You've caught the gingerbread man

Well I'm not too happy with myself right now but I guess I'm content enough to post it. I went to run last night and it didn't go all that well. I was supposed to run 7 miles but I only did 5. I was feeling fairly good at first. I was doing the first mile at 5.5mph then I walked for a minute at 1.5 miles. I continued on to 3 miles at 5.5mph and ran out of energy so walked for a minute. I continued on to 4 miles between 5mph and 5.5mph. After 4 miles I hit a wall. I had no energy, I was out of breath and my stomach was hurting. I listened to what my body was saying so I stopped at 5 miles.

After getting home I realized why my stomach was hurting... I had eaten a CliffBar more than two hours before I started running. The book I was reading said for me to eat something within two hours of running, biking or swimming. If you wait any longer your body is going to start digesting it and can possibly into dehydration mode. This is exactly how I felt. I had a Gatorade with me but that didn't seem to help. It made me feel full so I only drank half of it.

Since I've started working out I've eaten a piece of bread with some peanut butter 30 minutes before I work out and I've felt good throughout the run. On my long run days I eat a Shot Block halfway through, if the run is more than 3 miles. I guess I'll keep doing that from now on.

Swimming is Not as Easy as Breathing

As I mentioned on yesterdays post I was going to go swimming during lunch. I did, and let me tell you I was not happy. To start off with I knew I wasn't going to do good and I was just going to focus on my technique. I had read different places to make sure your chin is to your chest and to look straight down at the floor. This was not the only hard part. The other hard part was learning how to breathe while looking down at the ground.

Basically I do what most people who only swim for fun do....swim with your face above water. After trying the whole looking straight down technique I realized how hard this was going to be. I would focus on looking down and not on the breathing and would run out of breath. Then I would focus on breathing and would realize I'm not looking straight down. After a few laps I finally got a little better at it. I was doing the 2:1 breathing ratio, one breath for every two strokes. I was there for about 30 minutes and swam only about 6 laps (again focusing on technique not distance).

During the 30 minutes I was there I started to realize that I need better goggles. I bought some about a year ago and when I tried them on at the store they were ok. Now that I'm swimming they start hurting if I wear them for more than 5 minutes. I started reviewing some goggles online and found some Speedo Vanquishers that got really good reviews. I went to Dicks Sporting Goods and tried them on and they felt great. I didn't buy them because I want to see if I can find a better deal elsewhere. We'll see how they work.

Run Run as Fast as You Can, You Can't Catch me I'm the Gingerbread Man

Yesterday I left work not feeling too energized, I'd been feeling sluggish all day. I got home and we made dinner but didn't eat instead I ate a piece of bread with some peanut butter about 30 minutes before running. I was planning on running at the gym but I decided to run around the apartments since I hadn't ran outside in a while. I pulled it up on Google maps and it's exactly 2 miles around the whole thing. I've ran that thing many times without knowing how long it really was since I was using the iMapMyRun app for my phone. It always said it was 1.92 but I noticed that it always cut some corners. I like this route because it has some good hills at the end (or beginning depending on which way I go).

I stretched for about 5 minutes before walking to the start. Once I started I felt pretty good and continued on. I finished the first 2 miles without a break but I stopped to check some messages on my phone for a minute. I continued on and finished 4 miles in 46 minutes and still had energy to keep going. This is a BIG improvement from when I first started where my 3.1 miles was 46 minutes. I divided it up and 46 minutes for 4 miles was about 11:50 a mile. I know it's baby steps but it's a step closer to my goal.

Today during lunch I'm going to attempt to swim at the gym. I say attempt to, because I'm going to be focusing on my technique instead of how long I go. On Thursday I'm running 7 miles so I'll update then. I can't wait for the weather to warm up so I can start my cycling. I miss riding. 

A few pics

I realized that I don't have any pics on here. So I found some old ones to post. On another note I signed up for the Caveman Sprint Triathlon on April 10th in Farmers Branch. We'll see how that goes.

My current bike Trek 1.2

 

Road Bike I'd like to own (Trek Madone 5.2)

Tri Bike I'd like to own (Trek Speed Concept 7.0)

Germanfest 2010

Dash down Greenville 5k run 2010