Friday, August 26, 2011

It's Official

I am officially signed up for my next race.  The Soma Half-Ironman distance race taking place in Tempe, Arizona, Oct. 23, 2011.  Training will be paying off, as I look forward to race day and even more so every training session being kicked up a notch.  Race day is a little under two months away.  This race has been on my mental calendar all summer and registration took place today for myself. 

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Open Water Swimming

Putting good energy in your body, by using PowerBar energy bars, gels and protein bars, is a sure fire way to get the best out of it.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Miowatch Quest




I can tell you this, if you want to take your outdoor workouts to the next level, the Mio Quest is the way to do it.  I have been using the GPS enabled watch for the past three weeks. It takes a little getting used to, but after looking over the instructions you will on your way, and out the door in no time.  The Quest has Waypoints, which are locations you can save.  After saving the location you can then rename it for easy access for locations you wish to return to later.  The watch uses chest strap to gather your heart rate too.




I have been using to track my workouts, the Mio Quest.  The heart rate monitor with GPS is able to be downloaded and information can be then uploaded to MapMyRun. 
Stay tuned, diving deeper into using the Mio Quest in a new video coming soon. 

Monday, August 15, 2011

Life goes on, training continues, learning from my mistakes and moving on.

I have lived my life being honest and truthful with everything. It's how my parents raised me and really the best way to live life. I am writing to let my friends, family and numerous followers of my blog, Facebook and Twitter accounts know the result of a video contest I entered over the summer. After sending you many email reminders, requests and begs for votes, I need to inform you all that I did not win the contest. Even after getting the most votes, which I thought -- and had many of you believing -- would help me win the contest. The contest was extended an extra 10 days to help everyone collect more votes and spread the word on social media. I guess I was wrong about trying to collect the most votes. When it came down to it, the votes were not how the contest was decided. The winner was chosen by some other method not clear to me.  Whether it was voting for elementary school class president or voting taking place on a TV show to see who is cast off, voting has always been a way of deciding the outcome of many things with the end result being good or bad, right or wrong.  I guess what I am trying to say is, I am sorry for wasting your time in helping me collect votes when they really never mattered. Yes, for those who are just reading this now, it was for the $500 SLiME video contest, held on their website. How can I compare this to my training and racing? Well, when I enter a race I expect the distances be measured correctly, knowing that if it's a marathon, I am running 26.2 miles, nothing shorter, nothing longer.
So life goes on, training continues, I learned from my mistakes and move on. Thank you to all my friends and family and social media followers.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Half way there and feeling very strong

Week nine of training started yesterday and I am feeling stronger than ever.  Allergy issues have gone away and it's full steam ahead. 
On Sunday my workout was a bike/run brick.  I think when it comes down to it, I really think this is one of the best workouts.  My pace on the bike was not killer, but it still had a few hills involved.  Coming off from Saturday's longer ride of nearly 40 miles I was feeling good.  Stopped by my house, transitioned in to my running shoes and out the door for a quick 2 mile out and back run. 
I was able Sunday to also squeeze a gym workout with weights.  The lactic acid in my upper legs made for a tough start to Monday, but nothing a little massage with "The Stick" to roll out my muscles. 
I have been trying to schedule some open water swims, but the pool will do for now.  

Thursday, August 4, 2011

bounce back from allergies, tough weeks ahead

Training has been going well and am looking to turn the corner on it getting a little tougher.   Last weekend I was able to get my Saturday workouts in but had to use Sunday as a recovery day.  When I say recover in this instance I mean to get over a quick allergy problem.  A little over the counter allergy medicine, and I have been right back at it.  Swimming is moving right along with progress.  Last night I worked a lot on full pulls with my arm stretching out far, then giving each stroke a full pull making sure my thumbs touched my thighs.  Drills are key in perfecting ones movement in the water.  Last week I used my fins, Zoomers, to help keep my speed up in the water while working on my arms.  The fins give the upper leg a great workout too.  Looking forward to a great weekend training with some bike/run bricks.