Race weekend is here

Watching the Olympics tonight and it's sinking in that Sunday morning I will be running 13.1 miles.... let's reiterate, the farthest I've run in my life. Today Kerrianne and I went and picked up our race packets which consisted of the number bib, a cool shirt and a bunch of marketing propaganda for other races and products. There was an expo with vendors showing stuff off as well that was fun to walk through.

My training this week has consisted of the 10 mile run on Monday, 2.5 mile run on Tuesday and again 2.5 miles on Thursday and a few hapkido classes with plenty of kicking thrown in. I did pass on sparring this week thinking that would be a prime opportunity to get some type of injury. In class on Thursday night I was doing some kicks and managed to kick a guys arm with my shin. It's still a bit sensitive to the touch but I think it will be OK. During the run on Thursday my left achilles was a little sore at times.

Today was the kick off meeting for the Triathlon team at work. Information and planning for the season. The big event is the Malibu Nautica Triathlon in September. Unfortunately I won't be participating in it this year as it's the same weekend as scout camp that I'll be going to with Ethan. I did find out that there are about 10 people from work that will be running the race on Sunday so I'll be wearing something NBCU for that.

Longest run of my life

So, Monday was a holiday here so after hanging with the kids for the morning I figured it was the day to get a long run in before the Pasadena 1/2 Marathon next weekend. So far the knee has been recovering well and I've been adapting to the feel as I run which feels good. The feel and motion with interaction with the ground from the VFF floves is pretty amazing, there's a feedback from the ground that's hard to describe.

Back to yesterday's run. I set out from the house and headed down the hill not sure really how far I was going to go. I headed out to the bike path and was able to run on the dirt path along the side. I ened up going five miles out which was downhill or flat most of the way which meant flat or uphill for the run home. Five miles put me at the San Gabriel River where I turned around. The five miles home wasn't bad, my goal was to remain consistent. I'm not a fast runner but my endurance seems to be coming along and my time back was equal to my time out. I kept a consistent 10 minute mile and returned in exactly 100 minutes.

How did my feet feel running that far in the floves? Well there were times along the way that the balls of my feet felt a little sore and I was able to modify my stride and landing and the soreness eased up so overall during the run it felt good. That changed a bit once I got home and sat down. My feet were pretty tender when I stood up, a little bit of walking felt better. When I laid down for bed they got sore again and woke me up a couple of times. Walking around during the day today they felt better and I went for a 2 1/2 mile run at lunch just to keep loose. Again a little sore but feeling good this evening.

So, my plan is to get two more 2 1/2 mile runs in this week. I don't want to over do anything before the race on Sunday.

Just over a week away

So, it's just over a week till the Pasadena 1/2 Marathon. I've still not run 13 miles in my life. I've been able to transition from riding my bike at work to running again. My knee feels pretty good and I've found that I can adjust my step/stride pretty well when I start to feel the slightest sensation in the knee. So the feedback from running in the five fingers is good and I'm generally running 4 to 5 miles. Overall I think I'll do OK in the 1/2 marathon, well, I'll finish. It won't be fast but I'll finish.

A new year

Well it's the new year. It's been a while since I've updated anything. My brother is responding well to his treatments, the numbers are going in the right direction, unfortunately loses his energy for a day or so and at the end of the third week of treatment is pretty wiped out. During the week off seems to feel pretty good as his body restores and gets ready for the next round. More info to come in a couple of weeks when he goes in for some tests.

I've been trying to keep going at exercise some weeks have been inconsistent. I got a couple runs and rides in during the holidays. I've had to lay of of the running for a while because my knee flared up. I've done some research have a pretty good idea that it's a case of IT Band Syndrome. I'm no medical expert but based on numerous sources it seems like I've got all the symptoms. The only real remedy seems to be rest.... but that's hard.

The ideal exercise would be swimming but even here in So. Cal. it's too cold to swim right now and there aren't any pools open at the right time for me to go any way so the next best thing is the bike. I'm still researching but have really gained some insight from a website I found. If you have some time check out Saveyourself.ca and let me know what you think. Paul there explains the source of ITBS and outlines some possible ways to treat it. We'll see how it goes, in the meantime lot's of bike riding.

I'm thinking about the race schedule for this year, my biggest concern is to make sure I give the knee time to heal. Maybe a few races out at Bonelli both on and off-road and I'm registered for the Pasadena 1/2 Marathon (I've never run that far in my life.) I'm not sure I'll be able to do the Malibu Nautica Tri because it again conflicts with Scout Camp and that seems like the more important thing to do. What I like about the Malibu race is using it to raise awareness and money for a cause, in that case Pediatric Cancer Research at Children's Hospital LA so something else I'm thinking about is if I don't do that event is there a way I can use all events as a way to raise awareness for a cause. Two significant things in my life right now are Pancreatic Cancer and a group called Lifewater International so I'm thinking through how to do that.

That's the update for now. Stay healthy.

Barefoot Running

Went for a little run around the Lot at lunch today. It's the first time in quite a while since my left knee has been bothering me a bit. As I've been reading about running in the Vibram Five Fingers (VFF) and barefoot running I thought I'd give it a try. I figure since I'm pretty sure it was my shoes that contributed to the sore knee and there seems to be a fairly good argument for running barefoot I would see for my self.

My initial reaction is, WOW! Following advice I kept it to a short run of about 1 mile, then a 1 mile walk back to the front of the Lot. My feet and knees felt great through the whole run but both calfs are pretty tight now. Every one said it would use different muscles and they were right so that's the point of easing into things. Based on my recent knee history it's probably good to ease into things for that too.

It felt good to get out and run again.

So, that's day one. Wednesday I'll give it another go.

A little off course

7 days 11 hours till the Renegade Off-Road Triathlon. So far I'm feeling pretty good about it... well about the run and the bike, I really should have done some swimming. I'm going out there to survive the swim. Last Saturday the race organizers did a pre-ride of the bike course and I found out too late but read the e-mail to say they were doing it again today.

Well, I read the e-mail again last night and found that it's on Sunday but I did find that they posted a map of the course on the web site and since I'm playing guitar for kids in the morning I decided I'd give it a go on my own.



So I set out with a map folded up in my pocket and gave it a go. The first part was pretty familiar, actually it was the run path from the last LA Tri-Express I did 2 years ago but went on past the gate in into the camp grounds. Past there was right near the Brackett airport where it turned up onto a trail up the hill. I swtarted up one trail and pretty quikly figured out I was on the wrong one so I turned and headed down to get back on track. Up the hill it was very washed out and rocky, I got off once to navigate around. Once a the top it was a nice fire road down to a tunnel underpass to cross the paved road. This was about the 3 mile mark, I think it was just up the hill from here that I made a wrong turn.

I now think I was supposed to follow the first trail to the right, I went left and kept climbing and then ended up with a great downhill ride with mile 4 at the bottom. Then it was uphill for a full mile to what I think is the trail I was supposed to be on at mile 5. From there it was a fun, fast downhill to mile 6 where there is another tunnel to cross the pavement.

From there I think I followed the trail pretty well until past mile 8 when I got to the top of the dam. I took a turn and followed a trail across the base of the dam. Once across the dam I realized it was the wrong way and turned around to follow the paved road over the top of the dam. Once across I found the trail that follows the edge of the lake around to the finish.

Overall I made a 7.5 mile loop into 10.25 miles and I think I added in the steepest hill climbs of the day. Next week should be better marked and there will be other people to follow so it should be OK.

A good day to be inside

Went for a hike yesterday with the Tiger Cubs and only got a little wet from crossing the creek and the mist from the waterfall... it would be very different if we were out there today because it's pouring.


Today is a beautiful day of hanging inside, watching the rain and collecting music for KC's birthday party next weekend.

The leg is still a little sore from getting kicked last week. I'd really like to get some running in, maybe I'll head to the gym tonight and give it an easy try on the treadmill.

Up the hill

We had Junia's birthday party today. 9 little girls and Ethan all went for tea. Ethan was quite the gentleman dressed in his suit, holding chairs and getting things for the ladies. All the girls wore pretty dresses and received feather boa's and necklaces. There were scones, some sorbet to cleanse the pallet, little sandwiches and it ended with a sundae, oh, there was also a choice of teas, lemonade or the favorite, hot cocoa.

After we got home I went for a run. I took off up the wash to the top of the dam then followed the road over to the Clamshell Trail (Hillbilly Hill) but then followed the road. Those were two tough hills. From there I just followed the roads around Monrovia for a while. I ended up with just over 6 miles by the time I got home, for me that's a decent long run.

Relatives, remodeling, running

My little sister Julianne brought her family to visit. I think they really just wanted an excuse to get out of the snow and they couldn't have chosen a better time to come. Southern California was a perfect 80 degrees most of the time they were here.

We had a dinner at Rog's and the kids ran amok. Here's all 5 of the cousins piling on each other. Colby on the bottom, then Junia, Ethan, Sierra and Reed in the back.


Sunday afternoon we met up with them at the beach. Amazing So. Cal..... Jan 10th and going in the ocean.

Colby was the polar bear and went full on into the water. Ethan, Sierra and Junia just got their feet wet.


We had a great time and ended the evening with dinner at Ruby's at the end of Balboa Pier.

Last week I finished the tile on the floor of the bathroom. Here's mid process on the grout. Up to now I've gotten the tile cleaned up and sealed the grout. Tonight I installed the toilet. So far no leaking.


4.9 mile run today at lunch with Keithrus. I had that great buzz for a few hours afterward. Nice.

A little behind

Well, with the holidays I missed a few days on the pushups but back on track with week 4 Day 3 on Friday, then exhaustion test on Sunday. 60 total on the test.

I was back to work today and gonna get back to running, as I was on the way to the car to get my stuff a couple of guys were going to lunch. I asked where they were going and they said Chili John's, I couldn't pass that up. So I ended up with the hot beef chili on beans and spagetti.... oh YUMMMMMMM. It's time to get back on the plan.

2 Days and holding strong

So, the push up challenge is moving forward. Tonight I did day 2 of week 3 (20 + 25 + 15 + 15 + max) For my max I made 29. So 104 total. For each of the 15 rep sets the kids had to sit on my back for the first one... I barely made each of those. Ethan likes to count as I do the push ups.

Keith and I did our 3 1/5 mile push/run as he calls it. 12 push ups every 1/2 mile or so. Again a total of 96 that makes the grand total 200 for the day.

I told my brother about the push up challenge and he started on Tuesday as well.

A little extra

Well, I didn't get started on the push up challenge yesterday due to an unbearably long problem at work that had me on the phone for 6 hours but that's another story. So I knew I had to start today, I guess I get motivated to complete things by telling other people about it.

While getting the kids to wind down before bed I told Ethan about the challenge and showed him the plan then it was his job to count. For today, starting at week 3 the plan is 14 + 18 + 14 +14 + max. On set 2 Ethan wanted to sit on my back, that didn't work too well. Overall it was difficult in that I was shooting for good form but I was able to complete all 5 sets. Set 5 I did 30, the plan calls for "max (at least 20)" so I met that with a little extra. Feeling good.

Then I went to hapkido. We never know how many, if any, push ups we'll do during warm ups but I should have know when Mr. Birkholz stepped up to lead class there were going to be a lot. I ended up with just about 150 push ups today.

Push Ups

Ok, as some fallout from doing the running and pushups I found a website (http://hundredpushups.com) that has a 100 push up challenge. Along with it there is a 6 week plan to succeed. I'm ready to give it a try.

Step one is the initial test. I was able to do 33 full good form push ups so that's the starting benchmark. With 33 as a starting point the web site suggests starting with week 3 of the plan. So here we go, Day 1 will be tomorrow.

Started Running again

This week Keith and I started running again. He's taken on some challenge of 30 minutes of activity a day for 30 days, me, I'm just trying to stay fit.

So both Tuesday and today we headed out around The Lot for our 3 1/2 mile loop but now we have added sets of 12 push ups every 1/2 mile. Apparently we can't really measure distance and ended up with 96 push ups total.

It felt good after a 3 week break.... or was it 4. Whatever, I never would have thought I'd say it but I feel much better after running someday I might have to admit that I like running.

Almost Famous

Keith and I went for a run at lunch today around The Lot. We were headed up towards Jaws Lake and passed a Tour Tram. Just as the tram passed we heard the tour guide say, "look they might be.... nope, not famous." But hey, we looked good.

Back on the mountain bike

Well, today marks 1 week since the triathlon which means it's time to get off my bum and get out and do something. Since I think the Muddy Buddy race is mountain bike I thought it was about time to inflate the tires and get the dust off. I took a ride up the wash and up the Clamshell trail, 7 miles round trip but a much steeper hill than I've been riding the road bike.

On the way up I came across 4 deer walking through the neighborhood just before I hit the fireroad. There was more wild life as I came back down, I saw a bear rummaging through someone's trash can. By the time I turned around to stop and take a picture he had headed off into somone else's back yard.


Mountain ride felt good.

What was that?

So I've had some good recovery time after last Saturday's pre-run of the event. I did some hapkido Monday and Tuesday then tonight I went for a 4 mile run and it felt good. I actually felt like I had a stride and was able to comfortably hold an 8 minute/mile pace on the hilly roads around home. The body felt good and loosened right up. I never knew what a stride felt like but wow things just came together. Between this and riding the current on Saturday I really hope that wasn't my perfect run and it's all gonna go downhill from there for Sunday.

Ride the current

Another day training out at Mailbu. When we left the Valley it was already getting warm at 7am, as soon as we started dropping down on the ocean side of the hills we descended into the fog, thick fog. The plan was to start swimming at 8am but we couldn't see out into the ocean even as far as we needed to be, and the visibility wasn't much better up the coast highway to ride. Some o us joked about heading over for a work out at Starbucks. We hung out a bit and finally it was clearing up around 8:45 so everyone suited up and we headed out.

I remembered to start my watch when we started to swim and look at it when my feet were back on dry sand... 13 minutes. The ride went well and felt good, according to the bike computer it says I was rolling exactly 1 hour. I checked my watch when I finished the run and it saidy 1 hour 58 minutes. So there's a goal for next week, 2 hours.

Emily and I were discussing the 13 minute swim versus the 20 minutes last week, Scott felt he had to burst our bubble and point out that the current was going our direction this week. One can only hope it will work for us next week.

It was a great turn out this week with plenty of the team coming out for a last chance to get familiar with the course. It was encouraging to see the team jersey all over the course.

Other training this week included 2 rides to Santa Fe dam at 20 miles each. The Labor Day holiday and the start of school kinda messed up the lunchtime run at work. This week is supposed to be a light workout week so right now the plan is a light run or two, hapkido and a short ride on Saturday then early to bed.

Another trial race

This weeks training consisted of a couple of run outings at work during lunchtime, hapkido 3 nights and a pre-race of the Malibu course. This time around we included transitions. The swim was tough as expected but I was able to keep myself calm and work my way through it. One moment I wondered what I was doing and why I was there. Though I was at the rear of the pod I was able to finish and not feel dizzy when I came out of the water. I need to work on a system for the first transition from swim to bike. The bike was good and I was able to make up time and pull through strong, though there are people that are faster than me I think the bike is my strong event. Transition to the run was smooth, I took it slow the first mile and focused on just keeping going and making sure my legs didn't cramp up. By the end of mile 2 I was feeling better than when I started the run and was able to pick up my pace more and more as I completed the 2nd two miles.

Total time 2hours 3minutes.

It was very encouraging to be out there with the team.

Is that Yoko?

A bit of running at work this week but some silly meetings got in the way so I only got 2 days in. The I was off Friday and thought I'd take a bike ride down to Santa Fe Dam, go for a swim and ride home. Well, apparenlty they don't get too many folks swimming on a Friday morning so they make the swim area smaller... a lot smaller. In fact by the time I got out to where it would be deep enough to actually swim it was only about 20 feet across so I stayed on the bike and just made the loop back home.. 17.5 miles. I had projects to work on around the house anyway.

Saturday we took the kids to San Clemente to the beach. After burying the kids in the sand I decided to take advantage of being at the ocean and go for a swim. So I put on the wetsuit and headed out. The water wasn't really cold enough to need a wetsuit but I need to get used to swimming in it.

Here's me headed out.

You have to look close, but I'm there. I swam and thought I had gone a good ways and headed in. When I got on shore I realized I had only gone a few hundred yards. I'm gonna say it was extra tough because the afternoon ocean was so rough, the reality is I'm not the swimmer I wanna be.

The wetsuit was comfortable and I didn't feel like it was a hinderance and helped keep me afloat.

Junia took a self portrait.


Tomorrow I'm going to try Santa Fe Dam again. There's always a bazillion people there on the weekends so they have the whole swim area open. And with that many people it should feel just like teh triatlon event.