2012 filings!

I knew coming back to work it was going to be a long week, I got a call while away telling me that, I also knew that most things would take a back seat, I carried a gym bag to work Monday morning and I carried it home again Friday, it hid under my desk all week. Not once this week have I finished before 1:00am I worked most of yesterday and a couple of hours this morning, add in my commute and my work week was north of 100 hours. Training time zip! Don’t get me wrong I love my job, after several career changes I have found my niche, but doing something you love that much will grate after a while!

Conspicuously absent online I even got a couple of pings from folks wondering if I was ok…gotta love this online community!

The good news is I managed to crawl out from under the rock, the bad news is that it’s going to be a pretty like this through to the end of June!

That list of races on the right…that just got filed under 2012! It’s going to be back to the drawing board for the second half of the year, in the meantime I will be fitting in what I can when I can.

Finally big kudos to everyone who ran the LA Marathon today…rain, rain and more rain!

Correctly the rain is this weather map is actually depicted in the way it was falling…sideways!

Remember me?

Hi, remember me, I use to blog a bit and I used to read others and leave witty and insightful comments! Well maybe they were just witty? Either way I used to leave them and I used to write a bit too! Oh well, therein lies the problem of having a vacation, it’s not like you stop work you just do half a week extra before you go and half a week extra when you come back, oh and then there’s the 2-3 evenings you work when you are away..modern life right. Anyway as I write this I on the 60th floor of the Encore Hotel in Vegas, we checked in yesterday after leaving LA around 4pm and getting here about 4 hours later. And so far we have not left the hotel, sleep, massage, spa, monster workout in the gym, in room dining, big tv, nice view…sold!

I am officially too lazy to stand up to take the photo!

Now that being said I have been hitting the gym and today I started Week 4 of the Natural Running Transition, things are improving and despite having a crappy start to the first two weeks of February with the Flu/bronchitis I am getting 4-5 of the 7 a week workouts done, I am actually running three times a week for a whopping 25 minutes! (yeah it’s kinda sad really) but I am really focusing on my form, I am running in my Newtons exclusively and I do actually seem to be getting a little faster. Most runs are sub 7:30 minute pace and a few miles last week were even sub 7:00! So it would seem that there is something to backing off to focus on form, I am also pretty much injury free; at least nothing that a bag of ice doesn’t fix. So there you have it. I have to say that it does not make for interesting reading  and to be honest it’s not that interesting to write! It’s not the yomping adventures of a trail runner that I was writing about two years that’s for sure. So what’s next.

Well the four week mark is half way through the transition plan, from here the focus is on longer runs and keeping up the in between strength and stretching forms I have to say that I have one eye on the calendar, the FIRST Half plan is 18 weeks which is about 4 weeks longer than I can focus for and about 8 weeks longer than my target race! So it might be time to look for an alternative, the problem here is that there is nothing in the Summer as it’s too hot! The Simi Valley Half in June is a maybe but the organizers took a pasting over last years Camarillo Marathon or there is the modestly names America’s Finest City race in August but that’s so far away!

I have also come to the conclusion that I really do like to race and that’s a lot of the drive to run, I have always been goal orientated and without a race at the end of the pipe it seems very easy for the interest level to drop off. So I need to get some things firmed up but until then things are a bit up in the air. I really would like to nail things down for the next 6 months or so so I can broach the subject at home of doing another 100 miler next year!

‘bout halfway!

Well I am about halfway through the first three months of the year…time flies right. And I thought it would be an opportune time to check and see where I am on my New Year’s resolves. I have nearly almost, finally, kinda, shaken off this horrible cold/cough thing, I occasionally splutter but pretty much I am back to the norm. I took a week off but I am not too fussed as I am not really training.

So this week I restarted the Natural Running Transition and I paid attention to the book’s intervals and had so far managed to avoid shredding my calves! Always a bonus! So far this week Monday through Friday I have alternated stretches and core strength with pylometrics, lots of running on the spot and my jump rope skills are getting better. There’s also some really short but fast speed intervals, we’re only talking 200m or so but at 6:00 min mile pace, I could go a bit faster but the treadmill can’t! But don’t let me lull you into think that it’s easy some of these things are nigh on impossible, here’s a good example, go on try it, go on I’ll double dare you!

See, told you! Sorry about the poor photo.

So looking back at the To Do list, definite progress!

Started the transition to forefoot running – Check!

Lose 20lbs – well I am down about 10lbs, so that’s half down – Check!

Doing the good stuff; foam roll, yoga, stretch – Check(ish)!

No new kit in Jan, Feb or March! – Well other some awesome stuff on it’s way to review, I slipped off the wagon just a little, but hey needs must!

 

Hobbling and Hacking!

So this week I started Week 1 of the transition to midfoot running following the plan laid out in the book. It started on February 2nd which threw me off a day as that was a Tuesday but no matter I thought. Day 1 was all about stretching and core strength, a solid work out that lasted about 30 minutes. Day 2; 3 sets of jump rope, running on the spot, high knees and butt kicks and here is where the plan was derailed I had forgotten to write down how long each set was…oops! I started with 5 minutes of jump rope, when was he last time I did jump rope oh probably 1974! I soon realized that 5 minutes of each would soon blow through my lunch break so I decided to drop down to 2 minutes each and a good job too. I finished up, stretched out and headed back to the office. Out of interest and for future reference I check the book on how long each interval should be; 20 seconds! oops I thought, oops indeed. The next morning my calves were singing a song, the day after that they were screaming!

The screaming continued through the week until I got I hit by the flu train, I crawled into bed at 7:30pm Friday night and crawled out Sunday afternoon…a couple more days and I should be ok to start week 1 again!

Stats and shoes!

Well that’s January then!

Not bad, not great either I missed a couple of days and got caught short on a few others, I had a good early half marathon and mixed up all the training, could have visited the pool a bit more and should have visited the yoga mat a lot more! Work has been super busy so I have had to cherry pick my “social” activities, oPad, i8this and Facebook got 86d, Twitter and WwF went much the same way, even the ever present blog took a hit this month and I daren’t even look at my reader…it’s about priorities right and sometimes things just have to give, but I did keep up tracking my food and I have dropped about 6lbs this month! Strangely January had the fourth highest hits and views over the last 12 months…so thanks for hanging in there!

I’ll spare you the last weeks stats but here are the months totals:

I also got to put some miles on my Ronald McDonald shoes:

My Brooks ID membership expired at the end of last year and I had a little blitz including a pair of ASR7s, a pair of Cascadias and a pair of Green Silence. I love the GSs the ASRs are ok and the Cascadias have not come out the box…and here’s the problem!

I am spending all my time in Kinvaras (love, love, love this shoe!) I have the GSs to rotate through and a pair of Sir Isaacs to roll into and all these “big” shoes as I call them are being somewhat ignored…add the that the two brand new pairs of Salomon XT Wings and the Wings 2 pair that are sitting neglected in the closet with around 150 miles on them and you can see the issue…I am thinking a trip to eBay may be in my future!?!

Then I get an email from Saucony…

Hells yeah…and check out that last shoe on the list a trail version of the Kinvara, the Peregrine….freekin awesome!

“A low profile trail blazing shoe that’s a must-have for the outdoor runner, the Peregrine boasts the minimalist DNA of the award-winning Kinvara. With multi-directional lugs and a high traction rubber outsole, the Peregrine will have you flying over hills, dales and rugged trails with confidence”

I know Valentines is a ways off but I think I am in love!

Lazy Blogger!

Yeah so that post last week Friday about being busy, this week was kind of a rinse and repeat!

1/15/11 Rest day, took it off before Sunday’s race, of course ferrying the kids around and doing the weekend chores is not quite what I would describe as rest!

1/16/11 Race day…followed by two frames of family bowling in the afternoon!

1/17/11 Martin Luther King and an extra day off from work! Hit the roads on the bike and got a pretty decent 30 mile ride in in just under 2 hours

1/18/11 Hit the local wash trail for a nice 5 miler at lunchtime and then the week caught up with me

1/19/11 Fail…woke up on the floor in between the kid’s beds after “cuddle” time, at 9:30pm, no dinner, hmm time for bed!

1/20/11 Took an extra rest day…

1/21/11 Finally a break! Managed to slip in an awesome 6 miler again on the local trail, glorious sunny day, just a joy to be running! It’s a nice solid three miles up and three miles down, the elevation ramps up; 117’, 199’ and 423’ per mile and there is still another couple or three miles more…I need an extended lunch to get to the top!

I am in spitting distance of finishing Natural Running…then to plan for the transition!

Oh I got (snagged) the pictures from last week…they’re actually not that bad!

Have a great weekend…out!

AWOL; Absent With Out bLogging!

Yeah I am still here! a 60 hour work week, with 15 hours of commuting and 4:00am starts have taken their toll, not a blog post, blog comment, Tweet or Facebook Status update in a week, I did manage to update Daily Mile thanks to Electric Miles. Anyway here’s this week’s deets!

1/8/11 1000m swim 32:00, steady, alternate 100m BS and 100m FS, focused on form and breathing

1/9/11 Run 7:20m 1:01 TM Nice and steady Z2. The joy of a treadmill it's very controllable, nothing on "plan" so I stuck to Z2 @1% grade for 60 mins and with a negative split, 8:82, 8:49, 8:49, 8:56, 8:29, 8:36, 8:50 slowed up get in zone at the end surprisingly Z1 34% Z2 28% and Z3 36%. Was spiking at start and had drift to the end, got thru 18oz of Nuun

1/10/11 Run 5:60m 45:00 RD Easy run left knee a little sore, just followed my nose around the neighborhood

1/11/11 Elliptical 4:48m, had no idea how far I travelled till I had stopped, I had ripped a movie to my iphone and was watching that...park brain, engage legs, elevation at 10 and resistance at 7. 20 mins iPhone yoga in the evening ...very tight hips!

1/12/11 Run 5:6m 50:00 TM nothing much to say about this just got on with it

1/13/11 Elliptical 4:20m 45:00 Left knee a little sore so nice and steady, trying to to keep up a steady pace elevation at 10 and resistance at 7

1/14/11 Elliptical 3:25m 35:00 Crazy busy at work but managed to sneak out at lunch, elevation at 10 and resistance at 7

So as you can see a lightish week, I managed to keep moving…just! The good news is I have dropped 5.4lbs in two weeks, it’s a steady sustainable loss, which means it should stay off. I am still photographing my food (I am a bit behind in posting though) and logging on loseit.com. I should finish Running Natural this weekend and then start the transition plan…that’s the plan at least!

Tomorrow, Saturday is a rest day and Sunday is 13.1 Los Angeles, I am aiming for a conservative 1:40-1:45, I raced this last year and blew up around mile 12 so this year I hope to have a better showing!

Anyway that’s it for now, have a great weekend!

Friday figures…

Not much going on this week! I am still reading Natural Running, I am actually a reasonably quick reader but I am just short on time. I broke through the 100 mile mark on my Kinvara’s and have no problems with them. My schedule since the New Year trainingwise is ok, I am not on a plan so I am in effect making it up as I go along running Mon, Wed and Fri, cross training Tues and Thurs and doing something at the weekend, either a longer run or a bike ride. I have been out this week mostly in the mornings, that’s an approx 5:00am start…four of these on the trot and come Friday night I am bushed!

So this week looked like this, the comments are from my log, so it’s a bit inside baseball:

1/1/11 – Yoga, 20 mins yoga following a Gaim DVD. So stiff...the only way is up!

1/2/11  - Run, 6.05 M RD 49:17. Easy six, was raining...oh well, looking for a negative split on the way back, squeaked it in by a minute  or so 8:18, 8:15, 8:23, 8:34, 7:56, 7:33

1/3/11 – Run 4.01 M TM 33:03. What should have been an easy Z2 4 miles became an I am bored let’s ramp up the TM speed then became an OMG zero energy and then WTF I can’t cool down! It’s cold (50f) and the gym had the heating on! I couldn't cool down and had to stand outside for 10 mins to try to get things under control. Should have just stuck to the plan! 8:07, 7:37, 7:12, 9:58

1/4/11 – Bike 16.31 M RD 1:07:18 Very windy and therefore very cold; 3 layers, need my shoe covers! L&M died after 40m need to charge it longer, nevertheless a solid ride with a lower than average ave speed. And I am done for the day!

1/5/11 – Run 4.68 M TR 41:55 Slow paced run, energy levels low, most likely due to reduced diet and still carrying this cold, but it`s always good to get out and click off some miles

1/6/11 –  Bike 12.87 M RD 00:42:31 A very windy ride, cut short by the clock! In the evening had a good rollout on quads, hams, calves on Triggerpoint Roller

1/7/11 – Run 5.01 M RD 42:32 Nice and steady accelerator run, barely noticed the effort to pick up 8:46, 8:40. 8:30. 8:22, 8:06

So nothing mind shattering as you can see, but some steadiness and a pretty good mix, my cold thing is on it’s way out and once I finish the book I will start the transition to forefoot proper, from there I want to get on a good HM plan, I am thinking FIRST again, and find a race (with a couple of back ups to shoot for a 1:30 probably around April/May Laguna or Pasadena are real solid possibilities. As it stands my only racing commitment this year so far is the 13.1 next weekend. 

I am only only 5 days into calorie counting but I am really liking loseit.com, it’s very easy on the iPhone and the web and takes very little time, especially if you are like me and you eat the same things a lot! The weight is starting to shift, but it is early days and those are the easy pounds! I am logging everything on the i8this site too, check it out!

And that’s about it for the week, have a great weekend!

Cleaning out the clutter…

So as is the way this time of year the Christmas tree comes down and the decorations go away, plans are made for the year and there is always a bit of tidying up done. Back to school, back to work it doesn’t matter it’s just a mind set of preparedness. With that in mind and with #9 resolution in mind I decided to tackle the nightmare that is my running/cycling kit, it’s kinda everywhere, in drawers, cupboards, under the bed. Part inspired listening to Barb tell the tale of her storage strategy and part driven by the insanity of not being able to find something! So a quick trip to Target and and hour spent sorting.

First out with the bajillion white cotton race Tshirts that I will never wear.

Next stop Goodwill!

There were also some race shirts that didn’t fit or were just plain yuk! Next up digging in to the stuff I was keeping…and another hour or so sorting and I got to some semblance of a finished product, there’s more of course but this is a good photo!

Scary fact, one big drawer is just compression clothing!

Ok so far so good, now I have one more to go…

Got Hydration!

There are a couple of other things I am doing to achieve #2 on the Revolution list. I have fired up the the i8this blog, if you want to play just leave a comment and I will send you the log in details and I have signed up on loseit.com, yes I am calorie counting it’s worked in the past and I am confident it will work again, accountability and transparency usually go a long way. Check it out and friend me if you like.

And so on with the year…

2011…revolutions!

This year is done, the good, the bad and the in-between…let’s look forward. The Top 10 30,000' hit list for 2011;

1. Keep it real, fun and with the family!
2. Drop 20lb and get back on the good food bandwagon
3. Pick up 4 minutes on my 10k and 7 minutes on my Half Marathon
4. Plan the work…then work the plan
5. Consistency is king and that's where the results live
6. Cross Train; I got the bike now I need to use it!
7. Do the good stuff I am supposed to; foam roll, stretch, yoga etc
8. Transition to Mid/Forefoot
9. No new kit in Jan, Feb or March!
10. Sleep…get more than I get now!

There’s probably some more…but this will do for now!