The culprit

Hello everyone! We're back safe and sound from the Austin Livestrong Challenge and the Ride for the Roses. All in all it was a great weekend EXCEPT for the ride portion on Sunday. This could turn into a very long story so I'll try to keep it brief.

It all started with a wake up text message from a fellow I met at a previous Livestrong ride. I was laying in bed when my phone went off indicating the message. It read "Made the 5:30 bus, see you there". I was immediatly awake. I had set our hotel room clock for 4:45 AM in order to get up and get ready for the ride and make it down to the hotel lobby for the shuttle. The ride was about 30 minutes drive outside of Austin. I was mainly in a panic that I might miss the bus so I did not give much thought on how the alarm clock mishap occurred. Well as it turned out, all of the hotel's alarm clocks are centrally controlled. They had not updated their software so the system automatically reset our clock for the end of daylight savings time, moving the time back an hour!

Well, thanks to the text message, I get downstairs and make the bus. Unfortunately, our bus driver was not well informed as to how he was to get to the ride. He got into the long line of cars waiting to park. We were supposed to be dropped off at the race start where our bikes were waiting. Instead, we got an additional 45 minute tour in the dark of a field being used for additional parking.

Finally, we get to the start line and after a few other little hiccups, the ride starts. It is a beautiful day. A little overcast to start but the sun came out eventually. I had just gotten underway from a stop at the 52 mile point. About 5 miles out from there, at mile 57 I had a spoke on my rear wheel break. The wheels are supposed to be more on the upscale side of bike wheels. I didn't specify them, they just came with the bike that I have. Unfortunately, these wheels can not be repaired in the field. Even with the brakes completely opened up, the wheel would just barely move under the friction from the brake pads. I may have been able to ride a few miles, but 35 miles was no way. So, I was picked up by the SAG wagon.

Normally these guys would take you back to the finish line so that you could enjoy the post ride party. Instead, I had the pleasure of a 3 and half hour ride in a van while they circled back and forth over a section of the road aiding riders with cramps and flat tires. Given how much assistance they were giving, I could not complain. It still made for a pretty miserable couple of hours.

There are other anecdotal incidents I will recount in another post. In general, I felt like Schleprock from the Flinstones for most of Sunday. However, the event as a whole was great. There are absolutely phenomenal people out there doing great things to support cancer research, and survivor support. I am proud to have been able to spend a weekend with them all!

The Boss is Back!

Hi everyone. Now that the half marathon is complete my focus is on riding again. This weekend my ride was in the okay category. I went out through the canyon, but the climbing legs were somewhere at home! None the less, I was on the bike. I also have started riding into work a couple of times each week, so I'll get some good base miles in that way.

The big news I wanted to share is from an email I received a little earlier today. It was from the Lance Armstrong Foundation President, Doug Ulman. The news..... Lance is returning to professional cycling to initiate a global awareness for cancer. Check it out:

AUSTIN, Texas – September 9, 2008 – Today, Lance Armstrong, cancer survivor, founder and chairman of the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) and cycling champion, released the following statement regarding his return to professional sports:
“I am happy to announce that after talking with my children, my family and my closest friends, I have decided to return to professional cycling in order to raise awareness of the global cancer burden. This year alone, nearly eight million people will die of cancer worldwide. Millions more will suffer in isolation, victims not only of the disease but of social stigma. After the passage of Proposition 15 in Texas, a $3 billion investment in the fight against cancer which is helping to make this disease part of the national dialogue in America, it’s now time to address cancer on a global level.”
Mr. Armstrong will discuss his cycling program and an international LIVESTRONG strategy on September 24th in New York City at the Clinton Global Initiative.

Another Half Marathon Completed!

We did it! Yesterday Jana and I completed the Disneyland half marathon. She was quite a bit faster than I was. She finished in 1:54, and I was in at a little over 2:35. I had hoped to break the 2 and a half hour mark but fought muscle problems. The muscle that was giving me the problem was the one between my ears.

It was quite an event. The event was a sell out. I have not seen the figures for the total number of registrants, but 10,849 completed the event before the time limit expired. I was number 5778 and Jana was number 1002! She was in the top 10 percent.

The run is hard (at least for me) but it is very entertaining and fun to be part of such a large group. We plan to keep participating. We'll post some pictures once we get them. We did not take a camera, but plan on purchasing some from the company who photographed the event.

Now we are taking a couple of days off to celebrate our anniversary and my birthday (the big 45). Then I have to switch gears from running focused to riding. I'll still cross train with some shorter runs during the week, but weekends will be the long rides. I am hoping all the training for running will reap some benefits on the bike! Only time will tell.

Two and Ten

Two weeks and ten weeks.... that's what I have left.  Our Disneyland half marathon is two weeks from yesterday and the livestrong ride is 10 weeks.  Between running and riding I have been averaging a little over 8 hours a week of training over the past 4 weeks.  Over the next two weeks we will taper down a bit to hopefully give the legs a chance to recover.

This past Saturday we had our last long run of 12 miles before the actual event.  It went pretty well.  I'm a little slower than my goal pace but I'm hoping the taper over the next couple of weeks will make the difference.   My goal is to finish the half marathon in under two and a half hours.  That is nothing particularly impressive for the average joe, but it would be a little quicker than my first half marathon back in February.  These days, I'm pretty much my only competition.

The goal of being at 175 by my birthday is a no go.  I am at 182 as of this weekend and it would not be a wise training move to attempt to lose 7 pounds in two weeks.  Not that I could anyway.  

Hopefully I'll have a few more updates before the half marathon.  But at a minimum, I'll post some photos because I may be slow (on foot and on the bike) but I'll finish!

Long Time, No Post!

Well, I really have tried to post a little more often, but I suppose I was weaned on web 1.0. That is to say I am more of a consumer than a creator when it comes to web content. That is about the best excuse I can offer up for such an inconsistent blog post!

The good news is training is going pretty well. On the running side, this was a scheduled easy week (as if there ever was such a thing as easy running for me). I had two 5 mile runs during the week and a little over 6 and half miles on Saturday. Today I was able to get in a ride in through Santiago Canyon. The image is the profile data from my Garmin bike computer. It is about 3000 feet of climbing spread out over a 45 mile ride. The ride went surprisingly well. I'm still slow as all get out, but it did not hurt nearly as much as I was anticipating.

The bad news is I'm pretty confident my goal weight of 175 lbs by my 45th birthday is out of reach. I've been staying around 185 for the past month. With only 4 weeks before the Disneyland Half Marathon, I don't see making major changes to my diet. The next three weeks will be 20 to 25 mile weeks for running and I still want to get at least 2 to 3 bike rides in each week. Maybe I'll see another few pounds off, but for sure not 10!

Hamburgers, hotdogs, ice cream.... Oh My!

Wow, the July 4th weekend has me moving in the wrong direction! The other morning, I weighed in at 185.5, a full pound and half more than a week or so ago. I could act surprised but that would be less than honest with myself and you. In addition to the usual July 4th fare, we also visited several restaurants with Jana's Uncle from Oregon who was visiting over the fourth weekend. It was great to visit and the food was fantastic, but I'm paying the price.

Training is going okay. I was supposed to run 9 miles on Saturday July 5th, but we were a little late getting started and I only finished 8 miles. The temperature was climbing and I was having to walk occasionally. This week is supposed to be an easy recovery week, so that is good. Just three runs this week of 4 miles each. The next long run hits next Wednesday for 8 miles of speedwork (a relative term for me...). Hopefully the long run will be better AND my weight will be a little more in line with my goal.

Happy Fourth of July!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful fourth. We're going to have the classic burger cookout this afternoon, and we're taking the day off from training. Who knows, maybe we'll take in some fireworks this evening.

The good news is the cold (if that's what it was...) was short lived. I was able to avoid missing any of my runs, although this past weekend run was pretty slow even by my standards. I did not get any bike rides into work this week due to scheduling and the short week, but that will change next week.

This morning I was at 184.5 lbs, so my weight seems to be holding around 184. I was hoping to go the other direction, but at least it did not go up several pounds. That sometimes happens to me when I have a cold. I fully buy into the "feed a cold, starve a fever" mantra.

Tomorrow we're scheduled for a 9 mile run. Hopefully it will not be too warm and I will not have eaten too many burgers. Despite being incredibly slow, I do feel I have made some progress. Early this year when training for the Huntington Beach half marathon, I had to alternate walking and running. I am at least able to run continuously now. Granted, it's a slow pace, but I'm moving.

Once again everyone, have a wonderful holiday, and let's hope our amateur fireworks folks show a little judgment this weekend.

Planes = Germs

I failed to mention in my post last week that Jana and I had just returned from North Carolina. It was a great trip where we got to visit my family and enjoy many of the southern foods I love. Unfortunately, the travel portions had to be made on a plane where I managed to pick up a cold. The real symptoms did not kick in until Thursday morning, so I was still able to get several runs in this week. The weekend run was slow (even by my standards) but accomplished none the less. Jana and I also managed to get 3 runs in while we were in NC. Sprinkle in a couple of bicycle commute days to work and the past few weeks were acceptable training weeks. I'm fighting off a bit of a cough but hopefully I'll have that behind me in the next day or two.

I did mention last week that I have a goal of being at 175 lbs by my birthday in September which gives me about 9 weeks. I think I also mentioned that goal is probably already in jeopardy. This morning I weighed in at 184 lbs., but was probably a little dehydrated so I expect that to change tomorrow morning. You would think that 9 pounds in 9 weeks would be a workable goal. Well, stay tuned and we'll see how it goes...

A new Livestrong Challenge!

Hello all,

Well it is time to kick off my fund raising for the 2008 Livestrong Challenge and I thought it was a good time to resurrect my blogging efforts. This year I will be back in Austin at the end of October.

The picture if from the Ride for the Roses events in Austin last October. I was lucky enough to participate with 30 other individuals in a small group ride with the boss himself. This was just one of the many highlights of a very exciting and challenging weekend.

As I said, this year I will be back in Austin. However, I have also tried a little running over the past few months. After finishing the Livestrong Challenge last year, I began training for the Huntington Beach half marathon. I successfully completed that (all though very slowly) and will be participating in the Disneyland Half Marathon the last weekend in August. So, my training is being split between running and riding. I also hope to be down to 175 pounds by my 45th birthday! I know I'll finish the Disney Half Marathon, but the weight goal may be in jeopardy already. I hope to keep the blog updated with progress on all three goals.