Happy Holidays

So I haven't posted in 3+ weeks. I was sick mid-December, then super busy with work, then the holidays. I'm currently in Arizona visiting family and it's COLD. However, I have been sticking to my every other day program, and today I had a good result. But first, a recap of the prior 2 (short) runs:

Christmas day - After lots of cookies and other garbage on Christmas Eve, I set out for a 4 mile run midday on Christmas day. It was only ok. I struggled with the cold, it was tough to breathe, and I labored through 4 miles.

December 27 - Medium effort 4 miles in Paradise Valley (through Camelback Country Club). Very scenic, nice surface, no traffic, felt much better than Christmas day.

December 29 (today) - 8.25 miles, a breakthrough, on the canals of Phoenix. Felt great, cool temperatures, nice hardpack dirt surface, only 4 road crossings in 8 miles. First 4 miles tried to keep HR at <150, next 3 miles <160, last 1.25 pushed hard, fastest mile (at least fast by my standards). At the 4 mile mark I drank 12 oz. of canned raspberry tea and ate a banana, and I definitely felt the extra energy (usually I only have water midway through runs > 4 miles). I love running the canals. Great run!

Tomorrow is an off day, but may pedal exercise bike for a bit to loosen up. They a short run Thursday before driving back to San Diego.

Signing off for now.

8 miles

I ran 8 miles today. Not only that, but the first 3 miles were 2 minutes faster than my 5k split in the Carlsbad Triathlon in July. Legs hurt now, and it was noticeably more challenging than the 7 miles I did last week, but I made it, then walked another mile home (all uphill). A year ago I could barely run 1 mile, and today I ran 8. I'm not getting that much faster, but I am getting stronger, and I'm getting more and more confident that I'll have a good Carlsbad 1/2 (in 7 weeks) and be able to survive the run portions of Oceanside and Ironman Arizona.

I still haven't been able to get out on the bike. Maybe tomorrow depending on the weather.

On an unrelated (but more exciting) note, last night we took Audrey to the Y for her first swimming experience. It was perfect, really warm water, hardly anyone in the pool, and we had a great time. She sat on the top step, then stood on my knees when I sat on the step, then laid on her back with her head on my shoulder, then cruised around with me and even went underwater a couple of times. She loved it. Not a single cry, just lots of smiles and squeals. 4 months and 1 day and she's in the pool. We had a blast!

Signing off.

Slight change in plan...

More on that in a minute. First, had a great week, finally kicked the chest cold that has hampered me for the past 10 days or so. Decent shorter runs on Tuesday (at the YMCA on one of the new nice treadmills) and an abbreviated beach loop on Thanksgiving morning, then a great 7 miler on Saturday. Three months ago I wouldn't have been able to run 7 miles, but Saturday it went great. LSD-style, cruised the first 3.5 miles, then increased the pace slightly on the back half with mile 7 the fastest of all for a negative split run. Had I not cranked on mile 7 there would have been plenty in the tank for another mile or so. Eight weeks until the 1/2 marathon in Carlsbad and I'm feeling like I'm in a good position.

So about that change in plans, after giving it some thought, I'm not going to be doing the San Diego Rock and Roll marathon. I don't need to have a marathon under my belt to be able to complete Ironman, and my concern is that given that I'm a big guy the marathon would be really hard on my body, would take a long time to recover from and would set me back on my other training. I'll be better served focusing on some solid long rides that weekend.

On that note, I haven't been able to ramp up my bike training yet. While I need to focus on the run for Carlsbad, there are only 8 weeks between the 1/2 marathon and Ironman 70.3 California, and I need to get some miles in between now and late-January. I will work in some saddle time this week.

This week my training schedule is:

Run Monday (easy), Wednesday (moderate, some speed work), Friday (moderate), Sunday (8 miles)

Bike Tuesday (spin), Thursday (easy 1 hour ride), Saturday (2 hours easy / moderate effort)

Swim Wednesday, Saturday

Signing off.

Registered for Ironman Arizona 2010

General registration for Ironman Arizona 2010 opened at 11:00am this morning. By 11:05 I was registered. When I hit the "send" button to transmit my credit card information, I immediately had chills and a bit of nervous anticipation, and the race is still a year away. In no particular order, as of this moment my thoughts are (1) I need to get over this cold so I can start training again, (2) what an amazing year it is going to be, and (3) the t-shirt and "swag bag" at the race had better be good, as $550 is pretty pricey for an entry fee.

Back to work!

Battling a Winter Cold

The temperature dropped ~ 10 degrees this week, and I came down with a winter cold. Good runs Monday (4 miles moderate effort, 1 long hill), and Wednesday (1/2 mile fast intervals), but had to skip Friday and today. Hopefully back at it tomorrow afternoon. Going for an easy swim at the YMCA later this morning.

Tomorrow is a big day, signing up for Ironman Arizona (which is happening as we speak).

Good week for running

This has been a great week for running. I've switched up the program a bit, running every other day, as opposed to three days in a row then a rest day then another run, and my legs are feeling great. The week started out last Sunday with a solid 5 miles down to the boardwalk and back around the bay. Then medium effort 3 mile runs at Harbor Island on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Harbor Island is a terrific place to run. It's 1.5 miles end-to-end, there are no stop signs or traffic lights, there are concrete, asphalt and grass surfaces, and the scenery is amazing. Aircraft carriers on the harbor, lots of pleasure boats, the beautiful San Diego skyline, and if you're lucky you'll catch the Oracle trimaran, this years U.S. entry in the America's Cup sailing race. I saw the Oracle on Tuesday and Thursday, pretty amazing. My friend Barrett who runs South Coast Yachts on Harbor Island captured it on video, you can see it here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KCn_1etPxM

The Oracle's mast is 160 feet tall, made of carbon fiber, and big enough around that a person can crawl up the inside of the mast to the top. In the right conditions it can sail more than twice the speed of the wind.

This morning was my "LSD" run (long slow distance), I did 6 miles, down to the beach, to the roller coaster, and back along the bay. It felt great, nice and strong, the second half was faster than the first. My running is coming along. Can't say the same about my bike training, but will try to get on track next week.

Bear down Arizona and beat Cal today!

How We Got Here

So I haven't always been "couchman." In my youth I was a competitive swimmer, excelling during high school (Arizona HS Champion 100 yd freestyle and a couple of relays in 1990) and as a member of the University of Arizona swimming team for a couple of years. I also used to be an avid cyclist, both mountain and road, and I completed the El Tour de Tucson in 1995 (112 miles). Sadly all of these things happened in the past. Since 1996 (the year I started law school), exercise and competitive activities have been virtually nonexistent for me. Starting a legal career and dealing with a cancer scare had a lot to do with my inactivity, but I also became somewhat lazy and content to ride the couch with a cold beer or two on the weekend instead of getting out and being active. No more!

This year I've started to rally a bit. Since January I've been running and swimming a bit, and in July I completed a sprint distance (short) triathlon. Then Audrey arrived on August 3 and I took a break, and until last week my exercise has been limited to carrying Audrey around the house, pushing her in the stroller around the neighborhood, and doing lots of 12-oz curls.

I'm hoping that once I get a few months into this routine the rust will come off and I'll find some of the swimming form and bike legs I had long ago. We'll see.

Good run last night. Still dealing with an achy right ankle, hopefully working more cycling into the routine will help with that.

Week 1 Complete, 55 to go...

It's Sunday, week 1 complete. I had 3 good runs this week, including a solid 5 miles this morning. There were 4 runs on the schedule, but then I attended an epic Halloween party Friday night and had a bit too much of the devil juice (tequila), and Saturday morning was shot. It probably was for the best though, as my right ankle has been especially creaky and achy this week and it seemed to benefit from the extra rest day. Speaking of ailments and body parts, at the Halloween party the hosts went all out to make turn their home into the house of horrors. I especially appreciated the anatomically-correct "Thorax Cake," seen below. Each organ was a different kind of cake (red velvet, chocolate, carrot cake, etc.), and the ribs were white chocolate. Quite the creation.




I'm liking daylight savings, as it means more light in the a.m. for those early runs and bike rides. Signing off for now.

Training Plans

With training officially under way, I thought I'd discuss how I plan to prepare for the 4 events in 2010. Leading up to each event is a different phase of my training. For Phase I, training for the Carlsbad 1/2 Marathon, I'm following a 12-week program that has me running 4 days each week, with 3 days consecutive running, a rest day, then a long run. I'll be running Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday, although I am going to cut myself some slack and make adjustments from time to time.

Phase II, preparing for Ironman 70.3, starts November 2 and overlaps with Phase I through the end of January. The training program I'm following was created by Craig Zelent, an accomplished local triathlete and one of the coaches for the Triathlon Club of San Diego. The program can be found here.
http://media.triclubsandiego.com/documents/California+70.3+Half+Ironman+2009.pdf Essentially the program involves alternating a long distance week with a "brick" week. For the distance weeks there's a long ride and run, which I'll do Saturday and Sunday, with shorter workouts spaced throughout the week. For the brick weeks Saturdays involve a long bike ride immediately followed by a run, and Sundays involve a long run on dead legs.

Programs for Phase III (training for the full marathon in June) and Phase IV (preparation for Ironman Arizona) will be determined after the Carlsbad race in January.

By the way, had a good 3 mile run earlier this evening. Signing off for now.

56 weeks and counting...

Day one, many to go. After much internal deliberation, I've decided to commit to the following:

1. Run Carlsbad 1/2 marathon in January 2010 (~14 weeks from today);
2. Train for and participate in Ironman 70.3 in Oceanside in March 2010 (~22 weeks from today);
3. Train for and participate in San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon in June 2010 (~33 weeks from today); and
4. Train for and participate in Ironman Arizona in November 2010 (~56 weeks from today).

I'm creating this blog to record my progress and the successes and failures I'll experience along the way.

As a busy corporate attorney and new parent, I've struggled with whether I will be able to make the time required to adequately prepare for these events. In the end I realized that I don't have much of a choice. I have to do this, to prove to myself that as I approach my late 30s I can still accomplish physical challenges, and of course for the health benefits that will come from these endeavours. I have to do this, as after 9 years of dedicating myself to my career at the expense of almost everything else in my life I need to do something for myself. And I have to do this for Audrey Kai, our daughter who was born August 3, 2009, to set a good example for her and to put myself on a course where I will be around for a long time for Audrey and for her mother and my beautiful wife, Kim.



So the countdown begins at 56 weeks. Should be quite the ride...