Long Run

Yesterday I went for a long run with Jenny (hello jenny), Dawn (dawn will run) and Vicki. We started at the Gateway on the Longleaf Trace. Vicki ran out 2 miles with us and then turned around to get 4 miles for the day. Jenny, Dawn and I ran to Jackson Road grabbed some water and headed back. It was a beautiful clear morning, the temperature was in the low 50's and the conversation was great! We made it back to the gateway to make it 8 miles total. Jenny wanted to do 8 today and Dawn and I wanted to do 12, so we turned back and finished our last 4 miles. We were not out today to set any records, we were strictly out there to get some base miles in. Dawn and I talked a lot about how excited we are to have some major goals in place for this year with our training. I really enjoyed today's run, it is nice to be running again for a reason. I know that I have a lot of hard work ahead of me to reach the goal of an Ironman, but I feel that at this point in my life I am ready for the challenge. I can't wait to see how Dawn's training pays off for her. She is doing exactly what Coach James (powermultisport) is telling her and I have never seen her more excited. I can't wait to see how well she does in the Huston Marathon this year. Our goal today was to do 12 miles at about a 9:30 to 10:00 pace. Here is what was on my Garmin:

Distance: 12.04

Total Time: 1:54:57

Pace: 9:33

Great run this morning. Enjoying the last few chances to run in cool weather.

Week totals:

Bike: 9.28 miles (partly on the ground)

Run: 20.08

What a Day!

I should have known that today was going to be an interesting day when I rolled over to see what time it was and saw that it was 5:07am. I know to most of you out there that is early, and to be honest that is pretty early for me too. The problem with this is that I was supposed to be running with James, Dawn, Terri and Vicki 7 minutes ago! My alarm was supposed to go off at 4:00am so that I could get out of bed and get ready for a tempo run. I figured that there was something wrong with my phone until I went into the alarm settings and noticed that I set it for 4:00 PM!!!!! There you have it I missed my tempo run and I couldn't get back to sleep. I decided to get up, eat, drink a lot of coffee and start work early.

You would think that that would be the worst part of my day.......nope! I decided that since I missed my tempo run this morning, I would get a little seat time on the bike. I called my friend Eric up and he said he would join me. I wanted to do 20 miles or so just to get back on the bike. We started around noon at my house and rode to Clyde Station on the Longleaf Trace. That is roughly a mile, nothing big, I just like to start from my house to get the feeling of the open road. We then went from there to the Gateway Station at USM. During our ride we talked a little about how I have yet to change a tire, but I knew that it would happen sooner or later.....I am sure you see where I am going with this now! Yep, it is amazing how a conversation can tell the future. We made it down to the gateway and turned around, I was a bit hungry so I decided to reach into the little bike pack under the back of my seat to get a lara bar. As I was zipping up the pack with my right hand I jerked my front tire with my left hand and that's when it happened! Basically my front tire went perpendicular to the rest of my bike and that sent me and the the bike into a kind of a flipping motion. I think that I did about 1.5 flips with the bike when I came to a halt. Feet still clipped in, I looked at my hands that had gravel stuck in them from "softening" my fall. Obviously my bike tire was flat and I got to practice switching one out. Well actually my friend did most of that while I tried to gain composure and clean my hands up. We got the tube in and aired it up only to notice that the actual tire had a pretty big hole that the tube was sticking out of. This was not going to help us get anywhere, and we were about 7 miles from getting back to my house. To make a long story a little shorter, I am glad that we had a phone on us and that we could call another friend with a truck to come pick us up.

Total miles on bike today: 9.28 and probably about .01 on my face, but still connected to the bike.

After I got home and did a little damage assessment I took a few pictures with the phone, here is what I took:

I know James, I didn't break mine.

Not as bad as I expected it to be. I am pretty sure that I will need a new front wheel set up. I'll be taking her to see Drew tomorrow over at Hattiesburg Cycle Center to get her all fixed up for me. Hopefully she will be ready for me to hound out 100 miles during next weeks training.

What a WONDERFUL day! Pahahaha!

I'm Training for an Ironman

I ran across this video on YouTube and it cracked me up. Funny stuff, but this is pretty much how the conversations go when I talk to someone about this......

Ironman Meeting

Last night I met James at his house to discuss my plans for Ironman training. After a few beers and some really good hummus we started discussing what it takes to become an Ironman and what I am going to have to do before I can even worry about Ironman training. Basically it all starts now!

James told me to start looking for the Ironman that I want to do, but we also discussed doing a bunch of sprint and larger tri's to get use to what is about to transpire over the next few months. As for now, this is what I was given to do for awhile:

Weekly:

25 miles running

100 miles on the bike

6000 to 7000 yds swimming (I asked if we could take a few zero's off of this number.)

Here are some of the other topics we discussed for me to work on right now:

This is from an e-mail sent to me this morning....

1. You have to get the swim down. Either more ti

me in the pool, a little bit of time with a swim coach, or preferably both. I would be happy to give you some tips but some 1 on 1 with an expert would be best.

2. More time in the saddle. Right now, it does not matter how hard or how fast – just more time in the saddle.

3. Keep the run the same or cut it back a little bit.

You can easily add a 3-mile run after each of your bikes. This will do wonders for the dead legs you will feel when you start to run.

4. Work on nutrition during longer work outs. This can be a deal breaker when you start to go long.

So here we go..... I am planning on finishing up this week with what I usually do and then getting to it on Monday with Ironman training.

You may ask what Ironman I decided on? Here is the plan.

In either April or May of 2012 I will be going for the half Ironman 70.3 in either New Orleans or Orlando. I am leaning towards Orlando because that is where my family is from and I would love for them to come see it.

Here is my choice for the full Ironman 140.6

There is a reason behind why I chose this one. First it is about 6 months after my half Ironman in Florida which will be the perfect time to start my training plan for the full. Also, you have to register for the full Ironman one year in advance or they fill up. The cool thing about this is that the race date this year is November 20th, one day after my 36th birthday. Yep I plan on staying up that night and registering with a cold beer in my hand as soon as the registration opens! If the race is the same weekend as 2011, the race in 2012 will be November 18th the day before my 37th birthday! You know if, sorry WHEN I cross that finish line it will be the best birthday ever!

So here we go, let the journey begin....... Let's Roll!

Ironman or Bust!

Well here it is, I started running about 3 years ago now for a number of reasons. The main one being because my wife started running and I figured it would be a good thing for me to get out and spend some quality time with her. I was right, we have had some great runs over the past few years and I have come to see what an inspirational and amazing person she really is. I started with a few 5K's, then moved on to run my 1st half marathon, and have since went on to do 5 half and 2 full marathons. The one thing that I have had my eyes set on, but never actually though I would go for was an Ironman. Let me just say this, I have no idea if this will be obtainable, but I am willing to do what it takes to try to get there!

For those of you who know me, you know my background with baseball. When I lost the sport, I felt like a part of my died (I know that sounds stupid, but if you have ever loved a game you will understand.) I was told at one time that it would be hard for me to do many sports again due to my injury. I let that get me down for a long time, and used it as an excuse to do smoke and do some serious partying. Then my wife, Jenny, asked me to start running with her. I told her that I would probably not ever be able to do more that 3 or 4 miles at a time because of my back. As I started running it amazed me that my back did not bother me, so 3 or 4 miles turned into a determination that I had not had in years! My goal was to run a full marathon and prove to those doctors that said I would have problems with sport that I could do anything that my mind and body would let me. Now this brings me to my Ironman goal. After finishing my second full marathon, I really joked a lot with Jenny about wanting to do an Ironman. She said to me many of times get your ass in the water and do it. If you don't know this about me, the only thing that has held me back from even attempting this so far is that I am afraid to swim. I mean I can swim, I grew up surfing, but you cant do an Ironman with a surfboard. Needless to say I know that this will be my Achilles of the race.

That brings me to present day. I have had the pleasure of meeting James Daniel. James has finished an Ironman and is an endurance sport coach. I mentioned to James one day on our run that I was flirting with the idea of doing an Ironman, and he told me that I could do it. Besides Jenny, James is the first person that told me to really go for it. I told him about the fact that I really cant swim more that 50 to 75 meters in a pool at this point, and he said, "But you can swim. We can get you there. Give me a year and I'll get you there." I'll be honest with you, when he first said this to me I thought this guy was crazy, but the more I have thought about it I have decided that it is doable. I know, I know, why would you train for an Ironman if you have never even done a triathlon? Trust me I ask that to myself over and over again. That is why I am titling this "Ironman or Bust." I plan on doing as many different tri races as I can in the next year. Hell, I may get in the first sprint tri and decided that there is no way I can do this. But who knows, I may get in the water and decided that this is not as bad as I thought.

I am going to go for it! If I "BUST" it will be on here for everyone to know, and I will know that I gave it all that I had. If i succeed, it will be one of the most exhilarating moments of my life. I hope that everyone will join me on this journey. James and I are planning on meeting soon to discuss what my goals are and exactly what Ironman I am going to work for. I'll let everyone know as soon as we chat.....

I took a little break...

Been a busy couple of weeks for me at work. I still did my training, but really have not kept up with it enough to post. I am going to try to do a little better job this week. Today I met Dawn, Terri, Vicki and James for mile repeats.

Here is what we did:

1 mile w/u

4x1600 with 800 c/d between each

mile 1: 7:42

mile 2: 7:50

mile 3: 7:45

mile 4: 7:47

1 mile c/d

Total Miles: 8.04

Total Time: 1:12:38