Hello November

October 2016 has come and gone, and what a time it was. Slightly warmer than I would really like, it was pretty comfortable all month. I got in the first 2 races in my 12 in 8 streak completed with the New River Trail 50k and the Triple Lakes Trail Marathon. Here's how the numbers shook down:

Swim: 19,800 yards, 7 swims
Bike: nothing again!
Run: 120.2 miles, 10 runs, 2 races
Strength: 4 times
Yoga: 8 times

Swimming and yoga was my recovery strategy between the marathons. With races of 31 and 26.2 miles, almost half of that monthly total running miles came from there. I still got in 16 and 18 mile long runs in between, and plenty of others. Overall this was a solid month of training and I can't complain a bit about my performance in either race. And the 50k put my annual mileage over the 1000 mark for the year, well on my way to getting that 1200 mile goal.

This may be the latest monthly recap I've ever written (the 20th? really?) so now I have to remember what else happened. At least there are some pictures. oh wait, some of those are really horrible.

Trail running!

Beautiful day, beautiful Umstead State park

For Halloween this year, Evil Genius wanted to be a Generic Greek Goddess, and Ella wanted to be a Cheshire Cat. Mom sewed EG's dress and sent it to us, then Kelley added some decoration and built Ella's costume from scratch. It's insane. Mad respect for her pulling off the costumes this year. The only thing I did was wear Ella's shirt so it would be stretched tight enough to apply duct tape. We went trick or treating with EG's best friend and her whole family. One of the best Halloween's yet. for sure.

The whole crew in costume

trick or treating action shot

with the haul at the end of the night

 Topless Year
I did get one photo for the Topless Year project. It was warm some, but there was a disturbing lack of pictures.

Outside of swim practice on 10/10

there was some bad. and I'm writing this the week of Thanksgiving, so I already feel sorry for my pants and the amount of stretching that they are about to go through. Buttons will be pushed to their limits, possibly because of their starting point.

oh, that's bad

that's just a shadow

I have man-tits now. must get a sports-bro to contain those moobs. protect your children!

i'm fat again. Not as big as I was before 2011, of course, but well over the happy weight maximum. The stack of fat pants that I kept in the corner now fits pretty well. You see the water belt in that top picture? that flap of belly fat hanging down below it usually isn't there. And I look like I have man-boobs now. ugh. nobody wants that. Normally a summer full of triathlon training would have put off the weight gain until the offseason. Instead I just kept gaining. I don't feel like I'm eating that bad. Maybe I'm drinking too much beer, but usually not more than 2 at a time. The really strange part is that I don't feel bad about it until I have to put on a suit for swim practice or see pictures like those. it's just something that has happened over the last several months. I'm numb to it. And the week of thanksgiving is not the time to start any kind of nutrition change, so I'll address it later. But it does need to be addressed and I need to stop hiding.

12 in 8 update
I did add 2 more marathons to the 12 in 8 list. Looks like we're going back to the Myrtle Beach marathon, my 3rd time running the full there. Looks like there are several friends going down this year so I'm looking forward to seeing some people. Also added the Skidaway Island marathon to the schedule. This race is in Savannah, so the family will get a week-long beach vacation while the kids are out of school in March. I think my mom is going to come down too, it's going to be a blast.

The Raleigh Runaround was cancelled, so those 2 marathons fell off of my schedule in October. That means I currently have 3 races completed, and nothing else on the schedule until march. 3 marathons in March and 2 in April might actually finish off the streak.

The four other marathons that I have yet to register for might not happen. I think the first Oak Island marathon in February on the NC Coast would be a good fit, but getting a weekend at the beach might not be worth it. The others are the triple to finish the streak from the Mainly Marathons crew, and those are expensive too. A trip to Oregon in September 2017 is also likely for the Boring Marathon outside of Portland, and maybe even trying the 100k at Javelina Jundred in Arizona in October. So I might save for 2 plane trips instead of 4 driving marathons. All opinions are welcome on that.

Cheers to a great november! and have a happy thanksgiving.

Goodbye Hell

August is OVER! I'm preaching the good word here, we don't have to worry about August again for another 334 days. This August was hot, humid, and overall terrible. September 2nd is only supposed to be 75* thanks to a hurricane that is blowing off of the coastline. That is all kinds of right.

Swim: 45,500y, 14 swims
Bike: zilch, as it should be
Run: 120.1 miles, 15 runs
Strength: 7 times
Yoga: 8 times

Wow, those are the kind of swim numbers I haven't seen since I was training for the 12 miler last year. And once again I am absolutely loving the water. Now that I have a job that lets me comfortably make the noon swim team practices, that makes all the difference in the world. I really love this job. And in the water I set a new PR of 1:08 for the 100 yard sprint! The volume is paying off. Loving it.

The entire 120 miles of running was done on the treadmill. Marathon training is going great. I'm able to go fast and long. I had a treadmill time trial half marathon where I set a PR of 1:42:14. Other than that, I've just been following the plan and getting ready for marathon season.

Speaking of that, one of the most depressing parts about August is that I had absolutely nothing to look forward to. No races, no trail running, no time outdoors. Nothing but crushing depression, cynicism about our political corruption, the crushing cost of health insurance that I don't use and doesn't cover anything anyway, and the continued utter failure to lift my head enough to hang out with my friends or take my children anywhere. Evil Genius didn't want to go with her Indian Princess tribe to Camp Rockmont so no whitewater rafting with her tribe this month. Ella's tribe had a beach trip to Surf City, but not many other dads could make it and it was just too hot for me. So depressing.

Now that September is here I do actually have something to look forward to. High temperatures are going to be in the 70's again! That's actually comfortable, and not only at 3 am. And I have events! Here's what's coming up

Sept 10: RAM team summer party
Sept 11: Oak City Mile 1 mile race
Sept 23: Wilmington NC trip for college buddy's 40th birthday (maybe)
Oct 1: New River 50k trail race
Oct 8: last swim race of the season at Jordan Lake 1.2 miles
Oct 29: Triple Lakes trail marathon
Nov 6: City of Oaks marathon

So that is a lot to look forward to.

12 in 8 update
Well I did get registered for one more Fall marathon, the Triple Lakes Trail race. It's in Greensboro, so no hotel room and it was only a $50 registration. Looks like that will be the last one to add for the fall. The MD marathon on Nov 26 is likely not going to happen for me. Trying not to schedule anything for December thanks to the holidays, so it's going to be a busy spring if I'm going to pull this off.

Triple lakes, though. Come run some trails with me.

Topless Year
I really didn't think it was going to happen this month.

Inside the office parking garage on 8/5. It's a 6 minute commute, I was drenched in sweat by the time I got home.

I put the top down driving home from church on 8/17. Night time was the best time to avoid the heat.

Leaving the gym 8/18 was actually pleasant. The humidity broke for a day, but it was still hot.

It was so pleasant without that humidity, Ella and I drove around downtown for a bit.

Onward and upward! College football starts tonight, we've got the labor day weekend coming up, and fall is in the air. It's about time!

Made it!

Thank God July is OVER! We made it through, people. The worst is behind us, at least until August gets here. Ok fine, August is usually the worst month for me. But this July was terrible and I'm glad it's in the rear view.

Swim: 32,800 yards, 10 swims, 1 race
Bike: zero, thankfully
Run: 104 miles, 17 runs
Strength: 4 times
Yoga: 6 times

The only race in July was the Little Uno open water swim. Almost 33k in the water is a ton of yards, so that's really going great. My masters coach found a flaw in my left arm motion when I'm breathing to the right, so fixing that has really helped the last week or so. July was also the first time since Umstead 100 training back in March that I have topped 100 miles in a month. I guess really that means that April, May, and June were under that magic number, but I'm glad to be back on a marathon training plan nonetheless. Strength training and yoga are consistent with expectations, I wish I could do more.

There was a couple of cool speed milestones in July. First I've already written about the 5k running time trial where I ended up with a 21:48 treadmill PR. I felt good at the end of it too, not my normal "hold on until death" thing that typically happens at that speed.

Then Friday 7/29 in the pool I got a nice breakthrough. We did an 1100 yard warmup, then coach said "1000 freestyle for time. Go." and we took off. AFTER THAT he wanted to do 25 yard sprints. after that. ugh. Now 2 years ago those times were always around 20 seconds. Last year I did all of that volume getting ready for the Swim Around Charleston and got those times down around 16 seconds consistently, and a few times got 15 seconds. Friday I hit 14 seconds 6 of 8 times, and even nailed a 13.8 second sprint!! That's insane. For reference, the olympians are barely breaking 12 seconds.

Friday night I came down with some kind of sinus thing that kept me in the recliner on Saturday. But Sunday I did make it to church then hit the gym for the 10k time trial on my training plan. Again this is on the treadmill since it's nearly impossible to walk from the car to the gym door without melting. I did the first half at an 8.0 mph speed, then increased to 8.1, 8.2, and did the last mile at 8.3. I think the total time was 45:40, which again is a new *treadmill PR for that distance.

August Cometh
I am so ready for this heat to break. August is usually the worst month of the year for the heat, but I can't imagine it can be any worse than July. Humidity was over 90% most of the month, heat index was typically between 112* and 118* - TYPICALLY. There is no rational explanation for that. I have no races scheduled for August. The end of August typically brings us the start of College Football, so that's really all I have to look forward to this month. That and lots more treadmill miles. Maybe this heat will break? please?

12 in 8 marathons update
Turns out, the deferment we got last year for the Kiawah Island marathon only got us a discount on this years race. On top of that, it looks like my brother is going to be moving out of the area soon anyway so we'd have to pay for a hotel room. And together that pushes any Charleston races out of the budget. I hate that, because I absolutely love going down to Charleston to race, but it is what it is.

I did get registered for the New River Trail 50k in Galax VA on October 1st. This is the race that my training plan is designed for, and was the first race on my spreadsheet for the streak. Very glad to have this one on the books. I'm definitely registered for 3 of the 12 now.

I'm thinking about replacing Kiawah with the North Central Trail Marathon in Maryland. Anyone ever heard of this? it seems like a small race, but could be a fun part of the state between DC and Baltimore. It's on trails, November 29, so everything else seems like it will fit my schedule.

Topless Year
I got a few pics with the top down in July. It wasn't easy. A black leather interior in a convertible is a terrible idea.

July 4th, topless and tanked for the holiday

7/24, my niece Kaileigh was in town for her birthday

That is it for now. Keep your head up, I hope you are having a good summer. I'm still blue and waiting for fall when I can run outside again.

Half the year is GONE

2016 is really flying by. I'm kind of glad, it's been a really rough year overall, which makes days like my last post really special. We learn to roll with the punches and appreciate the days we don't get punched. June was a real motherfucker in particular. With all of the new job stress on top of this heat wave I'm not mad to see July.

Swim: 30,000 yards, 11 swims, 1 race
Bike: 14 miles, all in the 1 race
Run: 66.1 miles, 11 runs, 1 race
Strength: 9 times
Yoga: 4 times

Ha! the only bike ride for the month (and probably the last ride for the year) was during my last triathlon. I have to admit it feels REALLY good to be at that 30k barrier in swimming. Didn't expect to hit that nice round number so exactly, but whatever. it's pretty cool.

In the month of June, I stopped Project 225 where I was weightlifting as a priority, and transitioned back onto a marathon training plan. Project 225 was great, and a lot of fun. But ultimately it did not do what I wanted it to do for my body. Marathon training only giving me 66 miles is pretty pitiful, but the plan didn't start until the month was a third over. So that's about right. And the beginning of a training plan doesn't have really long runs anyway; I only had 1 run of 10 miles.

So this was truly a month of transition. Even spring gave way to summer on the calendar.

Other June Stuff:
The kids have been out of school all month, and they have been having a blast. Ella's not nervous about starting middle school, but I bet she's in for a nice transition.

Ella wore that cape everywhere. People loved it.

EG was nervous about being in the angry birds slingshot

The final construction step for this bathroom finally came in. The shower doors were installed. Only took about 5 weeks (they said 2) for it to get ordered, built, and installed.

I didn't write up a Fathers day post, but we did have a lot of fun for Fathers day. I'm very grateful for my family even if I can't always express it properly. It was nice to get some of that love back to me.

That's a happy family

We finished off the month last weekend with a family hike in Umstead state park. It was my first time back to the park since the Umstead 100 and I don't think I stopped smiling the entire time we were there. The day was kind of hot, but not as bad as most of the rest of the month. Mostly it was fantastic just to get the kids active and in the woods!

Taking down some single track

Why did EG have to sit in my lap? adorable but hot

Finally, I did get some decent time riding around with the top down in the car. Topless June was really too hot to drive most days, a black interior was a bad idea. But there are these:

6/6, why so cloudy?

6/18, I kept it short

Enter Summertime Depression

JUUUUUUUUUUNE! What happened here? May came and went very fast. Spring blossomed into summer before I was ready.

Swim: 9400 yards, 4 swims, 1 race
Bike: 22 miles, 2 rides
Run: 36 miles, 6 runs
Strength: 12 times
Yoga: 8 times

I did strength training more than anything else in May, and the results are starting to show up. That's great. 36 miles running over 6 times lacing up the shoes? that's pitiful. The rest is basic triathlon training. The goal I'm working on right now is bench pressing 225 lbs. As much fun as that is, it's not going to get me ready for this year's triathlons. I have a sprint and a half iron this year, and two other open water swim races. I'm also still lining up this fall's marathon lineup, but I'll start training for that in July or August. Right now it's time to lift.

The truth is that it's too hot now to run outside until the fall. I'm done. Every summer I get Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD disease) when it gets really hot here. I hate it. It's already really hot. Last Saturday I went out for a 10 mile run, but cut it down to 6 when the heat kicked in 30 seconds after I left the house. After about 4.5 miles the front of my left shoulder muscle was very painfully fatigued. I could barely hold my arm up it hurt so bad. That was a combination of dehydration from the heat and being sore from the lifting. The important part right now is lifting, so I need to cool it with the 10+ mile runs. And it's time to stick to the treadmill until the awful summer heat goes away again.

The other reason I have my sights set on the fall is my new job! This contract in Durham that I've been on since Thanksgiving is finally wrapping up June 1st. This place has had it's share of frustrations for me, and I have completely lost my faith in state government offices now. I'm sure the elected officials really actually care about what they promise the people, but the last 9 months working in two different state offices has given me a different viewpoint.

Next monday I start working at a dream company, 2 miles from my house. It's using all modern frameworks and I am very optimistic that I will be able to stay there for a long time and be quite satisfied with both the company and the technology stack that we work on. It's a contract-to-hire position, so sometime in the next 4 to 6 months I will convert to a full-time employee. Come on fall!

5/4 was a nice day outside

But by 5/24 it was too hot. Mean mugging outside of my own house.

Got 2 good shots with the top down on the Audi this month. It's getting too hot to let that black leather interior bake in the open sunlight. That turned out to be a horrible idea.

So June is here, it's hot as hell outside, and I'm not leaving the air conditioning until it's not depressing anymore. Until then you can find me in the gym.

Ciao May Fun

April turned out to be completely insane. We had this work on the bathroom remodel going all. month. long. It had the entire house turned upside down, and Kelley got super stressed about it. Also her mother made the move up to NC, finally. She closed on a condo about 4 miles from us so we spent a lot of our weekends getting her setup over there. I am so glad she's in town now! But I'm also glad that April is behind me.

Neena getting settled in

Swim: 4800 yards, 2 swims
Bike: 10 miles, 1 ride
Run: 97 miles, 4 runs, 1 race
Strength: 9 times
Yoga: 4 times

Obviously clearing 75 miles in the Umstead 100 was the athletic highlight for the month of April. It was also my primary goal for the year. The most shocking thing was that I ran 3 other times on the month. The recovery time was exaggerated by a sinus flare-up which has finally started to die down but is still sometimes problematic, even in early May. 13 days after the race I did some bodyweight strength stuff, then on the 16th got on the bike to spin my legs out. My feet took a for the swelling to go down, but using those muscles again really took a while.

My next goal is to get my bench press up to 225 lbs. That's two 45 lb plates on each side of the bar. I'll call it a win when I just get it up once, but I've got a way to go. The plan I'm using for this started on 4/18 in earnest. I'm trying to focus on chest days on Mondays and Thursdays, but supposed to be lifting 5 days a week. So far it's going really well. My initial test for my 1 rep max came in at 185 lbs, that's a 45 and a 25 lb plate per side. So I've got 40 lbs to go.

I'm also starting to get ready for triathlon season, trying to swim/bike/run twice per sport per week. So far, I've only been able to hit the Tuesday evening swim practice. Turns out North Carolina's most idiotic regulation ever (HB2 or the Bathroom Bill) is keeping jobs away and existing hiring managers are going dark. That means I'm still driving to Durham every day and unable to make my favorite noon swim practices. That stupid, discriminatory law is really messing me up - it's not who we are in NC and it is costing us big time.

4/4 was a beautiful day

4/15 hey it was cooler but I had to help my MIL get moved in

I got a few good chances for driving with the top down. That bottom pic I had to haul a ladder over to MIL's new condo - not an easy feat in a 2 seater. You'll also notice the beard is gone, it didn't last long after the Umstead.

Also obvious after seeing those pictures, Ciao May Fun is a reference to my favorite chinese food Chow Mei Fun. Recovery eating has led straight into weightlifting bulk eating and it has not been kind to my waistline. Usually this time of year I'm either going through a weight loss phase or base building into a training plan for something big, not chugging my way into the offseason. About time to get beach ready?

Ciao May Fun is also a clever way to say hello to a new month where it's not summertime hot yet, but there is a pending return to normal life. The bathroom remodel is wrapping up, Neena is getting settled in, and my first open water swim race of the summer is coming up this Sunday. Can't ask for much more!

February really happened

And boy am I glad that's over! February is winter's version of August. It's always terrible. It's the only month where I regularly get sick. They go and stick that made up greeting card holiday Valentine's right in the middle. ugh. spit. phew.

Swim: 0
Bike: 0
Run: 138.4, 14 runs
Strength: 7 times
Yoga: 7 times

Dang, everything was down. I'm ok with no swimming or biking, but I should have cleared 200 miles of running. 138 is pitiful. Yes there are excuses, I had the flu for a week, there were some recovery weeks in there. But the last week of the month was the biggest week in the training plan (70 miles) and I actually cleared 60 miles of that after bailing on the last day's mileage. My training plan had 20 runs totally 242 miles. I did miss 6 days for the flu. Wednesdays have gotten hard to run on thanks to other commitments. I'm at the point in the plan where I can't just knock out a quick 5 before work, it's all 10 miles or more that takes 90 to 115 minutes each. Ordinarily a 138 mile month would be nothing to sneeze at. But for 100 mile ultra training, it's just not enough volume.

That brings up my current point of panic - the Umstead 100 is one month from today, April 2nd. It seemed like such a good idea at the time. I volunteer, run a bunch of miles with these idiots, then decide to become one of them. It worked for me in Ironman. I'm trying to muster up enough confidence that it will work for me again. Hundo's are just as mental as ironman. I know that my body is capable of putting in the miles. I know that people drop out of hundo's because they don't eat enough, and I know that I can eat and run, and I know that they will have enough food to keep us all going. I have a 12 hour race coming up, and another 80 mile week before taper. it's going to be ok.

Topless Time

The weather in NC did open up to the truly beautiful a couple of times. I got the first shot on Feb 1 and the last one on Feb 28, because the entire rest of the month was too cold or rainy or just plain gray to ride around with the top down.

In the driveway after driving home from work

Evil Genius wanted to go to church on the 28th

In other happenings during February, I wasn't blogging. 2 posts last month was a new low. The closest thing to something remotely interesting was when Evil Genius and I both wore shirts from my San Diego trip on the same day. Trying to get a clean picture of it means Ella has to get in on the action too.

Hope you had a great month!

Jan Stats

January 2016 was a whirlwind, wonderful month filled with adventure.

Swim: 0
Bike: 10 miles, 1 ride
Run: 173.1 miles, 12 runs, 1 race
Strength: 11 times
Yoga: 8 times

Doesn't look like I'm going to be swimming again until after the Umstead 100, I suspended my team membership until April. But it will be a glorious return to the pool then. When I wasn't swimming, there was 173 miles of running, which is a new personal record, narrowly beating December's 170 miles. And I skipped a 17 mile run on Sunday, last day of the month. After the 21 miles I put up on Saturday I just couldn't get out there again, guess I needed some extra recovery time after the 50 mile race. Oh yea, and I finished a 50 mile trail race this month - first 50 finish! My cross training was almost daily strength work either in the gym or bodyweight stuff at home. I've been doing 50 pushups a day (when I actually get down to do them).

The highlight of the month, obviously, was the week I spent in San Diego with my parents. The race was the only workout I got while we were out there. All of the other time was spent sightseeing and whalewatching. So much fun!

Topless Picture Day!

Jan 10 was warm enough for me to drive home from church with the top down. This is one of my annual goals, to drive with the top down once every month this year. Jan is done!

Then it snowed

Near the end of the month we got our first snowfall of the winter. It was about half an inch of ice with another inch or so of snow on top of it. Just enough to keep us inside of the house for 4 days straight, but we never lost power or ran out of food (or beer).

After I got home from San Diego with the Finishers glass from the San Diego 50, Kelley found some Coronado Brewing Company IPA in the grocery here. Made for a fitting celebration for my PDR.

Finally in kid news, we got to plan some of the spring stuff with Evil Genius' Indian Princess tribe. Going to be lots of fun!

I hope your month had as much fun as mine did! February is looking like more of the same. No swimming, tons of running, lots of fun times with the kids.