I can take a shot any evening that I want. Perhaps soon, just to see.

You did well, so rest and celebrate.

Let me share something that any good endurance athlete HAS to do. Actually any good athlete in ANY sport.

• Basically the workout (whatever it is) is non negotiable, with yourself.
• It's like eating, sleeping, breathing. It is an apointment with yourself. You need to do it. Missing it is a non option once you commit to it.
• The good athlete decouples how they are feeling now and projects themself well past the current feeling of lethargy or other negative sentiment, to a visualization in a state where you're firing on all cylinders
• You just go at the appointed time, put on the gear and start
• No questions, no self doubt, no self questions, no getting derailed by people around you. You're on the mission.
• You can't question yourself when you feel like absolute crap during the warmup. This is not what the workout is about. This is a period that you have to break through. That part of your brain that says you should pack it in is full of crap. Listen to the part that tells you what is like to stand on whatever podium you are aiming for. The road to that requires that you shove all distractions out of the way.
• Get to the start line of the workout and get past the first 10 minutes. After that, you're good to go. Your pace of the rest of the workout may not be like you're on fire every day, but push through. This is partially why the minimum for the challenge was 30 minutes....10 min warmup plus 2x1 mile intervals with a short jog in between and a bit of a cool down and suddenly that really really crappy journey to the start line and perhaps an equally crappy 10 min warmup turns into an awesome workout that would be easy to just bail on!

Monty, I am GLAD for you! You're a tough cookie!!

Dev, I've never been coached in my life, so I don't know if your rules are the standard for endurance athletes. I'll take your word for it.

For myself, I think there's good suffering and bad suffering. The good brings satisfaction. The bad brings injury and illness. I assess and negotiate with myself everyday to maximize good suffering. That's just my way.

Great encouragement and wise words again Cal and Dev, much appreciated. I especially like the idea of "appointment with self". I had bought into this early on but was clearly starting to forget. So much easier to get out today despite work pressure, took the pace up a notch or two to shake things up a bit and feel so much better for it. Streak still firmly on. 100 still on. This forum is a huge asset.

Sigh.

Some days the world just conspires against you. Yesterday was one of those days for me.

I set my alarm at 5:20 to go swim in the AM. I woke up at 6:09, to discover that I'd selected an alarm that was only setup for TuWF (not Thursday). rats. But, still planned to run at lunch.

Then my boss decided to move our normal weekly staff meeting from 3pm to lunch hour. I hate weekly "staff meetings", and I despise lunch-meetings unless there is an urgent specific task to accomplish. Not in this case. I was going to try and squeeze it in either before or after the lunch hour...but, other real work commitments got in the way...and so it just didn't happen.

Then last night my niece had an art exhibit in a fancy Downtown Dallas gallery (and celebratory dinner afterwards). Family comes first. I maybe could have squeezed it in after we got home...but, I'd never have been able to fall asleep in time to get up and swim TODAY.

So....my first ZERO of 2019 is now on the books, and I dropped 30 places in the standings.

Unfortunately, that is how it goes sometimes. Life does a good job getting in the way every now and then.

On Monday night our daughter threw up and I had a random 100+ fever. Had to take Tuesday off which was my first unscheduled day off in months. Thankfully, it was just a short lived thing for all of us and I was back out on Wednesday.

Yesterday, I ran a tune up set of 7x800 in my neighborhood and averaged around 2:25 for them. It felt really good to open things up. I passed the recycling man 6 or 7 times (our neighborhood is about 1k around) and he probably thought I was insane.

The Rock n Roll Half Marathon in AZ is this weekend and my goal is a big PR. It isn't even a B race but training has gone well enough that it is very possible.

---

speedySTATES

Sorry to hear this...but on the bright side, it sounds like sleep, work, and family took precedent over one run. Not too shabby :-)

Yep absolutely agree, that's not a fail in my book it's just life getting in the way and you having a good sense of priorities. It sucks, sure, but you know dud nothing wrong. Your boss on the other hand..... ;-)

Unplanned rest days suck, but either way it's still some rest, I'd have a bet that you'll have some decent runs next week.

Today's my first day completely off since early December, tomorrow I'll likely be creaky & slow but if history repeats itself Sunday should be good & I'll have half a hope of getting though the next block.

Oh, I know. No big deal. Just annoying.

Got the swim done this morning, and run #1 done at lunch today. Back to +1 on the challenge. I'm planning on doubling up tonight to get back to +2.

Today was a short run ...7k to put me up to 500km so far. My new garmin thinks I'm slow from the past 2 days so I ran the first km warmup at 4:42 then gradually picked it up to go through 5k in 21:28 then eased up the final 2k. It still predicts my 5k race over 22 min though😁

SO looks like we got shut out on the Carlsbad 5k this Sunday, tried to sign up this morning and they cut off internet registration, have to go in person to Carlsbad to get in. Now way I'm making that trip twice, paying $60, for a 6;45am start 5k!!! Will take a look at the schedule and see if there is something coming up a bit later..

But I guess we could do a virtual 5k this weekend, mine would be on the treadmill, others could use their devices to measure it out. Pick any course you want, and go for it!! I will have to look and see what I did last year for my best in workouts, that will be my recent PR and time to shoot for.

Anyone else in for a mini challenge, tired leg, weary body, virtual race??

Sure...why not? Just anytime this weekend...or did you have something more organized in mind?

Well since it is virtual, anytime this weekend is fine. I have to admit, the 6;45 am start of a race that takes me an hour to get there was not the most appealing time, so I will probably go for Sunday morning at a reasonable hour..

Congrats Monty. It's good to hear of your progress. Like you I've had heart issues and continue training/racing/100 in 100 etc., because of the health benefits. I go in for an annual CPET every summer and like you, I want to know how I did compared to last year. And in spite of getting a year older it's always nice to celebrate when I improve or at least stay even.

Steve

You are crushing this challenge Steve, good for you. What is your particular heart condition, if you dont mind talking about it? How old are you now, and do you actually live in Kona, or aspire to the area??

I have spent so many separate months over there, I think I qualify as having lived there is some regard. Figure I have been to the big island at least 35 times, the longest for a 4 month stretch..I often daydream of moving my family over there, just wish the schools were a bit better and a little less traffic. I suppose I still have the old Kona in my head....

I'm not terribly disappointed about the Carlsbad race. I tend to like low budget, no frills, little races. Running with you would have been fun, tho.

About 15 years ago, there was a trail race series somewhere up the 74 (Ortega highway?). They were cool races-- like maybe 20 or 30 people and a vat of potato soup. That's the kind of race I want to do.

It's supposed to be sunny and mid-70's this weekend! I want to run long on Sunday. I'll submit my fastest, continuous 5k from my long run for the virtual 5k.

Hey, how about a virtual free 100/100 5K race. Pick a 1 km segment of tarmac that is dead flat and then do out and backs 2.5 times? Everyone post their target times and finish times. If you have a track nearby, then 12.5 laps.

I took a number of days off running due to my disc flaring up on me because of something stupid I did while skiing. I did not want to jeopardize my swim camp that I leave for in Cancun today, so just focused on swim, bike and rowing machine and weights the last 2.5 weeks. Last night I got back on the treadmill for 20 minutes and things were pretty good. I will likely do some short runs on the beach in my vibrams this coming week to work my way back in. Probably none will count for 100/100. I'll focus on the back end 50. We're at day 36, so I have 14 days to build up for the back end and log some real runs that count.

Woohoo....got tempted to get back on the treadmill this morning and did another 20 minutes and felt good. I guess back to back 20ish minute days qualifies for my first 100/100 run of the year!!! I think I should be good for daily shuffles on the beach during my swim camp, but JasoninHalifax will give me smack about wasting energy doing tri crap when I am supposed to be doing 6-8K per day over swims.

Day 1: 3.6 mi easy
Day 2: 11 mi easy
Day 3: 4 mi moderate
Day 4: 6.2 mi easy
Day 5: 5 mi easy
Day 6: 4.3 mi run (1.5 mi @ 8:34 pace, 1.3 mi @ 8:27 pace)
Day 7: 12 mi run (8.3 @ 8:27 pace)
Day 8: 3.6 mi
Day 9: 11.2 mi
Day 10: 6.45 mi (w/ 1 mi @ 8:00 + 2.1 mi @ 7:53)
Day 11: 7.3 mi
Day 12: 3.6 mi
Day 13: 3.7 mi
Day 14: 4.3 mi progressive
Day 15: 3.6 mi
Day 16: 9.8 mi
Day 17: 12.1 mi
Day 18: 3.1 mi
Day 19: 7.3 mi
Day 20: 5.8 mi
Day 21: 5.5 mi
Day 22: 13.7 mi (w/ 1 x 4ish miles and 1 x 2.3 mi at marathon-ish pace)
Day 23: OFF (1 hr stairmaster + 2 mi walk)
Day 24: 9 mi (w/ 8 x 45 sec fast, 75 sec recovery)
Day 25: 4.8 mi
Day 26: 9 mi
Day 27: 4 mi
Day 28: 6.6 mi
Day 29: 3.5 mi
Day 30: 12 mi
Day 31: OFF (4 mi walk + 2225 yd swim)
Day 32: 4.6 mi
Day 33: 10 mi
Day 34: OFF (31 mi bike)
Day 35: 5.1 mi (last 5k fast)
Day 36: 13 mi (took 2 hrs flat so I entered this as two runs to get credit for the double)

"off" just means "did not run." I've edited those to say what I actually did. I've been swimming through this all, just too lazy to list it all.

Today's 13 was a fun game of "I am tired and don't want to run, so I will do 30 minutes" and I suckered myself into it. good run - started very easily, ran 6.41 miles in the first hour, then upped the pace to manage 6.59 miles in the second hour.


So I have run 33/36 days, and have "only" done 33 runs, but points-wise am 34/36 because of the "extra credit" for the 2 hr run.

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

It's kind of a funny story.

I'm in my late sixties and I've been to Kona several times. Just before the first time I went (to race) a doc wanted me to see a cardiologist because of a funky PET scan. I put it off until after the race. After all I was feeling great. Long story short, when I came back it turned out that I had coronary artery disease and had heart bypass surgery.

Several of my younger friends got the Vermont teddy bear for me while I was in the hospital recovering. If you look closely you'll see that they had Kona Boy embroidered on to his cape. So since that time I have been the Kona Boy.

I'd love to go back. Although with every year I get slower and slower. I'm not sure I'd want to live there year round. Although given our weather forecast (12" to 20" of snow tonight) I'd trade places in a heart beat.

Steve

Today was a tough day. Did 2:45 on the bike trainer then ventured out into the cold for my run. It was -19C (-2F) with a -29C (-20F) windchill so I was bundled up big time. Had so many layers on I felt like the Michelin Man but I slogged through 10k just before the snow started. It is supposed to get colder overnight and we are scheduled for 10-15cm of snow so tomorrow's scheduled "first run of the 12 week Boston plan" might be interesting .... we have the Quinte Wellness Centre near where I live and it has a 165m running track .... could get really dizzy if I am forced to run 2 hours in there but it might be the best alternative.

good you bailed on that one, its costly and that first mile is up hill!


so today I did another double since it was a 5k race.
Every 5k race I do doubles.... since I do the 5k in under 20 minutes, but need to get in 30 min for it to count, I do a new watch technique.
I set it to auto pause if slower than 20 min pace. So I do about 12 min warm up, and wait for 5k to start. This has helped a lot, since
I dont have to hold the start button in awkward position from start line. I can run naturally with good form and the watch auto starts for me.

After the race, I do ~30min cool down session 1 hour after

How was your race??