User Error

Monday evening I went out to run a 5k, dutifully warmed up, and then started my tracking app. I pushed myself but felt slow and was surprised at how difficult the whole effort felt. I was displeased with my finishing time and figured I must have walked more than I thought and been slowed down by the humidity. Not every run can be great, so I let it go.

Today I realized what was going on. I'd left my app settings to measure distance based on a constant speed of 16:40 min/mile (which I use for walking around my office sometimes) instead of GPS tracking and ended up running a 4.25-mile "5k." Counting warm-up and cool down, I did 4.9 miles total.

That would explain why it took me nearly an hour. Good to know. And I'll not make that mistake again.

2015 Races I Ran

For posterity, I'm going to make a blog post for each year listing all the races I've completed. I really only started writing them down in one place in 2013, so it will be a challenge to go back and figure out what the heck I did from 2010-2012.

Here is 2015:
 

Date	Name	Type	Distance
1-04-15	LifeTime Tri	indoor	1 hr tri
1-10-15	Bold in the Cold	road	15k
1-31-15	Big D Climb	stairs	53 stories
2-14-15	Dash for the Beads	road	5k
3-29-15	Historic McKinney Kiwanis	sprint tri	Distance
4-14-15	Five55 Series*	aquathlon	500m + 5k
4-19-15	Caveman Tri**	sprint tri	Distance
5-10-15	JCC Bagel Run***	road	10k
5-16-15	Bubble Run	fun run	5k
5-17-15	Grand Tri Fest****	sprint tri	Distance
8-08-15	Cobra Brew	road	5k
9-07-15	Blackland Tri	sprint tri	Distance
9-26-15	Jailbreak	obstacle/mud	5k
9-27-15	Stonebridge Tri	sprint tri	Distance
11-1-15	LLS Light the Night	charity walk	5k
11-14-15	Trinity River Run	road	5k
11-26-15	Cold Turkey (SLC)	road	5k
12-6-15	Ugly Sweater Run (NE)	road	5k

That's 14 events completed!

Missed due to *injury and **illness
***Canceled due to tornadoes
****Canceled due to flooding
All within a month. No refunds, no transfers, no fun.


2010-12 Races I Ran

2013 Races I Ran 
2014 Races I Ran
...
2016 Races I Ran 

2014 Races I Ran

For posterity, I'm going to make a blog post for each year listing all the races I've completed. I really only started writing them down in one place in 2013, so it will be a challenge to go back and figure out what the heck I did from 2010-2012.

I sign up for A LOT of races because I do it for fun, not for performance. But I'll admit that I pretty much lost my damn mind in 2014.
  
Here it is:

Date	Name	Type	Distance
March	US Road Running	virtual	5k
3-01-14	Be the Match	road	5k
3-22-14	Warrior Dash	obstacle/mud	5k
April	US RR	virtual	5k
4-10-14	White Rock Celebration	road	5k
4-21-14	Stand with Boston	virtual	10k
4-27-14	Lone Star	road	10k
5-03-14	Cinco de Miler	road	5 mi
5-03-14	Cinco de Muddo	obstacle/mud	5k
5-04-14	Tough Mudder	obstacle/mud	12 mi
5-08-14	Katy Trail	road	5k
5-10-14	Gladiator	obstacle/mud	5k
5-11-14	JCC Bagel Run	road	10k
5-14-14	Jumpin Jellyfish	virtual	5k
5-17-14	Spartan Super	obstacle/mud	8-10 mi
5-18-14	Spartan Sprint	obstacle/mud	4-5 mi
5-22-14	US RR Diamond	virtual	10k
5-24-14	World Domination	virtual	5k
5-26-14	US RR	virtual	5k
6-18-14	Merrell Down & Dirty	obstacle/mud	6 mi
6-17-14	Red Pirate US RR	virtual	5k
7-12-14	RAMS	road	5k
8-23-14	Nocturnal Lands	fun run	5k
8-31-14	Disneyland	road	half
10-4-14	Rugged & Raw	trail	10k
October	Choice 5k	virtual	5k
10-14-14	Five55 Series	aquathlon	500m + 5k
10-19-14	Honored Hero Half	road	half
10-25-14	Double Trouble*	road	5k/10k
11-15-14	Six:02	road	6k
11-27-14	Turkey Trot	road	8 mi
12-28-14	One Big Fat Run	virtual	5k

That's 31 races run!

*Double Trouble was really obnoxious in that I couldn't find any registration confirmation from when I registered in July and did not receive any updates and ended up going out of town instead of running it and couldn't get a refund or transfer or anything.
  
My 2010-12 Races
My 2013 Races
... 
My 2015 Races 
My 2016 Races

2013 Races I Ran

For posterity, I'm going to make a blog post for each year listing all the races I've completed. I really only started writing them down in one place in 2013, so it will be a challenge to go back and figure out what the heck I did from 2010-2012.

I sign up for A LOT of races because I do it for fun, not for performance.

So here's 2013: 

Date	Name	Type	Distance
1-19-13	Electric Run	fun run	5k
2-02-13	Graffiti Run	fun run	5k
4-06-13	Hero Rush	obstacle/mud	4-5 mi
5-14-13	Bring Home Bowe	road	5k
6-01-13	Miles of Mud	mud/obstacle	4 mi
6-22-13	Splash Dash	fun run	5k
9-07-13	Mud Factor	obstacle/mud	5k
9-21-13	Neon Splash Dash	fun run	5k
9-30-13	Get Out & Run	virtual	10k
10-05-13	Rugged & Raw	trail	10k
10-19-13	Choice 5k	road	5k
10-20-13	Get Out & Run	virtual	10k
10-22-13	Halloween Team	virtual	5k
11-01-13	Bad Prom Run	fun run	5k
11-23-13	Savage Race*	obstacle/mud	10k
11-xx-13	Get Out & Run	virtual	10k
11-30-13	Ugly Sweater Run	fun run	5k
12-01-13	Fit Fatties	virtual	5k
12-15-13	Spartan Beast	obstacle/mud	15.2 mi

That's 19 races run!

*Savage Race was my first ever DNF, and I am very proud of it.

My 2010-12 Races
...
My 2014 Races
My 2015 Races  My 2016 Races

2010-2012 Races I Ran

For posterity, I'm going to make a blog post for each year listing all the races I've completed. I really only started writing them down in one place in 2013, so it's been a challenge to go back and figure out what the heck I did from 2010-2012.

Date	Name	Type	Distance
7-24-10	Boryeong Mud Festival	mud flats	5k
9-12-10	DMZ International Peace Marathon	road	10k
10-2-10	Energizer Night Race	road (zoo)	5k
10-30-10	???*	road	10k
11-14-10	8th Sports Seoul Marathon?	Type	Distance
11-21-10	Son Koe-Chung Peace Marathon	road	5k
12-19-10	Something Else?	road	distance
4-16-11	Warrior Dash	obstacle/mud	5k
5-01-11	Heels and Hills	road	half
6-05-11	Merrell Down & Dirty	obstacle/mud	5k
6-25-11	Patriot Games	obstacle/mud	5k
6-16-12	Gladiator	obstacle/mud	4 mi
11-03-12	Foam Fest	obstacle/mud	5k
11-17-12	Glo Run	fun run	5k

*I have pictures from this event but cannot find any other info. It was the "World Cup Stadium Marathon" or something like that.

That's 14 races run!

My 2013 Races 
My 2014 Races
My 2015 Races  My 2016 Races

Let's Talk Truthfully About Trainers

The Daily Beast has a great article about important questions to ask when you are searching for a physical trainer. It's definitely worth a read:

... the health and fitness industry is rife with problems. The hype, the body-shaming, the obsession with weight and body-fat—these things stand as barriers to people actually adopting healthy habits that they can maintain throughout their lives. Even so, this is the industry we look to when we decide we want to learn about our bodies—how they work, and how to take care of them, and how we can use them to experience enjoyable, natural movement.

So, if you have a trainer, or you’re thinking about hiring a trainer or some other sort of health professional, you want to be in the best hands. I offer here a simple test: three questions to pose to your potential health guru, to weed out the bad ones. And believe me, there are bad ones out there.

1: Do I Need to Lose Weight?

No.

You don’t need to lose weight. If you’re an average American, you probably need to be more physically active, and you could probably tweak your diet in any number of ways. But your trainer should not be telling you that you need to lose weight.

The above sentiment may surprise, and even upset a lot of people. But the very fact that the idea of “not needing to lose weight” seems so radical is a testament to the brokenness of our health culture.

Despite our obsession with it, weight is a poor proxy for individuals’ health.

  

Here's the link to the rest of it.

I'm Going to Run a Marathon

I took the plunge and signed up with Team in Training to train for my first marathon, the Dallas Marathon on December 11, 2016. That's 26.2 miles. I don't even like driving that far.

How it works is that I commit to fundraising for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and they provide me race training with a coach and a local group.

Honestly, I'm really scared.

Two years ago I completed two half marathons while suffering through IT Band Syndrome, which caused excruciating knee pain that left me crying hard through the last mile or two of the 13.1-mile Honored Hero Run in October 2014.

Though I'll be working with a coach and seeing other runners once a week, I'll ultimately be logging hundreds of long, hot miles this summer and fall all alone. So I need your help:

1. Ask me how training is going.
2. Nicely point out my typos.
3. Remind me to stretch.
4. Donate if you can.

And I'll keep putting in the miles and keep you updated on this journey.

Camp Gladiator: Mixed Bag

This morning was my 8th visit to Camp Gladiator and marked the beginning of metabolic conditioning week, where the workouts utilize the things we've worked on for the past 3 weeks and take it up a notch as far as difficulty/intensity. But where I floundered over the last 2 weeks, today was my favorite CG workout of all.

Camp Gladiator is kind of like a boot camp setup with challenging exercises but with a positive atmosphere. The trainers are very upbeat and encouraging, quick to offer suggestions for modifications and reminding you to try your best; they let you determine what your 100% effort feels like.

I signed up because of a spring promotion where I pay $10 up front and can attend unlimited sessions for 4 weeks. If I attend fewer than 10, I get charged more money, so it’s a great incentive.

Week 1 focused on endurance exercises and included a fitness test that I finished in the allotted time but was unable to complete the last 9 of 50 consecutive push-ups. We’ll test again this Wednesday. Week 2 focused on functionality, specifically core-strengthening exercises. We use yoga mats in a parking lot, and my back, knees, and elbows have been bruised to hell because of it. Week 3 was high-intensity interval training. As an endurance athlete, I can’t really do this stuff.

Week 4 started today, its focus being metabolic conditioning. We did 3 minutes of alternating hard exercises (dumbbell squats + curl, push-ups + row, dumbbell squats, dumbbell swings, and Russian twists with a dumbbell) followed by rest and then a quick seven-tenths-mile lap for three or four rotations.

I usually lag far behind the rest of the campers except those who are injured, but I freaking killed it today, pacing and passing a few back-of-the-pack runners on every lap after the warmup except for the final lap when I bonked, in need of fuel.

And actually on Saturday, my workout partner and I dominated one of the exercises where we take turns holding one another back with a resistance band while sprinting and finished ahead of everyone else, working just as hard. A lot of this can be attributed to flow; we figured out how to quickly switch holding and wearing the band on each rotation, but that doesn't detract from the accomplishment in any way.

It's been fun and surprising to find out how my strengths translate to CG workouts, because mostly they don't.