WOW, Where does time go???

It has been a while since I have been able to post, mostly life has just got in the way.  Every time I had intentions of writing, something seemed to come up that needed tended to ASAP!  Seems that is the way life has turned for me here recently.
Probably the biggest events are both my daughters birthdays.  Olivia's was last week and Kennedy's is today.  At first this was great having their birthday's within a week of each other.  However, I am slowly finding out that I am just going to call April, Birthday Month!  I hope later in life they don't figure out that it is also "Diamond" month.  I will leave that for some one else!  Anyway, Olivia has decided that she does not want to celebrate birthdays together.   I can't say as I blame her, but it just makes the days spread out a little more.  I think all of Olivia's friends have birthday's during this month too.  Seems like all we have done is host a birthday and go to birthday's.  Oh, did I mention, I have made three birthday cakes in a weeks span as well.  Yes, I am, Betty Crocker!  Oh well, as much work as it is, and running around town going crazy, I would not have it any other way.  I love my girls and their births were so special.  I will keep and just suck it up in April.  Pretty much have no choice as I am the only male in the house!

I have also been working on something I used to love.  That is my new fish aquarium.  I love having fish tanks, they are very tranquil to me.  I had to convince Mary a little to get this rolling but I finally have it going.  I have two Blood Parrot Cichlids, Flowerhorn Cichlid and an Electric Blue Jack Dempsey.  They all are pretty impressive fish.  Very young now, but will grow and be beautiful in color.  Now my challenge will keep it looking like it does now.  Clean and sparkly!

Back to my training...I have had some really awesome weeks of training, well, running anyway.  My biking and swimming have been lacking to say the least.  As of right now, I am just trying to keep my base with the bike and swim while I focus on the half marathon.  Once that is over, I will put more miles on the bike and in the pool.  Since I last posted I have added some Yasso 800's to the regimen.  To my surprise, I am really enjoying the 800's.  Last week, I was able to complete 6 of these and keep them consistent.  This week will bring 8 of them, we will see if I still like them as much.  I feel pretty strong right now as my running is progressing.  Last weekend, I set out to simulate a half marathon race.  Katie G. needed to run this for her training and I thought maybe it would be good for me too.  Aaron M. and Curt S. joined us as well.  We let Katie kind of set the pace for us.  She wanted to run between 7:30 and 7:45 pace for the half.  I would be lying if I did not tell you I got a little nervous the night before.  I wanted to do well and see if I had improved on last years half.  Last year I was able to complete the half in 1:45.46 which I was very pleased with.  If I was going to go at Katie's pace, I would be improving my pace time by about a half minute or so.
On Saturday we set out and got after it.  We actually had a large group, but many people were in different stages of their running so we did not get to chat as a group as we normally do.  Hopefully that will return this weekend!  We had set up a course to run with not many hills.  Most of the course was on the river bike path.  After all was said and done, we were able to keep a 7:36 pace.  I finished in 1:39.53 for the simulated half, setting a pr for me.  I was super happy, knowing I still have four weeks before I have to run this again and I think I will make some more strides!  Great job by Katie, Aaron and Curt this weekend too, I am lucky to have these talented runners at my side and pushing me!
Another shout out to all the runners that show up early on Saturday morning to set out and run!  To accomplish things they have never done, train for races they fear, run farther than they have ever run before, running for the fun, all of you have done such a fantastic job, week after week, trying to attain those goals!  Keep pushing, YOU CAN  be the best at whatever you want.
Good Luck to the Live Uncommon Race Team this weekend at the Run for Renewal in Davenport!  It will be nice to see us all decked out in our awesome gear and tear up the streets of Davenport!
Do tomorrow what you did not get done today, because YOU CAN accomplish whatever you put your mind too!

Week of Lows and Highs!

Last week was an interesting week for me training wise.  I had some really good conversations with some awesome team mates of mine, yeah, Live Uncommon Team Mates!  They are awesome and if you have not experienced them, you need to, wicked bunch of athletes, parent, friends and down to earth people!

I came off spring break last week with the a week of intense training, not my highest mileage training, but very intense.  Thinking that coming off that week, I was going to be unstoppable in my training.  However, I found quite different outcome than that.  After running the St. Patrick's CASI race with the Live Uncommon team, I was drained.  If you read my post, you know, I was a little disappointed in my outcome of that race but I also should have expected it.  I worked my legs like no other during my "vacation", really taking them to their threshold for three days straight.  Then I expected to race my best 5k ever, right out of the gates!  Kind of foolish of me but I do always want to do my best and don't like failure.  I did experience a little, but more importantly I learned from it.  I was way over training.  I was doing unneeded time in the pool, on the bike.  I needed more track workouts instead of long runs.  It was nice to sit back and look at what I had done and realize, OVER TRAINING!  Funny, just a couple of months ago I was telling another friend he needed to cool it a bit.  Needed to take my own advice!  So I did!!!

Last week, I decided to just run and cut way back on the biking and swimming, the two spots I was really killing myself on.  I only logged about 28 miles running and it was just what I needed.  I even took Friday completely off knowing I was going to run 15 on Saturday.  I felt pretty good coming out of the weekend and have put together a plan that should meet my distance running needs and adapt into the triathlon training as well.    I am feeling pretty good at this point and hopefully this will turn that over training into some Pr's and a better attitude towards training.

I am going to have to invest in some new shoes this week as well.  I am at 312 miles, since January, on my Brooks Ghost 4, love the shoes, did not last quite as long as I like but my frame, 5'11" 218 make it hard for shoes to hold up.  I will get the same shoes unless anyone has some better advice for me.

This past weekend , I was also able to get after another favorite of mine, BAREFOOTING!  Who barefoot in March in the Midwest?  This did and now I CAN say I have been barefooting in March  on the Rock River!  It was not bad at all, about 62 degrees and having a wetsuit, made it enjoyable.  Check out the picture  at the right!!!!  Need to straighten out the arms, but all is Good!

Kind of a random post but it is what it is!  Last week was kind of random, taking time off, realizing reality, checking my mental capacity and being smarter about training!  I am looking forward to being smart in this phase of my training now that I have a nice base to build on.  Thanks to all the people out there who listen to my training obstacles and allowing me to make that hurdle and continue on.  Get out there, train hard, train smart and see what you CAN do!  I AM!

P.S.  Don't forget to check out my Live Uncommon Race Team page and make a donation for 7, yes 7, FANTASTIC causes.  If you would like to donate, you can also write a check to Live Uncommon in my name.  Come on, YOU can MAKE A DIFFERENCE! Just click on my badge!

Biggest Accomplishment Yet & My Family

Well this week provided some interesting thoughts, accomplishments,  and some realities.  The thought process going through any training process is sometimes mind boggling.  You go through so many highs and lows it is hard to keep all of them real and not let them bog you down.  At one point you accomplish something you never thought you could and the next, reality smacks you right in the face and starts to get you down.  That is the hard part, getting back up after you get down.  I think if you truly want to achieve your goals, you have to find a way to overcome those lows and get back after it.

This week, I did not have the huge numbers in training, like over a 100 miles for the week.  However, I felt like I upped the intensity for three days getting in some good bike rides and runs.  Trying to account for the St. Patty's day race in there as well it made it a little harder to get the big numbers but I am ok with it.  I will get back to that this week!

Some of my big accomplishments for the week....I rode outside for the first time doing hills on Tuesday and felt pretty successful with that, the next night I was able to ride 40 miles and try pace riding.  Those were big for me mentally after training inside for the winter.  Secondly, I was able to swim a full two miles in one of my workouts in the pool.  That is the longest I had gone in the pool this year too.  Mentally, that was a challenge and I was able to really focus on form.  Thirdly, I was able to run some mile repeats.  I was able to record my two fastest miles ever, a 5:48 and 5:57.  I felt really good mentally and physically accomplishing these goals.  They were not necessarily goals I wrote down and set out to get but more like mile markers for me along my journey.  Then came reality!

The reality set in yesterday about a mile into my first 5k of the year.  I really set some high expectations into the run.  I am not sure why I did this, being the first of the year, but I did.  Probably because of my mile splits the other day.  I kind of set myself up for the failure here but I am not going to be disappointed in my effort.  I ran a 21:30, which is my second fastest 5k ever.  I now know that I need to get on the track a little more if I want to be 5k ready.  I have been training long distance to fast should not have really been it for me.  Although, I did have some awesome help yesterday in John O'Brien, our LIVE UNCOMMON Team Captain, and Katie Gaffney, my REVOLUTION Race Teammate trying to give me a push.  I appreciate that from them, I could not ask for better teammates!  Considering this is the first 5k of the year, I will get my goal of under 20 minutes, sometime in the future, I know I CAN!!!  I am going to take a little rest again today, as my hamstring is a tad tender this morning and I do not want to risk any injury to it.  I will enjoy my last day of break and let it heal!

However, none of the above can even compare to the "Dad" high I had yesterday after the 5k and parade.  When I came home, my oldest daughter,  7 years old, came to me and said, "Dad, I want to run those races like you!"   For me that was my biggest accomplishment I could have had, my daughter wants to do things like I do, I AM setting a good example for her.  If you know Olivia, she does not want to do anything unless it is on her terms, no pushing that envelope at all.  Believe me, I have tried!  When she came to me she was serious and usually she means it when she says she wants to do something.  For example, when she wanted to join the Backwater Gamblers Ski team, she said "let's join" and that was that and she has been awesome at it.  I expect nothing less on this venture.  She was excited and we talked about it and she is going to run the Project Renewal Kids run on April 21st.  I am so excited to see her take this on.  Yesterday, she even ran about a mile loop around our house, I did it with her, pretty cool, for a dad!  Last night she wanted me to wake her up so she could run this morning. I did let her sleep in thinking this would not be the case in the morning. This morning when she came downstairs, she was ready to run!  Running shoes on, hair up in pony tail, ready to go!  She went out for 1/2 mile in 4:13.  So very proud of her.  If it lasts, which I think it will, she will be good.  If it doesn't last, at least I know she is thinking about being healthy and living that UNCOMMON life!  I will keep you posted on her progress!

Until next time, see what YOU CAN do!  Get out there and make it happen, nothing CAN hold you back if you BELIEVE YOU CAN!

Today...I CAN!

Spring break week for me usually means I am in Florida basking in the sun on a beach.  This year, we decided it was in our best interest to stay home and relax on spring break and spend our money on house updates this summer.  So that left me here to train and relax.  However, we did head to the Dells on Sunday and Monday and had a really nice time with the Conway's.  I also have to share a funny story at the Dell's.  After a good day at the water park, we went to the Moosejaw Restaurant.  As we were waiting for a table, I was holding my daughter.  I was wearing my Live Uncommon pullover and it has my name on it.  As I was standing there, I here the people at the table right behind where I was standing start reading off information that pertained to me.  Things like, where I worked, Live Uncommon Race team, Bettendorf Middle School.  I was like what, "did they take my wallet?, how did they know this about me?"  As I turned around, they did not say hi or hello.  Instead, I see the guy looking up the information on my shirt on his phone.  He must of thought that I was someone important with the Live Uncommon gear and my name on it.  Kind of freaked me out at one moment, knowing he got all that information, just from my shirt.  On the other hand I was proud to know that one more person knows what Live Uncommon is about and what I am about and what we stand for!  Kind of a fun story!


That leads me up to today.  I decided I would try and put some brutal miles/workout in this week since I was off work and especially since it is nice out!  Who needs Florida with this weather?  (ask me that again next December!)  Anyway, I feel like I have accomplished the killing myself part of working out.  Since Tuesday morning, I have put in almost 70 miles in biking, swimming and running.  Most importantly, I have accomplished some things I have not done before make this and "I CAN" week!  On Tuesday morning I set out on my first solo run for the first time this year.  I struggled mentally but did pretty well training wise, finishing 6 miles with a 7:44 pace.  I did get a swim in, the biggest yardage to date after my run and still felt pretty good.   On Tuesday, I also decided I was going to meet Jeff Paul and the Trek Store riders  for my first outdoor ride.  I was not sure what to expect on this ride.  I did know it would be an interval workout of some sort.  We ended up doing hill repeats on the bike.  It was a good ride for me.  I was able to push and stay up with the front group for the most part.  It was also good because I was able to ride amongst other riders, getting me used to having people around me while riding.  I felt really good after this ride.

After that ride, my sister was nice enough to grill some steaks out and enjoy a nice bonfire!  Nothing like a great meal after a healthy day of working out!.

I will admit, I slept in a little on Wednesday, knowing I was going to have a big day again.  I started in the pool on Wednesday.  I wanted to get a good quality pool swim in.  I was able to do this with my biggest swim yet.  I was able to rip off 3500 yards/2 miles.  I even did the dreaded 200's during this workout and was able to hold a 3:05 or under pace for all of them.  I really felt good, again, eclipsing some old marks for yardage.  Once again proving, I CAN do a lot of things given the time and courage to get out and do it! I also snuck a little lift in after this, and I will admit the quality of it was pretty low but did get in six lift.  Mostly because I wanted to get outside and enjoy the day.  However, I really did not get to get outside, but did get some much needed errands done.

At 5:00, I decided I would go ahead and go meet some bike riders over off of Ben Butterworth parkway for a ride.  I had been told it was a 40 miler, which scared me to start with but I figured I could handle it. There were two groups, an A and B.  I was a little late getting there due to a accident so I ended up with the B group which was a good thing.  I did all I could to hang with the B group.  We took off and headed west ( I think?).  We headed out into the country on some very isolated but good roads.  One guy in the group kind of took me under his wing when I had told him I was a newbie and that it was really my first long ride I have done outside.  As we talked he thought we maybe would only go 34 miles or so.  Well, to me mentally, I was thinking this is good.  But as we got going, I realized, it was going to be 40 miles.  It was a good thing or as John Byrnes would say, it was a "character builder".  As we rode we did some very close pace riding.  Wheels only about 6 inches from the guy in front.  The pace riding reminded me of Indian runs.  The last guy up to the front and block the wind for a bit, then the next guy moves in.  I was pretty happy as I kept up with these guys for the most part.  We were consistently riding over 20 mph as we trekked through the country side.  Finally we had made it back to the bike path on the river and that is where fatigue set in for me.  It was about mile 34, the wind kicked up in our face and I was struggling.  But, I knew I had to get back to my truck or walk and that was not on option. I pushed through the pain and made it back.  Funny thing was, I was at 39.27 miles when I got to my truck.  Nope, that was not enough, mentally, I had just worked my ass off and I was going to go 40 miles!  So,  I went past my truck enough and turned around to get my 40 in.  Just one of those silly things for me, no reason, just needed to see forty!  For the first ride outside, I went 40 miles and ended with and 19.1 mph pace.  Which I will take considering the wind was pretty strong last night.  Never thought I could do 40 miles, this early.  Once again, I CAN ride 40 miles and finish with the group.  This is a big hurdle for me, when I push myself, I CAN get things done!  I came home and hydrated up with a nice meal and water and sat with the family and enjoyed a peaceful bonfire, in MARCH!  Crazy!  As I knew today I was going to finish out my last of the tough days for working out.
Today, I set out to Meet Katie G., one of my Crazies Group runners.  I had decided since I was going to run a 5k, the CASI St. Patrick's Day Run, I was going to do some mile repeats, two to three of them.  We met at the Y at 7 and had plans of running to the Bettendorf High School and jumping on the track.  I was a little unsure how I would perform on this due to my long ride last night.  The warm up run to the high school was much needed to work some of the lead out of my legs, and my hamstrings were very tight.  Made it to the track and stretched a little more to make sure I did not pull anything.  We set out on the first mile and mentally, I was challenged here.  Took off at a good pace and I was not sure I could hold it.  Fortunately, I ran the fastest mile I have ever run today, 5:48.  Much to my surprise as I have had such a heavy load of training the last few days.  I was really stoked by this.  We walked a lap and jogged a lap in between and set out on the next mile.  This one was tough too.  We headed out fast and again, I was not sure I could hold.  I ended up with a 5:57 this time.  Two miles under 6:00, felt awesome.  I have never run a mile under 6:00 before, let alone two of them.  My fastest mile I can remember to this point was 6:34 last year.  I am pretty excited about that.  I still have a lot of training to do, as I really have not hit a track workout yet and I am much faster than last year at this point. You can see those miles below on lap 3 and 6.

Katie and I then finished up with another 3 miles or so back to the Y for a total of 7 miles.  Even the miles back were at a good pace.  Although, when I got to the Y, I was done and ready to stretch as I was tightening up.  We stretched a little bit and re-hydrated.  What a AWESOME way to start my day.  Doing two miles under 6:00, something I did not think I could ever do and I DID IT!

I finished out my morning with a swim in the pool.  My arms were exhausted this morning in the pool.  I decided that I should probably just drill this morning.  I did various sets, equaling up to 1600 yards after the run.  My arms loosened up by the end and I feel pretty good now.  I ended the swim with a nice relaxing hot tub soak.  That hit the spot!

As I am writing this, I still can't believe what a great start to the day this is.  Two awesome miles for me, a nice cool down swim.  Scrambled eggs, pineapple and coffee on the deck while soaking up some sun.  Maybe it is better that I am not in Florida, look at what I have accomplished this week.  What a great week of training I have had!

On to some rest now.  I have a soccer game tonight that I will play in but might scale it back a bit just to prevent injury!  From that point on, I will rest my body in preparation for the St. Patrick's Day 5K.  I am hoping for some good things from the race.  Not to mention this is the first race in the Revolution Race Series.  This will be the big event for the Live Uncommon Race Team.  Which leads me to my donation page.  If you have not donated, I would love to have your help in helping me accomplish my goal of $700.  You can get to my page with the link on my blog here or this address:  http://liveuncommon.org/default.aspx?function=displayparticipant&id=311&eid=4.

This week I have accomplished some small goals that will all help in my training for this summer.  I have many more to accomplish, but after this week, I know I CAN do anything I want and CAN accomplish things that used to be dreams.  Get after it and see what YOU CAN get done!

LIVE UNCOMMON - THE REVOLUTION RACE TEAM

You know me, always running. Well, in 2012, I’m running for a bigger purpose than my own fitness and even my own sense of accomplishment. This year I am running to change the World. Yep, that’s what I said – I am running to change the World.

I have joined my force with the LIVE UNCOMMON RevoLUtion Race Team and our team goal is to raise $100,000 for worthy Causes. They are:

CASI: Center for Active Seniors – Provides services that meet the needs of older adults and fosters respect, dignity and quality of life.
PROJECT RENEWAL - Providing a positive presence for the children and families in our low income neighborhood of Davenport, Iowa.
RACE FOR THE CURE - Susan G. Komen...Breast Cancer
MOONLIGHT CHASE - Helping support the Scott County Library, Eldridge Volunteer Fire department, Trees Forever, the Food pantry and more...
OUCH - Wound Reach Foundation, Wound Care, Research Education and Clinical Health.
QUAD CITIES MARATHON - Us & Too (Prostate Cancer Education & Support), Erika Kate (Children with heart disease)

Check them all out...they are very worthy and it would mean a lot to me if I can achieve my fund raising goal!!!

My personal goal is $700 and I have committed to doing my part. It would mean alot to me if you would help me help the many Causes which benefit from my personal and my Team’s collective effort this year.

Literally every penny counts, so please know that I appreciate whatever you can do!

By clicking on my Race Team badge, you will magically find yourself at my personal page.

Again, thank you very much and see you at the Races!

CRAZY Week!

This has been one crazy week!  I kind of knew this would happen going into the week.  I had a lot of events going and just needed to keep rolling and keeping it positive.  This was FUN week this week as I had mentioned in my previous post.  My objective is to get our school "moving/active" this week and keep it going.  We did a number of things to get the students engaged this week. We had former UFC Champ Pat Miletich come in and get almost 1100 students at BMS moving with some push ups, jump squats, burpees and crunches.  It was a pretty cool to see that many students getting active.  We also had students take a pledge to live a healthy active lifestyle to go with our theme of "BMS Gettin' Fit".  Here is an after picture of one I posted last time.  Those are little shoes on the wall that each student has filled out to make the healthy pledge.  We have teamed up with Live Uncommon and have a goal of getting as many people as we can to join the Torch Light Parade.  The Torch Light Parade is a fun event to run, walk, skip, hop, dance, do whatever you can to complete the three miles.  It will cross the Mississippi River twice and end with an awesome concert.  Our hope is to get as many students involved along with staff, but more importantly, get the students and their family and friends involved too.  We want this to be a community event, for all to enjoy.  We would like to have a thousand runners join our team.  If you are interested, sign up and liveuncommon.org and join TEAM BMS.  I know it will be a blast!  We had the awesome Live Uncommon team come in a present to the students.  We had some technical difficulties for the first couple of days but all in all it ended on a positive note.  My goal for each week is to keep reminding students of our goal to get to the TorchLight Parade and present them with activities that will help them achieve the goal.  Keeping in ming, that we want to change the world, one person at a time.  We ended the week with assemblies that included a dodgeball championship and a teacher student dodgeball game.  It was a lot of fun, but I am sure that some teachers, including myself, have some sore shoulders this morning!

As far as workouts go, this did not get any easier.  On Monday and Wednesday, I was able to pull off the trifecta workout.  his meant I rose from bed about 3:55 a.m. and jumped on my bike to get 20 miles in doing various workouts ( Speed, Interval, High Cadence).  Then off the bike to swim at the Y for 30 minutes, trying to squeeze in at least 1600 yards.  Then off to get the weight workouts in, mainly focusing on core workouts.  I had planned on doing this Friday as well, but I just could not do it, I had to listen to the body.  On Thursday nights, I usually play soccer in a league.  This past Thursday, I had the tournament and we ended up playing two games.  Upon waking up Friday, I just felt like my legs needed a little rest.  Not to mention I had ran 7 miles earlier in the morning.  So, I did, I slept in till 4:45 and went on to get the swim and lift in.  I was glad I got that done.  On Tuesday and Thursday, I was able to get in seven miles with my group of CRAZIES!  These runs were both really good and I am feeling like the running is really getting better and will be able to hit some PR's this year.  I ended the running week with a miserably cold run this morning at 4:30 a.m.  Thank goodness for my running group; John B., Rick F., Katie G, Aaron M., and Lindsey.  If I did not have to meet them, I probably would have crawled back in bed.  It was 19 degrees this morning, but felt like 3 degrees with wind at 24 mph.  Most of this run was not as chatty as I normally am.  All I could think about was getting done and getting warm.  The sweat on my coat and underclothes was turning to ice, my face was cold.  I felt really good otherwise, I just wanted to be done for some reason.  Thank you to those runners who helped me DIG DEEP and GET IT DONE

I am also contemplating(95% sure) joining the Live Uncommon Race team for the summer.  This is a great opportunity for me to give back to the community while also holding myself accountable for my own health.  This is a big undertaking as it will require some fund raising but I also think it is something I need to do to support the community we live in.  There are a lot of good people out there and a lot of people that need that extra help.  I am looking forward to getting going on this, I just need to get signed up!  One of the team Road Coaches is Aaron Maurer, who is also kicking butt in his training!  I am hoping we can get fellow runner Katie G.  on the team.  If we can get all this going, I think this is going to be a summer to remember.  I also will turn 40 this year, I AM going to do this with a bang!

Now, off to enjoy the weekend and my family that I have missed during this busy week!  Get out there and enjoy what YOU CAN do!

Joining the RevoLUtion!

Well, tomorrow is the kick off to the RevoLUtion for Bettendorf Middle School.  We are kicking off our FUN week, Fitness Uniting w/ Nutrition!  In the past we have done this week and we concentrate on fitness and nutrition for one week.  Then it kind of goes by the wayside and we move on.  This year I am determined to not let that happen.  I have teamed up with Live Uncommon.  They are awesomely uncommon people!  I am trying to get as many students, family and staff to join the Revolution Torch Run on June 2.  We will be kicking it off tomorrow with a lot of kids exercising in the gymnasium and followed up by the Live Uncommon team coming into the school and getting things kicked off!   We will end the week with some friendly games of dodgeball.

My belief, is that all people CAN do what ever they want to, if you put your mind to it.  I tend to amaze myself everyday with things I find myself doing.  If I can make a difference in a few lives this year by getting them to live uncommon and change, I will succeed.  I believe, that with the help of many people, I can make a huge difference in the upcoming youth.  I WILL lead by example and continue my efforts in my own goals and prove that YOU CAN, if YOU TRY!

I spent most of my day off at school getting the halls ready.  See my decorating below.  I am in hopes that I can make a difference in our youth.  It will only take ONE person to change our world!  BMS, welcome to the RevoLUtion!  Lets make every day count and make it count for our future!