Well I did it. I’m tired because I just got in from St. Louis since I had to work up there today. So I just wanted to let everyone know that I survived and had a blast. I will do it again or another one, and probably a full one day because I did better than I ever expected. I beat my personal best time of running around Murray by 6 minutes, which is a lot in running. I normally run at an 8:40 pace and Saturday my pace was 8:07 with hills and all. It was awesome. Here are my results for the 1/2 marathon:

Time 1:46:13

There were 14, 638 total in the 1/2 and I came in 939 top 6%. My division (Male 25-29) had 837 in it and I came in 141 top 17% and there were 5,429 total males in the 1/2 and I came in 716 top 13%. I never thought I would do this well really. I know I could have logged more miles that day too because I wasn’t even tired after the event. Well you can go to the results below if you like.

http://results.active.com/pages/searchform.jsp?rsID=7210

I also finally got me one of the triathlon shirts that says “Wanna tri a 3 some?” and one that says “Tri naked.”

See ya’ll
LJ

Well today had to be my last really tough run, because next week I’m only suppose to run 30-45 minutes each time that I run. So made it my toughest yet and ever, besides it not being as hot as the other days. I was suppose to run for an hour and 36 minutes (6 MSU loops) or 11.4 miles, well I ate kind of bad during the day to I guess carb load or just to pig out for one day. I ate 3 pieces of cake, but hey it must have helped for the run. Not saying that I felt great during the run or anything, but I wanted to push myself a little more since this was the last run before the event. I know that it is 1.9 miles around the loop, so instead of just doing 6 I went for 7 or an hour and 52 minutes or 13.3 miles (half marathon almost exactly). Well I made it, and I did in an hour and 52 minutes right on the nose maybe a second or 2 longer but I did it. This was my longest outdoor run with hills included.

I pretty much did this so I could ease the nerves next Saturday, because this let me know that I can do it! I didn’t even take in any fluids or anything, and like I said ate crappy beforehand. I’m pretty good right now, but a little tired and may be sore tomorrow. This is definitely a milestone for me, because when we started training for the triathlon last summer like in June it hurt me to do 1.5 miles and now I’m doing a 1/2 outside which is a ton harder than a treadmill.

Well I’m off to shower and get ready to go to work to get ready for Summer Orientation tomorrow…I hope I can walk in the morning.

LJ

I got a new toy, and am pumped. I bought a heart rate monitor for all this running I’m doing, plus I just wanted to see the amount of actual calories I burned during different activities. It works great or at least I hope so. Yesterday was my 4 loop or 1 hour run, and my HR got up to 170 a few times on the hills, but the average was 163 and I ended up burning over 900 calories and like 29% of them were fat calories (it tells you that). So I assume the other 70% are carbs and proteins of some combination. This thing even came with a mount for my bike so in a few weeks when I get back on the bike I’ll be able to keep up with my workouts on it too.

As I mentioned in a comment below, I’m thinking about doing the St. Judes Marathon in Memphis in December. If I survive the Country Music one first and enjoy it. Plus I heard the Memphis one is easier because it is cooler and flatter unlike this first Marathon. I’ll keep the internet world posted on that one. So I guess I’m back in the tri for June since Heax is still going. We just have to get signed up.

LJ

Well - commenting problems, really. If you have a link in your comment, it gets sent to a moderation queue. I hate to do that - but we’d have about 600 viagra spam comments if I didn’t.

Sorry I missed those posts Heax - we get about 50 spam comments a day. I went through and found one and saved it.

Carry on folks - sounds like things are going great!

Heax, are you doing the YMCA triathlon? enough said on that subject

Now as far as training. I found a cool site where I could mapout routes anywhere and it tells me the distances. So I found that running from my house in Cadiz out 68 til I hit the bypass and then back down the bypass to that grocery store (More for Less I think it is) and then back down 68 til the high school and cut back to my house is a 10.2 mile run. Well that is what I did on Saturday of this past weekend. It was a great run that I did in 1 hour and 34 minutes, so I’m pretty pleased. That should put me in at under 2 hours for my first 1/2 marathon if I can keep that same pace for another 26 minutes, plus I don’t see the big hills in Nashville that I ran in Cadiz this past weekend. I had to stop 1/2 way into the run, but not for air or pain, but for stomach pain. That is right, I got off the road and hit the woods to relieve myself like the cavemen did. Man after that, the run was much easier. I guess dropping a pound and freeing up the buttcheeks some helped…haha

Well I have 2 more weeks, which means 5 more big runs before the big day. I’m kinda stoked, and I’m thinking about doing the triathlon anyhow. I think I can get in good enough tri-shape to finish it and get another one under my belt.

LJ

Well I don’t know if I’m going to do the YMCA triathlon in Owensboro since no one is going to do it. I haven’t heard from Heax, and it just won’t be as fun to do it alone. Like the marathon in a couple of weeks really doesn’t seem as fun, but at least I will know a couple of girls doing that race so I will see a few people I know. Plus I’m getting really tired of training. I have been running my butt off for several months now, and I kinda just want some time to play sports, ride my bike, lift, and stuff like that without having a set schedule of having to do this and that on certain days. If I totally decide not to do it, then it will be a nice break before training hard for Nashville again cause I have times to beat in Nashville this year. Also I have a slight pain in the top of my foot that I would love to give time to heal from running. One last thing, I’m not sure if a month of training is enough for this triathlon…well a month of biking and swimming since I haven’t started either one yet with all this running.

On another note. I got my race number for the marathon. I’m kinda pumped, I’m number like 5400 and something. So that means there are over at least 5,000 people doing the race, so it will be a site to see. It is also on TV that day, so the whole nation may see me pass out. Also the weight it still dropping. Haven’t weighed, but I can look in the mirror and see more results than I could a month ago.

Well I’m out!
LJ

Pat and I headed out last night for the first of many cycling trips. I have to say, I’m pretty darned impressed with what the city of Overland Park has put together. We started at the trailhead, and went out and back on paved roads for a total ride of about 13 miles.

Very nice, very clean, very paved. The only problems were the gnats, which I guess you just can’t avoid this time of year. There were some pretty mild hills, and one or two really good ones, and I felt great on the bike the whole time. A year ago a ride of a few miles nearly killed me, and today - a 13 mile ride is really just a warmup.

I love this stuff.

Well I said I was going to get strict and I guess I did. Of course when I weighed on Tuesday it was a night, but it was after a long run and the scale said 165.5 and 15% bf which I said was 24.8 lbs of fat. Today after lifting this morning and doing my little cardio after lifting the scale said 155 and 14% which is 21.7lbs of fat. I don’t agree with the BF% all the time because it fluctuates too much. BF in reality doesn’t change that much, and that’s the problem with those sensor scales versus calipers and such…they rely too much on the amount of water in the body. I do know that the weight part of the scale will be the same all the time. So that means I dropped 10 lbs in a few days. I know some was water, but I also think if you eat perfectly and train the way that I do that weight does just fall off of you. It’s actually not healthy to drop that fast, but I know it will plain back off probably in the next couple of days.

-LJ

Well the brochure for signing up for this tri is up now http://www.owensboroymca.org/triathlon/index.asp but I cannot find a deadline for turning the form in. I may call them later on today and see when it has to be turned into them. Is anyone else from the site going to do this or anyone that reads the site? I don’t really want to do it alone.

I’m not turning my form in until the last minute and the reason is I’m only going to train for it for about a month, and I’m not sure if I can be ready in 4 weeks time. I want to keep up with my long runs right now, and I just don’t have the time to also bike and swim with this marathon training. I’m just going to hit the bike and swimming hard 3 days a week once this marathon is over, and to keep up with my running I’ll run for 20 minutes after I lift on MWF. I can get in 2.5 miles in 20 minutes, and the race is only 3 miles of running, so if I can get the bike and swim back on track then I should be fine.

LJ

It is so funny how diet plays such an important role in all this. I haven’t changed anything over the past couple of weeks as far as workouts go. I still run over 30 miles a week and lift 3 days a week, but I have probably put on about 7 lbs over the past couple of weeks. Some could be muscle, but the BF% on my scale said 15% last night. I remember back around January or so I was around 155 and 11% and now I’m 165 and 15%. That means I was 148 lbs of muscle and 17 lbs of fat in January and now I’m 141 lbs of muslce and 24 lbs of fat. Really doesn’t make since to me, and a lot of times the BF% on that scale is off due to lacking water and I could have been lacking water since it was after a hot,long run. I know I shouldn’t have lost any muscle, but I’m not going to say I didn’t put on any fat. This is all due to me letting my diet lack. I have been half-way strict, which means I eat great for 3-4 days and then splurge a whole lot more than I did in the past. I mean this past weekend at work I probalby had no telling how many cookies, then pizza on Saturday night with my roommate and a jar of peanut butter during the weekend. Fat upon fat upon fat.

So now for the next month, I’m going to get strict again with the diet. Yes, I may have a few drinks this weekend for sigbust, but I’m not going to splurge on food for the next month. It will be rough, because I get free anything I want to eat one day this month at summer o but I’m tired of fluctuating, and I want to see if I can get back to 155 or less and tone more before this marathon and especially lake time. Most people couldn’t really see it on me, and I can’t even tell with clothes because they don’t fit any differently. It’s just the lack of the lines in the abs that really make me notice this. Where they showed pretty well a month or so ago, now they don’t show as much.

Time to get strict again and finish this project I started over a year ago!

LJ