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.

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.

Small Businesses rock

I have been complaining about my Garmin 310xt that I wear when I exercise. It is a watch that tracks my heart rate, maps my activities and times said events. It has started acting up lately and I was loosing faith in the numbers it was providing post workout. Yesterday I went to First Place Sports to sign up for the Outback Half Marathon on Thanksgiving day. I was asking if they knew what I should do about my garmin. I was told to bring it back in and they would exchange it for a new one. You just gotta love when a business stands behind a product like that. Replacement of my garmin was not what I was looking for when explaining the problem. But I have to say it made me feel really good about First Place Sports. And the new unit seems to have taken care of the problem.

Thanks Guys,

Bikes and photoshop

I recently started going back to school. I am working on a Digital Media degree. One of my homework assignments was to take a photo and turn it into an abstract image. I was really unhappy with my first few tries and while they could have been turned in I just didn't care for them too much. Today I was doing homework and thinking about bike riding tonight and decided to look through my photos for some bike riders. This started as a picture of Beth and ended up as the picture above. It was posterized, inverted, blurred, colored and had the colors saturated. I was really happy with the end results and will probably be making more of these.

Back on the exercise bike

So about a month ago I was at home and had some time before a woodturning lesson. I decided that I need some footage of my bike to put into my videos. I thought some video of the chain going around the sprocket, the tires, breaks, pedals that kind of stock footage would be good. I mounted the video camera on a stick and went for a ride around the neighborhood. I was on the other street and either hit a rock or just lost my balance. (I am going with the rock) and down I went. I got some road rash on my knee, elbow and hand. My bike and the video camera were fine. I rushed home to get cleaned up and proceeded to teach my lesson about halfway through the lesson I reached for a tool and my shoulder hurt. When I finished up the lesson I went in and made a doctors appt. He recommended physical therapy. The tendon in my knee has been bothering me as well. So we are working on the knee and shoulder. I have been doing the pt for a few weeks now. Last weekend I did the Tour de Cure. We rode 129 miles over 2 days. So Monday morning I go in and the first thing they do is put me on the exercise bike. I was like "Really you want me to ride? I just spent all weekend on a bike. My butt is still sore." Anyway I did 2 miles on the bike and could fell it in my legs. The good news is my knee is feeling much better, now if I can just improve my shoulder I will be very happy.

Radishes

This is part of our container garden. We have 4 different kinds of peppers planted and some spices. Nothing major but I think we should be able to harvest some peppers. In fact I was noticing my bell peppers are already starting to bloom.

So last night my friend Marilyn and I were out riding bikes on the Baldwin Rail trail. We were about 17 miles into our ride when I hear my phone ring. I slow down and pull it out of my pocket and see it is the house number. I answer it and ask what is wrong. Ethan (my 10 year old) Says nothing is wrong. So then I ask him what he needs. He asks if I can stop at the store and buy some radish seeds. I said "What, I am in the middle of my ride." He says "Oh, how bout when you are on your way home you could stop at the store." I told him we could talk about it when I got home.
Today I was out and stopped buy Lowes and bought some radish seeds and we got them planted. Ethan is convinced they will have sprouted by tomorrow morning. I hope he won't be too disappointed when it takes a few days to see results and a month or so before we get some radishes. The question now is if he will eat more then one....

Back on the Bike

Last week I took a pretty hard fall off my bike. I took a few days off from working out. Yesterday I was feeling better and it was such a nice day. After dinner I went for a bike ride. I rode a few miles up to the Starbucks and had a hot chocolate then rode over to the grocery store and picked up a few things we needed. Today I had to go to the bank, So I decided to ride up there. It only takes about 10 minutes to ride each way. The only bad part was I got to the bank and reached in my pocket for my deposit and realized I had left it at home. I was good and rode home got my deposit and rode back. So I was able to get in a a little extra time on the bike. The weather is very nice today. The wind was at my back on the way home both times. I have been trying to do as many of my errands on the bike. It saves a it of gas but it is always good to be out on the bike. Now it they just had a bike lane I would be set.

Looking for wood

So as a woodturner you are out driving around and see a pile of wood on the side of the road. First thing I do is look to see if it is large enough in diameter. I like it to be around 12 inches in diameter, then I look to see what kind of wood it might be. If it is pine or oak than I keep on driving. The other thing I am looking for is access. if it is on a busy street I will probably pass on it. I like it to be in a neighborhood where I can just stop and load some up in the back of my car. Many times I will be at home and will hear a chainsaw running in the neighborhood and will get on my bike and go ride around looking for whoever is cutting something down. I will then see what kind of tree they are removing. Most people will be happy to cut some of the wood however you want. They are happy to get rid of some of it. Plus they don't have to move it. I like knowing where the wood came from and the fact that I can make something either useful or pleasant to look at. Also like the fact that I am keeping something from the landfill. So next time you see me looking at a pile of wood on the side of the road cut me a bit of a break. I am thinking about my next project.

Slow week training busy week turning

So I was pretty busy with my wood turning this week. I finished this bowl. It started out as a regular bowl, I then cut out all the leaves and then did some wood burning and finally airbrushed the color onto the leaves. I used transparent paints because I like to be able to see the wood grain in my finished pieces. I also mad a giant bobbin for a customer to wrap copper tubing around. Thursday evening I taught a pen turning class at Woodcraft. Today I started another leaf bowl. This is a technique I am definitely going to explore some more. I have several more themes I want to bring to life.

My training is coming along. I didn't get much running in this week but I am ok with that. I went swimming twice and Spinning once and I am going again in the morning. This morning I got in a 7 mile run in very cold and windy conditions. After last weeks 23 mile run I wanted to take a few days off from running. The marathon in about 6 weeks away and coming up fast. I am looking forward to that. I am also looking forward to warmer weather. I like training when it is warmer. It looks like at least another week of cold weather. I will just keep training.

New trick for counting

Tonight I went to Masters swim. Swimming involves lots of counting. Things like total yardage, Laps, Lengths, How often you breathe. Strokes per length. and sometimes some many strokes with each hand. We swim lots of laps, tonight we swam 160 lengths in a 25 yard pool. One of the exercises was 10x100. Each 100 yards is 4 lengths of the pool. So you count your lengths and then you rest 15 seconds between each set. Mike the guy I was sharing the lane with put his fins and paddles and float in a line at the end of the lane. After each set he would stack the items next to each other. After we swam 5 sets he started stacking the stuff the other way. It was quick and easy to keep track of how many sets we had swum. The simplest things work the best.

2010 Race schedule

I have been working on a race schedule for next year. This is what I have so far. There are a few conflicts with dates and a few missing dates but it is a start. I wanted to get this written down so I can start planning my training. I am currently training with the Galloway group for the 26.2 with Donna. This will be my first marathon. I wanted to do the marathon for 2 reasons first so I can say I did a marathon and second so I can build my running fitness. I enjoy doing Triathlons and the running portion is my worst of the three segments. By running as much as is required for the training it has helped my running.

2010 Race Schedule

February 21 26.2 with Donna (Marathon 26.2 miles)

March 13 Gate River Run 15k (9.3 miles)

March 20 Mud Run

April 10 Mandarin Biathlon (Kayak 5.78 miles, Run 3.9 miles)

May 15 BFAST #1 (Sprint Triathlon 400 yard swim, 10 mile bike, 3.1 mile run)

May 22,23 Tour De Cure

June 12 BFAST #2 (Sprint Triathlon)

June 12 Run For the Pies 5k

June 19 Jax Sprint Series #1 (Sprint Triathlon)

July 10 BFAST #3 (Sprint Triathlon)

July 19 Jax Sprint Series #2 (Sprint Triathlon)

August 7 Jax Sprint Series #3 (Sprint Triathlon)

August 13,14 Tour De Pain (3 races in 24 hours; 5 mile, 5 k, 1 mile)

August 28 Summer Beaches Run (5 mile beach run)

August 29 Hot Triathlon (Olympic distance 1500 meter swim, 40 k bike, 10k Run)

October Race For the Cure 5k

October Pumpkin Run 5K

October 30 Ironman Miami 70.3 (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run)

November 25 Outback Classic Distance (13.1 miles)

December 31 Vystar Gator bowl 5k

I am sure there will be some changes to this list as the year progresses

Outback Half Marathon

Thanksgiving weekend was a busy one for us. We got up early in the morning and participated in a Half marathon (13.1 Miles) It was Tami's first and my second. I set a new pr of 2:23:53 A 30 minute improvement over my last half I did back in February. I was really happy with my time and also how much I have improved. After finishing the race we walked home and covered another 3.8 miles. This got us our 17 miles we needed for our training. We are training for a full marathon next February 21, 2010. On Saturday we went and ran at the Jacksonville Running Company. I ran 6.83 miles. This morning Tami and I went and meet Darcy & Marilyn and went to a spinning class and then went and swam 1,000 yards in the pool.

We had my Family over for dinner on Thanksgiving and we also had my Mom come over for dinner tonight. Overall a great holiday filled with lots of training and family and friends.

Life is good!!!!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Untitled

Garmin Connect -
Activity Details for
Untitled

Tonights run through the neighborhood with Tami and Andrew. I felt real good on the run. It was a little cool when we got started but it was a really comfortable temp. for running. We kept a pretty good pace and even threw in a few sprints. I had just came from masters swim class and I was feeling good. I am enjoying the running who knew that would ever happen.

Log book is full

Last year I started running with the Galloway group. One of the thing I got when I signed up was a log book to keep track of my running. Yesterday I filled in my last page. This is an exciting prospect as I have been working out seriously for the past year and by keeping a log I am able to go back and look at the results. The biggest thing is my 5k times October '08 my first 5k was the Rita run at the town center. It took me 39:05 to finish the course. Yesterday I did the Pumpkin run and my chip time was 28:35. In the last year I have gotten 10 minutes faster. Someone told me the next 10 minutes will be much harder. I had already decided that I would work on trying to break 25 minutes for my next goal. Speaking of goals I have already met all my goals for the year. I wanted to run 500 miles and bike 1,500 miles. I still have 2 months to see how far I can make it.

Today I get to start an new log book. Nothing but blank pages to keep me busy for the next year. It will be interesting to look back at this next book and continue the journey. Tami and I were talking the other day about posting a calendar of races and events that we would like to plan for the next year. So that will be fun planning that. It will also be helpful in planning our training. It is looking like it will be a good year.

13/100 days running

Yesterday I was totaling my work outs from the previous week. I have reached my running goal for the year and it is only October. I broke 500 miles. I also am within 17 miles of my biking goal of 1500 miles. I came really close to getting out my bike and going for a ride. Today is my biking day so I was able to resist the urge. After dinner tonight the kids and I will go for a bike ride and get some of those miles in. Then I plan on dropping them off and riding some more.

100 days running update

I have gotten in all my runs with a few walks thrown in. Tonight I am going to go run with Andrew around the neighborhood. I will probably not do a separate post for that but I am going to run this evening.

6/100 days running

Tonight was the monthly Artwalk downtown. Samantha, Ethan and I walked around downtown for 2.5 hours. I estimate that we walked about 2.5 miles. not a very fast pace but we did put in some distance. And as you can see from the picture we walked over the Main Street Bridge. It was a little dark for the picture but we took it anyway. The Acosta bridge is in the background and the sun is setting. I love walking or running downtown along the river. Doing it with my family is even better.

5/100 days running

Yesterday I went to masters swim at the YMCA. We had a good workout and I was actually able to make it all the way through the workout before I ran out of time. We ended up swimming 4000 yards in the 1.5 hours of the class. So I was all done and went to hop out of the pool and got the worst leg cramp I have ever had. It was in my left calf muscle. I managed to work it out and stand and walk around a bit. But it surly hurts. In fact it is still hurting now. I went to the locker room and changed into my running stuff even put on my new shoes. Then I walked slowly out to treadmills. I did some stretching, then I did some more and finally decided I needed to go do my run. I set the tread mill for 2 miles and proceeded to run. It didn't hurt while I was running so that was good. I just kept to a nice easy pace and ran for the whole 2 miles. I am liking running each day. Saturday we are running 10.5 miles so running on Sunday might be a challenge.

Day 4 of 100 days dunning

Today Tami and I went out to the rail trail for a bike ride. We rode 25 miles out and back. It was a very nice morning. Cooler temps, Sunshine and no breeze. It made for a very nice ride. We even saw a deer run across the trail. We also saw a box turtle walking down the trail. After the ride we went for a short run. We did 2 miles, we ran at our own pace. I was able to do the 2 miles in 20:18. I felt good on my run. Especially after just riding.

I didn't post anything about the previous 2 days so just a short recap.

Day 2 Walked 1.25 miles at the Town center.

Day 3 ran with the Galloway group we did 6 miles down at the beach.

New Challenge

One of my goals for the year was to be in good enough shape physically to do any kind of activity. Tonight I was at the masters swim class talking to Chrissy who teaches the class. She was trying to get people to commit to running every day for the next 100 days. You have to run at least 1 mile every day. I decided to join her in this challenge. So for the next 100 days starting tomorrow (We are running the bridges 5.5 miles) I will run every day at a minimum of 1 mile. I will post my progress everyday as a separate post and we will see how it goes.

I am determined to get better running. I am trying to improve my times for my triathlons. Plus my next big race is a full marathon. Got to make it to the start line and there is a lot of training left to go for that.

It's all who you know

So a year ago I was just getting into running after years of coasting along physically. I weighed more than I had ever weighed in my life. I decided I need a change. My friend Laura told me about this group she was training with. They used the Galloway method of running. Basically you run a minute and walk a minute. It is supposed to be easier on your body. I decided to give it a try. My first time out we did 6 miles. I was struggling towards the end. Laura offered to go get the car and pick me up. No self respecting guy is going to go for that. So a year later I am training for a marathon. I have completed a half marathon done 4 triathlons and many 5k's and even a 15k race. It has been a very busy year. I have lost a lot of weight and feel much better. The thing that really makes that past year memorable is all the people I have meet. Monday evening I decided to go for a run in the neighborhood. Tami had already done her training run so I was on my own. I took the dog for the first 2 miles and then dropped him off and did my last 3 miles alone. Somewhere along the way I was thinking this was the first run in months that I had done by myself. I have met so many people training for races that I have had people to run, ride and swim with. I enjoyed my run but I was thinking about everyone who encouraged and inspired me along the way. I have also done my share of encouragement, so it goes both ways. I have a group of people I run the bridges with on Thursday evenings. I really enjoy doing this plus it is great exercise. So Saturday morning Tami and I will be out before the sun comes up to go for our training run.

The 26.2 Marathon with Donna is in February.