Mile 10 - It happened...

I didn't realize until today that I have been silent for so long on my musings as I continue down my journey of personal improvement. It has been two years since my last post and that was following my last triathlon and that was a event that I didn't realize had been so long ago as well. Wow how time flies when you invest yourself in other things.

So here it is two years later and I have run races, trained hard, trained lazily, not trained and changed training. I have for almost a year now been working out with a great coach and friend his name is Tim and he owns Bodyworx Studio. I have been working with him on increasing what is called my functional fitness. I can tell you truly that I am probably stronger now then I have been in a very long time and I have probably increased my endurance 10 fold from where I was two years ago.

Being stronger and having greater endurance and trusting my own self-proclaimed readiness I embarked on a half-marathon over the weekend. It was a good day for a race in south Georgia. I had run this event in the past and I enjoy that it helps to raise money for a small private school here in the Golden Isles and I enjoy even more that this run takes place on Jekyll Island and there is plenty of running by the beaches and marshes that make this part of the world so special. All these things mixed for a great event. The weather was nice and cool in the morning and a good breeze blowing in off the beaches, the sun was rising over the rim of the world. Wow it was going to be a good run.

I started out at a good pace and was remembering to keep my form straight and strong. I was focusing on the way my hips and arms moved forward and back not side to side. I kept my ankles in line with my knees and my hips over shoulders no slouching.  These were all things I have been learning from Tim and these small changes in my technique has helped me to grow as a recreational athlete.

So taking all this with me I head out to run my half (I did mention I've done this before and I learned a lot about fitness and nutrition right?) and what a start it was. I was using the Galloway method for my pacing and I did the right thing - I started at the beginning and not two or three miles in as I am accustomed. I was keeping a good pace at mile 1 and was running at a 10:42 pace. Not bad for working through the starting gate clog that happens at every race.

I keep going and I feel god about where I am and what's happening. I remind my self to keep my pace under control. I didn't want to burn out to fast I had a long race to go and despite my best efforts at restraint the fun of the race kept getting to me. Mile 2 I dropped 19 sec, mile 3 dropped 5 seconds, and on and on.  I was keeping pace at around 10:18 - 10:22 for miles 6-9 and I was on pace for my best half in years. Then it began about mile 10...

I hit mile 10 and got through the water stop and then it hit me. I couldn't get enough water I had begun to sweat less then I should...yep that is what you think it is dehydration had taken over. The temps had begun to climb, I wasn't drinking enough nor sweating enough. This was not going to go well for me, but hey I can do anything for three miles right? Just change up my run/walk pace and I can go farther I can keep a good pace right? I can just grab two waters next time time and I can push on right? That small pulsing feeling in both my calves can be just muscle fatigue and again increasing my run/walk pace will give me the break I need to recover right?

Nope - all wrong!

My split dropped to 11:48! That was OK I could make it up on mile 11 after the water stop...mile 11 dropped to 13:17 - yes you saw that correct I dropped 2:48 in two miles and while I did get the two waters and had a bit of a Clifbar I was going to make a go for the last two miles. I can pull this out, maybe not my best but I can still pull out a good time... my legs were still cramping, but I knew I could do this and I put forth the effort and mile 12 shaved off almost a minute I was going to do this I just had 1.11 miles to go!! I can make this happen!!!

Nope... I has all played out by mile 13 I had gained another minute and a half. Looking forward to that last .11 miles was going to be too much. I wasn't going to get that last .11 miles if I kept running I had to walk it out. So finished my half marathon at 2:26:24. I really was going to do around 2:20 and for me that was huge. Now that was the end of my half marathon, but the race wasn't over... what how can that be?

Well, my GPS read 13.11 and I called it a race. I had about half-mile to go for the actual race finish line. I had given it all I had and I fought against heat related muscle cramps every other step in that last half-mile and that time was an embarrassing 15:53. The race was now officially over and so was I. It was hot and I found a tall bottle of water and a shady spot to recover and that only took a minute or two, but they were the worst two minutes for me. I kept wishing the cramps away and eventually they did go away and I felt good enough to move around the crowd.

I saw some friends and chatted for a while, but as I began to internally critique what didn't go right I cam back to one of the most important conclusions I failed to hydrate properly or bring any with me. I got cocky and and felt I could just jump out there with a little bit of water and small food. I was so wrong. I know better, I have done better, and I am just lucky that I wasn't taken out by the heat. I have walked away from this event with new resolve to go back to basics with hydration and nutrition. I lost sight of the very basic fact that running is a basic human function so I need to drop all the over thinking and just do the basics.

Eat well, drink well and run! Drink really well and run really well!

I am weak...cycling is hard!

Hello everyone,


I have come to a rough conclusion over the last several days and that is I am weak! I want to be a really good triathlon racer and to do that I need to get my legs stronger. I thought they were strong, but they obviously need some development. That's how I came to understand that cycling is hard. I have taken to looking toward spring for new triathlons to take my fitness to the next level. To that end I have been doing some group training with friends and learning how to ride a bicycle. Yes you heard me right I am having to relearn how to ride a bicycle.

Sure, I learned how to ride when I was a kid, who didn't, and sure I had a ten speed when I was younger, but this... this... this... racing stuff is an absolute mystery to me. The aggressive posture, the tiny wheels, the quick movements of the bike, not knowing my pace or cadence, all foreign and truthfully a little scary. I know I need to do more miles to get myself set up on a riding style that works for me individually, before I go back to any group rides.

I tend to train alone for most of my races and when it comes to running I am good at knowing my pace, tempo, when to kick, when to hold back, it is in many ways my element. I may not be the fastest runner, OK I know I'm not the fastest runner, but that will come and after Disney in January I think I have to take a hard look at my training regimen to go to the next level of speed and endurance.
That is for another day, today however I am weak and a bad cyclist. No its true, I have calf muscles to spare and I can run for days, but when it comes to cycling my quads are pitiful. As I've said I have been doing a couple of group rides and I even borrowed an upgraded bike this past weekend and I manged to go about 3 miles faster on the group ride and it was killing me. Around my area I was getting an average of 15 miles an hour, I was cooking, but I feel apart on this group ride.

I think there are several factors impacting my group rides. The first is it could be mental, I know everyone else is very good and I also know that I hold them back because they are gracious enough to wait on me. Two the idea of leaning forward on these so called "aero bars" and biking harder and more aggressive is very different and I think it scares me that my legs will simply give out. Third I feel so wobbly, these wheels are so thin that my bike is all over the road when I go for my water or transition between sitting positions - frustrating! I know it will come in time, but until them my body is making a lot of new adjustments because it just hasn't had to work that way before.

So, having said all that it has become clear that strength training for me will be a must. I need to build my leg strength if I am going to be a serious contender in my triathlon adventures. I have settled on the idea that I need to retool all my training programs and perhaps stop thinking of myself as a runner who rides, but start thinking of myself as a whole triathlon racer. After all I hate being last, but improvements come in time, and I totally hate being the pity rider that everyone looks at and goes "Poor guy he tries so hard".

So as I go forward starting Monday (yes I get that I'm waiting several days, but I have a race this weekend) my new training will start taking place it will now be training for a specific goal and not a half effort at training for runs or events – next level training – training for true race results. So look out world this good looking man is going to get stronger, faster, and if possible even better looking. I know I already walk around looking like an Adonis, but I need goals people!