WTFM!

I had my first WTFM (What The F$%^ Moment) his week in a loooong time. 

The definition of a WTFM  is when the brain, the heart and lungs say one thing and the time on the watch or computer says something completely, unexpectedly different. Could be a good thing. Could be a bad thing.

This week, it was a good thing.


Saturday I was out with Bella, our Chocolate Lab for an easy out and back, six mile run after a 27 mile bike ride. I felt ok at the start. Nothing special. As the run progressed, it felt like my stride was fluid and easy. I hit the turnaround averaging 7:30 miles..that's pretty fast for my lately but still not a WTFM. As were heading back, I felt loose. I felt fluid. At about 4 miles, I glanced at my Garmin to check my pace ...6:53..Wow..Garmin's flaky sometimes so still not a WTF. About a half mile later, I checked again...6:53 AGAIN.  At that point it became an official WTFM. No freakin way was I running that fast, that easily.  All of my easy runs lately have been about 7:40 - 8:00 min per mile. My first thought was to immediately put the brakes on so I wouldn't feel trashed for my Sunday run. I did that and ended up averaging 7:10 miles on the way home. 

I ain't sayin Sir Issac had anything to do with the WTFM, but his picture is on ten most wanted list right now. 

Oh, my last WTFM was about two months ago in Oklahoma City at the USAT club nationals race...At mile three, I looked at my heart rate (163) then the Garmin pace (7:51) and went WTF!... I immediately went into survival mode and finished the 10k run in about 43 minutes..

Hello Isaac

I'm still not 100% sure why I purchased these $175 pair of Newton training shoes. I love my Asics Nimbus.


Mid-life running crisis perhaps?

I know my gate is neutral as my current wear patterns is..well, there isn't any wear pattern. Over the life of a pair of running shoes, I don't see any "hot spots" on the tread. I know that I'm a mid foot striker.

I'm gonna give these Newtons a go and see what happens. Over the past 24 months, I've had nagging upper leg and hip soreness. Maybe these will help, maybe they won't. I spent 10 minutes on a treadmill in them today...started at about 9 min per mile and upped the pace every two min..finished the last two minutes at 7:30 per mile. No noticeable strains, soreness or aches.

They're cheaper than a red Corvette.

They're mine, all mine

Well, I got'em. The first set of workouts designed by a professional coach for yours truly.

Yep, I've decided to go down the one on one coaching path and couldn't be more excited about it.

Over the past three years, I've blended a pinch of Slowtwitch, a smattering of Jack Daniels (running guru, not Tennessee Whiskey)  with a gob of Endurance Nation to come up with my workout plans. It's worked pretty well. I've exceeded my expectations as to how fast I raced.

But, as Jerry Reinsdorf said when the Chicago Bulls fired Doug Collins and hired soon to be coaching legend, Phil Jackson, "Doug got us from point A to point B. Phil's going to take us to point C".

I want to get to point C.

Ready to Rock

It's been a little over three weeks since my not so great 09 season ended and I'm ready to get it rolling again. I've been dinking around since my last race and have just about reached my "dink" limit.

Time to start working again.

This year my season ended on a OK note in Waterloo Iowa at the Peregrine Charities Triathlon. Nothing great but I was able put in a solid effort. The legs still didn't have good run in them, but it was fun none the less.

As soon as that race was over, I was looking forward to preparing for next season. As a matter of fact, I was looking forward to 2010 for the two weeks prior to the race. Mentally, I had moved on. It's funny, I wasn't looking forward to taking some time off. It was something I needed to do to get faster, just like a weekly long run or a hard set of swim intervals. I was already planning for the other side of  the forced layoff.

My next posts will highlight the plans for 2010 and how I'm ready to make it my most successful and consistent season yet.

Stay tuned

Medals, Podiums and Winning

It's what gets me out the door.

There's one born every minute

And today, that one is you. 
I got you here..hopefully, over the next year or so you'll stop back and keep up with my training and race reports.


Thanks for visiting. 


Ron