Sunday Fun

I remembered to set my clock back this morning. The extra hour of sleep was really nice. Though I'm not sure how I feel about it going to be dark at 5:40 pm.

I ran a 5k fun run this morning. Really nice course, and a really big turnout. The cause was raising money for uninsured/underinsured women in McHenry county ( where I live ) to get breast cancer screening/testing/mammography. It's a couple years old now, and they surpassed last years effort by several thousand dollars.

The weather was great, about 50 and sunny. A little windy, but not too bad. Still shorts weather. Since this was my first real run since the marathon, I didn't have any goals, and certainly not expecting to smash my PR for 5k.

I ended up finishing in 21:43, for a 6:59/mile pace. I went out kinda hard, hitting mile 1 mark at 6:40'ish. Backed off a bit from that, as I didn't want to destroy myself. Overall pace was fast, but not super uncomfortable. I kicked a couple times to move up past people, which was cool. Nobody I passed was able to pass me back and make it stick, which was a first for me.

I'd like to think that I can go under 20:00 for the 5k, considering how I did today coming off 3 weeks of nothing. That also means that I should be able to get under 45:00 for 10k, which I'd be super happy with. I'm planning to do some of those in Nov/Dec, once I start back into my training schedule, so we'll see how that turns out!

Re-Up

I talked to my brother yesterday. For those that don't know, he just started his second tour in Iraq with the 101st Airborne. He's currently in or around the vincinity of Camp Speicher. Exact location is... well... I could tell you but then I'd have to kill you.

This week, he finished his initial comittment to the Army, and voluntarily re-enlisted. A process that is known as a 'Re-Up'. There's usually a little ceremony involved, and this time was no exception. He was able to send a couple pictures. Yes, he is rather tall. He's taller than me, so while he's my younger brother, I can't really call him my *little* brother anymore.


The hummers with the .50's are a nice touch.

Some differences this time around. They don't have to carry their gas-masks all the time, now that there isn't an imminent threat of chemical weapons. That really made me nervous before. Not that bullets are safer, but at least you can see/hear those coming. The hummers are also all of the heavily armored variety, with lots of additional plating and such added on. And finally, note the new uniform camo pattern. It's different from the last set of 'sand-camo' fatigues they were issued.

Hump Day Update

Okay, work has calmed down enough that I got some pictures sorted and posted from Ironman. This one is for Karl. He knows why. Click the image to see the rest.


Went on my first run tonight since the marathon. Legs still know how to move. No HRM, no stopwatch, so I have no idea how long. Roughly 35 minutes for about 3.5 miles. Maybe faster, maybe slower. It was fun. Legs still have some tweaks that I need to keep resting/stretching.

I might go for a swim tomorrow night if I feel like it. Then again I might not. I love this unstructured concept. No planned workouts. If I feel like it, no HRM, no watch. Just go fun/easy RPE. A couple more weeks (1-2) of this, then start easing back into a more structured routine. Meeting with coach this weekend to go over the big picture plan for the buildup to IMWI. Plotting out some strength training plans to add into the mix over the next couple months.

Rough plan for 2006:

• Nov-Dec - Ease back into it. Do some fun 5k/10k every other weekend or so.
• Jan-Feb - Base work, some specific strength focus. ( 1/2 Mary in Feb? )
• Mar-Apr - More Base, ( Oly in Apr )
• May-Jun - Build ( Oly in June )
• Jul-Aug - Build to Peak ( 1/2 IM in July, Oly in Aug )
• Sep - Taper ( IM in September )

Oh yeah, one more thing: GO SOX!

Damn It's Cold

Chicago is a wee bit colder than Hawaii. I made it back this morning, bright and early. Not too tired now, as my body just doesn't know what to make of the time change. But it does know how to shiver.

Tons of pictures. Will post them soon, but it's back to work for now.

Aloha!

Made it here, obviously. :)

Hawaii rocks. It's just too cool. Some first thoughts:

- Open Air Airports are the best. So laid back. It was awesome. Coming in over the water, then an old lava flow, when suddenly, the runway appears.

- Timezones make things fun. But in a good way. I was up and around this morning at 5:30 local time, which was waaaaay before the rest of the tourists. So I had the run of the whole resort for about an hour.

- I will never complain about Chicago traffic again. There's literally one highway here. So everybody takes it. Got to admit the scenery is a bit nicer though. Rental bike is the way to go.

- Gordo is cool. Met him today at the Ironman wetsuit booth. Got a poster and 'Going Long' signed. Wicked cool.

- It's a small world. Ran into Scott Gix at the IM wetsuit booth. He and his wife Julie are the brains behind Oomph! sports. So I talked to them about the upcoming products, what I thought of the current ones. Good thing I was wearing a pair of Oomph! shorts at the time. They definitely care about their stuff and are really cool.

- It's hot here. Damn hot.

- I love Tanita scales. They had a booth at the expo, so I had to try one out. Ready for the stats? :)

Weight: 174.2 lbs
Body Fat: 7.1% ( holy shit!)
Body Water: 63.6% ( means I was hydrated )
Muscle Mass: 157.4 lbs ( lean muscle baby! )
Physique Rating: 8 ( on a scale of 1-9 )
Basal Met. Rate: 2172 ( damn, my metabolism is stoked! )
Metabolic Age: 12 ( this explains a lot ... )
Bone Mass: 8.2 ( avg. is 7.3, go go calcium! )
Visceral Fat: 1 ( lowest possible score, yeah! )

Okay, that scale just did way more for my ego than *anything*. Maybe that's part of the draw... Hehehe.

That's all for now. Got some pictures today. Will get plenty more tomorrow for sure. I'm working bike transition, so I'm right on the pier. Great view of the swim start and finish, and of course all of the athletes as they come through transition.

Off to enjoy the beach for a bit before dinner and then an early ( according to local time ) bedtime.

Kona Bound

I'm off to the airport now. Next update will be from Hawaii. :)

TTFN!

Answer: 4:08:52

Question: How long does it take me to run 26.2 miles?

I'm glad I got that one answered.

Obviously I finished it. And feel pretty darn good about it. When I first signed up oh so many months ago, my goals were "Finish" and "Finish under 5:00". I let myself get a little goal inflation by shooting for a sub 4 hour finish, but I very nearly managed to pull that off.

For the details oriented ( /me waves to Karl ) here's the chip splits:

START 8:03:39 AM CST
5K 00:28:42
10K 00:56:30
15K (MIA?)
20K 01:51:56
HALF 01:58:02
25K 02:20:14
30K 02:49:43
35K 03:20:10
40K 03:54:29
FINISH 04:08:52

My average HR was 156.

I was doing pretty good until about the 22 mile mark. People talk about hitting the wall around 17-20 miles. I was still feeling good at 20 miles, so I thought I was in the clear. Oh was I ever mistaken. At mile 22, someone swiped my legs, and replaced them with concrete blocks. Every step from that point on was an exercise in not stopping. It took just about everything I had not to walk, but I kept on plugging along.

Finally, with about a 1/2 mile to go, the crowd was just monstrous. People packed as deep as I could see lining the course. The energy was incredible. I forgot how badly I hurt. I got a huge ass smile on my face. I think I even got a little emotional. Took the one last little uphill, and made the final turn into the park. I could see the finish now. Legs started to work again a little, and I finished strong.

Once past the finish, it was crazy. Got my space blanket, finisher's medal, finisher's picture, some food and water and managed to keep moving. Legs wanted very badly to seize up and not move another step. They didn't, and I eventually got my gear bag back, and made my way home.

The day after the race, today, is an entirely different story. It hurts so much to walk down stairs. I have to go backwards. Getting in and out of the car is quite a task. I'm really hoping my legs get better before Thursday, or my vacation is going to be really interesting.

Next stop, Kona!

T Minus 12 Hours

Twelve hours to go. I'm carbed up, and heading off to bed. Getting up early, catching the train into the city, and then we find out how well I face down 26.2 miles. :)

It's going to be cold. Which is good. A bit colder than I'd like, but that's better than hot. It will be upper 40's at the start, and mid to upper 50's by finish. Going with my running shorts, longsleeve dry-fit, and an sweatshirt I don't care about to pitch when I get warmed up. Hat, sun goggles, and gel flask to round it out.

There's a nice gear check service, which rocks. I'll wear a jacket and running tights down there, and stash them in the bag for after the race. I think a pair of sandals as well.

I'm going to start with the 3:50 pace group. I've decided to go for it. I'm shooting for a sub-4 hour finish. Of course, a finish period will be good, but I think I can pull off a sub-4. For 3:50, that's an 8:46 average pace. For 3:55, that's an 8:58 pace. For a 4:00, that's a 9:09 pace. I've gotten down into the upper 7's during the 10k of an olympic tri. As a standalone run, I should be able to hold a little under 9 min per mile.

Feel free to root for Bib number 24356 tomorrow!

The Final Countdown

It's counting down quickly to marathon time. How much I've changed from a couple years ago, that I'm excited and looking forward to the opportunity to run 26.2 miles. Loving every minute of it too. ( Remind me I said that about mile 20 on Sunday though... )

Nice run this morning in our crazy weather. It was 70 degrees at 5:30, before the sun even came up. The high today is going to hit 87?! This *is* October, right? I'm not complaining too much, the run was great. My legs are recovering nicely. Most of the fatigue from the 1/2 is gone. Still a little bit, but it should clear over the last couple days of taper.

I should probably mention that by Sunday, Fall will be here with a vengence. The low on Saturday night will be in the low 30's. The high on Sunday will be in 60's but it'll be sunny. So this should be great day to race, if a little bit chilly at the start. Once we start moving it'll be fine.

Only 2 more runs before the big one! Short ones too, just a couple miles each.

In from the cold

Summer is giving it one last gasp this weekend, which is just fine by me. We're going to have temps in the upper 70's and sunny. Have an 80 minute easy run planned for today. A 4 hour easy bike planned for tomorrow. Probably the last nice bike ride I'll get to do this year. Temps are going to drop again during the week.

Had a nice short run last night after work. Felt good to just get out and go. First run since the 1/2 IM last weekend. Legs were a bit tight. Need to do some more stretching the next couple days. Did 10 min easy, 15 min fast, 10 min easy. Didn't really look at HRM, just kinda went by feel. I'm a bit tired still from the 1/2. HR for the effort was higher than I expected.

I got some more pictures back from the race last weekend. The official race photographers apparently didn't get me coming out of the water. Good thing my parents were there to get the other pictures.