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.

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.

Training group

This was a class project I just turned in. It had to be a surreal image. This was a fun project. I started with the idea of having a group of runners and putting animal skin on them. I wanted to bring out their inner animals. It took a few tries to get the effect I was looking for. The first try I made us all different animals, I learned a lot but didn't like the way some of us cam out. I really liked the way the Chetah spots looked so I re-did all of us. with spots. I also played with a few backgrounds and had fun putting us in different places. When I cut the people out I found that we needed shadows to help make us look right. The shadows are pretty subtle but are needed to make the photo look right. I got some good comments in class last night about the skin and I'm hoping I get an "A" on my project.

Riding the bus

Lost Friends,

Not really lost just kind of misplaced. I have had lots of friends come and go in my lifetime. When I was young my Dad was in the Navy so we moved around a bit. This was hard on a young kid having to move away from a best friend. The upside of this learning to make new friends. This is a good life skill to have. It seems these days I have a lot of friends that I don't get to see very often. So when I run into old friends I am happy to see them. We have a few minutes to catch up on how we are each doing, ask about some other people and then we each go our separate ways.

Usually I make friends based on the activity I am doing. These shared experiences bring people together. That and the time spent in that activity. If there is some risk involved the experience is even stronger. I raced sailboats for many years. I met many people and counted many of them as friends. I have tons of stories about people, weather conditions and locations we visited. Even when sailing my boat singlehanded I would talk to other people out on the water, in the bar afterwards or while helping each other with our boats. All my favorite memories on the water involve people. I met my wife in one of my sailing classes. I have done Jiu-Jitsu, woodturning, running and now triathlon.

This morning I was thinking about someone I haven't seen in a while. We are both busy with our families and our training. I finished swimming and ran into another old friend from my sailing days, we talked for a few minutes and then went on our separate ways. I have always said life is a like a bus ride. Sometimes people get on and ride for a while and become friends, sometimes your friends get off only to get back on later. So if any of my friends are reading this the bus is only a short ways from the next stop.

Running, Squirrels and Hawks

This morning started with a pre-dawn run downtown, along the river and over the bridges. I ran with Marilyn and Darcy. As we were on our way back along the river the sun was just coming up over the river and the Main Street Bridge. It was a very nice morning, the temperature was just right. The river was flat and we were out with other runners and walkers getting in their morning miles. I got out of the car when I got home and spotted an Osprey on the power wire. I stood there checking him out and then noticed a squirrel in the tree about 10 feet below the Osprey. I thought; "This squirrel is on the menu". The squirrel proceeds to climb up the telephone pole chittering away at the Osprey, then he gets on the wire and is still chattering away at the Osprey. I turn to try and make it in the house to get my camera and the Osprey flies away. I was thinking the squirrel has a good story to tell all his buddies on how single handedly, he scared an Osprey away and saved all the other squirrels. I wonder if they will believe the stories of if in a week it will end up being a whole flock of hungry Eagles. Sometimes these stories take on a life of their own. For my part I have a terrible picture I took with my iphone but was too far away. I learned my lesson with the Momma bear about trying to get closer.

23 miles

Yesterday we did a 23 mile group training run on the rail trail. It was very cold when we started at 6am and it never really warmed up. I had a little cramping in my leg and walked the last 4 miles with Shannon. We were both struggling a bit at that point. I did complete the full 23 miles. My legs are feeling better today. I am trying to decide if I want to do any training today or just take it easy. That is the furthest I have ever run before. Only 3 more miles to go to hit the marathon distance. In a month and a half we will be running a marathon. I started training for this August 1st so it has been a long journey. I have worn out 2 pairs of shoes since I started running about a year and a half ago. I currently own 2 pairs of shoes that I rotate on my runs. I would have never believed that I would have 2 pairs of running shoes. Basically I have one pair for shorter runs and the other for my longer runs. The first pair is lighter and with less cushioning the second pair is a bit heavier and has more cushioning. 5 hours and 23 miles is a lot of repetitions of your feet striking the ground. I may not be fast but I am out there putting in the miles.

Ironman Miami 70.3

Registration has closed for the half ironman event in Miami. The race is October 30th and it is already full. A Half Ironman is a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride and a 13.1 mile run Do one after the other. I am hoping to finish my race in around 6 hours. Between now and then I will be doing a lot of training. I am going to continue doing the masters swim at the YMCA twice a week and continue working on my running. I am doing the 26.2 with Donna marathon in February and I am still training for that. We have 2 more long runs scheduled. a 23 and a 26 mile run. I will do these training runs in January and then start tapering for the marathon. I am doing the Tour de Cure bike ride in May as part of my bike training. It is amazing how much time and training goes into one of these races. For my marathon I have done about 400 miles worth of running. I will get in at least another 100 miles before the race. I need to work out a schedule for my training that covers 3 swim sessions, 3 bike sessions and, 3 running sessions. Some of these will be brick workouts. A brick is where you do a swim followed by a run or a bike followed by a run. Your legs feel like bricks the first 1/4 mile or so. You need to do a fairly quick transition to get the full benefit of this type of workout. I have a long way to go in my training. I may not be very fast but I know if I train properly I will be able to complete the race

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.

1 year running

Last year around this time I decided to start running. A year later I am still pretty slow but I enjoy it. I did the couch to half marathon program with the Galloway group. You run a minute and walk a minute. Having a the Half marathon with Donna gave the training a goal. Sharing a ride to the weekly training with Laura and Elaine made me have to go. There were several mornings when I just didn't want to get up but knowing someone was counting on you is a good motivator. I really have to thank Laura for getting me going. A year later I have done a half marathon(13.1 miles) The Gate River Run (9.3 miles) several 5k races and I have done 3 sprint triathlons and even an olympic distance triathlon. And now Tami and I are training for a full marathon in February. At the beginning of the year I decided to set some training goals Basically they were:

run 500 miles

ride 1500 miles (I had to up the bike miles)

I am doing really good on my goals I have done 440 mile running so far and 1400 miles on the bike. I count a spinning class as riding my bike 15 miles. This has been a really good year for my training. I have done more this year then ever before. I am already starting to plan some goals for next year but I am going to keep them to myself for a little while. I will post them after the beginning of the year but I will give a few hints. 26.2 with Donna in February and I want to do some more triathlons.

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Marathon training week 7

I recently purchased the new Garmin 310xt. I have used it on 2 training runs. It tracks all kinds of data. The GPS measures distance. It also has a heart rate monitor. You can track your speed and distance and compare that to your heart rate. When you upload the data to the website you can review your training.

Garmin Connect -
Activity Details for
Marathon training week 7

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First Training Marathon training day

Tami and I started our 26.2 Marathon training with Donna this morning. The marathon benefits Breast Cancer research. I did the half marathon last year and was ready to step up to the full distance this year. Having Tami join me in the training is an added benefit. This morning we did 3 miles along the north bank of the St. Johns River. It was nice and cool and the breeze was blowing. It made for a very nice run. I started out in a 12 minute pace group and part way through decided to move up a group. I was able to chase down the 11 minute pace group and finish up with them. They had a pace more in line with what I was looking for.
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Jax Tri series #2

Today was the second of the series of sprint triathlons. It was my 3rd triathlon and I wanted to break 1:30 for the race. I managed to set a new personal best time of 1:21:51 I had a good swim and I averaged 19.2 on the bike ride and then I ran a 36:55 for the 5k portion. My best time for a 5k is only 33:58 in the Run for the pies So I am really happy with my run time for this triathlon. The race had a new course which was nicer then the first one. Traffic played a part on the bike ride. There were many cars on the course. I passed several of them and had an interesting time going through one of the round-about's when a pickup truck stopped in front of me. I was already on the breaks trying to figure out what he was doing. It was never close but I was prepared to either stop or go around this truck. The run was on a sidewalk that was shaded and it made for an interesting time people had to be careful passing as there wasn't a lot of room and runners were going in both directions. I even ran past some people out for a walk that had no idea about the race going on. They sure looked surprised. I am getting better running and can do it for longer periods of time now. I am still not very fast but I am improving my endurance. The race consisted of a 1/4 mile ocean swim, 10 mile bike ride, 3.1 mile run.

248  1:21:51.6   304  Emory McLaughlin                     Jacksonville, FL                                           Clyde   16     M 173   10:20.9  217   1:51     31:15.7 19.2  158   1:30     36:55.6 12:18  290