This busy life, this busy life, we're all just hanging on...

Well I had a 6 mile tempo run this evening and wanted to make it 7 but I had to cut it short. For quite sometime now, I have been interested in purchasing a pair of racing flats. The reason for this is 2 fold. One its widely known amongst runners and published many times in runnersworld that a runner can shave 2 seconds off his mile/min time with each ounce you drop in shoe weight. The current shoe that I have been wearing weighs in about 13 - 14 oz and shoe I purchased weighs only 9.5oz. I purchased the Zoot Ultra Tempo +. I suggest you click on the link and check out all the specs. So right off the bat, I am shaving approximately 4 seconds off my minute per mile time and in say a 6.21 mile race this would equate to a total of almost 50 seconds off my entire race. That is alot of time. The second biggest factor is that it gets hot in Texas and I sweat profusely, especially my feet. My other running shoes may start out at 14oz but by the end of 7 - 13 miles they could weigh upwards of my guess 20 oz. I know after my Half Ironman, my shoes felt like bricks, from all the sweat and water I was pouring on myself. So these ZOOT shoes have special drainage holes and also don't hardly retain any water. This was one of their goals in design. I feel this will help me significantly. They also are designed to wear barefoot, so I can save an extra 30 sec in transition.

So today I went for my first run in them and I wore socks of course and will slowly start to not wear socks a little bit each run every now and then. Because remember these shoes are also only for my races. All I can say is that I felt fast and I think that guy in the store that told me he is very surprised someone recommended me the shoes they did 3 years, because I needed a neutral shoe and not a mild stability shoe. I felt smoother running in the and my foot strike felt more natural. My next pair of shoes will not be a pair of New Balance 768's. I will go with what he recommended a pair of Brooks Defiance. For me I always thought if its not broke don't fix it but, I guess it always helps to get another opinion on what type of shoes I should wear. I think I will go to another store and see what type of shoes they recommend as well. I will also not tell them what I wear and I what others have said. This will be like my own little science experiment. 

So this is a big training week for me. I have about almost 6000 yards in the pool, I will have almost 20 running, and end up with about 65 miles on the bike. I am doing the Memphis in May Olympic Distance Triathlon on Sunday. Its in Memphis obviously ! We have a free place to stay so Tommy, me and Mike are all gonna do it. This will be Mike's first long distance triathlon. Its gonna be a great day for him.

For me, I am just excited to race and be amongst good company. I feel like I can set a new PR for myself and hope that the weather is great. I am looking forward to averaging above 21 mph on the bike, and also hoping to hit less than 8 min/mile on the run. For the swim, I would like to see myself end up with a time of about 26 - 28 min. I really want to ice my transitions too. I will be for the first time trying to jump on the bike with shoes already on it. I think even though I don't use rubber bands when I practice I am gonna get some and try it on Saturday evening. I am actually really glad I am doing this race before my next Half Ironman race. It will be another good gauge for how my training has gone since my march race. I did alot of traveling and didn't do all I wanted to do.

But really the truth is work is really busy and so is training. I just have to start to suck it up because I also know that there will be times at work that it is not so busy too. I am thinking today I will put another quote on the wall to look at. I already have:

Discipline is doing what you don't want to do so you can do what you really want to do.

I will add this one or something like it...

Even if you had a bad day, an evening workout will always make you feel better.

These quotes are kind of for morning and night respectively, in that when you want to hit snooze, don't because if you do you will never get the joy from finishing that second half ironman. And also when you just want to eat and go to bed at 8pm don't because you can get in an hour workout and then eat and be in bed by 9pm instead, and if you had a shitty day the endorphins from the exercise will make you feel even better.

Oh by the way if you see these things in the grocery store called sweet potatoes buy them. They are great, and you can really easily cook them in the microwave and unlike a potato they actually taste good with nothing on them, and I think they might be better for you too, I am not sure on that one. I am now hooked and they only take like 6 minutes and they really fill you up.