26.2 with DONNA Breast Cancer Marathon Race Report

This past weekend I ran my 4th marathon.  The Breast Cancer Marathon took place in Jacksonville Beach, FL and looked to be an extremely flat course and as long as it wasn't too hot, I felt I had a good shot at breaking 3 hours.

My cousin Ryan drove down from Virginia Beach to run it with me.  Last fall we were looking at marathons to do together, the Big Sur marathon was at capacity (that would have been an amazing marathon!).  But, this one was lined up in the same time frame that he'd be moving out to California.  So, we both signed up and race weekend got here really fast!

This was also the first marathon that Nikki and the kids would be out on the course to cheer me on!  I was really looking forward to seeing them on the course and I wanted to run well for them.  We drove up to Jacksonville Beach on Friday night and got checked into our hotel, we got upgraded to the kids suite that had a bunk bed in it.  Conner and Maya were very impressed, and Maya was telling anyone that would listen that we were staying in a 5-star hotel.

Saturday morning we made our way to the expo to pick up our bibs and packets.  The kids tried a bunch of free samples and Ryan and I bought some Swiftwick socks.  They're pretty nice socks, but even with a buy 2 get 1 free deal, they are pretty expensive!

The packet pickup process and expo went a lot more smoothly than the Marine Corps Marathon, owing to the fact that there weren't 30,000 people trying to pick up their packets.  I like running in big marathons, but there are advantages to running in smaller marathons also.

The course was more or less 13 miles north on A1A then back south to a 4 lane highway that took us to the finish at the Mayo Clinic.  The run north featured running on the beach from mile 6 to almost mile 9.  My mother also came up with my nephew, Caden, for a night and had a hotel on the beach at mile 8/19.  So, I was going to have a pretty big cheering section:

The morning of the race, the temperature was already at 57 degrees at 6 am, with almost 100% humidity.  I think by the time I finished, the temperature was almost 70 degrees.  Pretty hot for a marathon, but it was cloudy, so at least the sun wasn't beating down on us the entire time.

The first 5 or 6 miles flew by and I was feeling pretty good.  All of my mile splits were under 6:50.  I was in a pretty good crowd of people and was just enjoying the scenery.  I grabbed 2 GUs a little after mile 5 and took one of them at mile 6.  Then we hit the beach.  I was looking forward to this part of the race, I knew I'd see Nikki and the kids soon, and I thought it'd be a nice change of pace to run on the beach for a bit.  Running on the sand, even the packed, wet sand, seemed to take a toll on my legs though.  My pace dropped from the low 6:40s to the high 6:40s even though I felt my effort was the same.

About halfway through the beach run, the half marathon and marathon routes split.  And, suddenly, I was running all by myself.  It was strange.  I'm used to big marathons and running in a pack for the whole race, so this was a new experience.  Eventually, I caught up to a guy, and we ran together for a bit and chatted.  And then, I saw my family!

It was a short lived visit, some high fives and some yells of encouragement, and then I was off again.

Miles 8 through 19 were pretty uneventful.  We continued north on streets parallel to A1A and then ran through some nice neighborhoods to get in some extra mileage before heading south again.  I took another GU at mile 12.  I was starting to struggle with the pace a bit around the halfway mark, but I was still running under 6:50.  I wanted to try to maintain that pace until mile 19-20 and hopefully that would have banked me enough time to slow down a bit and still break 3 hours.

But, then around mile 18, it became apparent I was going to have to stop for a bathroom break.  This was really disheartening to me, because I was pretty sure that it would kill my chance at breaking 3 hours.  This is now my 4th marathon, and I've had to stop at a porta potty on each one.  I've got to try to figure out what works on long runs and my nutrition beforehand to prevent these bathroom breaks.  When I was running 4 hour marathons, it didn't matter so much.  But, now, trying to break 3 hours, every second counts.  Right after I passed mile marker 19, I saw Nikki and the kids again!  And, right across the street was a porta potty, I made a bee-line for it and Nikki got some great action shots!

After my pit stop, I could never get my legs moving again.  Mile 20 was ~8:30, and then every mile from then on was ~7:10.  Also, the marathon and half-marathon routes merged together after mile 20 and now I was running in a crowd, but it was a crowd of walkers.  That started messing with my mind.  I haven't walked on a marathon since my first marathon, but seeing all these walkers, all of a sudden my brain was like "yea, walking would be nice... we should do that".  It was a huge mental battle just to keep running.  So, I didn't meet my goal of a sub 3 hour marathon, but I am happy that I kept running the whole race.

That last 4 miles were on a 4 lane highway heading west to the Mayo Clinic.  The on ramp to get on the highway seemed to go on forever and running on a highway is pretty lonely as far as crowd support goes.  And then, at mile 24 you could see off in the distance a huge bridge at mile 25 to cross the intracoastal.  So you get to dread that climb for a whole mile before finally tackling it.  The cool thing was, at the top of the hill, there was a water stop and a huge crowd of people cheering you on!  I ran the whole way up that monster!  After the hill, it's downhill to the off ramp and then the finish line.  I kicked as much as I could, even though my feet started cramping and crossed the finish line in 3:03:14, and my chip time was 3:02:31.  That's about 45 seconds slower than my PR at the Marine Corps Marathon.

My cousin, Ryan, unfortunately didn't get to finish his race.  It started storming and when the lightning started they closed the course and shuttled all the runners to the finish line.  I think he made it to about mile 21 or 22.  It took forever to find him!

Overall, I enjoyed the race, the last 7 miles were rough though.  Jackonsville Beach is a beautiful city to run in.  And, it's definitely a different feel than the Marine Corps Marathon.  The crowd support isn't as large, but lots of people come out of their homes to cheer you on and throw block parties while you run through their neighborhoods.  Running on the beach for 2+ miles was also really cool, but I still have a feeling that the sand may have taken some of the gas from my legs and I felt it later in the race.  In any case, if you're looking for a smaller marathon field, and a flat, fast course... then this is a great marathon.  And you're helping to support a great cause!

Here are my mile splits for the race: http://connect.garmin.com/splits/450522986

Weekly Trainin Report - February 17th-23rd

Monday: 3.2 miles (7:20)

Tuesday: 3.7 miles (7:27)
I felt a sharp pain in the arch of my right foot after I had to stop quickly for a car pulling out in front of me.  I felt it every once in awhile throughout the run, this has me a little worried!

Wednesday: 4.0 miles (7:24)
No pain in my right foot today, so that's good news.  Just continued my slow easy runs leading up to the race on Sunday.  I'm going to start carbo-loading a little tomorrow, getting up to 150-200 g of carbs a day.  After this race, I'll make a post about my ketogenic diet I've been following since early November.

Thursday: 3.2 miles (7:37)

Friday: 2.6 miles (7:08)

Saturday: 3.5 miles (7:44)

Sunday: 26.3 miles (6:56)
I ran 3:02:31 on my marathon, I didn't make it to my goal of breaking 3 hours mainly because I had to take a pit stop at mile 19 and could never get my legs moving again.  I'll have a race report about it soon.

Jiu Jitsu Training Log - February 17th-23rd

Monday: Advanced Class
We worked on an Ouchi Gari takedown, I didn't feel very strong with this takedown.  I felt like my tripping leg was not very strong.

On the ground we worked escapes from the North/South position.  Use your legs as a pendulum to create space and get your elbows under your partners are arms.  Then swim your arm through as you turn to your belly and come to your knees.  Now, you have a single leg, you can finish that or reach for a high underhook and shrug him off to get his back.  The next, was continue the pendulum motion with your legs but come all the way around to and hook one leg, bringing your other knee through to the other side of your partner's hip.  You can finish a sweep here by moving your hips and turning your arms.

The last one, was creating space and getting your elbows between you and your partner again.  Then, bump and push with your arms at the same time and bring both knees between your partner's armpits.  Next, spin under your partner and you'll end up with one leg along his hips and another over his head to recover guard.  A sweep from here is to control his far arm and grab his pants, bump into him and when he pushes back, load him up onto your legs to complete the sweep.  Whew, that was a lot of escapes with a lot of technical details I'll probably forget!

Tuesday: Randori
Nothing specific, just good drilling and rolling.

That's all the training I did this week, with a marathon coming up on Sunday I decided I needed the rest.

Jiu Jitsu Training Log February 10th-16th

Wednesday: Advanced Class
We worked on a sliding single leg takedown with a cross collar grip.  As you slide in for the single leg on your hip, you pull with your grip.  This is a fast, dynamic movement... not my strong suit.  Then wrap the leg with your free hand and do a technical stand while driving your head into your opponent's ribs.

On the ground, we worked a loop choke from butterfly guard with a cross collar grip.  This was a hard choke for me to hit for some reason, I never really felt like I was applying the choke correctly.  Then, we worked on a sweep when our partner defends the loop choke by pulling their head out and posturing back.  We use that momentum to come up to our knee and knock our partner over and then do a knee slice pass.  I had a lot of trouble coming up without posting my free hand.


Thursday: Randori
Live rolling with no submissions, person coming in took the worse position.  Good, hard training!

Friday: No Gi Class
Takedown was snapping down partner's head and pressuring them down to turtle position with our shoulders and hips.  Then, we finished with a choke after sliding our knee inbetween and clamping our hands around their shoulder and arching back.

On the ground, we worked some clock chokes.  Starting off by going to a seatbelt position with our arms, the arm around the partners neck goes to a rear naked choke position.  Then, we move to the other side of the turtle and either gable grip our hands or do the normal rear naked choke and walk our hips forward.  Pretty nasty choke!

Saturday: All Levels Class
We worked a few passes when our partner is in butterfly guard.  The first was grabbing the belt on the side our partner has the underhook and pushing down on their opposite knee with our other hand.  Then, turning our partner like a steering wheel while stepping out and finishing in side control.

The next one was getting their ankles close to their hips and reaching under their leg and up to grab their opposite knee.  Our free hand controls their opposite sleeve and pulls it across their chest.  Then, twisting their upper body and lower body in different directions, again, step out to the side and end in side control.  Then, we ended the class with some live rolling.

Weekly Training Report - February 10th-16th

Monday: 5.3 miles (7:02)

Tuesday: 5.8 miles (7:30)

Wednesday: 5.8 miles (6:45)
3 x 1 mile repeats at (5:56, 5:53, 5:50) with 3 minute rests.  I did another quarter mile after those repeats at 5:46 pace.

Thursday: 4.2 miles (7:07)

Friday: 4.5 miles (7:19)

Saturday: 3.2 miles (7:45); 3.1 miles (5:45)
Run Around the Pines 5k race

Sunday: 13 miles (8:10)

Weekly Total: 44.7 miles
Tapered back this week.  My legs feel pretty fresh, evident by my 22 second 5k PR yesterday.  I'm ready for the marathon a week from today.  Next week, I'm going to take it real easy, maybe low 20s mileage wise before the race.

Run Around the Pines 5k Race Report

Today was the Run Around the Pines 5k.  It was a great morning for running, and this course seemed like it would be a fast course.  The weather was perfect.  The course was pancake flat, most courses in Florida are flat, but this one was really flat.  I think the net elevation change may have been under 10 feet.

The only problem is I didn't feel so good.  I had a hard time falling asleep and had some pretty bad stomach pains throughout the night.  I think it might have been the Quest chocolate chip cookie dough protein bar I ate.  Usually, I hate protein bars, but the reviews for the Quest bars made them sound almost appetizing.  They had just gotten delivered and I was anxious to try it, but I probably shouldn't have tried it the night before a race.  It was a pretty dense bar, it didn't look too tasty.

But, I have to admit, it wasn't that bad.  But, my stomach was rumbling the rest of the night drying to digest this monster and I had a huge stitch on my right side.  No matter what position I tried to sleep in, it was painful and it hurt to take a deep breath.  This was not looking good for my race!  I finally fell asleep and got a few hours of sleep before I woke up at 5 to eat some breakfast.  My stomach felt better, but I still had the side stitch.  At this point, I didn't think I'd be racing the 5k, and would probably just go out and run it for fun.

I got to Cady Way park around 6:15 and got my packet.  I had a cup of coffee and got my bib affixed to my shorts.  Then, before long, it was time to warm up.  I just did a slow jog for a couple of miles and finally started to feel a little better.  After my warm up jog, I felt like I would at least try to race and if I had to slow down, then I would.  But, my side stitch appeared to finally be gone.

The finish of this race is pretty neat, you get to run up onto the track at Showalter Field and finish like a track star!

I really wanted to run a good race, this is the second to last race of the Track Shack race series and I was in 2nd place in my age group.  I was one point behind Estevan Torres and I wanted to try to beat him to get into the lead.  Usually, I line up a couple of people back to let the faster people have more room, but today I was right up front.  I wanted to try to start out ahead of Estevan and keep him behind me.  The horn went off and we were off!

I felt pretty comfortable for the first mile, and it flew by and felt pretty easy.  I went through the first mile marker at 5:35!  Wow, that was fast... probably too fast and I thought I would probably pay for that later.

For the second mile, I tucked in with a group of 4 or 5 other runners and just tried to keep pushing but also staying relaxed.  The last 5k I ran, I had a huge drop in time in my second mile, my goal was to do better this time.  I ended up with a 5:40 split for the second mile.  Awesome!  And I still hadn't seen Estevan go by me.  This race was going better than planned, especially with my stomach issues beforehand.

The last mile was tough, I tried to keep pushing, but I could tell I was slowing down.  I was just worried that Estevan would pull up next to me and then start running away from me.  But, he never did.  I hit 5:52 for the 3rd mile split and then started pushing for the finish line.  Everything was burning now, but it was almost over.  I felt like I was sprinting and making an ugly "I want this to be over" face.  But, my watch says my pace was 5:50 at that point.  So, not much better than my 3rd and slowest mile.

I finished with a huge 22 second PR in a time of 17:49!  Unbelievable!  And I had beat out Estevan, but unfortunately I came in second place in my age group.  There is always someone I don't know or haven't seen before who beats me!  But, it was enough to tie Estevan going into the last race of the season... the Winter Park 10k on March 15th.  You can see below that I have yet to finish first in my age group in any of the races, usually I'm second.  But, I guess consistency is the key, because I have a chance to win it!

I exceeded all my expectations with this race.  Sometimes it's amazing what your body can achieve if you just push yourself.  When I got up this morning, the last thing I wanted to do was run a 5k race.  But, I'm glad I did it and I'm extremely happy with the PR!  And, as always, Track Shack puts on a great race.  Plenty of refreshments and if you beat the pineapples (runners in pineapple costumes) you got a free smoothie.  I thought that was pretty neat.  This was my first time running this race and I really enjoyed it, finishing on the track was also really cool!

III GBO Cup Tournament

A week and a half ago, the 3rd Gracie Barra Orlando Cup in-house tournament took place at the downtown location.  It's an opportunity for all the local schools: Downtown, Kissimmee, Sand Lake and Oviedo, to come together and compete against each other in a friendly environment.

I've competed two other times so far while practicing jiu jitsu last year at the Florida BJJ state championships and a New Breed tournament.  There is nothing quite like competing.  There's the stress of cutting/making weight, sitting around all day waiting for your matches to start, the adrenaline of the actual matches, and all too quickly it's over.  But, in that short 5-minute window, you get the opportunity to put everything you've learned in jiu jitsu into practice against an opponent who's planning on doing the same to you.  There aren't many martial arts where you can spar live at 100% against an opponent.  I think that's one of the reasons why I enjoy jiu jitsu so much.

You learn a lot about your jiu jitsu in the short time you compete at a tournament.  Any weaknesses that you may have in your game will get a huge spotlight shone on them.  It's also a time to develop the mental aspect of your game.  Are you going to shoot for the takedown, or pull guard?  If you end up on bottom, what sweeps can you use?  If you get to a top position, how do you want to pass the guard and what submissions do you feel strong enough with to use.  I'm still only a green belt, so these are all things I'm still working through, still trying to develop my game.

But, this in-house tournament was more of a stress free environment for competition.  I knew a lot of the guys and there was no weighing in.  There was still a lot of waiting before matches, but not the same stress and game planning that usually accompanies the waiting.  I was also looking forward to seeing how I stacked up against green belts from the other schools.  But, there was one problem.  Only 5 green belts competed, and 4 of us were from the Oviedo school where I train at!  There were a lot of white belts and blue belts and even more purple belts than green belts.  That was a little disappointing.

When the green belts finally got called out to warm up, we were split into 2 groups.  The other 3 green belts from Oviedo (Roberto, Matt, and Victor) would be competing against each other.  And I was pitted against the lone green belt from the other school.  Here's my match (thanks to Zach for recording this!):

I can't remember his name or which school he's from, but he was tough!  I signed up for the 160-175 lb division, and I was just over 160 that morning.  I found out afterward that my opponent weighed 200 lbs.  I'm happy how I did against someone who had that much weight on me, technique does work!  I lost the match by an advantage point, as we each had 2 points from sweeping each other.  He got the advantage point early on when he flattened me out while I was in half guard.  I didn't realize I would be giving up an advantage point in that situation, so I wasn't fighting too hard to keep my shoulders off the ground.  Now, I know though, so I'll fight harder next time to stay on my hips.

I'm not usually very confident in my takedowns, so my plan was to pull half guard and work my sweep, which I finally get about halfway through the match.  Unfortunately, I got pretty excited at that point and really wanted to pass his guard to continue to attack.  I didn't have a very good base, and this video makes that very clear!  I was leaning to my left and that's the side that he swept me on.  I wish I had slowed down and made sure I had a strong base, but these are the things you learn by competing, and I will definitely be focusing on my base and posture in my future training.

That's pretty much it, after he swept me I was able to get back to full guard.  But, by then there was only about 20-30 seconds left and I was trying frantically to hit an arm bar or triangle, or anything!  Then time ran out.  So, I got second place... out of 2 competitors.  But, the important part was stepping on the mat in the first place.  I never thought I'd be competing in jiu jitsu tournaments.  But, I love it!  Win or lose, of course I'd rather win, but there's always something to take away from the experience.

Overall, the tournament was a great experience and I had a great time with my teammates.  I can't wait to compete again at next year's tournament.  Even though that brings another set of problems, I'll be a blue belt by then and there were a lot of blue belts competing and they all looked super tough!  Just gotta keep training.  Thanks to all the black sheep at GBO Oviedo and my instructors Todd and Steven for making jiu jitsu such a fun and rewarding journey!

GBO Oviedo green belts bringin' home the gold!

Jiu Jitsu Training Log - February 3rd-9th

Monday: Advanced Class
We did the same Kouchi Gari variation from last Wednesday, wrapping the leg with our arm and leg.  We also did a drill where we jumped guard while our partner was standing, and then we had to crawl around them.  We were supposed to do 10, but I only made it to my partners back before falling off... and I did that twice.  It was hard!

From the ground, we worked an arm bar as our opponent starts to stand in our guard.  We walked our legs up to our opponent's shoulders and then hook their opposite leg, pulling our head close to that leg.  Then swinging our leg over his head and finishing the submission.  We then progressed to spinning under our opponent if they are starting to smash us to defend, and finishing the arm bar belly down.

Tuesday: Fundamental Class and Randori
In fundamentals, we did the bear hug self defense where you drop your base and raise your arms and then step behind your opponent and grab behind their legs to take them down.  Then we worked on several variations of the pendulum sweep from guard.  The first one we worked required getting to a 90 degree angle and then swinging your leg back through.  I had some trouble moving my hips and legs into the right place to start the sweep.  Then, we worked a variation where we controlled an arm and broke our opponents posture.  After breaking down their posture, we did the same leg movement as before, but without moving to 90 degrees.  This was an easier sweep to finish, but it's probably harder to get your opponents posture broken down in live rolling.

In randori, we did passing/sweeping drills from open or closed guard and then the same thing from butterfly guard.  All things I pretty much suck at, so its great to get some time drilling these things!

Wednesday: Advanced Class
Pretty much a repeat of Monday's class.  It was helpful to get more reps.  One thing Steven addressed, when my opponent stands and I start walking my legs up, I've got to keep my hips off the ground and make sure there's no space between my opponent's arm and my pelvis.  Otherwise, this move won't work.  I was having some trouble with that at first, but I think I started to get better near the end.

Saturday: All levels
Worked on counters to the double under pass, this was a great class because there are a couple training partners that use this pass a lot.  Now, I have at least something to try.  The first move was to sit up as they moved their arms under my legs and reach under their armpit and kick my leg out at the same time.  This sets up a triangle, but we also worked on finishing with a reverse kimura.

The next sequence of moves involved making your hips and legs heavy and pinning their hands to my hips.  All the while, moving away from them so that I have enough space to put my feet on their hips.  Then there's a should lock by getting one hook in and putting it on their opposite hip and straightening my leg while sitting up.

Weekly Training Report - February 3rd-9th

Monday: 4.1 miles (7:37)

Tuesday: 9.3 miles (7:56)

Wednesday: 4.8 miles (6:50)
Workout today was 5 x 2 mins on/ 2 mins off, ran this workout outside at night after it cooled off a little.  The splits for my 2 mins on were (5:29, 5:34, 5:40, 5:39, 5:29).  I slowed down a little in the middle, but finished strong.  And, the splits were all much faster than the last time I ran this workout outside 2 weeks ago.

Thursday: 10.0 miles (7:08)

Friday: 6.0 miles (7:34)

Saturday: 6.1 miles (6:36)
3 x 1 mile with 3 min rests.  Splits were (6:07, 5:55, 5:52) and then did another half mile at 5:55 pace.  Much better workout than last week when I only did 2 of the intervals.

Sunday: 16.1 miles (7:25)
Last long run before the marathon in 2 weeks.  First 11 miles easy, I averaged 7:48.  Then 5 miles at MP.  I actually ran about 105% MP, splits for the 5 tempo miles were (6:48, 6:31, 6:32, 6:29, 6:24).  I felt pretty strong on this workout, I hope that this is a good indicator that I'm ready for the marathon.  I wish I had a chance to build up a little more volume, but that will have to wait until after the marathon.

Weekly Total: 56.5 miles
A solid week of running, pretty much right where I wanted to be.  That's four weeks in a row over 50+ miles.  Now, I start to taper for the marathon.  I plan to do a little over 40 miles next week, with a slow "long" run of about 12 miles.  I also have a 5k on Saturday.  Hopefully, this taper will give my legs a little more pep for a PR in the 5k.

Garmin Forerunner 220 Review

I got a Garmin Forerunner 220 GPS watch for christmas.  It's Garmin's latest GPS watch along with the Forerunner 620.  I got the watch packaged with the heart rate monitor (HRM).

Before I got this watch, last year, I was doing my runs with my Samsung Galaxy S2.  The phone and armband combined was pretty big, but it was working out OK.  Until one run, I got caught in a downpour (in Orlando, I know, crazy right?).  After that, the phone stopped working.  For my next phone, I got the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active, which is supposed to be water resistant for up to 30 minutes submerged.  I had to get a new armband for this phone, and the armband started falling apart almost immediately.  So, near the end of the year, I was resorting to just running with a stopwatch and mapping my runs out after the fact.

Needless to say, I was really excited to get this watch.  I didn't mind running with a phone in an armband, but it was tough to see my time, pace and distance at a glance.

Here are the watch specifications:

Unit dimensions, WxHxD	1.8" x 1.8" x 0.5" (4.5 x 4.5 x 1.2 cm)
Display size, WxH	1.0" (2.54 cm) diameter
Display resolution, WxH	180 x 180 pixels
Touchscreen	No
Weight	41 g
Battery	rechargeable lithium-ion
Battery life	up to 6 weeks in watch mode; up to 10 hours in training mode
Water resistant	50m
GPS	Yes
Radio Protocols	Ant+; Bluetooth Smart

Ant+ is used to communicate to the optional HRM and foot pod sensor.  You don't need a foot pod sensor for indoor running however, because the watch itself records your cadence without a foot pod using an internal accelerometer.  The accuracy leaves something to be desired, and I don't know if a foot pod would be more accurate.

The Bluetooth Smart technology is used to connect the watch to a smartphone using the Garmin Connect mobile app.  Unfortunately, Garmin doesn't have an Android version yet.  The features supported with the Connect app are:

• Live Track - Friends and family can follow your run.  This requires you to run with your phone and watch.
• Activity Uploads to Garmin Connect
• Workout and Course Downloads

So, for now, the only way for me to upload activities and download workouts is to use the USB connection through a computer.

The watch and the USB cradle:

Profile of the watch:

Arm shot:

I had a Garmin GPS about 3 years ago that was much more bulky and a lot less fashionable.  The last picture shows the 220 in "watch mode".  I don't wear a watch for normal activities, but if I did, this one would work just fine.  Garmin watches have come quite a ways in general, daily usability.

The watch has 3 buttons on the left side: the upper button controls the backlight, while the bottom two buttons are scroll up/down buttons.  The 2 buttons on the right side are the run button (red button) and the return/lap button.

To wake the watch up, simply tap any button.  It will then ask you to hit the red button to really wake up.  At this point, GPS satellite acquisition begins.  This is my favorite part about this watch, it takes less than a minute to acquire satellites and become ready to run.  Most of the time, it takes around 10 seconds.  The watch caches GPS satellite positions for 7 days whenever you connect it to a computer to upload activities.  This is all done seamlessly in the background and the result is wonderful.  I've had to sit outside for 3-5 minutes before, with other GPS watches, to get satellites and start running.  I love this feature, the watch is always ready to go before I am!

Once the GPS signal is ready, you're ready to go, just hit the run button to start the watch and start running.  The 220 has 2 configurable screens that can each contain up to 3 data items.  The selectable data items are:

• Timer
• Lap Time
• Distance
• Lap Distance
• Pace
• Average Pace
• Lap Pace
• Speed
• Cadence
• Calories
• Heart Rate
• Average HR
• HR Zone

There is also a heart rate screen, if a HRM is detected, showing your current heart rate and the zone (1 - 5).  And, finally, a screen with a clock on it.  While running, you can scroll through the screens  using the down/up buttons on the bottom left.  The heart rate and clock screens can be disabled through the watch settings.

You can create laps by pressing the bottom right button, but the watch is set to automatically lap every mile.  So, unless I'm running a race, I usually just leave it set to auto lap.

After you're done running, hit the run button again.  You'll then be given the option to save the run.  The 220 also keeps track of records like longest run, fastest 5k, fastest mile, and these will be displayed at this point if you've set any records.

Now, to upload your run, you'll use the Garmin Connect website.  The Garmin Express Fit program will automatically upload new runs to the website when you connect the watch to your computer.  The specifics of the run will be displayed (distance, time, pace) along with a map and several charts showing pace, HR (if heart rate data was collected) and cadence:

One of my other favorite features of the 220 is the ability to create workouts on the Garmin Connect website.  These workouts can then be downloaded to the watch and used to run with.  The watch will notify when you've reached a point in the workout, whether its time to warm up, run an interval, recover, or cool down.  I've found that it's a real useful tool and it has helped me hit my workouts better for some reason when I know I've got it programmed into my watch and I just have to respond to the buzzes.  I don't dread workouts as much!

Finally, the battery life of the watch, so far, has been better than advertised.  It is specified to last up to 6 weeks in standby watch mode and 10 hours in GPS/run mode.  I've gone well beyond 10 hours of running with just connecting it to the computer for a quick upload for the month and a half that I've been using it.

Overall, I really enjoy running with this watch.  This is my first GPS watch in 3+ years and the technological strides that have been made in that time period have really made it worthwhile.  This is also the first time that Garmin has included the ability to download workouts onto a watch that is not the highest end model.  The previous middle of the road forerunner (210) didn't have the capability to do workouts.  Couple that with the run statistics you get with pace, HR and cadence and the website becomes a powerful tool to review your runs and plan your training phases.

Pros:

• GPS satellite acquisition is FAST
• Watch is lightweight and waterproof
• Internal accelerometer records cadence information
• Battery life
• Website integration - workouts and planning

Cons:

• Only 2 customizable screens with 3 data items.  You'll need to step up to the Forerunner 620 to get more data items.
• Lack of Android app for Bluetooth Smart connection.  Hopefully, this will be resolved in the near future.

Jiu Jitsu Training Log - January 27th-February 2nd

I'm starting this log to keep track of what techniques I've been learning.  I think this will be helpful because sometimes I try to think back about what I learned at last week's classes and I have trouble remembering.  So, maybe the act of writing it down and thinking about it will help.

Monday: Advanced Class
We started standup with a takedown, using Kouchi Gari to get our opponent to move his leg back and then switching to an Ouchi Gari on his opposite leg (where his weight should be now).  I don't remember anything specific about where I was gripping during this takedown sequence, but I do like the idea of stringing together multiple takedown attempts.

On the ground, we worked several escapes from rear naked chokes with our opponent on our back with his hooks in.  This is a bad position to be in, so it's nice to have some options.  The point I took away from these escapes, is there is always the possibility of escaping from a bad position, even if it's really bad.  As long as you can keep your chin tucked and your hands pulling on the choking arm, you can buy yourself some time to either bridge onto your opponent and start moving to the other side, or to turn into the choke while bringing your knee up to remove the hook.  The important thing is to stay calm:

Wednesday: Advanced Class
Standup was a kind of a variation, I think, on Kouchi Gari.

We started with our opponent with a strong grip on our collar that we can't break.  Then we re-grip on the inside of his grip on his collar, grab our own collar where he's gripping and step back and turn.  Once the grip is broken, we use our grip to move him and get his weight on the same side leg.  Then, we did a deep Kouchi Gari trip with our free arm wrapping around the outside of the same leg we are tripping.  It felt awkward the first couple times I did it.  But, I started to like it the more I did it.  The important thing to remember is to swim your free arm out and around your opponents waist once he starts falling, or he could end up taking your back.

On the ground, we again worked the several escapes from rear naked chokes from Mondays class.  You can never drill too much.  It's good to build up that muscle memory!

Friday: No gi
We started with a takedown using a guillotine and wrapping their chin, then dropping our level and grabbing their ankle with our free hand.  Pretty neat takedown, I think the hardest part will be snapping someone's head down, breaking their posture, so you can get the initial guillotine grip.

On the ground, we worked an arm drag drill for speed.  And then stayed with the arm drag and some sweeps for when your opponent posts on the leg on the side you are arm dragging.  The last variation had us sliding under the posted leg and setting up X guard and then doing a technical stand to a sweep or back take.  Steven made a point about the arm drag, that you really shouldn't be pulling your opponent toward you.  Instead, you should keep the arm tight to your chest and sit up into your opponent as you're scooting your hips out.  That's an important detail, because I was always doing it the other way, almost laying on my back while dragging the arm.

Saturday: GBO Cup III - In House Tournament
I'll have a separate post on my experience at this tournament.  It was pretty fun, I only had one match though and lost by an advantage point.  But, overall, it was a great experience and I had a great day with my brothers and sisters from GBO Oviedo.

Weekly Training Report - January 27th-February 2nd

Monday: 6.1 miles (6:52)
I surprised myself with this run today.  After running 21 miles the previous day and racing a 5k on Saturday, my legs felt surprisingly fresh today.

Tuesday: 10.4 miles (7:42)
80 minutes of easy running.

Wednesday: 5.5 miles (6:54)
Today was supposed to be 5 x 2 mins on/2 mins off.  It was rainy and cold outside so I did this workout on the treadmill.  I had trouble doing this same workout last week outside, but I felt good on the treadmill and ended up doing 6 reps.  The treadmill was set at 1.5% incline.  The paces for the 2 mins on were (5:40, 5:36, 5:33, 5:30, 5:27, 5:24) and the 2 mins off were floating recoveries at 7:45.  I may have to bump the incline up to 2%, I had trouble breaking 6 min/mile on this same workout last week.

Thursday: 13.2 miles (7:26)
I was surprised how fresh my legs felt today even with the workout yesterday.

Friday: 6.1 miles (7:11)

Saturday: 4.5 miles (6:51)
Today was supposed to be 3 x 1 mile repeats.  I ran the first two in 6:04 and 5:58, but I only made it through 1/3 of the last mile (5:58 pace).  It was hot and humid, 75 degrees and 72 dew point... and it's February!  I was tired after spending all day at a jiu jitsu tournament, and didn't feel like running at all.  So, I'm alright with the workout that I got in.

Sunday: 11.0 miles (7:21)
Slept in and missed my group run in Winter Park.  Started running at 8:30 and by 9 it was hot and muggy.  I wanted to get more miles in today, but I'll settle for this, plus my workout from last night had my legs pretty tired.

Weekly Total: 56.9 miles
Well, I didn't make it to 60 miles for the week, so I still have never done back to back 60+ weeks.  And now I'll start scaling back the miles a bit for the marathon in 3 weeks.  I plan to do a little over 50 miles next week.