I'm being controlled!

Help!  Some sort of crazy troll is taking over my life via a strange cyber mechanism called Training Peaks!

Yes, it's true....   She Who Must Be Obeyed is no longer the only woman who is monitoring my every move and scaring the living you-know-what out of me!.....   yes, that's right, I broke down and hired a triathlon coach!

As posted previously, I'm serious about this triathlon thing and determined to put in some real effort in 2011.  Rather than try to work out your my own schedules and try to improve via Brownian Motion, I decided to call in the professionals! 

My friend Lisa works with a coach called Stacey Richardson who is based in Chapel Hill.  Lisa speaks very highly of her (and judging by Lisa's kick-ass perfromances this season she must be doing something right!).  I met Stacey briefly at a bike trainer workout at Inside Out Sports a few weeks back.  She impressed me with her enthusiasm and approach, but I initially decided to look elsewhere as I didn't want Lisa to think that I was some type of crazy triathlon stalker!  Thankfully Lisa had no such qualms and highly recommended Stacey so, to cut a long story short, I contacted Stacey, swapped some emails and, hey presto, Stacey has a significant new "project".....   the poor lady has no idea what she has taken on!   :-)

Stacey is part of a local group called Triangle Multisport http://www.trianglemultisport.com/home.html and has her own website at http://tristacey.wordpress.com/.  

I had my first working session yesterday, when I met Stacey on the American Tobacco Trail in Durham and she assessed my limited running capabilities.  Stacey is still recovering from her Ironman Arizona race a couple of weeks back (where she put in a seriously impressive performance!), so she rode her bike whilst analyzing my running.  I was impressed when pretty much the first thing she said was "what's up with your right shoulder?"  - this is the shoulder that I have had problems with since my rugby days and it took Stacey about 0.3 nanoseconds to realise that I hold it lower than the other one when I run.   Stacey went on to identify all sorts of quirks (who knew that I ran with my knees close together and bring my right leg forward differently to my left?).  Judging by the number of different quirks that were identified, watching me run must be much the same as "watching a monkey f#ck a football" (thanks to my  buddie Colford for that one!)  Lots for her to work on!

After the assessment Stacey made me do some stretching exercizes to determine whether she could straighten me out by beating me with a 2 x 4 or whether she would need to do something more serious!   We then adjourned to a local restaurant to discuss how things will work going forward and how Stacey will work with my sometimes crazy travel schedule.  Physiology; nutrition; sleep patterns; psychology etc., etc....  a training geek's paradise.  This is going to be fun!

One of the main vehicles by which Stacey will apparently take control of my entire life is a web based program called Training Peaks http://www.trainingpeaks.com/ .   It's a great program, but the extent to which Stacey can push, pull, prod, yell, spaz out and generally use me as a compliant puppet became really clear this afternoon when a detailed swim workout for tomorrow turned up on my computer screen....  gulp!

Seriously though, Stacey is a hoot and I'm really looking forward to working with her and learning from her amazing knowledge of all things swim, bike and run.  I'm really stoked!

One final thing.....   thanks to Lisa, Stacey is well aware of the existence of this blog, sooooo..... she needs a blog name!  Hmmmm...  so many possibilities....     watch this space!

OBX Gobbler 5k

Turkey Day this year found us in Nags Head, NC.   Last year we did the first ever OBX Gobbler 5k with the kids and had a blast, so this year we signed-up again.  The event is organized by OBX Running Club through FS Sports.  The alarm went off early and by 7:30 am we were registered and wearing our new OBX Gobbler shirts.

Thankfully it was a mild and pleasant morning and we soon found ourselves moving towards the start line. 

The event had 250 participants last year and it must have won a good reputation as this year it was up to 450 plus in all shapes and sizes!  Definitely a family event and it was great to see so many young kids out to run with their parents.  Our youngest walked it with She Who Must Be Obeyed while I ran it with our nine year old.

Poetry in Motion!



I was very impressed as we kept a nice even pace any only stopped to walk twice for a very short period each time.  Finished in a very respectable 35 minutes and then enjoyed watching the rest of the family cruise to the finish!

Big Hair Girls!

A great time and I hope that it will become an annual family tradition.  It provided a great excuse to over-indulge in a fabulous turkey dinner prepared by the wonderful SWMBO later in the afternoon!

Thanks to race director Karen Warlitner who did a spectacular job and, as aways, had a ready smile for everyone!



Little Things Please Little Minds....

Went for a 5k run on my usual hill circuit this morning.  Beautiful sunny Fall day, but pretty breezy.

For some reason my legs were like lead, especially on the hills and I just couldn't get anything going.  I resigned myself to plodding back when I came to a place with a dip where the leaves had collected to about six inches deep all across the road for about 100 yards.  Yippee!  What fun!   I felt like a kid as I kicked my way through and somehow the rest of the run didn't seem quite so hard!

Cobwebs II......

Went out for a four mile run this morning.  Was traveling on business this week and had a very busy schedule, so this was my first run after the half marathon.  I have been very pleased with my recovery.  Last year I seem to remember having stiff legs for several days after the race, but this year no issues at all.

Beautiful morning!   Clear Carolina Blue skies; mild temperature (around 52 F); fabulous fall colors.  Nice easy pace and kept heart rate low.  Legs felt a little heavy on the hills, but not a big deal.

Meanwhile, in other news, I've started investigating coaches for next year.......  Watch this space!

Kind of pumped.....

.....about the half marathon on Sunday.  I really enjoyed it and now am more convinced than ever that with some consistent training and higher weekly mileage that I can go sub 2 hours.   Thinking about signing-up for the Tobacco Road half in March and picking out a "A" race for next fall.   The really scary thing is that I am also seriously thinking about the Beach to Battleship half ironman next year......

Outer Banks Half Marathon

Another one in the books!

Yesterday was the Outer Banks Marathon/Half Marathon.  Is it really a year since we ran it last?

As those of you who have read the posts below will know, I wasn't really sure what to expect from this one.  I really haven't done much distance work recently and on top of that a nasty cold and too much business travel recently have really "cramped my style" when it came to training over the last month or so.

I was signed up to run with my lovely wife ("She Who Must Be Obeyed") but a combination of circumstances including illness and a host of kids activities meant that she couldn't make it this year.  Rather than let the registration go to waste, our friend Kim stepped in at short notice and decided to do her first half marathon with no training!   Now that's not quite as crazy as it seems.....   Kim claims that the furtherest she has run before is eight miles, but she's a fitness trainer and basically works out for a living giving classes at Gold's Gym and the new HEAT studio in downtown Raleigh.  She's also incredibly "high energy" (I'm being nice Kim!) so I certainly wasn't expecting to find her crumpled by the roadside!

Traveled down to Nags Head on Friday evening and spent Saturday doing some chores and at the race expo. to pick-up race packets with 8,000 of my closest friends!   Got good deals on a fuel belt and a hat for cold weather running.  Always a good festive atmosphere and good to see so many fit people milling around!  Somewhat disturbingly, when I went to collect my number and goody bag, before I even opened my mouth the lady behind the counter said "oh, you're that English guy who ran it last year".  I was a little stunned - am I really that memorable?  I can only think that my accent and well-known reputation for "bantering" with people I don't know must have been the cause!

Kim's husband Chris cooked a great dinner on Saturday evening (thanks Chris) and I got a relatively early night after watching some college football; laying out my gear and putting my Accelerade in the fridge.

5:00 am alarm and a breakfast comprising a Powerbar; two vanilla Ensures and a large coffee.  Picked Kim up at 6:00 amd and took the short drive to the designated parking area at Nags Head Elementary School before strolling up to the start.   It was, thankfully, a beautiful morning.  Saturday was pretty windy but the winds dropped overnight and the low was around 52 F, so nothing to complain about.....   actually scratch that......   Kim whined like a three year old about having to get up early and being chilly, but hey, I only had to put up with her for the  morning!  :-)




Porta Potty Row at the start



Kim displaying S.W.M.B.O's race number

Looking pretty relaxed before the start

 Soon enough we were being called to the start and quickly dropped our race bags off at the UPS truck (for retrieval later at the finish) and headed to our corral.   Based on last years performance I opted for front of the 10:00 to 12:00 min/mile pace group.  After some banter with fellow runners and waiting patiently for our turn (it was a wave start) we soon found ourselves underway and heading out onto route 158 South. 

The route takes you south on 158 for about 8 miles through Nags Head (with a couple of detours through neighborhoods) at which point you basically turn right onto the route 64 causeway and over the bridge that connects the Outer Banks to Roanoke Island and the finish in the town of Manteo.

Kim passed me (smiling) within about a quarter of a mile and that was the last I saw of her!   She did an awsome job on her first time out and finished in 2:06:30 - not bad for someone who "doesn't run"!

For my part, I kept a pretty good steady pace to start and was pleased to see that my mile splits were coming-in at comfortably under 10:00 pace.  For about the first six miles or so I found myself running with a very cheerful group of ladies dressed as Wonderwoman, so that provided some entertainment!

For nutrition I had mandarin flavored "Gu" that I took at miles 4 and 8 plus some sips of Accelerade from my new fuel belt.

Here are my splits for the first seven miles:  09:45    09:29    09:33    09:43   09:42    09:42    09:42  (look at the consistency of the last four!).   Heartrate was pretty steady at around165.

Last year I did the race in around 2 hours 19 mins, but really hobbled home the last few miles on my bum right knee.   As you can see in one of my posts below, I thought that 2:10 was probably a reasonable target for this year, so at mile 8 I was feeling pretty good about things.

Unfortunately, as I crossed the bridge onto Roanoke Island  at about mile 10 I could again feel some slight discomfort in my right knee.  Certainly nothing like as bad as last year, but troublesome none-the-less.  I also started to feel a little fatigue creeping-in, which was not particularly surprising given that I had done so little distance training - just one seven miler and one nine miler in the past few months - not exactly an ideal build-up!

The bottom line is that I managed to keep it going and got home in 2 hours 11 mins and a few seconds.   Eight minutes faster than last year and, all-in-all, not too bad given my lack of training.   My splits for the latter half of the race looked like this:    09:52     10:06    10:17    10:14     10:14    10:35    10:14

Overall average pace was 09:55. 

After receiving my medal and chugging some finish line Gatorade I very quickly found Kim who was basking in the glory of finishing her first half and had a facebook picture posted for her adoring fans within about ten minutes of finishing (what a crazy connected world we live in!).

Finishers!

I was a little concerned for Kim for a short while as her fingers were like blocks of ice and she started feeling very cold, but we found a nice sunny spot to hang out for a while and thankfully she soon started to feel better. 

A chilly Kim warming-up in the sunshine.

Where did the bottom half of my medal go?

After enjoying the finish line festivities for a while we managed to find Kim's husband Chris and her kids and were soon heading back over the bridge into Nags Head and watching the full marathoners push their last few miles in the opposite direction.

After showering and resting a while it was off to the OBX Brewing Station for a pint of BlackEye PA (yum!) and a well deserved burger and fries!

A really nice day and a very well organized and fun event.  It was the  fifth anniversay race this year and it continues to get bigger.  Well over 8,000 participants this year.  Because it's a "flat track" it seems to attract quite a few folks trying to qualify for Boston.   The winner of the mens half this year was a Kenyan guy who ran it in 1:02:30.....   do you think he made it?   That's the entire 13.1 miles at well under 5 min/mile pace - unbelievable!

Time for a rest!

Fingers Crossed......

Went for a "taper run" this morning on my usual 5k hill circuit.  After about 2 miles I felt a distinct "twinge" behind my left knee...   uh oh!    Didn't want to mess anything-up before the OBX half this weekend, so I walked for a bit to be safe.   Don't think it was a big deal - ran the last half mile at about 8:30 pace and didn't feel it.   Fingers crossed!

How Lucky Am I?

Went for a nine mile run this morning.  A magnificent clear fall day - couldn't be prettier.

I always do a lot of thinking on my long runs (I prefer not to take an i pod -  both for safety reasons and because somehow it seems to "pollute" my runs) but for some reason today my mind was doing overtime....

Spent a lot of time thinking about our friends and how lucky we are.   Thought especially about friends who were running the City of Oaks Marathon/Half Marathon today....   Lisa, Chantal, Casey, Dan and others...   and how lucky we all are to have our health and to still be able to go out and run, bike and swim .

Also got to reflect on the beautiful fall colors and how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful part of the world.

Finished the nine miles and was barely out-of-breath.  Legs feel great.  Hopefully a good sign for next weekend and the OBX Half Marathon!

Finally!

After really struggled with my training in late October because of some international travel and a nasty cold, I finally felt well enough to run again today.   Went for a steady 3.5 miler (hills).  Kept heartbeat at around 160-165 and did about 9:50 pace.   Finished pretty well with a 8:05 pace spurt for the last third of  mile.

Legs felt fine (as they should have after all the rest they have had!).  Lungs still "spongy" but definitely on the road to recovery.  Coughing a little, but manageable.

I can't believe how much I have missed getting out there (a good sign I guess). 

Not really sure what to expect for the OBX half on Nov. 14th but I'm at least confident now that I can put in a few more good runs before I start to taper.

The Torture Chamber

A while back I posted about my new bike trainer being an instrument of torture somewhat akin to the rack that was used in Medieval times.  While I'm not going to start my serious winter bike program until after I've finished the OBX half marathon on Nov. 14th, I have learned to quite enjoy some sessions on the trainer.

I have it set-up in the spare room over my workshop that doubles as a work out room.

A few things to note....    Firstly, you tend to really work up a sweat on the trainer.  Much more so than you do out on the road, because you don't have a constant 20 mph ish breeze coolong you down when you're static.  You can't see it in the pictures, but the bike is directly under a ceiling fan.  More importantly, I bought a cheap window fan which does a nice job of pulling-in cool air from outside.  A towel is a must!

The television isn't yet hooked-up, but it does get tedious on some of the longer sessions, so I'm planning on buying a cheap DVD player.  There are some good motivational DVDs such as the "Spinnervals" series. 

Hopefully I'll be spending many hours over the winter prepping for next season.  I really need to gain some minutes on the bike if I want top be competitive in my age group.

This Really Sucks!

Considered going for a run this morning, but I'm still coughing!   It is at least loosening-up, but I'm going to give it one more day.  Not the way I envisioned getting ready for the half marathon!