To run or not to run...

After all the hill repeats, intervals, tempo runs, and CrossFit workouts I am truly faced with my hardest training day yet...NOT running! I fell into a groove this week and ran to many miles before the end of my training week. This normally would not be a problem but the run that was scheduled for today is a hard tempo run. Now I have to face the hardest challenge of proper training which is telling myself you do not improve by running 1 tempo run. I can do plenty to side track my running by cramming this run in today but if I do run it is not going to improve my times. Running (or any other endurance sport) improves after weeks of training are totalled up. It's the sum of all the parts that count. That includes recovering properly. So thats what I'm going to do today. Take a day off. Play some video games. Watch some movies. Definatley NOT RUN!

Hearts and Hills

So Valentines day is here and I thought the best start would be a early season 5K. I signed up for the Cupids Fling 5k last week which was this morning. I start my training next week for the Mini marathon and I need to know my "race" pace for some of my specific workouts. An early season effort is a good measuring stick to go by. Here is a run down of how today's race went.

6:30 A.M. Woke up with a dull headache and took some Ibuprofen. Got my gear on and gathered my things and headed out the door. Was greeted by a sharp blast of cold air and fresh snow on the car. Great!

7:10 A.M. Arrived at the hospital to see Amber for a quick Valentines hug and kiss. Switched cars and headed for the race course.

7:31 A.M. Arrived at the race course. Registration was supposed to open at 7. No one here yet. Sat in car and silently rocked out.

7:55 A.M. registration opens. Go and get my number and head back to the car. F*&% it's freezing out. Keep in mind we had a tornado 2 frigen days ago. And it was 65 degrees.

8:05 A.M. Attach chip to shoes and exit car (while it's still running) to get race belt out of the back hatch. Shut door. CLICK!?! all the doors lock. You have to be kidding me. I just locked the keys in the RUNNING car.

8:10 A.M. track down someone with a cell phone to call home and wake up Amber. Amber starts heading to the race to unlock the car.

8:17 Light bulb! We have on star. Track down cell phone guy and make second call to amber.

8:27 Come back from the bathroom to go wait by the car. Whats this!?! The car doors are unlocked. Sweet! On Star rocks. Wonder if we will be in a commercial.

8:35 Start warm up. Ironically the road I'm running my warm up on is named Prelude Ln.

8:53 finish warm up. Walk to start line.

9:00 A.M. Start race. It's cold. It's windy. I'm still frazzled from car incident. Huge hill at finish. Finish in 20:03. 28 out of 212 overall 6/9 age group. Not bad. First race since November.

Well that's it. Got amber some Diamond stud earrings and cooked a mean Valentines dinner. In true future Bramble fashion she got right to my heart by getting me Friday the 13th part 3 3-D DVD and Dead Space for PS3! Happy Valentines everyone. Peace.

New Start

Wow! I see it has been a long while since I last updated this blog. Here you go Trav! I have my blog back up and now I can spit some more running knowledge and rap about my current racing and training. Stay tuned. Peace.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

Well the holiday's are over and the winter lull is about to set in. January marks the beginning of most endurance athletes, yours truly included, return to the grinding stone. For those in the know this is what we refer to as the "base building" phase of our periodized training schedule. This is the bread and butter of our fitness and everything we do over the next 3-4 months is going to set the tone for the 2008 season. Thats why I titled this blog entry the way I did. Missed workouts, low miles, and winter weight gain cannot dictate the pace at which you return to your training. Base building is all about slowly increasing your workload by doing lots and lots of slow and steady workouts. No more than 1 workout a week should be done at an RPE (rate of percieved effort) of more than 3-4. Any races during this time should be chosen carefully and run "for fun." I use races this time a year as speed work and strength building workouts.

Speaking of "fun" races on December 29th I had my best placing ever in the 3rd annual "Race to the New Year" at Cool Creek Park in Westfield. I finally got an age group award for that race also. It was a very nice clock. I ran Race #1 of the Runners Forum Winter XC series yesterday. I finished 9th overall out of 58 in 21:34. Slow yes but like I said earlier this is just a fun way to do some strength building workouts. I also got a new pair of shoes which I was long over due for and a new Tri top for only 20 bucks. I also purchased an Ice cup that you freeze and use for post workout ice massage. It comes with a tiny cooler that keeps it frozen for 12 hours which will be great for the trail and races.

Well I'm off until next time.

Merry Christmas

As I set here in front of the computer with the last hours of Christmas eve dwindling away I would like to take the time to wish everyone a very safe and happy holiday. Like myself some of you are surely beginning to build your base for the next race season so good luck with all your training. I hope 2007 found all of you successful and I hope 2008 is bigger and better. Special thanks to my lady for making this the best year of my life so far and the best holidays I have ever known! I have a most wonderful family. Stay tuned for more training and racing updates.

Don't Call it a comeback!!!

Whats up all my endurance studs. Wow! It's been a long time since I have posted. A lot's happened since my last post. I'm no longer married but I'm in a commited relationship with the greatest girl I have ever met. Amber and I were made for eachother. My season went farily well. I capt off my season with a 7th place finish at the Heart of the Hills 10k in Michigan. Well it's snowing slightly outside right now so you know what that means. I'm slightly out of shape and fealing fat!!! But it's December. Actually off season training has just gotten into full swing. I have started my base running training and I'm hoping (fingers crossed) that I get a bike trainer for Christmas. I start swimming in the next couple of weeks with the NASTI's and I'm supplementing all this at work with insane workouts from both the P90X system and CrossFit. Well thats all I have for now. Until next time keep frigen moving!!!!!!

Mid May updates

What up yall! It's the Headbangin Triathlete here. So it's been forever and a day since I last posted. There has been a lot going on in my world since March so time and energy have been at a premium. The spring racing season is underway and myself and the rest of the NFD runners here in Noblesville are coming into form. So for starters NFD finished 5th overall in the badge match at this years 500 Festival Mini Marathon. Fishers FD finished in 4th beating us by 26 points. Yours truly also had the best mini yet running 1:29:24 and a top 500 finish. Overall I was 478. That was out of 29,000 plus finishers.

This weekend the NFD runners did the Dances With Dirt extreme trail relay. The team consisted of myself and 3 others from the department. We could not find a fifth runner so we ran with 4. All throughout this 62 mile trail relay we were hearing we were in 4th and maybe 5th overall. This was made even much sweeter by the fact that we were putting the hurt on Fishers Fire Dept. who beat us a week earlier in the mini. Well all said and done with Handicaps for the other teams we finished 20th out of 90 and due to a timing issue the results show Fishers FD as beating us. we ran the race straight up and if you go off of overall time alone we finished 9th overall.

Well thats all for now. Next up for me is a solo run at the Warbird Brewery 10k