where the hell

I'm sure you guys are wondering why I dropped off the face of the earth.  I bet you are thinking that the dude has gained back all of his weight or maybe he broke his leg and is out of comission or maybe you're thinking, "I don't give a crap!"  Most of the time when weightloss/runners/healthy "bloggers" stop blogging is because they fell off the wagon and start shoving food in there face. Not here friend! I just had a bit of burnout on training and blogging about training and needed a break. Nothing personal.
Maybe I am loved because I recieve continuous emails saying, "where are you Dave?" Thanks for the love!
So, I'm still eating healthy, I'm still running, still training for the occasional race. In fact, I have run in 3 races in the past 6 weeks and PR'd all of them. I've lowered my 5K by 30 seconds to the 27ish.., and my 10K by 2 minutes to the high 56's . When 10 min/miles used to be a BIG goal ,now it's about breaking the 9 min barrier. There is some progress there, but still slow and cumbersome.  haha  I also ran my first trail race. Wow, what  a challenge! 4 miles of sliding-feet, hopping, skipping, and jumping of glorious fun!
Life is busy, summer is here. A few smaller races are in order, but I don't have any bigger race plans until Disney World half marathon in Jan 2010(already signed up). I am contemplating running the ING Philadelphia Distance Run in September or the Baltimore Half in October. Those last 2 are big maybe's?
Since I have declared my blogging is back in order, I am looking forward to visiting "ya-ll" to find out what the heck has been going on.
Peace

The Winner Is

The Winner of the Zen's are :

Kelly who is in Tri training and kicking butt on her bike rides.
Leslie who has been training and will run "Broad Street Run" in Philly this upcoming weekend.(Sun)
I used random.org to generate 2 numbers for me and they were #6 and #28.
Starting with the April 21st post I counted down posts.

I flipped a coin for colors and Kelly wins the black and Leslie wins the pink.

Sry Kelly , I only had 1 pink one..

This was fun and I'll have to do this again.

If you are like me, I just love receiving packages in the mail. Who cares what it is as long as it is a package for me.  ;)

My email is [email protected]. If you will send me your addy I'll get them in the mail ASAP.

Nashville Half Marathon Race Report

Good and bad on this one. Good Race, Bad Me.
Nashville which is part of the Rock N' Roll Marathon Series was definitely a hit! They did everything right from the Expo to the downtown run to the Starting Line to the Finish Line. It was well organized with plenty of water stops, cheering sections, and bands. BTW I only heard 1 country song - phew.. Thank -You! Mostly Rock N Roll! Nashville is a beautiful city.(not dirty like most.)

state capitol

symphony center

Athens Parthenon replica

Friday afternoon I hit the Expo along with a 100,000 others - Ughh!

placing time chip on shoe

The Stick

Me being silly

yep me being silly again

Now to the race. Race went off @ 7am for the elite. I was in corral # 17 out of #35. I hit the starter mat @ 7:33. Wow! If you don't already know,but the temps were 80deg @start and 89deg @ finish and full of sun! We've all been complaining about the lack of warm temps and BAM we get hit with HEAT!! in April!! It was trouble.

before race, all smiles

the kenyans

My goal was 2:15 and I stayed with the pace leader for most of the early race. I was pacing where I wanted to be, but mile 6 was where I noticed the temps . There wasn't any shade coverage since we were running through town. By mile 8 I was feeling queasy and finally allowed the pace team to catch up with me. We were avg 10:15/mile to that point and had hit the majority of the big hills. I just kept thinking if I could make it to mile 9(15kish), then there would be a hill repreave. As I passed the 15K mark, my stomach couldn't take it anymore and I jumped off course and behind a building and preceded to vomit/barf/upchuck/lose my guts(you get the picture) for the next 10 minutes. Every time I would get up to start again, the "dry-heaves" would start. I swear everytime I would "throw-up" I looked at my watch to see how much time I was losing. The overwhelming disgust set in. I finally got up and noticed I was 9 1/2 minutes behind. I started back slowly and stomach felt a little better. The 1/2 mile split was 14.75 minutes. I knew I lost any chance at a PR back at "vomit central" so I tried to make the most of the remaining race. My legs felt great, my stamina felt good, but I struggled with my stomach until the end. I managed to finish in 2:24:28. Which is precisely 9 and 1/2 freakin minutes off of my goal. This is tame today, you should've heard me yesterday.

You can never anticipate the weather. From 50 deg to high 80's in 2 days, go figure, just my luck... By mile 11 there was people lying all over the course, ambulances were scrambling. There was easily a couple hundred people lying on the sidewalks waiting for help, it looked like a M.A.S.H Unit. My neighbor who won the Knoxville Marathon 2 years ago said that she ran 25 minutes slower than last year.

tuckered out

enough energy to sneak a smile

TN Titans stadium

mile 26

I ran my second - half marathon in 5 weeks and am happy and feel accomplished for that. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't dissapointed. I trained for this, hit the hills often, and ran longer tempo runs. It just wasn't meant to be. Unfortunately I won't get the opportunity at another half until the Fall time. That sucks! I want redemption!!!

Stats:

4800 feet of elevation change!!

Splits  Elevation   HR

m1 10:13 +167 151

m2  9:46  + 91   156

m3 10:30 +436 158

m4 10:45 +160 161

m5 10:49 +162 162

m6 10:07 +96   162

m7 10:22 +413 165

m8 10:33 +120 167

m9 19:43!! +71 165 You would think my HR would've dropped after 9 mins down.

m10 11:52 +57 168

m11 9:58 +173 169

m12 9:50 +170 170

m13 10:00 +190 171(91% of max)

13.22 miles in 2:24:28

Taper just a little

Wasn't that a great marathon yesterday. Too bad "our" guys didn't finish higher. Both Hall and Goucher were in it to the very end. I remember watching the Boston Marathon when I was younger and not being very interested in it. Nowadays I wouldn't miss it for the world. One of the great things about running is that it doesn't cost a darn thing. How often can you go to a major venue and not pay a dollar and be able to come close to the superstars. One of these days I will get up to Boston to watch a race or maybe when I'm 105 , I'll  be able to qualify for it with my 100 hour marathon.  
I supposed to be tapering this week, but since I only run 3 days a week(maybe 4) it doesn't feel much like a taper. By the time of my race I will run 3 times; albeit less mileage.

This race seems to have a little more excitement with it than last months half marry. -

• Last months was a training run with no goal
• I signed up for it many months ago with anticipation ever since
• This is a long, hard race - not long, easy 
• 25,000 runners with 100,000 spectators and a few superstars(other -5,000 w/ 6 spectators, yeah just 6)
• First time traveling to a race(Knoxville to Nashville 4 hours)
• Meeting one of my blogger buddies - Shosh
• I'm really nervous - no kidding. First time for any of my races.

Yes I'm meeting Shosh for the first time. Now if I can just get her to update her blog. She is deep into Tri training right now and refuses to come out of the water.
I set a goal for 2:15.(10:19 pace)[no chuckling from the sub 2 hr people] It's reaching a little for me. I haven't been able to run that pace in any of my training runs(best 10:50) and even in my 15K race last Nov. My pace versus my goal is 25 seconds slower. I've been able to keep my pace "up" to the 8 mile mark, but for anything past 8 miles is a big question mark. This last month I 've been running my tempo's harder(9:55-10:00 pace) , but I'm spent afterwards. *My mind aimless wanders at pace vs projected pace vs vomiting pace vs pass out pace*   Nervous are we?????
Enough of that crap, I'm driving myself crazy!
Oh yeah, I did buy one of those pacetats dumalahickies.

Of course it is "sdrawkcab"

No turning back on this one - it's like the "voo-doo, evil eye" if you take back your goal time after buying one of those.

For those of you that still want in for the giveaway. There is still time. I'll be drawing names this Sunday(26th). You'll win one of 2 , yes 2! shiny, new, cool gadgets, state of the art, top-o-the-line, mp3 player. All you have to do is post a comment and send me $1000. I do realize that most have Ipods and winning a 2 GB Zen is like winning a Ford Pinto when you already have a Mercedes, but maybe your kids or a friend may just need a Pinto since they their 1978 Moped smashed into a tree and killed the tree and the poor little robins that were nesting in it. You see a brand new Pinto is looking real nice right about now.

More nervous talk to come later.

Satan girl

A few of you are new to my blog and don't know my story. Don't hit the back button this could be a little interesting - okay downright boring, but listen anyway. For the rest of you bear with me. In the past I was a good athlete, somewhere along the way of life I become a slug and allowed my parents bad "genes" to have their way with me. I started on my journey of rediscovery in July of 2007. By the end of last year I had lost 100 lbs and began showing remanants of a runner. I rededicated my healthy lifestyle and set some new goals for 2009. As of yesterday, I 've lost an additional 25 lbs to make a grand total of 125 lbs lost! I signed up on a website at the beginning of the yr as a goal to lose 25 lbs by April 25th (Nashville half.)
Goal accomplished!! The equation is simple. Healthy diet + exercise = Joy (no, not that one.)
I had another killer workout with Satan girl today. I don't think it was a good idea to make a deal with the evil one's daughter. She's alot like her father. She lulles you into thinking that everything's okay then slaps you in the face with pain. After the pain is unbearable she says, it's okay take a break. So then you take a break. She shutters, " Did I say you can take a break? Give me 5 nonstop minutes @ 4% and 7.5 mph!" Then she stares around the room with her sheepish evil eyes and grins. "Does that hurt? Are you gonna die?" *I say to myself, I'm dying* "I'm good" I say. She says, "What did you say?I'm good!?" *Oh no* "Everyone. He says he's good. Up your speed to 8.0mph!" *holy mutha* After the killerworkout, she says, "see you next week?" *Ummmmm* The devil is at work here. Beware of his daughter.
1/2 mile warmup, 7 miles @ 9:28 pace avg @ 3 - 15% incline, then 1/2 mile cooldown.
CONTEST
I have 2 items to give away. All you have to do is make a comment on my blog over the next 2 weeks. I will draw 2 names randomly and announce the winners. The contest ends on Monday April 27th(after my race.) If you win, you will have to give me your address so that I can ship it to you. Easy right?

1 black and 1 pink ZEN Stone

These are much like the Ipod Shuffle. They are each 2 GB's of memory. They come with earphones, USB cable, and a mini speaker built in. They are small-about the size of your car's remote lock/panic. 20hrs of battery life - rechargeable.

Here is the direct link if you want more info. Creative Zen Stone

I'm hoping that my drawing will be for one guy and one gal. If 2 guys are drawn?(someone is getting pink..) haha

If you know anyone else that can use a mp3 player then kick them over here.

Peace

Happy Easter friend

Good post Lily!
I hope you are all having a good day and for some an extended weekend. The sun has peaked it's eyes out today. Rain all last week, sun today, and rain the rest of the week. ughhh But today IS a glorious day! IMHO...
I read an interesting article in Running Times that long runs should not take up more than 50% of total mileage for the week. After looking over a few other training plans for various distances(10K, half, full) it seems that all have the same info.

• 6-10 mile LR should be running 12-20 miles/week
• Half marathon 13-14 mile LR should be running 27-30 miles/week.
• Full marathon 15-20 mile LR should be running 35-45 miles/week
• Most plans are 4-5 days of running.

If you are not doing this then you are setting yourself up for possible injury. When I read this, I realized I was breaking ANOTHER running rule. (That would be rule 10 or 11 that I have broken now.) Since I only have time to run 3 days a week, maybe 4 then I have difficulty achieving <50%. My long runs are 13-15 for training and I am hitting 22-24 mileage for the week. I guess I could try to increase one of my days. Difficult too though... I would think the runners that were training for a marathon would have the most difficulty getting their total mileage up there.
With only 2 weeks before the Nashville Half I needed to get in another 13+ miles before my taper. Todays goal was 14 miles with the last 3 of those @ half marathon pace. I was cruising until the 11 mile mark then my body said, "I quit!" Needless to say that the last 3 miles were hard. I finished 13.61 miles in 2hrs 29mins 35seconds.(10:59 pace.) So much for 1/2 m pace, but darn I tried! The last mile was complete feet shuffling. I normally feel accomplished after a long run, but my confidence in hitting my goal of 2:15 for Nashville has hit the floor. Don't get me wrong - I'm happy that I ran over 13 miles, but I'm drained now. My 2:23 a couple weeks ago left me feeling like I had lots left in the tank. I wish I had another week to get in a 13+ miler. Next week is a taper week and no long run. We'll see...
This long run may not have gone like I wanted it too, but Tuesdays tempo run went great! It was the best I have run in terms of mid distance and pace.
It was run on the treadmill(rain!) at the gym. I had planned on running intervals/speedwork that day. I was 4.5 miles in and just about to cooldown when an instructor walked into the cardio theater area and started to yell "Cmon class kick it up a notch!" Class? Am I in a class??! I was too embarrased to walk out so I kept going. After being yelled at a few more times and about to pass out , the class ended. After all said and done, I completed 8.5 miles with 8 miles @ 9:20 pace then cooldown. Holy mutha was that a workout! It just goes to show you that when a cute little girl walks into a room and her head spins around and she spews out words from satan that you'll do anything that she says. I love you Satan girl. I'll see you again on Tuesday..
Last thing.
I finally have my first giveaway contest and it is for anyone to join. "They" just came in yesterday by UPS. I need to unwrap and take a couple pics before I post. I'll try to get a post up tomorrow. Haha I'm not telling...

Happy BD you weak ribs

Isn't it great that the weather is getting better! Just awesome to be running outside on a regular basis. Minus today - freakin snow?! What's up with that!! I hoping that this will be mother nature's last crap fest.
Thanks for all the well wishers on my first half marathon. It was a blast and I can't wait until the end of April (25th) for my 2nd half - the Nashville Marathon . I didn't anticipate just how sore I was going to get after the race. I took a couple days off afterwards and started back with an easy 2 miler. Last week, I decreased my mileage to about 2/3 of total to recover and left out my weekend long run. This weekend I'll run 13 or 14 miles for my long run if my ribs can handle it.(I'll get to that..)
I managed to log over 100 miles last month. It was my first since last December and I'm on goal so far to hit 1000 miles for the year. Of course it is still early and many, many miles to go before I get there. Maybe I can keep the injury bug away and .. oops too late! I broke my ribs again!! This is starting to drive me crazy!! This is #3 and almost #4 in the past 15 months. The first was last June , the second was last August and the almost # 3 . Yesterday I was lifting a big tub into place during a bathroom remodel and POP! Instant pain! Today it has been difficult to move my upper body. Gratefully it wasn't any part of my legs. phew.. Does running require breathing? Maybe I don't have to breathe to run? hmmmm...
As of today I am officially 39 ....... and holding... Oh crap, one more year and the dreaded 4-------0. This is the last year that I'm telling the truth about my age. ;)
I signed up for a sprint Tri in June. When the ribs heal, it'll be time to hit the pool. I did ask for a new bike for the BD - just need to help picking one out. Any suggestions on a good bike? - not too expensive..

Haven't been blogging much due to "my world," but I still read and comment. Congrats to all of you runners that have knocked out the early races. That's why we love Spring!
For you people on facebook feel free to add me, we have a good running group on there and I seem to update that a little more often than on this blog. If not, no harm done. If you add me then you won't think that I'm stalking you.. ;)
David Sandstrom

Knoxville Half Marathon

I finally conquered my first half marathon. I feel like I finally accomplished something with my running. (not sure what but something). Every one of us have different personal goals that we set when it comes to running. First run a mile without puking, 5K, 10K, then faster 5K, faster 10K, half marathon, then.... just good to get this one checked off. I'm sure you all remember the first time you notched a half - pretty good felling, huh?
I literally didn't sign up for this race until a month ago and now I'm glad I did. Today's race was strickly training run at a comfortable pace. I was supposed to be running with a friend, but that backfired on me when I couldn't find him before the race. 5000 bodies shoved into a small place makes it difficult to find a farting elephant much less a person. No matter, it gave me the chance to run at my own pace. The weather wasn't nice. It was the worse weather that we've had here in 3 weeks- remnents of this weeks blizzard that dropped snow out west. 38 degrees with a 17-20 mph nonstop wind. It was cold and brutal. I ran in shorts, underarmour layer and a short sleeve technical shirt - not a good choice...
I ran at a comfortable pace with my HR staying consistent between 70-74% max for the first 10 miles. The last 3.1 miles my HR climbed to the 80-82% range at the same pace. I wanted the race to copy a basic long run at home. For the most part it did minus the brutal hills. The Knoxville Marathon is known for its hills. No PR's on this course! Mile 1, 3, 7, and 11 were big hills and numerous smaller hills. I finished the race in 2:23:02.
Even though I didn't push hard my legs still felt like lead the last couple miles. I hoping a few more long runs will fix that problem. That's probably why my HR climbed toward the end. Conditioning.. Do you 13+ milers' have heavy legs toward the end of your long runs?
Running these races is just another reason why I love running. You don't have to kill yourself for a PR to enjoy races. Just run them for fun!
I've said this before, but I'll say it again. You marathoners are the bomb! I couldn't but feel bad as I was entering the stadium to finish and watching the full marathoners turn a corner just to run another 13 miles. Holy Crap!!! I was very much releaved to know I was finishing. I felt anguish for them - of course they have trained for nothing less..
Did I tell you that I got a medal too? They even give them to us slow people.

(Can you tell that I have no energy?)

Back in action

Thanks Guys for being patient with me. Not a whole lot to blog about other than work and you don't want to hear about that, I assure you! With the sun showing it's face, it's even been hard to sit down in front of the computer to blog. Thank -You Spring!!
Let's start @ the new kicks - okay maybe the old style new kicks would be better to say.. I never like buying the same pair of shoes, but I'm too chicken to experiment with new shoes. It's always been about the look of the shoe, but since I took up running a year and a half ago it's all about the feel. I tried on a half dozen pairs of shoes - Mizuno, Brooks, Saucony, Nike, and (my fav)
Asics. I keep going back to the Asics. I didn't get the chance to try out the Asics Kayano 15's because they didn't have my size, so when Bill bought a new pair of Kayano's I wanted to get his input. He pretty much sold me on them, but I still wimped out and went with another pair of Asics Gel Nimbus 10. No change - same color. I'm a big risk taker, aren't I?
I finally did it! I bought a new Garmin 405. It was the continuous thrashing by you "garmey junkies." (You know who you are) My Polar watch stopped uploading my runs online. I'm rather tech-savvy and neither tech support or I could get it working plus my dog chewed the bottom half of the band off, so I think it was a good time to retire my trusted Polar. I've been using the 405 for about 2 weeks and am liking it. I just need to get more familiar with it and figure out all the buttons. The 405 came with a HR band and I've used that once with success. The Garmin's software is light years ahead of Polar's with multiple web site uploading to display better stats. If Garmin's GPS is accurate I'm one slow SOB! haha Ever since I've used it my avg pace is slower. Of course we talked about how "off" the Nike + system is, but my Polar has been calibrated so that it is spot on. I look at my pace and it feels like I'm running faster than what the Garmey is showing. I need to run with both watches and check accuracy. Does the Garmin have to be calibrated in any way? I wouldn't think so since it has GPS. Or am I really that slow!!! hahaha

Last Sunday, I decided to run a full 13.1 miles at a leisurely pace to see how running a half marathon felt. It was one tough bugger! I finished in 2:28:50.(11:30/mile) This was at an easy pace and I didn't feel tired persay, but my legs felt heavy. This run was my first time using the Garmin and was the slowest and longest of my Long runs days. I was hoping that since this was my 7th long run of over 10+ miles that it was going to feel easier especially since this was at an easy pace. No way Jose! My conditioning is not where I want it to be yet or maybe I had a bad day of running - not sure. The good thing is that next week's Knoxville Half is a training run with my buddy @ a 2:45 pace.
Last week run: 3 runs with a long of 13.1 miles (22.5 total)
This past week: 3 runs with long of 6.5 miles due to taper(15 miles total)

Happy Spring to everyone! I'm catching up right now on zee-old blogs.
Have a great week!

not really a post

Hey guys.
Sorry I haven't posted in over a week, but just when you think we medical people are getting a break. Bam! a late flu epidemic hits. This crap is supposed to start in Nov, not March.
I'll tell you what's going on this weekend.
Hint: new gadget, new kicks, and a case of goodies(free stuff) delivered by a juice Co. because of my blog. Maybe there is more than 2 of you reading this blog...

Edit: I'm not the sick one, just taking care of the sick - had to correct that misunderstanding.
:)