Thanksgiving Training

I had a couple great workouts over Thanksgiving. Both were with my brother, Nate. Hanging with him was by far the best part. You might know how it is being with tons of family for a holiday meal. You know a couple of those people real well and the rest of them well, I kdo good just remembering their names. They are great people but somehow it just turns out a little stressful. A twenty mile bike ride is a great way to deal with the stress. Especially when it comes between thansksgiving meal #1 at house A and thanksgiving meal #2 at house B. Throw in the fact that we didn't really know exactly how to get there and our wives did a drive by at just the point we were really getting lost and it was getting dark. excellent ride. I should also brag on Nate. It was his second bike ride and he got honked at and ran off the road. Pretty cool.
Our second workout came on Saturday. I felt like a machine. Down near Durham they have this great trail called the American Tobacco Trail. It used to be a railroad, but the rails are gone. It was flat, padded with pine straw and not quite completed. I felt like I could have run forever. It had access points every few miles and would make a great place to stage a long distance training run. The fact that it wasn't finished yet made it even more fun. There were two bridges we crossed that had no platform, just poles and supports. We ran a little over 6 miles and I had no knee pain at all. The last quarter mile we ran way fast. Nate latter told me he was trying to see if he could make himself puke. No dice.
More exciting news. Our van engine died on the way home. I got 2 extra days off because of snow, and I got a staff card for ASU that lets me park anywhere on campus and gets me into the workout facilities. Also after noting our new fatness in our Thanksgiving pics, Em has put us on a diet. I should be a machine by our race in Janurary.

A New Goal

I have a new goal. It kind of goes along with the other thing I'm working on, don't get fat again. Oh, what have I gotten myself into? Well, Em signed me, Nate, and herself up for a 10 mile trail run on Janurary 10th. It started out as all fun and games until she said she could beat me because I run 12 minute miles. Then Nate emails me and says " 8 minute miles?". Uh wow I really need to start training more seriously. I guess today's downtown run in 7 degree windchill with blowing snow is a good start.
By the way. I'm not going to let either of them beat me. All in the name of regulating Lowboy of course.

Back to the Currahee Adventure Duathlon

Once again Team Shackalarick competed in the Currahee Adventure Duathlon this year. What a difference a year makes.

I have learned so much about controling my sugar. Thanks to a year of Triabetes and Training for the Ironman, this year there were no cramps, no ketoacidosis, and no blood sugar related issues at all. In fact my sugar seems to do much better on days when I am extremely active. I should just race all the time. I stayed hydrated and finished feeling great even though the course this year was substantially harder. We had to run about 10 miles of the course including the climb up to Curahee's Peak. The biggest problem was finding one of the check points hidden out in the woods off of the trail. We passed it 4 times before someone else found it for us. Endurance is no issue now. I just need to work on getting faster. Maybe next year we will do the Solo course. It was twice as large. At least 5 people got lost and almost noone checked in at all the checkpoints. Sounds like some even better torture. So, that picture is actually from last year. New ones to come. Man I need something big to train for. It helped so much this year.

Into the Gorge

I had a really fun weekend that almost ended bad. Well it did end poorly from a diabetic perspective, but other than that it was amazing. My church took about 25 guys down into Linville Gorge on Saturday and most of us stayed to spend the night. I took the chance to take my 4 year old son, Elias, on his first backpacking trip. He's been a little scared of bears since our first father son tent camp out at my brother's house, but he got through it and even asked for a bedtime bear story. This place really is a wilderness and a great place to seek God. But its also a place you have to be on top of your diabetes management. I did pretty well during the actual trip and then totally messed up the rest of the day Sunday. My meter was in my backpack, and I didn't feel like getting it. My Sensor was recharging and I just didn't put it back on as quickly as possible. I ate pancakes for dinner and took what was later obviously way too much insulin. After tucking the kids in bed for the night I went out to the car to grab some paperwork and woke up on the couch. I haven't talked to my wife to figure it all out yet. not sure how long I was absent from the land of the living. I'll tell you one thing. Lowboy absolutely kicked my tail. Maybe it was more of a strangle hold. As I started coming to, I could here Emily talking to Nate on the phone about when the twitching started. I tried to ask a question but she told me when the watch I was holding beeped she would get back to me. Sounded pretty bad so I passed back out for a while. Can I say thanks to Nate and Em? Thanks! Most everything this morning has been a little slow motionish. Note to self, CHECK YOUR SUGAR! Well it could have been worse, like the night before.

Nate's Birthday

So, I went to Asheville last minute this weekend to meet my brother for his 30th birthday. Last minute means I called him at 6:30 and met him at 10:00 Saturday night. He sold our boat and I got the check that afternoon as a total surprise. It just seemed like the thing to do to return the surprise. I gave him these instructions. Be there with running gear. We didn't end up running at all.
After watching some football Saturday night, we woke up late and ate at Huddle House Sunday morning, then went to a couple of bike stores to look for "rental bikes", but I bought him one instead. It was so much fun. Then he clipped in for the first time ever and climbed 1800 feet up elk mountain above Asheville. He was even able to mostly keep up with me on the decent. He's a beast. It was cool to be able to give back to someone who has been such a supporter. Giving away stuff is really exciting. If I had more money I think I'd give away more stuff but I can't because I give it all away. Kinda cool. Check out the route,
So, I went to Asheville last minute this weekend to meet my brother for his 30th birthday. Last minute means I called him at 6:30 and met him at 10:00 Saturday night. He sold our boat and I got the check that afternoon as a total surprise. It just seemed like the thing to do to return the surprise. I gave him these instructions. Be there with running gear. We ate at Huddle House Sunday morning, then went to a couple of bike stores to "rent bikes", but I bought him one instead. It was so much fun. Then he clipped in for the first time ever and climbed 1800 feet up elk mountain above Asheville. He was even able to mostly keep up with me on the decent. He's a beast. It was cool to be able to give back to someone who has been such a supporter. Giving away stuff is really exciting. If I had more money I think I'd give away more stuff but I can't because I give it all away. Kinda cool. Check out the route, So, I went to Asheville last minute this weekend to meet my brother for his 30th birthday. Last minute means I called him at 6:30 and met him at 10:00 Saturday night. He sold our boat and I got the check that afternoon as a total surprise. It just seemed like the thing to do to return the surprise. I gave him these instructions. Be there with running gear. We ate at Huddle House Sunday morning, then went to a couple of bike stores to "rent bikes", but I bought him one instead. It was so much fun. Then he clipped in for the first time ever and climbed 1800 feet up elk mountain above Asheville. He was even able to mostly keep up with me on the decent. He's a beast. It was cool to be able to give back to someone who has been such a supporter. Giving away stuff is really exciting. If I had more money I think I'd give away more stuff but I can't because I give it all away. Kinda cool. Check out the route,
Dude I got carried away with this one, might just blog it.
Life is good,
Dave
Dude I got carried away with this one, might just blog it.
Life is good,
Dave
The currahee adventure race we do every year is coming up in two weeks. I am actually prepared this time.

thanks for making an awesome video nate

Ironman at Last

I did it! Over the past year I went from being an out of shape, lazy, sit on the couch, out of control diabetic all the way to Ironman. I will be posting some pictures sometime in the near future. Until then let me just tell you. It was a brutal pain fest. My 2.4 turned more like 3 mile swim was great. I got a little low and a little off course and still made it out of the water in an hour and a half. Right at 2 hours I was on my bike and made the 112 miles in 7 hours. That was a pretty fast pace for me. The course wasn't near as bad as I had expected, but apparently it wore me out because when I started the run I had a way too familiar feeling in my knee. That IT Band was acting up again and within a few miles of the marathon course I was walking faster than I could run. I was devastated and praying to God to help me finish. About that time I found Ems, my wife, and she let me know real fast that if I kept up a brisk walking pace I would have plenty of time to finish. Well I walked for miles pretty fast, but by mile 19 my feet were severely blistered and I was just creeping along. Dude it was so lonely those last few miles. Every step was excruciating. But at 16 hours and 15 minutes I crossed the finish line. I am an Ironman.