Sweet Victory

One day left in the month, but tomorrow could turn out to be a rest day... or not... rest day could be Sunday. Either way, the numbers are pretty much in. Going into it, the goals were: 72 miles running, 12 bikes, and 8 swims.... Survey says: * 87 miles running * 13 bikes (tomorrow - if anything will be a bike day) * 3 swims The lack of swimming can be blamed on a lack of a pool as I decided to join just when ownership was changing hands, so there were ten days when nobody could figure out what to do with me. (Not nearly the first time that's happened.) I'm pleased with the rest of it, though... 87 miles is my second best running month ever (only five miles less than the #1 month which included not a lick of cross training).. finding bike time is tough, because that's evening time, usually. Other things of note: Average run pace: 8:11, down from 8:24 in Feb., and 8:33 in March. I only flat-out missed 1 planned work-out... I'm proud of that. I missed two in Feb. and fiv...

Wow, was last week a bear! My only spring-time tradeshow, coupled with an aggressive travel schedule and an aggressive training schedule. It all started with the 4 Mile Run 4 Luck the weekend before I left. Despite a snow-covered road, I hit my goal, finishing in 27:50. The snowstorm the previous day did a serious number on race entries - I came in 19th overall, and 5th out of 17th in my age group. Only 120 people did the whole race. Maybe because of the light crowd, I ran a really stupid race. A too-fast 6:30 first mile gave way to a too-slow 7:55 second mile, before I righted myself and ran the last two much more even. But it was a good tune-up heading into next month's triathlon. I'd tacked on a little extra work the previous week, not sure of how much I'd get to work out in Chicago. In the end, I did pretty well -- we flew into town Monday morning and set up the booth. Prior to opening with a cocktail party, I snuck into hotel gym for bike ride Monday. Tuesday AM, I did...

That question rolls around in my head a lot these days... While I know my current program is more than adequate for sprint distance and probably close to enough for Olympic distance, I do have Ironman delusions or - at the very least - marathon delusions, and I've thought about how much more training those longer events would require. Stumbling upon this entry by Ray Britt was a real eye-opener for me and has caused me to think that maybe I can go longer without my family forgetting who I am. Don't miss the post, as Britt goes into detail (and includes his logs for all to see), but here's the money quote: I’ve tracked every minute of my training since starting endurance events in 1994. And looking back over the years, here are my benchmarks: • First Real Triathlon season: 5 to 6 hours training hours per week • Seasons as a top 25% or better finisher: 6 to 7 hours training hours per week • Seasons as a top 10% or better finisher: 7 to 8 hours training hours per week

Typing this blog entry on a Mac(!). My PC at work bit the dust and since I like to think of myself as relatively ambidextrous when it comes to computers, I accepted a recently retired G4. While I'm relearning those silly Mac rules, the darn thing is pretty cute and we're getting along well so far... This could end the first time I try to modify a magazine advertisement created on the PC (!), so stay tuned. I didn't need new running shoes, but when the Sports Authority puts the recently discontinued Asics Kayano XII's on sale for 67 bucks, what's a guy to do? These are $135 kicks, mind you, and sale price rarely go lower than 90.... Because I tend to wear out shoes in 2-3 months, I usually buy cheaper ones, but how could I say no to that good deal? So I'm going to rotate them with my other shoes, since I bought them less than a month ago, too. Bonus news? I wasn't planning on running today, but with new shoes, how can I say no? Short 4 miles planned with one ...

Great run over lunch today... for more than a month my tempo workouts have all been around 7:50-7:59 miles... nothing I did could bump them down. However, I did notice that my easy runs had become quicker during the same time frame... from 8:35 down to 8:20. I hoped it was only a matter of time before this translated to better tempo workouts. Finally, today it did, as I did my usual lunch-time 10k at a brisk 7:36/mile. Was actually at 7:30 per mile at the five mile mark before the bear jumped on my back a little. But still, this gives me hope that I can break 28 next weekend. In other news, I got a promotional offer via Active yesterday, offering me a free Enervit RacePack. As a diabetic with a triathlon in a month, this offer couldn't have been more well timed. Though I'll spare you the details, when I went to a local retailer to claim my RacePack, they had no idea what I was talking about and after some phone calls told me that if I called them in three weeks, they might hav...

Sent in my registration for the Run 4 Luck today - a 4 mile jaunt through the neighborhoods of down-town Lancaster a week from Saturday. Looking forward to the distance - expecting it to be a little less frantic than the typical 5k mob scene. Goalwise, I'm not sure. In previous posts, I'd mentioned improving at a V-Dot click or 1 or 2 per month. That's pretty good, but I was also waaay out of shape when I started. Obviously that type of improvement can't continue. Using my 5k result from last December - 22:37 - gives me a V-Dot of 43. 1.... For a four mile race, that translates to a 29:30. But my V-Dot improvements have been an average or 1-2 per month and the past three months of training have been really strong. I'd like to break 28:00 minutes. It's less than seven minutes per mile and translates to a V-Dot of 45.87 - an improvement of 2.7 in a hair more than three months. We'll have to see how it plays out.

Ripped through my lunch-time 10k at a 7:51 clip today -- the fastest I've done this particular course, though the course had to be somewhat modified because one of the roads is under two feet of water (!). The part that had me most pleased about the workout, though, was that I'm coming off runs the previous two days and a decent ride last night - so this is a sign that I'm getting stronger. It's also been a relatively injury-free month, with aches and pains at the bare minimum. I'm also at the point where I'm done trying to lose weight. When I started running last summer, I knew I wanted to lose five pounds but didn't really plan on it. If you run, you lose weight. Then after I lost those five pounds, I read that while I was at the ideal weight for a man my size, I still wasn't at the ideal weight for a distance runner my size, so I kept the food in check with the new goal weight in mind. I've hit it, so now I need to figure out how to eat more so I ...