Well I ran my first ever chip timed 5k race this past Saturday and I finished in 21:25. I was pretty pleased as I really had no idea how fast I could go. I thought I would try to hold three sub 7 minute miles and that worked out. I don't remember the exact splits but mile 1 was the fastest I think there were like 6:30, 6:45 and 6:50something and like 21 seconds for the last .1. So I obviously went out a bit fast and had to just hang on. Garmin had the route at 3.16 or something like that.

It was fun and it was hard, that is about as fast as I can run one of those things at the moment, it is not really my cup of tea but I really need that kind of work I think to get over the hump so to speak.

Anyway a quick check of McMillian, my bible reveals that 5k time translates into a 1:39 Half Mary. So I am on the cusp and if I can just find the discipline to stay focused and work from now until late September I may have a chance of meeting that 1:40 goal. Me Likey.

That is all for now.

Above is what I seem to have been spending most of my time doing the last couple of weeks. Seriously, it seems like I have been shoving anything within arms reach into my gob. Celebration period officially over.

Well this post could very well fall into that catagory of to much information. It's funny because I don't really understand why I find it therapeutic to re-hash my decision making and goal setting process on this blog. I guess seeing it in print and having one like minded person give me the thumbs up makes me somehow feel better about things. But seriously how much of this drivel do people actually want to read?

But never wanting to disappoint my massive readership I did as planned and reviewed my goal pyramid for 2008 as pictured here? It needs some work but I am fairly proud of where I am here at the halfway point of 2008.

In a nut shell I can recap it like this

Now Goals

I have done a decent job here especially with the Keystone but while I have a great functional strength routine I have not been getting the job done in the gym since the weather got nice. And Nutrition is a constant struggle for me.

Short Term Goals

I pretty much nailed all of these

2008 Race Goals

Well the two Half Iron thing might fall be trumped by my Keystone, Austin is still a remote possibility but not looking very likely.

I did the sub 5:30 thing, woot woot.

Which leaves really just the sub 1:40 Half Mary.

Long Term And Lifetime Goals

Still mostly there, Boston, New York but IM has lost some allure to me. It is that trump card Keystone that keeps getting in the way of that type of committment for me. But none of those are pressing decisions at this point so I will adjust those as necessary in Jan of 2009.

But now when you look at that what do you see? I clearly see that 1:40 staring me very hard right in the face. I really don't know if I can do it, but I am going to try. To that end I did a 5 mile tempo run on Tuesday afternoon in 85 deg weather. The 5 mile tempo averaged 7:47 with some heartrates flirting with 180 towards the end. Which in my mind is somewhat due to the heat but somewhat due to trying to push the pace and running a bit above true tempo pace.

So here I am, I think it's time to suffer a little bit. I need to hit the track and put some of this large base I have to work. I need to work on some speed, specifically running speed. I am going to  follow the FIRST plan more religiously from this point through the Fox Cities Half and hopefully I can make some progress. So that is where I am at. You will find me on the trails running more, at the highschool track more, on my bike on the cross training days, and one day a week doing an open water swim.

Like I said and I am not trying to be coy about this, sub 1:40 is a big nut for me. It may not seem like much to many of you but it is for me for some reason.  

Races I am signing up for this week. I would like to find one more triathlon to do with my brother in law and perhaps a 5k or two to work on speed. But those will be day of signup's.

Oshkosh Olympic Triathlon - Aug 10th

Fox Cites Half Marathon - Sept 21st

There you go, you offically have Too Much Information. Have a great week.