31 October 2014

walk

Missed my bus that is closer to home this morning so today I got to walk both to and from my bus.

In the morning it was raining and believe me, a one-mile walk in the rain might as well be 10 miles. I got wet. It took about two hours of standing at work before I felt reasonably dry.

Sleep 7
Waking HR 4:30 AM - 50
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food  
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day  
Workout Type  
Weather  
Course  
Results  
Time  
Distance  
Pace  
Equipment  
Clothing  

30 October 2014

Expresso Exercise Bike | Breathe Hot Yoga | walk

Another day on the trainer (that's three!) and it still isn't boring. :)

And yes, that heart rate data is not accurate.

On the bus home I saw this.

That sure was a flash from the past.

Sleep 7.5
Waking HR 4:30 AM - 48
Body Weight 12:10 PM - 186 lb.
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food  
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day trainer - 12:15 PM
yoga - 5:45 PM
Workout Type trainer - a bit harder than endurance
Weather  
Course trainer - Oh Mama
Results  
Time trainer - 27:54
yoga - 60 min
Distance trainer - 7.8 miles
Pace  
Equipment trainer - Expresso exercise bike
walk - Brooks Transcend, Garmin Fenix 2
Clothing  

29 October 2014

core | walk

Just the usual, core in the AM at the gym, walking home from the bus stop in the PM. I really should get my commuter running again but it's been raining so much and I can't ride to work in the wet. :(

Saw this sad shell of a bike while walking around for work today. Not much left.

Sleep 7
Waking HR 4:30 AM - 50
Body Weight 6:15 AM - 185 lb.
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food core - water
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day core - 5:30 AM
Workout Type  
Weather  
Course
on the ball leg lifts 3 x 60
twisters 50 each side - 15 lb.
leg extensions 80/20
back extensions 3 x 40
hip raisers 3 x 20 each leg
fire hydrants 60 each side
side leg lifts 80 each side
clam knee lifts 80 each side
roman chair knee lifts 50
push-ups 20/14/10
wobble disk 3 min each leg
Results  
Time core - 45 min
Distance  
Pace  
Equipment  
Clothing  

28 October 2014

walk | Expresso Exercise Bike | Breathe Hot Yoga | walk

Well, I missed the bus this morning so I had to walk to the bus I usually take home. Luckily it was not raining so no biggie. I forgot to record the AM walk.

At lunch I hit the Expresso Exercise Bike for the first time this fall - and it was kind of fun! This trainer really is more interactive than anything else I have used. Now if only the saddle was not such a couch. Kinda makes my butt sore.

On the way home I stopped by Breathe Hot Yoga for my second session this fall. It felt better than the first! Today was a real challenge actually, this is a great class and Ryan is a super instructor. And the class was FULL. 20+ people easy.

In addition to hanging on to the heart rate sensor on the bike I also wore my Fenix just to compare the results. Pretty close.

It was glorious going back to sleep this morning.

Sleep 8
Waking HR 4:30 AM - 44
Body Weight 12:15 PM - 187 lb.
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food  
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day trainer - 12:15 PM
yoga - 5:45 PM
Workout Type trainer - endurance
Weather  
Course trainer - Stormy Hollow
Results  
Time trainer - 25:28
yoga - 60 min
Distance trainer - 7.4 miles
Pace  
Equipment trainer - Expresso Exercise bike
Clothing  

27 October 2014

core | walk

Made it to the gym in the AM and then walked home from the bus stop.

Core is starting to feel a little better.

Sleep 7
Waking HR 4:30 AM - 45
Body Weight 6:15 AM - 185 lb.
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food core - water
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day core - 5:30 AM
Workout Type  
Weather  
Course
on the ball leg lifts 3 x 60
twisters 50 each side - 15 lb.
leg extensions 90/10
back extensions 3 x 40
hip raisers 3 x 20 each side
fire hydrants 60 each side
side leg lifts 80 each side
clam knee lifts 80 each side
roman chair knee lifts 50
push-ups 20/16/12
wobble disk 3 min each leg
Results  
Time core - 45 min
Distance  
Pace  
Equipment walk - Brooks Transcend, Garmin Fenix 2
Clothing  

26 October 2014

SCOTT Cougar Mountain 20 Mile

Wow, I sure pulled that result out of my ass a hat. Regardless, I am loving every minute of it.

I have run the SCOTT Cougar Mountain 20 Mile race three times. The first time was in 2011 and it was the first year they had this distance. No one knew who the heck I was so when I went out a bit too fast they let me go and in spite of dying big time I barely hung on for the win. The second time was in 2012 and some faster runners showed up. I still won my age group but got 5th overall. Last year I was injured so could not participate.

This year I'm still ramping up my fitness and am also dealing with some nagging issues (read: a very inflamed left hip flexor). In fact, my doctor just told me to take two weeks off last Friday. I - very democratically - decided that those two weeks would start after this race.

Did you know that it's pretty dark at 7:00 AM this time of year? It seems like each year Daylight Saving Time gets pushed back further and further so it was freaking night when I pulled into the parking lot. Around 7:20 I was finally able to take this dim picture.



The forecast was for dry(?) until around 9:00 AM and then the rains were supposed to hit again. It wasn't super cold out but I opted for an undershirt, hat and gloves so I would not freeze when I got soaked. I also stayed in the car until about 7:45. Then I did some light stretches and leg swings (I didn't want to run any extra steps on account of my hip), stripped off all my warm clothes and hit the head on my way to the start line.

Today I started right at the front. I guess I had some aspirations and didn't want to get stuck behind too much traffic. I had zero plans of running faster than I was capable of sustaining but just wanted to be able to see the leaders for a bit.

That 'bit' didn't last long.

As usual, about 20 guys were hauling ass from the gun and that is roughly the position I was in when we hit the single track.

I kept it mellow but I ran all the hills. So far my hip was doing fine. I passed a few people here and there but did not really keep track. Around mile six this woman came flying past me. She said, "Are you Martin? I think we've met before!" and then she proceeded to leave me in her dust. I sort of felt like telling her she was not doing anything to increase the odds of us ever meeting again at that pace.
This course has a short out-and-back around mile nine so I knew I would be able to see what place I was in at the second aid station which is the turn-around at the bottom of a long descent. I like descending and today I passed some more people on this downhill and surprisingly, I passed this woman back as well.

As I got close to the bottom there was Glenn Tachiyama in his usual spot. How cool that he shows up to race after race and takes pictures. I was looking ahead, looking ahead and finally I realized that NO ONE WAS COMING UP THE TRAIL BACK AT ME. I was in 1st freaking place. Yikes, it was too early for me to race so I took a relatively leisurely stop at the second aid. I had drained my bottle so filled that all the way up, grabbed a gel and the ubiquitous 1/4 of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that you find at trail races. As I was shoving the last of the sandwich in my face who should show up but that same woman and the last man I had passed on the descent. With crumbs spilling out of my mouth I grabbed my shit and headed back up the hill. Racing or not, no need to waste time standing around when you can eat and drink while walking.

And that is exactly what I was doing in very short order. This climb is a bit of a burner and unless you are training to run hills or just uber fit, you walk. Sure enough, 1st and 2nd place were running and quickly opened up a gap. Oh well. Nothing I could do other than maintain my pace.

As we climbed people who were descending kept cheering us on, that was really cool. This one woman I had met on some Sunday club runs yelled at me, "You better catch Steen!" At the time I had no idea what she had actually said, the word "Steen" did not ring any bells, only later did l figure out it must have been one of the people in front of me.

After about one mile of climbing I started to see the woman that had pulled away from me. Twice.I got within about 10' and then hung there for a bit. There is a spot on the climb up the Shy Bear Trail where it looks like the trail goes straight but if you do go straight you run into a rock wall. The trail really turns left. I had my head down and turned left only to realize that Steen had gone straight. I said something like, "The trail goes this way..." and she replied, "Thanks." At the time I was not sure if she meant it or if she was peeved that I had not seen her go the wrong way and told her to turn. :( After passing Steen I slowly pulled away.

2nd place. Not too shabby! If I could just hold on and not blow.

After cresting this climb there is a longish descent and knowing I was faster going down than the guy in front of me I opened it up. Just a hair. And sure enough, about half a mile or so later, there he was. And when I caught him he graciously stepped aside! That was really nice.

So of course I tried to keep the pace up while going down. I was not trashing my quads so figured any kind of time I had in hand by the bottom was time in the bank for the next climb.

I never even heard him catch me but at the top of De Leo Wall there he was just 20' behind me. I'd be lying if I said it didn't bum me out just a little bit. :)

Right after De Leo Wall is the last aid station. I still had about a quarter of my water bottle left and one gel and I had been staying on top of my nutrition/hydration so figured I would just grab a quick cup of Coke and jam. I saw the table with loads of goodies on it... but no people. And no cups! I started to open a two liter bottle of Coke when I realized I would also have to open my water bottle and pour it in. And then Addy Davis - the guy who was chasing me - showed up. Forget the Coke, I was out of there. Addy must have thought likewise because he was right on my heels.

Luckily there is a bit of descending here so I twisted the grip again and managed to put a few seconds between us by the time we hit the 'flats'. I used single quotes because there is very little true flat running Cougar but you get the idea.

I will freely admit that I suck at flat running. It is so hard for me to push myself! On a steep climb I swear it's easier to go hard. Maybe because climbing is hard in the first place? And I happen to like going down so that's no problem. But push I did, as best as I could. And incredibly I started to ease away from Addy. Turns out I was not just a better descender, I was also a little faster in the technical sections. So you know that every time the trail went down or got tricky (or ideally both!) I tried to press on the gas pedal just a little.

After passing Red Town there is a short climb and then more flat. ARGH. I was running out of steam. Plus the long, straight sections of dirt road made me nervous. I wanted to be out of sight big time.
As I turned left up the last big hill I could not see Addy. Whew. Half a mile later I could see him but he was three switchbacks below me. Hang on Martin...! I was going hard for sure but was not in the red, just barely below.

It's funny what you think about at times like these. My mind started wandering back to the Wednesday night Seattle Running Club Cross Country workouts I have been participating in recently and I started to imagine the last half mile of this course and where I could pick up the pace should it come down to a sprint. I know, me sprint?! Hahaha...

At the top of the hill I was probably no more than 1.5 miles from the finish. There was some flat, some descending and then a tiny bit of flat to the line. At the bottom of the last climb I felt like I had at least a one minute gap on Addy so I tried to talk myself through the flat section and turn it up again on the last descent. As I started the last descent I looked back one final time. I had just run a long section of fairly straight doubletrack and as I turned downhill I could not see Addy so finally relaxed just a little.

I gave it a little kick when I knew I had less than 200 m to go (the finish line is not visible until you are right THERE) and crossed with a big smile on my face. Addy did great, he was just 45 seconds behind me. And Steen was just 10 minutes behind me, nice!

Oh man did my left hip hurt... After high fiving my teammates Eric Sach said, "Martin, you're limping." I sure was. But, mission accomplished! Hopefully the price I paid is not too steep.



It was so cool to see my teammates around the course. Joe Creighton was at mile six directing traffic and then handing out prizes at the finish, Keith Laverty had just finished sweeping, Erik Barkhaus was congratulating folks as they crossed the line and Evan Williams was serving hot soup. Of which I had three cups. And of course Eric Sach and The Balanced Athlete do so much for this series, not even sure where to begin...

The only bummer was my GPS lost its connection to the satellites. Again! :( Why is my watch so fickle? It should not be, I paid too much for this kind of reliability. Grumble, grumble... Anyway, that is why my route is a bit short. And it's also why I could not upload my run to Strava, because something went 'wrong' with my FIT file. Sigh.

I had a small scare this morning. I had set my alarm for 5 so I would have time for a real breakfast with time to digest. I woke up and felt super rested but my alarm did not go off. I say there and lay there waiting until finally I just grabbed my phone to check the time. It was 6:05. Turns out I had set my alarm for Saturday. D'oh...! I just had a smaller breakfast.

The rain held off until after I finished, that was VERY nice. But the horrific winds from last night had put more debris and full on trees in the trails than I have ever seen on Cougar Mt. We not only had to climb over several logs but under some and through some more because of all the branches that were still attached. Kind of fun actually. And it makes me even happier about my PR.

Here are all the pictures.

Sleep 6
Waking HR
Body Weight
Body Fat
Breakfast 6:15 AM - 2 bananas, apple sauce, 1 scoop protein powder, Udo's Oil
Lunch
Dinner
Workout Food bottle w/2 scoops Perpetuem and 2 Endurolytes, 1.5 bottles of some PowerBar drink, 3 PowerBar Energy Gels, 1/4 of a peanut butter & jelly sandwich
Injuries
Therapy
Time of Day 8:00 AM
Workout Type race
Weather upper 40s at the start, 50 at the finish, dry, not so windy in the woods
Course
Results 1st - Overall
PR by one minute
official results
Time 3:04:35
Distance 20 miles? I suspect the course was a bit short...
Pace
Equipment Brooks PureGrit 3, Garmin Fenix 2, Ultimate Direction Fastdraw Plus
Clothing Injinji Run Original Weight Mini-Crew, Brooks Infinity 3" Split Short, Craft Active Extreme Short Sleeve Baselayer, Brooks long sleeve top, Brooks Pulse Lite Glove II, Udo's Oil knit hat

25 October 2014

Breathe Hot Yoga

Wow was that hard, and good for me. I need to get back into this. Glad Breathe Hot Yoga is relatively close to home.

Sleep 6
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food  
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day 10:30 AM
Workout Type  
Weather  
Course  
Results  
Time 90 min
Distance  
Pace  
Equipment  
Clothing  
Technorati Tags:

sync activities between Garmin Connect/Strava/TrainingPeaks/Athletepath/MapMyFitness/MyFitnessPal

We all love social networking services. They are after all, social; and sharing is one of the best things about the Internet.

For those of us that are physically active we also love to save and track and analyze our workouts. If you use a GPS when you walk/run/ride/swim and/or a heart rate monitor when you workout indoors and an online service this is easy. The benefit is you can compare your workouts to previous efforts, to other people, set goals and generate reports showing how much you did in a week/month/year and even get alerts when to buy new shoes or see how long you were sick or injured. Plus it's fun to comment on your friend's efforts.

The more into this you are, the more social networking and fitness services you are likely to use and it becomes a bit tedious to upload your activity to each one separately.

This is true no longer!

I'm no doubt a bit behind the curve on this but I recently figured out how to sync my activities between Garmin Connect, Strava, TrainingPeaks, Athletepath and MapMyFitness (which is also MapMyRun and MapMyRide) and MyFitnessPal.

social_networks

I started with Garmin Connect because I use Garmin GPS devices when I run and ride but you can do all this if you use a Suunto GPS as well.

Full disclosure, I started down this path by reading a DC Rainmaker post and it seems that Strava is driving this so you might want to create an account with this service. It is free.

Garmin Connect --> Strava

Without connecting any device to your computer, start by logging into your Strava account and clicking the Upload button in the top, right corner of your browser. You should see this and at the bottom is a link to connect Strava and Garmin Connect.

Strava-Garmin-1

Click the Get Started link under your type of device and follow the prompts.

Strava-Garmin-2

Garmin Connect --> TrainingPeaks

https://home.trainingpeaks.com/garminconnect

Strava --> MyFitnessPal

http://blog.strava.com/train-smart-track-your-nutrition-with-myfitnesspal-7967/

MapMyFitness --> Athletepath

http://about.mapmyfitness.com/2014/10/athletepath/

Although I'm not seeing any of my MapMyFitness activities on Athletepath yet... hopefully that will get sorted out soon.

Garmin Connect --> MyFitnessPal

http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/2014/07/great-news-garmin-users-now-you-can-seamlessly-synch-with-myfitnesspal/

The end result is I only need to upload my activities to Garmin Connect and all the above accounts are synced. Neat. Now if only the custom name I give each activity would also sync. And the gear/shoes/bike.

churches are getting smarter

At the UW people are always giving stuff away. Frequently it's companies looking to recruit or increase brand awareness so when this guy was handing out granola bars in Red Square I thought nothing of it. I got to where I was going, took out the bar to eat it and look what was attached.

Apparently Blue Sky Church is recruiting too.

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24 October 2014

hip update

Saw my doctor Oren Townsend today to finally find out what is up with my hip. By now I'm thinking I have a hernia or muscle tear of some such thing... The diagnosis? A very inflamed hip flexor tendon.

I was prescribed some pretty beefy anti-inflammatory pills and told to take it easy for a couple of weeks.

And I just signed up for a run on Cougar Mountain. :(

Technorati Tags: ,

22 October 2014

core | walk | SRC XC workout

Gosh, my hip is not right. Sometimes I wonder why it takes me so long to figure things out? It's hard not to do the things you want to.

The Seattle Running Club XC workout called for 4-6 x 1200 m efforts on a loop around the Genesee Park playfield. It was about 95% pavement with one wet, greasy, sloppy, soft, grass descent back to the start of the loop.

  • My 1st interval felt okay.
  • My 2nd was not comfortable.
  • I pulled the plug just 200 m into my 3rd.

After that I just jogged around the loop feeling sorry for myself. But I did enjoy the grass descent each time. :) It was SO slick, you were pretty much doing a controlled surf down this hill and I was sinking in several inches the grass was so saturated. FUN. Another thing that made this evening fun was the fact that although it was wet on the ground, the rain let up right about when the workout started and it never got cold. I could have easily worn a short sleeve or sleeveless shirt today.

After the workout we all headed over to Flying Lion Brewing for a couple of beers, Yum.

flb

Sleep 7
Waking HR 4:30 AM - 44
Body Weight 6:30 AM - 186 lb.
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food core - water
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day core - 5:30 AM
run - 6:30 PM
Workout Type  
Weather run - upper 50s (60?), wet ground, calm
Course
on the ball leg lifts 3 x 60
twisters 50 each side
leg extensions 80/20
back extensions 3 x 40
hip raisers 3 x 20 each leg
fire hydrants 60 each side
side leg lifts 80 each side
clam knee lifts 80 each side
roman chair knee lifts 50
push-ups 20/16/10
wobble disk 3 min each leg
XC workout
4-6 x 1200 m w/2 min jog between efforts
Results  
Time core - 45 min
Distance  
Pace  
Equipment run - Brooks PureGrit, Garmin Fenix 2
Clothing Brooks 5" Essential Run Short, Brooks long sleeve top

21 October 2014

Fleet Feet run | walk

After two days off from running I'm giving it a go again. These group runs at Fleet Feet Sports Seattle and The Balanced Athlete each week are great!

Not sure if I was tight or what but the pace felt a tad quick from the start and I had to watch some guys ease up the road. I caught back up at a traffic light about half way in but when we hit the hill first Joe Creighton and then a couple of others pulled away again. To be expected.

What was not expected is I caught them again just .25 miles from the finish! The lead group had just kept it steady/easy and I was going pretty hard. Gave me a tiny boost.

After the run I walked around for a bit and even jogged a lap of the Cal Anderson Park playfield. I needed that.

Then I walked to the bus and home from the bus. I needed that too. I forgot my headlamp but luckily the winter route has more light.

Sleep 7
Waking HR 4:30 AM - 44
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food  
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day run - 6:00 PM
Workout Type  
Weather  
Course winter route
Results  
Time  
Distance  
Pace  
Equipment Brooks Glycerin 11, Garmin Fenix 2
Clothing Fitsok CF2, Brooks 5" Essential Run Short, Brooks long sleeve top

20 October 2014

core | walk

Did I mention that my hip is messed up? Well it is. Still not sure what is wrong but after every hard run - especially on pavement - I need several days off.

I did get to the gym this morning.

Sleep 6
Waking HR 4:30 AM - 48
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food water
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day core - 5:30 AM
Workout Type  
Weather  
Course
on the ball leg lifts 3 x 60
twisters 50 each side - 15 lb.
leg extensions 70/30
back extensions 3 x 40
hip raisers 3 x 20 each leg
fire hydrants 60 each side
side leg lifts 80 each side
clam knee lifts 80 each side
roman chair knee lifts 50
push-ups 20/14/10
wobble disk 3 min each leg
Results  
Time core - 45 min
Distance  
Pace  
Equipment  
Clothing  

18 October 2014

Lake Padden Half Marathon (USATF Trail Half Marathon Championship)

Today was my first ever running National Championship.

As they say down under, I'm over the moon with my result.

The Lake Padden Half Marathon has been around for years. This year, thanks in part to the work of Eric Sach, it was a USATF National Championship event.

I have been struggling with a hip issue lately and the only thing that has helped has been rest so I came into this race very fresh. Something not to be underrated I'm learning. To keep with the freshness theme, I decided to get a hotel room in Bellingham. This meant I could set the alarm for six instead of something like four. Worth it.

Talking to other runners it seems tons of them 1) don't eat much for breakfast and 2) don't carry much with them while running this distance. Had this been a training run, I would absolutely carry a bottle and a snack. But today was a race. Instead I went all in and decided to rely on the aid stations (there were two) and just carry one gel with me. I also wore my singlet instead of a short sleeve shirt. FAST. :)

ASIDE - my new Brooks Infinity 3" Split Short has loops in both pockets specifically for holding nutrition so I tried it today. It worked! The elastic loop held my gel just fine until I needed it.

Walking around before the start I suddenly realized that my left hip was feeling pretty good! Lately just walking has been about the most uncomfortable thing to do whereas running has felt tolerable once I get warmed up. I was psyched and so went for a short warm up jog and sure enough, no hip pain! Feeling like caution was the prudent path I didn't push my warm up and cut the jog short in favor of some light stretching.

I had run up here one week ago and on that day went out WAY too fast. I've been pretty good about pacing lately so was frustrated with that newbie mistake and resolved to do better today. As a result, when the gun went off, I was soon running near the back of the men's field. Heck, I was running near the back of the ENTIRE field, there were some blazing fast women here today.

This race is mostly along a flat, firm gravel path. If there is one thing I suck at it's running fast on the flat. As a result, when we finally hit the singletrack at mile 1.1 or so I had no shortage of carrots in front of me. Luckily once we hit the trail it was awesome! There were banked turns, soft surfaces, roots, some steps and drop-offs and I was having a blast. As much as you can while keeping the heart rate pegged anyway.

After that first mile of gravel path and about one mile of trail I had found my rhythm. I was going hard but not too hard and I was guardedly optimistic I could maintain this effort for a while. It was kind of funny, to a person that mostly races ultras, this was definitely feeling fast! To everyone else it was probably just a normal race pace.

My goal going in - assuming I felt good - was to hang with the Club Northwest guys in my age group. They are always fast on the flats so this would be a big challenge. I also wanted to hang with Arthur Martineau and Ryan McKnight both of whom were running very well lately.

After mile one everyone I wanted to hang with was out of sight, dang. Nothing to do but keep after it. After that first mile of singletrack I could see Arthur up the trail a bit so tried to use him as motivation. The only problem is I was not really able to go any faster! I guess this race just had to play out. Here are the highlights.

  • I still don't know how to drink out of aid station cups. I dumped most of the water all over myself the first time. The second time I stopped for a second so I could actually drink.
  • I walked way more than I thought I would. Going in I figured I might walk one or two hills and I must have walked six or seven times. But it certainly didn't slow me down and it saved a bit of energy.
  • This collegiate woman passed Arthur and I on a descent like we were standing still, she was flying! We would then pass her back on the next climb or the flats. Nuts.
  • I did catch Arthur and ran with him for a few miles, that was great. He told me I would catch Ryan which was nice of him to say. I didn't believe him.
  • With about 1.5 miles to go I caught Ryan.
  • With about one mile to go I was within maybe 50' of a Club Northwest runner. Then we hit the flat trail and he pulled away again.
  • Having lots of carrots up the trail is a good thing, don't be afraid to hold back early so you can finish strong.

One of the best things about showing up to races with your team is hanging out together after. And this wasn't even everyone that ran.

When they finally posted the results I thought I got 4th.

I got so excited I sent out a premature Tweet.

Turns out I should have looked more closely, one of the guys that beat me was older so I actually got 3rd place in my division. Nice!

I ran as fast as my current fitness allowed today and was able to do so because I got my pacing right, that's all I can ask for. The result was some sweet icing on the cake for sure. And there were not only lots of SRC runners at this event, we had some fantastic results in general! Justin Houck got 4th overall, Erik Barkhaus was the 10th USATF runner overall, Marlene Farrell was 10th overall, and a bunch of others had super strong performances in a stacked race.

Here are all the pictures.

Sleep 7
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast 6:00 AM - 2 bananas, large bottle w/3 scoops Perpetuem
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food 45 min before start - GU
race - one GU at 48 minutes, water after loop #1 and after loop #2
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day 9:00 AM
Workout Type  
Weather upper 50s at the start, low 60s at the finish, dry, windy
Course three flat (firm gravel path) circuits around Lake Padden with some hills and singletrack between lap one and two and between lap two and three
Results 3rd - 50-54
official results
Time 1:43:44
Distance 13.1 miles
Pace  
Equipment Brooks PureGrit 3, Garmin Fenix 2
Clothing Injinji Run Original Weight Mini-Crew, Brooks Infinity 3" Split Short, Brooks singlet

17 October 2014

core

Two good things happened today!

  1. I have made it to the gym to do my core work three times this week.
  2. I got a sudden infusion of inspiration during my first exercise so finally did the full routine that I used to do be I started slacking off recently.

Hooray for me!

I could not balance on the wobble disk today to save my life but otherwise bonus!

Sleep 6
Waking HR  
Body Weight 6:30 AM - 184 lb.
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food water
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day 5:45 AM
Workout Type  
Weather  
Course
on the ball leg lifts 3 x 60
twisters 50 each side - 15 lb.
leg extensions 60/30/10
back extensions 3 x 40
hip raisers 3 x 20 each leg
fire hydrants 60 each side
side leg lifts 80 each side
clam knee lifts 80 each side
roman chair knee lifts 50
push-ups 20/20/14
wobble disk 3 min each leg
Results  
Time core - 45 min
Distance  
Pace  
Equipment  
Clothing  

16 October 2014

walk

Yikes... my left hip is worse that I want to admit.

Interestingly walking is the most uncomfortable, once I get warmed up running is pretty okay. Most likely I will need to see someone to help me fix this after my race this weekend.

I also saw this sad sight on the UW Campus today walking to work.

And this sweet ride on my way to the bus going home.

Sleep Can't remember... tried to sleep in, it probably didn't work.
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15 October 2014

core | walk | SRC XC workout

Hit the gym in the morning, got in my usual bus walk and then headed over to Woodland Park for the weekly Seattle Running Club Cross Country workout.

My left hip is still messed up and starting out running is quite uncomfortable. At least things are more pleasant once I warm up. As I tried to will my body to run I thought of this masking tape sign I saw on the sidewalk Monday.

Maxwell Ferguson has been my biggest fan at these XC workouts. He's always shouting encouragement which is fantastic. Today the guy that I usually run with (Herbert Sitz) was not there so motivation was a bit low and hearing Max was awesome.

Sleep 7
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food core - water
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day core - 5:30 AM
run - 6:30 PM
Workout Type run - intervals
Weather run - upper 50s, dry, windy
Course
on the ball leg lifts 2 x 60
twisters 50 each side - 15 lb.
back extensions 3 x 40
hip raisers 3 x 20 each leg
fire hydrants 60 each side
side leg lifts 80 each side
clam knee lifts 80 each side
roman chair knee lifts 50
push-ups 20/14/10
wobble disk 3 min each leg
run - Woodland Park
8 x 200 m w/200 m jog rest
2 x 5 min tempo w/200 m jog rest
Results  
Time core - 40 min
Distance  
Pace  
Equipment run - Brooks PureGrit, Garmin Fenix 2, BlackDiamond Sprinter Headlamp
Clothing run - Fitsok CF2, Brooks 5" Essential Run Short, long sleeve Brooks shirt

14 October 2014

stretching | walk

Eek... my left hip is not happy so I'm taking another day off.

This morning I went to the gym and just stretched and tried to soften my legs with the foam roller. Ouch. Obviously I need this.

Walking around for work I saw this sandwich board. Classic college town sign. And most likely a classic English-is-not-my-first-language-or-I-never-went-to-college sign too.

Sleep 7
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Time of Day stretching - 5:30 AM
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Time stretching - 25 min
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13 October 2014

core | walk

Time for a rest day.

Made it to the gym for some core (which always feels like I have been taking weeks and weeks off lately) and then walked home from the bus stop.

I have this twinge in my left hip... it's kind of bugging me.

On my way to work I saw this.

I sure hope Pronto Cycle Share takes off in Seattle.

Sleep 6
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food core - water
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day core - 5:30 AM
Workout Type  
Weather  
Course
on the ball leg lifts 2 x 60
twisters 50 each side - 15 lb.
back extensions 3 x 40
hip raisers 3 x 20 each leg
fire hydrants 60 each side
side leg lifts 80 each side
clam knee lifts 80 each side
roman chair knee lifts 50
push-ups 20/14/10
wobble disk 3 min each leg
Results  
Time core - 40 min
Distance  
Pace  
Equipment  
Clothing  
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12 October 2014

McClellan Butte

I was looking for an easy run today but when I got the call from Herbert Sitz to go for an easy trail run up McClellan Butte instead I signed up with zero hesitation. Katelen Phelan was in as well.

This is one of those trails that ends in a scramble up a ridge and this one is pretty exciting if you have never done any rock climbing or have issues with exposure. Super fun. At the top it was pretty misty/foggy but you could still see north, east and west, just not south. Awesome.

We had no agenda or time goal so the jog from the car was nice and easy. The trail is great! Some roots and rocks (super typical NW trail) but it's very runnable. We jogged for about 2.5 miles and then when it got steep we hiked the remaining 2.5 miles to the top.

The last 200 m or so are a scramble that looks like this from the bottom.

And like this from about half way up.

It really was not big deal as you were not afraid. The closer you got to the top, the more walkable the trail become.

At the top it felt like you had really accomplished something.

We had stayed together on the way up but on the way down I went ahead and ran the whole thing. What a fun trail! There are some technical sections and a couple of scree slopes but mostly it's soft and covered with pine needles. The last two miles down to the car were a blast.

Thanks Herb and Katelen for having me along! Although not a true recovery run my legs did feel better after I finished than before I started.

Here are all the pictures and video.

Sleep 6
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
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Breakfast 7:00 AM - 4 eggs, pulled pork, cabbage, tea
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food 2 bottles each w/2 scoops Perpetuem, Hammer Bar, 2 fun size Snickers bars
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day 11:15 AM
Workout Type  
Weather low to upper 50s, dry, foggy at times, calm
Course  
Results  
Time  
Distance  
Pace  
Equipment Altra Lone Peak 2.0, Ultimate Direction SJ Ultra Vest 2.0, Garmin Fenix 2
Clothing Injinji Run Original Weight Mini-Crew, Brooks 5" Essential Run Short, Brooks short sleeve EZ T III

11 October 2014

WWU Cross Country Classic

Hahaha... what was I thinking. today I lined up with a bunch of Seattle Running Club teammates and 160 college age kids that can RUN. I was off the back in the first 200 m.

I figured it would be good speed training for next week (and in general) but this was a joke. And I totally dorked my pacing! What a newbie mistake.

That said I wasn't last, there were exactly four people behind me. Suck it. Still, another giant slice of humble pie please. The winner was TWELVE AND A HALF MINUTES AHEAD OF ME. Did I mention it dumped rain during our warm-up?

But it was never cold! Thank goodness for small favors.

I was seriously laughing at myself watching everyone else run strides and jog around (my tempo pace totally) but hey, I wanted to broaden my horizons and this was going to do that.

We started in a grassy field and did a little lollypop loop before jumping on the gravel path that circles Lake Padden. We did one clockwise lap of the lake and then a counter-clockwise lap and then another tiny lollypop around the bathrooms and then it was a 200 m sprint to the line across that grassy field. For me it was more about not slowing down for those last 200 m.

I was running alone from about .25 miles on. Seriously. For a while the pack was in sight but that didn't last long and soon I was literally alone. There was some kid in a red singlet in front of me that I slowly caught by mile three or so but he ended up pulling away from me again soon after since I died a little during the fourth mile.

It's a cool trail around the lake and would be a great training loop...

As I ran by the first mile marker the volunteer yelled, "6:30!" I thought oops, that is not good. Honesty, Ii 'm, not sure why I bungled my pacing so much. I do a six mile run every Tuesday evening and I know that I need to start a little slower even if I'm feeling great. I guess the pull of the pack was overpowering today. Sure enough, mile two was around 7:00 and I slowed down from there. :(

Having gone out too hard, once I died I was in terrible shape. You know that feeling of wanting to push the pace but being totally unable to do so? Yep.

The rain did stop right at the start of the race and the sun came out about one mile from the finish and it warmed up. Luckily hypothermia was not on the agenda today and we could change out of our wet clothes into dry clothes without getting all the dry stuff wet.

After watching the women finish (90% of them were also faster than me) we headed out to Calle Tacos Tequila in Mt Vernon. It was awesome!

Sleep 6
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast 6:00 AM - 4 eggs, 3 slices of bread w/almond butter & jam, tea
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food on the drive up - large bottle w/2 scoops HEED
45 min before start - shot of Hammer Gel
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day 10:00 AM
Workout Type XC race
Weather upper 50s, calm, rain at the start, dry at the finish
Course some grass, mostly on a firm gravel path around Lake Padden
Results 161st - Overall
official results
Time 43:31
Distance 10 km (my watch got 6.2 miles)
Pace 7:01 if it was really 10 km (6:57 if my watch is right)
Equipment Brooks PureGrit 3, Garmin Fenix 2
Clothing Injinji Lightweight Mini-Crew, Brooks Infinity 3" Split Short, Craft Active Extreme Short Sleeve Baselayer, Brooks Singlet

10 October 2014

bike commute

The old legs are feeling better! Nice.

After work I got a much needed (understatement!) massage from Tucker Roy at Action Sports Massage.

Tucker kindly reminded me that it was okay to start stretching and using the foam roller again RIGHT AWAY IN FACT SO THAT MY RIGHT QUADRICEPS DOES NOT HEAL SHORT AFTER MY HORRIFIC FALL AT THE CRYSTAL MT SKY MARATHON. I guess I should get on that. On the upside, it was great to learn that my right leg can finally tolerate deep tissue work again. It's still bruised from my fall at the race but now pressure is just uncomfortable and not a sharp pain.

Riding through downtown was cool. It was dry but windy and there was a Seattle Sounders game going on so the streets were filled with blue, green and scarves. The wind was strong enough to move me around since I'm riding these way deep, poser/hipster rims.

And leaves are on the ground everywhere! The rains must not be far off.

Sleep  
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Workout Food water
Injuries  
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Time of Day massage - 5:30 PM
Workout Type  
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Results  
Time massage - 60 min
Distance  
Pace  
Equipment Kona Paddy Wagon, Garmin Edge 500
Clothing  

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