A PR before the end of the year!

My 2007 training and racing is now officially over.

This morning I went for a 55 km bike ride and averaged 32 km/ph. It was a real nice ride through Ponte Verda. Nicely paved roads, huge houses and I even passed Sawgrass Golf Course where the PGA Players Championship major is held every year. It was a beautiful area, very little traffic and the cars give cyclists a lot of room when they pass, Vijay Singh and some of the PGA golfers also live there.

As you can see in the picture of me cycling I have my new helmet, jersey and shorts on. What great deals I got on them. The helmet alone was regularly $200 for $80!

This morning I found out about the "Gator Bowl" 5 km run in downtown Jacksonville at the water front. It was at 2 pm, so I rode earlier, got home by 12:30 pm and got to the event by 1:15 pm. Because I was in a rush and the cab showed up right away (my family was at Target and didn't want to leave- I can't say I blame them - It's not that much fun for them), I didn't have time to eat or hydrate properly from my cycle.

Once I got down to the start and registered, I was starting to "bonk". So 10 minutes before the start I bought a sandwich and water and downed it quick. Before the race I was also concerned about my left Achilles as it has been tender lately. I mentally kept telling myself it would be okay.

As always, I didn't know what my race strategy would be before I started. Would I go hard? Easy? or what? So once the gun went off I decided to giver. The first mile I finished in 6:14 (but I think it was measured short because I can't believe it!), by mile two I was at 13:25 and I finished at 21:50.

At no point after the first mile was my heart rate below 165 bpm. For the last mile and a half it was in the mid 170's and maxed out at 177 bpm. In most cases I can sprint the last 100 meters. Not this time. I gave it everything I had from the beginning. My breathing was so hard, others could hear me from 15 yards away. Once I get into this mode I call myself "Bryan the Train Payne"!

My Achilles held out, it seems to be sore on the left side of the Achilles. Afterwards it was tender and a sensitive when I walk, but I'll work through it with ice, stretching, massage and drugs. I'm now hydrated, have eaten, have taken my protein shake, and I'm a shower away from being ready for the rest of the day and night!

Tonight is New Years and I figured I'd right my blog earlier in the day as I'm sure I'll be having to much fun to do it tonight.

Have a Happy New Year!

Day off Training

Today was a scheduled off day.

All the family headed down to Kennedy Space Center and toured the place. It was truly amazing.

My Achilles is still a little tender. I used some Pennsaid on it and did some stretching. It seems to be getting a little better.

I've decided I'm going to be keeping my runs primarily to 50 minutes or less, except for my weekly long run.

I'm not sure going an hour or more is going to give me any additional benefits and may just set me up for injury. I figure I'll just do more back to back runs and gradually increase the pace instead.

Brick'n it...

This morning I went to American Cycle. They had some awesome deals. I bought a new racing helmet, shorts and some shirts. All at 50% off or more.

Afterwards I did a brick workout. I ran 78 minutes then cycled 63 minutes. I felt pretty good all things considered.

The run was a little longer than I wanted to go, I overestimated the distance. The only downside was my left Achilles started to get a little tender near the end of the run.

I had a very good day of eating healthy, other than going to a sports bar and having some beers. Although they were Michelob Ultra, only 90 calories and 2.6 grams of fat per beer and it tasted pretty good!

I just started using www.nutridiary.com. It is a free website that allows you to log your food and it gives you some great reports and analysis of what you are eating.

Starting off on the right foot in Jacksonville...

I ended up having 12 hours of good sleep! I've been using the CPAP and it seems to be working okay. My heart rate was in the high 50's low 60's. It looks like my body recovered from the last few days.

After my 11 am breakfast, I put my bike together and hit the road. I had an AWESOME ride. I felt so strong I couldn't believe it. I ended up doing 44 km and averaged 31.4 km per hour with very little effort and some strong winds. I kept my heart rate under 140 bpm. The roads were a little dicey as some have bike lanes and others don't.

After the ride, I went to a bike shop to get compressed air. I couldn't believe the deals. Most of the shop was 50% off. I didn't buy a lot because I was with my dad and brother in-law, but I'm going back tomorrow. They had beautiful cycling jerseys for $30 and high end helmets for between $40 and $90. Today I did buy the team Discovery yellow hat that was regular $35 for $10. It's an awesome looking hat and the last one!

At the shop they also gave me some tips on where to ride which is along the beach. Tomorrow is supposed to be as high as 80 F. Right now I'm planning to do a run and a bike so long as it doesn't rain.

Partying is always fun...until the next day

Today was a tough day to travel. Alice and I didn't get any sleep and had to pack when we were still, to put it mildly, a little tipsy and not functioning to well.

All things considered I only forgot a couple of items, but unfortunately one was "the stick" for my calf massage. I'm going to look to buy one tomorrow.

We slept on the plane and in Minneapolis for about 4 hours during our lay over. It helped and we got to Jacksonville pretty fresh all things considered.

Today was a planned off day for training. I started eating well today. No sweets. My sister made a very healthy meal with salmon and pork.

Tomorrow I hope to figure out where a safe place would be to ride my bike.

Great day

I had a great day!

Great workout at the Wellness Institute. A 70 minute bike ride, a 20 minute steam bath and a Weider Whey shake on the way home. Alyssa and I worked out together, I love a father daughter moment. It's beautiful.

Then a Christmas dinner at Alice's brothers house, many cocktails later and we are home at 3:47 am. I attached a picture of Darlene and I trying to get away from a nephew in-law that wanted to kiss everyone before he left. When he drinks he gets very kissy.

It's a good thing we are home early because we need to be at the airport by 5:30am and the cab is picking us up at 4:50 am.

Before we got home, we made the cab driver stop at 7 eleven so we could pick up a Hoggie. Boy was it good and unhealthy.

Till tomorrow.....

Merry Christmas...

The kids woke us up at 7 am to open presents. Afterwards I went back to bed for a couple of hours. When I woke up I felt so fat! All we have been doing is eating and drinking. I'm sure I'm up 5 lbs, minimum.

After brunch I went for a 1 hour 46 minute long run. It was nice outside, around -6 C. I was paranoid on the run that my calf's were seizing up due to dehydration from the beer I've been drinking.

On the run I decided I need to start eating right if I'm going to be training so hard. More fruits, vegetables, clean protein, etc and less simple carbohydrates, sugars and beer. I'm thinking that a good diet will probably help my recovery more that I think. That's my New Years resolution - 90% of my diet to be healthy eating.

It was tough to get dressed for the run as my wrist and hand is hard to move without major pain. I'm not sure if it is a real bad sprain or broken. I took an Advil before the run and figured the endorphins would mask the pain. The plan was for me to visit the hospital to get an x-ray after I got back from my run.

After the run, the hand did feel better. I've been icing it all day long and have been keeping it wrapped in a tensor bandage all day. I think it is getting better. I figure that if it still feels the same or worse tomorrow I'll go to the hospital to get it checked out. The last thing I want to do is go to Florida with something broken in my hand or wrist, especially with how the medical system charges for a visit down there.

We had a huge turkey for Christmas dinner. It was real good. I over ate a little and enjoyed my mom's trifle for dessert. It's my favorite. I guess in the scheme of things it's all good, after all this is the holiday season and it only comes once a year.