Swell

The last 2 weeks have been,,,.,,.,..well, swell I guess. I have been sticking to the faithful treadmill during the week and heading outdoors on the weekends. John and I went and played in the mud at Smithville on Saturday for several hours and I got in a nice solo run last Sunday morning, taking advantage of the great weather.

I ordered a pair of Saucony Triumph 5 the other day but shipped them back today for a size 13. I have never went above 12.5 on a road shoe but they felt snug around the toes. I plan on starting off in Roadies at Rocky Raccoon so I want to make sure they are big enough.


I have been hitting the diet pretty hard this week, luckily my OCD helps me to be able to eat the same thing every day and dinner is the only variety. I will wait another 10 days or so and then raise my calories the last week before Rocky. I can definitely tell by my sometimes low energy level that I am operating on a pretty hefty caloric deficit. i am at the lowest weight I have been since ohh,.,,7th grade.
I am still hitting the weights once a week and the legs are getting the brunt of the work there also. Monday I got in 5 sets of 50 with 175lbs on squats which left me sore for a few days.


I have been looking at the splits and trying to figure out a realistic goal to shoot for. I think I have on but we'll see after it's over how close I finish to my predicted time which I will keep to myself. It always looks so easy on paper. The one thing I remember clearly is the cold, damp night weather. I get chills just thinking about it.

Corbin won his wrestling tournament again last weekend. That makes 3 tourneys in a row undefeated. He is still getting very nervous and is in tears before every match. It is mostly from his intense desire to win. We have been talking a lot about just competing and trying your best, how the only real losers are the ones that don't try. It is a very very fine balance at such a young age. He wanted to quit before his second match last weekend but I made him stay even though he was an emotional wreck. After he got his first place medal he gave me a " thanks for not letting me quit Dad, you were right."

I will be stuck inside at another tournament Saturday and Tristan has his first Basketball game that day as well. Sunday I plan to get in a long run at Wyco with Rick and John and then out for some good old Mexican food afterwards!

Have a great weekend!!

FrozenAss FatAss

Yesterday was possibly the most unpleasant time I have ever had running. Several of us headed up to Wallace State Park for the Cameron Fatt Ass on New Years Day. The race temps were about 13 degrees and there was a nice 20 mph breeze to keep us cool as we plowed through the 6 or so inches of snow for 31 miles. It is a 5 loop course so we had to run by the warm cabin and our cars 4 times which was punishment enough.

I actually called it quits after the 3rd loop and started up Johns truck and enjoyed the heated seats for a while. After getting out of the frozen wet clothes and into some warm dry ones I decided to head back out rather that sit around waiting for him to finish.

I ended up finishing in a snail like 6:45. It was my slowest 50k ever but the most difficult also. I will be losing a few toenails from this one and all of the sliding on the snow. I think there were only 8 finishers of about 30 starters so I am just happy to be one of them. This was also our 2nd 50k in 10 days in the freezing cold and snow, but this one was far worse than last weeks at Wyco. I will post some pics later.

I found this pic the other day of me. This was in June of 04 about 6 months before deciding to try and lose some weight. Notice the large chew in my mouth and the beer in my hand, two staples of my past diet.


I hope everyone had a great New Years. A few of us got together at Johns New Years Eve and just hung out and ate a bunch of food and played some games although I did have a few beers also. Today the gym was loaded up with the New Years resolution crowd, in a few weeks it will be back to normal again I am sure. I am not real big on New Years resolutions although I hope to have more patience, be a bit less selfish(except for running) and be a better father and husband too.

Only 31 days until Rocky Raccoon and another 100 mile adventure. Hopefully It will be decent weather and I Can avoid the mental pitfalls of the 5 loop course. I do not like loop courses. It is just too convenient to quit.

Merry Christmas

I cannot believe it is already Christmas Eve!!! Today I am hoping to leave work early and get home to get the kids to my Grandma's for Christmas Eve then over to my aunts where we will meet up with Tiff when she gets off work and do some gift exchanging.

The past weeks have mostly been filled with shopping and Christmas prep stuff. Yesterday we went to visit my sons friend Lake in the Hospital. Lake was on our football team and played next to Corbin on the D line. His family was in a terrible car accident just before Thanksgiving. He has very severe head injuries and is going to be in the hospital for many months. I really enjoyed seeing him and his family. Corbin took his 1st place medal for wrestling to him and Lake thought that was cool. He has very little ability to move and cannot speak but his smile can light up the room. It was very emotional and we were on the brink of tears for most of the visit. Enjoy the time with your families this season and don't take them for granted. We also went to the Plaza to check out the Christmas lights, eat some seafood and take a carriage ride.


Corbin has took first place in the last 2 wrestling tournaments. He has really faced some tough competition and is realizing how difficult it really is. There have been many tears shed during his matches, he gets so revved up that he starts crying when it gets intense.


I have been still getting in a decent amount of treadmill miles and a few on the trails also. Last weekend we got in a 50k training run at Wyco, it was snowing and about 20 degrees but we still finished 3 very cold and wet loops. My weight has been slowly decreasing and my speed slowly increasing. It has been rough with all of the parties to stay on track but I am trying.


I am really curious how all of the treadmill miles will play out at Rocky in 40 days. I definitely feel faster but that may just be from spending so much time indoors. I received an early present by winning a free entry to Rocky Raccoon last week. Joe Prusiatis the RD, gave 1 comp entry to the Kansas UltraRunners Society and I was the lucky recipient. It will definitely help since I went way overboard on spending this year!!

New Years Day we are heading to the Cameron 50k Fat Ass. I should get a good gauge on whether the faster treadmill running has been positive or negative then. Have a Safe and Happy week. See ya next Year!!

Slackin

A Few Christmas Pics



Man it has been a while since I posted last. I will give a quick run down.

I ended up dropping at Nathaniels Run after 2 hours. I just didn't feel like running around in a circle all night long in the cold.

Rick and I ran Dude Where's the trail 50k and finished 2nd and 3rd my about 1 minute after catching the leader and then gettting lost with 3/4 mile left for 10 minutes.



I have been doing a lot of treadmill running lately, it has helped me in picking up the pace and also has been a lot easier than those cold dark morning runs. Overall my body feels great. Nothing hurts and I can actually walk normal in the morning. I have been eating super clean and am really concentrating on dropping some weight, so far so good.

Corbin has been kickin butt in wrestling. he has taken 2nd in his first 2 wrestling tournaments and has been going against kids who have already been wrestling a year or 2.His third tournament is this Sunday. I predict 1st place this time.

I have been spending way too much on Christmas but I always do. We bought ourselves a nice lcd tv and an HD pocket size camcorder while out shopping for others already.

Saturday we are trying for a 50k trainer at Wyco in the Ice/Mud. It is supposed to snow friday night into Saturday so it should be fun!!

Long night ahead

I signed up 2 days ago for Nathaniels Run which takes place tonight in Shawnee Mission Park. It is a timed event on a 1.6 mile trail loop. We start at 6:00 pm tonight and will run until 6 AM for the 12 hour portion. There is also a 6 and 24hour event too. John is running also so hopefully we can help keep each other awake through the night. It is going to be mighty cold out tonight with temps
in the 30's, which at night feels a lot colder than it really is. I don't really have a mileage goal, just goin out to have some fun. I bought some new CW-X expert insulated tights for winter running so I should have a chance to try then out tonight. Unfortunately Tiff works all weekend so I will have to be up all day with the kids afterwards.

Saturday night is the Christmas tree lighting in Kearney. Tristan is singing for it so after being up for 36 hours I will get to go back out in the cold for that Saturday night. Sunday I am going up to Cameron to get my coaches certification completed for wrestling. Once I get through all of that it will be a relaxing week. I am off work next week and look forward to hanging out at home and eating a lot of wonderful food.

Last weekend was the Vets Day 4 miler at Wyco. I really had a bad day out there. Everything just seemed much harder than it should have been. It was still a blast but I just had a rough time. We ran before and after the race also to get in more miles although I had to cut out a bit early since I was called into work and struggling with the running anyways.

Unless I recover very well and quickly, this will be my last long race for the year. Dude, Where's the trail is next weekend, which I would like to do, but I will just wait to see how I feel. We are planning on a 30 to 40 mile training run in December sometime and then the Cameron Fatt Ass Jan 1. Have a great weekend!!

New Month

Today starts a new month. October was my lowest milage run of the month, mostly due to Traveller and also not pushing it too much on the recovery process. It has been pretty chilly the past few mornings, time to dust off the winter gear. I am glad the time change is coming this weekend. It will suck getting dark so early but at least there will be some light for the early morning runs.

I has been nice not to spend so much time running, I have actually been home most of the past few weekends and not falling asleep during the day from getting up and running so early every morning. I am still not sure what is next on the ultra calendar. I am just taking it day by day for now.

John and Rick are heading out for the Wilderness Run this weekend. It is 5 mile cross country style run. This is the second weekend I have had to miss out on a race due to football games. They both did very well in the 25k last weekend at Rock Creek. Congrats to Mr. Wakefield for taking first in the 50k.

The boys are going into the last week of football season, I think they are both ready for a change. Corbin led his team in sacks and tackles as the youngest one on the team. He is going to be fun to watch next year still in the same division. Tristan will be starting basketball practice soon. He is playing on a more competitive team this year which will be good for him, basketball is his favorite sport. Corbin is going to give wrestling a try. I am taking him over to practice Monday to see how he likes it.

Some people think that that may be too much for a 6 and 9 year old to be involved in but I really think it is great for them. When I was little we used to be able and go play sports with our friends outside and go play army in the woods. All of their friends just watch TV and play video games inside and the best way to keep them active is to keep them involved in sports. I refuse to let them grow up being couch potatoes like these kids!!!!



We had a hard night of trick or treating last night. Tristan was a Vampire, Corbin was a Ninja and Ella a chicken. It got a little chilly but they really had a blast. Both John and I showed up at Ricks at the same time with our trick or treaters and cleaned out his candy stash at the end of the night. Unfortunately I will end up eating more of it than the kids will.

If you get a chance, check out these photos of the Appalachian Trail and many ultra courses. They are some amazing photos.

Falling

Last weekend Rick and I went out to Kill Creek Park in Olathe for the Fall fell 7 mile race. As usual it was a blast. It felt really good to get out on the trails again. I took it pretty easy and just tried to enjoy myself and not get passed by too many people in the process. It was a windy,cool day. One of those days perfect for just standing in the woods, closing your eyes and listening to the wind throught the trees. Rick, Shane, Sarah and I ran after the race to help take down the course markings and water drop supplies. Running with a couple of 5 gallon buckets is a lot harder than you may think.


Looks like I am headed back out to the football fields this Saturday. Corbins team is playing the #1 seed, the winner advances to the Truman Bowl, which is their superbowl. Tristans team is playing also, although they have been eliminated from the playoffs.


Everyone else will be running in the Rock Creek 25/50k Saturday. I wish I could go but there is no way possible. I am also on call for work all weekend which really sucks too. Perhaps I can still try to get in a decent run Sunday.

Recovery is going well from the 100. I still have some foot pains and the left shin is not back to normal but overall everything is pretty good. I am taking a different approach to training which is going well so far. Less is more hopefully. Less time running , less time lifting upper body, more time on leg workouts and core strength.

I only have one today, I am not sure about tomorrow. At the end of the day I will be better than I was yesterday.