September 15th, 2007

Race Day
Today was the race day. We placed 6th in our class and 9th overall at the Ogden Valley Triathlon at Pineview. Troy Heubner, Hiedi Williams and I raced in the coed sprint distance relay.
The team before the race.

I did the running, Troy did the biking and Heidi did the swim.

You can view our times and see our ranking at www.millseconds.com The website shows us as 5th place in the Sprint Relay Mixed Division, 9th overall for the relays. There were 19 and 41

I am disputing the times. At the race it said that Heidi did the swim in 12 minutes and now “Milliseconds” says that she did it in 16 minutes. Heidi came out of the water in the front group of her pack. See below.

Heidi before the race.

Heidi swimming

Heidi running up the beach.

Heidi did great on the swim.

Troy did excellent on the bike with a time of 42:37.680.

Troy leaving the transition area.

Troy Heubner leaving the transition area.

The Finish Line:





I was happy with a 5th place finish for my first race that was more than 400 yards. I know that I could have done a lot better. My pace was not good at all. I think that I could have done much better if I hadn’t been sleep deprived this entire week.

September 4th, 2007

200 pounds
I have taken a few doctor ordered days off running because of my foot again. I went and saw Dr. Gary Morley the podiatrist, and he put a soft cast on the bottom of my foot and said no running and no barefoot walking for the next week. Even though I haven’t been able to run I have, I have been going to the gym and eating smaller portions. The other thing that I am not doing is not eating after 7-8 p.m. I think that it is working because I wieghed in today at 200 pounds. I am excited. On my birthday this year I weighed in at a whopping 217. I had never been more out of shape. My goal is 180 and to be in the best shape of my life. My cousin Vaughn is a huge support in helping me get there. He is always encouraging and giving excellent tips on how to lose weight, run faster and farther and how to stay injury free. He is awesome. There are many people that are helping me along the way with advice, support, my friend Greg Tedrow works out with me as well my neighbor Brian Staheli has offered to lift when Greg can’t, and my neighbor, the super runner, John Thomas runs with me and actually helps to train me. I feel very grateful that John is willing to spend the time and run with me. Thanks everyone.

Ogden Valley Triathlon. 11 days left.

August 24th, 2007

Fastest 5k to date: 24’06” (and no heart rate problems) –
Well I took John Thomas’ suggestion to run in the morning and it turned out pretty well. I went by myself and my iPod was out of juice. I took the same route that I had taken with John a few days ago so I knew how far to go and where to turn around. I had serious trouble waking up and when I finally did I wasn’t hopeful that the run would be a success. I started with what I thought was a good pace and continued to the canal. I was supposed to meet my good friend Matt Murdoch for breakfast at 7:00, and because of my late departure, I knew that I needed to either run a very fast pace or I would need to cut the run short to make it across town to meet for breakfast at Einsteins Bagels. I kept checking my watch frequently and trying to decide if I should turn back. I kept going until the halfway point and then the decision was made for me from that point on.

I would have to run a new speed record in order to not be terribly late. I ran and just kept running and it felt good. My brain was saying. “Ok Curtis this is where you usually poop out, so why don’t you just walk.” My body was giving a very convincing rebuttal. It was doing inventory on all the parts and reporting back that my legs had had strength, my lungs were full of fresh morning air, and most importantly that my heart was keeping a very even 150-170 heart rate. So I just kept going. Every time I thought of Matt I would actually speed up my pace. Matt was a huge motivator for me to not only keep going but to speed up so that I wouldn’t be horribly late.

Well the header of this entry sums it up well. I did my fastest pace yet – 8’02’/mile and even more importantly my heart was happy. Ogden Valley Triathlon. 19 days left. Current fastest pace for 3.1 miles 8’02”.

August 22nd, 2007

Crazy Heart Rate –
I didn’t feel well enough this morning to run so I waited for the evenings to run. I took my boys to football practice (which they kick butt at) and ran around the practice field while they learned how to hit people harder. As I was walking from the car to the field my heart started racing and even before my run I was at 123. I had planned to run over 3 miles. It didn’t even take 1/8th of a mile before I heard my Heart Rate Monitor going off. I looked down and I was at 179. Even though my heart was racing I kept pushing to the mile mark. I ended at 185 and during one section as I was going up a hill I saw 192 on the watch. I decided to walk until my heart rate calmed down. I took nearly another 1/4 mile for it to calm down to 139. I thought that 139 is ok and I can keep running again. I started to run and again my heart ran up to 175 instantly. I ran 1/4 mile and then had to walk 1/4 mile and continued the cycle until I reached 3.5 miles.

This really worries me because everything that I have read says that a 34 year old guy in ok shape shouldn’t have a heart rate that high. I talked with my neighnor who is an avid runner and he suggested that I take a day off and try running in the morning again instead of at night and see what happens. I don’t know if it because of the mono(epstein bar) that I have, the lack of sleep, the fact that I did 3.5 miles on the treadmill desk earlier today, or the the night time running. I will try the early morning running again and see if that changes things. Ogden Valley Triathlon. 21 days left. Current fastest pace for 3.1 miles 8’32”.

August 21th, 2007

Don’t do Squats when training –
I met my friend Greg Tedrow at Gold’s gym this morning and did the bike and then did squats. Once more my legs staged a coupe-de-tat over the rest of my body and refused to function and immobilized the body I once had control over. Ok it wasn’t that bad, but I don’t think I will be doing legs again until after the Ogden Valley Triathlon. 22 days left. Current fastest pace for 3.1 miles 8’32”.

August 20th, 2007
Another Longest Continuos Run –
This morning I went out with my neighbor, John Thomas, who is an amazing runner. He was gracious enough to run slowly for me. We ran up the Murdoch Canal into Lindon and then back down. I am happy to say that for most of the run my heart rate was between 140-160 although at the end it did jump up to about 170-180 again. I am very happy with the pace that we went as well. We went at about 8’32″/ mile. I am grateful that John would run with me. It was so much easier to run faster and farther with him. Thanks John.

P.S. As we were running we came upon a group of young deer and they ran in front of us for about 1/4 mile until they saw other runners coming from the opposite direction. The poor things didn’t know what to do. They darted back and forth across the canal road trying to find an escape. The canal bordered the east side and residential fences bordered the other. They shot back and forth several times until the the distance between us and them became to close and the leader got the courage to dash past us as he skirted by a green chain link. They all five made it except for the little one that fell down the incline and seemed to get stuck between the fence and the hill. We both stopped running briefly and the thought crossed my mind should we go help the poor creature. Just then, he bounded out of the grass and weeds and rejoined his friends.

August 17th, 2007

Longest Continuos Distance Run –
Today I ran 2.86 miles without stopping. This is the longest I have run without stopping. For many this may seem like a minute distance, but for me it was a huge accomplishment. I did it at Bear Lake, Utah which has an elevation of about 8,000 ft. I kept a pace of 9’33”. I know this needs to be improved if I am going to have any chance of helping my Triathlon team win. I am hoping to get down to a 7’33” pace. I know this means that I have to drop 2 mins in one month but I am determined. The run felt good even in the downpour of rain. Luckily my Nike+ Ipod is still working well. I have a Marware Nano Sportsuit Relay arm/wriststrap that protected it partially and I wiped it down right after I got back. I am concerned because my heart rate from the 1.2 mile mark was in the 170-180 range. It stayed that way for the rest of the run. I looked in the book that came with my Heart rate monitor and it said that 170-180 is peak performance. After the run I went on the boat and Wakeboarded for a few hours. My legs became very angry with me about this decision and revolted. The revolt was successful and I drank a lot of water. I think that I may have overdone it. Here is a picture from the adventure.

August 15th, 2007

I have taken nearly a week off to recover from my shin splints. It is very odd because it is only in one leg. I only have shin splints in my right leg. I have been drawing the alphabet in the air with my toes and picking things up with my toes for the last few days to strengthen the muscles without any impact. I have exactly one month before the Ogden Valley Triathlon so if they aren’t better today when I go running then I guess it will just have to be ibuprofen between now and then. Wish me luck.

August 6th, 2007

Running with my Boys –
I had the most fun run that I have ever had so far. I have twin boys that asked if they could come running with me tonight. I had signed them up for football on the 4th and bought them their first UnderArmor. They were very excited about getting ready for football and wanted to come train with me. I gladly to the opportunity to have them come along. We did intervals around the Jr. High track. It was dark but the lights at the school gave us enough light to see by. We did 400 meter intervals of running and then walking and running and walking. These 12 year old boys were able to keep up a 1’26” pace for the laps we ran. I was very impressed with their athleticism. They are really great kids that have amazing potential. I love them a lot and am very pleased with the kind of young men they are becoming. We talked about a lot of things, running, football, training, and their new foray into Jr. High School life. It was great to spend time with them and just talk and run. We did 2.5 miles total.

Because of tonight, they decided that they were going to train and prepare for football so they made up training charts that include running, pushups, situps, eating, etc…

P.S. One of the lights at the school was very shy. It turned off as we came to the track and would turn back on as we started to run. As we rounded the track it would flicker and then go out again. It did this every time we rounded the track, until the last lap and it came on just as we were approaching it. It was kind enough to stay on as we left the track and went back to our car.

August 5th, 2007

I am officially registered for my first Triathlon. Troy Huebner and I are going to run in the Ogden Valley Triathlon. It is Sept. 15 at the Pineview LakeResevoir in Eden/Huntsville, UT starting at 9:00 A.M. We may have a third person do the swimming leg for us otherwise Troy will do the bike and swim and I will do the run. It is a USA Triathlon sanctioned event which means no iPod or Nike+ for me while I run. (If anyone from the USA Triathlon governing body is reading this, please reconsider allowing iPods for the run portion. I can understand why biking with earphones can be a danger or risk but for the running it is not. The argument that it is an advantage may be true but so is a $5000 performance bike or an expensive wet suit.)

We have chosen to do the sprint distance rather than the Olympic. It definitely takes the pressure off of me to do the 6.2 miles that I was training for. Because it is the shorter distance I am going to spend the next month and a half working on getting my time down. My goal is 7’30” (or lower) average pace for 3.1 miles. I will also be working on my endurance to make sure that I make the 3.1 miles at the same pace. The last thing I will be working on is staying injury free. Shin splints seem to plague me especially on my right leg and my left foot has joint problems.

August 1st, 2007

I created two new challenges on Nike+

US Time Zone Challenge

World Time Zone Challenge Post a comment here if you would like to join either of these challenges. The Mountain Daylight time needs runners so sign up.

July 31st, 2007

Nike+ July Beginners Challenge – #12 I ranked 12th in the July Beginners Challenge and feel pretty good about it. LadyAudrey took first and did it convincingly. Congrats Lady Audrey. For the June Beginners Challenge I placed something like 37th. I m excited that with my progress and hope to place in the top ten for the August challenge.

July 19th, 2007

Nike+ 100 Mile Club

I am very excited to share with you that I have made the 100 mile club on Nike+.Here is the proof Nike+ 100 Mile ClubNike+ iPod is an amazing system. If you are contemplating it you should go right now and get one. In highschool I did sprints and short distance on the track team. I tried out for the cross country team and promptly quit after 2-3 weeks. I loved to sprint in the 100, 200, and would even do the 400. I was on relay teams and my best event was the long jump. I tell you this to let you know how much I was not a long distance runner. I actually expressed my disinterest in running many times over the years. If you were to tell me that I would run a hundred miles in a few months I would have thought you were crazy. That is until I got the Nike+ system. Now I run and run and just keep going. Nike+ is probably the biggest reason that I have turned into a runner. The system is amazingly easy to use and eliminates all the work that you have to do. Instead of getting out the spreadsheets and tracking progress, I now just sync my iPod nano and it uploads all my workouts, charts them, applies them to the goals I have set and challenges that I have joined and shows me progress, calories, distance, time, pace, etc, etc€¦The last two big plugs for Nike+ is that the website is killer and the community that the website is built around is amazingly supportive. I never considered myself a runner like my neighbor or friends, but now I am actually starting to think that maybe I am one. Thanks Nike+ iPod and thanks to the community that support me.

Happy Running

July 16th, 2007

Another Record time for the mile
Today I recorded another personal best in the mile. I ran 1.01 miles in 7’03”. I am already paying for it. Shinsplints in my right leg are horrible today. I taped up my shinsplints like my track coach in highschool used to do and now it is bearable.

Troy Huebner and I are going to do a team triathlon that is in Ogden Utah. It is sprint distance so only 5k or 3.1 miles. Troy said that because we are only going half as far that I need to get my mile under 7’00”. I came close today and will take a few days off to recover my right leg.

Nike+ update: Challenges: July Beginners challenge I made it to the #11 spot. Vaughn is still whooping me in our 40 mile challenge.

Goals: Completed 5 runs in under 8’34” and got another shiny medal. Set new goal for 5 runs under 7’34” in 4 weeks.

July 14th, 2007 My footsteps imprint in the soft dirt & mud as my legs sweep through the underbrush. Each foot plants firmly before quickly pushing off again. The cool side of Legacy Lake is thick with vegetation and animal life. Running up & down the root laced trail in the cool morning air is invigorating. I am a visitor here & most of the native inhabitants don’t mind my swift pace as I circle the lake, but a few native parents make sure that I follow them down the trail rather than let me disturb their nests & their young. One robin in particular speedily hops down the trail with it’s right wing out as if it is injured and even extends it’s finger feather even further so it looks convincingly like a broken wing. The first lap around the small lake I felt compassion for the small injured bird until I was no longer perceived as a threat and then it promptly flew high into the trees above me without any injury at all. This sweet bird is the only one of the many animals that repeats this pattern for all seven laps. The air is thin at this elevation but clean & refreshing. My chest heaves as the clean lake air rushes in through my lungs. The singing birds seem to keep rhythm with the beat of my heart. My body feels alive I feel the pulsing of my muscles as they flex and release, the blood from my heart pumping through my veins, my chest rising and falling and for the first time in my life I am beginning to enjoy running.