Cowtown over and triathlons are starting

Okay so going into the Cowtown I actually had a plan for how to run the race.  And also for a change, if not a first, I actually followed the plan to a T for the first half.  I wanted to take it easy and try to stay in the 10:30 per mile range and then for the second half get myself in the 10 per mile range.  Well the first half went according to my plan and I stayed in the range I wanted to stay in.  The problem is that when the second half of the race started I was about to hit my wall.  Miles 14 and 15 were going decent but I could feel the wall coming.  I tried focusing on other things I the runners in ponytails.  Yes a weakness of mine.  I follow runners with ponytails.  There is just something about a runner in a ponytail that just drives me crazy and also keeps on focus on that instead of the run ahead.  But even with the beautiful women and their beautiful ponytails the wall slapped me hard yet again.  Two marathons and two walls that came and took over.  Plus around mile 16 I, and I want to put this nicely because I have no clue how in the hell this happened, pulled a groin muscle will taking a quick rest-stop.  Seriously how is it even possible to pull a muscle like that while standing still and going to the bathroom.  Ok but even that didn't bother me much because it wasn't much of an issue until mile 23.  So for miles 16 to 23 it was impossible for to keep the pace going.  Finally at mile 23 the groin issue became a huge factor.  It is tough to run knowing that if you had to stop then the groin problem would be a factor in your ability to start running again.  But in the end I finally finished two days later or it felt like it.  It did really take me 5:16 to finish it and an average of 11:55 per mile.  The slowest race average I have ever had.  So in the end I think I may have had my plan all wrong.  I probably should have been a little more aggressive at the start of the race because it appears that no matter how many full marathons I do I am just not the runner who can break through his wall.

I also learned one other thing.  You get what you paid for.  I didn't really train that hard for this marathon.  For the past two months of training I only had one long run of over 14 miles.  With no long run over that I really was not prepared to have my best race.  I took these past two months to focus on some running but mostly I was focused on my swimming.  But I had one goal coming into this year for my running and it was to compete two marathons so I have one done and one to go.  That one will be in December in College Station most likely as I really loved that marathon and who they supported with their money from the runners.  I will always support a run that helps fight human trafficking.  Between that and suicide prevention I will support any run or group because those are the most important causes that I believe in and will support to the fullest.

Now on to the most important thing.  My focus is now fully onto triathlons.  I got one signed up already and another one a month after that.  This is now fully the year of the triathlon for me.  My goals now are fully on to making this happen with an ultimate goal of my first 70.3 in 2015.  The race is still not picked out but Knoxville is looking good for me.  I would love to swim in the same area that hosts the Vol Navy during the college football year.  But Knoxville is almost in the mountains so any bike or running done will probably involve some major hills.  Another option is to skip the states and head to Europe and find a race over there.  Maybe Czech Republic or Ireland or Netherlands.  The waitress at Ascension is from the Netherlands and wow.  That is all I am going to say other than she is married so dang it.  

With my triathlons the most distance I will be running would be mostly 5k's to start my season off.  I am hoping near the end of the season I can see myself in a couple of longer races.  

My Saturdays are now going to be filled at White Rock most likely with a bike ride of 30 or more miles and running of about 10.  Sundays I hope are filled at Trinity Park for another 30 or more miles and some swimming.  

Swimming 4 or 5 days a week now.

Biking hoping 3 days a week now.

Running 4 days a week now.  Mostly 6 miles per run with a Saturday long run of 10 miles.

Respecting Rinny more than ever

Sunday I got the great opportunity to ride 26 miles with my bike.  The longest ride yet and with that ride it really built my confidence in my bike even more.  I still need to find a way to get my butt use to riding longer milage.  I am only going to go further and further not shorter and shorter.  So my butt will either have to get use to the seat or I will need to learn how to ride without sitting down as much.  Either way the distance will win out.  My butt can recover in the car when I am driving home.  Things I noticed while riding.  My legs are getting stronger.  While I noticed my legs wore out during the first 13 miles I saw them getting stronger for the 2nd part of the ride.  Still along the way I noticed that certain parts of Trinity Trails had me saying oh crap I hope my brakes work.  There is a certain part of the trail that is steep with a couple of shape turns along with the fact that if you miss the turn you will be missing the rest of your birthdays too.

And then I really started to respect people like Rinny, Heather Jackson and Katya Meyers.  These people go from swimming to riding to finally the run.  I took a two hour nap between my ride and my run AND STILL the run felt like my legs were rubber.  And to top that off I only ran 6 miles not 26 miles.  I always knew how great Rinny was but watching her in Kona 2013 was amazing to see her make up almost 8 minutes in time for the final 26 miles of the run and then add to that lead of hers.  Because after my two hour nap the run just felt like I was running in slow motion but really slow motion at that.  I couldn't even imagine running 26 miles and wait.  I only biked 26 miles not 112 miles that they all do.  So yes I am no where near my goal for 2015 but I reached half of the distances in biking and running on Sunday or close to it.  My goal for 2015 is a 70.3 Ironman.  I will need to bike 56 miles so 26 is not half way there but I am confident that 56 will be no trouble for me.  Heck I am at 26 miles and I have only taken my bike out for two days prior to this one.  So I am getting there and should be to that mileage by the end of the summer.  I have run many a half marathon so that distance is easy for me.  Heck I even ran a couple half's without even training due to work and volunteering at church and still did pretty decent.  So I am good there for sure.

BUT having to do them both back to back without my two hour nap along with only a 1.4 mile swim well that is a totally different story.  And that is where I see my goals.  I got all year to learn how to swim that distance.  I still need to one major fear that I have and that would be the open water swim.  If I have to stop in the pool I can just stand up and walk back to any location in the pool but if I stop in the open water I am not standing up unless I am drowning at the bottom of the lake.  Because as we all know the longer and further you swim the deeper the water gets and the longer my legs will need to be if I want to stop and walk to the side.

While I am extremely excited about the Cowtown I am even more excited about the tri-season.  Not sure how many races I will do during my first season as I will use this season to learn every aspect that is associated with this sport.  But I will get into more than just one race and I will learn everything from the swim and the bike to the transition that is needed to get from swim to bike and bike to run.  I will learn how to make it better and I will do what I always do and that is that I will also learn how to adapt those transitions into how it makes more sense to me and from there make it even better.

Can't wait for St. Patrick's Day.  Not because I love to drink Irish beers although really they are  good. But that is the day that I will have accomplished one of my goals and it will be the first step into a bigger and greater goal.

Some people say they have reached their goals but they never really do.  Because people will always set a goal high and then slightly set the goal that they want to reach to feel about themselves lower than that goal.  People will always do this because people do not want to fail so they will always cut their goals off to make it more attainable.  So I more that March 16th is one of those situations for me.  Yes it is part of my goal but in the overall scheme of it all it is just short of my overall goal because what my overall goal is and will always be is the 70.3 in 2015.

Twist and Turn

Had my swimming lesson today and I am yet again seeing some more improvements.  Not joining the Olympic Team just yet but getting closer to that invite.  Learning on my rotation in the water and better using my arms and shoulders to help produce the power that I need to get to point to point faster.  I love seeing improvements and it helps fuel me for continuos training in this area.

Talked about the sprint event in March and what to wear.  Just as I was thinking.  I will not be able to do a lot of changing so I will need to be very careful on how I want to dress for the event.  It appears I need to take a couple of rides without my cycling suit on because I really do not want to finish the event with a run in that same outfit.  While great at padding my butt for the ride not really something that will be comfortable in the run.  So I am so glad this weekend will be a lot warmer for me to get another great and long ride in to help build that endurance that I so very lack.

Well it is almost a month to go for the race and I still got a lot to do.  But I cannot forget about the Cowtown Marathon.  I am still in that regardless of how my back feels these next couple of weeks.  And I still need to get some runs in to help me through these weeks until the race starts.  But after Cowtown then it turning my full attention forever more to triathlons.

My biggest weakness will always be that once I decide to do something I go into it with full speed.  I will get all the gear, all the tech and whatever else is needed to help me.  I never jump half way in it is always in the deep end.  But then again if you do something why shouldn't you did it with full force.  Why would you want to something half ass.  So I am be a newbie here but I am already thinking about 2015 and how did I can go after this season is up.  Bring on the Ironman.  Just will I do it in Knoxville for my first or somewhere else.

15 miles and 300 meters

Yesterday in the mist of a 40 degree afternoon I set out at White Rock to ride my bike for my longest distance yet.  It was cold and I doubted I wanted to do it for starters because all I had was biker shorts and not long pants.  But after a few minutes of talking back and forth I decided that real men wear shorts as they rode their bikes.  Short of finding that real man I decided I could do it as well.  So I set out and went around 15 miles around White Rock and other parts of the area.  I used some of the routes that I took while training for my marathon with Luke's Locker.  And from those areas managed to not get lost and find my way back to the path that would ultimately get me back to my car.  Let me say that for a person who is out for only his second time and a week between those rides as well that 15 miles felt like 50.  My legs were killing me near the end of the ride and today my legs paid me back at work as I was finding it hard to get started every time I left my chair.  But what I also learned yesterday was that I am still a little ways off before I can just take off like a baby bird jumping out of a nest hoping their wings will keep them from hitting the ground.  While I did manage NOT to crash I also came close a couple of times.  I am still not able to just stop real fast and to remember to twist my ankle to get my foot released from the peddles.  I am still needing to learn how to react better and faster in situations that will come up quickly on me and without notice in order for me to start getting rid of that nervousness and start the conquering part of this bike thing.

And tonight I swam for a hour and while I still look like a fish out of water I am finally seeing some improvements in this area of my game.  While it may not be Pamela Anderson running down the beach sexy I am seeing myself getting a little bit further without the snorkel and getting air as I swim.  Still depending too much on the snorkel and still finding myself forgetting to breath while swimming.  Strange once you remove the snorkel the thought of breathing completely leaves my mind.  I am just holding my breathe it seems until I realize wait didn't I miss a step here.  Oh yes breathing.  Who knew.  Tonight I swam overall 300 meters with the last 100 meters not using the snorkel.  So that last 100 meters would have made great comedy on YouTube.  I would definitely make the viral status if it ever was posted.  Still at least I am seeing improvement and hopefully can see even more after tomorrow.

I know that with the day getting longer little by little, with my weekends being free for me to add to my training time and with me getting some evening time at LA Fitness that I will soon be able to at least make a decent appearance at my first sprint tri-event in mid-March.  I also know that you cannot do a St. Patrick Day event without drinking a little adult liquid beverages.  I just hope that once I cross the finish line that the only thing that would be finish would just be the race and not me too.

The Day From Hiati

Okay this day wasn't really that bad.  It started off slow as I yet again woke up with a sore bad and that kind of delayed a lot of my activities this morning.  Finally got over to White Rock only to find out I forgot my Garmin, my towel and who knows what else.  Still ran as I at least brought my desire to get out there and run in the cold like in was no one's business.  It was a pretty decent run for me although the back is still a problem I am going to have to deal with sooner or later.  I need to get my KT tape out again and start using it.  My shins are great so once I can get the tightness of the back solved I am back to full strength again.  Run was great other than that and BTW I still hate 635.  I see no point to driving on it and need to find other ways to get back home from White Rock.

Home at noonish and hurried to get over to LA Fitness for what I thought was going to be some cardio followed by a swim.  Well I did the cardio and it kicked my butt from one end to the other end.  I need to increase my endurance outside of running and after today realize that it is still a ways off.  A  long ways off at that.  Did about 30 or so minutes of cardio and to be honest it felt like 30 hours and when I was done so was my shoulder and arms.  And since you kind of need them to swim I also realized swimming was out of the question after my cardio.  I will have to swim tomorrow after my biking in the morning or so.

But yes the day was great and it just seemed to get even better later on as well.  Got my nap after all my workouts today.  Followed that by church and then finished it off with a great meal.  Now I am planning out my tomorrow.  I got a lot I want to do with only so many hours to do them all.  I am not sure where I will start or finish but I know it will include a lot.

Finally Training for the Sprint Has Started

Finally have bike on hand and started riding it this weekend.  Of course I didn't make it 30 yards without me already falling down on the bike due to my shoes being hooked into my paddles.  Got to remember that.  I was told it was bound to happen I was just hoping it would have been later on not without eye sight of my starting point.  But other than that once I was on it I started getting use to it.  It is a beast that is for sure.  Not like riding my bike when I was a kid that is for sure.  This is totally different and rides totally different as well.  But after the fall the rest went cautiously and slowly.  Like I said still getting use to it.  I probably need to learn how to really ride this bike at White Rock where the cars are few and the grass is plentiful.

Miss my 20 miler so that really sucked.  Woke up with a tight back and no energy.  I am thinking the bike ride cause a little of that.  Probably should have waited to ride the bike until after my run because that took a lot out of me.  And sadly I only rode for probably 8 to 10 miles.  But again wow I am in need of endurance for this as well.  Running is great but it really does not prepare you for the other two sports in a triathlon.  I did get some running in this weekend just not the 20 that I had planned.  I will run from this point out and still got three weeks before the Cowtown.  So I should be good.  Or at least good enough to find a cab to get my sorry ass back to the finish line if nothing else. Swam good today.  I am working on some stuff that Coach Lyndsi taught me last Wednesday.  I will lose a few Wednesdays from this point forward due a class I am taking at church.  I am excited about that class as well.

Other than that and the fact that the weatherman was no where near close on getting the weather correct it was still a productive weekend for me.  Not as good as I would have liked but not as bad as it could have been either after the way I started Saturday.

My quick quote of the evening.  "There are two kind of people out there.  One who will set a goal and will work endlessly until it is accomplished and the other who will set a goal and expect it to come to them."  This is not the time for me to be the person who waits for his goals to come to him.  I am reaching out of my way to make sure that I get to it and accomplish it.  It will take time but time I have the desire for failure I do not.

Next week until Cowtown is time for me to refocus on my running to make it through this marathon.  After Cowtown is time for me to focus again back on my tri race on March 16th in Keller.  I will not fail on this.  I may drown, I may fall off my bike but I will not quit until I am over that finish line.  So until then run like you stole it and swim like Jaws is looking for a quick lunch.  All you got to do there is just be faster than the person behind you.