The Dreaded Taper

Day 3 of the taper...got a great massage tonight from Amy...should be a big help for the marathons this weekend. Just finished watching HBO sports with Bryant Gumbell..not a big fan of his but a great series this evening. Can't sleep so I thought I'd blog... A good day at the office making progress on all fronts and very pleased with the management team. Looking forward to Jack's first basketball game on Thursday...a big day. Also looking forwad to the races this weekend. Ate well today, lite breakfast, then volunteered at food kitchen, snacked a little and had a great sushi dinner at Bara. Have a lot that I could blog about but think I should call it a night....tomorrow. Cheers!!

Back to Back Marathons to Finish 2011

I've entered the most frustrating period of training....the Taper. With a little extra weight put on over the Thanksgiving Holiday and unable to run 10 miles a day to burn it off, I'm having to do it the old fashion way.....eat really really healthy and calorie lite foods, with minimal carbs. Alcohol is not on my list of drinks that I can consume...so that'll help me drop weight. Today I got up at 3AM CST to catch my 6:10AM flight to Denver. I enjoyed 2 cups of coffee this am and a banana. When I got to the office I grabbed an apple and a yogurt. For lunch I had a 6 inch turkey sub from Subway, while dinner was a salad from whole foods with chicken. I was able to get in a 90 minute massage which actually was disappointing. He spent 1 hour on back and shoulders after I told the jack ass to work my calfs and feet as well as IT bands, moron! Tomorrow night I get a real massage from Amy with hot stones....she'll do it up right. Looking forward to seeing Jack's first hoops game on Thursday as well as Sadie's choir concert. On Friday I'm heading out to Vegas and onto Death Valley for an 8AM start to the Death Valley Trail Marathon. Post race I'm headed back to Vegas to run the Rock n Roll Marathon on Sunday late afternoon/evening. The Mexican Honey Badger, Hawaiian Ray, Ken and Nancy will all be doing the double marathons....a bunch of crazy Leadville runners...like me. These will be the last two races of the season and I'll be glad to coast into the Xmas holiday satisfied that I accomplished quite a bit, athletically in 2011. Lots of stuff to write about....but gotta get my rest this week so I go into this weekend primed. Will take a bunch of photos...Cheers! PS - I'm going to whip TP's ass at IMAZ......game on!

Post Turkey Day Weight Mgt

Well...I'm tipping the scales at about 185 pounds after gorging myself on turkey, pies and cheesecake. Haven't stopped yet either...as the leftovers deserve a proper intestinal burial as well. It's been quite a while since my last post. I've run one trail marathon and actually placed 1st overall with a time of 3:58. Got picked up by Team Healthways for the 196 Ragnar Relay, from Chattanooga to Nashville..a 196 mile run with an 11 man team. I logged in 35 miles over 24 hour period. A very challenging race given the start and stop nature of the run. I averaged slightly under an 8 minute mile overall...which left my calfs, quads and feet pretty beat up.

The Miamiman 1/2 IM was 2 weekends ago and I decided to scrap the race as my body was still pretty beat up from the Ragnar Race. It was a good decision as I prepare for my last 2 races on the 2011 season. A week from today I'll be racing the Death Valley Trail Marathon and the following evening I'll be on the Vegas strip with a bunch of good friends knocking down the Rock n' Roll Vegas Marathon. Training has been going well. I've been mostly on trails training however last weekend I banged out 22 miles on the roads around Percy Warner Park with Will Stinson and a few gals that are racing the Chattanooga 50 mile trail run in 3 weeks. My Plantar Fasciitis seems to have subsided and replaced with a mild tendonitis in my left mid achilles, or at least that is my preliminary self diagnosis. I need a massage in a bad way. As this season is fast approaching its end I have begun to plan for 2012. On the Official Race Calendar so far are the following races: IM St. George........May 5, 2012 (Registered) Western States 100...June 23, 2012 (Lottery to be drawn on December 10, 2011) Trail du Mont Blanc..August 31, 2012 (Lottery to be drawn on January 20, 2012) Berlin Marathon......September 30, 2012 (Registered) IM Arizona...........November 18, 2012 (Registered) Probably will not be able to do both 100 mile trail runs. The plan is to see if I get picked for Western States on December 10, 2011, which I have about an 11% probability. If I don't then I will register on December 16, 2011 for the Trail du Mont Blanc, which I should have a 67% chance at getting selected on January 20, 2012. If I can't get into either of these races, then I will try to do an IM in Europe. Lot's to do and so little time to do it in....and Oh yes, I forgot, I plan on crushing Timmy at IMAZ.