to hold and after only 2 ½ minutes I was done. I did another 15 minutes on the trainer – and feeling good I made one more attempt at the 6 minute MAX POWER run. I had the same results.

Today, Wednesday should be STADIUMS but I might have to skip them to get in a “breakthrough” run. I have not decided on that breakthrough – it will either be a hard tempo or mile repeats. Hard stuff none the less.

Bike trainer and long run fun.

Having ran a pretty good tempo run on Friday morning I just did some easy reading on the exerbike at the gym for lunch. I needed to finish up a Lance Armstrong book – Lance: The Making of the World’s Greatest Champion. I did not really care for the book. As with all of the Lance books they are completely one sided. You have books like this one by John Wilcockson, who has been following and interviewing Lance for almost his entire career who really thinks that Lance can do no wrong. In the other camp is David Walsh, L. A. Confidentiel and From Lance to Landis, who presents circumstantial evidence and then draws conclusions. I actually like the latter books a bit better but, to be fair, I am not the biggest Lance Armstrong fan. Anyway, I had an easy spin on Friday afternoon – I was planning a long run on Saturday morning.

That Saturday run just did not happen – no fault of my own mind you. The temperature was in the low forties and the rain was pounding. It was miserable conditions here in Southern Mississippi. With it raining outside I jumped on my bike trainer and put on a DVD. Forty five minutes later I was drenched. With school being officially out the gym has restricted hours. I arrived just after 2PM. I hopped on the treadmill with no real workout in mind – I just knew that this was not going to be the 12 – 15 mile run that I wanted – I can’t do that on the treadmill. I warmed up slow for about ¾ of a mile and then I decided to run mile repeats followed by ¼ mile recovery runs – not sure why but I guess to make the best use of the available time. I ended up with 5 miles at just less than 40 minutes. Three of those miles were at 6:30 pace.

The holiday / December running club meeting was at my house on Saturday night. Most of the usuals showed up and we did our officer elections. I scored big with the Dirty Santa by procuring a set of Yanks, running gloves, sunglasses and a couple of gels – not too shabby. However, there was way too much food and drink (actually I drank very little and I did not over indulge too badly on the food). But, the next day my weight was up by over 5 pounds. It tends to do that! – I know that it is water weight from salty food – but still.

The weather had changed by Sunday. Still some rain but much warmer. I got up and did the bike trainer again. I have been enjoying the trainer more than I ever have. I have been doing pretty easy base work but the computer will record all of my stats. I like to compare workout to workout and see my heart rate average, cadence and power averages for the sessions. The computer then spits put a ‘performance’ number. It is average watts compared to average heart rate. The number is not perfect but comparing the same workouts session is fun.

I met up with Charles on the trace on Sunday afternoon. We would try to put together a good long run. I ran 3 miles to meet him just past Clyde station. I ran those miles between 8:15 – 8:30 pace. Charles was running fast also – about his half marathon race pace – 9 minute miles. I slowed to his pace and he never let up. He stung together between 13 – 15 miles at right at 9 minutes per mile. He killed it.

I got about 13 miles at just over 2 hours – there were a couple of long breaks – I got to chew the fat and congratulate Steve (the postman) on his Ironman Arizona. I finished the last two miles of my run at a 7:30 minute pace. It was tough but not race tough. My legs were a little sore after the run – not race sore but…– so I took it easy the rest of the day. I actually skipped the December Beer Club meeting. I really was not in the mood for winter warmers with the outside being 68 degrees – in addition, I did not want to hamper my recovery.

The coming weekend is another half marathon in New Orleans – The Old Man River. The race is on Sunday with the Saints playing the Cowboys on Saturday night. New Orleans will be on fire.

Marathon Training - throwing down the gauntlet

After last weekend’s PR half marathon run on less than idea training and race conditions I have decide to try and put together a fast half and full marathon run. Maybe I can actually run a full-all-out half run this next weekend – I have signed up for the Ole Man River Half in New Orleans. This race is Sunday, December 20th. That is only two weeks since the last half in Baton Rouge and I do not expect to make great gains in running speed but I have more speed in me. I only hope to be able to run the entire race with race intensity (not lollygag and talk and stuff) and see where the time falls. Looking at the race calculators, according to my fastest ever 5K time I should be running these half’s nearly 10 minutes faster than I am. I think that calculator is pushing it but I would like to see how close I can get.


So the goals for the first quarter of the year are set – they will be running goals with cycling base building in between. Yes I still want to push the pace on the bike. I have read many articles that state a fall marathon will not help an ironman time. And I can only image that a spring marathon will in no way whatsoever help sprint and Olympic triathlons. That being said I am finally pumped about my training!

Jim and I met up at campus on Wednesday morning for mile repeats. The weather was warm and humid. We did a campus run with a 1 mile warm-up and cool down with the 4 one mile runs in the middle. We were not killing ourselves but clicked off the following – the rest interval was 3 minutes:

1. 6:42
2. 6:54
3. 7:05
4. 6:52

This was a good effort but the times will be dropping in the coming weeks. At lunch I did the STADIUMS. It was getting cooler and there was a strong wind. Having done the mile repeats I decided to be a follower and just kind of go through the motions. I still felt strong and performed well but I was not giving it everything I had. We pulled up short on the STADIUMS (10 X on 1:45) because I had a new challenge in mind. There is a LARGE staircase on the back of the Thad Cochran building. No one uses this stair case – it is like 3-4 flights of stairs – this is longer than the STADIUMS. So after 10 sets of STADIUMS we went to the back of the Coch. I had wanted to try out 5 sets on 2 minutes. The first set took 22 seconds up and a full 40 seconds to run down/recover. This was a damn hard workout – at the bottom we rested 1 minute. Vic and Richard were with me for the next two but were sucking wind at that point. I did just one more set at intensity and called it a day with 4 x the back of the Coch. This is tough stuff - when the heat hits it will be EPIC.

I had an exam on Thursday morning so I studied instead of exercising. I would have rather rode the trainer and watch a movie but… priorities. At lunch I played around in the racquetball courts to let the legs rest a bit. But after work it was back on the bike trainer. I got a good 45 minutes in a sweat-fest.

On Friday morning Jim was supposed to meet me at the campus for a tempo run. Something came up and I ran alone. It was a good run in the cold. It showed that I am not in position to meet my running goals at this point. I am going to need some solid training to run the paces that I want. I love a challenge.

TEMPO run:

1. 8:29 Warm up
2. 6:41
3. 7:02
4. 6:51
5. 6:57
6. 7:48 Cool down

I have been working on which races I will do next year and I have put together a list.  This is not set in stone (except for the races up to the Mardi Gras Marathon).

Tentative Race Schedule (first half of 2010):

12/20-Ole Man River Half – New Orleans
01/01-Stream Whistle 12k – Hattiesburg (on the trace)
01/17-Louisiana State 25K Championship – New Orleans
01/31-"The WALL" Louisiana State 30K Championship – New Orleans
02/XX-Run for Love 5K
02/28-Mardi Gras Marathon – New Orleans
03/19-St Thomas 5K
04/18-Ironman 70.3 New Orleans
06/05-Heatwave Classic Triathlon
07/XX-Sunfish Summer Triathlon
07/24-Heart O’Dixie Triathlon

Setting new goals

So after the race Charles and I went to his parent’s house. He had warned me in advance about the soup. Now the soup is delicious and did warm us up – but it is a vegetable cream cheese soup. I believe the vegetables were in the soup to thin it out. Melted cream cheese. Nothing wrong with that. They seem like very nice people. I guess Charles did not far too far from the tree.


We met up with Eric at the Abita Brew Pub Restaurant in Abita Springs. I had actually wanted to go there for some time. The brew pub has all of Abita’s beers on tap as well as a specialty beer from another brewer – they had Arrogant Bastard - wow. Eric and Charles both had draft Andy Gator’s while I drained several Diet Cokes.

I went for a group bike on Sunday and got to congratulate John “the legend” for his successful completion of his second Ironman in 2009. That is a true accomplishment. On Monday I was undecided what to do at lunch and Jim gives me a call and says “Let’s go for a run.” The legs were a little sore and it was chilling outside – it started to rain on us to boot. Jim has been looking for a challenge as well and we may put together a real marathon run. So, both Jim and Charles are doing the Ole Man River ½ marathon in two weeks (12/20) and have talked me into it. See – and I thought Charles would never invite me to another race again. This half marathon will be a real test - a true PR run.  On a side note - I ended up 4th in my age group for the Baton Rouge Half Marathon...

Baton Rouge Half Marathon

There were five of us planning to run the Baton Rouge Beach half Marathon this past Saturday. Only three of us made it – Me, Charles and Eric. Terry was sick and had a house of sick kids. He had been training and I am sure that he was upset that he missed out on the race. Jim – not sure – I think the weather played a big part in him skipping the race.


I drove over to Charles’s house Friday afternoon. The sky was bright blue but there was a chill in the air. As we neared Baton Rouge the sky turned gray and it started to rain. The rain turned to a rain / snow – or as we called it in the Midwest – a wintery mix. It was cold and nasty.

We met up with Eric in the hosting hotel but we were a little bit early. The registration had not yet opened so we went and had a drink at the bar. This would foreshadow the rest of the event.

The Baton Rouge Beach race is pretty special in that it has a pre-race dinner and post race food – both of which are fantastic. We are talking jambalaya, seafood pasta, alligator – all really good stuff. Oh yeah, and beer.

I got my fill of all of the good food and my share of the beer. After talking with many of the other participates Charles and I parted ways with Eric. Eric was staying at a friend’s house while Charles and I were staying at another hotel that Terry had reserved. Charles and I checked in just in time to enjoy the last 30 minutes of happy hour. I made a grave mistake and switched to run and diet coke – fewer calories. With just a few minutes left in happy hour the barkeep came by and suggested that we double up while the drinks were free - ouch. Charles and I went up to the room as happy hour ended but we needed to procure something to eat prior to the race.

We went back downstairs and talked the barkeep into finding us some cereal or whatnot. She was very accommodating. So, this is not my pre-race routine – you know – tying one on. Charles said that he heard me exercising my demons in the bathroom at about 3 in the morning. I am sure that all of these shenanigans did not bode well for his race either. Many apologies.

I awoke feeling like death warmed over. It was about 32 degrees outside and I was hurting. Eric met us at our hotel and we drove to the race site. I was resting my head against the head rest in the back seat of the truck. We all got out and wished each other well as we froze in the race starting line.

The race is chip timed but there is not a race mat at the start. The race start is gun timed. We never heard the gun but the crowd of close to 1000 started to move. I ran a little ahead of Eric and Charles and just tried to fall into a groove. Mile one came up extremely slow – and quick – at the same time (7:08 – by my watch). I thought about pulling up for a minute or so and waiting for Eric or Charles and just taking this race easy. But like a hair shirt I needed to pay for the nights transgressions. I kept the pace up. The miles slowly clicked off on the light rolling course through the LSU campus and along a lake (hence the Beach portion of the race name). The mile markers were each manned by different groups of volunteers that were competing for a best water stop station prize. That was a lot of fun. There were people in costumes and many a girl scantily clad – they traditionally win the prize I later heard. It did not hurt that the temperature was in the lower 30’s – at least there was no rain for these troopers.

In races of this distance my mind tends to wander and I rarely am able to stay on task. This is a mental problem for me. It is hard for me to maintain that hard line between racing hard and blowing up – I almost always tend to back off a little bit. When I do this I get chatty and look for anyone to talk with. I found a couple of guys with the New Orleans ½ Iron race shirt on and struck up a conversation. This was the middle portion of the race and my mile times slowed. I was still pushing hard – just not race hard. I missed the mile marker at mile 12 and told the guy I was talking to that I needed to pick it up and finish strong. I sprinted hard the last ¾ of a mile and finished the race in a low 1:37 – just about even for my ½ marathon PR – I’m not sure of my official time yet. Eric took a spill during the race and still ended up with a PR – 1:48 and Charles finished just behind Eric well under his goal time of less than 2 hours. All things considered we all raced well.

I really want to actually prepare for a ½ marathon and push hard the entire race and see just where I might end up. I was disappointed and encouraged at the same time. I have only run about 20 miles per MONTH for the past 2 months and my longest run by far (at least double) was the last ½ marathon that I ran at Halloween.

I am going to put together a few weeks of REAL training – throw in a taper and give it everything. Depending on the results I just might try a Boston Qualifying run at the Mardi Gras Marathon in February.

STADIUMS - cancelled...

Cool weather and wet eliminated the STADIUMS for the week. That was probably a good thing. It has been about a month since I tackled that obstacle. I am sure that my legs would be sore for several days after another EPIC day at the STADIUM. So this brought us indoors to the coliseum. This is the basketball arena. Since the staircases are shorter this is much easier. We alternated doing single steps and double steps on 1 minute. Doing the single steps takes less than 15 seconds and doing the doubles takes just under 10 seconds. Then you run back down the stairs and recover for about 30 seconds. We got 40 sets in 40 minutes. This was a good work out but not like the STADIUMS. We were wondering with the much cooler weather if even the STADIUMS are not the STADIUMS any more. We will have to see next week.  We did about 15 minutes of abs after the stair climbing.


On the bike front - it has been cool/cold and raining this week.  So, I have been riding the trainer at home. My father upgraded and gave me his old 32 inch CRT (big and heavy) television. I brought it back home from the Thanksgiving Holiday.  I hooked this up in front of my trainer. I have been watching a lot of television on DVD. I read a book recently about cycling base building and I am trying to put some of this to practice. I have been riding a lot of steady state workouts – mostly about 45 minutes long (an hour of television on DVD just happens to be 42 minutes). My trainer hooks up to the computer and I have been setting a constant workout by time and watts. It has been interesting to compare the different workouts – it records watts (constant) and heart rate, cadence, etc. This week I have logged over 3 hours on the trainer. That is more than I have used it for the last 6 months. Granted I ride a lot more outside in the summer but I think that this is a good start.

I am heading to Baton Rouge for the ½ marathon on Friday for a fun race weekend.