Coming to a close...

First things first. Jim suggested I run the St. Patrick's Day 10k tomorrow and he's calling me out. Here's what he had to say in his latest blog:

"I'm looking forward to seeing how my boy Jameson is going to do this weekend. He better not let me beat him! (That's right, I'm calling you out here! Unless I just run really well, hahaha)."

It's on. I am up for the challenge. Neither of use are really in 10k shape so it should be a good battle. I've on only raced one stand alone 10k and that was last summer. It was the Scripps Ranch Old Pros and I ran it in 34 flat coming off a big weekend of training. I am in a similar situation here. I have been going hard 2.5 months now and I am ready to taper. The last couple of weeks have been especially tough and I have been really pushing it. The incentive to race Jim will give me an extra push. He told me the course is actually a little longer than 10k so I don't what I can run. We'll see.

The 70.3 is two weeks from tomorrow and I am pretty stoked. As much as I am stoked about racing and giving a new distance a shot I am more exctied that my parents are coming out from Virgina. They were planning a vacation to come visit my brother, sister, and me this spring and decided to plan it around my race. They are super supportive of my racing. So at this race I will have more family watching and cheering me on than ever before. My mom, dad, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, and nephew will all be there. It should be pretty cool. My family is kind of crazy and likes to have a good time and knock back some ice cold beers so post race should be a good time. They also got some shirts made which I think is absolutely hilarious... you gotta love family.

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Front:


From a training standpoint things are going really well this week. I put in my last 5000+ yard workout in the pool and Tuesday and the last two days I have just done the standard 4000+ yard workouts. It's time to dial in the speed. It's amazing how easy swimming only 4000 yards seems now, which is just what I wanted. Eventhough I am getting race to the 70.3 in two weeks I have bigger goals for later in the season and building a good base of early season swimming I think will be key. At this time last year I had never swam more than 2500 yards in a single workout. Fridays are typically speed days and here was our main set from this morning... I really like this and felt strong.

10 x 50 (base, build)
2 x 100 (1 base, 1 base -5)
2 x 25 (all out)

8 x 50 (base, build)
4 x 100 (2 base, 2 base -5)
4 x 25 (all out)

6 x 50 (base, build)
6 x 100 (3 base, 3 base -5)
6 x 25 (all out)

Other than that baseball season is getting closer and I bought tickets to the Padres opening weekend. I will be going to my first game of the season Saturday night, April 7th. That's the week after the race so I will still be in recovery mode. So it's on... Ice cold beers and baseball. Can't wait.

A photo of me and my brother from a game last year.



One last thing. I am reading this book. A lot of good info and things I have never thought about. I plan on generally following this program once my traning picks back up after the race.