Getting Pumped for October

October is shaping up to be a great month! On Monday, October 1st I'll be starting a new job. I'm so excited about this because, among the many other reasons, I won't be working nights, weekends and holidays for the first time in 7 years. That means I'll be able to get back on to a regular sleep schedule (no more getting off work at midnight, and in bed at 1 am, only to get back up at 6 am to go back to work). Those days just suck. It drains me physically, mentally, and emotionally. No more...woo hoo!

In addition to the new job October is one of my favorite months for racing. This one is going to be particularly busy with 3 races lined up. The first race is the Little Miami Triathlon. This will be my 4th outing of the Little Miami's kayak, run, bike race. I don't have any specific goals for this race other than just to get out and have fun...and kick my friend's ass! Every year I do this race with my best friend. Last year he was talked into doing the canoe division with a partner. I was in a kayak, so we weren't really racing head to head. This year he's upgraded his bike and has been training with a buddy at work on his run. He'll crush me in the kayak. He has a lot more experience and better form in the kayak and has better upper body strength. That's just the beginning though. I plan on seeing him on the run, and passing him on the run. :)

The second race for the month is going to be the Corridor Classic Half Marathon, and more importantly The World Wide Half Marathon. It will be so exciting to know that I'll be running with Team Sparkpeople and all the other runners all over the world! Check it out at worldwidehalf.com. For this race I do have a specific goal. I want to set a new pr, and crush my previous record of 1:35.55. I'd also like to run negative splits for this race. I really need to slow myself down at the beginning of races.

The third and final race of the month is the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Run Like Hell 5k. This one is not only a race, but also a volunteer project I've been working on all fall. I'll be working the night of the race doing something in a booth, and I'll probably be dressed up in a costume, so needless to say this run will be just for the fun of it! I just need to think of a costume that will be easy to run in, and has no mask that will constrict breathing. Any suggestions?

The Advantages of Running at 5 AM

Disclaimer: This blog entry is an attempt to delude, I mean convince, myself that getting up at 5 am to run is in fact a great idea. I mean I'm going to be doing it over the next few months, so let the deluding, I mean convincing begin!

1. It's better than coffee. I'm not a huge coffee drinker, but I do like those bottled Starbucks Frappuccino drinks in the morning. A good run in the morning is a great way to get the blood flowing and a nice shot of endorphins.

2. I avoid the heat of the day. For a little while longer temps are still hitting in the low 80's. I'm not a fan of running in the heat. So, for the time being it's nice to run before the sun comes rises. Now that's going to be a different story come November and December. Let's just not think about that right now.

3. When work is done it's family time. I can't convince my wife and daughter to get up at 5 am and hang out with me. So, I guess it's better for the marriage if I spend time with her after work sometimes instead of running or cycling all the time.

4. Running in the dark can be fun! We live on a pretty safe, out of the way road, so running in the dark is fairly safe as long as I don't trip and fall on my face! This morning I felt like I was in my own personal horror movie. I was running in the pitch black of our street where there are no street lights, so the only lights I had were the lights of a few scattered houses with their lights on. I was surrounded by the woods and the sounds of small animals like squirrels and large animals like deer scurrying away. I only hope I don't run into the mean ass pack of turkeys that roam the neighborhood. That would be a horror.

Help convince me. What are some other advantages?

Fall has...Fallen, in a totally good way

I was working up a rant on the lack of courtesy on our local multi-use path for today, but I think I'll put that off for another day in favor of something a little more positive. Fall has finally showed up in Ohio, and like it most often does it burst on the scene on the drop of a dime. You go to bed one night after a 90 degree F and muggy day only to wake up the next morning to 50 degrees and a day that reaches a high of 65 and no humidity. That alone is worth a little celebration. Add to that a little mental boost from a good run and you might find me dancing a little jig at said celebration.

I woke up at about 7 am to a long run that I didn't particularly feel like doing. I got little sleep last night, had a few too many drinks while hanging with a buddy, and was facing a very long 12 hour work day in 4 hours. After downing a big glass of water and some electrolyte tabs I stepped outside in my short sleeve TNT running shirt and a pair of shorts only to quickly run back inside. It was quite cold outside at only 49 F. I pulled out a bag of cold weather gear and dug out my running cap and gloves. Knowing that I need to work on my nutrition and hydration during long runs I pocketed a Gu and drove a bottle of water out to the 6 mile point of my run.

The run was wonderful. The 1.5 mile warm-up went smoothly. I picked up the pace for a 5.5 mile race pace section which wasn't quite up to the speed that I wanted, but it still felt great. I slowed it down for the last 3.25 miles, but even at 8 minute miles I felt like I could have put in another 5 miles. I haven't felt that way about a run in a few weeks, and not really good about any particular run since my last race. September wasn't off to a great start for training. All the heat, humidity, bad shoes, and general feeling of malaise has left me feeling less than excited about training into the fall. Today has gone a long way toward turning things around. It's the beginning of a new season, and I've got some of my favorite races of the year to look forward to as well:

10/7 - Little Miami Triathlon -kayak/run/bike
10/14 - World Wide Half at the Corridor Classic Half Marathon
10/26 - Run Like Hell 5K

Shoe Update

The shoes are going back. I'm really disappointed in how poorly they fit. I don't think I blame New Balance in anyway. I know several runners that swear by New Balance shoes. I'll just have to add it to my list of brands not suitable for me. This list also includes Nike, who apparently only makes shoes for all the narrow footed freaks of the world.

One of the complaints I forgot to mention in my blog yesterday was that toward the end of my first run the two smallest toes on my left foot started to go numb. That is never good as far as I know. Yesterday I went on a 6 mile run on a nice shady multi-use path. The path is completely flat and mostly straight. I figured after breaking the shoes in for a few days running in such ideal conditions should be no problem.

Everything felt good for the first 4 miles. Going into mile 5 I decided to pick up the pace for the last 2 miles. The toes on my left foot started to tingle. A few minutes passed as I tried to ignore the tingling, but then my ankle started to hurt and the pain quickly traveled up to my knee. That's about enough for me. That goes way beyond a shoe causing minor discomfort. I've always had a bit of a fear about my knees. Back and knee problems run in the family, so a shoe that aggravates the knees will be treated like toxic waste.

I'll be heading back to the shop this weekend to order another pair of Asics .

New Job, New Shoes

After months and months of applying for jobs, and after months and months of disappointment things are finally starting to look up in the job department. I've been interviewing for a new, better job over the last couple weeks. After the initial job interview at the end of August I was called back for a second interview. It was at that point that I decided to keep kind of quiet about the job. I told very few people, because I've been facing so much disappointment in the last year. I get tired of thinking that this will be the job only to not get the position. After that I'm faced with weeks of explaining to friends and relatives that I didn't get the job, and I don't understand either why I didn't get the job, and blah, blah, blah.

Well, I can say officially, 100%, undoubtedly that I did get the job. hip, hip , Hoooraaaay! This is the job that I talked about in my August 31st post. It's a new position, in a new department, so there isn't an official title or job description yet. I'll be doing what I like to do best, a little bit of everything. Variety is the spice of life after all. Hopefully I'll be starting sometime at the beginning of October.

I also just got a new pair of running shoes. Over the last year or so I've gone through 2 pair of Asics Gel Cumulus. I love those shoes. This time when I went into the Running Spot I decided that I wanted to try something different. I tried the new model of the Gel Cumulus, some model of Mizuno, and a pair of New Balance 755. I really liked the feel of the Mizuno, and the Gel Cumulus (or is it Cumuli?) were nice as always.

In the end I chose the New Balance 755's. I liked them better than the Mizunos, and they didn't have my size for the Asics. Besides I wanted to try something different right? So far I am not terribly impressed. I'm trying to give it some time to break them in, but my initial reactions are as follows.

- They are very stiff. I thought I liked that when I first tried them on, but after a couple runs I'm not liking it. The runs felt kind of...flat. I don't know if that's the appropriate term, but that's the best word I can think of at the moment.

- There is lots of room in the toe box. It seems a lot more than the Asics. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. That remains to be seen.

- Despite the roomy toe box they feel tight across the top of my foot. I made adjustments to the laces which helped a bit. I'll see this afternoon when I run how much of a difference it makes.

This will probably the last run I do in them before deciding whether to take them back. That's the nice thing about going to a good running store. Most of them are looking for customer loyalty, so making sure the customer is happy is job one.

Sometimes the Voices Win

It happened just before the 4 miles mark. I was pacing along with a woman at a good 7 minute/mile clip when the heat started to get to me, the legs started to feel weary, and the voices. The little voices came out to play. " Come on Adam slow down. Why are you pushing so hard? Why are you out here at all?" The game was on. I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on breathing and relaxing. No good. The voices grew louder and more insistent. The heat, the weariness, and the voices were just too much. I slowed down my pace. I didn't stop, but I just couldn't hold my pace. I watched as my pacing partner pulled away. Bummer. I spent the rest of the race trying not to get passed. I was passed once.

Every race has a lesson. It may be something new, or confirming something that I already knew that needed work. In this case it is confirmed that I need to work on my mental game. I'm not talking only about the negative voices that can be overwhelming at some points, although that is a large part, but also running a smarter race from start to finish. I have a bad habit of coming off the line too quickly, and this race was no exception. I ran my first mile in 6:27. Am I nuts? That's the pace I was shooting for in my last 5k. There is no reason for me to start that quickly other than some delusion of speed. What can I say? Saturday morning Roadrunner cartoons were a staple in my youth. These days I'm feeling more Wile E. Coyote than Roadrunner.

Here's the good news. Despite my nitpicking I ran a very good race. I finished with a time of 43:38 at a 7:02 pace. I was 24th overall 2nd in my division. That's all I have to say about that.

Training Assessment

I feel like I've been training for the Disney Marathon for a long time already due to the fact that I started training for the World Wide Half at the end of June. Either I'll benefit from having the base miles or I'll be so tired of training by the end of this that I'll blow up. Only time will tell. In the meantime I thought I'd do a quick assessment of where I am as I head into the 4 month countdown to Disney. First I'll start with training and then talk about fundraising.

Training has been tough up to this point and much of that is due to the weather. It hasn't been all bad, but the percentage of runs that have been "not fun" at the least to "torturous" at th worst has gone up dramatically. It's starting to cool off so I'm hoping that will change in short order. I'm also a bit frustrated and confused. The advice I'm getting from my coach is that I should start running goal pace runs as part of my long runs now. I've been doing that, but I'm not always able to maintain my desired pace. It's tough to get yourself up to running goal pace alone and the course I'm running is fairly hilly and doesn't lend well to fast running. I'm hoping that my ability to hold goal pace will improve over time. Right now I'm just doing the best I can.

Under the frustrated and confused category I'm also doubting that I can run a Boston qualifying race. It's still way early for such thoughts, but it isn't helping with my training. I need to find a way to balance out this desire to run fast and still maintain a level of enjoyment that makes this work worthwile. Today I had a good run which makes me feel a little better. I must have been in the zone. I was going back over my splits and panicked for a moment. I couldn't remember running part of my normal route. I know I did it because of the time, and I'm remembering enough now that I know I did it. It was just a weird feeling for a moment to have forgotten an entire section of my run. I don't know if that's good or bad. I think I need to change my route and shake things up. I warmed up 2 miles at a 8:20 pace. Ran the next 3 miles at a 7:44 pace followed by the tough hill section dropping to a 9:36 pace. I'm not surprised after yesterday's biking and finally finished the final 2 miles with an 8:35 pace.

Fundraising for Team in Training is going okay. I'm up over $500, which is good. I'm just freaking out a bit. I've still got over $3000 to go. I'm going to shoot for $1000 a month. Now I just have to figure out how I'm going to get there!!

Tomorrow I'll be racing the Mercy Metric 10k race. My goal for the event is to break 42 minutes. That would be a pace under 6:45. It's going to be a tall order after a tough week of training.

Running Fast is Hard!

A very important part of my marathon training is speed training. It is also the second least fun part of training. The first is hill training. I haven't been doing much in the way of hill training so far, so right now speed training is the least fun part. I shot an email to my coach Terry for some advice. This is part of his response:

---As an example, if you run your 800 m at 3:10 pace, theoretically you should be able to run a 3:10 marathon. The key to Yasso's is repeatability. You should be able to run them CONSISTENTLY within 5-10 seconds of the same time for each repeat. Generally a 400m recovery jog is run between them. You should concentrate on working your way up to between 8 and 10 of these.

Another option for you would be to do ladders, working your way up from 200m, 400m, 800 m, 1 mile ( with a recovery of about 1/2 each distance) and then work your way back down again.

Still another option, which worked well for me, is to concentrate on the Yasso's but with MINIMAL recovery between them (15-30 seconds). This will feel very much like racing, and is likely to be the hardest of the workouts of suggested. You will need to experiment with these to see which workout is best for you. Remember, you do only ONE of these workouts per week.

Lastly, another option from speed work is to do FAST hill repeats. Find a short,(100-200M ), moderately steep hill, run the uphills hard, and then walk or jog back down. Work yourself up to 10-12 of these. I know several people who swear that these are as effective as formal track work. Again, you will need to experiment to see what works for you.---

I was kind of hoping he would have something different for me, but I guess not. I used Yassos to train for the Flying Pig and he is completely correct. They were very accurate at determining how fast my marathon pace would be. I ran them at 3:30 most of the time during training and ran a 3:37 marathon.

I tried the Yassos with a short rest last week, and that wasn't for me. I need to keep moving, so I switched to the 400 jog in between. It gives a little more recovery time.

I make questionable choices

It has been ridiculously hot here in Cincinnati over the last week. Averaging in the mid 90s. Yesterday and today the temps topped out at over 100F. Don't worry though, the humidity is somewhere in the upper 80% range. So you take a shower, get all clean and fresh, walk outside, and immediately start sweating and feeling gross and sticky. It's lovely.

A normal person, a smart person, would probably stay inside, limit activity and enjoy all enmities modern life has provided. I prefer to dress up in a chicken suit and run around downtown assaulting people with brochures and candy and follow that up with a run right about the time that temps reach 100 degrees. I don't think it needs any explanation.

Okay, I'll explain. Tuesday we had our official kick-off for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's Run Like Hell. As a volunteer I had the privilege of taking part in the event on fountain square. I took one for the team and put on the chicken suit. I've dealt with hot and uncomfortable before. I used to be a baker. I spent 6 hours a day standing in front of an open oven. That was hot. The very next day I dealt with hot temps as I'll explain in a moment, but none of them compares to putting on that costume.

There is nothing quite like the feeling of sweat pooling in a rubber beak right in front of my mouth and breathing hot air into a rubber mask that goes right back into my face. I also had a choice in the mask. I could either breathe clearly, or see clearly...out of my left eye. I had to alternate, because doing both just wasn't feasible . On the bright side I think that confirms that I'm not claustrophobic.

How would you choose to follow up a day of running around in a chicken costume? I chose to go for a run in 100 degree heat. I went to my first Team In Training workout on Wednesday after work. I knew it was hot outside, but I work in a basement office all day with no windows. I have absolutely no sense of what it is like in the outside world while I'm working. I finally overheard someone talking about it as we were walking out to have our run. 101 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. Brilliant! Let's go run. Maybe it was the chicken suit experience that toughened me up, or maybe it was just the experience of having a group to run with instead of running alone, but it wasn't so bad.

Plans are Staring to Take Shape

I have a plan that is starting to form around this goal of a 3:10 marathon. I am pretty sure I'm going to make an attempt at the goal. I'm going to work up to the half marathon in October, and see how that goes. If the half goes well, then I'll move on from there. I think it will go well.

The plan is to start running marathon pace long runs now. I'm running 8 mile long runs at the moment, and I'm not quite up to running 8 miles at a 7:15 or faster pace. Yesterday I was able to run 4 miles at a 7:15 pace, and 4 miles at a slower pace. I'll use that as a starting point. Every week I'll add on a mile at race pace to my long run. So, next week I'll run 8 for my long run. The first 2 miles will be at a slow, warm-up pace, the next 5 at race pace, and the final mile as a cool down.

During the week I'll be mixing in speed work, easy runs, hill work, and tempo runs at a faster than 10K pace. That should be interesting. My tempo runs have definitely not been up to that speed up to this point. I'm just hoping that since I have a goal to motivate me, that will help. I'll also be working in my core, abs and strength work along with some cycling. It's a tall order for sure.

I also started round one of fundraising for Team in Training. I decided to go with the easiest a most obvious route first. I sent out about 50 emails yesterday. While I'm giving that a few days for responses I'm going to make up some business cards with the information on it. I think that is a great idea. I've run into a few people that said they would be happy to contribute. If I have a card on me...bam! Done deal. I'm also going to approach my in-laws about doing some sort of fundraiser through their church. I'm not sure what yet, but like I said plans are just starting to take shape.

A Bid for Boston?

I have much to consider tonight and over the weekend. I've been trading emails all afternoon with one of the Team in Training coaches about my training plans for the Disney Marathon. My ultimate goal is to run a Boston Marathon qualifying time, and I was thinking about going for it at Disney.

After some discussion I'm beginning to wonder if that is the best idea. I knew it would be a lot of hard work, but I don't know if I fully understand just HOW hard it is going to be to achieve the goal. As the coach put it "You would need to drop your time over a minute a mile to accomplish your goal... I don't want to discourage you, but I DO want you to be realistic and recognize that, while doable (depending on how hard you are willing to work) this will not be easy. Typically, I would have you do this over 2 marathons (dropping 30 sec/mile each marathon)." The "over a minute" is in reference to his comparison of my first marathon time of 3:37:14 which is about an 8:20 pace. I would need to bring that pace down to a 7:15 pace. That sounds like a lot, but I must also consider the fact that due to poor nutrition planning that's an 8:20 with a limping, cramping final 6 miles. I easily lost 10 minutes at the end of the race last time. The cramping has since been remedied with the help of some electrolyte capsules that I'll be using during the race. Taking those 10 minutes back or any part of those 10 minutes makes the deficit seem more reasonable.

On the plus side Disney is a flat course. I tend to do well on flat courses as do many others. That will be to my advantage. On the minus side the coach suggests that I race every other weekend a 5k or 10k to increase my speed. This is probably the most efficient way to increase speed, but it's not really the most budget friendly way to do it. The race fees can very quickly build up.

It's all just a little overwhelming. I need some time to digest this information and try to formulate a plan. The coach's suggestion was to work toward the half marathon, and then begin formal speed training after that to prepare for the marathon. Maybe that is the key. I don't have to make a final decision right now, but see how the half goes. Once that is over I'll have a more clear picture of where I am in my training and whether a bid for Boston is going to be realistic.

Back in the Swing

We've been back from a trip to Michigan for a few days, and I'm starting to get caught up and back into the swing of everyday life. Part of getting back into that swing will be getting back to making regular posts on this blog. I'll have more reason to post here on a regular basis as I kick off my fund raising and training for the Team In Training trip to the Walt Disney World Marathon in January. I've got my fund raising website set up and will start soliciting for donations about....now. Click on the new Team in Training banner there at the right to check out my site.

The trip to Michigan was made in part as a vacation and in part to help some family out. It also gave me an opportunity to make another step toward completing a goal of mine. I found a 5k race to participate in while we were there knocking off Michigan in my Cross Country Challenge. I'm not going to do a full blog entry report on the race, but here is a quick recap...

5th Annual Lakeshore Miles For Meals 5K Run & Walk

I didn't have any particular expectations going into the race. I'm still looking for that sub 20 minute 5k race, but I wasn't expecting this to be the one. I had two things working against me: lack of sleep, and stiffness from the previous day's long drive. With that in mind I decided to just give it my best and let everything else take care of itself. That was enough. I ran a very good, evenly paced race. I was averaging right around 6:30 minute/miles give or take 6 seconds. If I made any mistakes it was in the last mile. I thought I saw the finish line, so I kicked it hard. It turned out that I still had about a 1/4 of a mile. That made for a very hard, long kick to the finish.

I finished 16th overall with a finishing time of 20:20. The best part was that I finished 1st in my age group! I knew I had at least a top 3 finish wrapped up going into mile 3, but I had no idea that I running 1st. That was a great feeling. You've got to love the smaller races. There is no way I would have finished 1st in my age group in most of the larger races. That doesn't matter though. I will simply bask in the glow of the victory!

Hopefully I'll be back very soon with some Team In Training updates, Run Like Hell updates, and some race results as summer winds down and the fall race season heats up!

The Dog Days

I'm deep in the grips of a mid-summer rut. I remember feeling this way last year as well. It's due in part to a lull in my race schedule which leads to a bit of slack in my training. Last year I slacked in my running, and this year it has come in the form of my cycling. I'm just not feeling up to spending 2 or 3 hours on my bike in the humidity and heat that we get around here in late July and August. An hour of running seems bearable, but after that I'm just done.

This rut is deepened by this last minute scramble to try, once again, to secure a teaching job. This is the second year that I've been sending out resumes, making calls, and trying to get interviews for those jobs that are vacated right before school. It doesn't do much for the self esteem or ego to go through these rounds of interviews and denials while feeling the school close in day by day and coming to the realization that I'll have to wait another 9-10 months before the spring rounds of hirings.

I'm looking forward to bouncing out of this rut very soon. Even if I don't get a teaching job I've got some good stuff to look forward to going into the fall and on into the winter. I've got some races to race, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's Run Like Hell Committee to work on, and fund raising to do for Team in Training. For now I'll just have to endure these dog days and make the best of it. Geeze it's hot. Maybe it's time to get back into swimming!

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Hill

It's been a very...ummm interesting week. It started out as an exciting week. I had a teaching position that I was preparing to interview for, and second teaching position that was in the works. I had an inside track and was just waiting for a call to set up an interview. It was looking to be an exciting week.

Monday morning I went in for my first interview. I was very nervous and excited. The interview was with the principal and 6 other teachers from the school. That's a little intimidating. They took turns firing questions at me about classroom management, curriculum, teaching philosophies, and the old standard fluff like: "What do you enjoy most about teaching?". I answered each in turn to the best of my ability. I saw a lot of nodding heads to my answers and approving smiles. All seemed to go great.

I called my friend at the other school to touch base. She said she would let me know when they were setting up interviews. I checked in with an adviser at NKU who has close ties with the school district with which I had just interviewed. I knew she would not hesitate to give me a good reference. I had a good feeling about this one.
Wednesday afternoon I still had not heard about the other possible position which leads me to doubt that I will. School starts in a little over 3 weeks. Then I got a call from my wife. We got a letter from the other school, crap a letter. That can't be good news. It wasn't good news. Dear Mr. Iker, We were pleased to meet you...blah, blah, blah...lots of applicants....blah, blah, blah...good luck loser...blah, blah. Okay I'm paraphrasing the last part.

The rest of the afternoon was not fun. I alternately felt okay with not getting the job and very disappointed in myself for blowing the interview and not getting the job. I really don't think I blew the interview, but you know how that goes.

I had scheduled a hill training run after work, but really didn't feel like doing it. I wasn't really in the state of mind to go run up a hill 5 times over. I went anyway. Sometime during the second time I was working my way up the .4 mile hill I realized something. I wasn't thinking about not getting the job anymore. That lead me to start thinking about it, but as I breathed heavily, and felt the burning in my legs I realized that I was good with it. I have a lot of good things going on in my life. I do have a decent job, maybe not my dream job, but a good job none the less. I have the love of my family. I have good friends. I have my health. I have this hill. I love this hill. (My love for the hill was short lived. It was over by the time I started the 3rd time up the hill.)

I'm Going To Disney World!

I am very excited. I just signed up for the Walt Disney World Marathon in January through Team in Training. I've been thinking about it for months now, and decided to go for it. It's a little daunting to think about raising over $3,500 by December, but after the meeting Thursday night I'm feeling a little more confident. It seems like an organization that provides great support. I also feel very motivated to do this since cancer has hit my family and my best friend's family within the last year. I will be raising money and running in honor of my grandmother, a cancer survivor, and my best friend's father who recently died of cancer.

This decision has made me change my goals for the year as well. While I love both cycling and running it seems that my focus has shifted a little bit more toward running this year even before I decided to do this second marathon. Instead of going for 3000 cycling miles for the year I'm backing off to 2000 miles for the year. Ultimately I'd like to beat my distance of 1952 miles that I put up last year. 2000 is a nice round number. Add an additional 1000+ running miles and I think I have a mighty fine year.

Life in Perspective

I received a reminder this weekend on how short life can be, and how quickly it can end. A few of weeks ago I got a call from one of my best friends, Justin. His father, Dal, had been diagnosed with cancer. He wasn't sure what the prognosis was or how they were going to treat it. Fast forward two weeks. Dal had been moved to a hospice facility from the hospital. He was heavily sedated. My wife and I went to visit Dal and his family on Thursday night. The family seemed to be doing well. It was a tragedy that this was happening, but everyone was grateful that he was peaceful and being well cared for and surrounded by family. Friday morning Dal passed away peacefully in hospice. I am glad that I got to see him one last time, and regret the times that I had thought about calling him or stopping by to see him but had not.

Saturday night we had a cookout with Justin and his wife along with some family and friends. We had a wonderful time catching up with old friends sharing in food, drinks and stories. There were lots of children running around playing and having fun. Having rowdy kids running around is always a nice reminder of how simple life can be, and that in fact life does go on. After the kids crashed out we sat up into the night gathered around a fire enjoying the company of friends and family.

If you have a friend, family member, or loved one you've been thinking about calling. Give them a call. You never know when it's going to be too late.

The Allure of the Race

I am planning on doing something at a duathlon that I've never done before. I'm going to be a spectator. The Duathlon National Championship is coming up at the end of the month. The regional competition is being held in Mason, OH. It's not too far from home, so I thought I might drive up and watch the race. I could take my camera and shoot some photos, and cheer on fellow racer and frequent competitor Kevin. He's a very nice guy that I've met and been racing against at the Wheelie Fun races this year.

Kevin asked if I had signed up for the race at the last race in Caesar Creek. I had not and have no intention of signing up. However, now that I am looking at the event it calling to me. "Adam, come out and play, come race me. It will be aaaaawwweesoooommme." So far I am resisting the siren song of the race. I have no reason to sign up. I have a good schedule set up. I have until the end of August until my next duathlon which gives me plenty of time to train and get psyched up for the next race. I have no reason to sign up, but it would be awesome.

Caesar Creek Duathlon

I have gone through a range of emotions when it came to this race. I initially felt disappointment (in myself), then moved to acceptance (with my performance), from there into an appreciation (of how far I've come). The initial disappointment I felt was really in my lack of effort more than performance. I wasn't putting forth 100% during the race. What I came to accept was that I really wasn't feeling 100% that day. I knew it that morning, but my competitive side wouldn't let me accept it until I could put a little time and space between myself and the race. It felt like an excuse, and I hate to make excuses. The fact is though, That acceptance came in the form of knowing that even on very little sleep, and generally not feeling great I still performed well. That acceptance grew into appreciation as I started to compare this race with previous races on this course. I raced this course three times last year and the one time this year. Here is a comparison of the 3 most recent races.

Date	Run 1	Tran 1	Bike	Tran 2	Run 2	Total Time
7/09/2006	24:11	01:23	39:07	01:09	24:42	01:30:33
8/20/2006	23:28	01:17	38:54	01:07	24:00	01:28:48
7/08/2007	22:07	01:15	38:48	01:23	23:54	01:27:26

How can I be disappointed in a a new course record and a steady improvement in my times across the board? The only area where there wasn't improvement was in the transitions. It is also the area that I have worked the least to improve.

I'm not going to go through a play by play for this race. Instead let's play a little game of high/low. I'll pick out one high point and low point from the race, and I'll throw in an important lesson I learned on race day. The low point of the race came fairly early in the race. Somewhere during the 2nd mile I came to the realization that I wasn't feeling that great. It wasn't one thing in particular, just an overall feeling of blaaaaaaaahhhh. It was at that point I just tried to relax and enjoy the race. The high point came early in the second run. As I've talked about in previous entries I have serious problems with leg cramps. I sweat very heavily, and seemed to lose my electrolyte balance fairly easily. I started using the elecrolyte caps and apparently they work. I had no sign of leg cramps at all during the race. It was such a welcome relief during that second run. I was already feeling mentally down and experiencing some minor pains in my back so added leg cramps may have done me in. That definitely makes me think I am on the right track in terms of race nutrition and hydration.

One valuable lesson I learned is to always, always, always take a spare tube, pump and some basic tools with you to the race site. It seems obvious, but it is worth repeating. I had everything packed up on Saturday for the race. I went over my bike to make sure everything looked ready. I went to pull my bike out of the back of the car and there was a flat tire. Luckily I did have the pump and a spare tube with me, so I was able to make a quick change before the race. I can think of many times that I've gone without tools or a pump. That will never happen again.

Fun and Games and Kayaks

I don't really consider working out a form of work. If it was really work then I'd probably be less excited about getting out there to run or ride almost every morning. It's more my way to release stress, be athletic and competitive, and improve and maintain my fitness. Still, it can feel a bit like work sometimes when I'm out there by myself everyday. So, any chance to mix up a workout with fun and games is welcome.

My buddy Rick and I had just that opportunity over the weekend. While everybody else was sleeping off hangovers and tiredness from Saturday's fun and Saturday night's continued fun with added drinks we hit the river for an early morning paddle session. As far as I can tell that is the only good time to get out on the Ohio in a kayak. It seems to be consistently calm with only some fishers out trolling the banks slowly. We took advantage and paddled downstream about a mile and off into one of the many deep inlets that line the banks of the river.

Once we were in the inlet it was nice and calm. We paddled fairly leisurely as we stopped every once in a while to enjoy the early morning sun, and for me to get out my camera to take some photos. I'll post some later after I've had a chance to go through them and pick out a few good ones. After I was satisfied with the photos and relaxation we headed back toward camp.

Aside from just the joy of being out on the water on a kayak this was also a workout to prepare for the Little Miami Triathlon in October. Looking back at last year's blog posts I see that I only managed to get in 3 kayak workouts all summer before the race. That just won't do. This year I want to crush the kayaking leg of the race. In order to do that I'm going to shoot for at least 8 kayaking sessions before October 1st. Yesterday is session 1 of about 3 miles.

It's time to take a step back and reassert some goals for July. Lately I've found myself slipping in my eating habits. You know how it goes. I'm in a hurry I'll just slide into the McDonald's drive thru. I've been drinking a lot of water I'll just have one Mountain Dew. Pretty soon I've had 5 Mountain Dews in 5 days and been to McD's more times than I care to admit. I've got all sorts of excuses I could use and ways to justify but let's not do that.

Instead of making excuses let's just move forward. For the month of July I am setting 4 goals for myself.

1. Soda - no more than 2 per week
2. No fast food
3. abs & core workout 2-3 x wk. each
4. Track food on SP

This is not an all or nothing deal. I'm not going to consider my goals a failure if I slip a little. I realize July is going to be a tough month for these goals. We'll be going to parties for the 4th. I'll be doing some traveling to race and visit friends. If I find myself in a Taco Bell at 3 am on July 5th I'm not going to call it quits for the month. It's a sliding scale.