April's in the Books ... May is gonna RAWK!

April took forever. 

It seemed like I did NOTHING but sleep, eat and stretch. 

I'm new to all of this endurance sports stuff and each experience is a huge learning experience.  While I've trained for three bike events, this was the one I trained for the best.  As such, the taper was painful and unexpected.  I hurt from head to toe for 10 days.  I'm so glad that's done.

I haven't yet gotten on the scale since last weekend, and I'm not looking forward to the message reading:

 

That said, I still managed to compile 506 total miles, but just 35 miles running.  I didn't want to risk a stupid injury running with a bike race coming up.   In April, I had my two best bike rides ever.  One was a solo 75 mile ride where I averaged 20.7 mph, even with traffic lights and other junk.  The second was Saturday's race.  The average speed wasn't that great, especially for riding in a group, 22 mph, but I had POWER that I never felt before.  That was exciting.

I won't be training for anything until mid-August, so I plan on doing some great base building over the next three months.  Diet, body composition, some swimming and so on.  It is so weird that losing weight while training for a big event isn't easy.  I did manage to drop about 10 pounds from the beginning of February until, well, just before the tapering.  While I had a great race Saturday, you can read about it here if you missed it, I feel guilty.  I like piling up miles and doing lots of pushups and pullups and so on.  The past two weeks of the taper were so easy, so sedentary, I just feel ... ick.   

I'll be making up for that in May.  Here's my list of things to do for the month:

• 150 Miles Running:  Feed the Beast To join me in the challenge, held on daily mile, click here. 
• Drop 15 pounds (Will weigh in on 5/1)
• Climb Mt. Wrightson (9,800 ft. mountain that dominates the local landscape...never climbed it)
• Complete the  inaugural Nogales Bicycle Classic, finish in under 2:45
• 6500 pushups
• 1300 pullups 
• Daily Ab Exercise (6 days a week)

May will also bring high school graduation for our oldest daughter.  I'm not sure how that will sit with us, but we're sure to find out soon enough!

Anyhow, I hope those of you that are healthy, stay so, and those that are nursing injuries recover quickly.  That said, I have this to say:  May, bring it!

A Riding Report

Anybody that's trained for an event has hit this point...I'm not physically tired, just tired.  The routes are old, there's not a huge desire to climb on the bike.  I've been riding a lot, been through a 60 serving tub of Accelerade in the past month!  I'm faster and stronger than I believed possible, but that fact fails to charge me up, at the moment.

I figured that a good solution would be to ride a seldom-used route.  So I decided to drive to the town of Amado, Arizona, and ride to Arivaca.  This route I've ridden once as part of my first century ride, but today's route, since I'd drive to Amado instead of ride, would be just a touch under 50 miles.

My hope here is to share a flavor of the very unique pocket of southern Arizona that is Arivaca.  It's a full hour's drive from ANYWHERE.  Anybody that lives there does so on purpose.  Some are outcasts, socially inept.  Others just seek solitude and clear thinking.  Regardless, the people that live there, and in the outlying areas take a lot of pride in their community.  I could shoot hundreds of pictures of the little interesting things like an old hand water-pump mounted on top of a 20 foot pole in the middle of a field.  It's just funny, and cute.

Nothing to share beyond that.  Enjoy the pictures.

Amado is an interesting place, most known for the bar pictured below.

Also in the lovely town of Amado are the Cow Palace and the Amado Market, which has gasoline, but you have to pay the cashier inside, no debit machine on the pump.

If I had left early in the day, I'd have missed all of the wind, but as it turned out, I started just as the wind really started to pick up.  But I brought my camera and decided to not let the wind ruin my time.  After all, the return trip was sure to be a blazing fast ride.

One of the first things I always notice on this road (it's a favorite drive) is this huge cottonwood tree.  I often wonder how old it is, what changes have occurred around it.  It's a survivor.

 And how fun does that road beyond look?

Now apparently, the mailman out here is a Sasquatch, either that or this is a challenge to all major league mail-box baseball players.

Now I am patriotic, but not fanatic.  I am completely convinced, however, that the United States' flag is the most beautiful.  If it wasn't designed to look amazing in motion, it's a lucky coincidence.  This one has seen better days, but where would I be if all things tattered were discarded?

Here's another. Interesting side note:  Flags point the direction of travel of the intelligent.  I was going the other way.

Then there were these gardener/drinkers that decided to decorate their garden fence:

Now most of these pictures I took while riding, but the one below I actually stopped, turned my bike around and rode back to the sign.  If I was into sign stealing ...  it would be mine!

And today was over 80 degrees, as evidenced by the salt deposits I had after cooling off!

If you'd like to see the rest of the pictures, you can here.

The ride took me 2 1/2 hours, actually 2:32:13 to be exact.  There was 1500 feet of climbing.  The return trip took just under and hour's time, so it was very fast.

I Surprised Myself

For those not familiar with SmartCoach, it's software that uses your latest race time and distance in combination with your average miles run per week to create a training program tailored to you so you can run a specific race well. 

I've been trying to run consistently since last May.  However, injury after injury, then training for a bike race have prevented me from amassing much running experience.  In fact, I've only run more than 20 miles in a week twice, the highest being 23, this week!  The point being, I feel that I'm still very new to running.  I feel I'm just getting my running legs. 

 SmartCoach said that today I should run a long, slow run ... 10 miles (no problem) at 8:22 pace (what!?!?!).  I ran faster than that for my half marathon, but I was rested for that, it was down hill, and it was a race environment, everybody's pumped! 

Yesterday was a terribly stressful day and I woke this morning feeling tired.  My left knee has been a bit cranky (I think from not having my new bike dialed in properly), and my legs were a bit sore from yesterday's run.  There was only the slightest hint of swelling in the knee if it was bent completely backwards.  So, I brushed my teeth, threw on my Five Fingers, tossed a band aid (have a problem toe getting blisters) and a Cliff Shot in my pocket.

Mile 1, 8:18:  Felt okay, just easing my way into the run.  It's down hill and super easy.  Legs are sore, but nothing I could deal with.   

Mile 2, 8:17:  There's a crazy steep hill, but fortunately it's very short this direction, dropping farther on the other side than this side climbs up.  I slammed up the hill trying to maintain my pace.  This got my heart rate up quite a bit.

Mile 3, 8:28, Mile 4, 8:26, Mile 5, 8:25:   I've done this route before.  This is a very tough stretch, all up hill, with a few short climbs and one significant, long climb.  I was happy to be under 8:30 here while not killing myself.  Average heart rate still around 145 or so.  During my 5 my legs hurt, my feet hurt, my hips hurt...I was getting tired.

Mile 6, 8:18, Mile 7, 8:20, Mile 8, 8:20:  What I goes up, must come down.  These are gradually down hill miles.  I took my cliff shot shortly after beginning mile 7.  During mile 8 I really started to fatigue. 

Mile 9,  8:50:  HUGE hill.  Did I mention there was a HUGE HILL on this mile?  If not, I'm sorry.  I had a few signs of cramping before the hill, but none ever developed, thankfully.  When I got up to the top of the hill my glutes were SCREAMING at me. 

Mile 10, 8:14:  I think my Garmin screwed me here.  It said my mile wasn't done until I was a good 100 yards past where I normally stop.  But regardless, this is a tough mile, climbing about 250 feet steadily the whole way.  It takes a lot of concentration for me to maintain a steady pace on this mile, but it's where I feel I should be pushing.  And the last mile being the best one, that's what I'm talking about!

Here's the Garmin Report of the run.

Now to move some furniture and then iron some clothes! 

Operation Final Cut

Since July 2010 I'm down from nearly 300 pounds to just over 200 pounds.  But, there's more work to be done.  I've learned a few things about weight loss along the way, the most recent is that one cannot seriously train for an endurance event and lose significant weight simultaneously.

My motivation to lose more weight has nothing to do with vanity, just as my original motivations had nothing to do with looking better.  I wanted to feel better originally.  Now I want to run and ride better.

So, starting Thursday, 11/24 (yes, Thanksgiving morning), I'm going to have a weekly weigh in ending in 1/26.  I'll be spending those two months focusing on building strength in my legs and core.  I'll maintain a weekly long ride and will work on progressively building a running base.  But, I will be hitting the gym three to four times a week.  Each trip to the gym will include a lot of core work and body resistance exercises and an intense 45 minute cardio workout.  My diet will have a substantial reduction in carbohydrates and I'll avoid sweets and beer.  (UGH!)

If I don't get into the low 190's I'll be terribly disappointed.  At best, I hope to be in the mid 180's.  I don't think I could weigh less than 180 pounds and be healthy.  Either way, I'll make a weekly post chronically what (generally) I ate (though I'll keep a detailed log), as well as exercise log, challenges I faced and, of course, results.  

My most immediate goal is to finish a particular 73 mile bike race in late April 2012 in under 3:00.  After that I want to complete my first marathon in the fall or early winter of 2012 in under 4:00.

A Day in the Life

Yesterday, the day after my first century ride, I got up at 4:30 and ran four miles.  The first mile was 10:30, but then I woke up and the rest were in the 7:30 range.  I went to work and had a rough day, I was flat and my students were nuts.  After work I had an hour long meeting ... I think we planned the next meeting in that one.  Then, I taught two classes for the community college, finishing up at 8:00 pm.

Last night I couldn't sleep well.  There were javelina rooting around outside causing the stupid fat chihuahua we have to bark and bark and bark, and forget to stop barking.  I rolled out of bed at 4:15, headed out for a short two mile jog and then a full upper body workout at the gym. The picture is me at the gym this morning, see how busy it is?

Today I sat in a meeting for two hours and didn't even get grouchy!  That's a miracle or enormous proportions.  The Pope should be notified!

During class today, I saw nearly instant karma.  I was chastising a class, saying to the group, "This is stupid behavior."  A girl said, kind of under her breath, "You're stupid."  The funny thing is that when I checked my email after that period, I had an email from that girl's mother!  How's that for timing?

After work, I took off for a 40 mile tempo ride that has a measured 1100 feet of elevation gain.  It was quickly apparent that my legs were TOAST! I try to keep my tempo at a minimum of 17.5 mph, but no-no-no, not today.  Not with the dead legs, not with the wind.  I kept reflecting on the need to have purposeful rides once the base cardio work is done.  So I compromised.  When the wind was strong and I was going uphill, instead of trying to keep at 17.5, I'd lower the number to what I felt I could sustain.  As it turned out, most of the time I was able to maintain my 17.5.  I was happy with that!

And to make the experience better, look a the sky.  What a place to live where I can ride all year long on nice, empty roads like this!

Tomorrow morning I'm going to do a running workout, 4 mile repeats, along with the normal calisthenics I do on run days.

I also decided, on today's ride, to shoot a couple of videos of what I spend hours at a time looking at.  So, here they are:

This Can Get Pricey

One surprise that's crept up this week is how expensive training can be.  I'm not talking about racing with travel and entry fees, but just training.  I'm not talking about having the latest and greatest gear either. 

This week I found out I need a new cassette and chain for my bike, my tires are about shot and I needed new running shoes.  Two weeks ago I had to buy new riding shorts, gloves and a new shirt.  Since it's getting dark earlier and I have mandatory meetings frequently now, I had to buy some lights for the bike.  While riding I go through quite a bit of electrolyte drink plus gel shots, and I eat so much more than a normal person should now.  Then there is the gym membership to boot.  I'm a high school math teacher with two teenaged daughters and I've been under a pay freeze for 5 years. 

I'm thinking that I'm going to have to sell my guitar stuff to raise some money to support my new addictions!  That'd be sad as I have some world-class equipment. 


Aside from that, as I mentioned earlier this week, each day I've been unsure if I could be ready for the next day's workout.  I have to be careful not to over train, like I did last spring.  So I've been stretching multiple times a day, icing everything, stretching again and getting as much sleep as possible.  I've been reading the Cyclist's Training Bible, and while it's written for cycling, the training intensity, volume, and workload information is applicable directly to running as well. 

Here's how the workout schedule is shaking-out to be:

Monday am, some running workout.

Tuesday am, short recovery jog and a quick 30 minutes at the gym.  Tuesday afternoon a speed session on the bike.

Wednesday am, another running workout.

Thursday am, short recovery jog and a quick 30 minutes at the gym.  Thursday afternoon some tempo work on the bike.

Friday am a long slow run.

Saturday off. 

Sunday, a long slow ride.

The Tuesday/Thursday am sessions can be skipped without consequence.  The only two that cannot be skipped except due to injury are the long run and ride. 

I've got a very busy few weeks ahead of me and I'm curious to see how I'll hold up!

Bad Run, Good Run...We Succeed Because We Fail

Saturday's trail run was terrible.  As I mentioned in my last post I was slow, sore and when I finished I was totally exhausted.  I was exhausted for the entire day, like a zombie on Nyquil.

Sunday I had time to reflect on the run.  I reviewed my training plans.  I was beginning to worry about not being able to do well on the race and that worry devolved into fears of not being able to complete the half marathon.  I want to run 13.1 miles in under 2 hours.  I've not been able to do any training at all because of a hip/hamstring issue.  I completely sucked at a 5 mile trail run...how was this going to work?

I wanted a chance at redemption Monday morning.  I had hoped that my problems were fatigue and heat and maybe just a bad day.  Hoping to do better, I couldn't sleep Sunday night.  I got up at 3:30 am, an hour before my 4:30 alarm.  I needed to do better.  I am better than that performance.

At 4:30 I got out of bed, brushed my teeth and did my pushups, crunches and some new hip exercises I'm trying out.  I was out of the door by a quarter to five for my hilly six mile run.

I kicked butt.  I decided to speed up a bit more than I've allowed myself over the past months.  I pulled down the first two miles in just over 14 minutes.  I hit the hills and then finished the last mile, which climbs about 200 feet, in 8:10.  I wouldn't allow myself to really push hard as my number one priority is still to finish healthy.

I feel encouraged and revitalized.  Redoubling efforts after failure ... yeah, now I feel better.

Finally Healthy, and some costume pics.

I think I'm finally healthy.  My injured hip complains rarely, and only when I first start going down hill.  The hills don't hurt once I'm properly warmed up.  It's been a LONG time, since the end of June.  I'm very happy about my current condition.

I've started my half marathon training, along with training for the Tour de Tucson, which I may not join.  I may not have the money for it.  The idea is that I'll alternate long rides and long runs, one per week.  I have noticed some significant improvements in my riding lately.  What's funny is that, like last time, the jumps in speed and power are seemingly out of nowhere.  All of a sudden instead of struggling to maintain a 14 mph average on these particular hills, I'm cruising at 18 to 19 mph!  If you're wondering about tailwind...nope, done it consistently the past three rides.

With the change in seasons there is less fresh fruit around.  Much of what remains isn't so great.  As a result I've not been eating as well as I was over the summer.  Also, with it getting colder outside, it's been tough to haul my butt out of bed in the mornings and go to the gym.  I've not skipped any runs or rides, but the gym has seen decreasingly less of me since school started.  I need to recommit to going to the gym more frequently and to work on my diet.

In addition to those things, I'd forgotten what a commitment training really is.  I run before work on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  I am supposed to go the gym in the mornings on Tuesday and Thursday.  I ride Tuesday and Thursday.  Saturday is a long ride or long run.  It's tough to do all of those things with a full time job, a part time job, meetings after school, totting kids around and so on.  I'm beat!

I did miss my long ride last week.  I decided to tune up my bike before the ride and noticed some fancy cracks in my Bontrager RaceLites.  My trusted bike shop owner warned me of them and told me what to look for.  I purchased a new set of Mavic wheels and am now riding in style.

This past week was Spirit Week at the high school.  I decided to participate.  :D  Here's Tacky Tuesday:

I worked hard to be tacky without being over the top.  A coworker saw me and said hello.  I asked how I pulled off tacky...she stopped and said, "Oh, good.  I wasn't going to say anything because you look awful!"  

She thought I dressed that way out of poor taste, not in the spirit of Tacky Tuesday.  SCORE!

Wednesday was nerd day.  I had to learn to tie a real bow tie.  That sucked.  I learned a lot about those that wear bow ties.  They don't do things by accident.  

Now the last was Western Thursday.  I got a big ole grin to go along with my outfit.

Finally, a new ride!

I couldn't sleep.  I was amped up about the new ride I'd scheduled for this morning.  I drank a lot of water, ate a lot of carbs (and junk too), drank more water and finally put a large glass of water by my bed.  At nine pm, I went to bed.  ...  ...  ...  9:02: Geez, I can't sleep!  I needed a good night's rest.  My legs were a bit sore and it was sure to be a tough ride in the morning.

I tried again.  I thought of how the ride would go, visualized how it would work out.  This sometimes puts me to sleep.  No dice.  9:22.  I then decided to think about work, maybe that'd send me away.  Nope.  I tossed and turned and would just dip into sleep when a mouse would sneeze in Chicago and I'd stir.  It felt as thought I was flirting with night anxiety, which I get periodically.  My heart was beginning to race a bit.  I tried the heart-rate monitor to see...it was a whopping 58 bpm!  That's a solid 10 to 12 over my normal heart rate though.  I couldn't lay in bed or it would legitimately start racing and then I'd never fall asleep.  At 11:00 I decided to try a warm bath.  I read a Bicycling magazine and then planned how my training schedule might go with work.

At midnight I tried again and fell asleep.

A few things about the ride excited me.  First, it was a new destination; the Whipple Observatory Visitor's Center  at the base of Mt. Hopkins.  Second, I started the right the day before with my wife, but just got a tease of what it would be.  She began having some asthma problems and we were running out of time.  So, we had to turn around.  I did take this picture though.

Sometimes the memory of a view of a road, or trail, haunts me, beckoning my revisit.  I was captivated.  I wanted to ride that road, see what was over the hill and around the bend.  I knew the road on a motorcycle, but things on a bicycle are quite different.

In addition to the scenery were a pair of mating Red Tailed Hawks.  They were HUGE.  One of them was very annoyed by our presence and would fly overhead screaming.  He was close enough that we could see his mouth opening and his chest moving as he belted out his screech.  The other, I'm assuming female, sat atop a powerline pole just looking at us.   

 We also found "fresh" backpacks left by illegals.  In fact, I'm sure we just missed seeing them getting picked up.  I've seen countless illegals and smugglers and so on, I live right in the region most heavily traveled (supposedly) on the US-Mexican border.  Anyhow, I decided to share a picture of the packs as well as a souvenir I picked up while looking through the bags. 

At six this morning I felt like I'd over-slept.  I remember thinking, Great...it's gonna be hot on the ride now!  


I felt relieved when I realized I had plenty of time to make breakfast (peanut butter and jelly) and have some coffee.  Like last weekend, I toiled with the decision to take or leave the camelbak.  This time the stores were not as ideally located as last weekend and the trip is 25 miles longer.  I left the camelbak again.  Turns out, I didn't need it.

My goal today was to work on my cadence.  I've been finding that my knees and hips get tired if I have the cadence in the 80's or lower, but 95 to 105 and I don't get sore or tired.  I wanted to see how much validity was in this observation and today was a good opportunity to do that. 

At mile 15 (or so), I was passed by a gentleman in his mid-60's.  Not just passed, but blown away!  Some people talk about getting chic-ed, I got geriatric-ed.  As he rode by he asked if I was riding to Green Valley again and that he'd seen me riding there from time to time.  He was just riding around Tubac, probably a 20 mile loop as I've seen him ride out of a housing development there in the past.  That realization made me feel slightly better.  Still, I had been maintaining an 18.x mph average at that point and got smoked.

I rode the 26 or so miles to Elephant Head Road.  The road was uphill and I was tired.  My bladder complained to me about riding.  I looked around for a secure place to wander into the shrub and answer the call when someone in with a thick Scottish accent said, "Good morning."

Collin, he later introduced himself as, was a stud rider.  He had finished in the top 10 for the 80 mile leg of El Tour de Tucson the previous year.  He slowed down and I sped up and we rode to the top of the road, at the base of the mountain, together.  It was about 8 miles from where we started riding together and I was glad for the company.  Not only was he quite interesting, but by riding with someone else, I didn't have to fight myself to keep pushing up the hill.  

If you look at the graph of the elevation at the bottom of the picture, you can see, it was quite a hill to climb!  Here's the link to the map if you would like to watch the fly over feature (google earth required).

We stopped at the top and refueled.  After a short break, we went our separate ways.  Collin had an appointment to keep later in the day and blasted ahead down the mountain.  I had another 32 miles to go (he has 14) so even if I could've kept up with him, I needed to pace myself.

The ride was what I'd hoped it to be.  There are a lot of wild flowers in full bloom right now, the air was still but warm (and humid) and the views were spectacular.  I only had one car that didn't give me proper space while passing me, and otherwise, saw very little traffic.  I beat the rain home and am sufficiently exhausted, though in high spirits.  What more could an athlete ask for?  How many other experiences are fulfilling in so many ways?  Accomplishment, euphoric ephemeral corporeal experiences, fellowship, and the fact that through it all you've promoted your ability to do more of it next time!

Knowledge Versus Belief

You can believe something without knowing it. You can know something without believing it. Further, there are different types of belief.

Example: I believe my wife will want this color.
Example: I know you just said it, but I can't believe it.

I want to share an anecdote that exposes the difference between belief and knowledge on a more personal level. I hope that you can get something out of this story.

I knew I could run two miles in less than 11:54. No doubt in my mind. It wasn't bravado, I didn't brag to my buddies that I could and would do it. It was my goal and I knew I could do it.

How did I know? Because I was faster than people that had done it. I just needed to do it on Physical Fitness test day.

A time of eleven minutes and fifty four seconds on a two mile run earned you 100% of the points on the running section of the PT test if you were male and under 22 years old. After 22 years old, the time increased to 12:35. (Now, for comparison, the 100% time is 13:00.)

My very first 2 mile run was 14:20. I was dying the whole way, walked a lot. Man, I was out of shape. The next was two weeks later and it was 13:10. That beat the time of my drill sergeants (former Rangers in their mid-20's) and I was surprised. The next was 12:30. From then on, I never was slower than 12:30.

During basic training we'd run in ability groups. When I joined the second to fastest group (13:10), I was told I didn't belong there. But I stayed because my time qualified me to be there. I didn't stay long. I soon moved up to the next group. In that group we would run two miles in 12 minutes, and then run two more.

In Germany, my Battery Captain loved to run. He'd organize these cross country course and he and I would race. It wasn't much of a race really as I'd just stay in front of him and speed up when he moved to pass me.

Once, on a regular run, segregated by speed, he let me be the pacer. (By regular run, I mean we ran in formation, which really sucked since it was always slow.) But now, the pacer, I could change that. He warned me to keep it steady and keep us together. Screw that! I wanted to make the lungs of the other runners turn to ash and their hearts to explode.

I ran the first mile at a comfortable pace, around 7:00. I ran the second mile at 6:00. There were some fall outs and a lot of complaining. The Captain though, he was always up for a challenge. So, I ran the third mile as fast as I could, which was in the low 5 minutes. I don't know the exact time because the person with the stop watch was long gone. But he said he timed me and watched me finish the course. I turned the formation of 20 into a formation of one.

They never let me pace again.

But on test day I could never beat the 11:54. I could get 12:10, 12, 12:20...but I'd always start off too fast and bonk.

Then I turned 23. My new time for 100% score was 12:35. No problem. I could do that without issue. I dogged the run, took it easy. At the mile point the time was just over 6 minutes. No problem. I didn't push until the last half mile. I was expecting to hear 12:15 or so as I crossed the finish. But what I heard as I got closer was Sergeant Skipper (really his name) counting eleven 21, 22, 23, ... I put it in high gear and crossed at 11:30.

It occurred to me later that while I knew I could run that fast, I didn't really believe it. There was always a shadow of doubt. When running with other people, they paced me. I was right by them and had someone pushing me. On these test runs, if you were around people, you were two minutes slower than I was.

Maybe I absorbed the physical impression I made on people. That is that my ideal body was is in the mid 150's, but I was 210, had no neck and had legs like tree stumps. The impressions was, "This guy must really lumber down the track." Maybe it's because I knew I didn't deserve to run that fast. A lot of people I knew, and helped, worked really hard and couldn't get any where close to me.

The real puzzle is, why do we sometimes perform better when our confidence is high? When you know how have done and believe you'll do it again, your chances of success are great.

Now I know that for people that really run, 11:30 isn't much to brag about. But for me, it is and was a big deal. That's my personal best. It's a time I'd sorely love to beat now. But now, I know pain a lot better than I did then. Now, I don't know if I can do it. So the belief is of the sort that's just a guess. Believe this, I'm going to find out.

I used what I learned in this experience to better perform on my first (and to date, only) road bike race. I had a goal pace and I kept that pace on all training rides, always. Only once did I drop below that pace and there were some incredible conditions slowing me down. I knew that nobody would be on their best race in those conditions.

So on race day, I was confident. I knew I could meet my goal and I believed I would. Why did I believe it? Because I'd done it again and again and again. It was never easy, but I never gave in. I knew that to meet my goal when it was official, I had to do it when it wasn't official. It was the training that counted, not the performance! The race makes it official for everybody else. But I knew I would do it because I always had.

When trying to run 11:54, I knew I could do it because I had the potential. I didn't believe it because I had not yet realized that potential. I hadn't done it when it really counted. It counts in training.

Celebrate the Pain

Let us celebrate, revel even, in the punishment we are about to endure.

That was the sentiment as we approached the first of four large hills that I planned as our daily run. We joked, those hills at home or at a school will be nothing.
The hill, from here, is a quarter mile to the top and a climb of 204 feet in elevation.

Here's my running partner finishing off the first hill.

Here is the view from the top of the first climb.

Here I am standing in front of the second hill. The drop before this one is pretty small, but the climb was another 100 feet.


Here's hill three, with my running partner, Brianna, running at the bottom. This gives you an idea of how steep they are.
And of course, every time you run, if you look, you'll find something unexpected. Like a Kris Kristofferson record that someone blasted with a shotgun.


The thing about this run is that the hills were loose and steep. I fell running up them a few times. Going down was precarious and if you fell, you were sliding to the bottom and leaving a lot of bodily tissue behind! So, caution was the word of the day on the descents.

In Born to Run, there's a woman who describes a Monster. The Monster is what urges you to stop, slow down, give into the pain. I think about that a lot while I'm running. I want to face the Monster, beat it. I want to challenge it every time.

Today's run was supposed to bring the Monster, but it really didn't. Yesterday's two mile flat run did, I felt like crap. I didn't expect to see it there, but was happy when I did. It made me pick up my feet, take a deep breath and GO. I wanted to see it again.

But today, we showed no humility in the face of the hills. We were both thoroughly beat, after having run up each one as fast as we could. Each hill made us feel better, more accomplished and more confident.

My knee hurt, Brianna twisted her ankle, a dehydration headache was setting in and we were both exhausted. We can't wait to do it again.

Cardio

Since I've started posting I've lost about 12 pounds. I'm happy about that. It's steady but in my mind too slow. I know it's not too slow, but I want to lose weight.

Because of the extra weight, sometimes, running kills my knees and lower back. They don't usually complain during the run, but later in the day or the next day they do. I had to skip this morning's scheduled run because of sore, swollen knees. At this point I'm having to remember to be patient, I'm in this for the long run (awesome)!

I started doing some boxing training. Whoa, what a level of intensity and what a complete body workout. Muscles in your neck, feet, core, forearms, not to mention your major muscle groups are all spent after a short amount of time!

I'm interested in buying a street bicycle to ride a few days of week to give me some variation from running.

Also, my daughter's cross country season is over. So, I'll be taking her running a few times a week. Now that the summer is slipping away, running in the afternoons is a possibility! That means that I won't always have to get up at 4:45 am to get a run in!

Nutrition

My biggest challenge early will be maintaining a running schedule without serious injury. I'm overweight and have a surgically repaired back, so I'm a missed step away from being laid up for a few months!

This morning I couldn't run because my back wasn't feeling right. Depending on how it feels this afternoon, I'll run after work.

In the mean time I have purchased some boxing equipment and tried it out yesterday. Wow, what a workout. That'll help bring some pounds off in a low-impact fashion.

The other issue I have is nutrition. I really don't eat bad food, just too much of it. Also, I eat like a body builder...not enough carbs and too much protein. Not atkins diet style, but still. So I'm going to focus in on a more suitable diet, including proper portions. I've been reading that eating good carbs before and after runs helps with recovery and energy and found that to be true. I've never trained for running before and as expected, the energy demands are quiet different than from weight lifting! DUH!

Anyhow, I'm doing well, enjoying running and look forward to getting a good workout when I run. Also, I'm getting faster and faster each run, stretching the run out more at the ends (I mean longer, faster strides) and my recovery time is shortening. All in all, I'm feeling positive and am enjoying running.

This morning was a fight.

I didn't run yesterday even though I was scheduled to run. My knee was swollen and my hip was sore. So I took the day off. Mondays (yesterday) and Wednesdays I work from about 6:30 am until 8 pm with a dinner break in the middle. So naturally I'm tired on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

This morning I didn't want to get out of bed. I did. I didn't want to warm up. I did. I didn't want to run, but I did. The run was a battle. I kept having to motivate myself to move forward, keep picking up my feet.

After about a half mile or so I forgot I was running and started thinking about stuff. So, I wasn't running hard, but I was running and that's OK. The run took me significantly longer than usual, but I finished it strong and ran really hard the last quarter mile.

Anyhow, here's to fighting!

10 mile week.

I ran 10 miles last week. My knees are swollen but not sore, but my muscles are sore. I'm concerned about doing too much too soon and getting injured. I'm considering buying an exercise bike so that I can get some low impact cardio going to help me lose some weight.

The weight is why my knees are swollen.

Anyhow, I'm still motivated and positive. I'm planning on joining a 5K race this winter. It'll be my first race! I have a long way to go though!

6 miles and the Monster

I'm proud of myself so far this week. I've run a total of 6 miles and the longest was today, when I was feeling really beat up! Today I ran what I call, "The Monster." It's a loop around my neighborhood that's about 2 3/4 long or so. The thing is, it's super hilly. The highest point is several hundred feet higher than the lowest point. The direction I ran today has a 1 mile portion that goes from the lowest to the highest point, progressively getting steeper.

Anyhow, legs are sore, knees a bit swollen, feet and back hurt and I'm beat. And...I have to go to work. Today is both jobs, the high school and then the community college in the evening.

So, here's t0 6 miles so far this week. The most I've run in a decade by far!

Small Victories

My alarm didn't go off this morning, so I woke up half an hour late. It wasn't a scheduled run day, but I had wanted to do a short, about 1 1/2 miles, run. I got up fast and went out the door. I completed the run. The first half is down hill, the second half is up hill...not a fair combination for someone just starting out.

But, I did it and it went well.

Yesterday, Labor Day, I went on a two mile run with my 12 year old daughter, who is in cross country. She is of course faster than me. She'd run ahead until she hit the mile marker, turn around and run back to me and so on until I finished the first mile. On the second mile I decided to run her pace. It was pretty tough for me, but I did it. Man, I used to be able to hardly break a sweat averaging 6:15 miles for a few miles. Oh well. Maybe I'll regain that speed, but if not, no biggie.

Tomorrow, depending on knee conditions (after two consecutive run days), I'm going to try what I call "the monster." It's only 2.5 miles or so, but STEEP. Did I mention it was STEEP?