Monday off day, but I threw in a short trainer ride

45m 16.98 miles 22.64 Mi/hr

6:10 AM

quick little trainer spin. This is an off day, but I wanted to test out my bike fit after making slight changes yesterday. Light-medium tension.

Sunday long run, back to Turkey Creek for the first time since the marathon

1h 42m 30s 14.00 miles 07m 19s/Mi

6:45 AM umstead14 - Climb: 1070.00 feet


BTN through the Turkeys, back down Graylyn. Met up with the IOS half-mary crowd. They thought I was the leader! :) Having mile markers up for the race, I decided to let the last 2 miles be race-pace.
BTN to Turkey split: 37:43
split to Graylyn: 31:58
Graylyn to Reedy Creek: 8:18
Reedy Creek to BTN: 24:30

Mile 7-8 of the IOS course: 7:06
8-9:6:46

This was a great run day. 42F, little to no wind, very very fine drizzle if any. First time running with Gu2O, no problems. Liked the taste. No cramps, no pain, no nothing. Breathing a little hard, but I was running a freaking 7:19.

Saturday "long" ride, cut short for weather

58m 22s 18.92 miles 19.45 Mi/hr

11:00 AM

Well, this was supposed to be a 58-miler. We got to Merry Oaks, and the rain set in, the temperature dropped 10 degrees, the wind picked up, and we called it a day. I'd rather not crash or get hypothermia only this close to White Lake.

Friday swim/run brick

47m 41s 2000.00 meters 02m 23s /100 meters

5:10 AM

500 free, 500 pull, 500 free, 500 pull

free
2:21
2:32
2:20
2:21
2:31
pull
2:15
2:12
2:13
2:08
2:11
rest :30
free
2:25
2:32
2:36
2:34
2:34
pull
2:17
2:22
2:11
2:12
2:13


44m 01s 6.00 miles 07m 20s/Mi

6:10 AM

5@7:30
1@6:31





so much for this being a recovery week. My intensity is down, but my volume is up. I feel good though, not tired.

Thursday am swim, pm bike

24m 29s 1000.00 meters 02m 27s /100 meters

6:20 AM

2:15 100 free
2:23 pull
2:17 pull
2:22 pull
2:18 pull
2:20 pull
rest :30
2:18 free
2:34 free
2:34 free
2:32 free


1h 29m 17s 30.17 miles 20.27 Mi/hr

5:00 PM old1harrisbeavertody - Climb: 1020.00 feet


Darn wind again. Headwind all out US1, and on Friendship, and on Harris. However, I did have a nice quarter wind on Beaver Creek and was ROLLING out there, 26,27. Time to start climbing hills again, as Olive Chapel wiped me out...



My abs have been tight this week. I guess it's from 4 days straight of swimming, but I feel like I'm full all the time. Weight's been holding steady. Maybe this is what it feels like to have ab muscles.

Wednesday morning swim/run

25m 02s 1000.00 meters 02m 30s /100 meters

5:45 AM

500 pull, 500 free
2:15
2:23
2:29
2:22
2:23
rest :30
2:29
2:34
2:25
2:35
2:30

Albeit slow, my free times looked okay today. As I wrapped up my free set, it started feeling right. Hate I had to go run... :)


43m 54s 6.00 miles 07m 19s/Mi

6:20 AM

LTF treadmill run
1 7:30
2 7:30
3 7:30
4 7:30
5 7:30
6 6:25

Happiness is a new pair of shoes! I ordered a new pair of Mizuno Wave Inspire 3s from Footlocker.com. I had two $15 discount cards I earned with my Blue Cross/Blue Shield Bluepoints, I had a 15% discount code off the price of the shoes, AND the shoes were already on sale for $69.98 from $90! Net price: $40.92. I bought this exact pair of shoes last August, put 550 miles on them, so they were toast.

First run with the new ones this morning; no problem.

Tuesday spin, swim, then pm group ride

The plan was just a spin class followed by a short swim. But the weather was nice out, and I wanted to go ride, and Lainey was OK with it. Home in plenty of time to read books to the boys.

1h 00m 20.00 miles 20.00 Mi/hr

5:30 AM

spin class, speedwork


16m 46s 700.00 meters 02m 24s /100 meters

6:30 AM

after spin class
500 pull, 200 free
2:10
2:15
2:20
2:18
2:22
2:40
2:39


1h 14m 26s 23.25 miles 18.74 Mi/hr

6:05 PM

IOS B ride on Tuesday. Not very fast, which was okay by me. Kinda breezy, not too bad.

40 days to White Lake

My wetsuit is reserved. Dad took care of the campsite at Camp Clearwater. We're starting to plan the weekend's menu. Web's getting excited about our trip. Heck, I'm getting excited about our trip! I feel like I can handle the swim. The bike is starting to come back around. The run feels solid, no injuries, no pains.

53m 29s 2100.00 meters 02m 33s /100 meters

4:30 PM

free w/u
2:24
2:34
2:41 playing with balance point
pullbuoy
2:20
2:18
2:18
2:23
2:23
paddles
2:42
2:42
rest :30 to take them off
pull buoy again
2:26
2:34
2:16
2:24
2:17
2:24
rest :30
500 free
2:33
2:38
2:40
2:39
2:42

Easter Sunday pre-dawn moonlit run

1h 20m 10s 10.41 miles 07m 42s/Mi

5:30 AM BTNtoTrenton - Climb: 1260.00 feet


Early a.m. Easter morning moonlit run, solo. A little tough to get the legs moving after yesterday's bike, but it was a gorgeous morning. Umstead continues to amaze me. Paul and I ran this same route a week ago in 1:25:04, so I was happy with taking 5 minutes off the run.

40:28 out (5.2 miles)
39:41 back (5.2 miles)

Saturday ride, breezy again!

3h 24m 19s 65.26 miles 19.16 Mi/hr

1:20 PM 65mileroute - Climb: 2920.00 feet


Solo ride. This was a tough ride for me. Headwind almost everywhere I turned. I trusted Google maps for a route around the bottom end of Jordan Lake. That ended up being a dead end, so I had to backtrack up Old1 to Pea Ridge. Dead headwind all the way across Jordan Lake on 64, down to 15mph all the way across. That was rough. Probably my longest, hardest solo ride. Only started talking to myself with about 2.5 miles to go, so that wasn't too bad ;)

Time for 56 miles was 2hr53min, average was 19.4 at that point (right at Green Hope School)

Had three bottles and the Aerodrink full when I left. Two bottles were Heed, one bottle and the Aerodrink were water. I had about half the Aerodrink left when I got home. Two Gus consumed during the ride. One at 1hr15min, one at 2hr30min. No real cramping to speak of, so hydration was better, but the wind just sucked the life out of me today. Bike did fine, but I need to clean the chain and lube the squeaky seat! And lower the bars one spacer ring.

Friday morning swim, afternoon run

25m 50s 1000.00 meters 02m 35s /100 meters

5:45 AM

forgot my watch, so had to use cell phone for overall time. Didn't know it had a stopwatch function! I was wiped out from last night's ride, and very unmotivated to swim today.

1000 free, no drills, no frills


----- 50.00 meters -----

6:11 AM

50 kick


44m 6.06 miles 07m 16s/Mi

12:15 PM cp10k - Climb: 761.00 feet


Double the 5k neighborhood run. This run felt really good. Negative split.
1 7:37
2 7:20
3 7:13
4 7:13
5 7:28
6 7:06

Thursday bike day

28m 04s 8.98 miles 19.20 Mi/hr

5:15 PM

little warmup ride before the IOS ride. James Jackson to Maynard to High House to Cary Parkway, two times.


1h 15m 34s 23.25 miles 18.46 Mi/hr

6:10 PM

this was the A-ride, but my inflator popped out after about 5 miles. I had to stop, go back, and get it. I rode the rest of the ride solo. The first 5 miles of this ride were really slow (like 13-14mph). Then it picked up. It wasn't long enough to get the average up, but this was a FAST ride. I felt really good out there. Met Kevin and Rick on the way out, then caught them back on the way back from Jean's Berry Patch.

Morning swim/run brick

52m 47s 2000.00 meters 02m 38s /100 meters

5:10 AM

2000m swim

1000 free
2:29
2:36
2:41
2:39
2:41
2:44
2:41
2:43
2:37
2:36
:20 rest to get buoy out of bag
500 pull
2:19
2:22
2:19
2:22
2:27
:30 rest
500 free
2:40
2:48
2:42
2:49
2:32


50m 6.53 miles 07m 40s/Mi

6:10 AM

20 minute warmup @ 8:00/mile
5 minute @ race pace (6:58)
5 minute @ recovery (8:00)
repeat 2 more times

Tuesday morning brick workout

5:23 AM
spin class, got there a little early, stayed a little late
1h 12m 24.00 miles 20.00 Mi/hr

6:40 AM
Little brick run after the spin class. Felt really good. 1st mile @ 7:30; 2nd mile @ 6:58.
14m 28s 2.00 miles 07m 14s/Mi

47 days to White Lake

Now that I've had a recovery week, it's time to get cracking on White Lake! The good news is that I get a rest day on this plan!

Here's the general schedule for the next few weeks:
Monday OFF
Tuesday BIKE
Wednesday SWIM/RUN
Thursday BIKE (brick)
Friday SWIM/RUN
Saturday BIKE (brick)
Sunday SWIM/RUN

Saturday run moved to Sunday, followed by long(ish) ride

The consignment sale was running Saturday, so my run had to be moved. Paul and I ran Umstead gate-to-gate Sunday morning, 6:30am start. We did and 8:10 average, which was plenty fast for me as a first run post-race. The left calf muscle tightened up at mile 2 or so, just like it did in the race (which it did at mile 14 or so), but it didn't worsen, and I could continue with no pain. It was nice to be able to run up the Corkscrew AND Cemetery without walking, unlike last weekend.

Rest a few hours, then get on the bike at 2pm for a ride. It was breezy, and I was tired, so could only muster 18.2 for 36.55 miles. A slow ride in my book, but I haven't ridden in 2 weeks, we had run earlier in the day on a hilly course (1260 ft. of climb in 10.4 miles), and I am one week post-marathon. Excuses, excuses.

Friday afternoon swim

Paul and I broke away from the consignment sale, took the kids to play in the gym at Lifetime. He did probably 2500m, I did 1500m of drills. Felt good to get back in the water again. Not fast, just steady.

Sunday through Thursday were recovery

Sunday, I felt not too bad. Couldn't negotiate steps really well, but that was to be expected. Monday was a different story. I had to travel to Mexico City on business, and the flight was pretty painful. Then, I was faced with climbing up and down quite a few steps upon arriving in Mexico. I'm sure I looked funny.

By Tuesday, I was beginning to feel pretty good. Wednesday night, I decided to just go climb some steps in the hotel, to get some level of movement. The marathon is still very, very fresh in my mind.

Umstead Trail Marathon Report, 3/8/08

Here's a snapshot of raceday.
Pre-race routine:

Woke up too darn early, due to young son needing some attention. So, he and I had pre-race breakfast together. I had a peanut-butter, banana, and honey sandwich and glass of OJ. He had a banana, some milk, and cheerios. Got everything together and departed the house at about 6:40 a.m., to go meet my training partner at 7:15


Event warmup:

Stretch a little. Take off the long-sleeve shirt. Make friends with a tree for a few seconds. Get drenched by the last-minute rain. Off and running.




Run Comments:

They failed to mention wet in describing the course. Very wet. Like, the bottom fell out at precisely 8:58 a.m. and the first two miles were in pouring rain. The single track, beginning about mile 2.5, was sloshy, muddy, water running across the trail the entire time. Just a mess. And a hoot! At 6 miles I was 21 seconds over my pace plan, and it started getting worse from there. I used up the legs on the single track, and began cramping at mile 13 or so pretty bad in my calves. From mile 19 on, I was mixing in some walking due to the cramping. I had three goals: Finish; finish in under 4:00, and finish in under 3:30. After 10 miles I determined that goal 3 was not going to happen today, so I resigned myself to fall back to goal 2.

200 registered entrants. 153 took the start. 150 made the cutoff. I was 31st at 11 miles, but slid back to 40th overall. I'm okay with that. Final time: 3:55:22



What would you do differently?:

I did not drink enough. I went too hard on the first 6 miles to try to make up time lost due to the wet conditions. I should have just relaxed and let the course come to me. Cramps killed me in my calves.



Post race


Warm down:

Crossed the line. Got my finisher's pint glass. Got some water, some gatorae, an orange slice and bagel chunk, and an oreo. Started stretching, then went over to the large roaring fire inside Camp Lapihio lodge and that helped a ton with my calves. Went back out to the finish line and helped cheer in my training partners (who finished a little later than I did.)



What limited your ability to perform faster:

Hydration, and having the flu last week didn't help either.



Event comments:

The single most challeging race I've done. Heck, it was my first marathon ever, so it was a PR for one thing, on a very very tough course. I am well pleased with the result, but wish I would have had something to offer for the last 8 miles or so.


Here's mile splits, best as I could get 'em.
1 8:52 (sloppy gravel/mud road, packed with folks)

2 7:24 we got out onto Reedy Creek b/b, and I could free up a little

3 and 4 16:34 for 2 miles (missing mile 3 marker) through the first bit of Company Mill single track; I took a tad of water at the aid station

5 8:17 some Graylyn, some Sycamore

6 9:37 Sycamore. Ow.

7 8:24 More Sycamore, some Graylyn again; took some water at the aid station

8 7:40 Graylyn almost back up to Reedy Creek

9 7:57 Reedy Creek up towards Turkey Creek

10 8:21 Reedy Creek/Turkey Creek intersection (I took a 25 second pee stop in the woods); the big thing here was Lainey and the boys came to cheer me on here!!! I really needed that. I stopped briefly to hi-five the family, then off I went on South Turkey Creek

11 7:55 down South Turkey Creek

12 7:54 still on South TC; second surprise-my parents came to see me right at the Crabtree Creek bridge. That was a huge surprise and a big lift to see them there. Thanks Mom and Dad!!

13 8:23 cool thing at the aid station; staffed by "prom queens" decked out in formal dresses. They were hugely entertaining. So, my 13 mile split was 1:47:25.

14 8:33 North Turkey Creek, the hill, up across creosote bridge

15 8:54 up Graylyn to the turnaround, then back toward Turkey Creek

16 8:40 back across creosote bridge, and the long uphill

17 9:01 almost back to Crabtree Creek (stopped briefly for water and gummi-bears)
This photo was taken by Ron Horton, just before I emerged from the woods onto the Crabtree Creek Bridge. I still felt kind of okay here...



Here's my support staff!! Thanks again Mom and Dad!!



18 8:57 Had just seen the family again as I emerged from the woods, just across Crabtree Creek, hurting bad at this point (calves cramped)
Okay, did anyone see the wheels roll by today, that fell off my bus?

Here's what I'm talking about:


19 10:05 back up towards Reedy Creek



20 9:31 back on Reedy Creek; had just stopped for a water at the 19.5 aid station

21 10:08 climbing the corkscrew. I had an angel come up and run with me. Don't know her name, but she was just the mental help I needed.

22 10:13 starting down Cedar Ridge for the spur down to Pit of Despair

23 10:24 after the turnaround, and coming back up the hill. Walking a lot here.

24 11:00 See previous mile. Lots of run 500 feet, walk 50

25 10:57 back on Reedy Creek, climbing Cemetery. That stunk. I ran up about half of it, then walked about 15 seconds, then ran it solid over the top. Survival mode from here on in.

26 9:43 Gave it about all I could there at the end. I forgot that it was an uphill jaunt back up to the camp split roads, so that kinda killed my spirit. But, I gave it a good effort.

.2 1:43 Not much to say here. Just brought it home.

Weather woes

I love rain. Really, I do. We're in a terrible drought, and need a ton of it. Just, can we not have it all tonight and tomorrow morning? The trails are going to be an absolute mess tomorrow, and the bike/bridle paths will be rutted like crazy. But, in the end, I'm still looking forward to the race. Heading out a little early this afternoon for packet pickup.

Thursday am swim

50m 47s 2000.00 meters 02m 32s /100 meters

6:00 AM

2000m swim
500 free, 500 pull, repeat

500 free 12:54
500 pull 12:04
500 free 13:28
500 pull 12:21

Took it pretty easy. This was my last "exercise" before the marathon. Now it's rest time. Weather is looking iffy for Saturday, but at least it won't be freezing or burning up. Rain is in the forecast, which will make the single-track tricky.

Wednesday morning spin, then a short run

55m 18.33 miles 20.00 Mi/hr

5:30 AM

spin class. really didn't do the "class", just did the spinning to loosen up the legs.


20m 55s 3.00 miles 06m 58s/Mi

6:30 AM

a quick little 3 miles. Last run before the marathon. I wanted to see if everything felt right. It did.

Tuesday afternoon swim

50m 38s 2000.00 meters 02m 32s /100 meters

5:30 PM

2000m swim; first time back in the pool in a few days
13:03 500 free
12:10 500 pull
13:21 500 free
12:03 500 pull

Monday easy run with the family

33m 06s 3.03 miles 10m 55s/Mi

5:30 PM cp5k - Climb: 339.00 feet


Very, very easy run. My wife ran with me, and I pushed the jogging stroller with the boys.

I feel good for the marathon.

Sunday ride with Paul and Chris

2h 40m 16s 52.86 miles 19.79 Mi/hr

11:30 AM

combined Tuesday and Thursday route. Olive Chapel to Richardson to Friendship to Harris Loop to Old 1 to Pea Ridge to Beaver Creek to Martha's Chapel to 751 to Lewter Shop to Green Hope School to Carpenter-Upchurch to Davis to Salem to Hunter to Olive Chapel.

American Tobacco Trail run Saturday with Paul

1h 17m 02s 10.00 miles 07m 42s/Mi

ATT 3.5 to 0 up to 5, back down to 3. We had a 7:24 in there, and a whole bunch of 7:34s. This was too fast of a run, but it felt good.