Fellow Blogger Giveaway and Training For This Week

First and foremost. Visit Fellow Blogger Yo Momma Runs, who is giving away a pair of Injinji Socks this week. Got to love giveaways.

Speaking of Giveaways, I won a cycling jersey from Epix Gear last week. Flipping Sweet!!!

Workout-wise, I haven't been able to lift as hard as possible as I have a tendon out of place on my shoulder. I get it reset about twice a week but it keeps popping out. Yes, Dr. Cindy, I will pick up Manganese this week to fix it.

That said, I've still been doing crossfit/strength and conditioning workouts 2 or 3 times a week plus my triathlon work. I've already knocked out 30 miles of running and cycling this week. Tomorrow is day of 12 miles of running and about 30 miles of cycling... brutal...

I've also made a pact with a fellow blogger to tighten up our diets... I'd like to see my waist down 2 inches by next month. Let's hope I can continue this. I know I'll perform better at around 190 lbs as opposed to 205 where I'm at now.

Chicago Get Lucky 7k Race Report

So, March 16 was the Get Lucky 7k. Last year, I ran the Half Marathon version, but due to injuries, I decided to just hit the 7k this year. HUGE difference in weather. Last year, it was 83 degrees. This year, about 33. The walk over from the train was awful... I could not get warm.

When I got to the gear check in, there was a major issue. A line about 300 yards long. TO CHECK IN A BAG! Come on Team Ortho. Get on that. Inexcusable, especially in the cold.

The ground was wet so there really wasn't anywhere to stretch that was off course. So before our race started, I walked down the first 300 feet or so and just sat down on the path and stretched. Got in my half mile warm-up as well.

Decided to start up front as I figured I would be one of the faster people (by comparison). My toes literally didn't warm up until we were a mile in. I felt pretty strong and I like running on the lakefront path, so it was all good in the first half. However, when we made the turn to come back, it was directly into a head wind. Ugh... Finished strong, though, with the last 1/4 mile under 7:00 pace. The course was supposed to be 4.35 miles by my calculation but actually ended up a tenth of a mile longer. (That's the second race I've been in that that's happened in. How do you miscalculate that as an event planner?)

All in all, it was fun. I finished 3/72 in my age group, which I was very pleased with.  My time was 34:44 which wasn't too bad. There were certainly some better runners in this race as opposed to last year, so the field was definitely stronger. Team Ortho gives out some really good swag and the hoodies look great, although I think I liked last years medals better.

I'll definitely be doing the Chicago Monster Dash in the Fall again. Color me excited... and green... :)

Winter blues

So, the past few months, I hadn't been really working out as hard as possible. I've been in the middle of the winter blues and the offseason of racing. I especially have issues when it comes to winter. Depression hits every year, the lack of sun really hits me hard. I eat more than I should (I'm a comfort food eater), I tend to gain weight and generally just walk around miserable. Not fun for me and not fun for my family either. Cabin fever doesn't help either.

I have had an issue with depression for the past 7 years or so. From what I've read on CTE's, there's a good chance that that's what I have going on in my brain from years of professional wrestling. For those of you unfamiliar with CTE's, CTE stands for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy and it's a progressive degenerative disease in the brain. Stems from repeated head trauma and concussions and is seen a lot in boxers and pro football players. Symptoms include loss of memory, dementia, depression etc. Depression and memory loss... I definitely have those two locked up.

I have found solid exercise is one of the few things that can help me snap out of my funks. Having a race goal to look forward to helps me increase my training and keeps me focused on working out and keeps my mood up

Now, spring is around the corner. Daylight savings time is a couple weeks away and the first race is two weeks from tomorrow. So, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. That said, I jumped up my training big time recently.

I went from running 3 times a week and swimming twice a week to now doing 3-4 runs, 4 swims and 3 bikes. Add to that some intense strength and conditioning training 2-3 times a week and I can tell you there is a difference. This week alone, I shed about 8 pounds from just the increase of work. My mood is much improved, my confidence is better and I'm eating better. I found a new level of running speed this week and swimming is getting a bit easier. My energy levels feel better, I'm not snapping at everyone and I'm able to kind of roll with things better.

In conclusion, I have found that my training and workouts are my best defense against my depression. I'm looking better, feeling better, and just doing better in general. Go outside, get some work done and enjoy life... It's better than feeling bad sitting indoors...

Year In Review, Goals for 2013x and More Excuses

Hey fitness peeps. Got to give you the review of my year followed by a small rant.
Let's start with the good stuff.

This was my second complete year racing and had it's ups and downs. To start I had a PR in the 5k in March (which I later disregarded due to the course not being the correct length. Damnit, Naperville). And competed in my first half Marathon in the Lucky 21k. Which was followed immediately by a bad back injury that I got while dead lifting. BLEH.

Soon after my injury, I tried to transition from Vibram Five Fingers to traditional running shoes. I gave it a good four months, but I just couldn't get comfortable running like that. I felt like I was always trying to step over the heel of my shoe. Plus I started getting pain in my toes. So come August I switched back to VFF. I used them for my first triathlon in Naperville and less than a month later knocked out a very good PR at the Shorewood Scoot. More than a minute faster than I had run before.

The summer prior to August was pretty light as I just couldn't get going in the Adidas Adios I was running in and I was still struggling with the back injury and developed a rib injury in late July. Much chiropractic help eventually straightened that out and I felt much more comfortable come September.

Completed my second triathlon in September and finished fourth in my division. I still feel like I could have won it, had my nutrition been better. We'll see how next year goes.

In October, I competed in my second Half Marathon and had a bad IT band issue rear it's head. Much use of the foam roller has really helped in that aspect.

So it's December, and I've had to get my cardio back after the IT issue (oh and a neck injury in October limited my training as well) and I'm almost back to where I need to be. I've switched over to Merrell Road Gloves as my primary running shoes. I'm getting used to them, but finding they're very close to the VFF but provide me with just a little more padding to keep my feet intact.

Goals for next year include the following. Get my weight down to a more manageable 180, Compete in 5-7 triathlons, win my age group in at least one race, get my PR under 21 minutes for 5k and continue building my personal training business.

So now onto the excuse portion of my blog..

I hear all sorts of excuses. My favorite being the following two. 1) no time to train, 2) no money to train.

For every time I hear these two things, I no doubt have these same people do the following. Post on facebook about all the different TV shows they're watching, post about the new tattoo they're getting, the McDonald's and Pizza they're buying, the drinking they're doing, the trips they're taking, the nails they're spending a bill on, the tanning packages they have, etc.

Seriously. A personal trainer is a MUCH better investment than any of the previous things. Getting smashed is overrated. This is coming from someone that used to drink 3-4 times a week. Not being able to remember where I spent 80 bucks is something I do NOT miss. Those nails you're dropping a ton of money on? Guys look at your body first, and not having painted nails isn't going to kill you. Having high cholesterol and being obese will. That tan? A fit white body looks better than a large overweight body. That tatoo? Great. But wouldn't you rather be able to play sports without feeling like you're sucking air through a straw?

In conclusion, STOP with the excuses. You can workout for less than an hour a day (I have clients with kids, full time jobs and they can do it). A trainer is a relatively inexpensive investment especially when you drop your fast food eating habits, smoking, and whatever excesses you have have.

I've heard them all. And they're all crap.

Couple race reports

Had a couple races over the past week or so.

Let's start with the Pontiac Boys And Girls Club Turkey Trot on November 17th.

Big news was that it was my clients Jill and Stephanie's first ever 5k. Very small turnout about 110, but nice shirts and a cheap entry fee. This was my first race since my IT injury started acting up. No problems knee-wise, but just three weeks of being off the legs showed up as I hit a 23:10. Not horrible, but over a minute off my PR. I finished 3rd in my age group and 10th overall.
The girls did great for their first ever race. I was VERY proud of how far they've come since last January. Combined they have lost around 90 lbs. AMAZING!
Fun little race. Doesn't use chip timing (you get a Popsicle stick that gives you your place as you cross the finish line and they coincide this with you time on the timer) but they give out nice shirts, it's a flat course and a TON of raffle items. And good items too, like Road ID bands and a 32 inch tv.

Thanksgiving was the Bonfield Express Turkey Trot in Downers Grove.
Over 6000 people were in this race so I was not expecting to PR. My goal was to beat last year's time by over a minute. The course was different this year. Much hillier than I remembered. Right off the bat we went straight up before running down the steepest hill I've ever raced on outside of like Warrior Dash.
So with all the climbs and valleys and all the people, I still turned in a respectable time and this is still fresh off the injury. 23:15. Not too bad at all.

So, I'm able to train hard again now. Aiming for TWO days of strength training, 2-3 days of swimming, 4 days (or 5) of running and maybe a bike ride here or there.

I'm back on my clean diet (although I cheated badly tonight), and I can feel the difference. Triathlon season starts April 28th with the J-Hawk Earlybird Tri. I fully expect to win my division this year :)

Keep at it folks. Don't let the holidays interfere with your clean eating too much and DEFINITELY keep at the working out.

Make it a habit, and stick to it!

New Run Club

I just started up a new run club in the Joliet area. If you're interested in running with us, let me know.
http://www.facebook.com/groups/191978207594079/
No fee to join!
Hope to hear from some new runners.

Chicago Monster Dash 2012 Race Report

So, October 21 was my second half marathon of the year. Training wise, I felt better for this race than pretty much anything else I've done this year.

I've added sprints and lots of interval runs to my training and my diet was WAY better going up to this race than the Latebird Tri.

Early results were really good. I was trekking along at better than 8 minutes per mile pace. Much better than the last time I ran a half.
Around mile 7, I stumbled over a transition in pavement and something went wonky in my knee. I kept trying to push but by the end of mile 8, I realized I was in a LOT of trouble. I was positive something was torn. I couldn't stride and was in immense pain. I saw the 8 min pacer then the 8:30 pacer pass me by while I tried to get my knee to relax.
I ended up having to stop every half mile to try and stretch my quads.
By the end, I was at the breaking point, but I managed to finish.

I ended up with a PR by 6 minute over my spring half which also had an injury issue, but this time I started out much faster.

Team Ortho knows how to put on a great event. They always have really good swag and their medals look really nice too. Highly recommend this run as it's a great jaunt down the lakefront pathway. I could do without the hairpin turn at the halfway point, but it's a great course all around. I'll definitely be doing the Polar Dash in January then the Lucky 21k again in March.

As for the injury, appears I had micro tears in my hamstrings which messed up my knee. On top of that, I hurt my neck on the following Wednesday. Battling injuries absolutely blows.

Taking a couple races off, then doing a small 5k on November 17th before the Turkey Trot in Naperville on Thanksgiving.

Rest week.

My body told me this week. OK. That's enough. You need to take a damn break. I have been sore, beat up feeling, etc. So this week, I decided to take about three days of training off and just concentrate on my diet. The result? Lost 7 lbs from Saturday. Crazy, I know.
The key was to redirect my diet to make it as absolutely clean as possible, increase my vegetables and my fruit intake and voila! My system is completely cleaned out. I feel SO much better.
Obviously, that means I need to work on my triathlon diet because I shouldn't feel so bloaty all the time when on it.
I still have my Chicago Monster Dash Half Marathon in just over two weeks. So I'm back to hard core training tonight with some hill sprints then an eleven mile run tomorrow.
But sometimes, you just need to listen to your body when it says "Shut it down".
Finding the difference between "I can push a little more" and "I need a rest" is a fine line, but I think I found it.
I guess we'll find out in a couple weeks.

J-Hawk LateBird Triathlon 2012 Race Report

The key to this race was my diet. Or lack there of.

I fell off the wagon big time before this race, and didn't train on the bike as much as I should have, but anyway, here's my recap.

The drive up to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater was quite nice. Virtually no highways and some beautiful scenery.

Arrived about 3 hours early and I knew going into the race I was in trouble. I had ingested pizza on Friday, cheesecake on Saturday and had ZERO bowel movements. Sorry to be disgusting, but that's something that is very important to one's digestive health and with no movements, I was concerned about cramping.

The Swim

The swim was staged in waves of 3 in each lane. I was in the 44th wave. One of my competitors didn't show up, so I shared the lane with another guy in my division.

I felt slow instantly. The other guy took off and was WAY ahead early. I could tell he slowed near the end after he opened up the huge gap, but he was a length ahead of me when he got out of the pool. I felt my side tighten during the 6th lap. Not good. Ended up with a 9:45. Not too bad, considering I did a 9:32 for 400 meters in Naperville and this was a 500 meter swim.

T1
First transition was something I worked hard on to fix. At the Naperville Tri, I had a 3:35 Transition as I struggled to get on my socks, shoes, etc.
This time, I went sockless and had no problems getting going and did a 1:34. Not bad at all

Bike
As I jumped onto the bike, I saw the leader in my division and the guy in my pool lane just ahead (I trimmed some of the two minutes I lost on the pool by hustling to T1 and getting that transition done quick), I figured, hey I can catch these guys and pull ahead.

This is when it went all wrong. Not 5 minutes in, I started to cramp everywhere. Legs, back, side. I was in pain and felt like I was riding in molasses. Just couldn't get going and watched the leaders disappear in the distance. I lost 4 minutes on the bike ride. 44:04 as opposed to 40:48 in Naperville. True we were more exposed in the wind, but I blame myself. I just didn't have any energy and was fighting my body.

It was the worst part of any race I've ever had outside of the last two miles in the spring half marathon.

T2
1:35 for my second transition. This included one of my toes getting caught in my toe shoes. I will not be wearing them next year for any tris. However, due to getting out of my cycling shoes faster, I improved from 2:07 in Naperville. So not bad, but I should have been closer to 1 minute flat.

Run
I had trained hard for the running portion and that saved this race from being really bad. I was in pain from the outset of the run. Couple notes. This was a trail run. Which I instantly loved because that's how I train usually is on the trails of the Crumby Rec Area. However, I didn't have the right shoes for this run at all. I was hurting from the rocks going into the bottom of my Vibram Five Fingers early on.

About a mile in, I finally settled into a halfway decent groove (Couldn't push any harder due to all the cramping and pain in my side). Mile 2 wasn't too bad and I caught one of the guys in front of me that was REALLY struggling. I dusted him, then as I hit Mile 3 and another climb, my quadriceps started tightening up... I tried to push through it, and at one point tried to stretch my leg, but couldn't bend it far enough into my hand. I just decided to get through it. It loosened up during the next downhill section and then as we hit a tenth of a mile to go, I was able to FINALLY go hard. Not my usual 5th gear run, but I pushed hard. Final time 25:28. All things considered, on a MUCH tougher course than Naperville, this wasn't that bad. However, with my training, I should have been down in the low 23's at the most.


Overall time 1:22:17

Diet killed me. As did my lack of bike training and my newness to the swim. I really felt that I could have won this in my division. And if I would have eaten correctly (My diet since August 5th has been pure garbage.) I probably would have and definitely would have placed in the top 3. I ended up as the 38th best time and 4th best in my division.

I like this race (However, not a huge fan of the cotton t shirt. Note to all races. Please give out tech shirts rather than cotton. I'll happily pay an extra ten bucks for it.) and I'll be back in May for their Earlybird Tri and next fall for their Latebird tri.

Next on the docket is a buttload of strength training for the next three months. Then, I'll be planning my 2013 Schedule. Already planned are these two races, the Naperville Tri, the Chicago Triathlon, and the South Shore Tri. That's five, plus races I'm waiting to hear on are a Ironman 70.3 that's close, the Rev 3 Tri in Wisconsin Dells and whatever else I can pick up. I'm hearing there are a lot of tris in the Wisconsin area, so I may be looking there.

So the key to performance isn't just training. It's your diet. Lesson learned. Time to get better.

Shorewood Scoot Race Report 2012

This past Saturday was the 2012 Shorewood Scoot.

I was pretty excited about this race, as it was being held at Rock Run Preserve. That's my home running area. I know the trails there as well as anyone, so I figured I had a good shot to PR.

The race started in the Joliet Public Library parking lot and about a tenth of a mile in made a sharp right turn onto the paved trail. I knew it was going to be tight through there, so I made sure we (Jerry and I) started near the front.Once clear of the turn, I attached myself to a group of men and women that were hustling and I decided to make an effort to stick with them. 2 of the women scored a podium finish, so they were quick. First mile went by and I felt great with a 6:45 effort.

Second mile was still at 7 min, but the third mile I dropped back a bit. I still ended up staying at a 7:04 avg pace, which was by far my best effort.

Finished with a 21:55. My PR and 4th in my Age Group.

All in all, a great event. Fun course. I hate that they didn't use chip timing, (every race should) but it was still a great overall event.

Next up is the J Hawk Latebird Triathlon in Whitewater, WI on September 30.