Back In The Pool

First time I have swum since Sunday. 2,500 yards with splits of 10:44, 10:49, 10:43, 10:52, and 10:52.5 ... with various breaks in between.

All in all not bad, but Don was totally kicking tail. He was sets of 550 yds (approx 500 m) for each of my 500 yd sets - and doing them in almost the same time. Don has definitely recovered from his clavicle injury suffered back in July!

This is a good thing, though - now I have someone to push me to go faster in swimming. :-P

The weather for tomorrow is still iffy; will check the radar in the morning before heading down to Arlington to ensure the rain is going hold off until after the 10K has ended.

Post Holiday Weigh-In

Not too bad - I only gained 1 1/2 pounds after a week of Thanksgiving meals & leftovers, Chinese and sushi buffets, and too few workouts. Even with this week's setback, I've still dropped over 30 pounds (32.5 to be exact) from my "before weight" back in April. In addition, my blood pressure has dropped as well. I guess this exercise thing actually works ...

A few workouts this week after the LA Fitness session on Sunday. 55 minutes on my mom's 20+ year-old stationary bike on Tuesday - average heart rate = 152 BPM so I guess it still did its job. Yesterday, a quick 30-minute jaunt on the elliptical trainer after the flight home from Philly. Today, some swimming at lunch time.

If the weather cooperates - it might rain (and I'm such a wimp) - I plan to run Don Zetnick's Winter 10K tomorrow morning.

Different LA Fitness (and State), Same Workout

Cool. My LA Fitness membership is nationwide so I was able to use the branch that is very close to my brother's house with no problems at all.

A 60-minute spin class and then a 1,500 yd swim. I was a little tired after the cycling (and a little rusty after the heavy meals) so my first 500 yards was a disappointing 11:17.5, but I was able to speed up for the subsequent sets (10:54 and 10:48) and competed the full 1,500 in almost exactly 33 minutes.

The gym was a little bit crowded with post-Thanksgiving exercisers - I had to share a lane in the pool - but a great workout nonetheless. I feel good and ready to tackle those leftovers. Turkey sandwich anyone?

Holiday Week Training

Happy Thanksgiving!

Training definitely tailed off this week, but at least it wasn't at a dead stop. I was able to get a few workouts in at the beginning of the week: on Tuesday, a 45-min spin class with Don, Wilhe, and Jonathan followed by 30 minutes of inclined walking on the treadmill (2 miles + 1,050 ft elevation gain); on Wednesday, I took an hour-long spin class and followed that up with an extra 15 minutes for a solid 75 minutes of cycling.

I had hoped to swim at LA Fitness Thursday morning before heading out to the airport, but ended up needing the time for last-minute packing. Enjoyed a delicious Thanksgiving meal with my family in Pennsylvania on Friday. Followed that up with a 2-hour lunch session at a local Chinese buffet on Saturday. I did do about 55 minutes on my brother's elliptical trainer on Saturday morning before chowing down, so we'll just call that a "recovery meal". :-)

There's a branch of LA Fitness about 6 miles from my brother's house (where we're currently staying) so hopefully I'll be able to get in a swim or spin class tomorrow or Monday. Also on the agenda, doing some shopping for cold-weather running gear.

Finishing up the Tri

Did a quick swim today. 2,000 yds in about 45 minutes. Set splits: 10:45, 10:51, 11:14, 11:25.

So I have successfully completed all of the portions of a Half-IronMan triathlon in 51 hours and 15 minutes. My time can only get faster from here. :-)

Weekend Brick

Two big events in one weekend. Am I crazy? Maybe. Happy? Definitely. I was able to slog through a 76.5 mile bike ride and a half-marathon in a 25-hour time period (9:00 AM Saturday through 10:00 AM Sunday) and today I actually feel pretty good.

I tried to pay close attention to recovery - stretching and muscle massage after the events, immediate recovery drinks (Accelerade in my cooler), and getting serious carbs and protein in post race meals - and I think that really helped. A few aches and pains: a sore back (probably still lingering from 5 hours on the bike), minor blisters on the toes and (ironically) sore hips and lower abs ... from where my hung-too-low-and/or-too-tightly Fuel Belt's water bottles were rubbing for nearly two hours!

On the plus side, my legs, knees, and ankles feel great. For the last few long runs, walking down stairs was quite painful "the day after"; not the case, today! Walking is no problem and I'll definitely be up for spin class tomorrow (though I may be there by myself with the short Thanksgiving holiday week). However, even if I were a girl, I don't think I'd be wearing heels. :-)

Mote In Motion

I ran the Fort Worth Runners Club "Mote In Motion" half-marathon today. It was a very nice day and the course was pretty flat - just two places with hills where the Trinity Trail went under (and back up) road crossings. Completed the 13.1 miles in 1 hour and 53 minutes (8:37/mi pace) which is about half a minute faster than the DRC Half. Not too shabby considering that it piggybacked on yesterday's 76.5-mile bike ride. Also encouraging: my average heart rate for today was 166 BPM, compared with 174 BPM for the DRC Half.

Before and after the race, I met the coordinators of the Team In Training Fort Worth Marathon team. They were signing up people for the P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon and spring events. Something for me to look into next year if I want to do more running. :-)

Plus, the Soy Joy rep was there and giving away boxes of "close to expiration date" bars (she gave me a box of Mango and a box of Raisin Almond).

So I got to run a half-marathon, received a finisher's medal, had some refreshments, and took home 24 Soy Joy bars for an $8 race entry fee (plus $15 FWRC membership fee). Greatness!

MotionBased link: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/4468441

Denton Turkey Roll

Don and I rode the 71-mile route of the Denton Turkey Roll Bike Rally today. Jarrod was there too but only had time to do the 35-mile route due to family commitments. We arrived at the North Texas Fairgrounds at about 8:00 and picked up our packets and long-sleeved T-shirts. The weather was still a little on the chilly side but was warming up quickly so no armwarmers or overshirts were used even at the beginning of the ride.

There was a pretty good turnout - probably 750-800 riders - due to the nice weather and no other scheduled races with which to compete. Because we were lolly-gagging too much at the car, Don and I got to the starting line a little late and began the ride in the middle-to-back of the pack. We were surrounded by many riders of varying ability so we carefully manuvered towards the front. Along the way, we said hello to some families doing the shorter routes as well as a group of TNT-ers. ("Go Team!", I shouted)

Even with taking it slow in the beginning, Don and I had done 19 miles at the 1:00 hour mark. However, the pace definitely slowed down after that. We hung together until the last rest stop (about 61 miles and 4 1/2 hours into the ride) and Don SAG-ed it back. I ended up doing 76.44 miles (about 7 miles extra - the 71 mile route was probably about 69.5 miles) in almost exactly 5 hours (4 hours and 30 minutes of ride time).

The start of the ride had smooth roads, but FM 455 had a lot of chip-seal. Marion Rd and the route all the way up to Lone Oak Road and Ray Roberts Lake was also fairly smooth. We'll have to see if we can add some of those roads into our "Denton TNT Loop" bike training ride route.

At the 32-mile rest stop in Era (about half-way), we grabbed some barbecue sandwiches before turning south. We didn't realize that as we headed into Bolivar that we had ridden right past Jarrod's house (his mailing address is Sanger so didn't realize that he was so close to the route) - we could have stopped by and said hello. :-)

The entire way from Era to Krum was pretty tough. We had a decent head-wind coming at us from the south and the chip-seal roads were rough. After the last rest stop in Krum, I picked up the pace (didn't want Don to wait too long at the finish) and the road conditions were much improved as I headed back into Denton. Back at the Fairgrounds, we had some delicious hot dogs off the grill and some ice cold water before making the drive back home.

Route map:
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/kml/episode.kml?episodePkValues=4460522

Additional MotionBased ride info: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/4460522

Ride Review:

• Course: 2/5 - mix of good roads and not-so-good ones; Era to Krum was chip-seal and no shoulder; course was well-marked; no traffic control except at the start - riders on their own for the potentially dangerous left turn onto FM 455.


• Rest Stops: 2.5/5 - very limited selection - some bananas and cookies; barbecue sandwhiches at the half-way stop were the lone standout; later stops and the finish line ran out of Gatorade; stops were easy to see from the road


• Logistics: 3/5 - Denton starting line meant that we didn't have to drive too far and 9:00 AM let me sleep in a little more; good web site and follow-up email after registration; no issues with race day packet pick-up - but packet was weak; only $20 for pre-registration; parking at the North Texas Fairgrounds was plentiful and post-race meal of hot dogs


• Overall: 2.5/5 - a pretty bare-bones ride and the route was not the best, but I will probably do it in the future if the weather is nice because it is close and there is an option for a 70+ mile ride at the end of the season

Tough Training Week

This week seemed to go by very slowly from a training perspective. I must be looking forward to the Thanksgiving holiday. That or just too much other stuff going on outside of tri training ("no ... there isn't anything outside of tri training") - work, kids, travel planning. Sigh.

On Monday, I didn't feel like heading to the gym so I just did an hour on the elliptical trainer at home. Somehow I managed to reset the "tripometer" about 40 minutes into it so I have no idea how "far" I went, but the pace was pretty good and my heart rate stayed between 160 & 163 BPM after the first 20 minutes.

On Tuesday, the normal spin class with Don and Wilhe. Afterwards, I tried to do some swimming but my arms and shoulders were very sore - either from the long swim on Sunday and/or some (what I thought was) light weight training on Monday evening. I did 500 yds (of freestyle) in 11:35 - which is quite slow for me these days, especially for the first set of the workout.

So, as an experiment, I did another 500 yds, but this time with a modified breaststroke - alternating one stroke/kick underwater and the other at the water's surface. Surprisingly, I completed the set in 10:28, which is actually a pretty good time regardless of stroke. It is nice to know that if/when I have to use breaststroke for open-water swimming (for sighting, etc.) that my swim time really does not suffer much, if at all.

Wednesday was not planned to be an off day, but it just ended up that way due to work. Meetings conflicted with spin class at lunch time, too busy to hit the gym in the afternoon, too tired and harried with the kids to do the elliptical trainer in the evening. Murphy's Law.

Thursday, I got back on track with a spin class and 1,000 yds of swimming. 500 ys splits: 10:48, 10:37. Much better ...

Tomorrow will be another off day because I have a lunch meeting and I'm resting up for a busy weekend - the Denton Turkey Roll 71-mile bike ride on Saturday and the FWRC Mote In Motion half-marathon on Sunday. Hopefully, those events will make up for slacking off this week.

Sunday Swim

Did my second "Ironman" swim today. My time was a little faster than a month ago - I completed the 80 laps (4,000 yds) in 1:27:36 - shaving about 2 1/2 minutes off my time. Here are my 500 yd splits - the times in parentheses are from the Oct 12 swim:

• 1st 500 yds: 10:13 (10:47)
• 2nd 500 yds: 10:19 (10:42)
• 3rd 500 yds: 10:28.5 (10:37)
• 4th 500 yds: 10:48.5 (10:48)
• Water break: 0:54 (0:37)
• 5th 500 yds: 11:04 (11:23)
• 6th 500 yds: 11:18 (11:41)
• 7th 500 yds: 11:13 (11:43.5)
• 8th 500 yds: 11:19 (11:45)

So except for the set before the water break and the break itself, I was markedly faster than last month. I'm also pleased that my 2,000 yd split time dropped by over a minute (65 seconds to be exact). With any luck, I'll be able to do the swim part of the half-Iron (1.2 miles - 2,000 meters) in 40 minutes.

While I might not be "swimming like a fish" yet, at least I'm no longer a beached whale ...

Run Off at the Ranch

Don, Wilhe and I ran a 10K today (and Jonathan & Alexis and my family did the Fun Walk), but the Run Off at the Ranch wasn't much of a race. The right elements were there - organized by RunOn!, ChampionChip timing, after-race festivities including bounce houses and petting zoo for the kids, and a live band (who didn't sound half-bad) - but unfortunately only 13 people showed up. We talked to a race official afterwards, and he conceded that there wasn't enough promotion and the race length (10K instead of a 5K) probably hurt turn-out since the location was far from "traditional" runnning venues. All the families in Sendera Ranch probably just wanted to sleep in on a Saturday morning!

Aside from the turnout, it was hard to complain. The weather was fantastic (in the low 70s). The out-and-back course was very nice - mostly following the "hike & bike" trails of the Sendera Ranch community. There were two water stops (which were each hit twice) but they could have been spaced out a bit better. They were at Mile 2 and Mile 2.9 (and thus Mile 3.3 and Mile 4.2) - I would think that Mile 1.25/4.9 and Mile 2.5/3.7 would have been better choices.

My pace started off way too fast - I was third in the pack and trying to keep up with the 18-year-old who ran a 6:00 mile - but settled into about a 7:30/mi pace. That was still a little too ambitious since I was pretty tired at the half-way turnaround point. It didn't help that there was a little bit of a hill right after that (around Mile 3.5) and I got passed by the third-place finisher. I ended up being fourth overall. I know it's only out of 13, but I'll take it anyway. :-)

I ended up completing the 6.2 miles in 50:21 for an 8:07/mi pace. I was hoping to break 8:00/mi but I'm definitely getting faster regardless. Full race results at http://www.runontexas.com/Results/Fall2007/RunOffattheRanch2007/RanchOverall.HTM

As a "report card", right now, I'm running at the following speeds for these distances

• 5K (treadmill - no incline): 7:07/mi
• 5K (at end of Monster Tri): 8:02/mi
• 10K (today): 8:07/mi
• 15K (FWRC Labor Day): 8:53/mi
• 20K (Tour Des Fleurs): 9:03/mi
• Half-Marathon (DRC Half): 8:39/mi

So I think my current running goals are:

• 5K: 7:30/mi (or faster?!?)
• 10K: 8:00/mi
• 15K: 8:15/mi
• 20K/Half: 8:30/mi

Next weekend, I'm planning to do another half-marathon with the Fort Worth Runners Club (FWRC Mote In Motion). It may be tough to beat the DRC time, though, since Fort Worth's Trinity Trails are hillier than White Rock Lake and it will be the day after I do a 71-mile bike ride (Denton Turkey Roll), but I'm going to try it anyway!

Almost Recovered, Back for More

It took about 2 days for the leg soreness from the half-marathon to subside, but overall it wasn't too bad. Actually, I think I felt worse after the eight mile training run from last Tuesday.

This week seemed to fly by from a workout perspective. Maybe it's because I didn't do any running :-P ...

On Monday, I had a quick (though not planned to be) swim. Unfortunately, the pool at the gym was closing at noon for minor repairs and upkeep, but after a little pleading, the maintenance guys let me get in about 21 minutes (and 1,000 yds) while they set up. I was planning to go further but as it turned out I was already pretty tired after the abreviated swim. 500 yd splits: 10:24 and 10:29.

Tuesday was a spin class and a treadmill walk (my legs were still too sore to run). Almost the same as last Thursday - 4 MPH for 30 minutes - 2 miles completed at 10% incline - 1,050 feet of elevation gain.

Wednesday was another spin class. Very tough - my heart rate were averaging below 150 bpm but felt much worse. The lack of a true recovery day after the DRC Half is catching up to me. Thought about doing some weights afterwards, but in addition to being tired, I had too much work to do so just went back to the grindstone.

Last night I went to bed at 9:00 and didn't get up until 6:00. So I got a really good night's sleep (I usually average 5.5-6 hours per night). Did a spin class with Don and Wilhe (Jonathan didn't show up - boo!) and then afterward swam 1,000 yds. Felt really good. Sleep works wonders. 500 yd splits: 10:11 and 10:20 with a 1:24 break in between.

Friday is an off day, and then I'll be running "only" a 10K (Run Off at the Ranch) on Saturday. My family will be coming along to cheer me on and do the 1 mile fun walk. Additionally, I think I've convinced Don and Wilhe to join me and Jarrod may even show up too. Looking forward to some nice weekend weather and a good run.

(Half-)Marathon Man

Andy is happy. Very happy.

I ran (and finished) my first half-marathon today - Dallas Running Club's "The Half". The course started at the north end of White Rock Lake and wound through the scenic tree-lined Lakewood neighborhood on the west side of the lake, went over the bridge paralleling Garland Road by the dam, past the Dallas Arboretum and Winfrey Point to finish line at Norbuck Park.

I completed the 13.1 miles in 1:53:21, which is an 8:39/mile pace. I was 603rd out of 2,541 finishers overall and 80th out of 189 in the men's 35-39 age group. It feels good to be in the top 25% for my first half-marathon. Also, my 1:53:21 time was just one minute slower than I ran the 0.7 miles shorter Tour Des Fleurs 20K (12.4 miles in 1:52:19) about 6 weeks ago.

Jarrod and Derek also ran the half-marathon and finished in (sub-)10 min/mi average paces and Don ran the 5K (his first!).

The weather was very nice for running. It was a bit cool in the morning so we all had on long sleeved T-shirts and sweat shirts at the start. However, I warmed up rather quickly and shed my tee before Mile 2. But even by the end of the race it was only in the high 70s which made for almost perfect conditions.

I was actually very hungry before the race. I had eaten a Clif bar on the drive over, but I guess it wasn't enough. Luckily, Leah (our TNT Tri Coordinator) was manning the Team In Training tent at the race and had some bagels and pastries available for a quick noshing. So delicious ...

After a slow start due to a mob of people, I settled into a steady 8:15-8:30 pace. I was surprised and a little worried - my target was 8:45-9:00 - but I felt really good and decide to just go for it. I kept it up pretty well even in the hilly Lakewood neighborhoods, where I was running 7:30-7:45/mi down the hills. It wasn't until I went up the hill near Garland Road at Mile 7.5 when I started to "hit the wall" and my pace slowed appreciably. Luckily, the last five miles of the course just followed along White Rock Lake and was almost completely flat. So even though I was really drained I still kept a 9:15 pace until the finish line.

Here is the elevation chart of the course. You can see where the hills of the Lakewood area started around Mile 3.5 and the steep hill just before Mile 8 and the (relatively flat) remainder of the route on the east side of the lake.

MapMyRace has a good map and elevation chart of the course: http://www.mapmyrace.com/races/DRCHalf2007/

Here were my 5K splits:

• 5K split: 26:28 (8:26/mi pace)
• 10K split: 25:47 (8:15/mi pace)
• 15K split: 26:28 (8:27/mi pace)
• 20K split: 28:52 (9:13/mi pace)
• Finish 0.7 miles: 5:59 (8:38/mi pace)

I was happy that my overall pace was below my target, but I was lucky to have not dropped too much after starting off much too fast.

Here is a chart of my heart rate during the run. It was a pretty steady for the entire run, You can see where I took a longer break at the Mile 8.5 and 11.5 water stops with a push during the last 1.1 miles for a strong finish.

After the race, Derek, Jarrod, Don, and I grabbed burgers and bottled waters (Ozarka was a sponsor of the run) and also picked up some snacks and sodas from the Team In Training booth (being part of the team has its perks :-). We grabbed a picnic table under a shade tree and ate our lunch while reveling in our accomplishment.

Race results -
http://www.runontexas.com/Results/Fall2007/TheHalf2007/TheHalfMenu.htm

Speed From Necessity

Took my daughter with me to the gym today - she stayed home from preschool because she had an morning check-up at the doctor's office.

However, I totally forgot that the "Kid's Club" closes at noon on Fridays, and when we arrived at the gym it was already almost 11:30. So I only had 30 minutes to do a quick swim (and shower). Due to the lack of time, I tried to really push my speed and ended up doing 1,000 yards in 20:42 (10:12 for the first 500 and 10:30 for the second 500). Which is my fastest 1,000 yds in training to date ...

So even though it was a short workout I still feel like I accomplished something. :-)

Ready to Run

I was a little sore after Tuesday's 8 miles. Ankles, knees, and quads were all complaining from being jolted back into service after almost a month off from any long distance running.

However, I forced myself to keep working out. Don met me at the Keller LA Fitness on Wednesday and we did a 60-minute spin class followed by some Subway sandwiches and brainstorming about work projects.

Today, I did some weight training, another spin class (this one only 45 minutes long) and then went to the cardio area to use the treadmill. My legs were feeling much better - almost 100% (except for being tired from pushing around the 45-pound flywheel of the spin bike) - but I didn't want to do any more high impact work. So I just did some walking - 30 minutes at a 15:00/mi pace - so 2 miles total. However, I did set it at a 10 degree incline and racked up 1,010 feet of elevation gain so it will still a decent workout.

Tomorrow will just be some light swimming and then just relaxing Friday night and Saturday before Sunday's half-marathon.