Port-O-Potty

Up until Sunday night, I have always been lucky with not having stomach issues on my long runs and bikes. Only one other time have I had to stop a run to visit the restroom. That time I was only a tenth of a mile from the house, so it was no big deal. Well, Sunday was my night. I started around 9 pm on my 6 mile run. Made it almost as far away from the house as I could be around 3.5 miles into the run and it hit me like a ton of bricks. At that point I was about 1.5 miles from the house, I wasn't going to make it. So then I started running through my options, ditch, someone's front yard, my pants, and none of them sounded appealing. Then I remembered that they were doing construction on a house at the end of a street just off the road I run on and it was only about 1/4 mile away. Construction means a port-o-potty.

Never has a port-o-can looked so inviting. Barely made it, but it was better than the alternative. Hope nobody saw me...Finished my 6 miles at 9:20 pace.

Got to the Y Monday morning for swimming and lifting. Knocked out 2600 in the pool and then met up with The Hornet for some weights. Big Poppa sold out and ended up running at lunch.

This morning was running and spinning. Met BP there at 5, The Hornet was the sell out this morning, for 3 quick miles @ 9:00 pace before spin class. Did the interval spin class for an hour and then back to the dreadmill for 1 mile @ 8:00 pace. Glad that tomorrow is a "rest" day. Have only been getting 6 hours sleep for the past 4 nights and I am beat. Don't tell BP put I think I nodded off at my desk around 3 today. Glad nobody came into my office!! It will be nice to get 8 hours tonight and only have to run 4 miles and swim at lunch.

Power Bars

Got up early to help set up for a garage sale with three other families. It was at someone elses house, so I just had to help set-up on my way to do my brick. Ended up hanging out for a while and not getting to the ride spot until about 7:45. Ended up cutting down on my time slot for riding. Was supposed to be finished by 10ish to start getting ready for my daughter's birthday party.

So, I only did the 33 mile loop. Ended up at around 18.7 mph for the loop with a headwind for about 10 of the 33 miles. That is the only thing I dislike about the local training spot. There is always freakin' wind no matter what time of the day or what direction you go. It is in a point in the river, so you are always guaranteed to be going against the wind at some point. But you get a tailwind at some point you would think, but think again. It seems like the levee creates a bowl effect and the wind is always swirling if it is not directly in your face. A crosswind is much better than a headwind, but just once I would like to ride out there and not have the wind!! Guess I'll have to ride at night.

Got back to the truck to find my windshield wipers standing at attention on my windshield and my side mirrors "adjusted" slightly. Luke, a friend of mine who was at the garage sale spot this morning, decided it would be funny to mess with my stuff before he and his training buddies started their ride. Loaded up the bike and put on my shoes and visor to get in a 3 mile run to get that bike-run feel. Knocked out 3 miles at 8:23 pace. On the way back in, passed two other training friends, Neil and DebE. They were doing a 3 hour ride. They are doing the Lonestar Half along with about 12 other people from BRTRri. On the last mile, I was thinking of what to do to get Luke back. Decided on making use of my Powerbar that I had ended up not eating on the ride.

Last week on our long ride my Powerbar had gotten soft being in my pouch on my shirt. Being the gross individual that I am, I took the chocolate mass and fashioned what closely resembled a dog dropping out of my powerbar. The Hornet and Big Poppa's wife, Reba, were less than thrilled with my creation. So, that was my inspiration for today. I put about a third of the powerbar in my mouth for about 30 seconds and chewed it up to get it nice and soft. Rolled it into the shape of a doggy turd and plopped it on his windshield under his wiper blade. I was going to put it under his door handle for a nice surprise when he opened his door, but his door handles were the old push button style since he was in his 1985 work truck. Needless to say, I got a phone call shortly after he got back to his truck later in the day. His move next, that's the thing with pranks, the bar keeps getting raised. Hopefully he keeps it clean...

Basics

Not a lot of time to burn so here are the basics. Thursday morning, 5 am, 3 miles on the dreadmill since it was raining @ 9:00 pace, spin for an hour, intervals, standing climb, a little more sitting this time and then run 1 mile at 8:30 pace to get that brick feel.

Nothing today in the way of training, only eating. Count so far, 1 - 3 egg omelet with turkey and cheese, 2 chocolate mary lee donuts, 2 glasses chocolate milk, shrimp fettucini and bluebell ice cream. Add that to last night's banquet dinner of gumbo, 12 oz ribeye, green beans, mashed potatoes, 2 strawberry shortcakes (someone was dieting), and then ice cream when I got home, and it has been like a 4000 calorie 24 hour period.

Doing a brick tomorrow morning at 7 am. 33-40 mile ride and a 2-3 mile run. Trying to get some of the training crew to come along, but only one taker so far. Got to go to start getting ready for my 4 year old's pink poodle birthday party that is Sunday. The house has got to be "Party Clean" which is a notch above just regular old clean as I have been informed by my lovely wife...

Early Start

Since I missed my long bike on Sunday, I needed to spin as much as I could this week to keep the bike legs in shape. Tuesday's spin class starts at 5:45 am and my run schedule for the day was 6 miles @ 9:36 (run recovery week). So I decided I needed to be at the Y for 4:45 a.m. That is just sick that I would even contemplate such an early start to a freakin' day that I wasn't going fishing for some speckled trout.

Due to some difficulties getting out of the door since my son was hackin' up a lung when I woke up, didn't make it there until 4:55. Hurried and got my stuff on a spin bike and dashed outside to get in as much as I could. No training partners this early, so it was just me and the trusty MP3 player. Put in 4 before I had to get back to take care of some business before getting on the spin bike.

Met Big Poppa in the spin class, he had come earlier to run, but all the dreadmills were taken, so he just drank coffee till spin. Spin instructor was late, which must have ticked her off, because for the next 50 minutes I think we sat on the spin bike for a total of 5. She had us doing "standing climbs", isolations and intervals for the majority of the class. Not the most fun after having just run 4 miles. Made it through spin and jumped on the dreadmill for one last mile to get the brick feel.

I am officially off the deep end. Swore to the training crew last year that I would never be at the Y for 5 am to train. Wasn't going to happen. That is the problem with that little word, it always comes back to bite you. Not only am I regularly there for 5, but now even before 5. Need my head examined definitely. I have taken the Training Nazi title away from the original "crack" addict, The Hornet. I'm the one making sure everyone else is there, knows what we are supposed to be doing and tells them how fast they did it. I guess that is the function of the new guy. Keeps it exciting once the "veterans" get to become slackers!!

Got to the Y this morning and no one else from the crew showed up. They all had lame excuses of course. Swam 1600 yds and lifted weights. I sold out on Monday and they had the morning receptionist bust my chops, so they better watch out tomorrow. She is going to get em!!

Sleep

Rough start to the week. Woke up at 6:20 am, which was about 1:40 later than I had my alarm set. Guess my body was ready for more sleep since I know I had the alarm on and ready to go. I have been known to hold lenghty conversations in the wee hours of the morning and never remember a single thing, so turning off the alarm and having no recollection of that event is not surprising.

So the fall back for Monday is to swim at lunch. Not a very attractive option. Last thing I want to be doing at lunch is swimming. Lunch is for eating and we all know how much fun that is. Called the Y that is close to the office to reserve a lane for lunch. They only have 3 lanes and I have gone when they were all full at lunch, so I don't make that mistake anymore. Two other issues with swimming at the Y by the office at lunch. The place is just dirty. I know it's old, and everyone who frequents the place seems to be older than the Y, but it just feels dirty. Feel like I need to bring some lysol to disinfect myself before I leave. Definitely don't sit on the benches since the elder men seem to like to sit on them with no...nevermind, you get the picture. Strike 3 is the fact that the pool is only like 2.5' deep and only 23.5 yards long since it is inside. I know, that is only 1.5 yds shorter than most, but as an engineer it is just annoying. I mean seriously, they couldn't have found 4.5' somewhere in the layout. So now I have to do 42.5 pool lengths to make up 1000 yds and it seems like you are always turning. Put in my 2000 and showered.

Of course, showering there does no good since as soon as you get out you feel dirty again once you get dressed in that nasty locker room. Won't even describe to you what is all over the floor and on the walls of the shower, ahhhhhhhh!!

Grinded it Out

Pretty pedestrian run today. Waited for the rain to finally finish and went 11 miles at 9:10 pace, no frills, just grinded it out. Met the Hornet, Deb E and Tim, a co-worker of the Hornet around 9 am at the BR Beach. Tim is just getting back into running and made it to the 2 mile mark before he had to turn around as we were running around 8:30's to start the run. It turned out to be a nice morning for a run as the sun came out about half-way through and the temp was a nice 65 degrees. Deb E slowed her pace down for the first half so we could keep up with her, but motored on with about 4 miles to go. That lady can run! Had to lose the shirt around mile 9 because of the raw nipple rub. Guess I need to start wearing some body glide or whatever that stuff is called.


After the run, got back to the house and put the kids down for a nap with the intentions of going riding this afternoon. The oldest didn't want to cooperate, so no riding for me. Guess I'll have to spin 3 days this week instead. Hate missing my long ride, don't mind missing the shorter workouts, but the long ones are too valuable to miss.

Redneck Word of the Week:

Fitness v. and n., to be able to wear a snug garment. "And you didn't think I could fitness bathin' suit after three kids!"

Cold

Woke up this morning to head to the Y, and got blasted by the cold. On the way, checked the weather on my blackberry (of course only while I was stopped at red lights, my wife teaches driving school and always uses me in examples of how not to drive) to find that it was a sweltering 32 degrees. The schedule had us doing 7 miles with a 5 mile tempo run at 8:14 pace in the middle. Stopped in and talked to Big Poppa on the treadmill for a moment and then off to run in the cold outside.


We went out fairly fast on the first mile of the tempo with a 7:45 pace. Ended up at 39:57 on the tempo run, which for you math buffs, is just under 8:00 pace, 7:59 to be exact. May not be fast to some, but was blazing for me. Didn't hurt too bad and actually felt like I could have pushed a little harder the last mile if I had needed to. Felt like I could have kept up with SS, another local triathlete who is training for the Boston Marathon and runs the same route except at a much faster pace. No use in burning it out on a training run though. When we got back to the Y, I looked down at my long sleeves and the sweat had turned to ice!! Not something you see too often in Louisiana is ice on your sleeve.

Tempo run made me feel better about the goal of running the Crescent City in 50 minutes. That's 8 minute pace and until today, it didn't seem reachable. Don't think it will be all that hard now. Maybe the goal should be 48...

Skipped my swim and run on Wednesday. Good thing about training 6 days a week is that there is really no time to fall in the trap of making up workouts. That is another hard thing to do. Convince yourself that missing a workout here or there is not going to affect you. I hate putting a red line through a day that I missed, but I think it is better than trying to kill yourself by doubling up and just getting injured or tired. I will make up the swim since I am only swimming twice a week, which is not much at all. Already running close to 30 miles a week, so missing the run is no big deal. Did the double on Tuesday, run and spin class, so missing Wednesday actually helped this morning I think.

Two Big Ones

Finally, the day has come!! After a year of busting my butt, when I got on the scale for my Monday morning weigh-in, the scale said 198, below 200, WooHoo!! That is 31 lbs. lost since May of last year, for a total so far of 13.5%. Now if I just wouldn't have eaten those 6 cupcakes yesterday between the end of my ride and bedtime, it may have been 197...

BEFORE

You can barely see the Grand Canyon behind me.

I'm blocking the view.

AFTER

This was a camping trip/mountain biking trip from a month ago,

actually down 7 lbs since then.

If I could just get the eating right part down, who knows how low I could go, 185?, 180??? I'm just happy to be were I'm at. Wouldn't have made it this far without an understanding spouse either. Lots of early mornings and long Sundays, thanks babe.

Numbers

What a great weekend for training. The weather was wonderful this weekend. Sunny, breezy and in the mid 70's. Everyone was outdoors enjoying the sun and having some good times.
Normally the weekends are tough to train because of the better half teaching on Saturdays. Rules out Saturday for training unless I can find a free babysitter, which normally doesn't happen. That means my long ride and run have both been happening on Sundays. It's tough riding 50 miles during the day and then running 8-10 at night. My mom called on Friday and offered to keep the kids. We settled on Saturday afternoon through Sunday afternoon.

Big Poppa, co-worker and training partner, has been taking part in a little get in shape challenge put on by one of the local running stores. Part of the challenge was on Saturday to run 6 miles in the morning and 6 in the afternoon. He emailed to see if the rest of us wanted to meet him for the afternoon run to give him moral support/ make sure his butt finished! Since I had secured someone to watch the kids, I was in. CCC 10k schedule had us running 10 miles @ 9:36 pace. So some of the rest of the training crew, The Hornet and her roommate, met me 30 minutes earlier to get in 4 miles before the 6 with BP. Couldn't have been a better day to run the loop around the LSU lakes. The three of us pounded out the first 4 in around 35 minutes. The roommate was done and we met up with BP for the last 6. We all ran together except for the last 2. Ended up at 10.1 @ 9:16 pace. BP finished and that all that counts, great job!

That is the one thing that I am very meticulous about in my training, knowing the numbers. I would rather skip training than train and not know how far, how fast, and at what heart rate. My training log is a spreadsheet with planned and executed workouts. Every time I train I have to record the numbers or it's like it doesn't even count. I never leave home without a training watch, I have 2 now just to make sure.

After the run, hurried home to get dressed to go to church and out with my wife since we had a night of freedom. After church we went and had some cheescake and coffee and then saw the movie 27 Dresses. Good chick flick. Got to bed late after loading up for a ride in St. Francisville.

Got to Big Poppa's house around 7:15 am Sunday morning and transferred the bike and gear. After making the drive to the ride spot, put in 45 miles (17 mph) in the hills on the bike with BP's better half and the Hornet. It was good to get back to the hills and ride with a group, albeit a small one. Most of my recent longer rides have been loners since I am normally pressed for time and ride on such short notice. Another great day for training. Of course any ride day where you don't get chased by a dog is a good day. Is it just here that every dog out in the countryside is unchained and like to eat bikes or is that everywhere?? Tried to run after, but got a major pain in my side after about half a mile. Don't know what it was, but I was doubled over in pain, thought I was going to pass out. May have been lack of fluids.

It is so hard on such nice days to make sure you are drinking enough. You feel good the whole time, forget to drink enough and then pay for it later. Do they make training watches with an alarm that I can set every 15 minutes to remind me to drink? There are way too many things to think about that can go wrong. As long as I finish though and I can record some numbers, than mission accomplished. Who cares if I passed out doing it??

Smack

It's fun to talk smack. It makes racing more than just about yourself and adds some tension to it. Sure, you can be competitive, self-determined and all that jazz internally, but when you put it out in the open and actually challenge other people, that is when the fun begins. Take today for example.

Our company announced that we would be participating in the local Corporate Cup and asked that we let them know if we would be participating. Of course, my reply to the whole company is "I'm in and $5 says nobody beats me. Let's go". I know what you are thinking, well he's either arrogant or fast. Neither...it's just fun to stir the pot. Are there people in our 60 employee company who can beat me? Most likely, I have only been running for a year and have posted 2 blazing 5k times of 24:40 and 24:12. Not the times that make people tremble in their Nikes or whatever brand they run in.

So why did I do it? For the 20 responses that flew back and forth already today. The fun has already started. And when I show up to the starting line come April 12, hopefully there are a dozen other of my fellow employees who have put in the time and effort to be the fastest out of our group. It will be fun to see how hard I can push myself to make sure that I can back up the smack...And hopefully start taking off some time for the Shave your 5k Challenge.

In the Beginning

Every blog needs a start, so here it goes. Of course there is a backstory, maybe we'll get to it one day, but for now we'll start with the present. I have been lurking on numerous multi-sport blogs over the past 2 months after getting a link somehow to the famous Steve in a Speedo?! Gross , which is hilarious, check it out. Finally decided that I should join the fray and post up my own tidbits of wisdom (yeah right!) that I have gathered in my short multi-sport career (1 year and counting).

I am currently training for a 10k, Crescent City Classic, and a Quarter Tri, Lonestar Tri, both at the end of March. Got up this morning to meet the training partners at the Y for our Thursday morning run. Had a time limit since my better half was working today and I had to handle daddy daycare. New to the whole training for speed thing, since I was never a runner to start with, come to think of it, not a biker or swimmer either, so we have been following a simple plan off runner's world. Today's schedule called for 6 miles total, with 5 - 1/2 mile repeats @ 3:37 pace thrown in the middle. The workout was pretty uneventful, except for the fact that 3:33 1/2 mile pace is just sick, I hate you fast people, and that it was 36 degrees out. For you up in the frozen north I feel sorry for you this time of year. But down here, anything under 45 and a good majority of the people are on the dreadmill. Too hot to run inside though, the Y thinks it is fun to keep the cardio room at 80 degrees!!

Anyway, back to the house with a stop at the local donut shop to pick up a treat for the kids. They love the rare occasion when I actually come home after I train, since they know they are going to get something good. What else are Dads for but to spoil 'em when you can.