Scott Adcox

Doing More With Less Since 1972

Tag: marathon (Page 1 of 2)

Daily Reading List — May 3rd

May 3, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Why Don’t People Return Their Shopping Carts? – It’s actually just poor planning coupled with laziness. Don’t give me this “kid in the car” excuse either. Lazy people and poor planners circle the parking lot looking for the spot closest to the door.

Smart people (me) try to get a spot right next to a cart return. That way, even if you have to deal with kids, you can return your cart easily. You also don’t have to deal with stray carts in the parking lot around these areas ramming into your high dollar minivan.

Think people!!!

An Accidental Discovery Could Solve Earth’s Plastic Waste Problem – Next we will have to find something that can break down all those annoying re-usable bags people have been toting to the store with them for the past few years. ‘Cause those are all going to get trashed.

The Worst Places To Get Stung By A Bee: Nostril, Lip, Penis – If you happen to only have 2 of the 3 you are living a charmed life. Where’s the social justice?

How Running a Marathon Puts Your Body Through Hell – Word.

The Baby Boom Tsunami That May Drown The Economy – I’ve wondered for a while how these folks are going to pull money out of the markets while we’re all building them up. Sounds like another social security type thingy, huh?

Would America be better off if we became Norway? – We’d be happier if we were Vikings, but with central heating systems and North Face clothing.

The Origins of Overprotective Parenting – We make an effort (sometimes at the horror of The Mrs.) to keep our kids as free range as possible. And we still probably don’t do enough.

Here’s How This Shoe Will Decompose Like Food In Your Trash – I’m not sure if they were biodegradable or not, but I’ve had a few pairs of Adidas decompose on me.

Daily Reading List — December 16th

December 16, 2016 / / 0 Comments

What Health Care Can Learn from the Transformation of Financial Services –

Nike Wants Athletes to Run a Marathon in Under Two Hours, So It’s Rebuilding the Race. And the Runners –

You Can Brew Beer In Your Digestive Tract – Sugar is the devil.

Virginia Schools Ban ‘To Kill A Mockingbird,’ ‘Huck Finn’ Over Racial Slurs – Was just having a conversation about Huck Finn with my oldest yesterday. We were talking about the fact that on one level it’s just a story, and on another level the story is just a tool Mark Twain used as commentary on the state of the culture at a specific time and place. It led to a conversation about how slavery has existed throughout history, how horrible it is, how there was a change in popular opinion about slavery in this country, whether or not people at our socio-economic level would have owned slaves during the early 1800s, etc.

Um…She’s 9.

You’d think that the fact that these words are so “alarming” to people would make it even easier for them to understand exactly why Huck was able to come to the conclusion that the “civilized” view of Jim’s condition was wrong.

You’d think.

We Survive Because Reality May Be Nothing Like We Think It Is –

Improving On-the-Fly Teamwork in Health Care –

The End Of Empires: Rome Vs. America – I want to read something that tells me how we’re NOT like Rome. Please.

After decades of dreaming, indoor location’s time has come – Fingers crossed on this one.

Daily Reading List — October 15th

October 15, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Infrastructure – Not just countries and business organizations either. This stuff can be applied at the family level. And should be.

Las Vegas has one of the biggest populations of ‘sugar daddies’ – Third? THIRD?!?!?!

Step it up Vegas! This is one you should be able to win.

Amazon Will Ban Sale of Apple, Google Video-Streaming Devices – Um…how about just adding chromecast support to an Amazon Prive Video app.

Before I cancel my Prime account. Ok…seriously, I’m not even close to that, and hardly ever use Prime Video.

But still.

Last – The first person who ran 26.2 miles died. He died. – I’ve always had a lot of admiration for anyone who takes longer than me to run a marathon. They have to deal with at least one second more of suffering than I have to endure.

Still, not itching to be last either.

Are Your Barbecued Chicken Kebabs Missing a Key Ingredient? – Well…duh.

10 Stubborn Food Myths That Just Won’t Die – Did you know it takes more calories to digest a serving of Cap’n Crunch than there are calories in a serving of Cap’n Crunch?

Or wait…maybe that’s Fruity Pebbles.

School District Bans Tag for Reasons of ‘Emotional Safety’ – It’s getting to the point that my biggest concern as a parent is how to teach my kids to learn empathy and have mercy on their peers once they are all adults.

Their world is going to be filled with peaches.

Body found in suitcase near Boulder Highway – Wait…what? “Body found in suitcase”?

WHAT?!?!?!

Daily Reading List — April 25th

April 25, 2014 / / 0 Comments

Triathlon Fatalities Aren’t Going Away – Really hope someone can figure this out. Everything I've heard is that most of the people who die are fit and experienced, but have an undiagnosed heart condition.

And, uh, we also really need to do something about the number of people getting mowed down by cars when they are out training on their bikes. I stay inside the house because of that. Also there is Netflix.

Inspiration and Outrage in Boston – Outrage! If you're worried about the integrity of bandit runners, stop using your company's computer and bandwidth to try and track down bandit runners using Twitter and Facebook.

Ronald McDonald gets a makeover – Ronald McDonald now *serious* about being creepy. No more messing around.

American Teamwork–How Ryan Hall Helped Meb Win Boston – Great story about sacrifice for your teammates. Ryan Hall has smarts real good.

Why There Will Be A Robot Uprising – Some touch screen devices seem to have already achieved the desired outcome of preventing people from turning them off. #NoDisassemble

Drone Footage of a Rocket Taking off and Landing is Spectacular – The takeoff and landing is amazing on its own. Drones for the +1!

Post-Run Yoga – I blindly clicked, guessing low lunge would be the first thing on the list.

Google’s Secret Weapon To Keep Amazon And Microsoft On Their Toes – Race to the bottom of prices with a concurrent race to the top on speed? Sounds good to me!

4 Manly Lessons from the Minor Leagues – Some great stuff in here for triathletes too, even if you aren't trying to be a pro or get some sort of sponsorship. "Dominate the things you can control." and "Action without vision just passes time." are two of my favorites.

Unfollow Chocolate Milk! – It's about time someone with a louder voice than me said it. I bet Kool Ade, Tang, and every other sugary drink company wishes they'd thought of this scam before the Chocolate Milk cartel did.

Weekend warrior: mastering the art of the triathlon humblebrag – Really, there's no reason to be humble about it. If you're going out and doing ultra distance events regularly, or kicking ass in your age group in short and mid distance events, you are a bad ass. You are MUCH more of a badass than 90% of the population.

Flaunt it while you have it. You're not getting any younger.

Penn State Rugby Team Suspended – Here's the thing–college kids like to drink cold beer and, apparently, set things on fire.

When you have a problem with scholarship Division 1 athletes behavior, you can expect to have similar issues with non-scholarship club sport participants.

Ok..it's probably fair not to expect them to set things on fire because they aren't happy with their coach, but still.

2013 Space Coast Marathon Race Report

December 2, 2013 / / 0 Comments

2013_scm_medal

Short version

No PR, but the best marathon I’ve ever run race-management wise.

4:05:13

Long version

Going into taper, I had one real goal for this race–don’t make a mental mistake. I did a very crunched marathon training schedule from the end of September with less volume than I wanted, but I knew running a really smart race would give me a great shot at sub 4.

We were traveling to see family for Thanksgiving (and eating), and I only got a couple of workouts in during the last week. No real problems with that. Traveling is stressful on its own–pretty much counts as a workout–and it was time to rest anyway. Regardless, it can mess with your head a little to let your running fall off like that. But I was prepared for it.

What I wasn’t prepared for was the Miles of Love team meeting we had on Friday night before the race. I didn’t know we were going to have the chance to meet some of the families and kids that Miles of Love works with that night.

That was a game changer.

Meeting Jackson, Nolan, and Jarod (sweetest kids ever) and their families was an extra nudge going into the race. I’ve  felt marathon pain before, and I knew it was nothing compared to what these kids have been through or what it must feel like to know your child is sick. But they were all smiling and in good spirits. Very inspiring.

There’s nothing I was going to face in a few hours time that was going to keep me from finishing with a smile on my face.

Pre-Race

I’ll refer to last year’s race report for everything leading up to the race–all the same. The only real difference this year is that the #1 Contender for the Fastest Man on Davidia Drive picked up my race packet for me. It’s nice that they’ll let someone pick up a packed for you with a copy of a drivers license.

26.2

As I said in the short version, this is the best managed marathon I’ve ever run. Splits for the first 20 miles are below with bathroom breaks noted:

  • Miles 1-5: 9:59, 9:31, 9:35, 9:17, 9:24 (BR)
  • Miles 6-10: 9:09, 9:12, 9:13, 9:08, 9:14
  • Miles 11-15: 8:59, 9:07, 9:00, 9:02, 9:13
  • Miles 16-20: 9:35 (BR), 9:00, 9:04, 9:00, 9:06

So breaking it down scientifically…I hit mile 20 at 3:04:49. That’s pretty much what I wanted to do. I knew if I could get to mile 20 feeling good and still be within a couple of minutes of 3:03:00 I’d have a shot at turning it on for the last 10k and breaking 4:00:00. I was going to have to run at an 8:53 pace for the last 10k, which at the time I hit mile 20 seemed completely reasonable. I felt great–actually never felt this good at mile 20 before, so I decided to give it a shot. Here’s an abbreviated version of the self-talk in each of those miles:

  • Mile 21 : Ok…speed up, but not too much. You don’t have to get it all back this mile. (9:01)
  • Mile 22 : Um…didn’t I tell you to speed up? Re-double your effort. (9:00)
  • Mile 23: You made a mental effort, and nothing happened physically. You’re now 14 seconds behind your original schedule, and you aren’t going to make 4:00:00. Physically, you felt like you poured the coals, but the reality is that you’re just plain tired. But you are still in this mentally, and that’s what is important. I’m going to allow you to walk two water stops between here and the finish, but there is no other walking allowed. That’s a bad precedent. (9:27)
  • Mile 24: Here’s one of your walk breaks. Enjoy it. (10:15)
  • Mile 25: Take your other walk break here. Savor it. Milk it. (10:39)
  • Mile 26: Make it to the mile marker you are essentially done. The last 0.2 is through a tunnel of supporters. You will run faster there no matter what, and you won’t even feel it. (10:02)
  • Last 0.2: Smile! (2:05)

I’ve been reading that a slight positive split is actually the optimal method for the marathon. I ran a 1 minute positive split on the back half. Very happy with this effort. I gave myself every opportunity to hit my goal, and I walked away knowing this is the best I could do that day. Maybe there were 30 seconds or so that could have been saved, but nothing that would make a real difference.

No regrets. No complaints. I don’t think I have mastered the marathon or anything like that, but I now know I can run one correctly. That puts a lot of pressure on for the next one.

Did I just type “next one”?

*** UPDATE ***

Can’t believe I forgot to mention how cool it was to run alongside Jeff Galloway for several miles on the first half of the race. He was doing a 30/15 run/walk and we were with him for quite a while. We were also with a lady who just wouldn’t leave the poor guy alone and let him run his race. The burdens of being a great running coach!

Post Race and Thank Yous

Biggest thanks to the people who supported me with donations to Miles of Love. I beat my fund raising goal, and our team beat our fund raising goal. You guys have no idea what an impact your donations are having on real families here locally. I’m not against making donations to large organizations at all, but when you can meet people who are impacted by your generosity within hours of the contribution it’s pretty amazing.

As always, thanks to the Fam for putting up with the training and coming out on race day. The medals for this race are crazy big and heavy, and it’s nice to have people who are more than willing to carry it around their necks so that I don’t have to.

And thanks again to the volunteers and handing out Gu, water, Gatorade, and  cold towels on the course along with all the food and beverages post-race.

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The Miles of Love team was also very lucky to have post-race catering by Vital Flair. UNBELIEVABLE ribs, a delicious omelette, burgers, snack food, champagne…everything you need to celebrate a race! Check these guys out if you have an event that needs some great food and friendly people to help out!

 

Daily Reading List — November 13th

November 13, 2013 / / 0 Comments

OK, You’re a Runner. Get Over It – Haters gonna hate, but I actually agree with this for the most part. I go on the assumption that the only people who care about my fitness exploits are keeping up with it on my blog or DailyMile. Based on the feedback I receive on each, no one care that much about it. I'm cool with that.

New Half-Ironman race coming to Lake Logan in 2014 – This will be a tough course. Guaranteed.

I just may have to…

Splunk Spawns Hunk Hadoop Tool –

One step closer to a two-hour marathon – Hopefully I'll survive in a Google data center long enough to see this.

Dang Guv’ment…Again

October 25, 2013 / / 0 Comments

I always said that if George Bush ever figured out how good my life is, he’d find some way to come and screw it up. Now, because he shut down the guv’ment for a couple of weeks, the 2014 Rocketman Triathlon has been pushed from the Spring until the Fall. My original plan was to do that 70.3 in May, then train up to a full self-supported 140.6 in October.

Now it’s looking like Rocketman will be in October as well. Push the 140.6 to November? Maybe, but that means I won’t get my best performance out of 70.3 OR the 2014 Space Coast Marathon. Boo!

New plan… Since I’m going to be a few weeks shy of peak shape for this year’s Space Coast Marathon, I’m going to run it with no watch…just run. Then I’ll do the Celebration Marathon in January, kick in a Master’s swim class beginning in February, and start training for 140.6 immediately.

There are some Spring 70.3s I may consider (Haines City?), and I’m also freed up to do the Wickham Park Ultra in May. Interested to see how far I can make it before I miss the cut off. As always, I will be on the Trainerroad for the duration.

Or…I can focus on growing my belly.

Finally Hit A Goal Ahead of Schedule!

September 26, 2013 / / 0 Comments

Actually two, but one goal was really important to me, and  matters for a lot of people too.

This summer I was so excited to sign up to run the Space Coast Marathon with Team Miles of Love. I set a goal to raise $500 for this great local charity and kicked off the fund raising by making a contribution of $70 to cover my race entry, which was paid by MOL. I really didn’t know what to expect, and I thought there was a good chance we’d be dipping into our own pockets again to fill out the goal. Not a problem at all, because we really believe in the MOL mission and are super excited about what they do in our community.

I’m very happy to say that with 9 weeks left before the race, my kick aise friends have already put me at the $600 mark for fund raising. I can’t express how excited I am about this and how fun it is to have so much fund raising momentum!

The top fund raiser on our team wins entry into another race in February. That, I’m not exactly excited about, but I wanna win!

Oh…and the other goal I hit was comfortably falling below race weight a week and a half before Battle of the Bridges on Sunday. Looking forward to a great race!

Another Brain Burp of Cool Triathlon Stuff

September 17, 2013 / / 0 Comments

Trainerroad

First things first…if you have even been considering joining Trainerroad, this is the week to do it. You can get in for $89/year instead of the usual $120. That’s good for as long as you’re a member, and it was already the best deal in triathlon training. This is not an affiliate link, and I don’t get anything for sending you to them except that I feel I owe it to them for the great strides they’ve helped me make on the bike. Their website was updated yesterday and now has even more great features.

Battle of the Bridges Olympic Tri

This is an “A race” for me, and it’s two weeks away. I only race “A” races because that’s what a race implies to me…that I’m going to do my best. The work I’ve put in on Trainerroad will hopefully pay off big here. I’ve been focusing on the run for the last couple of weeks because I have 10 weeks to go to a marathon after this race. I’m thinking the grunting, groaning, sweating, and near tears I’ve already put in on the bike are going to get me out of T2 fresh and ready for a special 10k.

Hardcore History

The best thing I’ve found in a long time to listen to while running. I love the ZenTri podcasts, but I need more hours of audio, and these are incredible. Dan Carlin is a great story teller, and this stuff is amazing. He also has the Common Sense podcast. These are going to come in very handy as the run miles start increasing for marathon season.

 

 

 

One and Done with Galloway

August 26, 2013 / / 0 Comments

I met up with the MOL team yesterday for a long run. We ran Galloway-style with four minutes of running and one minute of walking, and it was great to get out with those fine people and enjoy a crisp cool Florida morning by the water. This was the first time I’d ever tried the run/walk method, and yesterday’s run was not about pace or distance. All I wanted out of it was time on the feet in Zone 2.

Like Johnny Paycheck said, “We was having us one of them real good times.”

But I did get to reflect a little on the experience after a nap, and here’s what I came away with:

Scheduled and timed walks remove the single thing I love most about running, and I will never ever (never say that) do it again on purpose.

Before I get started, I’m not going to bash the Galloway running method.

Well, actually I am, but not across the board. I think Jeff Galloway deserves a ton of credit for coming up with a manageable plan to complete distance events–one that has actually worked for countless people. What other method has empowered so many people who thought they’d never do a 13.1 or a 26.2 to go out and achieve it?

But, just like every other training method, this one isn’t for everyone. And I suppose I’m one of those people it doesn’t really work for. I’ll go a step further…if you told me that the only way I could train for and complete my next race was by the Galloway method, I think I’d choose watching TV and getting fat instead. Well, actually I’d just keep training and never do another race. I like to train more than race anyway.

Even if you could guarantee me a PR, I still wouldn’t opt for run/walk.

What’s to dislike? For me, it’s the seemingly constant interruption of what you’re doing to do something else. I could see where this is a plus if you don’t really like running. It’s a great mental trick to think, “I only have to run for 4 minutes, then I get to walk again.”

But I actually like running. I don’t want to stop. In fact, my favorite thing about running is running myself drunk. I like running far enough that my mind wanders onto all kinds of other things and it feels like my body is taking steps on auto-pilot–separated completely from what my mind is doing. There’s no way to achieve this kind of groove if you’re constantly having to stop because your watch says so.

Again–just my experience. Your mileage may vary.

And if this method works for you, by all means, keep it up!

 

On Training Plans and Coaches

August 15, 2013 / / 0 Comments

I’m getting ready to gear up for another heavy period of training, and I’ve got plans coming out my ears. The interesting thing is that I’m going to be going from a relatively short (Olympic distance) triathlon to a marathon about 10 weeks later. How do you plan for that? I really liked training on feel for the spring, and I’ve let that carry over into the summer.

What I like most about training on feel is the feedback loop that doesn’t exist in a training plan. When I’m tired, I rest. When I know I have more, I give it. Scheduled plans don’t account for this, and it can get you (or at least me) all out of whack.

Or course, the logical solution is a coach. But that’s pricey…doesn’t fit into my budget.

I’ve noticed something about the way people choose coaches that’s seems a little strange to me. I see a lot of posts containing comments about the great results their coaches have posted–not for their clients, but for themselves. I’m sure a fast athlete has a ton of insight and knowledge that can help the average age-grouper improve, but I think I’d choose a coach based on the results they’ve achieved for their clients.

 

Never Again. After This Time.

July 25, 2013 / / 0 Comments

Looks like a ton of people took my advice and registered for the Space Coast Marathon/Half this year because both races are completely full–nice to get some affirmation that this blog has so much influence! 😉

I’m registered and running the full in support of Miles of Love, which is my favorite local charity. Seriously thinking of trying something new this year. Considering running with no watch and no HRM. I’ll just run on feel and I’ll get what I get time wise. The only thing giving me pause is a nutrition plan, but I can probably base that on mileage instead of time. There’s no way to avoid knowing how deep into the race you are on such a well-marked course.

Testing this out at Battle of the Bridges Triathlon in September. I should be able to manage 2.5 hours of racing without electronic feedback. I don’t ever know where I am time/HR wish in the swim anyway. And I’m doing a lot of biking in the 1-1.5 hour range, so I should be used to doing that on feel too. For the run, I’ll just have to let it all go when I feel like I can do so and still hang on.

This is all part of the giant scheme of “untraining” I”ve been experimenting with. I don’t do anything according to schedules other than following what Trainerroad says to do when I decide to bike.

I swim when I feel like I should. That means not much.

I run when I feel like I should, for as much as I feel like I should).

I bike when I feel like I should.

I do intervals when I feel like I should, probably not often enough.

Most importantly, I rest when I feel like I should.

Volume for everything is up in general. I think I’m a volume guy in general, and I think training plans hold me back. The important thing is that I’m having fun…my chances of setting world records are diminishing.

Of course, this will once again be my last marathon. Unless I have a horrible race and don’t PR…then I’ll consider it again.

Payback Time!

July 15, 2013 / / 0 Comments

If I’ve ever done anything to tick you off (and that’s pretty much all of you), now’s your chance to get me back.

I’m doing the Space Coast Marathon again this year, even though I said I’d never do another marathon. I’m doing this to raise money for Miles of Love, which is a local charity a friend of mine started. The MOL mission is to provide support to local families who have sick kids. What I love about this organization is that it’s local, and it’s super-efficient. MOL has set up relationships with bigger organizations to vet recipients to help eliminate waste and fraud. They do all kinds of things for these families–anything from providing gas cards to help them get back and forth to the hospital to buying gifts for the kids themselves.

So the big question is, how can you use this situation to dole out punishment to me? Here’s how it works…

Every day, from not until ???? I’ll be doing a burpee* for every dollar I receive in donations. $20 = 20 burpees. $100 = 100 burpees. If you’ve ever done 100 burpees, you know that’s some serious punishment. I’ll video these and make long-distance dedications Casey Kasem style to those who help me raise funds.

So let me have it. You can click here to make a donation. Click early, click often.

* Burpees will be without the pushup at the bottom, but will include a jump and over-the-head hand clap.

 

Daily Reading List — January 8th

January 8, 2013 / / 0 Comments

What Will Netflix’s New User Profiles Look Like? – Can't wait for this. Top recommendations for me should not be Dinosaur Train and Word World.

8 Excellent Tech Habits to Adopt Right Now – I do all of these about halfway. So it's sort of like I've done four of them solidly.

Free Download: Dave’s Guide to Budgeting – via @couponkatie I think the most important factor in winning financially is having a budget that doesn't budge agreed upon by you and your partner. Your partner can be anyone…before I was married a friend and I used to hold each other accountable with our cost-down measures. This resulted in many electric bills lower than $20, and many more nights completely zipped up inside a sleeping bag.

Having a chance to hear Dave Ramsey's advice at 18 was the luckiest thing that ever happened to me financially.

Kenyan runner tackled by spectator, still wins marathon – Prime example of why Brazil excel at soccer and not rugby. You have to tackle low. Had this race been held in Argentina, Rotich would have been brought to the ground and promptly had his shoes kicked away.

How To Break Your Smartphone Addiction – Yes please.

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