More Pain relief

When I got in to work my back was still giving me crap so I went downstairs and lifted:

Feet up Bench press:
4 x 12 @ 135
@80 crunches

Pain was diminished significantly, but still annoying.

Another round of legs up bench

Did another round of legs up bench press:

4 x 12 @ 135 slow and deliberate

@ 100 crunches

Felt great!  I really like this lift!  It's much more deliberate and as a result provides more benefits and especially clears out the lower back pain.  After lifting today, my back is free of pain.  I don't get it.

Just what the Dr. didn't order - feet in the air bench press

So yesterday I went to see the Chiropractor since I was still having issues with my lower back. I woke up on Sunday morning with a very stiff and painful lower back on the right side. The Chiropractor moved my legs around and tried adjusting things (which seemed really rushed to me and almost completely ineffective). He did show me a couple cool stretches that he suggested I do.

Example of feet up bench press

When I left the office I felt nearly as crappy as when I walked in. This morning's swim was cut way short because of the pain intensity in my back. I did the stretches the Dr. suggested, but still felt pain and stiffness. Decided that in order to reduce the back strains I really should work on my core so I went down at lunchtime (which I haven't done in ages) and did some crunches:

100 crunches
Feet up Bench Press: 4 x 12 @ 135

I know that 135 is light, but given that I haven't lifted at all in the past couple years, plus that it was feet in the air 135 was just right. It forced me to go slow in order to balance the weight. The lift was more deliberate, controlled, and put the pressure all along my back rather than mainly on my shoulder blades. Why didn't I do this earlier? That lift all by itself was a million times more effective than the visit to the chiropractor. The pain is completely gone in my back. I can walk normal, bend over. Now I'm not going to go test it out, but I think feed up bench presses did the trick for me.

So if you have lower back pain, definitely give it a shot. Plus it's a good lift for really isolating the pecs in the bench press. Definitely won't get anywhere near the amount of weight for a normal bench lift, but it's a great drill.

10 Mile hike on Wheeler Creek

This afternoon I hiked 10 miles with Steve Ross and the scouts. Had a scary hour when five of the boys decided to take off ahead and they were so far ahead we were convinced they took a fork that took them somewhere else.

A biker was coming down and we asked her that if she caught up with five boys to tell them to STOP! Until we get there. So annoying! We finally did catch up to them and reviewed safety while hiking in groups.

Had fun and I took Max (our St. Bernard) who was slobbering all over and panting like crazy, but he did well.

Top 50 Triathlete Blogs

I was just notified that this blog made the list of top 50 informative and inspiring triathlete blogs by physical therapy assistant schools.

Cool. Too bad my focus isn't on triathlons at the moment and the posts just aren't coming in on a normal basis. Right now the focus is on swimming.

Three sets

Had several errands at lunch, one of which was going to the Post office on 2nd south. Talk about a government operation! Line had about 12 people in it and took me 25 minutes to get through.

Did the following:

DB Front Raises: 3 x 12 @ 25
Crunches: 3 x 50
Pushups: do as many as you can in one minute (80 total)

Next time I'll have to do more, but I had to cut it short today thanks to the US Postal Service.

Fitness Test

My work introduced a wellness program last month and I finally got a chance to take the fitness test which involved four exercises:

Pushups: 75 in one minute - Excellent
Crunches: 67 in one minute - Excellent
Three minute Step Test: 79 (my heart rate for one minute after doing three minutes of steps at 96bpm) - Excellent
One mile walk: 13:30 (Good - barely)

The whole family did this test. It was hilarious to watch Oliver try to do crunches and pushups. And the kids all loved doing the step test. They got out stools and did the test several times.

Then we walked over to the school to do the 1 mile walk test. There were some teenage girls doing soccer practice and I'm sure Cathi and I looked like a nice middle aged couple walking there fast. "Look at the older fat people trying to exercise, hee hee!" I wasn't about to speed walk and look even more doofus like.

Shoulders, lats and tris

Flat bench Tricep Extensions: 3 x 12 @ 75
Pullups: 3 x 4 @ 195
Standing DB Front Raises: 3 x 12 @ 25
Crunches: 3 x 60
Standing Tricep Cable Extensions: 3 x 12 @ 40
Seated Cable Rows: 3 x 12 @ 160

Five minutes on the Rowing machine: 1341 Meters

I pushed it harder on the rower. Last month I did 1291 Meters in five minutes so this is a new PR. I'd like to keep doing these until five minutes just doesn't do anything. But for now, five minutes gets me sweating and breathing pretty good especially when I'm pushing it. Tried to keep my stroke rate to 40pm but ended up going around 35.

Lots of calories to burn

After last week's scout camp which included lots of good camp food, as well as Friday evening's visit to Golden Corral with the Lows, I had a ton of calories to burn with not so much workouts last week, so today's ride was pretty quick considering I had a little headwind to deal with from 500 S in Bountiful all the way in to Salt Lake.

Distance: 31.6 miles
Time: 1:34
Average Speed: 20.04 mph

Anything above 20 is great for coming/going to work because there is usually some wind to deal with.
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The ride home took the exact same amount of time. I really pushed it the last 2 miles down Gentile and as I turned off Bluff to go up 1000 W. My quads started to cramp up. I've NEVER had that happen before. So I pushed it a little. Need to spend more time on the bike if I expect to do the Pocatello to Syracuse ride this year.

Total miles for the day: 63.2
Time: 3:08
Average Speed: 20.04 mph

Mt. Harrison Ride 2010

Woke up at 6:30 and started to prep for this year's Mt Harrison Ride. Left at 7:10am. Made a quick stop at the convenience store about .25 miles from the start. Got some batteries. Good thing cause my GPS and MP3 player both went out and I had to load the new batteries on the ride. Would have been stuck without data, or tunes without it.

I felt great on this ride and didn't run out of breath to the point where I had to stop. I didn't stop once on this ride due to taking a break. I had my camelback filled with ice water, and had 3 buzz bites in my pack. I kept on spinning the whole time except for the 4 technical stops I had to make to change batteries, walk over snow that was impassable on a bike, go around a locked gate. I felt wonderful! I was able to reach the summit in 2:20.

Was reaching speeds of 47 miles per hour on the way down. It was a rush! Two hours to go up and less than 30 minutes to come down. Wow. There was alot more snow this year. I had to walk over alot more snow for longer stretches. The lookout was a little ominous with the rain clouds strong wind and lightning in the distance. Didn't feel comfortable up there hanging out.

I must say this ride is my favorite of the year!
Video below:

From Biking

Shoulders, abs and rowing

Standing over the head presses: 3 x 10 @ 95
Crunches: 3 x 75
Seated Cable Rows: 3 x 12 @ 145
Wide Grip Pull ups: 3 x 3
Standing DB Front Raises: 3 x 10 @ 20
Captains Chair: 3 x 12 straight legs

Did 5:00 on the rowing machine: 1300 meters.

Got a good sweat on the rower. That's a great machine.

Biked in to work

I was supposed to be driving down to Cedar City for Austin at the Summer Games, but since he is still learning to not procrastinate and to listen to his parents, we aren't going. So instead of taking the day off work for no reason, I biked in to work. According to bodybugg, I burn about 800 calories riding in to work, which seems about right.

Today's ride was nice. No wind and sunny.
Distance: 30.9 miles
Time: 1:37
Average Speed: 19.4 mph

The last 5 miles killed me. I was at a 20.0 mph average, but the rough roads really make a difference. When I'm on smooth pavement it sure is nice. That rough hard gravel crap sure is annoying. It's probably easier to maintain and lay down, but it is a step backwards in road technology in my opinion. Nobody wants to walk or ride on that stuff.

Trying to fit it in

Today at work I was extremely busy trying to get a certain project done by the end of the day. That meant I didn't take the time in the morning or during lunch to do any exercise so I put it off until I got home. And then Cathi didn't want me going off by myself and taking away from the family. So we put Oliver in the stroller and took Isaac, Sam and Jonas down around Jensen Park and back.

2.5 miles

When we got back it was 9:30 so we put the kids to bed and I went downstairs and got on the stair stepper for 25 minutes. Just enough to get my 10,000 steps for the day. Still pretty crappy as my total calorie burn for the day was 2,790 and my goal was 3,350. I am hoping to make up for it tomorrow when I bike in to work.

More shoulders and abs

Lateral Cable Extensions: 3 x 10 @ 10
Bent Knee Crunches: 3 x 50
Standing DB Front Raises: 3 x 12 @ 20

Bent over Rows: 3 x 12 @ 90
Captains Chair: 3 x 12
Push ups: 3 x 30

Tomax introduced a wellness program which involves a point program which can be used for a raffle. I suggested the introduction of "buying" a locker for the quarter using points. Hopefully that flies. Otherwise, I'll keep doing what I'm doing.

Shoulders and abs

I'm so pleased with the level of soreness I'm experiencing right now. I'm only at about a 7 on the scale and I've had several 8 and 9's in my life.

So today I hit the gym in the basement at Tomax. Here's what I did:

Standing DB Lateral Raises: 3 x 12 @ 20 pounds (that's light, but like I said, my entire body is sore still including my upper body)

Barbell Shrugs: 3 x 12 @ 135

with 50 reps of bent knee crunches between sets.

Then followed by:

3 x 12 captain chairs
3 x 12 machine overhead presses @ 50 pounds

also supersetted with 50 bent knee crunches.

Good workout. Not tough at all, but got the muscles to remember what its like to have a little weight to work with rather than propelling just me someplace.


I'm going to include weight training into my swimming routine 3 times a week like this. Especially shoulders, lats, chest and abs.

Results of the Boise 70.3

This last weekend Cathi and I went up to Boise to participate in the Ironman 70.3 (Half Ironman)

Here's the official results:


Some stats:
There were 1401 total athletes participating. There were 205 people in my division. So just considering my division... After the swim I was 8th (96th percentile), after the bike I was 43rd (79th percentile), and after the run I was 79th (61st percentile). Another reason why I think it's a good decision to hang up the bike, put some air fresheners in my running shoes and stick with swimming. Time to focus on the channel!!!! And nothing but the channel!!!!

Details, details...... if you are bored and have nothing better to read:

I took the bus up to Lucky Peak Res. at 11:00. I got my bike all ready and found out that you had to have all of your stuff in a bag. You couldn't just load up your bike and transition real fast the way you set it up. It just had to be in the bag. Lucky for me I have a very simple transition.

I then spent two hour trying to rest in the shade of a tree as it was a completely clear and hot afternoon. I saw Bryan Child and we chatted for a bit.

Swim: I was in swim wave 7. I started at 2:18. I was behind the first row of swimmers behind the buoys. Within 10 seconds of the start I passed the guy in front of me and could see there were about five guys in front of me. Within a couple minutes I started to see red caps which were from wave 6. Then a few more minutes, the next colored caps. It was exciting. I kind of felt sorry for the slow people from the waves ahead of me.

I was bilateral breathing the first couple minutes, but because I was pushing it so hard I decided it wasn't worth it and did breathing just to the right. I was really pushing it. When I did sight I found that I was right on course so I didn't have any major course corrections to make. When I got out, I stopped my watch right on 29:00 even. Nice. I was hoping for about 30 minutes.

My bike transition went very fast. I didn't use the wetsuit strippers that the event provided. I could get mine off faster than using those people. I got to my bike which was right on the edge of the row. From the time I got out of the water, ran up the ramp, got to my bike changed, and ran with it to the bike out, it took 3 and a half minutes, which was actually pretty fast.

Bike: The ride down from the dam was fun. I was getting up to 39 miles per hour. But the winds were fierce. This route was way more hilly than I anticipated. Here's the map of the actual data from my GPS. I was SO glad for the water stations that the event provided. I would have been in HUGE trouble without it. I only had 1 x 6 ounce gatorade and a 12 ounce water bottle. That was it. I don't know what I was thinking assuming that would be good enough. Every 15 miles they provided a station where volunteers held out 16 ounce bottles of gaterade. They were ice cold and delicious. I would have seriously died without those! The wind was brutal, and some of those hils were pretty long climbs! 18.7 mph average. On a flat course with no wind I would have been disappointed with that speed, but I was pleased with how well I did considering those hills and the strong headwinds.

Funny thing that happened while finishing my bike ride: I was going around a corner about 7 miles from the bike finish. We biked through alot of neighborhoods and many people were out on their lawns clapping and cheering. There was a group of college aged guys there clapping and cheering right close to the curb on a corner. As he was clapping and cheering for me just as I got close he yelled out. "Right on, Clydesdale division. Keep on going! Nice job!". At first I was just a tad TO'd. But then I realized, technically I'm right on the borderline of being a "Clydesdale", if there really was such a division for the 70.3 which there isn't. It's just age divisions. After looking at many of the pictures that Cathi took, I realized why he said such a thing.

When I finished the bike it was at the bottom of a hill so it felt good to finish really strong. The dismount was good and the run to locate my transition area went very smooth. I sat on the rocky ground as I applied Vaseline to my feet. Put on socks and shoes and then applied Dr. Hoys to my knees and lower back. My transition for the run took 3:04.

Run: Cathi had a lawn chair and was waiting right there at the turn around point, which was only a block from the run start. She was jumping up and down smiling and cheering and it made me so happy to see her. The first two miles were the worst part of the whole run. I had to walk for about 20 seconds four times during those first two miles, but after that I felt better, got into a groove and made a deal with myself that I would only allow myself to walk during water stations. Which was a fantastic arrangement because it gave me enough time to drench myself with the sponges they handed out, get two glasses of water, one glass of coke, and half a banana. I really took advantage of those aid stations. But once I passed it, I resumed my rather slow run.

When I got to mile 6.5 where the turnaround point was I saw Cathi way up ahead of me standing on the course jumping up and down and cheering for me. I ran up to her and gave her a big kiss on the lips and ran on!

I wanted to get a 10:00/mile pace which for me is really slow. I ended up going 10:36. But that is expected when I walk through the 50 yard long aid station line. So I was actually not disappointed with my run considering that the first 2 miles I wanted to die. I felt like a machine after mile 4. I just kept an even rhythm and pace and kept my breathing down so I didn't get too exhausted. I knew I had a full 13 miles to do and didn't want to stop and stretch, or have to throw up like I saw a ton of people do. I WOULD ONLY WALK WHEN DRINKING OR EATING FOR THE 1 MINUTE OF AID STATIONS every 1.5 miles.

When I got to mile 12 though I could faintly hear the crowd at the finish line. I picked it up. When I got to Mile 13 which is where they have an aid station. I didn't stop. I picked up my run into a full out sprint. What helped is that some guy next to me was doing the same thing and he was trying to beat me. I really turned on the after burners and he was left in my dust. The crowd was really cheering everyone on. It was great! I felt so good. I stopped my watch and it read: 5:53:39.34.

I was so glad to be done! I saw Cathi at the start of the run, the turnaround point at mile 6.5 and at the finish. She was such a great support! I had such a good time and glad that I did as well as I hoped. I wanted to get a 5:54 and I did it by 20 seconds. How close is that!!? Given a 6 hour race getting with 20 seconds of your goal? How's that for knowing my limitations?

Cathi's Bear Lake Marathon - her 30th marathon

So Cathi and I spent last night at the cabin with Bill. We got up at 4 am this morning and drove up to Bear Lake. The race started at 6am. It was about 38 degrees air temp. Cathi had bowel issues even before the race, but was able to change and not have any problems the rest of the day. Whew!

I drove to mile 9, 14, 19, 21, 23, 25 and the finish line. Cathi was coming up to the finish at 3:59:30. I yelled out 30 seconds Cathi!!!!! She picked it up and amazingly I saw that she finished right at 4:00:00 even. Nice!

Bugs!

The bugs in Centerville along the Legacy trail today were abnormally aplenty. I was so glad to have my face shield ready which I take on every ride and use about every other time. Otherwise I would have definitely lived like on survivor and eaten alot of bugs.

Distance: 30.9 miles
Time: 1:36
Average Speed: 19.3 mph

No data as my GPS is officially garbage. My new one will arrive tomorrow via UPS. Glad that I was able to maintain a good pace even without knowing how fast I was going. Had a slight headwind the first half, but it died down to nothing the second half.

Good ride and I pushed it. The ride home will probably be my last ride before the big event on Saturday.

Half Century right after a half marathon

So this morning's marathon was tough, but I wanted to get similar effect as I'm gonna get in two weeks at the Boise 70.3 so I went out to Garr Ranch and back for a 50 mile bike ride.

The wind was negligible on the causeway going out which was nice. It was tough going up around the visitors center as well as the North Island Hill, but I managed. My GPS totally died. It had new batteries, and it starts up, but even the slightest jolt and it turns off and then takes another minute to lock on to satellites, and then another tiny jolt and its off, so I had to go without data during today's ride which was frustrating.

I felt good though and kept a strong pace. I was able to pair up with a guy for about 8 miles along the Ranch Road until we got to the North Hill coming back. I had in my mind I wasn't going to kill it up this hill. I already asked way too much of my legs today and wasn't about to punish them. They've performed well and I can't abuse them. So by the time I got to the top of the hill, my partner was a good 3/4 mile ahead of me. By the time I got to the end of the causeway on the way back I had gained on him and he only had a few hundred yards.

The rest of the ride home was good and I had a tailwind from the west. I at least got a start and end time so I could figure the average speed. I left at 10:55 and arrived back at 1:45 so I did the 50 mile ride in 2:50 which is a 17.6 mph average. Not very fast, but considering the few decent hills, and the fact that I just ran a half marathon earlier in the morning, I'm not gonna feel guilty in the slightest.

I'll have to give it more thought and review the Boise course, but I'm thinking right now a 6 hour time in the 70.3 is reasonable. I'll have to delve into the details and fine tune that goal. Now I'm off to ebay to get a new Garmin venture etrex to replace the one that has served me so well for the past three years. Can't live without my data. I'm such a nerd.

2010 Memorial Day Striders half marathon results

Cathi 1:47, I got 1:52:25, and Jacob got 2:02:11 (1st place 11 and under and only person 11 and under to try it).

I didn't half any issues with blisters busting open like last year. I watched my time every mile and was able to hole 8:15 mile pace the first three miles and then got slower by 5 seconds per mile until I got to 8:40 which was my worst and then I picked it back up a bit. I was able to pick up the pace the last mile. I was over 6 minutes slower than last year, but that's not a real surprise as I'm not nearly as practiced in running as last year. But I'm not terribly sore or have any open blisters which is good. I have the Boise 70.3 in two weeks.

Although I'm stiff in my calves and quads, I'm going on a half century ride out to Garr ranch and back so that should be tough. Especially those hills. I should really be hobbling tomorrow. But that'll be good cause I'll swim for a couple days and give the legs a break.

Felt good about today's results. Jacob beat his time from last year by over 15 minutes, and Cathi by about 5 minutes. So I'm the slacker this year who is getting older and fatter. Oh well, at least I'm out there.

Birthday Bike ride

For my birthday this morning it was overcast with a slight wind, but nothing major. Was able to draft off a guy for about a half mile, but he was just a tad too slow, so I passed him.

Distance: 30.6 miles
Time: 1:34
Avg Speed: 19.5 mph

Not that great, but not terrible.

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The ride home I left at 3:15pm had a good tailwind until I got to Bountiful and then it turned completely around and gave me an even stronger headwind. So it cancelled out the effect from the first half.

When I got home I immediately went to the park with the family and we had a picnic followed by a little wiffle ball game. It was fun until Cathi was helping Oliver bat when Jacob pitched it to him she smacked it hard and it hit him in the cheek. He was crying pretty hard and stormed off to the car. The fun was pretty much over at that point. So we went back home.

Went out in front of the house at 7pm as planned to meet with Bremer, Yeates, Frew, Felter, Allred, and Snow. NONE OF THEM SHOWED UP!!! What's up with that!? So I went on a ride anyway. I cut it short thought because I felt guilty as Cathi wanted to go on a little date and I turned her down for the ride. I was pretty mad at those slacker neighbors. But then I thought. "Gord - you already got in over 70 miles today. Isn't that good enough? Don't be selfish, go be with your wife!". So I got home and got cleaned up and we watched the recorded BL finally again.

Fantastic 8.5 mile run

The pool was closed this morning so I went straight to work and planned on doing an evening run. Man was it nice. I went with Jacob and Cathi on this route:



Except instead at the end I cut through the trail at the bottom of Bluff instead of running on Bluff, so that takes it down to about 8.4 Ran it in 1:21:14. So that's about a 9:40 pace. That's slow, I know, but I went at a pace that made the run fun rather than a killer where I was dying. I could have easily kept on going, but we have to have family night tonight.

I registered Cathi, myself and Jacob for the Memorial Day half marathon at Jensen park. I'm excited to do it so I can get an idea of what to expect for the Boise Half. Seriously, the swim and bike will be easy, but to top it off with a half marathon will be tough.

Ride to Buffalo Point

This morning I rode out to the causeway and bought another year bike pass. The forecast was rain today and so far all I had was nasty south wind. By the time I got to the marina at the end of the causeway I realized that I didn't have time to go to Garr Ranch and back in time for my daughter's piano lesson so I decided to go to Buffalo Point which involves a fairly good climb although not very long.

Buffalo Point and back to my house is only 32 miles, but its better than calling the whole thing off. Here are a couple of pictures from the top in the restaurant parking lot.

This afternoon our family went to Lagoon and that was fun. It was supposed to rain today, but it didn't. At least not where I was. It rained this morning behind me and I was able to out ride the storm. It was sunny in most parts on the Island.

Detour

About a half mile into my ride to work I realized I didn't have my helmet on so I turned around and went back to get it. So that added an extra mile to my ride. Then when I got to the I-15 overpass on 2200 North and Warm Springs Road, they had the road closed down for an hour so they could get a massive bridge beam put up, so I went back to Redwood Road and went down to 200 North trail to get around. That added another 1.5 miles to my ride.

Stats: 33.2 miles
Time: 1:42
Average Speed: 19.5 mph

Had a pretty good tail wind the first half of the ride and then a slight headwind. I went without a shirt from Layton to Farmington because the sun was out and I need to really start getting a tan built up for the July 3rd swim. But once I got to Farmington it was cloudy, and the rays weren't coming so I put my jersey back on. I don't like going without a shirt cause I'm sure people are thinking that I'm thinking I'm bad, but I'm not. I'm actually quite pudgy and doughy, especially above the waist. Definitely not something the ladies enjoy I'm sure. Hoping that there is plenty of sun on the way home this evening.

6 of 8

Was planning on running 8 miles today. Ended up doing 6. Not bad considering I haven't run more than 4 since I started training. Need to pick it up some more. Don't wan't to progress too fast though and get so sore that I have to wait a week to run again.

6 miles in 58 minutes (ran first 5 straight at 6.5 mph, then last mile alternating run/walk).

Boise 70.3 stuff

Race information

So I guess they are making wetsuits a requirement. I can't swim the 60 degree water without it. Lame.

Here is the bike course:



Here is the run course:


Will add to this post as I come across more info.

6 mile run

Tonight it was rainy and I still had to do my scheduled run. I didn't run at lunch today so I could run tonight with Cathi, but she got home just as I was heading out and she didn't want to go.

It was still rainy when I left but not enough that I was soaked. In fact I felt quite dry as I ran in one of Cathi's technical marathon shirts.

Here's the route I took.



Ran it in 54:27. Didn't struggle too much on this. Just kept on going. Felt great at the end. I'm on schedule with my training plan. Nice!

4 mile run after Utah Open

So I choked at the Utah Open Table Tennis tournament. I was in a bracket with 3 other players. They were all pretty close, but I lost to all of them. I wasn't too disappointed though. What could I expect? I hadn't practiced very much in the past couple years.

So afterwards I came home and relaxed for a bit, but then went for a four mile run. Felt a little better than last time, but wasn't as fast. Did the four miles in 39:10.

Got ready for a birthday dinner with Lows. What a fun evening!

Coach Cathi

So Cathi has volunteered to be my running coach. So tonight I got home started to record Survivor and went running with Cathi. We did our typical 3.5 mile route. Down to Bluff, around Jensen park up to the roundabout on 2000 and then back to the Stake Center and home. 3.5 miles in 33 minutes.

I felt like giving up at around 1.5 miles. But I kept saying to myself, just think, your almost to the bridge and its almost 2 at that point. Then I thought, Just go to the roundabout then you are as far North as you're gonna go on this run. Then the next milestone and so on and so forth.

It's all mental. My body wasn't totally dead, just it was tiring and I had the urge to give up, but it's all in my head.

The legs must go on

Monday I ran 3 miles and yesterday I was significantly sore. About a 5. Yesterday I still spent a good 30 minutes on the elliptical as well. Weighed in at 203 this morning. This morning it was cloudless at 6am so I geared up and rode off. What a perfect ride. No wind at all.

My fingers were freezing for the first 30 minutes, but they eventually warmed up. The soreness of my legs had no impact on my performance and I was able to ride all the way to work without pain or fatigue.

I took a new route. I turned left on Angel at 200 N in Kaysville and hooked up to a new bike path that was created on top of some old abandoned railroad tracks. The pavement is smooth, there are no cars and there are no obstacles to watch out for. Granted I have to slow down every time I come to a road and go around some barriers, but its worth it to get a lower MPH average to not have to worry about cars, or new bumps in the road.

It takes me all the way down to the bottom of Shepherd lane. Then I resume my normal route down to the Legacy trail.

Today's ride was 1:36. Got to work at 8:35. Good stuff.

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The ride home was completely different. It was very windy all from the North, so I had a headwind almost the whole way. It took me 1:55 to get home. I told myself that I wasn't going to just coast home, but not kill myself trying to fight the wind.

I was going along Legacy trail when I saw a skunk cross the trail about 50 yards up. It went up to the fence on the left side and couldn't go under, so it started heading along the fence in my direction. I slowed down. It stopped, I stopped. Then I wondered if I should move forward or what. I did so and it immediately put its tail up towards me and exposed its bum. I didn't know what to do so I just kept going muttering "Please don't shoot me, please don't shoot me." going about 3 miles an hour. I was waiting for a massive spray to hit me at 10 feet away, but I was lucky. It didn't and I was able to move on. My heart was beating fast and I was shaking. I've heard that getting sprayed by a skunk is about as fun as having your head shoved up someone's butt.

11th hour

So I only have 5 weeks before the Boise Half. Setup a training plan today. Today run 3.0 miles and increase .25 every other day. Will be up to 6.5 the week before the triathlon. Will really need to stick with it!

Lifted 4 sets of bench press (12@135, 3x8@155)

First time biking outside this year

So today is supposed to be that last sunny day this week, so I decided to start today with biking to work. Left at 6:45am and was hoping to get around 1:40, but ended up with 1:45. Had a pretty strong headwind from Bountiful thru to downtown Salt Lake. My average speed dropped from around 21mph to 18 by the time I got there. I took me 1:46. I was getting some cramps in my gut, but wasn't in too much pain.

The ride home however the cramping was way worse. But had a fantastic tail wind. I was able to go between 26-30 mph whenever I was going north. Once I got to Centerville the cramp in my gut got really bad and my speed dropped down to 19-21 mph.

Will go for a 50 mile Garr Ranch ride this Saturday afternoon if it isn't raining.

Total daily miles: 61.8 miles
Time: 191 minutes = 3 hours 11 minutes
Average speed: 19.4 mph

So tired. Going to bed early!

Get over it!

Worked past lunch and at 2:30pm even though I didn't want to run, I knew I had to. It was the plan when I got up. When it comes to running, it's really easy for my mind to talk myself out of it. Not today. Although I didn't really push it, at least I got down there.

3 x (.75mile @ 6.0 mph, .25 mile @ 3.0 mph)

3 miles total

Knee had hint of pain only a couple times, but nothing major. But I wanted my first go to be nice and easy and not overwhelming.

Back to it

With the spring Masters swim meet over, I now need to switch gears to prepare for the Boise Half Ironman in Early June. Plus I need to lose about 15 pounds which I believe will come with a few habit changes, increased aerobic exercise that will come with the biking and running that I will be doing more of. Some habits that I will get back to doing:

• Always take the stairs at work instead of the elevator


• NO SWEETS - I've been allowing myself a bite or two now and then, that has to stop


• Drink more water


• Be more careful about how many calories I'm taking in

Today I slept in. I had a stomach flu yesterday, so today I'm still in recovery mode from that so I didn't swim. I ended up lifting during my lunch break:

Seated Quad Extension - 6 x 15 @ 55
Lying Ham Curls - 6 x 12 @ 55
Standing BB Curls, Rows, Overhead Presses: 2 x 12 @ 75
Leg Press: 6 x 12 @ 120

The tendon below my right knee was really complaining with the Leg Presses at the end. Same tendon that hates it when I run. Got to get that guy to grow up and shut up!

Short run and 1000M row

Did 25 minutes (2.65 m run) on the treadmill and 1000 M rowing (4:00). Need to have this as a base this week and slowly build it up.

Back on the trainer

Did 40 minutes while watching Coach Troy walk around and harass athletes in the Spinervals 100 DVD.

Castaway Cay 5K

Today Cathi and I did a 5k fun run with other cruise travelers. It was very windy. I just stayed with Cathi. My pace was slow, but it was nice going with Cathi and she was very encouraging. We did it in just over 30 minutes. The cruise people gave us each a very nice water bottle as a thank you for participating.

From DisneyWorld2009

From DisneyWorld2009

I'll have to figure things out pretty soon.

Attempted to run again on Disney Magic, but was foiled

Went to run with Cathi again, but noticed that some runners were running the wrong way around deck 4. Once we got 3/4 around found out why. They had closed off a portion of the deck to do some painting. So people were running back around. That is dangerous around the stern where there is only room for one person and it curves fast. You could have a pretty serious head on collision with other runners. So I went biking and lifting instead.

Today was a full day at sea so I didn't get to swim. The pools on Disney Magic suck (for laps)