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.