Swap Beat Week 6 & Final Results

OK I really need to get this posted as if I don’t I’ll be a week behind! It looks like the Holiday Spirit has taken hold and everyone’s focus is waning.

I am sure the weather is impacting most folks as there seem to be storms and snow across a lot of the US/Canada and hold the front page I actually had to scrape a frost off my car this morning! And yes I can hear the sound of the world’s tiniest violin!

Of course this does mean that my local ski fields are being hammered and Mammoth, about 300 miles away, has had over 48” this week alone! So glad my wife and I are off for three nights in Las Vegas sans’ kiddies between Christmas and the New Year. Still downtime, with alternating energy sources coming from a large comfy bed, copious restaurants and massage table will be tough but I'll do my best to stick with it!

Anyway I digress and back to the matter in hand; the results. In the absence of Laura reporting in her results. and allowing that MCM Mama and Nikemom swept the board last week I have to invoke the “not two weeks in row” rule the winners slip down the position to Mel from m0mmymel, with Mediocre Pat and JKRunning tieing with a status quo, there are three prizes left on the Swag post so please post your want and contact the provider and you’re off. Given that actually uses up all the prizes it seems fitting that the Overall Winner should be announced; drumroll please….and the prize goes to: Nikemom! Congratulations, I will bundle up the remaining Nike swag and get that off to chilly NE asap!

And with that here endeth Swap-Beat, congratulations to everyone who took part, nearly everyone had an overall loss and hopefully you had some fun on the way!

Swap Beat Week 5 Results

There’s definitely a post Thanksgiving slowdown going on, much like a cruise ship coming to a gentle halt it would seem to take everyone a week or so to come to satisfying stop post their tryp-to-phan. A new week and new winners: Nikemom takes top honors closely followed by MCM Mama, hot on their heels were Julianne and Pat. As for my dire performance well I can expect to drop 5-6lbs on Saturday, I am carb loading for this little baby, and that's my excuse!

As usual contact the owner of the SWAG you desire and make all the necessary arrangements directly then post up about your prizes; a little auditing reveals that so far Robin is the only compliant one so far (kudos to the fellow ultra runner!), the remainder of you get your slack selves in order!

As an incentive and a reminder here are the top three overall losers, in no particular order; Julianne, Nikemom and Maddy. Remember there is an overall prize which will be awarded to the greatest percentage lost overall!

Swap Beat Week 4 Results

So the Turkey seems to have been the winner this week, lots of slip sliding with one notable exception and only three actual losers. Congratulations to Laura and Maddy for staying their ground refusing that second helping stepping away from the desert trolley and avoiding the cheese board. This is Laura’s second wind but do I detect a swinging strategy, we’ll have to wait until next week to find out if she swings the other way?

Winners who have received their swag, don’t forget the photo and accompanying post.

So the usual form, choose from the remaining SWAG, (Maddy there is a Nike+ sensor up for grabs) and contact the donor for shipping etc. Three more weeks of dual prizes and then the Grand Prize just in time (well actually three days late) for Christmas!

Swap Beat Week 3 Results

Well the only constant is change and week 3 has seen plenty of that; the table has turned on its head and like a good martini is well shaken. After no long run the previous weekend resulting in a slight creep up Sunday’s race certainly had an effect! That being said it was never my intention to claim any swag…in fact I am trying to get rid of it and as Pat was a winner last week this week's winners are…drumroll, well you can read it yourself: Julianne and Robin, congrats to you both – great job!

Same as every week go to the SWAG page and choose your prize Julianne has first pick, contact the donor for shipping and you’re all set. So with Thanksgiving this week there will be Turkey Trots going on allover the country the question is will you be taking a trip to the trailhead or track or will it be a tryp-to-phan!

The Google Word Verification stalking continues and in line with the fact that this is a weight loss competition this seemed a little close the mark, 0/10 spelling but you get the idea!

Swap Beat Week 2 Results

As promised here are the results of Week 2. Some significant shuffling across the ranks and two new winners. Congratulations Laura and Pat who storm into first and second place. No surprises there as I know both of these are serious competitors; Laura’s attempting to be the youngest runner to 50/50; that is run a marathon in each state! She’s having a tough time right now so hopefully this will give her a well deserved boost. If you haven’t read Pat’s blog he has set himself (and a few unsuspecting pals) the challenge of completing The Beast a series of ultra races in Virginia. Two hardcore individuals.

Winners please post your first and second prize choices in the comments section assuming no conflict you can then contact the owner of that prize for shipping etc, if you both want the same stuff Laura has priority. Here's the list of SWAG.Remember you can’t win two weeks in a row so Laura and Pat are out of the running this week. Congrats to everyone who went negative, with no long run last weekend I crept up…at least that’s my excuse and I am sticking to it!

Swap Beat Week 1 Results

The scores are in the results tallied, percentages calculated and the winners can be announced. I heard back from Viv and Laura and have updated the SWAG post with their contributions. I have also listed the breakout of the Nike prizes and the Grand prize. There is a total of 14 prizes including the grand prize, so the way it will play out is each week the top two losers select their prize over 6 weeks the seventh week there will be only one winner and the overall winner will receive the Grand Prize.

Please post in the comments section of this post (yes I am a comments whore) your first and second choices; in case you both choose the same thing, the higher ranking will get priority. From there it is up to the winners to contact the relevant donor to arrange shipping etc. Clicking on their name in the SWAG post will take you to their blog. Once received you are honor bound to pose with said winning item, photograph yourself and post about it etc.

There is a slight rule change in the interest of fairness of distribution of prizes. Because of the small number of participants you now cannot win two weeks in a row. If you are in the Top 2 on consecutive weeks then prizes will slip down to the next person on the list, consider this motivation to keep yourself at least in third place. Of course if you’re third and the next week you come first you have to pass on the prizes. Hopefully this won’t get too complicated and the idea is that everyone gets something.

So without further ado and fanfare this week’s winners are: Maddy & NikeMom. Congratulations to you both. Congrats to everyone who managed a loss. Week 2 is underway, send me your updates Sunday and watch this space.

Late night long run!

And so on Friday night I turn up at my Doctor’s office after spending two hours in the car only to be told, can I reschedule (note told not asked!). I slowly count to ten: 1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8... it is after all not the fault of the receptionist and it would be rude to shoot the messenger. So I rebook my appointment and leave. Now having not built in any long run time this weekend and the thought of no long run next weekend due to the reschedule I am wondering how I can carve out some time. Anyway after a chat with my lovely wife Sunday night is available and she agrees to put the boys to bed, ably assisted by the in-laws who are staying. So just before dark I head out, no trails just a simple 4 hours on the local roads.

The pace is not fast but steady for the first two hours and I am covering the mileage easily and without issue. I have in mind the distance of 26 miles. It’s hard to gauge the exact time as my 305 pauses at traffic lights when I do and I have a fair amount of junctions to cross, (22 in total by the end) which allow for a quick breather but break the pace, stride and concentration. Around Mile 15 I can start to feel the road through the sole of my right shoe, nothing too worrying but it’s there. At Mile 20 my pace falters some and I refocus my efforts, my pace is dropping from mid 8s to mid 9s and ends up in high 9s and even a couple of 10s by the end. By mile 25 I am pretty spent; it’s been a long time since I have gone anything further than 12-15 miles on the roads and I am starting to feel it now. I slog through the last 2 miles and then just for the hell of it push for another 0.2 just to make a round marathon distance rather than a round number.

I walk the last mile home to avoid a hard cold stop, consume a large bowl of home made cereal (carbs) and another of Greek yogurt (protein), pop 8 Recover-ease and a multivitamin, two glasses of water, stretch, pack my bag for tonight's 8 miler, shower and I am in bed by 10:30.

So I finish with an unofficial time of 3:55:43, an average pace of 8:59, not my fastest time but not my slowest, I need to upload to MotionBased to get the true numbers but I estimate another 10 minutes spent waiting for traffic lights. I was only nearly mowed down by cars only twice. Consumed 6 gels and 60oz of Pepetuem and burned off 3476 calories which will help towards Swap-Beat, results to follow! No MotionBased data and no photos but here's the GTC info:

WTF!

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday round up that is!

Wednesday I was scheduled for Intervals, quarter, half and full miles on a ladder working up and working down (¼ x 2, ½ x 2, 1 x 2, ¼ x 2) topped and tailed with a warm up and cool down. Usual place; on the beach path, not so usual weather: a strong head/tail wind depending which way you were going and usual time; and here is where it went wrong somebody moved the clocks! I managed to get through the warm up and first four sets but realized that I was going to end up in the pitch black on unlit stretch of path, after a quick readjustment I changed the miles to halves changed direction to stay in the relative light and had a shorter cool down. I ended up with a reasonable set of splits, not great but reasonable and a slightly shorter than planned run. Here are the splits:

Quarter mile intervals

Half mile intervals

Thursday I had switched for Friday (Tempo run for bike) and so this time I got to the start point earlier. Ten miles was the distance two to warm up at around eight minute miles, four at sub seven minute miles and another four at sub eight. I had traded in my Gel DS shoes, the asymmetric lacing was bothersome and for this run I was wearing Asics Banditos (doesn’t the name make you want to run like you stole something!), such is the joy of Road Runner Sports' 60 day trial. I set off with a real spring in my step, new shoes, zero wind compared to the previous day and the determination to have a good run. Well I had a great run, one the best I have had for a long time. My splits for the first two miles were a little fast. In the next four I was sooooo close to having a ladder (increasingly faster times) for the pace section; I was a mere 3 seconds off on mile 3 (#5 in total)! I eased off in miles 7 and 8 and then caught a second wind for mile 9 and went sub 7 minutes again, finally taking my foot of the gas in the last mile. So 10 miles in 1:12:35, average pace 7:15, that’s only 30 seconds off my best 5k pace of 6:47 and if you took the four miles at pace and the next two and a bit I would have run a 43:00(ish) 10k which is about 4-5 minutes faster than my 10k best. Here are the GTC splits:

Tempo run splits

It’s runs like this one that make me keep coming back for more and seeing a return on the training investment is always great. It got me thinking about to next year. I am pretty much set for the Spring, (more on that to follow) but the Summer is problematic due to the heat so, and this is early stage planning, I am thinking that I may just have to copy Nitmos’ Summer of Speed and work on 5 & 10ks and half marathons. My existing 5k and HM PBs are pretty good, I think, 20:47 and 1:37:32 respectively but my 10k PB is rubbish at 47:53. So with some work maybe I could get a sub 20:00 5k, sub 40:00 10k and sub 1:30:00 HM, having a quick pair of heels would certainly be handy when I start going longer distance next Fall/Winter…anyway, at least for now, it’s all just being kicked around in my head. .

And so this morning was a quick hours spin on the bike trainer; 15 miles making a total of 32 bike miles and just under 50 running miles for the week.

No running this weekend due to a medical thing, no biggie just off my feet for a few days. Those of you in Swap – Beat don’t forget to email me you weight by Sunday, Viv and JKRunning have had their swag added to this post, Laura I need yours. Finally Nick has some excellent incentives for you all, go check them out.

The Swag!

Laura Billy's Boot Camp DVD set CLAIMED by Laura

Viv (IronMan CoolMax Socks and Gu Roctane) CLAIMED by Pat

JKrunning $25 iTunes Card CLAIMED by Maddy

Robin (SC Brooks shirt and a pair of running socks) CLAIMED by NikeMom

Julianne (The Footwheel) CLAIMED by Julianne

Nick (1 Year Subscription to UR) CLAIMED by Robin

Stuart (Nike+ iPod Armband, Nike+ Chip, Pre Poster) CLAIMED by Maddy

Mediocre Pat (24 Vanilla Gels) CLAIMED by Laura

MCM Mama (Brooks LRS shirt) CLAIMED by MCM Mama

Stuart: Nike+ iPod Armband, Pre Poster & You Suck Postcards CLAIMED by Nikemom

Maddy ($20 gift card to Fleet Feet Sports)

Melanie (Race Belt and Body Glide)

Nikemom Johnny Wraps

and the Grand Prize of:


His 'n' Hers Nike DriFit shirts, a signed Sanya Richards poster, Olympic Trials shoe bag & Steve Prefontaine Book

The first weigh in is this Sunday, the top 2 weekly greatest losers(winners) choosing prizes and an extra prize for the overall winner.

Swap Beat...bring it!

After the recent success of Worth the Weight I was prompted to organize a second competition especially given that I received a bunch of prizes towards the end of the final round and so instead of dumping them in the mix I held them back. So I am pleased to announce the new competition Swap-Beat…bring it!

The idea here is to swap and beat and that you bring stuff...just in case that wasn't clear!

Here are the rules:

1. The competition will last from Monday November 3rd through Sunday December 20th
2. Enrollment will be from today through 12 noon PST Sunday November 2nd
3. Each competitor must “bring” a running related item with a face value of a minimum $20, please send me a photograph (quadrathon at gmail dot com) of it or failing that a link on the web where it can be found for sale, description would be useful including size, color etc
4. When you send me your photo of the item send me you name (that you want people to see on the ‘net) and your blog link.
5. Clothing must be new with tags, sweaty and grungy used items will be rejected.
6. Food stuffs must be unopened; that tub of PowerAde in Celery flavor that seemed such a good idea at the time, that you tried and hated…sorry you can keep it
7. Weigh-ins will be every Sunday please email me before noon 7pm PST
8. Weekly winners will be announced Monday, maybe Tuesday depending on how much “life” I have going on!
9. The Winner(s) then choose the item they would like. Depending on the total number of entries 10. I will just divide the number of entries by the number of weeks and then take that number of the top x people and they choose a prize in descending order and post their request as a comment i.e. 60 people /6 weeks = 10 winners a week, that way everyone gets something…hopefully!
11. If you are a winner three weeks in a row you forfeit and a name will be drawn from a hat of non winners from that week
12. It is up to the winner to contact the sender to arrange shipping and all that good stuff, I did get a raised eyebrow from my wife when she took all the parcels from WTW to the Post Office.
13. Weight loss will be calculated and illustrated as a percentage only
14. The usual stuff about consulting a Doctor and overly rapid weightloss etc, you're all grown ups, right!

Ok, I am sure I have missed something and I reserve the right to change or modify things but I think that all makes sense. So let the games begin.

Oh one last thing you probably want to know what I’ll be bringing, well thanks to some friends in high places (Nike Pro 16 aka Clover you rock!) I have the following:

2 Nike+ iPod Armbands for G2 Nano
1 Nike + chip (you’ll need a sensor, Amp or Sportsband)
2 Nike Prefontaine Posters
1 Pre; the Story of Steve Prefontaine book
1 Nike Women’s Drifit shirt (m)
1 Nike Men’s Olympic Trials Eugene Drifit Shit (m) it fits me fine 6'1''
1 Nike Olympic Trials Eugene shoe bag
A signed Sanya Richards poster and
A bunch of Nike+ “You Suck” cards!

So unless you are a complete knucklehead there is no need to explain where I got the prizes from. I run with a Nike+, and have done for the last 2500 miles, you can find me in the competitions and forums under the rather obvious moniker; SLB+ in fact it was the catalyst for this this blog and it's title comes from a Challenge that I did not start but that I now host. It’s a fun and easy way to track your miles and there is a great support forum with some excellent contributors and competitions going on, check it out at http://nikeplus.nike.com. I’ll be posting some pictures of the prizes later.

I am going to batch these into two sets of prizes and an third for the overall Winner!

Finally I am only hosting this as incentive to drop to my desired racing weight during the next 6/7 weeks, with everyone watching it's more of an incentive.

So without further ado let the enrollment commence!