If today was a marathon, I'd only have had 9.94 miles to go

First off, thanks to my lone faithful reader, Sarah, who pointed out there was no tip number 8. I don't really like the number 8, so it has been banished for the time being. It may return, it may not. I sometimes do things just to mess with my type A personality friends, and sometimes I have a vendetta against intergers. That's the nature of us type b personalities, there is no real need for order and organization...or it was a typografical eror, you decide.

Today was the biggest run since May of 2004 when I did the my first marathon. Last week my long run was cold, painful drudgery, but today I had a great time. The weather was a bit chilly when I left at 6:45, but it was approaching too hot for by the end. Today almost got up to 70 degrees and absolutely beautiful. For 16 miles I took it easy and ran/walked each mile somewhere between 10-11 minutes. Every runner has bad days and last week was a bad day for me. Today was awesome...and I am really feeling confident going into the marathon that is no 6 weeks away. Here I come!

Mileage this week so far - 27.95
Weight 218.2 -(Fat ironman is approaching being just chubbyironman)

-Matt

(15 + 12) -10 = I Hate Winter

Tip #7 - Winter is lame.

No, "lame" is not a strong enough word. If winter was a political system it would be communism or fuedalism or some other oppressive, dignity robbing tyrany. If winter was a jelly bean it would be those stupped butter popcorn ones that screw up a good handful of tropical fruit flavors. Winter is like banana runts, a skip in your favorite CD, a kick in the pants, and zits on your ear. I am still working on this theologically, but I think winter was invented by Satan. C.S. Lewis equated winter with the something evil, and I think he was on to something.

I am currently deeply entrenched in marathon training, and my almighty clipboard containing my training schedule said that I needed to get a 12 mile run in this weekend. Friday is my "day off", (which is a comical term for someone in full time ministry) so I embarked on this run about 1 p.m. on friday. There is one problem. We are also in the middle of the communist season of the year called winter. And of course on the day I have time for my long run, it was a balmy 15 degrees outside with a howling north wind that made it feel like ten below. The plan was to do four different 4 mile loops in various directions from my house. At mile four as I came by the house for the first time, I quit and walked up the driveway, only to have this annoying voice inside my head tell me that there is no quitting in marathon running. I was freezing, I could not warm up no matter what I tried. But I trudged back out for loop 2. At 8.05 miles as I came by the second time I really did quit to go inside and find a thicker jacket and thicker gloves. I muttered, but for some unknown reason I went out to conquer the last 4 miles. The last loop was an out and back that went 2 miles mostly downhill and with the wind (happy, warm) and then miles 11-12 of the run were mostly uphill, into the wind (beeeeep) I got home and decided that cutting off a leg would be a much more sane and logical way to lose weight than running in that weather.

My wife tells me that I use hyperbole to much. I don't know what she is talking about. Anyway, I over acheived last week by running 27.67 miles total, which is better than the 27 the clipboard of power told me to run. This week is going to be my first 30 mile week ever, and the weather is supposed to be nice when I embark on the 15 miler on friday.

Only 7 weeks to the big 26.2 mile day!

-Fat Ironman

Marathon Training, Best Hint #9

Tip #9 - Train early There is no match for early morning workouts. When I am doing really well, I can get a couple of training hours in before getting to the office. This This morning was a classic of my motivation in the last few weeks. I got up, saw the gray clouds, saw the freezing rain and just didn't want to get going. If this Ironman thing is going to happen I am going to need to really start doing some training in the mornings. I can't wait for the weather to get warmer and it to be ligtht out early, there are just no excuses left when it's 70 degrees out.

It is less than two months until I embark on my second ever 26.2 mile running journey. I hope and pray that this time goes much better than the first time. I am an official marathon finisher, completing the Olathe Marathon in 2004. However that was to date the most painful experience of my life. I was undertrained, having only logged one disasterous 18 mile training run. I felt great throught the first 15 or so miles, but being an overachiever, I hit the wall shortly after mile 16. by mile twenty, I walked the whole mile. I did rally a bit around 24-26 but my legs felt like someone had set them on fire. It was a hot day, getting up to about 85 degrees, and I really suffered out there. So the number I have to beat to marathon PR is 5:16. Hopefully I can pull that off.

Training is going fine so far. I have logged a few 20 mile weeks, and a long run of 10 miles. This week is going to be my first week of 25+ miles in a week. I have been enjoying the running end of things, my plan is to work a lot on the run through April, then hit the swim hard this spring. I'm going to save the big dog bike miles for the late spring and summer. My weight this morning was 219, which means I still have about 40 to lose before ironday. Here's to treadmill running!

-Fat Ironman

Something helpful...Best Hint #10

I was thinking today about the fact that so far this blog has had absolutely nothing to say that could possibly help anyone. Well, no more of that. Here I go on my way of helping the triathlon community by saying something worth while. Buckle up for my top ten list of tri-tips.

#10 - Easy at the aid stations!

I was putting in a great bike split at the 2004 US Half Triathlon Championships in Kansas City, when I tried to pick up a full gatorade at the mile 30 bike aid station. The problem was I tried to shave a couple seconds off the bike by zipping through the aid station at about 20 mph. Well, I didn't get a clean had off, fumbled the bottle, and ended laying some of my skin (quite a bit actually) on the pavement. ouch. Let me be the first to say that the time I spent picking gravel out of my wounds and the pain I endured running a half marathon with bleeding cuts was not worth the time I would have lost slowing down at the aid station.

It is just as important on the run to take time at the aid stations. Watch the 2004 coverage of Kona. Faris Al Sultan wisely stops at the aid station on the run exit to get nutrition, water and sunblock. He still went sub 8:20

Well that's all I have for tonight, I broke the 220 barrier this week and did my first 30 mile ride of the season. Hopefully in 6 months I'll just be ironman without the fat.

For now, Keep Tri-ing
-Fat Ironman

Shiny, Red, Fast

Yesterday my wife finally caved and let me pay off my brand new Felt s32. It is a beautiful bike with aero tubes, bar-end shifters, and tri-specific geometry. Last night I took it for a short spin and it was awesom. I can't wait to get it in a race and see how fast I can go.

On the weight side of things I am still doing ok. When I got home from Thanksgiving I weighed a whopping 232 lbs. That was a most embarassing and shameful day. There had been a time when I was 270 then I dropped 80 lbs to get to 190. Even as recently as Nov. of 04 I was at 195. Now I am sitting at 221 and am starting to eat better and exercise more. I still have the goal of getting down to 219 for the race of the 11th of February, but I think I can get somewhere in the neighborhood of 215.

140.6 miles of water and road await me on October 21st, and I hope that only 175 pounds of me makes that trek. Here's to healthy eating and lots of training!

-Fat Ironman