Bob the runner

Enjoying the sights in the Big Easy The latest stop on my half marathon tour of the USA was in New Orleans Louisiana.  This was our first visit to the Big Easy.  New Orleans is an interesting place with lots of opportunities to indulge and experience just about anything you desire.  We experienced many things including my successful finish in the Rock and Roll half marathon.  This was my 21st state that I have completed a half marathon in. Leading up to this race, I've been training with an online stats based program called TriDot.  About once a month I take an assessment in swimming, biking and running and they use that assessment to design a training program for me.  One of the toughest things for me was they had me train most of my running miles in HR zone two.  In the beginning I had to walk/slow jog in order to stay in this zone.  In fact my runs during the first month were as much as 4-5 minutes slower than my normal 9 minute per mile pace.  Interestingly enough I can

Another new year is upon us!   2018 zoomed by and now it's time for me to reflect on the past year and set goals for 2019.  Most of last year I was coached by Bob Seebohar.  I learned a bunch from Bob and he definitely helped get me into the best shape I have been in in quite some time.  I didn't get any faster in any discipline but did stay injury free and pretty much completed all my goals for the year.  Overall I swam/bike/ran a total of 2,660 miles.  This is a small increase over last year. I started the year off in January with the Houston Half Marathon in Houston Texas.  This event was especially fun because Julie, and and my stepson Tyler and his girlfriend Abbey were there to support me.  It was fun to see them along the course and at the finish.   In April, I bought a power meter for my bike and learned how to train with power and all about the FTP test.  I still don't know much about power but can now talk about t

Wow, can't believe I was in Alaska!  Wow, it was a fabulous day.  The weather was perfect, the race went fantastic and my sweetie and I both ran and finished the race. The Last Frontier.  Land of lots of snow and cold, long days, open spaces, tall mountains, moose, bears and bald eagles.  Of all the things I anticipated about Anchorage it was none of them. Hotel We stayed at the Voyager Inn.  Awesome Hotel.  Helpful staff.  They saved us money by telling us about free parking on Sunday.  Great breakfast. Expo Held in convention center close to our hotel.  Race packet with bib and long sleeve technical shirt.  Fun environment.  Met Jeff Galloway, bought his book.  Anxious to try the run-walk-run method. Meeting Jeff Galloway was a thrill for me! Saturday Kids fun run and 1 mile race.  Separate race for Men, Women, and Military. Sunday 3 different races:  49K(8am), Marathon(9am), and Half Marathon(930am).  Shared the same course. Close walk from our hotel so

USA Triathlon National Championships for Age Group athletes is a big deal.  It only happens once a year and the top 18 in each age group qualify for team USA and get to compete at the world Triathlon championships.  On Saturday is the Olympic distance (just under 1 mile swim, 25 mile bike, and 6.2 mile run) race and on Sunday is the Sprint (just under 1/2 mile swim, 12 mile bike, and 3.2 mile run) race.  To compete in the Olympic distance you have to win your age group in a local triathlon or finish in the top 10%.  In other words you must earn an invite.  The Sprint distance race is open to anyone. So to attend the Olympic race you must be very good or very lucky.  In my case it was a combination of having a good day and being lucky.  I won my AG at the Littlefoot Triathlon by less than a minute on a cool rainy day last September.  Everything went right for me that day which is how I earned my invite to the National Championships. This is actually my 3rd year in a row to quali