Foot pain...

So I guess it's time to come out of the closet here. Since October 26th I've been experiencing a significant pain in my 2nd metatarsal bone in my left foot. I've been able to deal with it but I'm afraid it's not getting any better.

I'm sure some of you have noticed my running volume has backed off quite a bit. (other than the 30K... haha) Speaking of the 30K i took a few days off before that and it began to feel better. Well during the 30K it started coming back, then the next day at the Duathlon it was pretty bad, but I didn't want to not race. Let's just say i was borderline about to volunteer cause I wasn't sure if I could run or not. Well after the duathlon I took 7 complete days off from running and went for my first run since the duathlon yesterday. While I know the pace doesn't look that bad it wasn't enjoyable. The pain came back from the first few steps and was persistent for the whole 4 miles.

Of course I've been searching the internet like a mad man trying to diagnose myself. At first I thought maybe it was tendonitis since the pain is on top of my foot, but I'm starting to feel more and more so that it's a stress fracture in my 2nd metatarsal on my left foot. I guess we'll find out at the turkey trot 8 miler on tgiving...

So I'm sure you're all wondering why I don't go see a Dr. I don't have any health Insurance and am afraid to find out what everything would cost out of pocket... ESPECIALLY if it's a stress fracture I'm gonna try to get through the holidays and maybe save enough to get it checked out. I'm so afraid I'm not going to be able to do Rocky Raccoon, along with the 50K next weekend and the Marathon the next weekend. Ugh. Didn't mean to rant, but I figured I'd let you guys know since I'm obviously not running like I was...

_Jacob_

Personal Growth....

T-minus 36 days till I graduate from UTA.

It's slowly but surely sinking in. The past 17 or so years of my life, the priority has always been schooling above all else.

Now, I'm 36 days away from that completely changing. I'll have my B.A. and I'll be apart of the work force. The 'ole 9 to 5, 5 days a week. Ok... ok... that's not completely true, but It's really starting to hit me that my new focus in about a month is going to work.

For the past 5 years I've been running Polysomnograms (aka, "Sleep Studies") for a company in DFW. This carreer has been fantast to me as a college student and working nights suits me oh so well. Well, I've finally moved on from the company I've been working for the past 5 years and found a new company doing the same thing.

The problem with this whole situation is that my degree is not in "Sleep Studies". My degree is in Education/Kinesiology. I went to school to teach kids Physical Education. I've looked around for teaching jobs and I know that they're out there, but it's difficult to get my head around the idea of a "pay-cut" from what I'm doing now. It's technically doing more work, for less money, but then again I'll be uising the degree I worked for for 5 and a half years.

I've realized I'm just ranting, but I wanted to throw that out there. Being this close to graduation has really started to hit me hard and made me re-assess a lot of what i'm doing/have been doing carreer wise.

In triathlon/running news from the Jacob front, I'm doing two races this weekend. The first one is the Rockledge Rumble 30K Trail Run, and the second is Bronda's Duathlon put on my Ironhead Race Productions. I'm looking forward to both, but a bit nervous about both as well. My training lately has been good, but just very un "focused". I've just been doing what I feel like when I feel like it. My cycling feels strong and my running feels strong, so I'm looking forward to racing the duathlon after doing a 30K trail run the day before. For the 30K I'd LOVE to win overall. That's definitely the plan. I'm gonna go out hard and see if anyone can hang. If anyone hangs then I'll run with them until they drop, or until I have to drop them in the last mile.

Well I'm outta here. Gotta catch up on some work/school work. Sorry It's been awhile since I've updated. The whole job change has kept me busy! Hope everyone is doing well and training hard.

One more quick note. Let's remember to keep the soldiers and family of those effected by the incident at Fort Hood this week in our thoughts and prayers.

_Jacob_

Exercise for the love?

This post is way overdue.

For the past three weeks or so I've just been exercising. I haven't been training.... I've been doing what I love with no specific purpose. If I feel like running 20 miles I'll run 20 miles. If I feel like cycling, I cycle. This brings me to why do some of us exercise in the first place???

Lately I've noticed more and more people that use ANY POSSIBLE excuse they can to NOT exercise! If they think they have a good reason not to exercise they use it. To me this blatantly shows that whoever it is, obviously does not have a "love" for exercise and is doing it for the wrong reasons in the first place. (Granted everyone has their own reasons....)

Exercise should most definitely NOT be a burden. These past few weeks I've been waking up, and just really looking forward to a nice workout. When I start my runs I start them having no idea how far I'm actually going to run or at what pace. It's totally amazing setting myself free in this way.

I've realized overtime that the best results I can get, are when I'm just exercising, not training. I haven't written a training plan in almost a year, and I've set 5PRs, not mention had a blast!! I also set my Ironman marathon and swim PRs this year.

Ok ok... So what am I trying to get at?? Every once in awhile as athletes, triathletes, cyclists, or ultra-runners, we need to take time off from training, and JUST exercise. Re-discover that love for just working out. If you have to, take your watch off and enjoy the peace. Register for races and just do them. Don't worry about time or pace.

I haven't taken a day off from some sort of cardio exercise in almost a month, yet I feel more refreshed than ever because I've just been exercising for the love. For the love of exercise...

_Jacob_

WS100 2010

So I totally forgot to mention that I entered the WS100 lottery last week.

I had told myself that no matter how I did at Where's Waldo in August that I wouldn't enter the WS lottery. Well, after MUCH! influence, I entered the loterry on October 5th. Of course I had to clear it with Courtney. We talked it over for a bit and I decided to go ahead and register when I found out I didn't owe any money up front!

So. Let's hope I don't get selected.... BUTTttt, if I do it will be interesting doing two 100 milers in my first year doing them. Rocky Raccoon will be a piece of crumb cake compared to WS if I get in.

Of course Courtney jinxed me and said, with my luck I'd get picked no problem. I beg to differ :)

ps- MAKE THE RAIN go away.

_Jacob_

Jesuit XC Photos

As promised here are a few photos from the Cross Country 5K I did Saturday morning. My friend Aaron Patel took them. I you're interested in photos by Aaron let me know and I can get you in touch with him.

Enjoy!

My 5th PR of 2009....

So yesterday I set my 5th personal record of 2009. So far this year I've set personal records for the half marathon, half ironman, 50K trail run, 100K trail run, and now a 5K. (even though it was cross country!!)

Yesterday morning when I got off work at 6:30am I headed to Norbuck Park on the Northeast corner of White Rock lake to run the Jesuit Cross Country Classic 5K. I finished in 17:28 just 5 seconds behind the winner in 2nd place.

I had an absolute blast. It's when I'm flying down a nice muddy hill with mud fly off from the guy in front of me whacking me in the face that I know why I race. Why I run. Because I love it... and I don't ever want to stop. I don't ever want to not love it. When I'm racing, whether it be a 5K, 50K, 100K, or Ironman I'm loving life, and loving what I'm doing right then. I hope that everyone gets the same joy from running and racing that I do...

**Back on subject**

The race was really different for me. It was the exact same course the high school teams were running and was set up the same from start to finish. We started in a huge corral that was about 25-3o yards if not longer wide. The grass was still really damp and the course had plenty of mud to go around! The gun went off and I immediately started glancing around to see if anyone was going to go for it. I ended up in first place and could hear the pitter patter of someone else smacking in the mud behind me. It wasn't till about a mile in that he passed me for the first time. We traded on and off for about 2.5 miles. We'd get to an uphill and I'd catch him, then he'd take me on the downhills.

Finally I mentally gave in and let him get about a 4-5 second gap. I thought that maybe I'd have a chance of catching him the last 500 yards or so, but just couldn't reel him in. It was odd, I finished and he had already headed off to who knows where. I stood around for 2 and a half minutes waiting for 3rd place to cross so I could congratulate the others on a good run and chat. Once the results were posted I saw that we were 2:33 ahead of the nearest competitors.

After getting my award, I talked with my friend Aaron for awhile and headed home so I could sleep. At that point I'd only slept 3hrs in the past 28! The results can be found by clicking HERE.

I wish I hadn't had to work tonight or I would have headed out for a nice long run yesterday afternoon. But alas, here I am working!

I know it's rare that I post this much, this often but I wanted to let everyone know about my experience with a legit cross country 5K! Aaron, has a lot of photos from the 5K and I'll get them posted as soon as he gets them uploaded.

I also want to congratulate all the finishers from the Ironman World Championships yesterday!! It was a great race to watch online. It felt really strange watching it online after racing in it last year.

Lastly, I wanted to tell Scott that I'm planning on running down to your house sometime this weekend so I can let you guys know about the 100K! I feel bad for not getting down there yet, but It's been a crazy past few weeks. Also, STAY on your side of the road :) :)

I'm out! Included is a photo of my shoes after the 5K.

_Jacob_

Five Finger Nation...

I've been SO overwhelmed lately by all the talk of minimalist running and the such. This idea that people weren't meant to were shoes. That we CAN run 100s of miles barefoot.

One of the factors that's contributing to this feeling, is that amount of attention the Vibram Five Finger shoes are getting. This is absolutely amazing, because it's great to see a company just take off after I've been following them and using their product for a few years.

My five finger story starts about 2-3 years ago if not longer. I probably bought my first pair back in 2006 when the company was just starting up. When I bought my first pair of five fingers I had NO intention of EVER running in them!! I got my first pair in the mail after ordering them the Vibram website. Once they arrived I tried them on and ended up sending them back for a different size because the first didn't fit just right. Once my second pair came they fit like a glove!

I used that first pair on and off when I first got them. I'd wear them to class... around town... while driving, but then I wouldn't use them for a month or so, if not longer. After awhile I started using them again and was really starting to love them. They had become super comfortable and just left me feeling less restricted as I do with regular shoes.

One day in early 2009 I was at school working out in our activities center. When I work out there I always wear my five fingers. In early 2009 I was really getting into indoor rowing, and my five fingers worked perfectly for this machine. Well one day, I glanced over to see a friend that was trying to get back into running on a treadmill. I went over to say hi, and just for fun got onto the treadmill next to her at a walking pace. After a minute or so I found myself pushing the pace a bit, till all the sudden I was running! I'd heard of people running in these shoes, but up until this point I thought they were all lunatics!! Next thing I knew I had run an entire mile on the treadmill at less than an 8:00/mile pace.

Over the next few weeks/months I started using a 1 mile run on the treadmill in my five fingers as a warm up and warm down for my gym workouts. Over time this progressed to the outdoors where I was doing a lot more running on the trails (which I'll touch on tomorrow). The trail running in the five fingers was one of the most liberating experiences EVER. It was AMAZING how good it felt. It was AMAZING at how wrong it felt!! I couldn't believe I was doing what I was doing. I mean.... people have been wearing shoes for hundreds of years. We've been adding more and more padding to our shoes, when we should have been taking it away! After those first few trail runs in my five fingers I was hooked. I'm currently doing almost ALL my trail runs in my five fingers. Anything over 12-13 miles I still do in my Newton running shoes.

Speaking of my Newton running shoes, I'll be writing a post later that covers my transformation to a mid-forefoot runner that saved my running career.

But back to my five fingers for now. Like I was mentioning earlier it's incredible how popular five fingers have gotten recently. In some ways it almost makes me mad that they're becoming so popular! I hate to see something so awesome become more of a fad. I want people to buy the shoes for the wonderful power they possess. Not just for the funny looks they'll get while wearing them! I hate to say it, but in some ways I feel like i've become a Vibram Five Finger elitist. I mean... I was running 10-12 miles in my five finger CLASSICS on trails, plus on of the shoes didn't even have a strap anymore! I mean... I've gotta be someone special RIGHT!!?!?

Well no. I'm just someone else that's realized how we were meant to run. The vibrams set us free and let us experience something that I never imagined I could experience. We've spent SO long in running shoes that it seems SO wrong to not be in them. We've HAVE to change our thinking. People are running 100s of miles in just Vibram five fingers!! Someone finished the Leadville 100 (one of the TOUGHEST 100 mile trail runs in the world!) in Vibram Five Fingers!

So... What am I ranting about here? What does all this mean? Honestly I just want to share how liberating it is to not depend on $160 running shoes that have to be replaced every 300 miles.

So here's my challenge to you! TAKE YOUR SHOES OFF. Find some soft ground and run. Not hard. Not long. Now slowly work your way up to longer distances. Discover what it's like.

What's next for me you ask? Well I'm planning on doing my first 50K in my five fingers in December, followed by a road marathon (in my Newton shoes) the next weekend. Of course as soon as I'm don with the 50K i'll report back and let you guys know how it goes!

I know that a lot of you guys are going to stay skeptics, but at the least check out some of the research out there. You can always go to Vibram Five Fingers website for some good information, or just google barefoot running and you'll find some great sites.

As always, I hope everyone is taking care and "training" hard!

_Jacob_

Sick and Racing = ?

Not much has been going on lately other than more student teaching and my final triathlon of the year. The triathlon was the SMW Regional Texas State Championship. I've had my sights set on winning this race all season long. After I won my first OK State Championship, then took second overall at the next two I felt confident I could win the Texas State Championship and end up with 100+ points overall in the SMW region.

Coming into the race I had 98.5 points which was and is good enough for 1st overall triathlete. Unfortunately a week before the race I came down with what I'm guessing was Bronchitis or some sort of flu type infection. I immediately took some time off from exercise to help my body fight the infection. I attempted to cycle a few days later and made it about 30 mins before I came home. I ended up taking the rest of the week off till that Friday where I ran about 3 miles. I was still feeling pretty bad and had a wicked bad cough. By Saturday I was feeling much better, but was definitely not 100%. I went and picked up my packet for the race on Sunday and started prepping for the race.

Sunday morning came and I was feeling confident. Well as soon as I got out of the water and started the bike ride I KNEW that something was seriously wrong. I had ZERO energy and felt really lethargic. I kept trying to push the pace but just couldnt get anything done. I was getting passed by people on road bikes, which is unheard of for me. Long story short, the race was a disaster and I ended up like 12-14 overall. After such a solid triathlon season this race was a horrible way to end the year.

Everyone has been really supportive about the race and keep trying to tell me how 12-14 overall is still good, but honestly when looking at my previous results, I have a reason to really ashamed and embarassed regardless of my illness. I'm well aware that the illness was the problem, and the fact that I had to take 6 days completely off, but it was still really hard to watch those guys pass me.

Now regardless of my finish I believe that I'm going to be able to hang on to first overall in the region. That was my goal coming into this season, and I'd like nothing more than to be able to keep it.

After the horrific race on Sunday I decided I needed to just do what I love doing, so I strapped on my fivefingers and went for a few trail runs. Ended up doing 8 miles on Monday, 6 on Tuesday, 9 on Wed, and 19! on Thursday. Most I've run since Where's Waldo, and man did it feel gooood.

I'm just going to take it easy for awhile and do what I feel like doing. I don't have anymore big races this season. I will be doing the Boston Marathon, but the bigger race to me will be the Rocky Raccoon 100 in February. I'm 99.99% sure I'm doing that race. All I've got to do now is get the entry fee!

Hope everyone is having a good weekend, and staying healthy! The swine flu is making it's comeback in North Texas....

I wanted to share a quick quote with everyone that I recently read on an ultra runners blog.

"I know this might sound like a lot of emotional, sappy, hippy bull shit but I would challenge anyone to give it a try and see what you find out. Throw away your training schedule, find a mountain and run up it. The next day find another mountain and run up it. Once you fall in love with doing that share this love with others. It can be that simple."

-Geoff Roes, Ultra-runner

That quote really hits home. The entire blog can be found by clicking HERE.

_Jacob_

Rain, Rain go away??

"It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see."

-Henry David Thoreau

************************************************

Finally, I think the rain may be leaving.

It started raining last Thursday and was pretty much non-stop since then. It was unbelievable. I went out to ride that Thursday and ended having to call John to pick me up due to the lightning. I'm ok riding in rain, but as soon as the lightning starts up I'm done!

I've had a really good we of training as I prepare for the Texas Triathlon Championships on the 27th. I'm still first overall in the region after the new rankings came out so that's great. As of right now it looks like the overall crown is mine. The race this weekend is worth 100 points and I feel confident that I can pull off 99 points if not 100 and first place overall. I've raced this course before for the olympic course and won first overall there. The bike course is fast fast fast, and the run course isn't too bad either. I'm signed up for the open wave so I'll be able to see the competition from the start of the race.

I registered for the Rockledge Rumbe 50K this week so I'm officially in for that one! I wanted to send out a formal invitation to everyone to attend that race if at all possible. They have a distance for everyone, including 15K, 30K, and 50K. If you've never participated in a trail run this is definitely the time to try it out! It's a great atmosphere. Very relaxed and welcoming. The DFW area has few trail races, so it's great to get as many people out as possible when we do have them. If you CLICK HERE, you can check out the details.

I've also started seriously thinking about the Rocky Raccoon 100 miler in February. I'm going to see how the rest of my running season unfolds and make the decision later in the year.

I hope everyone is having a good weekend!

_Jacob_

Comments Enabled!

Well, after about 2-3 years of having this website, I've finally enabled the comments section. Now at the bottom of each and every post I make there will be a comments button. If you click that, you'll be able to leave a comment for that specific post!

Alright, I'm outta here. Happy commenting!

_Jacob_

Rockin and Rollin....

"Every man is the builder of a temple called his body."

-Henry David Thoreau

*************************************************

I'm back in the swing. After one complete week off from any form of cardiovascular exercise I'm back in the swing and training well. (not hard!) This week I just worked on getting in the groove of triathlon training again. (And YES that means swimming!) I know, I know... Me Swimming... But I actually swam twice this week.

I started my student teaching last week (which I'll hit on in a minute) but it's right down the road from the SGP high school, where I used to swim all the time. The thing is, since I'm still a full time student @ UTA, I can swim there for free (included in my tuition) but it's way out of the way from my placement school. So, with that, I'm going to start going back to SGP. I went up there on Wed and payed the $2. The pool is not that great, fairly dirty, and hot, but HEY! It gets the job done. I went back up there on Friday and used my old card they issued me. It still had money on it! I probably had used it in over a year. So total this week I logged about 6,100 yards. I figure that will be about the max as I try to peak for the State Championship triathlon in a few weeks.

I've tried to do a bit of speedwork and that's worked out well. Didn't do much running speed, but they bike is another story. Tuesday night starting around 8:30pm I did some sprint repeats in a lit neighborhood. That was awesome! :) Then Thursday I was planning on meeting a friend at the Joe Pool Lake Marina for an hour ride w/ hills, but he wasn't able to make it, so I headed out with a big group that meets at the Oasis.

I believe its the Texas Wheels group. Man what a great ride. I hadn't ridden with this group in about 3 years. We headed out and the group quickly broke up after about 30 minutes. Ended up with just one other guy and we really hammered. Pace was around 21.4 mph for 32 miles including a very lengthy warm-up. I'm looking forward to doing that ride again next week if my schedule allows.

My running feels good considering the 100K I did 2 weeks ago. I'm looking forward to really throwing down some good speedwork on the legs this week.

In regards to my student teaching I started that last Tuesday and It's going great. I'm working at a High School in Arlington teaching Special Ed P.E. I'm doing that Mon-Fri from 8am-11:30am, then only taking one night class at 5 on Tuesdays, so my training isn't having to suffer too bad at all!

It's getting close to that time of year when I start looking into races for next year! As of right now the rest of my season into next season in regards to running looks like the Rockledge Rumble 50K here in Grapevine, Tx, the 8 mile Turkey Trot, HOPEFULLY the Dallas Full Marathon (if I can afford it), the Bandera 50K (which I wanna kick some *** at), and the Rocky Raccoon 50 Miler which I'd love to kick some *** at). Not to mention I have the Boston Marathon on the schedule for 2010!

It's looking like I'll be getting plenty of running in soon, but first I've gotta get this triathlon out of the way in late September. It's the state championships, so it's high points. As of right now I'm still in first place overall for the SMW region, with around 98.6 points. I'd LOVE to win this race and put OVER 100 points. If I win that race I'm guaranteed the overall crown.

Man... That's about all I've got for now. Included in this post in another photo from the Where's Waldo 100K I did two weeks ago. This is from the top of the first mountain (Mt. Fuji) around mile 13 (7,300 feet).

Hope everyone is staying safe and having a great holiday weekend!!

_Jacob_

Where's Waldo 100K Race Report

Well...

I've finished my Where's Waldo 100K race report. It's a beast. Like 6,000+ words a beast. That's my warning to you!

If you wanna check it out you can CLICK HERE! I saved it on my BT training log.

I'm thinking about getting out and doing some light Mt. biking today. Depends if I have enough time or not. Let's hope so cause I'm getting a bit antsy!!

I'm outta here!

_Jacob_

Working on that Race Report!!

First off if you wanna check out the race results with splits just CLICK HERE. If you don't want splits just google Where's waldo 100K. :)

This past week has been incredible. Taking the time to look back and think about what I did on Saturday. Last Saturday was absolutely amazing. When I say amazing that just doesn't do it justice. I spent almost 14 hours running.. walking.. climbing.. and sitting in the Oregon wilderness. Nothing could have prepared for me the feelings and emotions I felt.

I haven't really said a lot about the race yet because I really don't want to ruin the race report... but I can't help but mention a few things. I'll go ahead and list them....

1) I couldn't have done this race without Courtney. Physically or mentally.
2) 8,000ft is a lot higher than I thought...
3) 3 X 8,000ft is a bitch.
4) I saw a black bear while I was completely alone around mile 58.
5) I had mentally given up around mile 25.
6) I negative split the last 10 miles.
7) I ran in shoes that only had 3 miles on them at the start.
8) Courtney drove me to the closest McDonalds afterwards.
9) I couldn't have been ANY happier with my race.
10) I made some great friends over that 14 hours.

Without Courtney being out there for me there is no way I would have been able to finish that race. She was there EVERY step of the way... She was standing out there for 14 hours waiting for my slow butt to make it back! And of course she was waiting right there at the finish line for me... How good was it to see her.

Thanks to everyone else that made that trip possible and have joined me in my adventures. 4 years ago when I was still close to 200 pounds and had no idea how long a marathon was I would have never.... ever.... thought I could do something like what I did on Saturday.

Alrighty.. back to that race report!

_Jacob_

Running 62.5 miles...

WHOOOOOO! This weekend I completed the Where's Waldo 100K Trail National Championship. I finished the race in 13:47:55. The race was absolutely amazing, and it couldn't have been any more beautiful. I wanted to post this quick update to let everyone know how well it went and that I'll be posting my race report and some photos very soon. Hope everyone is doing well and training hard! I'm gonna be relaxing and taking down time for at least the rest of this week!



_Jacob_

It's all about PERFORMANCE!!!

Ok, so this video is genious. It's absolutely HILARIOUS! Found it a few days ago and have probably watched it close to 50 times. I figured it's time I share it for everyone else! Enjoy!

_Jacob_

T-Minus 6 Days....

In 6 days I'll be running through the Oregon mountain country. I'll be trying to cover 100 Kilometers (62.13 miles). I cannot begin to explain HOW freaking excited I am to do the Where's Waldo 100K. My last week of training has been amazing. I've obviously been running a lot more. Last Sunday I did a 28-30 mile trail run at the Cedar Hill State Park. Monday I followed that up with a 10 mile trail run in my Vibram FiveFingers at my favorite local place, the Oak Cliff Nature Preserve. Later that week on Thursday I did another 17.4 miles out at Oak Cliff and it went AMAZING. I'm eating long runs for breakfast!

It's amazing how quickly my body is adapting to the new stresses I'm putting on it. That 17 miler was probably my last run till the 100K. I'd really like to do one more but not much can help now. I'm gonna take next week super easy and not doing anything over 30-40 minutes. Courtney and I are heading out on Wednesday morning and flying into Portland, then driving down to Euguene to stay with an uncle. I've been looking foward to this trip so much this year. I got my order from ZombieRunner.com today! I freaking love that site. Got an extra Amphipod Hydrafoam Handheld Thermal0Lite 20oz bottle (so now I have two), a large Amphipod pocket to go on my Spi belt (number belt), and this soooper bad ass flashlight that's the size of my pinkie and works for 20 hours. I'm only gonna need it for maybe 1.5 hrs, plus it's SO small that I can throw it in my pocket. (just in case I'm on the course till 9pm) The first photo here is all the stuff I have now that I'll be using at Where's Waldo.


This second photo is of the TINY flashlight I got. This thing is great becaus it's an LED SUPER bright light. It's small enough that I can just toss it in that little pouch I got for my number belt. The number belt also has a cool pouch for gels already on it.


All in all i could'nt be much more prepared for this run... Physically, or mentaly considering what I've been up to lately. (12 hours of summer school, work, and Ironman number four) Speaking of school I took my last two FINALS on Tuesday!!! :) Whoooo. Now all I have left till I graduate in December is my student teaching and one night class called Diversity. Hopefully this flies by, and next thing I know I'm crossing that stage with diploma in hand!

I'll be updating at least one more time before we leave on Wednesday. Plenty of pics will be uploaded as soon as I get back! Hope everyone is doing well and training hard!!

_Jacob_

New Product Reviews!

I've now posted a section on the upper right corner of my page with different product reviews. Everything from my running shoes, to my water bottles are getting reviewed! Check it out if you're looking into some new products!!

_Jacob_

Netflix is down...

What better time to update than when the Netflix website is down and I can't instant view any movies?!

Now listen here..... Today is Friday. Meaning that yesterday was Thursday, and that was the last day of this school week. You know what that means? That means that I have TWO. I repeat... TWO, days of classes left INCLUDING finals! Now... You're thinking, "Big whoop". Well. Once I'm done with finals on Tuesday that is IT. El Fine. All I have left is my student teaching and some night class called Diversity. Blah blah blah. I'm graduating in December and I could'nt be any more ready to graduate and leave UTA. I really worked my ass off this year in school and I'm now at the end of what I was dreading so much last December. I've taken 30 hours so far this year. Es mucho.

In other news, I ran 16 miles on Monday, took Tuesday off, then did another 12 on Wed. Thursday I did 4.5 miles around a 7:07 pace and today I'm doing around 6.4. The 16 miler on Monday freakin sucked. I have plenty of things I could blame it on, but honestly it was probably the fact that that was the second workout since IMLP after taking 7 straight days completely off from exercise. Regardless I probably held around a 9min pace w/ lots of walk breaks/bottle refill breaks, etc.

Wed I ran with Scott. We did the Northshore trail at Lake Grapevine. I've heard a lot about this trail so I was uber excited to check it out. It was a solid trail, but reminded me of how spoiled I am to have the Oak Cliff trails so close to my house. The Northshore wasn't very technical but did have a few light sandy areas. Now when I say wasn't technical I mean wasn't technical compared to my local trails. I'm sure that the Northshore is much more technical that most single track trails. I'm planning on heading back out there this Monday to get a 30 miler/5hr run done. I'm thinking I'll do the trail O&B for a total of 18 miles, then head back out&back for another 12 miles. It's going to be interesting to see how that works out. I've never just gone out and run 30 miles, but after my 12 miler on Wed I'm really confident and feeling great about my trail running. I definitely had another 20 miles in me on Wed.

I went ahead and purchased another Amphipod water bottle off of Zombie Runner(I'm planning on writing a review of that bottle soon) I'm thinking for Wheres Waldo 100K I'm gonna need at LEAST two bottles! Problem is I'm gonna be carrying a flashlight for the first hr or so and there's no way I'll be able to carry two bottles. I think I'll leave one of the bottles with Courtney (my one and only crew member!) that way I can get it from her when I get to one of the aid stations. Unfortunately I'll probably only get to see her twice, Around mile 15 and mile 32 (the halfway point).

Alrighty, enough random ramblings from me, I'm gonna see if Netflix.com is back up :)

_Jacob_

Born to Run

"Make friends with pain and you will never be alone"
-Ken Chlouber - Founder of the Leadville 100

"I always start these events with very lofty goals, like I'm going to do something special. And after a point of body deterioration, the goals get evaluated down to basically where I am now---where the best I can hope for is to avoid throwing up on my shoes"
-Ephraim Romesberg - 65 miles into Badwater

____________________________________________

Man... What a great past two months. Not only were they great, but they were TOUGH. This summer I decided that I'd take a full 12 hours in one summer. 6 during summer I, and 6 during summer II. That's more than a full load during the summer for someone that works about 32 hours a week... I knew coming into this year that I'd have to make this last final push to get to graduation in the fall, and I'm pretty much there. I knew good and well that my racing would suffer, but that it would all be worth it in the end.

Regardless of all my schooling the past month or so i've actually done fairly well in my racing! I've raced in three regional championship/state championship triathlons this year and placed 1st, 2nd, and 2nd overall. These races have set me up to reach my goal of placing first overall triathlete in the South Midwest Region of the US.

After my horrible luck last year at the Route 66 triathlon in Oklahoma, I came back this year for revenge, and revenge I got. I set a new course record by more than three minutes and won first overall. I then raced the CATS Sprint in Arkansas. There I came in second to a SUPER speedy friend who won by more than three minutes. Finally I raced the PlayTri sprint which was the Regional Championships. Here I came in second to another good friend by only 19 seconds! It all came down to the run and I just didn't give what I needed to give. I let him go the last mile or so and should have sucked it up. Regardless I got well over 101 points which is great.

On to the bigger races, I raced the Kansas 70.3 half Ironman a few months ago and man did it go well! I went into this race with ZERO expectations because my training has been anything but consistent or appropriate for the distance. Regardless in finished in a time of 4:22:23 and set a new personal record by more than 30 MINUTES. I was literally speechless. I swam around 29 minutes, Cycled around 2:26, and ran around 1:23:23. When I got off the bike I knew I had a chance to break 4:30 (Which has been a big goal for awhile) and after the first mile KNEW I had it in me. (first mile was under 6:00/mile) Final pace for the half mary was around 6:21 per mile. I ended up 1st Age Group after the first four were factored out for overall and the collegiate division. (I still feel that I was 5th) Was also around 30th Overall. Lastly, the clearwater 70.3 (70.3 World Championships) slot rolled down to me but I did not take it. My friend Scott raced as well and really kicked some ass with a 5:03! Congrats to him on a phenominal race and great half mary!!

This past weekend I raced the Lake Placid Ironman. Yes. A full Ironman on my training :) To be completely honest I was really not worried about this race even know I know good and well I should have been considering my training. I crammed a bit of training in the past two weeks or so but that was it in regards to Ironman specific training. I went into this race again with NO expectations, even though I knew I was capable of sub 10. I was really hoping for a new personal record (Sub 10:29:46). Over the course of the race my goal changed to sub 11:00 hours or sub old Lake Placid time of 11:07:35.

I came out the water EXACTLY where I wanted to be with a new Ironman swim personal best of 59:20. (That beat my old Ironman swim PR by more than 2:30) I came out of transition on my bike ready to face some serious pain! Well... Unfortunately two miles into the bike my front wheel flatted. Long story short it was super wet after a HARD rain during the swim, and it took me close to 10minutes to get my tubular tyre off. After anywhere from 10-20 minutes it was changed and I was on my way. In the end I feel this flat costed me a new Ironman PR but there was nothing I could do now! I pushed my way through the first loop of the bike and finished the whole bike in 5:48 ish which was not good. The last 20 miles of the bike really hurt, and I had no idea what my marathon time would look like....

Started the marathon with a first mile of 6:50. HA! Oh SH** I thought. Slowed down a bit and finished the first 13.1 mile loop in 1:44. Well that put me on pace for a sub 3:30 marathon which is what I really wanted. That hope quickly faded as my miles slowed to around 8:30s then to 9:00s as I started walking aid stations. I finally picked the pace up a bit as I came into town around mile 23 and finally finished in 10:40:35 after a 3:44:10 marathon, which happened to be an Ironman marathon personal best by about 30 seconds!

All in all I'm incredibly happy with that performance after my lack of training this summer. I want to thank both Scott and my wonderful super supportive girlfriend Courtney. With out those guys I woulda been a complete mess!

Finally I'm gonna end this post with a quick discussion about running... and the book I just read Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. Over the past few months or so I've really started to change my outlook on racing, exercise, and running. As everyone knows I've started to trail run MUCH more, run in my fivefingers, completed my first 50K, and am about to do my first 100k in three weeks. My odd obsession with ultra running is growing and growing to the point that I'm now considering 100 milers in the near future. I have started to really enjoy... actually... love the pain of endurance exercise. I've learned to embrace the pain and work with it, instead of fighting it. My main problem is that I am a type A personality to the MAX. I'm always wanting to go further.. to push harder... to be the best. I'm never satisfied. This scares me, because I'm not so sure what will happen after this 100K. Will I want more? Will I want 100 miles? What happens after 100 miles?!? I honestly don't know... but I do know that I was born to run.

In regards to the book it's a great adventure into the world of the Tarahumara tribe in the Copper Canyon of Mexico. It covers ultra running... barefoot running, and why your expensive shoes are giving you foot pain... and everything else inbetween. Heres A LINK so that you can check it out for yourself :)

As always be sure to keep up with me at my training log by clicking HERE or on the link to the right. I hope everyone is doing well and training hard....

Run on.

_Jacob_

Back to back racing weekend!!!!

Oh yea. Two races this weekend. The first is the Oklahoma State Championship (Route 66 Sprint) and then Sunday is the Cleburne Ironhorse Triathlon. I am so ready to get out to Oklahoma and kick some serious ass. I raced this race last year in hopes of getting first overall in the SMW region rankings. Well... as most of you know the course was not marked properly and I ended up riding 24 miles on a 12 mile course. Yeaa. This year I'm going back for revenge, and first overall. No excuses. If I'm the fastest triathlete out there, I will win. I haven't swam in a week since the school pool has been closed, but my cycling is coming along, and my running is on fire. I'm excited to blow past everyone (if anyone) on the bike, then blow the run away with the fastest split. I wanna win this race by so much that the points behind me are worth nothing. If I don't win the race by a mile i'm gonna be dissapointed.

Crazy? No... Just motivated.

The Cleburne triathlon will be the next day! It's an Ironhead race so I'm really looking forward to getting out there and seeing all my fellow team members. It's also going to be interesting to see how I feel the day after a really hard short effort. It would be great to have two back to back wins. Can't be too greedy though :)

Hi... I'm an ultramarathoner.

Well... I've officially completed my first 50K ultramarathon. Definitely a little anti-climactic, but I got it done and had a total blast. I've definitely never had that much fun while running. It's SO very different running on trails for 4+ hours compared to doing a marathon on road and much faster. The day after my 50K i was having NO problems walking around. I could have run if I tried. I ended up 7th Overall, and of course they don't do age groups in a race with 90 people. I'm really excited to see where I go in trail running. I'm already signed up for my first 100K in August. If that goes well I'm planning on doing the Grasslands 50 Miler next march in under 11 hours, so that I can submit my entry into the Western States 100 lottery. I know it's a long shot, but if I'm doing a 100 miler I want it to be Western States. Of course you can check out Western States by clicking HERE. If you'd like to read my Hogs Hunt 50K race report just click HERE.

Other than that not too much has happened. The spring semester ended a week or so ago, meaning that my first summer session starts on Monday! It's weird, but I'm actually excited and ready to get this thing started. Once my summer classes are over all I have left is my STUDENT TEACHING!!! Then I'll graduate in December. Finally...

Today is going to be a good day. I'm just relaxing and having a nice cup of coffee. I've been reading the book "Survivor" by Chuck Palahniuk. So far it's great. Hopefully I can finish it tonight at work and get started on my next one. I love getting to read when School's out. It's about the only time that I can read a book and finish it. At 12:30 I'm going to run at the Oak Cliff trials to get some good running in. I'm trying to run at least once a week on the trails in prep for the 100K. Sooner or later I'm going to have to throw down a 3-4 hr run out there. I have so many good trails around me it's unbelievable.

Hope everyone's doing well! I have a pot-o-coffee to finish!

_Jacob_

Finals = Over! 50K = Saturday!

Man... It's been way too long since I've updated. On the other hand I've been crazy busy. The past few weeks school has been pretty hectic. I had finals this week and took my last one today!! I had a final Mon, Tues, Wed, then TWO on Thursday. On the upside, I have two weeks off till summer classes start, once those are done I'll do my student teaching in the Fall then I graduate in December. It cannot come soon enough...

I'm "racing" the Hogs Hunt 50K this weekend! I'm driving down with a friend I used to run with. We're leaving Saturday morning around 2am, grabbing our packets before the race starts @ 6am, running 50K then heading back to DFW. I'm really looking forward to getting to do my first offroad ultra. Goal is sub 4:40, which translates to a sub 9:00/mile pace. I'm gonna start of with my friend and decide what to do when we start the second half. I'm just looking to have fun and finish with something left in the tank. Don't think it'll be a problem, but I'll re acess @ the half way point.

Other than that, a lot has happened lately. Too much to actually try and remember, but if you're intersted just check out my daily training log. Theres a link over to the right you can click on. Hope everyone is doing well, and I'll update (hopefully with a race report) early next week!!

_Jacob_

The Ultra Bug...

Oh my. Do I ever have the ultra bug. Lately all I can think about while at work is doing the Wheres Waldo 100K!!! I've been googling different trail shoes along with different navigation type watches that have compasses, barometers, etc. Of course for the "worst case scenario"... aka, I end up in the middle of nowhere in the Oregon mountains. After the Little Rock Marathon last weekend my love for running has come back like it was a few years ago. I'm just so excited to try something totally different and WAY outside my comfort box! The watch I've been checking out is the Suunto Core. I've also been checking out the Suunto Vector. So far I really like the looks and functions of the core. I'm just afraid that either one of those watches are going to be way too technical for me. I guess I'll have to go check them out in person at REI soon. Like I said earlier, I've also been checking out some trail running shoes. So far I've focused a lot on the Brooks Cascadia 4, and the older Asics Gel Trail Attack 3. I like the fact that the Asics shoe is fairly light weighing in at something like 11.4 oz. The Brooks is just a bit heavier (I think) but has more cushioning. I really like the looks of the Cascadia, but when I'm running 100K I doubt I'll be too worried about the looks of the shoes I'm wearing.

Its such a great feeling to be adventuring into something thats totally different from anything I've done before. (other than the Pikes Peak Ascent that is...) It's fun getting to do all this research and gear hunting. I've discovered things like "Gaiters" that people where around their ankles to keep rocks and dirt out of their shoes. I'm starting to look into different head lights I can wear since I'll be doing the 3AM early start.

It's also exciting because I have an uncle up in Eugene, Oregon that Courtney and I will be able to visit and stay with while we're up there. I think it will be a great chance for Courtney to meet him and his wife. Hopefully we'll be able to stay for a few days before or after. Hopefully my student teaching doesn't intefere too much.

So, enough with my trail running antics... Last weekend Scott and I ran the Little Rock Marathon!!! Oh man, what a great event and course! We nailed Scotts goal of sub 3:30 with a 3:29:09!! Talk about perfect pacing. You can check out our splits and run down of the actual race on my training log by clicking HERE. With that time Scott qualified for the Boston Marathon! That was our goal going into the race and it happened. Now we'll both be able to travel to Boston next year to run the marathon. As for the marathon in Little Rock I LOVED the course. The first few miles were relatively flat, but then around 13-16 it gets fairly hilly! After 16 its ALL downhill for ONE mile. Literally. Then from 18 till the end its all flat except for a nice little hill at 25. Man what a course. I loved it, and look forward to running that one again. Downtown Little Rock was much more than I expected and even had a Flying Saucer that we hit up after the race. Once again, congrats to Scott for training smart and racing hard. I'm proud to say I was there when he crossed the line.

The rest of this week has been pretty good. The weather in the DFW area is GREAT right now. Mid to upper 70/low 80s all week and blue skies! I cycled almost everyday, and went out for my first run since Little Rock today after a 1.5 hr ride. I did an easy four miles and felt great. Had a few tight spots but that was it. Now its time to throw in a little speed work so that I can at least break 2:10 at collegiate nationals in a month or so.

Alright, back to work for me! I hope everyone is doing well and training hard!!

Included are a few pics of me and Scott in Little Rock.

_Jacob_

Stupid weather...

So once again I'm sitting in class... History class. I love most history classes, but this one is killing me. This professor just stands up there and talks... yadda yadda yadda.. blah blah blah... yadda yadda yadda. Exactly like that.. No exaggeration. It's ok.. It'll be over sooon :)

So this weekend is the Little Rock Marathon! I'm really getting excited. I'm going to be pacing my friend Scott in hopes that he can Boston qualify! All he needs to do is sub 3:30 which is sub 8:00 miles. Should'nt be a problem. I'm also excited to see how it feels to just go out and run a marathon. I'm honestly more worried about making sure I recover properly than I am about the race itself. I really haven't specifically trained for it, so it should be interesting. I have done 3 half marathons in the past two months, plus last weekend I did a 15.5 mile run, and it was a breeeeeze.

Continuing with more positive news! Spring break is next week! Not that I have any super awesome plans other than working, and working out! :) Like I said earlier, focusing on recovering properly... So that I can keep that build up for college nationals in a monthish.

The weather the past two days has been absolutely gross. Horrible. I thought yesterday was going to be the worst, but today the high is going to be 40 degrees and its still raining :( I'm changing my workouts a bit... but It's probably a good thing with the marathon this weekend.

Alrighty, I gotta get back to class/studying for my test coming up this afternoon. Good luck to everyone racing St. Pattys this weekend!

_Jacob_

My thoughts on triathlon coaches..

So lately I've been thinking a lot about all the different coaches there are out there for us to use as triathletes... I know people that use coaches exclusively online, some in person... others by phone, email, etc. I've looked at prices and some are just OUTrageous. A lot of these "coaches" I don't see as legit coaches. Just because someone starts a company that coaches people, and the owner/coach is damn good at triathlons, does NOT make them an expert, nor a professional. Most of these "coaches" out there, maybe have a few 1-2 day clinics they've attended, maybe some 1-2 day certification in who knows what... These "coaches" have just scratched the surface... barely... But after 4yrs of Physical Education, Biomechanics, Adapted P.E., Applied Kinesiology, Fitness Principles, Exercise Physiology, and Motor Development classes, I do feel somewhat qualified. You tell me... What makes a good coach of a triathlete? There are a few industry leading coaching companies that I feel are more brainwashing specialists than anything else... So when and if I ever look for a coach for myself, I'll be looking for more than certificates from some 1-2 day clinic, or that coaches race resume... and I hope that you'll do the same.

_Jacob_

Pre Cowtown 2009

Whoo HOOO!! Its almost that time. The Cowtown half marathon is easily one of my favorite races ever. Every year I look forward to this weekend, not only for the great race, but good times with friends.

This year will be the first time that I actually race Cowtown. The overly ambitious goal is sub 1:20, but on a good day that would be difficult due to the fact that this course is NOT easy. The conditions are actually not looking too good at all. It's supposed to be windy and cool. I'd rather it be cold, so for me the colder, the better! Now the wind is a different story. Lets just hope if it is windy that we have a tailwind on the way back into town. I feel that if I can break 1:20 I should be in the top 5. Top 5 would be fantastic... freaking fantastic. I can't deny that I wouldnt be too dissapointed with top 10. Regardless I'd love to win the age group or at least come home w/ some hardware.

Today overall has been rough. I'm at work right now (1:56 am) and I have class tomorrow. On the upside my 9am class was canceled and all I have is a P.E. observation at an elementary school in Arlington. I'm excited to observe but not excited that i'm gonna be super lethargic. I'll just have to find a Starbucks and do my thing. Maybe a redbull or two as well :) Too bad I don't have my ProBars with me!

I've gotta get back to some serious work/homework so I'll say goodbye.. Hopefully I'll see some of you guys this weekend! Good luck to everyone racing if I don't see you before the start! I'll be the guy with the free beer in hand post race...

I'm including a picture I took last week on the way home... Man I LOVE Texas.

_Jacob_

So Jealous...

So i've been reading all these "status updates" and peoples notes/blogs about racing this weekend and I'm totally jealous. I know I got to race last weekend and I'm racing this weekend, but I'm ready to REALLY race.

I've been contimplating doing Collegiate Nationals for awhile now and I think I'm going to go ahead and do it. It fits into the schedule great and would be an awesome workout to test my fitness level.

Did anyone else ride in North Texas today? The winds were absolutely ridiculous. I just put my head down and rode about 10mph for 30mins plus on the hwy 67 access road :( It was sad. Hopefully tomorrow is better. I'm SO ready to "taper" this week and let my body recover and get ready for a good ass whoopin on Saturday. Cowtown is one of my favorite races.... Should be fun to race it. I've never actually raced it so this should be interesting :)

_Jacob_

Schoolin and Runnin

Man has it been pretty crazy lately! School is in full swing and I'm taking a nice 18 hours. I'm trying to keep my training consistent, and i've also been finalizing the 2009 schedule.

Next week I have the Cowtown Half Marathon and I'm really looking forward to throwing down a fast time. Its not TOO competitive of a race so its possible I can be top 10 if not top 5. I'd be ecstatic with top 5! Unrealistic goal is sub 1:20. Actual goal is new half mary PR. Sub 1:21:24... Which was set on a stupid fast course in Austin. If you know anything about the Cowtown course it's that it is not flat!

Speaking of half marathons I went down and did the Austin half marathon last weekend. The plan was to use it as a training race and get some good distance in. Scott and I are both going to run the Little Rock Mary so after the half we both ran another 3.5 miles totalling for ME 16.6 miles. I finished the half mary in 1:24 which I was happy with. Felt great. Even with that "mediocre" time I was 4th age group outta 271 and 27 overall outta 5900+. Hmmm.

So now that I've mentioned the Austin Marathon I want to address a few things. I look foward to that race every year. This year when I registered I noticed the fee was close to it not more than $90 for a half marathon. Knowing that its always a good, well run race I payed the dough. To say the least I was UNBELIEVABLY dissapointed with the quality of the race this year. I'll just start from the very beginning. I show up to the race expo only to find there is a LINE for packet pick up that lasts about 20mins. That is UNheard of in the marathon world. After winding my way through this line I finally get my packet w/ my bib. Well that was about it. In the plastic bag was a bib, pins, some random magazine, and some race info. Seriously? $90 and thats ALL we get in our packets? ok.. I think. Maybe the race shirt will be good. Ummm.. yea no. I get in the LINE for that part of the process ONLY to find out they're OUT of Medium, small, and Large shirts. WOW. I put down specifically on my form when i payed MY $90! How in the world do you run out of shirts? Unacceptable. I took an XS shirt and gave it to Courtney. We then walked the expo and left. Dissapointed.

The next day I raced and actually enjoyed the race aspect quite a bit! A great course w/ excellent course support. The finish line was great and the medals were high quality. I grab my finisher shirt and get out of the finish area. I was impressed w/ the finish line food, etc. Later I do find out that the finishers for the full mary got tech shirts. While thats understandable I dont see why we got "organic" cotton shirts after dishing out $90. Something i'd like to see in the future is either a cheaper race, or more quality.

I WILL NOT, be paying for that race for awhile. Someday I will be back to try it again and see if its going in the other direction... Up.

Whoo. Done with that :) In other news I did NOT make it into the Double Iron :( So I have replaced the race w/ a 100K trail run up in Oregon. In order to register for that one I have to have at least run a 50K. So I'm going to do the Hogs Hunt 50K in Huntsville, Tx. (see 2009 calendar on the right) I'm excited to really push the limits this season.

I hope everyone is doing well. I'll check back in soon, hopefully before Cowtown next weekend!

Included are some pictures from the Austin half marathon.

_Jacob_

NEW Half Mary PR!!

3M went well! I set a new PR of 1:21:24 which turns out to a 6:13 avg. pace. Not too shabby but not exactly what I wanted. I think for where my fitness level is right now and the training i've been doing that was the best I could ask for! Ended up 74th Overall and 10th Age group. That race is SO competitive its great :)

This weeks workouts have been awesome! We had an ice storm here in the DFW metroplex and it was pretty bad for us! They canceled classes Tuesday AND Wednesday! I did have to ride the trainer inside but it was enjoyable. I found a few good movies and ended up watching American Gangster which was phenominal. Believe or not I also swam 3X totalling 8700 yards. Its the first week where I've really noticed my fitness coming back and its great. Today I rode for an hour and half and followed it by a four mile run at a relaxed pace. The relaxed pace was 7:06, so thats great to see.

Its now two weeks till the Austin Half marathon. I'm just going to keep building up and will set a goal for that race the closer it gets. As of right now I'd like to go 1:25 or better. Nothing too fast but definitly get some good speed in. Two weeks following that race is the Cowtown half, which I'd really like to dominate.

With that said I've gotta get some homework done and make some coffee :) Hope everyone is doing well and training hard!

_Jacob_

Post 302!!!

Wow. So i've never noticed it before but I've reached 300+ posts! Of course that includes all my old training logs and what not.

So. The 3M half mary is this weekend! Definitly one of my favorite half marathons. The course is SO fast and smooth. I've gotta head down to the SMW regional banquet this weekend anyways, so why not race 3M too?! It'll be my third year now to run 3M. The past two years i've PR'd each time. This year I would LOVE to break 1:20 but to do so I'll have to run a sub 6:06 pace. That could be rough. Plan is to just go out hard around a 6:10 pace and see how I feel after that. Depending on how I feel I'll either go for the sub 1:20 or just break my old PR of 1:23:09.

It seems I'm finally getting back into the swing of things, specifically training :) Not to mention school! My rides are getting a bit better and my run is still great. I finally got back to swimming this week and i've been upping my CORE work. I'm excited to keep upping my volume back to Ironman training.

I ran into someone from the UTA Tri team the other day and he mentioned Collegiate Nationals. I REALLY didnt plan on racing it but this year its in Texas and would align w/ my schedule great. It could be a greeeeat workout. I'm gonna talk to them and see whats up....

I'm out! Have a great weekend :)

_Jacob_

Moving weekend and 6:45AM runs...

Whewwwww. What a long weekend! Started helping Courtney move on Friday around noon and didnt stop at ALL till today around 2pm. It was me and her dad Friday moving couches, etc up 3 FLIGHTS of stairs. We had a friend helping out Saturday so that helped getting a massive dresser, coffee table, etc up 3 FLIGHTS of stairs! Then today we finally got the bed frame/Mattress/etc up 3 FLIGHTS of stairs! Its been awhile since my calves have been this sore. I'm seriously not gonna have to do any strength/core work for a few days... haha.

I did get to work out just a bit on Saturday MORNING! I was up at 6:30 and out the door by 6:45. Got in 6.4 miles and felt great. I had time to run this afternoon but I knew that it wasnt worth it. I'm fairly sore from all the lifting and I needed to sleep before work. School starts Tuesday so I'll have some stuff I need to get done tomorrow. I'd like to at least ride for an hr and run for 30mins plus do some core. We'll have to see if my back is up for the core after all the lifting this weekend....

So has anyone ever been to SWEET TOMATOES?!?! omg. This place is AWESOME. Its by far the best Salad/Soup/bread buffett everrrrr. I'm totally hitting that place up after a long run/ride/swim.

I was talking to a good friend the other night and we were discussing down periods in training/sport. It's funny right now, because I want to be fast... i want to race... and I want to be competitive, but I'm just NOT feeling the long workouts right now. I'm really keeping everything under an hr to an hr and a half. I finally got out the door the other day and got a fasttt 8 miles done. For now i'm going to keep doing what I feel like when I feel like it. With school starting on Tuesday I'm going to have access to the pool on a regular basis so I can really start getting in some good workouts there. When I'm ready again... I'm really going to kick my ass with some long pool sessions and finally get some 3-4-5 hr rides in.

Included is one of my favorite music videos of the week. I absolutely love this song... :)

Remember that Ice Storm???

Heres a fun little video I made from that recent "ice storm" we had.... Enjoy.

_Jacob_

California Rolls and Sapporo Reserve...

Oh man.

So things have been good lately.

School starts in less than a week now. SIX days to be exact. This is exciting in a way, knowing that this will be my last actual semester. I'm so ready to get to my residency and graduate its not EVEN funny.

I made some big decisions this week regarding my racing schedule for the year. I've decided to race the Virginia DOUBLE IRONMAN. I'll still to IMLP in July but regardless of whether I qualify or not I'm doing the double Iron in October. I think I finally came to the realization the other day that as a college student trying to/on the verge or graduating I need to focus on getting through school, and that includes not working as much. Well that leads to less income and that leads to the inability to get to Kona. Whether I want to or not its just not realistic for me to take time out of my residency and to spend that kind of money again. Its going to be much cheaper and realistic for me to race the double in Virginia. I'll update as more changes take place, but for now that is one thats for sure.

I took some photos today for an artice thats coming out soon. I'll keep everyone updated as to when its going to get published and get anyone copies that may want one!

Alrighty, I've got a Sapporo to finish and some sleep to be had. Hope everyone is having a good week!

_Jacob_

Thanks PROBAR!!!!

Well the other day I got some wonderful news! PROBAR offered me sponsorship! I was unbelievably excited because I've been using their product for SO long. When I first found their bars at some bike shop in Austin I fell in love with them. (Specifically the Koka Moka flavor) They're perfect for on the go eating. They have 350+ calories, good fats, lots of carbs, and plenty of protein along with having all organic ingredients and being 100% vegan. I'm looking forward to 2009 and being apart of PROBAR!

Be sure to check 'em out when you get the chance! I know they sell them at Whole Foods and REI for sure. If you're in the Dallas area you can find them at Lukes Locker as well :) :)

_Jacob_

White Rock Marathon and 2009....

So the new year is here! A lot has happened in the last month or so...

I finally boston qualified at White Rock back in mid December! Was easily up there with one of the best finish lines I've crossed. I think mainly because It was a long time coming. Boston is one of the first goals I ever had. Before I really knew much about Ironman or the Ironman World Championships. CLICK HERE to check out my race report from White Rock. Finish time was 3:06:50 which is a 7:07 avg mile. 68th Overall and 6th in my Age group.

I took some major downtime after the marathon. One entire week off from exercise and ate how I wanted. I didnt write down anything I ate. Started working out again the next Monday but nothing too hard. Maybe rode my bike for an hour or so and ran maybe 2hrs total. This week I've gotten back to it with both my nutrition and training.

If you look over to the right I have a prelimanary list of 2009 races up. Most of those are for sure but I put things like Kona and the MeatPie tri on there, which may or may not happened depending on qualification for Hawaii. I'll do my usual 3-4 half marathons in the early year. Then do a few short sprints leading to the kansas 70.3 where I'll go fairly easy. Just a training race for Lake Placid at the end of July. Two goals next season. Get back to Kona and get first OVERALL in the South Midwest Region in points. If I dont qualify for Kona I'm going to do the Virginia double Ironman. :)

Hope everyone is doing well and had a good holiday season! As always feel free to shoot me an email and hopefully i'll run into you sooner or later!

Included are a few photos from White Rock.

_Jacob_