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)