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

The Test

     Saturday I took my new SLS3 Gear out for a 10 mile test run and let me tell you it passed, and by no small margin. If you follow my blog I often talk about compression (for good reason) I love compression because I hate spending any extra time on recovery then absolutely needed and with the proper compression it cuts recovery time down. As for the full foot and calf compression socks from SLS3.... From now on they are the top end of the curve I will grade all/any compression I try. They fit like a 2nd skin and it feels like an extension of your calf muscle. They didn't slide and have cushion where needed. If you consider yourself any kind of athlete then go out and get some compression, then thank me down in the comment section later.

     As for my training this week. Everything is keeping on schedule to try and PR my 1st race of 2013 a Half Marathon near my office in downtown KC. And depending on my bother (Joshua Ham) I may take a break in training to do a just for fun 5k. It is a Zombie run where you get flags and at certain points they release Zombies (it has yet to be confirmed on the realness of said zombies)  and you run for your life over obstacles etc trying to make it to the safe zone for what is said to be an epic after party

http://www.runforyourlives.com/

Quick Update on how I'm doing on the Nike FuelBand front

I've had it for 13 days and am on my way to a 13 day goal streak

New for Next week......Swim Training

Please feel free to leave comments, words of advice, concerns about my mental health, etc in section below

New Gear

So I received a few Items from my sponsor and wanted to update the blog world...

Yes That's Me after a 20 mile Bike ride followed by a 10k run workout

Cliff Bar sent me some samples hoping I would pick them over Gu

Other then trying on the hat, I haven't tested any of the gear. I'm waiting til my long run on Saturday then I will let you know what I think.... Check out SLS3 by clicking on any of the SLS3 Banners you see on my blog if you decide to get anything let me know (shoot me an email) and I can get any of my friends a discount....

I Could Be A Bum

     Another week of training down and feeling better each week. Since my last blog I have kept my re found running pace back and have made a game of pushing myself harder and harder on the bike and then seeing if I can still run and crazy enough I can. I know it sounds weird but other Triathletes have said its a constant energy balancing act between how much to burn on the bike so they can still get what they need out of the run but for some crazy reason I took the word "Energy" to mean leg fatigue but energy is just energy pedaling a bike and running somehow use different muscles so as long as you have energy left after the bike ride my legs have been good to go. I'm just not sure (I have also only ran 6-8 miles) off the bike I haven't tried any longer distances yet.
     I was also Officially welcomed to the SLS3 family and it feels weird. Actually being part of a team. I waited on this blog to review some of the team gear they have sent me but I found out about an hour ago that the package just hit my Cities Post Office so it will either be waiting when I get home or will arrive tomorrow (Slowed Due to the Holiday) then I'll make a official Box Opening Blog. I just didn't want to go to long without updating the amazing and awesome few followers I have. I did get to meet our team captain "Chris" I know great name. I have now found out Nike recruited about 500+ athletes/workers of all skill levels to compete in a Fuel competition. Which is Nike's way of tracking activity. They have a point system with Nike Plus that allows athletes anywhere to compete against each other no matter their sport or activity level differences. So what Nike did was hand out what they call a fuelband. It looks like a rubber bracelet that everyone already has yet it is packed with Nike tech. It measures Steps, Cals, Distance, and of course Nike Fuel it also tells the time. It syncs with my IPhone Nike app and the computer. So as part of the Tri world I was offered a band with the wink and a nod that I would die before not meeting my daily earn of 3000 points. I quickly took it home unboxed it and checked the website. For a quick understanding of the competition and a look into my very crazy mind. The website lists teams of athletes/Workers

Triathletes
Ballet
Bowling

Bartending

Rowing
Basketball
Police Officers

etc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=C28vPth3Xio

A video Nike made to compare athletes

     Yes that's right Bartenders have their own category and they are kicking serious fuel. When I logged on Ballet was in a crazy lead but the Tri world was down a few members so I decided I would bump My daily goal to 4000, on a normal day 5000 on a hard work out day and see what happens.

So far I'm on a 3 day streak (I've been wearing it for 4 days) and am pushing for today's points. So yes I feel that my team should be in the lead and if it means doing random jumping jacks and hallway wind sprints then so be it. But I like to win. as for my Blog title it just feels weird getting a sponsor and gear from Nike for testing and competing when I haven't even proved myself in the world of Tri yet. I could be a bum, or I could be great only time will tell....