Being like Mike!

Mike Singletary that is….  Back in the mid-80s we were both undersized inside linebackers… him with the Bears and me with the Eagles

Ok, so I was with the North Florida Christian High School eagles but still…

This quote kinda wraps it up for me:

And so it continues to this day….  I'm not a linebacker anymore…  my game is endurance sports…  but the sentiment still rings true

I am ever so grateful for the opportunity to play.

Bike Advice

A friend of mine, who is an accomplished runner, contacted me today looking for advice on buying a bike for triathlons…  and tri training in general.  Here is an excerpt of the email:

"I'm also finding that the upright nature of the hybrid is bothering my shoulder a lot (I have a chronic injury there and am thinking that if I could distribute my weight a little better I could take some stress off of it); do you have any thoughts on this?

I'd also like to try a half ironman but can't entertain spending 56 miles on a hybrid……

I have been using the bike a lot to cross train and I really like it, I can pull 16-19 mph on a hybrid w/road tires so I figure I might be a halfway good cyclist.  I've also been doing a brick once a week and find the bike to be a great running warm up, once I get past the first half mile or so of wobbly legs….."

My reply:

I have no doubt that you can/will be an excellent cyclist…  you have the aerobic base and mindset to do very well..  really you just need to apply the words of Eddy Merckx,  the world's greatest cyclist, gave a fan who asked him what advice he would give a new cyclist who wanted to be great.  "Ride Lots".

It's really true…  ride fast, ride slow, ride every day, ride alone, ride with a group, race…  all excellent ways to become a good cyclist…  so much simpler than swimming and even more straightforward than running.

Olympic…  that's a tough distance for me….  Too much swimming… to little bike

 

I too enjoy running off the bike….  It feels natural.

Now back to the shoulder…  it's likely due to a weak core as much as it is your bike…  I think that everyone needs to spend 30 minutes 3x a week doing core work…  simple stuff like planks…  standing on one foot…  leg raises, bridges…  it's simple but if neglected can lead to injury and discomfort doing what you enjoy doing.

 what advice would you have given?

my dear and My, deer!

If you look closely there is one on either side of the road.

I took this picture last weekend in the Guana Wildlife Preserve where we also saw a couple of osprey

And about a half dozen alligators

MMMBop

.

Yeah that's right…  I was rocking some  Hanson on my iPod while running today…  so what of it?

J

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHozn0YXAeE

and in case you were wondering…. It is full on summer here

the way I judge that is…  if I come in from running at lunch to take a shower and turn on only the cold water it is hot (today I was in  a hurry to make a meeting and even drank shower water)

But…  the hot is good

Because in a five weeks we will be running here:

Jetty 2 not quite Jetty

Well…

We were signed up for our first race of 2012…

We did have a few "events" under our belts tho…  with 2 self-run ultras a wedding and "the move"

We were happy to make the start

Both ran with our packs…  this is a "crew supported" race….  And well…  we decided full packs would be enough

Since the run was on the beach we wore our gaiters

And soon after 0830 we were off…  0830 because that was when the tide was right…

Now I have run this race before…  when it was held in January…  on a cold and overcast day.

May was a bit warmer…  okay it was hot and I was pouring sweat by mile 2.

Judi dropped me about then as well…

And looks happy to get away.

At mile 4… notice how covered I am in sweat already…

Okay…  I'm out of pictures…  and really just about out of good story too.

Here's the skinny

Hour 1 – 6 miles – had planned to go a bit slower here but wanted to keep Judi in sight.

Hour 2 – 5.5 miles…  more chasing finally caught her.

Hour 3 – 5 miles

Basically the wheels fell off there…  we dropped at the mile 26 checkpoint.

The high temp somewhere just after noon was 91F and despite taking in ~240oz of fluid I did not begin to keep up with my sweat rate… when I got home a couple of hours later I was still down almost 10#

In the end I just had a shaky plan that I executed poorly.

We have a plan to do 26 this weekend again with a bit different pacing/hydration strategy…  I envision much better success.

a bit off track

When we last "spoke" (so to speak)

It was Mid April…  I'd already run over 100 miles for the month…  training had been unspectacular but quite consistent…

My injuries (Piriformis, ankles) were better despite the heavy training load

That's about where things went a little off track.

On the 19^th I had Lasik done…  Doc said no running for a week…

Then on the 25^th Judi and I got married….

And on the 26^th we started moving

We emptied 2 houses and filled one up with two 24 ft. truckloads of crap… in 26 hours

Next we cleaned the two old houses stem to stern…

Finally we tried to put the new house into some semblance of order

A Process that is still ongoing…

No big deal right?  Everybody needs a some down time…  But it's not that I'm all tapered and rested…  on the contrary…  I'm exhausted.

And…

Well…  my "A" race for the spring…  heck the only race I've signed up for in 6 months is Saturday.

http://www.performancemultisports.com/j-2-j_results.htm

It's a small little ultra on the beach… I guess we'll see

We went for a little run yesterday after work…  and definitely felt like we were in Remedial Running 101…  I even sang the "Welcome Back Kotter" theme song