Struggling for information to post this week. Nothing of merit in the training. This was the first week that seemed back to normal after the down time. From this I have learned that 1 week off takes me 3 weeks to recover. I do believe time of rest is beneficial but this would be a good situation to remember the next time I am faced with a chance for a break. If I want to build myself to a high enough level of fitness before November, I don't have many 3-4 week periods to burn and not make gains.
I have one week of bike to work everyday for year left. 2 days this week and 3 next. I'm really looking forward to running to work on May 6. Not only will it be a great way to get some distance on my feet midweek, the change and new challenge will do me some good. For the last month inconsiderate drivers have really been testing my patience.
Winds are forecast to be 25 gusting 30 tomorrow from the SE. This means an extremely easy ride to work and an exceptionally difficult ride on the way home. Should be a sweaty good time!
80 on the bike and 27 on foot. This week we should hit mid 30's on foot again.
My first attempt in life at a diary or journal, I might as well do it online for the world to see.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Back into the Swing of Things
One of the reasons I hate to break my routines is that sometimes I have a very difficult time getting back on track. I will be plodding along smoothly and then take the smallest break from working out. Suddenly, it is harder than ever to get out the door and moving again. This is where lot's of practice in this situation helps. I know that once I get going it will get easier and I will crave it again, but it takes a few days and several workouts. That's where I am right now, rebuilding after a two weeks of hardly anything.
Week of April 5: 32 Bike, 10 on foot. April 12: 64 bike, 20 on foot.
The reason for the break was well worth the time off. Jakob qualified for Regionals in New Orleans. It was a meet that he has been looking forward to for the last year. We never had any doubts that he would qualify to go to the meet but we all wondered how he would fair against many very good gymnasts from Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and the most talked about, Texas.
Jakob had a personal challenge at this meet as well. He would get to face 2 gymnasts that haunted his competition dreams. The first was Vitaliy Kondratov from Texas. Jake went to 7 meets last year and took first all around in all but 1. In that meet he took second to a strong performance by Vitaliy including a 15.8 out of 16 on the pommel. He has talked about competing against him again since that day. We didn't see Vitaliy at the same meet this year so Jakob wondered how he was doing all season.
Another gymnast Jakob has used for motivation this year is Londyn Phu from Kansas. While he hadn't competed against him this year yet, Jakob had heard that London was getting some amazing scores and to add insult he was a year younger. After hearing this, Jake promptly gave up eating candy for 3 months until this meet. At the gym he worked harder and learned new bonus point skills. It makes me proud that he sees the way to success is through hard work. It takes serious effort to impress me and Jakob's tenacity blows me away on a regular basis.
Jakob takes gymnastics as a serious business. We involved him in it when he was 5 as we were sampling all the sports trying to find something he would like. We don't push him to practice at all. If anything, we often suggest rest when it is needed but any such suggestion is met with a look of disgust! He passes many opportunities to play like a normal kid in order to push himself in the gym. The days he does have off are often spent on the trampoline working out anyway.
We drove down to New Orleans on Wednesday to give Jakob a full day of rest on Thursday before the meet early Friday morning. He seems to be able to compete better when he has this time to chill out. We used it to see some of New Orleans and catch up with one of my best friends from the Marines who lives in the area. Brandon and I were inseparable in those years but I hadn't seen him for 16 years. Brandon and his fiance Jamie were gracious hosts and tour guides for the trip.
Jakob woke Friday morning both nervous and tired. He had difficulty sleeping the night before but after a shower I could tell he was already preparing for the meet in his head. You can see as it happens because he starts getting quiet and staring off in the distance a lot. In the car over we let him control the music with his ipod to help pump him up. The songs range from Sick Puppies to Bob Dylan. At some point he usually turns over control of the music and says he ready to go.
Once inside the gym I sat with him for a few last moments before it started to see if he needed anything. He told me he had seen Vitaliy. I told him he couldn't beat him if he weren't there.
There were 65 competitors in his age group. Not only were Londyn and Vitaliy there, we saw several other very strong boys doing some phenomenal routines. At small meets we can often keep track of other contenders scores and have an idea how things are shaping up. Here it was impossible. So many scores and gymnast numbers, we could only watch and hope. Jakob hit all 6 of his routines. He was strong in every event and received scores that we knew would place him near the top of the list though we weren't sure where.
They recognized the top 20 in each of the 6 events. Our main hopes for him were to place in the top 12 at the meet. Doing this makes you eligible to attend a camp in Dallas this summer to work with some of the best coaches and gymnasts in the country. As each event was called out, we realized he was easily going to be within the 12. He received a 4th, 5th, 7th, 5th, 5th, and 7th. No single boy was in 1st on every event. This meant the all around was up for grabs.
They began to call out the all around winner. In my head I tried to calculate. I knew he could do no worse the 7th. That meant he could go to the camp! As they called out 7th place it was Londyn Phu. Jakob looked anxious and watched as other boys went forward. When they got to 4th and called out Vitaliy's name, Jakob looked to his coaches smiling. He had beaten both of the boys he had thought so much about. Although, I'm sure he will face them again and again if he continues this pursuit.
I cannot explain how excited and proud we were to see his face as they called his name out for first place! His expressions on the podium were priceless and the smiles uncontrollable. It was gratifying to see all of his hard work pay off for him. Jakob earns his victories with a persistence and work ethic that is inspiring. I tried to capture as much of the trip as I could in the video below.
Week of April 5: 32 Bike, 10 on foot. April 12: 64 bike, 20 on foot.
The reason for the break was well worth the time off. Jakob qualified for Regionals in New Orleans. It was a meet that he has been looking forward to for the last year. We never had any doubts that he would qualify to go to the meet but we all wondered how he would fair against many very good gymnasts from Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and the most talked about, Texas.
Jakob had a personal challenge at this meet as well. He would get to face 2 gymnasts that haunted his competition dreams. The first was Vitaliy Kondratov from Texas. Jake went to 7 meets last year and took first all around in all but 1. In that meet he took second to a strong performance by Vitaliy including a 15.8 out of 16 on the pommel. He has talked about competing against him again since that day. We didn't see Vitaliy at the same meet this year so Jakob wondered how he was doing all season.
Another gymnast Jakob has used for motivation this year is Londyn Phu from Kansas. While he hadn't competed against him this year yet, Jakob had heard that London was getting some amazing scores and to add insult he was a year younger. After hearing this, Jake promptly gave up eating candy for 3 months until this meet. At the gym he worked harder and learned new bonus point skills. It makes me proud that he sees the way to success is through hard work. It takes serious effort to impress me and Jakob's tenacity blows me away on a regular basis.
Jakob takes gymnastics as a serious business. We involved him in it when he was 5 as we were sampling all the sports trying to find something he would like. We don't push him to practice at all. If anything, we often suggest rest when it is needed but any such suggestion is met with a look of disgust! He passes many opportunities to play like a normal kid in order to push himself in the gym. The days he does have off are often spent on the trampoline working out anyway.
We drove down to New Orleans on Wednesday to give Jakob a full day of rest on Thursday before the meet early Friday morning. He seems to be able to compete better when he has this time to chill out. We used it to see some of New Orleans and catch up with one of my best friends from the Marines who lives in the area. Brandon and I were inseparable in those years but I hadn't seen him for 16 years. Brandon and his fiance Jamie were gracious hosts and tour guides for the trip.
Jakob woke Friday morning both nervous and tired. He had difficulty sleeping the night before but after a shower I could tell he was already preparing for the meet in his head. You can see as it happens because he starts getting quiet and staring off in the distance a lot. In the car over we let him control the music with his ipod to help pump him up. The songs range from Sick Puppies to Bob Dylan. At some point he usually turns over control of the music and says he ready to go.
Once inside the gym I sat with him for a few last moments before it started to see if he needed anything. He told me he had seen Vitaliy. I told him he couldn't beat him if he weren't there.
There were 65 competitors in his age group. Not only were Londyn and Vitaliy there, we saw several other very strong boys doing some phenomenal routines. At small meets we can often keep track of other contenders scores and have an idea how things are shaping up. Here it was impossible. So many scores and gymnast numbers, we could only watch and hope. Jakob hit all 6 of his routines. He was strong in every event and received scores that we knew would place him near the top of the list though we weren't sure where.
They recognized the top 20 in each of the 6 events. Our main hopes for him were to place in the top 12 at the meet. Doing this makes you eligible to attend a camp in Dallas this summer to work with some of the best coaches and gymnasts in the country. As each event was called out, we realized he was easily going to be within the 12. He received a 4th, 5th, 7th, 5th, 5th, and 7th. No single boy was in 1st on every event. This meant the all around was up for grabs.
They began to call out the all around winner. In my head I tried to calculate. I knew he could do no worse the 7th. That meant he could go to the camp! As they called out 7th place it was Londyn Phu. Jakob looked anxious and watched as other boys went forward. When they got to 4th and called out Vitaliy's name, Jakob looked to his coaches smiling. He had beaten both of the boys he had thought so much about. Although, I'm sure he will face them again and again if he continues this pursuit.
I cannot explain how excited and proud we were to see his face as they called his name out for first place! His expressions on the podium were priceless and the smiles uncontrollable. It was gratifying to see all of his hard work pay off for him. Jakob earns his victories with a persistence and work ethic that is inspiring. I tried to capture as much of the trip as I could in the video below.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Time For a Rest Week
So I ran to my work for the first time this week. Do not fear, I did not break my riding streak to do it. I did it on Saturday! I needed a long run for the weekend. Call me a wimp but the idea of another rainy, muddy day at Busiek just wasn't appealing to me when I got up that morning so I thought I would see what the run to work would be like. I finished out a loop by running over to Springfield Gymnastics to watch Jake practice for a bit and then continued on home. It gave me a Saturday morning total of 17 miles.
The long runs are now approaching the distance that I will have to get serious about nutrition while I'm running. During this run I ate a banana and drank about 40 ounces of Gatorade over the 3 hours. I ended up losing 4 pounds. Not a big deal for a sweaty morning run but if I want to run all night, I must keep the weight loss to an absolute minimum.
This was the longest run I have done in the Five Fingers to date. Unfortunately, even with running on the grass as much as possible, there was a lot more pavement in that route than I like to run on. There is such a huge difference in the way my feet feel after a road run or a trail run. I was definitely feeling the effects as my feet were exceptionally tender and sore for the rest of the weekend.
So you aren't supposed to keep adding mileage week after week. Every third week or so you should take an easy week. Reduce the volume a bit and let your body recuperate. I haven't taken a reduction since starting so this week would be a good one to take a break. I'm not sure how much time I will get to devote to running this week anyhow as the family has other big plans.
Last week at the Missouri State Gymnastics meet, despite a very scary fall on the parallel bars (video if your interested), Jakob took third all around and earned a place competing at Regionals in New Orleans! Someday, when I have the proper amount of time to write a long post about the subject, I might try to relay just how proud I am of his ability in that arena. He attacks the sport with a drive and determination that is breathtaking.
80 miles on the bike and 34 on the run.
The long runs are now approaching the distance that I will have to get serious about nutrition while I'm running. During this run I ate a banana and drank about 40 ounces of Gatorade over the 3 hours. I ended up losing 4 pounds. Not a big deal for a sweaty morning run but if I want to run all night, I must keep the weight loss to an absolute minimum.
This was the longest run I have done in the Five Fingers to date. Unfortunately, even with running on the grass as much as possible, there was a lot more pavement in that route than I like to run on. There is such a huge difference in the way my feet feel after a road run or a trail run. I was definitely feeling the effects as my feet were exceptionally tender and sore for the rest of the weekend.
So you aren't supposed to keep adding mileage week after week. Every third week or so you should take an easy week. Reduce the volume a bit and let your body recuperate. I haven't taken a reduction since starting so this week would be a good one to take a break. I'm not sure how much time I will get to devote to running this week anyhow as the family has other big plans.
Last week at the Missouri State Gymnastics meet, despite a very scary fall on the parallel bars (video if your interested), Jakob took third all around and earned a place competing at Regionals in New Orleans! Someday, when I have the proper amount of time to write a long post about the subject, I might try to relay just how proud I am of his ability in that arena. He attacks the sport with a drive and determination that is breathtaking.
80 miles on the bike and 34 on the run.
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