Tuesday, September 29, 2009

First run on treadmill in several months

Today at lunch I hit the treadmill:

1.0 miles (.25 @ 6.0mph, .25 @ 6.2, .25 @ 6.4, .25 @ 6.6)
.25 miles walk @ 3.5 mph
1.0 miles (.25 @ 6.4, .25 @ 6.6, .25 @ 6.8, .25 @ 7.0)
.25 miles walk @ 3.5 mph
.5 miles (.25 @ 6.2, .25 @ 6.4)
.125 miles walk @ 3.5
.125 miles @ 8.0 mph
.06 miles @ 3.5 mph

3.3 miles in 35 minutes

Didn't feel knee discomfort until 2.8 miles. I was going to do 4 miles today, but cut it short. Hopefully the knee gets a clue and doesn't start it's whining until later in the run.

Lifted deadlifts: 3 x 6,8,10 @ 185
upright rows: 3 x 6,8,10 @ 100

Monday, September 28, 2009

Annual Pocatello to Syracuse ride

I got a ride to Pocatello with Leslie and Garth. I spent the evening with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandma made a delicious three course meal. The salad was awesome. She sure was fun to visit with. Grandpa was in good spirits too. We talked about old times and books that Grandma read. What a fun evening.

I rode up to Anderson's house to go to bed. That's quite a ride in itself. I checked out the weather station and no chance of a storm. The plan was Dale would get there sometime before 7am. I put a note on the door for him to go downstairs. He arrived at 5am. Rested for another two hours and I got up at 6:30, showered and got ready to go. Dale had a flat on his tire so we had to fix that and make last minute preparations. We didn't end up leaving until 7:45 am.

On the way down Satterfield I noticed my GPS quit working. So I changed the batteries. Nothing. Then I looked at the corroded battery terminal. It had completely corroded through the metal so it wasn't completing the connection. When I took the battery out the metal piece connecting to the battery fell out. Great! Now I have no way to power the GPS on this trip and I was only 1 mile into it. I was so mad! I am a data geek and now I won't know where I'm sitting.

It was just as well cause the ride was very slow going. Our average speed to start was probably about 14 mph. Then after Inkom it got even worse. It was around 12 mph avg by the time we got to Downey. Poor Dale was having a hard time. His legs were on fire and his first mention of it was only at around 5 miles before Arimo.

By the time we got to Preston which is a little less than half way, it was already 2pm. We were in serious jeopardy of not even making it home before dark. So he gave me the OK to go ahead. He would keep plugging along and see if he could get a ride further ahead and meet me.

So I picked up the pace and left from Preston. I was going at a good pace, probably 20 mph. When I got to the base of the hill after Logan heading into Brigham City I was tired. My legs at this point were tired. I applied some Dr. Hoy's magic rub on my legs and that felt good. The thing that really hurt was my neck. Going into the aerobars and looking forward was putting a strain on my neck. I applied several coats of that throughout the remainder of the ride. I stopped at three places on the way up to the top of the pass. Coming down was a little scary. The road was good and there wasn't much debris on the side of the road. But going over 40 mph on a freeway is scary. One wrong move and my skin is all over the road and I could roll into the road and get ran over too. So I was very alert and cautious.

When I turned at the base of the hill in Brigham City I stopped and got some fuel. I was low on sugar and was hurting for energy. I got a 16 oz Mtn Dew and some Zingers. Hit the spot! Not the most nutritious, but I needed sugar! I already had power bars and gatorades previously, but I needed some serious sugar, and that worked out great. I continued on and called Cathi to whine for a second. When I got to Perry, I saw Dale on the side of the road flagging me down. Sure enough he got a ride. We rode together at a 12 - 13mph pace until it got dark at Farr West.

The sun was going down and neither of us had headlights. So after 11 hours of riding, we stopped at the Front Runner Station and got a group pass so he could get to Salt Lake and I could get to Clearfield. I took my light off and I wasn't about to ride in the dark. After I bought the pass and headed towards the platform, a sign said that the service doesn't run on Saturday. Duh, why did the machine just sell me the pass then? I was ticked.

I called home. Cathi was at the Women's Conference at the Stake Center. I called Aaron Cunningham, not home. Duane Ralphs, he came through. He came by in a truck and gave us a ride the rest of the 15 - 20 miles home. What a good friend! He saved us in our time of need.

I was sad that I didn't get to finish. I don't doubt that I could have made it had the pace been about 3 mph faster earlier in the day. It was fun though and I got to talk with Dale quite a bit. He's quite the entrepreneur and I'm proud to know him.

Two days later and looking back. I'm not sore at all, just a tad stiff, but nothing major at all. Next year, I'll try going solo again, and then see if I can break my record and get under 9 hours. I want to do Lotoja next year and will need to step up the distance training in order to do that. 140 - 160 miles is quite a bit easier than over 200 miles I'm sure. Then again, getting some drafting would also help too.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

What's up with my knee?!

OK so maybe the Pocatello Marathon did some damage to my knee. It was hurting, but not that bad. Saturday's evening run wasn't good on my knee and I was hoping that with a little more stretching that this morning's run with Cathi would be better. I ended up going about 1.25 miles before having an issue with my knee. Then I ended up walking a good portion with Cathi. She was kind enough to walk with me and we would talk.

But I'm worried about the next half marathon if I'm having issues with me knee like this. It's been fine all this year up until now. I'm gonna have to wear a brace now until I'm confident it won't give me problems.

Distance: 3.5 miles
Time: @ 45 minutes

I may have to cut my time with Cathi at this Saturday's TOU Marathon to the last three miles instead of 10K. Need to hit the treadmill more to show that knee who's boss!

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Salvaging a crappy weekend

Crappy in the sense that I wasn't making good decisions on what to put in my mouth. Yesterday I went to the Greek Festival in Downtown SLC for lunch. The Greeks sure love their meat. And I was willing to submit. Lots of calories consumed.

Then I took Lucy camping at the Daddy Daughter camp. Which was fun, but on the way up there I took her out for dinner which is tradition. We went to Steph's Drive in. This was the last choice for dinner as we've already been everywhere else in Morgan in previous years. I ordered a Chicken Salad which was good, but then Lucy wasn't eating her fries with her corn dog, so I helped her out. Bad choice!

Then today when we got back I made pancakes and hash browns for the kids for brunch. Nobody was eating the hash browns, so I ate all of them. What's up doofus!

So by this point I was so depressed about my lack of food selections. Cathi arrived from her out of town marathon. So she relieved me of duty and let me go out to Garr Ranch and back. It was so hot outside! I didn't wear a jersey, just my bib and singlet top.

Stats:

50 miles
2:31
Average speed: 19.7 mph

Then I went on a run down to Smiths to rent "Race to Witch Mountain" from the redbox. So I got in about 1.25 miles in run. Not fast and in fact when I got there my knee was killing me so I only ran back about 100 yards and then walked the rest of the way. I need to wear a brace when I run, unless I really load up on the heat lotion.

1.25 miles
@ 15 minutes

Thursday, September 10, 2009

School Bus Curse

Today while going down Angel I was passed by a school bus, which stopped ahead of me and loaded up kids. I had to stop for it. Then it went up ahead another 1/2 mile or so and stopped and I had to stop again. Next time it stopped I passed over on the other side of the road and stayed ahead of it. Then I hit just about every stop light on the way so today was not a great non-stop ride. It was annoying.

When I got to Legacy Bike Trail though I saw a couple of other bikers just as I got on. I caught up to them and led them from Glover Lane to 500 South in Bountiful where they turned off. It was nice cause my average speed up to that point was a measly 20.2 mph, but then I was holding a 24 mph average leading them. It sure makes a difference when you're with a group, you push it more. Makes me excited for Pocatello. I sure hope Dale and at least one other person comes through.

Distance 30.6 miles
Time: 1:31
Average speed: 20.2 mph

Cathi is having her birthday dinner tonight down in Draper so I'll be getting a ride back tonight, so today's ride is just a one way. :(

Monday, September 07, 2009

Results of the 2009 Pocatello Half Marathon


I had three goals for this race:
  1. Don't walk the entire race

  2. Get under 2:00

  3. If you're feeling like a stud, go for a new PR (Under 1:47)


Jacob and I took the bus to the starting line for the half up the canyon from Inkom. When we started we were right near the front. My first mile split was like 7:38, but after that it slowed. There only about 10 people who passed me, and many of those I passed again later on in the race.

I was feeling great up until mile 9.5 when I started to feel a blister forming. Other than that I was still feeling fine. By Mile 11 it was starting to hurt, but I was able to push through the pain and finish. I was keeping an eye on the clock at each mile marker and noticed that I wasn't quite keeping pace to get a new PR, but well under pace for getting under 2:00.

I crossed the line and ended up with 1:53:24. I took 8th out of 21 in my age group. I also was very proud to not walk one single step in this race. Even when I was at an aid station I kept on running through it and drank while I ran. That's a first for me. Usually I'll walk when I drink. Not this time.

Jacob crossed the finish line only 9 minutes later. 2:02:47 He took first in the 14 and Under Men division (he was the only one).

Cathi surprised us all and got a new PR! 3:44:09 She took third out of ten for her age group (given that the first place person also placed in the overall category and no longer applicable to win the age group division). By getting this time she qualified again for Boston.

What a wonderful race for all of us. It was so fun to have all of us do so well. Thanks to Andersons for letting us stay at their house and for Grandma and Grandpa for watching Isaac while we ran. It was fun visiting with Andersons and Richins on Friday night. Sure makes for an extra fun trip!