Shakin it up

Last night i went mountain biking with one of my good new friends!! I felt really good to shake up my training a little. I have not been proper mountain biking since last year! It was too wet and Muddy to get a really good run on the tree roots and i ended up coming off at one point. Probably not a good RIGHT before my Half Iron Man.

It had rained like crazy all day yesterday and had made the trail very muddy and slick. I totally shocked myself though. There was a 3 foot high log at the end off a down hill that i manage to jump off and i really planted the landing!

It takes a while to build your confidence in mountain biking. Once you realize you can do certain things you can get better at all of it. I had a great time and got my heart rate up really good. I can not wait to go again.

Tonight i am hopefully off on another slowish group ride. Thursday night rides are meant to be slow so it should be gentle. I want to try a headband out when i sweat on the bike as i am having a problem with sweat going in my eyes allot and not being able to see!!

It is freaking me out a little bit that i have not really swam or ran that much because i am meant to be tapering. It makes me feel like i will forget how to do long distance. It is meant to be sunny 79f but windy on Saturday. The wind freaks me out a bit but everyone else will have to deal with it to. Hopefully it is behind me on the way out and switches on my way back!!

A bought an extra bottle cage as i am thinking one bottle might not be enough on the ride. I did find out they are going to have Wet Suit strippers on my HIM!!! Yaaay for that. Tomorrow i will have to take it very easy as my legs are feeling a little tingly today. I may go up and do packet pick up before the race.

Bellin Run report.

Yaaaaaay. Another good run. It was an amazin race. Over 18,000 people joined in! Unbelievable numbers.

I went up there on Friday night to do my packet pick up and do some leaf letting for the upcoming race around the lake and the Oshkosh Triathlon

http://www.midwestsportsevents.com/oshkoshtri.html
http://www.midwestsportsevents.com/racethelake.html

Then i was back the next morning at 5:45am do give out some more leaflets and to get ready. I had put my pace down as 10min miles as with that many people it was a wave start. I did a 2 mile warm up before the race to get my legs ready. Basically i ran 10 mins away and 10 mins back to it. I meet a few friends there and got to my wave start. I felt ready for this race. I had my HR monitor on and watched as it just went up from 65BPM to 85BPM just waiting to go.

So i was off! I went out hard holding about a 155-160 BPM for the first 5k. I let it sneak up to 165 for the second half. It was overcast and stated to rain a little at the end.

My overall time was 52:12. Last year i came in at 59:01 so this was so good improvement!!

My split 5k mark time was 26:04 so i did fade just slighty on the second half but only slightly. I think there was more hills on the second half.

I had a great run and a great event!

I came 210 out of 621 in my age group so that is top third!!
I came 2663 out of 15059 runners!!!
The average runners time was 1hr 13mins.

I would HIGHLY recommend this 10K to anyone coming into Green Bay. It is just huge! The crowd support is fantastic too. There is not one part of the course where there is no support. You feel like a superstar on this one!

Bellin Run Tomorrow!

Tomorrow is the Bellin Run. So today i am Tapering. It is a 10k in Green Bay. Number are at an all time record this year with 17,000 registered and even more expected to show up on the day. I read somewhere this is the 4th biggest 10k in the country! Hope to beat last years time of 59:01. We shall see.
Rain could be in the forecast but i really do not mind the rain. With this in mind i have not trained today. My legs feel much better after yesterdays 15miles. The link for the Bellin is : http://www.bellinrun.com

Above is a dedication picture to my dog Buster. He has shots this week and has been very sluggish the last two days. Feel better boy!!

Tomorrow will be just one week left until my  first ever Half Iron Man...eeeek. I still feel like i need to get 2 more 50 mile rides in but i think that it might only come down to one with only 8 days left! I am wishing i had got more 50mile bikes in before now. It is very hard trying to fit in a 3-4 hour ride in at the weekends with all my family duties. The only way i can seem to do it is if i get up at 5am on a Saturday. I really can not see how i would fit in the training for a Full Ironman.

Diet: I was doing great this week but i am feeling weak today. I have no clue why. When i look back it seems Fridays are a bad day for me and i want to eat lots of junk. I know i have not been eating as many fruits and vegtables as i should be today. This afternoon i am going to make sure i get plenty of water in so i do not go off course.

I may pick up my race packet tonight as i am meant to be doing some race leafletting. I will get back to you and let you know how the 10k went as soon as possible.

Run to work week 3

Today was my long run to work. I wanted to go a bit more than the 12.5 miles it takes me to get here. So i got up at 4am, got my 100 push up challenge workout done and managed to get out the door by 4.20am. It was dark still but getting light fast. I ran 1 mile away from my house and then 1 mile back to my house so i could begin my journey to work. I took 1 GU gel pack with me and i already had water hidden on my route to work. Temp was 57f and my hands were a little cold but not cold enough for gloves. I knew as soon as the sun was up they would be warm again.

I had my cell phone clipped to my shorts in case i got in any trouble and had to call my wife for a rescue. I make sure i know where the bathrooms are along my route and sure enough i had to use one of them on the way. One of co-workers drove past me and gave me a little beep.

Nearing the end my feet were not coming up high enough and i clipped a crack/curb in the sidewalk and nearly went over but i pulled it back. I fixed my stride and kept more of an eye out.

I made it into work in 2hrs 30 mins. My ipod was showing 16.67 miles but i think it was more like 15. Forgot to drop work shoes off at work when i dropped clothes off here earlier in the week so i am in office clothes and my running sneakers.

My wife is bringing in some of her AMAZIN Vegan Chili for lunch so i am looking forward to that!!!!

Monday Night Group Ride

After work on Monday i went for my group ride. Sometimes this group breaks into a slower and faster group but i noticed no one slow there at all on Monday! Crap, this meant i was going to HAVE to keep up with the crazy fast guys (22-24mph avg). I had to use all my concentration for this. This going to mean going even deeper into the pain cave!! My legs were still a little blown up from the day before Olympic Triathlon.

I kept at the back of the Pelton (this is hardcore bikers term for group of bikers). There were about 12 of us. I hung with them!! I guess it makes extra motivation that if they drop me i would be lost! as i still do not know the route. I managed to stay with them the whole 20 miles and right at mile 20 on a hill i started to fade. My heart rate was at 160BPM but i kept slipping back. The last 2 miles they were in front of me but only by 100 yards.

Good result overall, we normally leave at 5.30pm and i make it back to the car park by about 7:05pm. It is a 22 mile run. This time i made it back by 6:50pm but we left at 5:35pm.

Above you can see a picture i took of them all coming up the hill. I went first so i could turn around and grab a few shots before tagging on to the back of the group.

I lost 1 pound in weight this week. Not that much but at least it is steady. I am breaking the 230 mark now!

I did it! The Green Bay Triathlon is all over. I finished it on Sunday and it was a great time. I will give you a run down but there is also a race report here :

 http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=211543

I got to site in a time that i thought was early at 5:45am however plenty of people were already there for the 7am start time. I had already picked up my packet the day before in they very cool expo. My kids got to do an obstacle course and i got plenty of free samples. There was also plenty of running gear on sale there.I got my shirt and race number. Here they are and my kids in super action

After finding my bike spot i got set up with my balloon hanging on the rack so i was easy to spot on my way into transition and found some of my friends doing the event. The setup was really small but i have done worse. It was time to get my wetsuit on and get ready to go.

The swim was fine and i finished in 12.09 was was about 30 seconds of improvement from last years swim. It was 800 yards. You can walk about half of the two loop swim so it is great for newbies. I did see a life guard dive in for someone but i do not know what the outcome was. I draughted off some fast swimmers for a little ways. The water is a man made bond with a beach. The rain had started but by the end of the swim it stopped again. It was very overcast and i hoped it was not going to rain on the ride.

I took some Extra time in T1 to put my arm warmers on as it was still cold. The talc power in my socks trick worked fantastic getting my wet feet in them. I should of put some in my arm warmers too. T1 was 5:01. Long i know but last year was 6 minutes. The bike went good. It was 29 miles. I MADE myself go slow for the first half keeping my HR to 130. The second half i let my HR get up to about 140 then at the end i gave it all and got my HR up to 150. Total bike time was 1 hour 35min 20 seconds. This was an improvement of 4 minutes over last years time. Not amazing but i think the wind was stronger this year.

Wow the picture of me in black with black arm warmers is funny! Next it was on to the Run. Through my running shoes on and pulled my arm warmers off.  The run was fantastic! It was a meant to be a 10k but i think it was more like 10.5 or 11k. I started slow like my plan had told me to. Kept HR 130. Halfway through i was feeling good so i upped it to 140 and started overtaking people which never happens on my runs! I worked hard at the last 4K and got my HR to 160 and kept it there! I was amazed to go this fast! I felt great and finished the run in 54:23. One of my best 10K times and this was after a 29mile ride.Last years 10k was 1 hour and 3 mins! This was a pace of 8:46 mins/mile.

I grabbed some audio from the event and i just need time to put the Podcast together. It should be coming out this week. Overall i was AMAZED with my running speed. I had no idea i could keep up a heart rate of 160 for that long. I used to HATE HR training but i think it is making me a faster athlete now.

Total Time :2hrs 48:35.3   Last Years time : 3hrs 4:15.3

Divisional : 4th Place  Last year: 8th Place

Next event is the Bellin 10K this weekend! Here are some more random photos of the event.

Triathlon Weekend!

So this weekend is my first Outdoor Triathlon of the season!!!! Waaaaaay haaaaay! It is also almost time the the Football 'Soccer for Americans' to start!! I can not wait.

I am scheduled to Race Olympic distance at Green Bay Triathlon. Here is a link http://www.midwestsportsevents.com/greenbaytri.html

I did this event last year and the year before. Last year i did my first Olly here and the year before this was my first ever sprint Triathlon back on my mountain bike days!!How time flies.

I only walked yesterday as i forgot i had a School dinner thing to go to with my daughter. They served Egg noodles and Beef tips with no Vegetarian choice. Ah well no big deal. I just ate when i got home.

Note: I had a crappy eating crisis yesterday. I was craving White Chocolate so bad. I had some but i put the points in to my WW log and accounted for it. This is one of the HUGE reasons i like Weight Watchers. You do not have to have all or nothing Mentality. If you mess up or you want some chocolate you can account for it and move on.

Last years total time was 3hours 14mins and 15.3 seconds.

2nd Weekly Run to work

IT has been a busy weekend.
Firstly my plans to go to NYC fell through. :( I had to ditch 2 airlines tickets but they were free tickets anyway, i did not lose any money just some free tickets. Not to dwell on things though.

So Friday was a scheduled rest day and i just did some gentle walking and talking with my wife. The weather was great so we did allot of talking.

Saturday i was wanting to go on my group ride in Green Bay but i had plans with my family. So the only way to get my bike ride in was to get up early. I was up at 5am on a Saturday (SO Wrong!) and i managed to do 33 miles in about 1hour and 55 mins. not to bad. Then we got on the road and went on a factory tour of the Jelly Belly plant. Very cool. I got samples of Skunk Spray, Rotten egg, Canned Dog Food, Booger, Baby Wipes, Barf, Moldy Cheese and more flavors for the people in my office to try!

Sunday i put in a long ride. I wanted to get 50 miles in. I knew i was in trouble when i found myself zooming along at 24mph with not much effort going north. I am NOT that good. I knew it had to be wind. Sure enough on the way back 8-12mph!! Huge headwinds. I had to stop and get off the bike twice but still made it in 3.5hrs.

Monday - Running, a fast 1 hour run and some walking.
Tuesdays - More running. 45 min and a 45 min swim session.

Today
Yes it is run to work day again for me. Left clothes at work and hide water bottles on my trail the day before, pretty sneaky and i would not have to go into gas stations. I actually looked forward to finding them on the run like it was some kind of hunt. I had a GU Gel halfway through and made the 12-13 miles into my office this morning!

Some Tips

• Hide water on your trail if you can, beats carrying it
• Make sure you have something to put calories in you if your run is longer than an hour
• Enjoy the scenery! At 4.45am the world is a surreal place
• Have you Ipod FULLY charged if your going to use one 

I put out a short Podcast at the weekend but my mic was not so good. I have total lost my voice recording device so i had to go buy another today!

It is only 3 days to go til Olly Triathlon at Green Bay for me on Sunday!!!!! So excited!!!