Weekend Gathering

I had the chance to go to a Martial Arts seminar in Campbell California this past weekend. I went with Professor Barber who has been my instructor since I was a kid. The seminar was very well organized and I learned a lot attending the individual sessions. We taught one on the sessions and had quite a crowd. We stayed with the guy who was hosting the event and got to help with setup and teardown. This was a very small price to pay for getting to meet some very wonderful people. The thing that struck me about this community was how everyone was willing to share. I went to a few sessions and was struggling because what we were practicing was totally different then what we practice. People were willing to help if you ask for and accept help. I learned lots of fine details by just asking and watching what others were doing. I tried to work out with as many different people as possible, and as such I meet and was able to share a bit of what we practice and also learn a bit from others. Sharing like this is a truly special thing. 

While in Campbell I got a chance to go for a run. I got to run along a portion of the Los Gatos Trail This was a wonderful trail. It was a few minutes from Hans' house. They dropped me off while they went to run some errands. I told them I wanted to run for an hour. I got about 5 mins into the run and it started to rain. I didn't care it was a light rain and it helped cool me off. I got in a 6 mile run. I ran past 3 spillways and the scenery was nice. There were mountains in the background the rain didn't bother me too much. I was surprised to see the number of people using the trail durning the week and on a rainy/misty day. I wore my garmin so I could track my run. I was wishing we had a system of trails like this in Jacksonville. This was right in the heart of town and I was told lots of these trails link up so you can get places or get in plenty of miles if your training. While I am happy to be home with the kids It was a nice trip.

Planet Smoothie Ride

Yesterday turned out to be such a nice day. Samantha and I decided to go out for a short bike ride. This is us riding along a park not to far form the house. We actually ride past 2 parks on the way to planet smoothie. Part of the ride takes us out on San Jose Blvd. There is a car parking lane most of the way. Of course this is used as a bike lane except towards the end  by the church that almost always has cars parked. 

For a day in mid November it was really nice weather. The sun was shining, the temps were in the mid 70's and there was just a touch of breeze. We had a group of 4 cyclists pass us during the ride. They weren't going that much faster then us and I asked Samantha if she wanted to try and draft off them, she declined. We sat outside and drank our smoothies before returning home along almost the same route. We rode past the other park and looked for Joleen who was out kayaking. We rode through the neighborhood to avoid some of the traffic, plus it makes for a quieter ride. The ride was about 4 miles a nice little distance and I got to spend some time with Samantha enjoying a short break in our day.

Weekend training

Got lots of training in on this long weekend. Started Friday evening teaching Kodenkan Jiu-Jitsu. I taught the kids class and I had 12 kids which was a handful. It is fun being with the kids and some of the questions they ask. Usually they ask how old I am, if  I'm married. One of the kids wanted to know what my religion was. I have never been asked that. Apparently I gave him the right answer because he was satisfied. The adult class was smaller with only 3 people there. So that meant I got to work out with them. We grappled the last 20 minutes of class. This is always very physical, all out for 5 minutes each round.

Saturday morning was the Galloway group run. We just started a new session and this was the "Magic Mile". Everyone runs a mile fast as they can. These times are then used to sort people into their pace groups for the rest of the training. We started with a 1.5 mile warmup then the magic mile and finally a 1.5 mile cool down. After running I went to the gym with Loanna and we lifted some weights.

Sunday morning was the 26.2 mile bike ride with Donna to benefit Breast cancer research. I did the ride with a group of friends(Scott, Deb, Carolyn & Wally). It started out kind of cool and then warmed up nicely. We averaged about 17 mph on the ride. We weren't pushing it too hard. After we finished I rode back out on the course to look for Wally who was a bit late. I found her a few miles from the finish and rode in with her. There was a cookout after the ride and it was nice hanging out and talking to people.

Monday was Veterans Day. I actually ended up going for a solo run. It is rare that I train alone. I was thinking about how many people I am lucky enough to train with. Between Jiu-Jitsu, Running and Biking I probably trained with 50 people. This is truly a gift to have all these people in my life. I feel enriched in some way by each person I am able to share some of my life with.

motivated training partners

Laura is one of my favorite people to run with. I have known her for decades and we get along great. She also runs the exact same pace as me. So last week we met for lunch and we had both decided we wanted to change up our running routines a bit. We would like to be faster, just like everyone else. Funning thing is we had both looked online and found plans. We decided to mostly go with her plan. Last night was the second week of our training and it was speedwork. We found a place on the river walk the was pretty flat that was long enough. The plan was a 1 mile warm up followed by 6x800's(1/2 miles) We were supposed to run these 1/2 miles in 4:52. The first one was 4:17 and the last one was 4:45 We did 3 of them at 4:30's I was pretty happy with our consistency. We were trying to run a bit slower but we decided it was hard trying to hit a pace we weren't used to running. Who knew running too fast would be a problem. We walked for a few minutes in between each interval to rest before starting the next one. We tried to keep the walks about the same as we went. The workout was tough but doable. I love running downtown along the river with friends. Especially as the sun is setting, through the clouds and turning the sky orange.

I own 6.5 pairs of Gloves

This morning I was getting ready to go pressure wash my Mom's house so I can paint it. I decided since it was cold I needed to wear a pair of gloves. I have a pair of neoprene gloves that I use for canoeing when it is cold. As I was getting out my gloves I was thinking I have several different pairs. So I got them all out and realized I have 6 and a half pairs of gloves. The half pair is a single glove that has velcro and is used for holding sand paper while I am doing woodturning. I also have gloves for biking warm and cold weather. I have a pair of gloves I wear running. A pair for working in the yard, and a pair of mittens. Who knew someone could own so many pairs of gloves. Oh, I just remembered I also wear disposable gloves when working with wood finishes out in my shop. I buy these in a box of 100 at a time. So I officially own more gloves then shoes.

More photoshop

This is another photoshop project. I am trying to learn how to really use this program. It can do a ton of things. This was meant to be a poster or magazine cover. I wasn't really sure about what text to add but wanted to have some room on the right side for the text. The picture on the bottom was the original. I removed myself from the original and even managed to lose a few pounds thanks to the liquify tool. The rest was just adding text and drop shadows and such. I am trying to do these small projects to learn the tools but also get quicker using photoshop.

Let me know what you think of the final picture. And if you want to come out and go for a run, swim or bike ride let me know.

stickers

I finally broke down and got a sticker for my car. I did the Ironman 70.3 Miami race back in October. They had stickers at the expo but I didn't want to jinx myself and buy it before the race. So I returned home and checked at the running stores with no luck. I was doing some shopping on Amazon the other day and found the stickers. When I put the sticker on my car I noticed my reflection. I decided this would make a good picture. I have already signed up for Ironman Florida 70.3 The race is May 15th down at Disney. So I know what I am doing for winter training. I know Marilyn and Hillary have signed up already. Let me know if anyone else has signed up. We will have to plan some group training.