5K trial run - 22:09

So I have the Bluffridge 5K this Friday afternoon. I didn't run at all last week, and this is the first time this week, so I'm a little nervous that my training isn't going as well as planned. So today I did as close to a 5K as my normal route to Pioneer park and back would allow:

2.7 miles - 6 x .45 pioneer park lap
.6 miles - Tomax to Pioneer Park and back.

3.3 miles in 23:30. That's a pace of 7:08 per mile. That's fantastic. A 5K is 3.11 miles so at that pace I would have done around 22:09! That kills my last PR of 22:59. So I'm confident that I can beat my PR. It will be hotter on Friday and a slight grade at the end, but with the adrenaline and desire to beat Hayden Buchi will hopefully get my time down to low 22 minutes. That would be awesome.

Equmen review - and new PR to work

Last night I noticed that I had a package on my desk, and my Equmen extra high compression long sleeve shirt had come! Wow, what fast delivery. It only took three days to get here. That's dang fast! I thought being an Australian company it might take a couple weeks. Not the case, it shipped from the US.

I immediately tried it on and boy was it nice. I felt like a fat snake trying to eat a rat. It was tight, but it stretched out nicely. Reminded me a little of memory foam with its support, conforming to my body. The quality of the shirt is fantastic. Cathi even tried it on and oh, did she look hot!

It also reminds me of a Bench shirt without the goofy look or uncomfortable feeling in the shoulders. This shirt would be great for lifting in, providing support on the joints when lifting heavy. This shirt is great for cycling and that's what I mainly plan to use it for. It provides a great deal of support and helps keep my core tight. I also plan on taking it on winter camp as it also provided a great deal of wind resistance. I just bought a sleeveless one today for when I race in triathlons. I'll wear it under my wetsuit so I have something already on when I transition to the bike and run.

This morning I got up at 6, eagerly put on my new longsleeve compression shirt under my jersey and started my ride to work. I had a bit of a tail wind until I got to Centerville, and then had a slight headwind from Bountiful the rest of the way in to Salt Lake, so it kind of canceled out wind as a factor. I focused on high cadence and putting constant pressure on my legs to keep up a strong speed rather than just spinning without much effort.

Today's ride is a new record:

Distance: 30.6
Time: 1:26
Average Speed: 21.35

The new compression shirt certainly was a factor in the PR. I'm very pleased with that purchase.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The ride home however was probably close to being the worst ever. The wind was pretty strong coming from the North the whole way. My average speed was terrible:

Distance: 30.6
Time: 1:48
Avg Speed: 16.9 mph

At least I'm getting used to having a strong headwind. Consistently from the North every afternoon.

Morning Gridley Half Century

Rode with Duane Ralphs and Chad Frew out to Garr Ranch and back:

Distance: 51.1 miles
Time: 2:45
Avg Speed: 18.6 mph

Duane was really booking it on the causeway and we were going about 26 mph. The wind was in our favor a little. Very nice ride. Duane had to go to Salt Lake so he did the causeway while Chad did the whole thing with me. We stayed together the way back until the end of the causeway. I had to get back by 10 so that we wouldn't be late for a family lunch in Salt Lake.

What a nice morning it was and the wind wasn't too bad.

Even better ride in to work

No wind at all and felt great:

Distance: 30.6 miles
Time: 1:31
Avg Speed: 20.1 mph
Max Speed: 27.3 mph

I made another bonehead move. When I got to the train intersection at 900 W and about 100 S I saw the train that was going about 10mph had its last car go across the track as I was approaching. The traffic beam was still down and I saw pedestrians going under it on the left side. I moved ahead of all the cars, bent over real low and going about 5 mph or so went under it.

I ended up clipping my right shoulder with the beam and man did it hurt. I don't know how I managed to stay on cause my front wheel veered left sharply, but I stayed on. I mumbled, "Oops, not low enough" and felt like a real idiot in front of all the cars and pedestrians who saw. If I was going faster I could have crashed or broke something. It was dumb. Next time, just wait!

-----------------------------------------
The ride home was again very breezy from the North. So I was punished again. It eased up just a bit the further north I got.

Distance: 30.7 miles
Time: 1:45
Avg Speed: 17.5 mph

Felt good though.

Another excellent ride

Today was a great ride in. No wind at all, and the temperature was perfect. I didn't have to wear any under armor for warmth. I had to deal with some slight cramping in my stomach, but nothing major.

Distance: 31.6 miles
Time: 1:38
Avg Speed: 19.3 mph
Max Speed: 27.9 mph

I also mounted and demounted with the shoes in the clips for practice, which I will always do from now on.

The ride home wasn't nearly as windy as last time so it went well except when I got to the end of Gordon, instead of taking the corner around onto Bluff (which has no shoulder) I tried finding a new route back up through the subdivision up to 2700 S, but ended up in a maze. I finally found it after feeling like a rat. Here are the stats going back home:

Distance: 32.7 miles
Time: 1:44
Avg Speed:18.9 mph

Total for the day: 64.3 miles

Where to buy Powerbar stuff

This looks like a pretty good place to get deals on powerbar stuff:

http://www.allstarhealth.com/li_b/POWERBAR.htm

Shipping is 5.95 per order no matter how much you get. Sweet.

Long run - 10 miles around Pioneer Park

Today noon came and I was dreading to go on my planned run. I was even considering bagging it with the excuse that I just biked over 60 miles yesterday. But I decided that I couldn't give in to making excuses so I left my desk at 12:20 to go get ready to run. Here's what I did:

.3 - Run to pioneer park from Tomax
9.45 - 21 laps around pioneer park (.45m each)
.3 - Run back to Tomax

10 Miles

I walked for 1 minute at lap 6, and 14. So only about .25m of the whole run was walking. For each time I walked I took a moment to unwrap a buzz bite and eat it. Haven't been heaping on a whole lot of calories lately in my quest to get down under 180. Plus it gave me something to look forward to that was a short term reward for keeping with the plan. Felt numb after I had been into the run about 3 miles. That is a good thing cause you quite feeling the pain so much and feel like a machine just turning over and over without strain.

What a great run!

Wonderful ride in to work

So this is the second ride of the season. It has finally quit raining/snowing and we have some decent weather. Last night I decided I would ride in to work instead of swim. So I left at 7:25 am which is a little later than I wanted, but the wind was kind to me.

In fact there was NO wind. The flags all showed no breeze at all which is perfect. Here are the stats:

31.6 miles
1:42 time spent
18.5 mph avg speed

----------------------------------------------------------------
The ride home was a different story. It was breezy coming from the north so it wasn't as fun going home.

On the Legacy bike path in Bountiful there were a couple kids and one of them was weaving left and right from each side of the pavement. He was heading towards me. He was looking up and clearly saw me from a ways off. When we got closer to passing each other I thought his game of weaving onto my side of the path would stop, but no he kept on going and was about to hit me just as we passed. I had to get up off my aerobars and said "Watch out!". He wasn't smiling like he was trying to be a smart ass, just a goofy look like he didn't care. So just another dumb ass.

The wind got less severe as I got into Farmington. Then I started cramping up in my stomach in Kaysville so I stopped for a second at a park. I lied on my back and stretched it out real good, then resumed my ride home. I did the 31 miles in @ 1:58. My GPS ran out of batteries just as I was heading up Bluff. Not the best ride, but at least it didn't rain on me.

Total for the day: 62 miles, 3:48

Pioneer Park run

Today was a nice day. Sunny, not too hot with a slight breeze. Measured out that it is .30 miles from Tomax to Pioneer Park. Then one lap around the park is .45 miles. I did 10 laps and ran from/to Tomax. I did that in 45:05

.3 - to PP
4.5 - 10 x .45m
.3 - to Tomax

5.1 miles in 45:05

Nice!

Run with Cathi

Ran to return the redbox up on Antelope at McDonalds, and then continued on with Cathi and turned right at the gas stations on Main, then went down to Gordon and continued back home.

Total miles: 4.6 in 41:16

Long Run with Cathi - 15 miles in 2:20

This morning I was planning on a new record - 10 miles. But I felt so good and kept going and going. But by the time I got to 12 I was beat so we started home. The route was good, the sun was out and the wind wasn't too bad. This was our last day here in Falmouth so I wanted to make a good memory before we left. Excellent run:

Lifting in Pocasset, MA

This evening the pool was closed in Sandwich and man was I angry. I was really looking forward to swimming and wanted a good workout. Cathi pointed out this gym on the way back to Falmouth. I went inside and it looked like it would work so I paid the insane price of $10 and had a great workout. I did everything in 3 sets. I did:

Bench, decline DB Press, Machine flys, cable tri pulldowns, machine overhead tri extensions, Wide Grip rows, tricep overhead press, preacher curls, alternating DB Curls, Incline bench, decline bench press. Very good gym and killer workout. I'm gonna be majorly sore tomorrow.

Felt much better afterwards. I needed a workout and was going nuts thinking I wouldn't get something in.

6 mile run in Falmouth to the beach

Cathi and I got up this morning and ran 6 miles in Falmouth. We wanted to run to the beach and we did that. It was awesome. There was only one hill, a wonderful path to run on the whole time and loved the fresh air, even the smell of salt from the beach and then back to the hotel. It was sunny and cool. Perfect running day.

Running in Braintree after running 10K in Boston the day before

I was stiff today and slept so good last night. We stayed in a Motel 6 in Braintree so we wouldn't have to drive up from Falmouth where we're staying. So I got up at 7:15 and ran/walked the following:


Only ran about half this cause my legs were very stiff and knew that I'd be running with Cathi tomorrow. Did this in about an hour.

Running the last 10K of the Boston Marathon

Cathi and I took the red line train up to Park Street. Cathi got off to get on the buses to go to the start while I took the green line to Newton Center and walked a half mile up to Commonwealth Road to the base of Heartbreak hill @ mile 19. I got there at about 7:45 and waited and froze in the slight wind until 11:00 am. There was a concession stand that offered hot chocolate. I must have purchased 6 cups throughout the morning. I was shivering like a little girl. I saw the wheelchair entrants zoom past, then a double amputee guy with long metal legs come next, then the fastest ladies, then the fastest men. Then I waited for another couple hours.

I was getting text messages on my phone when she got to the 10K (6.2 m), 1/2 marathon (13.1 m), and 30K (18.6 m). I was at mile 19 so I knew once I got the last text message she would be there in just a couple minutes. I started stretching out real good at 1:30pm. Then I got the 30K heads up on my phone. I saw her in just a couple minutes and she had a huge smile on her face. She was so excited to have me join her at the start of heartbreak. I'm glad I was able to do that because we just zoomed up that hill. We were passing people left and right. We had to navigate in and out of slower runners. It was cool because I was able to help motivate Cathi to pick up her pace even up that hill. Her pace time just kept getting better and better.

There were thousands of people cheering on the sides the whole time. Lots of high fives, people offering sliced oranges, water, and even kisses. I declined everything. I stayed ahead of Cathi trying to be like a carrot in front of her. Not too far though. Just enough to help guide her in and out of the runners in front who were slowing down and needed to pass. It worked out great. I felt wonderful and lots of energy. When we saw Bill and Roceil at mile 25 I was going to bail, but Cathi asked me to stay longer so I stayed until the route turned at 26 just before the finish line. I found a small gap in the cheering section on the side and jumped and over the barrier.

Within a minute I got her last text message. Her time was 4:10. Not bad. I had a great time and would love to be able to do the whole thing if I ever get that fast.

Results of Cathi's Boston Marathon - 4:10:31

Boston Marathon #16 - 4:10:31

The marathon I've been looking forward to for months now! I was so excited to have a chance to get to run this marathon. It was the 113th annual Boston Marathon. Over 26,000 people ran it. There were crowds almost the entire way. There were crowds 4 people deep some places, especially the last 4 miles or so. It was like the whole state of Massachusetts was behind us. All of the marques welcomed the runners. Tons of signs. Many of the fans handed out oranges or water. I was so impressed by the support of this great city.


My race was good. I started out pretty slow - around a 10 min mile pace! I was able to pick it up. I was about exhausted by mile 20. The Newton Hills weren't too bad. In Newton is were Heartbreak Hill begins at Mile 19. It is two fairly good sized hills that stretch from 19 to 21. Gordon joined me for the last 6 miles. He pushed me. Mom and Dad were waiting at mile 25 and that helped me alot too.

I finished around a 9 min mile pace. It feels great to pick it up near the end.

Run to not feel so old

Man - I'm still sore from Monday's run, but I'm not just gonna let me old creaky body just keep recovering. It's taking too much time! So today at lunch I went downstairs, stretched really good and then did 4 miles in 36:20.

I'm feeling better in fact, I don't feel very sore anymore. The pace was great and didn't feel any pain during the run, just sweat. Good stuff. I'm excited for today's work day to be over!!! Then my vacation with Cathi begins!

4.125 miles total including slight warmdown

Psoas strain

Well I was right. I was going to be sore. But not in the area I thought I was. I thought my legs would be sore, but instead my Psoas Major is sore. It isn't painful as in it feels torn or anything, just stiff, like I did too many crunches or something. When I stretch the muscle it feels like it's just sore and not really injured.

My back is sore too (Lats, lower traps), but not too bad.

So because of that my goals for this week have been shot. I was planning on running 5, 7 and 9 miles on M/W/F this week. Well I ran almost 9 on Monday and that is why I'm sore. The soreness definitely does not affect my swimming so I'll be stepping that up a bit this week because even walking is a little painful. Running is out of the question this week. I may have to try another long run (10 miles) only one more time before the Memorial Day Half Marathon. If I keep doing 5-6 miles runs I'll probably avoid the soreness and get some good training in, but if I do long runs then it will probably cause me to need too much recovery time. If this doesn't heal pretty quick I may need to reanalyze my goals.

Just getting the blood to flow

Today at lunch I just did a short little stint:

15 min bike
5 min elliptical
15 min - 3 sets each of Bench Press & Preacher Curls

Nothing major, just enough to get the blood flowing. Had a healthy lunch and went back to work. Tomorrow is my running day. I'm a little sore from yesterday, but not so much that it should affect tomorrow's run much.

Long run with Cathi - 8.75 new PR

OK - when you a wimpy newbie runner like me, you're breaking PR's left and right and today was no exception. Today it was a beautiful day. I wish it would stay that way and I could ride my bike in to work, but tomorrow is forecasted to be crappy. But I took advantage of it today and worked through lunch and got off in time to get home to go on a long run with Cathi.

Here's the route she took me on. It was supposed to be 8 miles, but ended up being almost 8.75. It took me 1:22:15 to run this route. A little slower than what I wanted, but I didn't end up walking. I paced myself well and was able to pick it up going up 1000 W.

Felt good. I'm going to be sore tomorrow. My knee was giving me just a small amount of grief at about mile 7, but I kept on going and it went away.

One reason I did this run is yesterday after discussing with Cathi, I'm going to up my goal of doing a half marathon to next month! I was jumping a huge hurdle just last week saying I was going to do the Pocatello Half marathon this year. Now I'm doing two half marathons this summer. With my first full marathon planned for Ogden Marathon next year. I'm getting hooked people!

Getting updates on Cathi's Boston Marathon

If you're interested in getting real-time updates of Cathi's race, you can get her time at the following point:

• Starting line


• 10k


• Half-Marathon


• 30k


• Finish

You just have to simply text RUNNER to 41234. The BAA will text back a request for her bib number. Just text back her bib number: 18209.

Visit this page for more details or other options.

Cathi's Bib number is: 18209

Awesome run

Today I stretched real good before my run and planned on doing 6 miles depending on how well I felt. I started out at 6.0 mph @ 2.0% grade. Felt so good after 3 miles I moved it up to 6.5. Then kept moving it up till I got to Mile 6.75 up to 8.0 mph.

So I did 1:00 even @ 6.75 miles total.

Great workout!

Slightly steeper

I was planning on doing another 6 miles today, but due to shortness of time during lunch break I only did 4.5 miles, but I increased the grade to 2.5% for the first 3 miles. Then down to 2.0% for the last 1.5 miles, but increased the speed from 6.0 mph to 6.1 Barely noticeable either way.

4.5 miles total @ 45:00

6 Mile Run no walking at all

This is the farthest I've ever run without taking a single step as a walk. Ran the whole time @ 6.0 mph or higher.

On the sixth mile I increased 0.25 mph every quarter mile. When I finished the six miles I was at 7.0 mph

Completed in 58:30

Felt really good about this run. I was sore to start with from last Saturday's run with Cathi. My Quads are feeling it!

Running part of the Yakima Marathon with Cathi

Cathi and I drove up to Washington starting Friday morning. When we got there we got the packet and then went to Olive Garden for dinner. It was delicious.

Then we went back to the Selah Civic Center to listen to "Rev" talk about marathons. It was funny. Great comedy routine. There was a guy there who was running the marathon blind.

The thing about the Yakima marathon is that at mile 22 there is a pretty good sized hill that lasts about 1.5 miles. Once you get past that your on the homestretch. I told Cathi that I skipped my Friday run so I could run the last 5 miles with her on the marathon. She was very happy about that.

So Friday night we parked in a parking lot in some subdivision and watched Pelican Brief on the laptop. Cathi was getting a little frisky and well the cops came. But by the time they came we were innocently watching the end of the movie. They just said they wanted to make sure it wasn't a couple of teenagers. Hehe.

Cathi woke me up in a panic. Gordon! It's 6:15! We missed the bus! I found that hard to believe since I set my alarm for 5:30 and its loud. After a few seconds I had to calm her down. Her clock was still on Utah time and we were in Pacific Time Zone. After that we couldn't go back to sleep. We drove over to the Civic Center and Cathi started her routine for getting ready.

She boarded the bus and I killed a couple hours watching "Contact". Then I drove to the finish line and started walking. I saw the first hundred runners during that time. When I got to mile 21 I waited for only about 15 minutes before I saw Cathi. I knew that she was a little behind in getting under 4 hours, but that's OK. As long as her hip doesn't bother her. The last long run she took really scared her because she had some big pain in her hip. But when she met me she was so happy. She said, "I've never felt this great at the end of a marathon!".

So we started up the long hill. I went over it to get to that point and knew it pretty well. I knew I could run it without walking. I was concerned for Cathi though. She had already run 21 miles to that point and might be tired. She just said, "Bring it! See if you can keep up Gord!" I was glad to see her so peppy.

It was warm by the time we got to the top of the hill. I looked down and saw that my underarmor shirt that I had tied around me had come loose and fallen. I started to turn around to run back for it, but then I realized I wasn't here to save my favorite workout shirt, but to motivate Cathi so I turned back around and chased after Cathi. The whole time up that hill we ran and were passing people left and right. When we came down the hill we still were passing people left and right.

Cathi's average speed was barely increased during the climb and was actually pretty quick coming down. She ended up with 4:14:22. Not bad. We had a fantastic run and I was able to run the whole time and enjoyed being with her.

The drive was 22 hours round trip and my Mom was so kind enough to help with the kids for those two day. What a great trip! Now I'm really excited for Boston in two weeks.

Here is a short two minute video of our trip:

From Cathi's Marathons

Intense Ride

Got back on the bike downstairs during lunch and did 1 full hour of 6 min intervals (Easy to super hard)

Kicked my butt and it felt great afterwards!

6.5 mile run

I was very happy with today's workout:

3 miles - 3 miles run @ 6.5 mph @ 2.0% Grade
.25 miles - recovery (pulse @ 148 @ 4.0 mph)
3 miles - 3 miles run @ 6.0 mph and increase last .5 mile in increments up to 8.0 mph)
.25 miles warm down

6.5 miles @ 53:00

I'm going to count this as my new distance record for running.

Non running day

Today I decided to get in the gym for a little biceps work. My mass has shrunk considerable since last year and its almost embarrassing.

Seated Preacher Curls: 4 x 15-20 @ 75
Concentration Curls: 4 x 12 @ 30

Then went and did 30 minutes of my programmed course on the Elliptical machine. Burned 336 Calories.

Not bad for a "rest day". Need to remember to get some Vassie for tomorrow's run which I'm going to try and do 6 miles. I think that would be a new record for me. At least since Ricks when I really screwed up my knee running with Sarah Bowman.

Back to the treadmill

I was very eager to get back to the treadmill. I didn't run much last week since I was tapering for the swim meet.

So here's what I did:

3.0 - 3 x (.85m run, .15m walk)(6.8, 7.0, 6.8mph) @ 2.5% grade
2.0 - 2 x (.85m run, .15m walk)(6.5, 6.5mph) @ 2.0% grade
.25 - .125 @ 8.0mph, .125 @ 7.0 mph

5.25 Miles Total

I need to get some vaseline. There some rubbing happening on the inside of my leg. Started to burn. I was going to go for 6 today, but decided not to keep going past 5 to avoid a blister. Will do 6 next time though.

Short Run

Last Saturday I was out in the garage filling up my bike tires with air when I got bit by two or three mosquitos on my right ankle. Man it has swollen up pretty good and is very itchy. It's weird cause my right shoe is a little tighter than my left one now. Due to this weekend's swim meet, I'm tapering so today's run was half distance:

2.0 miles - 2 x (.90 m run, .10 m walk) @ 7.5 and 7.8 mph @ 2% grade
.75 miles - 2 x (.25 run, .125 walk) @ 8.5 and 9.0 mph

I think 9.0 mph on the treadmill isn't good for it. It gets real loud and after a few seconds of 9.0 mph it drops down to 8.0, but I'm definitely not going that slow in fact I think I'm going faster. The left treadmill isn't as good.

Good run.

First outside ride of the season

This morning since I had to work decided to bike in since I wouldn't be able to ride out to Garr Ranch as planned. It was a nice ride until I got to Centerville where the headwind was pretty vicious and I ended up dropping my average speed 3 mph. Went from close to 20 mph average down to 17.4 by the time I got to work. Here are the overall stats:

Distance: 31.6 miles
Time: 1:49
Avg Speed: 17.3 mph

Double that for when I go home too. Except hopefully its faster since I'll have the wind to my advantage. What a beautiful day!

Run to the Club and table tennis play this evening

At 1:30pm I ran over to the club to meet a welder to fix all the tables. I met George there and the welder guy was way late. After he got all of them welded I ran back to work.

Then a couple hours later picked up Austin at the Central station and went over to the club. I played Lailing Ma and took a game off him and the others were fairly close. That's the first time I've beaten him in a game. I also lost to Yihlin Chan 3, but won two. They were all close games too and were fun. The other players I ended up hitting with were smashes where I would win 3 out of 3 or 3 out of 4. That included Carlos which usually goes pretty close. I felt great. I was getting weak, hot and tired, but I snapped in my head that I wasn't going to get lazy and I flipped a switch in my head and started running for the ball, being light on my feet and playing more aggressively. My game improved dramatically. I felt a little energized like my favorite wild animal, the Honey Badger.

Strong finish

Feeling a little more fatigue than normal. My diet has been very strict the past couple days and I've been losing good, but the problem is that it leaves very little extra energy. Takes more will to really push it. Which I did today. I started out hoping to do 6 miles, but about 2 miles into it decided to just do the 5.5.

At Mile 3 Sherry Babcock came in and used the other treadmill. Then at Mile 4, Joanna Kennedy came in and she always uses just the treadmill, so I decided to just finish mile 5, not be a treadmill hog and let her take mine. So I ran the full 5th mile straight and at a strong pace:

4.0 miles - 4 x (.85 - .90m run, .15 - .10m walk) 6.5, 6.8, 7.0, 7.2 @ 2.0% grade
1.0 miles - 1 mile run @ 7.5 mph

5.0 miles @ 46:28

Stretched out good before and after. Felt great! Would like to get up to six soon. Tonight I'll be watching Survivor at work downstairs and I'll be on the treadmill again. Not sure if I'll be running though. If I do, I'll make another post.

Little bit of biking and dodgeball

At lunch I only had 45 minutes so I did 30 minutes on the bike: 5 sets of 6 intervals. Then did 5 minutes of crunches. Was late for a meeting that I forgot about.

Then had to leave early to get my car and go straight to a youth activity. We played several rounds of dodgeball. I did better than last time and was able to hold on to ball that was thrown at me. Still dropped a couple, but for the most part was dominating and won for our team.

It's warming up. I think I'll play a 50 miler out to Garr Ranch on Antelope and back home this Saturday.

Good run

Felt like this today on the treadmill:


5.0 miles - 5 x (.80m run, .20m walk) @ 6.5, 6.8, 7.0, 7.2, 7.5 mph @ 2.0 % grade
.5 miles - 2 x (.125m run, .125m walk) @ 7.0, 8.0 @ 2.5% grade

5.5 miles total

Third day this week I've run

This is a record breaking week. I've never run this far in one week: 15.5 miles total

Here's what I did today:

4.0 miles - 4 x (.85 m run, .15 m recover) @ 6.5, 6.8, 7.0, 7.0 @ 2% grade
1.0 miles - 4 x .25 m run (6.5, 7.0, 7.5, 6.0)
.5 miles - .125 m @ 9.0 mph, .125 @ 4.0 mph

5.5 miles total

Felt great about this workout. The key for me is to spend some good time stretching before hand. That way I feel loose and not tight. Tight = more likely to make excuses to quit early.

Biked and lifted and biked

I noticed this morning that I'm not only losing weight in general, but muscle as well. So today I decided to lift at lunch for half an hour. I did 5 sets of bench machine, 4 sets of rows. Nothing major, and nothing that I'm sure will actually make a difference, but its something I need to do more of or I'm gonna be skinny AND flat.

Biked for 34 minutes. 28 minutes into it one of the coworkers using the treadmill pointed the fan right at me. Man was that a big difference. It felt great. Good workout, but I'm afraid I'm not getting enough protein so I went to get some beef jerky afterwards.

When I got home I watched Survivor while biking. Nothing major intense, just a steady easy pace (15mph). Sure makes exercise go quick when you aren't even thinking about it. Problem is, you don't get much benefit out of it. But at least it's better than sitting there with a bag of chips.

Pushing through the pain

Dude I hate running. It's not fun at all. I don't see how Cathi can do miles upon miles of it. Today I set a mental goal to do the following and I stuck with it.

4.0m - 4 x (.80m run, .20 m walk) @ 6.5, 6.8, 7.0, 7.0 @ 2.0% grade
1.0m - 4 x (.125m run, .125m walk) @ 8.0, 8.5, 9.0, 9.0) @ 2.5% grade

5.0 miles @ 50:00 exactly

Now if I can just eliminate the walking breaks....

Racquetball signoff

Got to Surf N Swim at 6:00 this morning and there were already 6 people there. I played doubles with Eric and we beat Brett and Shawn, then played Blair and Steve and beat them twice. Then lost to Blair and Steve. Eric had to leave so I played cut-throat with Blair and Steve and lost both times to Blair. Need to keep up the intensity. I play best when I play with energy. I'm not a good enough shot to play lazily.

I have three weeks before the swim meet, so I think I'll give up racquetball now to get in more swimming. It's crowded now anyway. So good bye for now. I'll be back in October.

At lunch I ran the following:

4 x (.80m run (6.5, 6.8, 7.0, 6.8 mph), .20m walk (4.0)) @ 2.0 grade
4 x (.20m run (7.5, 8.0, 8.5, 9.0), .05m walk (4.0) @ 2.5 grade
.25m @ 6.0 mph

5.25 miles @ 52.30

Very good run. Was only planning on 4.0 miles. Felt great.

My arm is doing good now

Typically by Friday my arm is killing me after only a few minutes of playing racquetball, but today it was fine the whole time. I'm not hitting it less intense, I think I'm doing better putting the arm band in the right spot and the tendon is getting used to it probably. Today I played better than yesterday, but still far from where I want to be. Sad thing is I probaly only have a month or less of play before I have to hang up my racquetball racket.

Played for 2 hours this morning and met Trent for the first time who is a good player. He beat me 15-12 in singles.

Steve almost got knocked out

Today there were alot of people (9 total) with two courts so I sat out for the first 10 minutes being there. Played doubles with Dad and won one game and lost the other. Then played doubles with Blair. Steve served up and Blair really drilled him good in the back. It dropped Steve to his knees, when he got up he was hobbling as if he had been clocked in the chin. I've never seen that before. He was hit hard that's for sure.

My game today was a little better than Monday, but still off. I need to do drills on my back hand and do better about watching the ball. Hopefully tomorrow my arm isn't that sore. Otherwise I'll be swimming.

Run and Elliptical

Ran to the bank and then up the steep hill that Mike Carroll and I used to do when I was working at Deseret Gym. Then ran back to work. It was really windy which was nice. Here's a map of the 2 mile route.


Then did some serious Elliptical for 30 minutes. Great lunch break!

Good run

Need to get back into running and I felt motivated so after a good stretch I did:

3.5 miles - .8m @6.5mph, .2m @ 4.0 mph, .8m run @ 6.8, .2m walk @ 4.5, .8m @ 7.0, .2m @ 4.0, .125 @ 8.0, .125 @ 4.5, .125 @ 9.0, .125 @ 5.0

Did this run in 33 minutes. Then did 26 minutes on the bike sets of 6 minutes easy to hard.

Got up a good sweat and felt great about this workout.

Too crowded

Went to Layton and played doubles with Brett against Blair and Steve. We should have won by I ended up doing terrible shots and they came back to win. Then Shawn and Eric came, and then Lori came. It was too many people for one court so after another doubles match which I choked on, I decided to just go swim instead since I was playing so badly.

For lunch I did 42 minutes on the bike. I only had that much time. Did 7 sets of 6 minutes easy to hard.

Racquetball isn't good for my arm

Had some major pain in my right bicep which I had last Friday too. The arm band isn't helping very much some days. Played for 1.5 hours with Shawn and Eric. Won twice and lost twice. Not bad. I need to practice the short corner shots which Shawn is fantastic at doing.

Good workout

Got to SDRC at 6:05 and the whole crew was there. I saw Eric practicing by himself in the challenge court so I played three singles matches with him. He won all three. I was ticked. I did get a good sweat in, but Eric had several good shots and won.

I then played two singles matches with Wendell. I had him 14-8 and he came back to win which was frustrating. After that he won the second match easily.

I then played two doubles matches with Blair as my partner and we won both. Then played cutthroat with Steve and Dan and Dan won it. I didn't play very well today, but I did get a good workout. Played for 2.5 hours which went by way too fast! I could play Racquetball all day! Here are some pictures:


Dad playing Wendell, Eric practicing his pre-serve bouncing, Blair giving a quick lesson, Steve, Dan and Steve playing cutthroat game.

Tough Ride

Today at lunch I went downstairs planning to only ride for 30 minutes and then do the elliptical machine for 30, but Randy came in and took the elliptical in the middle of my ride so I ended up just riding for an hour. Did 10 sets of 6 minutes, easy to very difficult.

I sweat a ton and drank a liter of water which I had to ration at the end since I was going through it too fast at the start. Very good ride. Got my heart rate and breathing up there.

Slept in

This morning I was too tired to get up at 5:00 am as planned. I slept in an hour later. Did 50 minutes of racquetball at Layton with Shawn and Eric. Played two games cutthroat. I won the first one and Eric the second. Then played singles with Shawn who was very exhausted and I won that one. Now that the tournament is over, it's time to really hit the cardio work. No more table tennis at lunch. It's going to be biking, elliptical, jogging and lifting.

Also once daylight savings kicks in, I'll be biking to/from work a couple days a week. I also plan on swimming on Mon night, Tuesday Morning, Wednesday Evening, Thursday Evening and Saturday morning. I've had enough time out of the water to get beyond the Blahs.

It's going to be a tough two weeks now, but I think it'll really kick my metabolism into shape.

At lunch I did 2.25 m on the treadmill: .75 @ 6.5mph, .25 @ 3.5, .75 @ 6.6, .25 @ 3.5, .25@6.7 All at 2.5-3.0 grade

then did 20 minutes on bike followed by 60 pushups straight.

Results of 2009 Western Open

Last Friday morning, Austin, Jacob and I drove to Sacramento. The drive was long and the boys just watched movie after movie on the laptop which I had hooked up to a power converter in the car. When we got there I was surprised at how big Cathi's house is. Very roomy. Nice neighborhood and she made us some delicious Spaghetti and rolls. Watched Madagascar 2 with them.


The next morning we got up at 5:00 and drove 85 miles to UCBerkley where the tournament was. We immediately saw Yau-man Chen when we got there. He's our favorite all time Survivor.
We knew he played table tennis and got him to sign a ball for us. We also got Ethan Chua to sign a ball for us as well as Ariel Hsing. Austin and Jacob both played in three events. Austin played 10 people total, he won 5 and lost 5. Jacob played 9 people total. He lost all nine, but he looked like he was having fun. Probably too much fun. He wasn't getting into it and not very serious in his play. It's good to see that he isn't playing as emotionally as Austin (who sometimes appears to be on the verge of crying in the middle of a game), but it's also frustrating to see him nonchalantly serve and return the ball and miss most of them. I think I'll pull him out of competition until he can take the game a little more seriously.


I only played one event (1550 and Under). I beat everyone in my group (three people). I was the second seed by a hair in the group. I then played in the first single elimination round and lost (all the games were deuce games except the third). I played well defensively, but only made a few shots offensively. I need more confidence and consistency to play offensively. The control box for our robot should get here this week and I'll be practicing more on it. So my overall win score was 3 wins, 1 loss.

I think I might have gained just a couple of points is all, if any. Austin may have the same kind of result. While Jacob is still rated so low even though he didn't win anything probably wont lose any points.

On the way back to Cara's we stopped and had pizza at Round Table Pizza. We had a fun time on this trip and hope to do this again next year. We'll bring Lucy next time so she can stay and play with Makayla. Cara sure has some cute kids!

Getting pegged

This morning I got up and made it to SDRC by 6am. Played two singles matches with Shawn and got beat. I was frustrated because I was playing well, but his shots were very well placed and unreachable. Then played doubles and cutthroat and did well there. Won a few.

I was teammates with Steve Olson who was pegging people with the ball left and right. I got hit a couple times, not bad though. Hit myself in the face with the ball hitting off the wall 5 feet from the front. Duh.

I had alot of energy and played well. I used a piece of rope to tie around my forearm. Blair gave me a band that was designed just for that. It worked great. I didn't have any issues with pain in my arm. Thanks Blair!

I noticed my strings are already fraying. They better not break soon or I'll be ticked. That's about $30 a pop.

Long day at work

Today I had a long day at work. I slept in and didn't get to work till 9am, but I worked all day without much of a break at all clear until 7pm. I did get what I wanted done though just before 7pm. Tough stuff.

I immediately went downstairs and did 30 minutes on the bike, 30 good minute on the eliptical, and 12 minutes on the treadmill (.25 run (6.5mph), .25 walk (3.5), .25 run (7.0), .25 walk (3.5) = 1 mile total. Not very impressive on the run, but it's something and a first stab at getting back into running.

Had some thoughts about yesterday's fireside and went up and blogged about it.

Good timing

Got up early this morning and drove in to Tomax. Noticed a sign saying all lanes of traffic were closed on I-15 in NSL so I took Legacy in. It was snowing pretty good too. Had I took I-15 I would have been in to work at 8am. Plus because it was so early Legacy was at freeway speed so it was a decent commute.

Did 30 minutes on the bike, and then 30 minutes on the elliptical. Then did 75 pushups straight. Good workout.

In the evening after the fireside meeting with Austin, I did another hour on the bike at home while watching my favorite show, The Biggest Loser. It didn't seem like an hour while I was spinning away. Nice workout.

I had to laugh when I read that my Brother Russell watches the same show while eating ice cream. C'mon man! That's sad!

Bad day for hitting people

This morning I woke up really tired at 5:30am. Went over to Surf N' Swim and played two singles matches with Blair. Went 1-1. Then played Cutthroat with Shawn. I think I won one game, but can't remember for sure. I hit Shawn once and Blair once with the ball. Blair had to work today (so do I) and took off and I had time for one more with Shawn.

He served and it came around my left and I had to swing around in a desperation to get it. I flicked it pretty good and it hit Shawn right in the face as he was looking back. It knocked his glasses off. It was a pretty hard hit. His boys were there and he said "See, that is why we wear glasses on court". I could see it was red where the ball hit him. I felt bad and apologized. Today wasn't a good day for playing very well, or for not hitting people. I guess it's my turn next time to get pegged a few times. I deserve it.

I'm exhausted

Did eat dinner last night cause I got home late from work. I woke up this morning at 5:10 am and had a cup of Grape-nuts and went to SDRC to play racquetball. I played cutthroat with Dad and Eric for 5 games (I only won one game which was frustrating). At 8:00 they took off and I played a singles match with Steve Olson. I barely won that game. I played for 2 1/2 hours and burned alot of calories. I'm so tired my arms are shaking. Need to get the weight off!

Another hour

Another hour on the bike. This time at Tomax in the basement. Typical 10 x 6 min sets. Good sweat. Cathi has me on the bandwagon now. If only I could quit making excuses for getting in the pool!

Biked another hour

Came to Tomax early and did one hour on the bike. Kept to the plan:

10 x 6 min (1 m super easy, 2m easy, 2m moderate, 1 m hard)

Good workout.

Back on the trainer

Cathi and I were late getting the kids to bed and missed the threshold for going to the pool to swim. So we went downstairs and watched the news while I rocked out on my MP3 and did 1 hour on the bike. My goal was to get over 16 miles in one hour and I did it in 59:40. Talk about cutting it close.

While 16 miles in one hour on the road would get me really depressed, in the shape I'm in right now 16 mph is pretty good on the trainer. I'm still not convinced its the same as riding on the road. I need to get another DVD player for downstairs so I can go back to riding to Coach Troy.

I got my racquet back from getting restrung and it looks good. I'm eager to play on Thursday.

Broken String

This morning I went to SDRC for 2 hours of racquetball, but only was able to play for 30. Halfway into my second game my string broke on my good racket and I had to play with my old one with has terrible vibration when hit with any decent power. Good thing is I won both games I played. Cutthroat with Dan and Spencer (a new guy who I felt bad for cause he was so new), and then a singles match with Dan. Was behind most of the game and then had a good couple rounds of points to come back and steal it from him. He clocked me pretty good in the right ear from three feet away. But didn't get bugged by it even though had he called a hinder would have been more courteous.

I'll get the racket restrung this evening on the way to Bountiful Temple at the Sports store on 500 S. Came to Tomax and rode on the bike for 10 minutes (planned on 30, but lost my steam and desire) followed by two minutes of abs. Kind of a crappy day, but hoping that my dieting today makes up for it. Will play table tennis for an hour today at lunch.

Getting there....

Getting back into the good diet and lots of exercise routine. Almost back under 200. Today I did 1 hr table tennis practice at lunch along with 4 sets of bench press 15 @ 135. After work I did 1 hour on the bike pretty intense.

Racquetball this morning

This morning was awesome. I was moving around the court like lightning and was making Blair and Shawn move around. I was doing some pretty good short shots and some devastating power shots. I sure like Bountiful better for those though. That top back wall is nice to have. Worked up a good sweat for 1.5 hours.

Need to ride the bike today and plan on doing table tennis at noon today. The Evanston Chinese New Year Tournament is this weekend and I plan on doing well even though I didn't do so hot last Friday at the club. I'm trying to execute shorter movements on my forehand to avoid the bad form I've been using.

Racquetball and a bad blister

Got up this morning and played Racquetball at SDRC. Played in some shoes that aren't that good and ended up with a pretty bad blister. My skills haven't diminished too bad since the long break I took. I beat Sean twice and almost one in a cutthroat with Tom and Steve. Worked up a good sweat and I'm thinking I'll definitely stick with this. Will play on Friday morning in Layton.

Plan on playing TT at lunch again and will be going to Glen's tonight with Austin for some TT coaching.

Good ride and lots of table tennis.

This morning I got up early and went to work. I had a good Table Tennis practice session with Gyan at noon. After work I went downstairs and biked the good old 6 minute set for an hour:

1:00 - 10 x 6:00 - 1 min super easy, 2 min easy, 2 min moderate, 1 min tough standing.

Went home and drilled with Austin for another hour. I have a feeling that the tournament in Evanston is going to go well. I feel like I'm at the top of my game right now.

My swimming on the other hand has taken a back seat. After the Western Open, I'll be giving table tennis a break and going back to swimming. Will be doing racquetball tomorrow morning at SDRC.

Sore from yesterday

I'm a little sore from yesterday's racuetball. That's good. I did 30 minutes on the trainer this morning at Tomax. Had to cut the workout short to get in enough work hours today. Need to leave early for Scouts this evening. Hoping it ends early enough for me to swim.

Raquetball again finally

I finally got back in the court. Went to Surf N' Swim and played with Blair and Eric Larson. Didn't bomb completely. I played pretty good considering the time off. I also almost beat Blair which was a shock. Lost by two. Definitely going to get back into it. It's the most fun way to work up a sweat. Even more than biking.

Excellent Ride

This evening I went downstairs at Tomax and rode hard:

1:18 - 15 x (1m fastest on 1, 2m fast on 2, 2m medium on 3, 1m hard w/standing on 4)
2m fast and easy

1:20 total. Very good workout.

Blah

Came in to work early (6:30am) to bike again. After about 30 minutes I was just not able to get the same level of effort as I did yesterday. So I stopped and moved over to the row machine and did 1000 M in 4:38. Then I lifted Bench and Preacher Curls.

Did 1 hour of exercises, but not happy with the level of effort. Energy level feels low and I didn't get a full night's sleep. I got to bed late thanks to the Draper Temple trip with the youth last night.

Nice ride

Got up at 4:45 am this morning and went to work and did the following in the Tomax Gym:

1:12 - 12 x (1 min real easy high cadence, 2 min easy high cadence, 2 min medium effort, 1 min high effort lower cadence)

3 min crunches
75 pushups all in one set

Sweat a ton and feeling good about today's effort.

Not my day

This morning Cathi woke me up before she went to the gym so I could go bike downstairs. When I got down there the door to the storage room was locked and so I had to go back upstairs to get my keys. Then the DVD player was broken, then the battery on my computer was nearly dead so I had to replace that. Then I realized I had to reenter the wheel code to get the speed right. I threw the manual away so I went online to try and find it, but only got a close number, but I'm not sure it's very accurate. Will email Dale to see if he could give me the number.

By the time I started biking I was already 30 minutes behind schedule. But I finally got my big butt (literally) on the saddle.

This time I have data (although it's probably a little inaccurate).

1 hour - 15.0 miles

Monday morning and lunch

Did one hour with Coach Troy on the 3rd DVD of the Spinervals 100 set. One more hour and I will have done the whole thing. I'm gonna call Dale today to see if my computer has arrived yet cause I'm sure that my rpms are low for what Troy is prescribing.

1 hour on the trainer.

Afterwards did 1 set of 70 pushups and 50 crunches

At lunch nobody was available for table tennis practice, so I did another hour on the bike. This time no DVD available so I put my stopwatch in the middle of the handlebars of the stationary bike and did the following:

10 sets of:

1 minute super easy and high cadence spinning
2 minutes with tension knob turned one full turn
2 minutes with tension knob turned once more (go aero)
1 minute with tension knob turned once more fully (stand up the whole minute)

60 minutes total and boy was I sweating! What a great workout. I then did 70 pushups and 50 crunches again. Makes missing table tennis not a big deal when I get in a productive workout like that.

Two hours with Coach Troy (and Cathi)

After a decent swim this morning I was determined to get a good bike ride in. I put on the Spinervals 100 Disk 2 and did two hours of tough sets. Still no computer yet. Dale had to special order one and should be in on Mon/Tue.

Sweat a ton. Cathi came down and watched the DVD and encouraged me while coach Troy said, "Cmon! Cmon!". One of the older guys in the training looks just like my Dad. Seriously. I'd say, "Cmon Dad, don't give up, keep it going!" Cathi would laugh cause he not only looks like my Dad, but makes many of the same facial expressions and smile, etc. I'll take the DVD over so my Dad can see himself biking like a madman!

Great workout today. Probably burned close to 3000 Calories. Need to get back under 200!

2009 Goals

1. Get down to 179 and maintain that weight.


2. Swim the Deer Creek 10K Open Water Swim


3. Do 2 Olympic Distance Tris


4. Break my own 1500 M Free record at the Utah Summer Games


5. Get a kayak this spring and practice Salt Water Open Water swimming in the good ole' GSL


6. Bike and swim no less than four times/week

With that said I did 1 hr on the trainer this morning. Man it is really hard for me to get up early!

During our trip down to Boulder City, NV for Cathi's Marathon since I was the designated driver, I decided to self medicate myself with some Mountain Dew - over 250 fl oz over the weekend to be exact. Boy was that nice. But now that the need is gone, its on the black list. I'll tell you that Mountain Dew is my "wicked fruit". It is so delicious to the taste, and very desirable! But for me it is a medicine and dangerous. It could be misused, and I have to be strong and consider it such.

I'm back to eating baby carrots and having a salad for lunch. Time to get real girly, it's the only way to really get that weight off since winter involves much less hours working out than during non winter months.

Cathi's Running From An Angel Marathon

We left for Boulder City on Friday Morning (1/2/09). We ended up going all the way through Las Vegas. What a long drive. Gordon stopped in Cedar City to decorate the car with some encouraging words which meant a lot to Cathi. When we got to the Hacienda Hotel it was a smooth check in. The hotel/casino sure seemed catered to gamblers rather than runners. No shuttle bus, no shower accommodations after the race, no extra perks, just a smoke filled, bell ringing place. At least it wasn't sleazy.

On Friday night we met up with Aaron and his family, and went for Pizza at a nice little place in Boulder City. Watched a little of the Utah Sugar Bowl against Alabama. What a fantastic game. It was nice to get to know Aaron and his wife Becky better. They have two cute kids, Joey and Miranda who fit right in with our kids.

When we got home we played a few round of dice game and Gordon fell fast asleep.

On Saturday morning Gordon drove Cathi to the starting line which was only 5 minutes from the Hotel. He went back to the room, packed up the things and the kids and headed out. We saw Cathi at around mile 5 and parked about every 3 miles to cheer her on. Austin and Jacob were excited to ride their new Ripstiks. Jonas, Isaac, Sam and Oliver were excited looking for snakes, throwing rocks, and making sand castles with the small gravel dirt.

It was a long day, lots of hills for poor Cathi, the wind was gusting at times and sometimes it was fairly cool, and other times a little warm. Overall though the temperature was just about perfect for running. Cathi was able to run the first half, and stay with Aaron, Scott and Arizona Kathy. At just after the half way point she told them to go on ahead and she wasn't able to maintain the same pace. She started walking up the hills and running down. Jacob joined up at around Mile 17 and stayed with her through to the finish. Thank goodness for Jacob or we would probably have sent out a search and rescue party. Her finish time was 4:58:48.

This was the second slowest time in the Marathon for Cathi so it's due every once in a while to have a bad one, so now its time to have a good few in a row. Definitely the highlight of the race was getting to catch up with Aaron, a dear old friend from BYU, who she hadn't seen for probably 15 years. He ran a great race and cut around 45 minutes off his time from his first marathon. He didn't walk at all on any of the hills which is simply amazing. He must be very satisfied with his results. I bet he's caught the Marathon bug now. Cathi and Aaron will be running together again in the Ogden Marathon in May.


We left for Salt Lake at around 2pm. We met with Mom and Dad in St. George who will now spend the winter months there. We went to Chuck A Rama and the kids ate up and as rowdy as ever. When we left it was already dark and knew we had a long night of driving home. Thank goodness for the laptop and all the movies on several hard drives. The kids were quiet watching movies the whole time. We made it home about 11pm and were grateful for 1pm church so we could sleep in a bit.

Good hour on the road with Coach Troy

Did a good hour doing some rolling hills in Madison, WI. Not as hard this time. Got lots of liquids. Still need to get a computer with cadence. Will do that next week.

1 hour - other stats, unknown.

Getting used to the Tracstand

I've now ridden on the trac stand three times now. 55 minutes the last two times. The DVD's I have are tough. The last one I did is the Hardcore 100 by Troy Jacobson. Man that is a brutal one. I don't like how he says I have to do the whole thing or not at all. I'm sorry, I just don't have 5 1/2 hours to workout. So something is better than nothing man!

I'll tell you I really need to get a computer that gives me cadence cause I don't think I'm going anywhere near fast enough to be on course with the athletes in that video. There is one girl in the DVD that looks very uncomfortable knowing that she didn't wear an appropriate top. It's funny cause she looks at the camera after she sees herself in the video while it's being recorded and she looks very uncomfortable giving everyone a show. Troy should have sent her home to get a neck high jersey.

Anyhow the year isn't ending anywhere like I wanted, but now it gives me an opportunity to work hard like I did at the beginning of last year. Plus it isn't like I gained everything back, I can get back down in about three weeks if I stick with my goals of:

1. Swimming four times a week
2. Biking four times a week
3. No more sweets

I have a party tonight and this will be the real test of #3. Plus I need to bike when I get home. Lately it's been really hard for me to get up before 7 am. I used to get up at 5 all the time. What is up with my body needing more sleep lately!?

First Day with the TracStand

For Christmas I bought myself a TracStand for riding my bike in the winter. I got it when I bought my bike, but it's been in storage all this time so that I could have a significant present for Christmas. Well yesterday I went on a ride with it.

I went for 48 minutes. I rode along with Coach Troy out at Lake Placid. Only thing is I don't have a computer to tell my cadence. I used a GPS all this year for movement stats and ignored cadence. Now I can't do that on my stand. I get no data whatsoever. So I'm going to have to get something to tell me my cadence (and might as well get speed as well since that would work too on the tracstand).

I probably went around 15 miles or so and had a pretty good pace going. When I get a computer I'll have better stats. My back tire was wearing out. There is some burned rubber all over the metal disk in the back where it rubs. Maybe I have it on too tight?

US National Table Tennis Tournament results

Check out the results here.

Feel good run

Haven't run since Thanksgiving break with Cathi. I remember being pretty sore for a few days afterwards. Figured it was time to get another run like that one so I went down on the treadmill at lunch:

1.5 Miles - 1.5 miles @ 6.0 mph
1.25 Miles - 5 x (.10 walk, .15 Run) @ 6.5, 7.0, 7.5, 8.0, 8.5, 9.0 mph

2.75 Miles @ 2% grade

Not bad. Felt great and my knees didn't give me trouble.

Body Fat Testing vs. BMI measurements

I've read a little about BMI and have been concerned a little that people put too much value on their BMI "number". A better method for making informed decisions about the composition of your body is through Body Fat Tests. Here is a good article explaining the differences.

Body Fat Testing Methods

Today when you go after health insurance quotes, it's good to be armed with as much detailed information about your overall physical condition as possible. America is an obese nation, so people with a lower body fat percentage may be able to argue for better premiums or deductibles on their policies. There are several methods for calculating body fat including:

• Hydrodensitometry or Underwater (UWW) Weighing - This underwater method calculates whole body density by measuring volume. The subject sits or lies down on a suspended scale over a pool or tank. The subject is weighed, then submerged and weighed again. Fat is less dense in water, so an individual with greater bone and muscle mass will weigh more when submerged. Using standard formulas, a body density figure is calculated. Although considered the "gold standard" for body fat measurement since the 1940s, many subjects are frightened to be submerged and cannot adequately expel air from their lungs to achieve the most accurate numbers possible. Prices vary widely and tend to be high. Only fitness labs, universities, hospitals, and upper end gyms tend to have access to or actually own the required equipment, which can cost in excess of $50,000.


• Anthropometry (Skinfold Measurement with Calipers) - Hand-held calipers are employed to measure skinfold thickness at 3 to 7 key body locations. A sum of the measurements is then used to calculate a body fat percentage. Since more than 3,500 equations have been validated according to age and ethnic group, this can be an extremely challenging method of calculation. It is, however, easy and inexpensive. Accuracy is, however, questionable with this "old school" methodology in the hands of anyone but a skilled practitioner.


• Absorptiometry (Dual Energy X-Ray or DEXA) - This relatively new and highly sophisticated method used a whole body scanner and low dose x-rays that divide the body into total body mineral, lean, and fat tissue mass. Requiring 10 to 20 minutes, the procedure is non-invasive and comfortable and is rapidly replacing total body immersion or UWW as the "gold standard" body fat measurement due to convenience and price. Depending on location, expect to pay $125 to $250.

Other methods of body fat calculation that are used with less frequency (or exclusively in laboratory settings) include:

• Near Infrared Interactance (NIR)


• Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)


• Total Body Electrical Conductivity (TOBEC)


• Computed Tomography (CT)


• Air Displacement (BOD POD)


• Bioelectrical Impedance (BIA)

In addition to body fat percentage measurements, BMI or Body Mass Index is frequently mentioned in fitness and weight loss literature. BMI is an assessment of weight in relation to height and is often used for the morbidly obese as calipers lose any accuracy with overly large skin folds and UWW tanks may not be large enough or may represent a danger to the subject. BMI does not, however distinguish between fat mass and fat free mass, so no fat percentage calculation is achieved nor is there any accurate sense of where on the body fat is stored, which suggests specific risk factors for various obesity-related disease. Given these limitations, body fat calculations give a much clearer picture of a person’s current physical condition and the goals to which they should aspire.

Rowing and lifting

I need to get back on the bandwagon. This morning I weighed in at 197.8 and wasn't happy with that. Need to get back down to 189 or lower. So I'm not slacking any more during the noon hour. I did:

5000 M Rowing: 20:39.1

Bench Press Machine: 6 x 30 @ 80
Lat Pulldowns: 6 x 30 @ 80
Crunches: 10 minutes

Will swim tonight too of course.

Cathi's Valley of Fire Marathon

Cathi drove down to Nevada Friday afternoon to run the Valley of Fire Marathon. She didn't have any idea how much of a climb it was. Here is a map.

The mountain climbs were insane. There were a few 14-20% grade mountains. Cathi walked a little, but considering the climb, that is to be expected. Her time was 4:25:06.

From Cathi's Marathons

We made a fun poster for her while she was gone and put it on the garage door for her when she got home late Saturday evening.

The kids really worked hard on Saturday to get the house clean and made it nice for when mom got home. They were rewarded with dinner at Golden Corral and boy did they eat up! Mom had a good time and was glad that she did as good as she did considering the big hills she had to deal with. She took first in her division, so that's cool!

No Mr. Wimpy

Noticing that along with all the lost weight, that I've obviously lost alot of muscle too. Decided that I need to hit the weights no less than 3 times a week so I made it into the weight room at lunch:

Flat Bench: 12 x 145, 15 x 135, 18 x 125, 21 x 115, 25 x 95, 30 x 85, 40 x 75, 50 x 65, 75 x 55, 100 x 45
superset with
6 x 60 crunches

Didn't get a burn like I wanted. Once you get so light you don't get any perceivable benefit (at least while your in the weight room). Next time I'll stop once I get below 100 pounds and start higher.

Surprised that I was able to do that many crunches. Will do racquetball tomorrow morning for the first time in several months.

Results of the 2008 Open

On Nov 8th, Austin, Jacob and I played in this year's 2008 Open. On Friday we played our ladder event. We get seeded and based on how we play can either advance our seed position into a higher division, or get put where we were seeded if we lost. The guy on our table who was an unknown and seeded at the bottom, made his way all the way to the top to play James but ended up in the A Division. At first he looked not that good, but he would toy with the other player just enough to stay ahead. His name is Jeff Hone and he moved here from California. He's an older guy who claimed he hadn't played in many years. Well he still had it.

Jacob and Austin didn't advance either. Austin played in the D division and Jacob in the bottom one. There were over 60 people in the tournmant, so there were 6 divisions (Open, A, B, C, D and E) I played in the B division.

On Saturday I was in a group with Bryce Parkinson, Matt Pugmire, and Varhese Pallathu. The other guy in our group didn't show. I first played Bryce. I knew it would be tough, but in the last several tournaments I was able to squeek by. Not this time. He was more consistent on his loops and I had been out of practice enough for him to slaughter me 3 - 0. I then played Matt and lost 3-2. Then to Varghese 3-1. I was disappointed, and humbled, but knew I deserved it for the neglect I've given the sport over the summer giving way to swimming and biking.

Jacob won a game from someone, but lost all his matches. He's a great sport though. He had fun and wasn't upset. Austin took first at his table and advanced to the semifinals. The semifinal round was a single elimination with the other half of his division. He lost to Javza Gaav 2-3. He was pretty upset about that, but not as bad I've seen him in the past. He's getting better at controlling his disappointment.

We didn't stay to see who won the divisions, we just took off cause it had already been a long day. Cathi came on Friday night with the kids to watch the first hour. It was really crowded and the kids tried to watch a movie on my laptop, but it was too loud and they couldn't hear. Next time we all need to be more in practice to expect any kind of success at a tournament. I'm worried about Nationals next month. Better start hitting with the robot!

2008 Utah Open

Austin and I took 3rd in the Class A Doubles. Austin was in the D Division and made it to the semifinals but lost in the first round of the semis.

I was in the B Division and was 0-4 so I was a bit disappointed, but not surprised given that I haven't practiced at all this summer. Jacob was able to win a couple matches, but not any games either. Austin is getting quite a bit better.

We were able to leave the tournament at 12:30 so I had the rest of the afternoon so I went on a ride:

Distance: 37.6 miles
Time: 1:55
Avg Speed: 19.6 mph

Went out to the end of the causeway out at antelope Island and went back to the gate and back again. Good ride except I had a flat tire that didn't have a hole, just didn't tighten the inner valve very good.

Bonehead!

This afternoon I headed to 6200 S State in Salt Lake on my Bike. We were going to meet Cathi's family at "The Cheesecake Factory" at Fashion Place Mall.

I made it 400 N and 200 West when I hit something and instantly got a flat in my back tire. I stopped and a construction staple was in my tire. I pulled it out and replaced the tube. Then continued on. When I got to 100 S and 200 W I noticed I had a flat again. I also noticed that my sunglasses case had spilled out of my saddlebag. I felt in there and my wallet was gone! It was in there when I replaced the flat, and when I took off I didn't zip it back up! What a bonehead. Just then a black truck came by and the guy yelled out, "You dropped your wallet back there!"

He turned around and went back to get it while I ran along side with my bike since it was flat. Back at North Temple it was in the road. I gave him $20 (There was over $70 in the wallet along with all my cards and ID). He noticed I had a flat and asked if I needed a ride somewhere. I figured if I hurried over to Tomax I could call Cathi and she could pick me up on the way down. I caught her and then went downstairs and did some rowing for 5 minutes, several sets of lifting and felt like I got a full workout considering my biking was cut short.

The headwind coming in was constant at around 20 mph. It was terrible.

Distance: 30.1 miles
Time: 1:47
Avg Speed: 16.89 mph

The backup tube shouldn't be one that already has a hole in it. Also, zip up your saddle bag, you bonehead!

My strategy for consumption during Halloween

Cathi set a goal to not eat ANY candy this Halloween. I don't think I can go quite that far, but my strategy is to chew every piece of candy in small pieces, also considering let the chocolate melt in my mouth rather than just down the candy in large amounts.

If you take it slow and take smaller bites, it will last longer and/or will result in less candy being eaten.

Plus I'll be swimming/biking like a madman on Saturday to burn most of the calories taken in on Friday.

Stopped at Bike Wagon's warehouse

Yesterday morning I emailed Dale Majors. He's my friend from my ward growing up that plays at the club on Fridays. He started a business many years ago called bikewagon.com. I emailed him asking about some winter shoes for riding in. He said I should try some windproof covers for the shoes I have. I stopped by his warehouse on the way home at 2100 N. Redwood Road in SLC and I was surprised how big his business really is. He gave me a good price on the shoe covers as well as some gloves.

The ride home the rest of the way was good:

Distance: 31.2 miles
Time: 1:38
Avg Speed: 19.1 mph

I tried the gloves and shoe covers this morning and the shoe covers were good, but the gloves were not. By the time I was 4 miles into the ride my hands were already freezing. I even put my thick leather biking gloves over the top and still froze. I ended up stopping at the Farmington station and taking Frontrunner the rest of the way. My hands were so cold. Guess I'll have to stick with my goretex winter gloves. They're thick and air proof.

So today's ride was much less than I wanted. Plus I can't remember exactly what I did, but I hit the inside of butt against the top of the frame and have a sore bum. I'm behind on hours this week cause of the riding in to work, so I'm going to have to take the FrontRunner home and bike from the Layton station. With Halloween tomorrow, I can't rely on Friday being a makeup day on hours. Need to get home at a decent time so the kids can have plenty of time trick or treating.

Stats:
Distance 13.7 miles
Time: 51:12
Avg Speed: 15.67 mph

Took frontrunner to Layton and then booked it home:

Distance: 6.1 Miles
Time: 16:55
Avg Speed: 21.64 mph

Riding in the dark

I've ridden in the dark before. It isn't fun, but usual the real pitch black darkness only lasts for an hour or so cause I don't leave too early. Well today I left at 5:30 and it was dark almost the entire time. It was terrible. I had to deal with the huge glare of oncoming cars headlights when I was on the east side of Legacy Highway in Bountiful. That made seeing the yellow stripes on the trail very difficult, so I had to slow way down so I could feel comfortable with where I was going. I didn't want to ride off the trail when it curves.

Why is it colder just before the sun comes up? The temperature was pleasant until I got to South Bountiful. There was a light blue hue right above the horizon of the mountains. In Farmington I replaced my winter gloves with my bike gloves because my hands were too warm. But when I got to South Bountiful I had to switch back to my winter gloves. My feet this time didn't get numb till I got to South Bountiful too.

Distance: 31.0 miles
Time: 1:53
Avg Speed: 16.46 mph

Terrible performance, but it was cold and dark so I'm not gonna get upset with that. Should have a much better ride home. Get to leave at 3:30 pm so it should be nice.

Still cold

I put duct tape over the hole in my shoe and in the main vents in the toe, which was better, but still had very cold feet this morning. Everything else was warm. Need to look into winter bike shoes cause Bikers edge didn't have any shoes without the holes and vents.

Distance:31.0 miles
Time: 1:43
Avg Speed: 18.06

Bike home was much better:

Distance: 31.0 miles
Time: 1:34
Avg Speed: 19.79 mph

It was warm this afternoon. Had to pull my sleeves up on my peppers. No wind to deal with and went hard.

New 5000 M Rowing PR - 19:51.5

Feeling the need to push it again on exercise and diet, at lunch today I did 5000 M rowing in 19:51.5.

That's a new PR. I watched this video a couple weeks back and figured the biggest "no-no" I'm guilty of is the recover/catch phase by coming too far to my feet and put a strain on my knees, so I tried to focus on only bending my knees to just less than 90 degrees, but I still had several moments where I forgot and over did my recovery so that my butt would hit my heels. Trying to do better on form and slow down and put more power into each stroke.

Then I did 5 minutes of abs then some arms:

Seated Preacher Curls: 4 x 12 @ 75 (After the sets, hold 90 degrees for 10 seconds, do another rep, then hold at 90 for 10 more seconds, one more rep, then done)

Skull Crushers: 4 x 12 @ 75
superset with
Close Grip Tricep Presses (fast): 4 x 12 @ 75

Good workout.

Riding out of guilt

Last night I went camping with the 12 yr old scouts. I ate so many s'mores!!!! I pigged out. So I figured I ought to go on a decent ride when I got back this afternoon. The weather was awesome so I rode out to Garr Ranch and back including the extra loop out to the Visitors Center. Great ride:

Distance: 50.1 miles
Time: 2:40
Avg Speed:18.79

That's better

The ride home was quite a bit warmer, but still requiring several layers. No freezing body parts.

Distance: 30.8 Miles
Time: 1:38
Avg Speed: 18.86 mph

Had to hurry home so I could make it in time for Jacob's pack meeting.

Freezing!

This morning I put on many layers of clothing as well as two pairs of socks. I wore my winter gloves instead of my bike gloves, I also wore my Survivor buff around my nose mouth and ears.

Everything was perfect except my feet were still freezing. I think it's cause they have holes in the bottom (for when you need water to drip out after getting out of the open water in a triathlon, even though my feet are totally dry by the time I start my bike) and air vents in the toe for allowing air.

I'm gonna stop at bikers edge and get a new pair of shoes for the winter so I can have no air flow going around my feet. That should do the trick! I had no wind at all until Centerville and then had to deal with a 5-10 mph headwind which really slowed me down. I had ice on my GPS and around the opening of my water bottle. Next time I should put some heavy cream, some fruit and sugar in my water bottle and have a tasty treat when I get in to the office.

Distance: 30.6 miles
Time: 1:50
Avg Speed: 16.7 mph

Miscommunication

My GPS was out of batteries at the start so I stopped at a Maverick a couple blocks from work to get some new batteries. A very nicely dressed Hispanic woman came up to me and here's how the conversation went:

Hispanic Woman: "Green house?"
Gords: "Green house? OK?"
HW: "Yes, Green house" (looking around)
Gords: "You're looking for a green house?"
HW: "Uh, Bath? Find Bath."
Gords(Confused): "Your looking for some plants, or a green house to take a shower?"
HW(Frustrated): "No, Bath! B - U - S
Gords: "Oh! Bus! Your looking for a bus?"
HW (Still annoyed): "Yes! Bath!"
Gords (thinking frantically what a Bus and a green house have in common, then a couple electons crashed into each other in my brain and sparked a possible connection): "You mean Grey Hound? Not Green House right?"
HW(new look of hope on her face): "Yes!"
Gords: "The Greenhouse (Greyhound) station is down four blocks (Holding up four fingers and pointing south), then West 4 blocks. The address is 200 S. and 650 W."

She then gets in her truck and drives off. I had to laugh how that conversation went. I'm a bit of a bonehead.

My bike stats:

Distance: 30.6 miles
Time: 1:40
Average Speed:18.36

Excellent!

This morning I rode in to work. I had a 15-20 mph tailwind going south which was fantastic. The wind wasn't that cold. My black peppers kept my temp just right. I talked with Dale Majors last Friday at the club and told him about the tiny pinhole of paint that had come off the bottom of my frame and he said to fill it with red fingernail polish. I did that this morning and it filled in nicely. Hopefully that prevents it from spreading. When I turned my bike over to do that the straw from my aerodrink came out and I forgot to put it back in so the ride in this morning I had to undo the bottle to get water which was inconvenient.

The breeze south was fantastic and really helped my speed:

Distance: 30.5 Miles
Time: 1:43
Avg Speed:22.05 mph

At lunch today, nobody showed up for table tennis so I took the opportunity to run outside to the bank: 1.2 miles in 11 minutes.

Last minute ride

Got really antsy to go ride this afternoon at work. So I left early so I could go out to Antelope Island for a decent ride. Rode out to the Marina, back to the entrance, then turned around back to the Marina then home. Was able to keep a nice cadence with the tempo of this song. Felt like I was out on the salt flats going faster than the speed of sound, even though I was only going around 21 mph.

Distance: 37.1 Miles
Time: 1:50
Avg Speed: 20.24 mph

Nice ride. My GPS and MP3 both died about 5 miles from home.

Tricep spasms

This morning I got up and put on my Black Chili undies for the cold ride in to work.

Distance: 31.6 miles
Time: 1:45
Avg Speed: 18.06 mph

What was weird as it got colder as I got closer to Salt Lake. Just before the sun came up was the worst. My toes were like ice cubes when I took off my socks. Not many more days I can do this.

I'm at my desk and my triceps are spasming big time! Its like their getting a workout when I use my aerobars. Although I don't know how. They aren't tired or under any strain when I ride that I'm aware of, but it sure seems like it the way they've been firing. They always seem to do that when I get some good miles in.

The ride home was just as cold or even colder. Had a vicious headwind going home so it was pretty slow. They finished paving the rest of Gentile so I took that instead of going all the way up to Gordon so that will cut about .75 miles off my ride each way now. Here was the stats going home:

Distance: 30.75
Time: 1:48
Average Speed: 17.1 mph

Joining the ranks of Brady, Duane and Bryan

Got off work early since I started really early. Was home at 4:30. Called Duane to see if he could ride but he wasn't there, plus it dawned on me that he is coaching a winning football team, so his season isn't over yet. So I went out to antelope island by myself and bought one of those year passes. Now I'm hardcore like Brady Allred, Duane Ralphs and Teri and Bryan Child.

So I biked out to Garr ranch and back. Here's the stats:

Distance: 46.8 miles
Time: 2:25
Avg Speed: 19.37 mph

Was cramping up every once in a while in my calf muscles. There were also several encounters with Buffalo really close to the road. I wonder if they've ever charged a biker before. A few that I encountered were a little spooked of me and ran away from the road as I got nearer, while others held their ground and I was worried they were going to go on the offensive on me, but I was fine.

I also worried about getting locked in. I was a good hour before sunset when I got out of there, but I thought of Brady's situation where the gate was locked. What do you do? You can't just throw your bike over the top and keep going. I need to ask Brady some details about the park.

It was a good ride. Looking forward to many more rides out there now that I've got a pass and have to use it up the best I can. Don't want the expense of $40 to not be well used.

Another 5000 M row

A little sore from yesterday's rowing as well as Monday's Bench exercises, I went ahead with another 5000 M rowing session at noon which I did under 20:00 (19:58) which is twice now under 20 minutes.

It's tough to meet that 20 minute goal. Really tough.

Did a good session of abs for about 15 minutes afterward.

New Rowing PR

Today I went down to the Garden Level of Tomax and rowed like an animal:

5000 M in 19:52. That broke my old record by 17 seconds. The key is to not take so many drinks. Last time I took three quick drink breaks. This time I only took one.

Afterwards I did some ab work for a few minutes and then lifted biceps:

Seated Preacher Curls: 2 x 12 @ 75
Standing Preacher Curls: 2 x 12 @ 75
Pullups: 8

Worked out for an hour total

Chest

Flat Bench: 15 @ 135, 8 @ 155, 2 x 8 @ 165, 15 @ 135
DB Flys: 4 x 12 @ 30

Put on my 50" Bench shirt just for kicks, and its as loose as an old T-shirt. Absolutely useless as a bench shirt for me now. Should sell it on e-bay.