Something itches?

Well folks, another day comes to a close. It was a busy day for your fearless author by beginning with a ride to work. Fear not because today I was only almost hit once. Riding to and from work is hard but it sure does feel good! I had a difficult head wind coming back this afternoon. It beat me up pretty good. I still managed to have a pretty good track workout this evening too. It was 4 sets of 2x 800 w/ :60 between and 2:30 between sets. I was supposed to run the first one in 2:30 and the second in 2:40, but here's how it went- 2:27, 2:31,2:27, 2:31, 2:20,2:29, 2:20, 2:32. Not bad considering.

After the track I went out w/ some friends and had dinner @ Beef O'Brady's (can you put that many apostrophes in a word?). We had some fun, oh, yeah. People like to watch me eat for some reason? Here's a summary
Bike- 55 miles in 3+hrs
Run- 6 miles track.

Weekend Roundup!

It has been one heck of a weekend folks! I ran the Race for the Cure on Saturday morning and came out w/ a victory. It was pretty fun. I was still really tired from to crazy shift I had worked last week, so my body was definitely not feeling a sub 15 minute 5k effort. Fortunately I was left all alone after the first mile. I went out in 4:50 and there was one guy with me for the first 1200 meters or so but he dropped off. When I got to the 2.5k mark I realized I was all alone and I just said, "cruise on in buddy." The time was slow (16:59) but the best part was after!

This guy walks up to me and says,"Hey did you win?" To which you should always answer yes to, because you never know what he could be talking about, right. I mean he could be giving you a new car and you might not have won the race but you might have won against your buddy who you were racing or anything at all! Either way, if he doesn't specify what he's talking about, you can always say yes.
So, he says congratulations and hands me an iPod mini and an envelop. I thinking,"SWEET!" So I go over and look at the iPod and discover that the iPod is hot pink! To Which most men would be very uncomfortable with, but not me. No Sir, I'm 100% confident in my sexuality and proud to be wearing a hot pink iPod. It gets better!
I open up the envelop and discover that I have received $1,500 worth of Laser hair removal from Ideal Image! This is awesome! I can get my bikini line waxed AND be listening to my hot pink iPod at the same time! Oh glory I say, GLORY!!!!
Maybe next year I'll win a ticket to the Vagina Monologues or something when I go for 3 in a row!

Also to add, I have recently accepted a full time sales position and Chainwheel Drive Bike store in Clearwater. I'm really excited about the opportunity and looking forward to the challenge ahead. Thanks for reading.

It's about survival now

Tonight I pull my last graveyard shift at the wellness center. No telling how much damage I've done to my body by doing this shift all week. I don't think that anyone out there reading this would ever be inclined to exercise, at a wellness center, at 2 am. There's a guy here right now. He's just freakin' sitting on a machine doing nothing, not even working out. I want to say, "hey buddy, if your going to keep me from actually getting some rest, then you sure as hell had better be woring up a sweat! I'm not here to sit with my thumb in my ear for fun you know! Your not doing me or you any good by sitting here as opposed to at your house where I don't have to watch you!"
Well enough of that. I think I'm going insane. I'm so tired right now and wish I could just sleep. Wow am I an old man. Or no wait I'm not, the guy here is and obviously he missed the memo that old people go to bed at 7 friggin' pm! They don't workout at 2 am. GEEZ!!! I think I'm goig to go smack him. I'm kidding of course.

I didn't train today, but I did sleep for 4 hours and teach two (2) spin classes. I finally got to see Carrie and we had lunch AND dinner together, which was cool. I realized that since she got back on Monday, I had only seen here for about 3 hours cumulative before thursday afternoon. Boy howdy! Note to self- never, ever do a shift like this again! I'm going to cry now (Kidding). L8er

WoW! I'm way off!

I've been really off the ball these last few weeks. I just figured out the other day that I'm going to be switching jobs in two weeks. That was a big decision to make and with some traveling mixed in there last weekend it's just caused a massive slow down in the world o' Hank.

Tonight (and last night, and the night before, and tomorrow night) I'm working a 9pm to 6am shift! Needless to say, it's kickin' the crap out of me. I'm really tired. It's funny, I say I'm tired a lot, but this time it's really true. 9 hours of sleep in the past 60 hours is not fun.

I've still managed to get a little training in edgewise. Monday I went for a 5mile run w/ the great one Gus Rodriguez. Took Tuesday off and then Wednesday I swam about 2000 or so and ran at the track. I was proud of the track workout considering my condition. It was Mile (4:58), 400 (71), 800 (2:29), 800 (2:25), 400 (69), mile (4:57). Had to push myself through but still walked away on my own three hands.

Also just to give a little recap of this past weekends race- The Santa Rosa Island Triathlon; the swim and bike were cancelled due to wind and waves from hurricane Rita, so they just had a 5k run. I finished second to Brian Fleichman who is on the US National Triathlon team. I think that I should be able to beat him heads up but I ran kinda stupid. The wwind was a good 20-30mph and being that I'm 5 foot 15, I caught a lot of resistance. It was still a good race and fun to juct copete in something.

I got to see my friends from Premier Event Management while I was there. Their home base is New Orleans, LA so it was good to see and hear that they were all doing ok. Mike told me that he has 9 family members in his house right now! I told him that that's no big deal, cause in Alabama where I grew up we lived at least 9 to each room.

Sorry I missed

I've fallen behind folks! But,fear not faithful readers, I will begin anew anow.
Today was not bad although I didn't workout at all. I've been feeling a little stopped up w/ a bit o' congestion. Yeasterday I had a wonderful track workout of 4 miles broken up as 1200 in 4:00 the 400 in 90. It was good.
Today I also went to watch a high scool Cross Country meet in Palm Harbour. I've started to help the Largo High CC team this year and I think they can be really good if they t get their heads straight (I should know a thing or two about that, right Dad?). I'll give up a summary of the weeks workouts tomorrow. Keep on Rockin'

Big, Long.......Day

The day started off with not one, but two close encounters with injury while riding to work. The first was a cat that decided he wanted to play, "Chase the headlight b/c I'm a worthless animal (just kidding cat lovers)". The second was a guy on the Pinellas trail who thinks that all black clothing is obviously the best choice for a pre-dawn bike ride. Needless to say that started the day off a little hairy.
So I rode to work, Taught my spin class at noon, swam about 2500y, worked w/ a swim client, then rode back home. Long day my friends, long day indeed. I'm a little tired right now so forgive me for not indulging too much.
Carrie is now in New Orleans and it looks like she's going to be there for a little while. She's doing great and received three or four vaccines today from the army. She says everyone is being great there and really putting up a good effort for those in need.
For some more good news, my good friends Jeff and Erika Boyd had a little baby girl born last night at two something in the morning. She and mom are doing great and dad is super proud as we all are. Hang in there folks!
Totals- Swim: 2500y incl. 500 in 6:10 not the best time but a good effort considering how tired I am.
Bike:3.5 hrs @ b/t 18-23 mph. About 65 miles or so.
Lift: 30 mins functional training. Mainly core work and shoulders.

Wednesday Sept. 7

I'm listening to Randy Newman's song "Louisiana" right now. I heard a guy perform it live a couple of months ago when my sister Whitney, friends Joshua, Ron and I went to see Glen Phillips play in B'ham. It was very good. Check out that song if you get a chance to.
Well onto today! Slept in this morning until 5:45am. It was nice. I was planning on swimming this morning at 5am but the ole' body just wasn't having it. I decided to save my energy for my track workout this evening. Here was the workout- 1200,400,400,1200,400,400,1200,1600. My friend Brant Speed was there to push me through it. Thank the lord that he's around, otherwise I'd go crazy running alone. We went 3:54, 3:51, 3:40 and all of the 400's were under 1:15. I topped it off with a 4:59 mile at the end. It was good. I didn't think I was going to have such a good workout but some times you just need to get out there and get the thing started first!
On the Carrue front, she spent the day in Bay St. Louis and tonight she's headed for Baton Rogue. Be sure to check out the St. Pete Times website to see her work. www.sptimes.com
Totals- Run 8.5 miles track workout in 60 mins or so

Tuesday Sept. 6

Today was a pretty good day on the homefront. I had to wake up at 4am to get to work by 5am. Pulled my shift, then went to go swim. Was unable to swim @ 10:30am so I just chilled until I had to teach my spin class @ 12pm. Taught the class, had a great time, then rode with a friend of mine named Carey ( not to be confused with my girlfriend Carrie). Grabbed some food and headed to the pool for a light 2000y swim. Met with a client @ 4pm, then finally got back to the hizzie.
I've been feeling really wiped today sans nap. So I just got here to chill out. Carrie ( you guessed it, my girlfriend) called from Gulfport to tell me that she had found some people who knew me and my family. Carrie is there covering the hurricane for the St. Pete Times. When I was a kid, I thought that my dad knew everyone in Mississippi. Turns out, he just about does. I'm fortunate that I came from a great family that has made friends with just about everyone we've met. Please send thoughts and prayers, the way of our beloved Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi.
Totals- Swim: 2000y, Bike: 1.5 hrs

Here is a picture of me, onboard my trusty Van Dessel cycles, Country Road Bob. This bike is awesome! It's a single speed cross bike that has a beefy front crabon fork. The coolest feature is the flip-flopper rear hub that is a single speed free wheel on one side, and a fixed gear on the other. Right now I'm running a 42x18 on the free side and a 16 gear on the fixed. This photo was taken by my wonderful girlfriend Carrie Pratt, last winter at the Citrus City Cyclocross race in Largo, Florida. Check out her website @ www.carriepratt.com

Sunday Sept. 4th workouts

Today I went out to Flatwoods Park, which is just about the only off-road trails around the Tampa Bay area, and rane with Dror and Matt. I got in about 10 miles or so at a good pace. We were holding about 6:45-7:00 pace. I didn't wear my watch or monitor just b/c. After we were done running I went and rode my cross bike for 70mins. All the trails were flooded so I had to spent the majority of the time on the paved bike paths. Speed was about 18 mph for about 20 miles total. HR ave was 133.
Totals 2.2 hrs, 60 mins Run, 70 mins bike

And so it begins...

I figure that the only way for me to get this blog started, was to take a day off from training. Who knows I might be able to get in a little something later today. We'll see.
Ok! So here it is! This is Hank Campbell's blog. I was talked into doing this by a friend of mine named Jim Morrison. Yes, THAT Jim Morrison! I talk to him all the time. Oh yeah, by the way, I'm crazy.
I'm going to use this blog as primarily a training log so that other people can see what I'm doing. I figure, it will be interesting and also it will be an accountability tool. If someone is looking at what I'm doing, then I need to be at my best!
So anyway, have fun reading and make me proud. I know I'll try and do the same.