Running Again

2009-06-25T13:28:00.001-04:00

Woot!!! my goody box just showed up at the house!!

2009-06-12T14:27:00.001-04:00

Just picked up my race packet for the Tri in the morning. Now the nerves start to build up.

2009-06-10T14:12:00.001-04:00

some people were just born to rock the boat, no matter how small the boat.

2009-06-10T12:06:00.001-04:00

did an easy 1000m swim today, last swim b4 the race. in atlanta now, STILL waiting 4 a callback to turnup 2 OC48's.

2009-06-08T06:41:00.001-04:00

FAIL! Aquatic Director is a no-show @ the pool this morning, so no swim 2day. maybe i can figure something 4 this afternoon.

2009-06-08T05:18:00.001-04:00

headed out the door for a morning swim - short swim since the race is Sat, probably only about 1000m

2009-06-07T16:13:00.001-04:00

yesterday was the last long training before the race. 13 mi on bike followed by 6 mi run. HOT HOT HOT!!!!!

2009-06-02T10:45:00.001-04:00

It's our anniversary!!!! 13yrs of marriage. I'm taking a last minute vaca day to spend w/Steph. about to go get some lunch - ideas?

2009-06-01T18:57:00.001-04:00

At church now, getting ready to start VBS. Ate too many hotdogs at the pre-dinner.

2009-06-01T08:01:00.001-04:00

Had a good swim this morning - 2000m, but I hate it when I forget to put something in my gym bag.

2009-05-30T16:49:00.001-04:00

It's been a good day, it's only made better by being able to see it and say it. had a good 30 mile day (26 in the pedals + a 4 mile run imediately after.

2009-05-29T07:32:00.001-04:00

I did about 5 miles of hills last night, and this AM I did 1000m swim - but forgot to bring my towel to the gym.

2009-05-28T08:52:00.001-04:00

looks like I may be taking an ATL trip today.

2009-05-22T09:56:00.001-04:00

had a good swim this morning - 2500meters in 50 minutes. 1.5K @ around 35min. Grabbed an apple and some watermelon on the way to the office

2009-05-20T05:38:00.001-04:00

waiting for them to turn on the lights so i can start my swim. stomach still feels less than stellar. planning 1600m.

2009-05-19T21:17:00.001-04:00

Just got back from a brick (40 min on bike, and 2 miles on foot - did okay).

2009-05-08T10:35:00.001-04:00

... it wouldn't change a thing if I let go... keep on spinning...

2009-05-05T08:08:00.001-04:00

hmmm. muggy this morning. driving to ATL. stomach feels funny. CRAP! just realized RC1 is out-gotta get it.

2009-05-01T15:08:00.001-04:00

Fins to the left! Fins to the right!....

2009-04-26T10:02:00.001-04:00

Just finished a 10 mile morning run w/Steph - 1:48:43

2009-04-20T09:06:00.001-04:00

driving to Atl to finish T1 cross connects for a customer project.

2009-04-17T08:02:00.001-04:00

did a 10-mile LSD run with Steph last night - legs are a little wobbly. but it was a fun run.

2009-04-13T23:01:00.001-04:00

finished 7.25 miles in 59 minutes

2009-04-11T18:06:00.001-04:00

just back from a 10 mile run with Steph (1:50:46). tired, time for food. then BSG viewings.

2009-04-05T21:47:00.001-04:00

I REALLY need to do a post race blog posting, but .... maybe I can make some time tomorrow.

2009-03-30T15:46:00.001-04:00

ouch, that was an ugly wreck.

2009-03-30T15:43:00.003-04:00

news chopper just showed up. wreck up there must be prety bad.

2009-03-30T15:43:00.001-04:00

yay!! just started moving again. slowly, but movement.

3-29-09 pt-2

2009-03-29T12:40:00.002-04:00

Okay, that's better. I went out a did a 6 mile trail run (1:14:??). I was supprsed that I didn't see any wildlife on the trail. I saw lots of tracks, but nothing moving.

I kind of got a little paranoid feeling during one part of the run. I was bouncing along and I saw a huge patch of green through the trees. I went off the trail to investigate, and I found myself in a circular clearing about 20 to 30 yards across with no trees and fresh, soft, vibrant grass. the ground was soft from the rain, and it was like stepping into something out of Lord of the Rings. I'd been moving through drear and burnt ground with dead tree stumps, and pine straw. Then out of nowhere, I'm standing in an pristine area that was OBVIOUSLY meant for something - it was a piece of ground with a purpose. I immediately marked the spot on my GPS so I could find it again if I wanted to do so. There were a few saplings that had been planted and were supported by string and stakes. The clearing had two defined entrances about 12 feet wide that were layered with grass as well. I decided to continue my run through one of the entrances to see where this new discovery would lead me. I'd been running along for just a few minutes and I saw another clearing. I bypassed that on because I didn't see an exitway. Then, another clearing - this was getting odd. Remember, I thought this was a piece of ground with a purpose - then I saw it. At the end of the most recent lush, green opening - a deer stand. This was hunting ground. It didn't add up - I had started this run in the R. Shaefer Heard Corps of Engineers park - state property. You can't hunt here, but someone had put much effort into making this place. Finally, it hit me. I had to go off the trail to get to the first green patch, and I had to 4x4 it for a while - I'm sure there was probably a line I crossed. After I realized that I was treaspassing on hunting land, I made a pretty hasty backtrack to get back over the line - hoping nobody was out looking for a quick kill - hunters tend to get upset when they find you pounding around their hunting ground.

After I got legal again, I did a total of 6 miles. I never did get any rain, but it was still cool enough that this made for a nice run.

3-28-09

2009-03-28T15:14:00.002-04:00

I just got back from the pool and my stomach feels weird - I think it's empty, but I'm not really hungry.

I did 1500 meters at the pool (60 laps), but I took a quick break @ 30 laps to get a Gu (I was hungry then). Once the Gu/caffiene hit - it was much better. I spent about 5 mins in the hot-tub to relax bit before coming home. It's been raining nicely here, but it looks like it's mostly stopped - I wanted to go for a trail run, but that may or may not happen tonight....

Ah - screw it!! I'm gonna go hit the trails now - I'll do my other grown up work later......

2009-03-26T18:50:00.001-04:00

picking up dinner for the family at the sushi bar.

2009-03-24T21:52:00.001-04:00

Just finished dinner after a 10.3 mile run at the dam - 1:31:00 - saw lots of other walkers/runners.

2009-03-22T16:39:00.001-04:00

Heading to the office to prep for a trip to ATL tomorrow - - ugggghh.

2009-03-21T19:14:00.001-04:00

sitting down to watch a movie @ church.

2009-03-21T18:33:00.001-04:00

ping.fm test

3-19-09 long w/fartlek

2009-03-19T21:37:00.002-04:00

I did a long run tonight. I went 10 miles in about 90 minutes.. The funny thing is what I learned: if you in the middle of a run, and you need to make a decision about whether to go longer, or be sensible - stop the MP3 player. Tonight it was on "Eye of the Tiger" - it's impossible to make a sensible, rational decision about pushing yourself with that song in your head. It feels like Rocky will run up behind you and punch you if you wimp out.... so I went 10 miles instead of 8.

I did a couple of 1/4 mile fartleks during the run in lieu of doing a legit speed workout, but I figured I get more benefit from the the distance than a hard speed workout.

Saw lots of people at the dam.... walkers, bikers, fishers, waders.....but no runners - odd.

This is why my wife doesn't like my trail runs.

2009-03-19T17:45:00.000-04:00

3-17-09 Brick

2009-03-17T21:21:00.002-04:00

I went to the dam to do a brick. When I got to the dam I realized that my GPS was dead. I decided to just to 2 laps at the dam (17.3 miles according to Gmaps), then I went for a 3 mile run. My legs just wanted to detach and find a new home.

Tomorrow will be a rest day.

3-16-09 no swim, but still very wet

2009-03-16T20:56:00.002-04:00

I planned on going to the pool this morning at 5am, but when I got up, it was raining pretty hard and I just couldn't muster the will to go be cold, and hope the water was warm. I decided that I'd go the pool after work, but when I got there @ 5:30 in the evening, it was full - the swim team was having practice. I decided to go home, get some shoes and hit the trails. It was still raining, but the temp was not too bad.

I grabbed my trail shoes and a long sleeve wicking shirt and hit the dam. I couldn't have gotten any wetter if I'd gone to the pool. It was a really good run: I did about 5.8 miles in 1:04:13. I took several breaks to just look around. It rained on my for most of the run, and I saw a lot of wildlife - 1 huge turkey, and six deer. The last 3 deer were standing together just off the trail, and when we saw each other I was about 4 miles into the run, and something in my brain yelled: "Go after them". As soon as we all knew about each other, they exploded - and so did I. It was a fun chase, but it only lasted about 30 or 40 seconds - I was at a full sprint hurdling downed trees and ditches.. I was winded and tired at the end, and soaked.

Fun run, though.

3-14-09 morning run

2009-03-14T07:39:00.002-04:00

Just got back from a 4 mile run at the rails to trails route in Valley. It was dark when I started, and it was dark when I got done. Luckily it felt a little warmer by the end. I'd planned on doing 4 miles, but I'd not set out for a certain pace - just wanted to get some miles in since the rest of the day was probably going to be hectic. I ended up doing a pretty good pace just by feel. I clocked the 4 miles in 31:59 (I never looked at the GPS except for turnaround markers - but towards the end, I was hoping for a 9 minute pace...36 mins). When I saw 32 minutes, I was a little shocked. I looked back through the lap data on the GPS and found that I sped up with each mile:

mile 1 = 8:42
mile 2 = 8:17
mile 3 = 7:31
mile 4 = 7:16

All this leads me to the realization that when I do 5K and 10K races, I probably need to get to the race soon enough to do nearly a mile of warmup (at an easy pace) to get my legs ready to run fast. Usually I try to limit the warmup to .25 to .5 miles.

Updates - I've been bad about posting workouts for this week, so I'll recount below (data taken from twitter and facebook posts)

3-12-09 3 miles at the dam before work. 8:30 pace
3-13-09 1500 meters in the pool - 34:56 - GOAL!!!! was shooting for 35 minutes.

Sanity break in the morning and ARRRRGGGHHHH!!

2009-03-11T10:55:00.002-04:00

This is my moment of Zen in a hectic morning - have gotten zero accomplished.

Was supposed to swim this morning - but we changed every clock in the house for daylight savings....except the little digital that I hang on the TV for swim mornings.

5:00am Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep, Beeepppbeeeeepbeeeeeepbeeeepbeeeeep. I get up, stumble to the clock and disarm it. I go into the bathroom to put on my swimsuit, wait... why does the bathroom clock say 6:03? meh?!?! Put on the watch...wait, why is my watch stupid, too - it says 6:04. That's not good. Go to the kitchen - Crap, it's 6am in here too.

This is the point when realization hits. The little digital had been lounging in a drawer during daylight savings time. So now I am instantly an hour behind. I should have been in the pool 40 minutes ago.

I knew I couldn't accomplish anything except for driving to Valley in time to shower and drive back to work - why was the gas?

And the day hasn't gotten any better yet.

3-10-09 10 miler

2009-03-10T20:48:00.002-04:00

This has been a bad week or two for workouts, but time crushing in on you has a way of motivating. My big race this year is only about 8 weeks off. I've been doing conditioning work since Jan, but it's time to get serious now - longer runs, and longer rides. Oddly enough, the swim really doesn't have me worried that much (hope I don't regret that statement).

Tonight I did 10 miles at the dam. It was the first warm run of the year, and the first time I could take my shirt off to run. It felt great to be our and sweating again. I ran from one end of the dam park to the other making sure to take all the side roads and spurs to add distance. I still had to do some doubling back (which I hate - phsycological effect), but only for about 1/4 mile to make to an even 10. There was no way I was going to end that run on 9.6 miles. I'm seeing more people at the dam, and as the evenings cool a little, the crowds increase...and so does the road traffic. I passed an older gent on a bike about 7 times. He was apparently racking up miles by doing 3 mile laps at the park as well.

Tomorrow is a rest day (from running - still gonna swim), so I figured I'd go long to give my legs a reason for recovery .

Now I just need to dedicate about an hour to making out the training schedule for the next 2 months. I'll try to get that accomplished tomorrow night.

I had hotdogs for lunch which has traditionally meant that I ran out of energy on any runs over about 3 miles. To combat this, I took a Gu before I started, and another Gu at around 5 miles. I also stopped for a while @ 5 to stretch a bit - I want to make sure my calves stay limber since they've been a little tight lately; that is probably due to the transistion from the treadmill to terra firma. I want to make sure I take care of that so I arrive at the starting line un-injured.

Time to start visualizing the race.

Trail run

2009-02-27T18:37:00.000-05:00

This is me after a trail run of about 4 miles. This was also the first outside run of the season. It's hard to tell from the pic, but this is my hapy look :).

2-26-09 run up hill and lift

2009-02-27T09:31:00.002-05:00

I hit the fitness room tonight. I think the visits there are about to start dwindling (except for swims) since the weather is getting more agreeable.

I did a mile on the tready at 6.2 mph and a 6% incline as a warm-up, then I hit the weights and core workout. After the weights, I did another half mile on the tready for cooldown. I was pretty tired out when I got done.

Maybe this weekend, I can get in a trail run to try out my new shoes. I also need to catch up my training log for this year.

2-19-09 - Crappy workout

2009-02-20T09:22:00.002-05:00

Some days, you just don't feel it. I had planned on doing some relatively easy intervals tonight. Only planning on doing about 4 miles in 40 minutes on the tready. But my legs had NO snap in them, I did about 2.5 miles and I was just wasted. I called it a flush, rather than hurt myself. I guess I probably didn't fuel as well as I could have since I was on the road most of the day: not enough water, no breakfast/snack in the AM, ate a late/heavy lunch around 2:30. I guess I could look back and dissect the day to find all the reasons for the bad workout, but I'll just call it a bad time, and leave it at that.

This weekend is going to be kind of busy. I was planning on going on a tandem parachute jump, but the weather may not cooperate. So instead I'm going to the Tri-store in Atlanta on Saturday - maybe get a tri suit for this season, or some aero bars.

2-17-09 long run

2009-02-17T20:55:00.002-05:00

Yesterday (Monday night) - I did short run, then I hit the weights...hard. I was sooo tired when I go done.

Tonight I did a long (semi-slow run). I did 7.25 miles on the treadmill (took about about65 minutes). I kept the speed at about 6.3 for the majority of the run, but I did speed it up a little during the last half mile. After the run, I did core workout with Steph.

Long swim and 10K

2009-02-14T21:33:00.002-05:00

Short post today. I''m tired, but it's a good tired. I had Steph film me for a few laps so I can see how my swimming is doing (reminds me, I need to review the recording). I did 80 laps (2000 meters), then I changed clothes and did 10K on the treadmill.

2-12-09 6 miler

2009-02-13T08:12:00.002-05:00

I've had a bad exercise week. Pool was closed on me Monday, didn't get to workout Monday night because of home items. I had a vendor dinner meeting Tuesday night. Wednesday is always church night. I FINALLY got to the gym on Thursday night.

I decided I wasn't going to hammer out a monster workout - just a nice longish run ('long' is ALWAYS a relative term). I've been giving a lot of thought to the constant HR workout I'd attempted earlier - more specifically the 132 bpm number; which I STILL think is waaaay too low. I decided to monitor my HR manually, and adjust accordingly. I wanted to do 5 miles at a speed of at least 10 min/mile. I set the tready @ 6mph and a 3% incline. This worked out great except for one thing: about 3 miles into the run, I decided to bump up the speed a bit, and also decided to take it to 6 miles. I didn't give it any more thought until about 48 minutes into the workout when the treadmill incline dropped to 0 and the speed started to plummet..."Workout Complete" displays on the screen and I recall the original setup. I'd set up the workout as a set distance run.... 5 miles. I frantically started pounding buttons to get the speed and incline back up and keep the treadmill from resetting my workout data. I did a flash of quick math and figured if the data reset, then I'd need to run another 10 minutes to get to 10 miles. I got the speed recovered and was back in the groove... for about 2 minutes until it all happened again. This time I couldn't save it

*** sounds remarkable like a plane crash doesn't it ***

I reset the speed and incline (lost all the data), and ran for another 10 minutes.

I estimate that it was a 1 hr run, and a distance about 6.2 miles.

I stretched well and left.

Didn't get to splash today - this is my grumpy look

2009-02-09T08:33:00.001-05:00

When I got to the pool today @ 5:30, they told me it was closed due to maintenance that didn't get finsihed this weekend. The bad thing is that @ 5am, I knew they'd done maintenance, and I almost called the gym to verify they were done before I drove to the other end of town - - always follow the gut.

2-7-08

I did get to run 5.25 miles on the tready - did intervals and wore the heartrate monitor - interesting.

I love my new HR monitor. When I step up up to the treadmills, they light up with my heartrate. It has the added bonus of affecting the other treadmills adjacent to me . You should have seen the panic on the little old man's face next to me when his heart rate went from 75 bpm to 150 bpm within 5 seconds---- he left. I tried the constant HR workout, but I had to stop after a mile, becuase it didn't feel like a workout. The treadmill told me I should be working @ 132 bpm... my max HR is about 185... 132 is a crawl. The tready had me slowed down to 4.5 mph @ one point...I was almost walking. I did that for a mile, then stopped an programmed some good hard intervals for the next 4o mins. After than (dripping with sweat) I did weights and core workout.

2-5-08

2009-02-05T21:16:00.002-05:00

Longish interval workout tonight. I did 5.25 miles of 3 minute intervals (10 min/mile pace and 7:30/mile pace). I also did some core workouts and tricep and shoulder exercises.

I had sashimi for lunch today with a little rice, so fueling was pretty stable. After the workout, I went and watched the Tai Kwon Do class upstairs. I like getting my workouts in this weather, but it does make for a long nigh. I didn't leave the gym until 8pm.

2-3-09 quick-n-lift

2009-02-04T21:38:00.002-05:00

short post. relaxed 3/4 miles on the tready, then ramped up to about an 8% incline, and ran the pace up to about 7 min/mile. then I hit the weights, but the weight room was CROWDED!!!. I had to squeeze onto machines - light core workout, curls, shoulders, triceps, squats, etc.

Not going to swim this week - - too cold to get out and too far away from race day. Taking this week as a 'rester'.

Total run distance was about 1.6 miles.

1-31-09 Run n' lift again

2009-02-01T14:11:00.000-05:00

I did 4 miles on the treadmill, and then lifted and did the RW core workout. Still need more airflow in the workout room.

1-29-09 tread tread tread

2009-01-30T08:36:00.005-05:00

Did 5.25 on the treadmill tonight - I really wanted to go 6, but I felt like it was WAY too early in the season to be pushing just for the sake of pushing. I don't want to start this season injured from over-use. I stopped @ 5.25, then walked for another quarter to cool down. The worst thing about running on the treadmills is that there's no airflow in the room. I start off kind of cool - almost chilly, but by about a mile into the run, I'm sweating good (not a bad thing), but by 2 miles, I've got drops dripping off of me, and my shirt is soaked. In the summer this isn't a big deal because the evaporation helps to cool me down a little, but no airflow = no evap = swimming. And once the sweat starts rolling on your (thinning) forehead, and the shirt is soaked, there's not really a good way to stop it. I can wipe my face/head with the front of my shirt, but that's only good for about 2 wipes, and only about 5 mins per wipe. I try to use it as a matter of small goal setting: "don't touch your face until mile X.X" Alas, the travails of the preseason.

After I ran, I did a little weight training. I'm trying to spend extra time on shoulder exercises and ab exercises. I really want to develop some more strength in my shoulders for the swim, and some definition in both places. RW had some interesting core/ab excercises in the Feb issue, and I'm going to try to do those at the end of each workout, as well as dips and leg lifts.

Running on the treadmill is boring. I'll say that again: RUNNING ON THE TREADMILL IS BORING. It does have it's advantages: It's easy to define pace, you can make yourself run the right speed and not let the ego or fresh legs dictate the workout. What I dislike the most is the TV. I'd prefer to have it off - I don't want to know what color socks the president wore today, or how many politicians it takes to screw up a city/state/country, I'm tired of the endless speculation on the end of the world/the latest missing person/the color of the presidential curtains/the belief system of some shcmuck who looks good in a suit/Oprah's latest diet/etc/etc/etc. I can see enough FoxNews or CNN within a 30 minute run to reach my lifetime limit. The sad thing is: I'd want if off even if it was something I'd be interested in watching: Star Trek, BSG, CSI, Tech, How-to-turn-your-toaster-into-a-NAS, etc, etc. I just want to run. Put on a DVD of changing scenery - no sound: that's why I've got these things stuck in my ears.

And speaking of ears: It's a fitness room, not a social club. If you want to chat with your friend that you came to workout with (workout partner); fine, but I'm not that person. I'm not your sounding board, therapist, biographer, or even interested (probably). Notice the headphones: THEY ARE NOT FOR DECORATION OR TO MAKE ME LOOK "WORK-OUT-ISH". I can't hear you - don't try to chit-chat. The ONLY exception I'll make is if your on the tready beside me, and you want to 'chit-chat' at an 8 minute per mile pace - that usually shuts up most patrons or reduces the one's at MY gym to sobbing, heaving masses of 'why am I doing this'.

All in all, I'd just rather be outside (unless it's too hostile to my alabama sensibilities....below 40 and dark). I'm staying inside and on the tready to control my base building - but that doesn't mean I have to enjoy being a gerbil.

AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH - 'rant over'..... back to my normal cheerful self

1-27-09 Run n' lift

2009-01-27T18:09:00.002-05:00

I took the day off from Knology today to do some LS.net work. I thought this would give me time to catch up and then have plenty of time for an early workout...not exactly.

I didn't get caught up fully, but I did get in a good workout. I ran 5.5 miles, and then hit the weights pretty hard. I'm tired now, and REALLY hungry. - - Taco's are a-coming :))

Tomorrow morning: I swim again.

1-26-09 Bad Start

2009-01-26T08:15:00.002-05:00

Poor start to the week:

I was supposed to go swim this morning, but I've also got a lot on the plate today. I didn't get in bed as early as I'd planned, and decided to nix the swim in favor of being well rested for the workday and the evening events with the men's group. I may try to pull a double tomorrow - Swim about 1K then hit the treadmill for about 4 miles ( if it's nice, I might even venture OUTSIDE).

1-24-09 weights

2009-01-26T08:13:00.001-05:00

Good, hard weight workout. I did a mile warmup on the tready @ 9:30 pace then hit the weights, pushups and situps pretty hard. Good and tired by the time I was done.

1-22-09 broken workout

2009-01-22T21:00:00.001-05:00

I went to the gym on a tight schedule tonight.

The plan: 1-mile warmup run, then hit the weights. At some point I had to work in a 20 minute conference call. Then cleanup and go back to a job by 5

The reality: 1-mile warmup run, then 6 exercises, then an hour+ conference call that ended my workout, then cleanup and back to the jobsite around 5:30.

Not the best workout of the year, but at least I got some of it done. Tomorrow morning is pool time.

Leaving the gym after about 1400 meters in the pool-off to work.

2009-01-21T07:14:00.000-05:00

1-18-09 swim

2009-01-18T16:18:00.001-05:00

Just went to the Sportsplex with Steph. She ran, I swam.

I did one 20 minute session (didn't count laps - but estimate 35 laps), and one 10 minute session (20 laps). I hate counting laps. I need to find a better way to do it. The good thing is that my mind is starting to wander during the swims again - luckily it's wandering to race day, and how the swim will feel. I'll start using this time to visualize how I want the races to go this year.

1-15-09 - Didn't feel right

2009-01-15T20:40:00.002-05:00

I got back in town later than I wanted, and headed directly to the gym. When I walked by the exercise room to go change, all the treadmills were occupied. By the time I changed, they were still all occupied, but after I weighed myself, all but one of them was abandoned - weird.

I did about 3.5 miles ( I accidentally reset the treadmill after the 1st half mile while diddling with the buttons - }:P) and then did some sit ups. After listening to the 'Age Groupers' podcast - I think I need to start looking at my workouts a little differently for the next couple of months. I think I may try to focus more on weight training and try to slow my running down a bit - maybe only do10 minute miles for about 30 minutes a night, and quit trying to up the speed as I go.

I had a mushroom wrap for lunch and thought that would be good 'fuel', but it didn't feel like it. I also had an ice-coffee about 45 minutes before the workout, and my stomach just didn't feel quite right during the whole workout.

Driving to Atlanta, but MUCH later than I wanted to.

2009-01-15T11:08:00.000-05:00

This is going to be a less than great trip for a multitude of reasons. Late leaving, meet-ups not coordinated, materials are lacking. Probably going to be a 'grudge-workout'. I'm sure I'll pay for it.

1-14-09 Late start

2009-01-14T09:16:00.003-05:00

I haven't been as diligent as I should in my posting after the Country's race last year. I'm trying to improve upon that - and to that end, I'll be trying to do more live-blog type postings this year. I'll be doing some of my blog updates via my phone and will try to include pics with them as they will probably be short entries. I really want to make an effort this year to document my actions (training and otherwise) on the net and establish more of an online presence - mainly because it's pretty cool technology.

I've started back to the gym - it's been cold, and the warm training room is a welcome blessing. I've been able to spend time on the treadmill, begin weight training again, and swimming in the mornings.

We said that we'd be careful this last holiday to not splurge on our diet. While I didn't go wild like I did last year, I still didn't do as well as I wish I had. I've felt the effects of good eating and bad eating. During a workout, I can tell you within about 10 minutes if I've eaten properly or not. This has led me to my mantra for this season - "Fuel The Machine". When I monitor my calories and get enough carbs before a workout, I feel well. If I eat too much protein, I feel groggy, If I eat too much sugar, I don't have energy during the workout. I've set a goal on Sparkpeople.com to loose down to 140 lbs before races start this spring.

I've also taken some steps to start exploring adventure racing with a small team, and I want to do more trail runs this spring and summer. I've been looking at some trail shoes like Asics Trail Attacks:

Or a pair of Adidas Kanadias:

I'm leaning more towards the Asics since I've had such good luck with them in the past. But I REALLY like the tread pattern of the Adidas. Either way, I'm going to need something with more grip than any of the other shoes I've had thus far.

Swimming: I've gotten back in the pool, and I'm starting to get my stroke back. This morning I learned that I need to worry less about what's in front of me - - it's just going to be more water. While I was doing laps this morning, I looked back (dropped my chin to my chest) and this caused my head to dip down lower and mounted me lower in the water. I think this is what the TI drills have been trying to get through my head since the start. When I keep my chin tucked (and thus, my head down), if feels like my stroke is more effortless, and the speed comes easier. I'm not planning on breaking any records during the swim leg of my races this year, but I do want to be sure I'm fresh when I come out of the water, so that I can make ground on the bike. I'm looking forward to my races this year.

I'm also going to incorporate speed work after my birthday in Feb. I'll use the time between now and then as a base building period and to get Steph established in the weight room and/or the pool. The speed work will be critical if I expect to break 20 minutes in a 5K. The 20 minute goal has me a little nervous - it's entirely possible that it's out of my reach - but I'm gonna give it an honest shot.

Okay, enough rambling for the time being - let's go break a sweat...

Fuel The Machine.

Pre-Race catchup (8-21-08)

2008-08-25T08:46:00.002-04:00

8-21-08 - Did a leisurely 3 mile run with Steph as our last run before the midnight express. She's shooting for 26:00 at the race, I'll do a post race report as well.

8-19-08 fast and late

2008-08-20T15:22:00.002-04:00

I ran at the dam with Steph last night. We started later than we should have started, and had eaten too recently and (probably) too heavily. This was my last hard run before the Midnight Express race on Sat. night. We'll run a short run on thursday and not run again until the race.

I did the 4 miles in 33:15 (for an 8:31 pace) - but it sure felt harder/faster than that... again, food on my stomach probably hurt me pretty well. I tried to look at my watch @ 3 miles and think it said 25:17 - - it was dark and it was really hard to tell for sure.

Good run, but it was still hot, and too dark.

Just finished running hils w/Steph...I didn't eat right today and paid for it on the hills.

2008-08-18T20:10:00.000-04:00

Trey Reese (mobile)

Tired after the 10 miler - 1:32:40 - my toes always take a hammering on long runs

2008-08-15T20:33:00.002-04:00

This was a pretty harsh run. Probably doing a 10-miler the day after 2 miles of speed work was not the wisest.

8x 1/4 mi repeats @ 1:20-1:30. Legs are jello, & calves are angry!!!

2008-08-14T19:38:00.000-04:00

Trey Reese (mobile)

Eh, this wasn't like this before the run tonight-may be losing that one.

2008-08-08T22:36:00.000-04:00

...and after (10 mi@1:27:40)

2008-08-08T21:03:00.001-04:00

Before...

2008-08-08T19:20:00.001-04:00

Hilly trails

2008-08-07T21:18:00.002-04:00

Ran some new trails at the dam - more hilly than I expected. I did come by some mountain bikers...note the descriptor there - MOUNTAIN bikers. They were in the right place. The trail was around the high power lines, but was more hilly than I expected. It took over 50 minutes to run 4 miles, and they were hard miles. I took a little break at the 2 mile mark to look at the river bank, and try to get my bearings about where I was in relation to the highway, and then had to pause a few more times to adjust water bottles and my MP3 player.

Okay, draw a picture in your head with me. I'm trouncing through the woods like a madman - shirtless, with water bottles hanging from my waist, wearing shorts that are so bright yellow they'd make Ray Charles squint. I'm singing along happily with my MP3 player - a mixture of offensive rap, Gaelic punk/metal, and Airborne Ranger/USMC Jody calls. Running in the woods is a very surreal experience for me: it engages parts of my brain that don't always get used. I'm listening to the music, singing along, trying to keep up my speed on hills and descents, keeping my eyes darting looking for firm or tenuous footing, watching for roots and snakes at ground level, and spider webs and branches above, and tripping briers at all heights. I'm also trying to watch ahead of me on the trail for bikers that may or may not see me. I'm breathing heavy and sweating - heaving out air and letting my day get lost in the brambles. I'm not caring about distance too much, or getting lost - if I get 'lost' I'll get found. No phone, no pager, no other voices but mine. My mind always races - I can feel my eyes jerking around in the sockets as they survey the surroundings. It feels like I'm a part of this environment, yet still just visiting it. I'm feeling the ground scrub brush against my ankles right above my socks and I think of the tick I picked up a few days ago (will I get another one), but it doesn't slow me down, or diminish my desire to keep pushing onward. The trail is a series of switchbacks and I'm lacing back over the same acreage again and again, albeit at different angles. Out of the corner of my eye every few turns I catch some movement, but when I try to focus on the area, it's gone, or I just don't see it. Pounding along, up the steep hills and letting my legs roll down the other side of the hills. At the next turn I see the movement again - gone again. How do my legs feel - tired, how about my feet - taxed, how's my breathing - hard, but consistent - - drink - keep pushing.

There's the movement again, but this time I catch it; I'm close enough this time - only about 20 yards away - 2 deer! They're running, but I'm running in the same direction - they speed up, I speed up... Walt Whitman rushes into my brain with the ticks, and snakes, and bible verses, and a DI chanting to 'run me some more' - "I sound my barbaric YAWP!" - and I do. I scream, I howl, I bellow at and with the deer as my pace quickens. My mind is flooded with the sounds around me, and smell of the trail, and the images of Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society. He's YAWPING at a student - YAWP!!!! like a barbarian, not a student! I yawp. I see the images of Conner McCloed and Ramirez on the beach in "Highlander"- I see them sprinting against each other in the spirit of the moment. I still see the deer - they are pulling away from me. I remember Rocky and Apollo running down the beach at full steam and I hear the music . My eyes are still darting to the trail for footing and safety - I'm watching the deer leave me as I bank into a turn, still churning hard on the inside and out. My mind starts to come down, my body catches up and I'm thinking of a report I read about the endurance/construction of animals and humans, how most of the runners in nature are sprinters - lighting fast, but short lived; how man is the only animal that runs for a reason other than survival, and we do it for insanely long distances. The deer were out of sight quickly - all of this happened in less than 40 seconds - but somewhere, they were panting. Watching for the next 'something' to make them run again - I was still going....a runner.

I continued my run, and said a prayer of thanks that I was able to be out there.

hills

2008-08-05T21:40:00.001-04:00

Ran hill repeats with Steph at the dam. We did 12 hill sprints and it was horrible hot. Good thing about hills and speed workouts is that they go pretty fast.

Rest day tomorrow.

Hot n' hilly

2008-08-02T21:01:00.001-04:00

4 mile trail run tonight and the heat and hills were murderous. Took nearly 45 minutes and I didn't stop for breaks...just had to slow down so much for the steep climbs and high temp.

Leftovers

2008-08-01T22:00:00.000-04:00

Here's the leftovers from my run tonight. 4 empty 10 oz bottles of gatorade, 2 empty packs of Gu (choc, and orange), and 1 tri jersey weighing 20 lbs extra from all the sweat. The heat and humidity is rough. I ran the rails to trails route tonight.

10 miles in about 1:34:00

Good run, now I'm gonna go find a protein shake and some dinner.

Belated reports

2008-07-28T13:11:00.002-04:00

Running is relaxing - that's a blessing that I'd have never anticipated. It calms my nerves, and takes my mind off of much of what's going on around me. I'd have never guessed I get therapy from a pair of Asics.

Monday (7-21-08), I ran by myself at the dam...kind of late. I had to run late to give the sun time to go down. It was still incredibly hot, and humid. It was one of the most interesting runs I've done in a while. I've commented a few times on the interesting/odd people I see when out running, and the commentary that runs through my head when I see them. I learned that sometimes, I'm on the other end of that spectrum. I wanted to run a longer distance since Steph wasn't with me. so I decided I'd run from the West Point end of the dam (through the woods/trails) all the way to the Lanett end, then turn back and run the roads and all inclusive loops. I started about 7:30, so I figured the shade of the woods would be nice, and by the time I made the turn, it would probably be too dark to be off the roads (snakes, etc.). The trail runs are always nice and challenging - challenging footing, lots of hills, numerous switchbacks and ditches...I love it. And it's private...usually. I've never seen ANYONE on the trails while running, but this run, I passed 3 other runners. Admittedly, they were spaced out like they were a family out for a run - no more than about 40 meters apart, but still - they were on the trail with me. I came out of the woods, and I think I startled some of the people fishing from the bank. I crossed the dam and headed for my stashed water bottle. I'd worn my fuel belt with all four bottles and had been hitting them pretty regular in the heat. I'd planned to drink and refill at the Lanett end. I stopped and took off my jersey because I'd forgotten to lube my nipples (yes, I just used the phrase 'lube my nipples'), and two guys walked past me - obviously not from the area. The looked middle eastern, which made the ensuing comment all the more interesting. There I stand: shirtless, drenched in sweat, panting, with four bottle strung around my waist, and trying to refill them when one of guys walks past me and says:

"You look like a suicide boomb-er"

Yes, I spelled it just like he pronounced it. I agreed with him and went on my way, but it hit me that I was the on a different end of the observation that I'd known to be in the past. (chuckling all the way).

8.9 miles --- I hate missing a distance by 1/10s like that.

Didn't get to run Tues, or wed, thursday or friday due to work schedules.

Saturday (7-26-08) - me and Steph went to columbus and ran 6 miles on the riverwalk. That was a great run. It rained on us lightly the whole way and the scenery from the 0 mile marker to bull creek was great. I'll want to run that again, and maybe go a little farther.

Early Sunday run

2008-07-20T07:43:00.002-04:00

Steph and I just got back from an early 3 miler (early, because we don't usually get up until 8:30 or later on Sundy - - then ruuussshh to get to church on time).

It was a little tough after the speed work yesterday morning.

breakdown:

mile 1: 9:12
mile 2: 8:37
mile 3: 7:21

total 25:10

Speed work

2008-07-19T09:05:00.002-04:00

Me and Steph just got back from a brief speed workout. We did a 1/2 mile warmup, then did 6 1/4 mile repeats (her @ 2:00 target, and me @ 1:45 target). The last lap was tough. Admittedly, I was pushing harder and harder for the last 3 laps - I crossed the last lap @ 1:30 ( 6 minute mile pace) - but about halfway through the last lap - my legs started questioning my sanity. My quads are numb, and will probably be sore tomorrow, but that's okay too.

I'm being so bad, but it's so good!

2008-07-18T11:34:00.000-04:00

long easy

2008-07-17T21:59:00.000-04:00

Did an easy 6.4 with Steph tonight @ the dam. I didn't time (because I forgot my watch). It was still pretty hot when we went out, but we stashed some gatorade in the woods aroun 2.5 miles, so we stopped for liquids a couple of times. I also made sure to ice my foot when I got back home.

I may do a trail run tomorrow since it's an off day for Steph.

Hills

2008-07-16T15:36:00.002-04:00

Didn't run on Monday due to some work stuff, and didn't get in bed early enough to get up for a swim.

We went to the dam last night to run hills. Steph's been wanting to start doing hill workouts, so I took her for her first one last night. We did a short warmup run (less than a mile - about 8 minutes), then we did 10 hill repeats on a pretty tame hill. While it wasn't brutally steep, it was a little on the long side. I could feel myself planing out towards the end of each run, where the incline let up a little. Next time we'll probably do a steeper, but shorter hill to work on getting used to actually climbing.

After the hills we did about a 5 minute cooldown jog after walking down the hill, and stretched.

Sunday run (7-13-08)

2008-07-13T19:59:00.003-04:00

just returned from a 6.3 mile run with Steph at the dam. The recent rain has the temp very nice, but it was extremely humid. We took a nice break after 3.25 miles, and we walked a little so she could work out side stitch.

We did the run in 1:09:22 (that includes the time we stopped at the turnaround for about 10 minutes).

The miles broke down like this:

1 @ 9:12
2 @ 9:12 (Cool... consistency )
3 @ 9:16
4 @ 18:53 (This was our 10 minute breath and stretch break at the turnaround - figure about 9 minute mile.
5 @ 10:26 (big hill and walk bread for a side stitch)
6 @ 9:20
7 @ .34 miles in 3:01

All in all, a pretty good run. Really faster than I intended us to go - I was trying to do about 10 minute miles, but I think Steph was feeling a little racy.

Plan more

2008-07-11T10:31:00.002-04:00

I'm not great at . I try to be, because I know the value of it, but I guess it's a discipline thing. Last night when I laid down I did a mental checklist of what I needed to gather up @ 5am (in the dark) for my swim. Can we already see the problem developing her? I got up @ 5 this morning, turned off my alarm (after fumbling around to find it in the dark), grabbed my phone and headed to the bathroom. I closed the door and turned on the light (lowly), I went back into the bedroom to get my shorts, swim suit, and shirt - put them all on. Went to the extra room to get my shoes, back to the bedroom to fumble for my goggles. Turned off all the lights again and went back to the computer room to get my Zune. I got my keys and ID for the pool, and was out the house by 5:20 (longer than it usually takes). I was tired - I guess I didn't rest well last night, despite getting to bed early. I drove to the pool listening to the Fredcast on the TdeF 1st stage (I try to listen to something endurance sport based on my way to the pool - - the Fredcast seems to be one of the most frequently updated.

When I pulled into the parking lot about 5:40 (10 minutes after the pool is supposed to open), there were no lights on in the pool area - not a good sign. I was locking up my phone, and Zune when I noticed why I need to plan and pack ahead...no towel. I came to swim and didn't bring my towel (kudos to any froods that get the literary reference).

I sat in the jeep contemplating what to do now - I could go inside and see if the had just not turned the lights up yet, then swim and drip all the way home, or I could go lift weights (not really prepared for that - no plan, or socks). I elected to come back home - maybe I'll run tonight. Steph is undertaking a new schedule and will be resting on Friday's so I may do a 5 or 6 miler this evening, if I don't have to work too late.

"If you fail to plan, you plan to fail" - - how many times did I see that on poster in high school?

Up and early

2008-07-10T06:47:00.002-04:00

Up @ 5 this morning for a 4 miler with Steph. We went to the dam and ran from the day use parking area. I was thinking on the run (and it was re-enforced at the end) that is must be a little bit of a mental hill for Steph to climb when we run 'non-standard' routes. I know she enjoys taking different paths on our runs, but then we're never quite sure where the 'end' of the run is going to come out. She just kind of keeps running until I wave the 'stop' sign. I would get her a GPS so she can track her runs as well, but I don't think she'd use it, or be comfortable with it.

This morning we did an out-and-back on a semi-known stretch of the park, and when we got back we were still .5 mile short, so I turned back around and kept going for another 1/4 mi out-and-back to round out the 4 miles. When I turned back I could see the WTH look on her face - she thought we were done, and I kind of felt like the mean sadistic coach.

4 miles @ 37:12 (9:18 pace)....ouch I just did the pace calculation. I was really trying to keep us on about a 10 minute pace, but I guess we over ran that a bit.

Wanna see something a little gross?

2008-07-09T06:42:00.000-04:00

Everyone remember back about a week before my Olympic Tri when I screwed up and got the big blister on my heel? I think managed that incident pretty well - it didn't bother during the race - good results. This is what it looks like now.

Just finished swim... 4 x 250m.

Early

2008-07-08T05:11:00.000-04:00

Headed out the door for an early run with Steph. Should only be about 4 miles.

Trey Reese (mobile)

On the comeback trail

2008-07-07T21:59:00.003-04:00

I think I'm about over my injured foot <>. I ran a little on Thursday ( 7-3-08), about 3 miles at the dam. It didn't bother me during the run, and it hadn't hurt for a few days preceding, but several hours after the run it was a little tender.

I took the next day off because I didn't want to overstress it - and besides, it was the 4th!

On Saturday, I ran again - about 3.5 miles at the dam with Steph again. I did speed up a little at the end, and still no pain.

Sunday was Sunday, so no running.

I just got back from an evening run at the dam w/ Steph again. We did a little over 5 miles. I did the first 4 at a good negative split pace. Steph set the pace for the 1st 2 miles, and after that, I just couldn't waste the potential (remember...we race the way we train...)

1st mile was 9:28
2nd mile was 9:00
3rd mile was 8:00
4th mile was 7:40

That's 34:08 for 4 miles, so an 8:30 pace overall.

The last mile was a little backscattered because Steph was running for a time goal that I didn't know about - I just tagged onto her when she passed my 4 mile stop mark, and she kept going for another mile.

I've noticed that my body is having to re-acclimate to running a little bit. Legs are sore again, and I can feel them jarring a little during the early stages of the runs - it evens out pretty quick, but it's still interesting to observe.

I'm really looking forward to some more aggressive workouts and maybe some trail runs.

Still no running

2008-06-30T10:30:00.002-04:00

Still have done very little due to the foot injury - I'm convinced at this point that it's just an overuse injury. I'm pretty sure it was brought on by the 10-12 hrs on my feet at the Relay for Life last weekend (coupled with all the other stuff in weeks prior). I've been resting and icing it. I've tried to keep as much weight off of it as possible - and it's been feeling better day by day.

This morning I got up early and went to the pool. It was a short swim (gotta get a new nose clip). I did about 4 laps of warmup, then swam 5 x100 repeats - so about 600 meters total.

6-24-08 no run

2008-06-25T08:39:00.002-04:00

My right foot is killing me, so I didn't run Tuesday night. I'm going to rest it for a few days, I think it's a hurt muscle on the outside of my foot, so I'll monitor it for a while. Luckily, all the races/events are done until August (Midnight Express).

Evening run

2008-06-23T21:07:00.000-04:00

Just finished a 5 mile run w/Steph at the dam. I ate too much at dinner and it felt like I needed to barf for most of the run. When will I learn?

I nearly frosted over when we left the park - soaked in sweat, after sundown with no top or doors on the jeep - the wind was a little intense.

Didn't time the run, but it felt pretty fast.

West Point Race Report

2008-06-23T09:47:00.006-04:00

It's been about 2 weeks since the race, I guess I should get around to doing a re-cap.

This race caused a change of identity - for the last several months I've been "training to do my first triathlon". After I finished this race - I feel like it's okay to add a name to the list:

I've been a tennis player, a wrestler, a weight lifter, a runner, a cyclist, and a swimmer....Now I am a Triathlete.

It's kind of odd - I set my mind to the Ft. Benning Reverse Sprint for several months. It's what spurred my training, it's what I focused on, it was the reason that I did my daily rituals and tracked progress. I labored over the decision to do it or not ("are you insane?", etc) for weeks, but the decision to do the West Point Tri came within about a week. Pretty quick for a race that was twice as long on the bike, and the run and 3x as long on the swim (my weakest leg and biggest worry).

A week prior to the WP tri, I'd finished the Ft. Benning Reverse, and I'd tried to take it easy during the in-between week - - had to try to recover and not overdo it before the long race. I only swam once, ran once, and biked once (and a brief open water swim during my bike ride).

I was terrified that the water would still be pretty cold. All of my open water forays had been kind of frigid, but the short swim the week before alleviated that fear. The water at the dam was bath-tub warm.

Going into this race I didn't have the concern of goals and expectations. Since this was the first race of this distance, the only real goal was to finish (strongly). I didn't want to break on the course. Keep in mind that this is my home turf - it's the main reason I wanted to do this race and this distance (instead of the Sprint). I train here, the race is on my turf - I just couldn't let that opportunity pass my by. I couldn't stand the thought of a bunch of triathletes within a mile of my house, and me not being among them. And I wanted to finish on my home turf with confidence.

The morning of the race we drove to the race site, and WOW!!! It was PACKED!! - - keep in mind, I'm at this park nearly EVERY day, and have lived within cycling distance of 3 entrances for over 10 yrs and I have NEVER seen this many people packed into the park - much less people on bikes with determined looks on their faces. We parked the jeep and I took down the bike, and we made our way to transition. My support crew was smaller than the last race - just me and the wife. We were both taken by surprise by the crowd. I could see the worry in Steph's face that I may be off the map a little.

When we got to transition, the directors had lain the area out in a pretty streamlined fashion. I was looking for a registration table to pick up my chip and get some instruction for all of the race numbers I'd gotten in my race packet when I saw that you had to go through marking to get your chip, which was right beside the transition entrance. In one fell swoop, I was marked, chipped, and setting up my bike. The loudspeaker was a constant background warning people to get their bikes in the right place (2 minute penalty before the gun even goes off).

The transition area was very tight - we had 6 bikes to a section, and 4 would have been more agreeable. The Ft. Benning race had been about 100 racers... this event boasted over 500 - so it was tight. I had to modify my transition area a bit. I'm still learning how to to set up my transition area: what's needed, what's wanted, and what's just fluff. I'd planned on setting up a place towel (kind of trying to 'define' my space), and a small towel to dry my feet, and a my goggle/helmet area, water bottle, gatorade bottle and a small bag for food/GPS. We were so packed in the rack, I reduced it down to 2 towels, helmet, 2 Gu packs and a bottle and shoes. Which means I forgot my GPS.

I went back several times to check on my bike and 'private' space. I saw a few too many people moving other people's bikes/gear - even I know that's taboo.

Start the RACE!!

We made our way to the water about 7:20 - gun goes bang! @ 7:30!! We got final instructions on drafting and course setup and we all lined up (roughly) with our numbers. This was THE big variable for me. When I registered for the race, I had to declare how long I would take on the swim - I didn't have any real measure for this. All my distance swims had been in the pool (flip turns), and OWS is still new to me (and TERRIFYING). I speculated it would take me about 45 minutes to swim the mile (keep in mind that at 60 minutes that the race volunteers would 'assist me' from the water - per the race rules). Since I told them 45 minutes, I got a pretty high race number to seed me towards the back of the pack. There were about 350 people registered for the Olympic distance start - here's me at the start.

I count fewer than 20 people behind me at the start, which means there are already 330 people in the water....Almost at the very end of the line.

Starting this far back put me alone for a lot of the race...good/bad/indifferent - I don't know yet.

Luckily, when I hit the water all my apprehensions went away and all that was in my head was the swim. My concerns mostly all vanished..just keep stroking: stroke stroke stroke stroke. My goggles fogged up almost instantaneously (typical), so I swam near blind. I wasn't that big of a deal - what's the difference between looking down into brown water, or looking down into foggy brown water? Not much. The fogging did cause some concern when I was trying to sight buoys - I REALLY didn't want to go off course and make the swim any longer.

I learned that if your not getting kicked, or kicking someone that you may be off course. Since I couldn't see out of my goggles except for a small unfogged corner, I had to stop and tread water for a moment whenever I wanted to sight my place in the water. I actually had to keep telling myself too slow down and try to not use my legs so much - race mentality and instinct kept trying to take over. I wanted to still have plenty left for the rest of the race. I read an article online that made a good point - unless your shooting for a podium finish, your not going to break any real barriers by killing yourself in the water. I tried to relax the swim and conserve energy for the rest of the race. Strictly looking at the numbers: The race is 32 miles long - total...the swim is only 1 mile of that, so I still had a LOT of distance to cover after the swim, so CONSERVE. It worked - I actually came out of the water grinning (mostly happy to not be the last out of the water, and not having to be rescued). Swim time: 35:17

See. Grins.

When I cam into the bike corral, it looked like a ghost town. Remember how far back I started? ALL those people were already on the road. The space was good, but to see that everyone had already left was slightly dis-heartening. I really had to fight some internal battles and remind myself throughout the race that I was on the clock, not just on the road. Even though I wasn't up in the pack, I wasn't as far back as it appeared (this was borne out by the race results, too). But it still messed with my head a little. There were less than 10 bikes in the corral when I arrived. It seemed like T1 went pretty quickly, but it still took me over 2 minutes. I exited T1 while watching (and grinning inside) the guy in the rack next to me get shouted down for mounting his bike in the transition area - big No-No.

Let's go pedal!

The bike portion was LOOOONNNNGGGG, especially with no music and no one around me. I think I only saw about 20 people over the course of 25 miles - and most of those were passing me - LOL. I started taking Gu and gatorade as soon as I got on the bike and Gu'd every 30 minutes and drank every time I thought about it. Luckily it wasn't too hot, so I wasn't drying out too badly. I did not, however, drink enough the day before (hindsight).

The course was a hilly meatgrinder. I knew some of the roads I was on, but some of them were new, and all the new ones went up up up up up. I really wished my bike had a gear lower than 1. I spent a lot more time on the little ring than I expected to, but I had made the concious decision to gear where ever I needed to so my my cadence would stay fairly high - still trying to conserve strength for the run.

To anyone who was on HWY 29 on that date: Thanks for not killing us, and sorry for the delays.
When I crossed 29 halfway to Lagrange, the police had traffic stopped for my, and there were cars backed up for at least a quarter of a mile in each direction.

The bike trip proved enlightening. I will need to get some new pedals/biking shoes before next season. My running shoes are not meant for biking and it positions me feet a little too far back on the pedals with the toe cages. The net result was a numb left foot after about mile 18.

As I came back to the park, I could hear the screams from the crowd for the finishers. I knew I still had 6 miles to run after this. I was so far back that they had to shoo people off the road in the park to make sure I didn't run over anyone on my way to transition.

T2 was pretty quick (39 seconds), and my legs didn't jelly beneath me too badly. I grabbed some gatorade on my way onto the run course. This is the course that I run almost daily - it was good to be on familiar ground. I grabbed water or gatorade at every aid station along the way (4 total). I'd drink some gatorade, and pour water over my head trying to keep cool. After about a mile or so, my legs kind of woke up a little, and I started to speed up. The turnaround was another kicker that sped me up a bit. I was glad that I knew the course so well - I knew what to expect at every turn - including the hill that will forever be know as 'the heartbreaker'. The run course took a detour loop (again, one that I know well) to make the distance come out right. Mid-way through this additional loop I came up to the heartbreaker - it's a greusome hill that climbs seemingly straight up for about 3o yards. The only solace I took was that it caught a lot of people TOTALLY off guard (I'm pretty sure of that). After the quick climb, the hill planes out a little, but I was still climbing for about 1/8 mile. Around mile 5 I passed one guy in front of me, and after I got past him (slowly past) he noticed my age on my left calf and commented on how far back we were. I told him we were still ahead of the guys on the couch, and kept on pumping ( I later learned that we were the last 2 in our age group on the clock).

The finish of the race was on a slight uphill climb (who's stupid idea was that???). As soon as I cam into view, the crowd woke up again, and cheered me into the finish gate. It's a weird, surreal moment to be that tired, and hear all the cheering and hear your name going out over the loudspeakers congratulating you.

I crossed the line strongly and confidently (goal accomplished), and immediately hugged Steph. It took me a total of 3:17:19 (which I didn't learn until 2 days later - result lag), and it was incredibly hard for a myriad of reasons....When's the next one???

I was exhausted for 2 days, and have been ravenous since the race (again multiple reasons for that). This was probably my last Tri of the year (unless, you know...). I'm looking forward to this race again next year - and looking forward to finishing faster.

Finishing!!!!!

Pics from the race:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12191083@N02/tags/westpoint/

Final thoughts:

Hydrate better - I got lucky this time
Give more thought to transition set up
still some equipment needed to smooth things
need more structured swim workouts
need more OWS training - could be fun
I want to learn how to recover better
I am (at the core) a runner - this race proved that
I NEED goals -otherwise it feels like I'm a little aimless at times
Racing can get expensive quickly
I'm loving the challenge that all this presents
I think I'm a more balance person when I'm training - focus is good.
I'm glad I have a supportive family
I need to schedule races more carefully - 2 races in 2 weeks followed by an all night run/walk is hard on the body and recovery.
need more core training - time to start lifting.
Long term goals ?? HIM? IM? Half-Mary? Mary? - - prioritize

Post-Triathlon

2008-06-14T14:47:00.001-04:00

This is what I look like after 32 miles. More pics and a race report to follow.

Look who was at the dam today.

2008-06-12T16:41:00.000-04:00

I drove by the dam today and it looks like they are already starting to get ready for the Oly this weekend. <excitement building again>

Steph and I went for a ride Tuesday night, and I did a VERY brief 'confidence swim' near the race site. I also wanted to see if the water had warmed up any, yet. The water temp was great, although it did get about 20 deg colder about 4 ft down.

6-7-08 Ft. Benning Reverse Tri-Race report

2008-06-08T14:05:00.006-04:00

I've been processing everything that happened during my race, and I think I'm ready to do the race report

Thursday night I packed up all my gear in a transition bag and checked, re-checked and re-double checked everything. I think I managed to make it out of the house without forgetting anything major.

Friday after work, I loaded up the bike and packed the overnight bags in the jeep. We stayed Friday night with my mother and aunt, so we wouldn't have to get up so early to be on site in time. I also prepped my bike by taping some Gu's to the top-bar. I'd seen this on a video and it turned out to be one of the best tips I've picked up - just grab a pack, and it opens itself -ready to eat.

Friday night, we had a delicious seafood dinner with lots of carbs...hasbrowns and hobo-cakes (probably not the BEST food, but it was delicious). I was able to get ready for bed fairly early - about 10pm. My aunt had picked up my race packet for me, so I had some time to look through my goodies a little that night.

I slept on the couch and surprisingly, I slept pretty well. I listened to some NPR on my Zune and went right to sleep, but I still managed to wake myself up about an hour before the alarm went off. I just lounged a bit until wake up time - still going over transitions in my head.

Saturday morning: I woke up and immediately panicked - this was to be expected. Everyone knows that you must have several last minute catastrophes, or it's just not a good time. I couldn't find my race packet. I'd have sworn that I put it with my duffle bag the night before - but I'd have been wrong. This was doubly troublesome, because I'd planned on having the powerbar in the bag for breakfast, as well as not having my documentation slip. Luckily we found it in another room where we'd set the bags when we came in Fri night.... I went ahead and ate one of the powerbars I'd brought with me for breakfast - I wanted to get calories in my system a few hours before the race. I'd eaten by 5:30, and the race was @ 8 so I felt like I was okay. I also started taking water as soon as I got up. I wanted to have about 24 ounces in me by the time we left, but I didn't want to be chugging water on the way out the door.

Then I realized I didn't have my tag receipt for the Jeep with me - I can't get on Ft. Benning without that (thanks terrorists...always gotta screw with somebody's day,huh?). We immediately took two steps back and punted. I moved the bike to my aunt's suv, and we loaded everyone else into my mom's car. Disaster #2 averted. From here on in it was pretty smooth sailing.

When we got to the race site, we were among the first people there. Less than 10 bikes were in the racks. Although I had a race #, I had no designated slot on the bike rack. This was very confusing for me, because I had no real clue about how to pick the 'right' position - I didn't want to bury myself deep in the crowd and have to hurdle people, but I didn't want to be the idiot who took the primo spots from the people where were actually competing for podium positions. I decided to go about halfway down the length and grab a spot on the edge of the runway. After I'd put my bike in the rack (just as a temp home until I got checked in), I headed off to body marking. At that point, I ceased to be Trey, and became: Number 172.

I have to admit: as silly as it seems, the marking up was kinda cool - don't know why, but this kind of drove it into my brain that this was race-time.

I only re-arranged my transition area about 12 times. I kept checking it to make sure no one had moved anything. There was NO transition area security, racers, officials, and spectators were all wandering through.

At 7:45 the race director got on the bullhorn and gave us final safety instructions. Public roads, stay to the right, no headphones, etc. He also roughed out the course to the pool for the final leg of the race (remember - Reverse Sprint). After the briefing, we were instructed to assemble at the starting flags for the presenting of the colors (again, remember - military base).

At 8:01 the horn blew and we were off, and man was it a fast group.

I had a few goals going into this race some of them important, some of them not so much.
1st goal was to finish strongly, and not feel like I'd been beaten on by the course.
2nd goal was to finish the 5K in under 25 minutes - this was negotiable if it endangered goal #1.

I set the GPS to finish the 5K in 25 minutes, and once we started, I made sure I stayed ahead of the GPS. I passed NO ONE for the 1st mile, and people where blowing past me like I was on crutches. I finally began to gain on a father/son duo just short of 2 miles. The whole time I was ahead of my 25 minute pace. I normally don't take water on 5K races because of the short duration of the race, but we started @ 8am, and it was already warm. I had a long way to go, so I took water at the 2 stations along the way - never slowed down - I just grabbed a cup as I went past. I'd take a couple of chugs and poured the rest down my neck.

I was also running with no music. I almost always have music when I run alone, but I didn't miss it that much. I would have loved some good hard baseline tracks during the last mile or so. I began passing a few people, but nothing to get excited about. When I could see the transition area come into view, I picked up a little. Still about 200-300 ft ahead of pace on the GPS.

When I crossed the timing pad, it felt like I should have had flames rolling off my shoes. I FELT fast, I felt good, and my time was WAY beyond me goal. I entered T1 @ 23:40 (1:20 AHEAD of my goal) - and not having to kill myself for it.

It's probably hard to tell from the photo, but I'm even grinning a little as I enter T1.

I think I had an awesome T1 (especially compared to others in my age group) - I was in and out in 52 seconds - which put me pedaling into stage 2 well before my target stage 1 time...Again, I was even working up a little grin.

Through all of this, I still had no idea where I was in the standings (didn't really care, I just didn't want to be last).

As soon as I got on bike, I started drinking gatorade. I'd taken a Gu one right before the start of the race to get it in my system, and I was planning on taking one every 30 minutes, but I wanted to get some more fluids in my system. The beginning of the ride was 'interesting'. I don't have clip in, or clipless pedals on my bike. Just toe cages. I'd decided to ignore the cages for the first quarter to half mile, and get my feet in them after I was on a straight away, and out of a little traffic. I had to try a few times to get my feet in the cages because they kept rolling over to the bottom of the pedal. This is common, and happens on every ride, but on every other ride, there's not people gaining on me ;). I was finally able to get my feet locked in and settle into the ride. I made it a point to keep the gearing low enough so my cadence would stay high. This kept me on the middle ring, and about midway into the rear cassette. I made pretty good time on the ride, averaging 16.8 mph. There were 3 water stops on the 20K route: one halfway to the turnaround, one at the turnaround, and then again halfway back.

"NEVER USE NEW EQUIPMENT IN A RACE" - How many times have you heard that? Go ahead..count them...I'll wait.
Correct: 18, 358 times

I had a bottle of Gatorade in my transition space (on ice packs), but I was in such a hurry @ transition, that I didn't take any of it..."I've got a bottle on my bike"....a NEW bottle on my bike... a NEW, never before been used bottle on my bike. After I got my feet locked in, I took a Gu, and washed it down with the NASTIEST, FOULEST tasting acidic, chemical tasting drink I've ever had. I tried to get water at the water stops, but as hard as it is to grab a Styrofoam cup when your running it's 1000x harder when your zooming past on a bike. I spewed ice cold water all over the highway at the midway water station.....twice. I ALMOST chucked the bottle to grab a bottle at the midway water station, but figured I'd flub that hand off, too, so I just endured the nasty Gatorade. As I neared the end of the 20K, I caught a little extra boost and pumped a little harder. I cruised into T2 pretty fast and almost locked up the tires trying to whoa it down before the dismount line.

T2 went pretty quickly, too (1:26), but was delayed a little when one of my socks refused to let go. Apparently it had formed a fast and intimate relationship with the tape on one of my toes:

...and I had to step back to repel my own sock.

I grabbed my goggles and nose plug after stripping down, and I'm off!!

(notice the sock still clinging for dear life on my left foot)

I ran to the pool - how sad is it when you pass people in transition?? Is that taboo? against etiquette? I don't know, but I wanted to go faster than they did, so...

Then it all fell apart.

Dear Lord in heaven...I hit the water, and I felt like a graceful trapeze artist..after a horrible accident with a mule.

I couldn't breath ( or rather, I couldn't catch my breath). My stroke felt labored, and the water felt very thin..like I couldn't get an traction. My goggles immediately fogged up, so I was swimming blind. Within half a pool length, my nose clip went off on it's own to explore a new profession as pool decorations. It felt bad.

The course consisted of 11 lengths of a 50 meter pool. Swim a length, duck under the rope to change lanes, swim back in the new lane...repeat. This swim, change routine totally screwed up what little sense of rhythm I had. But, I endured. I kept stroking and heaving - I didn't walk along the bottom of the pool, I just kept pumping - despite being passed constantly. At one point I began to wonder how there could be so many people passing me in the pool - - I thought they all passed me on the run.

I could hear my family yelling for me each time I reached the far end of the pool, and by the time I was on the last length, I was breathing okay, but there wasn't hardly any strength left in my body. I climbed out of the pool and crossed the timing pad and I was finished. I had done it. I had endured - and I was thrilled with it. The time meant little because I had no frame of reference.

The swim was more of a challenge than I expected: partially because of exhaustion, partially because of lack of rhythm. I'm hoping the next race (being in the correct order) will not be so distracting.

Post race water (as if I didn't swallow enough in the pool)

And after it all, I can still act like an idiot in a public setting:

A big thanks to my family, without whom I'd never have been able to do this with a smile on my face.

Would I do it again? Absolutely...in fact, I'll do it again on Saturday..but 2x as long.

Final Stats:

Run: 23:40 pace: 7:37/mile
T1: 0:52
Bike: 44:10 pace: 16.8mph
T2: 1:26
Swim: 15:51 pace: 1.3 (meters/sec ??)

Total : 1:25:57

Place 66 / 96 overall
Place 17 / 25 in age group

Lunch the day before the race

2008-06-06T14:02:00.000-04:00

Maki rolls , california roles and nagiri...mmmmmm god eatin'

Last post before Ft. Benning

2008-06-05T15:06:00.004-04:00

Time's up. This is what I've been staring at since last year. I just searched the blog and the first mention of it is here, in my race report for the Midnight Express. That was August of last year. I've been watching this day approach since then. My nerves have been very cyclical for the last week or so. One moment I'm nervous abut the run, then the swim, then nothing, then the bike scares me. I'm ready for this - I truly feel that I've prepared in every way I can. I've trained, I've prayed, I've meditated on what I'll do. I've spent time sitting and staring at walls trying to visualize the race moments so I can be prepared for them - I want no suprises. I want to be the surprise. I want to end this race happy - happy with the event, happy with myself, happy to be finished, and happy to do it again.

My thoughts of the race swing wildly. One day I think "I'm about to undertake what my friends call insanity." Then I think about the people I've met online with this common obsession, and I think "It's only a Sprint - am I overweighting this? and if I am, what if I flounder?" I've been inspired by friends on Twitter, and by race reports on beginnertriathlete.com. I've been terrified by stories of struggles in 70.3 races. This is a weird desire.

I'm excited, but 'excited' doesn't cover the emotion correctly. When I ran the Midnight Express last year, I was nervous because it was the first time I'd run a real 'race' in over 15 yrs. I've NEVER done anything like this - so I don't know what to expect of me.

I'm curious where my mind will go in the weeks after the race(s) - nothing to aim towards until December. I'm sure I'll come up with another idea of some sort. In my mind it feels like the calm before the storm.

So many things running through my head:

Get the bike loaded
tape gu to the bike
get electrical tape
pack power bar
remember Gatorade bottle
get more Gatorade for T1
place your goggles for easy access
go slow @ transition, but do it quickly
remember to fuel on the bike
pay attention to you body
'must go faster'
enjoy the swim
how's the swim going to be
how crowded will the pool be when I get there
bodyglide (thighs, arms)
sunglasses
sunscreen
towels
keep up with your trash on the bike
get the bike in the right gear for the start
get your feet in the straps only after you've gotten up to speed
be careful getting out of the pedals
re-lace your running shoes tonight
don't forget your helmet
smile - this is fun...remember?
keep your hands loose
stand upright
Don't forget the GPS
don't forget gloves
breath easy
your a runner - don't sweat the run
remember to drink
be considerate in transition- try to stay out of everyone's way-don't let others get in your way
It's a sprint-it's gonna be fast
ENDURANCE race
don't walk
finish strong
crumple up the race bib
remember everything for the race report
don't over think it - just keep moving

CRAP!! -- see what I mean?

I think I'm nervous about this one because it will be a gauge of if I'm really ready for the Olympic the next weekend.

Can't wait to get started - I probably won't sleep for the next two nights.

And then there was one.

2008-06-03T20:00:00.001-04:00

I've got just one more workout until the race. This week is recovery/prep week, so no intense training. This pic is me right after a 15 minute run and a 30 min ride. I feel pretty good, but I shouldn't have eaten that granola bar right befor the run. I'm obviously still working on the fueling know-how.

I did some math a couple of nights ago and figure that I'll burn about 1200 calories during the race this weekend, so I'll need to make sure I fuel enough the night before.

Excited , but also a little nervous. I imagine the nerves will waste away pretty quickly after the say 'GO!!!'

BRUTAL HOT RUN

2008-05-31T11:45:00.000-04:00

Me and steph after a punishingly hot 4.5 mile run @ 38:23. Now I'm going for a 60 min ride.

Friday morning swim.

2008-05-30T06:54:00.000-04:00

Just finished a 25 minute swim - 40 laps. Swam time instead of distance. Not a great swim, but not the worst I've had either. Listening to the Fredcast. T-minus 8 days. Run-Bike-Swim!!!

Trey Reese (mobile)

Run route

2008-05-29T21:18:00.000-04:00

4.25 mi @ 39 min

Trying to get back to the routine

2008-05-28T06:43:00.001-04:00

I should have expected the first swim back to be les than stellar. I have got to learn to eat better. I had bbq for lunch and I've payed for it during my last 2 workouts - may 4 miler yesterday was hard, and the swim I just finished was pretty bad.

I was planning on doing 65 laps, but only finished 40. Goggles kept fogging and leaking, and I just couldn't get in a groove. I kept hearing in my head - "don't practice struggling". I'll work on my eating, and prepare my head for the race.