Little River 10 Miler

Saturday morning was a cold, but clear, day as David "Kenny" Olson and I woke up and started our breakfast routine in the kitchen. Kenny was able to stay overnight with Andrea and the kids and came downstairs with Isaac and Maya to get the morning rolling. He opted for a PB and honey open faced sandwich with banana slices and I had my usual oatmeal with raisins and agave nectar (substitute for honey in the Engine 2 Diet). I was still afraid that I wasn't going to have enough energy to complete the race after my first full week on the diet, but I seemed to be alright.

Morven met us at the house and we went over and picked up Rachel on the way. I was using this as a training race for the Tobacco Road 1/2 and decided to go with the heavier, but more comfortable, shoes, gloves, ear coverage, and soccer pants with the 28 degree starting temp. I also decided to use my backpack to carry 1.5 liters of water with me (which I didn't come close to using so instead it just added weight on the uphills haha). It was a tough 10 mile trail race with lots of cutbacks putting stress on the knees and ankles as well as up/downs that got you pretty tired on the front end. I got into a comfortable groove and took my time through the first 7 miles. I popped a Honey Stinger Energy Gel with Kola Nut and when the lady told me I had 2.5 miles to go and was at 1:11:30, I knew that I needed to rally to make it under 1:30 even. I closed the last 2.5 miles is under 17 mins and finished in 80th place out of about 300 racers. Our ActivEdge team did great with David Olson and David Tallon finishing in the top 25 with 1:17's, Rachel Kroll Bordogna winning her age group and placing 4th overall female (14 secs separating 2nd-4th), and Morven and Roger crossing sub 1:40's.

All said and done, a good training day for me and fantastic day for the team. The "unofficial" results have us 2nd breaking last years record by almost 30 mins collective but there was a paid professional team from FSSeries Racing that took 1st and set an even better record with an average time of 1:15:30 per racer. I'd like to add that our team was easily the top finishing team that had a female as well... the top team was all males in addition to being paid pros.

I loved the race and thought the course was nice. I was overdressed to really get going and was sweating with the first uphill. I know now that there is plenty of water on the course as well and should leave the weight loading pack behind (water weight is roughly 1 Liter = 1 Kg or 2.2 lbs, in addition to the pack at 3 lbs, I added over 6 lbs). I hope to return next year and make a run at those pros from FSSeries after I get stronger with hills.

Engine 2

This is the end of the 3rd day on the Engine 2 Diet and my body seems to be OK. I lack some energy every once in awhile between breakfast and lunch and then again between lunch and dinner. I have found some Vega Sport bars and protein supplements to help combat the hunger. The dinners are the hardest. This is where I usually pile on the meat and boost my calories with dense protein foods. I was surprised at how good some of the dishes on the Week 1 menu were. Hoping my energy levels will be there when I need them on Saturday for the Little River 10 Miler.

Kenny reminded me that I should probably take it a little easier tomorrow, but the plan calls for a 5 mile mid tempo paced run and I think I'll try and do my best to stick with that. My ultimate goal is a half marathon in the 1:30s and I need to stay focused to get there. I need to get into the water as well since I haven't been in the pool in 4 weeks. Will try tomorrow to do them both and Friday will just be heavy upper body weights (meat-style with David Hey).

The Little River 10 Miler will definitely be interesting as it is a trail run with lots of ups and downs. These type of races are tough to navigate through the crowd and will be hard to get into a rhythm. We have entered the team competition and our top 4 finishers will place to give the team average. I have recruited a strong team and will most likely be the 4th time with Rachel, Kenny, and David Tallon in front of me.

Happy to have Kenny and Andrea come into town the night before and will most likely take a small one meal break from the E2 Diet to have some pizza and beer with Kenny after the race. I'm planning on using the water on the course for now, although may change my mind and go with the Nathan backpack. I will be taking some Honey Stinger gels with and without caffeine with me...

Christmas' Plural

We are in Christmas number 2 right now with Carrie's parents in town and the kids are loving the 2nd round of gift opening. Last week, I had time off and we went up to Beech Mountain for a few days with the kids. We were hoping to have some fun in the snow, but at 5000ft elevation, all we got was a little rain and 60 degree days. One of the days, it was so warm when I went for a long run, that I was tempted to take off my shirt because I was sweating so profusely... nonetheless... We had a great time in the cabin, aptly named "Peace of Heaven" and we did some nice hiking at Grandfather Mountain. Once I load the photos, I'll link them through my Picasa Albums and Google+ account.

On the way back from the mountains, we stopped in Winston and I got to see my dear friend Andrea for the second time in a few weeks and got to see an already growing Ezra James.. what a joy! Kenny and I enjoyed several good grafts of Craggie's Antebellum Ale and stayed for a nice dinner. Wish they lived a little closer and hopeful that they just might end up in Durham...

Zimm and I were joined by Charlie for the traditional and epic Beowulf workout that we nailed down on Christmas Eve. Charlie's first attempt was a respectable sub 40 min effort as Zimm and I watched him lead out on The Grid. I hung on dear life bringing up the rear and was just happy to survive another day. Charlie was surprised at how tired I was at the end as I lay slumped in the rowing machine. Zimm broke my record of last year, but then I had to break his "new" record and went 32 mins. Exhausted and tired I barely made it back home for Eve service at All Saints.

We woke up in our own house for Christmas morning. We have been able to do this for the past 3 Christmas' but usually are headed out on the road or flying that day to see family so it was nice to just relax for a change. Braden and Eli loved opening their gifts and were so excited to share Face Time on Carrie's iPhone with their grandparents. Braden's favorite gift was his Spider-Man action figure and Eli's was the food. They both loved their new books and matching 993 New Balance shoes (which are AWESOME of course! haha).

I had to return to work this past Tuesday and Carrie's parents have started to help put together the complicated fort and swingset. With all the grandparents coming over and around the next several days we may just have the set up and done by the time the last one leaves.

As for training, it has sort of taking a back seat for now. I haven't swam in over 2 weeks and biked sporadically. I have managed a couple sessions of weights but have stayed on top of the running and am looking forward to trying to better my Tobacco Road half marathon time. My training is not quite the intensity that I'd like, but I have a lot on my plate and am preparing for a giant step forward for ActivEdge in 2012. I have the long tempo run tomorrow and will hopefully be joined by my old friend, Ted Reedy - lunch to follow... maybe Nana's Tacos? Friday looks to get me back on the bike on the trainer (assuming that the garage has been cleared from all the playset set-up). If not, weights with David Hey over lunch looks to be extremely intense (everything is with him haha). Liking the no direction randomness for now. Blood tests tomorrow to start off the Engine 2 Diet which starts on Monday, January 2nd.

Thanks for hanging with me over the Holidays and look for some great workouts to be posted starting January 2nd!

Tours Collide

Looking forward to seeing my good bud Michael Zimmerman this week as his short break for Thanksgiving nears. He was home shortly for Tyler's unprecedented repeat championship for Cardinal Gibbons this past weekend (congrats Tyler!), but our schedules didn't line up as I was in Winston-Salem visiting Andrea and her new baby Ezra James (Kenny was out of town...). Our Thanksgiving plans keep expanding as we take on more and more families and people that do not have their own immediate family to celebrate with - we are up to 22 people now at the Diaz estate! I'm excited to see them all and my brother and his wife, Lindsay, it's been too long... We also have the Duke Women's soccer game on Friday night that should be a victory sending the team to the Final Four!! So much happening and plenty to be thankful for... so neat.


As far as fitness, this week already has had a rough start with a challenging run early yesterday morning (1 mile up, 12x400m repeats btwn 1:19-1:27 with 90 secs of RBI, then 1 mile down). The weights for this week back to week 1 with a few changes:

WEEK 4


Mon (WOD): 3 sets unless noted


Incline BB press at 45 - 4 sets of 5
Jump rope/leg press SS - 50x on the rope and then together x 10 on the leg press (finished at 4 plates each side)
NG alternating pull-ups from side to side - added 35lbs x 8
Walking lunges - 10yds and back w 25lb DB's
SA DB row on the bench - 80lbs x 10 each
Abs on the decline - 10 tosses to the side, side and middle with 5kg
Arnold press at 90 deg - 50lb x 6


Wed (WOD) - HIIT Tabata Style 6x through with 2 mins rest after 3x


1. L push ups left
2. Plank
3. L push up right
4. Seal-ups
5. Jumping slam balls
6. DB step ups left
7. Dips off step
8. DB step ups right
9. KB swings
10. Leg raises in slings


Fri (WOD): 3 sets unless noted


DB bench press - x10, x8, x6, x4
Balance squats with BB on the BOSU x 10
SA alternating cable pulldowns - x 5-6 each arm
Glute/ham raises off bench on ball x 15
Tricep rope OH - x 10
TRX lunge hop x 10 each
BB SLDL - x 10
Rope climb abs on decline - x 30

Ezra James

Loving the Autumn time and the cool mornings to run in... makes this so much more enjoyable. Did 2 laps around the Wu Duke trail, 1 with Maddy and 1 without. It took all my strength to leave the watch inside the car and just run it at a casual pace during the reintroduction to running week. After Maddy had to skip out to go to work, I put the iPod on and Old Pine by Ben Howard was the 2nd song on. I really think that is the absolute perfect autumn song and I loved every minute of it. Starts slow, builds, and then finishes fast - perfect for running! I'm kinda on a Ben Howard kick right now too so that was great that he came on - I currently have 171 songs on the shuffle now and it's fun to see what might pop up next. 6 miles total for the run and a great afternoon Tabata session with Charlie. Tomorrow will be the first day in the pool since Sportsplex over 3 weeks ago... ugh. On the way home, my good friend David (Kenny) sent me a text with the picture of their newest addition - Ezra James Olson. My college best friend, and his wife, Andrea was a trooper throughout as she pushed a 9lb baby into this world at 2:15pm. So happy for them both... another life, another miracle from Our Creator. Blessed.

Onwards We March

A good intro into intense lifting last week with some quality time with Charlie Densmore in the gym. Unfortunately, running has to commence this week in order to get my half marathon into the 1:30's... I love the winter and enjoy lifting a ton (especially now that I have a posse to help me over lunch), but I'll have to find a way to drag myself out of bed in the pitch black and put on the running shoes before most people haven't even thought about getting up. I can only hope my other teammates are ready to pick up the slack if I'm not overly enthused... (cuing Morven, Rachel, Kenny, Roger, Lauren, and Maddy).

As for now, I'll look forward to the lift:

WEEK 2

Mon (WOD): 3 sets unless noted

Bench press - 4 sets of 5

TRX squats into TRX single leg squats - x 12 and then x 8 each side

Open chest arching pull-ups - BW to fail

BB loaded split squats - x 6 each side

Bent over BB loaded close grip rows - x 10

Crunches on stability ball x 15

DB split press x 4 each side (do all 4 on one side and then switch)

Wed (WOD) - HIIT Tabata Style 6x through with 2 mins rest after 3x

1. L hand on med ball push ups

2. Plank

3. R hand on med ball push ups

4. Hamstring letdowns

5. Dynamax fwd slams

6. Bench jumps on left

7. Bench jumps on right

8. Horizontal pull-ups

9. 45lb bar hold leg raises

10. Med ball shuffle jumps

Fri (WOD): 3 sets unless noted

Decline DB bench press - x 8-10

SL hamstring curls on stability ball x 12 each side

Seated underhand pulldowns x 10

Lateral plate lunges x 10 each side

Skullcrushers - x 10

Cable swimming pulls - x 10 each side

Vertimax squat jumps 4 x 4 for each set

Decline pulse abs and hold - 30 pulses and then 15 sec hold

Upping the Ante

Braden starts Tues/Thurs class till noon this week and so now I'm going to have to adjust my schedules for those days. That leaves little time over the lunch hour after I pick him up and then bring him home and hang out with the boys for a bit. So, realistically, the only training that will be done on those days will be a swim from 1pm-2pm each day. Mondays and Wednesdays I have committed to some fellowship with a couple of guys from church over a lifting session 12-1pm. Other than that, I'm going to try and fit this all in... at least until the sprint is done and then I can meat out for a few weeks...

Monday (10/3/2011) - R: 1 mile up, 6x800m w 400m RBI, 1 mile down; W: 60 min WOD (I'll put what we do for the WOD sessions after I finish, Kenny)

Tuesday (10/4/2011) - S: 200WU, 6x50m SA pulls, 12x100m w 10secs RBI, 4x25 KSS, 100CD

Wednesday (10/5/2011) - B: 36 miles AE; W: 60 min WOD

Thursday (10/6/2011) - S: 60 mins forthcoming

Friday (10/7/2011) - B: 90 mins mtn bike or hilly road ride; R: 6 mile hilly run

Saturday (10/8/2011) - OFF

Sunday (10/9/2011) - B: trainer for 60 mins; R: 30 mins at the Dagobah System MT

Becoming

Not sure how I feel about this new platform to write on, but I'm sure Google has done it's research and this is probably better than the old one so I'll just have to adjust.  It's been awhile since I've last written on this blog and I apologize for my absence. So many things happen at the end of summer with the athletes heading back to college, family vacations, Braden's birthday, and adjusting to the new work schedule. No excuses I know, but sometimes life just gets in the way...

Today was another one of those life moments. Braden, who turned 3 on August 27th, started his first day of pre-school today at Westminister Church in Durham. Caroline was able to take him and I had the joy and privilege of picking him up. He was so excited to see me and tell me about his day and couldn't stop talking the entire way home. Braden is such a sweet sweet boy and it is so rewarding to see him smile and enjoy his simple life. What a blessing today was...

As for training, Morven and I have entered into a sprint on October 15th and that means that training has a purpose now. For the first full week of training I will start from Saturday, September 3rd, and come up through the weekend approaching. I will try and make a point of posting the week's plan on Sunday night so Kenny and Rachel can follow if they want to try the sprint on October 15th as well.

9.3.2011 - Saturday

43 miles out and back from Herndon Park with Morven and Roger Jeffs (a friend and client who I'm training for the B2B Half Iron on October 30th). We decided to ride quite a bit farther than we probably should but it was nice to give Roger some company and we were able to average 20mph for the distance which is a record for me on that ride. Roger had to take off but Morven and I ran about 3 miles down the ATT at a steady and easy pace after the ride.

9.4.11 - Sunday OFF

9.5.11 - Monday

R: 1 mile up, 6 x 800m repeats w 300m RBI, 1 mile down (3:15 1st one, then hit 3:00 for the next 5)
HR was at 185 for the last 2 800's indicating that I might need another day off because of the stretch on the ride on Saturday.

9.6.11 - Tuesday OFF

9.7.11 - Wednesday

B: 120 mins on the trainer with 6 x 10 minute hard intervals and another 5 min hard (HR around 160 during the hard)

W: 60 min FB WOD at lunch

9.8.11 - Thursday

S: 200 WU, 6 x 50 catch-up, 4 x 150+50, 4 x 25 KSS, 50 CD

9.9.11 - Friday

R: 8 miles with 4 miles tempo in the middle on Duke's campus
W: 60 min FB WOD at lunch

9.10.11 - Saturday

B: 44 hilly miles R: 2 miles easy

9.11.11 - Sunday OFF

White Lake Half Iron

So the time finally came after weeks and weeks of preparation. We checked in on Friday afternoon and settled into our fairly primitive digs right on the race site. There were 5 of us in the cabin with open air windows and constant noise and light coming in. Morven, Zimm, and I, got their first and stashed our stuff in the back corners and dropped the top bunk to have a double stack on the bottom. While in the line to pick up our race packet, I realized that I forgot my CEP calf sleeves and needed to purchase some at the satellite Inside-Out Sports site. They didn't have my size in the CEP and so I was forced to go with the Zensah's. Similar feel but NOT built for long legs and so my calves were not fully supported but oh well, it will have to do...

Kangaroo and Ruby outside the hut

Morven and Zimm putting down some grub

View out our cabin door - inches from the finish

Morven, Zimm, and Tom

Tom and David showed up a little later and we were able to move the cars around so that we were parked right to the side of the cabin. We then headed down near the lake to hear the logistical meeting and ate a nice spaghetti dinner provided by the local White Lake Baptist Church. Even though it was rustic, it was nice to share in a team dinner at our picnic table inside our cabin. It was fun to share stories and to get ready for the mornings adventures together. We took a walk out to the water exit dock (about 200yds or so from the cabin entrance) and hung out under the stars for a little. I am thankful for friends like them and memories like that... something I will always remember.

We headed to the outhouse to finish cleaning up and then shut out the lights (well at least the ones INSIDE the cabin...there were still plenty of others on outside that were shinning in). Even though we settled in around 10:30pm or so, I felt like I was constantly tossing and turning until at least 2-3am. In that time, I got up twice and walked around outside and went to the bathroom. I kept a water bottle near my head and was drinking all night to stay hydrated. I think around 3am I finally fell into a deeper sleep only to have Morven pulling on my feet at 5am to wake me for some breakfast.

Indecisive about the helmet - aero or vented?

Getting the shoes ready

Morven lining up her belt

David breaking out the suit

I had my usual pre-race meal of 2 packets of Trader Joe's Organic Oatmeal with raisins in it. I usually have orange juice as well, but this time I just started downing my Nalgene filled with BCAA's and Gatorade powder. After breakfast, I filled my protein mix water bottle and another one with water only and headed out to set up my transition area.

No sleep = No probem

Breakfast

The team was ready and in wetsuits at about 6:40am and we headed out the cabin door and literally about 30yds from the water entrance. David and I debated on whether or not to jump in the water and warm up since we were going off in the 2nd and 3rd waves, but when the director came on and said that we were going to wait a little longer to start the race to allow the fog to lift off the lake we decided to wait it out. At about 7:10am the director came back on and said that we were going to delay the start will 8am because we couldn't see the sight buoys and the conditions were still dangerous. It was nice to be so close, so we just headed back to the cabin and relaxed on the beds.

David and I are loaded up and ready to get the suits on

Putting a wetsuit on takes awhile

David, Morven, Me, and Tom

If the director would have waited till 8am to make the final call, we would have swam, but instead he made the call at 7:45am that we would be doing just the bike and run (I say JUST when obviously those are the major events in the triathlon and the swim doesn't really matter at all but still we all were ready for the swim and trained to complete the WHOLE thing, not 90% of it...). Anyway, after running back and forth from the transition they started releasing us from the water exit spot in 2 sec intervals so that the transition area was not a cluttered mess. We ran from the dock into the transition area and we were off...

Coming out of T1

On the bike, I didn't have to fight the usual sluggish start after the swim and was able to start cranking away right off the gun. At 60 mins in I was over 22 miles and at 90 mins in I was just over 34 miles. Unfortunately, I realized that I was running out of my 400 calorie/electrolyte laden beverage in my water bottle and I was down to my last Accel Gel out of the 4 that I had packed with me (2 of them were Honey Stinger gels at 120 calories). I knew that I was going to be in danger soon and when I hit the 40 mile mark draining both (leaving only water left), it was just a matter of time before something was going to happen. That something happened at mile 50...

At mile 50, cramps started setting in and my 22mph pace came to a halt as I had to actually dismount the bike with 3 to go because I couldn't turn the pedals without the hamstring cramping. I got off and started to stretch until I could straighten my leg out and felt better. I needed electrolytes and was looking forward to getting to the aid station at the 1.5 mile mark of the run.

I slowly came in to the transition area and left not knowing for sure what was going to happen. I had to walk most of the first mile for a 10 min pace and was not thinking that I was going to be able to finish. At the first chance I had, I started taking the electrolyte tablets with water and grabbed a towel and squeezed it over my head. After 10 mins of so I actually started to feel better and I began to proactively take the tablets at almost all of the stations with water until I came to the last marker at mile 10 and then I just toughed it out from there. David passed me at mile marker 3 but then I caught him and we ran together for awhile at mile marker 5 or so. At mile 7-8 he started to die off and so I started to pull away. I hobbled in with minimal cramps and was able to close sub 7 min mile again and felt great at the finish line.

I pulled around and lined up with Zimm to watch the others come in when I started to feel a little sick. I walked over to the shade and still didn't feel so good so I headed over to the medical area. Here, they took my BP at 110/70 when I got there but in the 2 mins that I was there it dropped to 70/50. At this point, they hooked my up to a EKG and saw a spiked T-wave. This indicated an elevated potassium level and they did a quick blood scan to confirm. Once they realized that there was potassium in the "salt" tablets that I was taking they quickly put in an IV and began pumping in a saline solution to pull the potassium out. After about 2 hours of sitting in a beach chair with blankets around me, I finally started to feel better but missed all the others finishing. I didn't get to drink the beer with Tom and I didn't get to eat any of the free food... boooooo.

All said and done, the race itself went fine. I had decent times that could've been better, but considering the cramping, I was happy. I was on pace to PR on the bike for 56 miles (and still was close) and I just beat my B2B time on the run despite the 10 min first mile and cramping throughout. The rest of the team did great as well. Morven managed to run faster on the White Lake half marathon than the open Tobacco Road marathon a few weeks before, which is absolutely remarkable. She never had any type of cramping and looked strong throughout. I am so proud of her. David and Tom had some struggles. David, hit the wall on the run and his hamstrings tightened up limiting his movement. A strong runner he struggled the back half of the run. He also was penalized 4 mins for drafting which didn't help. Tom, couldn't find any luck when his chain snapped and he needed to wait about 15 mins or so for someone to come and help him link his chain. He, too, had cramps and struggled on the run as well. Zimm came through in the clutch for perhaps the greatest day of us all with some great pics that I hope to have uploaded soon on this post. But most importantly, I was happy to be alive and able to get home and see my family again. Another race done...