After taking much of the last 12-18 months off from serious training, I have had great success in my career and enjoyed the extra time with my family. However, the attraction of regaining the level of fitness I had a few years ago is pulling me back to training --and also back to running and triathlon events.
I am not trying to seek a sub 20 minute 5K, a BQ marathon, a fourth USAT Nationals qualification or even a sub 12 hour Ironman. Those are all great goals, and perhaps they will hit my goal list again some day. However, for now I am happy to be able to be healthy enough to do these events for completion and enjoyment, which reminds me exactly of myself in 2007-2011. Those were great years for me and I look forward to reconnecting with that lost portion of my history.
Perhaps one day I will again approach the form and fitness I had starting in 2012, and maybe then I might choose to go after those more aggressive goals again. Or maybe not--and that would be just fine as well. :-)
Sunday, February 1, 2015
Monday, January 19, 2015
The Comeback Trail
It has been a long time since I have even looked at this blog, much less written for it. Most of the last year has been affected by injury and personal turmoil. I plan for 2015 to be different and will be will to claw my way back to fitness, if that is what it takes. This year will be a full year for me and is already starting off with a bang. If any of my old readers are left, I hope you enjoy the ride.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Outlining my Goals for 2014
The positive things I have going for me as I enter 2014 are that I am pretty well rested and uninjured. The negative things I have against me are that my recent extended semi-rest period over the last two-ish months has let me lose a bit of overall fitness and get out of the regular habits I had established in my fitness program. Overall, I believe those positives are more powerful than those negatives. Looking past the immediate present, let's examine my goals for the new year.
1. Do at least one event for the sheer fun of doing it.
With the rise of various themed events there is an abundance of unusual themed events around and all I have to do for this items is complete one with nothing more than the idea of fun in mind.
2. Get back into effective training shape and PR for at least one running and one triathlon event.
I am not planning a race intensive schedule over this coming year, However I will give myself opportunity to complete a few triathlon and road races with an emphasis on optimal performance.
3. Volunteer for a major racing event.
I am truly indebted to the many volunteers that have assisted with the many races I have completed . It is more than time for me to return that favor and make myself the volunteer helping out the many racers.
4. Finish the year in shape to do the Disney Dopey Challenge in January 2015.
My schedule may not have allowed me to make the Dopey Challenge for 2014 but I am committing to be ready for 2015.
5. Remember to enjoy the process and share my training time with friends.
I think this item is pretty self-explanatory. I want to be able to enjoy my training time by sharing it with friends and teammates while I am also improving myself with training.
6. While I am trying to emphasize fitness and fun for the year, I'd be lying if I left this last item off the list: to find my way back to a podium finish again during the year.
2012 was a breakthrough year for me and I went from an athlete who was content to find personal improvement to one had his first three podium finishes in that year when I wasn't even close in previous years. In 2013, I managed to come back a few more podium finishes in spite of my injury recovery. While my races of choice might be different in many ways in 2014 than in past years, I would still like to find a podium finish among those races.
7. Finally, I need to do the hard work of curtailing my wayward diet and getting my weight back into the mid-170 range where I was before my October 2012 injuries.
My diet laziness has helped my add 10-15 pounds at times and I am still in the mid-180 pound range. I know from experience that I am stronger and healthier in the mid-170's.
Now that I have written these out, I will leave them posted and we can revisit them at the end of 2014 and see how I have done.
1. Do at least one event for the sheer fun of doing it.
With the rise of various themed events there is an abundance of unusual themed events around and all I have to do for this items is complete one with nothing more than the idea of fun in mind.
2. Get back into effective training shape and PR for at least one running and one triathlon event.
I am not planning a race intensive schedule over this coming year, However I will give myself opportunity to complete a few triathlon and road races with an emphasis on optimal performance.
3. Volunteer for a major racing event.
I am truly indebted to the many volunteers that have assisted with the many races I have completed . It is more than time for me to return that favor and make myself the volunteer helping out the many racers.
4. Finish the year in shape to do the Disney Dopey Challenge in January 2015.
My schedule may not have allowed me to make the Dopey Challenge for 2014 but I am committing to be ready for 2015.
5. Remember to enjoy the process and share my training time with friends.
I think this item is pretty self-explanatory. I want to be able to enjoy my training time by sharing it with friends and teammates while I am also improving myself with training.
6. While I am trying to emphasize fitness and fun for the year, I'd be lying if I left this last item off the list: to find my way back to a podium finish again during the year.
2012 was a breakthrough year for me and I went from an athlete who was content to find personal improvement to one had his first three podium finishes in that year when I wasn't even close in previous years. In 2013, I managed to come back a few more podium finishes in spite of my injury recovery. While my races of choice might be different in many ways in 2014 than in past years, I would still like to find a podium finish among those races.
7. Finally, I need to do the hard work of curtailing my wayward diet and getting my weight back into the mid-170 range where I was before my October 2012 injuries.
My diet laziness has helped my add 10-15 pounds at times and I am still in the mid-180 pound range. I know from experience that I am stronger and healthier in the mid-170's.
Now that I have written these out, I will leave them posted and we can revisit them at the end of 2014 and see how I have done.
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
2013 Goals in Review
From the start, 2013 was never going to be the year I had hoped it would be. Coming off of serious late year injuries in 2012 may have made for rescaling of 2013 but I refused to let those injuries stop me from doing the things that I loved. Here is a summary of the goals I posted from myself in January and how I did in the efforts throughout the year.
1. Complete my third Ironman race on May 18, 2013.
I registered for this race last summer in the first moments that registration was open. In 2012 I set a PR of almost three hours from the year before and I was hoping to aim for cutting another hour or two off of that time. However, getting hit by a car and having surgery to reconstruct my collarbone led to serious doubt that I might even be able to do this race--certainly my surgeon told me it was possible but he didn't seem too confident until April came and my recovery continued to move forward. On May 18, 2013, I started and completed my third Ironman race. It wasn't the smashing PR that I would have originally liked but it was a glorious day to prove that I was still able to be able to complete this wonderful event.
2.With no real idea how long my recovery will take I will forgo my general desire to PR every race and set a more realistic PR goal for 2013. In this case I will attempt to set a PR for at least one running event and one triathlon event.
For the most part, I never did get my 2013 race times to beat my 2012 race times. However, my PR time at the Olympic Distance triathlon was beaten at the USAT National Championship race in August. In addition, in the run portion of that race I beat my 10K PR time and ran 10K in under an hour for the first time in any race.
3.Do at least one very unique race event. I'm not going to place too many restrictions on this, just something out of the ordinary.
Given the loose requirements for this, I am going to claim that it was accomplished by participating in a national championship race (I finished way in the back--but I was there!) last August.
4. This year I hope to be more mindful of not letting my training schedule monopolize my overall schedule.
During this year's Ironman training I was able to keep more time set aside for my wife than in previous years. In addition, I learned to take more time off near holidays for my family.
5. Find ways to be helpful to others in these sporting activities and follow through with helping them.
During 2013 I was able to continue my work with a group dedicated to helping junior high students run their first 5K race. I was also blessed this year to do may training activities with friends that I hadn't done much or training with in previous years. In some cases I was able to help advise them as they worked towards their own Ironman races.
2013 managed to have its share of surprises for me, in mostly positive ways. I wasn't just able to return to racing but I even managed to find my way to 3 podium finishes in a few low profile races. I entered the year on little more than faith and hope but I finished the year knowing that I was strong enough for the challenges I faced. I'm not quite sure what goals I will have for 2014 but I will go into the year confident that I can overcome the obstacles life places in my way.
1. Complete my third Ironman race on May 18, 2013.
I registered for this race last summer in the first moments that registration was open. In 2012 I set a PR of almost three hours from the year before and I was hoping to aim for cutting another hour or two off of that time. However, getting hit by a car and having surgery to reconstruct my collarbone led to serious doubt that I might even be able to do this race--certainly my surgeon told me it was possible but he didn't seem too confident until April came and my recovery continued to move forward. On May 18, 2013, I started and completed my third Ironman race. It wasn't the smashing PR that I would have originally liked but it was a glorious day to prove that I was still able to be able to complete this wonderful event.
2.With no real idea how long my recovery will take I will forgo my general desire to PR every race and set a more realistic PR goal for 2013. In this case I will attempt to set a PR for at least one running event and one triathlon event.
For the most part, I never did get my 2013 race times to beat my 2012 race times. However, my PR time at the Olympic Distance triathlon was beaten at the USAT National Championship race in August. In addition, in the run portion of that race I beat my 10K PR time and ran 10K in under an hour for the first time in any race.
3.Do at least one very unique race event. I'm not going to place too many restrictions on this, just something out of the ordinary.
Given the loose requirements for this, I am going to claim that it was accomplished by participating in a national championship race (I finished way in the back--but I was there!) last August.
4. This year I hope to be more mindful of not letting my training schedule monopolize my overall schedule.
During this year's Ironman training I was able to keep more time set aside for my wife than in previous years. In addition, I learned to take more time off near holidays for my family.
5. Find ways to be helpful to others in these sporting activities and follow through with helping them.
During 2013 I was able to continue my work with a group dedicated to helping junior high students run their first 5K race. I was also blessed this year to do may training activities with friends that I hadn't done much or training with in previous years. In some cases I was able to help advise them as they worked towards their own Ironman races.
2013 managed to have its share of surprises for me, in mostly positive ways. I wasn't just able to return to racing but I even managed to find my way to 3 podium finishes in a few low profile races. I entered the year on little more than faith and hope but I finished the year knowing that I was strong enough for the challenges I faced. I'm not quite sure what goals I will have for 2014 but I will go into the year confident that I can overcome the obstacles life places in my way.
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Catching Up
I've fallen behind in my race reports and want to catch up before finishing out the year.
Back in mid-November I did the Conroe Turkey Trot. This was the goal race for a group I volunteer with called Healthy Youth. For the past school semester our group has been working with junior high students to teach the to run a 5K and to also teach them healthy life habits. This was our third group and was once again a big success. During the 5K I ran with several of the students and kept them motivated. As I did this I finished my race in 24:42 and also finished first in my age group.
Early in December I completed a 20K trail run in Huntsville State Park in 2:20. This fell just short of a PR for me, but I ran this race for fun and not to be fast, which was perfectly fine with me.
Hopefully, now that I've caught up I can stay better on track with my blog in the future.
Back in mid-November I did the Conroe Turkey Trot. This was the goal race for a group I volunteer with called Healthy Youth. For the past school semester our group has been working with junior high students to teach the to run a 5K and to also teach them healthy life habits. This was our third group and was once again a big success. During the 5K I ran with several of the students and kept them motivated. As I did this I finished my race in 24:42 and also finished first in my age group.
Early in December I completed a 20K trail run in Huntsville State Park in 2:20. This fell just short of a PR for me, but I ran this race for fun and not to be fast, which was perfectly fine with me.
Hopefully, now that I've caught up I can stay better on track with my blog in the future.
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
A Wonder-ful Time
Recently my wife and I had the opportunity to take a cruise on the Disney Cruise line ship. We were on the Disney Wonder and sailed out of Galveston, Texas, for a 7 night eastern Caribbean cruise. During this cruise we visited ports in Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel, Mexico.
The first two days of the cruise were days at sea. We had some rough water, which took a bit of getting used to, but also allowed us the opportunity to become familiar with the ship's amenities, including a gym, theaters, and live shows. We even learned to draw a few Disney characters.
While hitting the ports on days 4, 5, and 6. In Jamaica we shopped in the local port area. This area had a variety of shops in the immediate area of the ship. As you can see in this photo below, the ship is immediately behind one row of the shops.
In Grand Cayman, we needed to ride small tender boat to shore from the ship. My wife, Darcy, took this photo with the Disney Wonder in the background as we went ashore. In Grand Cayman, we did some shopping and exploring in the local area.
In Cozumel, we took advantage of the local scenery and spent some time on a beach area excursion that included spending time in clear plastic kayaks that allowed us to see clearly in the water below. We also snorkeled in the clear waters which allowed even better opportunities to see the local fish and coral.
On board ship the entertainment was very good and we had plenty of food available, ranging from freely available ice cream and soda (including tea, coffee and hot chocolate). Meals included buffet meals, counter service burgers, sandwiches and pizza as well as the stereotypical fine dining expected on a cruise. I won't say that I always ate healthy but I could if that was what I wished to do, and I did include healthy options in most meals.
We thoroughly enjoyed our cruise and found it well worth the cost. We will look forward to another Disney cruise some day in the future and would highly recommend it to anyone asking us about taking one of their own.
The first two days of the cruise were days at sea. We had some rough water, which took a bit of getting used to, but also allowed us the opportunity to become familiar with the ship's amenities, including a gym, theaters, and live shows. We even learned to draw a few Disney characters.
While hitting the ports on days 4, 5, and 6. In Jamaica we shopped in the local port area. This area had a variety of shops in the immediate area of the ship. As you can see in this photo below, the ship is immediately behind one row of the shops.
In Grand Cayman, we needed to ride small tender boat to shore from the ship. My wife, Darcy, took this photo with the Disney Wonder in the background as we went ashore. In Grand Cayman, we did some shopping and exploring in the local area.
On board ship the entertainment was very good and we had plenty of food available, ranging from freely available ice cream and soda (including tea, coffee and hot chocolate). Meals included buffet meals, counter service burgers, sandwiches and pizza as well as the stereotypical fine dining expected on a cruise. I won't say that I always ate healthy but I could if that was what I wished to do, and I did include healthy options in most meals.
We thoroughly enjoyed our cruise and found it well worth the cost. We will look forward to another Disney cruise some day in the future and would highly recommend it to anyone asking us about taking one of their own.
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
CASA Superhero 5K
This 5K was going to be my PR effort weekend race. However, recent events--mainly a recent car crash--had left me not quite ready to put out a PR effort. The recent week of rain leaving a muddy and mucky course also left the conditions shy of PR worthy. In the end this was still going to be a hard race effort but also one that I wanted to enjoy with some friends.
While this was not a first year race, it had first year race directors--and it showed. Fortunately, this is a smaller event with just a couple hundred runners or the general disorganization would have been a complete mess. This overall disorganization included parking mixups in the state park, not having a good setup in the race area, not being prepared to post run times, no preparations in being able to announce the winners during the awards ceremony and perhaps worst of all an improperly marked course that led to the leading runners running an extra two tenths of a mile before the organizers realized the problem.
As for myself, I ran a mostly even race this time around. I kept from going too hard the first mile out and this enabled me to keep a good pace throughout. Even though I was one of the runners who ran too long, I don't think it led to a different finishing place in the case of the 8-12 runners that it affected. I finished with a second place finish in my age group and 8th place overall. I think the special part of the race came by finishing just behind and just in front of tow great training partners, who finished overall women's winner and master's woman winner. The three of us are pictured below.
Next up for me is off season, beginning with a cruise on the Disney Wonder cruise ship. I have another 5K later this month and maybe I will go after that 5K then, or maybe it will be just for fun. Until then, however, I will have some fun.
While this was not a first year race, it had first year race directors--and it showed. Fortunately, this is a smaller event with just a couple hundred runners or the general disorganization would have been a complete mess. This overall disorganization included parking mixups in the state park, not having a good setup in the race area, not being prepared to post run times, no preparations in being able to announce the winners during the awards ceremony and perhaps worst of all an improperly marked course that led to the leading runners running an extra two tenths of a mile before the organizers realized the problem.
As for myself, I ran a mostly even race this time around. I kept from going too hard the first mile out and this enabled me to keep a good pace throughout. Even though I was one of the runners who ran too long, I don't think it led to a different finishing place in the case of the 8-12 runners that it affected. I finished with a second place finish in my age group and 8th place overall. I think the special part of the race came by finishing just behind and just in front of tow great training partners, who finished overall women's winner and master's woman winner. The three of us are pictured below.
Next up for me is off season, beginning with a cruise on the Disney Wonder cruise ship. I have another 5K later this month and maybe I will go after that 5K then, or maybe it will be just for fun. Until then, however, I will have some fun.
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