Today is the last day of the year. I just fininshed my last workout for 2008: 3 sets of circut weights and a progressive 3 miler, 7:00 6:30 6:00. and a warm up and cool down. That was all my schedule called for. Next year is tomarrow and there will be good things to come.
As far as my training and race schedule it will be geared toward 2 main races and possibly a third if the second race goes well. Goals for 2009: Boston Marathon, Louisville Ironman and KONA ? That would be the ultimate challange and achievment at the same time. I can do this if all of the planets are inline and everyone else in my age group has a bad day or I just rock for all three events. We shall see.
This past year found short races, The Rockford Mile 5:14, to the long races St. Louis marathon 3:24, Memphis Marathon 3:19 and Florida Ironman 10:59 and just about every distance in between. Everyone of the events had its ups and its downs, and I have learned from every minute of every race.
Even though this years over there will be memories to live by, stories to tell and experiences to learn from. All in all life is good and it only gets better.
Until next year
Train hard, train smart.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Saturday, December 20, 2008
cold ice snow
This weather is killing me. Ice snow sleet craziness and I'm running on a treadmill. Man thats sucks. The cold dosen't bother me at all, but I would rather see it hot. This fisrt week of 18 on my Boston training went well. I am gonna keep to Hal's advance training schedule and still manage to keep biking, swimming and 3 days of weights. This is gonna make me even stronger when my Ironman training really kicks in.
Tonight its supposed to drop to -0 and with the wind -24. An I have to work out in the crap. Oh well it toughens ones spirit.
Train hard, train smart
Tonight its supposed to drop to -0 and with the wind -24. An I have to work out in the crap. Oh well it toughens ones spirit.
Train hard, train smart
Monday, December 8, 2008
Boston bound after a PR
On Saturday Dec 6th, I woke up in Memphis and decided to run a marathon to see if I could qualify for Boston Marathon 2009. It just so happened the that the St Jude marathon was on that day. After 2 cups of coffee, protien bar and bannana I set out to find the start line. I located the pace group 3:20 and stood by for the go signal. While waiting there I introduced myself to some folks and stretched for a bit. At 8:00 the horn sounded and we were off.
This group I had joined were from all walks of life and had one thing in common for the day. Reaching the same destination in the same amount of time. The first several miles the group of 25 or so stayed together and chit chatted back and forth. Every once in a while, one of the leaders would give words of encouragment or tell us what terrain was ahead, right turn, left turn, uphill, downhill ect.
At mile 12 we lost several folks who were just running the half marathon. From here the numbers just started to dwindle. The pace was still right on track when we passed the 13.1 mark 1:39:38 still averaging 7:37 per mile. At this point I was feeling comfortable and strong. I almost made the decision to pick up the pace to see what I was capable of. But then again I remember my last two attempts in St. Louis. I came back to reality and just continued with the group at the same pace.
Mile 18 came and went with the exception of the group now consisted of 10-12 people. The pace still the same and it was time to start on the Infinit nutrition bottle that I had carried for the last 18 miles. Up until this point I had taken on water at every other aid station and 3 Power gels, at miles 5, 10 and 15. I still had 1 more gel for mile 20. I sipped Infinit on a couple occasions but I was saving it until later in the race.
I havent mentioned the course yet. Hills there are some hills in Memphis. The only other marathon course I can compare to is St. Louis. More hills here in Memphis and steeper. St Louis has those long drawn out inclines.
Back to the last few miles. Every once in a while I could feel that my innner right hip flexor was extremetly tight. When I felt this twinge, I shortened my stride and the feeling would go away. I really wanted to stretch out my stride with a 5 K to go. The pace group had the same Idea it seemed as though we were picking up the pace towards the end. After passing the 24 mile sign I took the last of my Infinit and through away the bottle.
At this point the group was less than 8 plus the two pacers. The final mile had two hills and the last was pretty steep leading into the Grizzlies stadium. I could hear the announcer saying names as they came across. I entered the stadium and turned left to the finish. I crossed 3:19:37. I did it... I made it to Boston on the 3rd attempt. 7:37 ave. per mile
The next few hours there was involuntary muscle tremors, bathroom visits and head into the trashcan after a cold piece of pizza. All worth it? YES
The day was a marathon PR by 5 minutes. I finished in 197th overall and 24th in my age group. I really want to see what kind of time I could get on a flat course. We'll see in the near future. Now this race season is over I will be gearing up for the 2009 season. The race schedule will be posted soon.
Train hard, train smart
This group I had joined were from all walks of life and had one thing in common for the day. Reaching the same destination in the same amount of time. The first several miles the group of 25 or so stayed together and chit chatted back and forth. Every once in a while, one of the leaders would give words of encouragment or tell us what terrain was ahead, right turn, left turn, uphill, downhill ect.
At mile 12 we lost several folks who were just running the half marathon. From here the numbers just started to dwindle. The pace was still right on track when we passed the 13.1 mark 1:39:38 still averaging 7:37 per mile. At this point I was feeling comfortable and strong. I almost made the decision to pick up the pace to see what I was capable of. But then again I remember my last two attempts in St. Louis. I came back to reality and just continued with the group at the same pace.
Mile 18 came and went with the exception of the group now consisted of 10-12 people. The pace still the same and it was time to start on the Infinit nutrition bottle that I had carried for the last 18 miles. Up until this point I had taken on water at every other aid station and 3 Power gels, at miles 5, 10 and 15. I still had 1 more gel for mile 20. I sipped Infinit on a couple occasions but I was saving it until later in the race.
I havent mentioned the course yet. Hills there are some hills in Memphis. The only other marathon course I can compare to is St. Louis. More hills here in Memphis and steeper. St Louis has those long drawn out inclines.
Back to the last few miles. Every once in a while I could feel that my innner right hip flexor was extremetly tight. When I felt this twinge, I shortened my stride and the feeling would go away. I really wanted to stretch out my stride with a 5 K to go. The pace group had the same Idea it seemed as though we were picking up the pace towards the end. After passing the 24 mile sign I took the last of my Infinit and through away the bottle.
At this point the group was less than 8 plus the two pacers. The final mile had two hills and the last was pretty steep leading into the Grizzlies stadium. I could hear the announcer saying names as they came across. I entered the stadium and turned left to the finish. I crossed 3:19:37. I did it... I made it to Boston on the 3rd attempt. 7:37 ave. per mile
The next few hours there was involuntary muscle tremors, bathroom visits and head into the trashcan after a cold piece of pizza. All worth it? YES
The day was a marathon PR by 5 minutes. I finished in 197th overall and 24th in my age group. I really want to see what kind of time I could get on a flat course. We'll see in the near future. Now this race season is over I will be gearing up for the 2009 season. The race schedule will be posted soon.
Train hard, train smart
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