Saturday, December 22, 2012

Week in Review: Dec 17 - Dec 23

First off.... just a heads up for you athletes reading this, a fellow local triathlete is doing a give away and, frankly, the more ways I promote it the more chance I get to win.  The prize?  A Garmin Forerunner 910xt.  So, if you want a shot at this, head over to his blog and promote away!

Training
Swim: 0
Bike: 0
Run: 24

A little sad.  I got a sweet bike related gift (uh.. a few of them actually) and I didn't make it on the bike. We left for North Carolina on Friday, so we spent the week burning the candle on both ends.  I did manage to get in 6 miles Monday, 12 on Tuesday, and 6 at the gym on Wednesday.

This post may actually be a bit premature.  I'm sitting in the same spot as when I wrote this post (in Greensboro, NC) and it is Saturday.  I'm hoping I can convince Ken and/or Kyle to go for a run with me tomorrow.  The weather is suppose to be nice tomorrow, so I'm sure something will happen.


I'm hoping to get 12 more miles in before the end of the year so I can hit 1,250 miles!!!

Holiday Fun!
Since we are out-of-town on Christmas, we did our gift exchange with my family and with TKB before we left.  I got the PowerCal (as I talked about last week), 2 awesome bike jersey's (A Felt Bicyle jersey and Truman State University jersey, my undergraduate alma mater), a new foot pod, and that's all I can think of right now.

Another week and another lack of Disney costume previews.  We only have a few weeks left, so we better get cracking!

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Week In Review: Dec 10 - 16

Holiday season is in full swing.  Three holiday parties in one weekend!  Of course that means eating way too much and drinking a little too much.

I was able to take a bit of the stress out by having four full days off from work.  What was on the docket?  Not much, really.  Other than running, it was finishing up some Christmas shopping and some other geeky projects.

Let's look at the week:

Swimming: 0
Biking: 0
Running: 42 miles / 5:40

I caught up some miles after taking most of the previous week off due to illness.  This included one 20 mile run on Friday at an 8:33 pace.  Nice!  This may be my only chance to get in a 20 mile run as we leave for North Carolina on Friday and won't return until the next Saturday or Sunday.   I'm planning to bring all my running gear as well as some bike and swim items.  I'm not sure if I'll hit 42 or 50 miles next week, but at least I can give myself a chance!

This week will also be light but I'm hoping to get over 30 miles.  This should ensure that I get 1,250 miles running for the entire year!  Crazy!  I think that is twice the number of miles I hit last year.

Swimming and biking should increase, especially since I got a new toy for Christmas from my brother, sister-in-law, and TKB!  A CycleOps PowerCal!  It's an entry level Power Meter used to tell how much "power" you are generating while cycling.  Yes, Power.  The output is measured in watts.... like a 60 watt light bulb.  This is an entry level device.  The one I got costs $100.  It's basically a heart rate monitor with a special algorithm to determine your output.  Normally, Power Meters will have some sort of attachment to your pedals or wheel to perform it's calculation.  Those units cost anywhere between $1000 - $2000!!! CRAZY!!

That's all for now!!  Have a good Christmas and safe travels!!

Sorry!  No new items purchased for the Disney costume.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Week in Review: Dec 3 to Dec 9 & Disney Costume Preview #2

Slowin' me mojo
Well, after a great week of running, biking, and swimming it sure came to a halt last week.  15 miles total in 1 hour, 58 minutes (under 8 minute average tho!).  The cold weather is settling in and we put our winter sheets on the bed, so it's a little harder getting up in the morning.  It didn't help that I started oozing stuff out of the nose.  I took it easy last week even though it was suppose to be a 50 mile week.

Yeah, Disney is going to HURT.

With how things went at work last week, I'm just going to completely forget about the week.

I was lamenting last week about how training is going to be tough with the holidays.  So I'm expecting things to be a little out of whack.  The good thing is I have 11 work days between now and Disney.  So when you consider we will be wheels down in Orlando in exactly a month, I will have 66% of my days off.  (read: lots of time to potentially run).  My plan is to simply run when I find time to run between holiday parties, contracting work, personal website stuff, and hanging with friends.  Joe VI and I aren't shooting for a particular time on the Dopey Challenge, so when I do run, it will be by heart rate. Each run will have a specific HR goal.

Today was a good example.  I had the day off from work so I set aside two hours to go for a run.  The Parks and Recs department extended a paved trail where I like to run, so I wanted to see what it was like.

Below is a picture I posted about a month ago.
The trail extension under construction.  CAUTION!
They added a mile south, so that trail is now 7 miles total when you do an out and back.


Green: Previous
Blue: NEW TRAIL!!!!

With it taking 2.5 miles to get there, I did 12 miles.  My goal was to be in the upper 150s heart rate (mid-aerobic.. I think).  I left my watch on the huge Heart Rate screen plus mileage.  When I got home I was shocked to see a 7:45 pace.  For a route that includes 843 feet of elevation gain, I will take it!

It's all about the heart rate.  People really need to consider training by it more.

Disney Costume Preview #2
The acquisition of costume pieces slowed last week as no new items were purchase or received.  But one item is on special order as we are having it customized.   Here it is:

It's high performance head gear.
From the manufacturers site, minus the customization of course!

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Week In Review: Nov 26 - Dec 2 & Disney Costume Preview #1

Last week not only did I get some time on the bike but also spent some time in the pool.  This was more cross training and to see how bad my return to triathlons are going to be.  The bike was OK as it was just a recovery spin from my "hard" 5 mile run the day before.

Swim: 1000 yards / 20 minutes
Bike: 8.87 miles / 30 minutes
Run: 34.3 miles / 4 hours, 45 minutes

I'm still in running mode in preparation for the Walt Disney World 5k, Half, Marathon weekend.  So working in swim and bike will be a little bit of a challenge.  Heck, getting a run in will also be a challenge as we will be spending 10 days on the road around Christmas.

Joe VI and I met for a 12 mile run on Sunday and it will probably be the last time he allows me to plan a route.


Elevation gain of over 1,200 feet, most of which is in the first 9 miles.  It was the first double digit run since our 50k 3 weeks ago.

Disney Costume Preview #1
I am not normally a costume guy for races.  The most I ever got dressed up was for the Krispy Kreme Challenge in 2011:


So for my first race in 2013, Joe VI put together an idea for a costume for the marathon.  So over the course of the next month, I'll be previewing items.  Item number one:


Red Calf Sleeves


Item number two has been ordered and hopefully will be here soon so I have something to put next week.  There is some custom work to be done though, so it might take a little time.

I would make this entire "preview" a contest to see who can guess what we will be going as but:

  1. I don't have anything to give away.
  2. All my readers already know what we are going as.