Nicks Blog

Lake Stevens Half Ironman - race report

2010-08-17T21:44:00.000-07:00

Racing is racing, training is training and sometimes you can't train for the race.

Pre-race

Kristin and I showed up in Everett for packet pick up and the race briefing on Friday, as planned. This allowed me to have a little bit more time, and to be relaxed and settled in for Sunday's race. The race briefing was informative, but one of the biggest concerns that came out was a question from another athlete. Short version of the conversation, there needed to be some extra cops at the country market as last year there were some jackasses throwing tacks in the road. Man I was hoping not to have some hillbillies mess up my day.... Little did I know it wasn't the local talent I was going to need to worry about. More about that later.

After the briefing and packet pick up, I went and drove both the bike and run courses with Kristin. Both the bike and run courses were based on doing two loops on local country roads. The bike loop was pretty much the first 10+ miles as a gradual uphill with a couple of uphill kicks to remind the body your legs were still there, then the next 10+ miles of downhill with a couple of uphill kicks to keep it interesting. And you did this loop twice.

The run portion was also two loops which were pretty flat except for one hill that was going to kill the legs after the bike leg and at miles 4 and 11. Other than that, it was a pretty straight forward course.

Saturday, I only had to take my bike to transition which makes Sunday a little easier. I did a very short run and ride that day to get the legs shook out. The run my legs were feeling a bit dead and heavy, which was not inspiring, but I know this is kind of normal for me whenever I taper down, so I didn't put too much weight in to it. On my bike ride, I felt completely on, and I was ready to crush the bike course!

I racked up my bike after my shake down ride, and left the transition area feeling pretty good. I then took a very quick swim without a wet suit, just to see how warm the water was and to get a little stroke drill in to put some stroke back in to muscle memory. The water was very warm at 72-73 degrees and the water was clear, so I was happy to be swimming in a clean lake.

Overall, I was excited to be here. Lake Stevens is a beautiful town and lake, and the roads were great for a Triathlon, the weather was a bit warm, but we can't have everything perfect. The event organizers were top notch! I felt the event was done as good or better than any event I have ever attended. AA Sports is the only other event organizer that has come close, from what I have seen in the Pacific Northwest.

Race Day

Kristin and I were out of the hotel room at 5:15 AM (Yes, I can wake up that early, I had to wake up at 4:30 AM). We made it to the start at 5:45 which I thought was plenty of time, with transition closing at 6:15. Well, it was barely enough time, but I got my transition set up.

Probably the best part of the pre race was being able to see David Barker who was doing this event as well. I have trained many hours with him over the past year, and it was great to see a friend at the event who was going through the same pre race jitters. We were able to chat a bit, and talk while waiting in the huge lines for the porto-potties.

For those of you who don't know about races and the bathroom situation, let me explain something. Everyone is super hydrated, super nervous, and needing to use the bathroom, and frequently. It is common for the lines to be really long and it doesn't seem to matter how many porto's are there... So, David and I had a good amount of time to chat, I think we were waiting in line for like 15 minutes.

My swim started at 6:46 and this time I took a different approach from my previous tri swim starts. I started the swim towards the front of the pack. My theory was since I am a strong swimmer, comfortable in the water, and comfortable with all of the crawling and kicking that happens in the water. I also knew I could be in the top half of the group, and rather than crawling over everyone to get in front of them, I would just start there.

This really paid off, and it provided me some humor in the first 250 yards of the swim. During the start, I had a ton of guys jump up in front of me. They were all looking like they were doing 100 yard sprints in the pool. Arms going at a fast cadence, kicking like they were really getting power from their kicks, etc. I just laughed and I was confused if they were really that dumb, no way!!! Yep! After the first 100-150 yards, I was swimming over and around these guys. I hope they learn pacing... Another thing that really surprised me was that within about 250 yards, I was catching guys from the wave in front of us, 4 minutes ahead. These guys you could tell were already struggling. Wow, talk about making for a long ass day for these guys. Although, great for them for doing it!

After the first 250 yards, things started to calm down, I was passing some guys here and there, mostly from the wave in front of us, but nothing out of the normal. At the first buoy turn, about 700 meters in, I was about 20-30th place on the swim. Right were I was hoping to be. About at the half way point I was starting to get passed by guys in the wave behind me. Wow! Did these guys look amazingly smooth in the water. I was jealous of their stroke.

After the last buoy turn, we were on the home stretch with about 700 meters left. I was doing well, still holding my ground within my age group. About 50 yards past that last buoy with a left turn, I see a guy with a cap from the wave behind us (in other words a fast swimmer) was coming at me at a 45 degree angle. The only reason I saw this was because I was breathing on my left side, taking my inhale breath just as the dudes hand came down on my head. His fingers went underneath my goggles, scratched my eye lid, pulled off my goggles, took off my nose clip, popped out a contact and pushed my head under the water as I was inhaling.

This resulted in me having a lung full of lake water, which immediately resulted in my body doing everything it could to get rid of it. Which was vomiting and coughing. After I had finished dealing with that, I look up and there is a guy on a Kayak coming over to check on me. I gathered myself enough and waved him off, thinking I was okay. I reset my goggles and just got back on with my swim.

The problem was, I wasn't able to swim like I am used to swimming. I was dazed, I couldn't focus, I couldn't put power in to my stroke. Every time I tried to up the pace, my body would want to expel anything out all avenues. All I could think of was, not in the wetsuit, not in the wetsuit!! Then, for some reason, about 150 yards from the swim exit, it smelled like I was right next to the porto-potties. I really wanted to vomit at that point. I just wanted to hold it in, I did not want to puke in front of all the spectators. I was in a bad place at this point. I was honestly questioning if I could make it in, if I should get some assistance, but I just wanted to push it out and get to the bike and hopefully be okay.

I get to the swim exit, I could barely stand, I was not walking straight, running was not an option, and puking in front of everyone I thought was really uncool, so I held it in. I took my time getting to the bike, had a couple of lake burps, and get on my way, hoping the bike would do me some good and help me turn around the craptastic swim.

The bike felt much better than the swim. I was unable to push myself too hard, as it would make me sicker, but I was able to maintain a fine speed. For the first 15 miles or so, I was feeling pretty okay, and I was pretty confident I was gonna come out of this funk. During the last uphill pitch, my stomach hit me full force. I held it in, not wanting to vomit and lose the nutrition and fluid I had just put down. I held on to it for most of the downhill, and during the downhill/flat section, I finally lost the battle.

At the beginning of the second loop, I thought about dropping out as I was pretty sure this wasn't going to get any better. I decided, to hell with it, either I am going to get better, or I am going to just suffer this out and put in a crappy bike time, but I am not going to stop this easily. I then committed myself to doing the second loop, and my stomach wanted nothing to do with me the rest of the ride. If I pushed my HR above 130, I was immediately sick. My goal HR for the bike was 148 to 153 bpm, so this was far below where I am used to performing. At times my HR was below 100 bpm, just keeping my stomach at ease. I just suffered the rest of the ride, and suffered quite a bit.

At the bike finish, I knew I was done for. If my stomach can't handle the bike, it can't handle the jarring of running and running requires a higher heart rate than 130 for me. I still had 4 hours to complete the half marathon, but who wants to walk for 4 hours in 90+ heat? Not me!

The thing that sucked the most is my legs felt fine, probably due to the lack of effort put in on the bike. I really feel I could have finished the run, had it not been for my stomach, but my stomach ended up stopping me in my tracks.

Where does this leave me?

Well, I feel like I was kind of robbed of a chance to do a half ironman, yeah, shit happens, but I feel that I need redemption.

I am going to do an Olympic distance Tri in a couple weeks, and if that goes well, I am going to do a Long Course Tri in late September, which is the same distance as a half Ironman, just not the official Ironman brand hosting the course.

Getting ready for the month of fitness

2009-12-27T20:53:00.001-08:00

I have returned from my business trip to Canada where I managed not to gain too much weight, maybe a pound, maybe. I am also happy that I was able to get a few days of exercise in while I was there, which really helped keep me from feeling fat and lazy, even though I was working 14 hour days with Tim.

I have been thinking of how I am going to fit in 2.5 to 3 hour workouts 5 to 6 days per week with everything else that is going on at work and my life. I am going to have to be extremely committed and I will be challenged to meet my goal. I am not intimidated by this, I am actually looking forward to the challenge.

Month of fitness challenge

2009-12-07T19:45:00.000-08:00

I was at the gym the other day sitting in the dry sauna and an Ironman Triathlete and I got to talking. He informed me he was in his "month of fitness". Of course I inquired what the hell is a month of fitness? After we talked about this for a bit, I realized this is something I would love to do with my friends and family.

What is a month of fitness you ask?
A month of fitness is something you do only once a year. You set aside one month, where you give up everything you enjoy for your health and your fitness. You give up all of your vices, such as drinking, junk food, soda, smoking or whatever other vice(s) you may have.

Yes, this idea came from an Ironman, so they know how to suffer for long periods. During his month of fitness he runs 65 to 80 miles a week, rides a couple hundred miles a week and swims 4 to 5 days a week. No, I am not asking everyone, or anyone for that matter, to do what this guy is doing. Well... Not exactly.

The point of this challenge is to get your body healthy, possibly even get over some bad habits, increase your fitness and hopefully some of the good habits stick.

Here are some ideas/guidelines. Give up the refined foods. No white flour, if you must have bread, it has to be whole wheat or whole grain. You get bonus points for no bread. Give up soda, diet and regular, fast food, french fries, fried foods, all of it. Maybe you have a pretty healthy diet, but you just have one bad thing, like stopping at McDonald's for breakfast. Cross those bad habits out for a month!

From a fitness perspective, commit to an exercise goal that will challenge you! Maybe that is walking to the end of the block and back three times a day, maybe that is an hour of walking a day or crazy like that Ironman who is running 80 miles a week, then cycling and swimming! It has to be challenging. This could be anything, it could be weights in the gym, swimming, cycling or even just playing ball with your kids.

Part of this challenge means you have to give up more than the foods and do some exercise. This may mean you will have to cancel on some dates you have, maybe not go out with friends that Friday night so you can squeeze in another hour or two of fitness. This is for one month, your family and friends will be understanding and supportive as this is a goal for you and your health.

For those of us who are building up to a big summer with Half-Ironman's, Endurance Duathlon's, Marathon's and other events, this is a great time to build up some good base miles, trim down and possibly integrate new training for a winter month. Also, could you imagine coming in to the spring with such a great fitness level!

Now, I am not a big fan of New Year's resolutions. I truly think they are horrible because people often set unrealistic goals, fail and go back to where they were or worse. If you want to do something, pick a date and DO IT!!! However, I think January is the perfect month. It is after the holiday's which everyone gains a few pounds during but it is not during the holidays. Come on, who can do Thanksgiving or Christmas without eating some of your favorite home made foods. I'm not cruel...

The rules are easy. Find a friend or family member who you will be accountable to for the month of January. It is ideal if you find someone who will be doing it with you. This person doesn't even need to be at the same fitness level as you. Here are some ideas.

Set your goal of exercising for X hours a week. Sorry, not goal, this is not a goal, this is a COMMITMENT to you and your family. Your friend may be committed to a different goal, but you both will be held accountable for the commitment. Of course you can do betting as to who will achieve what goals, or personal rewards. You hit your commitment for the entire month, maybe you can buy that new pair of shoes you have been looking at!

Another option, say you are going to run, bike and/or swim X distance each week for the month. Or who runs the most miles, wins a prize bought by the loser.

Ultimately this is for you and you will be the winner. Commit to a goal and accomplish it. Eat right and be super fit for a month. Just one month!

Push yourself and you will be surprised.

If you are in, leave a comment with your commitment. Get a friend to join you and get them to post as well.

My commitment:
I am committing to 15 hours per week of fitness. This is a time based commitment for me as I do not know what is going to happen with the stress fracture in my foot yet. I may end up doing a lot of swimming, cycling and weights, we will see. I am honestly gonna try and stretch out 20 hours if work doesn't get too hectic.

That was my fitness goal.

My food commitment is that I will stop drinking soda for the month. That is a huge one for me. In addition I will stay as far away from refined starches, such as white breads and pasta's. I will not touch fried foods and I will try and increase my protein intake drastically.

Anyone willing to join me? What are you going to commit to?

Yes, it has been too long

2009-11-29T21:08:00.000-08:00

I need to start updating the blog more often. A quick run down since my last blog post.

I completed the Eugene Marathon, but I was nowhere near as fast as I had hoped/expected. But, I now have a new respect for the distance, that is for sure. I plan on doing another marathon in 2010, maybe Portland or Seattle. We will see.

I have transitioned fully over to barefoot/minimalist running. I know it seems odd, and maybe I am an odd duck. But I have done quite a bit of reading and research and ultimately what it boils down to is there is not a single piece of legitimate research out there that shows running shoes reduce injuries. To the contrary, there is research suggesting modern shoes cause injuries because our feet lose contact (feeling) with what the ground is doing. In addition, modern running shoes promote heel striking, which causes more impact on all of the joints from your ankles all the way up! As an experiment of one I have found that I do have more issues with my IT bands and knees when I run in shoes.

With that revelation about not using shoes any more, I now have a stress fracture in my second metatarsal. YAY! It was a freak accident, which sucked. I was running on a downhill at night in the rain. And when it is raining at night I have a hard time seeing the contours of the road and some objects. As I was running down this hill I landed on a large rock, maybe an inch in diameter, with a fairly pointed side facing up. This hit right where my second toe meets my foot. This caused some immediate pain that I at first thought had cut my foot and/or broke something. Thankfully I was wearing my Vibram Five Fingers which kept it from cutting me. It was painful to continue running but I kind of shrugged it off and finished my run, which was just over a mile.

I continued running for another week and a half. Every time I ran, my foot would feel better, and if I was off of my foot, it would start hurting as soon as I put any weight on it. After a week and a half of the pain not going away, I decided it was time to go see a podiatrist. The podiatrist informed me that I do have a stress fracture in my second metatarsal. So, I am off of running for 3 to 8 weeks as I am in a walking cast.

Although I am not happy that I am now off of running, just as I was getting to the point where I could do runs at a sub 8:00/mile pace, I am looking at this as an opportunity.

I was originally thinking of doing an endurance duathlon this summer, but I have decided maybe this is the perfect opportunity to look at doing a triathlon. So, I have switched over to weight training, swimming and cycling. The weight training is a good thing to do during the winter months anyway. But now I am going to integrate swimming, which I had not originally planned to do this winter. This opens up the possibility of doing a triathlon, which I had previously not considered. We will see how my swimming workouts go, but I may sign up for a Triathlon instead. We will see...

Okay, so, there is an update. Hopefully many more to come.

Getting ready for the Eugene Marathon - which is this weekend

2009-04-27T14:37:00.001-07:00

Just a quick note.

My hotel for this weekend sent me a confirmation that I have my rooms for two nights.

I also have received an email from the folks at Eugene Marathon with my bid number, which is 149. Wonder how I got such a low number? They say there will be over 6,000 people running the marathon this year, how cool!

According to the race organizer, you will be able to log on to www.eugenemarathon.com and be able to keep track of my progress through the race.

What has been going on with my fitness

2009-04-25T21:58:00.000-07:00

A week from tonight I will be in Eugene hoping to get a good nights rest for the Eugene Marathon. I am very nervous about this, but I am also confident that I will finish it.

I am still losing weight steadily, but I am definitely trying to curb any weight loss, or at least keep it to a minimum. But, I am also struggling not to gain weight. See, I am used to eating 2,500 to 4,000 calories a day, depending on my workouts. However, before a marathon you taper your workouts, which is basically under training so your body is well rested for Marathon day. But, this means my calorie requirements are closer to 2,000 to 2,700 calories a day. So, I am having to be careful to watch my calories.

I am down to 221 pounds, but I have been trying not to lose much or any weight lately. I am asking a lot of my body by asking it to do a marathon and I am not wanting to ask it to lose weight aggressively, and run 26.2 miles. It is not a good idea at all.

Overall, I am feeling good, my body is feeling right, my legs are feeling fresh. However, I am already looking past the marathon, and I have a definite plan for this summer. It is too late to do anything big on the bike, like a double century, and I am not sure I want to do Seattle to Portland again anyway. I am going to work on being faster on the bike and on the run. I have a pretty good pace on the bike. Over the long haul I can average pretty good speeds, but I can't sprint on the bike to save my life. I just don't have that "top end". The same goes for my running, but I am a slow runner all the way around.

For the summer, I am planning on running two to three times a week, and riding three or more times per week. I am planning to run a half marathon at least two to three times a month, training runs, not showing up at races. The other days I am going to work on intervals and and overall increase of my pace and running economy. Two of my co-workers, David and Tim, are going to be doing track workouts every Wednesday at Dunniway Track and I am going to join them.

For the bike, I am going to be doing hill repeats and intervals at least one day a week, and the weekends will be doing 50 to 75 mile training rides.

The end goal is I will get faster, but I will also be within reach of doing any standard distance race, bike or run, and be able to perform at a respectable (to me) level.

My goal around these would be to do a half marathon race at 1:50 or less and for a bike race, I would like to actually contend for a top ten finish. I can do bike races and I can do well wen it doesn't matter, but I have no finishing power, and that is what I am truly looking for.

Oh, and on top of that, I want to drop to below 200 pounds by end of the summer. Ultimately, I want to get down to 195 pounds. That will be 100 pounds lost, which I think would be a cool thing to say. Once I get there, I am going to try and love weights, or at least tolerate them. I want to get my upper body built up a bit so I don't have a wire thin upper body and massive legs. I am not looking to get huge, just to have a well rounded body.

Why it is hard to be me - Sort of

2009-04-14T21:27:00.000-07:00

Okay, first lets get one thing off the plate. Mom went back in for more cancer checks today and she now has an official-official clean bill of health!

So, I am starting to track my calories to make sure I am not eating too much or too little. Too much and I am going to gain weight, too little and I am not going to lose weight because I will put my body in to starvation mode. Another thing with too little or too much is your body does not perform at it's peak.

I have the weirdest problem, when I am working out, I have a really hard time getting in enough calories because I tend not to get too hungry most days. So, today I ate what felt like a ton! Here is what I ate.

Breakfast: 240 calories

2 protein breakfast bars

Mid-Morning snack: 461 calories

1 apples worth of dried apples, all natural (thank you Trader Joe's)
1/4 cup of high Omega Fat trail mix
2 ounces of turkey breast meat
9 cherry tomatoes
1 banana

Lunch: 432 calories

2.5 ounces of turkey breast meat
8 cherry tomatos
3 pieces of fiber rye wafer (no yeast, very low carb, high fiber)
1 bowl of healthy choice clam chowder.

Afternoon snack: 402 calories

1 ounce of honey spread over 3 pieces of fiber rye wafer
1 fuji apple
1 banana
1 strawberry fruit bar, all natural

Dinner: 965 calories, I was way behind on calories, had to force myself to eat big

Foot long sub from subway (Turkey and Ham, no condiments)
16 ounces of Orange Juice (Usually would not have OJ, normally I would have something else, but I chose this as it was calories and no caffeine)

Okay, I know some of my friends and family would say everything on this list was disgusting! However, that is not the hard part. Not one thing crossed my lips today that did not taste good. Well, actually, the OJ was way too sweet for me.

For me, the hard part, I felt like I was constantly eating all day! It was too much damn food, but I was trying to actually hit my calorie goal.

I ate 2,540 calories, and I was still 225 calories short of my goal, which was 500 calories below my calories burned number. I burned 3,265 calories for the day after you include my daily calorie burn and the amount of calories I burned on my run today.

So, I am just bitching that I feel like I am almost force feeding myself and I have to eat a ton of food every day. Yes, I could easily get these calories in by adding a ton of carbs or fried foods in my diet, but I am not doing that.

So, it really isn't hard to be me, and I am happy I have my health, and I have the ability to be in this situation. However, today was really difficult to eat enough calories, and I am realizing I am drastically undereating again, so I gotta keep up on the calories. The other problem is now that I am tapering, it means I will not be working out nearly as much, so I have to be careful not to get used to consuming 2500 to 2800 calories a day and then drop my mileage, i.e. calorie burn, and end up gaining too much weight.

The call I didn't want to recieve - again

2009-04-13T19:56:00.000-07:00

For a little background, I took mom to an oncology appt late last week to see if she had any signs of cancer. a week before this appointment she had a mamogram done so the Oncologist could review that as well.

The appointment went really well, great doctor, etc. The blood work does not show any signs of cancer, which is great. However, for some reason the damn mammogram has not come back and it has been six days. Mom and I thought, well, if they aren't rushing it back to the doctor, it must not be anything urgent. However, before we left the doctors assistant asked us if we had time to wait around for them to actually get the results back. She called over to the mammogram folks to get the tests faxed over ASAP. After we waited for a while, the assistant told us she has called multiple times but still no dice, but she would call Mom's cell as soon as they had the results.

Well, that ended up being this morning, 10 days later! At 8:30 this morning, they finally called mom with the results. It turns out there were some abnormalities in her breasts and they need to do further tests. DAMNIT!!!

They are getting her in tomorrow to have more tests done, but only a doctor can give her the official results and the technicians can not. We are not sure when she will get official word yet.

Getting this call again, sucked. However, can you imagine what Mom is going through?

Weighing in - end of week 2

2009-04-02T20:44:00.000-07:00

Okay, so today is a little past two weeks, I guess it would be two weeks and two days? So, the results are interesting now, and I am not sure how to put this down to paper. You can read the wanderings of a rambling mind I suppose.

Two weeks in, no story of holy cow I lost twenty pounds! Of course, I would have ate 5,000 calories a day to make sure that didn't happen. I am trying to run a marathon and that fast of weight loss would scare the crap out of me. Also, I think that kind of weight loss is seen by very obese people who have a lot of water weight, etc. So, with that said, how am I doing?

Well, I am feeling great! So, we will start with that. My body really seems to be changing shape and I wish I would have taped myself because I think there is a visible change.

So, I started at 230, right? Monday of this week I was at 223.2, but it was the day after my 19 mile run, so you kinda expect to drop some weight after a long run like that, and I think I was mildly dehydrated after Sundays run, and under-fueled. I tried to rehydrate myself Sunday night and all day Monday, I drank a lot of water! After actually get hydrated again, I was at 224.8 pounds, which was also the two week anniversary. That is 5.2 pounds in two weeks, and I changed nothing in my diet, and I didn't even train as much as I wanted to, and I am out of that damn rut of 230! Also, I am at my lowest adult weight ever, even after both Seattle to Portlands.

One big thing I learned, it really does help you burn the calories when you work out! Sunday I didn't start my run until 1 PM, so I had breakfast and a very light early lunch with the supplement for both. On the run, I nailed my fueling plan pretty well, but I found myself bonking at 16 miles. After doing some analysis of my HR and everything, the only logical, yet unscientific, thing I could conclude was maybe the supplements are actually causing me to burn more calories? Enough so to effect my fueling plan. What this means is I will not be taking it on the day of my long runs any more, at least not before my runs. Although, on the bike I would do it and drive myself in to the ground, but that is for the summer. :)

The interesting thing though, my pace for the run was very good for me, especially considering I had a 13.8 mph head or side wind for the first 14 miles before it was finally at my back. My HR was nice and steady, and low, my pace was kicking ass. I was running sub 10's with a head wind that was so heavy I had a hawk flapping his wings damn hard to go barely faster than I across the road from me. That was with a good low HR. So, I also think it has helped me aerobically, possibly, but there are many other factors there too. But, it's claims are weight loss, not supercharging your body. Although they do use all natural ingredients which are wholesome and are good for your body, so anything is possible.

On to weight loss. Like I said if this supplement could get me off this plateau I am having, and I change nothing, I would consider it successful. So, I am down 5 pounds in two weeks and below that 227.2 that I couldn't break for ages. I am very happy with that, and I really do feel we may be on to something good, maybe even something great!!! I sure hope so!

Holy cow it has been busy

2009-03-29T21:38:00.000-07:00

Okay, I am now realizing just how over worked I have been, and I am sure the rest of my team as well.
I have been catching up on bills, and other mail, from the last time I have had time to go through it all. First, an explanation, all of my bills are on autopay, I just check my mail to make sure nothing is getting out of control. So, it is not a critical thing...
I was looking at mail from November of 08! Ouch! I was finally getting to see friends holiday cards, and pictures of some damn cute kids. So, yeah, it has been too damn long since I have had time to catch up on maintenance items. Thankfully the last week and a half has been "normal".
I am very glad I committed to a marathon this year, it forced me to break from work to keep my fitness up. Although I didn't get all of my runs in, I did get most of them. Besides that, I have not done much else over the past 5 months.
I have had dinner with friends twice. Once with Tony and Joanne, and once with David and Stefanie, excluding family holiday dinners. Oh, wait, one other time at Shawn and Tonya's with the family, which was great.
I have canceled appointments (dinner/drinks) with friends, the wife and the family. I have canceled a week with one of my best friends (I have 3 I call best friends) that I have not seen for over a year. I have not returned some phone calls, and a general sign of me not having ANY TIME, as I love spending time with my friends and family.
So, I feel like I am a bad friend and I am hoping over the next few weeks to catch up with some friends and enjoy life for a bit. Again, let me restate, I feel bad because work and working out have taken all of my attention, oh and some bowling I guess, and my friends and family have suffered to some degree. Not that I am not going to work, but I am hoping work won't take all of my free time.
So, if it has been too long since we have gone out for drinks/dinner/ride/run let me know via email or comments below and we will catch up.

Maybe it is all placebo

2009-03-24T20:49:00.001-07:00

Okay, I am open to the placebo affect theory. However, I am going to share some other interesting things I have noticed.

I am falling to sleep much easier, and requiring less sleep. No more reading for an hour or two every night just to wind down. Key thing here, I am also requiring about 45 minutes less sleep per night. Okay, placebo is possible, although nobody told me this should happen, just something I noticed.

My heart rate when working out is staying lower, giving me faster average pace on my runs. There are several factors that this could be attributed to, but something I have noticed over the past week. Oh, and my long run, until I had muscle issues, was going well, definitely fastest sustained pace I have ran yet on a long run.

My mental clarity has no doubt improved. This could also be greatly impacted by the fact that I have a huge project which is now completed. My stress levels have gone down, and I have even found time to relax.

So, as you can see, their is placebo and outside factors which could all have similar affects on my performance, both mentally and physically. However, I honestly think this is too big of a change within one week. It is not like my job just became easy, I have plenty of problems on my plate, and plenty of stress, but I am noticing I am reacting to it much better. Who knows, just sharing.

Fell off the wagon a bit.

2009-03-24T20:22:00.000-07:00

So, I stopped posting daily weight updates. Thought about it, sounded about as exciting as watching turtles race. But a quick update.

It has been a week of repairs around here.
My brakes were pulsating in my Infiniti. The car needs new pads and rotors all the way around. Awesome!!! Infiniti dealership was almost $3,000 to do it. Brake Team, $565 with better pads, and comparable rotors. I don't like paying $565, but I like it much better than $3,000. That was Monday.

Monday night, the dishwasher would not drain. I could not figure out the problem, so I had to call a appliance repair shop to fix my dishwasher. Although Kristin wanted to just replace the damn thing. There was an obstruction in a very bizarre place as it turns out. The guy fixed that and made some small tweeks, and our dishwasher is washing better than it has in a while. Way cool. The repair was $72, which wasn't too bad considering it included his drive time. The repair was done by Appliance Guys, which I found from Angies List. These guys were excellent from first call to completion. Clean, effeciant and they even took care of other small things to make our appliances better.

Tomorrow is all about repairing me. I am getting a hour long massage tomorrow to hopefully loosen up some of my muscles and tendons in my legs and back. Cristie Cooke is my massuse and she does a great deep tissue massage that always leaves my muscles feeling much better when I leave.

As far as weight goes, I kinda fell behind on weighing myself today. Monday I was down to 226.2 pounds, which is almost 4 pounds in one week, which is pretty amazing. However, Monday night with a pile of dishes we couldn't do, and having the kitchen torn up trying to fix the dishwasher, we ordered pizza for dinner. I forgot to weigh myself this morning, but I am sure I gained some weight. In six good days, I lost almost 4 pounds. What if science really has found an all natural solution to weight loss? Time will only tell, but my hopes are up.

Made it out today

2009-03-22T20:57:00.000-07:00

I made it out today, hoping to get a good long run in. The route I was going to run, I have ridden over a hundred times on my bike. Some sections always have a little wind, but if it is windy day, this route is always nasty. Not until I got out there did the wind really start to pick up. It was such a stiff wind, it was slowing me down by two minutes per mile for a few miles. Then, it rained. Then, it hailed! Then it got sunny and I sweated my ass off, then rain and wind. It was interesting weather.

I was feeling extremely well at 10 miles. My body was loose, my legs were still full of energy and my stride was great. I stopped to fill up my water bottles, dry off my my hat and hair to stop the sweat running in to my eyes. Then I sat and cussed at the hail. After getting my butt going again, my legs were no longer fresh, my hamstrings tight and my stride was off. I made it a mile or so, then my back had a spasm that caused me to stop running. I walked for a few minutes and started running again to start warming back up. My back was tight, stopping my arm swing and it seemed to mess with my stride. Shortly after running again I was starting to get hit with a very heavy right to left wind, which forced me to lean to the right and at times blew me left quite a bit.

At thirteen miles, where my hamstring and glute locked up and started shooting pain. I walked, stretched and walked some more. Nothing would stop the pain while I ran. It was sharp pain, but nothing crazy. However, I was not going to be dumb and push through it. I ended up walking for another 2.5 miles. Or, should I say I did some mixture of walk and hobble, while cussing under my breath and leaning in to the wind.

I learned one key thing today, do not diddly dally while refilling water bottles and get tight. I tighten up much quicker running than I did on the bike, and I have to be aware of this.

This week I am making an appointment with Christi, my masseuse, to get a massage. She is great at giving a deep massage to work out my muscles. In addition, I am going to my Osteopathic Physician to get any spine/hip issues worked out that I may have.

I am not that disappointed about today actually. I still got a good run in, I learned something, I learned more about my fueling plan and I think I made one error which caused me the problem which I am hoping to avoid next time.

It's the wrong day

2009-03-21T20:00:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning with my muscles and tendons feeling extremely tight. In addition, the blister problem on my foot is JUST NOT GOING AWAY!!!! This kinda irritates me, I have been spending 30 minutes a night stretching and using the foam roller, but my hips are still tight, and my run on Thursday was cut to three miles because of my hip. I have a lot of stuff going on this weekend, so, after making my decision not to run today, I called around to clear up most of my Sunday.

So, I am going to see how I am feeling tomorrow, either I am going to run my 18, or I am going to cut it short at a half-marathon distance. I am going to try and get a run in, but I have decided it is better to play it safe than to take the risk of hurting myself. I am also feeling like I am over trained and I am finally coming around. It definitely was not that I have been running too much, it is the combination of everything in my life. Work has been crazy and stressful, which is calming down a bit, which adds to all of the stresses on my body. It is time for a little R&R to make sure I take care of my body, and spirit. I am hoping tomorrow brings a looser body and brighter mind.

Weighing in - Day 3

2009-03-20T09:24:00.000-07:00

So, I somehow gained yesterday. Back to 227.2. Damnit Jim! I am not too worried. I am fully expecting fluctuations from day to day. I did have to cut my run short yesterday (3.5 miles). I had my hip pain come back a bit yesterday. Not much, but I didn't want to push it and have bad pain like I did this last weekend. I spent 30 minutes stretching and using the foam roller to loosen up my right leg. I am hoping to be able to complete all 18 miles tomorrow, running.

Weighing in - Day 2

2009-03-19T09:42:00.000-07:00

Let me start by saying, yesterday was an odd one. I was very thirsty yesterday and I drank six liters of water. Usually this would mean I would either stay at my weight or gain upwards of a pound. For reference, I usually drink 3 to 5 liters, and each liter is two pounds. So, you expect it, but I don't worry about gaining weight from water, that is good weight in my opinion.

I stepped on the scale this morning expecting either no weight loss, or maybe up a bit. But, noooo, I am down again this morning. 226.2, or 3.8 pounds in two days.

Also, figure I should maybe post about what exercise I am doing, or when I am not exercising. Day 1, I did a 4 mile run, yesterday I did 8 miles. Today, I am hoping to get 4 or 5 miles.

Weighing in - Day 1

2009-03-18T08:14:00.000-07:00

This morning, to my suprise, I weighed in at 227.2 lbs. That is 2.8 pounds lost in one day! I am not holding my breath just yet. I can swing a pound or two pretty easily, although I would not have expected to lose almost three pounds in one day, especially while rehydrating yesterday. That is really abnormal for me, usually it is 1 to 1.5 pounds max either way per day.

As a side not, I did not feel anything different yesterday. For example, some people who I know who have tried things like Hydroxy Cut notice they are jittery or they feel extremely warm. Hydroxy Cut is a thermogenic, which means it increases your internal body temperature. The research I did in to this product does not suggest it is a thermogenic. Had it been, I wouldn't be taking it while training for a marathon. The last thing I need is to be running hotter, sweating more and having a hard time keeping myself hydrated. No thank you!

So, was day 1 a success, a fluke or placebo effect? Only time will tell.

My running dilema

2009-03-17T21:14:00.000-07:00

I am hoping someone can help me answer this question I have.

I am really bummed that I missed out on the Shamrock run, plus a little more distance. I was really looking to the shamrock run to help me figure out a baseline for a hard effort, along with figuring out some fueling strategies. Now, I have no full race experience yet this year.

The good news, this is the first long run I have missed out of my marathon training plan. This coming weekend is supposed to be 12 miles as my long run. Since I missed this last weekend, I figured I would do the 18 mile run I was supposed to do last weekend, this coming weekend, and count last weekend as my short weekend. Easy enough.

So, here are some options I have thought of.

1. Just stick to the plan, and use my long runs to tune in my Perpetuem and Endurolytes fueling.
2. Get a race in still. Do Race for the Roses Half Marathon which happens to be on a 12 mile step back week. But, it would mean I would do this on the weekends (19 miles, half marathon at race pace, 20 miles) with no real break weekends. After the 20 mile run, I start tapering for my marathon!
3. Maybe do the half marathon, but do it at a non-race pace, maybe at my goal marathon pace of 10 min/mile
4. Quit worrying, having a race in is not that necessary. Note to advice offerers, I have only done one half marathon race, and one 15k race, so I am not exactly experienced.

On the run again

2009-03-17T21:10:00.000-07:00

I went for a 4 mile run today and no hip issues!

It was really obvious that I did not get my long run this weekend. I was thinking I was running really easy, but my speed was really high for my recovery pace, as was my HR. I had no intention of going hard, but my body just wanted to RUN! I would try and slow down, then a couple minutes go by and I would look down and I was going too fast/hard again.

So, I am happy to be on the run again.

Let's start this thing!

2009-03-17T20:07:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday I received the package of liquid dietary supplements, so today I started the "weight loss protocol".

So, let's start off with some baselines here. I have a very accurate scale which they say is accurate to +/- 0.2 lbs. In addition it gives me all kinds of other data. Some of the other key points worth tracking is body fat and hydration. Now the body fat and hydration are directly correlated on this weight scale. So, if I drink a ton of water, my water % (% of weight which is water) goes up, and my body fat goes down. If I don't drink much water, my water % goes down, and my body fat goes up. So, the Shamrock run had me in a bit of a I don't give a damn attitude, so I didn't drink much water the last couple days, which will throw off my starting water and hydration percent.

This morning, I weighed myself at 230.0 lbs. I was at 23.5% body fat and 51% water weight.

I would normally expect my weight to go up a bit tomorrow, .5 to 1.0 lbs because I drank a lot of water today to hydrate myself again. Although, this is not a hard and fast rule, but it is normal for me to gain a little weight if I slack off drinking, then hydrate again. Then, usually, I will lose the weight within a couple days.

So, some interesting things to note and general ramblings.

The protocol for an athlete is to take one ounce of the supplement with the first four meals of the day (four ounces/day). Their is not much in their protocol for endurance athletes, but on the same token, we are all kinda strange in what we will/won't eat and how much.

Their protocol for a sedentary adult is a no-carb diet. Do not think Atkins, there is no unlimited bacon here for you. Also, the quantities probably add up to about 1,000 calories a day. Then, drink 8 to 10 glasses of water each day. Drink one glass of water before each meal. Let me start this by saying, if I could get every obese sedentary person to follow this protocol, they will all lose weight fairly quickly. However, I am assuming this product accelerates weight loss. Again, their is government accepted studies which validate their hypothesis. So, trying to be unbiased, and calling that for what it is.

Now, for me, I do subscribe that a no carb diet would be the best thing, although I have my vice and that is carbs. I do limit my carbs quite a bit from where I was, but I have a tortilla shell for lunch instead of bread or the occasional breadstick at Olive Garden. I drink a minimum of 2 liters of water every day and upwards to 5 liters per day. So I do get more than enough water. Also, because I am very active, I will not be eating 1,000 calories a day. I will continue eating as I normally do, about 2,000 to 2,500 calories per day.

I will keep up on posting my weight, etc. to keep everyone up to date.

Shamrock run race report

2009-03-15T20:41:00.000-07:00

Kristin and I woke up early this morning, both of us a little groggy. After getting all of our gear together, and listening to the wind howling outside, we set off in the rain to get drenched.

We arrived to the race around 8 (the race started at 8:40), and wondered around a bit and found Tim and David at the Fit Right NW tent hanging out. We talked to them really quick and headed off to the bag check to drop off some of our heavier rain gear and use the restroom. After using the restroom I was planning on running for a mile as a warm up to the race. I was planning on running along the path in Tom McCall Waterfront Park. As it would turn out, the 5k fitness walk was using that path, and all roads around were being used for races, etc. So, I decided to just do a nice warm up at the start of the race and I would have to run a little longer post race to get some mileage in.

I started the race at about the right place in the pack as I only had to run around a few people, and only a few people had to get past me. The gradual uphill started after about a half mile, and nothing was special there. The main good thing is people spread out better when the road goes up. After 2.5 miles, the first steep climb starts and the large hill, a road named Terwilliger. I was feeling good all the way up the main hill. I am not saying I was fast, just feeling good! On the first downhill, I started to get in a nice stride going at about a 7:30/mile pace. I then climbed up another short hill and then back down to start the last elevation game of the race. At the bottom of the downhill there is a gradual left turn to go up the hill.

When I was going around this corner I suddenly felt this large shooting pain in my right hip and when I put my foot down the pain was sharp again and my leg would not hold any of the weight and I almost fell over. I then stopped to walk for a few feet and see if I couldn't "walk it out". I decided to take in some water and Perpetuam and walk up the last 1oo yard uphill. Towards the top, I tried running again and I had severe sharp shooting pain again. This was the end of the race as I was not going to risk Eugene Marathon and try and push through sharp shooting pain. I was pretty upset though that my race had ended 5.5 miles in.

I started walking again and got to the next aid station at which point I hoped there would be a shuttle back as I was not running again. I made it to the aid station to find out there is no shuttle to take me back to the finish. Yuck! I had to walk the rest of the way in in the cold, wind and rain. To add insult to injury, I had dressed to run, which means lots of heat generated by my body, not a walk so I was damn cold at the end of the 9.3 miles.

Along the way Kristin caught up to me and she saw me walking on the side of the road. She walked with me for a few seconds while I told her why I was walking. She offered to walk the rest of the way in with me, but this was her race too! I told her to catch all the people who passed us while we were talking so she could finish her race at her best. It was really nice to see Kristin though, and I would have enjoyed her walking with me, but I was good doing the walk alone, with my own thoughts.

So, I thought I was going to beat my time from last year, I think I even used the word crush. Instead, I got crushed today. However, when my hip gave out, I was at the highest elevation point, with all downhill the rest of the way and my pace was faster than what I finished the race in last year. So, I definitely was going to beat my time, but not 100% of my body agreed with my desires.

The dillema's

2009-03-14T21:27:00.000-07:00

I may be making a mistake, or I may be saving myself, I am not sure which yet.

Tomorrow is the Shamrock Run and I am doing the 15k (9.3 mile) race. By the way, I plan on crushing my time last year, or at least I hope. Anyway, I am supposed to run 18 miles tomorrow for my long run for the week. However, this is on my top races for the year, and definitely my favorite spring race, so I am doing this race. I am going to warm up for a mile or so before the start of the race. I am then going to run the 9.3 mile race. After the race I plan on running another 5 or so miles, at a much easier pace.

Here is where my dilemma comes in. My old trusty pair of New Balance 1062's are worn out and after 7 miles, they start hurting my left knee. Enough so, that I think 15+ miles would cause me a serious injury to my knee, taking me out for a while. This is not an acceptable option.

Option 2, use my New Balance 1062's which are broken in, however, at 4 miles they start giving me blisters, and after 17 miles, especially with it wet out. I will have one nasty blister!

Option 3, use the new New Balance 1063 Wides, which should not give me blisters. However, who wants to go for a 15+ mile run on a brand new pair of shoes?

Option 1 is out! Option 2 is not making me happy, and Option 3 just sounds dumb! So, I am doing a hybrid of dumb. I am going to wear my brand new New Balance 1063 shoes. I am going to bring two more shoes with me. I will have my trail running shoes and my new 1062's in the car, which will be close to the start/finish of the race. If the NB 1063's cause me issues, I will have my trail shoes. If those cause me issues, I will deal with the blisters, but I am going to do my damnedest to get at least 15 miles in.

Ultimately, I am hoping my New Balance 1063 Wides are the ticket and I will have no blisters, or knee issues.

Wish me luck!

Trying something different

2009-03-11T21:54:00.000-07:00

Since November 11th 2008, my weight has fluctuated from 237 to 228 lbs. The holidays have something to do with the highs. Then, I have been traveling for work quite a bit, which also does me NO favors. However, for two months, I have not been able to get away from 230 pounds plus or minus two pounds. This is frustrating because I have been running about 30 miles a week (when work allows) and I am eating fairly well when I am not traveling.

A couple of things have also hindered my weight loss goals. In the last 8 weeks I have traveled quite a bit, and it is hard to eat healthy when you are on the road. Especially when you are with co-workers so you go and eat out every meal. So, just as I have gotten down to 228 pounds, I end up traveling and gaining a couple pounds.

So, where is this leading you ask? Well, my uncle Gordy has started being a distributor for an all natural liquid supplement that is supposed to increase your bodies ability to burn fat. I am optimistically skeptical about this, but more optimistic than skeptical. I believe some people use these things and credit everything to the "super pill", but in reality, they started drinking more water, ate better and started to exercise. That alone will help any obese person lose weight!

What I like about the product, and its claims:
It is all natural products
It helps to prevent carbohydrate absorption, which in turn reduces insulin, which then reduces fat storage. This promotes your body to use its own fat.

For me, I have pretty detailed logs of my weight, and I eat very consistently the same things every day and my food at home is consistent. So, I have decided I will give this product a shot and see what it can really do.

Ultimately, I am hoping it gets me off of this plateau I have been on. Dreaming that it shoves me off the plateau and down the weight loss cliff and I shed the pounds. So, this will be an experiment of one, lets see what happens. Oh, I almost forgot! I will not be changing my eating or fluid consumption, and I won't doing much different for my work outs.

I don't think I will receive the product for a week or so. Once I receive it, I will start giving regular updates as to its efficacy. Honestly, I am hoping this works really well.

As a side note, my uncle lost 14 pounds in the first two weeks and he says he didn't change anything in his life, not even the alcohol.

The ugliest blister I have ever had

2009-03-08T20:48:00.000-07:00

I did my 17 mile run yesterday in a new pair of shoes, which I thought I had properly broke in. I think I was pretty damn wrong!

About 7 miles in to the run I noticed I was starting to get a blister on the ball of my left foot (big spot behind your big toe). I thought, well, today is my long run, no need to let a blister stop me, I will deal with it when I am done. Around mile 13 I was really starting to notice the pain from it, and I was noticing that now the blister was moving around to the inside of my foot, up around the area on the side of my foot. This is not the area you step on, this is on the soft skin on the side of your foot. I still had 4 miles to go, and every step, I could feel the pain.

The problem with this is your body naturally wants to compensate and not step on the ball of your foot. When you allow your body to compensate you tend to injure other parts of your body. This can be the small bones on the outside of your foot because you are landing and possibly pushing off of your pinky toe area instead of your big toe area. The other common injury would be to rotate your foot to block stepping on the sore spot and hurting your ankle, knee or hip. I had to focus on keeping my foot landing right, and just dealing with the pain.

I made it to 17.3 miles, but I was definitely hurting at the end.

When I got home and took off my shoes I immediately looked at my left foot to see what the damage was. It was not pretty. I had a blister on the ball of my foot that is about an inch long, and a half inch wide. Then, on the side of my foot I have another blister which is slightly larger than a quarter.

The interesting thing about this blister is it is red, not quite like a blood blister, but not a skin color either. The other interesting thing about this blister, was when I pressed on the blister on the bottom of my foot, the blister on the side of my foot will fill up with fluid. When I pushed on the side one, the blister on the bottom of my foot would fill up with fluid. When I walk, I can feel the fluid moving from under my foot to the on each step, and it hurts!

I decided that I needed to pop it before it popped itself. The reason for this is if it happened to pop while I was running, or even at the office, I would have no control over how much of the blister was open, or even if I would catch it right away. This would have led to a possible infection, which is the last thing I need.

Tonight I popped the blister, and Kristin really wanted to see the color of the puss, so I did it in the bath tub so we could see. It was pretty disgusting. If you can imagine the color of the blood at the bottom of a package of hamburger meat, that is the color of the puss. Or, puss and blood mixed together.

After thoroughly draining the blister(s) I used super glue to seal the opening back up. I then covered it with bag balm and a large bandage. I will be taking it off every night to let it air out, and dressing it back every morning. Letting it air out at night, and then keeping it protected from infection during the day will help it heal as fast as possible. Not to mention, popping it allows me to run on it now. :)

I thought about taking pictures, but it was too disgusting to post, so I decided if I had no pictures, I wouldn't be tempted to post it for you to see.

Another amazing run

2009-03-04T01:03:00.000-08:00

I went for a 7 mile run today with Tim and we did some exploring and ended up on this trail next to Lake Okanagan today. We were squeezing this in at the end of the day, but I am so happy we did.

We ran along a steep bank and cliffs that were 70 to 100 feet or more above the lake shore. We would look down and the lake was so clear you could see all of the rocks and some outcroppings underneath the water. We reached one bend which had a wooden bench on it and from this bench you could look to your right and see at least 20 miles down the lake, and then to the left another 10 miles down the other way. Both of these before the lake turns, the lake is huge at 135 km long and 4 to 5 km wider. We made it to the end of the trail and stopped and looked around a bit and saw some amazing houses, one looked large enough to be a hotel, but it was just a house off in the distance!

We were both sitting there stunned and I realized that the sun was behind the mountains, and we still had to get out of the trails and get back to our car. I said to Tim we better take off, and it was a good thing because we did get back in the dark, but got out of the technical stuff in plenty of time.

On the run back as we were running down the trail, the lake was calm and the sun was setting behind the white mountain range across the lake. Today's sunset was a deep red color that lit up the clouds, and what made it even better is that the lake was calm. This created a reflection of the sunset off of the lake, with the white mountains in between the red sky and the red lake. This is somewhere I plan on taking Kristin when we are both in Kelowna. In my opinion, this is about as close to God as you can get.

Good day

2009-02-28T23:32:00.001-08:00

Got all of the systems racked, nothing wired yet, but the heavy lifting is done!

Went for a six mile run with Tim this morning before we picked up Sherry at noon. Sherry almost didn't make it through customs! I gotta write a whole big post about customs!

This town is nothing but beautiful scenery everywhere you look. It really reminds me of Montana except more modern and with a ton of trails! The people here are extremely nice.

The hotel we are at has an outdoor water slide, pool and hot tub. Tim, Sherry and I all went to the hot tub. Oh, it is 20 degrees out! Tim and I decided to go down the water slide, which is 4 stories tall, fast and windy! It actually has you dizzy and disoriented by the time you get to the bottom! Yeah, I never thought I would go down a water slide when it was 2o degrees out! How cool, and it wasn't that bad.

Met some locals in the hot tub who were pretty cool and we got to talking about the differences between Canada and US. I never realized that Canada is not as open to free speech and free minds as the US is.

Anyway, off to bed after a shower here in a minute. Tomorrow we are cabling up all of our systems, making them look PRETTY (yes, I am serious, no sloppy wires) and then Tim and I will go for another 6 miles tomorrow.

Today was my first run in almost a week due to work being so crazy and my left knee was not happy with me, so I gotta spend some time stretching tonight because I think it is an IT band that is too tight.

Tony, you gotta come up here in the summer. Maybe we should go and take the wives? I think they have some tri's and du's up here as an excuse to come.

In Kelowna, and not sick

2009-02-27T23:41:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note, it has been a long day.
Drove to Kelowna, BC today and the last time I was here I was only here for 1 day and I was extremely sick so I didn't see much of Kelowna.
Got in tonight around 7 and was able to look at Kelowna a bit. What a great town! This town makes me think of Kalispell, but with a bigger economy. I am excited to spend a few days here and see what this town really is like.

Rented a Cadillac Escalade for the trip (we drove a ton of equipment, needed a big SUV). This is my favorite rental I have ever had. An SUV that drives nice, is comfortable as can be, corners well (for an SUV) and is overall pleasant to drive.

Taking yesterday off, hitting it hard today

2009-02-15T19:00:00.000-08:00

So, taking off yesterday was probably a good thing. I decided I would try again today.

The morning was raining and windy, and nothing I want to run 14 miles in. Luckily, at noon the skies opened up to blue sky and no more wind! Perfect day for a run!

I started out my run at a good pace, and my heart rate was staying low, and I was feeling good. At mile 6 I decided to up the tempo a bit for a 4 mile stretch of road. Usually this is an okay thing, but I was feeling my oats WAY too much. Around mile 10 my legs started to feel the push and they finally lost their snap, which is not good when you still have 4 miles to go.

I suffered the last four miles because of my "running immaturity". Suffering over the last four miles was good for me mentally, learning what mentally it takes to suffer through is a good thing, right? My new chi running form, along with my new orthotics really put me in a different foot strike and stride, and it caused my hamstrings to fire a little differently. The great thing though, I no longer can feel my ankle roll inside during my foot strike.

At the end of my run, my hamstrings were fried. I made the 14 miles, but I definitely stopped at 14 on the dot. I still had a mile to the house, and I walked on in, enjoyed the weather and the day, while I hobbled my way in.

When I got home, I laid on the floor with my legs up against a wall for a few minutes to let the lactic acid drain out. Then, against my desires, I hopped in the tub and turned on the cold water, only cold water. Kristin set the timer for 5 minutes, but she didn't hear the timer go off. So, I froze my ass off for somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes. Then I stretched out a bit. I definitely have stiff hamstrings, but I have no pain anywhere else, which is great.

Next long run, no feeling my oats!

Well, that was a bummer

2009-02-14T13:02:00.000-08:00

I started my run this morning to get a few miles in before meeting up with Mike. I got a few minutes in to my run and my Plantar Fascia started hurting me again, sending sharp shooting pains.

Most days, I probably would just walk this off, but I knew what this was. I had not stretched out like I should have and my hips were tight and my form was ugly, so I knew nothing was firing right this morning. Oh, and I got about 3.5 to 4 hours of sleep (call from work at 4:40 AM). I just felt that it was not a wise choice to continue, and I know that sharp shooting pain is your bodies way of saying "You are hurting me". My goal is to do a marathon, not go out and hit every run perfectly. So, I walked out of Forest Park.

I called up Mike and let him know that I wasn't going to do the run today. Which was a real bummer as I haven't seen him in quite some time. However, there is always light at the end of the tunnel.

I went home, and Kristin was still asleep, so I crawled back in bed and slept in with her, which was great. We haven't slept in together for probably a couple months, so we were both happy to actually have a fully relaxing day.

14 mile trail run tomorrow

2009-02-13T23:09:00.001-08:00

Tomorrow I am doing a 14 mile trail run and I am honestly a little anxious. This will be a long run for me and then to add the elevation gain/loss of Wildwood trail makes it a hard run.

The one saving grace for me, IMHO, is that I have picked up the book Chi Running, and my form is getting in line, and the effort I feel while running is much easier, at least on the muscles and joints, my aerobic still has to work. So, I don't feel nervous about my legs making it, I will WALK IT if I have to. What I am nervous about is that after 5 or 6 miles, I am meeting a friend, who usually makes me work hard when we both start fresh, so now I will have an hour in my legs, and I will bury myself in the pain cave to keep up if I have to, most days. My goal will be to not let him set the pace, and if he pulls away, just let him.
The only other area that I am nervous with is hurting myself on the trail. Most common injury would be rolling an ankle. My problem is I can't resist the trails, so I will be going regardless.

Foxworthy's comments on Montana

2009-02-10T20:09:00.000-08:00

I received this in email today, and I associated with most of them. So, for my non-Montana friends, I have highlighted the one's I have experienced personally.

If "vacation" to you means going shopping for the weekend in Great Falls, Billings or Bozeman (while the kids swim at the Comfort Inn), You might live in Montana

If parking your car for the night involves an extension cord, You might live in Montana

If you consider it a sport to gather your food by drilling Through 8 inches of ice and sitting there all day hoping That the food will swim by, You might live in Montana

If you're proud that your state makes the national news Primarily because it houses the coldest spot in the nation, You might live in Montana

If you have ever refused to buy something because it's "too Spendy", You might live in Montana

If your local Dairy Queen is closed from November through March, You might live in Montana

If someone in a store offers you assistance, and they don't Work there, You might live in Montana

If your dad's suntan stops at a line curving around the Middle of his forehead, You might live in Montana

If you have worn shorts and a parka at the same time, You Might live in Montana

If your town has an equal number of bars & churches, You Might live in Montana

If you know how to correctly pronounce Butte , You might live In Montana

If you measure distance in hours, You might live in Montana .

If your family vehicle is a crew cab pickup, You might live In Montana

If you know several people who have hit deer more than once, You might live in Montana

If you often switch from "heat" to "A/C"in the same day & back again, You might live in Montana

If you can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during a Raging blizzard, without flinching, You might live in Montana

If you see people wearing hunting clothes at social events, You might live in Montana

If you've installed security lights on your house and garage And leave both unlocked, You might live in Montana

If the largest traffic jam in your town centers around a High school basketball game, You might live in Montana .

If you carry jumper cables in your car and your girlfriend or wife Knows how to use them, You might live in Montana

If there are 7 empty cars running in the parking lot at Wal-Mart at any given time, You might live in Montana

If there aren't more people at work on Christmas Eve Day than On Opening Deer Rifle Season, You might live in Montana

If you design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit, you might live in Montana

If driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow, You might live in Montana

If you know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still Winter and road construction, You might live in Montana .

If you can identify a southern or eastern accent, You might live in Montana

If you consider Red Lodge exotic, You might live in Montana . Actually, it wasn’t even Red Lodge, it was Spokane!!!

If your idea of creative landscaping is a statue of a deer Next to your cottonwood, You might live in Montana

If the sunbelt to you means Miles City , You might live in Montana .

If a brat is something you eat, You might live in Montana .

If finding your misplaced car keys involves looking in the ignition, You might live in Montana

If you find 0 degrees a little chilly, You might live inMontana.

Losing parts of my body

2009-01-11T19:55:00.000-08:00

One of the things that happens to many runners is getting black toenails, and no, I am not talking about using the fingernail polish either. A black toenail, for runners at least, is usually caused by trail running and accidentally kicking a rock or tree root, or something similar to that. The second way, is you end up getting a pair of shoes that are slightly too small and when running down a steep downhill section, you repeatedly slam your toes in to the front of the toe box on your shoes. The latter, is usually reserved for the idiots and stubborn who don't walk down the hills on that first run.

I can't say I have a glorious tail to tell about some great trail run... Yep, I didn't walk down that really steep hill in those new pair of shoes and I was having problems with my feet hitting the front of my toe box.

A couple days later, I noticed that part of my toe nail was turning black. No big deal, I didn't slam it that hard and it didn't really hurt, kinda felt like a bruise.

Fast forward a couple months

Last night at 5 in the morning one of my legs had an itch on my left leg, and when I went to scratch it with my right foot, I felt something weird. I was thinking, wow, that feels really weird, it feels like I have a toenail flopping around. At the same time, Kristin woke up to go to the bathroom, so I had to turn on the light and look and see what was going on, which proved my suspicions were right.

My toe nail was just hanging on by one small strand of skin. I was able to gently pull on it and the toe nail came completely off. Evidently that toenail had been dead for quite a while because there was a new toenail underneath it. It was already grown about half way up my toe! I was happy to see a new toe nail growing in though.

Last run of the year

2009-01-01T18:48:00.000-08:00

I made it out of work on time to go for a trail run with two of my co-workers. Our trail run was to start at the far west end of Forest Park at the trail head for Wildwood Trail. We were planning on running 10 miles which was the exact same as Team Red Lizard was doing for Purge and Spurge that morning. We couldn't make it for the morning section, so we decided to do it in the afternoon, and hopefully finish before dark (4:30). This course is a point to point run, so we parked my Jeep at the finish and took Tim's SUV to the start. I am glad I decided to take the Jeep, their was still plenty of snow and mud up there.

We headed out on the trail at 2:15, which was 15 minutes later than we had hoped, but not too bad. After a couple hundred yards of running, we knew that we were in a little deeper than we thought. The trail was very muddy from the recent rain, and plenty of downed trees and limbs from the wind. This slowed our progress a bit, and then when we were in sections that didn't get much sun, there was still plenty of snow on the ground. I had to walk some of these because other runners and hikers pack it down, but it becomes full of holes, or ruts, or whatever you call them. Enough so, it was enough to worry about rolling your ankle, so I just walked on these sections.

Tim and David, the two guys I was running with are much better runners than I, but they waited up for me, and if one of them was on the side of the trail, tying shoes, answering nature calls, whatever, I would leap ahead, and shortly they would catch up. This worked well, you had some time to be out alone, but always knowing someone wasn't far and someone to talk to when you wanted.

We ended up a half mile from my Jeep after only seven miles of running. We really wanted to do 10 miles, and we happened to see someone on the access road that went to my Jeep. We talked to this guy for a bit, and he informed us of this trail that was about 1/2 to 1 mile down wildwood that went up to fire lane 7, which would loop us back to our Jeep, and it would put us close to 10 miles.

Tim took off like a bat outta hell, David was trying to keep up with/catch Tim and I was trying to keep David in sight. We got about a mile and half further down the trail, maybe a bit further, and we decided this guy didn't know what he was talking about. By this time the trail was starting to get dark, and in the shades of the trees, even darker. Thankfully we had brought our head lamps just in case. Although, we never did use them, our eyes adjusted well, and there was still some light sneaking in. Oh, and we were all out of water by this point, we were at ten miles, so we had planned about right, but we went a little longer than expected. I will put more water in my camelback next time, than what I need.

We turned around and head back to the access road that Wildwood crossed earlier. About 3/4 of a mile from the end, all of us "hit the wall" and we were suffering bad. I screwed up and didn't eat enough calories, as did all of us, so we were out of energy and now we were running very slow. On our way back, we found the trail the guy was talking about, it was about 1/2 mile from where we talked to the guy, so it turns out he does know what he's talking about. David and I blamed this mistake on Tim. Since Tim took off like a shot, he was our leader and he was supposed to be looking for this trail, and we were just chasing him. He should have stopped at this trail! Truth was, we were chasing, but also the mud and snow made it rather technical so it was hard to take your eyes off of the immediate trail in front of you.

After noticing the trail, we decided to keep going the way we knew would get us back to the Jeep, rather than taking a chance with the late night. Once we were on the access road, it was straight up the mountain, so we all walked, and groaned our way up the hill to the Jeep. It was pitch black as we showed up to the Jeep, and it had just started to rain, so we weren't soaked.

Our ten mile trail run ended up being 12 miles with 4,310 feet of elevation gain. So, we got a good workout for our end of year run!

Oh, and one of my Christmas presents was a lightweight digital camera so I can take pictures while trail running (some amazing views on some of my runs!). Here are the pictures from the run.

Stats for 2008

2008-12-30T23:14:00.000-08:00

I just looked at my log for my training for this year. It has seemed like I haven't done much of anything this year, but I guess a little here and there adds up.

I rode my bike 1,100 miles this year.
I ran 691 miles so far this year. With my new years eve run of 10 miles, I will be just over 700 miles for the year.

Marathon training starts tomorrow

2008-12-28T21:27:00.000-08:00

It is 18 weeks from the Eugene Marathon and I start my marathon training plan tomorrow. I haven't been able to run as much as I would like over the last couple months, so I am slower than I would like to be but there isn't much I can do about that.

My training plan calls for 5 days of workouts each week, with one of those days being a cross training day. I will use cycling for my cross training days. Each week consists of two short light run days (3 to 5 miles), one medium run day (5 to 8 miles) and one long run (8 to 20 miles) along with one day of cross training of my choice (Swim, Bike, elliptical, etc.). As my training progresses, the runs get longer and the likely hood of injury increases. I have chosen a fairly "novice" training plan to limit my chance of getting injured, but still make sure I am able to comfortably complete the marathon.

Here's to a healthy and injury free 18 weeks!

Why I am never wrong

2008-12-01T21:26:00.000-08:00

I thought I should let everyone know why I am never wrong. Also, for the ladies in the crowd, this may help you understand why your man, may also, never be wrong. Although this is different for all men, so some may not be as superior as I am.

Now, I am not saying I am always right, although usually given the context I understand, I was.

You see, the problems I have sometimes are as follows;

I may have mistaken the full context of the conversation.
I may not have been actively listening to the conversation.
I may not have taken all of the factors in to consideration.
You may not have given me all of the factors up front for me to make a good informed decision.
You may have had some of the smaller details wrong, which lead me down the wrong path.
You mistook what I said, or how I said it.
As a last resort, you may have been talking like Charlie Brown's teacher.

You see, I find that when people think I am wrong, I am not wrong, it was because of factors completely out of my control.

Double butt - not like the bubble butt

2008-12-01T21:21:00.000-08:00

So, Kristin pointed out the other night, I now have two ass lines from a side profile. How does that happen you ask? Well, I am glad you asked.

Since I have changed my running style, I have been working on my hamstrings and building up their speed. Well, my hamstrings are now starting to kind of pop out, and from a side angle, my butt comes to an end, then immediately something else starts coming out. So, there ya go, double butt. :)

Kind of TMI, but I thought it was funny, so I am sharing.

The holiday pounds are coming - for you!

2008-12-01T21:17:00.000-08:00

So, my body has been extremely happy on this low carb diet. I weighed myself Thanksgiving morning on a highly accurate scale, the next morning I had lost 1.6 pounds. My body finally got off its plateau. Since Thanksgiving morning, about 5 days ago, I have lost 3.5 pounds. So, while some are worrying about gaining too much weight during the holiday season, I am worrying about why I am losing weight so damn fast. I will try and make sure I don't lose more than a pound by the end of the week, but my body wants to lose weight right now, and I am eating like a king, and barely working out.

Getting over my love affair

2008-12-01T20:37:00.000-08:00

That's right, I am calling it out, right here on the internet.

You see, I had two major events happen today and it made me realize something. I have been having a very unhealthy relationship, but all I knew is she always made me feel good. At least I thought she did. She is a lovely lady, many people look at her with lust, wanting the taste of her on their lips.

Tonight, I had a much more subtle lady, as I have always had, but tonight, I realized she is the right one for me. Tonight she was amazing, full of flavor and I would want nothing else to cross my lips. Although I will always have an addiction for her, and she may break me from time to time, and I may have to taste her again. Now, I know what's good for me, and I know it will be hard to break the ties with her, but I have made a life decision, to keep from tasting, or thinking about her often.

Okay, I am assuming everyone has figured out I am being vague here. Two things worth pointing out with my above statement. I am not a slick talker, but the above two paragraph's explains how people will talk. Now, I will tell you the above statement is true, but you never asked who, or more importantly what, "she" is. I deal with this a lot in business. Usually it is not this coy and blatant, but sometimes it is not far off, and it pisses me off. However, I love to use it too, for fun. I usually use it very blatantly, and jokingly, and hopefully don't get myself in trouble someday by someone not detecting the BS meter pegged to the right.

So, what was "she". Well, she is carbs, breads, pasta, etc. Tonight I went to TGI Fridays and had a pecan crusted chicken salad, and it was amazing! At the end of the meal, I was thinking to myself, now that I have quit carbs for a couple months, I notice the flavors of whole foods has become so rich and whole. The flavors are amazing to me. Also, I have found that breads and other things have definately been lost for me. I think I have finally kicked my carb habit and I am over "her".

Now that I am not eating carbs I find that my mouth tastes the fullness, as well as the subtleties, of the food I eat. I now could tell you the difference between a good olive oil, versus a cheap one, or compare a organic apple to a heavily processed apple and I will sit on the soap box and explain how the organic tastes so much better. I enjoy my meals more than I can ever remember, ever. I used to eat until I was stuffed, and then would feel good, I guess. Now, I can eat a modest meal, and I have no desire to stuff myself. The taste of the food is so rich and sweet, I am completely satisfied.

I know it will be easy to fall back in to bad habits because there are some things that will always taste good, but I am so much more satisfied with food today than I have ever been.

Modifying my diet

2008-11-18T22:38:00.000-08:00

Thanks to my friend Tony he turned me on to reading the book In Fitness and In Health by Dr. Phil Maffetone who is an Applied Keniesiologist. He told me about his new diet, not weight loss diet, but the true term of what you eat, and I was intrigued because it was against most everything I have ever read that an athlete should eat, sort of. Not to mention, Tony is the best all around athlete Kristin and I know, so I figured I should read this book.

Where Phil Maffetone is similar to everything I have read, and what I have always believed, is that whole foods from nature which have not been bombarded with chemicals are best for our bodies. I think most, if not all, people agree with this. Now, what I have always read is athletes need lots of carbs. I read that as, carb up baby!!! And it gave me a good excuse to eat lots of pasta and bread, which I absolutely love! Well, I think I took too many liberties with that one.

According to this book, I need to cut out all refined sugars and carbs. So, since I had seen how much good this has done for Tony, I decided it was worth a try, what the heck. So, I slowly weened off carbs, and ramped up on the good stuff. All I can say is that my body feels better than what I previously thought great was, all the time! For example, I never realized how bad my stomach felt all the time. Now that I have removed the high carb diet, my stomach is never bloated or gassy (sorry for the over info). The biggest thing for me though is the amount of energy my body can tap in to when I exercise.

There is much more to this than cut carbs, this is not Atkins, this is a much healthier choice. Also, when it comes to exercise, he has a whole different theory, which you can read the book for.

Even though I am injured now, my body is still doing great. I am eating as much as I want, and I am still shedding weight. I am probably eating as many calories, or close, to what I was eating on my high carb diet, but instead of constantly gaining when not exercising, I am still losing weight. I don't think this is because I am starving myself, but now that my body is getting what it needs, it will now go to the weight it wants to be at.

You should consider reading the book, and you may have to reconsider what you thought was okay.

Going insane

2008-11-18T22:31:00.000-08:00

I want to run, but I can not run because I am still hurting. Urgh! On top of that work has been crazy hectic at work. We are working on this very big project, that is high profile, and being closely watched by our Executive team and Board. The project is a good thing, but the anticipation and expectations are high, so the pressure is high too. Although, I am not complaining. It is great to have a job in these times, and I am seeing many people I know in risk of getting laid off, so I am thankful for a job.
However, if I could run to get rid of some stress I would really appreciate it. For now, I am riding the rollers on my bike, and it is boring doing exercise indoors watching TV. Sigh.... Although, I haven't had much time for that either. Yes, I am complaining, for now.

Recovering from an Injury

2008-11-08T20:24:00.000-08:00

Just after my last post I had an achilles injury and it took me out for a couple weeks. I am working my way to being able to run non-stop now. Currently, I can run 1 mile and walk .25 miles, then run a mile, then walk and one more time of running. It really sucks in a way, but I am very excited to be able to run again!

I thought we were no longer racist?

2008-11-08T20:12:00.000-08:00

Okay, this is just a quick note, but I was really upset when watching the elections and seeing all of the racist comments out there.

Many African American's said they were voting for Obama, because he was black! I am sorry, if I said, Jee, that's the same reason I am voting for McCain, would I be the racist one? Of course I didn't say that, but many African American's did say that about Obama.

This spurred me to look at the exit polls. According to the exit polls, 95 of African American's voted for Obama, where as white american's voted for Obama at 55%. Now, we all know there are plenty of Neo-Nazi, Skin Heads, etc. who would never vote for Obama, but as a whole, they did not skew our numbers by that much.

However, by the African American's voting for Obama, because he is black, does that make them racists? I think so, and it makes me said to know that American has not learned its lesson.

For me, Obama will be my President, our President, and when he is sworn in, I will stand behind our President. I hope the rest of America gives him this same level of courtesy and respect, and I really hope the wack jobs stay away!

I am commited

2008-10-06T21:47:00.000-07:00

This weekend I watched Kristin complete the Portland Marathon. It was an exciting experiance for me. Even though I was not participating, nor was I fully trained for a marathon, the whole time I wanted to jump on the course and start running. Although, I felt pretty bad for Kristin and my friends Tony, David B. and Amanda at the same time. The weather was supposed to be decent, maybe some light showers. The race started dry, then about an hour later, it poured for the next 4 or so hours! I don't mean a little Portland sprinkle, I mean full on rain. Regardless, I would have rather been running with them than sitting cheering.

This has lead me to make an announcement

I have signed up to run in the Eugene Marathon on May 3rd, 2009. There are some pros and cons with choosing this race. First, I will start with the cons.

Cons

Okay, maybe just one really. I want to spend six months training up for the distance, and the speed. Choosing an event in early May means I need to start training in November. This means I will be making many weekday runs in the darkness as it gets dark in the winter before I get off work. Then, add on top of that all of the rain that we get, I will be running in the dark, in the rain. On the weekends when I make my long runs it will also be in the rain most likely.
The other smaller con is my cycling fitness will probably fall off some more, but I am hoping to maintain it.

Pros

It will help to keep the winter fat off, and maybe I will even lose some weight.
When the marathon is done in May, I will be free to do other things during the summer months. Maybe even doing an endurance Duathlon in the summer (56 mile bike, 13.1 run) and probably at least one or two centuries (100 mile bike rides).
I love trail running, and this will give me more of an excuse to do long trail runs.
I want to do the Big Sur marathon, but I would be foolish to make it my first. This will be a good start.
The marathon is held in track town USA. This is a Mecca for runners in the US. This is Perfontaine's town, along with other major track and field stars (Hayward, Phil Knight the founder of Nike, Alberto Salazaar, and the list goes on).
Doing a marathon, need I say more?

Hood to Coast Relay

2008-09-01T13:07:00.000-07:00

This last weekend I did the Hood to Coast relay with 11 of my coworkers. The Hood to Coast relay consists of 12 runners, running a total of 36 legs over 197 miles. This means each runner runs 3 legs and each leg ranges from 4 to 7.8 miles. There are teams who will do this relay in 15 to 16 hours, a blistering fast pace averaging a mile every five minutes! We were not that team. Our team was out there to have a great time, get some running in, and get very little sleep.
Since many people ask me if we are crazy, or missing some screws, the answer has to be an emphatic YES! I have many crazies that I like to be around too, if that is true. What made me realize we are all nuts was a conversation had after we finished.
At the end we were all around a campfire at the beach house that our company rented for us, and all of the runners were talking about how happy we were that the race was over. It took us 31 hours to complete it and we had about 2.5 hours of sleep. It was brutal, some of the team could hardly walk, others had stomach issues (lost their lunch), runners being yelled at by crazies, another crazy woman chased one of our team mates with a dead snake (yeah, seriously). We were all thankful to be done! I then posed the question to the group “Are you going to do it next year? Everyone in the group responded with a hell yes. Not just a yeah sure, but a HELL YA, had a blast, would do it again! So, yes, we are all crazy, we punish ourselves with running on little or no sleep, sleeping in vans with 6 of your team mates who haven’t showered since their last run, but we all want to toe the line together next year.
Now that we have it out on the table that I am crazy, let’s talk about the relay.
As I mentioned the relay consists of a team of twelve, and the common way to logistically handle this is to have two vans, each with six runners in it. You decide who is in each van by assigning legs to each runner. Each runner runs every 12th leg. For example, if you run leg 10, you will also run 22 and 34. Each leg group is rated by level of difficulty. You take your strongest runner and assign them the hardest legs, and work your way down the list. Then, you take legs 1-6 runners and they go in one van, then legs 7-12 go in van 2. I ran legs 10, 22 and 34.
Our team started the race at 8 in the morning on Friday at the start line on Mount Hood. Van 1 had to meet at our office at 5 AM in order to check in and be at the start line at 8 AM. We estimated van 1 would be finished with their first legs around 1 PM, but it was possible for a noon finish for them. Knowing that traffic around the relay can be horrible, we decided to take off early. We all met at the office and left at 9 AM. All of us knew we would probably be there too early, but we did not want the last runner for van 1 waiting for us at the transition.
We arrived at the exchange point about two hours early. The good thing was it was at a Fred Meyer, which allowed us to go in and do some last minute shopping. Also, our van driver, Susan, picked up a football. We played football while we waited. We ended up having runners from other vans coming over and playing with us. One of the guys we played with was flown in from Belgium by Nike. He was a Nike employee and we found out Nike flies in employee’s from all over the world to run in the relay (Nike is the main sponsor). This guy’s team was all Belgium. We found out Nike has over 30 teams running in this relay. These teams range from people who run at our speed to some very competitive teams. Nike usually has the winning team, but Adidas and Brooks always brings good competition to keep them honest.
Finally we received the call from our team mates that their last runner was on the course and close to us. It was our time for action! We were all getting excited and you could tell by the nervous tension of everyone. We stopped playing around and everyone got to making sure they had everything in line, we changed in to our running gear and just hung out.
At the exchange Robin took over and we talked with van 1 for a few. They were jazzed and they showed us how the tool which keeps track of each runners leg and speed worked. This was the preferred method, otherwise it had to be done manually, which was a pain in the ass. Todd and I, the gadget geeks, checked it out and thought it was pretty cool.
The gadget to track our time didn’t last long. It is ran on a Palm device and somehow we managed to shatter the screen on it, and it was completely broken! That sucked!!!! This meant a arduous manual process of tracking everybody’s legs, time, pace, etc.
We had a lot of learning and growing pains. Robb, the guy who ran the legs before mine went on the first section where cars can’t follow the runner. We found a spot about 1.5 miles from the next exchange to stop and cheer him on. After he went by, we scurried off to the next exchange. The traffic was horrible and the parking lot was small. We were lucky enough to find a spot right next to the runners exchange. I got out of the van, I needed to use the restroom and fill up my water bottle before Robb showed up. I knew I was tight for time as he is a pretty quick runner, probably running in the 8 minute per mile range. I hopped out of the van and I went to fill my water bottle and I heard our team number called, which meant our guy was here. Oh crap!!! I grabbed a cold water bottle and ran to the exchange and grabbed the wrist strap from Robb. The wrist strap is the baton in this relay, and the active runner has to be wearing it. I took off running, my back teeth are floating I have to pee so bad! It is strictly against the Hood to Coast rules to urinate, defecate or litter on private property. If you get caught, your team is immediately disqualified and pulled from the course! Well, luckily for me, I was on Rails to Trails, which is public property. I ran about 300 yards, there was nobody in front of or behind me, so I pulled up to a blackberry bush and gave it some water that it desperately needed. Ahhhh, much better!
The other problem, I had been sitting in the van for three hours and I hopped out and took off running, no stretching or warming up. The entire leg felt like my legs were on fire and my muscles just wanted to pull apart and snap! It was one of the worst runs I have ever had. I was fine on the speed, nothing horrible, but the pain was outrageous at times, and it was a hot and humid day. I have ran in hot, just the week before I ran 5 miles in 101 degree heat. This was 84 degrees and I was suffering much worse.
The other two legs were fairly uneventful for me. However the experience is one that will not be forgotten anytime soon. The dynamics of our van was excellent! Everyone got along really well (or was I the annoying jerk who didn’t realize everyone hates him?). We had plenty of jokes going around and nobody bit anybody’s head off. Although as the night passed and we were getting exhausted, our words didn’t always come out right. For example at one point Emily and Robb were in the back of the van and they were talking about something, don’t recall, and just as Todd was hopping in to the van, Emily says to Robb “is it completely hard?” Todd looks at me with this horrified face, and I told him to just keep his eyes forward. He and I were busting up laughing while Emily and Robb didn’t even realize what was said and how bad it sounded! Many other moments like that as the trip went on.
One of the big things Hood to Coast teams do is decorate their vans. I never realized how “adult” the event was. The rules of Hood to Coast is nothing vulgar of flagrantly sexual. Basically nothing a cop would ticket you for. One van was offering FREE Messages between your legs. When I saw this van, we were on leg 35, so our team is 29 hours in to the race, I have ran 18 miles, and I am on 2 hours of sleep. I look at the van and immediately I am going, oh, how sweet, maybe they will set up a table or massage chair, they must be sponsored by a salon or massage place. My legs could really take a massage right now, my hamstrings are killing me! Yeah, I was actually sitting here thinking about it, looking for a table or chair, wondering who was sponsoring them, etc. I am looking and then I realize, wait, who the hell would do that, the race is grueling enough, those guys are crazy to give messages between each leg of the race. Then, it hit me like a ton of bricks. They were offering a free massage between “my legs”! I was dying laughing, I was so stupid.
Some of the other memorable van sayings or mascots:
A van with a giant slug on the top of it, on the side it said, “love my slug”
Found 1 toenail, pick up at the finish line (ouch!)
Show us your “besticles” This was a van full of dr’s (allegedly)
A van sponsored by Honey Bucket (the porta potties here in Portland). They slogan “We can handle a lot of crap”
I love lesbians
The Las Vegas Virgins (11 girls, and 1 Elvis). The women were dressed in a sudo cancan outfit, small bra and all.
Several blow up dolls mounted on the cars (wearing shorts to avoid indecency).
Barbie dolls doing all kinds of nasty things. Ken got lucky too!
Starting out slow, fizzling out.
This van has two speeds, slow and slower than this.
As you can see, these are not the most kid friendly get ups. However, this is not something you would have your kid along on.

Sleeping arrangements. Almost all of the teams slept at the major exchange points where the vans actually crossed each other to pass the baton. The first night exchange we came across, we pulled in to a field, and immediately realized there are people laying on the ground all over, just passed out. When driving we had to be careful not to run over somebody’s head or foot. People were not hiding behind vehicles, etc. they were just wherever they could find space, and sometimes in some pretty precarious places. When we got to our place to sleep, we weren’t so brave, we positioned the van so we could sleep while being protected by two vehicles. It worked great! We had about 5 hours from the time we handed the baton to the van 1 runner until we were up again in each set. During our rest that started at about 5 AM, we drove up to our next exchange and used a field there for sleeping. This took about an hour or so. Once we got there, we all got arranged, used the restroom, and hit the sack. Van 1 called us saying they were close, like 45 minutes. Yeah, they were 1.5 hours out! So our sleep was cut short, and we were not happy campers because this is the second time they did that to us! URGH!!!!! We were grumpy about that. However, I have to say that was about the biggest team conflict we had.
So, yes, runners are a crazy and horny breed, and now you know.

2 months since i have posted

2008-06-21T00:39:00.000-07:00

Wonder if anyone is even checking on this, or if I have lost all of you. I hope not.

I thought I would drop this quick note, I am still alive, and here is a great slide show that is really inspiring to me.
http://www.startribune.com/slideshows/16799551.html?location_refer=Health%20+%20Wellness

Running in strange places

2008-04-23T19:16:00.000-07:00

One of the great things about being active is getting to see more, both around your home and especially when you travel.

Today, I went to San Jose on work and found a large park within a few miles of my hotel. The park is over 1,500 acres. I pulled in to the first parking lot for the park that appeared to have some trail heads.

I set off to find a trail head from the picnic area that I parked at. Their trails are a little different in California. They had just mowed a wide swath for the start of this one trail head. Okay, that is interesting, but a ankle roller for sure. I started off running easy.

Within 200 yards, I was in trees with a more "trail like" setting. As soon as I got in the trees, I saw a flock of about 8 wild turkeys. They got excited and scurried away, but it was kind of cool. After I came to a Y in the trail, I took the uphill course. Well, the hill was much steeper than I expected, and I wasn't planning on suffering today. It got too steep, and I had to walk a small part to keep my heart rate down. After it got to a normal pitch, I got backup to speed. I wound up on a ridge and just as I crested on the ridge there was a hawk riding the thermals about 50 feet from me! It was amazing to see a hawk riding thermals from such a close distance!

I kept wandering around these trails. The trails ranged from enough room to run with your feet fairly close together without having to worry about rolling your ankle, assuming you didn't step outside of that trough. I did that a couple times, when I was paying too much attention to what was around me. The the trails at other points were just wild grass that was mowed to about 3 or 4 inches, a complete gotcha for rolling an ankle, then other areas that were washed out.

After wandering some more, I ended up gaining more elevation and I ended up in what I would call a gecko haven. I ran across several gecko's that were sun bathing on the trail. They would see me, then they would run at full speed down the trail to a good turn out for them. It was pretty cool. When they start running, they throw up a bunch of dirt, and when they turn, they throw up a bunch of dirt. It made me think of the Dukes of Hazard car how it skid and threw up dirt all over. They were really cute to watch.

I came around a corner after gecko haven, and had another Y to decide. Somehow I always think up is the right one whenever I come to a Y? So, up we go. I come around another corner to find a buck with his doe. The bucks is still in velvet, so poor little guy may loose his girl at the end of summer. Yes, I did think about that. They were really cute on this grassy knoll about 75 feet away. I go past them and just down the trail, I come over another ridge. This ridge gave me a full view of the Bay area, and the San Francisco bay, and also made me realize how much I had climbed. A few steps later, I look to my left, and down, and there is another hawk riding the thermals and he is coming up the hillside below me.

At this point, I had to stop. I realized I was spectating something I had never seen before. To my left, there were 7 hawks riding thermals through these rolling hills that remind me of Napa valley (but more trees) and I am above these hawks looking down on them. That was on my left, on my right was the view of the entire bay. The site made me stop as I was filled with awe and emotion with the beauty. I sat there and just watched the hawks. Finally I started feeling my legs stiffening up, I had to get moving again. I kept running always with an eye on these hawks.

After I dropped off the ridge, I ran in to many more wild turkeys. They were pretty funny. They would get all excited when I would come around a corner. They would scurry 10 feet with their head peeked up over the long grass to make sure I didn't come too close. They reminded me of some old "hens" who got all excited over nothing. They could be 50 feet away, and they would run parallel to the trail but they felt better that they scurried somewhere.

The run was great, and I can't wait to come back and pick another trail in the same park.

22 ways to be a good democrat

2008-04-09T10:04:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I got this "commentary" in an email, and it really made me think how ridiculous our politicians and views are. The sad thing is, these are right. What is even sadder is it is probably a Republican thinking they are all high and mighty, and that Republicans don't have these issues.
Being a Republican, I definitely got a good chuckle out of these, and I imagine my dem friends will too. But, I hope we look at this as more of a general statement of how our own politicians don't know what they want, and we don't always think about everything in context.

1. You have to be against capital punishment, but support abortion on demand.

2. You have to believe that businesses create oppression and governments create prosperity.

3. You have to believe that guns in the hands of law-abiding Americans are more of a threat than U.S. nuclear weapons technology in the hands of Chinese and North Korean communists.

4. You have to believe that there was no art before Federal funding.

5. You have to believe that global temperatures are less affected by documented cyclical changes in the earth's climate and more affected by soccer moms driving SUV's.

6. You have to believe that gender roles are artificial but being homosexual is natural.

7. You have to believe that the AIDS virus is spread by a lack of federal funding.

8. You have to believe that the same teacher who can't teach fourth graders how to read is somehow qualified to teach those same kids about sex.

9. You have to believe that hunters don't care about nature, but loony activists who have never been outside of San Francisco do.

10. You have to believe that self-esteem is more important than actually doing something to earn it.

11. You have to believe that Mel Gibson spent $25 million of his own money to make "The Passion of the Christ" for financial gain only.

12. You have to believe the NRA is bad because it supports certain parts of the Constitution, while the ACLU is good because it supports certain parts of the Constitution.

13. You have to believe that taxes are too low, but ATM fees are too high.

14. You have to believe that Margaret Sanger and Gloria Steinem are more important to American history than Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Edison, and A .G. Bell.

15. You have to believe that standardized tests are racist, but racial quotas and set-asides are not.

16. You have to believe that Hillary Clinton is normal and is a very nice person.

17. You have to believe that the only reason socialism hasn't worked anywhere it's been tried is because the right people haven't been in charge.

18. You have to believe conservatives telling the truth belong in jail, but a liar and a sex offender belonged in the White House..

19. You have to believe that homosexual parades displaying drag, and transvestites, should be constitutionally protected, and manger scenes at Christmas should be illegal.

20. You have to believe that illegal Democrat Party funding by the Chinese Government is somehow in the best interest to the United States .

21. You have to believe that this message is a part of a vast, right wing conspiracy.

22. You have to believe that it's okay to give Federal workers the day off on Christmas Day but it's not okay to say "Merry Christmas."

Ready to vote?

Portlands newest running store

2008-03-19T21:58:00.000-07:00

So, Road Runner Sports has openned a store in Tualatin. I happened to notice this the other day when I went to lunch with a collegue in Tualatin. It caught my eye because Kristin has ordered from their catalog, and I loved their catalog.
Saturday, Kristin and I decided to go check out the store and see what it was like, and it is closer than Fit Right Northwest for us.
So, we get there, and it is completely different than the other running stores. The first thing we noticed, this store has a huge selection from a very wide range of companies. What impressed me the most is they had clothing from Zoot, those clothes look so comfortable, and they are definately high end.

Kristin was excited because her shoes were $40 less than they are at Fit Right Northwest.

So, we were just wandering around, and this really nice lady who worked there came up to us and started talking to us. I am not sure how it all happened, but I started talking about some of my running issues, but not expecting to actually buy shoes, I didn't bring my running shoes. I was talking about how I am pushing off during my stride and how it doesn't feel right and maybe my shoes are worn out. Wendi, the lady helping us, informed me that I should never feel that I have to force my foot in to a certain position while running. She then asked if we had time to do a fit analysis. Okay, this story is getting long, sorry.

So, we had some time and decided to see if their system could see if maybe I was in the wrong shoe. So, we went through this really cool process that included me walking on this analysis machine to figure out the pressure points in my feet, arch type, roll off, etc. then them doing a slow motion analysis of my run on the treadmill, and analyzing the way my ankle rolled.

We found that my ankle was rolling out, and my Brooks Beasts also are designed to force this, so it was a double whammy. I had been fitted by another, very reputable store, and it looks like they were wrong and they need this high tech stuff too. Wendi probably spent 30 to 40 minutes just analyzing my feet and stride.

So, they determined I need to be in a neutral shoe. Holy cow, they now have me trying on shoes, I wasn't expecting this.... So, Wendi, who Kristin and I have absolutely fell in love with by this point, went in the back room to find me some shoes. She comes out with four pairs to start with, and that was all the more she could fit in one load. I probably had her running all over getting shoes of different sizes, etc. and she never acted like we were causing her any problem. She seemed very happy to help! Absolutely great service! After trying on a countless number of shoes, and trying to avoid the Nike's cause their old stuff sucked. Well, turns out, Nike has done a complete revamp of how they build running shoes, and they are really good. I ended up thinking I needing a 12.5 and they only had a 12 and 13. So, Wendi ordered me a pair of shoes from another store and they showed up 3 biz days later, which I was happy with, considering the shipping was free.

So, I get the shoes, and it turns out the 12.5's don't fit me quite right either and the 13's are too big.
So, I took the shoes back, and another gentleman, Greg, helped me find another pair of shoes that fit me, but we had to do a lot of digging and it ended up being in an unlikely shoe, the Mizuno. Greg, was also just as kind and cool as Wendi, and I think I have a new running store.

So, I finally get my first run in this neutral shoe, which is a complete swing from Motion Control. All I can say is Road Runner Sport has it right, so it seems anyways. Look out Portland Running Stores! We have a chain (which usually means crappy service) that has figured out how to hire great people, train the right fitting techniques (technology helps a lot I am sure, but I only care about the result) and gives me a great price. Now only if Performance Bikes could figure this out!

Okay, this post turned out extremely long, but I had an experiance with a company that I felt was far above anything I had ever experianced, so I thought I would pass it along.

Happy Spring everyone

2008-03-19T21:47:00.001-07:00

Believe it or not, today is officially the first day of spring!!!

Okay, it doesn't really feel like it today. It is still the same weather we have had for the past six months, gray and gloomy. But, I had to do something outside!

I went to Road Runner Sports down by my work and went on a group run, and I am really happy I did. This running store (SOOO COOOL) is new, so the group was really small. So, we started out on the run. The guy who was leading the group was definately out for a recovery run (easy, light pace, just have fun). I started talking with the guy and it turns out he is doing an ultra marathon April 9th that is a 60k! So, he was definately out for a light run. I asked him how many miles he is running a week and he said he is running 80 miles this week, still building his mileage! So, this short little run was nothing for him.

It turned out being the perfect run for me as I had just bought a brand new pair of shoes and they needed to be broke in, so a nice conversation paced 5k was great for me.

I hope all of you had a great day today, and I hope everyone has a great spring!

Shamrock Run race report

2008-03-16T13:44:00.001-07:00

It felt good knowing that I wasn't the only crazy person out today. I had over 16,000 crazies to run with. Between the 5, 8 and 15k runs and the 5k walk, there was an attendance of over 16,000 people. This may help to show how big the event was

Kristin and I were able to meet up with Tony and Ernie before the race. I was also planning to meet up with one of my co-workers husbands, Darin who was also running the 15k, but I couldn't find him.

As I was warming up for the start, my bladder decided I had to go. I went to the porto-john's and the lines were huge, and I didn't think I would have time to hit them and start the race on time. The lines were about a block long for each grouping of porto-johns. I figured I would have to hit the first or second set of john's along the way.

Meeting up with Tony and Ernie before the race was really cool, and it was nice to be around other people who were doing the race and you knew. For some reason I couldn't find Darin at our pre-defined meeting spot. Amazingly, when we were lining up for the run, we saw each other!

Tony and Ernie were hoping to hit the 15k in less than an hour, so they were staged much further up than I was. Darin and I have never ran together, so I told him to drop me if he ever felt like I was holding him up. Darin has ran a marathon and he has done several triathlon's, I think one was a half or a full IronMan. Plus, he was in the Army for 10+ years and he now is a fireman, so he is in damn good shape, although he is rather modest with his own assessment of where he is at.

So, Darin and I started middle of the pack. Since my times are usually at the middle of the pack, that is usually a good place for me to start. With so many people, this was maybe a bad place to start. I was constantly boxed in surrounded by much slower runners and I was spending too much time and energy getting around these people. My problem is that I don't want to start too far up, because I don't want to hold up people who are far faster than me. I forgot to ask Tony, but I wonder if they had 10 min/mile pacers at the front, where they do not belong as far as race etiquette goes.

After we were started Darin told me he really needed to use the porto-john as well. At about the 1 mile mark, there was a porto-john with a short line, maybe 4 or 5 people, so we both stopped and hoped the line would run quick. there were 3 women in front of us, and well, we all know women take longer than men to do anything restroom related. I guess if they are in a race, they can go damn quick! It was awesome. It did take us a couple minutes, plus add on the couple minutes it took us to cross the start line, so every time they called out the time, we were about 7 minutes behind the race clock, compared to our actual running time.

While we were waiting for the porto-john, the trailing cars passed us. How embarrassing was that? All I could think was I better catch up to those cars, otherwise I will be embarrassed. I mean, these are all people who are running a 15k, so they aren't slouches, right? Anyway, we get out and we immediately started running again. We were pacing pretty good, around a 8:30 pace, and very quickly we caught the back marker pace cars and passed them. This happened just as we turned on broadway and the road gradually goes up. But we were a long way away from the pack. By the next mile, we had caught up to the tail end of the main pack, before the main climb up Terwilliger Blvd started. One of the strangest things I have seen in a race, and it must have something to do with the longer distance. Just before the start of the main climb a bunch of women started peeling off on to this trail. I am sitting here thinking, what the hell, they are going to take the shortcut? Nope, they were all peeling off for the bushes to take care of "business". It made me chuckle a little. Not often you see women running for the bushes.

So, then the climb starts in earnest, and almost immediately my IT band started flaring up and hurting. I shortened my stride a bit and was able to get it to become a dull pain. The climb was just a three mile grind. Nothing was crazy steep, but it was just a grind. Darin and I were constantly passing people on the climb, which made me feel good, since I am a horrible climber.

At the top of the main climb, there was a bag pipe "band" in true Irish fashion. Well, I thought this meant it was all downhill from this time on. My legs had a really hard time going quicker on the downhill and they felt worse than when I was climbing, and my IT was really hurting me on the descent causing me to slow down. At the bottom of this fairly long downhill, it turned out there was more climbing. It was a short climb, in comparison, but my legs felt like they were chunks of wood that I was trying to maneuver, rather than being fluid like I am used to. I finally got my cadence back to feeling right, but the downhill came again, and I was in pain again.

Darin was great though, he hung with me the entire time and we talked quite a bit of the run. It was great having someone to pace with on the run and to take your mind off of things.

So, the downhill was under way, and I tried to find something that would work with my IT band. I could have gone faster, not much but some, and I didn't want to injure myself, so I tried to keep it on that fine line.

with about 300 meters left, I saw Tony, who I figured had finished 30 minutes ago. Tony decided to run with me for the last little bit. Tony was pretty sore as his muscles had definitely cooled down and it is harder for the muscles to run again. It was great to have Tony pace me for the last little bit to push me. Every time I would talk, or try to talk, he would say shut up and run harder!!! Then we saw Darin's wife and one of my coworkers on the side where I went to say hi, as I ran by, and Tony yelled again, shut up and RUN!!! I have never really trained all out and this is my first year of really racing, and I was thinking about it while he was telling me to shut up and run faster. He is right, if you can talk, smile, whatever, you aren't pushing yourself hard enough! It was great to have him there telling me to kick it in gear. So, I really did push it. I have always been about endurance, not max effort, which I definitely need to improve on. So, for me, it will be a great queue when I need to push, shut up and RUN!!!

Okay, so here go the stats.

As my previous post said, I would be happy to finish in under 10:15/mile average pace. I finished with my running pace averaged at 9:35 per mile! I was very happy about that.

I am pretty sore, but I stretched out, used the foam roller and really dug in to my muscles and I am feeling better.

Shamrock Run - my first 15k

2008-03-15T21:07:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow morning is my first 15k race. It is a 9.3 mile race that is pretty hilly. If I recall correctly, it is about 1,200 feet of elevation gain, which is a pretty hilly course for a road race.

I have been struggling with sickness and injuries over the past week or so. I know my body is well rested, but I am still having some issues with a tight IT band, and my outside knee is not feeling great either. So, I won't be able to run all out tomorrow, because I do not want to injure myself. I will be able to run at probably 80% or more of my full race effort. I am completely okay with this. I am here to finish my first 15k and have a great time. If I average less than a 10:15/mile pace, I will be happy with my speed.

The problem I am seeing is that I am not sure what to wear. It is going to be in the low 40's, but I am going to be going fairly hard. So what should a guy wear??? I am definitely wearing shorts, but I want to wear a short sleeve shirt. Although I think I really probably should wear a long sleeve shirt with a zipper. This will let me unzip on the climb over Terwilliger, but on the way down, I will have the long sleeve to keep me warm.

I am meeting a ton of people I know down at the race. Several people that I work with (maybe 20 or so?) are going to do the 5, 8 or 15k races. Plus a few friends I know will be running the 15k. Overall, there will be over 14,000 people doing the Shamrock Run this year!

I am looking forward to tomorrow!!!

Calling out the 8 minute miler

2008-02-10T20:43:00.001-08:00

Okay, so someone, who I won't mention there name was talking with me at the beginning of the year about running. This person is a former Army guy, who has ran many a miles. Anyways, I was talking about my running and I mentioned that my runs are at a 10 minute mile pace, not my all out runs, just my normal training runs.

Anyways, when I mentioned my 10 minute pace, this person blurted out, HOLY CRAP that is SLOW!!! So, then this person tried back pedalling. "Well, when I was in the Army we ran 6 minute miles with 60 pound ruck sacks on our backs. Now I run at a 8 minute mile pace, so that is really slow for me." (Note: Okay, maybe they were running 6 minute mile paces in the army, but in my head, I doubt that. They run for distance, not for speed. I know guys who can't run 6:00 paces and they are damn fast) I was very doubtful of this pace. So, I challenged this person, considering they haven't been in the military for a few years, and have not ran religiously since he got out. So, I challenged this 8 minute pace. The person said they were game. I said, great, lets go run a 5k and you show me an 8 minute pace, cause I really want to see it. He then said, oh, I don't run those distances any more, but I could do it for a mile. I argued that a mile at 8 minutes is not acceptable. We agreed on two miles. Well, I have offered many times, and he has always found a reason not to go show me that 8 minute mile pace.

Well, I am calling you out, publicly. Come out for a run with me, you can take my garmin, it will record your data, show me a consistent 8 minute pace for 2 full miles.

Now, for all of you on the side lines. I did some reasearch while writing this call out, and I found some Army PT run data taken with Garmins, and they actually range from 9:17 per mile to 14:00 per mile. I found a triathlete for the Army who runs 8:00 miles, but that would be one of those seriously above and beyond PT guys. I also found references to military guys who were trying to find ways to break a 6 minute mile, and other Seargents were saying these guys were seriously going for it, so, 6 minute as a regular run pace. Uhummm!!

Running in a marsh

2008-02-07T20:40:00.001-08:00

I had to make a business trip down to San Jose this week to install some new equipment. When I landed in San Jose, I was treated to clear blue skies, no wind and 60 degrees. This was such a refreshing break from 40's, windy and cloudy that I am used to here in Portland.

My normal hotel was all booked, and so were all the hotels in San Jose, so I ended up staying in Newark, which is about 20 miles North of San Jose. As always, I check in to my room first, to make sure I have no snafu's in where I am going to sleep that night. When I get to the hotel, I ask the clerk if there are any good running/walking trails in the area. She informed me, that there was a great place just a mile or so down the road and gave me a print out with directions. She said it was a marsh with some trails through it. I asked if there was at least enough trails to run for a couple of miles, and she said definitely. Well, I have never considered a marsh a cool place, I figured beggars can't be choosers and it was a trail without heavy traffic, so what the heck. It was such a nice day, and I really couldn't get any of my work done until after hours, I had an hour or so to burn. I changed in to my running gear, and headed out the door.

I drove to this place she had given directions to, and it was kind of what one would expect. Wetlands with water that wasn't really deep, and lots of land exposed and some ducks in the water. In the center was a pretty good sized hill that just stuck out from this pretty large flat area and I could see there were some trails around it. I turned on my GPS device to let it get a signal while I took a drink of water, hid keys, etc. This week is a recovery week for me, so I am not supposed to push it at all, just nice, short easy efforts. This can be hard for me at times, but I think I have realized how beneficial it is, so I am pretty good at sticking to it.

I get out of the rental and hit the first trail that goes off the parking lot. As I walk on the trail to get warmed up there is a big warning sign about Mountain Lions being in the area and you should try to always be with a partner. At first this concerned, then I realized, I am in California, and they are overly cautious about everything, so I continue on.

After I get down the trail a couple hundred yards, I start my run on a trail. I have no clue where it will lead me, but it was very well kept, and I could see lots of bridges through out these marsh lands. I started out, and as I cross the first foot bridge, I start noticing that there are a lot more birds here than I could tell from the road. Of course there were lots of ducks, and Canadian geese, but there were plenty of species I had never seen before. As I was running, I was much more interested in all of the different kinds of birds than I was about the trail and where it was taking me. In about 3/4 of a mile, I ended up on the road I came in on. The trail continued across the road and went right next to that hill that I mentioned earlier. I started on the shaded side of this hill where there were eucalyptus trees and shrubs, and lots of little birds just hanging out. The eucalyptus really made the air smell like something else, it was almost euphoric. I get around to the end of the hill and the trail keeps on going around it. This is cool, some more distance. As I get further around the hill, my elevation goes up slightly and I realize I am running along a bay (no, you could not see it while driving up, yes, I really wasn't paying that close of attention about where the ocean was). These marshes are filled and drained with the tides. These birds I was seeing were mostly sea birds.

I kept running, keeping an eye on all of the birds. As I would get close to them while running, they would fly away from me and land 30 yards away from me. I noticed below me there is a trail that runs right next to the bay. I will definitely hit this trail tomorrow, because I have to come back. As I round the hill, I am close to my three mile mark. The run was completely fulfilling, running in the sun is something I haven't been able to do in a long time and it was definitely good for the soul.

I was able to make time for a run the next day as well, where I ran that trail next to the bay. Again, all kinds of new birds this time, including a huge Heron, which flew right next to me. It was windy this time, but sunny and the wildlife was great. Oh and no Mountain lions!

So, if someone ever offers to take you on a trail near a marsh or wetland, take them up on it, you will be surprised.

Tony, I know you go down there every once in a while.

Do you have Electile Dysfunction?

2008-01-28T13:37:00.000-08:00

Electile Dysfunction: the inability to become aroused over any of the choices for president put forth by either party in the 2008 election year.

Funny pictures for the day.

2008-01-25T15:50:00.000-08:00

Just some funny pictures for the day!

Those crazy runners!!!

2008-01-06T09:56:00.001-08:00

Kristin is running a 10k as I write this blog entry from my laptop near the finish line. The race today is in Forest Grove which is at a slightly higher elevation than we live at, which is just enough for there to be snow on the ground. As I am writing, I am looking at a scuff of snow on the ground and some snow mix is falling and Kristin is out there running, with a couple hundred other people.

I will post some pictures after I get them online, but thought I would write about those crazy runners. I wish I was out there, but I haven't trained up enough to do a 10k yet and I don't want to injure myself.

Free classes from MIT

2008-01-01T19:30:00.000-08:00

Okay, this isn't exactly new news, but it is news to me, and I think this is way too cool.
MIT, and many other top universities are giving away their classes for free, sort of. Here is the news article, and here is the link to MIT's OpenCourseWare.
MIT is offering over 1,800 classes, including some of their most coveted classes online for free. Basically the only thing you don't get is to raise your hand and ask questions and of course, you don't get the college credit's. But the education is free, which is amazing to me.

First Run Race Report

2008-01-01T14:01:00.001-08:00

Kristin and I did the First run last night, or would it be this morning? Anyways, all the same.
Kristin and I knew from the start we wouldn't be setting any personal records, and it was supposed to be 24 degrees out, so we were more concerned with staying warm.
Kristin had three layers on over her body, two of them being running jackets. I had two layers, one a light base layer then a long sleeved running shirt that had a hood and 1/4 zip zipper. Both of us just had long sleeve running pants on.
Others were there who started the partying a little early who were wearing a light weight cotton shirt, with shorts, and that's it. One guy was wearing a costume diaper, and that was it! How they didn't freeze, I have no clue! The fastest men were wearing shorts with a short sleeve shirt, or a tank top. I can see how they stayed warm as they were flat out hauling, so I am sure they were burning hot.
Anyways, on to the race.
The race was a simple out and back, very flat course.
The start started with the New Years countdown, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 HAPPY NEW YEARS!! Turned and kissed Kristin and then the line started moving.
I got really caught up in the moment and I ran the first mile way too fast. I ran it at 8:48, which was too fast for me. I am in winter training, My body isn't ready to be pushed hard for 3.1 miles and I started out way too fast! I felt good, but I worried about the rest of the run. Since it was an out and back course I got to see the fastest runners running the other way. Let me tell you, those guys were hauling. The winner finished with an average speed of over 12 mph!
At the half way point, I was starting to feel the effects of going too fast that first mile. I took it easy until I was past the two mile mark. At the two mile mark I picked up the pace just a bit, then at the 2.5 I really started to push myself. I realized at the 2.5 mile mark, I may actually set my own personal record for a 5k (not that I have ran many, but all the same). I kept pushing through to 3 miles, only .10 mile to go and I really kicked it up. I was on the border of stopping at the side and giving up all I had to eat yesterday, but I timed it just right and got to the finish line without any bad side affects. I finished 28:41, which was a personal record for me, and I thought it was funny. I am not in that good of shape, but it was completely flat, so I was artificially faster. It was a good run however.
Kristin finished about a minute behind me and she as well set a really good time for herself. She finished in 30:01, which is a great time for her.
Considering neither one of us feel that we are in great shape, we are both happy with our results. It was a great way to kick of New Years!
After the race, we went to a nearby Irish pub had some food and we each had a glass of some nice champagne. We got home around 2:30 and we had a great time and we will probably do this again.

Happy New Years Everyone!!

2007-12-31T19:07:00.000-08:00

I hope you guys have a great night tonight! Kristin and I are going to go run "The first Run" which is a 5k that starts at midnight. The weather man says it is supposed to be 24 degrees out at midnight. Kristin and I are stoked to do this tonight.
Take care guys!

That's his "Play Bark" (WTF?!!?)

2007-12-29T20:00:00.000-08:00

Kristin and I went for a trail run today on Wildwood trail. This trail is a great trail in Forest Park (The largest park in any city in the US). We were happily running through the mud and the slop because it was raining out, and has been for a few days. We had made it out to our turn around point and we had not seen a soul because the rain kept everyone away.
On our way back we came around a corner and met two dogs, who barked. We both stopped in our tracks as they were barking, then another dog comes up from behind them, what looked to be a Pit Bull and Boxer mix. This dog went past the other two who had stopped and were just barking cause we scared them too, and this dog came at us growling and barking. I went for the nearest thing I could, which was a hand full of mud. The dog comes up to both of us growling/barking and looking to be the the Alpha. Kristin and I both yelled at him, waved our arms, etc.
About this time I hear from around the next corner as this lady with a baby on her chest who starts yelling at her dogs to come, sit, etc. then she asks us "Do you have a dog with you!" All I could think is WTF, does it matter, you are yelling at your dogs they aren't responding!!! You can see you have this dog growl/barking at us. Next to this lady is three more moderately sized dogs, which makes six, none of them have a leash or collar. Now we have six dogs, one acting agressive, what the hell do you do? The lady can't make her dogs do a damn thing.
Anyways, after this dog makes us aware that he isn't to be trifled with, he calms down, and when the lady stopped yelling he calmed a bit more. At this time I realized we weren't getting hurt, but Kristin hadn't quite calmed down. I started walking further down the path and told Kristin the dogs were fine and lets get going. The lady once she caught up said, that's his "play bark", we haven't been home for 2.5 weeks, so they are full of energy. Play BARK!!!??? What the Heck!!! Seriously a growl followed by a bark is a play bark! Had I had pepper spray on me I would have sprayed the dog. He was growling, barking and running at us and he stopped just short of arms reach when I would have thrown the mud in his eyes and then hit him!
Seriously, don't walk six medium to large dogs without leashes and colars who don't listen to you on a hiking trail. I don't mind dogs, and I don't mind well behaved dogs off leash, but dogs that don't listen and bark/growl, need to be on a leash!

Other than that one moment, we had a great muddy trail run in Forest Park. We both got our butts kicked and running in mud definately makes you work harder.

Sad story

2007-12-18T14:19:00.000-08:00

This is a sad story, but an interesting point for me. Even world class athletes have problems, which they didn't know about. One of these athletes (Ryan Shay) died during this competition for the Olympic Marathon team.

It really brings some thoughts to the front of my mind, and I feel like sharing them with my friends and family.

The question for me, should he have never pushed his body that far, or should I be happy for him because he was able to do everything he ever wanted to? I started thinking about this for myself and as a husband of a runner. For me personally, I may have a unique perspective. I honestly feel that it is better to live a full life and do everything you could ever want, than to sit at home and never run a risk. Ryan lived a life doing something he loved, he was healthy and for 99.99% of us we would not run in to this issue, but it just happened to him.

For me, I will keep riding and running and take the risk of some odd problem, or person, or car, or natural freak accident taking me out. At least I will lead a healthier life that I truly believe in and have a great time doing it. It is good for my mind, body and spirit and I believe it has made me a better person to be around.

Also, thinking about it as a husband, I feel the same way. I would not ask, or expect, Kristin to stop running just to prevent potential problems. It is a risk we will take, and I will support her as she runs her first marathon this next year.

To me, these "risks" are far less risky than continuing to be a morbidly obese smoker who does not exercise, which was me. For other people in my opinion, it is better than obesity, smoking, drinking, partying or whatever bad things we do and spend time on in life. Not that we don't all do bad things (drink soda anyone?) but we can do things to limit our health risks in the future, and sometimes it has to be at the risk of more immediate problems we may not know about.

I think some people don't exercise, or do something, because they think they are so out of shape they are going to give themselves a heart attack. Trust me, I thought I was going to give myself a heart attack when I first started riding a bike and I hit a hill. Turns out our hearts are strong and they can get through some strain. So, if you are really concerned about your heart/lungs, go to a doctor and get their opinion, then get out there and start to make it hurt!!!

Amazing feats

2007-12-18T14:14:00.000-08:00

I was sent another video of a pretty amazing event. It is the JFK 50 miler, ultra marathon (yes, that is a run). This 13 year old girl and her mom did it!!! To me, that is just amazing. Doing an ultra is amazing, but at 13?!? I wonder if this girl will try a 100 mile ultra or even worse/better the Badwater.

Plan for 08

2007-12-16T21:35:00.000-08:00

For those of you who are interested, this is my planned event schedule for 08. There will probably be more events than this, but these are the main ones I am looking to complete this year.

Worst Day of the Year Ride, February 11th This is just a fun ride to do and it is a good baseline ride for me.
Reach the Beach, May 9th One of the first centuries of the year (100 miles) and a very well supported ride. This will be a good way for me to get trained up and in shape. I plan on doing this ride hard, so I will train that way. This will get my bike fitness up.
The Havoc at the Hideout, May 17th This will be a 5-6 mile trail run/race at Hornings Hideout.
Helvatia Half Marathon, Saturday June 9th
Blue Lake Duathlon, June 15th (Olympic)
Pacific Crest, June 27-29th I am not sure which event I will do, but they have everything from Half Ironman's to 5k runs. Most likely I will do the half marathon with Kristin. Our friend Tony will be doing the endurance duathlon (52 mile bike, 13.2 mile run), which is on Saturday and we will be there to cheer him on. If we do an event it will definately be on Sunday so we can cheer on Tony on Saturday.
Hood To Cost Relay (197 mile relay run with 12 person team), August 22nd and 23rd
Pints to Pasta 10k, September 9th This is a really fun race that Kristin and I love to run together. It is a very "happy" event with everyone in such a great mood.
Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, September 23rd The goal is for my mom to be able to do the walk for the cure with me. I plan on doing the 5k run, then do the 5k walk with mom.

Running/Biking

2007-12-16T21:26:00.000-08:00

As, I think everyone knows I am going to try doing duathlon's this year. Correct that, I am doing duathlon's, but I am going to try and be in the top half of the pack. It will take a couple years at best to be able to finish in the top percentage. To be honest, I am not sure I have the time and dedication to be able to be that good, but we will see.
Anyways, I am back to running again and I have worked my way back to running a 5k, so that is good. I am not running fast yet, I have been trying to just put on steady mileage with some good intervals here and there. Not only that I am getting strong on the bike again.
I am not saying I am as stong as I was in the summer, but for winter time fitness I am starting to build up for my summer time activities.
All in all, I am feeling really good and mentally ready for the rest of the year.

Long time

2007-12-12T17:07:00.000-08:00

It has been a long time since I have blogged. Well... For my site anyways. I have been fairly busy on my mom's blog and documenting her fight with cancer.

I was sent this link to a YouTube video that I thought was really inspirational. You don't have to be an athlete to appreciate this one.

After looking at the video, you should check out the stats of this team.

Too Funny

2007-11-21T09:18:00.000-08:00

This was too funny of a quote not to pass on. For those of you who know about Floyd Landis and his testosterone levels in the 06 Tour, you will find it funny (possibly infuriating). This was from Road Bike Riders weekly dispatch.

Overheard: "I mean, [the ratio] was 11 to 1. You'd think he'd be violating every virgin within 100 miles. How does he even get on his bicycle?" -- Dick Pound, WADA president, commenting in 2006 on Floyd Landis's elevated testosterone/epitestosterone ratio after stage 17 of the Tour of France.

Gonna be in MT next week

2007-11-18T17:37:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, I am going to be in Montana on the 23rd through the end of the month. In case you hadn't heard, now you know and if you want to get together, drop me an email.

Getting ready for the off-season

2007-11-18T17:06:00.000-08:00

Well, work and life have been extremely busy and I think I can start up my training plan again!

I feel very out of shape and my run today really proved that. My heart rate was very high and it was very difficult to stay at a 10 minute mile. Ouch! I am confident I can get my running fitness back quickly, and my cycling should come back quick as well, but I need to work on it. I am anxious to get to Montana and take some runs out there!

The squirrel killer

2007-11-04T22:23:00.001-08:00

One of the most unique squirrel incident's I have ever seen. Weaver and I were going for a drive in his new Jeep Compass and a suicidal squirrel ran in front of us and Weaver couldn't avoid it.

A little ways down the road, we pulled over in a parking lot to check for any damage, and we found this tail sticking out from underneath his car. We originally thought it was just the tail. Look at the picture below. We hoped it was just the tail, and by looking at it, there was no way it could be an entire squirrel.

After some further inspection, we found that indeed the entire squirrel was stuck in his car. From our analysis, the squirrel could have only gotten there one way, and that is by going in one of the holes in the bumper, where you see Weaver trying to free it from his vehicle with a stick. Evidently Weaver's vehicle has a squirrel vacuum attachment. I have never seen or heard of a squirrel getting lodged in a car before, but now, I have. So, I took pictures because it was so bizarre. Click on one of the pictures to see the entire set of pictures.

Go fly a kite! Really!

2007-10-21T01:24:00.001-07:00

Okay, so we all remember flying a kite as a kid, right? Well, we ended up flying a kite that is meant for those of us who got bored with those old single string kites.

We went to my Dad's place for the weekend, which is in Ocean Shores, Washington, where the international kite flying contest was held this year. Dad and Nancy ended up going and watching, and realized that you could do amazing things with kites (which I never realized either). They ended up buying two acrobatic kites. We didn't know this on Saturday when we arrived, but they told us Saturday night that the next day we would go fly a kite. Kristin and I are pretty easy going so we were okay with this (thinking of the old single string kites we had as kids). We were good, and being on the beach rarely is a bad thing.

When we got to the beach they pulled out two kites, and they were in these nice heavy duty bags. After getting them out and putting them together, we noticed there were two strings for each kites. With these two strings you can make them do all kinds of interesting things. You can make them spin almost without moving the kites location, you can make them do big loops, dive, climb, go horizontal just off the ground, land them, take off from the ground (no running required) and this is for amateurs like us. The pros can do even more stuff, and no, we have no desire to be pro's. We were on the beach for a couple hours just flying these kites. It was a great time and an amazing amount of fun. To me it was funner than many of the things we do for entertainment. Of course, the beach, ocean and good people always helps too.

So, we enjoyed this so much, we actually ended up buying two, two string kites for ourselves. You should go out and try these, they are a lot of fun. If I happen to be around on a windy day, let me know if you want to go and fly a kite.

Holy Cow, life is busy

2007-10-21T00:48:00.003-07:00

I know I haven't exactly been easy to get a hold of lately, so here is my broadcast of I'm sorry. Work has been hectic, long hours, sleepless nights (well almost) and a ton of stress doesn't exactly make me want to talk much, and most of the time I am working anyway. Then, as many of you may know, I have some added stress in my personal life as well. Not something I am going to talk about in my blog right now. Anyway, I am confident this will all work itself out and it will be okay in the end, but it will be trying for someone I love dearly. It is a marathon, not a sprint and we all just have to remember that.

Okay, so life is crazy right now, so I am trying to be a touch better about my blog. I don't have an Internet connection right now, but next time I get online, this should publish to my blog.

In Montana for a couple days

2007-10-21T00:48:00.001-07:00

I will be in Montana this weekend. If you didn't already know, which I think most of you in MT do, now you know. I will only be there for a couple days, but give me a call and I will try and carve some time out.

How safe is your internet today?

2007-09-26T18:04:00.000-07:00

This is a little applet to show the state of "danger" on the internet right now.

While Google takes over the Internet, I will enjoy it!

2007-09-21T14:27:00.000-07:00

Okay, Google is always come up with cool stuff, way beyond their search engine. Here are some cool things that maybe everyone doesn't know:

Email, a very new way to look at email (Google calls it GMail). The first to bring us gigabytes of email storage for free!
411. For those of you who are text happy, send a text message to Google (46643) with information like Pizza Hut 97007, this would find all Pizza Huts near my home zip code of 97007, instead of zip, you can do city and state. For more handy tips and tricks, such as movie times, flight info, etc. go to sms.google.com
411 for the non texters. Call 1-800-Goog-411. That's right, call google toll free and they will give you what you need to know. No more paying 1.25 for 411, google will give it to you for free!
Google Reader: For those of us who enjoy reading the news and blogs, sign up for Google reader. This will put all of your favorite news and blog sites in to one easy to read, convienent website.
Google Docs and Spreadsheets: This is like Word and Excel, but it works over the Internet and it works really well. If you have a GMail, you have access to this.

These are some of the cool tools I use from Google, and hopefully you find something good here too.

My first 10k and where to go from here

2007-09-09T21:14:00.000-07:00

Kristin and I did a 10k this morning. This was my first 10k, and I was not as trained up as I should have been, but I was ready.

We woke up at 5:30 to get ready and to eat a light breakfast before driving down to the race. We parked at the Old Speghetti Factory headquarters, a great restaurant on the Willamette river. From there we hopped on a bus, provided by the event, to take us to the start line 6.2 miles away at the Adidas World Headquarters (Yep, we got both Nike and Adidas in Portland). I had never been to the Adidas headquarters, and it was a really nice campus. From there we just hung around, stretched and did some people watching while waiting for the race to start. It was great watching all of these fit people and all of the nervous things we do while waiting for the starting line.

The time finally came and we made our way to the start line. Kristin had been fighting with injuries, a pretty badly sprained ankle and then some severe lower back pain, so she didn't really want to run with me because she wasn't sure how she would perform with not being able to run for the better part of the last five weeks. We started together but shortly lost track of each other in the crowd. There were almost 1,400 runners and we took over the streets.

The first two miles are all downhill, and it was awesome, everyone was running fast and having a good time. I made the first two miles at a 9:00 mile pace, which is really good for me. I had lost track of Kristin early on, so I wasn't sure where she was at, but hoping she was having a great time too. We ran across the steel bridge in to downtown Portland and we ran along the water front. While we were running, we ran across the part of the waterfront where they were having the dragon boat races. Lots of people having a great time racing these boats that look like chinese dragon boats. Around this point, we were at the 4 mile mark and I was starting to feel the distance a little and my lack of running (I like riding too much and didn't stick to my running schedule like I should have), but knew not to kick in too much until mile 5. At mile 4 a lot of people were "whipping the dog" and I just held my pace, knowing that they weren't gaining too much on me. At mile 5 I kicked it up, and so did everyone else who hadn't previously kicked it up. I started catching some of the runners, and dropping others, and I was getting dropped by others, but everyone was happy to know we were on the home stretch.

I had a rather amusing thought at mile 5. I thought to myself, hey I only have 1.2 miles left, that is nothing and I can really kick it up, just focus and keep the HR up and make it hurt to the finish. It wasn't that long ago, when I could ride 200 miles in a day, but running 1 mile sounded really painful! Now, 1 mile is an easy run that can be done without worrying or dreading. I made it the last 1.2 miles at a good pace and finished at a 9:35/mile pace for a total time of 59:35. This was better than my goal of 62:00 (or 10:00/mile pace) which I had set, but really hoped to beat 60 minutes for my first 10k. I had a great time, and really enjoyed the challenge, and the people. Kristin finished very shortly behind me at 62:30. Considering all of her injuries, that is a great time and I am really proud of her.

Where to go from here?

Well, I am announcing it officially, even though I have talked to many of my close friends.

I have really enjoyed cycling, and I have learned that I like to run, although not as much as cycling, but it is good cross training for me and it is a nice break from cycling. I have decided that over the next 12 months I am going to focus on duathlons and bike races. My ultimate goal for next year is to do an endurance duathlon. An endurance duathlon is a 56 mile bike ride and 13.1 mile (half-marathon) run. The bike is a slam dunk for me (not saying I would win), but the run I will need to work on is twice as far as I have ran so far, then I have to put them together. This may be a lot harder than I think it is, and I already think it will be hard, but with plenty of stuborness and being smart, I am confident I can do it.

Not only do I need to train with running and cycling, I will also need to shed more pounds. Training for a Du will definately help me with this, and it will keep me on my feet. The more weight I lose, the less likely I am to injure myself, and the faster I will become. I am hoping to lose 15 to 20 pounds by spring and hopefully more during the summer of next year. It will take a lot of work to do it the healthy way, but it will require a lot of self discipline with the holidays during this time too.

2007-07-24T22:54:00.000-07:00

Click on the map below to see the "geeky" details of my first Cat 5 Road Race. I won't know the results until tomorrow. I do know that I was definately not the slowest guy in the group. I learned a lot during this race and I look forward to racing smarter and hopefully doing better.

OUCH Time Trial Race Results

2007-07-22T17:28:00.000-07:00

Well, I finished it, and my estimate that I could finish it in 90 minutes was right on. I finished it in 90:19.

Like I said in my last blog I was not planning on winning anything, but I wanted to see where I was at. The day was pretty muggy, but at least it wasn't pouring rain, although I probably would have welcomed a little drizzle for part of the ride.

I can honestly say I don't think I have ever sweated that hard for that long of a time. My HR was in the high 160's, low 170's the entire time. My plan was to be in the mid to high 170's the last few miles. I could not get my legs to go that hard when there were a few miles left. I was able to keep my HR around the high 160's and mostly low 170's. Even though I didn't do great, I am happy with my time as I did no training for the hills, so I think I could have done a lot better, maybe 5 or 10 minutes faster, maybe.

Overall, I had a great time, had lots of fun and enjoyed the event as a whole.

My buddy Tony did OUCH in 67 minutes, which put him as the 17th fastest of all the racers out there. Great job Tony!! I was passed by Tony (and many others) on the way up to the top and he looked strong and he was hauling ass. Tony's rabbit (Scott Springer) who started 30 seconds in front of Tony had just passed me when I saw Tony, so I gave Tony some info on where Scott was. Scott is a great TT artist, who holds a state TT record, so needless to say he is a good rabbit to chase. Tony was able to get within a few bike lengths of Scott, but Scott was able to keep Tony back, but Tony gave him hell.

My other buddy, Robert, who convinced me to do OUCH started 10 spots from the last person, or about 25 minutes behind me. The bummer for Robert was that as he was crossing the line, they were tearing down the timing tent, so we don't know exactly what his time was, but according to Robert it was about 96 minutes. Robert wasn't feeling so well for the last two weeks, and I wonder if he was feeling better and was able to get some training in to keep his legs fresh would he have kept up with my times, or possibly beat me. We have some more trips up there, so we will see how he does once he gets his legs back under him.

Damages:

Well, truth of the matter is when you do races your are openning yourself up to injuries and wrecks. You are pushing yourself harder than you ever do in training, no matter how hard you train, you always go harder when racing. And as far as wrecks go, well, those happen to. Usually you are lucky with some bumps, bruises and a little bit of road rash. Hopefully no serious road rash or infections from that road rash.

My damage is some muscle or tendon issues. As I am writing this blog I am sitting on two ice packs. I pulled some muscle I have never felt before. It is some muscle or tendon in between my sit bones and groin. It hurts to stand or sit, and I look like an old man when I get up or down from a chair. Tomorrow may be worse! I hope it is nothing major and a couple days of rest will get everything back to normal again. I want to get back on the bike soon, and I have a century (100 miles) ride this coming weekend. With Kristin's sprained ankle (it is black she sprained it so bad, and she is sidelined for at least two weeks) and my muscle problem, we are like an old couple now. However, I would rather we were getting sore/hurt from something we love than to be sitting at the house being couch potatos. I have gotten in to living an athlete lifestyle and being very active, and I really missed out on a lot when I wasn't doing anything, but I am working hard to gain it back.

I will post some data when I download it from my bike computer.

Oregon Uphill CHallenge (OUCH) Time Trial

2007-07-21T21:21:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I am going to do something pretty gruelling this weekend (the weekend after STP). I will be competing in the Oregon Uphill CHallenge, also known as OUCH. The route is 3,816 feet of elevation gain in 16.5 miles. For those of you from Montana, or familiar with Going to the Sun Highway, this is more elevation gain than Going to the Sun highway from Lake McDonald. Also, the elevation is done in less distance than the ride from Lake McDonald to the top of Going to the Sun.

I have been training to go fast over flat roads for very long distances, so I have taken routes that intentionally avoid hills. This ride will be nothing but one big hill so my training has not exactly prepared me for this event. I plan on making the climb in under 90 minutes, which means my HR will be much higher than I am used to. I will not know exactly how to attack this hill, I am not exactly sure how I should be doing the negative split for this style of event, etc. We will see how this goes.

I was convinced by a friend to do this last week, on Tuesday (three days after STP) and we would go out and see how we could do. Since I trained so well for STP my legs were hardly sore on Tuesday, so I thought this would be a good idea. I agreed to do it. We then went up and pre rode the course on Wednesday (4 days after STP) and my guess is that on Sunday I will be able to do OUCH in under 90 minutes, based on some other guestimates based off my Bald Peak hill climb times. We left right after work on Wednesday and climbed up the route, my first crack, with no warm up or previous knowledge, I was able to climb it in 94 minutes. I am now feeling confident I can make this climb in under 90 minutes. The other funny thing is that I will be doing this climb twice within the 8 days after STP. In addition, my buddy Robert who convinced me to do this, and I are going to do this climb every Wednesday night until it starts getting too cold and dark to do the climb.

It turns out that my other buddy Tony is going to be doing OUCH as well. He is a great athlete and he will probably do the climb in 60 to 65 minutes. It will be great to see Tony at the race, and it will be nice to have another friendly face there. Tony has been great in helping me figure out what I need to do for my first race, and giving me some great pointers. It turns out that Tony, and all guys who are at his caliber will be starting after me. What this means for me is I will be passed by these guys who fly up the hills.

I am not sure how well I will handle it mentally because I don't like being passed, but it does bring out the most competitive side out of me. The thing that will be really cool is watching these guys go buy me like I was practically standing there. That part will be really cool. These guys who are Cat 1/2/3's are in amazing shape, and watching them from the sideline has always been fun, and now seeing them in comparison to me, it will be very eye openning and motivating.

I will let you know how it goes after I am done with OUCH!

Seattle To Portland (STP)

2007-07-17T22:54:00.000-07:00

Well, as many, if not all of you, knew that I was going to do STP again this year. STP is a 204 mile bike ride, from, you guessed it, Seattle to Portland.

Weaver and I have been training for this six months, and we were ready. For me, my only concern was that with the temps getting over 100 degrees the week before STP, I was concerned with the heat and being able to stay hydrated. This years STP was 14 degrees hotter. Last year was 74 degrees and this year it was 88 degrees.

Weaver, Kristin and I drove up to Seattle to day before and due to some scheduling snafu's we couldn't leave until 2:30 in the afternoon on Friday. That, in hind sight, was a horrible choice. We ended up in rush hour traffic the entire way up, and it took us two hours longer to get to Seattle. Then there is this entire other story about the tickets, which I won't get in to, but I will remember to never wait until the last minute to buy tickets.

Because of our scheduling snafu, we only got five hours of sleep, which was not ideal, but I don't think it had too much of an effect on the overall result.

Last year my average speed for STP was 17.1 mph, and I was hoping Weaver and I could beat that speed and I didn't really care by how much.

Weaver and I started out the morning a little late (again the tickets came back to bite me in the butt!!!). We started at 6:00 rather than 5:00. As I would find out later, this probably had a fairly large effect on my end results.

The first 100 miles was pretty uneventful, nothing exciting, everything went as it should. Kristin was doing a great job running support, and being our cheerleader, and we loved it. We liked it so much, at times we were counting how many miles it was to see Kristin, rather than talking about the next stop.

At the 109 mile stop, Kristin met me there with my Dad and Nancy. It was great seeing Dad and Nancy there, and getting their support too. At the 109 mile stop, Kristin met us with some fresh watermellon, which was AWESOME and a great treat after only drinking liquid nutrition (think Gatorade, but 10 times better!!!). It was a nice snack and I think we both ate a little too much because we both had a little bit of gut issues after this stop, but it was well worth it.

On the way to the next stop the heat really started to increase. As we were riding along, it was hot, but there were sections where it felt like someone put a big engine in front of us. I swear it had to of been at least 5 to 10 degrees hotter in some spots, and it really felt like that radiant heat you get off of cars exhausts (minus the smell). To top it all off, it was a really humid day, so sweat was not evaporating very well, so keeping cool was a little bit harder. At the next stop Weaver and I took a break under a tree in the shade to cool off. Kristin's car said it was 91 degrees at that stop. We took some of the ice cold water and poured it over our heads and body to try and cool down a bit, and then we were off to meet Kristin, Dad and Nancy in St. Helens.

We made it over the bridge in to Washington and we only had 54 miles to go. That is nothing, my legs were feeling strong considering I had gone 150 miles, and things were going okay. This is where it gets interesting. At about mile 160 things went south really quick for me. I started feeling really hot and I told Weaver I had to stop. I pulled over and got off my bike and I felt like I was put in a oven. I sat there for a minute or two and then got back on the bike and started going again. At this point I couldn't get my heart rate (HR) above 130 bpm without feeling really hot and sick. So I just soft pedalled for a while and then we pulled over at an unscheduled rest stop where I took some water and poured it over my head, and tried to cool down. After that I wasn't feeling any better, and I was still having issues. A few miles later I had to pull over again and this time when I got off my bike I felt like I was going to collapse, and I laid down on the ground for a good 10 or 15 minutes on some grass on the shoulder of some side road. Weaver said I was walking like I was ready to collapse. We got back on our bikes and rode in to St. Helens, about 10 miles, to see Kristin, who I had already called and said to turn on the car and get that AC cranking so I could cool down. That was a very long 10 miles to get to St. Helens. I was in bad shape, but it was funny, I was still passing a lot of people, and I was keeping a pace of 18 to 19 mph. It was a little frustrating for me knowing I was so strong, but I was suffering so badly. I knew that I am a heavy sweater, at 90 degrees I sweat at 4 pounds per hour (I know this from previous tests I have done), so I knew I was a candidate for hydration. I was drinking as much water as my stomach could handle. My stomach was so bloated I couldn't take in any more water. After making the long and dreadful 10 miles to St. Helens, I immediately got in Kristins car to cool down.

I was feeling very sick, I was having problems riding in a straight line, and walking straight was a challenge as well. After sitting in the car for a few minutes I realized that if I continued on I took a very real risk of wrecking, and considering the last 29 miles was along a very busy and fast highway, followed up by crossing downtown Portland. Anywhere I wrecked had the possiblity of hurting me worse with all the cars, and other cyclists, as well as putting other cyclists in danger. So I made the decision that finishing the last 29 miles was not worth putting my family to deal with a situation like Ryan McKnab. I got out of the car and announced that I was dropping out of STP. I made it 175 miles, but STP was stronger than me this year.

One of the interesting and most revealing things that came during this long ride, where I have lots of time to think through things, I realized something about true friends. True friends are the people who are there for you when you need them, even if it is at their own personal sacrafice or discomfort. When I was suffering, Weaver never left my side, never got in front of me and dropped me, he was there with me every second, when I stopped, he stopped and waited for me and gave me words of encouragement. This meant so much to me and really just goes to show who your true friends are. I know if I would have chose to try and finish, Weaver would have stuck with me all the way to the finish as well, even if it turned dark, he would have hung with me the entire time, which is so cool.

On that same thread, Kristin was awesome to be there for us and run support for us. She was a great face to see at every stop and she is a great cheerleader and a great supporter. She did awesome and I can't thank her enough. I am very lucky to have Kristin in my life, not only because she runs support for me, that is probably the easiest part. I have spent over 200 hours on the bike this year, which means lots of weekends and evenings where I was missing. She has never complained, and if I was slacking she would get concerned. It is so great to have someone like her around who supports you and tenderly kicks you in the butt when you start falling behind. She is great in understanding me and the goals I want to achieve and making her own sacrifices to help me acheive and exceed those goals. I can't even begin to say how fortunate I am to have her in my life. Actually, I have been very fortunate in all of my life. I have a great familly and my friends are awesome as well!

So, this is where my ride ended, I dropped at 175 miles. Up to that point, I was beating my previous best time significantly. Last year I averaged 17.1 mph, and this year I averaged 18.0 mph, which I know with weather like last year I could have easily finished.

After Weaver left us, we went down to the finish line, as he had 29 miles to go. We waited at the finish line for him to Finish with Dad and Nancy and we met Amy (Weavers Fiance') and Samantha (Weavers Daughter). It was great seeing weaver get to finish STP and achieve his goal, that was awesome. He worked very hard for it and I am glad he was the one who finished. After Weaver finished and he got his feet under him we all went to our cars and headed to go get some real food and had some Mexican for dinner and then Weaver and I went home and slept.

So, since I didn't acheive my goals for STP, I have picked a "punishment" for myself. More to come on that, but this weekend, I promise I will hurt more than I did at STP. Three lashings for me! Of course I will enjoy it too! I have been told I am sadistic. :)

Pacific Crest Weekend

2007-06-27T19:31:00.000-07:00

Kristin and I's friend Tony was planning on doing the Endurance Duathlon at Pacific Crest on June 24th. This endurance duathlon was a 56 mile bike ride and then a half marathon (13.1 mile run).
Pacific Crest had several events over the weekend ranging from a Half Ironman Triathlon and Endurance Duathlon (the two hardest events) to shorter Tri's and Du's along with some running events ranging from a 5k to a full Marathon. These events took place on Saturday and Sunday. Tony's event was on Saturday.
Tony and Joanne rented a Condo in Sun River, which is about 3 hours from Portland where the event was being held. Tony and Joanne invited us to join them in Sun River and we couldn't pass up the oppurtunity to go see Tony race and spend some time with Tony and Joanne in Sun River. For those of you that don't know Tony, he is definately the best athlete that Kristin and I know, so watching him race is always great to watch.
Kristin and I decided that we would do the 5k race on Sunday, as the run looked really fun. This would be my first actual race as an adult. Even my cycling events are not considered races, they are considered organize rides.

We took off Thursday through Monday from work to be in Sun River. I did my long bike ride before going to Sun River so that I would have that out of the way. After my ride we went to Sun River to meet up with Tony and Joanne. Shortly after I got to Sun River I realized I forgot my running shoes at the house. So... I ended up having to drive to Bend, which is bigger than Sun River and has a good running shop, and I bought another pair of running shoes. That was a big bummer.

Kristin and I found this amazing trail along a river, I think it was called Burnt River. This was a good break in for my new running shoes. The thing that Kristin and I noticed was with the higher elevation, it was noticeably harder to breathe, and to a certain extent, harder to control your breathing. Sun River is at 4,100 feet and where we live is at 200 feet. I am not saying it was impossible to breathe, or climbing stairs was difficult or something like that, just that it was noticable.

On Saturday, we woke up early and met Tony at the start line (Tony took a bus to the start line). The morning was definately colder than we had anticipated and there was some frost on the ground. At the start line we were able to see Tony before he started his warm-up on his time trial bike. While Tony went out for his warm-up Kristin, Joanne and I went to the beach by where the Duathlon starts. The beach is where all of the triathletes started with their swim. We laid out a blanket on the beach and the three of us chilled out for a bit while Tony warmed up. When it was closer to the start time we packed up off of the beach and talked with Tony for a while while he was waiting for his start. Due to the limited amount of storage on a bike, and the desire to be at the right temp once you get warmed up, Tony chose not to wear any arm or leg warmers, so while he was standing there, he was freezing and shivering. We watched Tony start his Duathlon, and then we went and watched the Triathletes start their swim.

Next, we went to a point on the ride that was about 30 miles in to the ride. At this point we set up some chairs and waited for the cyclists come by and cheer them on, and take some pictures of the riders. After this we went to the transition area where Tony will change from cycling to running and then we met Tony at the finish line after he ran his half marathon. This was an amazing event as it was truly an amazing effort that these athletes had to put out to finish the Endurance Duathlon and Half IronMan Tri. Tony did not have as good of a result as he was hoping for, but Kristin and I think he did really well for his first shot at an Endurance Duathlon. He ended up 26th out of 78 athletes. Considering this event was a Worlds qualifying event, so you had some world class athletes there, Tony did great. So, if he wasn't feeling right, I wonder what he would have done on a day he felt good?

After the race, we all pretty much just lazed around for the rest of the day and had some good food.

On Sunday, Kristin and I ran our 5k. My hope for the 5k (3.1 miles) was to do it in under 30 minutes. Tony and Joanne went to the start with us and cheered us on and they were our official photographers. After Kristin and I did our run, we went to a local coffee shop with Tony and Joanne and had some coffee. After we were done with coffee, I thought we should go and see how we did on our times. I already knew that I was under 30 minutes, and according to my stop watch, I was at 29:00 and kristin was a few seconds behind me, but I wondered how I did in comparison to everyone else. We went to see the posted times, and Tony noticed that I was first in my age/division and then we looked at Kristin and she was second in her age group. My age/division was small because I signed up as a clydesdale (anyone over 200 pounds), so I knew I was the fastest in my age group for a heavier guy. I got a gold medal and nice glass for it though, which was cool. Kristin recieved a silver medal and a nice glass for it. The cool thing for Kristin was the age group she was in had the overall female winner in it. So, she took second to the female race winner, in the age group. In the 5k, there were 235 females, and Kristin took 30th overall for all females, which was AWESOME!!! We were pretty happy. I was chuckling about mine though, I was not thinking I could contend for any kind of podium, and I really shouldn't have, but I knew I was in a small group. I know I am not considered a fast runner by any means. I finished in 29:00 and the winner finished in 17:53. After the times were posted online I realized I actually won in the clydesdale division for the 39 and under division. I also won the normal age group division that I would have been in if I hadn't put myself in as a clydesdale, which is 25 to 29. Not sure how it happened, but it is kind of cool that my first race as an adult I get a gold medal. :)

Okay, this blog has gotten way too long, again. I just wanted to share some of the highlights of our weekend with you.

Another cyclist is killed

2007-06-12T21:56:00.001-07:00

This is an email I sent out to some of my friends, and figured I would share it here.

Last weekend a cyclist that was a member of the cycling club I belong to was killed on the club ride that is called the Saturday Signature Series. Here is the news story http://www.katu.com/news/local/7928067.html. Not only is Tim someone I have met, he is also a good friend of my neighbors Steven and Maria. The Saturday Signature Series is a ride I try and join every Saturday that I can, but this Saturday it did not work out. I ended up riding on that exact road with Weaver the next day (we did not know about the accident at the time). It really brings to light for me how dangerous cycling can be, and even if I have the right of way, does not mean I will win against a 4,000 pound car and I could end up dead. Even though I don't ride aggressively, nor do I think Tim was being aggressive, stuff happens.

Below is what our club has sent out, and some information about the accident, in addition some information about the legal process. It is amazing to me that you can kill someone, while having a suspended license, and driving carelessly and you still don't get charged with homicide! Even though this was a cyclist, the same is true for pedestrians, kids on their way to school, other drivers, etc.

I am emailing all my friends in the Portland area that may be interested in what is going, and who may be willing to write our polititians (info below).

Please keep Tim's friends and familly in your prayers.

Thanks,
Nick

Remembering Tim O’Donnell

On Saturday, 6/9/07, Portland Velo member Tim O'Donnell was struck and killed by a motorist while riding with the A17 group on our Saturday Signature Series ride. Portland Velo members Martin Obando, Michael Forester, Leslie Louis and Alan Jeddeloh were riding with Tim. A celebration of Tim’s life will be held on Friday, June 15 at 3:00pm at St. Patrick’s Church, 1623 NW 19th Street. Please come and support the family and your fellow club members who were with Tim. Please send your cards and condolences to Mary O’Donnell and Family, 17725 SW Sugar Plum Lane, Aloha, OR 97007.

Tim’s tragedy has struck us to the core; we have lost a friend and fellow cyclist. Tim was already an avid cyclist when he joined Portland Velo, but he really took to the sport last year when he joined our first (and only) development squad ride. John Ohnstad introduced Tim to the club, as Tim was a regular at John's spin class. Tim went from barely being able to keep a 12 MPH pace for 10 miles to riding regularly with the A19's. Along the way many of us got to know him as a super-friendly guy with a hearty laugh who would never give up on a ride, even the rainy, miserable ones. We will miss his infectious smile and his dogged determination!

Tim is survived by his wife Mary, his two sons and daughter and 5 grandchildren. And also by his friends and his cycling club. In the coming days you will hear our plans to keep Tim in our memory, and the steps we will take to ensure that this never happens again.

Write Your State Senator - NOW!

The driver in this weekend’s incident was cited for driving with a suspended license, passing in a no-passing zone and careless driving. Under Oregon State Law, vehicular homicide is only applicable in cases where a felony has been committed. Believe it or not, the above citations do not amount to a felony! We’ve seen this too often over the past 3 years!As cyclists, we have the right to ride our bikes safely and securely. One way to raise awareness is to write to your state senator immediately and urge them to pass HB3314, the Vulnerable Roadway Users Bill. While this does not address the vehicular homicide dilemma, it does raise the penalties for careless or reckless drivers who seriously injure or kill cyclists, pedestrians, or other vulnerable roadway users. It may seem small in comparison to what has just happened, but it is a start and we as cyclists need to support it. For more information contact the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA).
There have been starts and stops in efforts to change the vehicular homicide statutes and we are one of four states that do not protect cyclists under these statutes. This needs to be changed! Over the coming weeks we will be looking for ideas for how we can unify with the rest of the Portland cycling community and raise our voices to change the law.

In the meantime, House Bill 3020 seeks to get memorial signs put up at crash sites where riders were lost. It is a great way for us to memorialize fallen cyclists and remind the public of how vulnerable cyclists are on the road. For more information, please contact Lorna Kautzky, the wife of Eric Kautzy who was killed on his bike by another careless driver. You can contact our local representatives and senators as well – here are a few names: sen.kurtschrader@state.or.us, rep.marynolan@state.or.us,
sen.betsyjohnson@state.or.us, and rep.jerrykrummel@state.or.us.

You CAN make a difference!

Some Friends Suck!!!

2007-06-05T21:51:00.000-07:00

Okay, so Kristin and I don't watch most reality shows seriously, but we love to watch the first few episodes of shows like American Idol and America's Got Talent and we stop watching once it gets serious. The first few episodes are filled with people who are in extreme denial about the fact that they are not good at what they do. Could they get there with lots of hard work and dedication? Maybe, but not right now.
This is where "some friends suck!" comes in. Why don't these people have family and friends telling them that they are not ready for "prime time", or just a simple, hey you suck! I would not go out there trying to win at any pro, college or high school sport, and if I had any illusions about this, I would hope that someone would sit me down and say, you are not ready for this.
It really makes me wonder, if people are so affraid of telling others they are close to that they are not good at something, and let them get crushed on national TV, would they say anything about more serious matters? Probably not...
However, if Bill Gates father told him he was smoking a pipe dream and he took it to heart, would he have bought a $5 diskette and then re-coded the OS on that diskette and made it run on a hard drive, this thing called DOS would never have been created and he would not have become the richest man in world. Maybe these people aren't telling their friends they are not good because nobody wants to crush someone's dreams.
I guess it is a judgement call everyone needs to make in their friends best interest. However, if I ever decide to do any kind of competition on national TV and I am not of the highest caliber, please LET ME KNOW!!!
P.S. let me clarify one thing, I was not talking about any of Kristin or I's friends. This post was about people I see on reality TV.

electric bicycle

2007-05-23T22:16:00.000-07:00

Today I was out on a ride with Weaver and we saw a recumbent bicycle with an electic motor attached to the chain drive. I decided since he was going so fast that it would be fun to get a draft off of him. This guy was barely pedaling, but he was cruising! I told Weaver I wanted to catch the guy and get a good draft. I went sprinting after the guy, I was going about 30 to 32 mph and I was very slowly catching up to him, then we hit a very small hill and I was really closing the gap, then we hit the flat again. I was pretty well spent by this time, and the guy and his electric bike hit the flats again, and he was back to his 28 to 29 mph hour pace and I was not going to make an all out effort again to catch him, I still had 20 miles to ride.
It was really cool to see this little electric bicycle cruising at a good speed. It irritated me at first that I couldn't catch up to him, but then I realized that I may be able to go faster than him, but my legs are not going to beat a good electric motor.

Reach the Beach

2007-05-21T21:59:00.000-07:00

I am noticing that most of my posts are around cycling, so with no surprise, here is another cycling post.
First a little background. Just as I thought I had gotten over my injury and I no longer felt pain, I woke up on Wednesday night with sharp shooting pain in my left knee again. Damnit!!! It was rather odd as to why it happened as Wednesday was actually a rest day, so I didn't do anything! The pain did not go away on Thursday so Friday first thing I called my doctor to get an appointment, and maybe a cortizone shot as a quick fix. I went in to see my doctor and after he did some testing on my knee, he could feel that my knee was loose. He then asked me if I would like to go see an orthopedic surgeon and get an MRI. I took it as a question, not a suggestion, so I told him NO! I asked if we could explore some alternatives first. He then referred me to get physical therapy. Before leaving I asked him if I could ride RTB this weekend, and he said he probably wouldn't. I told him probably didn't mean much to me, and if he said probably then I probably would attempt it. I could not force him to give me a yes/no and all I had was a referal to a PT. I left the doctors office a little more than pissed, as I have never gotten a yes/no from him, and he couldn't figure out why I was sick a while back. It is now 3:15 on a Friday, good luck trying to get an appointment with anyone. I was disappointed, upset, depressed and stuborn figuring I will just ride and see how it goes. This didn't make me feel great, as I could do something to my knee because my doctor was not capable of helping me.
I spent a few minutes in my car just figuring out my next steps and tried getting myself from blowing up at someone/something. I then started calling all of the closest PT places and they were all booked. I then was able to find one that just had a cancellation.
Ian, my PT was awesome. He spent a lot of time with me analyzing everything about my walk and run and both of my knees. He confirmed that I did have some play in my left knee, but he said it could be from anything, it may have been that way since my ACL surgery when I was 16, so it didn't mean much to him. He then was able to find some scar tissue in my left knee (bummer, but no biggie). He was not able to find any rips, tears or strains in my knees. He figured it was a joint injury that was brought on by impact exercise, such as running. He told me since cycling has never hurt my knees, I was good to do RTB. He warned me that if the shooting pain came back while riding I had to stop, and regardless it may take me a couple extra days to recover, but he didn't see anything horrible as long as I was smart about it. I left their offices in a much better mood.

Okay, that was much longer than I thought, sorry. Maybe just a little venting.

Weaver and I did Reach The Beach on Saturday. The ride is a 100 mile ride (Century) from Portland to Pacific City on the coast, and it supports the American Lung Association.

I was not able to do my usual day before pre ride that "primes the engine" so I was a little hesitent about how my legs would feel. Since I had to do the two Dr. appt's I was lacking time on Friday and Friday night as I was going to try and get a short ride in I found that I had a problem with my cranks. So, I had to cut out my ride and run to a local bike shop to get my bike looked at. Turned out a bolt on my crank was no longer at the spec'd torque and that caused the issue. Then I rushed the rest of the evening to get everything ready for the ride.

Kristin and I picked up Weaver at 6:35 Saturday morning and she dropped us off at the starting point. We were on the road by 7:20. As I had suspected with no riding three days before the event, my legs felt like they had lead in them. They start off the century had a good climb after only 10 miles taking us up over 1,000 feet. The views were awesome, but it just felt too hard, but I knew I would have some sluggishness, so the goal for me was to make it and do it without killing myself, as I didn't want to ride 85 miles after spending myself on the first climb.

After the climb, Weaver and I had a very fun descent with some tight twisting switchbacks, which were rather fun. The next 20 miles were rather uneventful, just heavy legs and the winds. Oh yes, the winds sucked hard core. It was a constant head wind the entire way. The winds were WSW, and we were heading right in to the winds. When we would normally be going 20 to 21 MPH, we were going 15 to 16 mph. So much for my thoughts about beating my previous best century times.

About 40 miles in we were passed by a paceline of about 12 to 15 riders. The first 6 to 8 riders were holding a good paceline to cut the wind and the ramaining 6 or so were not holding a good line, but I was tired of fighting the wind so I decided to hop on the back end of this ugly paceline. After we were on this paceline for about 60 seconds someone did one of the cardinal sins in a paceline and he jammed on his brakes when there was no corner or any other thing to cause someone to logically slow down. I overlapped his wheel quick and I had to jam on my brake for a split second to slow down so I didn't hit him and crash. Weaver who was right behind me and at the very back did not have his hands near his brakes and he had no braking option. I didn't know this at the time, but all I felt was him hitting my wheel fairly solidly, then I hear him clip out of his pedals and then hit me again and then I hear this weird grinding on the pavement, which wasn't him going down, then about a second later I hear him hit the ground. Of course I turn around and check on him. All I could think at the time was thank goodness nobody was right behind him in the paceline, otherwise it could be worse than anything I was coming back to.
As I turn around, Weaver is still laying on the ground, not really moving, but not screaming, which is a good thing, since I knew he wasn't knocked out. A guy who saw the accident from behind also stopped to check on him. He had pretty good road rash on his left calf and his shorts by his left hip had some holes on them. The guy then told me what Weaver did just before the wreck. When I heard the weird grinding noise, that was him putting his foot down and pushing down with his foot and pulling up with his hands a bit, causing a high speed wheelie. The good thing was the head wind, had there not been a head wind and instead a tail wind or no wind we would have been going at least 23+ in a paceline with no wind and probably close to 28 with a tail wind, which would have made his wreck much worse. The road rash, although not good looking by any means, it wasn't too deep.

Weaver wiped off the wound, checked out his bike and he saved his bike (now there is where I like to see a guys priorities)! He got up and we rode to the next check point. At the next rest point we went to the First Aid station and he put on some antibiotic creams. At this point he found out he was also bleeding under his arm warmers, and under further inspection he had banged up his forearm pretty good. I must admit I admire him getting up and riding the rest of the way, and he rode strong too, and I don't think he ever complained. I guess they do make them tuff in the Army.

Around the 50 mile mark my legs started feeling fresh (Finally!) and I was feeling good. We ended up making a small paceline with one other guy and we were cruising at 20 mph for quite a while. He had a beautiful Colnago bike. After riding for 10 miles or so at this pace the guy we were riding with said that we were killing him and he couldn't keep up with us any longer. This suprised me as he looked really fit and he had some pretty strong looking legs. We had to stop at the next rest stop and he kept on going. Then a mile after the rest stop I ended up getting a flat. The next 30 miles were pretty much same ol' same ol' other than Weavers bike making this annoying click every time he pedalled and a reminder of how bad bike wrecks can be. We saw the aftermath of a bike wreck where one cyclist was being carried away in a stretcher on a fairly scary section of road. We are not sure exactly what happened, but it was a little sombering. It was interesting too, even though it caused some serious traffic problems, the cars were really nice to us the next few miles we were on that road. I think it was a reminder for everyone how unprotected a cyclist is.

At the next rest stop I was insisting to Weaver that he get one of the mechanics at the rest stop to check his bike and fix that damn ticking noise. Not only was it annoying, I was wondering if he was wasting energy because something wasn't right. It turned out his saddle was REALLY loose and that is what the ticking was. Can you imagine what would have happened if his seat came off and all that was left was the seat post!!! Can we say OUCH!!! So, off we go again, that was our last stop before the finish line and we had one hill left, as far as I could remember anyways.

Last year that hill killed me, it is 80 miles in to the ride and your legs are not exactly fresh. I know I am in better shape than I was this time last year and my training has been solid. Last year this hill killed me and I swore it would never end. This year I wanted to see how hard I could push it, not just make it to the top. The hill sheilded us after the wind, and that was a nice break. I ended up pacing with this other cyclist, who was a female (nope I am not ashamed she was in damn good shape and there are many women who can kick my butt on the bike). I was pushing my Heart Rate in to my lactic threshold most of the way up, averaging between 17 and 19 mph the entire way up and I sprinted once I saw the summit. By my book, I crushed this damn hill I had a hard time with last year. As I was at the top waiting for Weaver I heard someone go buy and so, only heart-break hill left. Then I remembered there is one more hill left. It is a really small hill about a 1/4 mile long but it is a brick wall. When I saw Weaver I had to break the news that this was not the last hill, in fact there was this ugly short hill left at the bottom of the hill. Once we were able to see this hill, it was scattered with people trudging up this thing, some walking their bikes, others about to fall over because they were going so slow. Yes, it is that steep. Last year, I thought I was going to have to walk it. Again, wanting to prove I was stronger than last year I had to crush this one. At the bottom I shifted to my 34x24 gear (not my lowest) and I stood up this hill and made it with no problem and I could have done a lot more. It really helped me see how much stronger I was from last year. The remaining 10 miles or so was just fighting the winds coming off the Pacific Ocean. I will post finish lines pictures later as we forgot the digital camera and we have to get our film camera developed.

Kristin met us at the finish line. It is always great to see her at the finish lines. She is so supportive of my "addiction" and to see her at the finish is always a great thing as she has worked hard towards all of my accomplishments as well. She is definately my biggest fan and I am very lucky to have such a great wife. I know some of you understand what it takes to spend so much time away from the house for a sport, but if I can put it in to perspective. Imagine your significant other working a full work week, being on call pretty much 24x7, travelling from time to time, working late nights, etc. then s/he is also gone 10 to 20 hours a week working out depending on these mystical workout schedules called phases. Then the extra time maintaining the bikes, updating workout calendars, etc. probably adds another 5 or so hours a week. Then, when the person gets an injury and they can't work out, you think, great now I will be able to see this person more. Well, that is true, but they get really grumpy because they are going through a withdrawl of their habit. So, now you have more time but they are as grumpy as can be. Kristin is a saint for being so supportive and I hope I can repay her some day. Although I do tease her that she is getting a husband upgrade now that I am losing weight and getting in better shape, and she now has a running partner when I am not injured.

Okay, this was way too long and I am not sure anyone will read this part of the post!

Back on the road again

2007-05-09T21:50:00.000-07:00

I went for a 11 mile ride yesterday, which I took fairly easy, it was short and no big hills. At the end of the ride I felt really good. After stretching my legs out I noticed that my left knee was inflamed.
I woke up today and my leg felt fine. Okay, it wasn't perfect, but it was pretty good considering what it had been. The swelling seemed to be pretty minimal this morning. I decided to put some Icy-Hot on my knee this morning to hopefully help with the swelling and some tenderness around the knee.
Since my knee was not worse than yesterday, and quite frankly it felt better, I decided to go for another ride today, this time a little longer. I did a 22.5 mile ride today, but I had a strong head wind all the way out on the ride, and I always tend to push harder when there is a headwind, so I may have pushed it a touch too hard today. At about the 7 mile mark my knee started to hurt a little. Kristin was in class tonight so I didn't have the option to call Kristin to come pick me up, which was probably the best thing, looking back. I rode the rest of my route and I noticed that it is actually the muscles/tendons around my knees that appeared to be sore today, so maybe I will be okay tomorrow, or maybe I just trying to convince myself that my joint is okay? We will see how it goes tomorrow.

Injured

2007-05-05T15:39:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was a great weekend. On Saturday Weaver and I did a 70 mile ride that had 4,500 feet of elevation gain, mostly in two sections with a short downhill in between the two sections, ride profile on the right. This was a hard ride, but whenever I asked my legs to do more, they responded and they had more in them than my aerobic system could handle. I felt extremely strong after the ride.

On Sunday Kristin and I did a trail run around Tryon Creek State Park. I ran pretty hard around Tryon Creek, and I felt really good on the run, and really strong. I was having a little bit of knee pain at the end, and I knew at the time that I definately went too hard, and I maybe would be a little sore. After the run, I did a 22 mile ride that was flat and pretty easy, just to help my legs loosen up.

On Sunday night, my left knee started to hurt, so I took Monday and Tuesday off. On Wednesday my knee was feeling better, with the occasional discomfort during the day, but nothing big. I knew I wasn't running this week, but I figured since cycling is so easy on the knees I could ride the bike. I hopped on my cycle trainer on Wednesday after work, and after 3 minutes, my left knee started hurting again so I stopped. I decided since I have an audit all week next week I wouldn't have much time to see a doctor if my knee was still hurting. So I went to see a doctor just in case, and hopefully get some magic pill that would allow me to ride this weekend. Well, the doctor said there was no magic pill, but my knee was still solid and nothing felt loose. He said he could definitely feel the fluid on my knee and that I needed to wait 48 to 72 hours before I would be able to ride again.

It has been 48 hours now, and I am not sure I will be ready in 72 hours, but I don't think I will be able to ride Sunday evening, so I will have to wait until Monday evening (if possible with the audit).

So, long story short, I am dieing a little inside as I am sitting here looking outside where it is dry and a little bit of sun is peaking out. And next week is supposed to be in the high 60's to high 70's for the next week. I am just hoping my knee will agree with me by Monday evening so I can get back on my training schedule.

Kitten Pictures

2007-04-29T20:18:00.000-07:00

Some pictures of our kitten. Kristin, Sadie and I were all tired and we were just lazin' around.
Click on the picture to see more pictures, and once in the photo album, click on any picture to see it larger.

Pictures of Sadie

Wanna lose weight - eat more calories

2007-04-26T21:51:00.000-07:00

Yep, that is what I said, but you need to read the rest of this post before even thinking about eying that pint of Ben and Jerry's. But I do have a lot of people who are close to me who are not exactly skinny (including myself) and I figured I would post this for everyone to look at and make their own conclusions.

Our bodies are extremely adaptable and generally they are smarter than we are. I have been kicking up my mileage, i.e. my calories burned has become much higher. I was finding it rather strange that I was not losing weight and I noticed that muscles and joints were becoming a little "achy". So, I started keeping close track of my calories and noticed that my calorie deficit was too high. Anyways, I won't go too far in to my own details, but I did some searching on the internet and found out that many people who are not athletic also starve their bodies.

You see, when you eat too few calories, you send your body in to "starvation mode" and many things start to happen. Your body starts to shut off some of the lesser functions of your body and it starts to store fat reserves to "save up" for the famine. In addition, it will also start using your muscle to provide fuel, which means you loose muscle mass. Over time, you just eat less, and your body tries to convert more to fat and the cycle just continues.

Before upping your calories, figure out your BMR by following this link. http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/ This will tell you how many calories a day your body will use if you did nothing. Then you need to figure out approximately how many extra calories you burn each day by walking, working, etc. There are some sites to get some good ideas, here is one. http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/calories.htm A healthy way to loose weight is to consume about 500 calories fewer than you burn each day. This will give you slow, and healthy, weight loss at about 1 to 1.5 pounds per week and this should not put your body in to starvation mode.

I am not saying go pick up the next tub of ice cream, or even start eating a donut for breakfast. If you decide to eat more calories, please do not eat donuts, or ice cream, find good foods, like banana's, apples, mango's, oranges, etc to increase your calories. No need to lose weight and increase your cholesterol.

Obviously I am not a pro at this, but I am just putting down some of my own experiances and research, and maybe it will be helpful for others.

1,000 miles

2007-04-15T21:31:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend I passed 1,000 miles since Jan 1 2007 on my bike.

As the months go on, I will start putting in 500 to 850/900 miles per month leading up to STP.

We have a new kitten

2007-04-07T20:48:00.000-07:00

This is about two weeks old news, but we have a new kitten. We have named her Sadie. She is part Egyptian Mau, and part British Tortoise Shell. Egyptian Mau's are known to be extremely loving and loyal cats, which is far different than Tasha. Not that Tasha is a mean cat, but she is not what I would call an affectionate cat.
Sadie has really gotten comfortable here and she is extremely loving. She is still a kitten, but if she is not playing, she is either on us, or sleeping right next to us and at least making sure she can feel us while she sleeps.
Tasha and her are not exactly getting along yet, but they get better as time goes on, and hopefully it will continue to get better.

Cycling legs are under me again

2007-03-26T20:54:00.001-07:00

As many of you know I have been training for STP again after having too much time off over the winter, I had some work to do to get back up to speed again. This weekend was the first time I have felt really comfortable and strong on the bike since mid July 2006.
Weaver and I went for a 52 mile ride and it was windy, which is always harder on me, maybe it is just mental, but it is always harder. Even with the wind, I was able to push hard the entire ride and I was able to keep respectable speeds for the ride. It feels so good to feel strong on the bike again. I know I have a long ways to go and a lot of room for improvement, but it is nice none the less.

The little things

2007-03-21T22:00:00.000-07:00

I have been cycling for over year now and I am starting to do a lot of similar training rides to what I did last year. Part of this is just trying to work off the winter fat and some lost fitness.
While doing lots of these repeat rides, I come up on hills, sections of road, etc. that I rode all the time last year and I remember them being miserable sections of road. Some hills I at first couldn't climb without at least stopping once, or I was dying at the top of the hill.
Fast forward a year and a winter of virtually no riding, and getting back on the saddle, but still some fitness left. These places that used to be miserable are no longer much of anything to mention. The hills I used to barely be able to make it to the top, I now like to use them to stand up and push hard to the top to get my HR up and to get some good muscle built up while pushing hard up them.

So, where am I going with this? Well, I get too much time to think while on a bike sometimes, and sometimes I realize very crisply something about life. So, here are one of my on the bike thoughts.

People do not magically achieve their goals, by setting them and just getting there. So many people love to say, look how successful you are, or look how much you have lost, or congratulations on graduating, etc. Although these achievements, that once were goals, are just the combination of several to thousands of small goals accumulating to one large goal. If you can achieve your smaller goals, you will eventually meet your ultimate goal. Without meeting the smallest goals, you will never meet your ultimate goals.

An example; for me, it was to do STP last year, which was 206 miles. All last year, I thought I had one goal in mind, which was to do STP in one day, it really took me achieving several small goals, to make it to my achievement. These goals were things like riding 150 miles in a week, then 170... Ending up at around 400 miles a week! Without achieving my smaller goals, I could have never have made it to my final goal. Yes, this is a very simple theory, and no it does not take a rocket scientist to figure it out. However, it made me realize that nothing in life comes without a bunch of small goals, that eventually end up to meeting an achievement or goal. For me, I hope to no longer get intimidated by large problems, if there is a way to achieve the goal with smaller steps, I need to set these smaller goals, even the smallest goals to meet the smaller goals need to be thought of.

Urban ridings affect on average speed

2007-03-14T13:47:00.000-07:00

I usually do not like doing hard effort training rides around the city if I can avoid it. I have always hated all the stop and go's of the traffic lights, and it never really lets me judge my previous performances against that day because the stop lights and slowing down, etc. throw off your stats.
I did a training ride yesterday and since it was late and I wanted a fairly flat route and it was dark out so the street lights can be nice at times. It seemed I couldn't get a break with all the stop lights. I decided to run some calculations of my ride because I have a device that records all of my riding data and this is possible (and yes, I can be this anal at times).
During yesterday's ride I had to come to a stop 7 times (which doesn't include all the times I had to slow down) and my average speed was 15.8. I knew while riding my average would be lower than it should be because of all the stopping and slowing down. The number of stops and slow downs was much more than I usually have on this ride.
Although my numbers are not scientific, they are thought out. Each time I come to a stop it takes a minimum of 60 seconds (usually closer to 70 seconds, but I am using 60 to keep from making myself look too good. :) )from the time I start slowing down to the time I am back up to speed. I then took the amount of time it would normally take me to cover the same amount of distance at normal speed as I took from slowing down to speeding up and it takes me 19 seconds to cover that distance at speed. This means I lose 41 seconds every time I come to a stop.
After making some corrections to the numbers in my route to figure out how well I actually did I was able to determine that had I not had those 7 stops (again, not factoring in any times I had to slow down, it is too hard to calculate) I would have averaged a speed of 17.5 mph vs. the 15.8 that was recorded.
As you can see, there is a big difference between riding in the suburbs and riding on farm roads and the effect on your average speeds.
I know many of you don't really care about this, but several of us cyclists do. So there! ;)

How many miles do I hope to ride this year?

2007-03-04T22:15:00.000-08:00

I have been working on my training schedule for the year, and I know some of you are curious about what I am up to with my training.
According to my training schedule, I should ride over 4,000 miles by July 15th, which is Seattle to Portland. After Seattle to Portland, I will drop my training miles to start working on speed, and getting my longer distances at 100 miles or so, instead of 200. I would guess that by the end of the year, I will have ridden around 6,000 miles.

Unleashed

2007-03-04T22:11:00.000-08:00

Kristin and I watched a Jet Li and Morgan Freem movie this weekend and we weren't sure what to expect. The movie, Unleashed, was a suprisingly good movie. If any of you get the chance to rent, or watch it on HBO, Unleashed is a movie worth watching.

Black Snake Moan

2007-02-26T21:15:00.000-08:00

So, Kristin thinks Black Snake Moan is going to be a horrible movie and she really doesn't want to go to the movie with me. My opinion, how can a movie with Samuel L. Jackon be bad? I really like all of his movies. Then, to throw icing on the cake you get to see Christina Ricci in very minimal clothing for what appears to be most of the movie. Great actor with a hot actress, how can a guy go wrong?

So, since my usual movie buddy is not interested, I am going to make this in to a guys night out kind of thing. I am going to see if I can find some guys who may be interested and make a guys night out.

If you are reading this, and you are a guy (and someone I know), let me know if you would be interested in doing a guys night out, hopefully this Saturday night.

The weather irritates me

2007-02-25T19:30:00.000-08:00

So, I was going to go out and have a nice ride with a buddy of mine this morning, but when I looked outside, it was just pouring out and it really demotivated me. I called up my buddy and he was feeling the same as me about riding on such wet roads.

I know I should have went outside and rode, but I am sick of the rain so I rode my cycle trainer and kept dry. I can't wait until we start having sunny weekends!!

Trying out some new on bike nutrition

2007-02-21T22:43:00.000-08:00

A week or so ago I found an alternative to the nutrition I have been using. Although I loved the long term energy on the bike, I can not handle the taste anymore. While I was on the Worst Day of the Year Ride I found myself not drinking enough liquids because I could not stand the taste of the stuff I was drinking. While riding I decided that no matter how good the nutrition was, if I could not stand the taste and I was not taking in enough liquids I would run in to big problems on my longer rides. This caused me to set out and search for something new.
I found a company that uses high quality ingredients for their powders. In addition, they allow you to make your own custom blend (Flavor, Carb Blend, Carb quantity, Protein, Electrolytes, Amino Acids and caffeine for those who like caffeine, which I don't care for too much). Their website for anyone interested, it is http://www.infinitnutrition.us/. This is going to be great for me because I will no longer need to carry extra electrolyte capsules with me and I can make the taste as strong or weak as I want, with three different flavors, depending on how I order it. I just recieved my order today, and I am very excited to try it out. I hope that it provides me with good energy, and a better taste.

The start of my Blog

2007-02-20T23:25:00.000-08:00

Well, here I go... Since my life gets really busy at times, I figured it would be a good idea to put what I have been up to online, in a blog. As much as I want to talk to each of you, I don't always have enough time to call everyone (and some of you are in other countries). I hope this blog will help everyone up to date as to what Kristin and I are doing.
You will find many things, ranging from my ramblings, pictures of what we have been up to along with descriptions.