Stomach Virus 10k

I know it has been a while since my last post but I still don't have much to report. The last time was the day before the 10k here in Hattiesburg. Well....that didn't happen. I got the good old stomach virus. I started feeling badly late Friday night and it didn't get any better. There was almost no sleep either. I felt so bad in the middle of the night I even turned off my alarm. I still woke up in time to go but there was no chance. I was sick all Saturday.

So with no races planned for the rest of the year I decided to take on a new challenge. A non-swim-bike-run challenge. I have given up diet drinks. Normally I would say just diet coke and everyone that lives here in the South would know that meant all drinks but I do have some non-southern readers. I have to say that is has been alot easier than I thought it would be. I really haven't missed them at all. I even bought some caffeine pills to subside the lack of caffeine and I think I have only taken two. The best side effect has been the loss of weight. It has just been peeling off. Shhhh...nobody tell Jenn I am losing weight because I cut out the diet drinks. She has been saying it would do it but I will never admit to her that is why. Just don't tell her. I am not far from my weight in 10th grade.

Running has been most of my exercise. I have been doing it some and I have even ridden my bike, but still no swimming. I signed up to run a 10k next Saturday and I have been training some for that. I won't be there to set any recors. My main goal now has to be just to start and finish with the way my last two races have gone.

Hey what do you know now my Saints are 12-0.

Gordon's Creek Downtown Hattiesburg 10k

I am such a bad blogger. Or at least I am bad at actually blogging. It is just so hard to do during football season (my first passion). I mean we almost have football on every night of the week and I love it. Even though I haven't been blogging I have been training. I have run these past few weeks more than I ever have mileage wise. I am ready or at least I think I am. I had a hilly 7 mile run in and around my neighborhood last Saturday that was good. I really pushed the pace in the latter half to check my fitness. I don't know if this course will be flat or hilly but I am sure with it being downtown there won't be many hills that are brutal. Honestly I don't even know where I am supposed to go tomorrow. I think it starts at the train depot. My son Jacob will be jealous. He loves him some trains. Especially if one comes into the depot he will be sad he missed it. One thing good about tomorrow is the weather. It is supposed to be absolutely perfect for running. It should be in the upper 40's at the start of the race.

Unlike a triathon there is no packing for a 10k but there are a few equipment decisions to be made. The most important one is long sleeves or not. I could even go with my arm warmers and take them off if I need to. I'm afraid I would look like a dork if I had those. The second one are which shoes to wear. I could wear my new K Swiss that are lighter but don't offer as much support or my regular Brooks that I train in. Either way both pairs of shoes have laces that can't come untied so my problems at my last 5k can't happen. The last decision that had to be made has already been made. That is what music to load into my Ipod and please don't preach to me about running with an Ipod and safety issues. I don't have mine all of the way up and I am very aware of my surroundings. Instead of being upset with runners wearing Ipods I think we should look at all of the people wearing them inside of cars while driving. That can't be safe and I have been seeing alot of that lately.

I think you can learn alot about someone by what music they listen to so I will share my playlist for tomorrow for you guys to learn more about me. Just don't look to learn much.

My Playlist (Lance's mad tracks)

1. Solsbury Hill-Dave Matthews and friends
2. Naive-The Kooks (jenn's favorite song)
3. Lollipop-Lil Wayne
4. Calling You-Blue October
5. Cold-Crossfade
6. The '59 Sound-The Gaslight Anthem
7. Big Pimpin-Jay-Z
8. Hide and Seek-Imogen Heap
9. Richman-3OH!3
10. Emily Smiles-Blue Mountain
11. Soul Shine-Beth Hart
12. How We Operate-Gomez
13. I Will not Bow-Breaking Benjamin
14. Groove Me-Blue Mountain
15. I'm Not Your Boyfriend-3OH!3
16. Jellyroll-Cary Hudson
17. One Sweet World-Dave Matthews Band
18. Leave the Light On-Beth Hart
19. Til' Kingdom Comes-Coldplay
20. Anyone Seen the Bridge>Halloween-Dave Matthews Band
21. One Eyed Chicken-Beth Hart

I know for those of you that really know me not as much Dave Matthews Band as you expected. For the rest of you I don't know what you learned. Maybe that I have an eclectic choice in music. I guess so.

So back to the race. Do I have any time goals? No My only small goal is to have negative splits. I am going to find my pace, settle in, check myself at halfway and then if I am feeling good I plan to push the pace home. Wish me luck.

Back to the football. My saints are 7 and 0. Who dat?

All Running

So after my not so lucky triathlon I decided to have a few weeks of just running. I do have a race to train for so running it is. I'm sure I will be ready to bike or swim soon but for now they can wait. Actually, I'm ready to ride my bike now because I got a new bike rack and I'm ready to try it out. I guess I could just ride around with my bike on the back and look "cool".

I looked on Running Planet and found a 10k plan that I liked. It was an 8 week plan so I picked it up at week 5.

First day was an easy 4.5 mile run. No big deal but I had to do it on a treadmill because of the weather. Next I had a speed workout. Warm up and run 2 x 1600 meter repeats at 10K pace. Jog for 800 meters between repeats. Cool down with 800 meters of jogging. This was hard. Very hard because of the heat. It still is hot or was hot on that day. Then I had a rest day.



Friday I had a easy 2 mile run. This was my warm up run before my Saturday run. The weather has finally gotten cooler. The highs on Friday and Saturday were in the 50's. Finally. I even had to wear long sleeves. That is much better running weather than 95 degrees and 100 percent humidity. My planned run for Saturday was 5 miles. I had plans on running early Saturday morning but decided to sleep in (or whatever you call it around here) and go that afternoon. I headed for the Trace at 3. I am getting tired of my same old route so I decided on something new. I still went to Jackson Road but ran towards campus instead of towards Epley. My plan was for 5 easy miles. I felt really good on my out. My heart rate was in the right zone and I was just making my way. Its amazing how much easier it is to run in the cooler weather. I keep telling Jenn it is always like this in Northern California but she doesn't seem to want to move. Oh well Mississippi it is. I got to my turn around and decided to go a little further. I don't know how much further but I passed the 3 mile mark. I made my way back in with over 6 miles. No flat tires and no shoes coming untied so I was good. My legs did get a little sore Saturday night but they were fine on Sunday.

My total mileage for the week was 16 miles. I also did some core workouts on 3 different days and I also did a leg workout from Exercise TV with Jenn that hurt parts of my legs I didn't even know I had muscles in.

Eagleman Race Report (sort of)

I woke up Saturday morning before my alarm clock went off. I was pumped. I knew that I could have trained more but I didn't care. I was going to make the most of this race and just do my best. I had my oatmeal and Accelerade, gathered all of my stuff and headed to the race spot. I was lucky since this was my hometown race and my "A" race. I got there very early and set my spot up. We really got lucky with the weather. Yes it was raining but it was actually in the low 70's. The high the day before was 92 so we got really lucky. We had assigned transition spots so I actually could have gotten there later but I wasn't rushed at all. I sat around and talked to a few people and let the nervousness build up. Finally I had to work some of that off. I went and ran and tried to warm up. I really felt good and my run felt fast. Maybe I would have something to offer on the run. Then I rode my bike for a few minutes.

Time to race. I made my way to the swim start. We had a time trial start from the beach every 3 seconds. Our start order was the order when we signed up and I was 264. Finally it was my turn. I started my watch and ran into the water. My goal for the swim was to find a good rhythm and stay in it. I did just that. I got on someone's feet and paced off of him. Everything was going good until the turn. This is where I got kicked right in the face. I know that is part of swimming but it just got me off rhythm. I never found my rhythm again and also got kicked again but by this time by someone I know. No problems. I made my way into T1, put on my helmet, shoes and headed out. I did my flying mount and made my way down the hill and into the first turn. Making the turn I sensed something wasn't right. My tire feels flat. Feeling defeated I pull over to the side to see what the problem is. Sure enough it is flat. I tried 2 CO2's to air it back up and it isn't going anywhere. I didn't pack a spare so I was DONE. BIG FAT DNF!! Finished before I even got started. I make my way back to the Yukon to put up my bike and who do I see first, my Dad. Great.

I was mad for a while but I realize it is just bad luck. I rode it that morning with no problems but yet it was flat come race time. Go figure. Oh well at least some people got to have fun at the race.

Yes Jacob and Jackson found the mud.

No worries about the race because there is no rest for the weary. I am running a 10k on November 7. This time around I won't have to worry about a flat tire just shoelaces that could come untied but I have taken care of that problem too.

Time to train.

Gametime

Its now gametime. I am less than 24 hours away from the Eagleman Triathlon. 1/3 mile swim, 16.5 mile bike, and a 5k run. I really haven't been able to train like I wanted to but that's ok. I really haven't trained at all but I am not making excuses. We can't all be number 3 in our whole company in sales AND train for a triathlon. One thing I have been able to do is lose weight. I am down about 15 lbs since the last time I posted. That is a good thing. I will post about how I have lost it at a later date. Anyway, I will be having some sushi and drinking Accelerade tonight then it is off to the races in the morning.

Race report will be next week. Wish me luck!

Back at It

There really hasn't been much working out lately with Jenn's surgery and all. But now she is much better and now I'm back at it. I did go ride the race course again on Saturday and it was somewhat better. I'm still having a problem with my heart rate jumping into overdrive within like 5 minutes of my ride but I finally think I have it figured out. I'm mashing on my pedals. I need to be working on smooth circles instead of what I have been doing. This will take some work or just me thinking about it while riding. One of the philosphies of "Chi Running" is to body sense or to be aware of what your body is doing. Well I will need to apply that to my bike and not mash on my pedals. Hey maybe I can write the book "Chi Cycling".

I was actually able to double up the workouts today. Yes I made my way to the pool today and had a good set. Now I just need to work on going back like 3 more times this week. It is in my plans. This has been my biggest struggle in preparing for my next triathlon. In my first one I stuck to my plan religiously but since I am not following a plan I have skipped out on the swim one too many times. This is all going to change (I think). I was also able to get in a 2 mile tempo run with a half mile warm up and a 3/4 mile cool down. After my walk to continue to cool down I decided to do another quarter mile speed session. I just felt like running fast. "Big Pimpin" was on my Ipod so what was I supposed to do. That is about it for me the past week.

Since that is all I have for a whole week I thought I would leave you with this poor guy.

While I can't take credit for finding this picture but what do you think was going through his mind. Where is his other shoe? With the time on the clock it couldn't have ben a long race. I just wonder what he ate or drank before his race to make him do that. Why didn't he kick off his other shoe? Caught up in the race I guess. Props to that guy!

I have been thinking alot about my triathlon lately and I am already getting nervous. Why? I don't know. I guess I'm nervous about my swim. Nervous about the bike course that I haven't mastered. Nervous about my Dad being there. I'm probably most nervous about that. Being the son of a football coach who still tries to prove himself to his Dad athletically just makes me nervous. Always has and always will. Speaking of my Dad. Happy Birthday Dad! 69 years old and still no grey hair. I'm sure lots of people are jealous.

Labor Your Legs

Before I get to the race report I need to get to Saturday. Usually on Saturdays I'm out the door by 5:45. The boys were leaving early with their Grandmother so I slept in and helped Jenn get them dressed and off. I headed out at 9 or so but didn't go to my usual spot. Since my next triathlon is here in Hattiesburg I will get to practice on the bike course and that is what I did. It has been somewhat cooler here if you call low 90's cool and that was the case Saturday morning. I believe it was 80 or so that morning. Perfect (I guess). On my way out I saw a huge group of people riding the course already and they looked as if they were struggling. I started out right on the course with no warm up. This bike course is somewhat hilly. Not my strength. Up a big hill right at the beginning. Great. I made my way up and it is just a bunch of rollers all of the way to the first turn. The pavement is really good on the whole course which is good. I'm sure the race director checked this out and I'm glad he did. I was making decent time. I was even going 44 mph at one point in full aero. That was awesome. I made it through most of the course with no problem until I headed back in. The last road is the hilliest. Curse you Knight Road. This one has a long gradual hill in the middle of it only to be followed up by a hill that is steep in the beginning then slacks off in the middle then a long gradual one again at the end. Let's just say I was stru-ga-lin. I was in my granny gear and maybe going 8 mph. Most of the other hills I was still making ok time but not this one. I will need to work on this. No more trips to the flat "trace" to ride. This is ok by me because it is like 5 minutes from my house and I can park at the community center and just ride Knight Road. I will find a place to do my "T" runs later. Needless to say I wasn't pleased by my ride Saturday but I know what it takes to make them better.


Labor Your Legs 5k


I woke up Monday with none other than a stomach ache. Great start. It was so bad I couldn't even eat anything. Not that I needed to but it just hurt that bad. Jenn and I headed out and got to the race start at 7. We both checked in got our bibs. The weather was nice. It was somewhat cool but so humid. So humid. Some friends of ours were running to so I just hung out and talked until the race start. No warm up. This is one of our running clubs biggest events and there were a good bit of racers there. We made our way to the start. I had a time goal of under 25 minutes going in but I would settle for under 26 minutes mainly because a friend of mine just ran one in 26 flat and I wanted to beat him. It was a typical 5k start. Everybody goes out too fast. Me included. My plan was to not do this. I finally settled and just ran my race or so I thought. We made a couple of turns and headed down a fairly long hill. I look down and I see my shoelace flapping in the wind. Great. Now I have to find a place to stop so I don't get run over. I stop in a driveway and tie it again. I have a way to tie shoes that won't come undone and it really works. It even works on Jacob's shoes so I KNOW it works. Well that morning I tied one shoe like normal and one with the good knot. Well guess which one came undone. Yep the normal one. I even have some Yanks laces that you don't even have to tie but I haven't put them in my new shoes yet. That will change before my next race. So I get them tied and get back going. Ok so now I'm mad. I just wasted time and now I have to catch back up to where I was. Unfortunately I did just that. I ran faster than normal to catch back up and lost my rhythm. I settle back in and keep going. I hit mile 1 at 8:16. Ok that is good. I am on track for my goal. The next mile was pretty much down one road and all flat. Some girls that I knew were just ahead of me and I used them to pace off of. I am making good time but I am laboring. I looked down and see 183 on my heart rate monitor. Not good. I make it to the second mile at right at 17 minutes. I'm still ok. I can crank out an 8 minute mile and hit 25 minutes. The last mile was a disaster. I believe in that mile I gave up running, eating and triathlon all at once. I was done altogether. I was making one minute promises to myself left and right. I wanted to stop and catch my breath but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. There was one long road until we turned in back to the finish and guess what happens again. Stupid shoelaces. The same shoe. Now I'm really mad. Mad at myself for not tying my shoes correctly and mad at my luck. I would say those 2 shoe re-ties cost me about 45 seconds. Not so much in actual time of having to tie my shoes but wasted time in catching back up and losing my rhythm. My pacing partners were way ahead of me now. I was too far back to catch up. I couldn't even catch the guy that was carrying water on a 5k that I HAD to beat. Stick a fork in me cause I was done. I limped my way to the finish line in 26:33. I was really pissed but you know what that is ok. After the race it looked like I took a shower with my running clothes on. A guy took pictures and posted them on the web and I was wet from head to toe. I had some bad luck that won't happen in every race and I was able to push myself and I didn't walk. The worst thing about my 5k was that I can run 9 minute miles comfortably but couldn't run just under that comfortably in my race. I will have to work on going out too fast. More races=more experience. All in all after the race I calmed down and I was okay but the bad luck didn't end. I was playing in the yard with the kids and went to kick a ball barefooted and kicked the ground first. The result.....

















Bruised toe.
It doesn't hurt as bad as it looks. I can still run on it.
I have to. I have someone in my next tri that I have to beat. I'm gunning for him and he was even at the 5k. Yes, he beat me but that won't be the case come October 10.

Did I hear that right?

With less than 5 weeks to go until my triathlon I guess it is finally time to get to the pool. I did that on Monday. I have been putting it off for a while. For the next few weeks I have to be in there a minimum of two times a week. I actually had a good swim. My form is slowly making its way back and I actually had an aha moment in there too. I applied the concept of no tension and body sensing from Chi Running to my swimming. I didn't have relaxed arms in my recovery and that is why I was tiring so easily. I really had to make myself not do this but if I can remember maybe my endurance and form can return even sooner. That would be nice.

On Tuesday I was ready. I was ready to run a PR for 2 miles. Our local running club was having the last of our "Trek the Trace" series for the year. This one was to be decided by whomever could go the lowest under their PR for 2 miles and you didn't have to predict anything. Or so I thought. I was wrong and reminded of that by Jenn. Yes you could run and smash your PR but you still had to predict it and you had to be UNDER your PR to win. I had even gotten out my Ipod and loaded all of my "fast" music but I couldn't us it. Oh well. I was still getting ready to go fast at least by my standards. I even drank a bottle of Accelerade before. We get out there and write down our times. I wrote down 17:40. No that isn't my personal record for 2 miles but I wasn't about to write down how slow it really is. I found my pacing partner and we were off. I could tell I wasn't going my customary 9 minute miles but I wasn't pushing too much. There were a few people ahead of me that started dropping off but my pacing partner was just ahead of me staying strong. Also, a few people disappeared. I believe one guy ran 11:39. Anway, I could tell I was pushing myself but I wasn't feeling winded or like I needed to stop. I kept my pacing partner right in my sights and she was keeping it up. Later she said she knew someone was on her heels especially in the tunnel where she could hear me. As we were approaching the finish I started to pass her but held back and finished right behind her. They were telling us our times as we finished and he said 16:20. It didn't register with me until I let it sink in. 16:20!! Seriously? I can't believe it. I don't think I have ever run 8:10 for one mile much less for two. Wow! My fat butt ran 8:10 miles. This only makes me wonder. Am I pushing myself hard enough in my workouts? Or can I sustain that for a 5K? We will see Monday at the Labor Your Legs 5k.

Catching Up

It has really been a long time since my last post. I don't even remember where I left off. I do know that I had last weekend off and actually made it to the pool on Monday. I have really got to get back in there on a consistent basis. I can really tell that I haven't been. I still feel somewhat fluid in the pool but after a while my stroke starts to break down. I had a good workout and will be in there at least twice this week. Jenn and I also ran out on the Trace. To change things up we went to Epley and ran back towards Clyde. I swear before we left she said she was doing 3 miles so I head out at least to the 1.5 mile marker. She for some reason doesn't like me to run with her so I got out ahead of her. With no set plan I decided to do some strides in the middle of my run. 40 seconds normal running, 20 seconds of fast running. I did 4 minutes of those. They got to be really hard. When I turned around just past the 1.5 mile marker Jenn is nowhere to be found. She said she said 2.5 miles. Whatever. Guess I wasn't listening, again. After we ran Jenn mentioned how tough it was at the end and it is because you really don't notice it but you are going uphill heading into Epley. I think she had to make a few one minute promises to finish. I love it.

Tuesday I went out the Trek the Trace put on by the Pine Belt Pacers. This week was a 2 man team total time contest. Jenn wasn't feeling well so I didn't have a partner. I was given a partner, Vicky Copeland. We were talking and she asked me if I wanted to pace at 8 minute miles. I told sure she could but she would have to wait for me at the finish line. We decided on 9 minute miles or 18 minutes for the race. We started out good and I thought we were pacing just fine but I could feel us fading just a bit at the end. It was good to see her double stride for my one stride but I am not saying anything bad because she is a much better runner than I am. I thought we might need to pick it up some but didn't say anything. Anyway, we finished at 18:18. Not too bad. I am just glad that 9 minute miles is now somewhat of a comfortable pace for me. I will take it.



Wednesday I decided to ride my bike. It had been almost 3 weeks since I have ridden. I have been having a problem with my heartrate going sky high on the bike so I decided to not to take a heart rate monitor or watch. No goal in place but to just ride. I rode out to Epley and made my way back. Also, guess who I saw just as I was getting started. Yep. The old man in sunglasses. Every time. While on the bike I was actually thinking about running. Normally this would never happen. I guess my somewhat recent success running has me wanting to do it.



My new shoes came in on Thursday. I love them. They are so light. Only 9 oz. Not bad for not being a racing flat. I ran on the treadmill for 2.5 miles trying out the new shoes. Good as advertised.

I had my brick on Saturday. My goal was to warm up all the way to Clyde Station and then on to Sumrall and back to Jackson Rd for a transition run. Hopefully this way my heartrate won't get sky high with the longer warm up. So I set out and again guess who I see. Yep the old man. Anywas I logged 23 miles on the bike and a 2 mile transtition run. With the weather getting cooler I expected to see a ton of people out on the Trace. I didn't see as many as I thought I would. I saw a good bit of the normal people not it wasn't as busy as I thought it would be. I did see a deer too. It let me get almost right up to it before it ran off. I also saw my running partner from Tuesday but I don't think she noticed me. She looked at me like I had 2 heads. She was probably thinking who is that guy struggling so bad waving at me and why is sweating so much.


Sunday I had planned to ride out to my parents house on my bike. I decided against it and headed to the trace for a run. I wanted to get in 6 miles. I ran 6 miles right at 60 minutes. I didn't try any speed or anything out of the ordinary. I just wanted to run consistently. At the end I was really struggling though. I ran in my new shoes and I haven't broken them in all of the way so my lower legs were starting to hurt. It was a nice run even though it was really hot at that time of the day.

Also, my main man Jacob got a bike. Jenn went ahead and got his Christmas present in August so we had to hide it in the attic. I will have pics of it up on my next post. It won't be too long and he and I will be riding out on the trace. I can't wait!!

Running without a Purpose

I know I can't believe it 2 posts in a week.

Normally on Tuesday our local running club has Trek the Trace so Jenn and I set out to do that only to have it cancelled not long before it was to start. Having already gotten my parents to agree to watch the boys Jenn and I still went out there to run. We don't have that luxury all of the time so we took advantage of it. Plus I knew some of the other people would still be there and they were. It turned out to be a nice night and I guess it shouldn't have been cancelled. Jenn's running plan said for 3 miles so we set out. She hates running with me because she has to put in too much effort to try to keep up with me so I said I would follow behind her. That didn't work. She told me to go ahead and pass her but to turn around and 1.5 miles. That is what I was going to do. I really like running with Jenn because it is not about me but her. I don't have to watch my pace or heartrate. I can just run without a purpose which is nice sometimes. I got out ahead of her and headed for the 1.5 miles sign which is just past West Hills Road. I stopped because mother nature was calling and Jenn had already turned around. Later I find out she said 2.5 miles not 3. I'm sure she told me I just wasn't listening. Anyway, I went out to a mile and 3/4's. I turned around and headed back in. On the way back just past 59 I had the urge to stop. I need to fight through these things. I was coming in much faster than I was going out because I knew Jenn would be waiting around for me. I have to fight through these urges and I did just that. I kept telling myself to run to the next lightpole. There are a bunch of them on that end of the Trace. Once I would pass one I would say make it to the next one. I guess these are mini one minute promises. Anyway, I did this all the way back. This is really good for me. I need to get a lot stronger in the mental game.

Wednesday I had plans to do hill repeats on my bike. I haven't been on the bike in quite some time. I was going to do the hill headed out of Sumrall back towards Jackson Rd. It is a somewhat long hill and a decent incline. Doing hill repeats is something I need to do more of. I get to Sumrall and unload my bike. I had to air my tires up since the last time so I go and do that. After airing up the back tire I move to the front only to hear the back tire lose all pressure. The tube popped. Not wanting to fix it and also not having my spare tube I loaded the bike back up and headed home. When I got home I was supposed to get meet Jenn and the boys at her mothers. I decided to run there and see how fast I could get there. They live in our neighborhood right at 3 quarters of a mile away. It is all hills to their house so I felt like it would be a good test. I just took off with no warm up and was about to die up the first hill which also happens to be the steepest and longest. Went out too fast. Imagine that. Anyway I fought through it and finished in 5:44 which is like a 7:40 mile. I will take it considering all of the hills.

At the Trace today I saw something I have never seen. I actually saw a guy on his bike wearing a bluetooth ear piece. I guess he doesn't want to be missing any calls. I wonder if the person on the other end would even be able to hear him. Oh well. I had plans to run about 4 miles. I didn't have any other plan except to have negative splits on the way back. Before I get to that it is just unbelievable the people I see out at the Trace every time I go. I see this one man EVERY time. It doesn't matter early or late I see this older gentleman that wears glasses that transition when the sun is out riding his grey Trek with aerobars every time I go. On top of him I have some Saturday regulars I see. There is an Asian couple I meet heading back into Jackson station riding recumbent bikes every Saturday. Back to the workout, I ran out to 2 miles and made my way back. On my way back as I am approaching Lake Thoreau Rd a guy turns around at a mile and a half and heads back right in front of me. No big deal. I wasn't mad at him or anything but now I had to pass this guy and leave him especially since he was wearing khakis and a wife beater. I go past him and actually turn up Lake Thoreau Rd and run that hill. Coming back I made my last mile my fastest. My last mile was in 8:35. Once again good for me especially since it was my last. Maybe I am figuring out this mental aspect.

Don't Punk Out

This t-shirt says it all. First off what a smart logo. I wish I would have thought of it. I would have it in every bike and running store in 3 states plus trisports.com and all3sports.com. But I didn't. Anyway, I have been trying to workout with this motto. My thoughts have been to add more effort in my workouts whether it be by intensity or duration or both. With this thought in mind I decided to give it a try. I reported last week about my other 2 workouts. Good start to the week. On Wednesday, I had to travel to Oxford. I decided to run on the Ole Miss campus. It was a nice run. It had some inclines, some hilll and plenty of flats. I started out in the infamous "Grove" and to be honest with you yes it is nice but I don't see what the fuss is all about. We have that here at Southern Miss but anyway. I ran back and forth all up and down campus. I even found a trail to run for a while. I also ran by some glass buildings and got to check my form and it was looking pretty good. I decided to run for 45 minutes. Well as part of the new not punking out I finished with right at an hour and 5 minutes. Good stuff. I am glad that I pushed on further. I need to do more of that. On Thursday I took the day off. On Friday once again I made it out to the Trace for a run. It was in the heat of the day but these runs are seeming to get easier. I wanted strictly to do a recovery run because my knee had swollen quite a bit. I planned on running for 30 minutes but again I ran longer. I ran for 45 good long slow distance. Maybe I can continue to run longer than I set out all of the time.

I was really busy over the weekend and didn't have any time to workout. I hate that I missed them but I was ok with it because I had some good quality workouts during the week. On Monday I was looking for every reason not to go run. The swelling in my knee hadn't gone down all the way so I could use that excuse. Plus, the tray off of Jackson's high chair dropped and fell directly on my toe nail so there was another excuse. Even with my two good reasons I still set out from the house and hit the roads in the neighborhood. Not 1 minute into the run I almost stopped and called it a night but I thought to myself could I really do this or just tough it out and be glad I did later. I sucked it up and ran for 42 minutes. I don't know how many miles it was I just know the time. There were plenty of good hills and that is always a good thing. Once again I was proud of my effort. I had somewhat of a come to Jesus meeting with myself on this run. I was thinking of all the people that I knew that were doing the Eagleman Tri in October. After thinking of this I have now found my competition. I'm not going to let anyone know who this is but I am coming after this guy. Don't even ask who it is just know I'm going to smoke this guy. Also, it is not Gage. I believe he is doing this one but I have already smoked him. Gage I hope you are reading this like you say you are. Anyway, with him in mind I found myself running a little faster. I need to do this every time I set out to run. I might also need to do so every time I am hungry. Probably more so than when I go work out.

I will also be getting something very soon that will even make me even faster. Not really but at least I like to think this way. The answer is new shoes. K-Swiss K Ona size 11.5.

You know what they say about people with big shoes right? Big socks. But actually I don't wear socks when running so it doesn't matter.

Trek the Trace

Ok last week was a difficult week as in finding time to workout. I did manage 2 runs and a brick on Saturday. Nothing major. I had a horrible time on my bike Saturday. I was headed out to Sumrall or up Epley Road and back to Jackson Rd. I am not even through warming up and my heart rate is in overdrive. I don't know why this has been happening to me lately. The weird thing is it is only happening on the bike. No problems with the run. I think I might have it figured out and I am going to test it out on my next bike. I don't think I am warming up properly. Who would think I would have to have an exagerrated warm up in this heat but we will see. Well that was just the beginning of it. In the middle of my out I look down and see that my back tire is going flat. Still no big deal. I figured I would fix it at my turnaround. So I get to Epley Road and when the type of pavement changes I figure I really need to fix it now. So I stop and try to fix it and my CO2 is out. All I really did was flatten the tire even more. Now I can't go anywhere without some air. I walk my bike back to Epley Station and a guy has a pump. I aired it up and head back to Jackson Road. I am not trying this again because I on top of all of this I left my cell phone. Anyway I finish up at Jackson Road and have a small transition run. I ran 2.5 miles. I was just glad to finish.

Monday I made it out to the Trace for a run. I looked at weather.com on my phone and it says that it is 92 but feels like 101. I love it. I decided I wouldn't do any good with pushing myself so I just decided to run 10 minute miles and go 4 miles. I did with not much problem. 4 miles in 40:16.

On Tuesday I even made it to the pool. I swam a while but could really tell I haven't been but I need to get in there more. Especially if I am going to do the triathlon in Gulf Shores next month. It was really hot being outside swimming but I need the work. I think the run home was hotter though. On Tuesdays in August our local running club puts on "Trek the Trace." It is an event where the runners predict their time for 2 miles and then go run it without any type of electronics. No watches, GPS or even Ipods. Whoever runs the closest to their predicted time wins a prize. With swimming and running earlier in the day I didn't want to be over ambitious so I predicted 17:45. I ran 17:54. I was pleased with it even though I didn't run. 2 people were 2 seconds from their prediction. One lady did so even running 2 miles in under 13 minutes. I love this event because you get to see everyone and also everybody brings some kind of food and you eat afterwards. Hopefully we will be able to make all of them. How about my runner wife ran hers in 20:40. If she didn't talk to whoever she is running with she could do even better but she is doing great!

As a side note I am down 10 pounds from when I threw down the guantlet about a month ago with Jenn. Woot woot!!!

Can't even carry her jock

Ok so I had my blog post all mapped out. I was going to stand up on my soapbox and deliver a "Rockne" like speech. One like even you are with me or you are against me and if you're not with me then you must be against me. I was going to make a battle call. One that Sir William Wallace would be proud of. Then I go reading my blog list and run across this lady off of someone else's blog. train-this.blogspot.com/ Now I don't think I will post about anything else other than my measly 2 workouts. I might not even post about that. I mean this girl is posting about calling out a dude, how many time she will puke her intestines up, and living off of mango and broussel sprouts only. Maybe I am not "hard" enough. Who knows but I like her attitude. I at least like the way she talks about what she is going to do. Whenever I am not feeling right I think I will just read her blog. She made me want to go workout. I like her. Maybe I need a little bit of Mary Eggers in me. Maybe we all need some of her in us. (also what is she doing married to a 53 year old at 35, sugar daddy maybe) Whatever works. So with that in mind I believe I will go be her for a workout or 2 and then come back and post about it.



Title of next post "Look like a pro, Race like a pro?" Stick around.

Out of town

So last week I was in Atlanta for most of the week and I didn't have any time to work out while there so I just took the whole week off. Meetings starting and 7 am and ending at 6pm it is pretty hard to find the time and on top of that dinner with the "team" every night. I haven't done this in a while and I have to say it was nice. The best thing about it is even with no working out and not watching what I ate I actually lost some weight. Also, I have to report that Jenn won the weight loss challenge. I did lose more weight but not as much of a percentage. Oh well, I hate admitting defeat but she won. I did lose weight which is good. I just need to continue to up until my triathlon in October. I am doing the Eagleman here in Hattiesburg put on by one of our local triathletes, Ben. I volunteered last year at this race and even though I didn't know what I was looking for it seemed to be a good race. I'm sure it will be good again this year. Ben wouldn't have it any other way. The good thing about this race is that it is a hometown race actually not too far from my parents house. I plan to do a lot of riding out there before the race and some running in the neighborhood. My neighborhood put in a 25 yard pool recently. How lucky is that. Not that they put in a pool but that they put in a 25 yarder. That gives me no excuse to not swim. The wellness center's pool is the same length. I will just miss out on all of the old ladies doing water aerobics. I hate that. Just kidding. I'm glad they are exercising. They do more than most.



I guess I don't have any exercise to report except for my last brick before I left. I didn't decide to even work out until 11 pm on Friday night. I'm glad I did. I had every reason not to go but I decided to tough it out and "harden" up. I got out there early and hit the road. From the beginning I knew this wasn't going to be a good bike. I was warming up and my heart rate was already sky high. That was probably due to the lack of sleep. I got through it and finished with about 20 miles on the bike. Pulling back into Jackson Road I had decided to not even try to run. The bike was so bad I knew that the run would be bad too. Knowing that I probably would not have time to exercise the upcoming week I decided to give it a go. When I started I made up my mind that I was going to make up the bad bike with a good run. Mental people it is all mental. What I seem to struggle with most in this sport of triathlon is the mental aspect. I have a hard time pushing myself. I was going to change this all in one day. I told myself at least 4 miles. The longest I had ever run off of the bike before this day was 3 miles. I know that is nothing to alot of people but it is alot to me. I know baby steps first. I read alot of these triathlon blogs and forums and I read about people starting triathlon with a running or biking background. I don't have that luxury. I guess my background could be golf or playstation but nothing to do with endurance. In no way am I saying that golf is easy but it definitely doesn't have anything to do with endurance. Also, I did play 3 sports in high school but triathlon uses a different kind of athleticism. I would say that it is more mental than athleticism anyway. Ok back to the run. I knocked out 4.5 miles in 38:30. I actually could have run more but had to go. I actually wanted to run more but just couldn't. I toughed it out mentally and physically. This is what people call in the endurance sports world a breakthrough. I call it a little bit of confidence and run with it. I know I live in awesome world.

Nobody likes Hills

I actually was able to run twice on Monday. I worked in town and that allowed me to. At lunch, I ran on the treadmill for 40 minutes. No speed just long slow distance or junk mileage is what some people like to call it. I know I keep saying it but the run is getting much easier. I can run at paces I never thought I would be able to and paces that seemed hard to keep up just a month ago now are slow to me. I hope it stays this way. I made my way out to the trace about 5:30. I didn't have a plan in mind I was just going to run. I did right at 3 miles with an average pace of 9 min. I will take it.

I had to go out of town on Tuesday for work. I purposely stayed at a hotel that had a bike in the exercise room. My plan was to do all hill work on the exercise bike. Boy did I. I put it on the mountain setting. It was so hard. I finished up with just 30 minutes but it was a hard 30 minutes. My legs were jello when I got off. In fact they were still hurting me on Wednesday and they are still sore today but I need some hill work. My next triathlon has all hills on the bike course. I need to keep it up.

Swimming Uphill

It has been a while since I have updated my blog and workouts. I don't know if I can actually remember all of them and I know I can't remember what I ate. Let's see. Monday I was in Philadelphia (MS) for work. I ran out on the Dancing Rabbit golf course. What a nice course. I wish I had brought my camera or my clubs for that matter. I ran for 35 minutes. There were some really tough hills but that is what I need especially since my next triathlon has all rolling hills on the run portion. There were some actually so steep I had to walk on the downhill not the uphill. When I was done I realized that there was a sign that said no jogging. Oh well no one saw me. Golf courses aren't a bad place to run. The terrain varies, there is distance markers, and there is water on the course. Not too bad. When I woke up Tuesday my knee hurt so bad. I seriously thought I was hurt. I limped all day. This is the injury I had been scared of or so I thought especially since I tore my MCL in high school. I just keep waiting for this to set me back maybe even as far as surgery as I am sure that I have some torn cartilage. It hurt until the end of the day. For some reason on my way home it quit hurting. I was even able to ride my bike that night. I rode for 35 minutes of strictly constant effort. I didn't want to overdo it. On Wednesday I must have gotten lost and found myself at the pool. I think it is the first time in about a month. I know I need to go more but I just don't. No excuse for it. I could really tell I hadn't been there in a while. I suffered but I made it. I also did some hill running that night. The good thing about where I live is that to get in some hill training I don't even have to leave my neighboorhood. My goal is to do more hill running. I didn't do any before my first triathlon. There weren't many hills in my race and I didn't struggle but I just know that hill training improves all running, speed and strength. I ran for 35 minutes and hit all of the big hills in my neighborhood. Now to just do hills on my bike. Thursday I did the funnest workout I have ever done. I stole it from someone's blog and also I have read about it in a magazine. Since I didn't go to the track I just set it up in my garage with the trainer and tready. The workout is 3 min hard effort on the bike followed by half a mile on the treamill. You go back and forth between the two as long as you want to with no recovery. The goal of the workout is to be able to run and bike with a lactic acid buildup. Also, you are supposed to run faster on every half mile to really make it tough. I did it and loved it and since I don't have a training plan I am going to do it once a week. I had an off day on Friday. Saturday I woke up and headed to Jackson Station for my weekly ride and run. I have to say that I had a great workout for a bunch of reasons. First reason was because the lack of heat. Also, the trace wasn't too busy at least at the beginning. I also had someone looking out for me. Someone put a replacement bike out on the course in case I had broken down or had a flat.

Jenn did you do that? Thanks to whoever did it. It was on one of the crossroads heading into Sumrall. I had a good bike. I did 21 miles in 1:04. I have been really trying to concentrate on having a flat back on my bike. Notice I said flat back not fat back. I don't have to work on a fat back. I already have one of those. But seriously, I have made some adjustments on my bike and it seems to have worked. At least in my shadow I had a flat back. After my bike I did a small transition run or brick. I just ran 2 miles with an average of 9:15 a mile. The running is where I am seeing the most improvement. Who knew I would have to go to the Far East to learn how to run but who cares it is getting better. Thank you Chi Running.

Keep on Keeping On

As you may know I made a list of the workouts I was supposed to do. I can honestly say that I did most of them. Not all of them most of them. I at least did the important ones. I knocked out all the my runs and one extra one and all of my bikes. I biked twice even without being able to go on Saturday because of Jacob's birthday party.

I can say that I am really happy with my running. I am attempting the "Chi Running" technique by Danny Dreyer and it is paying off. I went out Friday evening on a run. I didn't have a planned time or distance. I just had an opportunity at the last minute so I took it. Man am I glad I did. I left out of Jackson Station at 5:15. Jenn wanted me to meet her and the boys at 6 so I knew about how much time I had. Once again, no plan just running. I wanted to really just work on my technique and to not go out too fast. I did both. I didn't have my HR monitor I just ran. All in all I ran 38 min and 3 and 3/4 miles. Not that I was a speed demon but I didn't even feel tired at the end and wasn't even close to being out of breath. Keep in mind that the car said 95 degrees when I go out of my car. I ran out in 19:05 and came home in 18:50 and that my friends is negative splits. Good stuff!!

Going good

So as you may know Jenn and I are in the weight loss challenge. I have to say that we are both doing good. I have lost more weight but not as much as a percentage hence she is winning. I cannot lose to her. Not that it is any big deal I just hate to lose. I will prevail. With competition pushing me along I have had a few good days. Let's just say I have crossed a bunch of workouts off of the list. I ran Monday night on the treadmill. I just did long slow distance for 35 min. I know that is really not long distance but it was slow and all I can take on the treadmill. I finished it off with 5o pushups. 3 miles/35 minutes. I really don't want to bore you with the diet but it was oatmeal and blueberries for breakfast, powerbar for snack, turkey bagel for lunch and mahi mahi, brown rice and butter beans for supper. Good stuff.



Tuesday was good too. I rode my bike on the trainer for 25 min (once again all I can stand on the trainer) and also had a short transition run on the treadmill. I have no clue how far I rode on the bike but only ran a fast mile on the treadmill. I also did some dips. I also had a good day on the diet. I won't go through the tedious details but it was good. I only have one small problem. When I was on the trainer my in-laws came by only to find my mother in law made some concoction with corn flakes, peanut butter and corn syrup. Not good. Last I checked none of that was on the diet. I am in trouble. Will power will have to prevail. I can do it.



For those of you that are reading my blog and commenting how not funny it is I am sorry. I just don't know how to make workouts funny. Although I am laughing alot while I am working out I just don't know how to transfer that to my blog. I mean what's funny about running on the tready or doing pushups. Sorry. But I will say this, those of you that did say it wasn't funny also happen to laugh at me all of the time. See that's funny. One last thing and Meg this one is for you. Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.

Let the games begin

I did a brick on Saturday. I got up at 5:30 and headed to Jackson Station once again to try to beat the heat. Some days you feel like you aren't going to have a good day and you end up having a good one. Then some days the exact opposite happens. You think it is going to be great and it winds up being terrible. Saturday was neither of those. Driving to Jackson Station I just knew that it wasn't going to be good. I don't know why but I just did. I get there and the top parking lot is already full. More people keep rolling in as I was getting my bike ready. I see some of the regulars and some I don't ever see. I also see a group of 3 trucks roll up. It is a group of the "local" triathletes. They are doing some talking as they appear to be waiting for someone. That didn't help things. I fear getting passed by them because they will be drafting and taking turns pulling so they will be going alot faster than me. I started out way too fast. I still did my warm up but still went out too hard. Plus, as I was getting down in my aero position I see an extra weight belt around my midsection. Where did that come from? I must have put it on before I started. No, the past 2 weeks of eating bad put it on. How fat am I? Who knows but I will get rid of the weight belt. I finished my 15 miles on my bike in 52 minutes and came back and did a transition run or "brick". By the way, I didn't get caught by those other guys. I met only 3 of them drafting on my way back. I saw the other 2 they dropped lagging behind them. Honestly though with the bike being so bad I was really happy with my run. I do believe the new technique is working out. Also, as I was leaving I saw the regular group of older men just getting started all riding the same brand of bicycles "Trek" imagine that. Its not that I have anything against Trek or LA but it is just funny seeing these guys honestly all riding pretty much the same bike. Drew down at the LBS does a good job of marketing I guess.

But being frustrated from the run I came home and issued a challenge to Jenn. I really need some competition to get some things done. I issued the 1st Annual Lance and Jenn Weight Loss Challenge. Whoever loses the most weight as a percentage wins a gift. The gift cannot be monetary in value. So with that being said I typed out a list of workouts and put it on the bulletin board. As I finish the workout I will cross it off of the list. Hopefully at the end of the week they will all be crossed off. The list looks like this.

Run

Run

Run

Bike

Bike

Swim

Pushups

Pushups

Pushups

Pushups

Pushups

Dips

Dips

Dips

Abs

Abs

Abs

Lateral raises

Lateral raises

Lateral raises

Also, there is work to be done on the diet. I WILL NOT be having any sweets, chips, snacks, nothing that will inhibit weight loss. I will be having lots of fruit, oatmeal, whole grains, beans, brown rice, fish and lean meats. The gauntlet has been dropped. It's on now!

Happy Birthday Jacob. 3 years old. My how time flies.

Catching Up

First let me start off by saying Happy Birthday to Jennifer. 30 years old. Congrats!

I haven't posted in a while. I have been off for work among other things. I am really starting to get this "chi running" technique. I really do believe it will work once I nail down the form. I have been out using it while running and it seems it will pay off. I am only having one problem with it. I am enjoying the speed that it brings along with the lower heart rate but I just go out and try to go too fast. I am running much faster and keeping a lower heart rate but I am unable to go any long distance. I need to learn to not go out too fast. I know that if I can just concentrate on the form and keep the lower speed the distance will come. The beauty of it is that with this technique all you have to do to go faster is to lean more. It is a great technique. I ran 3 times using this form last week all with great success. Saturday I went out for a ride. I loaded up the bike and set out for Jackson station at 5:45. I went to Sumrall and turned around and finished in just over an hour. No run just a ride. Also, very HOT!!

Travel Day

I was in Tuscaloosa at a conference on Monday and Tuesday. I'm glad I chose to stay at the Hilton Garden Inn because it had a much better gym than what I'm used to at Marriott. They had a treadmill, stationary bike, and a cross trainer. They also had some weights. I decided to just bike. I wanted to just do somewhat of a recovery ride. I set it on random and off I went. There wasn't much too taxing even on the hilly part. I kept checking my heart rate on the bike and the highest I ever saw it was 132 bpm. That is good. I only rode for 25 minutes. It was a perfect recovery ride. Like I said in an earlier post I have been reading "Chi Running" by Danny Dreyer. I am getting further into and trying to catch on. His technique is to use more gravity than muscles. It really makes sense. The main difference is your posture. It says that you need to be bent over from the ankles and for your stride to never be in front of your head. I decided to give it a try on the treadmill. I was just going to run a mile trying my new technique out. I started out really slow to see if I could even do it. I mean really slow (12:00 min/mile) It seemed to really work. In the book he says that you can run your normal loop using his technique and expend only 30% of your energy of what you do using your own technique. It really seemed easier but then again I was running 12 minute miles. I bumped up the speed to 9 minute miles. Again, very easy. It said in the middle of your run to revert back to your old style and notice the difference. I did and I really slowed down like it said I would. Maybe this will work for me because like I have said before I really struggle with my run. The last half mile I ran 7:30 a mile. When I was done I wasn't out of breath or anything. I wasn't tired at all. This is sweet. I hope it is always this easy. I'm going to try it outside and see how it goes then. I hope all goes well.

Even though I was on the road I did pretty good eating. Monday for breakfast I had a bagel and some oatmeal with blueberries. Midmorning snack I had a powerbar and for lunch a powerbar, some peanuts and an apple. I even did okay for supper. I had some chicken and steak fajitas with some beans and rice. Not great but not too bad.

Father's Day

I ended up bagging my swim workout on Friday. I just didn't have the time. We had my parents coming over for Father's Day Friday night. Plus, I wanted to be well rested for Saturday's brick.

I set the alarm Friday night for 5:30. I wanted to make sure I would have time to ride and run before it got too hot. Yeah right. The high for Saturday was supposed to be 98 and I wanted no part of that. I must have been really excited about riding and running because I woke up before my alarm even went off. Good for the others in the house. I left the house about 5:45. As I passed by the bank on the highway it was already 80 degrees. I get to the Trace and the top parking lot is already full. I am not the only one who wanted to beat the heat. I loaded up and set out towards Sumrall. I didn't think I would have any kind of speed or stamina mainly because I haven't been on my bike in almost 3 weeks plus the heat and humidity. I was pleasantly surprised. The screaming eagle (my bike) must have missed me. We were making good time. I really couldn't believe the amount of people out on the trace. I didn't pass or get passed by any bikers on the way out, but I passed a ton of people running. Once I made it to Sumrall my legs felt really good. Almost like I could have kept going but I headed back towards Jackson Station. On my way back as I was pulling into Epley station I got passed by Mike from my swim class. Who knows how long he had been behind me? Probably not very long. He is really fast, but he did pass me while I had slowed down to get a drink of water. We spoke and he went on by me. I wanted to keep my own pace but I decided to try to pace off of him. I just kept him in my sight and kept trucking along back into Jackson Station. I completed 21 miles in 1:05 and that is with slowing down tremendously for water breaks. That is just under 20 mph. Good for me. When I was done I did a small run of 1.5 miles at 9 min/mile. I have been reading the book Chi Running. I haven't finished yet but I tried some of the techniques from what I have read and there seems to be some truth to it. More on that at a later date. I was definitely tired but not nearly as tired as I thought I would be. As I was heading home the bank said it was 88 degrees. At 8 o'clock in the morning that just isn't right.

So far so good

So on Thursday I had another good day both with the diet and the exercise. After work I ran on the treadmill. It felt like it was over 100 degrees in my garage. My plan was to do strictly LSD (long slow distance) That is what I started out doing. After 2o minutes of that I was already tired of it so I scratched it. See how I don't follow a plan. I wanted to do something more upbeat so I did some speed intervals. I started out with a speed that I would love to run at in a triathlon (8 min miles) I did a 1/4 mile interval with active recovery after. I then moved the speed up somewhat and did another 1/4 interval. (7:15/mile) My goal here was to move up the speed enoght to trick my body into thinking that the original speed was slow. This usually works and it did again today. Once again I did another interval at an even faster speed. (6:30/mile). I then did the last interval at the original speed and I actually had to slow myself down. Goal accomplished. Also, 50 pushups.

Like I said before I also had a good day with the eating. Breakfast I had a bagel and some oatmeal with blueberries. Mid-morning snack-apple. Lunch-powerbar and apple. Afternoon snack-almonds. Dinner-turkey tacos, black beans and brown rice. No dessert after dinner but almost. I thought about having to post it in this blog and passed. Maybe this is working. Down 4 pounds for the week.

I will be back in the pool on Friday and a brick on Saturday. I need to be good on the exercise as I have 3 Father's Day related get togethers all planned around one thing eating.

The Beginning

Here goes nothing. This blog is created to create some accountability in myself. I have done one triathlon and actually beat my goal time but still have failed miserably along the way. The way I have failed has been in my exercising and my diet. I figure that if I am not able to do this on my own that I could write this blog and at least you people that may or may not read it can hold me accountable. My main goal for this blog would be to record my exercise and publish my diet (or lack there of) and maybe have some fun along the way. To explain the title of my blog, you may or may not know that a triathlon consists of swim, bike and a run in that order. Most people say that a triathlon is won or lost in the run. Out of these 3 disciplines I struggle with the run the most. Coincidentally, I have been running the longest. I am okay in the swim, decent in the bike but am really frustrated with my run. The one minute promise is the promise to myself while I am running to run for just one more minute then I can walk. Hopefully after that one minute is up I will make another promise to myself in hopes of continuing running until the end. I read a book about a guy that made these promises the whole way through a marathon in an Ironman event. Hence, for me "one minute promises."

As of right now for this week I am just going to catch up on the week so far.

Monday-back in the pool. Main set of 5oo yds, 300 yds pull bouy, 4x50 on the .50/ 4x100, and a 300 yd cool down. As far as the eating goes, no breakfast, powerbar for mid-morning snack, apple and powerbar for lunch some spaghetti for dinner. Also, 50 pushups before bed. Overall this is a good day I just wish I had more like this one.

Tuesday- 25 min run in the neighborhood. Our neighborhood is very hilly unlike where I usually run which is the Longleaf Trace. I enjoy the hills for the most part but not last night. Man it is really hot. I ran with only my watch and Ipod, no heart rate monitor. Even though I ran without my heart rate monitor I could tell it was really elevated. Your heart rate can really spike in the heat because it takes that much more exertion just to cool yourself off. I probably ran 2.5 miles in that 25 minutes and did 50 pushups after the run. For breakfast I had a bagel, powerbar for mid morning snack, salad with shrimp and crabmeat for lunch, apple for mid afternoon snack and pork with field peas and rice and bread for dinner. I also had a few cookies. (not good)

Today- off day for the workout. Breakfast-powerbar, lunch- shrimp and grits, mid afternoon snack 2 nutrigrain bars and dinner we had philly cheese steak sandwiches. I really did bad before dinner and snacked. Not that snacking is bad if you eat the right things. I don't think Fritos is the right thing. But, down 2 pounds for the week. We will see how tomorrow is.

I fail mostly in my diet because of snacking. I can do really well sometimes like eating fruit when I am hungry but right before supper I am bad about having chips or sweets or anything bad. Maybe that I am having to write it down I will do this less. That is my goal anyway.