D&DD registered

I am now registered for the Age categoty for the Down and Dirty Duathlon!  Thats one thing down, four more to go.

1. Make sure I get there in one piece.
   
2. 2.5 mile run
   
3. 5.9 mile Mountain bike ride
   
4. 2.5 mile run
   

Oh yeah, and 5.  Free Pancakes afterwards! :D

I'm a little bummed that my debut into Multi-sport racing will be a day in which I perform at not quite 100% performance levels, as I'm still trying to recover from some tendon injuries in my legs. :(  Thats what I get for pushing myself too hard!

Still, I'm pretty excited to be doing it! :D  I'm extremely excited to be getting into a sport that requires multiple disciplines, potentials for long distance and determination, and technology of course!  You really don't want to know how much money I already know I could drop on gear and hardware if I had the cash...

However, races make me really nervous.  Its the competition.  I'm more than capable and confident when competing against my own personal goals and challenges.  Its when it involves other people, and being judged by someone else, that I start getting butterflies.    

But I can do this, and it's going to be completely awesome, even if I do have to go at it feeling like I'm just going out for a jog!  The fun and accomplishment of doing and finishing the event is winning enough.

To victory!

Getting there...

Slowly, slower than I'd like, my knee and ankle are getting better. I picked up a compression strap setup for my ankle, and its feeling much better, with only a tiny bit of pain if I do the pinch test on the Achilles tendon. My knee also still needs more rest and light workouts to get it in shape.

Oddly enough, probably because of the way having an injury on each leg makes it very hard to walk properly, my knees on both legs kind of hurt but in different locations. (Under the knee caps)

Well, I estimate myself at about 60% right now, and the next race is on October 4th for the Down and Dirty Duathlon in Lynn Woods. 2.5 mile trail run, 5.9 mile mountain bike ride, 2.5 mile trail run. Hopefully, I'll be back into race shape for that one, because I know I won't be when I get out of this race. :P

Listen to your body

"Listen to your body".  I've now heard it twice in the span of an hour.  I really should do just that.  Apparently, I managed to injure my left achilles tendon area and my right outer tendon around the knee during Saturday's 5k race.  Today was my first running workout since then, and I had to stop at mile 5.5 out of my planned 7.5 miles. :(  The knee is all right now that I'm not moving, but it was hurting enough to slow me to a crawl there at the end.  As for my left leg, its awful painful to the touch.

I think its time to take a break from running and biking for a few days.  Maybe I'll just swim and lift weights.  For those who don't know, I absolutely hate the feeling of being limited by injuries from doing physical activities that I know for a fact that I can do with no problem. It rather makes me feel weak and out of control. I know I can do something, but I'm being held back by my body. I hate it.

Meh. Screw recovery!

Normally, today would have been a swim + bike day.  Swimming was out due to my having to do laundry this morning, since the Y's pool gets busy after 8am, and I don't like sharing lanes. Also, having just ran a 5k race, today was supposed to be recovery day. "Recovery Day" is a day that I force myself not to do any physical exercises in order to let my muscles relax, recuperate, and recover. 

I started the morning with laundry, sweeping, mopping, and vacuuming, bought a couple of Tri magazines, and pretty much didn't do a whole lot else, the whole time itching to "Do something". I made it to about 2:30pm and say "F this noise!  Imma go biking!"

Off I went, on my bike instead of driving the 7 miles, down to Lynn Woods.  My mountain bike is now back to mountain bike mode with soft tires and shocks and let me tell you it really does make a difference on that road speed.

I decided, having gone alone, that I should stick to the main trails and avoid any of the "dangerous" stuff so that I don't end up stuck out there with a broken arm, leg, or both, and I  still managed to fall over in such a manner that I was really glad no one was around to see.  There are these little wooden boardwalk like bridges, a little less than 2 feet wide, and I managed to topple over just trying to hop the 4 inch vertical to get up on it.  I think I lost balance and slid the front tire off the edge, which sent me off the other edge.  Oops!

Except for the fall, which really wasn't bad at all, and actually kind of fun/funny, I managed to almost get lost (Thank goodness for the map, and the power lines marking the northern area when I should have been going south!), got a nice view of Boston from Steel Tower hill top, saw a doe with a fawn, and didn't fall over any other times!  It was a nice little outdoor excursion,  that made me happy to be feeling the wind fly past my face, seeing beautiful nature, and the rush that comes with physical activities.  I was feeling pretty happy with life. :)

...Then I had to bike the 7 mile bike ride back up to Salem on Route 107 which is sort of busy, and drivers aren't always nice. Yeah, I got honked at out there for being on the road. Fortunately a quick cool down ride around Salem with a stop at the Wharf can bring back the cheer. Yeay for biking! My legs can recover tonight while I'm asleep. :P

Runner 70: The Rowley 5k Poker Run

Today, the YMCA held the Rowley 5k Poker Run in Rowley, Massachusetts. Its a really fun event, with the idea being that you get one playing card at the starting line, one at mile 1, one at mile 2, and 2 at the finish line. Not only do you have the race winner, winners for each age/sex category, but you also have the winner with the best hand. Of course, if you wish to be all competitive and stuff, you can choose not to pick up cards during the race, and get all five at the finish line. I chose to pick them up, because I was there for fun.

About the course... I was totally not expecting it to be as hilly as it was! It started off flat for half a mile, then everything after that was either a slight down hill, or more often than not, an even steeper and longer up hill! I of course know this would make one finish at a higher altitude than they started, and with the start and finish being in the same location, it's impossible. But thats how it sure felt! Whew! Hills... I love and hate them.

When I started the race, I stayed in the number one position for about an eighth of a mile, and the whole time I kept thinking "This aint good". If I'm in first, it either means the runners are all slower than I've ran against, or I'm starting out way too fast. A couple of guys passed me, and then I felt better, but then they just kept on passing me. 15 people during the race passed me. Actually, number 80, he passed me with an eighth of a mile to go, but only got 3 feet in front of me, and I said "Oh no he's NOT going to beat me at the very end!" Now by that point, I was running very slow. I was dead. My wheezing (a bad sign indeed) had started up halfway through the race. By this point I was near done. But my ego looks at me, and says "You'd better not let him beat you, or I'll kick you in the shins so hard, you'll wish I hadn't kicked you in the shins so hard!" Thinking of my poor shins, I went flying across that finish line like a gazelle being chasesd by lions.

That put me in 16th place over all, and 7th out of 22 in the 20-39 age category. I believe there was over a hundred racers. I finished in 20:10, which was better than my last race last october! I could have sworn I was running a LOT slower at the end, but apparently I was almost a minute faster, and from the split times being read to us, I really didn't slow down all that much at the end.

Yeay! Good race. Good runners! Especially you, #80! I needed that kick in the ass! :D

I'll link the rankings when they get posted online, but here's the last race I did:

2007 Witch City Run

-Edit-
And here are the rankings for the Rowley 5k Poker Run!

Here comes the broken ribs!... Almost

I went mountain biking for the first time in a long, long time with my coworker Rob this past Saturday. I mean for real mountain biking. Not the tame trail biking that my out of shape tech buddies can barely manage, but the good, foot plus drops from boulders, trails so narrow you're getting scratched up by branches on both sides, ruts and rocks grabbing at your tires at every turn and straight away kind of riding! The kind of stuff that totally kicks your ass, and all you can say is "That... huff... was... huff... totally... huff... rad! *pass out*"

We went to Lynn Woods, and went up the main fire road for a little bit and stopped off to take care of a little business. That was when I looked down and noticed the swarm of 50 billion mosquitoes around my lower legs. Fun. its a good thing I was there, otherwise Rob would have gotten bitten by a couple!

After escaping that swarm, we went off and found us a nice trail to go down. Did I mention that this was the first time I've ever ridden with clipless pedals? When trying out clipless pedals (which is an odd name because your feet are freakin' clipped to the pedal!), you should always get some practice clipping and unclipping in a nice soft field. Much emphasis is put on "soft". But I'm not like that. Nope. I am a firm believer, when it comes to myself, in learning the hard way, apparently. I slapped those bad boys on my bike and said "Lets do this!"

Everything was great until about 50 feet in, my front tire hit a rock and not quite the velocity needed to go over it. Instead, I cam to a sudden and immediate stop. This is where time came to an abrupt standstill. After my instinct kicked in and found that I couldn't slide my foot off the pedal toe first (clipless pedals require a heal first twist), it promptly shut off the reasoning part of the brain that would have gotten the heal motion correctly, and told the brain "Sorry, dude. You're screwed." With the brain now dumbfounded, it had enough cells to notice, "I'm tottering slightly to the left. I think I'm going to fall to the left. Turn head left. Oh look at the sharp triangular rock down there. I'm about to have me some broken ribs!" Fortunately for me, after what seemed quite some time of hanging there, I landed with the rock between my ribs and arm, with only my elbow making contact with the rock. Unfortunately, my elbow made contact with the rock, but at least it wasn't too banged up.

The best news of the outing, was this was actually my only big fall over of the trip! After that, and a pedal in the shin and then the knee, every fall I almost made was done when trees where close enough to catch onto. :P

Lynn Woods is a neat place to ride. There are some great boulder areas that remind me of the glacier areas of the California mountains. There are all sorts of small trails to find. Ever see a mountain lion pit? Neither have I until Saturday. There is a great stone tower up on one of the hill peaks. And then there's the spooky dungeon stair well, built into some huge boulders and going down into the dank misty darkness below.... Spoooooooky! Too bad neither of us had a flashlight!

All in all, it was one of the best times I've had getting my ass kicked.  If you ever want to experience the rush of adrenaline and the feeling of coming near death, go mountain biking where the trails make the logical part of your brain say "Oh no, that aint right!  This can only end in my death or dismemberment!" :P

Biking is my drug

I'd just like to say that biking is my new drug of choice. I'm starting to put way too much money into it, and even when I'm dead tired from work and exercise, all I want to do is go outside and take the bike for a ride.

Just in case anyone wants to know, I ride a Giant DS3. I forget the year, but its black with yellow trim and reminds me of a hornet. :) I'll post pictures later.

I'm currently kitting it out as a hybrid road bike because the Army hasn't given me my sign on bonus yet (It's only been 2 years now...), and I need to start training now on what I have. Its currently running with shocks stiffened as much as possible and treaded road tires. I can switch back to MTB riding when I need to, although having a second set of rims would make that quicker. Bar ends are on their way, for which I have an unconventional placement in mind for them...

Starting again...

OK. Lets see if I can do this... again! I'm resurrecting this as a place to post my personal musings and thoughts. Thoughts that I feel don't belong on my more content specific site LostCarcosa.net. This will also be a place for me to post all about my adventure into the world of competitive Triathlon/Duathlon racing.

So where did this begin? Since I've gotten divorced, I've been trying to find foothold in life. What do I do with myself now? I signed back up into the Army, which gave me the Army Physical Fitness test to strive towards. I've since taken myself from being out of shape to passing the PT test with a 362 out of 300. Thats 90 pushups in 2 minutes, 100 situps in 2 minutes, and a 10:45 2 mile run. Its almost a joke. So what now?

Now its time to strive to completing an Ironman. All 140.6 miles of it! My current goal is to start doing some small tri/duo races this year. Really short ones. Sometime before the snow hits, I will do a personal 1/4 Ironman, or about 36 miles. Next year, I will do an Ironman 70.3. And that leaves the full on one for next year, or the year after.

This is of course assuming I don't get deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan before then.