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!!