A few more calories

Activity: Walk
Mileage: 2.13 miles
Time: 36:30 -- 17:09 pace
Location: Trailwood Village

Activity: Weight Training
Body Region: Mid-body
Time: 30 minutes
Location: Home Gym

Activity: Run
Mileage: 1.0 mile
Time: 12:33
Location: Home Treadmill

Nice neighborhood walk with the family.

I've been reading about everyone doing speed work and thought I'd give it a whirl. My legs have been continually sore, so I figured a little speed might "wake them up". There is no rhyme or rhythm to the madness of my run, but I'll try to describe it:

1:30 @ 4.0 mph - 15:00/ mile pace
0:30 @ 6.7 mph - 9:00/ mile pace

1:30 @ 4.0 mph - 15:00/ mile pace
0:30 @ 7.0 mph - 8:35/ mile pace

1:30 @ 4.0 mph - 15:00/ mile pace
0:30 @ 7.5 mph - 8:00/mile pace

1:30 @ 4.0 mph - 15:00/ mile pace
0:30 @ 7.5 mph - 8:00/ mile pace

1:30 @ 4.0 mph - 15:00/mile pace
0:30 @ 7.5 mph - 8:00/ mile pace

1:30 @ 4.0 mph - 15:00/mile pace
0:30 @ 7.5 mph - 8:00/ mile pace
0:30 @ 4.0 mph - 15:00/mile pace

I worked up a really good sweat. I'll even go as far as saying.... it was fun!

Just burning a few calories

Activity: Weight Training
Body Region: Upper
Time: 30 minutes
Location: Home Gym

Activity: Walk
Mileage: 1.75
Time: 30 Minutes -- 17:09 pace
Location: Home Treadmill

Stationary Bike

Activity: Stationary Bike
Time: 30 minutes
Level: 4 (of 16)
Location: Humble Fire Department

Surprised that my legs are still sore. I haven't run since Thursday.

No good news with my weight management. Although, I have decided to put weight loss on the front burner. I'll run as a means of weight loss, but without any particular g0al or race.

What do you call: Junk Miles?

Activity: Run
Mileage: 3 miles
Time: 31:18 -- 10:26 pace
10:07, 10:33, 10:38
Location: Humble Fire Department

Before you get excited about the pace, you gotta know there is a twist. My legs were tight and heavy the entire time. Ran the first mile at a good click, but then I faded in a BIG WAY. The remaining 2-miles consisted of a series of walk-run segments. At times I didn't run more than 0.15 mile before walking again. It was a challenge, but I made sure to log my three-miles of actual running.

Something needs to change, again. I don't like running right now. In fact, I spend most of my day dreading it.

Unimpressive run

Activity: Run
Mileage: 3 miles
Time: 39:42 -- 13:14 pace
Location: Home Treadmill

Here is what my schedule is SUPPOSE to look like:

Sunday: Long-ass bike ride
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 3 miles, easy
Wednesday: 3 miles, good pace if I feel recovered
Thursday: 4 miles, easy
Friday: 3 miles, easy
Saturday: 5 miles, easy
Sunday: 10 miles, easy

I skipped yesterdays run. Two things got in my way. First, I was exhausted as hell (lack of sleep and legs still sore). Second, I simply ran out of time. My run suffered the consequences.

As you can see from the splits above, today's run lacked any kind of glamour. ALMOST skipped tonight's run as well, but Erin talked me into it. She has a way of saying, "You know you'll feel better afterwards" that gets me moving. I took it step by step. First goal was to put on my shoes. Second goal was to get on the treadmill. Third and final goal, finish three miles.

I'm a little surprised my left shin was aching. I haven't run since Saturday and I was on the treadmill. Interesting.

There is a small chance I will pick up Tuesdays mileage somewhere along the way, but I won't stress over it, if I don't.

KFC (report might be longer than the ride)

I'm still exhausted, but lets see how far I get with the ride report. First off, its hard to remember to call them "rides" or "tours", rather than "race".

As mentioned before, a buddy from worked convinced me to attempt the century ride. Shortly after posting my intentions of the Katy Flatlands I received advice against the 100-mile distance from someone I greatly respect. Since that email, I've struggled with my decision. Even the morning of the ride, I had no idea how far I would end up riding. Simply rode one mile at a time.

Alright, let me back up to Saturday. I purchased a new pair of road bike shoes from Performance Cycle. I had to get new shoes, because the old shoes were purchased online and arrived about 20 sizes to narrow. At 6pm I decided to move my cleat's over to the new shoes and realized the new ones were the "look" style, and I had SPD style on my old shoes. Anyways, at 8pm I was back at the bike shop buying new pedals and cleats.

I've been told a zillion times to never run a marathon in a new shoe. Trust me when I say this is true for biking as well. Actually the shoes were great, but I was having a lot of issues clipping in and out of the new pedals. Hang with me, I going somewhere with this....

One final note about Saturday; I only slept 2.5 hours. This was partly cause of the late drive back to the bike shop, installation of the new hardware, plus Preston is awake every 2 hours or so, and I had to get up at 4am. When we arrived at Katy Mills Mall there was just enough time to register before the rain started. This is also when I noted the difficulties with the new clips. As soon as I sat in the saddle, I found it hard to unclip. When I was able to successfully unclip I realized they have NO TRACTION on the bottom. That plus the rain slicked parking lot made me extremely nervous. I was sure to fall, but when. Well, it didn't take long. On the way to the start line, we had to make a quick stop and yield to a truck backing up. I couldn't get my foot out, which made me nervous. In the end, I went down in front of a LOT of people. No injury, thank goodness. As we sat in the start line I watched several people fall, which made me feel at ease... (not the only one falling)

Steve and I were at the front of the second wave. When we were released to ride, I noticed two things. One, my gloves were still tied around my handlebars and two, my bike computer was not working. I was a nervous wreck about falling, plus I had people within 6-inches of me on every side. I couldn't do anything about the gloves, but upon visual inspection, I saw my wireless sensor had been knocked away from the wheel during the fall. Carefully, I reached down and fixed the computer. There was a difference of 0.70 miles between my computer and Steve's.

Rained HARD for the first 10-11 miles. Average speed was less than 10 mph until the rain eased up and the crowds started thinning out. During the initial 5 miles we witnessed some nasty wrecks. One of them so bad the riders were diverted onto the other side of a median as EMS worked on the patient. Not sure of her injuries, but we were close enough to see a pool of blood on the road.

Early in the ride I remember thinking how tired I was. Not so much "dead-leg" tired, but rather, pure exhaustion. If my memory is correct, the first stop break was at 13 miles. From start to finish, I kept most of the breaks rather short. It was common for me to see the same people at the rest stop when I left as it was when I arrived. The entire time I pondered my distance for the day. The last turning point was at 26 miles. At that mileage I had to decide if I could do the 26 mile distance three more times. For the most part I WANTED to do the metric century. Unfortunately, the little voice in my head, which is a HUGE DREAMER, wanted to stick its chest out and say, "I biked 100-miles". The weather between rest stop #1 (13 miles) and rest stop two (24 miles?) was as perfect as you could expect. The only problem, we were soaked from head to toe and didn't dry out as fast.

Shortly after leaving rest stop #2 I had to make my final decision. The rest and weather did me a lot of good, but I knew my exhaustion laid deep within. I SERIOUSLY didn't decide until the actual turn-off. Then I just turned onto the 100-mile course. All I can say is, "the little voice made me do it".

Then I started drying out and it got HOT and sticky. I was able to handle the weather, but then we turned onto a country road that was rough as hell. I quickly went from 17 mph to 12 mph. For whatever reason, I could not hold my pace on that terrain. Seems we weren't the only riders having problems on the surface. Although several larger pods of riders blew by as, we picked off several riders ourselves.

A lot of the ride was blurry from mile 35-50. I remember some BEAUTIFUL countryside properties and slow riding. My buddy Steve also dropped me during this time. He found a pod he liked and asked me if I cared if he tried to hang with him. I said okay, but deep down inside of me I didn't want to ride alone. After rest stop #4, I joined a pair of lady riders. I sat behind them for a mile or two before they asked me take the lead. I pulled us about 7 miles and the favor was never returned. Eventually I dropped them.

Rest stop number 4 was interesting. As I was walking up, a couple "fit" riders were at the refreshment table and had their back to me. I was refilling my bottle when I heard one of them say, "It cracks me up to see these guys with a $3,000 bike that weighs 17 lbs, and they weigh 240 lbs. If they want something light... trying losing weight and save the money". Now, I'm pretty sure they were not talking about me and my $400 bike, but it still pissed me off. Yeah, I know lots of us need to lose weight, but c'mon! Does that mean I cannot have a NICE bike, like the fit riders... just becasue I'm fat? They were still talking when I left the stop. The new found anger did me a lot of good, as I picked up my pace and felt pretty good for 5-6 miles. My final thought about the conversation was this. I'm 240 pounds, riding a $400 bike I bought online and we were at the SAME rest stop, right? So, fuck those cocky bastards!

Miles 55-70 was lonely and HOT. Not many riders around me. Occasionally someone would pass me, but even those were far and few between. It was during this time I really found a zone. It seemed that the sag wagon and the sun were taunting me. I made a mantra and said it over and over and over. It's a silly one, so I'll keep it to myself. hehehehe

Spent a little longer than normal at rest stop #6. One of the conversations I overheard was about the "shortcut". The other rest stop topic was about being routed wrong by a police officer, which added 5 miles to the route. I knew I couldn't make 105 miles, but I thought 90 was still obtainable. A couple veteran KFC riders stated we would be very close to 100 WITH the shortcut. At that stop I decided to take the short cut and made a commitment to myself, which was: Reuse to find myself on a sag wagon. By this time it was raining again. This was miserable, because I had finally dried out. The worst was the wet feet and my wet hydration back pack felt like it weighed 100 pounds.

Four miles outside the rest stop the "veteran riders" from the last stop had caught me and for the first time, someone gave me some encouragement. The four person pod consisted of 3 men and 1 woman. Two of the men told me, "Your looking good" and "Not too far now, you can make it!". This was all I needed to light my fire. Of course they passed me, but they were stopped by a red light a half mile ahead. As the light turned I had caught both them and the light. Once again they dropped me, but I noticed they were slightly dropping the female. I busted my ass to catch her, which I did. Within a quarter mile we were riding as a 5-person pod. What shocked me was our speed. I hung with them for 4-6 miles at an average speed of 19.5-20 mph. With 5 miles to go I was forced to let the pod go. Missed the last two rest stops due to the shortcut, so I needed to slow down and stop on the side of the road to stretch my neck and back.

The final stretch was VERY uneventful, with the exception of the awful heat and humidity. The shortcut enabled me to arrive back at the truck before Steve. Since this was my first organized ride, I was shocked at the lack of an "after-party". By this time it was raining hard again, so I rode easy around the mall waiting for Steve to get back. I was able to log another couple miles.

After the ride, Steve kept asking me how a century ride compares to a marathon. I still don't know the answer to his question. I know they are mentally close. After 15 miles in a marathon the roads just keep coming with no end in sight. Riding 100-miles is very similar. After 50 miles the roads just kept coming and I wondered if it would ever end. My legs feel a lot better than they did after the marathon. Plus I went into this ride sleep deprived, no exercise taper, and minimally trained. You'd NEVER survive a marathon under the same conditions. So, I guess his answer is right there.

When I got home it was everything I could do to keep my OCD in check. I nearly got back on the bike to finish the needed 100-mile distance. I continue to fight such urges in exchange for "normal people" thoughts. Instead of biking another 5.5 miles, I took my family out to eat.

A good day!

Century - shortcut = 94.6 miles

Activity: Bike
Mileage: 94.6 miles
Time: 6:50:47 -- 13.82 mph
Location: Katy Flatlands

No sag wagon for me. I took a shortcut after learning the course was long, so I didn't quite make the century mark.

I'll post more about the race tomorrow.

Sweet Run #2

Activity: Run
Mileage: 3.10 miles
Time: 34:28 -- 11:08 pace
12:04, 11:12, 10:16
Location: Kingwood Greenbelts

Forgot how running with hot women equals faster running.

My legs were really tired this morning, so I PLANNED on running 3-miles at 12:00++ pace. The plan went as planned for the first mile, but then a HOT chick (I mean REALLY hot), came up beside me and we started talking.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to run at tempo pace, suck in my gut, minimize the bouncing of my man-tits, and try to act cool? It's not easy.

All in all, a nice run. I dropped nearly one-minute each mile. Sweet.

My left shin is very, very noisy.

Sweet Run

Activity: Run
Mileage: 3.0 miles
Time: 28:58 -- 9:39 pace
10:35, 8:51, 9:32
Location: Humble Fire Department

Forgot how running with fast people equals faster running.

Started the run with Steve from work. We started a little too early and found ourselves in plenty-o-heat. To make matters more challenging, we were going a little faster than normal. This was most evident at the end of the first mile. I found myself unable to speak more than a single word without a long pause. Each mile was followed by a short walk break. I guess you can call this a 3 x 1 mile speed session????

Absolutely excited to see these splits.

Haven't mentioned much about Pre, but he is doing GREAT. Currently, Pre is training dad on sleep deprivation.

Another hard day on the roads

Activity: Run
Mileage: 3 miles
Time: 35:09 -- 11:43 pace
11:47, 11:42, 11:40
Location: Trailwood Village

Can't seem to acclimate to this darn humidity. I'm hitting the bottom side of my training schedule. Both Tuesday and today the schedule called for 3-5 miles. And both days I only hit the three mile mark.

I truly think its a weather thing. Tonight, I couldn't breathe out there.... and that's BEFORE I started running.

Once again, even splits on the run. For whatever reason, I find that way cool.

10 miles on mountain bike

Activity: Bike
Mileage: 10.61 miles
Time: 49: 11 -- Avg. 12.95 mph
Location: Kingwood Greenbelts

Non-eventful bike ride. Left the house at 4pm, not to worry, the greenbelts provided sufficient shade. Pace was just over 12 mph most of the ride. Over the last two-miles I put the hammer down and brought my average to nearly 13mph. Not too bad considering I was on my mountain bike.

Unscheduled off day and redemption

Yesterday's schedule called for 3-5 miles. I seriously wanted to complete the mileage, but COULD NOT find enough energy or motivation to put my shoes on. Every muscle below my hips was sore. The mental aspect was probably the biggest obstacle. Every time I thought about running my legs started aching and I wanted to crawl into a fetal position.

Today is my first day back at work. I considered picking up the missed mileage with a 3-mile am run and 3-mile pm run. For various reason's the morning run didn't happen. With the temperatures rising, I waited till 9:30pm to run. It seems the rest day and night time weather did me good. Continually I forced myself to slow down, because I know its going to be a busy week.

I'm super excited about this run, its just what I needed!

Oh, forgot to mention... look at those even splits.

Activity: Run
Mileage: 3.0 miles
Time: 33:43 -- 11:14 pace
11:16, 11:11, 11:18
Location: Humble Fire Department

Walk-Run

Activity: Run
Mileage: 5.01 miles
Time: 58:21 -- 11:38 pace
Location: Jones State Park and Conroe

Activity: Walk
Mileage: 5.23 miles
Time: 1:34:28 -- 18:08 pace
Location: Jones State Park and Conroe

Tried to run 12 miles. As you can see from above, the run did not go as expected. Legs are okay. Mental game was an issue, secondary to heat and humidity.

Easily in the top ten list of worst runs. On the bright side... I had a solid finish.

3 miles

Activity: Run
Mileage: 3.05 miles
Time: 3.05 -- 11:00 pace
Location: Kingwood -- Greenbelts

First, the item making the most noise. Nine hours of sleep in 3 days.

Plus, a mere 8-hours after last nights four miler I ran 3 more. It was tough dragging my legs along. I'm wondering how well I will survive my long run in the morning.

Anyone else biking the Katy Flat lands? My buddies are trying their best to convince me to ride with them. As if the ride is not enough, they are working hard to persuade me to attempt the century. I've given them a conditional yes. The conditional part; a much slower pace and we all turn around when I've had enough.

We'll see what life unfolds this week.

Pre is HOME

That's right! Pre is home and resting quietly in the safari-zoo themed room I decorated more than 4-months ago.

The results from the sleep study FINALLY arrived, but with bad news. They diagnosed "centralized apnea" and moderate "obstructive apnea". These findings resulted in two more specialist... an ENT and pulmonary. After both specialist assessed Pre and consulted the study, they found everything to be within normal limits of a premature child. Either way, my son is home and I am thankful!

Activity: Run
Mileage: 4 miles
Time: 48:22 -- 12:06 pace
Location: Trailwood Village

Over the last three days, I've had to dig deep to find the motivation to get out the door. Its been an obstacle to find the time to run. Most of my time has been divided among Pre and Alison. Thankfully I have a good job, which enables me to take care of my family without the stress of working when an emergency arises.

Again last night I had an issue falling asleep. Wasn't as bad as the night before, but I was awake after 2am. This is getting old, because I'm PLENTY tired. I simply can't sleep.

5 miles and "Pre" coming home?

First the good news.

High probability that Pre is coming HOME TOMORROW! He has 24-hours to prove a few things to the doctors, but I know he can do it!

Go Pre, Go! Show them what your made of, son.

Activity: Run
Mileage: 5 miles
Time: 1:00:36 -- 12:07 pace
12:18, 11:49, 12:08, 11:43, 12:38
Location: Trailwood Village

Lots of weirdness last night. I laid down in bed at 9:30, knowing I needed to run 2.5 miles in the morning and 2.5 more miles in the evening. For whatever reason, I couldn't sleep. The short of it... I didn't fall asleep till 5am. Usually I'm up at 7am to get ready for the day and make it to the hospital by 9am. Safe to say, the morning run did not happen.

I dreaded the run all day. Again, not sure why. My legs feel okay, but I'll admit I am mentally fatigued. Fortunately, the run was nice. The pace was purposely slowed down, in exchange for fewer walk breaks. Proud to say I only took two 40-50 yard walk breaks.

I need to get off the streets, my left shin is acting up.

4th of July treat

Activity: Run
Mileage: 4.15 miles
Time: 43:45 -- 10:33 pace
Location: Trailwood Village
Average HR: 158 bpm

Decided to take advantage of the nice running weather and hit the roads early. My endeavors were rewarded nicely with an overall 10:33 pace. This may not seem like much, but read yesterdays run. Also look at the average heart rate. Not too shabby.

Billatarianism

Once again, its time to consider what I'm doing wrong and right (if anything) about fueling my body. I know my readers are tired of hearing overly optimistic promises about weight loss, but I'm posting this for ME. Additionally, I'm not posting a goal date or magical weight loss number this time.

Over the last month, I've continued to gain weight. Sigh. There were high hopes that a friendly competition between Vic and I would spike my motivation. As usual for me, it was short lived. Now, I'll be wearing a damn dress as part of our wager. Geez, the crap I get myself into! LOL

On the up side. I have not had a drop of sweet tea or soda since "Pre" was born. Unfortunately, the craving for something sweet has been replaced with pastries.

I've stopped the OCD diet. It works, but no one wants to live like that, well at least not me. So, I've decided to gradually start cutting out the bad stuff and at some point, I'll be left with proper foods as a means of fuel.

As the worlds self-proclaimed numbest nerd, I went web searching. My search lead me to the following diet lifestyles:

Lacto-ovo-vegetarianism (eggs, dairy, and honey)
Lacto-vegetarianism (dairy and honey)
Oco-vegetarianism (eggs and honey)
Veganism (nothing to do with animals in any way)

Done of these seemed suitable for me, so I'm creating a own diet lifestyle:

Billatarianism

Over the next several weeks I hope to ween myself from the following items (Yes, I know all this is common sense):

Allowable Drinks:
Water, milk, and sports drink
-Sport drink only when associated with physical activity

Allowable Meats:
Chicken, fish, turkey, and lean cuts of pork
-Pork: less than once per week
-One "meatless" meal per day

Vegetables and Fruits:
No limit.

Pasta, Rice, Cereal, and Bread:
100% whole-grain only
Eliminate "grain" carbs at dinner (replace with carbs from vegetables)

Allowable Fats, Oils, and Sugar:
Nothing fried, whatsoever.
No more than one desert per day

I'll add more "rules" later, but I want to ease into this. The past has always been all or none, which has resulted in a yo-yo of failures.

I'm extremely unhappy in this body. Time to try something new.

Failed tempo run

Activity: Run
Mileage: 4.0 miles
Time: 45:16 -- 11:19 pace
11:44, 10:35, 11:57, 11:00
Location: Kingwood - East End Park
Flap-jacks: 6 sets of 6

Plan was to warm up one mile, run two-miles at tempo, and finish with a one-mile cool down. Completely bonked shortly after starting the tempo session. Still able to log one tempo-ish mile. Also walked A LOT more than usual.

In my defense; I ran at 4pm, on crushed granite trails, while pushing my 35 lb daughter in our jogging stroller.

Is it possible for someone to have neither fast twitch nor slow twitch muscle fibers?

3 easy

Activity: Run
Mileage: 3 miles
Time: 35:47 -- 11:56 pace
Location: Home Treadmill

Hard to get moving, but the session went well.

Recovery bike ride

Activity: Cycle (mountain bike with trailer)
Mileage: 10.11 miles
Time: 58:46 -- 10.3 mph
Location: Kingwood Greenbelts

Whew-wee, my legs are tired! Alison and I did two, 5 mile loops on the greenbelts. It was hard to get my legs moving. So much so I figured I'd be forced to stop after the first loop. Somewhere along the way I fell into a groove. We both had a good ride after I shut the noise out.

Time for an ice bath soak and my daily trip to be with Pre.

UPDATE:

Activity: Walk
Mileage: 3.16 miles
Time: 55:08 -- 17:29 pace
Location: Kingwood -- Greenbelts
Flap-jacks: 5 sets of 5

(Flap jacks = crunches followed by push ups = 1 set)

Pre is doing GREAT. His bottle feeds have increased, but he is spitting up after every session. He has reflux. We'll know to what extent after the sleep study with pH stick.

Today I added a picture of daddy's little girl and the World's best Big Sister!