Mosaic and Bandera - Camp Eagle Version

Two preparation trail races are done. The first was Mosaic 15K. I did OK in this largely because I did not get off course! That got me a 1st place Masters Female, although I did not stick around to pick up the award. Phoebe raced the HS 5K but there was no competition for her. She finished as first female to cross the 5K line though, so there's no doubt she ran well.

In the meantime my strength training had been going well, with increases in maximums for all categories. 165 lb box squat means I can squat my own body weight! Surprised I can bench 80 lbs with multiple reps and sets. Haven't done max singles though. I will ask Jen about that. Phoebe had a coaching session with Jen. I was pleasantly surprised to see her form on the 3 disciplines was pretty good, although of course Jen found things to improve. She has her first Powerlifting meet next week.

Then came Bandera. I showed up to our last training run at the Hollows on the Tuesday before (New Years Day) only to be told by Tammy that the race director had sent out an email the night before to say the Parks people had pulled permission for the race. I was pretty mad - I love to go to Bandera. But Tejas Trails went above and beyond with the help of Camp Eagle to move the race. No mean feat. We kept our reservations at Flying L Ranch and planned to drive the 2 hours west on race morning - our start had been moved back to 10 am so that was helpful. Krystn and Tammy went down together, while I went direct from work. We had an early pasta dinner in Paps at Bandera and then relaxed in our cabin watching The Cain Mutiny. Good film, I'd never seen it before. We all got a good sleep and the drive down was unevenful although the 8 miles of dirt road was a bit of a pain in a Prius C!!

We just about had enough time to get our chips on and visit with Dawn and her 15 year-old son who was running the 25K as well (and smoked it). Then it was time to start. The course was complicated, with multiple switch-backing loops, but the markings were good and the funneling of people in and out of X-Roads aid station solid. The first two segments were around 5 miles each, with the third and fourth about 3 and 2 miles. The course takes you up and over ridges and through woods. Narrow, technical single track trail. For the most part the course was good. The only thing I did not like was the 2-way traffic on the stalk of the lollipop route. It was a bit frustrating to constantly have to adjust for others. But most of the time the runners were pretty chill about it, which was nice to see. Nobody was being a jerk! I went well for about 7 miles, OK for the next 4, but at mile 11 I started to struggle a bit. I had not taken care of electrolyte balance well enough in the beginning, and although I made an effort to fix it, it started to catch up to me. The last part where I was looking for the 25K split was a bit of a trial. I was convinced I must have missed the turn but knew I probably needed to trust myself to not have missed it. I was right and got to it with less than a mile to go. I ended up 8th of 18 in my age group. I had wanted to get inside 4 hours, but the course was for sure harder than Bandera, so I ended up with a 4:37. I'll take it.

Now onto roads and sand for Badwater Cape Fear!!

Strength Training

As I've said in a previous post I've joined Travis County Strength to help me get stronger. I have been appalled at my level of weakness! As a competitive rower I've always perceived myself as strong. However, there's a reason for the phrase "Use it, or lose it!" I had not used it, and had lost it! Taekwondo helped slow the descent but once I stopped that the rot really set in. Can't do push ups anymore!

So now I'm lifting barbells. Squat, deadlift, overhead press. Plus other weird stuff like hefting stones, pushing or pulling sleds, and bag carries.

Doing a squat (especially) correctly is not easy. I am learning though. My goal is 240 lbs; it might take years or I may never get there. Currently I have done 80 lbs in a back squat, and 100 lbs in a box squat. 130 lbs for a deadlift. 60 lbs for a push press. None of these are large numbers. I train with women who can lift more than twice this much, and men who shift mind-boggling weight. And they get right down in the squat (ass to grass). I'd rather do lighter weight through full range of motion than heavier weight in a half squat, but getting down there is not easy.

Of course there's running as well - Mosaic for me and Phoebe next weekend.

Jack's Generic Tri

I always seem to be nervous for triathlons. More so than anything else I do I ponder why I am there at the start. Why do I do this to myself? I am definitely out of my comfort zone. However, once I get started its all OK. My race went fine. I worked hard on the bike and the run. I enjoyed seeing friends - some were surprise encounters as I had no idea they'd be there. Kippers, Staci, Chuck and Jon. Tammy had a difficult day so we are both glad to now focus on Bandera.

Resurrection of the blog

We are well beyond the 100 miles. 6 years on in fact. Going to restart the blog with a few entries looking forward.

Next up are:
Jack's Generic Tri - Austin August 26
Bandera 25k - Bandera TX Jan 6, 2019
Cape Fear 50k North Carolina Mar 16 2019
Grand Teton redo WY July/Aug 2019

I have returned to my love of mountains and trails. But to keep doing these I have to be stronger. I have joined a strength training group at Travis County Strength. The trainers, Jen and Travis, are awesome. If I'm consistent there is no doubt I will get stronger.

On a completely different topic I am excited and hopeful to see Imran Khan is now PM of Pakistan. Go Imran!

Post Olympic high

My vacation in the UK is over, and what a vacation it was. I promise to post some pictures soon when I've got them off the camera and iPhone but wanted to get some thoughts down.


I am passionate about the Olympic Games wherever they are held, but to have them in London was so special for me. I love London - always have, always will and I was thrilled to see the resurgence of modern architecture and vision in the heart of the city and out towards the East End. It is not possible to convey with words the excitement and pride going on in the UK at the moment. Our Nation also heaved a collective sigh of relief that there were no major foul-ups. There had been months of doom and gloom and the naysayers were out in force, but Seb Coe and his team got it done - and in style. As one commentator put it, it wasn't so much "I told you we could do it" as "My God, we actually pulled it off".   Acquiring tickets for the Stadium on middle Super Saturday was a wonderfully lucky pick. It was stupendous, with Mo Farah (he of the quiet extra laps in my last blog entry) putting on a consumate performance in the 10,000m to take gold. The noise when he was on the final straight went from ear-splitting to heart-stopping. And we were certainly putting in our tuppence worth. Then there was Jessica Ennis coming home for heptathlon gold in a blaze of glory winning the last event, the 800m, in front of her massed supporters. She had been built up as a "Face of the Games" by our media and has been front and center for over 2 years. When she took the first heptathlon event, the 100m hurdles, by the scruff of the neck in a new UK record I knew she meant business. How focused she was in the face of everything. Right under the stand we were in was the men's long jump and TeamGB's Greg Rutherford also took gold. I really liked that the crowd, including me Andrew and Phoebe, helped the other athletes with enthusiatic clapping for their run ups if they asked for it. Although we were partisan there was a strong sense that everyone wanted to see the best man on the night win, irrespective of nationality. And it was exciting to see Sanya Richards-Ross in the heats of the women's 400m. 

Phoebe and I also went to the Archery - where we both got to have a go!! We also went to the Taekwondo, but Phoebe said she'd rather fight than watch. It was great to see such packed crowds for most of the less followed sports. Apparently 80,000 showed up to some of the women's soccer games and I couldn't believe the crowds lining the streets for the Marathons - and piled up on the cliffs down in Weymouth for the sailing.

Other highlights for me came in the rowing, as that was my sport of choice in my 20s and 30s. Could Katherine Grainger get her gold after 3 successive silvers in Sydney, Athens and Beijing - and yes she did, and a tear or two came to my eye, not for the first or last time. Phoebe loved Gabby Douglas - what a find she was. Of course we raved over Bradley Wiggins in the time trial after he had won the Tour de France, and Andrew is growing some sideburns! Our track cyclists, men and women, were outstanding as were our Brownlees in the triathlon. David Rudisha's world record in the 800m, Mo Farah again in the 5000m. And who can forget the sprinters - the USA women and the Jamaican men. Spectacular. And there were all the human stories of athletes covered so ably by the BBC. You could watch any sport using the "red button".


We are taking a break and then it will be the Paralympics. Another, perhaps even greater, source of inspiration.
So now it is back into it for my own goal - today I signed up for Bandera 100K.

To train or not to train

Friday afternoon at work, and I was in a bit of a downish mood. I didn't want to do anything other than laze around all weekend and drink a beer or two. I had weights and two longish runs scheduled, one on trail with hills and another hard effort on the road. I wanted so badly to just blow them off. Lucky for me I was following the BBC online sports feed.

A sports commentator made the following tweet which stuck with me and changed the course of my weekend. He was talking about Mo Farah - our Brit 5,000m star athlete who was competing on Friday at Crystal Palace in London. A pre-Olympic warm up meet.

Tom Fordyce wrote:

Nice moment at Palace after stadium emptied. Mo, fresh off 5,000m win, ran 3,000m hard & then 4x200m, each in 26 secs with 200 jog recovery. And that, when no-one is watching and the lights are down, is where gold medals are won and lost.

I might not be going to win any gold medals, but what Tom wrote applies to us all. It's not enough to want to win or do a good time on race day. You've got to want it during the training sessions. So I went by the Y on my way home, did my weights, did the trail run and the road run and can now type this knowing I put the effort in to do well at Bandera and my other goal races. At least for now. Mostly I am motivated to train, but there are times when I just plain want to be lazy. I will try to remember Mo Farah, and all the other people who get out there and work hard when nobody is watching.

The ups and downs of sport

What a rollercoaster summer for British sports fans:
1) Soccer: England lose on penalties in the Euro cup
2) Murray gets to Wimbledon singles final
3) Marray wins in the Mens Doubles
4) Murray can't hold off Fed - no disgrace there tho
5) England whitewash the Aussies in the one day cricket - sorry Amanda if you're reading ;)
6) Adam Gemili does 10.05 to win world junior 100m
7) Wiggo holding the yellow jersey in TdF (and Froomey not far behind)

and the Olympics is still to come!!