Just In Time

     Last week was a below average week for training. The majority of my free time was spent with my 2 sons which in of itself is the ultimate cross-fit work out (don't believe me hang out with my 3 year old for a day) most of my training was on the bike which was good since I just came off of a leg injury. I also couldn't get much outdoor running in this weekend since I live in Kansas City (MO) and we got hit by 12 inches of snow, and as I'm writing this we are about an hour away from getting another 12 inches so the streets are unsafe for runners. It looks like this week will be long sessions in the gym which since I've had 2 easy weeks will be a good time to up my training to the roughest section since I am only about 45 days away from the 1st race of the season. My legs should be well rested Just In Time to destroy a huge amount of miles.... Wish me luck...If anyone needs me I'll be on the treadmill

Mini Me Shoveling our Driveway

My Street During the blizzard

Single Dad

 So I'm STILL on rest for my injured ACL and I'm hoping a week is enough. Tonight I'm doing my 1st Work out in 6 days. A hour long swim work out and then I'm going to have dinner, test the pain level and hopefully get a easy 30-45 minute bike ride workout, then hopefully tomorrow I'll get a easy 4-6 Mile run in and see how that feels. As for me doing all this ACL testing this weekend it is due to the fact that next week is going to be rough... I'm 100% in charge of my son's this week since my wife is in D.C. for a week so I'm wanting to still push my workouts which means a lot of quick workouts or long bike rides while the boys sleep so my schedule will be

Wake up get the boys to school
Get to work (Early)
Leave work early get my run workout in
Take care of the boys (Dinner, Baths, Books Etc)
Then do a bike Workout (At home on the trainer)
Sleep...Then repeat

I'm also going to do some Yoga DVD's
And if I'm not running then I'll lift weights

I'll will give my Update next week with what I accomplished as far as workouts go and I should be posting pictures of My new SLS3 Team Tri suit soon...

Wish me luck....

Quick Injury Update

     I made a error in thinking by taking zero days off and spent no time recovering for 15 days and found out the hard way that I'm too old to push it that hard for that long without an Injury. I had some knee soreness for about 5 days but kept my workout schedule trying to make it to Sunday which was a scheduled rest day. It felt horrible on Thursday but I thought I would Judge it on Saturday morning since Friday's I don't run. Friday morning it was stiff but I had ran hard Thursday so I figured I would be fine in a day I did an hour long swim workout and my normal bike workout. When I woke up Saturday my knee felt barely ok so I went for my long run. I didn't try to set a PR I just ran normal pace at about mile 4 the pain got worse and I told myself I would just dial down the workout from 10 miles to 8 and pushed on. A little past mile 6 I felt a pop in my knee and the pain was horrible and about every 10 steps or so my leg wouldn't land correctly like my knee was loose so I thought about my options. I could stop and call for a ride home and not finish the 1.5 miles home, I could walk it... I checked my knee and it looked fine it just hurt with pressure on it so I decided I would walk jog/drag my self home which I did after slowing to a crawl I made my way home. So the smart thing would have been stop and make a phone call for help but I tend to be hard on myself so now I'm taking a week off from training to let my ACL Strain (very Minor strain) heal then back to training. I say minor so that I only have to take the minimal time off plus as long as its not a tear its an easy fix with rest. So not much to update.... If anyone needs me I'll be on my couch.

Both of my sons showing me how to stay chill

Long Weekend

     Lets just start off this blog by mentioning I'm a guy with a lot of faults.... I have a huge problem with pushing limits. I end up looking for an extreme and push 100% towards that extreme til I either attain the goal or more likely fail in a huge flaming ball of shame. Hence enter my 1st coached swim session. I went in to it thinking it was going to be an hour of me and the swim pro (Autumn) having me do some light swimming and trying to give me some pointers and then I would shower go home and do my long run like any other normal Saturday, but it didn't go down like that. I would like to say I'm in better then average shape so as I entered the pool I told myself that once the speedo was on I was going to max out this hour with energy to spare...I was horribly wrong. At the starting I felt great the water was cool she was being super helpful with great pointers. After we worked on form and body position which by the way I swim like a tired old man, was a lot to think about. So she would have me do short drills to work on shoulder roll (which I still can't figure out) but before that she had me do a drill on kicking or head water level position or stroke position. However she didn't know that since I am me I would always try to work on all five at once which lead to a total failure to complete any of the above steps. There was 1 lap where I was to tired to think and I made it about a half of a lap with perfect form but by then I was spent. Towards the end this was our conversation.

I put my arms on the side of the pool to listen to how the lap just went

Autumn - how did it feel

My Answer - Ok except half way I realized I was kicking all over the place and when I fixed that I forget to stroke properly

In My Head - It feels like my left arm quit 3 laps ago and I'm not sure if it is still attached, No matter what I can last an hour just keep moving.

Autumn - It was ok but lets try it again and just focus on one or two things like your kicking and hip roll

In My Head - Come on old man !!! she just wants another lap from you the hour has to be almost over, alright one more lap

My answer - Ok

After the lap she said you lost your form maybe your tired. How about we save the rest for next time.

In My Head - Thank you my body is done, Wow that was a rough hour you are an old man

My answer - Cool you gave me a lot to work on.

Autumn was awesome she kept offering me breaks and saying you can start the lap when ever your ready. So she was super nice. and offered me a million outs... Its just not how I am so like always on the 1st day of a new workout I left got in my car beat.....But then started my car reached for my phone and realized I had been swimming for 2 hours... Yes I was dazed and confused I pushed it an entire hour longer then I thought so maybe I wasn't as out of shape as I thought.

----I'm not sure if Autumn reads my blog but if so Sorry I just have a rough time with admitting I'm too tired to go on.---

I spent the rest of Saturday taking it as easy as a Dad can with 2 young Boys can. I skipped my long run and then woke up Sunday went to church went shopping then decided to try and kill my long run before the Super Bowl. About a Mile into my 8 mile run I saw about a half mile in front of me a neon green shirt of a runner so once again just like typical Chris style I decided I was going to catch them so I pushed it (Hard) for the next 2.5ish miles I went all out til eventually I passed A women with a neon green running tee a long sleeve white under shirt and black tights who was running around or right under a 10 minute pace. (If by chance your are said women and reading this Blog...THANK YOU I ran a awesome workout because you decided to run Sunday) after about 4 miles our paths went different ways so I finished my run and made it home 1 minute into the start of the Super Bowl. I had a long weekend starting with Friday nights hard as I could go 25 mile bike ride ending with my pre super bowl run and some very beat legs...

I train alone because I like to be the one to force myself past my limits, but this weekend I got swimming lessons and chased down a runner and after it is all said and done sometimes its nice to have someone else do the pushing for a day or two....

Thanks to anyone and everyone who helps push another....Sometimes it's just what the doctor ordered...

How I Enjoyed the Super Bowl