Last Week & Other Tidbits

I won’t bore anyone with the little bit of training I did last week. It’s funny…it’s so easy to find a reason to skip or cut training short, but I still get pissed at myself for skipping or cutting it short. I’ve got 152 days. Holy crap, I’ve only got 152 days to get in the best shape of my life. It’s pretty easy for me to get freaked out about that. It’s time to start buckling down and doing all my training and to stop hitting snooze in the AM. So, if anyone is looking to go for runs or rides with me let me know. It’s harder to skip when someone is there waiting on you.

Other news…
PT is going well. Knee is getting a little stronger. Some days they kick my butt. My D.O. has suggested I get a series of injections that will, in sense, lube up my knee. Apparently the cartilage is worn away in my knee joint. On the x-rays, the end of my tibia looks all pitted and the spacing between the bones in my knee joint is not consistent. I’ll go in the AM for the first of three injections. Good news is that I only have to take it easy for that day; bad news is that the needle is freakin huge and I’m pretty sure it isn’t going to feel nice.

Little dude is growing up so fast. I can’t believe that he is already 9 months old! He’s crawling around everywhere and loves to get into everything. When he was younger, we said he was curious…now he is just down right nosey! If you have a glass, plate, phone, remote, book, or anything in your hand, he wants it too. His laugh can brighten up my day no matter what. He cracks me up. I’ll get some good pics posted soon.

Buster Britton is this weekend. This was my first official sprint distance race last year. I came in with a time of 1:44. My goal this year is to come in under 1:22. I’ll give it my all. I’d love to place again. It was awesome being in the top 3. I’ll have to be sure to remember that feeling when I take off on the bike up over the mountain or start the run up towards Pevine Falls.

MH’s mom is still doing well with her chemo. Of course, some days are better than others. Her CA125 count is within the normal range. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Uncle Rusty’s cancer is gone. He has been doing great! He got his cancer survivor tattoo (pair of angel wings coming from a cross). It’s some awesome ink. Continue to keep him in your prayers as well.

We are slowly but surely getting our house ready to put on the market. Little dude makes it difficult sometimes. I’m hoping we can get the majority of things done and get a sign in the yard by the end of June.

If you know of anyone in the market for a 3 bedroom / 2.5 bath house in McCalla, send them my way. Same goes for anyone in the market for a 2008 GMC Acadia.

I’ll try and get one more post in before the race to update my training and let the 4 of you know how the injections went. Have a great week!

Eric’s Quote of the Day: “Come on ladies…dozens of people are here to watch us play” ~Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks) in A League of Their Own

LJCC Super Sprint

Very fun race. Started the morning out calm and collected. I wasn’t too stressed out about this race. I’m usually pretty wound up the morning of a race, but this one was different. I had my HR monitor on at the start, but it started sliding down during the swim and when I tried to adjust it on the bike, the sensor popped off so I don’t have any HR info. These splits are by my watch so they might be off a couple seconds here and there to the official times.

Pre-Race
Up at 5 to eat (turkey smoked sausage) and drink some coffee to get everything going. I loaded up the car, showered, and headed to the LJCC at 6. Ate an apple and sipped on water during the drive. I went and took everything to transition and then got inked. I aired up my tires and set up my gear and just walked around and talked to John and some folks from masters & vulcantri. MH, Lucas, & my parents came up around 740. We headed on back to the pool and waited for the swim start. Only warm-up was some light stretching in the parking lot and 1 lap in the pool.

The Swim
Being #53 it was nice not having to wait long to get in the water. I pushed off the wall and quickly found a comfortable pace. I closed in on the girl in front of me after the first length and passed her at the end of the second. I pulled on through the next couple of lengths and passed another guy. I made my last push off the wall and headed towards the buoy and turned towards the steps. I sprinted a little faster to the end and climbed out of the water in 3:27. Not too bad of a swim time. Off to T1…

T1
I was very pleased with my transition time. I jogged from the pool, thru the building, and into transition. On with my helmet, cleats, glasses, and race belt before I jogged my bike to the mount line and then I was off in 1:39

The Bike
The bike was a good time. I started passing people right off the bat. I decided to just hammer it out since it was only 8 miles. I hit the first turn around and made my way down Montclair. We were riding in the inside lanes so auto traffic could use the outside lanes. As I passed Bruno’s a car pulled up next to me and yelled, “you’re going 25, keep it up.” I kept on hammering and hit the final turnaround. As I made my turn and hit the uphill, I tried to drop into my small chain ring and then my chain popped off. I stopped put it on and then had to try and repass several people I had already whizzed by. I felt strong on the bike today. I turned into the parking lot and hit the dismount line in 24:40 (avg 19.5 mph)

T2
Got to my rack and struggled getting socks and running shoes on. I might forgo socks on anything shorter than Olympic distance. I still managed to get out in under 2 minutes, but this should be closer to 1 minute (1:48)

The Run
My coach wanted me to pull a negative split on the run (faster on the second half). I started out nice and easy for the first mile (12:06 min/mile). When I hit the mile marker on the running trail, I kicked it up a notch. I passed a few people on Montclair. I kicked a little harder for the last 100yds and finished the last mile in 10:30. I felt good on the run, but I know it is my biggest limiter. (22:36)

My final time was 54:10 (54:08 by my watch). This put me 55/176 overall & 3rd in my division, I was pretty psyched about it. I know it wasn’t a huge race and there were lots of beginners, but a similar race last year took me 1:20. That’s a pretty good amount of time to shave off. Plus it was fun to “have to” hang around for the awards ceremony. As cheesy as it was, I loved getting to step up on that podium.

Next up is Buster Britton in two weeks. There is a lot of stuff going on that weekend out at Oak Mountain so come on out if you want. The forecast doesn’t look too promising for training this week. Hopefully the rain will hold off so that I can get my rides in.

Eric’s Quote of the Day: ”Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue"~Dilbert

Not the best but not the worst

This week's training wasn't too bad. The weather played a major role in the sessions that I missed.

Monday 5/24

WO#1 Masters Swim

90mins; 3500m

Felt good to be in the pool for the entire time

Tuesday 5/25

WO#1 Easy Bike

Put the bike on the trainer to get my time in. No distance since my bike cpu stopped working. I did get to watch three episodes of Arrested Development. This is by far one of my favorite shows.

60mins

Wednesday 5/26

WO#1 Masters Swim

Had to cut this one short since I have PT in the afternoon. Lots of drills and technique work

45mins; 1850m

WO#2 Physical Therapy

60mins; Strength & stretching

WO#3 Easy Run (5x10min walk w/ :45 recovery)

63mins; 5.1miles

Thursday 5/27

WO#1 Moderate Brick

I cut the run short tonight, but at least I did make it out for the run

1.5hr bike on the trainer w/ 22 minute run (2.2miles)

Friday 5/28

WO#1 Masters Swim

90minutes; 3800m

Good day in the pool. Short distance w/ high intensity.

WO#2 Physical Therapy

60 mins; Strength & Stretching

WO#3 Run; rained out

Saturday 5/29

Had a good 3 hr bike planned for today. The route was out to Pell City and back. Would have been new territory. Thanks to the rain I didn't get to go.

We did have a big cookout over at John's (my coach) house. It was an awesome time. It was fun to spend time with everyone when we aren't wearing spandex. We took little dude with us. he was perfect. He started to get tired around 2 so we had to duck on out. Wished we could have stayed longer.

Sunday 5/30

Tried to get my long run in today. I woke up with a sore throat and head/chest congestion. I drug myself out on the street and started running. The warm-up went well, but when tried to pick up the pace, I'd start coughing something fierce. I decided I would just try and take it easy today and drink a lot of fluids. I only got about 2.5 miles in today. Spending the early PM getting all my gear ready for the LJCC race tomorrow. It should be a good time. I'm number 53. There are 6 of us in the Clydesdales 0-39 division. I'll get up a race report tomorrow afternoon.

Eric's Clip of the Week: For those that don't know why people spend money on bikes...I've got one word...performance