My new years resolution is....
....wait...I don't make new years resolutions. Why do you need January 1st to commit to improving your life? Why not December 27th or whenever you think of something. Every year it's the same - the gym is packed then 6 weeks later it back to normal. Frustrating.
There are those few that can make it which is why I have to commend my cousin Carrie. She started running last New Years. I saw her post on Facebook and hoped she'd keep it up so I reached out to her and suggested she make a goal and find a group of women in her area to run with which is exactly what she did. A few months later she did a 5k and was ecstatic. I congratulated her and suggested to start making bigger goals. 10k, half marathon then a full marathon. Here reaction was "yeah right. That will never happen." Fast-foward to December 31 and she did a 10k, half marathon and logged 500 total miles in 2011. Now that's a New Years Resolution.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Rocky Go
Well, I'm sad to say (but secretly jumping up and down in excitement) that I'm no longer going to do the New Orleans Marathon. Something came up at work that I can't get out of which didn't really tear me up that I wasn't able to do the marathon. I'll do this marathon but just not this year.
To be honest, my mind has been on a holiday since September 12th - the day after my Ironman. I've been working out. Going to spin class, trying to run but it's just not working. So I'm given myself until the New Year (4 more day) to be on this holiday and then it's BACK TO WORK!
I haven't swam for a while and to be honest I really miss it. It's hard work. I feel frustrated sometimes but I still come back for it over and over with a smile. That's how my cycling started and that's where I'd LOVE to get my running to but sometimes you just can't push it. You have to love it or you'll hate it and right now that's how I feel about running. I need to take a break and come back to it soon - when I love it.
In the meantime, swimming, cycling and lifting will by my triathlon.
To be honest, my mind has been on a holiday since September 12th - the day after my Ironman. I've been working out. Going to spin class, trying to run but it's just not working. So I'm given myself until the New Year (4 more day) to be on this holiday and then it's BACK TO WORK!
I haven't swam for a while and to be honest I really miss it. It's hard work. I feel frustrated sometimes but I still come back for it over and over with a smile. That's how my cycling started and that's where I'd LOVE to get my running to but sometimes you just can't push it. You have to love it or you'll hate it and right now that's how I feel about running. I need to take a break and come back to it soon - when I love it.
In the meantime, swimming, cycling and lifting will by my triathlon.
Monday, November 14, 2011
First Day of Marathon Training
and I only ran 20 minutes.
Truth is, I ran yesterday for 60 min and did plyometric AND I have 16 weeks of this type of training. I usually go out of the gate pretty hard and then want to just give up a couple weeks down the road so I'm going to ease into it.
Here is my plan for my running:
The hard part about this schedule is that I'm still spinning 3 days a week and swimming 2-3 days a week. Somewhere I need to sleep! Hopefully I can keep this schedule up but once I get into a routine it won't be too hard.
Oh, I didn't mention. The marathon I'm going to do is the New Orleans Rock and Roll Marathon on March 4.
Truth is, I ran yesterday for 60 min and did plyometric AND I have 16 weeks of this type of training. I usually go out of the gate pretty hard and then want to just give up a couple weeks down the road so I'm going to ease into it.
Here is my plan for my running:
- Sunday - Long Run
- Monday - short base training run. Think about cadence with a low zone three heart rate.
- Tuesday AM - weights
- Tuesday - run during the Tuesday night spin class - I usually run about 15-20 before class as a warm-up
- Wednesday - SPRINT DAY!
- Thursday AM - weights
- Thursday - 15-20 min warm-up before Thursday spin class
- Friday - break
- Saturday - run during spin class
The hard part about this schedule is that I'm still spinning 3 days a week and swimming 2-3 days a week. Somewhere I need to sleep! Hopefully I can keep this schedule up but once I get into a routine it won't be too hard.
Oh, I didn't mention. The marathon I'm going to do is the New Orleans Rock and Roll Marathon on March 4.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Hi - It's me!
It took me three websites to find my own site. Guess I really don't want people to read my blog.
Ok...what's been going on since February...um. I did this little thing called an IRONMAN. I would have to say it was the best day of my life and will stay up there for quite sometime. 22 hours before the gun went off on my first IM I signed up for my second Ironman. When I got to the counter I told the guy "I don't know why I'm here...I haven't even done my first one." He smiled and said, "you must've had a great training year." Yep I did and that is what brought me to that table. I knew when I singed up for my first on that it wasn't that I was signing up for that one day event. That I was signing up for the 365 days of training, sacrifice, lighter wallet. That day was just the finally of the fireworks display. And, boy was it a good ending!
I did the St. Louis marathon on April 10th in 80 degree weather with 80% humidity (end of July type of weather) with a disappointing 5 hours 15 minute time. There was a laundry list of things I did wrong - walking too much the days following, wasn't ready for that type of temp, let the mass crowd of people play on me mentally, etc
I turned my attention to triathlons and did my first one at Liberty. It was great - so many people came out to watch, do the event it was like going to class but with swimming. The swim I survived but realized I would have to work on my citing, the bike - that was my training ground I was ready for this one - I went full out, looked bad ass and didn't let one person pass me. The run - I couldn't breath for 6 miles so it was just a hour sufferfest. But I finished my first Triathlon and was an official Triathlete!
I followed that one up with Wiconia - did much better on the swim, put down a solid bike - again no one passed me - and survived the run. I did pretty well in my age group and even beat a girl that I knew from bike racing by two minutes overall.
That same girl said something to a friend of mine about the next race, Minniman, so I knew that I had some beef with her - She was going down! The swim was short by solid. I was gaining confidence and even ruffled a few feathers while I was swimming. The bike I ended up having the best split out of all the age group women even beating 2 out of the 7 elite women including the girl I had beef with, the run I held steady but had to deal with stomach cramps for about 10 seconds. I tried to run this one girl down which I found out later was in my age group and beat me by 5 seconds. Didn't matter - I still got 3rd in my age group.
I did a half marathon on a whim - Red White and Boom and PR-ed with a 2:02 time. I was kind-of upset at the time because I really wanted under 2 but the heat got to me at 7am. (race started at 6am)
Few weeks later I did the Insane Terrain 200k bike ride with 13k of climbing. It was a great day. I had a blast. I heard about the last 2 miles and how hard it was but unless you do it you don't know how Fucking hard it really was - no on told me about the 6 false flats just that it was 2 big climbs. Really? It was one big climb. Although it was just a bike ride it took me about a week to recover from this event it was so taxing on my body.
At the end of July I did my final race before IM - Chisago half. This was the test. Finish with a smile under 6 hours. And that's what I did - 5:47. The swim was so foggy you couldn't see the next buoy, the bike was ok but I held back and the run went better then expected. Even spectators said I look good - and surprisingly I felt good!
Two weeks later I went out to Madison and checked out the course for the first time. After tackling the entire course and running half the course I knew I was ready.
I'll post the entire story about my IM day hopefully soon but I worn you it will be long. As for my next few post it will be my blog of my training for this year. Hopefully I can keep it up - it is hard when your working and training about 60+ hours a week.
Ok...what's been going on since February...um. I did this little thing called an IRONMAN. I would have to say it was the best day of my life and will stay up there for quite sometime. 22 hours before the gun went off on my first IM I signed up for my second Ironman. When I got to the counter I told the guy "I don't know why I'm here...I haven't even done my first one." He smiled and said, "you must've had a great training year." Yep I did and that is what brought me to that table. I knew when I singed up for my first on that it wasn't that I was signing up for that one day event. That I was signing up for the 365 days of training, sacrifice, lighter wallet. That day was just the finally of the fireworks display. And, boy was it a good ending!
I did the St. Louis marathon on April 10th in 80 degree weather with 80% humidity (end of July type of weather) with a disappointing 5 hours 15 minute time. There was a laundry list of things I did wrong - walking too much the days following, wasn't ready for that type of temp, let the mass crowd of people play on me mentally, etc
I turned my attention to triathlons and did my first one at Liberty. It was great - so many people came out to watch, do the event it was like going to class but with swimming. The swim I survived but realized I would have to work on my citing, the bike - that was my training ground I was ready for this one - I went full out, looked bad ass and didn't let one person pass me. The run - I couldn't breath for 6 miles so it was just a hour sufferfest. But I finished my first Triathlon and was an official Triathlete!
I followed that one up with Wiconia - did much better on the swim, put down a solid bike - again no one passed me - and survived the run. I did pretty well in my age group and even beat a girl that I knew from bike racing by two minutes overall.
That same girl said something to a friend of mine about the next race, Minniman, so I knew that I had some beef with her - She was going down! The swim was short by solid. I was gaining confidence and even ruffled a few feathers while I was swimming. The bike I ended up having the best split out of all the age group women even beating 2 out of the 7 elite women including the girl I had beef with, the run I held steady but had to deal with stomach cramps for about 10 seconds. I tried to run this one girl down which I found out later was in my age group and beat me by 5 seconds. Didn't matter - I still got 3rd in my age group.
I did a half marathon on a whim - Red White and Boom and PR-ed with a 2:02 time. I was kind-of upset at the time because I really wanted under 2 but the heat got to me at 7am. (race started at 6am)
Few weeks later I did the Insane Terrain 200k bike ride with 13k of climbing. It was a great day. I had a blast. I heard about the last 2 miles and how hard it was but unless you do it you don't know how Fucking hard it really was - no on told me about the 6 false flats just that it was 2 big climbs. Really? It was one big climb. Although it was just a bike ride it took me about a week to recover from this event it was so taxing on my body.
At the end of July I did my final race before IM - Chisago half. This was the test. Finish with a smile under 6 hours. And that's what I did - 5:47. The swim was so foggy you couldn't see the next buoy, the bike was ok but I held back and the run went better then expected. Even spectators said I look good - and surprisingly I felt good!
Two weeks later I went out to Madison and checked out the course for the first time. After tackling the entire course and running half the course I knew I was ready.
I'll post the entire story about my IM day hopefully soon but I worn you it will be long. As for my next few post it will be my blog of my training for this year. Hopefully I can keep it up - it is hard when your working and training about 60+ hours a week.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Protein shakes are a thing of the past
I need to hang out with ultra runners more often. I guess chocolate milk and potato chips are the key for recovery. Unfortunately it isn't as sweet as it sounds it's the $.99 bag not the $3.99 bag and only 8 oz of milk not a gallon. I know...Damn! Than why the hell are they doing all that running for in the first place. Their burning like a bigillion calories? Go for the $3.99 bag!
I've been asking everyone their secret for nutrition. Some are straight laced with their nutrition while other make you wonder. Just the other day I went out for a 12 mile run with a couple of ultra runners who was training to do a 100 mile event in June. Along the way we met up with my/our friend Colin. I've mentioned Colin before but let me tell you about him. He's a personal trainer, used to lift quite a bit - you might say if you saw his photos he was competing in a few bodybuilding competitions. At about 5'-6"(ish), 200 pounds and 5% body fat you might say the same. He started to get intro running then triathlons and just recently the Ironman. Since the Ironman he has lost 50 pounds - keeping the 5% body fat ratio, has picked up his run and his cycling. Yet what get's me is that that day when we met up with him to run he was not eating a Cliff bar but a doughnut!
I don't recommend eating a doughnut or would do it myself before I ran since with my luck I would gain weight then loose weight. Although, if you think about it it's carbs, sugars, calories needed to burn and you'd probably be on such a sugar high that you would run faster and burn it off within a few miles. All that said, I'll stick to my 100 calorie Gu packs.
I've been asking everyone their secret for nutrition. Some are straight laced with their nutrition while other make you wonder. Just the other day I went out for a 12 mile run with a couple of ultra runners who was training to do a 100 mile event in June. Along the way we met up with my/our friend Colin. I've mentioned Colin before but let me tell you about him. He's a personal trainer, used to lift quite a bit - you might say if you saw his photos he was competing in a few bodybuilding competitions. At about 5'-6"(ish), 200 pounds and 5% body fat you might say the same. He started to get intro running then triathlons and just recently the Ironman. Since the Ironman he has lost 50 pounds - keeping the 5% body fat ratio, has picked up his run and his cycling. Yet what get's me is that that day when we met up with him to run he was not eating a Cliff bar but a doughnut!
I don't recommend eating a doughnut or would do it myself before I ran since with my luck I would gain weight then loose weight. Although, if you think about it it's carbs, sugars, calories needed to burn and you'd probably be on such a sugar high that you would run faster and burn it off within a few miles. All that said, I'll stick to my 100 calorie Gu packs.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
New Chapter
I'm days away from turning the page on my current chapter of life. I've decided to leave my job and move on to another company (doing the same thing). I'm scared yet excited at the same time. I'm going to miss the people I come to laugh with but when you're constantly in a state of chaos with no end in sight with no compensation it's hard to stay. I'll continue to stay in touch with those people I enjoy. In my industry the average person stays only two years so that pretty much means I'll probably work with them again sometime in the near future.
Just like a book turning the page to find out what happens next it's exciting. What will happen? Will it turn out or will it go horribly wrong? I guess that's the lure to keep reading and to stay up until 4am to find out what's next. Have you ever read the book "Who Moved My Cheese?" If not you should. It's a quick read that tells the story about these two mice. One mouse goes to the same place everyday to get food while the other mouse goes to a different location everyday. One day the mouse that goes to the same place went to get food and found out it wasn't there anymore and didn't know what to do while the other one just kept moving and found food in another location. The moral of the story is to be ready for change. If your ready it won't be as surprising when it happens.
In training you learn that you have to be ready for anything thrown at you. I've been thrown a lot of curve balls in the short 10 years of my career. I hope now I have control of the ball and can dodge the wild balls better then I have in the past.
Just like a book turning the page to find out what happens next it's exciting. What will happen? Will it turn out or will it go horribly wrong? I guess that's the lure to keep reading and to stay up until 4am to find out what's next. Have you ever read the book "Who Moved My Cheese?" If not you should. It's a quick read that tells the story about these two mice. One mouse goes to the same place everyday to get food while the other mouse goes to a different location everyday. One day the mouse that goes to the same place went to get food and found out it wasn't there anymore and didn't know what to do while the other one just kept moving and found food in another location. The moral of the story is to be ready for change. If your ready it won't be as surprising when it happens.
In training you learn that you have to be ready for anything thrown at you. I've been thrown a lot of curve balls in the short 10 years of my career. I hope now I have control of the ball and can dodge the wild balls better then I have in the past.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
This is Hard!
Yes the workout is hard but I mean keeping up with this blog. It's now 11pm and I'm supose to be at the gym at 5am to meet my good friend Joe for spin class. Not that I normally go to the class anymore but because he has kicked cancer in the A$$ and is making a comeback tomorrow - or should I say, 30 minutes before class actually starts - I couldn't miss it! He doesn't have the doctors approval yet to be in class - until next month but Joe is determined and I need to keep determination around me at all times!
My training is going great! I'm finally seeing glimmers of light. I stopped trying to keep up with everyone else so I dropped it down and now have been making progress.
A few months ago running on the treadmill at 5.8 mph was hard (I know, some of you are thinking that's your trot but you have to start somewhere!) and during my long run this past weekend I was holding 6.8!! I just watched the Biggest Loser and this one girl was sprinting at 8.5 - I bet I can do that but I'm going to have to mentally push myself to hold that number.
I'm currently working on training for my Marathon in April. All of my milage has been on the treadmill but I've found some great friends that will join me for at least half of it and check on me while I finish up. I've been asked several times what my goal is for this marathon. What I've learned is that yes it's great to have a goal but if you push yourself as hard as you can and leave everything out there - a time isn't as important. My goal is to SHADER my previous marathon time - so far I'm on track to do so. By how much? How about a lot?
Cycling I've been able to be at a cadence of 90 and hold it while having a conversation. I pushed myself this past Tuesday and touched 130! My endurance wattage was siting at 160. Last weekend I pushed it to 170 and felt pretty good. The last half hour I jumped up to 180. I still felt good but I'll hold 170 for this upcoming weekend.
Swimming is a little bit slower. There is so much to think about. This has been my off week so my goal in the next couple of weeks is to hit the pool as many mornings as I can. Some mornings are harder then others to roll out of bed and jump into a cold pool. Once your in it's fine but it's getting in and moving which is the hardest part. I'll get there. I just need to finish 2.4 mile swim in under 2 hours and 20 minutes in September.
My training is going great! I'm finally seeing glimmers of light. I stopped trying to keep up with everyone else so I dropped it down and now have been making progress.
A few months ago running on the treadmill at 5.8 mph was hard (I know, some of you are thinking that's your trot but you have to start somewhere!) and during my long run this past weekend I was holding 6.8!! I just watched the Biggest Loser and this one girl was sprinting at 8.5 - I bet I can do that but I'm going to have to mentally push myself to hold that number.
I'm currently working on training for my Marathon in April. All of my milage has been on the treadmill but I've found some great friends that will join me for at least half of it and check on me while I finish up. I've been asked several times what my goal is for this marathon. What I've learned is that yes it's great to have a goal but if you push yourself as hard as you can and leave everything out there - a time isn't as important. My goal is to SHADER my previous marathon time - so far I'm on track to do so. By how much? How about a lot?
Cycling I've been able to be at a cadence of 90 and hold it while having a conversation. I pushed myself this past Tuesday and touched 130! My endurance wattage was siting at 160. Last weekend I pushed it to 170 and felt pretty good. The last half hour I jumped up to 180. I still felt good but I'll hold 170 for this upcoming weekend.
Swimming is a little bit slower. There is so much to think about. This has been my off week so my goal in the next couple of weeks is to hit the pool as many mornings as I can. Some mornings are harder then others to roll out of bed and jump into a cold pool. Once your in it's fine but it's getting in and moving which is the hardest part. I'll get there. I just need to finish 2.4 mile swim in under 2 hours and 20 minutes in September.
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