(Stopping) The Slow Slide

[kmwest]

28 Oct 08

Yasso "800s" - pretty sure the track on-base isn't a full 400m.

1) 2:54
2) 2:57

I battled a pretty severe cold for about two weeks. Hacking cough + shallow breaths + speedwork = screw this, dude.

------

29 Oct 08

Back Squat
135 5x5
Went almost ATG on these. Oy vey, so light and yet my legs got so wobbly!

Decline Bench
145 1x5
155 4x5
Almost lost it on the very last rep. Thankfully, I pushed through and my trachea survived.

Back Extensions
+25 3x10

Shoulder Press
20 (each hand) 1x10,11,10

Hanging Leg Raises
BW 1x10,10,7

-----

30 Oct 08
~1.5mi barefoot run on beach
some very light swimming in the ocean
~1.5mi return run

------

31 Oct 08

AM: Marine Corps Combat Fitness Test

First time I did this - thought I did pretty well.
880m run, boots and utility trousers: 3:00 (3:49 to pass) <---- As I think the base track is short, I'm pretty sure this wasn't no 880m. A couple of my Marines beat me on this run. I hope they enjoy cleaning toilets.
30# Ammo Can Lift: 79 (45 to pass, 91 to max). Essentially a front press for reps over 2 minutes. You can also use your legs for a push press.
Maneuver Under Fire: 2:31 (3:xx to pass)

-----
31 Oct 08 - PM

Tried to do some swimming parallel to the shore, past where the waves were breaking. Well, one broke right over my head, knocked me around a bit, and stole the goggles off my face. I decided to quit after that.

-----
1 Nov 08 - Rest. I didn't do that 10k.

2 Nov 08
"Long"ish Run
8.00mi
1:11:22 (8:55/mi avg)
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Del Mar Hills

This run kicked my ass, and I am not ashamed to say I spent a good portion of it walking (hence the time). A 400-foot elevation change over the course of two miles, and spots with 20% grades made this one quite the fun run. Thankfully, there were enough hotties to take my mind off the fact that I was essentially hiking.

I gotta say though - some of those women were false advertising. I'd be gaining ground on what I thought was a hot chick, then when I passed by her, she was old and her face was more weathered than Plymouth Rock. That ain't right.

[kmwest]

4 Nov 08

Yassos
1) 2:52
2) 2:56
3) 3:08

Starting into the fourth, I felt like I was going to vomit. After one lap I packed it in and decided not to eat a big bowl of oatmeal an hour ahead of speedwork.

----

7 Nov 08 - AM

MCMAP (martial arts)
We did a lot of punches, kicks, and falls with our flak jackets on. And a lot of running in between. Awesome.

---

7 Nov 08 - PM
Sumo Deadlifts
225 1x5 (first two reps conventional, then switched immediately to sumos)
225 4x5
My back wasn't going to hold up if I did conventionals.

Pullups
+30 3x5, 1x4,3

1-arm Bent Over Rows
60 5x5

-----

9 Nov 08
Long Run
9.04mi
1:14:27 (8:14/mi avg)

Did this one with my roommate on a day with ridiculous wind coming off the ocean. Not fun, especially when we were going uphill and facing the wind. (But not two miles in the snow, thankfully.)

From about mile 6.25 to mile 7.9, we gained 400 feet of elevation. First came a little hill, then a moderate hill, then the terrible hill which is either a 12% grade (according to the warning sign on the street) or 18% (according to my Forerunner 205). Not cool.

The Carlsbad Half-Marathon is in 11 weeks and, by its website, almost pancake-flat. Which is good.

Incidentally, the December issue of Runners' World lists some of the worst race hills in the country. #4 is the Torrey Pines Hill, 2 miles from my apartment. It's part of the La Jolla Half in April.

[kmwest]

10 Nov 08

Cycling
11.2mi
50:42 (13.3mph avg)

I planned on doing 20 miles but my legs were pretty damn heavy on the hills.

[kmwest]

12 Nov 08

Back Squat
145 5x5
To parallel

Decline Bench
155 5x5

Shoulder Press
25 (each hand) 1x9,9,8

Hanging Leg Raises
1x9,7,8

-------

18 Nov 08

Yasso 800s (actually 808m)
1) 3:04
2) 3:00
3) 2:59
4) 3:07
5) 3:03
6) unknown - I either accidentally cleared my watch before the finish line, or never started it. It felt sub-3.

This felt rough, but it was good to finish my first Yasso workout in a while. I never thought that 3:00 Yassos would be tough for me though!

-----

19 Nov 08

Sumo DL (120sec rest)
245 5x5
mixed grip; all reps done as singles.

Pullups
+30 4x5, 1x4
Almost hit them all!

1-Arm Bent-Over Rows
65 5x5

Back Extensions
+25 3x10

-------

My girlfriend came into town on the 13th in preparation for the Marine Corps Birthday Ball, which we held in Las Vegas on the 15th. The Ball was great - none of my guys got thrown in jail, and we got the rockstar treatment from patriotic Americans in Vegas. The woman said I looked bigger (in the good way) than the last time I saw her in late August/early September.

I weighed myself right before the Yassos and I was 165 with shoes, shorts and shirt. No wonder Yassos are so much harder than when I was 15-18lbs lighter, in my running prime. The woman said she'd be willing to part with the more muscular me so I could reattain PRs, but she didn't seem that enthusiastic about the idea.

[BamaDave]

Dang, you're fat!

[kmwest]

Right now I'm about 7-9# over "prime" weight, so I'm slowly losing it again.

I know I haven't logged in a little while. Been busy with work, etc, went to Minnesota for Thanksgiving, etc. Did a couple long runs with a 11.5mi run going last Sunday. So I'll just start back up with today.

10 Dec 08
Jingle Bell Jog "5k"
19:21.5

This was an on-base race during lunchtime, and since I generally distrust the distance of any on-base race (and I can't find my Forerunner) I can't say for sure. I did ok at this, especially given that it was 74 degrees. I'm also formally entered into the Carlsbad Half-M on Jan 25.

Lots of news regarding the F-18 crash next to my base a couple days ago. Some of my men saw the black smoke rising even from our building a couple miles away. I saw an interview with the man who lost his family, and I almost cried.

[LisaS]

are you stationed at Miramar - I thought you were somewhere else?
Such sad news - sorry for the pilot - must be hell to not be able to put your plane down/aim your plane in the clear before you eject - going on afterwards - just hell.

[kmwest]

Yeah, I'm at Miramar. I can hardly imagine what it's like to be either the father or the pilot, I'm sure both are having their own personal crises.

[LisaS]

(this may sound callous, I don't mean it that way)
I feel terribly for the father to lose his family in such a tragedy - but sad to say, others also have lost families to tragedies and managed somehow to carry on. There are experienced counselors and therapists and clergy to assist him in his grief.

But to be the proximate cause of such a tragedy and survive it to live with that - I hope he is able to get some help to deal with such a thing.

They are both in my prayers.

[kmwest]

11 Dec 08 - squat / bench day, I'm too lazy to put in the numbers right now.


14 Dec 08
Run
12.2mi
1:42:10 (8:22/mi avg)

I did this one with my roommate. Really hilly, almost perfect temps (around 57 at the start at 3pm, dropping as the run went on). I'm unsure of the exact distance as I didn't use the Garmin and this distance is based upon Google Maps' distance from my apartment to the turnaround. On the return trip, we ran down the Torrey Pines Road hill (about a mile long). At the bottom is Torrey Pines State Park, and when we hit the park entrance the sun was setting in a near-cloudless sky, a thousand rays bouncing off the ocean as far as the eye could see.

I started thinking about the theme to "The OC," followed by Gary Allan's current hit "She's So California."

My roommate heads out of town for Christmas on Friday, so I'm going to do a 13-miler on my own next weekend. The next weekend I'll be back in Indiana, so I'm looking to do a 14-miler (two laps around the Whiteland Redneck Loop). That'll be four weeks out from the race. Our goal for the race is 1:40 or better, which we think is pretty do-able as the course is virtually flat.

[twinsavsvikingsfan]

Enjoy your leave. It looks like there may be a slight warmup about that time so you may not go into shock after leaving sunny Cah-lee-fornia. Merry Christmas!

I predict a lot closer to 1:30 than 1:40 for the race.

[BamaDave]

I bet San Diego is possibly the best runners' city in the country. The weather must almost always be ideal there... add in the challenging hills and beach running available. Nice! Hopefully they'll let you stay there.

[kmwest]

It's definitely a very runner-and-cyclist friendly city, that's for sure. Virtually every road has a bike lane, drivers expect to have somebody keeping pace with them in a $8000 bicycle, and I have yet to have a beer bottle thrown at me like in Whiteland, IN.

I could probably swing it to stay in San Diego if I wanted, but right now I'm leaning toward getting out in a year, moving to Minneapolis and going to grad school.

I'll catch up on logging eventually, I promise!

[kmwest]

Catch-up time...

18 Dec 08

Sumo DL (2:00 rest per work set)
135 1x5 w/u
185 1x3 w/u
245 5x5 (all done as singles)

Weighted Pullups (90s rest per work set)
+35 4x5, 1x3

1-Arm Bent-Over rows (90s rest)
70 (per hand) 5x4

Back Extensions (60s rest)
+25 1x10
+35 2x8


----------

19 Dec 08


Yasso 808s (track is 404m)
1:1 work:rest


1) 2:54
2) 2:54
3) 2:55
4) 2:55
5) 2:58

----------

20 Dec 08


~20mi bike

I was with a group of people. Most of them were slow, so the few of us in the front had to keep stopping and waiting for a regroup.


----------

22 Dec 08


Back Squat (90s rest)
155 5x5
Weak, I know.

Decline Bench (90s rest)
155 5x5
But at least my beach muscles are ok...

DB Shoulder Press (60s rest)
30 (each hand) 1x8,8,4

Hanging Leg Raises (60s rest)
1x8,7,6

---------

24 Dec 08


Bike
~8mi, untimed

Just rode from our apartment to the beach and back.

---------

30 Dec 08


Run - untimed, un-distanced

I went to the track at Balboa Park (a big park in the center of San Diego, with all the museums) to do a track workout with the San Diego Track Club. The place was locked up and dark. So I went for a run through the park and saw everything in Christmas lights.

---------

3 Jan 08


Not-a-5k
~20:00, undistanced


There was a free 5k in Balboa Park. Problem was, the listing I saw for it gave the wrong address, so my girlfriend (who was in town for New Year's) and I spent an hour driving around the park, asking every runner if they knew where the 5k was. When we finally figured it out it was 15 minutes past the start. I was extremely pissed, so we drove down to the harbor and I ran full-bore along the waterfront, nearly trampling several tiny dogs and arm-checking numerous middle-aged tourists at the cruise ship terminal.

--------

4 Jan 08

Long Run
~14mi


Tried to do the course for the Carlsbad Half-Marathon, coming up Jan 25. I downloaded the course from mapmyrun.com to my Forerunner 205, and my roommate and I did it. Except that the course was off, and we ended up going a half-mile too far. I'm thinking of doing it again next weekend, but first I'll plot out the actual course and download it to my Forerunner.



And now I'm caught up!


I'm only about 3-5 lbs above my "racing" weight throughout college. Body composition isn't as good, but I think that will catch up. I just like that running isn't as difficult when there's less of me, although the girl isn't as enthusiastic about me getting skinnier to get faster. But this weekend she also cleared me to propose marriage, so I guess it doesn't matter what she thinks now.

[BamaDave]

Hey, congrats on the marriage proposal clearance! You don't even need to be in shape now, you can just let yourself go to pot.

[kmwest]

Thanks

Well, I have worked out and ran since Jan 4, just haven't logged it. The Carlsbad Half-Marathon is tomorrow morning at 7:30, and I'm nervous about it. In part because I haven't trained to the extent and intensity I should have, and also because I know I'm nowhere near PR speed so in a way, any time I get will be disappointing. The fastest pace group is 1:35 so I will start with them and peel off about 5 miles in if I'm feeling held back.

I got a deal at the race expo - a pair of Brooks Racer ST2 flats for $40, vice the $55-65 on a comparable Internet site. The friendly, skinny blonde 21-ish girl who was working the shoe store's table seemed powered solely by methamphetamines and Gu.

Weather forecast for tomorrow is 54-56 degrees throughout the race period, 82% humidity at the start, 81% cloud cover with a 20% chance of rain. Except for the humidity, sounds pretty good.

[BamaDave]

Well, I know what you mean about being far off from a PR. Just try to do better than you expect! The weather sounds very good. I don't even notice high humidity at those temps.

[kmwest]

Carlsbad Half-Marathon Race Report
January 25, 2009

Clock time: 1:34:05
Chip time: results aren't up yet. I think I crossed the mat ~10sec after the start, so 1:33:55ish?

I got up at 5:15am, shaved and put my contacts in, ate a little bit and started downing coffee in preparation for the race. My roommate (who did the half as well) and I rolled out at 6:02am. It was still very dark and cloudy. The full marathon started at 6, and the streets in Carlsbad aren't well-lit, so I wondered how that was gonna work.

The drive was quick until we got to the actual race site, and even then it was pretty straightforward. The start/finish is at a large shopping mall right off the freeway, which meant copious free parking (I'm pretty sure they capped the race at 8,000 1/2-M participants due to parking lot capacity). They opened up the mall so we could use the inside restrooms as well as the port-a-johns. It sure was an unusual sight to see hundreds of runners wandering a shopping mall at 6:40am with all the stores closed. Roommate remarked favorably at the great number and greater beauty of the female participants, and said that he should do more races. I agreed, and said I should do more as well even though I am only window shopping.

After bathroom break #1, I naturally had to piss again before the race start so Roommate and I ran into the woods adjacent to the shopping mall, along with about a dozen other men and one adventurous woman (the first I've ever seen urinate in public preceding/during a race.)

Race weather was perfect, just as predicted. I wore a cutoff tech shirt and shorts. The race had a wave start based upon your predicted finishing time given during registration. I predicted "sub-1:40," which landed me in Wave 1. My plan was to follow the 1:35 pacer, then decide at about 4 miles if I should speed up or fall back. So Roommate and I stayed about 30ft behind Pacer in the starting corral. After the National Anthem, we took off. The first mile was hard, including some rough feeling in my shins and a small starter hill. So when we hit mile marker 1 at about 7:45, I thought I was f***ed.

At about mile 2 we turned south onto the Pacific Coast Highway (signed as Carlsbad Blvd) and were treated to the salty ocean air. There were no mile markers for 2&3, but when we hit the 4 marker Roommate said that our total elapsed time was ~28:40. I was feeling fairly solid at that point. About mile 4.5 we caught up with the 1:35 Pacer, who at this point was running alone. I asked if he had left his group or if his group had left him. I met the guy at the expo yesterday, so he replied "YOU are my group!" Pacer said he was almost right on track (20sec in the bank) so Roommate and I stuck with him, doing ~7:08-10 miles.

Eventually we hit the turnaround, and started back north on PCH. Plenty of well-wishers said "good job 1:35 group!" I dispensed high-fives to children and shockers to musical acts as appropriate.

At one point, Roommate had to duck off into a port-a-john and was gone for the rest of the race. At the 9 (?) mile mark we had 35sec in the bank, and Pacer said we'd probably lose 10sec over the next mile as it was uphill. So of course we ran the next mile in 7:05 and added even more time. At the 11 mile mark, we had 50sec cushion so Pacer decided to stop and wait for people to catch up to him. I took off, ran the next mile in 7:15 and the last 1.1 in 7:45, coming in with the clock reading 1:34:05. I then assumed a look of extreme pain as I went along the chute and collapsed onto the first curb I found.

A couple minutes later Roommate came in - he had caught the Pacer at mile 12 and came in at 1:36. I then almost tripped over Roommate as an extremely fit and comely woman in short spandex was bending at her waist for some post-race stretches. Subtlety has never been my forte'. Found my car and got out of there and we were home by 9:45am.

Overall the organizers did a very good job. The two missing mile markers - especially so early when people are trying to establish pace - wasn't cool, but other than that I don't have any complaints. Starting/finishing at a mall is a great idea. Water stations were well organized, except that, in addition to good old southern California freshwater, they served some crap called Ultima that I'd never heard of.

I mainly am just happy that I have a baseline with which to work for future halfs. Starting Tuesday, I'm going to do the FIRST program and NROL together, in addition to 1-2 bike rides a week. I'll see if I need to cut back on workout frequency to keep up the intensity on the runs, because I have to drop another 10:30 to get back to PR territory on halfs.

[kmwest]

Official results:

Overall: 293 out of 7148
Men: 246 out of 2864
M 18-24: 25 out of 124
Age/Grade: 63.18% Place: 873
Finish: 1:33:45 Pace: 7:10
Tag Time: 1:33:45
Gun Time: 1:34:01
6.6 Mile: 47:58 Pace: 7:17
Whoa! Negative splits!

The overall winner ran it in 1:02:45. I think that's the fastest I've seen at a relatively small race.

Also, my Soviet Communist Party bike jersey (seventh down here) arrived in the mail, ready for my long ride next weekend and my first bike race on Feb 22!

[twinsavsvikingsfan]

Congrats on getting back into it!

[BamaDave]

Good job - I figured you would do better than you expected. Sounds like a great race!

[kmwest]

Thanks guys. Jim, maybe someday I'll be as fast as you again.

[twinsavsvikingsfan]

Originally Posted by kmwest

Thanks guys. Jim, maybe someday I'll be as fast as you again.

Training for ultras and running through ice and snow for the past couple months has done in any semblance of speed I had. A 1:33 would really be pushing it right now. Great job, man. You'll be sub-1:30 before you know it and be pushing a PR by the end of the summer no problem.

[kmwest]

I'll be spending late March to late April on an exercise in Yuma, so I'll see how that goes, training-wise. There's a 1/2-M and 5k here in La Jolla on Apr 26, then another half here in September. I hope to go sub-1:30 by that point.

[kmwest]

Pics are up:
http://www.brightroom.com/go.asp?48044666

[BamaDave]

Good pics! They took a bunch of them.

[kmwest]

Sorry I haven't been logging - last week at least I did an 18:30 3-mile on my Physical Fitness Test, and Sunday I did a 10-miler in 1:21, including a fun hike up and down my road which includes an 18% grade. It's been raining a fair deal in San Diego recently, so it's not as hospitable for running/cycling (as I learned after biking in a rainstorm on Saturday).

I'm headed to Minneapolis on Friday for the President's Day / Valentine's Day long weekend. My girlfriend and I are going to an ice hockey game on V-day.

[BamaDave]

Hope the V-day trip was a good one!

[kmwest]

Sure was, except that the Minnesota Wild blew a 3-0 lead coming out of the first period to lose 5-3. WTF?

[kmwest]

17 Feb 09

Run
Speedwork - FIRST 1/2-M program, Week 18

~12:00 easy warmup
400m x 12 @ 1:23 each (90sec RI)
Done on a road in my neighborhood with a slight grade.
1) 1:16 uphill
2) 1:20 downhill
3) 1:24 U
4) 1:22 D
5) 1:23 U
6) 1:24 D
7) 1:24 U
8) 1:22 D
9) 1:24 U
10) 1:24 D
11) 1:26 U
12) 1:22 D

I'm not too sure about the actual distance here - my Forerunner was a little sketchy. The first two were what I measured out as 400m with the Garmin, but then I ran them far faster than 1:23 with ease (1:23 is the prescribed pace by the FIRST book given my recent 3-mile time of 18:30, extrapolated to a rough 5k of 19:15). So I extended it out another 10m or so to a street sign. Then I was hitting around abouts 1:23 each. So I probably ran longer than 400m; I guess that's what sucks about not running speedwork on a track.

-----------

18-19 Feb
Late days at work, no workouts. Don't wanna talk about it.

-----------

20 Feb

Unit PT

Boots run, followed by a race to carry a stretcher (with person) and numerous full water jugs up a big-ass hill and back down. My platoon got second place. We were robbed.
----------

21 Feb

Group bike ride
~45mi
~3:00

I rode again with the San Diego Bike Club on their Saturday morning group rides. I moved up from the "Developmental 3" ride to the "Developmental 1" ride, meaning another 10 miles and much much faster (and no hot chicks, only a lot of really competitive dudes). Did alright, kept up most of the time. Lots of killer hills in San Diego county.

I was involved in a crash - I was riding about 6-10" off a dude's rear wheel when the ass decided to stop for absolutely no reason. I couldn't swerve in time, so our wheels touched and down we went. It bent his back wheel into the infinity symbol, with my bike nearly unaffected (I had to readjust my brakes, that's all). However, I might have sprained my right wrist in breaking my fall. It hurts.

Later on, as I was taking off at a green light, a car decided to turn right in front of me instead of going straight, as his lack of turn signals would suggest. As such he sideswiped me. I got a little wobbly but recovered. Thankfully there were numerous witnesses including one guy who offered to run down the car and get the plate number.

Overall, a fun and challenging ride. I got numerous comments from other riders (all positive) regarding my jersey:



Most of them asked if I was Russian or "from the Soviet Union." (No, I'm not Russian. I'm from Indiana. I am celebrating our 20-year-old victory over communism.) I also got a "solidarity fist" from a car passenger. Rock on, fellow traveler, rock on.

I have my 26-mile bike race next Saturday. The weekend after that is a 12-mile time trial on Fiesta Island (next to Sea World). I'm thinking about it. We'll see how the race goes.