Results of the 2009 SDRC Splash N' Sprint Triathlon - 1:11:35

This morning I got there and found out that they had put me as the first swimmer in the water in this Interval start triathlon. I told them 4:30 was my seed time which was a little aggressive cause I ended up doing it in 5:00.

I made three errors in this tri and the first one was pretty minor, but cost me a couple seconds is all: When I jumped in feet first (per the direction given me), I went to the bottom which was only about 7 feet deep. I tried pushing off the wall, but I was at the bottom and the walkway barrier thing didn't go all the way to the bottom, so when I pushed off the wall, there was no wall to push off, so needless to say the guy behind me was right on my tail from the start. After 300 yards he touched my toes and I let him pass me. Then at 350 I thought he was getting out and I didn't really think it through, so I ran into him. Not bad at all, but he stopped for a sec and looked at me. I said sorry at transition and told him I thought we were getting out right there next to the door. Instead we got out on the far end of the pool and had to walk over to the exit door.

At transition I simply put on my jersey, shades and helmet and took off. I passed the guy in transition and immediately made my way on the bike course. I was going at a very good pace and every 10 minutes or so I looked back and didn't see a soul, so my biking was good. At the very last turn, I wasn't absolutely sure it was the right turn. There were some race volunteers there at the corner helping people just starting to make the right turn. I wasn't sure if I needed to go one more block or turn here so I yelled out: Do I turn here to go back? They said "we don't know they didn't tell us". I didn't see any arrows painted so I kept going. After a block I still didn't see any arrows so I cut in and made my way back to the route. I wasted probably 1 minute or so off my time trying to figure out how to get back. So that was my second error. It was annoying.

I looked back and there was a fairly good pack behind me about 200 yards. My GPS shows my stats as:

Distance: 13.4 miles
Time: 36:30
Average Speed: 22.03 mph

When I transitioned to the run I hurried to get my socks and shoes on and then my race belt and took off. I ran south to 400 S when the guy behind me yelled out: "Dude! We're going the wrong way". Just then I realized that the run course went around behind the building instead of straight to the road. I must have passed nearly a dozen volunteers right there at transition who saw me and didn't say a thing. I wasted about 1 minute on that one too. I was tired at the start of the run and my calves felt a little tight, but not too bad. My pace to start wasn't good at all, but slowly it picked up. We had to head North to Pages lane, then east to 400 E and then south to 400 S. There was a slight uphill grade for the second half and it was tough. Coming down 4th south at the end was nice as it was downhill. I was passed only twice by runners (besides the 5 that didn't screw up the run transition and were already ahead to begin with). My run time was about 26 minutes.

My overall time was 1:11:35. I wanted less than 1:15 so I at least did that. But was hoping for close to a little over an hour. I took 8th place out of about 100 or so people. If I didn't make those errors I would have got down to around low 1:10. And probably placed in the top 3. Before my second error I was ahead by probably a couple minutes. Triathlons are a great deal about mental focus at transition times especially and I goofed up big time on this race.

I'm a little bugged that the race volunteers didn't know the course to help doofus' like me. I also thought the 2nd watering station was very badly placed (only about 300 yards from the finish line). Why not put it 300 yards into the run! Not just before finish when people are sprinting and not going to stop/slow down for a drink!

I'll probably skip this race next year. Sprints are too short. Especially when the swim is half of what it should be. Sprints are typically half of an olympic distance and an olympic distance is 1500 M which should be about an 800 yard swim for sprint distance, not 400. That takes a little away from my advantage. Oh well. I got a good workout today anyway, and plan to go for a 50 mile bike ride later this afternoon, as well as taking Jacob on a 3 mile run at sundown.

Next up... Utah Summer Games. Time to get in the pool!

Fully Recovered

This morning I discovered that my ankle and knee strains have fully recovered and I'm at 100%. No more limping/tenderness or pain! Feels good. I was getting a little nervous about this weekend's sprint tri. But I should be fine. This morning's ride was fast. No drafting today, but no wind either, so that was good:

Distance: 30.6
Time: 1:28
Average Speed: 20.9 mph
Max Speed: 30.2 mph

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The ride home was a little windy, but not too bad.

Distance: 30.6 miles
Time: 1:31
Average Speed: 20.1
Max Speed: 29.8 mph

Drafting

This morning as I started my ride and neared the end of Bluff Road, I saw three bikers merge onto Gentile about 200 yards ahead of me. I thought to myself, I'm going to catch them and draft for a bit. So I caught them at 3200 W and Gentile and they turned on 2200 W where I normally go. They followed the same path I normally take clear until 350 E and Shepherd Lane in Farmington. I drafted off them for about 6 miles.

I didn't feel so bad cause the guy in the lead had thighs almost the size of my waist. I was surprised though that these serious guys were only going about 21.5-22.0 mph. Their cadence was really high. Personally, I don't understand why such a high cadence. I like going into a lower gear and get a slower rhythm going with more power rather than spin like mad.

Anyhow I enjoyed the break and the rest of the way I was on my own. There was little to no wind to deal with the entire ride and was able to get to work in a really good time:

Distance: 30.6 miles
Time: 1:25
Average Speed: 21.6 mph
Max Speed: 30.6 mph

Very good ride. My left ankle and my right knee are much better after that ride! They don't hurt at all while riding, but once I get off they're still a little tender. I'm probably at 65% right now. Hoping that taking a break from running this week will get them healed up for this weekend's SDRC Sprint Tri. I'm probably not going to swim at all this week either given that I need to ride in to work tomorrow as well.

The first two weeks in June I will NOT be riding in to work at all since I need to really step the swimming up for the Utah Summer Games the third week in June. My goal is to put in at least 25K yards per week for the first two weeks in June and then taper for the games on June 18-19th. That should be a fun trip. Three days off work and spending time with the kids down in Cedar City. Should be lots of fun.
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The ride home also involved a little drafting. I caught up to a guy just getting on the Legacy trail from Redwood Road. He drafted off me for about 1 mile then he took the lead. I drafted for a couple miles and he motioned for me to take the lead. I did so, but after a couple minutes didn't see him in my wake. So I just kept the same pace. About 5 minutes later I saw his shadow next to mine so I picked it up just a bit so he could push it right behind me. After leading for about 10 minutes I slowed up and he went next to me and asked, "Where's the motor?". I asked him where he was going and he said Layton. I told him I was heading to Syracuse. He then took the lead for about 10 minutes at a pace of about 20mph. I was feeling like 22 was a more comfortable pace so I took the lead again. I slowly worked up to that pace so I could keep him close. But he dropped off and I never saw him after that.

I was able to fight the headwind and maintain a pretty good speed at the same time. Felt very good.

Distance:30.6
Time: 1:28
Avg Speed:20.8 mph

Neighborhood ride

This afternoon I made a few calls and left messages and didn't expect quite a good turnout on a holiday. Matt Yeates, Chad Frew, Jason Bremer, Ron Snow and myself went out to the end of the causeway and back. It was nice having a large group. This is a new personal record of going with a group of 5. Got some decent speed going even with a pretty good wind from the West.

Distance: 24.6 miles
Time: 1:11
Average Speed: 20.8 mph
Max Speed: 29.8 mph

Very nice ride. Lots of bugs. Thank goodness for the bug shield I have around my neck which I very easily move up over my mouth and nose. Had a concern about passing since I've never had anyone really explain to me cycling etiquette. I found that I was passing on the right to take the lead, but didn't feel that was correct after I had made the maneuver. I did tell Matt "Passing on the right" and then took the lead. After that though I passed on the left when taking the lead. That felt more safe so I'll be doing that from now on. Here's a pretty good page with some basic etiquette which is good to follow.

Results of the 2009 Syracuse Memorial Day Half Marathon - 1:45:59

So a new milestone has been reached. My first official Half Marathon race. I could hardly sleep last night I was excited for it. I wasn't nervous just anxious to start. Last night Jacob said he wanted to do it so we woke him and took him with us to register for it last minute.

When we got there we saw Dan and Liz Yardley from our Fruit Heights ward. It was nice to see them again.

At 6:45 they started the half marathon runners. I started my stop watch as soon as I crossed the starting line (only about 25 feet from the front of the pack).

Here's the map of the course:


I stayed right behind Tiffany Gallup and Cathi for the first 2 miles and afterwards either they slowed up a bit, or I felt more energy so I went ahead for just a bit. About 4 miles into it Cathi comes up and passes me and increases my pace. We stayed together from 4 - 8. My MP3 player quit working after 3 miles and the new battery wouldn't work either so I only got 2 songs before I was without it. I then used my breathing to help pace myself. I wasn't too disappointed not having tunes.

When I turned around at the top of the trail and started heading back I was still feeling good. When I got down to mile 10 I was a little worried. I was feeling pain in my ankles and a little in my right knee. I put up a mental block of the pain and kept the pace. The last mile was tough. I picked up the pace and started to get stabbing sharp pain in my right knee, but I again put up a mental block and within a couple minutes I brought it back down as the pain was gone. I sprinted the last stretch heading north on the path. I had a very strong finish.


I stopped my watch at the finish to get my actual time: 1:45:59. I wanted to get under 2:00 and I definitely did that. My overall pace was 8:01/mile which is way faster than what I did at the Stansbury Triathlon last Saturday. So I feel great that I didn't absolutely kill myself and leave nothing for this race. I had a great race and very happy with that time.

Cathi was a few minutes behind me and she ended with 1:49:37. She took first place for her age group (30- 39) and got a medal. Jacob got 2:17:01 and took first place for his age group (10 and Under). He was getting high fives and lots of encouragement for many runners. Only a couple kids his age were entered and he ran nearly the whole thing. He was so tough. Tiffany did good. She seemed a little disappointed with her time though. Liz Yardley ran it too. It was nice to see her and Dan and their kids. It was her first half too.

Overall a very good race. Next up: SDRC Sprint Triathlon this Saturday

My results at the 2009 Stansbury Triathlon

Our family slept over at Diana and Brendon's in a tent in their backyard. It was fun. We watched "Lil Rascals" projected on to the side of their house last night. The kids loved it and ate popcorn. I slept great last night in a sleeping bag in our tent. Got up naturally just before my alarm went off at 6:30.

Went in got ready, had some quick breakfast and headed over and got my timing chip and setup my transition area. Met up with Duane and Brian and Teri. Brian, Duane and I all started at the same time. I positioned myself right at the front by the buoy and when they said "Go", I started my stopwatch.

I was planning on bilateral breathing, but I ended up just breathing on the right side. I was disappointed with that cause I like to think that I'm now a fully converted bilateral breather, but this just goes to show that I'm still naturally a right side breather. Anyhow there were about a 9 people ahead of me that stayed ahead. My goggles were very foggy that I couldn't see the red buoy's very well off in the distance but as I got closer, realigned. Felt great on the swim and when I got out I looked at my watch and it just turned over to 20 minutes. That's great!
I was aiming for anything less than 30 minutes.

On my way back to the bike I stripped off the wetsuit fully and threw it over to Cathi who had my bag. The transition to the bike was very fast, just as I practiced at the SDRC clinic a few weeks ago. The bike course was flat and was just a four turn per lap course. I turned on my GPS just as I left the transition area and I fully got satellite connection after probably a half mile into it. According to my GPS:

Distance: 26.1 miles(not accounting for satellite acquiring time)
Time: 1:07
Average Speed: 23.2 mph
Max Speed: 29.8 mph

I was a little over zealous hoping for less than an hour on the bike. I was passed by about 15 bikers (All of them with the goofy beak helmets). And I passed about 30 people during the second lap who were all from the Sprint race.

When I transitioned to my run I looked at my watch and it said 1:31. When I got to the start of the run my watch said 1:33. During the run it was still a little cloudy, but I could tell the cloud cover was minimal and felt the heat of the sun coming through. My mouth was dry and at every aid station I took advantage of it. During the run I also thought about the half marathon I'm running on Monday (in two days) and kept telling myself to save something for that race. I didn't want to push it and be crippled for Monday. So I held back just a little.

I saw Duane, Brian and Teri during the run and they all seemed to be going strong and we shouted encouragement to each other each time. I saw Cathi and the kids all shouting for me about 50 yards from the finish line and I immediately jumped into sprint mode and ran for my life across the finish. I stopped my watch at the finish line and it came up with 2:24:52. That meant my 10K run was done in about 52 minutes. I was aiming for less than an hour. So I was pleased with that.

I was impressed with this race. It was flat. The turns were well laid out and the path from swim to bike transition was fully paved so I didn't need to worry about wearing shoes or flip flops for that portion. The aid stations were well manned and supplied. The only thing that concerned me is that some people after the race were exiting the transition area out of the bike-in gate where there weren't any race staff checking numbers. Most people went out of the bike out section where there were two or three number checkers. I'd be more concerned if my bike weren't on the low end of the value scale for those road bikes I saw. If someone wanted to risk a felony stealing a bike, they'd pick something that cost a few thousand more than mine.

Anyhow. Teri took second place in her age group for the Sprint distance. She was so happy and it was cool to see her get that. I took 9th in my age group out of 17. With this being my first one, I'm just glad that I was able to meet my run and swim goal. My bike goal was a little lofty, but now I know and can set a more reasonable goal for next time. Still, 23.2 mph average is dang good for me, so I'm not beating myself up over it. And if I ever get one of those goofy beak helmets, feel free to give me a good punch in the arm.

Here are the official results.

Cathi used Teri's camera for pictures, so I'm at her mercy on getting those pictures emailed to me which I will then add to this post.

Christmas all over again AND my first tumble

So on the way home on my bike I stopped to see Dale at his Bikewagon warehouse. He gave me 5 bibs and 2 jerseys for free. They were slightly used, but still in excellent condition. I was so excited. These were quality items. He said he got them at a swap meet for $20 and already gave away half of them. I was very pleased.

Then in Woods Cross on the Legacy Parkway bike trail I was coming up to a bicyclist who was going the same direction. He was on the right side and was slowing down. He was looking a little to the right so I thought he was going to stop and take a moment to rest or something. It was an older guy on a mountain bike. He reminded me of my dad. So he didn't come to a complete stop. As I was about to pass him he immediately turned left and blocked the entire path. It had just rained a few minutes before so the path was still a little wet. I yelled "Excuse me!", but it was too late, I couldn't go in front of him, or behind him. He didn't even look before doing the U-turn. I was able to slow down a bit, but not completely and I hit his rear tire. I was more concerned for my bike than me at the moment.

I don't remember how I landed, or if/how my feet got out of the clips, but I remember going over the top of my handle bars and my bike went with me. I remember landing in a tucked position and rolled without much impact. My shoes were unclipped at the end and I was a little muddy. I hit my shin on the handle bars, but not bad. No blood, no damage to either bike and he was still standing there kind of in shock. "Are you OK?". He felt dumb (as well he should have). I asked him a couple of times if he was OK and looked at his back tire to see if any spokes were bent or anything. I spun my front tire to see if there was any damage to my bike. Nothing. I said, "That could have been alot worse". Well then, See you later, and took off.

I was angry, but he got off easy. I didn't give him any retaliatory words except the tone in my voice when I said "Excuse me" when I was just about to hit him. Hopefully more people realize that the bike path has a line in the middle for a reason. The path should be considered a road. They need to stay on the right side of the road, when not passing, and should do a u-turn after looking behind them.

Distance: 30.6
Time: 1:30
Average Speed:20.4 mph

Trying to smear the farmer's tan line

I definitely have a line on my upper arms where the end of my jersey comes to. When I take off my shirt, I have a "farmer's tan". It looks really dumb. Well - my singlet equmen shirt came yesterday so I'm going to start wearing that (especially when it's been getting so warm now outside) to hopefully move that line up to my shoulders where the singlet is. I guess it doesn't matter cause the only time I take my shirt off in public is when I'm swimming, and nobody cares anyway, except me.

This morning's ride went well. Had a slight headwind most of the time, but not too bad:

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

Bike ride after 8 mile run

My legs were so stiff! I was feeling low on energy and only had about 2 hours to do anything so I went on a ride out to the end of the causeway and back on Antelope Island. Stats:

Distance: 25.0 miles
Time: 1:18
Average Speed: 19.1 mph

The wind was coming pretty strong from the West so the first half was kind of slow, but I was able to really get some good speed coming back. I'm going to be so sore tomorrow. I'm glad it's Sunday!

Next week I need to swim at SDRC cause they're taking the bubble down at Layton.

2009 Ogden Marathon

This morning Cathi got up real early to go catch the bus for the Ogden Marathon. I got up at 5:30 and started my walk from the finish line at 6:30 am. I got to Pineview dam (mile 18.5) at 9:00. I was expecting Cathi around 9:45. But she was there at 9:30! She was at a faster than normal pace.

We started the downhill portion of the marathon. Cathi was not having fun. The last couple marathons she felt energized the whole time, but on this one she was whining. She stopped to walk a few times between miles 20 and 26, but not for very long. I was trying to get her to keep running, but she wasn't going to put up with my orders. She still got a very good time. Had she kept running she probably would have got a Boston Qualifying time, but who knows. She got a time of 3:51:38. Here are the timing results.

I was sore from yesterday's fast 5K, and from walking uphill for 6 miles, but was able to stay ahead of Cathi and keep her going. This was not her favorite Marathon this time cause she was just so beat and tired. Next race.... Syracuse Half Marathon. This time we get to run together!

Results of the Bluffridge 5K

Austin, Jacob, Lucy, Jonas and myself were there at the starting line at 5pm. Cathi went on an errand and was late to the start. I packed her number with me so when I saw her at the end I could just give it to her. I was about 10 feet behind the first row of people at the start. I started my stopwatch just as I crossed the starting line so I could get an accurate timing just for me. I was able to get a comfortable pace after about 250 yards of passing little kids.

By the time I got to mile 1 my mouth was dry and parched. I passed up the first watering station (so did everyone else in front of me which were about 20 people at this point). The route weaved in and out of residential roads North of the school. We made our way to Antelope which was the turn around point. At that point I grabbed a cup of water quickly downed a few swallows and threw the cup away. All I needed was something to relieve the pain of my dry throat. I was able to pass a few people in front of me.

When I got to mile 2, I felt like walking but Hayden Buchi was only 30-40 yards ahead of me. When I got to around 2.5 mile. Hayden was walking and I caught him. He saw me coming up from behind and kept walking. I was expecting him to start running again. When I got up to him I said, "C'mon Buddy, let's go", so we ran the rest of the way together until we got to about 50 yards from the finish where we turned the last corner. We both sprinted. Man that boy has some long legs! He ended up beating me by about 15 yards.

I checked my watch at the 1 mile, 2 mile and I was very pleased to see my mile splits coming in at low 7 minute. I knew I would slow during the third mile. But I ended up keeping that pace thanks to Hayden. So I ended up with a shocking time of 21:14. I wanted to simply get 22:30 with a high visionary goal of low 22. I killed my ultimate goal by a minute! I couldn't believe that time! So here I am and I just entered the route into mapmyrun.com, and sure enough, it wasn't a full 5K. It came up as a 3.04 mile run. If that were a full 5K, my time resulted in a 6:50/mile pace. That's unbelievable for me! So here's the map.
Still 21:14 for 3.04 miles is a 6:59 pace which would have got me around 21:41 had it been the full 5K.

I'm struggling with counting 21:14 as a new 5K PR, but I ran my butt off! So I'm going to take that pace and calculate 21:41 as my new PR. I don't want to throw out the entire results of that race, just cause it wasn't exact!

At any rate, I took first place for the 18-39 category. I wouldn't have counted on that in a million years. I'm very pleased with my results.

After the race I laid down on the grass for a minute to catch my breath, then saw Austin cross the line a couple minutes later. I stopped my stopwatch so I didn't get his time, but I think it was less than 25 minutes. Jacob came in about a minute after that.

Then Cathi came, she started about 15 minutes after the start, but she kept her own time on the watch so that was good. Her time was 23:45 (7:49 pace). But given the distance that would have been around 24:17 or so. Lucy came after that. Jacob and I started walking back trying to find Jonas. We ran/walked all the way back to mile 2, no sign. So we ran back. Apparently he came just ahead of Cathi and Lucy and we missed him. That little kid is a real live version of Dash, the superfast superkid!

I sure hate downtown intersections

My average speed was built up to 21.7 until I got to Redwood Road and I-215. Then I noticed a slight headwind and then starting hitting every stoplight. When I got to North Temple and 900 West my average speed was down to 21.5. I hit every stoplight from there on. When I pulled in to Tomax parking lot, my average was at 21.0 mph. Man I hate slowing down and stopping for traffic. They're ripping up 200 S so I have to take the sidewalk for a block.

Distance: 30.8 Miles
Time: 1:28
Average Speed: 21 mph

I shouldn't complain, 21 isn't that bad. Why is it though that I get a headwind both ways? Wind goes North in the morning and south in the afternoon.

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The ride home was even better! There was no wind at all until I got to Farmington and then it was actually going North for a change! My speed was much faster than I wanted. I have a 5K tomorrow and wanted my legs to not have any strain at all on this ride so I was planning on going slow, which wasn't the case:

Distance: 30.6 miles
Time: 1:25
Average Speed: 21.6 mph

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.
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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!

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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.