Injury update

Training has not been good. My left hip is still unhappy. I guess lowering the volume of work wasn't enough. It looks like some time off along with some NSAIDs and Ice is going to be the plan. Which is frustrating but really there are worse things that can happen. So I need to get over it and get myself to the pool, as that's the one thing I could be doing at this point.

Just for the sake of record keeping, here's why I think this happened. The switch to outdoor riding and riding long too quickly. If it were flat, I'd probably be fine. The other week where I looped Round Valley 3x. That was probably too much of a ride.

The other thing is that my bike fit was off and I didn't realize it. I spent an hour this week on the trainer messing with my setup. My saddle was low by nearly a half inch. I found when I was doing single leg drills my left knee was having to move way to the outside in order to go over the top. I'm sure that was a contributing factor. (I'm not sure why my right knee didn't seem to have the same issue at the lower height)

I've got a race a week from Sunday. I'm hoping that this hip issue clears up before then. I'm sure I could race with the problem but with 2 Olys and a Half all within 5 weeks, I'm not sure that would be the smart choice. None of the courses are flat and hills seem to give my hip the most grief.

Genine races her first triathlon of the season this Saturday morning.
I have a 4 miler in Central Park Sunday. (maybe, it's not going to be fast if I go).

My other weekend project is to get a new tire glued on to the Hed 3's. I flatted out at Columbia last year. The rear tire has a couple questionable spots on it. I'm thinking I'll pull that tire off and that will become the spare as it will be nice and stretched. I don't plan on flatting again, but if I do, I really hope the slime would bail me out.

Lastly, because I haven't been working out much lately, it's been interesting to note the changes. Initially I wasn't sleeping well. I think I was so used to being exhausted that nothing would wake me up. So for the first 3-4 nights I just didn't sleep well.
My calorie requirements are much lower. Of course that took awhile to get the feel of. Again the first few days I just wanted to keep feeding the machine. Then it hit. I'm not needing all the extra calories and I just started to eat like a normal person. (sort of).
Yes my hip hurts because of tendonitis or bursitis or something. But overall, I can tell you, I feel much better when I'm doing all these crazy workout, than I do when I'm not doing them. I'm talking physically/muscularly.

Hoping that I'm back on the move soon.
I would say this has the feel of the lead in to Timberman last year, except that my expectations for these early races are nowhere near as high as what they were last summer for Timberman.

Easy week

Monday night I had a 30 minute swim lesson. It turned out to be a terrible time slot. All the lanes had swim team up until my lesson started. So no warm up. The pool was freezing. Normally that isn't a problem. Without my warmup, I was a mess. The coach basically ripped into me and I never swam anything over 100. Even tho' it was somewhat of a disaster, I got a bunch out of it. It's just that none of the improvements showed up until my next workout. I've done 2 workouts since and I'm heading back in the right direction.
I cut my 90 minute run to 45 minutes this week and I haven't biked yet. I'm giving my left hip / IT Band a break. I'm not sure why I didn't schedule a massage. It's feeling much better tho' and I think it was a good call to back off on the workouts.

Looking to step it back up this weekend.
Genine races next weekend. I race in 2 weeks. It's getting close!
Time to throw the wetsuit into tub to presoak it. Does it help? I don't think it hurts.

NYRR Run as One 4 miler 2012

As I mentioned in the previous post, I was concerned about my left leg / IT Band during my bike yesterday. Well this morning, it really let me know that something has to change. I had more than a few painful steps this morning as we walked to the corrals. I think I was tight because of the cold.

So I decided to take it easy and see how it was going to go. Big race so I was in the 3rd corral. Got to the first mile mark in 7:42 at which point I decided I was feeling alright. So I turned it up. 2nd mile mark in 7:12. (I believe this has a downhill as well). 3rd mile climbing, back to about a 7:36. Final mile I worked the downhill as best I could. (still not great at this). Then I also had a kick to the finish as I wanted to make sure I finished under 30 minutes. 4th mile 7:15. Total time 29:47.

Looking at my earlier races. This is 1 second faster than my Feb 4 miler and I know I didn't bike 50 miles of hills the day before that run.

I definitely would like to feel fast again. To do that. I've got to drop weight. Stay injury free. Continue with the speed work. And wait for all this 70.3 training to finish. That way I might actually arrive at the start line feeling rested.

Odd Week

Monday started off with a morning swim. Then I decided I was looking pretty tired at the end of the day. So I decided to take the evening off.

Tuesday morning I sleep in (6:45 rather than 4:50AM wakeup). Midday our friend Bob posts that he's got extra tickets to Game 6 of the Devils vs Panthers hockey game. I send him a note saying of nobody else asks. I'd love to go, even tho' I had a 2 hour run scheduled. Turns out I get to go to the game, which was great. It went into overtime and the Devils won it about 5 or 6 minutes in. Fantastic!
Fortunately, I don't have to drive to these games. The train I take stops a couple blocks from the arena. I got home just after midnight.

Waking up for a morning swim was out of the question. Looking at the weather, it looked like tonight was going to be the best night for me to run. (It was going to get colder as the week went on). I got myself out the door quickly once I got home. I figured 1:15:00 or 2 hours. We will see how it goes.
Well my legs felt tight from step one. The first hour wasn't so bad. Really great night to be running. I stopped at the house. Got a drink, switched shirts, put on reflective vest, back out the door. 5 minutes from the house, I realized I didn't grab a GU or anything. Well, I'll know by mile 2 if I've got another hour in me.
I had to stop and walk 40 steps a few times during the second hour, which probably saved myself from tweaking something. It wasn't an amazing 2 hours but I got it done.

Thursday I decided to rest again. 2 hour runs are still a big deal for me and I'm trying to make sure I don't injure myself at this point.

Friday morning I forgot to move my alarm across the room. I hit snooze 4 times before I realized I've been doing it. So much for the morning swim... Genine ran after work then we both went to the pool. I could use the late train as a reason why I didn't run but it was more that I was curious to see how my long Saturday bike would feel well rested. It was a short swim Friday night. 1950m.

Saturday Long bike. I loaded the race wheels into the car. On the way over, I went back and forth as to what I was going to do. Initially, I thought it would be cool to start with my regular wheels. Then switch to the Hed3's for the 2nd and 3rd lap. But swapping out the brake pads takes a few minutes. So I just put them on to start with and did the entire ride with them. The first lap I played it pretty safe. The braking on this set of wheels is just goofy enough that I've got to build up my confidence in how it feels. The 2nd and 3rd hour went well. Although my left foot felt completely out of place. I felt like I was pedaling on the outside of my foot. I hadn't noticed this the last few weeks. I thought it might go away but it never did. I've got to take a look at my cleat position again. I didn't feel balanced at all today. Oh to have a proper bike fit! I may have to go in again to have someone offer some suggestions. I'm worried that it's bad enough that I'm going to injure that left leg.

The good news of the day was that the bike chain I installed didn't break.

The purchase of the day was calve compression sleeves. My long runs really beat me up. I finally decided I should give them a try. I'll be thrilled if they help. I couldn't help but think about the NYC marathon after my 2 hour run. I was thinking, 2 more hours after this. I'm not sure how that's going to happen. Fortunately, I've got a few months to work on that.

4 mile race in the morning. Biking 50 miles today isn't going to help that finish time. You never know tho. I'll wait to see how I feel in the morning.

Biking in NJ

I'm sure many people out there would think that biking in New Jersey would be terrible. (as NJ is the butt of so many jokes about industrial pollution and such). My biking experience is pretty limited but I think we've got it pretty nice here in Central Jersey.
Sure there are plenty of roads with fast traffic on them but those are easily avoided. There are tons of side roads that have slower local traffic and the road quality is above average. Because there are so many cyclists in the area, I think many drivers are expecting to see us out there, especially on the weekends. I'd say their patience/respect for us is higher than I've experienced elsewhere.
The other nice part of where we happen to live is that you can choose to go flat, rollers or hills. Riding south of us is quite flat. Going north/north-west you can choose how challenging your hill climbs are going to be. This is one of the rides I'd like to tackle before heading up to Mont-Tremblant.
Check it out.

So we did another 50 mile ride yesterday. I'm definitely encouraged by the fact that I'm covering this distance often. I can't say that I'm feeling powerful or fast on the bike tho'. It could just be the volume of training I suppose. Although there is part of me that wants to adjust my position on the bike. I guess if I find the time to have someone take a look at my position, I'll take it. All in all, I'm feeling like I'm ahead of last year in terms of bike fitness at this point in the season. But as I've said, I'm not sure that equates to speed.

After our ride yesterday, I swapped out the chain on my bike. I bought the bike used so I'm not sure how old it is. I do know that last fall when I was not doing anything, when I started biking on the trainer, I had some frozen links. So this is long overdue. I just wanted to do this myself. So I bought the Chain Tool and an Ultegra Chain and got it done. I had my old stretched chain from my road bike lying around, so I was able to try it once on a bad chain before I went to work on the new one. The whole procedure was very simple. The only thing I didn't think of was that I use a dry lube on the chain. I should have simple greened and scrubbed the new chain before putting it on the bike. Ah well. I'll just ride it as is for a bit. Then when it's time to apply the lube, I'll scrub it clean then.

More Speed Track Workout 2

Genine, Todd and I actually made it to the track Friday night after work. Last week's speed run was on a treadmill. The treadmill is plenty effective but not quite real.
The main set was 4x400, 2x800, 4x400. Unfortunately, neither Todd or I remembered a watch and Genine did her own thing. So I really don't know how it went by comparison of other years.

On the drive home, I was remembering the track work build back in 2009. I'm hopeful that this build works out the same way. Because tonight, even tho' I was running faster than I would normally run, there was no power behind it. I also didn't feel like my run stride was right either. I'm not sure how to describe this other than I felt too upright and wasn't driving my legs as powerfully as I should be. I seem to remember this all fell into place over the course of about 6 weeks of track work. Maybe that will happen again this year.

I know I've posted this before but it's been awhile. Here is the link that helps give you an idea of how fast you should be running for your track intervals.
McMillan Running
Plug in a recent race result and it will put together an estimation for just about every distance. I took my times with me tonight but without a watch it was useless. Next time, I won't be in so much of a rush. Because there wasn't much sun left in the day, there was no turning back to get it. Fortunately, the days are getting longer.

Track workouts are tough. I was glad Todd was there with me because I might have stopped early otherwise. But this is how to get faster. So get out on the track and start tearing it up!

Putting in the time

Last week was a really good training week. Saturday's "long" 80 minute run didn't feel long. Then the 4500m swim felt like forever but I got it done. Then a 4 hour ride + 30 min run on Sunday topped it off. I even had a massage scheduled for Sunday evening.

Monday morning I get to the pool to swim 4000 and just had nothing. I stopped at 3000 even tho' I had time to keep going. It was ugly. Monday evening was to be an easy 1:45:00 bike. I wasn't able to get onto the bike until 8. Got a movie rolling and I made it all of 45 minutes.
I guess this is why most people take Monday off. I get it. Monday morning is just one of the better times for me to get to the pool.

So this week, I decided I'd break up the long run and the long bike. So my long run was tonight(Tuesday). 100 min. I felt a million times better than Monday night. Until my right calf and heel decided to chime in. Ugh! I cut it to 90 min and got my foot into the ice.

The good news is that there isn't much more volume to be added. It's just mixing in some intensity here and there. Hopefully I can manage may way through and avoid injury. I was really getting optimistic for a couple weeks.

I guess it's a bit of a roller coaster ride. As long as I'm at the top for a couple of the races this summer, I'll be satisfied.

Insanity

Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Just a reminder that it's important to take a good look at what you have been doing and decide if you would benefit from some changes.

The pool is the first place I really started to feel like I was stuck. Once I got my swim endurance back into place. I no longer had the endurance improvement to be happy with. The focus then shifts to speed. That's when I decided to pay for the coaching. My technique is far from perfect and I've had success with the coach in the past. Currently, I feel like I'm thinking a lot while I'm swimming and I'm still questioning whether I'm doing everything right. I've got 4 more lessons before Columbia. I'm sure I'll be swimming more confidently by then.

Running: I've been following a 70.3 training schedule to get me to our June 24th race. Last year we were following a 70.3 schedule to get us to an August race. We are definitely deeper into the schedule this year compared to last year. Last year I remember thinking I had done no speed workouts heading into the Olympic distance races of Columbia and Mooseman, and I felt like I short changed myself in terms of race results. So this year I've modified my schedule. I've added speed workouts into the build leading to those shorter races. Last night was the first of them. I couldn't get myself motivated to go to the track alone in the fading sunlight, so I fired up the dreadmill. (It's not too dreadful for speed work). It was a good workout. I probably should have run faster on the 400s. Or maybe it was a safe place to start.

Biking: The event I feel I haven't a clue about. Give me a flat, non-technical ride and I'll probably do well. (I think I've only raced one flat event, DC in 2009). Again, I'd like to make an improvement over last year's Olympic races. So it's time to add the speed work. I've got a Spinervals DVD or 2 and some interval workouts. That will have to do. I'd like to see 1:15:00 at the end of the bike leg at Columbia. Last year I was close, but flatted near the end. Ugh! I don't feel fast on the bike at all yet. I'm hoping that changes in the next few weeks.

There are many other things I wish I could add to my training but I just don't have time. I'm not complaining tho'. The fact that my foot is cooperating with me has really changed my perspective on the entire race season. I'm going to make the most of it and hope that it keeps getting better.

I'm also looking forward to the start of the Tango discussions. I can tell people are starting to think about it. There is a stat meter on my pictures posted on Flickr and people have been looking through them again. The Buzz has begun!

NYRR Scotland 10K Race Report

Another great morning for running. 42 degrees and Sunny.

We cut it kind of close this morning. Parking took longer than expected. Got our race numbers and didn't make it to the corrals until the were already compressing them and the National Anthem was being sung.
This was a busy race. I knew as soon as I saw my number 2112 (how cool is that?). That meant that I'd be in the 3rd corral today. Seeing how our warmup was the jog from the car to the number pickup, I had lowered my expectations somewhat for the start of this race.
As it turned out, my lowered expectations didn't matter much. I felt like I was running with the crowd for over a mile. It wasn't awful tho'. First mile was a 7:46. (I wore my watch this week). After that there was room to move, so mile 2 was 7:35, mile 3 7:36. Then we got to the hills, they slowed me down to a 7:46 for mile 4. I was feeling alright. I had some people around me that were having issues. It's funny how hearing someone suffer can make the course feel harder to you. I had to get away from those people.
I think the final 2 miles is largely downhill. Again, I'm feeling that I'm losing ground in these sections. I'm sure some speed workouts would fix this problem. My pace for mile 5 and 6 was 7:31. Slightly faster but as I've said. I feel like I'm missing the free speed from gravity.
Once again, no big push to the finish. I feel like I ran the event in Zone 4 HR. Solid Effort but no suffering really.
My finish time was 47:33 or a 7:41 pace. I had 7:35 in mind. Not too bad, seeing how this is my 3rd race in 3 weeks. Also the 2 hour run, each of the last 2 weeks have been tough. I've got some work ahead of me in terms of getting back into peak shape.

Which got me thinking. What has been my best 10K time? Oddly enough my best 15K pace (7:23) is much faster than my 10K best pace in a run only event (7:36). Both Central Park Full Loop Runs. But I actually ran a 7:28 pace for the 10K at the end of the DC Dextro Energy Olympic Distance Triathlon back in 2009. Go figure. I guess I need to set a goal of running a hard 10K some time when I'm in good shape. Should be an easy PR.

Time to go swim 4500m...

NYRR CCC 4 miler

44 degrees and no rain.

I'm not going into this run on fresh legs. Did an hour speed bike workout Saturday, followed by a trip to the pool. At the pool I knocked out the longest swim I've done in quite some time, 4500m. I ended up using the pull buoy more than I wanted to, but right now it's a very helpful tool as I work on my stroke. It was nice to see 1:40/100m on the clock towards the end of that set. Without the buoy, it was drastically slower. 15-20 sec. I was cooked.

Back to the 4 miler. My right foot been much improved lately, so I decided I would really focus on my running form. I kept thinking quick cadence, light on your feet. I got to the first mile mark at 8:00, I'm not exactly sure when I reached the start line. I guessed at 30 seconds but it was probably more like 10-15 at most.

Even tho' I wasn't going to go all out. I wasn't looking for an easy run either. I wanted to see 7:30 or less for my pace at the end of this. Which means I'd better stay focused and pick it up a bit.
Mile 2 I got there at 15:30. Guess I dialed in the 7:30 perfectly.

But there is trouble ahead, it's time to do some climbing. I felt pretty good about mile 3. I felt there was a chance that I had held pace. I didn't. 7:38. Downhills ahead.

I had a couple people near me that had been running with me for quite some time. I had it in my head that I wasn't going to let them beat me to the finish. Unfortunately, I don't think any of our group were excellent descenders. We had plenty of people sneaking by us here.
Once we were out of the descent, I decided to turn it up. Last week I had no kick, I ran easier today, I should have a bit of a kick. There was one guy that went with me and we finished out the final 400(?) within a couple steps of each other. I stayed ahead.

I looked at the clock and figured I should have been just under a 7:30 pace for the run. Have to say I was a bit disappointed to see 7:35 when the results came out. 30:19 for 4 miles. That may have ended my  "no watch or HR monitor during my runs" phase. I've found the watch to be helpful in the past. It's time to get it back into my training.

Todd had a good run considering he ran 12 miles yesterday in a cold rain. 27:54, so 6:59 pace.

As soon as I got home. I switched to bike clothes and headed over to Ed's and we rode for just over 90 minutes. 50 degrees and overcast. My first outdoor ride of the year. It was nice to have some momentum on the bike. I still don't have good gear to ride in this type of weather but what I put together worked well enough for today.

Next weekend is a 10K in Central Park. I'm going to try to work my schedule so I have a day off leading into it. I'd like to get an idea of where I am for 10k's.

It's been a good week. Hoping I can string an number of these together. It would do wonders for my psyche.

Good Week

So I ran a decent 5K last Saturday.
Had a really good swim lesson Tuesday.
Then Thursday after work, I ran 20K, my longest run in quite some time. My right foot didn't hate me until the last mile. And more importantly, was very useable the next day.
I finished at 9PM, so I really questioned whether I was going to make it to the pool the next morning at 6 to get my swim in. Surprisingly enough, I made that happen without any trouble too.

It's nice when things are going well. It helps me get over the bad workouts. Like the hill sprints on Tuesday morning. Those were ugly.

I finally saw the New Masters Swim Group this morning. Bob was the only person from our old group. (most of the others no longer live in NJ).
I didn't get to see much of what they were doing, but at this point, I don't think it's something I need to make time for. As much as I enjoy being part of a group, it's just not going to happen right now. I will admit to being jealous of Bob doing Butterfly Drills this morning.

Cold rainy weekend ahead (mid 40s). I'm trying to get it into my head that I'm going to bike in it anyhow. We will see how that turns out.

Swim Lessons

I've already had 2 lessons. The first one was an hour long. After which I felt my mind was going to explode because I had been given so much to work on. I wrote most of it out so that I'd be able to keep track of it.
The 3 main points were:
Keeping arms and hips in sync.
High elbow catch & pull.
Hand exit. I'm creating a huge splash. I need to get out cleanly. He considered this the most severe of the 3 problems.

I spent 2 weeks working on this. I felt pretty confident that I had made significant improvements to the first two items but my catch & pull felt inconsistent and at times lacking power.

When I went back for lesson two, I signed up for a 30 minute slot. I figured that by keeping the time short, I wouldn't be overloaded. I love all the feedback but I had to slow it down a bit.

He watches me for a couple laps. He sees the improvement in the high elbow. Then asks how it feels to be swimming that way. I explain to him that it feels inconsistent. We get into a discussion about that and he sends me back down the pool to determine if it's equal on both sides or what is making me feel that way.
I get to the wall and he already knows what I'm going to tell him. It's the pull on the right side. And then the can of worms comes open. Here's what he saw on that 25.
My kick is throwing me off balance when my right arm is forward.
Which causes me to adjust my pull to keep me from going further out of line.
The bad pull + kick adds up to a terrible glide on my left side because my right hip isn't getting out of the water either.

How to fix? First let's keep it simple and remove the legs from the equation.
Pull buoy swim.
Right side pull improves dramatically. Need to work on deeper and wider reach up front at the catch which will allow for a more even pull and room for the exit at the end of the stroke.
Without the pull buoy.
Focus on a much smaller kick. Any time I allow my legs to go wide, not only does it add resistance but it's throwing off my body position.

The one other comment he added is that I'm not reaching far enough for my catch. I already know how to fix that. That is just a matter of me focusing on reaching deeper in front of me and maintaining a forward lean in the water. When I want to be fast, I do this well. When I'm thinking of other things, it's the first thing to go wrong. So it's part focus and part just being lazy.

It seems that I've got a bunch of stuff to work on. The good news, in my opinion, is that I don't have as many problems when I'm swimming with a pull buoy (which is similar to a wetsuit swim). So I'm alright with focusing on the arms/hip problems first, as that will translate to better times in the races. I'll work on the kick once I've got the feel for this front end stuff burned into my brain.
I did 3500m the morning after this lesson and already I feel much more consistent. The times were good too, but there was a ton of pulling, so it's hard to compare.

DIANE KELLY MEMORIAL 5K Race Report

Race Results
Sorted by Age Group

We drove back to our hometown in Pennsylvania for this one. I wasn't sure if I was going to run or be the photographer. I dressed as if I were going to run it. It was a rainy morning so I wasn't sure I wanted to have the camera equipment out and getting wet.

The race start was about a mile from the house. We picked up Todd along the way and it sounded like he wanted me to run as well. So why not? Well this will mean I'll be racing 3 weeks in a row. 5K. 4 mi. 10K. Maybe it will be a good progression.

After sitting in the car for 6+ hours to get here the night before, I wanted to make sure I got a decent warmup in. I wanted to know if anything was going to be unhappy now rather than once I got started. I started my warmup at the right time but I ended about 5 minutes too soon. Not a big deal, I just felt like I should have kept moving is all.

I was going to be curious how this was going to go from a nutrition standpoint. This was day 6 of no simple carbs. No sugar, flour.... So I wasn't going to take a GU pre race either.

There looked to be about 200 people at the start line. I'd say about a dozen of them are people I went to high school with. Jim and Lonnie were up on the starting line. Todd, Jerry, Marty and I were back a bit. Directly behind me were a couple of past members of KB2. Ellis and Amanda.

Alright so what am I thinking? Well, judging from my run with Todd last weekend. I can only hope that he goes out too hard and falls apart. Otherwise I've no chance of beating him. Marty? He looks like he's in good running shape. I can only hope I can stay close. Jerry? Maybe he did a P90X leg workout last night and his legs are dead. If not he's going to be right there in the mix with us.

Horn sounds and we are off. A quarter mile into the run I find myself laughing to myself that there are a couple of 7 or 8 year old boys just ahead of me trucking along. I couldn't help but wonder if that was going to be sustainable for them or not. I think I worked past them about half a mile in.

Todd was leading our group of 4. Before he got too far out ahead of us he turned to see where we were and he pulled himself back a bit. Then we ran up the short steep hill and then it was a slight climb to the next turn. This would turn out to be the only time during the race that I would be leading our group of 4.

As we turned onto Madison, Marty, Todd and I were still together. I assumed Jerry was right behind us. It turns out his shoe fell off at the turn, so he wasn't with us any longer. Madison is a long straight stretch that is descending slightly. It was during this section that I was realizing that I'm taking 3 strides to every 2 of Todd and Marty's. (or something close to that). I also realized that I was breathing much harder than either of them... not a good sign.

We hit the 2 mile mark. Todd announces 14:23 or something close to that. Whatever it was, my response was "Too fast for me". I know. Not a very positive response. It definitely made me more concerned than I had been before I knew that bit of information tho'.

At the next turn, about a mile to go. We start climbing again. Todd and Marty are slowly pulling ahead now. There are spectators, just after I pass them. I hear one of them say, "Go Ellis". Ha! She is still right behind me. Well how's that for motivation? I've got Todd and Marty getting away and Ellis just a few steps behind. Just keep digging.

The slight downhill on Jefferson once again reminds me of how I am not using downhills to my advantage currently. I feel like I'm braking on every impact.

Turn onto Conewango. It's basically flat to the finish from here I'm guessing it's a half mile to go. I can see Todd and Marty up ahead but I have no chance of catching them. We run by more spectators and once again just after I pass. I hear "Go Ellis!" At which point I realize I'm going to have to find an extra gear at the end of this. I'm going to have to start earlier than her as well. I decide it's going to be at the turn at the Towers. Only problem is I'm already going all out. Then to make it worse. I try to pass a person ahead of me on his right initially but then he started to go wide, so I went to his left. Fortunately we didn't get tripped up.

Sure enough as we make the final turn. Ellis and another woman have a kick to the finish and both of them finish ahead of me. I crossed the line at 22:14 for a 7:10 min/mile in 30th place. Which is my best pace since 2008. So thank you, Todd, Marty and Ellis for the race. I now have a bit of hope as I start my speed work for the season.

Jim finished in  4th

17:54.10      5:46/M 

Marty finished in  25th
21:59.70      7:05/M

Todd Finished in 26th

22:00.10      7:06/M   

Jerry finished 45th (Thew a shoe)

23:19.80      7:31/M

I leave Genine's story/results out. I figure she might write something up eventually. 

Coogans 5K

This past week has been frustrating. I’ve come down with another respiratory infection. So far I’ve just been taking Sudafed and Mucinex to handle it but I don’t seem to be improving. I missed a number of my workouts in hopes that rest would help me recover. I can’t say that it’s helped. I may just have to go back in for an antibiotic as it’s already been a week. If it turns into a full sinus infection, that will be another week.

As an added challenge, I had a mistake on my calendar. I thought I had another week or 2 before my 5K. Todd mentioned it to me as we were running our hill loop this week. Sure enough, Sunday was the Coogans 5K. This is not a fast 5K course, there are some good hills to climb.

Just because it’s not a fast course, doesn’t mean there aren’t going to be fast runners. Todd’s bib pace is 6:46 I think and he didn’t get placed in the first corral. I guess the 5K specialists are registered for this one. (there is money to be won after all).

So Todd and I started side by side in the corral but he left me behind rather quickly. That wasn’t a surprise. He should have been at the front of our corral and we were probably more around the 2/3s mark which was more accurate for me. I felt pretty comfortable running along the flat leading us under the GWB/Cross Bronx Expressway, then we hit the first climb. Once again, I got to see how running hills gives me an edge on a course like this. The group I was running with all fell behind and I started to move through the pack ahead of me. As it flattened out, I was back to running with the pack. I was probably about to the 1 mile mark when the leaders of the race were headed towards me. I had no doubt that the first 6 or so were running under a 5 min mile. Me? Not so much. I felt that I was running fairly well tho’ until around mile 2. At that point it just started to feel very hard to breathe and I could tell that I was losing ground. Fortunately there was another climb and again I was moving through the pack. After that the rest of the course is downhill or flat. Quite a few people burned past me on the downhill. Hopefully I’m not losing all the ground I made up on the uphill. (some downhill practice is in order tho’). As I approach the finish I look over to see where Genine is, we completely missed each other at the Brooklyn race back in December. I found her easily today.

Typically you finish and kind of have an idea of how you did. My result was worse than I thought it would be. 24:23 or 7:52 pace. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised, my lungs immediately went into a full asthma attack when I stopped. It was nasty. I was coughing for the next 3 hours just to get back to somewhat normal.

Looking at the results, there were 5 Carlsons in the race. I was the fastest of them. So that's something right? 

Hopefully this cold clears out soon. It’s worn out it’s welcome.

On a more positive note, my swimming seems to be improving every time I get into the pool. That is back to being fun. 

Here is a video of the finish. Todd is at the start, I am towards the end of the video. Unfortunately the compression Flickr adds doesn't make for a great picture when you go full screen.

Myrtle Beach- A Marathon to Remember

This may be the best race report for me since I've joined this blog! I kept quiet about my training leading up to the race,...mostly because if the race didn't go well, I didn't want to be embarrassed by my inability to put together a good marathon.

Since I am on sabbatical I had no reasons to not train appropriately. So, during the month of January I averaged about 60 miles per week (or 96km/week for Craig if he still reads this). I reached a high week of 70 miles and an 8 day total of 83 at one point.

And,......it paid off. I ran the whole marathon without walking a step (which I haven't done in a while). I didn't have to take any bathroom breaks during race either. I ended up running my 4th best marathon ever and my fastest since I was 25. I can't even begin to remember what else was happening in the world in 1995!!  Well, other than the point that I was running fast.

Got to the race at a decent time, it was 44 degrees. The port-a-pot lines were moving at a snail's pace. I thought people magazines to read in the stalls or that they had fallen asleep. Fortunately, I got through with about 4 minutes to spare. On my way to the start I ran into a friend from Indianapolis. We talked for about 2 of the 4 minutes I had left.

With only 2000-2500 marathoners, you'd think the start would be easy. But when you added over 4,000 half marathoners starting at the same time it was hard to get to the pace I wanted. However,I was patient. It took 30 seconds to get to the starting line and I ran an 8:02 first mile which was my slowest.
I tried not to look at my watch and just run by feel and by the knowledge I had from my training.  would glance at the clock at 5, 10, 13.1, 15, 20 and 25 miles.

I went through the 1/2 marathon in 1:38:30 and felt great. At that point I knew I had the potential for a good marathon. At 16 and 18 miles , I thought to myself,... "My legs do not even feel like I've started running yet!" My mind was saying if you feel this good at 20, maybe you can put the hammer down. However, my 40+ year old voice of reason, said let's wait and see how 20 , 22 and 24 miles feel. I ran my fastest mile between 18.5 and 19.5 ( I had my gps set up to give me 1/2 splits so  could look at them after the race) at 7:18. By 20 and 22 I still felt really good,  but the thoughts of trying to run the last few miles harder were not entering my mind. I was maintaining my pace but it took a little effort. At 24, my goal was just keep pushing at whatever pace I am at. I was passing a lot of people late in the race. I couldn't help but to empathize with them on when hand because that has been me ,..MANY TIMES. On the other hand,  I couldn't help but have a smile on my face as I was doing the passing for once. I thought I pushed moderately hard the last mile, and I was pleased as it was a 7:34 and my average for the entire marathon was 7:33. The temp was 62 degrees at the finish,... oh how nice!!

I finished in 3:17:42 chip time. Missing the 2013 Boston qualifying by 2:40, but that doesn't bother me a bit.
Now a couple of weeks of rest/active recovery and then start a 24 week IM Wisconsin training!!

Florida Trip

We flew down to Tampa to visit my Dad for his 70th Birthday last week. The weather was 50/50 for us in terms of being warm but it was 100% fun. Kennedy Space Center, Golf, Tampa Brewery, spending time with family, what's not to like?
As a result of that trip. I had a couple of light weeks in terms of training which was fine. I also ate as if it was a holiday and enjoyed all of it.

When I got back, I drew up my training calendar all the way to IMMT 70.3 in June. Looking at the training schedule all at once made me realize just how much work goes into doing this. Not only the physical effort but the hours out of your week/month/year. Maybe this is the wrong attitude, but seeing just how much is planned kind of makes me feel better about missing a few here and there. It's basically a part time job, one that pays you in fitness. Heck, doing half of what's on that schedule is still pretty good!

Unfortunately for me, getting the workouts done is only part of the battle. The part of the whole fitness thing that I struggle with is keeping the calories down. It wasn't long ago that I was 230lbs, so most people look at me at 190 and say I look super fit. The reality is that 175 should probably be the high end of my range. I'm not certain of the low end. I don't think I've been there.

Fortunately, I'm pretty good at getting stuff done when there is a deadline. So once again, I've created a calendar with my weekly weight goals on it. That helps me keep my expectations realistic. It's too easy to get excited when you lose 4 pounds the first week and too disappointing when you gain 2 the next. When the truth is you've lost 2 in 2 weeks and that's pretty good.

Then I was thinking of what I could print up to post on the refrigerator. The first thing that came to mind was "Bring It!" which would be a bit of a twist to JFord's dedication to giving it his all during his workouts. My dedication would be directed towards my diet. So I've decided I'll write my end of month weight goal with that. Hopefully that will help keep me on track.

Oddly enough, on the train yesterday there was a new advertisement posted. It was a program/app from the American Cancer Society to help people quit smoking. I thought this was pretty clever and it's sort of what I need to keep me on track for my diet. Anytime I'm going to get something to eat, I'd launch the app and instead of telling me not to have a cigarette, it just needs to tell me "170 Bring It!"
(Their app is more clever than this) (I also don't own a smartphone).

I swam all 3 days of the 3 day weekend. 3000, 3500, 3000. Initially I thought it might be a bad idea. Surprisingly enough, I felt noticeably better each day and the times were there to prove it.
Also I'm enjoying the weight room workouts. I missed 2 while in Florida and I'm actually itching to get back to lifting. After golfing in Florida, I'm also itching to get to a driving range. (Can I fit that into the schedule?)

I also added a new tab at the top listing the books I've read. I read a bunch so I figured I'd throw that on here as well.

Hope to see a Marathon Race Report on here from Jim soon....

2012 NYRR Gridiron Classic 4 Mile

The day before the race I wanted to have the day off but I ended up having to swim 2500m. I’m taking my sleep very seriously. I missed a morning swim because of that and I moved it to Saturday. A few hours after my swim, I went to get a massage. Typically I go deep tissue and it’s an hour of pain. This time I had them take it easy. All was going well, until I put my face into that funky “pillow”. I seemed to be incredibly allergic to it. Within seconds my sinuses we inflamed and draining. (I know TMI). I didn’t worry much about it. I figured the netipot would chill it out. Nope, I spent the rest of my day with a Kleenex box at my side. I had to resort to Sudafed. I still wasn’t clear when I fell asleep. (I'll be taking allergy medicine before my next massage)

I built my week’s training schedule around this race. I definitely didn’t expect to PR the distance or anything. I just figured it might work out to be a good measuring stick. My swim and bike speeds are awful but I was curious to find out where my run fitness is.

I was feeling pretty good. I was thrilled that my foot was co-operating. I really wasn’t sure what to expect from this race in terms of my finish time. The one thing I had in my head was the hills. I have been losing ground on the uphills recently. I’ve been running plenty of hills bigger than what’s in Central Park tho’. I was curious to see what was going to happen on the hills today.

I was in the second corral. I put myself in around the 2/3’s mark. I was kind of surprised at the lack of football jerseys around me. Last year, it felt like I was surrounded by people wearing jerseys. (I was wearing a Bruce Smith jersey). It wasn’t until after the race that I realized that last year, I think I started back in the 4000’s or so for some reason. I guess the first couple corrals are a bit more serious about what they are going to wear to race.

I didn’t have a watch or HR monitor. I forgot to look at the clock when I reached the start line. First mile I’m going to have to make a guess at my pace. I did not start out crazy fast. I haven’t trained for that. I just wanted to fall into a pace that I felt that I could hold for 4 miles. Reached the mile marker it said 8:45. I’m guessing it was very possible that it took me 45 seconds to reach the start line. So I figured 8 min/mile. That’s reasonable.

Mile 2. I’ve run this many times but I’ve never looked at elevation maps. This part of the course always feels the easiest to me. I don’t know if it’s descending or if it’s that the blood has finally loaded into the muscles and it just feels good to be running. I figured I’d be looking at 16:45 when I got to the marker. I got there at 16:00… I’ll admit that I thought “Uh-oh” when I saw that. I said earlier that I wasn’t sure where I was in terms of fitness. Well, I’m fairly certain 7:15 was not going to be sustainable but what’s done is done. I did not ease off the gas. I just kept going completely by feel.

Mile 3. The climb I’ve been waiting for. I made sure I did not get boxed in. It turns out that I pretty much held the pace with everyone around me. That’s fine with me. I’ve been giving up ground on the climbs recently. I’ve definitely improved here. I think my split was nearly 7:30.

Mile 4. I’m not exactly sure what happened here. There is a reasonable descent during this mile. I’m guessing it starts around 3.5 miles (I could be wrong). Well this is what happened. On the descent, I felt that I was being passed often and yet wasn’t passing anyone. Am I just a bad at descents right now? I’m not sure, because once it flattened out in the final push to the finish. I realized I was running out of steam. There was no push, just a continuation. As I approached the finish line, the announcer called me “Old School” in my Bruce Smith jersey. (Dang.. I’m getting old). The good news was that I realized I might have finished in under 30 minutes. Which would mean a 7:30 pace.

I kept my eye out for Jon as I walked out of the finish area. We keep saying we are going to catch up at one of the events and it never happens.

When I got home, I looked up results online. I ran a 7:27 pace! That is way better than I figured I could run. THAT makes me happy.

Todd hasn’t run much lately and was going to take it easy. He ran a 7:07 pace.

Then I looked up Jon’s results. I knew he’d be sub 7 min mile for the first time at a NYRR event. Well he kind of crushed it. I don’t want to steal his thunder if anyone happens to read my blog first, so I’ll just leave it at that.

Alright, now that’s it’s evening and I’m writing this. My right heel is giving me some grief. I’ve got ice on it and I’m hoping that it won’t be a problem for long. Because now that I’ve seen my results, I think I’ve got some goals in mind. More on that later, Genine is home from work and we are 2 hours behind on watching the Superbowl.

I'm coming back

Okay, good peoples. It is time I get back on the horse. I'm not going to say much right now other than that I am out of shape and overweight by a lot, and I need to change those things. The Tango is always a good motivator and I have lots of time to ramp up and slim down for that in 2012. I have also been challenged by a co-worker to run the Tussey Mountainback 50 miler in a year and a half. If that doesn't get me in shape, what would? I haven't said I am going to do that one yet but if anybody else wants to visit then, we can all do it together. It's a bit of a stretch for a 300 pound guy to do a hilly 50-mile race on logging roads, but I'd like to not be a 300 pound guy by October 2013. Let's shoot for the Tango this year and see how that goes.

It's good to be back.

MRI Results

Went to the doctor's office on Thursday afternoon to review my MRIs. I really didn't know what to expect but I figured there would be an 80% chance that they send me for Physical Therapy and that would be the end of it.

The doctor shows up with my pictures and to make a long story short. He doesn't see anything wrong. Kind of a frustrating answer but it's better than finding out that I've got something seriously wrong.

So I figured now he would send me to some therapy place, but he threw a curve ball instead. He gave me the names of a couple of doctors that would be able to dig deeper into the problem by means of arthroscopy. Obviously that is a serious next step. (at least in my opinion)

Seeing how I seem to be improving these last couple weeks. I'm not in any rush to sign up for that procedure. The MRI and X-Rays at least gave me peace of mind that I'm not destroying cartilage, running on torn tendons or have any type of arthritis or broken bones. That's important. What's the point of getting into shape if you are just injuring yourself? Especially if it's could become a long term issue.

Even though there is still some sort of problem. I'm going to just manage my own recovery. Try to remember to ice it after every run. Do an assortment of strengthening exercises. But mostly, just be very aware of how I'm walking and running. I'd like to have my foot strike be consistent again. To make that happen, I have to think about my stride, foot placement... the whole chain of events. I think I may just have to unlearn a bad habit that may have crept in due to various aches/pains which caused me to unconsciously modify my stride to avoid pain or further injury.

Hopefully I can put all that behind me. Moving on.

The training plan: It seems that I can't count. I started my 20 week plan 21 weeks before my target race. (I'll just be that much faster as a result)

Once I finish my run and swim tomorrow, I'll have completed all my workouts for the last 3 weeks. That's not to say there isn't any modification along the way. What I plan out in advance doesn't always happen on the time slot or even the day I thought it would happen. I do try very hard at the beginning of the week to nail everything as written because that creates flexibility later in the week.

Swimming: I'm confident that things will get better... I now have a much greater appreciation of my swim fitness in previous years.

Biking: I did a 2:30:00 trainer ride last night. I stopped many times to adjust the cleat on my right shoe. I'm hopeful that I'm finally in the ballpark. After awhile it's hard to have perspective. I'm jealous of Genine for having days during the warm weather and getting outside and riding. I do appreciate her watching a movie with me last night during that 2:30:00 tho!

Running: I'm doing a good job of not running the same course twice in the same week. Not as many hill runs this past week but I think I did the right thing by stopping when I did.

Weights: Going to the Y for this is definitely an upgrade. Although I really wish Lifetime Fitness was closer, just because that place had EVERYTHING in their weight "room". (Palace?)

Tomorrow is a 4 mile race in Central Park. I planned on taking today off but I missed a swim. I did get a massage tho'. Maybe that balances things out. I'm hoping I start to feel better on the uphill parts of the course tomorrow. We will soon see.

Playlist Request & Update

First a quick follow up to the previous post regarding the addition of the juicer.

It’s only been a week and I feel like I’ve already started to enjoy tolerate the funky veggies in my juices. I’m curious to see how far this will go. Will I eventually be craving beets?

I’ve been drinking them mostly as a recovery drink post workout. Which is typically between at 8-10 at night. Too early to say for sure, but I feel surprisingly stable in the morning. Often when I eat late, I wake up feeling very hungry not the case here. Too early to say if this is something I should expect every time.

I went and got MRIs of my foot yesterday. I now have dozens of pictures of my foot. I have no idea what I’m looking at tho’. I plan on going to the Doctor tomorrow. I’m more than a little curious about the results. I have a feeling he will say there is nothing abnormal looking. Then send me to Physical Therapy.

To explain the situation with my foot a bit, I’ll describe my run last night. My right foot was very awkward feeling. It just wasn’t moving smoothly. The left foot felt fine. So I thought about how that foot was striking. Heel, outside “edge” of the foot, moving towards the inside to the ball of my foot and finishing the push off on my big toe.

The left foot: Heel, already on the inside and finishing on the outside of my foot pushing off with my smaller toes.

But not all the time. But that’s what’s going on when I feel that I’m running very awkwardly. It seems to me that if I kept running like this, I’d end up with a serious long term issue. Thus the Doctor and MRIs.

This is week 1 of a 20 week plan to IMMT 70.3. I’m 3 days in and already I’m sleeping on the train during my commute. I knew I had lost a bunch of fitness but I’d also forgotten just how many hours of training I had been doing last year. The good news is that I’m still feeling like I want to do this. I definitely could see how you could look at a long trainer ride and just think “it’s not worth it”. That’s when I have to think about race days. Those are always fun. So I start to visualize the course and zone out.

Unfortunately, I’ve been finding myself zoning out in the pool as well. I suddenly can’t keep track of laps again. I have to make a point of figuring out my estimated finish time on the clock before every send off, otherwise I end up doing too much or too little every now and then because I started to zone out mid set.

I’ve got a 4 mile race in Central Park this Sunday. I built my schedule for the week in a way that I’m hoping that will allow me to have some energy for it. I have Saturday off and even scheduled a massage. (I realize a massage can leave you feeling pretty funky some times). I know it’s not going to be a PR but I’d like to have a run that feels good, and a time that’s not too disappointing.

Lastly, the one thing I’ve got to do some work on is… my iPod playlist. I only use the iPod on the bike trainer but it’s been quite awhile since I’ve added anything to it. So throw me a list of songs that I should consider adding to my mix. Don’t be too picky about your choices, it’s a bizarre mix already. Doors, Tom Petty, Rush, Cake, Beck, Metallica…

I’ll leave you with the Beck song that always seems to pick me up when it shows up in the mix.

Click the link. Watch an ad. Then Enjoy!

Beck!