"...I don't want to get up yet!"Well, it's time to pull the Sloth out of the tree...and get him back on the road! This is always a tough thing to do...after a long break the body isn't always ready to start training again. You always pack on a few pounds and the pants waistband feel a lot snugger than they used to.
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Over the past couple weeks I've been trying to steadily increase my training, nothing big, but at least do something 6-7 days a week. Either swim, bike, run...sometimes a walk. The famous Gordo Byrn has a few simple rules to his life, and one of those is at least 1 hour of exercise every day, non negotiable...and walking counts. Our dogs love to go for a walk, so they eagerly subscribe to this philosophy.I've received my new road bike for the coming season...a 2009 Trek Madone 5.2. It's awesome...somehow they made it stiff AND allowed it to absorb road vibration. I'll be logging a bunch more miles on it as I get ready to do some bike racing in 2009.
This past weekend I did the Marine Corps 1/2 Marathon. The race started in downtown and ran right through our neighborhood! I've been doing a little running, but haven't run 13 miles since the Rock and Roll 1/2 Ironman 3-4 months ago! I didn't have any time goals, but figured I could struggle through at about 7:15/mile pace. My main goal was to run very even splits throughout, and if I felt good then pick it up at the end. The course was a slow one, which went over two bridges, along a narrow riverwalk, up and down a spiral pedestrian overpass, and many corners. I held pretty even splits, but I was ready to be done about mile 10...my lack of endurance was taking it's toll. The last 5k really hurt, but I ended up with a 1:32 (7:03/mile)...so I was happy. This puts me well ahead of last year when I ran a 1:37 at the Outback 1/2 Marathon on Thanksgiving. Danny "Double D" Domingo ran a 1:22, just a week after his 5th overall performance in the South Carolina 1/2 Ironman distance race last weekend. Greg Carr paced Double for a few miles, with his legs still hurting from the same race in South Carolina...where he was 2nd overall, and closed with a 1:23 run...ouch!
Oh, I have also been playing around with my new Garmin 405...it's really cool. The best part is you can upload your workout/race so people can view it online. Take a look...you can zoom in and even see which side of he road I was running on...and you can put it in "Hybrid" mode to see the satellite view. Click on the "Laps" tab and you can see my mile splits...and that I missed one at mile 6.
The Amelia Island 1/2 Ironman distance race was on the same day as the Marine Corps 1/2 Marathon...Lyndon Box and Shawn Burke finished 5th and 6th overall...both closing with a 1:32 run. Shawn did the race at 80-85% in preparation for the Ironman World Championships this coming weekend. He had some mechanical issues on the bike (next time, check to make sure the skewer is tight Shawn!), having to stop 3 times before he was able to figure out why his wheel was rubbing the side of his frame.
Good luck to Shawn Burke, Susan Wallis, and Kevin Neal at Kona this coming weekend...Kevin is in great shape, and could have a VERY high placing. Susan is back at Hawaii after battling through injuries...and Shawn is out there to enjoy the accomplishment of making the World Championships, with his eye on punishing the IM Florida course on November 1st.
So check out http://ironman.com/worldchampionship for race coverage and track how the local racers are doing against the worlds best...also you can go here to check out Shawn's updates from his trip...and as Shawn likes to say, "Kia Kaha".
Sween
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