Training Update - Oktoberfest Triathlon

I haven't posted here recently, mostly because I've either written some blog entries for my running team, Team All Ears or for my other running group, Nerd Herd Running. Also with all the training that has been going on I haven't had a chance to take a trip up Sanitas.  I do still owe a certain Mr. Mike Kelly 3 laps up at some point. The issue is that it's basically a 3 hour run for me, and I am not sure I'm really trained for that right now. ;)

So what has been going on?  Well I decided to train for my first triathlon this fall (more on that later). Other than that after the Princess 1/2 in Feb. I had a trail 1/2 in Fruita (becoming one of my favorite races). Then I trained for and raced the Bolder Boulder last month.

Also since last winter we have been continuing our track workouts on Thursday night focusing on speedwork. For the most part it's been made up of myself, Jeff, Michael, Rebecca, Andrea and Kate.  Bryan C. has been joining us off and on when he's been able.  Michael was leading the workouts but with him also coaching his Ironman Triathlon group he was getting a bit burned out.  He asked me to take over leading the workouts when I could.  I have to admit, it's been so much fun. He sometimes helps me come up with the specific workouts but I usually am the one leading them during the actual workout. It's a bit intimidating since I'm one of the slowest runners in the group but I feel like I'm growing in my knowledge of how to train runners. I still wouldn't put me in the coaching category but I'd like to get there someday.

I think the big thing that has been going on with me is that I'm training for my first triathlon in September. It's a sprint tri called the Oktoberfest Triathlon.  I think I've probably mentioned that before. Coming into this training cycle I had pretty much no swim fitness and very little bike experience.  In fact, back in February I went swimming with my friend Michael.  I told him I was pretty worried about my swimming.  What he just recently told me is that when he saw me swim, he was pretty worried for me as well. :)  I hooked up with a local swim coach (also my old trail running coach) and got some lessons.  While my swimming isn't perfect (far from it honestly) it is getting better. At this point I'm going to keep swimming 2-3 times a week. I'm going to try and get in at least 2 open water swims ahead of time as well.  Once that happens and I get closer to the race I'll evaluate whether I think I can actually do it or not.

As for cycling I just borrowed a bike for Melanie C.  Soooo much better than my old mountain bike. I've gone out three times on it so far and I'm trying to get an idea of what kind of bike fitness do I have and how hard can I push.  I wore my HR monitor and did a bit of comparison between running and cycling. So far what I can tell is my legs need some work. :)  I tried to push myself a bit more than an easy ride and my HR was pretty low. I'd call it maybe zone 2 effort (marathon). This next ride my goal is to try and do some sort of zone sampler to get an idea of how to push hard on a bike.

Thank you so so much Mel and Bryan!

One of the best things about triathlon training is because I have to train for three events, I don't do a whole lot on a single event. Right now I am getting in 6 workouts a week, 2 bike, 2 swim and 2 run.  If I have time for an extra workout, I'm adding a swim.  If I have time for two extra workouts, the plan is to add a third bike workout. While I'm a bit worried about my run fitness going downhill I'm feeling a lot more rested when I do run. The goal is continue to do Thursday track for speedwork and then get a long run in to keep my base high enough for the Double Dumbo Dare in September. I have a few key run workouts that I'll mix in as I get closer to the Double Dumbo Dare, but the majority of my training emphasis right now is on the triathlon.

I just wanted to touch on a few other things that have been on my mind.

Gear - Triathlons are expensive. I guess just like starting out with any other sports there is an investment. While I knew this going into the race it still surprises me a bit. Sure, for running I have all my gear except for elastic laces (so I don't have to tie my shoes in transition). Swimming, I needed actual swim shorts (jammers here), a membership to a pool, new swimming goggles (tinted as I found out that clear ones just don't work in an outside pool) and the cost to rent a wetsuit. Biking it where it starts to get expensive. This isn't all mandatory but the things I've either invested in or are considering investing are, bike computer (to calculate my cadence), bike shoes (still up the air), bike shorts, bike jersey, flat fix kit. I borrowed a bike so luckily I didn't have to pay for that.

Training time - It's higher than training for a straight running race (at least for me) but it's easier. Switching to different disciplines keeps each workout feeling more fresh and I don't feel as fatigued every day. With summer heat here I've been getting up earlier to get in my workouts in the morning before work. I've noticed that while I can bike and swim first thing in the morning, I still struggle with running that early.

Mental Effort of a Triathlon - I think there is quite a bit of mental effort in doing a triathlon that isn't part of a running race. You need to be a bit of a planner.  How do I setup my transition?  What is my strategy if I get a flat? There is just so much more than can go wrong. To me I like the challenge but I could see it not being for everyone.

That is most of what has been on my mind lately.  I'll try and give another update on my triathlon progress as I get closer to the race. 

Lap 10 - Lovely Laura Cissell

Date: Tuesday, May 21, 2013, 12:00 PM

Temp: 68 degrees?
Time Up: 32:00
Time Down: 23:00 (backside)

So...this week is the week before the Bolder Boulder.  For the most part it was suppose to be a taper week to get ready for the race.  While the Bolder Boulder isn't an A race for me, I am following somewhat of a training plan for it and I do hope to perform well.  I have a few laps still to finish up this last winter for my fundraising.  I still owe one lap to Laura (this one) and two to Mike Kelly.  Laura I promised that I'd run one with her this summer so while technically this one is hers, she and I still need to find some time to get up on this mountain.  Mike's laps also had a stipulation that we'd run them together and not just run two laps at once (which I've done twice) but to do three.  Since it takes me close to an hour a lap even though the distance isn't long, 3 laps is pretty equivalent of a 3 hour run.  It's going to be a dozy when I do that. :)

Training has been going fairly well lately.  I have taken over leading some of our workouts on track nights on Thursdays.  Mike still helps me put together some of the workouts, but I try and lead them. It's been going really well. Last week we did a great set to prep for the Bolder Boulder (which is a 10k).  We ended up doing 10 x 1k with a 200m rest in-between each set.  The idea was that you run it at your race pace but you are breaking it up with short rests.  All in all my data looked pretty good except that it took me a bit of time to settle into my 10k pace.  

This week the run I had planned for Tuesday I had done the week prior. So instead of repeating that workout I decided that I'd see if Jeff wanted to take a quick jaunt up Sanitas for my Tuesday run. Luckily he was up for it. :)

 Jeff standing before the mountain!

It ended up being the perfect spring day.  Not too hot, not too cool. My good friend Andrea txted me on Monday night seeing if I wanted to get up at 5:30 am and go running with her this same day, after I had already made plans with Jeff.  Since it's hard for me to turn down a friend when they want to run, I said sure. But if anyone knows me, I am not a morning runner. In fact, Andrea I thought was my friend and also not a morning runner, nope, no longer, now she loves it.  I even wrote a poem for her.

a friend she was once

sunrise stole her heart away

why run this early

So not only did I run with her in the morning, I also did Santias with Jeff at lunch.  At the start my legs were pretty tired, but about halfway up I started feeling a bit better about it. While it may have not been a great idea to take a long lunch on a day like today, it did feel great to get out and about.

 It's been raining a lot, everything is green.

So to digress a bit, not only have I been running quite a bit, I'm also training for my first triathalon ever.  It's in September but I have a long ways to go. I haven't started biking yet, but I have started swimming.  My first two swim lessons are behind me.  While I'm getting better, after my swim this week I was pretty discouraged. I think it was the first time since I started down this path that I actually thought I may not be able to complete the race. I have 4 months to go and while I saw progress this week I've decided to just keep at it.  I'll take a few more lessons in June and I'm going to try and hit the pool at least 2 a week (if not 3 times).  At this point I'm even fine cutting back my running in order to get more swim workouts in.

 At the top again!  Legs are a bit tired today.

Last time we were up here, we went back down the frontside.  If you have never hiked Sanitas what you might not know is that it's pretty steep and sort of trecherous.  Jeff had a slight spill that first time he went up so this time we opted to go down the back.  Honestly, the back is a lot more fun. The first half is pretty technical but the second half you can really open up and practice your downhill running.

Coming up on this summer, after the Bolder Boulder my next goal race is the Double Dumbo dare in September. I'm still planning on racing the 10k and then seeing how I feel about the 1/2 the next day. Following that 3 weeks later is my triathlon and then straight into Dopey training. 

What a view!

I've been doing a lot of thinking about Dopey training and have been pondering a blog post about it. In fact when we went to Fruita for the Desert RATs half we talked about it quite a bit on the way back. I think while I'm in TN next week that's going to be one of my goals, to finish this blog post I have rattling around in my head about how to train for something as long as the Dopey without getting burnt out.  

I also realize I never talked about my experience at the Fruita race. Suffice to say it was one of my best races yet, a huge improvement over last year.  I'll try and throw up some pictures and some thoughts about it maybe this weekend.

Stay safe this weekend and enjoy the 3 day break. :)

Lap 9 - Dave McMillian

Date: Thursday, March 21, 2013, 6:00 PM
Temp: 45 degrees
Time Up: 34:30
Time Down: About 30 minutes

Sanitas is back!

Just a short little catch up for people that either haven't read my blog before or don't remember.  Last year I committed to doing laps of Mt Sanitas (in the Winter) in order to raise money for the running team that I'm part of, Team AllEars.   Some amazing friends of mine generously donated to the cause and because of that I had committed to doing all these different laps of Mt Sanitas.  Well I was deep in the training for the Disney World Goofy challenge and I had a lot more donations than I thought I'd get.  So basically I didn't finish all the laps.   Anyway, two months later, here am I, training for the Desert Rats Trailrunning Festival in Fruita, CO.   I figured now was a good time to get in some more hill work and to finish up the laps I owe people.  This lap is being run in the name of my good friend David McMillen and his wife Mishi.

As I said, I am right in the middle of training for a half marathon out in Fruita.  It's going to be on April 20th.  I'm not running it alone, in fact quite a few local Colorado friends are planning on running it with me (Michael Kelly, Andrea Oakley, Rebecca Boozan, Kate Bierbaum, Jenny Bitzan, Karen Lipisky to name a few).  It's a trail race so we have been trying to get in as many off road training sessions as we can.  Since the weather was so nice today and we wanted to work on practicing our downhill running, Andrea and I decided to head up to Mt Sanitas.

 We had a bit of snow and rain earlier in the day, but you couldn't tell.

Such a difference to be training with light once again.  Andrea showed up at my house at 5:30 and we headed out from there.  Still plenty of light once we got up on the hill.  I think it may have been around 50 degrees when we started but it was a bit breezy.   Still a beautiful day out.  Tuesday both Andrea and I did a pretty hard hill repeat workout so our legs were still recovering a bit today.   Also Andrea hadn't had enough to eat and I was recovering from a wicked hangover from the previous night (the wine bottle and I had a fight and the wine bottle won).  The plan was to take it easy on the way up, but then to go down the backside and really practice some good downhill running.  This is important as the Fruita course has a wicked elevation gain around miles 8-11 and then a steep downhill right after that for about 2 miles.  We were trying to get some wear and tear on our legs to mimic the course.

 I think she just enjoyed getting warm in the sun

For some reason my lungs didn't feel at 100% today.  I hope I'm not getting sick and that it was just something that was hitting me today.  We stopped about halfway up so I could snap a few pictures.

 Boulder sure is beautiful almost all year round

For the most part my training for the race has been going really well.  I took about a month off after the Disney World Marathon and didn't do any serious running during that time.  Since about mid-Feb I started back up training for this race.

 Look how good of shape the trail is in for being mid March

While the trail was in great shape, my wife just informed me that we have a few days of rain and snow rolling in.   At least it looks like its a recovery week on the schedule so while I do have to get runs in, this is a week to rest.

 Woohoo!  The top, again!

Felt really good getting to the top again.  The last time I was up here was our moonlight jaunt. I still owe Laura one more lap and I hope that we can plan another moonlight run up sometime in the future. Heading back down I seconded guessed myself (like I do often) and took the wrong path.  Andrea and I backtracked and with the nice help of a local young Boulder hipster, we found our way back down.  Andrea was dealing with a bit of a side cramp but still managed to push hard through the rest of the run.  I'm so proud of that girl, I probably would have just walked it. =P

Part of the hill we were bombing down

Anyway, I'm sorry it's been so long since I've blogged.  I had a bit of burnout in general after the marathon this year.   I'm trying to get back into habit of blogging more often.  I did want to take the time to mention another cause that I'm fundraising for this year, totally separate from Team AllEars.

There is a group of us friends that had recently gotten together.  Not only are we all runners, we are also all total nerds (if you didn't already know I was a nerd, well...you just don't know me very well).   We sort of informally call ourselves the Nerd Herd.  We have a website if you want to check it out as well as a Facebook group.  Since we are all runners and we live all across the US, we have decided to put on a virtual racing series this year.  Each race has its own theme.  The first one is called the "May the 4th be with you 5k".   The second one later in the year is the "Happy Birthday Harry Potter 5k and 10k".  The last one is the "Banned Book Week 5k and Half Marathon".  All the profits to these races will be going to charity.   Registration should be opening very soon so if you are interested in helping out a good cause and want to get fit at the same time, please consider signing up.  If you are curious how a virtual race works, we have a FAQ located here.  I'll be posting more information on this soon.

Marathon Weekend 2013 - Monday/Tuesday and Final Thoughts

Just thought I'd finish up a quick blog entry talking about the rest of my trip after the marathon including some final thoughts about the race weekend.

We woke up Monday morning with some pretty exciting plans for the day.  Our good friend Shane and Steve are getting married at WDW in October.  They invited us to go with them over to the wedding pavillion to meet with their wedding planner.   In addition it was check out day at Animal Kingdom Lodge.  As a surprise to Joelle I booked us one night at the Polynesian hotel.   This meant we were not able to make our breakfast meet with Team AllEars at Kona Cafe that morning.  We ended up packing up and checking out of Animal Kingdom Lodge and heading over to the Poly.  We quickly checked in and went to our room to throw our luggage in there before heading over to the wedding pavilion   Wow, what a room.  By now we have stayed at quite a few Disney resorts but by far the Polynesian has the best and biggest rooms. I've always thought it would be my favorite resort, but this one night stay cinched it.  I want to come back someday.

Lei time!  I do love the poly....

After checking in and dropping off our luggage we walked over to the wedding pavilion.  After stopping by the front desk we found out that the time for our appointment was a bit mixed up.  Instead of 9-12, our appointment wasn't until 1.     Not a big deal as we didn't have any huge plans that day.  We decided to hop in the car and head over Disney Hollywood Studios.  I hadn't got much time all weekend to ride many rides so no one had an issue with me heading over there and getting some rides in.  I think I ended up riding Tower of Terror and Rock-n-Roller Coaster.  After that we went and grabbed pictures with the Wreck-it Ralph characters.  I don't remember doing much other than that.  We did walk around a bit and had got some lunch.

Pictures at HWS with Vanellope and Ralph!

After touring a bit, we headed back to the Wedding Pavilion to make our appointment.  I think at this point I expected to be a lot more tired than I really was.  My legs were sore, but it wasn't horrible.  I also hadn't gotten much sleep all weekend but it hadn't caught up to me yet.

We were quickly met by Shane's wedding planner and they brought us back to a small room and started to the process.  It was actually really interesting.  Basically you plan your entire wedding with the exception of food tasting (though we did have a cake tasting) in one sitting.   I'm not sure if anyone got bored but I found it pretty fascinating    It took about 3-4 hours and by the end of it I think Shane had most of the details worked out.   Our wedding planner did say that the next DVC (Disney Vacation Club) property that was to be build would be the Poly.  Now if I was rich, I'd invest in that. :)

Yes, if you want to pay $2400 you can arrive in a white coach to your wedding

After the marathon wedding planning session I think Joelle and I just bummed around our resort.  We ended up getting dinner at Captain Cooks and then decided to hang out on the beach on the Poly watching Wishes from a hammock.  It was a very relaxing way to end a very busy trip.

Yay Stitch!

After we watched Wishes some of the Nerd Herd was heading out to Jellyrolls down on the boardwalk.  It is a dualing piano bar.  I had never gone before but we ended up having a blast.   Cover was $12 but the piano players were really talented.  Julie, Erinn, Christine, Sara and Erinn's friend ended up showing up.  We stayed until probably midnight.  By then I think the races were catching up to all of us and we were turning into pumpkins.  After wishing a very happy night to the Herd I headed back to our room and crashed out.

Our awesome room!

The morning we leave seems to usually always be a bit rough.  Joelle likes to sleep in a bit (who can blame her) and I usually have a few things I want to do before heading out.  Sometimes it's watching the opening show at Magic Kingdom, sometimes it's hitting a park to get in a few more rides.  Due to some poor communication we missed the opening show but we did get checked out.   We had a few hours so we headed over to the Magic Kingdom anyway.   We played some Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom and I got to ride Space Mountain.

Shortly after that we headed to the airport and headed back to Colorado.

Messed up pupils at the airport from touching my eye after applying a Transderm Scōp patch on Joelle

Some final thoughts about marathon weekend in general.  I really enjoy this weekend as I have so many friends I've made over the last three years that I get to see.  Doing the Goofy is fun, but it ends up making the weekend a really full weekend.   I pretty much felt like I was go go go all weekend long.  We did have some friends down and did some really special things as well.   To really do your best on the Goofy it takes a lot of downtime to rest.  Next year if I go back I think I'm going to go with a different plan.  The plan is to backload the trip like I did this time and not plan hardly anything the first few days.  I am planning on doing the 5k with some friends but then I think I'll skip the 1/2.  I haven't done just a marathon yet and I think I really want to focus on a good marathon race.   Of all the race weekends, I think this is probably my third favorite (just talking about the RunDisney portion of it).  Wine and Dine is still my first, I think it's an excellent time of year and it's a great race.  Tinkerbell out in Disneyland comes in second due to crowds and weather. I'm not 100% sure I'll be back next year, but I think it's pretty likely.   I just hope overall if I do come back that we have better weather.

Thanks to everyone who followed along with my posts about race weekend.  I've got some fun things coming up including the 2013 Princess Half Marathon as well as training for the Fruita Half Marathon.  I'll be having some more Sanitas updates soon including a triple lap with Mike Kelly.   Look for those soon!

Ears Up!

Marathon Weekend 2013 - Sunday - Full Marathon

Well this cold has been kicking my butt but I really wanted to get around to finishing my blogging about the WDW marathon weekend.   Anyway, once again it started way too early.  The alarm went off at a bright and shining 2:45 am.   While the first two early mornings I manged to sneak out without waking up Joelle, this third morning luck was not on my side.  She manged to wake up enough to wish me good luck, roll over and head back to sleep.

Again, too fricking early.  Up at 2:45 am.

Once again I decided to drive to the start but I ended up leaving a bit later than the day before.  Still traffic wasn't really an issue and I got a parking spot right next to the entrance of the waiting area.  Once inside I gathered up with the rest of Team Allears.   Instead of waiting around we learned our lesson from the day before.  A few of us decided to head out quickly after the team picture.   Eddie and I headed to our corral and while we got there early, I preferred that to getting there right before the race started.  Of all the parts of marathon weekend, I really do enjoy hanging in the corral watching the fireworks and listening to the music.  In fact, one of my best memories from a RunDisney race was Tower of Terror weekend hanging in the corral dancing with my TAE buds.   I even got a great shot of my friend Jamison dancing.  Someone remind me to get that up on youtube....

Me and Eddie hanging out waiting for the start

Much like the day before, it was darn humid for the start of the race.  The good thing is it felt a bit cooler, maybe high 50s rather than 60s.   From the day before I had a few choices to make.  I could go for a flat race (same pace) the entire way through.  Or I could preload a bit of speed and get through as much of the course before the sun came up.  Not sure if it was the best choice but I decided to to do the latter.  Ended up basically going out at the same pace that I did the half marathon in.  Until the sun came up, I felt great.  The first six miles went by really fast, faster than the day before.  The magic kingdom was beautiful and in fact I liked it better than the previous year just because it was dark when I ran through it.  I love running through the parks when it's dark (probably the reason that the Wine and Dine 1/2 is my favorite race).

After pulling out of the Magic Kingdom you have a few miles to run down along the back of the Grand Floridian and the Polynesian Hotel.  I ended up hanging with a group of high school track runners.  They were really nice and we got to chatting for a bit.  Finally they decided enough with this slow pace and took off.  I could tell that this race wasn't much of a challenge for them.   

I think mile 9 or so we headed into the Richard Petty Speedway.   This was a new part of the course and a welcome addition.   The humidity was so bad that you couldn't even seen all the way across the speedway as there was a layer of fog in the center.  We probably ran close to a mile around it and they had a bunch of old cars lined up as well.   

After the speedway you run a few miles on the back road near the water treatment plant.   By now the sun was starting to come up and it was getting light out.  I still felt pretty good and ended up joining a group of Galloway pacers.   They were having a blast.  Probably 30 people or so and they were just joking having a good time.   I think I lost them when heading into the Animal Kingdom at mile 12.   

Of all the parks, this park was probably the most disappointing.  Not sure why, it just wasn't that much fun to run through.   We came in through the back, ran through Asia, then Dinoland and back out through the parking lot.  I'd say this is when I started to struggle the most.  The pace started to seem a bit difficult and I was really looking forward to seeing Joelle and the TAE cheer squad at mile 15.

Like last year, my wife was hanging with the Colorado Sisters (and Bryan) at mile 15.  I knew that by about now the sun would be up (came up over the horizon around mile 13).   I decided to give her , a towel, a shirt, pair of socks, my hat and my sunglasses.  To keep myself entertained, pretty much from mile 13 to 15 all I could do is rehearse in my mind the order that I wanted her to give me stuff when I saw her.  I came up and was like, "Towel, then shirt, then hat!".   Pretty much dried off, switched shirts.  Maybe I hung out for 2 minutes max.  

Feeling good at Mile 15 (only cause my wife gave me a new shirt)

After then the race sort of turned into a blur.  It started getting hot.  I was pretty much okay until mile 19 and the my body started acting up.   Let's just say my system was not working as it should.  I knew I would slow down for the rest of the race but I slowed down a bit more than I had hoped.   I made it through the Wide World of Sports (we were in there for like 4 miles).   Then headed up to Disney Hollywood Studios.   I ran by the chocolate stand but by now there was no way I could eat it.   Finally we got to Epcot, one of my favorite parts of the course.  Too quickly after that it was all over.

Compared to the year before, I felt 100 times better.   Got some food and water down.  After getting my checked bag and drying off a bit I took a visit to the massage tent.  Normally after this I go back into Epcot and have some lunch but I knew we still had a Magic Kingdom meet along with dinner and then a desert party.  Decided to jump in the car and grab some food back at the hotel.  At the last minute I took a detour and stopped by a McDonalds and wolfed down a 20 piece mcnugget.  Normally I try and eat like a vegetarian but I knew that my body wanted chicken.

Peter Pan proclaimed Daniel won the goofy.  It must be true.

After food, a brief nap we headed over to the MK for a quick meet before dining at Be Our Guest.  We ended up riding Pirates and then went and did a quick photo op with Peter Pan.  Peter proclaimed Dan the winner of the goofy, which he totally was. ;)

A bunch of us headed over to Be Our Guest where I got to dine with my Nerd Herd buds, Sara, Julie and Christine.   Totally fun.  Then Lee, Laura and myself headed over to get a picture with Goofy.  It's sort of become a tradition for us that whenever we finish a race, we get picture with the character that sponsored the race with our medals on.  We did it for Tink and also the DL 1/2 I believe.

Goofy was thanking Lee, Laura and myself for running in his race.  He decided to just fly...

The night finished up with a lovely evening watching Illuminations, again this time seated with the infamous Nerd Herd.  I had expected to feel a lot more tired at this point but really I felt pretty good.   Joelle and I took a nice stroll out the front of the park and headed back to the TTC with Jan Pepe to our car.  It was a great ending to a very very long day.

Lap 8 - Andrea Oakley

Date: Saturday, January 26th, 9:00 PM

Temp: 41 degrees
Total Time: 1:35 minutes

So we tried to do this back in December but I sort of bailed on it.  The idea was to do one of my laps of Sanitas during a full moon at night.   I think it was cold that night and I was sort of peaking out with my training for the Goofy at the time.  I just didn't have much in my legs.  Anyway, Andrea looked at the calendar and went ahead and scheduled a repeat attempt for January (thanks again for picking up the ball on this).  Since the marathon two weeks ago I had come down with a really nasty cold.  This week has been really nasty for running as I couldn't seem to get rid of this cough.   Today especially not only has the cough really been getting me down but also I seemed to have almost no energy.  Woke up at 9:00 am and by noon I felt exhausted.  

Spent most of the day hanging with friends but was a bit worried about my energy level for the late night run. Ended up picking up Kate and Michael and met up with the rest of the runners (Andrea, Rebecca, Laura and Lindsay).  

On a side note, Michael and I had decided to once again go without sugar for a month.  Rebecca was in our original bet back in November but I hadn't seen her in a few weeks.  Once she heard that we were back on the no-sugar bandwagon, she agreed to join as well.  It's nice to have friends willing to give up cookie dough for each other. ;)  Anyway, the bet is 50 bucks and ends the same weekend as the Princess 1/2.

The crew getting ready to head up

When we started out, we had just finished getting a little bit of a drizzle here in Boulder.  Oddly even with the drizzle it wasn't that cold.   I'd say I even overdressed a bit.  The smell of the fresh rain still hung in the air and already I was feeling better.   

This picture screams instagram filter

We took our time with the ascent.  I started off using my headlamp but quickly I ended up turning it off.  The moon had just enough light that most of the time I was fine without it.   Some of us had been up to the top of Sanitas before.   Others it was their first time.  I was glad they picked tonight to do it as it was a beautiful night.  In fact, I so prefer running at night I'm not sure I want to do it again during the daylight. ;)

Relaxing a bit at the top before heading back down.  

Once we got the top we sat around looking at the view for a bit.  I tried to snap a few pictures but the lighting conditions were not cooperating with my Iphone.  

Wow..I guess that reflective gear on my jacket really works....

A few of us were getting cold so we decided to start heading back down.  Instead of going down the front side, we decided to head down the backside.   While the start of that trail was a bit more sketchy, eventually it opens up into the Sanitas valley trail which is a really nice downhill where I normally run my hill repeats with Fast Forward.

Boulder at night

There are places around the country right now that have a few feet of snow, it's below freezing.  Here in Boulder it's rather pleasant out, no snow on the ground and we are blessed with such a gorgeous view.  I'm not sure there is anywhere else I'd rather live.  

Finally able to open it up running down the backside.  

Once we got down to the valley trail we all opened it up a bit and coasted the last mile back down to the parking lot.  There we were treated to libations and hot cocoa from Andrea.  I was about to partake when my good friend reminded me that hot cocoa has sugar in it and that would have cost me my 50 bucks.  Michael, thinking quick on his feat mentioned that we were allowed sugar in our post-workout recovery drinks.  We let him get away with it since especially he had already completed a 6 hour bike ride  earlier today and was replenishing his fuel supplies.  

Thanks Andrea for the post workout refreshments 

Yay!  We don't have to do it a second time...

After the run driving home I realized that I while I felt crappy all week, this is the best I've felt physically all week.  I think I'm finally recovering from both the cold and the Goofy.  Tomorrow my goal is to get in the pool and try adding some swimming to my workout routine.  

All in all probably the most leisurely but also most enjoyable lap of Sanitas that I've done.  I can't wait to do it again in the future and this summer it might have to become a regular outing.  Thanks again to all my great friends who came out last night to join me, not to mention all my friends that helped and supported my journey with Team Allears.  I still have four laps of Sanitas to go (one with Laura, a triple lap with Michael) and I'm hoping it doesn't end there.  

2013 Fitness Goals and Races

So taking a break a bit from the marathon weekend recap and I just wanted to talk about goals.   I believe goals are really important to improving one self.  It's not to say that someone that doesn't have goals can't get fitter, lose weight or improve but I feel like goals (and stating them publicly) can really get over a hump or a plateau.

I think the key to setting successful goals (for myself at least) is to make sure that they are achievable and have actionable steps I can take along the way.

Goal #1 - Lose weight
One of my goals is that I'd like to improve my speed while running.  While there are numerous ways of doing this, one way is to lose weight.  I'd like to get down to a racing weight of around 150 lbs.  I'm sitting at 163 right now and the lowest I've been is 157.   I've been sitting around the 160-165 range for over a year and for my height I know I should be less than I am now.  I think eventually I'd like to get under 150 but I'll set 150 as my goal for now.  There is a lot of variety that talks about weight loss and speed but the general consensus is that you can run 20 seconds per mile faster per 10 pounds you lose.  My target date is the Fruita half marathon in April.

Steps that I will take to achieve this:
1.  Once again cutting out sugar.  Mike K and I have recommitted to no sugar for the next 30 days.
2.  Eat smaller portions.
3.  Eat more salads.

Before (2008) weight was 210ish.  After (2013) weight is 165

                                                                                               

Goal #2 - Run more often at or above my race pace.  Concentrate on effort and speed over distance
While I do have some longer races coming up (see below) I'm going to try and not focus on distance in my training.  Instead I want to focus on running faster for shorter periods of times.  I do have a few key workouts that I will do that are longer for the Fruita half in April, that won't be my focus.

Steps I will take to achieve this:
1. Work on my Yasso 800s.  It's a workout that I've never done before but I think it will help focus me on speed.
2.  Try to incorporate some sort of discomfort in all of my workouts from Feb 15th on (up until Feb 15th, I'm really trying to just recover physically and mentally).  This doesn't have to be speed every time.  It can be hills or tempo as well but really get used to running with more discomfort that I'm used to.  No more fluff workouts, I don't need them right now.
3.  Cut back the mileage a bit to help with mental fatigue.
4.  Keep attending track nights.

Goal #3 - Race more 5k/10ks
My big A race of the latter part of the year is going to be the Disneyland 10k in Sept.  I'm not super comfortable racing at this distance so I need to practice some beforehand.

Steps I will take to achieve this:
1.  Once my rest period is over from the Marathon, find a 5k to sign up for.
2.  Race at least two 10ks before Sept.

Goal #4 - Do a sprint triathlon before the end of the year:
I figure it's time to try out a triathlon   It will be fun and I think doing something other than just running will be good for me.

Steps I will take to achieve this:
1.  Work on my bike so it's ready to ride.
2.  Take at least one swimming lesson here in the spring.
3.  Once I figure out what tri I want to do (I need to decide on one before March 31st) come up with a training plan and stick with it.

So those are my goals, I thought I'd mention which races I have coming up.

Princess 1/2 Marathon - Feb 24th. - This is not an A race by any means.  I'm meeting some friends down there and will most likely run with them.  If anything I may decide to race the last 5k just for fun.

Me after the Princess 1/2 last year

Fruita Desert Rats Trailrunning Festival - April 21st - This is my next big race of the season.  We have been working on our hills and talking about some really great key workouts to get in before this race.  I have high hopes of performing well this weekend.   I will have about two solid month to train for it once I've recovered enough from the Goofy.  My good friends Michael and Andrea are running it with me plus I believe several others (like Karen).   Should be good times all around.  I loved this race last year and am looking forward to it again this year.  I would consider this a B race for me if not an A race.

Sunrise before the 1/2 last year in Fruita

Disneyland Dumbo Double Dare - August 31st, Sept 1st - Normally this weekend is the Disneyland half marathon but this year they added a 10k onto Saturday.  If you run both it's like a mini-Goofy but they call it the Double Dumbo Dare.  My wife Joelle wanted to run the 10k otherwise I would have skipped it this year.    I decided that I'm planning on racing the 10k as my A race for the year.  Then the next day I'll run the half but at a more enjoyable pace.  The double dumbo dare sold out in a record few hours today when it opened up.  Just the 10k sold out a few hours later and the half is already at 75%.

This is how happy I want to be after the Disneyland 10k

Not sure what other races I'll end up running but those are at least the next few coming up.