Training Week 21 (May 19-25 2014)

Yup, this about describes me right now!

Well another week down, and another lost to training.  Before I reveal the numbers, let it be known my mother came to town and the wife and I played tour guide (plus Central Texas had wicked nasty storms all weekend), so I lost 4 days or so of training, but got to see my mom!  I'll take that any day!

PLANNED:

SWIM: 0 - Pools are open now; just need no more lightning to swim!
BIKE: 30 Miles - Easy week, 1 ride
RUN: 30 Miles - Another Large week; 5 runs

EXECUTED:

SWIM: 0 (Lightning storms all weekend)
BIKE: 2 Miles (00:08:00) 1 rides (Pre-rode PT course, that's it!)
RUN: 8.3 Miles (1:02:00) 2 runs (One was a 2 mile PT Test run)
TOTAL : 10.3 Miles (1:10:00)

Year to Date:

SWIM: 13.7 Miles
BIKE: 933 Miles
RUN: 249 Miles

Well this week will be better (promise) and weather pending, first swim at Fort Hood!  Looking to ease into lunch swims right across the street from work on Mon-Wed-Friday's, so barring weather, it'll be on.

Also, re-looked my race calendar, so I hope to hit 90% of the races posted on my front page, and I'm going to hold off on my first XTERRA until July, so I'm going to give Lake Pflugerville a try (no pun intended!).

One more thing, I realized that I need to revisit some of my race reports and include a course preview and my thoughts, in addition to the existing, boring race reports I have on there.  Going to go back and revisit the Kansas one to help out my friends at Manhatten Tri Club, so folks can get the "lay of the land" on the courses I did last year, and help them out a bit, so I'll have to figure out how I want to lay those out (imbed them in the race reports, make them seperate, or what), so that is something I'll have to work on.

 

Training Week 20 (May 12-18 2014)

Well, it's been a while since I reviewed my training, which I need to do weekly, since to me, talking it out can help motivate me to keep at it, so here it is:

PLANNED:

SWIM: 0 - Pool opens soon here!
BIKE: 75 Miles - Moderate week (no "long rides") 3 rides
RUN: 29 Miles - Large week; 5 runs

EXECUTED:

SWIM: 0
BIKE: 55.3 Miles (3:04:42) 2 rides
RUN: 20.7 Miles (2:42:27) 3 runs
TOTAL : 76 Miles (5:48:09)

Year to Date:

SWIM: 13.7 Miles
BIKE: 931 Miles
RUN: 241 Miles

Not bad, but swimming will be bigger once the pool opens here (24MAY), so looking forward to getting wet again, so I can do those workouts at lunch, so actually can't wait to get some yardage / meterage in!  As far as run and bike, just need to program some longer runs / rides in and keep it up. 

And now, a totally unrelated picture for the week:

I don't mind if I do!  Thanks Putin!

 

Fallen, Never Forgotten 10K Race Report

Me rockin' the Eagle #TeamRWB

Well I finally found out where I placed in this race now that the race results are posted now!  But this was the first edition of the "Fallen, Never Forgotten" Race at Fort Hood, and overall, the folks who put it on did a pretty good job!  It featured a 10K and 5K (competitive, chip-timed race) as well as a 3K and 1 mile fun runs/walks for anyone, and for $15 bucks, you can't beat that!  So with that, on to the race report!

I ended up toeing the line with 165 others in the 10K wave (5K was about 5 minutes behind us), and I wanted to make sure I didn't go out too hard, like a lot of folks did, I lined up in the "2nd" row or so of folks.  We had a countdown and the Corps Command Sergeant Major fired off the starter's pistol and we were off.  It seemed that everyone thought this was a sprint and not a 6.2 mile run, but after about 800 meters I was about 20th or so, but I was running my pace, my race!  I cruised thru the first mile at 6:24, a bit fast, but I was riding the wave!

The second mile I settled in and started to pick off folks who were fizzling out and felt good.  I arrived at the first water point to find... it was unmanned!  What the fudge!  Water was there, cups in the wrappers, but no one pouring.  Hmmm hope this was a one time thing.  At least it wasn't hot out, just the first 3 miles were into the wind.  Which I drafted (ran behind someone taller than me, which wasn't hard) and let them work a bit harder in the wind.

After just before the three mile mark, we turned south and got out of the wind for a bit, and I passed two more guys.  By then, the leaders were WAY long gone, so I just worked my pace and kept plugging away.  I managed to get caught by one of the guys who I passed and didn't repass him for another mile or so, but after that, I had one other guy up ahead to get after.

I kept putting in mini-surges but couldn't get up to the last guy as I ran out of race to catch him, missing him by about 15 seconds.  Ended up with a nice 42:25 and 8th overall (2nd in AG), and not too bad for my first 10K in a long time.

But in the end, all the other water points were "Self serve", so if they can fix that for next year, that'd be great!  I think it is a great race to do, on the 10K you pass all the memorials on post, but I didn't really stop and reflect at them, and the bibs were neat as well, you could right who you were running for, so I put in three guys I was running for; MAJ Doug "Mosey" Sloan, MAJ Chris Galloway, and SFC(R) Kevin "Diesel" Brynn, three friends I've had throughout my career.  I thought that was a nice touch for the race.

Well, I'll let this RR fire off into the ocean of the 'nets, so until next time!