Okay. That went better.

Had a long talk with Lucho this morning about last night's blow up and a few other things.  He nailed the low heart rate/high exertion/low output problem right off the bat.  Then we talked about why I am feeling like crap all the time... well, most of the time and why running just doesn't feel easy to me anymore. 

Duh... it's the bike and apparently I don't give it enough credit (and respect) for how much it takes out of me. So that more or less solved problem number two....

We left the call with me having two options for today's run.  I could either do today's run as planned or I could try to do last nights run if it felt like it could happen.  Of course I didn't know how that would play out until I went to run.

Seeing that I had upped my carb input considerably last night out of frustration, and I was eating a lot more today as well, it seemed like I was going into today's run better fueled than yesterday.   And yesterday I apparently did not eat as much as I had thought during the day and that played into things last night too.

So I started the run and after the HRM finally settled in around mile one, it still felt like my heart rate was depressed and that I was going WAY too fast for the 136'ish bpm that I was getting.  But since I wasn't feeling that bad I decided to hang on for another mile and see how it played out.  By the end of mile two, things still felt off but I was comfortable so I decided to go for it, another stab at last night's botched run.

The goal then became to hold my heart rate above 140 avg for the first five miles, then over 150 for the next three and if at all possible over 160 for the last two.   I figured if things were going well, it would work out, if not, the last two miles wouldn't be happening at all so it was a rather binary proposition.

For the most part it all worked out just fine.  I averaged 142 bpm for the first five, 154 for the next three and then 162 for the last two. I completed the ten mile run in 1:20:53 and felt okay afterwards even.

The run still wasn't that easy and I still feel like things are still sort of off but it is nice to know why and to have a possible explanation for it and to also know why things feel so much different than I am used to. 

And thus ends January... 292 miles of cycling and 160 miles of running, or 29 hours 15 minutes of cycling and 29 hours and 30 minutes of running.

The Rainy Day

Yesterday's run was for crap.  Seriously.  The worst run in years if you don't take into account runs in extreme heat and runs where I get injured or hurt.  It started off bad and never improved after that.

First I ran up and over the mesa to the office and that is about five miles. I struggled the entire distance to just keep my heart rate above 135.  It didn't help that it was cold, pretty much dark and I was bucking a north wind the entire way.  I figured if I held on that once I caught the trail from 30th to Gossage Park, that I would be out of the wind and I would be able to move more easily.

No.

I was supposed to increase my heart rate at this time to something over 140 or so and it might have gotten there for a little bit but for the next mile I really struggled more.  Then it happened, I stopped.  Me, myself and I, the entire collective said screw it, we are walking and that is what I did for quite some time.

Now everything is hurting.  Left ankle, left shin, right knee, right IT Band, and to an extent my left knee.  Oh, yeah... my mouth is still hurting from the two hours I spent in the dentist chair Monday morning.  Add it all up and I just did not have the gumption to run at all.

So I walked some more.  I figured I would just wuss out and call Melissa to come and get me and completely admit defeat but I kept plugging away.  I'd run a bit then abruptly stop whenever the body demanded it or I would encounter a slight rise in the path.  Mostly I walked and I would say that half of the twelve miles last night were walked. Very discouraging.

Finally I got home and Melissa met me at the door.  She could see the defeat, disgust and disappointment in my face and didn't even blanch when I spoke.  I told her this was a one time good deal.  I was going to take a shower.  She was to empty the change jars on the dresser into a bag and I was going to cash them in a the change machine and we were going to get pizza.  Yes folks... Pizza.

See, as long as I can remember, I have always saved change.  Save enough and it makes for a nice extra amount of spending money on vacations.  I remember once in 1998 I had to use a change jar collection to buy groceries.  But last night... last night was when the rainy day fund came in super handy.  I got $72 bucks when all was said and done and we headed to Borriello Brothers for me to commence sinning, hard.

First of all, I got a large Moutain Dew.  I have not had a Mountain Dew since December 2.  It was awesome but not as awesome as the garlic knots that came with the salad.  BREAD!!!!  Warm bread, with butter and tons of garlic, even better.  Then the pizza came and it alone restored my belief in god.  Did I stop there?  Hell no... off to King Soopers we went and I got a big piece of red velvet cake to eat with my leftover Mtn. Dew that I left with from the pizza parlor.

So there I was sitting on the couch and watching South Park and drinking soda and eating cake.  Why the hell not?  It's what the rest of America does every night pretty much, right?  Why not me too?

So that is why I have a rainy day fund like that.  I still have like forty bucks left over in my pocket for carrying around cash and that will last me a few days.

But back to the more pressing issue... besides me caving on the pizza, and the soda and the diet... oh and the cake,  there is more afoot here.  I am not happy about where I am as a runner and I haven't been for a while I guess.  Except for the weight loss which I am pleased about, I don't think that I am in any shape at all.

I told Melissa at the pizza joint that the Salida Half Marathon is in just over a month and I guarantee that if I were to run it that I would be creamed.  Forget a sub two hour finish on that course like I am used to, it would be more like 2:30 if I were lucky and I wouldn't even be able to run it all, lots of walking.

I also told her that when I was walking through Monument Valley Park last night... yes walking, that I doubt I could beat my Fall Series times from this fall even, and that is being twenty pounds lighter to boot.

The best way for me to describe training and life and everything else right now would be that everyday feels like the last twenty miles of Rocky Raccoon last year and if you know me and know of that story then you understand the weight of that statement.  Those last twenty miles were the hardest twenty miles in my entire life.  Just hard and that is how everything feels now... not easy.  Not easy, not fun. It's all an uphill battle all the time and though the mud at that.. I don't get it though because I have trained more intensely in the past and have never felt this bad so I just understand what the difference is now.  Where is the disconnect?  That is what I need to figure out.

So for now I just wait and hope for brighter days with more hours of sunshine and warmth and try to have hope that will  motivate me and get me going again.  Hopefully then I will have a greater sense of confidence which is just lacking from everything right now.  We will see.  Right now I need to keep rolling the lacrosse ball along my ITB... that at least feels good!

When the going gets tough... screw it.  Just eat pizza. 

Things are going well!

Almost through another month of Leadman training.  This past week wasn't too bad volume-wise but the intensity of Saturday and Sunday's workouts really kicked my butt.

Speaking of my butt, I dropped the money this weekend for a new bike saddle too.  Hopefully this one will work out better for me.  The funny thing about getting the new seat was that the salesman at Pro Cycling measured me... agreed and said that I would do better with a different seat but that was where he dropped the ball.  I had to basically say in very clear language while pointing him to the wall display, to please sell me a new seat.  It was like he didn't want to or couldn't make the connection. It would have made for a funny skit.

The business is going great, lots of interest and a ton of potential clients.  The weekend was spent updating the business web page and getting it migrated to a different platform.  Of course during that migration the page was down as well as the business e-mail.  Everything came back Monday night and is working 100% normal now.

I also wrote a new blog entry for the business blog this morning.  I have taken the gloves off in a sense when it comes to sharing my views of diet, diets, and weight-loss in this country.  You can read the article here on tripeaksconsulting.blogspot.com.

And in other great news... going to Cozumel for a week at the beginning of May.  Melissa will be diving a lot... I plan for fly fish in the lagoons, read a lot and just chill.  I will be running a lot then but I know the island pretty well and I am looking forwards to running all around, over and through the jungles and jeep roads. 

Typical bonefish habitat in the lagoons on the north side of Cozumel island.  Can't wait to fish it again!

Have To Share

Apparently this graffiti is showing up in Los Angeles.  Hell, I want it on a t-shirt!

Tour De France - You're Doing It Right.  ~  Lance Armstrong

A Startling Conclusion

This is the kinda thing that freaks me out about riding a bike.  Even more so on an EXPENSIVE bike.

Opposite of what one of Lance Armstrong's books is entitled, for me, on my ride yesterday I realized that it IS about the bike.  It is a love-hate relationship and the bottom line is that I do not trust the bike.  And just like any relationship without trust, my affair with the bike is also dysfunctional.

I don't know if it is because it is a used and a demo bike that I don't trust it's soiled history.  The scratched, scarred and obviously abused frame and components, or is it because the staff at the bike shop sort of jerked me around a little, not bad but enough to make me question the integrity and the authenticity of the product?  Did I get a lemon?  And the money... holy crap, the money that I have spent on this bike and put into it really freaks me out.  I just don't see how something so expensive (and in way fragile) just won't up and break on me at the worst possible moment.

Then there is the carbon fiber frame which to me is nothing but glorified plastic.  Maybe I would have been more confident getting something with an aluminum frame AND a hard-tail.  Or if I got a carbon fiber frame, maybe I should have gotten a hard-tail.  Why?  The frame "creaks" around the joint for the lower swing arm and it isn't the hinge but the frame itself popping and pinging whenever I apply a lot of force and torque the frame.  In my mind I can just see the components there just shattering at the most inopportune time.

Tubeless wheels and tires... now there was an adventure.  When I bought the bike they couldn't tell Larry and I if the wheels were setup for tubeless tires or not.  It took some money and some time and finally Craig at Pro Cycling was able to tell me exactly what I needed.  This was after Larry and I gave it a more than gallant effort one Saturday afternoon.  And though I have been running tubeless for well over a month or two now, because of all the agitation and frustration it gave me in the beginning trying to do that conversion, again, a lack of trust and confidence arises.

And to get a little personal... my butt hurts!  I had the bike fitted professionally to me by Branden at Pro Cycling and it made a huge difference but that damned seat!  Of course it could be the seat, or the chamois in the cycling bibs and other layers I am having to wear or it could just be my skin.  Maybe a combination of it all.  But I have a blister that has been plaguing me for about three weeks now.  It isn't as bad as it has been and the shorts that I wore yesterday I think really helped, but when I look at the bike I see, think and feel, "pain in the ass," literally.

Training on a bike is not without discomfort either. It isn't just going out for a lackadaisical cruise laughing and giggling along the way.  Nope. It is hard.  For starters it is DAMNED hard to get the heart rate up on a bike because it just doesn't work the same as running.  Then there are drills, like track repeats that thrown into some rides that are dreadful.  Pedaling at max effort in the largest gear going up a hill, all out for a minute.  Holy CRAP!  I have finished quite a few of those on the edge of puking and cross eyed as hell.... almost blind.

The hours are bad too... For an outside ride the timing has to be perfect right now.  I have to time it so that I get out during the warmest part of the day and while there is good daylight to ride in.  Often I sit and watch the thermometer waiting for the temp to get above x degree for the better part of a day before I head out.  But even then I am almost guaranteed to get cold and chilled at some point.  Last week I almost took the dog poo bags out of the dispenser in a park to put over my socks in my shoes to help hold in some heat.  No joke.

Cycling has an element to it that running does not.  Wrecking.  Of course you can fall trail running and get banged up, twist and ankle, but the dangers are not quite the same on a bike.  I fear cars, unseen obstacles, other riders, and in the case of the bike and not trusting it, a mechanical failure like the brakes giving out and me sailing off the edge of the road into the scrub oak to never be seen again.

As a neophyte cyclist I have to say I have nothing but respect for anyone who has mastered the sport. And I have to add in the wake of the Lance Armstrong scandal, I know that I am getting worked by riding but I can't even begin to comprehend the betrayal those way more talented, and harder working racers who kept clean must feel.  Some people give their lives to this thing while I am merely a tourist.  I sure hope we don't see anything so drastic in the ultra running community.  I will say that.

Hopefully with more time and experience I will gain more confidence in both the bike and myself.  I sure hope so or else all of this or for naught.  I just need to keep my eye on the prize and focus on the race June 29th, then the seven weeks after that.   Just do the work.  But I can tell you that as a fish out of water this is truly an eye opening experience and an education.

On a good note... Progress! I weighed in this morning at 140.0 for the first time in I don't know how long.   Again, I just have to trust that it is all going to come together in a few months.  :)

Imagine putting these three plates in pack and running.  That is the extra weight that I was carrying all autumn until I started dropping in December.  All of it is gone now! 

Odds & Ends

Last week was a mix of a week and it was also a week that seemed to last FOREVER!  A lot of time spent training but I also announced my new business.  Tri-Peaks Consulting on Thursday.

The totals for the week play out to be 36 miles of running and 115 miles of riding, and all of the riding was outdoors, no time was spent on the trainer. That makes a grand total of seventeen hours and thirteen minutes of training volume for the week.  Leadman training is going quite well.

It was a great weekend in other ways as well.  Melissa and I went to Joseph's for dinner on Friday night.  I wanted to surprise her since life was still chaotic and upside when our anniversary rolled around on the 8th.  As usual the food was amazing and we had fun chatting with Joseph and Rick and joking around.  I did cheat on Friday night and I actually had the creme brulee for desert.  It was worth it, completely worth it.

I am working on a nutritional presentation associated with the business.  One of the biggest problems that we face today I believe is not that we are stupid, or lazy, or just pigs... most of the dietary issues in the country are founded within the choices, or lack of, that we are so constantly and easily presented with.  Now don't take me wrong, I have eaten TONS of stuff out of vending machines for years, I mean that is why they are there... but it does beg the question, why isn't higher quality food made to be more readily available in this country? 

The standard workplace vending machine.  The only two things in here that are even remotely healthy would be the peanuts and the beef jerky.  And if you are only eating Paleo fare, not even the peanuts because they are legumes.  The beef jerky would even be suspect because I would bet money that the first ingredient after beef is HFCS. 

So just trying to get a foothold onto this week.  Enjoying my day off from training and trying to get data migrated to a single platform for the business.  I really hope to get out at sometime today and enjoy the weather.

Today is the the day!

Today is the day I have been working so feverishly towards the past weeks.  Today I launched Tri Peaks Consulting, my life coaching company.

You can read more about my endeavor on the company's official blog page here at tripeaksconsulting.blogspot.com.

Also my webpage is a work in progress but the basics are there...  http://tripeaksconsulting.com

Right now my two biggest principles in finding this company and service, and making it work are  that I believe that if one does what one loves then it isn't work.  Secondly, do what you love and the rewards will follow.

I have always been most passionate about working with and helping people and it is time now that I put my years of education and training in that field to work as well!

So please take a gander at the website, check out the blog as there will lots of interesting material there and if you see my facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/TriPeaksConsulting please like is and share!

Time to go for a ride now while it is still warm!