GordyBlog

2009 Chevron Houston Marathon

Had a wonderful time today at my second marathon. Got up at 04:00 and was going to be very quiet getting ready and getting out of the house, but Mikie left a note on the fridge asking me to wake her up. So I made some coffee first and then woke her up. While I got ready she made me a delicious breakfast. There was a lot of food but I scarfed it down. Left the house at about 05:00 and was at the George R. Brown convention center (GRBCC) by 05:30.

There were already a bunch of people there. It was really nice and warm in the GRBCC. While walking there from where I parked I had turned on the Garmin ForeRunner 310XT and was checking the settings. I did something (not sure what) and inadvertently turned on the key lock. The unit would no longer respond to any button pushes and I couldn’t even turn it off. Fortunately I had the iPhone with me so I Googled the issue and found a post that described the solution. I’ll post it here in case this happens to someone else. Basically, you just simultaneously press the Mode and Up buttons.

The race started right on time. I was near the back of the red corral. It went really well for me and I felt strong throughout the whole event. I was amazed and gratified by the wonderful community support. Folks lined pretty much the entire route. The race volunteers did a fantastic job and I am so impressed by how well organized everything was. Total kudos to the City of Houston. They really treated us all very well.

Here are the splits from my Garmin:

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Today was a rest day, which was just lovely. Mikie and I drove over to the George Brown Convention Center in the early afternoon and picked up my race packet for tomorrow’s marathon. There was a bunch of people at the convention center but everything went really smoothly. Looks like City of Houston really has a handle on how to organize a great marathon.

We had a late lunch and then drove over to the Heights to visit our friends Max and Michael at M2 Gallery on 19′th Street. They were busy getting ready for the opening of David Adickes’ exhibition. We pitched in as best as we could but had to leave by around 19:00 as I had to get up early in the morning.

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Triathlon Training, day 84

All I had scheduled for today was an easy 3-mile recovery run and some strength training. I did the recovery run on the treadmill at the hotel in Mount Pleasant. I followed that with some calisthenics. The fitness room at the hotel had only cardio equipment.

Sightseeing!

Mom, Jennifer and I had breakfast and drove all over Charleston, looking at the beautiful homes and churches. We did some shopping in the market. The day was pretty and clear but still chilly.

Our flight back to Houston was on time and we had clear skies the entire way back home.

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Trip to Charleston

This was a day-off from working out and today Mom and I flew from Houston’s George Bush airport (IAH) to Charleston Municipal Airport (CHS). We had a straight-through flight (#2572) with Continental airlines. Everything went fine. One minor glitch was that the flight arrived in Houston about 30 minutes late so we didn’t leave Houston on time. But in light of all of the extreme weather over much of the N.E. right now I considered us lucky to have a flight at all.

The sky was clear and beautiful when we left Houston. As we got further and further East it started getting more and more cloudy until by the time we got to SC it was a solid blanket of clouds. There was a bit of turbulence on our descent, but nothing bad. I think Mom had a good time.

When we arrived at CHS we got our bags very quickly and picked up our rental car. It was a very nice silver Chevy Impala. This car was comfortable and roomy and handled well. It was cold and raining and we saw much flooding on the side streets as we drove from Charleston to Mount Pleasant. We arrived at our hotel, a brand-new Holiday Inn Express, without incident.

This Holiday Inn Express in Mount Pleasant is GREAT! Everything was new. The beds were great.

After we got settled we met with Jennifer and her friend Kelly and had dinner at RB’s seafood restaurant on Shem Creek.

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Triathlon Training, day 76

Run 24 miles
Description

Run 24 miles endurance; run miles 4-5; 8-9; 12-13; 16-17 and 20-21 at tempo

Details

Duration: 04:54
Distance: 24.32 mi

This was an interesting route. I parked at the Starbucks in Crosby, TX. Ran from there west on old HWY 90, then south on Sheldon Road, down to where the Lynchburg Ferry is located. Then east on Market road as far as I could go before running into the San Jacinto river. Climbed over the guard rail onto I-10 and ran on the shoulder for just a short bit until I crossed the river. Then north on the Crosby-Lyncburg road back to where I started. The total distance was a bit shorted than was I was assigned so I just kept going once I got back to Crosby.

You can see the details here.

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This was a day off from training for me. However, I did have my first appointment with Michael Florida at the Institute of Eating Management over on Woodway on the west side of Houston.

This was a really interesting meeting. After filling out some paperwork, Michael interviewed me to find out what my goals were, took some measurements, give me a rundown on some not-so-obvious things to look for in food labeling, and set me up with a nutrition plan to follow for the next couple of weeks. I’m going to put in about 5 lbs of muscle and lose a little more than that amount in fat to optimize power and performance for my various endurance events.

Should be interesting and I’m very excited about getting to work with Michael.

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Triathlon Training – day 62

Run – 30 km + 2 miles
Our Kingwood Fit running group had a 30 km (18.6 mi) run scheduled for this morning at 07:00. Coach Kt had assigned me a 20 mi run today. So I decided to do the Kingwood Fit run and just add on a couple miles at the end. The weather was great and we had visitors from the Woodlands Fit club running with us. All went well except that I somehow manage to stop the timer on my Garmin Forerunner 305 for a significant part of the event so my recorded times and distances are whacked. For example, you can see from the recorded track that, apparently, I can run on water!

Glowarama Illuminated Art Car Parade

Mikie surprised me with V.I.P. tickets that gave us access to a party upstairs at the George R. Brown convention center. There was food and drinks and we could watch all of the festivities from a large balcony. There was a light show set to music that was projected on the side of the convention center above us and on both sides.

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2009 Houston Half Marathon

This was my first race, ever, and it went great. I was worried about problems with my left knee but that held together pretty well. I had the alarm clock set to go off at 03:30 this morning but I actually woke up on my own 30 minutes before that. So I had plenty of time to feed the dogs, cats, parrots and myself (fed the fish when I got back), and get down to Allen Parkway about an hour before the race started.

The Kingwood Fit group had a tent very close to the starting area and were kind enough to have someone posted there so we could leave our drop-bags and not worry about them.

It took about 3 minutes from the time the starting gun sounded to when I got across the starting line. I had foolishly started my Garmin timer as soon as the gun went off instead of waiting until we got to the starting line. Oops! Also, I think in using the little foot pod I may have some setting mixed up because even after uploading my data I do not see the route. Not that it would be a very interesting one … just three laps along Allen Pkwy.

Anyway, I hope that when the chip times are posted I will find that I finished in a bit under 2 hours. That would please me immensely!

Here is Dewayne, Stephen, and myself all sprawled out after finishing the run:

And, for what it is worth, here are the splits from my Garmin. I’m not sure if the paces and speeds are accurate as the Garmin may have been taking them from the foot pod and not the GPS. I say this because I vaguely remember it asking me something about the pod, shortly after starting the timer. It was pretty dark and I couldn’t really read what it said. But I may have told it to use the data from the foot pod (which is not calibrated) instead of the GPS… live and learn!

Update – I have the official times from the race web site:

Triathlon Training – day 28

Cycling – Pedaling skills
Description
Ride in the HR 1-2 zones on a mostly flat course (or indoor trainer). Include pedaling drills such as: a) try to drive pedal straight forward from 9 to 3 o'clock, b) pedal with foot against the top inside of your shoe trying to avoid touching the insole, c) try to touch toes to end of your shoes at top of downstroke. Stay as relaxed as you can while doing these drills. No tension in feet, legs, hands, etc.
Details

Duration: 01:34
Distance: 22.74
Average Speed: 14.6 mi/hr
Energy: 1378 kcal


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Kingwood Fit Run

I couldn’t, for the life of me, get the Garmin ForeRunner 305 to sync up to the GPS satellites. So, as we are running, I reach over to the iPhone on my arm and fire up the RunKeeper program. The iPhone is able to acquire the GPS satellites and I was able to track the remainder of the run with RunKeeper. So the figures below are just for the part of the event that RunKeeper recorded.

Duration: 01:10
Distance: 7.65 mi
Pace (avg): 9:12 min/mi
Speed (avg): 6.52 mi/hr
Energy: 1198 kcal

Route map:

I took a few pics of folks finishing the run this morning.

Mikie, Chelsea, and I went to Canino’s Produce Market.

Swimming at Lifetime Fitness

Duration: 00:31
Distance: 1400 m

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Kingwood Fit Running Club

Duration: 01:00
Distance: 6.59
Energy: 1111 kcal
Pace: 09:12 min/mi (avg), 04:59 min/mi (best)
Heart Rate: 153 bpm (avg), 170 bpm (max)

Click here to see route

NewRulesOfLifting, Hypertrophy 1 – Workout B (# 2)

Alternate Sets:
    DB incline bench press: 40x15,15,12
    cable seated rows: 95x7; 80x15,12
Alternate Sets:
    DB shoulder press: 30x5; 25x9; 22.5x10
    100x6; 80x15,10
Alternate Sets:
    BB close grip bench press: 90x12; 85x10; 75x10
    high pull: 90x5; 85x7; 75x8
Swiss ball crunch: 25x15,15,15

Party at M2 Gallery
Max and Michael threw a party at their new location for M2 Gallery in the Houston Heights.

Here are a few shots I took with my iPhone. It was a bit dark inside but some of the pictures came out OK.

Here is a shot video (also shot with iPhone) that shows Max dancing to The Junkyard Dogs by The Walking Timebombs.

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