Brrrrrr!

Got in a short bike ride after work last night. And I do mean night. Even though I was out the door by 6:15 it was dark when I got home at 7:00. I finished up the rest of the ride on the trainer inside.

It was cold on the ride too. I had on a long sleeve jersey and leg warmers. I was still cold. I've got more layers I can put on though. And I probably should have worn socks, but oh well. I'll save that for the next time. Planning on Sunday group rides outside all winter though. Need to make sure I'm bundled up for that. The rules are ride outside unless it's below 20F or there's ice on the roads. Should be interesting to see how long it keeps going before wimping out.

Training is focusing on recovering from the 1/2 IM on Sunday, and keeping my legs in shape for the Chicago Marathon in 9 days! This is going to be my first open marathon. A little bit excited, a little bit nervous, and a whole lot of ready. I'm thinking that I can pull off a sub 4 hour run, but trying to keep time goals out of my mind. No matter what result, it should be fun. The weather is going to be cool ( which I run far better in than 90F+ ) and I will be well rested.

Planning a short run after work, then enjoy my Friday evening. Perhaps catch up on the stack of DVDs or books that I've been neglecting the whole summer.

Changes at Work

Dang it. Another one of my team at work is jumping ship. Can't say that I blame him though, as the position that he's moving to is pretty much a dream job for him. It's going to be fun filling the position, as he's been with us for 6 years now. We just lost another senior developer last month, who decided to move back to the UK, so the timing is not the best, but not really something that can be avoided.

This will make work interesting, as the most senior person still on the team has been in the department for less than a year. He's a solid developer, though, and we've brought on two other programmers in the past year. We built a solid team over the past 6+ years, and we'll do so again.

The guy who is leaving is taking a Project Manager position at MSN. Darn you Bill Gates! It's a big opportunity for him, certainly more of an opportunity than he had here, as we're simply not a company the size of MSN/Microsoft and can't really compete with the offer on the table.

He's packing up and moving to Seattle in couple weeks. I wish him all the best in his new home, new job, and new responsibilities.

Go get 'em Aaron! :)

Fortune

I had Chinese for lunch today, and received the following fortune in my cookie:

"You have great physical powers and an iron constitution"

Excellent! I'm off to go swim for an hour after work which should really test that out.

Home Again Home Again Jiggety Jig

Props to anyone who knows where that quote comes from. :)

Back in Chicago today. Made the drive home from Kansas City after sleeping in until I felt like getting up. That was a nice 10 and 1/2 hours of sleep. Definitely does a body good.

Official results are in. I finished 118 out of 252 finishers overall. I came in 4th in my Age Group. The split the AG's into qualifier AG's and General Entry AG's. They also seem to have put me in the 25-29 AG. So that's 4th in the 25-29 General Entry AG. None of the 25-29 qualifiers are counted there. They all beat me anyway.

Still, I had a great race, and that's what matters the most. I'll be competitive in time.

Here's the *official* breakdown:

Swim: 32:46
T1: 2:09
Bike: 2:45:32
T2: 2:00
Run: 2:09:27

Final: 5:31:57

My parents were there, which was great to have them there on what turned out to be a really stellar race for me. They also managed to take some pics:

Oh Hell Yeah!

Well, the weather forecast was wrong. It was hot today. Temps hit 90 by the end of the run. Humidity was 80%. And the sun made it'self known all day long.

Learning from my last 1/2 IM in July where the temps were 100+, I stayed on top of hydration a *lot* better today. It paid off big time. I finished that one in 6:17 or so. Here's how I fared today:

Overall time (unofficial) 5:31

Breakdown as follows:

Swim 1.2 Miles: 0:32
Bike 56 Miles: 2:50
Run 13.1 Miles: 2:10

Give or take a few minutes for transitions and such.

Both the run and the bike were a lot hillier than I thought from looking at the elevation profile. Doh! I kept on my goal HR caps, and obeyed them. And it paid off big on the run. I passed a bunch of people on the latter 1/2 of the bike, and picked off a few more on the run. Not bad considering most of them got here by qualifying, and I was just a general entry participant.

Not a bad way to ring 30 years, eh? :)

Next stop, Chicago Marathon in 2 weeks. But right now, an ice bath and a nap. And then my postponed due to race Birthday Dinner.

Good Morning!

Holy crap, I'm 30!

Rest Stops Have Wireless Internet?

Well, I made it. I missed a nasty accident on the way here. I watched it happen 2 cars back in my rear view mirror. By the time I realized what was going on, I was down the road too far to stop without being a traffic problem myself. So I called 911 and reported it. Feel bad for not having done more, but dunno what else I could have done at that point.

Drive down was pretty uneventful other than that. Oh, except for the truck that I got stuck behind with the 'radioactive' warning sign. I passed that one at first opportunity. And when the heck did they start installing wireless access ( free no less! ) at Interstate rest areas. Not that I'm complaining, but sheesh, it's everywhere now. Including the middle of Iowa corn fields.

Anyway, I picked up a new set of wheels for my bike. They are a pair of Zipp 404s. And they look super sexy on the bike. I might have to keep them. I'll post a pic tomorrow so you can see 'em in action. The bike is a gonna fly like it just chugged a case of redbull. :)

Just enjoying my last few hours as a 20 something here in the hotel in Kansas City. Scary to think that tomorrow when I wake up I'll be 30! Eeeeeeeek! My life is OVER! ;) Just kidding, I'm not stressed about it. I think I'm more worried about the fact that I'm in a more difficult age bracket now than anything. At least my priorities are in the right place.

On the Road Again

I'm taking the day off of work today. I've packed up the car and am about to head off on a road trip to Kansas City. It's going to be a long drive, about 8 hours, but shouldn't be too bad.

I'm psyched for the race on Sunday. It's my kind of course. Both the run and bike are 2 loops. Bike has some rollers, but only one "hill". About 1200' of climbing each loop. Not bad spread over 28 miles. Run is pretty flat too. Even the description doesn't call them hills, referring to them as "inclines".

Weather looks to be in the mid 70's, not anywhere near what Racine was. Water temp is 72F, so it's wetsuit legal.

My parents are driving in from Denver and meeting me there later tonight. Might not see them until tomorrow though, depending on when we all get in.

Holding off on celebrating my birthday until Sunday night, since celebrating on Saturday might not be the best idea with a race in the morning. I still don't believe that I'm turning 30. Yoiks!

More pictures!

I got pictures from the race last weekend at Lake Geneva. Click below for the whole set. Be the first on your block to collect them all! :)

Agony of de feet

Mine hurt. A lot. My legs too. I think it has something to do with the running I did. You see, I've got a race coming up this weekend, and then the Chicago Marathon in 2 weeks after that. So I've got a lot of running to do yet before I'm done, and I'm just hitting peak long runs for the marathon training, as well as my last week of peak workouts for the triathlon race.

This last week saw me do the following:

Monday
Run LT Test ( ~4.5 miles )
Bike 2:00 ( 30+ miles )
Tuesday
Swim 1:25 ( 4300 meters )
Wednesday
Bike 2:00 ( 40 miles )
Run 1:10 ( 8.6 miles ) (this was a 'brick')
Thursday
Run 1:45 ( 10.8 miles )
Friday
Swim 0:45 ( 2400 meters )
Saturday
Run 3:10 ( 20.1 miles )
Sunday
Bike 3:00 ( 52 miles )

Oh my poor aching legs. :) I'm starting to see what it's like to run a lot. My toes are starting to get beat up. I didn't think it'd happen to me, as I've not had any problems with them to date. However, all that running pushed me over the edge I think. It's the front of my toes that hurt.

I set a new PR in the 10k during my brick run on Wednesday. I hit 6.2 miles in 49:04. I also set a decent 1/2 marathon pace on Saturday, hitting the 13.1 mile mark in about 1:57. Presuming I'm able to get a good taper in for the marathon, that could work out to a sub 4 hour performance. Not too shabby for my first marathon if I can pull it off and my legs don't fall off first.

The brightside is there is an end in sight! After the marathon in 3 weeks, I'm on an imposed "no training" schedule for the rest of October. Physically I could probably keep going, but mentally I need the break. It's getting hard to keep myself motivated, and I think the break will help. Plus, I'm going to Hawaii, so I'm looking forward to that! :)

Testing

Yesterday I had my Lactate Threshold tested again. For those who aren't wannabe sports medicine geeks, Lactate Threshold is the heartrate/effort level at which the level of lactate in your blood exceeds 4mmol. Basically, it's close to the max sustainable effort level that you can perform aerobically. For an olympic distance race, I race at or slightly over my LT. For longer distances, I'll make sure to stay below it ( or I might not finish the race! ).

I last had it tested in early February. Then, it was 160 bpm. I've had a solid 7 months of trainins since then. When measured yeterday it was 171 bpm. That's a pretty hefty increase. It's increased more than my coach thought it would. This is a good thing.

At the same pace in Feb, my HR is 16 beats lower. So that's improvement in both cardiovascular fitness and economy. All this running is paying off, apparently. Now, we'll see what I can do over this winter to build on that. LT will fall off a bit over winter as I shift to more base building workouts, but it should pick back up in the spring. And continued running should see economy improvments which means faster pace at all effort levels.

More emails

Another interesting email appeared in my inbox this morning...

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This message is generated as confirmation of your recent registration on Active.com. You have been successfully registered for the following:

Registration: 2006 Ford Ironman Wisconsin
Purchase Date: 09/12/05
Category: Entry Fee
Event Date: 09/10/06
Name: Chris Parker

--

Aiiiyeeeee!!!! What have I done?! :)

The Dessert Voice

This email was in my mailbox today:

--

Hello, everyone.

It has been roughly eighteen months since the last correspondence from the desert voice, or for those of you that are new to the list, SPC Jonathan L Parker, 101st Airborne Division, AIR ASSAULT! Many things have happened since i last set foot on this sandy ground. The birth of my son Matthew, on Nov 17 2004. The day i married my beautiful and loving wife, Bernice, on January 24, 2005. Acheiving my air assault wings on Dec 22, 2004. The loss of our dog Tygger whom my family has had since i was much younger not too long ago.

There have been tears, and cheers all around, but deep in the back of our minds, i believe that we all knew that the day when the soldiers of the 101st would have to come back to this place would come. And now it is here. I pledge this to each and every single one of you. No enemy bullet, no coward with a bomb, no sandstorm, no lack of water, or sleep or anything else will prevent me from achieving my number one mission: coming home safe and sound. When i became a soldier, i realized that i took on one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. But it is a job that i love to do, and i believe in the purpose for which i do it. I do it for my family, and my children, that they may grow up in a world free from fear. I do it for the iraqi people that they may one day have a democratic government free to make their own choices by the peoples vote. I believe in a country, that for all of its bickering and infighting is one of the greatest countries on the face of the earth. And this is why i wear this uniform.

While there may be times that my letters will be spaced apart, do not worry. With all of your prayers as my shield, i know that nothing can prevent me from returning safely. I will do my best to keep you all updated as to the latest news and happenings. Dad, btw, OPSEC is the word today, so please try to keep any specifics such as dates, times and places out of these emails. I will send what i can, but everything else is classified information.

To my parents, my brother, my wife and my children, aunts, uncles, grandparents and friends; I thank you all for your support, and love, and belief when i have faltered.

For now, godspeed to all of you.
I Love you all.
The Desert Voice
SPC Jonathan Parker

Good Day at the Races

Did really well in my race this morning.

Total time was 2:22:20, which was good enough for 6th in my Age Group and 45th in the overall standings. Now, before you get too excited, the swim was short. Everybody went wicked fast.

Swim: 14:16
T1: 1:34
Bike: 1:13:51
T2: 1:16
Run: 51:22

The swim pace was only 30 seconds slower than the guy who won my AG. Bike was only 6 minutes slower. Run is where I can improve the most.

The run today was pretty brutal though. There's one hill, about a mile in, that is about a 1/2 mile long, and steep as heck. The majority of people end up walking it. There's another steep hill about mile 4, I think it's actually a bit steeper, but is not quite as long. I managed to keep plugging away and didn't walk any of the hills. I passed a ton of people on both hills, so this was a good result!

I'm happy with this race. I managed to push myself harder than I have, mostly on the run. I didn't run overall faster due to the hills, but I slowed down a lot less than I might have. I hit a max HR on the killer hill that is close to my theoretical max HR. I think I need to get another LT test as I suspect my HR zones have moved, in a good way.

I did the counting trick today, and it worked. I just started counting to 4, over and over. That distracted me from the burning pain in my legs. Before I knew it I was at the top of the killer hill and it was history. I'm going to have to remember that for future races.

Recovering the rest of the day today, then I'm off to watch ( and volunteer at ) Ironman Wisconsin in Madison tomorrow!

We got the pictures to prove it!

Hope everyone had an enjoyable Labor Day! ( or Labour Day for those reading from overseas where they spell things funny. ) Mine was fairly low-key. Just a little running and swimming, and a lot of laying around in the sun being lazy. I'm getting pretty good at that now.

This week is going to be a bit nutty, as it's a short week, and I'm taking a 1/2 day on Friday since my silly self is racing again on Saturday! Another Olympic distance this time. But this is my last tune-up race before my second A race coming up on the 25th. That one will be a 1/2 Ironman, and the day after my 30th birthday. Not a bad way to celebrate, I think. ( Further proof that I've gone insane, my friends at work tell me ).

I got some pictures back from the race last weekend, click below if you're interested or feeling voyeuristic.