It's Official

It's official I'm calling off the Prague Marathon.  I just haven't put the time in that I should in order to run a decent race and that with it being on Mother's Day.  I might as well just stay home and run a few miles around here that day and then spend the rest of the day with Shantel and Macen.

The last week in Paris was the culmination.  We got stuck a few extra days due to the volcano eruption in Iceland and I'm just not motivated after getting back.  It was a great weather wise weekend and I didn't so much as even think about riding the bike or going for a run.

I'm In A Lot Of Trouble

Well I came home today and was casually asking Shantel what she wanted for Mother's Day since it's right around the corner and I don't want to wait to the last minute and not have her present get here on time.  Boy was I surprised when she told me I'd already gotten her her present and she wasn't real impressed.  What was she talking about?  Well she'd figured out that the Prague Marathon was on Mother's Day.  $#!+ what was I thinking?!?  Because of this I'm not sure if I'm going to do the Prague Marathon.  It also doesn't help that I'm not getting the distances in that I think I should.  We'll see how the Half Marathon goes this weekend.

It's Official

I signed up for the Prague Marathon this evening. I had some problems using Activeglobal.com but finally got through the actual Prague Marathon website.

I'm really looking forward to this and even if I can't beat my personnel record it will be good to get out do an event like this in what I've been told is a beautiful city. I'll see if I can remember to take my camera with me during the race.

20 Miles or 60 Minutes On The Bike

I was feeling pretty good today for my spin. Here's the data:

Zone 1: 1:10
Zone 2: .17
Zone 3: 21:51
Zone 4: 36:07

I'm still spending too much time in low Zone 4 and I'm actually going the wrong way compared to last Wednesday where I was about 50/50 now I'm about 60/40. I've really got to work on that.

Only 116 days until the Prague Marathon and only 133 days to Ironman 70.3 Austria. I start work this week and I should have a better idea if I'm going to be able to sign up for those races after a couple of days of work and "regular" Army PT.

Time To Get Busy

It is only 118 days until the Prague Marathon and 140 days until Ironman 70.3 Austria. So it's time to start the workout program. This year's goals are for a 4:00 - 4:30 Marathon and a 5:45-6:30 70.3. I also need to drop my weight back down to about 190. I don't need to get down to the 180 I was last summer, I just want to stay between 190-200.

There are several obstacles, I mean opportunities to overcome, in order to accomplish these goals. The family and I have just moved from Kansas to Germany and we are currently living in temp lodging until a house opens up on our Army Post. We also don't have any of our stuff yet, which means none of my bikes are here. I'm going to have to use the stationary bikes in the gym until we get our stuff. I'm also starting a new job as a Squadron Executive Officer for a unit that is getting ready to deploy sometime sometime this summer, after the races. Before we can deploy though we have to go through a 3 week Mission Readiness Exercise, during which I won't be able to workout like I want to. Finally we have moved to Germany, the home of good beer and if you've noticed the title of the blog I LIKE beer, so I'm going to have to watch my consumption. All this means I need to make sure my goals are realistic. If I reach the upper end of my goals I will set personal records for both the marathon and the 70.3 and if I only make the bare minimum I will be just slightly slower than my current personal records of 4:20 and 6:08. The bottom line here is I just want to race and see some of Europe.

Snow Snow Everywhere

I went out this afternoon to do a short run and took off down the street heading towards the sidewalk when I realized that the sidewalk was still covered by the eight plus inches of snow that had fallen over the weekend. Man I really wanted to run off the Christmas cookies, prime rib, and beer I had taken over the holiday weekend. I guess it will have to wait until the snow melts.

On another note I've decided to give up the CrossFit for now. I'm just not convinced that it's going to get me in shape for the Prague Marathon and Ironman 70.3 Austria, especially with a 3 week training break as I do a training exercise prior to deploying to Afghanistan. I think I'll implement it fully as my workout while deployed and see how that helps me do a 70.3 after I come back.