Long Days, Pool Closures, and Riding with Magnum

Wow!!!  What a way to start the New Year.  As you all know last week was only a four day week, but I still ended up working 47 hours.  It is that time in an engagement when it is time for the deliverables.  Friday night ended at 10:30.  When am I going to win the lottery—oh yeah, I have to play it first.  That has kept me from blogging.  However, that hasn’t stopped me from working out. 

As I stated in my last post, I am taking my runs easy.  I only ran about 14 miles in the last week.  I have run running 3 miles a couple of times, and then couple of 4 mile runs with a friend of mine.  My feet are feeling good.  I am doing stretching before and after.  It takes about a mile and half for my feet to loosen up and after that they feel great.  I will be upping my morning runs to 3.5 miles and my “longer” runs to about 4.5. 

I have tried to get in a swim a couple of times and would you believe that the pool is closed for swim team training.  I just don’t time it well and the Rec Center doesn’t post the times very well.  So after they got my dues today, I had a couple of words about the poor posting of which days and what times the pool is closed for the training. 

Yesterday was my planned ride.  So today, I ended up riding the bike also.  The good news about riding on the training for 45 minutes is that I get to watched Magnum PI solve another case.  This is what it looks like when I ride the trainer and watch TV.  Scary huh?

A New Year or I had better get off my ass

This past year was not a good year for me and just not in the racing and training agenda.  I have suffered from plantar fasciitis since my return from Afghanistan last year.  I attempted to train through the pain and hoped it would just get better on its own.   We know how that typically turns out.  Even though I did not train well because of the pain I still did three Olympic Distance races, one sprint, and the Army Ten Miler.  How smart is that?  I have no done much training since the Army Ten Miler.  I have stretched a lot more and I can tell a big difference.  Since Christmas I have done 4 short easy runs with lots of stretching, 3 bike rides on the trainer, and a couple of days of swimming.  I am starting to feel so much better and more motivated. 

I have a lot of plate on right now.  Historically, I do much better when I have a full plate.  I am forced to focus and get my ass in gear.  I have a busy first quarter of work already planned, I have taken command of an Army Reserve Battalion in St. Paul, MN, and I want to do a half-iron distance race this year.  All of these challenge me to do my best and stay busy. 

Prior to Christmas the Bride and I took our yearly cruise.  This year we went to Roatan and Cozumel.  When I went to put some of the “cruise” clothes I realized how tight they were.  That really shook me.  I did not realize I had put on that much weight.  During the cruise I turned 41 and that hit me worse than 40 did.  After coming home I stepped on the scale for the first time in ages and I was shocked at how much I weighed. I was close to 20lbs more than I want to weigh.  I want to lose 20lbs and I have 25lbs as an outside goal.  That will make me feel and look better. 

We returned from our Christmas trip to Chicago and since then I have been running, short and slow, in order to allow my body and feet to adjust to the stress.  I have done some 40 minute bike rides, and a couple of 1600 meter swims.  On January 1, 2012 my buddy John and I did our annual Bike and a Movie.   We did 90 minutes on the trainer as we watched Army of Darkness.   If you have never seen this movie AND you like bad funny movies I highly recommend it.  It will make you laugh out loud. 

Now I have to determine if I want to do the Patriots Half in Williamsburg, VA or the Augusta 70.3.  If anyone has an comments I would love to hear them. 

I have also started a Twitter account.  My account is @lzytriathlete.  I look forward to reading your comments, motivations, and anything else you wish to send my way. 

Happy New Year to all. 

 

 

The Army 10 Miler Race Report

While I was deployed in 2010 The Bride said she wanted to do the Army 10 Miler together in 2011.  Being the dutiful husband I am, I signed us up the day registration opened.  That was only the only day it was open, it sold out that fast.  Luckily I woke up at 0330 and registered us.   She has been in training mode since May.  Her longest run prior to today was 7.5 miles, but I knew she could do it. 

Saturday morning we overslept.  I mean we really overslept and alcohol had not been involved the night before.  We woke up about 9am.  Neither one of us ever sleep that late.  We made it packet pick up about noon and the line outside the DC Armory was not moving.  We were finally told by one of the Old Guard they were holding people because it was too crowded inside.  No problem.  We were in the military line so once it started moving again we were in 5 minutes and 5 minutes later had our packets.    This was scene outside when we arrived.

By the time we had perused the vendors it was even worse.  Good thing we did not oversleep even more.  After purchasing some more Jelly Belly Sport Beans and a new IPod Nano arm holder, we stopped for a sandwich on the way home.  The afternoon was spent watching college football.  The Bride’s Univeristy of Maryland Terps did not fair well.  This is the biggest race the Bride has ever done.  So she went to bed early and I stayed up and watched my UGA Dawgs. 

The morning started about 5am with some breakfast and we headed to catch the Metro to the race site.  I think we were on the first train of the morning and arrived about 0630 at the Pentagon.  We linked up with a friend of mine, then did the Porta-John dance and headed to the start line.

 

I was suppose to be in wave one, but did not get up to the correct area soon enough, so I started at in wave two.  I was off at 0810.  I ran the first two miles at about 8:30 per mile.  This was a little faster than I wanted to run, but I was feeling pretty good.  At the first water stop, which was about about mile 2.5 I felt the need to stop at the Porta John again.  That was about a 12 minute stop counting the time I had to stand in line.  NOT GOOD.   Not counting the stop, I hit the 5 mile mark about 22 minutes later.  I soon saw some friends of mine at the top of the little hill.  They had come had to cheer for me and the Bride.  Mira had even made a sign for the Bride.  I chatted with them for a minute, thanked them for coming out and making the sign, and then I was off again.

Miles 6 to 8 were slow, but uneventful.  About mile 8.5, on the 14th Street Bridge, I started running out of steam and my left foot started to hurt.  WTF?  It is my right foot that has been giving me problem.  I stretched out and ran even slower for the last mile and half.  After being herded through the finish line I awaited on the Bride to finish.  She came in about 2:30.  She had done it.  She had never run this far before in her life.  I was so proud of her accomplishment. 

Our friends gave us a ride from the Pentagon back to a less crowded Metro Stop and we made it home.  The Bride was smart enough to have scheduled a massage for the afternoon.  I think she may have started something new.  She is already talking about doing the George Washington Parkway 10 Miler in April. 

Oh, I finished in 2 hours.  If you factor out the bathroom stop and the time chatting my friends I would have finished in about 1:45.  That is too slow, but for not training much for the event I was satisfied.  There is more come…..

Something New Coming

Sunday is the start of something new. I will hobble through the Army 10 Miler. Then it is time to back in shape.

Columbia Triathlon Race Report

I completed my first triathlon since 2008 yesterday.  Why I chose to start with the Columbia Triathlon in Columbia, MD I have no idea.  It is one of the tougher Olympic Distance races around here.  I guess because it bills itself as the “Right of Spring” in the Mid Atlantic and I am sucker for marketing. 

I told the Bride that I would stay close to home this triathlon season.  Other than a late summer trek to Dewey Beach, DE for the Dewey Sprint Tri, Richmond, VA is my farthest trip.  The trip to Dewey is a long weekend trip with for us and some friends.  So we just rent a house and enjoy the weekend.

I was up early on Sunday morning for the 50 mile drive to Columbia.  I arrived just after 0500 and set up my transition area.  The weather Sunday morning was just about perfect for a race.  This is the first time I have done this race or even a bike ride on the course that it hasn’t rained. 

My wave went off at 0718 and would you believe that the men aged 40-44 was the seconded largest wave?  Men 35-39 was the largest.  What is it with us old guys?  The start of the swim was about what you expect.  There was plenty of kicking and jockeying for position.  After about 5 minute it all settled down and I got in a nice groove.  I made the turn at the dam and then made the turn back to the swim exit.  I was feeling good, my strokes were strong, I was in a good zone, and started to get a little cocky.  As I was sighting on the buoys, I started to hear the announcer  getting louder and louder.  This wasn’t a surprise since you swim by at a greater distance in front of the start/announcer.  Then I realized I had been sighting in on the wrong buoy.  So I had to turn to the right to get back on track.  I probably wasted 3-4 minutes due to my sighting error.  However, I came out of the water at 32:04.  Without the sighting problem I am comfortable I would have gone under 30 minutes for the swim which was my goal. 

I took my time in transition.  This was just a long training day for me.  I pushed the bike to the top of the hill outside of transition, mounted up and I was off.  The course is a hilly 41k (25.4 miles) that I had two weeks earlier with a friend of mine.  I am glad I had done the practice ride, because I had forgotten how tough it was.  I warmed up my legs during the first couple of miles and then it was down hill for a little ways.  The first 10-12 miles of the race has some downhills, but it is a net uphill.  OUCH.  The middle part of the bike is more rolling hills.  I was cruising a long on the rolling hills and flat land.  Very pleased with my progress in just two weeks.   Then it was back up the final big hills and the transition to run. 

As I started to run I realized how much my shoulders and lower back were hurting from the bike.  I have made myself a promise to do more upper body/back workouts and much more core exercises in the coming days.  I have to strengthen that part of this old body.   As with the bike, the run is hilly.  I told myself I would run the flats, downhills, and I would walk up the hills.  I did more walking than I wanted.  I legs did not cramp like I thought they would, but the shoulder and lower back were just hurting.  By about mile 4 I had loosened up enough to get in a good trot.  By the time I was crossing the dam, I had a pretty decent pace.  But then you have only a half mile to go before the finish, so I am sure that had something to do with it.  You have to love triathlons.  The announcer is always calling out the names of the finishers (got to wear those numbers).   I typically don’t hear my name called, but this time I was directly in front of a speaker when he called out my name.  I gave some kids some high fives, low fives, and middle fives as I came down the chute. 

It was good to get a hard race out of the way.  Made me feel much better, gave me an idea of what I need to work on, and made my muscles that good sore.