Much Ado About Nothing

Just wanted to document a monumental milestone in my training.

Because of my knee issues, I have run very little these last two weeks. That doesn't mean my training has gone away. My swims are longer and my cycling consists of longer intervals. Hopefully, my running will pick up where it left off next week. I'll be rocking a 5k tomorrow in West Columbia, time to rock out with my C%^# out... Not really, I kid I kid..

Anyway last year at the local relay triathlon in which I placed myself on team ME. I swam 1100 yards in 16:15 or so. My goal was to bring that down 30 seconds this year. So this morning I went for an 1.5 hour bike and short swim. Now, going back the last 2 months my shortest swim has been no less than 2500 yards. Today I wanted to see what kind of speed I had. 1st 500 @ 7:14, 2nd 7:07, 3rd 7:14.... So I was pumped, this is a milestone for me.

A year and a half ago I was near death doing a 200 in 4:00... Now I'm on my way to doing a 1100 in 15:00. I have a little background in swimming, learned at a young age and in middle school I can remember swimming with the high school students in the summer time. Of course, swimming wasn't as cool as basketball, soccer, or football. So swimming got dropped, now if I could go back that is something I would change. I ruined my knee my senior year of high school football (2nd game), missed my senior year of basketball because my ACL was jacked. So it was all for nothing, but this is my redemption song (Bob Marley) my new goal in the pool, 1100 yards in sub 15:00.... I might get dropped in the run, but I will be first in AG out of the water....

Pace less ... Hammer More...


"Go fuck yourself." —Vice President Dick Cheney to Sen. Patrick Leahy, during an angry exchange on the Senate floor about profiteering by Halliburton

Random Babbling

This past weekend I was given the opportunity to give to a cause and feed the competitive monkey on my back. This was my 1st 5K, it was close to the house, and I wanted to see how well I could perform on a short course like this.




The course was CHS's Cross County route, so over the hills (not really hills, but the ditches were crazy steep) and through the woods, we went. Being self-programmed to run on sidewalks, streets, and Memorial Park type places, I REALLY enjoyed the change. I knew it was going to be fast and I wanted a fork to be in me by the finish, so I mentally prepared myself by listening to Howard Stern on the radio before the race. Nothing says "hammer more" like an interview with Jenna Jameson. Only kidding, I just wanted to throw in some doltish laughs... I know, porn star humor is probably not funny to most.

Therefore, the gun went off and so did my heart rate. Controlled breathing yeah right, I felt like a chained smoked a pack of "reds" for the first mile. By the time, I hit the halfway point I was feeling better, but the pace was excessively fast for me. The quads were screaming for Calgon, my lungs wanted oxygen, but the 15 year old in front of me kept me in there without saying a word. I was on his tail for the duration. It went fast, what a rush! At the end I wanted to puke, I could hardly walk without a limp (not good), this meant I had a fork in me, I was happy. My time? I couldn’t believe this was accurate, is it possible I did a 20:46 (the picture below is 2 sec's off, because that’s how I live my life, off)?? No way, can’t be... Once I caught my breath, and blood was pumped back into my brain, I asked the HS kids that organized the run about the accuracy; they said it is exactly the same run that the CC team races on. So hey, it must be true...

So after the race I talked with some of the other runners that told me that there is another 5K in the area the following weekend (Race for the Cure). This will give me the opportunity to check my time with an encore performance, I'm pumped. This fast stuff is nice, other than the fact that my knee with the ACL damage is not as thrilled about it as I am. I attempted to run a bit later, it hurt, so I shut it down and went swimming.

Speaking of water, the weather was horrible Saturday afternoon, the wifey wanted to do some painting so "The Kid" and I went on a field trip. Sea Center Texas, only a few minutes from the house and it’s free! Thinking that because of the bad weather there would be more people around, we were surprised to see that we were there keeping the volunteers company.

This is the best part of being a daddy, field trips!!! He loved it. Normally his attention span is on average less than 10 seconds, but Saturday he wasn’t distracted by anything. I just sat and watched his amazement. There are about a half dozen large aquariums with native fish for our area. In addition, an area for kids to get their hands wet while touching crabs, muscles, turtles and other sea creatures. Good Stuff...

So, Sunday, rolled out of bed ouch, the knee wasn’t liking me. Tried to run, NO WAY JOSE!!! It only hurts when I run, and the pain is excruciating (Going to the Dr. Thursday). Sorry Mr. Gump your running on your own today! Later on in the day was my first attempt for open water swimming at Twin Lakes in Manvel Tx. The weather was awesome, but my manhood is still a bit skittish due to the water temp. My first reaction was to scream like a girl, and I did. It took a while to warm up, much more than usual, but it ended up being a good day.

We all know what happens after a good swim.... hunger pains... Ouch... If you were looking for the beef, I found it!!!!

And with all that said, I must go... Pace Less Hammer More....

"He dribbles a lot and the opposition don't like it - you can see it all over their faces." - Ron Atkinson