Daily Ramblings...

Yeah it has been awhile since we last talked. For some reason, I have just not been in a blogging mood, maybe it is part of my "not wanting to run funk" or because this is the busiest time of the year for me, I just don't know. However, I do have a few thing on mind to share, so here is my DAILY RAMBLINGS post:

1. The St Jude Marathon was cancelled. 1st time it has ever happened. The fear was due to an ice storm that was suppose to hit Memphis. Notice I used the word suppose! It did get very cold here and we did have some cold rain, but the streets looked good to me. I would have had no problem driving anywhere in Memphis. I also would not want to be the guy that made the call to cancel it. I am sure there are reasons that I do not know about, but its a shame that it was cancelled.
2. I do appreciate everyone that donated to St Jude on my behalf, it was still an honor to raise money for the hospital and the families of St. Jude.
3. I am already sick of seeing people post pictures of their elf on Facebook. It is only cute for your kid, adults don't care. I love watching Jesse search the house for Thomas every morning, but I will not subject my FB friends to all the pictures. Your welcome.
4. I am thinking Missouri beats Auburn today for the SEC championship. I am solely basing this off the fact that Auburn was on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week. Alabama was on the cover last week.
5. In January, I am looking to start working out with a trainer instead of trying to do workouts on my own. I will be in the weight room some and hopefully will get stronger, especially in my core. The trainer I am looking at working with is a triathlete and will be looking to design a program aimed at helping me in triathlons. (Look out Brad D)
6. I think I caught Stella (my bike) looking at me the other day in a flirtatious kind of way. I admit, she was looking good.
7. I also put on my Brooks Glycerin's yesterday. Yeah, they felt pretty good on my feet. I am not saying I am back to running, but we are talking again.
8.  Today I a smoking a pork butt. It is going to be so good, I can't wait to eat it. Only about 6 more hours to go
9. I found the greatest candy/snack in the world. they are called Snappers. They are a wonderful mix of pretzels, caramel and chocolate. I literally could eat the entire bag and I have hidden the bag in the house so my kids can't find it. Don't judge me.
10. I need to lose abut 10 lbs.

Redman 140.6 Run Race Report

OK, here comes the suck. This was the part I had been dreading all along. Although I was thrilled to be off the bike, I knew I was still in for a long run ahead of me. So let's dive into it starting with T2.

This went well actually. I racked my bike, grabbed my bag and changed clothes once again and tied up my Brooks Glycerin's. This time I knew to throw my bag into the right bin, so I did not have to go back to my bike. I simply grabbed something to eat that was already in my bag and then I was off.

T2: 9:49

The run at Redman consists of four loops. Each loop was somewhere between 6-7 miles long. The majority of the run goes right along Lake Hefner, so it's a great place to run, but 4 loops is mentally tough. Lap 1 was hard, lap2 was harder, lap 3 was harder than lap 2 and lap was ridiculously tough until I saw the 26 mile sign.

As I left the transition tent and got onto the run path, I remember thinking "I am 26.2 miles away from being an Ironman!" My original plan had been that I was going to walk the first 10-15 minutes of the run, just so I could get my legs under me and get myself going. I started the run at 4PM, and knew I would be running into the night, so what was the hurry right? This plan lasted maybe 8 minutes because I was feeling pretty good and the photographer was coming up, so I started my run. I went with a run 10 minutes, walk 5 minute plan for awhile, cause I was spent already. I also thought I would rather have gas in the tank to run when the sun went down instead of trying to run in the warmest part of the day. I was stopping at all the aid stations to drink, and grab something to eat. On the first lap, I did get a little nauseated, so I stuck to water and saltines. I did get a surge of encouragement as I ended the first lap when I saw my wife and son. I had told them to go on and have fun in OKC, but asked them to be back by 8:30 or so to see me finish, so it was a nice surprise to see them. I got a quick kiss form my wife and kept moving forward. This was the first time I learned I went under 7 hours on the bike officially. That was also a huge confidence booster for me because I was totally expecting 7:30-8 hours.

Lap 1 1:35:03

Not a whole lot to say about lap 2 cause nothing really stands out to me looking back. I do know that this is when the blisters on my right foot started and I was worried on how that would impact me later in the night.  I stopped by the special needs area (which was right next to the turnaround) and switched watches because my Timex Global IM Trainer was running out of battery and I was afraid to be without a watch!

Lap 2 1:38:52

By this time, it was getting dark and there was about 2 miles of the run that was really dark. My feet were killing me, my legs were cramping up and my only goal was to keep moving forward. It was dark and lonely. At this point, I bet I had done the math a hundred times to ensure I would make it, and even had thoughts of hitting 15:30, which was doable. As I got closer to the final turnaround point on lap 3, I was praying that the blisters on my feet would just pop, cause I could not run! I finally discovered that I could run in the grass without too much pain, so that is what I did when I could. I knew my wife said she was going to be back at 9PM to cheer me on the final lap, but I hit the turn around a little before 9 and started on the final lap
.
Lap 3 1:52:50

The final lap. Let me say it again. a 4 lap course is very tough mentally, at least for me. It was dark, late and I was drained. I felt like I started this lap off better than the previous two and it was my intention to run it harder than ever, as I still had a shot at 15:30. Once I got into the dark sections of the run, I could not see my footing and I did not want to run in the grass when I couldn't see. I had visions of me tripping and ending my race, so I walked a lot of the darker areas. I made sure to thank all the aid station volunteers for all they did, they were awesome. My pace had slowed and I can only say that I was moving forward. At the last aid station, they asked me what I wanted, "I would like a coke and some mints for when I kiss my wife at the finish line" was all I remember asking for. Once I got to the sign that said 26 miles, I knew it was going to happen! I knew I could crawl the .2 miles to the finish, nothing was going to stop me. I was going to be an Ironman! Finally!!! I took a second to let that settle in and then made my way to the finish chute.

Lap 4: 2:02:26

Total Time Run 7:09:09

Coming down the chute was awesome. I heard my wife cheering. I saw my son cheering me on and I heard the announce saying my name and some other stuff. The song Home by Phillip Phillips was playing over the PA. Some random guy was standing on the side and stuck his hand out for a high five, which I gladly gave him! I had done it. The journey was complete, I had joined the club!

I sat down (with the help of the assistant director) and it was still sort of surreal to me. I had my medal on, was given a finishers shirt and was sipping chocolate milk, and feeling bad. My legs were thrashed. We made our way over to the medical tent where I got an IV. (Best decision ever I think). Even while I was on a gurney getting the IV, I knew it had been worth it.

 There is something to be said about having a goal, working towards it, sacrificing early mornings and late night. Yes it was a long day, but it was also a great day.

Race Breakdown:

Swim  1:28:52
T1: 8:49
Bike 6:56:55
T2:9:49
Run 7:09:09

15:53:32

There will be one more post about Redman coming up form my wife's viewpoint. I know how hard it is on the athlete's but I cannot thank my wife enough for her support and her patience in waiting on me! So stay tuned for that and race pictures!!!

Oh Yeah, There Is A Run Involved!

This may be a rookie mistake, but I have been so focused on my biking for Redman, that I feel like I have neglected my running. This is not to say that I have not been running, I mean I hit almost 60 miles last month, and will probably go over that mark in August. What I am saying is that my longest run to date has only been 11 miles!!  And that is starting to concern me.

My concern is this: I wanted to be so ready for the bike because I know bike fitness is very important on the run. No bike fitness, no run finish is the way I see it. So I have really been concerned with my bike miles and time on the saddle. Worse case scenario is that I end up walking a majority of the run. This is not what I want.

Now I plan on walking some, I am not in an unrealistic state of my fitness. I just want it to be a planned walk rather than I hafta walk. So I figure I have 3, maybe 4 weeks of training left before taper and here is what I want to accomplish.

1. 100 mile ride on my Specialized Transition Elite
2. 15+ mile run in my Brooks Glycerin
3. 4500 yd swim with my Zoggs goggles
4. medium bike/short run brick using my Timex Global IM Trainer

This is all doable, and when I hit these marks, I know I will feel more confident at exactly the right time going into Redman.

***I have a couple 4000 yd swims done already, I have an 11 mile run and a 71 mile run already under my belt, so don;t worry about me going to far too fast***

I Have Work To Do! My Bloomberg Interview!

Here is a great video that should motivate you, and if it doesn't, then there is something wrong with you!

Plus I have this feeling that I am gonna need this in the morning! I will run 4.09 miles tomorrow, as that was the time on the clock when the bomb went off!



I was fortunate enough to do a phone interview with Bloomberg On Tuesday afternoon about the Boston Marathon. It happened due to a post I put on FaceBook, which said that I really wanted to qualify for Boston, and I never had that desire before last night. This will take a lot of work, but if the determination is there, it can be done! Here is the link to the interview! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-16/bombings-heighten-runners-commitment-to-2014-boston-marathon.html

Weekly Ramblings and Winner Announced!

Alright, the winner of the Sync Hydration Belt from Profile Design is...

Big Daddy Diesel!!!!!

Congrats BDD! If you will email me at memphis2309@yahoo.com, I will send you some information about sizing and colors for you to choose your belt! Also if you are not familiar with BBD's blog, check it out by clicking here: TRI DIESEL

Thanks to everyone that read and entered! Profile Design makes a lot of great products, so be sure and support them in all your racing needs!

Other Ramblings:
I am making another change to my workout schedule, getting to tough to work it all in, so I am doing away with my Friday rest day. I am moving a swim over to Friday. Overall, I do not think this will make to much of an impact on my recovery days due to the way everything is spaced out.

Wednesday on my run, I was able to consistently hit a cadence of 90 throughout my run in my Brooks Glycerin 10s. I have been working towards a cadence of 90, and felt good to hit it. The run felt good and effortless.

This morning I wore my Timex Global Trainer in the pool for the first time. I know it says it is waterproof, but there is always that doubt in my mind. So, I tried it and it worked great. My next step is to try it in my swim cap so I can use it to chart distances.

Sunday, I am running the Germantown Half Marathon. This will be the third time I have raced this event. I am not sure how I will do because my focus has been the Memphis in May Olympic Triathlon training plan and my longest run has been 9 miles. My PR is 1:57 and last year I hit 2:07, so anywhere between those times will be great!

The kids were on Spring Break this week and it really made training harder. Normally I am up, done with workouts and back to take them to school by 7:20. Without the time goal of 7:20, I thought, well I do not need to get up as early as normal since I do not have to be back! WRONG!!! Stick to the plan JFord! That is what this Spring Break taught me.

Overall training is going well. My core workouts are really paying off also. I can feel the benefit of the crunches while swimming specifically!

Thanks to the new followers of Daily Trainings! Glad to have you!

Next week, Daily Trainings will have another awesome giveaway! This is definitely one you will want to be entered in!

Am I a Race T Shirt Bully?

The other night at church, my bride told me she saw several people wearing the 2012 St Jude Marathon race shirt while she was walking the halls. For some reason, I always think that there is some kindred bond that we have when I see someone wearing a shirt of a race that we ran together. A marathon shirt none the less is extra special, because I know the time, effort and pain that can go into a marathon.

So my question to my bride was "who was it? Did you know him?" She then proceeded to name a few guys I knew that ran the race, but then she said this, and I am going to paraphrase. There was one guy I asked about it and he said that he did not run the race, his dad works for the race and he got a lot of free shirts. Automatically, I immediately turn into these guys:



Yes, I turn into Cedric and Bob when I see some wearing a race shirt they did not run (unless it is a spouse, they put up with the other spouse training, so they get a pass) or if I see someone wearing the race shirt prior to finishing the race. Call me superstitious if you want, but you won't catch me in that position!

So, as we were leaving church the guy was walking out right in front of us. My bride nudged me and said "That's the guy, that's the guy who is wearing the shirt who did not run the race!" So I wanted to walk up to him and say in my best Hispanic accent:

 So, are you the guy who is wearing the shirt without running the race?  Are you going to run the race in order to wear the shirt? I wear the shirt and I ran the race. He ran the race and he is wearing the shirt, we are all wearing the shirts and we all ran the race, so why aren't you going to run the race? I guess we are just going to have to teach him to run the race if he wants to wear the shirt!

But, I didn't. I mean, Yeah, it does bug me to see people wearing race shirts they did not run, or to see people wearing the race shirt before they actually finish the race, but it is a personal hang up of mine. My bride gets on to me because I will not donate race shirts to the needy because they did not run the race and earn the shirts! Maybe this is something I will back off of one day, and maybe I am just kidding about all this!(Not really)  Honestly, I am getting so many that I try to give them to my wife to wear, because let's be real, after about 4-5 years of racing, most shirts do not mean as much to me, and I only wear certain ones. I do like to start up a conversation with people if I see they have the same shirt on though!

So, what is your stand on race shirts and people wearing them before a race or wearing them when they did not run the race? Are you a race t-shirt bully like me?

My New Toys, Timex IM Global Trainer and Brooks Shoes!

Santa was good to me this year, as he always seems to be. It also seems that Santa is an endurance athlete, probably a Clydesdale, based on what he brought me. I got two triathlon specific gifts that will be used a lot in training this year.I got a new Timex Global IM Trainer and a new pair of Brooks Glycerin's! Sweet huh?

TIMEX IM GLOBAL TRAINER

This GPS/HR monitor watch is awesome. I have barely been able to tap into everything it can do for me, but there is a lot of data it will collect. I had been looking for a new GPS for awhile because my Garmin 205 would suddenly shut off on me in the middle of my run. I also wanted a HR monitor, and the 205 does not come with one, so I was having to wear a separate HR device on my other arm. That looked dorky. So I did a lot of research on different watches and the Timex IM Global Trainer seemed to have everything I wanted at an affordable price. The only concerns I had about it was that there were some early reports that it took awhile for the satellites to acquire, but recent reports said this issue was taken care of, and I have not had any issues on the runs I have done with it. It seems to acquire satellites as quick as my 205 did.

I am still learning everything it can do and also learning the Training Peaks website, which is where you can upload all your workouts. So I am still in the learning phase, but so far, I love it. It is waterproof, so I can swim in it and I can't wait to do that once it warms up. I will definitely blog more about this as I learn how to best use this tool for my training.

BROOKS GLYCERIN

Pretty aren't they? I have been a part of the Brooks Fanatics group for going on 3 years now and I love my Brooks shoes. There have been several different shoes that I have used (Pure Cadence, Adrenaline and Glycerin), but the Glycerin is my favorite shoe.It just seems to fit my foot and running style the best.  It seems like I am going through about three pairs of running shoes a season, usually putting about 300 miles on a pair of shoes before I retire them. Is there anything better than a new pair of running shoes to start a new season? I didn't think so!

I will soon finish up my race schedule for 2013 and begin training again. I admit that I have been missing it and I am looking forward to starting. I have been doing some running and swimming, but that is mostly to fight off all the holiday food I engulfed!

Product Review Time!!!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We had a great one here at my house. The kids and wife were happy and the little one wants to have Christmas everyday! I got Macca's book for Christmas and I am finding myself reading it with a very bad Australian accent! (In my head only, I don't go around reading books in funny accents for others) I also was able to unwrap my super-duper fast looking Brooks Glycerins that I am dying to take out for a spin!

PRODUCT REVIEW TIME!!!

Yes, that's right. Product review time. I love getting those emails saying they read my blog and want my opinion on a product! I admit, I am a free-product whore and love getting free stuff in the mail. I also tend to think that someone read my blog and thought I was "THE GUY" they had to have spread the word about their product, until I read other blogs and find out there are 50 different reviews on the same product currently. So here goes my review of Zipfizz.

I received in the mail a cool little bottle with six tubes of Zipfizz and the promise of my energy levels rising. I also received a jump drive full of information and product info I could add to the blog review. (see pictures to the left and below) I was asked to take the product and them give my opinion of the product.

The first thing I did was go through all the information on the jump drive. I read about the key benefits of Zipfizz, about how it is all natural, about how it gives you a revitalization of energy, focus and alertness within 15 minutes. I read about how it is a healthy alternative to coffee (it would be hard to ever replace coffee). Zipfizz has only 10 calories, 0 sugar and 30 times the electrolytes of leading sports drinks. All that sounds great to me, but the only thing that matters to me is taste. I have never been a fan of energy drinks because I think a majority of them taste like crap. So my main question was, does it taste well?


Benefits compared to other drinks



It was being compared to Red Bull, 5 HR energy and Gatorade in the ad above. Personally, I do not drink Red Bull (but I love LMFAO's music, I work outtttt) or 5hr energy, so I could only compare it to Gatorade. I tried several of the tubes and found out the taste was OK, but not great for me. It mixed up really easy, but it blew the top off my water bottle the first time due to the fizz and me not tightening it up enough, so that freaked me out a bit. This was not something I would drink if I was really thirsty, like the way I would down a Gatorade. It seemed something more that I would sip. It also gave me the burps, while that can be fun when hanging with my boys, it is not always a good end result.

So after about three days, I decided to give a tube to a pair of  friends that drink energy drinks to see what they thought. Both of the guys really liked it and  thought it tasted great. They liked the way it mixed easily (I warned them about the blast off potential). They also said they did not feel a real "boost" of energy (and neither did I), but they also did not feel a crash like other energy drinks.

I know I have read several blogs that reviewed Zipfizz and gave it high praise, but this is something that is not for me. Like I said earlier, I am not a big energy drink kind of guy, but I do appreciate them sending me a sample and letting me try it.

As always, Thanks for reading!