Progress

"One of my favorite signs at the @IronmanTri race yesterday from a spectator. 'we didn't wake up this early to watch you walk"  @firmfitness99

treadmill 6 miles 58:53

177 lbs.  In a feeble attempt to gain an advantage in the bodyfat competition, Brian has been stalking my weight lately.  I'm down four pounds in 3 days.  You know when you wake up at 1:30 am hungry that you are probably going to lose some weight.

100 miles run for the month of May, 440 so far this year.  Last year at this time I was at 218 miles.

Cool pictures, as always.

If I had to go to this much effort to get to a gym, I'm not sure I would go.  (via @jim_nel123)

Linkfest

"If you're never in pain you've never trained hard enough.  If you're never broken down, you've never built something up."  @fighter_diet

DB press 20lb x 2 x (30 sec. work/30 sec. "rest")
jump squat 4 x 25
DB press 20lb x 2 x (30 sec. work/30 sec. "rest")
bodyweight squat 4 x 25
DB press 35lb x (30/30)

The importance of diet vs. training - This guy ran 10 marathons in 10 days and still has a gut.

High fructose corn syrup is still bad.

Intervals are better than long, slow distance running

Run = Live Longer

I Eat Too Much

"Win or lose you will never regret working hard, making sacrifices, being disciplined or focusing too much." John Smith

treadmill
1 mile warm up
5k 22:34
1 min handstand

Bodyweight after the run = 181 lbs.

Why our society's weight loss approach is making us fatter.

Some nice pictures of the Golden Gate bridge.

Hood Mountain - Sonoma County

7.5 miles 1:30 (3.7 miles 47:00 to summit) - 1900 ft elevation gain

In a nice twist of fate, the clouds parted, the kids were taken care of, and I got a two hour window to run up Hood Mountain.

Pictures:

Hood Mountain. 

Meadow on the trail.

Pretty typical of the trail scenery.

A couple of creeks along the way.

This is the actual summit.  Very anti-climatic with zero views.  

There was a flower on the summit though. 

Gunsight Rock (can you tell how it got it's name?).  This is about 1/2 mile from the summit, and this is where the good views are.

Kenwood, California.  San Francisco is far in the background.  

Very steep on the front side of the mountain.  My Grandpa used to work the farm all day and then climb these hills  to hunt for deer.  Then he would pack the deer out on his back.  Dudes were tougher back then.  

Change of Plans

"Under duress, we don’t rise to the level of our expectations – we fall to the level of our training.” Archilochus"

DB press 20lb x 2 x 30 sec work/30 sec "rest" ("rest" is in the overhead position)
row 500 meters/1 min rest (first 4 around 1:52/1:53 pace, last interval 1:44.8)
DB press 20lb x 2 x 30 sec work/30 sec "rest"

I had planned to run to the top of Hood Mountain early this morning. It's about 8 miles and 2500 feet of elevation gain.

But the kids got up earlier than normal and the cloud cover was about 500 feet. Family obligations + no view cancelled the run.

My Dad has a Concept 2 rower so I got some rowing intervals in, and I tried a shoulder workout I got from @bobbymaximus at Gym Jones. It was much easier on my elbows and reinforced I have weak shoulder endurance.

I may play with some more isometrics, I'm considering trying yoga and I'm ordering another "miracle cure" for my elbows (more on that in a future post). After 75 pushups yesterday I thought my elbows were going to explode the rest of the day, so that's clearly not going to work.

If the latest miracle cure doesn't work, I have a buddy who recommended Platelet Rich Therapy (basically the targeted blood doping Tiger Woods used on his knee). He says they have been getting good results from it. I'm thinking of that as a last resort if I get too irritated with the current situation.

So my choices are either no/very limited upper body work or some sort of miracle cure. I know rest isn't an option. I took over a year off in the past and it still didn't solve the problem (I guess that's why they call it chronic).

Anyway, I don't want to sound like a whiner. I figure if I'm still going to keep this blog up I should at least give some context as to what I'm doing.

The grapevine in the front and the walnut tree in the back of this picture are both over 100 years old.

Happy 3 Day Weekend

DB squat 90lb x 5 x 4
single DB deadlift 120 lb x 5 x 1/1
pushups 3 x 25

A little time in the California wine country this weekend. Hoping to bag the highest peak in the area in the morning.

P.S. I'm feeling like I'm done with heavy weights for awhile. Probably lighter stuff and plyos now.

P.P.S. my total lack of interest and motivation in having a plan for exercise has me wanting to shut this blog down. I did that once before and just recorded my workouts with no commentary for about a year. I may or may not go there again, I guess we'll see how I feel in a few days.

My Cousin's winery:

It's Just Not My Week

"If you give up, someone else will take your place. Someone who won't give up." @lisatwight

DB push press 75lb x 1 x 3, 9 x 2

Low motivation, low strength, every workout is a struggle.  I tried some bodyweight stuff first thing to try and switch thing up.  I did about 10 burpees and I thought my left elbow was going to explode.  I have no idea why I can push press 150lbs over my head and I feel nothing, but if I do 10 pushups my elbows are killing me.

Enough ranting.  I suppose if the point of this blog is to record my daily workouts it has to include the crappy, boring parts too.

I am going to get away from strict pressing and move more towards push presses.  They are more of a total body workout.  Also, I may start incorporating some heavy dumbbell squats into the weight days.

Will you look like this guy at 75 years old?

These pictures of the old west are really cool.  Our ancestors worked their butts off so we could sit around and write blog posts all day.  I'm not sure that was their intent.

Blah

"Suffering is the gateway to true knowledge of one's self, and therefore humility." @mark_twight

treadmill 4 miles 35:52

I'm so not into running right now...

Some diet stuff.

The truth lies in this picture (via @sworntoblack).  The key is to actually keep pushing outside your comfort zone, even when your motivation sucks.

Weights

DB strict press 60lb 1 x 4, 9 x 3
DB push press 75lb x 5 x 3

Busy day, so no time to post anything interesting. Strongest day ever with the dumbbells though.

A Supplement Recommendation

treadmill 4 miles 30:44

I got home at 11:30 last night from my crazy travel day, so getting up at 4:30 am to go to the track didn't sound too appealing.  I was able to get in 4 miles on the treadmill this afternoon though.  I was going to break 30 minutes, but I stopped for a minute or so to chat with Steve who dropped by the house.

On the recommendation of a friend, I started taking the herbal supplement Zyflamend (picture below) to help with inflammation (mostly my elbow).  I must say, I've been very impressed.  Its been a bit over a week, and I have noticed a meaningful difference in my elbows (essentially no pain), and much less creaks and cracks from my ankles, knees, etc.  I think most supplements are lame, but I would recommend this one.

Blah

"However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results." Winston Churchill

DB strict press 60lb x 15 x 3

Today was supposed to be an off day.  But I'll be traveling from 5:00 am to 10:00 pm tomorrow, so I'll have zero time to do anything else.  I wasn't very interested in getting up early and doing anything, but I did it anyway.

Just because you're old doesn't mean you can't get faster.

Tons of Mt. Everest pics

Stay away from high fructose corn syrup

Reno 5000 5k

Reno 5k 21:05 - 2nd place 40-44 age group.

I traded the Silver State 50k for a 5k today.  Being done by 9:30 am and seeing my daughter run the junior 1 mile race were much better choices than spending 7 hours suffering on Peavine Mountain.

First, and most important, is Kendell's race.  She is 11 years old and ran the junior 1 mile race before the 5k.  She was 2nd overall female!  The course was very hilly as far as kids races go, and she was proud of her hard earned medal.

For the 5k, it was a cross country course with a few climbs and a lot of single track and rutted dirt roads.  I figured the course difficulty was worth at least a minute or a minute and a half extra time.  I thought my official time was a bit speedy, as I figured it would easily convert to a sub 20:00 on a flat course - and I'm not that fast.  Since I have long ago ditched my watch for races, I asked a GPS watch wearer and they said the course was about 0.20 mile short.  That pretty much adds up.

Still, I was pleased with my showing.  I might have a bit more speed in me than I thought.  A summer of track workouts should get me below 20:00 on a legitimate length, flat course by the end of the year.  I placed 2nd in my age group, but that's really more a function of not many people being there (maybe 150 total?) than me being some sort of speed demon.

Overall, it was great to spend a race morning with my daughter and still have breakfast with the rest of my family.  I could get used to racing the shorter stuff...

Kendell and I:

Just Your Average Friday Post

"The hardest thing to do is one thing at a time. In the moment or across your entire life." @gymjones

DB strict press 60lb x 15 x 3

Some of these football players are physical freaks.

Some life tips

Bike racers don't screw around (via @grog_jd):

Some Blog Links

Regarding diet, "... if you get into a tight spot with few options then go hungry for a bit. It won't kill you." @sworntoblack

run 10 miles

Google recently changed its blog interface and I've been so busy I'm just now figuring out how it all works.  One thing I came across is a listing of sources of traffic to my blog.  I haven't really embraced a blogroll or other things that might bring more people here because I still consider myself somewhat of a reluctant blogger.
This was a training log, then I wrote a little more info for my friends, and now I get 3,500 page views a month.  So I thought I should at least post some links to people who are linking to my blog, because their blogs look pretty cool.

I suppose someday I should spice things up from a design perspective around here -- maybe if I get some free time in the future.  Anyway, here are the main blogs who link to me:

mamasimmons.com   - A very fired up triathlon blog.

http://georgezack.blogspot.com/ - George is a super nice guy.  Love his stuff.

http://ultrarunnerpodcast.com/archives/290 - very nice daily roundup of trail running stuff

Guest Post on Fitness and Cancer

DB strict press 60lb x 10 x 3
DB push press 75lb x 5 x 2

I was contacted by David Haas who asked to post something on my blog regarding the benefits of fitness for people coping with cancer.  Like everyone, a number of people in my life have been affected by cancer, so I agreed to share his work on my blog.  Here is it: 

Staying Fit While Dealing with Cancer

Physical fitness is important for everyone, regardless of their level of wellness. It's even more vital, however, for patients who have been diagnosed with cancer. Staying active can greatly improve a patient's quality of life, reducing fatigue, increasing energy levels, and helping to fight depression. While it can be hard to maintain your old exercise regimen after a cancer diagnosis, even a little bit of activity helps.

What Counts as Physical Fitness?

According to the National Cancer Institute's guide to physical activity and cancer, physical activity counts as any bodily movement produced by the skeletal muscles that results in energy expenditure. Engaging in this kind of activity on a regular basis helps us maintain healthy joints, bones and muscles. It also encourages greater psychological well-being, decreases the risk of heart diseases and helps control weight. Regular physical activity decreases the risk of dying early in both people with and without a cancer diagnosis.

Physical Fitness and Survivorship
Staying physically fit decreases the risk of developing a wide variety of cancer, including breast cancer, endometrial cancer, lung cancer and prostate cancer. It can also help you increase your chances of surviving an existing cancer diagnosis. One study showed that women who get three to give hours of moderate walking exercise or its equivalent per week are more likely to survive breast cancer than women who remained sedentary. This is especially true of women whose tumors are hormone-responsive.

In another study, people with a higher level of physical activity after a colon cancer diagnosis were more likely to survive their initial bout with the disease. They were also much less likely to have a recurrence. No matter what kind of cancer diagnosis you have, fitness can help you stay positive and feel more energetic.

Fitness During Treatment

Even if you're used to maintaining a physical fitness program, you'll probably have to adjust it during your treatment. Many types of cancer can affect your ability to perform the same exercises you once found easy. For instance, fitness for mesothelioma often requires less strenuous activity that doesn't stress the respiratory system.

People undergoing chemotherapy or radiation treatment may find that they tire easily. Those who have recently had surgery may have to arrange their exercise program around limited mobility. Make sure you talk to your doctor about staying fit during your treatment. He or she can tell you what types of exercise you should avoid and may have some suggestions for a beneficial fitness program.

Staying Fit in Remission

Physical fitness keeps you healthier after treatment as well as during. People who stay fit after their cancer goes into remission are less likely to see the disease come back and are better at fighting it if it does. They also have a reduced chance of getting other diseases, such as diabetes, which is often associated with weight gain during treatment. Increasing physical activity helps maintain healthy hormone levels, including insulin production.

Many cancer survivors benefit from taking up yoga during and after their treatment. This type of exercise can be adjusted for people who tire easily and have very low mobility, but it can also become very strenuous when you're ready to advance. Yoga has been shown to improve mobility and help with both physical and mental relaxation. Some classes made specifically for cancer survivors include special restorative poses that promote a healthier immune system.

If you're going through cancer treatment or have just received a diagnosis, it's easy to get overwhelmed and let physical activity fall by the wayside. Staying fit, however, could be the key to having easier treatment, faster recovery and a reduced chance of remission later in life.

Suckfest

"Before work.  After work.  On the weekends. Whenever they can fit it in.  The very best train diligently."  @joefriel

track
1 mile warm up
8 x 400 meters/2 min rest
1:22, 1:26, 1:24, 1:20, 1:25, 1:24, 1:24, 1:22

That completely sucked.  I figured my first track day in a couple of years wouldn't be pleasant, but it was worse than I thought.  The solid headwind on the far side of the track didn't help things either.  I actually almost slept in, but after the alarm went off I read the above quote on twitter and felt like a wimp for not getting up.  As usual, I'm always happy I did.  Lots of work to do here in the next few weeks/months.

Some information on cognitive biases.  Your view on things is driven by your perspective, which you control.   Don't let events outside of your control decide how you are going to feel.

This is a cool time lapse video of a day at Whistler (via @pkedrosky)

whistler 12-80 from David McColm on Vimeo.

Some Diet Links

"Talent is cheap. What matters is discipline." Andre Dubus

DB strict press 60lb x 10 x 3
DB push press 75lb x 5 x 2

Strongest day ever with the weights.

I am a carb addict.  Here is why.  It's simple, the way for me to win this bodyfat competition is to eliminate sugar from my diet.

Some more info. on weight loss versus fat loss.  The picture is kind of thought provoking as well.  

A picture of my brother-in-law's new carbon fiber racing kayak on the shore of Emerald Bay in Lake Tahoe.

Rubicon Trail - Lake Tahoe

run 6 miles

Happy Mother's Day.  Because my wife is so cool, she wanted her Mother's Day present to be a run on the Rubicon Trail in Lake Tahoe.  It is an out and back trail that goes from Emerald Bay to D.L. Bliss state park.  It's 5 miles one way (10 miles round trip).  We didn't have time to run the whole thing, but we got about two thirds of it in.  Here are some pictures:

Emerald Bay from the parking lot.

On top of this island is a tea house that what used back in the day when Vikingsholm was inhabited.  

Close up of tea house.

Big, old tree.

Trail through the rock.

Still lake, clear water.

Jen on the trail.

Some of the views along the trail.

Pretty typical of most of the trail.  Very clean single track.

More views.  Heavenly ski resort is out that direction.

Waterfall along the trail.

Mt. Rose in the distance. 

Mt. Rose again.

Love how clear the water is.  This is in Emerald Bay.

Classic Tahoe.  Very sweet day.

A New Direction

"Only through destroying myself can I discover the greatest power of my spirit." Chuck Palahniuk

DB strict press 60lb x 6 x 3, 4 x 2
DB push press 75lb x 5 x 2

My travel schedule is finally calming down.  I've done a fairly good job keeping the training up, but the diet has been brutal.  No excuses, just mental weakness.

I've decided that I need to retire from the long distance stuff for awhile.  Between work and family, I just can't get the training hours in to do a halfway decent job at running marathons and ultras.  I've been trying to just push through the races with very light training mileage, but other than proving that you don't have to run high mileage to finish a marathon or an ultra, I'm not getting much out of that process.

Yeah, I can get up at 3:00 am and get 20 milers in with a headlamp (and I basically did that most of last year), but at some point that just isn't an intelligent use of time or energy.  I'm going to skip the Silver State 50k next weekend, though I will still run the Tahoe Rim 50k in July.  I think I'm in good enough shape and learned enough about pacing that I can place top 20 again there this year.  I can hopefully get a couple of long weekend runs in before then to get through that race.

So I'm going to transition to focusing on 5k races.  I'm still slow as hell, so it's not like anyone needs to be worried about me showing up at these races, but it would be nice if I could break 20 minutes in the 5k (my current best is 20:57).  I will still run 3 days per week, with a long run of 10 miles or so most weeks and the other two days focused on track work, hill sprints and hard tempo stuff.  It will be nice to get back to shattering myself for 30 minutes and being done as opposed to feeling guilty that I'm not getting a 2 hour run in.  Plus I can finish all of my training before 6 am, which is roughly the rule I need to follow to fit in everything else in my life.

A couple more pictures of Chicago.

Chicago

run 10 miles

Beautiful morning.

Hotel Gym

"Success isn't how far you got, but the distance you traveled from where you started." Frank Shorter

A.M.
DB strict press 60lb x 2 x 3, 8 x 2
DB push press 70lb x 4 x 1, 1 x 5
Seated leg press 4 sets

P.M.
run 6 miles

Boston

run 3 miles

Traveling. Just had about 30 minutes to spare, so I ran 3 miles fast.

Figured out a few things about my training plans in the last couple of days. I'm focused and ready to hit it hard. More later...

Aimless, As Usual

"Without pain, without sacrifice, we would have nothing."  Brad Pitt - Fight Club

DB strict press 60lb x 5 x 3, 10 x 2

Very strong today.

GZ's comment yesterday is right on point regarding my lack of a plan.

I get a lot out of writing this blog, and from what people tell me, they enjoy it a bit too.  But I think one of the downsides of the blog is it makes me feel like I need to sound fairly coherent when it comes to training so I don't come across looking like an idiot.  As a result, I feel this need to have a logic approach to goals, training, etc.  That can be a good or a bad thing, depending on how you look at it.

My general thought during the marathon yesterday was that I wondered what the hell I was doing out there.  So I proved I can show up any day and run a sub 4 hour marathon.  So what?  Am I impressing anybody with that?  Why should anyone care?  My original intent was to get a training run in before the Silver State 50k in two weeks.  I accomplished that, but I'm not sure it mattered too much one way or the other.

Lately I seem to feel like running ultras and marathons somehow justifies my worth as a runner.  I enjoy trail and mountain running very much, but do I need to run 31 miles to do it?  Sometimes I want to run 31 miles because that gets me to my destination (like my Rim Trail run last year), but I shouldn't be running 31 miles just so I get to label myself an "ultrarunner".

My main conclusion yesterday was that I need to stop trying to justify what I'm doing all the time.  I need to just do whatever I want and not worry about what other people think about it (sort of conflicts with the concept of keeping a public training blog, but oh well)

Here are some more random thoughts from yesterday:

1.  I'm really enjoying the 3 day per week weight work and am very focused on sticking with my goal of a bodyweight shoulder press.
2.  At this point in my life I am uninterested in putting in the weekly running mileage necessary to improve at the marathon and beyond distance.   
3.  I feel a desire to focus more on shorter, more intense running and let the longer distance running just fall out from that.  This approach fits much better in my schedule right now.
4.  In general, I "feel" in better shape when I run short distance stuff (i.e. 5k) than when I run longer distance (i.e. marathon).
5.  I'm 50/50 on even running the Silver State 50k in two weeks.  I am giving up a ton of family stuff that day if I run it, and at this point I feel like the life balance equation is off if I run that race.    

I always love this guy's photos.

My Dad sent me this picture.  It's spring in the wine country.

Reno Marathon

Reno Marathon 3:49:17

The placings are all screwed up on the website.  I think I was 26th place among the men.

I just signed up this week to use this race as a training run, and it worked out perfectly.  I tried to take it very mellow the whole day.  There were a couple of times where my pace got a bit fast, but in each case I dialed it back pretty quickly.  Like in any long run, there were highs and lows in motivation as I got between miles 18-22, but not too bad (of course I wasn't pushing too hard, it shouldn't have been very difficult).  

I didn't wear a watch, but I chatted with people the whole race and they gave me a feel for pace based off their watches.  I ran the first half in about 1:48 and the last half in about 2:01.  Probably half the extra 13 minutes on the back part of the race was spent lollygagging around at the aid stations.  I picked things up the last couple of miles, and probably ran sub 8 minute pace the last 2 miles.

It's funny, I don't feel like I really pushed all day, but I'm not sure I could have gone a ton faster.  Definitely not fast enough to get in the neighborhood of sub 3:30.  That isn't a huge surprise since my running volume has been pretty light lately.  Most of the folks I was running with do between 40-60 miles a week and I'm averaging around 15-20/week lately.  I met a ton of really nice people in the race and I really enjoyed chatting with them instead of obsessing about my pace.  

Having said all of that, it is a good feeling to be able to show up at a marathon with essentially zero training and be able to easily go sub 4 hours.

As far as the race organization, this is the 5th year for this event.  They really have the logistics dialed in.  Everything started on time, there were actually aid stations every single mile of the course.  That seems like a bit of overkill, but it was nice to break up the run and the aid station folks were all very friendly.  The course covers the length of the Truckee River in Reno, and is definitely the most scenic run you can take if you want to stay in the city limits.  It's a good race.

As usual, I spend quite a bit of time on these runs pondering running, my training approach, life in general, etc.  If I can gather those thoughts into anything coherent, I may explore them here in the next few days.

Here is a picture of me (#90) from the start of today's race (courtesy www.rgj.com).  Look how terrible my running from is - my shoulders are way too tense.

Body Fat Competition Begins

"If you give up, someone else will take your place.  Someone who won't give up."  @lisatwight

DB strict press 60lb x 15 x 2

Our numbers are in for the bodyfat competition.  I'm at 10.5% and Brian is 15.4% and Jen is 27% (I have no idea how women's bodyfat % converts to men's, though I do know women have overall higher numbers).  Jen's bodyfat % has been steadily declining since she had Ben (17 months ago), and she really didn't have that much to lose in the first place.  Even given that, I think she has the best chance to win this if she gets more consistent on running over the summer.  She has been the least consistent of the three of us on cardio the last few months.  I have an uphill battle to win this thing.  I need to stay committed to the diet and get out for more ultra long runs this summer.  We need to confirm timing, but I think we are going to shoot for Labor Day as deadline.

My ab work experiment didn't last long.  I'm just not into doing them.  I could be doing more reps and working harder at it, but I just get bored.  Oh well.

I'm also getting weaker on the shoulder presses.  I couldn't do 3 reps even once today.  In my experience this is the natural progression when you really stay consistent with the weights.  You get stronger right away, and then your muscles get fatigued and you get a bit weaker.  Then your muscles adapt and the strength gains come again.  The key is to stick with it long enough to get through the weakness phase.  Fortunately, my elbow feels great (first time in months), so I'm not changing a thing at this point.  I'm just happy to not wake up in the morning with my elbows throbbing.

This story is cool (picture below from the story).
   

Good Run This Morning

"I think everybody should get rich & famous & do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it's not the answer." Jim Carrey

run 8 miles

An article on mental toughness.

Cool photo of the space shuttle.

Body Composition Results

"Deep inside we all know that what is needed cannot be bought or sold. So why do we take the bait so easily when the pitch man comes around?"  @ gymjones

80 v ups
DB strict press 60lb x 2 x 3, 8 x 2
DB push press 75lb x 2 x 1

Body composition:  Age 40, Height 5"10", Weight 177, Bodyfat 10.5%

I don't know where Brian and Jen's bodyfat numbers will come out, but I've got a lot of work to do to win this little competition.  It's going to be tough to drop to 8.5% bodyfat, which would be around a 20% decrease.  I figure that is what I'll need to do at a minimum, unless I can slip Brian and Jen a bunch of donuts or something.  

Hilarious.  A bear falling from a tree after being tranquilized (source)

Some Upcoming Projects

"Success at a high level requires some sacrifice. Your life must change in some way. If unwilling then success is not to be expected."  @joefriel

80 v ups
run 4 miles (Manzanita)

1.  I'm doing a bodyfat competition with Brian and Jen.  We are all getting our body composition electronically measured tomorrow and then we will pick a time frame for the competition (probably 3 or 4 months).  The person who loses the highest percentage of bodyfat wins.  Should be fun.

2.  I signed up for the Reno Marathon on Sunday.  It will totally suck, as the longest distance I have run in the last seven weeks is 8 miles (once).  But I have the Silver State 50k coming up in two weeks and if I don't get some sort of long run training in I just might die on Peavine Mountain. 

3.  On the recommendation of a couple of people who's opinion I respect, I started taking L-Glutamine for recovery.  It is supposed to help with my morning muscle soreness.  We will see if it works.