Some Things to Never Forget

      This weekend was jam packed with craziness! It started on Saturday morning. Chris and I got in the pool at about 7:15 am and swam about 2500 yards. We did a ladder workout. That is short distances to larger distances then back down the ladder ...all at a pretty high intensity. As soon as we were done we got packed up for our 35 mile bike ride and got on the river where it was super foggy. We started riding and my legs were immediately not cooperating because of the speed work we did on Thursday at the City Park track. I pulled it all together and we ended up banging out the bike averaging about 17.2 or so mph. (I have to check the garmin to know for sure.) I got to be really tired and cranky on Saturday night.
       Sunday, I got up at 6 am and got ready to meet Hard Inc., Charlie, and Chris at the run clinic with Nate Singleton from the San Fransisco 49ers. I got there a little early and was able to get in a 3/4 mile warm up on the track. Soon after everyone else showed up and we got to work. Nate showed us many agility drills, proper running technique and form. He was also VERY VERY motivational. He spoke about attitude, confidence, negativity, and hard work. He stressed that you need to believe in yourself, and bring a confidence with the way that you present yourself that makes everyone notice. He told us that it is very important to not let negativity on any level into your head. He used the example of training on a really hot day. The second you start to tell your self its really hot out is the second that you allow negative thoughts to develop in your mind. Everything Nate said was very informative, and I am sure that I will use every bit of his training for as long as I can use my legs for running.
       Later that day Chris, Jonathan, and I met up at the park to do some bike run bricks. We ended up only having enough daylight to finish two of the three bricks. We rode 15 miles then ran two right after and repeated it twice. My little cousin Jonathan came along and rode the first 15 with us and ran as much as he could after. He did a great job! I really was impressed with his work ethic. He has come a long way with his knee injury and is now getting really interested in this madness of a sport. Chris kicked ass as usual..... he made everything look really easy. He is improving tremendously in his running. It is awesome to watch someone get better and better every week. I feel myself getting stronger in every aspect of the three disciplines. We have been training really hard and it is starting to really pay off!

GET OFF MY PORCH! You can't be up here!

          This weekend is gonna be tough. Tomorrow is a 2100 yard ladder swim followed by a 30 mile bike. Earlier this week Charlie invited Chris and I to a  Nate Singleton from the 49ers is doing with Hard Inc on Sunday morning. After the Clinic I am gonna try to push out a 15 mile bike and a 2 mile run and repeat it 3 times( Total of  45 mile bike 6 mile run) That is one huge bitch of a weekend workout. Things are getting a little tough to say the least. Wednesday, I rode 38 miles. I think I averaged about 17.5 mph. Yesterday, was speed work on the track : One mile warm up then 4x 200 meter sprints followed by 400 meters at a 5 sec slower pace... repeat 4x! Ouch that shit sucked! I love running but sprints hurt! Today is an off day. I think I am gonna go run the dogs when I get off work.  What an awesome challenge for this weekend! This should be fun!

"Pull that shit out of you and get that motivation to not give up and not be a quitter, no matter how bad you wanna just fall flat on your face and collapse." - Eminem

Setbacks and Worries

       Last week was a rest and recovery week. Not too much to say about that. It was nice to spend some extra time with friends and family. This week started the endurance phase of training. I got this nasty infection on my stomach that has been holding me back a little and on top of that I think I may have a hernia. So I really need to go see the doctor. I swam 2,000 yards yesterday after work. It was a little hard getting back into training after having the whole weekend to rest. Today is a ride day. 45 miles on a Wednesday! FUN! Tomorrow is running .... speed work! Friday is a rest day and this weekend is craziness! I am REALLY WORRIED that this bump on my lower abdominal muscle is a hernia. I really hope that it doesn't mess me up with any training time. I am gonna call the doc today to see if I can make an apt. to get it checked out.

“Anytime you suffer a setback or disappointment, put your head down and plow ahead.” - LES BROWN

HARD INC SATURDAY RUN / SWIM - 45 MILE SUNDAY RIDE

    I can not keep up with this blog every day so........ I will begin to write for two to three days at a time. Charlie called me on Friday to see if I wanted to run with his team on Saturday morning. I jumped at the opportunity. I called Chris to see if he would join me and we went out to the city park track early Saturday morning. We met up at 7 am and it was about 33 degree's outside. We started by doing a little warm up run around the museum. That was followed by a tempo run. I think I averaged a 7:45 sec mile for 20 minutes. That was followed by a fifteen minute cool down run. I think we cooled down at an 8:45 mile. Total we did about 6.1 miles. Later that evening Chris and I met up at elmwood and swam. It was a lot of fun doing a little training with a real TRI team. Chris and I had a lot of fun and it was a great learning experience. The people of Hard Inc are beastly!
    Sunday was a endurance ride day. Chris and I rode 45 miles. I think we averaged about 18 mph on the way out and coming back I probably did about 15 to 16. Chris kicked my ass. He was about a mile in front of me. The wind was killer coming back. I am not really sore today just a little tired. I ended up blowing a tire at about 42 miles in. I had an extra tube so I fixed my tire and got back to the car. I am starting to feel a lot more confident about the Half Iron Man! I think the hardest part about this sport is the discipline it takes to get up every day and train. We are training when we are sick, when it is really cold, when we are hurt, when we are sore, when we are not emotionally up for it, and when we should be spending time doing other things in our lives that are probably more important.  I can not wait to race on April 17th. This is starting to get to be a lot of fun! The harder the challenge the more I love it.

"We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” - Maryanne Williamson

Work= Change, Change= Heroes= Heroes= Inspiration, Inspiration= ?

   Have you ever been so confident that you knew that any test you took, you could pass, or any problem that had confronted you, you could solve? Laying in bed this morning I began to think about April 17th. I started to think about the finish line, and the day after I cross the finish line. I though about  how much I have changed since the day I started training for the half iron man and how much I will have changed by the time I cross the finish line and how crossing the finish line will effect me. We all think about a lot of things as we lay in bed. CHANGE is what I think about the most. When I get up to put my contacts in and brush my teeth I see a young man in the mirror who strives for something bigger than what he ever thought he would be. I see a young man who strives to love the right ways, a man who strives to forgive, and a man that tries his best to be less selfish and care for others. Although I fall short of the expectations I have for myself every day, I still try. I believe that WORK does equal CHANGE. If a young man like me can do a half iron man, imagine what we as people can accomplish in a lifetime with a little hard work.
     My Dad called me the other night asking me to watch a program on Tim Tebow. He said he trained hard and  thought it would interest me. Soon after I turned on the television and started watching. I was amazed by Tebow's work ethic, he truly is an amazing athlete but the thing that I thought was inspirational was not anything physical nor was it how hard he worked. There was a part in the documentary when Tebow went to visit a kid that was playing with a gun with his friends and accidentally shot himself in the head. I found it kind of strange that he went to visit this kid in the first place.... but I kept watching. Tim met the child and his family who was in a wheel chair with a big bandage on his head and spent some time hanging out with them. The thing I thought to be the most amazing was when Tebow asked the family if he could pray with them. To me that was inspirational.    

Today's workout= warm up 10 min - 8 mile run- cool down 10 min.

“Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one's weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.” - Gandhi

Slacking with the Blog

      It is getting really hard to keep up with this blog. I know some of these are really uninteresting. Monday was an off day. Yesterday, I gave my legs a rest from strength training. I worked my core and rode for 50 minutes on the trainer in front of the television. Todays workout is a swim. I believe it is about 2300 yards. I am gonna hit up the gym as soon as I get out of work. I have been really busy at work trying to get a bunch of stuff done. The weather is really getting me down. I can't wait for spring. I have a 8 mile run on Thursday again hopefully its not too cold out. I have a really tough weekend filled with a 45 mile endurance ride and a nice swim on Sunday. Next week is a rest and recovery week. I am looking forward to rest my body. I can feel it getting a little more tired every week. It seems as if I am falling asleep earlier every night. Through this training I am learning how important it is to rest. 

“Rest when you're weary. Refresh and renew yourself, your body, your mind, your spirit. Then get back to work.”