#50

Wow, 50 posts! To bad I don't have anything spectacular to write about. Last week was week 17 of Grandma's marathon training. It went well. I got in all my scheduled runs and then some. I mixed in some speed work and a treadmill ladder run (30 min run with the middle 10 minutes increasing the incline 1% every minute for 5 minutes then back down again). Oh, and for the last 2 weeks I've done a 5 minute cool down at a 10:30 pace barefoot. The first week my feet and calves were sore the next day, but last week was much better. I don't know if it will do any good, but it's fun to try something new.

I got in a 5 mile run on the treadmill on Sunday.  It was just under 45 minutes and was hard to finish with the distraction of a certain 4 year old and being on a treadmill (I have a hard time getting motivated on a treadmill).  I really can't wait for it to warm up just a little bit more.

Today I did a light upper body workout at lunch in the weight room. It consisted of bench press, curls (for the girls...I couldn't help it, sorry), lats, military press, shrugs, triceps, and some core work (decline leg lifts and bicycle crunches).

Anyway, I thought I would leave with a pic of me and my girls (and a crappy snowman I made) playing in the snow a few weeks ago. My youngest was "drowning" in this snowsuit, but didn't seem to mind. She went for her first sled ride and is almost crawling.  It's almost time to lock all the cabinets and put up the baby gate at the top of the stairs.

One last thing, I noticed that the Green Lake Triathlon has a kids tri. One of the age groups is 3-5 year olds. It consists of a 20 yards swim in shallow water (parents can help guide), one loop in the parking lot on the bike, and one loop of the parking lot running. I'm thinking of asking my 4 year old if she would like to try it, but I wait until the time gets closer. She wants to take off her training wheels, so we'll see how that goes first. 

Stay warm! 

New Punk Rock Racing Hat!

Here's the new Punk Rock Racing Hat that I got from Punk Rock Tri Guy.  He asked for some good smoothie recipes on his blog a few weeks ago after he bought a new blender. I really didn't have a smoothie recipe that was any different from anyone else's so I submitted the following;

1 ironman t-shirt (corporate monopoly, so un-punk)
2 Slices of Bacon (Alberto's right, we all love bacon)
3 cupcakes (you are the cupcake whisperer after all)
4 Little Debbie Snack Cakes
5 Churro's

Blend on HIGH for 30 minutes or when the Blendtec starts smoking, which ever comes first. After that, throw it all in the garbage and go for freaky long run.

I later read on his blog that he liked the recipe and that I got a hat. Cool. Anyhow, check out his blog, he was nominated for Blog Of The Year and he's a awesome dude. 

Thanks again for the hat. 

F**king Snow!



2/19. The day before 13+ inches of snow





2/20 @ 9:45am



2/20 @ 3pm





2/20 @ 9pm




2/20 @ 9pm. Front steps




2/21 The aftermath

 Anyone with kids knows how hard it is to consistently train, but the weather can also be a factor. Between longer commutes to work, shoveling snow, and the cold weather, training can be kind of difficult and cumbersome. Maybe I'm just pissed because this winter has seemed to go on forever and other than the weather last week, we've had snow that just won't go away.
As you can see in the first pic, the huge snow pile was melting (it was as steady stream of snow melt off the right side of the pile) last week and now has grown to twice the girth it was overnight. It's really frustrating to see. It's like when you were a teenager and that pimple on your forehead finally went away only to be followed up by another on your nose (or maybe that was only me). But you get the idea.

Workout sabotage!

So back in December I posted about the 12 pounds of Christmas and took a lot of pics of the daily treats. So on Tuesday we had a couple of co-workers return from maternity leave and of course that means a "treat day". My co-workers didn't realize that I'm officially in marathon training; they must have forgot, or I didn't tell them, or they could care less. In any case, Tuesday I did an  nice easy paced 3 miles on the treadmill at lunch and came back up the 47 steps to the office to find the following;

Italian sausage for Hot Dago sandwichs

Cookies, chips, and a nearly empty tray of chip dip

Cupcakes 

Donuts

more donuts

I used every ounce of self control I had not to eat one of these sugar filled love nuggets. Sadly however, by the time 3pm rolled around I strayed and had one of the cupcakes. I sat in my cubicle, ate the cupcake, and wiped the tears of guilt with the cupcake wrapper.

The rest of the week went like this;

Wednesday: 3 miles on the treadmill with 7x30 second pick ups at a 5K pace.
Thursday: 2 miles outside on the running path around work. (I would have done more, but my wife came outside to find me.
Our daycare provider called my wife (my wife and I work together for the same company) and said our 10 month old had a temp and wasn't eating. Since my wife couldn't leave work that day, I went and picked up the kiddos and went home. I think our daycare provider was a little paranoid since my 4 year was sick last week. Honestly, I think she was just teething, but better safe than sorry. Then my wife brought home some Girl Scout cookies when she came home. It took about 3 seconds to eat 3-4 tag-a-longs.
Friday: stayed home with the baby as the wife couldn't be gone from work again. By 10:30am I had texted my wife to bring home more tag-a-longs. My self control was completely gone. Damn you Girls Scouts!
Saturday: 3 miles on the treadmill at home and some pushups.

I don't know if I'll be able to do anything outside running today as we are supposed to get another 8-14 inches of snow after we had a nice mid-February melt.
This week I've been sabotaged by my co-workers, the daycare provider, and mother nature. Bastards!

On the bright side, we get tomorrow off of work for Presidents Day. It's kind of funny that we never got this day off until we were bought by a Canadian company. I suppose we should have a "treat day" to celebrate!

Manly man stuff and Girl Scouts

So this weekend was somewhat productive, in a sense that we got a few necessary things done. Our 4 year old had been sick and with work and a 9 month old, our time was limited. So on Friday I stayed home the first half the day with our 4 year old (She needed to be fever free for 24 hours before she could go back to daycare) and she was feeling good so I got some things done; got tabs for my car (they were due in January, Oops), picked up softner salt, got some engine oil (5W30), oil filter, and some groceries. Prior to that, I vacummed, washed the entry way floor, and swept the kitchen (very manly!). It wasn't too exciting for my daughter, but I think she was just happy to get out of the house (as was I).
Obviously from my shopping list I was intending to change the oil in my wifes truck. So on Saturday morning, I did just that (that's manly! right?). Then on Sunday morning I went to Home Depot and bought a new kitchen faucet. The old one had been dripping for weeks and it was time to "man up" and get my plumb on! Besides, I checked with a plumber I found on Craigslist and he wanted $200 to change the faucet and that didn't include the cost of the faucet! I did a little research online and found that Keith Hernandez does plumbing and has a step by step tutorial online on how to change a faucet. I'm glad he's found something to do outside of baseball and those stupid hair coloring adds. I have to say, he's quite manly.







So if changing the oil in my wifes car and changing the kitchen faucet wasn't manly enough, I went for a run. It was the first time in weeks I was able to run outside and the first time since August 28, 2010 that I ran over 5 miles (5.67 to be exact). I was able to maintain a 8:30/mile pace pretty good and enjoyed the balmy 46 degrees in shorts and 2 top layers.

The 18 week training plan for Grandma's Marathon started 2/14 and since I ran on Sunday, I didn't run yesterday. Instead, I did some light weights and core. Today I did an easy 3 miles at lunch.

One last thing, It's that time of year those evil wonderful Girl Scouts shamelessly soliciate those delicious cookies. I will try hard not to eat any, but damn it's hard knowing that they only come around once a year. Those thin mints and tag-a-longs just make me weak in the knees. It's crazy, they get you at work, the gorcery store parking lot, facebook. The pressure is immense. Can I really go a whole year without! I swear the marketing department of the Girl Scouts must be run by the mob or old Teamsters or both. I've felt less pressure in a job interview. I suspect I'll buy some, but It'd sure be easier if they looked like this;

To be fair, I googled girl scout picture because I really wanted to put a picture of nice little girl in her uniform and a caption that said something like "how could you say no" and this is what came up. I knew at that precise moment that the Girl Scouts are run by the mob and the caption still applies.

You've been warned!

Official Tri U Mah results

Quick post...the official Tri U Mah indoor triathlon results are in. My distances were very close, but here's what they had;

Swim:  .742 Mile

Bike: 9.06 Miles

Run: 3.35 Miles

 

Total: 13.152

Overall, had thing not gone so wrong, I may have place in the top 3 of my age group. That would have been cool. Interesting note when I looked at the other age group distances, the 50+ mens age group winner went 16.4 miles, 3 miles farther than the second place finisher. That's awesome! I can only hope I would get into double digits when I'm in my fifties. Of course, I'll probably take up golf (again) by then. 

Oh yeah, and for those of you who don't have children, remember that no matter what you are training and racing for (Ironman, marathon, 5K, hot dog eating contest, etc.),  a sick kid always comes first. I've had a 4 year old with a fever for the last couple days and it breaks my heart to see her in pain, so needless to say, no "training".  We took her to the doctor and she didn't have an ear infection, strep throat, or anything else they could think of and thought it was just a "bug" that needed to run its course.  So my diagnosis is that she is suffering from BEIBER FEVER! 

The 18 week marathon training plan starts on 2/14 and the weather is finally going to warm up. It's about damn time as it hasn't been above single digit temps for highs all week and this morning is was -14.   

Happy "Training"! 

Wrong cleats, Dreadmills, and $1

First let me say that I had a lot fun on Sunday at the Tri U Mah indoor triathlon, but the results could have better. It's nice to get together with an old friend and punish ourselves physically. I had a little trouble parking, mostly because there was a Gophers basketball game vs. #1 Ohio State (the Gophs got beat like a red headed step child), but after that I had time to chat with my friend before we had to get into the pool. So here's the breakdown of each discipline;

Swim: pretty uneventful, its a pool for god's sake. But with that said, it's cool to swim in a pool that the water temperature isn't that of a bathtub. Most times when I swim at the local middle school pool it's so warm that I sweat. Is that normal? Also, this pool doesn't have that crazy chlorine smell, which is nice. My total yardage was 1225. Which is approximately .70 miles. I was hoping for .75. I was satisfied with that as I've only swam 3 times since last September and it's by far my weakest event.

University of MN Aquatic Center

T1: We got 10 minutes to go from the pool to the bike area. We went the the locker room, dried off, changed, and I grabbed my bike shoes and running shoes and then headed upstairs to get on the bikes.

Bike: Here's where things started to go wrong for me. We got upstairs with about 3 minutes to get set up on the bike before our 30 minutes would start. I put on my bike shoes and got on. I immediately couldn't get clipped in, but the seat was too high so I adjusted that and then went back to the pedals. I fought and fought to get clipped in and a couple of the volunteers were trying to help, but it was in vain and the 30 minutes had started, so I decided to make the best of it. I had a couple of options at this point; ditch the bike shoes and pedal in just my socks, jump off and put on my running shoes, or leave it and just try and keep my feet on the pedals. I decided to just pedal with my cleats not locked into the pedals. I don't know if this was the right decision, but it's the one I went with. It only bothered me because I had a certain # in mind as far as distance was concerned and not starting on time and my feet slipping off the pedals made that # harder to attain. I wanted to get to 9.25 miles and ended up with 9.1 miles. I was close to my goal, all things considered, but I think I spent far too much energy trying to "catch up". Oh, the stupidest part of the whole thing is that I should have known my cleats wouldn't work because I have Look pedals and most "standard or universal cleats" are Shimano. Dumb Ass.



The girl on the right was not participating.

 T2: Not much happened here. I changed into my running shoes and then wondered what the beer to car commercial ratio might be during the Super Bowl? What will Fergie be wearing? Will she have a wardrobe malfunction?  Do my shorts make me look fat? You know, normal stuff like that.

The treadmills are in the room behind the bikes.

Run: What can I say, whatever could go wrong, did go wrong. Murphys Law I guess. I knew that 4 miles was a lofty goal, but that's the point of setting a goal right? Anyway, things got off to a rocky start, rather, no start at all. I got on the treadmill with about a minute prior to the start and wanted to start walking a little.  I set the speed at 3.3MPH and then the "horn" sounded to start running. I tried to increase the speed, but it didn't move. I flagged one of the volunteers and they shut off my treadmill and restarted it. That did the trick. I was moving along, but I wasn't feeling I could reach 4 miles, especially after a bad start. I was at 1.89 miles at the 15 minute mark and I was running out of steam. At the 17 minute mark  I was at 2.2 miles and decided to slow down to take a drink. I slowed down, took a drink, and tried to speed back up, but the treadmill had other ideas. I flagged down another volunteer and they put me on another treadmill as they couldn't get it to speed up either. Once I got on the new treadmill, there was 11 minutes left. I lost about 2 minutes and along with the bad start I was out of it mentally. I did 1.1 miles in the last 11 minutes and was done. I was disappointed in the results, but also that it was out of my control.  I don't know if I could have got to 14 miles or not, but I will leave that for another day.
I got home and my 4 year old daughter was stuck her head in the garage and asked how I did and I said that I had fun. She said "good job daddy".  Any disappointment I had, left at that point.

In conclusion, when I got home we had pizza, watched the Super Bowl, and I lost a $1 bet with my buddy, not on the Super Bowl but rather on the race.  Oh well, time to get ready for the half marathon in May.

Indoor Triathlon, Super Bowl, and Bacon Gumballs!

So this weekend is my first race of 2011. I did it back in 2009 and thought it was pretty fun. I looked back at my old "training log" from then and was kind of shocked at how little I actually prepared for this event. Although, I recall thinking back then that I was in great shape too. In perspective, I was in great shape considering I was almost 200lbs and could barely run a mile about 18 months prior. This year the race is on Super Bowl sunday and unfortunately I didn't plan very well because our start time is 3:35pm. So after the 3 events and two 20 minute transitions and then the drive home, I'll miss some of the game and commercials. Oh well, at least the traffic should be light.
The format is 30min swim, 30min bike, 30min run, with 10min transitions between each and the person who has the most distance wins. So here again are my totals from 2009;

Swim: 0.621 miles
Bike: 7.930 miles
Run: 3.46 miles
Total: 12.011 miles

This year, I'd like to get to 14 total miles. Here are my goal times for each disipline;

Swim: 0.75 miles
Bike: 9.25 miles
Run: 4 miles

I don't know If I'll be able to reach those goals or not, but there they are none the less.

I almost forgot. My post race snack is going to be Bacon Gumballs! A co-worker saw them at a restaurant and said that she immediately thought of me and my love affair for all things swine. Ahhhhh.

Just kidding...well about the post race snack anyway. I had one these gumballs and I gotta say they are awful, which is hard for me to admit. I guess bacon should be left to breakfast and air freshners.