Birthday Gifts bring renewed Energy

I haven't posted much of anything on here lately, and that's been due to my lack of running, I think I've only done about 8 miles during the month of December. But I definitely plan to start out 2014 with a bang. The first Half Marathon is January 4th, so I will be quick out of the gate with running.

For my 25th birthday, My parents were gracious enough to support my new found love of running and training by providing me entrances to both the Folsom Long Course (70.3 Mile Triathlon) and the OC Half Marathon. Both set in 2014.

Look out 2014! Here I come!

Stepping Up to the Plate

So nervous but I have never felt more alive! I just stepped up to a new challenge! Tonight, I put my money where my mouth is because I want to continue to push forward in my new healthy lifestyle. #Bethechange #endthetrend

Julie Weiss Training Run and Tough Mudder San Diego

Julie Weiss Training Run: http://youtu.be/RLaK8Wt-SaI?t=2m

Tough Mudder San Diego: http://youtu.be/RLaK8Wt-SaI?t=5m32s

Unrealistic Dreams Becoming Reality

I've always been competitive in my life, not just with opponents but with friends and especially myself. One thing that I've been competitive about in my running is the thought and briefly that I can always do better than I have been before. Back before the marathon and before I got hit with IT band pain I was able to set a 5 mile PR. Every Wednesday I run the same route with the run club, so I know when one run is better than the other. Using the iPhone app "Runkeeper" I am able to track the pace of my runs, swims, and biking, it uses the phone gps to pinpoint the route and speed.

Back on August 14th I set a time at 8:32/mile, amazed with myself and impressed I was satisfied, but only for the time being. Then when the IT band pain hit. I decoded to slow my pace and not hurt myself. But then October came around and the marathon came and went and my legs finally healed, then something amazing happened. I set a new PR for my 5 mile run. 

When I say I hit a new PR I don't mean by one or two seconds, but on October 23rd (exactly ten days after the LB marathon) I ran the same 5 mile course as always but I paced it at an 8:09/mile, a full 23 seconds faster than a couple months before!!! But that's not the last of it. Exactly seven days later, the very next Wednesday on the same 5 mike course I set ANOTHER PR. On October 30th, I ran the 5 mile route at a pace of 7:43/mile, a full 26 seconds faster than before, for the first time breaking an average pace of 8:00/mile for anything over 2 miles.

Knowing myself I was beyond excited with last weeks pace time. Then today, one week since my PR on the 30th, I decided I was going to push and see what I could do. I got off to a good start, setting a quick pace, running my fasted pace mile ever in my life (2nd mile was ran in 7min 5sec) and no mile was over 8min. For the 3rd week in a row I set a new PR, this week I ran my 5 mile course at a pace of 7:28/mile, dropping another 15 seconds per mile. 

Attached is a photo showing my pace time with the last 3 weeks and a comparative chart. Who knows where I plateau but I'm still going strong. Who knows what next week will bring!

Weekly Recap: Halloween, Sold Out Races, New Bikes, and Boots with Fur!

This video is about Weekly Recap 10.28.13 - 11.03.13 HALLOWEEN WEEK! Check out how the holiday affected the training.  The Ironman 70.3 that we are looking at doing sold out before we even got a chance to sign up, so find out how we adapt. Check out the bike that I am in the process of purchasing. There is also a surprise clip at the end, because you never know what you will run into out here in Long Beach!

Vineman 70.3 sold out

The Vineman 70.3 tickets went on sale this morning at 9am and when I logged on at 9:02am the webpage was back logged and giving hold notices. By the time the site was updated, before 10am they officially were sold out and only taking wait list options. At the time of writing this. I believe

that the wait list is sold out as I cannot register for it and they haven't been able to update their website quick enough.

Sad day. 

Please stay tuned. More to follow, I'm not giving up just quite yet. 

Shit Runners Say

I found this to be a good laugh.  As runners we develop our own language without even trying. 

Get up, don't give up!

This video is strickly a message to myself. Watch this whenever you feel like skipping a work out or getting lazy!

Athletes Adjust.

Alright!

We are on our bike ride to Huntington. We are gonna bike ride to Huntington, then get in a little 3 mile run, and then bike back. We might get a beer and the half way point.  Don't tell anybody, but uh... Ya its a beautiful Saturday.  Not to much sun out there and uh the light training starts to we are excited!

What is up out there all you Stephen and Steven followers! So in that last clip feeling pretty good and um my version of this training is going to be a little different then Steven's.  You see in the post that he made everything was all great. We bike there, we ran and we biked back.  Well for me, once we got there I can feel it a little in my legs. They were starting to wear.  and then to get off the bike and to do that run transition for the first time was uh pretty interesting.  I could feel in my quadriceps um everything was just tighter.  Its different to go from that one sport to another. Even tho I've, its about an hour bike ride, so even tho Ive run for an hour before and then still ran on the legs, switching sports was really interesting.  Umm, from there we finished up the 3 mile run and uh what happened next.

Alright, so we are on our way back.  We did 12 miles down to huntington and then 3 mile run in huntington.  We didn't get subway, I mean we got subway. We didn't get beers. There is a pretty nasty headwind. I don't know if you can hear that but I hope you can hear me.  But we are on our way back and my $85 Target Bike is no much assistance so ya. Pretty humbling ride on the way back to Long Beach. Check in with you later.

Alright, so we made it back, obviously which is good, but after I filmed that clip.  Its really interesting what happened next.  it took me about ten minutes on reflecting on what I had said and I thought about it.  I actually felt really bad. I had a huge sense of remorse the whole ride home and a shift my attitude because I was tired, like i said there was a huge headwind and it was a tough ride.  Getting on a bike and I don't really... I wasn't really cycling before this ride and we jumped on it and did 25 mile bike ride so I was blaming it on the bike, but thats not what you do as an athlete. Athletes adjust and so from here on out I won't be blaming anything on the equipment.  Its all whats going on right here with my body so if I can't go as fast as I want, then I need to get stronger. Im lucky to have a bike, a swim suit and a pair of running shoes to even be able to train for this sport so ya its not a $2,500 road bike or tri bike but its what I have for now and ya know, Im looking into upgrading but for now it what I have and what I have to work with so No Excuses.

We are going to train through this and get stronger and use what we have. Thats pretty much all we have for you.  So we made it back and I'm feeling a little bit sore. its the next day that I am filming this part so a little bit of soreness in my legs, but for the most part feels pretty good.  It was a good workout, so this week I will be focusing a lot on upper body.  Pull ups Push ups, that kinda thing because I have a tough mudder coming up in 2 weeks.   I am going to try and get in the pool I'm going to say 3 times.  So try and jump in the pool 3 times and just work on form even if its for 15 minutes and check back in with you guys later!

Biking to the Run and Back

Yesterday's training plan called for a 5 mile run, but we decided to throw a curve ball to that. We decided to run in Huntington Beach instead of our usual running routes, and to change it up even more we decided that we would ride the 12 miles to the pier and only run 3 miles then ride home. All in all we ended up biking 25 miles and running 3 miles, and 2 1/2 hours of activity time.

IRONMAN - Be Inspired