Week 13 - "Cross Training"

Last night Ellie wanted to go to "Steak-n-Shake" for her birthday celebration. You gotta love it when your kid wants simplicity instead of immoderation to celebrate her special day.

The four of us headed off to the restaurant with presents and a cake in tow. The plan was to order, open presents and then have cake.


In a world of "trying to stay in shape" by eating the right things constantly I find that my body goes through cycles. About every 30 days or so, after eating tons of fruits, veggies, lean meats and carbs. I crave nothing more than grease, salt and sugar! If you could take all three and make a burger, fries and mocha shake and mix it in the blender with a beer, I would be in heaven. But this evening the indulgence was going to be savored by chewing every last morsel till the plate was clear. Sarah and I ordered burgers while the girls asked for chicken sandwich and tenders. We all loosened the belt and ordered shakes to wash all the goodness down.

The Birthday Girl Acting a Little Funny

After the ordering and salivating in anticipation for the artery clotting meal Ellie opened presents from us. Again, simplicity rules. Ellie wanted a Touch-n-Brush dispenser (a "As Seen on TV" gadget) and the game, "Mad Gab". Sarah and I purchased these gifts for her, while Grace gave Ellie the gift of scents. Body wash, Shampoo and Conditioner from Bath and Body. Ellie was excited and pleased at her new gifts and immediately ran into the bathroom to try out all her new body washes on her hands...


At the end of the gifts it was chow time. We all ate our meals with pleasure and were beyond stuffed towards the end. It was just good eats.


We had some kind of cake controtion and sang Happy Birthday at the restaurant and then hung out to let the food settle.

Pure Goodness

Waddling out of Steak-n-Shake Ellie wanted to head to Target to buy a pedometer with birthday money she received from her Aunt, Uncle and cousins in Boston. The exact nature as to why a pedometer is unclear for a 9 year old, but she was set on it so, the girls walked over to Target as I meandered over to the car, answered a few business emails and met them in front of the store.

Ell's B-day was a a good time and she enjoyed herself which was the whole point of letting her do what she wanted to do on her day.


This morning came quick. From last nights indulgence I expected to have a rough night, but the sleep was sound.


I headed to the gym for the Thursday Master's Swim. I have to leave earlier now since the main drag of road I take into Alpharetta, day-and-day out is closed for construction. I am trying alternate routes in the attempt to find the most direct way to my destination. The route this morning was accelerated as I arrived at the LTF parking lot around 5:10AM. I may continue to use this route if it allows me an additional 5 to 10 minutes of additional sleep.

The pool deck and lanes this Thursday were not at capacity like they have been recently. The AA lanes only had 3 to a lane while the other lanes where 4. This makes the swim more manageable on the turns and starts.


Coach Mikes' Workout:

400M EZ
200M Paddles
4 X 100M I.M.
10 X 200M on the 3:30
8 X 100M
1 & 5: Stroke
2 & 6: Tarzan Swim
3 & 7: Fist
4 & 8: Smooth
200M Kick
100M EZ

The workout was moderate in effort today which was fine with me. My goal was to work off a burger, fries, shake and cake. Mission accomplished.


Lunchtime will consist of an upper body, core and stretching routine.

Must continue to monitor flights to Boston for April. There has to be a bargain that pops up very soon.

Week 13 - "Happy Birthday

"Yesterday is history Tomorrow is mystery Today is a gift."

Eleanor Roosevelt

Today is the day of birth for our youngest daughter. Her birth will always be a special day for our entire family when the odds were stacked against her. Today will be her day to receive gifts, but everyday she is a gift to us.

Happy Birthday!

Donuts & Ice Cream for Breakfast before heading off to School!

Switched up the training schedule in order for me to be home this morning on my baby girl's big day. The tempo I usually do on Friday's was scheduled at lunch today.

Tempo run at lunch which consisted of:

1 mile EZ: 8:05 pace

4 miles at mid-tempo: 6:49 average pace

(Mile 1: 7:18, Mile 2 & 3: 6:48, Mile 4: 6:22)

1 mile EZ: 8:05 pace

Susan L. was on the treadmills as well knocking out her trackworkout. As I was stretching I watched her form and gave her a few key pointers to work on with her upper body form to be more effiicent on the run. If she gets the run down she will be dangerous in the AG category on tri's.

I also ran into Marty Rubin. Marty and I started to run together a few years back. We were equals in our runs and we pushed each other. After a few months of running Marty has some surgery and dropped off of running. He is now doing the Insanity Workouts and has trimmed down. Marty has started to run again but only short distance. I told him if he takes up the long run again to give me a call.

Tonight is dinner out to celebrate! Where we are going, I am glad I got this tempo run in.

End of Week 14 & The Beginning of Week 13

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.”

Dr. Suess

It is Tuesday morning after a long Holiday Weekend. The long weekend went by in a blur. I always enjoy the extra time off to spend with the family and work on house projects.

This blog is quite long packing 4 days into the mix.

Saturday was a day of rain and chores. Saturday is the day the the whole family cleans out the week of "living" in our home. Bathrooms, kitchen, bedrooms and laundry were all in need of a deep cleaning.

After the house was worked on there was a little time for some antics. Ellie for Christmas received a Po-Go stick from Santa, "yes Virginia there still is a Santa Claus". When she first received the stick her amount of consecutive jumps was four. Over the next couple of days she was getting discouraged by only topping four jumps on the new toy. I gave her some pointers, with the main piece of advise for her was, practice. We continue to instill in our girls in this world of instant gratification that nothing comes easy and only dedication, time and practice will develop the results you want.

I gave Ellie a goal of her own for her new toy. I told her to practice so she would be able to hit 9 jumps by her birthday.

Ellie has been practicing for a week and she went from four jumps to 1,135 consecutive jumps. This shot was taken at the exact moment she hit 1,135. She has a drive like her mom and dad.

After the event above it was time for me to get to work on the mudroom. Recess lighting is in. Bead board is up. Ceiling, walls and bead board is painted. Old floor is ripped up and prepped. Time for tile. I have decided to take my time and work the tiles manually and not use any electric machinery when laying the tile. Below is what is being used, along with a pair of snips to trim around the molding.

Saturday night was movie night. The four of us went to see Aviator. All I can say is that it was awesome. There are very few movies I would see again in the theaters but this one is one I would repeat. If you have not seen it. Get some candy, popcorn and waters and get ready for almost 3 hours of excitment.

As I put Ellie to bed she requested that I wake her at 7:15AM Sunday morning for church. I had to reluctantly advise my youngest that Dad was not going to church in the morning. This is when she sat up in bed and asked why? She stated we always go to church and that I was obligated to go with them. I tried to explain my schedule in the morning to her, but it did not fly. She did not think running should take presidence over church. And she was right... I left her room as I tucked her in feeling guilty for not participating in our families worship time.

I am dedicated to my workouts, but I need to adjust my thinking to insure that I continue to be dedicated 100% to my obligations to my family when it comes to our time at church. In this case, Dr. Suess in not correct. Being who I am, has had an effect on the ones that matter. For the remaining 13 weeks of training, the scheduling will change and when events do come up on a Sunday (most races are on Sunday), I will make sure that I discuss these with my children.

Sunday is the long run for the week. The plan is 17 miles. I decided to hit the Columns for the run. I figured with the gravel path the impact on the spine and hip would be minimized enabling me to accomplish the 17 mile goal. Ann Marie said that she would meet me at the Columns for the last hour of my run on her, yes, Birthday! I will not published her age since a lady never reveals her age. Though I know who old she is from all of her races and age group winnings...

Saturday we exchanged a few emails and Facebook...communications? What are the notes on Facebook called anyways? The plan was that we would meet at the Columns at 8AM. It was raining pretty hard on Saturday night and I gave her an "out" if she did not want to drive down and run in the rain on her birthday.

Sunday morning came at 5:30AM. I needed to fuel up prior to the run. I ate 4 pieces of toast with peanut butter and grape jelly on top of each piece, glass of OJ and a travel mug of coffee.

Sunday mornings in the northern suburbs of Georgia are peaceful. There are no cars on the road, everyone is still sequestered in their homes sound asleep. The ride down 400 to the Columns was solem. I arrived at the park, paid my token $3 for the privilage to be the first and only car in the lot. It was 5 minutes after the 6:30AM departure time and I new that I had to hussle and get on the trail. I had 1 hour and 24 minutes to run the 10.5 miles prior to Ann Marie showing at 8AM.

The park was pitch black as I stared towards the trail that seemed to lie on the edge of the abyss. The sight range was about 4 feet just enough for me to see the trail floor as I ran.

Looking down the trail at the Columns Parking Lot right before the run

As I made my way down the atramentous trail with my iPod pumping my warm up music in my ears I was having a hard time seeing my foot placement. I decided after .5 miles to turn the tunes off in order for me to hear the rhythm of my feet stiking the gravel since my vision was obstured by the lack of light.

After the first mile I became intune with the sound of the gravel under my feet and fell in to a steady pace. The goal for this run was 8 minute miles or 45 seconds over marathon race pace. I easily dropped into this pace as the gravel, mud and water below me made various sounds as I trotted down the darkness.

About this time I started to hear thunderous noises all around me. I heard and felt the pounding of hooves darting in front, behind and on the sides of my path. In the Cimmerian morning your mind plays tricks on you that your eyes can not justify for validation. The noise continued to amplify and I felt presences surrounding me as a dark figure an arm length ahead of my destination crossed my path. I caught a glimp on the left side of me a faint white object bouncing up and down. This vision put everything into prospective. It was not the hiena like creatures that plagued JakeSully in Aviator in the jungle, but white tailed deer that I had spooked with the movement and sound of my feet on the gravel path. This realization settled the heart rate and brain waves after seeing the figure of the deer and it not being a alien creature that was looking to feast on my bones.

The next 9 miles where uneventful as I settled in and cruised the Columns. At the ending of the 10.5 miles and the pick up of Ann Marie, I was hoping that she was going to show. I had given her an out due to the rain, but at this point of the run I needed some human conversation especially when we had scheduled to meet up at 8AM. It is not that I could not have run the rest of the run along, but I was looking forward to having another runner with me and if the plans had change it would have let a little air out of my sails.

Rounding the bend on the trail I could see about 200 meters up an angelic figure standing by the enterance to the trail. Nearing the figure (I didn't have my glasses on, hard to see until I am close) in a white techincal shirt, white shoes and a bright white hat that look like a halo it turned out to be Ann Marie. (Little corny description I know, but she was in a lot of white).

I stopped by her and we made our way a few feet to my car to switch out my fuel bottle and we were off down the trail. I told her I was glad that she had trekked down here on a rainy, wet day to run with me on her birthday. She wanted to run and by setting a time and place gave her the motivation to run so she stated she was happy to do it.

We negotiated our way around the muddy, wet trail and had a good conversation about a bunch of stuff that I will not bore you with.

At the end of the run which turned out to be a total of 17.75 miles or a 8:09 pace in total with the additional 7.25 miles I ran with Ann Marie, we talked for a few more minutes as we stretched.

It is nice to see that a friendship is growing with another person who enjoys; family, friends, training, establishing goals and trying to balance it all.

Monday was a bonus day. Martin Luther King Day were we were all off to celebrated his great accomlishments as a human being. We spent the day unfortunately not honoring his achievements but accomplishing some projects and running errands. In a world that is always turning at a fast pace, we do not set our priorities straight and take the time to honor those who have made our lives better.

In regards to a better place, then I will close. My cousin Jackie who joined the Navy in 2009 was deployed for the first time yesterday. She is on her way to Hiati to assist with the relief efforts. I wish her a safe voyage and return.

I am adding Tuesday's mix in as well to complete the blog.

Tuesday was swim. Coach Mike is in California biking a few stages of the Tour de California. We are on our own with the workout. Mike provided Ann Marie (the swim manager) with this mornings workout which she supplied to us.

300M EZ

100M Side Kick

200M Paddles and Bouys

4 X 100M I.M.

6 X 400M on the 6:50's

200M Left Kick, Right Kick

8 X 100M on the 1:50's

200 Kick

100M Cool Down

Long workout, but very manageable.

Lunchtime will be upper weights with continual stretching.

Now I should be caught up and I know this was a long entry, but I said what I feel and if you do matter than you will not mind the length.

Week 14-"Adjusted Tempo Run"

"A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be."
Albert Einstein

I guess Albert Einstein was the originator for the modern quote of, “it is what it is”. After writing that rather long blog yesterday, I am using Einstein’s wise words and going to incorporate them into my Life.

With the nagging issues I have I decided to ratchet back the goal pace I set for Boston, which at the time was an obtainable goal, to a new set training pace. The goal is still to qualify on Boston for Boston in 2011, but at a slower pace and time.

My original goal was a 3:04:00 marathon but now I have adjusted it to 3:15:00. This is a reasonable time to train for while I battle the nemesis that has wreaked havoc on my left leg and back.

I started the readjusted training this morning with a tempo run. The plan was 1 mile EZ, 5 miles at 7:29 pace and the 1 mile EZ. I saw Chris out in the parking lot, as he was getting ready to rondeavu with Brian who had been running for a couple of hours already, current time was 5:20AM. Yeah, my thoughts too.

Chris looked cold and he commented on the hawkish air as he turned into the direction of Morris Road to find Brian on the streets of Alpharetta. In the locker room I saw Bob getting ready to meet Jay for their run of 7 miles. Bob was dressed head-to-toe for the weather that we experienced last week. I thought Bob was over dressed and he would end up overheating out in the 25-degree air. I mentioned this concern and he agreed and peeled off a few layers.
I made my way upstairs to the Woodway treadmills at LTF I saw Calvin knocking out a few miles on one of the Woodways. I jumped on the TM next to him and saw that he was already 2.5 miles into his run. I knew that my company with another runner was going to short-lived this morning.

I started up and got the legs moving. The initial feeling was not good. Shooting pain in the hip, down the quad and into the knee. The toes started to numb over instantly as I focused on my form and posture to alleviate any unnecessary pressure on my lower back. After a the first mile I increased the speed from 8:27 to 7:47’s. About this time, Calvin was off the mill and I comment on the short run. It turns out Calvin was making his way up to North Georgia for the weekend to tackle Hog Pen. He was up there for the long weekend and decided to add a little challenge to his time while he was up there. We commented on the future rain in the forecast for tomorrow and his thoughts on cycling Hog Pen in the rain, but he seemed determine to be King of this Mountain.

Around mile 2.5, my body heated up as the sweat was pouring off me. Once the core is warmed up the back relaxes and the sciatica is abated. The pains were minor as I trudged along making sure to keep form.

Near the end of the 5 mile tempo I was up to a 7:03 pace which averaged the run out to a 7:24/mile. I cooled down with a 1 miler at 8:34 and went to stretch.

As I was spread out on the floor, I took notice of Chris coming up the stairs from running outside with Brian. Chris was pallid as he made his way over to where I planted myself to insure that I would run into the Wonder Twins and IronZen (Jeff). He indicated that the air temperature was not conducive to his Georgia blood. By this time, Brian meandered the staircase with an irascibility on his face, I knew the run was just as pleasant for him. After the 17-mile run, he indicated that his finger froze solid and the discomfort was abhorrent while he ran.

By this time the Wonder Twins and IronZen spotted Chris, Brian and myself and made their way to the point of the conversations. They all indicated though the air was crisp, the run was actually enjoyable. Bob is from upper NY, Jay is from Michigan and Jeff is from St. Louis. Enough said.

We talked a few more minutes and continued to stretch out the warm and for some, cold muscles. Then the party broke up. The Wonder Twins, IronZen and I have plans for a Friday morning breakfast feast at Cracker Barrel.

The four of us quickly hit the showers, changed and cruised over for a smorgasbord of pancakes, eggs, sausage, bacon, biscuits, coffee, chocolate milk, Coke, OJ and of course Jay’s whole wheat “dry” toast.

When the four of us get together, it is always a great time. We talked about the Chicago Marathon which the four of are running in October, our kids, our jobs, our training, cars, beer and other stuff.

Sometimes we take for granted our busy lives, but it is always good to step out of the everyday and “break bread” with a group of guys I am proud to call friends.

This is what I see that it is and not anything else it should be: Friendship.

Week 14-"Reality"

“The supreme irony of life is that hardly anyone gets out of it alive.”
Robert A. Heinlein

Two weeks ago, I wrote about how life is not fair and how you should deal with it and move on. Well, life has delivered me a piece of unfairness lately and I have to say, “It stinks”!

Since I wrote the article in reference to Matthew 20:1:1 on being dealt a wrong hand in the game we call, “Life” I have been battling with an archenemy of mine. This evil doer of pain and misery has cloaked itself upon me again, sciatica.

I am familiar with the debilitating darkness that plagues my L4 & L5 in the lower spin on a daily basis. But ever so often, usually during the cold winters, sciatica decides to wreak havoc and come out of hibernation and stop me in my tracks.

Now, I usually can handle the chronic numbness, soreness, muscle loss and uncomfortable feeling that my shoes are constantly too tight, through “Pain Management” but this year is different. This year the pain has affected my ability to training at my optimum level. Right at the end of Week 16, it hit and since then almost at the end Week 14, I am at its mercy.

The thoughts are popping, well it is only Week 14 and you have 14 more before April 19th. Better now than in Week 3 or 2 or 1, right? Well, you are correct sitting in your comfortable chair sipping coffee pain free. However, it is like buying a new car and crashing it the first week you get behind the wheel. Well, it can be fixed, right? What is the big deal? I think you get the point.

However, this is not about me crying over spilled milk. It is about taking what life has to give you and doing something about it. (I could of used the spilled milk, blah, blah and making it into butter, but I think that has been used too much)

I decided to move on and readjusted the training for the interim to mend the body and not say, “why me?” I have eased up on the running and actually have tried an Aqua Run workout in the pool the other day. It seems lame to be running in the pool waist deep back and forth, back and forth but I had to say, it is arduous. The goal was 20-1 minute intervals with a 30 second RI in between. The first couple of intervals were not bad. I thought to myself, as people from the hot tub, the windows in the upstairs workout room stared at the crazy dude in the pool, “this is not so bad”. I was able to run 4.5 lengths of the 25-yard pool with little effort. After the fourth interval, I noticed that the distance I was covering was a bit shorter. By the seventh interval, I was sweating; breathing hard and my quads were on fire. As I stopped for the 30 second RI and got a drink I said, “…man…(heavy breathing)….this..is…t..o..u..ff!”

I was determined to finish all 20 intervals since I opted out of the track workout that morning with Bob, Jay and Susan. This way I was keeping fitness, minimizing the stress and pounding on the spine from outside running, which worked. The Aqua Running was as challenging as any high-speed interval track workout I have done. The only thing I need to remember for the next go around with pool running is to wear an old pair of running shoes in the water. The bottoms of my feet where ripped to shreds like cabbage in the La Machine. All the blisters and calluses on the bottoms of the feet wear ripped off leaving raw skin. If I was walking funny from the back pain, I am currently walking like a male Empire Penguin holding its unborn chick’s egg on the tops of its feet. Think about that analogy…

There. I have gotten the burden of my setback off my chest and now to move on. I will come out of this alive, well and maybe back to my original speed. After a couple of weeks, I will reassess my goal time for Boston to see if it is realistic and if not, then the obvious decision will be to change the goal time. I will still need to qualify at Boston in 2010 for the following year, 2011 with my wife, Sarah, Ann Marie, Bob, Jay and my sister, Tracey running that year’s event. I would not want to miss this for the world.

Onto today. The awaken brought me a sense of rejuvenation after a good night’s sleep. Sarah made awesome potato chowder last night for dinner and I put on another coat of paint on the mudroom. I know what you are recollecting, “this project is taking forever!” Well, it is, but with owning a home there is always more than one thing that breaks or needs attention. With this room being off the kitchen that heads to the garage and is behind a closed door, there is no rush. The way it looked before the remodel project believe me, there is no rush.

Later that night, as a family after the girls completed their homework then we all gathered on our bed and watched American Idol. I am not the biggest fan of the show, but I do enjoy the family time so I go along with it.

The morning was tempered for me. I did the morning laundry list of things; woke up, gathered clothes in bag, got dressed, negotiated a path around the cat who dodges in and out of my feet as I walk down the blackened hallway and stairs, coffee was perking, started car, put stuff in car, made my lunch, poured the coffee and drove off. Half way down the street from my home, I stopped and reassessed all of my stuff. This is when I realized that I had forgotten my clothes for work and actually, I had not even put out clothes for work the night before! I reversed direction headed back in the dark house, renegotiated my way upstairs and quickly figured out garb to wear and I was off.

I guess with Life’s little punches lately and my focus on other things something is bound to be left behind occasionally.

I made it to LTF, changed and got to the pool deck on time. This was a good thing because looming on the pool deck benches were the “barracuda’s”. Not only was Susan and Michelle their but out of the corner of my eye I saw the most fierce one of the all, Carmen (swimming wise, Carmen is actually a nice person. I know you are reading this Carmen). The first thought that crosses my mind was, “oh crap.” I then discerned that I needed to jockey for a lane before I was tossed in the swirl of these mighty fish. I almost can handle Susan and Michelle at an anaerobic level for over an hour, but when you through Carmen into the mix, well, the game changes.

These three women (though are very nice) are all very competitive swimmers and when you mixed their upbringing of pool time, competitions and downright awesome swimming abilities together in one lane, the dynamics of the water are altered. The lane water heats up A mere age group swimmer will be eaten alive in the same channel of water with them.

I got in the outside lane to much of Brian, Melissa and Seth’s chagrin. Jeff, not so much, because Jeff and I have been swimming together for years and have a respect for each other. In our eyes, it is what it is and you just deal with it…

Coach Mike’s Workout

200M EZ
150 kick-no fins
200M Drills
10 by 3:00 minute swims.
The object was to cover as much ground as possible in the 3 minutes
200 EZ: Breath-5
5 X 100M with the first 100 all out. The remaining sets were to be at a good pace, but we did not figure that out until after the 3rd 100M trying to keep the time.
100M Race against the other lanes
100M cool down

Jeremiah, who was late to the pool deck, was thrown in with the barracuda’s. I glanced at him a couple of times and saw a look of confusion and an overwhelming thought in his eyes as to what has he gotten himself into. He did make it out alive from this Life's little twist, but maybe he will get his behind out of bed and get there on time next swim.

After the swim, most of the swimmers congregated in the hot tub to “shoot the poop”. This is always a fun time because during the workout there is little time for conversation, so we tend to catch up with everyone’s going on’s. Face-to-face talking beats Facebook hands down!
Tomorrow will be an attempt to run a tempo run on the treadmill. Life will throw its punches and I hope I can at least duck a few times.

Week 14 - "Cross Training"

"I am who I am and that’s all that I am"
Popeye

It seems age has made a presence in my life in 2010. It was only 30 days ago that my body and mind were humming along with little to no issues. Then as fast as the year changed from a single digit year of “09” to a double digit of “10” my body and mind modulated along with the next year.

Injuries are creeping up where they have not surfaced in the past. My sciatica has reared its debilitating sting between L4 & L5 causing a chronic pain that is more severe than in years past. The mind is not as sharp over the last 30 days as if a sheer sheet is covering over my head. My focus on work, home and training is foggy causing me to have to concentrate more than the years past to maintain who I am.

The concentration effort is extreme in order for me hold on to my levels from the past which exhausting and is causes early “turn in” at night to rejuvenate.

All of this maybe attributed to a new regiment of a counteragent I am taking, but I have two more weeks until I go to the medico for another round of prognosis.

In the meantime, I must not struggle with trying to be who I was but who I am, which is all I can be.

The alarm sounded at 4:50AM. The extra 5 minutes I was getting was wasted by looking at the clock every minute, so I am trying an experiment. I have set the alarm 5 minutes earlier to see if the alarm wakes me up instead of my internal clock snapping me out of a slumber. Therefore, the bellowing of the classic hits on channel 97.1 have been my only alarm over the last 2 days.

The routine was mundane this Tuesday morning. I am not complaining at all about the repetitiveness of the early morning hours. I find if the morning is “status quo” then I do not forget anything as I am leaving. However, if one-step is out of place, I tend to forget an item like my lunch, coffee, computer or water bottle. It never fails...

I arrived at LTF at 5:10AM and saw that Susan L, Chris and Jay were already on the pool deck. After the change into the suit in the locker room and returning to the deck, more swimmers started to congregate. It looked like we were going to have a full house today. It turned out that every lane had 5-6 swimmers ready to take on the workouts. Lane 5 was filling five swimmers by the time I approached. This meant I was swimming with the barracuda’s this morning. Michelle had been swimming when we arrived and I knew Susan L. was to join in this lane as well. The rest followed; Jerry, Seth and Calvin. Six in Lane 4 today. The workout in distance was a bear, but now with the presence of the fastest swimmers that I know in a LSU collegiate and Olympic swimmer along with the sharks in Jerry, Calvin and Seth behind me compounded the toughness of the current workout.

With the swimmers in Lane 4 I knew I would position myself behind Michelle and Susan with the 3 other guys trailing me. This way I would have the advantage of pacing off the barracuda’s and keeping Jerry, Seth and Calvin about a half a pool length behind.

Coach Mike’s Workout was:
200M Warm up
2 X 100M I.M.
150M Kick no fins
200M Drills
2 X (4 X 300M) @5:25
First 50M all out then 250M at Olympic Tri Distance Pace
50 Recovery after first set of 300's.
200M Kick with fins, no board
8 X 50 all out. 15 second rest on the wall
150M Kick with fins & board
100M Cool Down

The 300M repeats were challenging. The barracuda’s were sporadic in their intervals fast then faster…while I maintained each 300M at about 4:25. This sporadic behavior is common in the “true swimmers” of the group. It is not negative characteristic of Susan or Michelle that I would never say is bad about these two people I call friends. The competitive juices run in their veins from years of competition. There is a constant battle of the “big fish” in the lane. When you add Carmen to this lane the competitive tone in the pool is at an all time high, which signals me to move to a more reasonable lane. I am who I am and I am not one who belongs in the same category of these outstanding swimmers. These three women are strong and the rest of us mere mortals have learned a great deal from watching and swimming with them.

The workout ended and the hot tub filled up with the swimmers. Looking at the faces of most of the A & B swimmers that the workout we just completed was a tough one. We shot the stuff, set up tomorrow’s track session at AHS and talked to Coach Mike. Mike asked me what races I have set up this year and I said, Boston. “What else?” was his next response. I said, “nothing.” “No Tri’s?” he questioned. “Nope” I finished with. Mike could not believe that I was not planning any triathlons this year. I said, cycling maybe in my future, but the tri’s, no love lost.

This piece of me potential was left on the Augusta course and triathlons may not be my thing anymore. I enjoy the swim and the run and used to enjoy cycling, but all three? I do not know if that is who I am anymore.

However, it is only January. I have enough to focus on and do not have to worry about all that is going to happen in 2010. For now, I need to who I am and that is all I can be. Besides, this is Sarah’s year. Completing a Boston Qualifier and taking on a Half Ironman. Being a spectator, is that so bad?

Week 14 - "Cross Training"

These words were sent to me today via an email distribution. I usually delete these Junk Emails, but the title caught my attention. I don't believe all of these hold true as you mature but some of them do and for the others? Well, maybe they will make you laugh. And as we grow older this is one of the things that never should fade.

As I Mature

I've learned that you cannot make someone love you. All you can do is stalk them and hope they panic and give in.
I've learned that no matter how much I care, some people are just a xx h xxx .
I've learned that it takes years to build up trust, and it only takes suspicion, not proof, to destroy it.
I've learned that you can get by on charm for about fifteen minutes. After that, you'd better have a big willy or huge boobs.
I've learned that you shouldn't compare yourself to others - they are more screwed up than you think.
I've learned that you can keep vomiting long after you think you're finished.
I've learned that we are responsible for what we do, unless we are celebrities.
I've learned that regardless of how hot and steamy a relationship is at first, the passion fades, and the realities of life sink in. (Man, getting old blows)
I've learned that 99% of the time when something isn't working in your house, one of your kids did it.
I've learned that the people you care most about in life are taken from you too soon and all the less important ones just never go away.

After a weekend of projects and football another week is here. This starts week 14 of the training. The weather is still bitterly cold, but I am making the best of it to keep on track. The plan for runs this week are Track on Weds, Tempo on Friday and the Long Run-17 miles on Sunday.

Monday is a "Cross Training" Day. I spent this morning in spin class and will hit the weights at lunch. The plan is a total of 3,570lbs of lifting on the legs. Trying out new hip flexor exercises. Need to add more strength to the mid section. I am finding a little sway in my stride that I believe is attibuted to weakness from sitting at a desk all day.

Weight is continuing to creep up. About 1.5 pound per week. Current weight is 155.5. Need to shed 7lbs in the next 10-11 weeks and maintain my running weight for 3-4 weeks prior to the marathon.