Venerable Companions, Exemplary Campaign

Improving the diet

2012-01-28T14:29:00.006-05:00

Nope this isn't the post that says I'm back to tracking my calories so I can actually lose some weight. Tho' I hope that post happens soon.

This post is about how if you are serious about your health, chances are you could make some changes to your current eating habits. If you stop and think about what changes you should make to be healthier, I'm guessing most of you think about the things you need to cut down on, or cut out completely. I'm with you there. I eat much differently now than I did 4 years ago. Which was probably differently than I ate 4 years before that.

Looking back, I think one of the first big changes I made was no artificial sweeteners. I think that was back in 2000. That eliminated diet sodas from my world. Which meant Soda was practically gone from my diet because I rarely drink regular soda. I don't think I'd be lying if I said an average of 10 a year. Honestly it's probably less than that. This change was partially inspired by my Aunt having some bad reactions to NutraSweet. Once I was away from it for awhile and I drank a diet soda, I felt that I had some minor reaction to it as well. Hard to explain as it's in your brain. Never the less, it really made it easy for me to just decide that stuff didn't agree with me and there is no reason I should consume it. So I haven't. If you are curious about the medical research on this go here. I figure the Mayo Clinic is reputable enough for most people to accept their findings.

The other things I've done are much less dramatic sounding than that Artificial Sweetener issue. Things like Fried Foods are a very unusual for me now. I remember how the smell of French Fries would basically be enough to make my willpower crumble and I'd have to have a few, or more than a few. But then I'd realize how those French Fries made me feel. Eventually instead of the smell triggering the desire to eat them, it had become almost a warning signal. Obviously it took awhile for that to happen but decisions about having fried food are pretty seriously weighed out.

Anyhow, cutting things out of my diet isn't what I wanted to talk about. I was going to discuss the issue of adding things INTO the diet to improve your overall nutrition. I eat a ton more vegetables now than I did 10-12 years ago. 10 years ago, I think I figured potatoes were vegetables so I had it covered. Now I'll eat gigantic salads for lunch with nothing but balsamic on it for a dressing. Another more recent addition has been Sushi. I'm not sure what inspired me to try out raw tuna and raw salmon. I'm glad I did tho'. I'm guessing I'll have that once a week now. Yes I'm aware there are some concerns about mercury and parasites. Hopefully I don't run into those types of problems.

I've just started adding some other things this past week. I fired up our juicer and I'm working on figuring out how to add Kale, Beets and other greens and vegetables into the mix. There are some vegetables I just have are hard time consuming. With a juicer, you can hide these things behind apples and oranges and limes, and so on.

I was inspired to go in search of a juicer after watching the movie "Fat Sick and Nearly Dead". It took us awhile to find the deal we wanted. So I kind of lost momentum on the importance of trying to add in really healthy juices to our diets. So our juicer sat unopened...

Then last week, my dad sent me this TED talk called "Minding your Mitochondria". I associate Mitochondria with "improvement as an athlete", as those are one of the cellular adaptations you are trying to inspire through your training. So already it was a must watch for me. As it turns out, it wasn't about being an athlete at all, but has everything to do with being healthy. Check it out.

I wish she didn't bring up the Paleo Diet and the whole hunter gatherer thing. I think that leads people to some questionable conclusions if they search more information about that on the internet. We live in an amazing place where you can get foods from every corner of the world. I'd rather she stressed the importance of "gathering" a variety of whole foods and working them into your diet. That's kind of what I'm trying to do right now. It makes sense to me.

Your body is good at making what it needs and even pretty good at making you crave things to direct you towards what you need or can't make. I hope you can see how you still might end up deficient in something. It may take years for that deficiency to cause a noticeable problem tho', at which point how easy is it to right the ship and get back on course?

That's the motivating factor for me right now. Juice it up and Take Your Medicne! In the form of Food. Hopefully SuperFood! Meaning perhaps I won't be sick as often. Maybe my recovery from workouts will improve. Maybe I'll keep my health and strength for decades to come. I'm also hopeful that it will change my tastes a bit more and I might make further improvements in what I'll eat day to day. I can tell you already, I've eaten more beets and kale in the last week than I have in the last say... 40 years.

So there you have it. As I get better at making recipes for this juicer. I'll post up some of the good stuff over on our other blog.

Gaining Momentum.

2012-01-25T19:26:00.003-05:00

Last week I went to see a doctor about my right foot. I’m just concerned that my attempts at working through the problem might actually be making things worse. (kind of like my hamstring stretches) I really don’t want to do something that’s going to cause long term damage.

After explaining to the doctor what problems I’ve been having, I felt that he was completely underwhelmed by my situation. As if I wasn’t damaged enough to even be in the office. Or it could just be that’s just the way he is. I’m hoping that’s the case.

First thing was to get a couple x-rays to make sure that nothing is broken. Nothing was broken, but it looks like I do have a heel spur. (looks like a rose thorn growing out of your heel bone) He didn’t find the spur to be anything to be concerned about. That surprised me, but what do I know about these things?

Now I’m waiting to schedule an MRI. I think that’s going to let them get a look at cartilage and tendons. Of course I’m hoping that they don’t find anything bad. I’ve always wondered what happened with my ankle in the fall of 2010. This is probably my best chance to find out.

In addition to all that. I’ve got Sole Inserts in all my shoes. It definitely provides me with stability and really cuts down on the after run pain, for my right foot. Also I’ve been wearing the boot when I sleep. Things are improving. I should probably start icing my foot daily as well. If it’s just a matter of keeping it stretched out and keeping the inflammation/tendinitis away, I need to make it more of a priority.

Last week was the first week in a very long time that I actually completed my entire workout schedule. That was a good feeling. The metric isn’t speed right now. It’s about being consistent. So finishing the schedule is a step in the right direction.

The other thing that really got me feeling good about things was my run on Sunday. We ran our big hill loop. This course has some serious climbs, which also means some serious declines. The roads were a mess with packed snow and some slush, so it was extra challenging. Anyhow it’s a 6 mile run at the end of which I actually felt good enough to actually RUN! It’s been sooooo long since I’ve been able to do this. Typically my hamstring reminds me that it’s not well and I just have to keep my strides short to try and keep from injuring that further. Not this time. Finally! Running with a good stride. Finishing off the run with a hard effort. That was a big confidence booster. Maybe speed workouts WILL be on the schedule this year!

Speaking of schedules. Some of you might wonder what I’m doing for a plan/training schedule. Well I’m pretending that I know what I’m doing and taking the best of all the different things I’ve done over the last few years. Keeping in mind that I really don’t want an injury or want to end up with shingles or something like that again.

The first thing was to make a plan that allows me to sleep more. I’m trying to take 2 days a week completely off from training. I’m also trying to limit the number of weekday mornings that I have to wake up early to two. Once for a run, once for a swim. I may be kidding myself about this working, but I’m going to try it.

The second thing is my run training. A few years back, I ran a ton of hills during the winter (2 of 3 runs a week were hills, we even ran hill sprints later in the progression). This set me up with a really good run base. I think my biggest mistake with that plan was as we ran longer, I didn’t spend enough time recovering. Hopefully I can manage that aspect better this time. This plan definitely isn’t a Heart Rate Run training plan. I’m not knocking that method. As I said before, I’m going with stuff that seemed to work well for me in the past.

The Third change is my weight training. It took me a long time to figure out what I didn’t like about my plan last year. I guess I should say, I think I figured out what I didn’t like. Early in the schedule each exercise was one set then move on to the next. I did make some gains with this but they seemed marginal. I think it’s because by just doing one set, it was very much like going out for a run, and only running one mile. Or going to the pool and swimming 100m. What I’m saying is my muscles weren’t even warmed up and the set would be done. So I’m going to change to a method where I do more sets, so they are ready to work for the “main set”. As for the build/progression over the length of the entire schedule, I’ve got an outline of an idea but largely I’ll be making it up as I go along.

Swimming typically has been my strongest event. I don’t think I showed that last year tho’. I certainly don’t feel like I’m anywhere near that being the case now either. I realize that it’s the least important event in the sense of time given the position in the pack that I’m typically in. But I enjoy it. It’s something I want to be better at. (heck, at this point, I want to be as good as I was). It doesn’t look like I’m going to have a group to swim with again this year, so I’m thinking I’ll contact Coach Q again. I’m hoping he can help me build my swim plan and give me a lesson every now and then.

Biking: I realize this is the area with the biggest payoff in terms of time but for whatever reason, it’s the one I care about the least. I think part of the reason for my attitude here could be my frustration in getting myself setup well on my bike. Last year I felt everything but my right foot/cleat was pretty good. So I started making adjustments to try and get that right foot set right. Well I feel like I got it, but now the left doesn’t feel correct. As I said, it’s frustrating.

I do enjoy going out on weekends and riding around NJ. I feel we are in a really nice area of NJ in terms of variation of difficulty and safety during our rides. I should just go buy us some nice CX bikes or mountain bikes and some winter riding gear. Maybe then I would stay more inspired about cycling.

But what’s the plan? Time in the saddle, hill repeats and speed work as I get closer to race season.

A better plan would probably be to find a group ride and try to climb my way into one of the better groups. I’m sure there is a lot I could learn. Maybe in the fall once Tri season is over and I’m back in shape, but I doubt it.

All in all, I'm feeling much more positive than I have in quite awhile about all this. Later on!

Just Like Starting Over

2012-01-07T13:45:00.002-05:00

Obviously I haven't posted much recently. More than anything else this has become a journal of my triathlon training and such. Well, there hasn't been much of that going on to write about. Which is crazy seeing how we are signed up for a half iron in June.

A few years ago an international distance race in June had me intimidated enough to force me out the door to train non-stop. I didn't think I'd reach the finish otherwise.

Then last year I had paid for the Mark Allen Plan and wanted to make the most of that. So that kept me on track as it would be a waste of money not to stick with the plan.

This year I'm not sure what I am yet. Other than really looking forward to being in better shape than I am right now. (Just under 190 for the record)
Injury free would be nice too but I'm not sure my right foot is ever going to be normal again. (I really should go to a doctor about that). All my running in November/December would be followed by a very painful right foot later that day and maybe a day or so after. Finally I decided to throw my Sole Inserts back into my running shoes. Wow, what a difference. I can now run without crippling myself for a few days. That is a step in the right direction.

The other good news is that right hamstring/glute issue I had the 2nd half of 2011 seems to have finally healed up. I still worry about it as I run but I don't think at my current effort that it's an issue at all. It's just I spent so many months being concerned about it, it's going to take time to forget about it. I really believe that by not stretching (and not training much) was the key to that finally getting better.

So here I am about 23 weeks out to our first of two half irons for the year. I've got 2 Olympics scheduled about a month before that happens. What's my plan? What are my goals? It's 2012 everyone has already posted all their resolutions, hopes and dreams for their year. What am I waiting for?

2012: I'm going to attempt to get that "just like starting over" feeling and be alright with it. What does that mean exactly? Well, in terms of my training, even tho' I have a schedule, I'm going to try and be more aware of how I'm feeling and allow myself to stray from the schedule.
I can't say for sure but I think that is how rolled going into Mooseman for the first year. I seem to remember I hardly ran at all the 4 weeks leading into that race because I kind of overdid it running the Brooklyn 13.1. When I got to Mooseman, I felt great. I had a blast. Could I have run faster? Maybe? I just remember getting to many of those races feeling fantastic. That's part of what I'm looking for.

I said that part about "being alright with it" because I'm thinking my times at the finish line aren't likely to be Personal Bests. My finish times may very well take a back seat to my bigger goal of just becoming very fit and healthy. Maybe I'll be lucky and the finish times will happen too. That would be amazing considering the lack of "base" I have right now. What I'll write next truly shows why I feel like I'm starting over.

(More for the record info.)
Running is my strongest event at the moment and running 6.5 miles in an hour is about all I've got in the tank.

Swimming: I forget what the pool looks like. Seriously. My last couple workouts have been 1000m and out. My right shoulder (the one I fell on at the Tango) reminds me that I'm old or that it's injured or whatever, at the start of every swim. Within a few 100's it's warmed up and forgotten about. It's just I've got zero endurance. Or speed for that matter. 1:50 100's is "fast".

Biking: Also a complete re-do. I finally got back on the trainer the other day. Doing anything in the large chain ring was too much effort for where I am at physically right now. The HR just climbed right up any time I'd shift up there. (I managed 15 miles in 55 min on the trainer the other day)

I'm sure for someone that is really competitive. This would be completely frustrating. For me, this feels like familiar territory. I seem to weigh 190 every January. I'm just glad I'm still motivated enough to want to do these workouts. And hopeful that I might manage myself a bit better this season than last season. That! Was frustrating.

Work has been taking a lot out of me lately. I find myself working through stuff in my head all the time. I'm even dreaming about it. That makes it sound worse than it really is. Trust me, it's all fine. Often I wake up with an answer to something I've been thinking about. I brought this up because that's one of the reasons I've been so off the grid with Blogs, Facebook, Twitter... I'm just tired of looking at the computer at the end of the day. There is a pretty good chance that will turn back around eventually. (I'm sure you can hardly wait.)

NYRR 6K Jingle Bell Jog Prospect Park, Brooklyn NY

2011-12-10T18:19:00.005-05:00

The last of my 9 NYRR races for the year!

After work on Friday, we drove out to visit our friends in Brooklyn and spent the night at their place. Such a good time, I wish we would do this more often.
Instead of driving to the race and trying to search for parking. We took the subway. It probably took us 50-60 minutes or so to get to the race. 30-40 min of that was spent walking. It was a really beautiful morning and so it was really a nice way to get the day started.

Once again, I knew I wasn't ready to be in my assigned corral. (I haven't run since the race last Sunday. I'm still taking antibiotics) Deciding where to start is tricky tho. I think this race is a little smaller, so I decided to just put myself in the middle of the 2nd corral.
Once we made the first turn, it was obvious to me that I should have gone back another group. I was being passed, non-stop for awhile. (It reminded me of my bike at Timberman once I threw in the towel on that ride.) Eventually, the passfest stopped and I was in a group that it seemed I could hang with.

Somewhere around mile 2, I guy in a x-mas tree costume is running by me. For whatever reason, I thought to myself, "I can't let a X-mas tree pass me". So I turned it up a notch and started to follow him. As it turns out, the tree was faster than I was today. I then started to look for some other targets to keep me moving.

Well the next one worth mentioning was an older guy just ahead of me with about 600-400m to go. As I went by him (slowly), I think he got a look at my grey hair and he put me into his age group, because he was determined to stay with me. Eventually I got a number of steps ahead of him. I actually thought to myself as I was running towards the finish, "don't look back to see where he is". Turns out I didn't need to. They have a chip reader out ahead of the finish line so they can announce people as they reach the finish. Just after I crossed the line, the announcer called out "77 year old, John Doe". Dang! He's got 36 years on me! I sure hope I can still move like that at 77!
I'm really not joking about this guy thinking that I might have been stealing his Age Group win, it's happened to me before. (Tewksbury 5 miler report.)
If I was thinking, I would have turned around and talked with him, but the finish line at an 8 min/mile pace starts to really get crowded in a hurry. So they volunteers are doing their best to move people forward so that people can get to the timing mat at the finish.

So I finished on a 7:56 min/mile pace this morning. I really expected to run closer to 9 min/miles. The fact that I put myself into the faster corral pushed me around the course.
I'll have to keep this in mind when I get myself back into shape. When I'm feeling good, I'll make a point of getting to the very front of my corral. I really think it would help get the best performance out of me.

So what's next? Figuring out what's up with my right foot is at the top of my list. I've got my triathlon training calendar fairly well planned out all the way to the first 70.3 in June. Now it's just a matter of getting healthy and motivated again.

Video of the race start.

NYRR 5 miler "join the voices"

2011-12-04T14:40:00.004-05:00

I ran a NYRR 5 miler this morning in Central Park. It was probably the last thing I wanted to be doing. I'm on day 7 of dealing with a nasty sinus infection and I'm still feeling miserable. Unfortunately, if I want to be guaranteed entry to the NYC Marathon next year. I've got to go and finish this run.

I went to the doctor on Friday and got an antibiotic. In terms of my sinuses, I'm definitely improving. Unfortunately the antibiotic added a bad stomach into the mix. Ugh! I had figured I could jog/walk this run. Now I'm wishing I had Imodium. Ha! Actually now I really wish I was done with my 9 races already...

I ended up being completely overdressed for the race. I've been cold all week. (fevers probably). I also figure if I end up walking this I don't want to freeze. When I left the house it was 28. I think it was nearly 50 in Central Park just a couple hours later.

I was number 1111 but I joined in with the 4000's corral. I don't know what pace that is but I'm figuring just under 10 min miles today if I'm lucky. Actually I'm just hoping I don't have to stop at the portajohns at the half way point!

I had to look quite the fool out there running. I didn't want to check a bag because I planned on getting back to my car and out of town as quickly as I can. It was so warm that I ended up tying my sweatpants around my waist and eventually was carrying my jacket as well. Whatever. Just get to finish and go home.

At the mile markers, I noticed that I was faster than a 10 min/mile pace. The 4000's got me there faster than I expected. My stomach cooperated. I finished in 44:17, which is a 8:52 min/mile.
My abs were hating me towards the end of the run. My quads felt like they wanted to cramp as I was walking to the car. My right heel is quite painful now that I'm sitting at home writing this.

I suppose there might be something good that comes out of this sinus infection. After discussing my sinuses with the doctor. I asked if she had any suggestions as to who I should see about my foot/ankle issues and I got a couple recommendations. I haven't checked to see if they take my insurance yet tho'.

Anyhow, that was my 8th NYRR race of the year. Next Saturday will be my 9th and final.
I was starting to wonder if they were going to drop me into a slower corral because I feel like I haven't had a good NYRR race in a long time. Maybe more than a year. So I looked it up. Turns out I ran a 7:16 at the 5K back in March. Which is only 3 seconds slower than my fastest in 2010. So I guess I'm safe for another year. Hopefully NYRR 2012 will be a bit speedier for me.

In a Funk

2011-11-30T20:13:00.003-05:00

The last 2-3 weeks have not been good in terms of triathlon. Unless the downtime actually magically heals some of my aches and pains.
Initially the trouble was not enough time in the day. There were a few things that had to be taken care of that normally aren't in my schedule. These things proved to me just how little spare time I have, especially during the week where I lose 3+ hours a day to commuting.

To make things worse, I completely lost my focus on the diet. I was spot on for just over 6 weeks then... not so much.

Now to really throw a wrench into the works. I'm in day 4 of a sinus infection which also has me talking like a frog. Actually, I can whisper well, but normal volume is all cracked up. I'm hopeful that once I get through this one, I'll be done with them for awhile. I probably get these things at least 3 times a year. Nasty stuff.

Looking forward to putting everything back on track.
Not much of a post, was it? Hmmm. How about I post the trailers for the movies my co-workers worked on and try to make this worth looking at? (We are a sound design company)

Hugo

Boardwalk Empire Season 2

Moneyball

Salt

Win Win

Jack Goes Boating

Another Happy Day

George Harrison Documentary

NYRR 4 miler "race to deliver" Report

2011-11-21T20:08:00.004-05:00

I'm on my own for my last 3 NYRR races. Todd has completed his 9 already. Genine may run the Jingle Bell Jog with me in Brooklyn. I'm still hopeful that friends from Brooklyn will register as well.

Genine was out of town for the weekend. So I set two alarms to wake up at 5AM. I went to bed early. I didn't fall asleep for 2 hours. Then the remaining 5 hours, I woke up at least 5 times. Very unlike me. It was frustrating. I woke up on time tho'.

The drive into the city was simple. I wish I had a way to take some shots of downtown Manhattan, the Freedom Tower is a definite presence on the skyline now and it's not yet full height. I know many people that didn't live here when the Twin Towers were here and this building is just another building to them. For me, I'm not sure exactly how to describe it. I find myself checking it out any time it's in view. My attention is just drawn to it. I'm surprised at how important it seems to be to me that it's being built. I'm looking forward to it being completed.
For a view of it being built go here select camera 3 and click time lapse. Or watch it being built real time during the day.

Alright onto the race. Awesome weather for racing. I think it was about 50 degrees. I wish I had worn shorts but it was much colder at 6AM and I knew I'd be standing around for awhile because I had to pick up my number on race morning.
I started my warmup 30 minutes before because I wanted to get into the right corral this time. I hadn't run in a week but I was actually thinking I should put in a hard effort anyhow.
I forgot my watch. It never crossed my mind. Ah well, there are clocks at each mile.

Mile 1: It felt like a much less congested start than the 5K a couple weeks ago. I think I was over an 8 min mile for the first mile tho.

Mile 2: In a groove but unlike the 5K, I'm feeling like my cardio is being taxed. I remember that the 5K was pretty flat. The hills are mixing it up for me. I seem to be holding ground with the crowd on the uphills, and some people are getting by me on the downhills. Definintely under 8 minutes, not sure how far under.

Mile 3: Much of this is uphill. I stay on the gas but I feel like I'm losing a bit of ground to some of group I was within. I keep telling myself the last mile is mostly downhill, not much further. Looks like I'm under 8 min mile again.

Mile 4: Alright, I definitely don't have the downhill speed I'd like to have. Way too many people are going by me. It doesn't help that I'm starting to think that it would be nice to just coast in. It's not like it's going to be a PR anyhow... I must not have been suffering too much because that thought didn't last long. They had a new "1/2 mile to go" sign. There was no extra gear to shift into I just maintained and got to the finish in 30:54.
That worked out to a 7:44 pace. I'll take it.

My hamstrings were feeling tight as I was walking out of the park. It's about an hour drive home, so I took the time to stretch a bit before driving home. (cramping while on the interstate would be bad) My right foot was very sore the rest of the day. I've started to wear the boot at night in hopes of getting that back on track. Quads were sore on Monday. Guess it was a good workout!

Genetically Modified Foods. Good or Bad?

2011-11-09T20:05:00.002-05:00

Yep, another post regarding the food we eat. I know a number of people that have very strong opinions regarding this subject. I on the other hand, didn't really know enough to have much to say about it. So I did some digging and this is one of the things that I felt brought up a number of the issues and was very watchable. I was very surprised about Europe's position on this compared to America's.
Can GM Food Save the World

When I finished watching. I had to wonder if there were "Organic" GMO foods on the shelf out there. Seeing how being Organic has nothing to do with being GMO or not. Well here ya go. GMO-Whole Foods. I have to admit that when someone writes "Frankenfood", I can't help but think they are using scare tactics rather than facts to "educate" their readers. I want to read both sides of these issues tho', I just have to looks past that nonsense.

One of the issues I do think should be a big concern is the accidental creation of "superweeds". Which are plants that are are tough to kill. Read this. Or go here to see the list of resistant weeds out there.

Plenty of tough choices out there. I like how the documentary summed it up. You've gotta support the research. The tough part is making the decisions on how it's going to be put into place.
I can't help but think the reason the US is so different than Europe is because our politics is driven by Big Business. But I don't know enough about Europe's politics to know if their corporations can "fund" them as just as well.

Oddly enough, I just finished a book called "The Windup Girl" (Sci Fi "biopunk"). It was set in a future earth where we had not only exhausted all the easy energy sources but there are also massive issues growing food. Interesting read. (fair warning, there is some nasty stuff in there as well)

Training and diet is going well. (had to throw some triathlon related stuff in, haha)

NYRR Dash to the Finish Line 5K Report

2011-11-05T15:41:00.004-04:00

Just a quick report.

This run started outside of Central Park. It started in front of the UN Building over on First Avenue and 47th Street. We decided to get the race early enough so we could park near the finish and then jog over to the start line. Probably a 2.5 mile jog to the start.
Well we got to the start as the were bringing the athletes onto 1st avenue. I wasn't overly concerned about being up towards the front. There is no chance that I'll be trying for a personal best or even a NYRR best. Todd on the other hand, he needed to be further up in the pack. So he worked his way forward.
Because the NYC marathon is tomorrow, there were some big groups from many countries. I found it kind of interesting that all the clothes and shoes people were wearing were all brand names I've heard of.
Once the horn sounded, it took me awhile to get to the start line. Even worse, when I got to the start line we were still shuffling. I didn't bring my watch today. I wanted to run completely by feel. Because of the "groups" when you passed people, it was often 4-6 people wide running side by side. Many of them taking video and pictures along the way. Fortunately, the city streets were plenty wide on 42nd Street and by the mile mark, I had sorted my way through into "my pace" of runners and from there on, I was running.
I reached the 1st mile mark at exactly 9 minutes on the clock. Not sure what my start time was tho. That made it easy at mile 2 to determine what pace I was running. I ran a 7:35 min/mile for the 2nd mile. That was not surprising to me, about what I expected.
The surprising thing is that I'm guessing I was running in zone 4. I really wasn't breathing that hard. For a 5K, I should be maxing out. I really didn't have any more kick in me tho. I guess my legs aren't quick enough at the moment to tax my cardio. (add hills and it would have been a different story).
We ran over the Marathon finish line. I finished in 24:07 or a 7:47 pace. Nothing to write home about. The good news is that I felt that my hamstring held up very well. I wasn't sure how it was going to respond. My right foot... well I made sure I iced it when I got back home. That is still something that bothers me and is frustrating.

Todd finished in 20:52. He didn't have much commentary regarding that.

Organic or conventionally treated produce?

2011-10-29T11:37:00.005-04:00

Shouldn't all food be safe to eat?

Buying groceries shouldn't be so confusing. In order to eat healthy you should be able to buy fruits and vegetables from the store and feel good about it. Only that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. You now have two sections. Organic and Not organic. (typically not found side by side so you can't be stunned by the difference in cost as easily).
I feel that every other week, the health section of popular web "news" sites will have a link to the dirty dozen of produce. Which is a list of foods they suggest you should buy organic. Download a PDF here for a list.

I'm sure you've all looked through them. I'm sure that most of us feel that it would be best if we would always buy the organic version. But that gets expensive. Well maybe you can not buy the dirty dozen and substitute something from the clean list instead. Unfortunately it seems many of these foods are like primary colors, there is no substitution for them. Frustrating right?
So what I want to know is, "Just how dangerous are "non-organic" foods?" Particularly ones from the dirty dozen. Because people are seriously concerned and perhaps confused. Check out this link where someone posed the question, Which is healthier? An Organic cookie or a conventional pesticide treated Strawberry?" You get to see the range of concern in the answers. Those that won't touch the pesticide berry. Those that are concerned about the quantity of berries they would eat. Those warning that washing the berries isn't going to help. To someone saying the health benefits of the berries outweighs the risk of the pesticides that would be ingested. It's an interesting read. All the readers are informed at some level. I would guess none are experts. And like the majority of "Health News" from news sites and such, there is no conclusion or researched answer given.
Here is another example. This one seems to have spent some money on some research and had me hopeful that there would be something to give clarity to my question.
Then you get to the end and I feel like they stack on disclaimers that nullifies everything they set out to prove. Although I do think they made a good point with describing points at which it might be wise to stick with organics. (While pregnant and for infants). That's just limiting risk tho' which is smart. It's not saying that it's definitely a problem.

Obviously, I should go digging for more official reports. A simple google search is not enough. First I'm going to give you a little lesson in Google searching. You can limit your search to a particular domain by including the following after your search terms. Example, type the following into a google search, pesticides in food site: epa.gov
The "site:xyz.com" is the clever bit obviously. Here is a link that has many more tricks.

What did I find in terms of more official reads. Well not as much as I'd like. For example, how's this answer for avoiding the actual question being asked? You need to click on this one. Really. Then do me a favor and click 1 "not helpful". And provide some feedback if you agree that tho' technically correct, it's as if a politician came up with the answer.

To be fair. There are many other links you can browse through. Although, I never found any to give me a huge boost of confidence. So I've emailed them directly. I'm curious what kind of a response I will get. Here are some official links regarding our subject.
Pesticide Residues in Food
Minimizing Pesticide Residues in Food
Healthy food practices
Produce Safety
A PDF about Food Washing

Another thing that drives me crazy is when they use percentages of a number that doesn't mean anything to you to explain something. For example, if they say that simple rinsing will remove 90% of the pesticides. Some people will find that to be great. Others will look at the 10% that is still there and not want any part of that even if that level of exposure is less toxic than spending a day breathing in Manhattan. (I don't know if that's true, but I'm sure that my example brought more clarity to the subject than saying 90% clean).

Then there is the whole subject of what Organic means. Well people think it means pesticide free. Well from what I've gathered, that's not the case. They can use organic pesticides.
Pesticides, if used, must be derived from natural sources, not synthetically manufactured. Also, these pesticides must be applied using equipment that has not been used to apply any synthetic materials for the past three years, and the land being planted cannot have been treated with synthetic materials for that period either.
read more here.

Ugh! That really muddies the waters for me. Is a pesticide derived for natural sources less harmful than a chemically derived one?

I may as well add this link to the mix in regards to "organic" Common Myths of Organic Gardening. If you are buying organic. You owe it to yourself to read the information found here.

Well there you have it. 3 hours of digging through stuff looking for answers and I end up writing something with no obvious conclusion. Only an opinion. Just like all the stuff I've read.

If I wanted to follow common practice I'd suggest you download the dirty dozen list and tell you to buy organic. But I'm starting to think you might be just as well off to buy those things and just wash them well. (but the pesticides are inside!!) Yeah well as we saw above organic approved pesticides are likely inside too. So unless you have access to "pesticide free" (that would be different than organic). I think we are going to have to take our chances.

(This was all brought about because we will have a juicer here soon and a good percentage of the food going into the juicer are on that dirty dozen list.)

Optimistic again

2011-10-27T09:49:00.002-04:00

So the other week when I ran and my foot hurt so badly the next day, I was really starting to think Aqua-Bike was my future. I just couldn't make sense of why my right leg was so out of whack and causing so much trouble. Hitting that low point 2 weeks ago inspired me to go digging for answers. It seems as if this whole "No Stretching" thing is a big key. I say this because my last 2 runs have gone well and I haven't had any foot problem the next day. I will add that I've also thrown watching my HR out the window for those two as well. The only thing I cared about during those runs was that I found a stride that felt comfortable. To stay "in zone" would have caused me to slow down considerably. Right now finding a good stride that the hamstring is okay with is the key. The result of that is similar to how I used to run a couple years ago, always a negative split. It felt good.

I really hope the hamstring continues to improve because I'm really surprised at how much better my attitude is after these last couple runs. Now to take some of that energy and focus it on waking up at 5AM to get to the pool before work… (can't seem to get that going). Swimming late in the evening isn't what I want to do either as it messes with my ability to fall asleep. It will come together soon. It's feeling like things are falling back into place.

For those of you wondering why I went from very few blog posts to so many. I blame the three "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" books. They are somewhat disturbing but a serious page turner. They were an excellent distraction for me the last three weeks but I didn't waste a single minute of my commute typing up blog posts as a result.
The movie comes out in December. I'd suggest you read the books before you see the movie. You will probably like the movie less by doing this but you will enjoy the book So Much More.

Hamstrings Always the Hamstrings

2011-10-26T08:58:00.002-04:00

Hamstrings, the tighter the better right!? I wish. I've been dealing with a hamstring injury all year. Which is why I spent so much time on the yoga mat at home. I've had a hard time explaining exactly where this problem is located. I knew that when I ran, when I'd extend my leg to the front it was pulling at something at the very top of the hamstring and it felt like it was buried deep in the middle of everything connected up near all those attachment points.

No matter how much I stretched, it never got any better. Then with my ramp up to the marathon, I really got focused on my stretching. It was my attempt to try and not repeat my ankle injury from last year, which was the result of being too tight. Well all that extra stretching was just making it worse, or was it the extra running? All I knew was when I would run, I felt like I was compensating how my foot would strike in an attempt to protect that hamstring attachment from the impacts.

Once I threw in the towel on the marathon, I then had time to consider going back to my yoga classes. Only I was concerned about injuring myself at yoga. Seriously. When you are as tight as I am, good form for many of the poses is nearly impossible.

As I had mentioned before, my first problem was trying to describe the injury well enough to be able to enter something into the search engine. I was verbalizing this effort explaining it to Genine as she was getting ready to go to yoga. She left, I went to Google and started to read. By the time she got back from class, I had discovered that my first step towards recovering was to STOP STRETCHING. Not surprisingly, Genine had explained to Tiffany at yoga what I had said to her, so when she got home she had offered me the exact same advice. She also was in agreement with the 2nd part of what I had read. That the healing could possibly be helped by ART or Graston technique. This is where they rub the tendons to break up the adhesions and promote blood flow to the injured area. (tendons unlike muscles don't get very much blood flow).

So I've not stretched for two weeks and I think I'm feeling improvement. I think I was aware of the hamstring anytime I was walking two weeks ago. Now I'm only noticing it when I run and it's much less of an issue
I'm very hopeful that over the next 3 or 4 months that this will become a non-issue. I completely skipped the majority of my speed workouts last year because I was concerned about making that injury worse. It would be nice if I were healed up in time for my speed workouts in the spring.
Here are some of the links I found regarding my issue.

Hamstring Attachment PDF
Hamstring Tightness PDF
Hamstring Advice Stretching

Changed the quote over there --->

2011-10-24T22:33:00.002-04:00

Saw this quote ‘A man grows most tired while standing still.’ and realized that it pretty much describes how I've felt since I've taken such a big step back from my training. Not only tired but plenty of aches and pains. Genine and I both agree that we feel better when we are active.
I'm definitely feeling the, starting to train "pains" but I know those will be gone in a week or so.

The good news is my right shoulder is barely an issue during my swimming now. It's not 100% but it no longer feels like I need to be careful with it in the pool. It's still an issue with weight training and side planks but it's getting better.

I ran 3 miles on a hill loop tonight. It was nice to be running a different course. I really didn't run many hills last year. I think I'm going to change that this winter. I realize you don't build speed there but it will give me strength. I'll schedule in the track workouts as race season approaches. I keep thinking of the hills on the Columbia Run course. It would be fun to get around that course with a bit more speed next year.

I'll be running a 5 miler in Central Park this Sunday. I'm hoping for a nice morning of weather because I'm going to be out there awhile. haha. I've been trying to talk friends into running it with me but so far no takers. There's still time...

Working back into things

2011-10-23T11:16:00.005-04:00

Kind of a repeat of my last post, with some actually graphs and results from the first 4 weeks.

I guess the biggest thing going on at the moment is the diet. I decided 4 weeks ago that enough was enough and I had to get back in control of things. I drew up a calendar that extends into next year and the goal is to lose a pound a week.

(Click for larger image)
Yup, that's 191 I started at. Two years ago I was racing at 175. As you can see I've extended my goal down to 165. So this is going to take some time and dedication to get there.

As you can see, I am slightly ahead of schedule but I've stalled and stayed the same over the last 7 days. That's harder to see on that graph. That's why I'm also tracking using iCal.
(click for larger image) Blue Goal Weight, Green Actual weight. Calories and Hours of Sleep.

Also I wasn't joking when I said I was going into scientist mode. My season was wrecked by the shingles, I can't say for sure why I got them. Not enough sleep? Too many workouts? Not eating well? Combination of all that? Well this year I hope to keep better track of all this. I should be able to see cause and effect of many things.

The most important of them at the moment is weight loss vs Calories going in. You can see that I've been shooting for 2000 calories a day. The first week was probably the toughest in terms of getting used to how to use those 2000 to get me through the day. At this point, 2000 feels like more than enough and I'm very comfortable with it. I can also log into my fitday.com and see what I ate to get to those numbers. Which is helpful when I'm trying to figure out what sticks with me and what isn't enough in terms of "feeling" hungry.

Many of you are likely thinking, no way is that enough for a triathlete. Well at the moment, I'm not much of a triathlete. Workouts are a work in progress and I'm slowly building back up to where I should be. I'm tracking that as well. Here is a look with those "efforts" in the mix.

(click for larger image)
Yep, pretty weak, it's somewhat frustrating. I could also add in my "injury report". That would show that the morning of the 12 my right foot hurt more than it has ever hurt in all my years of training. Thus the 4 day break from everything and the long break from running. The good news is that I ran yesterday and had no issue this morning.

I included sleep on the chart not only for recovery tracking, I believe it plays a big part of dieting as well. If you are not rested, you will eat things that will get you through your day. For some people it will mean calories usually in the form of very simple carbs. (which stick to me like glue). Others will turn to caffeine. (which makes my food burn up so fast I'm hungry much much sooner, so I will eat more). So it's best that I rest rather than fuel.

Anyhow, I'm pleased with how the diet is moving along. It appears it's going to take more than a month to get back to my July weight but that's alright. I'm feeling confident that I have a plan in place that's going to get me where I want to go. I'm not concerned about the stalled week. I'm ahead of the curve. I'll make adjustments if I'm still stuck a week from now.
I'm hopeful that if I continue to track as well as I am right now, I'll be able to dial in exactly how much I can eat on a daily basis, the variables being if I want to maintain or lose weight and how much exercise I am doing.

Speaking of training. I'd better go do something.

Green Mountain Marathon

2011-10-22T13:19:00.001-04:00

Completed the Green Mountain marathon (South Hero Island, VT) last Sunday in 3:30:33. The fastest I've done in 7 years. A good run. Johnson was 3:29, Martin 3:57 or 58, Brad 4:00.

That equals 16 states and 20 total marathons for me. At some point next spring I need to shift into biking and swimming mode too.

Scientist mode

2011-10-03T08:57:00.003-04:00

As I said a couple posts ago, I was finally fed up with my weight gain and it was time to get serious about it. The thing that was worked for me the best (during my sub 190 weight) has been calorie tracking, using fitday.com.

I keep talking about how I plan on finding what my daily calorie intake should be given the amount of exercise I am doing, but then never follow up with that. Well I’ve setup a system that should make it simple for me to finally figure this out. Of course once I got this going, I added some other stuff as well.

Using my calendar program, I’ve created a new calendar for each of the following items.

•Goal Weight

•Actual Weight

•Calories

•Completed Workouts

•Injuries & Illness

•Hours of Sleep

Goal Weight: My goal is to lose at least a pound a week. It will likely be more than that to start and then become closer to a pound or less as my weight drops. I now have a number to hit every Sunday all the way into the beginning of April. I don’t know what the goal weight is yet. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it.

Actual Weight: Every day I’m on the scale. Sometimes I think this can be a bad thing. Right now is not one of those times. I’m heavy enough right now that I know the numbers will be dropping and it will be positive reinforcement.

Calories: I’m entering my calories, along with fat, carbs and protein grams. A simple copy and paste from the fitday website. Long term, this along with current weight is going to show me what my intake should be to maintain certain weights.

Completed Workouts: I list my workouts along with a note saying whether I felt that I was properly fueled to complete the workout.

Injuries & Illness: I seem to have enough aches and pains that I lose track of them. This will be interesting to look at if I’m able to track for an entire year. On a shorter term, I’m hoping it will help show me what workouts cause me the most grief so I can try and adjust my schedule to better recover from them.

Hours of Sleep: I have a feeling I think I get more sleep than I actually do. I’m sure this number plays a part in how good my workouts are.

I also think that when I don’t sleep enough, I want to eat more simple carbs to energize myself, or more calories in general.

Then there is the recovery aspect of sleep to keep injuries away not to mention illness.

I’m not sure I’ll be adding in the time that I sleep on the train, I’m not sure that’s quality sleep. I will make a note of when I do sleep on the train as I think it is one of the easiest indicators that I’m not getting enough sleep.

I’ve considered keeping track of the actual workout time but haven’t done that yet.

I’ve thought of tracking the expenses as well

Then of course I could get all of this info into an excel spreadsheet to keep track of totals for me. I doubt I’m going to do any of those things. I don’t think either of those are motivational long term.

The Calendar program on my computer definitely makes this easy. I can easily show/hide all of those categories however I want. I think I should be able to publish this so anyone can have access to it as well. (I won’t bore you with that). It is a project I’m working on at work tho’. At least there, the information being shared is important to more than the person making the calendar.

I’m a week into this plan by the way. I dropped 2.5 pounds the first week. It’s always nice to get ahead of the curve quickly. Now I need to bring the training back on line. I did make it to the pool twice and we biked for 90 minutes Sunday. I’m really looking forward to getting back in shape.

13 mile No Go

2011-10-01T20:20:00.003-04:00

There seems to be a bad pattern forming in my blog post titles.

Seeing how my calf hated me after 1.5 miles a week ago Wednesday, I gave my legs a 7 day break. I planned on running 3 on Wed but I knew it wasn't going to work. Thursday I actually felt like there was significant improvement but it was Genine's B'day and a run wasn't in the plans. Friday I figured I'd better attempt a short run to see if going into NYC on Saturday for 13 miles was going to be worth the effort. I didn't even run a mile, but I didn't hurt myself in the process either. I could just tell that my calves were going to revolt if I kept going. So I walked home.

What can I say. I tried to cram for a marathon and it's not going to work out. Tomorrow is the last day I can defer my entry to 2012.
So the question is, do I defer? You have to pay again, it saves you nothing, it just allows you to pay for 2012 and race.
Or do I go get my swag bag I've already paid for, and then make sure I run the rest of the NYRR races I've signed up for so I qualify for 2012 using the 9+1?
I'm leaning towards the 2nd option. Mainly because it gets me into the city for some events and keeps me focused on getting back on track.

I'm sure some people will read this and think, why not just run/walk the marathon? That's not how I want it to go. Surviving it has never been the goal. It's about getting into proper condition to actually run a marathon. Also, I'm tired of being sick and injured. I'd rather go back to Swim/Bike/Run + Yoga and Weights at an "off season" level, rather than "running it" and getting injured.

So I went to the pool today and swam 1000m. Let me tell you, after 8 weeks off, you have no choice but to start back slowly. My right shoulder is still not 100% but swimming doesn't seem to have any negative effects. I can feel it while I'm swimming but it's not painful or inflamed when I finish. I'm hopeful that it will be pain free eventually.

Alright, hopefully that's the end of the "bad news blog". Next post is going to talk about something positive.

NYC 18 Miles a no go

2011-09-24T17:24:00.002-04:00

Yeah, whatever I did to my left calf at the end of last weekend's run has taken me out of this weekend's race. I massaged, stretched, took extra days off, but eventually I had to run. I went out for a very easy run and 1.5 miles in, my calf got very angry, instantly, just like last weekend. Then I limped back home.
It's strange because most of the time it feels perfectly fine. Every now and then when I'm walking down stairs, I can feel some tightness but it doesn't cramp up on me like it does when I'm running.
18 miles would be a bad idea at this point. Strike 1.
I've got two weeks before the next possible LONG attempt and I have a 13 miler in Central park scheduled next Saturday. I'll do everything I can to be ready and see what happens.

In other news, 2012 Schedule Update:
The signup for IM Mont-Tremblant 70.3 was last week. Genine and I had thought that looked like a cool race venue when it was first announced. Some may remember that I had initially planned Ironman Newfoundland 70.3 to be my first Half Iron. Then they cancelled the venue.
Anyhow, Genine kept talking about wanting to do a new race next year and even tho' this one may not fit my schedule perfectly, I decided it's the one I wanted to do the most. So we are signed up!
One of the things that sounded really good to me was this: "Mont Tremblant takes pride in its bike course, which is 95% closed to other traffic and newly paved on 70% of its surface."
Yep, that should be cool.
Genine and I figure that by having a half iron scheduled in June, that should get us focused on getting in shape a bit quicker than we did this past year. Not that we aren't always trying to stay in shape. I'm just saying that having a tough race on the schedule is a really good motivator.

Lastly, because I've not been working out much I've put on weight. I really haven't been able to get in the zone with my eating habits in quite some time. (feels like a couple of years really) Well I'm kind of annoyed with myself at the moment so the motivation is there. So Fitday.com is back in action for me. I've got a few ideas about what I'd like to change in my diet long term but I've got to get some things together before adding in the changes. More on that later.

17 mile run.

2011-09-19T10:29:00.002-04:00

If you are going to run 17 miles, Sunday’s weather was just about as perfect as you can get for running. I had been concerned about this run all week. The day after my 17 miler last year was when I messed up my ankle and was done for 8 weeks. Not to mention, last week’s need for an ice bath after a 14 mile run. Then to top it off, I ran 4 miles on Friday night and my left calf cramped at mile 3 and I had to short stride my way back in. At mile 3!!

Because of all this, I’ve been stretching out every chance I get. I even considered getting a massage on Saturday before Sunday’s run. I decided not to. Everything was feeling alright.

I also realized that I had better do a much better job with my hydration and gels this week. I decided to try out what had worked for me during my long bike rides this year. Salt Capsules, Water (not Gatorade) and GU. I woke up in time to get some good stretching in. I felt as good as I ever do. (I’m still only running 3x a week. I had run 8 and 4 as my mid week runs).

Todd and I meet up in Branchburg, then drive out to the High Bridge rail trail again. I asked how he wanted to run this. We decided to run out 6, so our first out and back would end up at 12. Then we’d only have 5 to go. It sounded like a good plan. It left us short of running the entire 7 miles of the trail, so we’d have that as a destination for our 19 and 20 mile runs in a few weeks.

I loaded up pretty heavy. 4 bottle fuel belt and a hand bottle along with 4 GUs and…. No salt capsules. I had left them at home. I had my endurance Gatorade mix with me but that combined with GU doesn’t always sit well for me. I stuck with water and off we went.

I knew I’d have to go slower than last week, if I wanted to get all 17 in. So I keep checking my HR monitor to try to keep to 150ish. Initially my legs were feeling like junk. It felt like they got tight immediately. So I stopped to walk a few times in the first 3 miles and that really helped. I think it just allowed for more blood flow and got rid of some of the junk that was there. After my first GU, I got a side stitch. I managed to run through that. At mile 6 we were in Califon. We decided to run off the trail to see if there was going to be a place to buy water/Gatorade on our longer runs in a few weeks. There were a couple options. That may save me from carrying so much next time.

7-12 was feeling much better than 1-6. I figured my hydration and GU plan was working well. I was looking forward to knocking out the last 5. Then with less than a quarter mile to go (of the 12), the inside of my left calf went into spasm and I stopped dead in my tracks. We ended up walking it in from there. We refilled bottles and such and I continued to try and get that muscle to relax. Eventually I decided to try and run but it just felt like I was asking for an injury. So we turned and headed back to the car.

So I fell well short of 17 miles but the 12 that I did run felt much better than the 14 the week before. I’m guessing the slower pace was a big part of that. My massage was scheduled later that day. I think that worked out to be a better plan. Get the massage the same day as opposed to waiting until the next evening.

Here it is Monday morning and I can still feel that muscle in my calf. I spent time stretching when I woke up but it’s probably going to take a day or so. Any time a muscle actually makes it into spasm, it seems to be a 3 day recovery. Fortunately, I’m in no hurry. At this point this is what I’m thinking.

I’ve got 3 chances left.

Next Sunday I will attempt my longest run ever in Central Park. 18 miles, 3 complete loops. That will be attempt number 1 of 3, determining if I’ve done enough to be ready to run the marathon.

The following weekend is a down week and I’m only scheduled for 13, which will be in Central Park again. I supposed it’s a good thing that mentally I’m feeling good about 13 milers.

After that, I’ve got a 19 miler as my 2ndof 3 attempts.

Then I’ve got a 20 miler a week after that as my 3rd and final attempt.

I think I’m in a 3 strikes and I’m out situation here. Meaning if none of them go well, it probably makes no sense to attempt the marathon.

On the other hand, I’m also saying that if I get 2 strikes and only one of them goes well, that may be enough to put me on the start line.

I was thinking this weekend that a marathon training schedule is probably not the best way to return to training after a layoff from illness. It sure presents a very real challenge to me tho’ and is inspiring me to focus on my stretching as never before. So unless I injure myself, I think I’ll be better for it at the end.

I probably shouldn’t say this out loud but I want it on the journal here. I think I’ve gone an entire week without feeling that nerve in my back that had the shingles. Finally!

Running and planning

2011-09-15T10:37:00.003-04:00

2012 looks like it might look very similar to 2011 in terms of a schedule. I’m signed up for Columbia, Mooseman International Distance and Timberman 70.3 again. Then of course the Tango Adventure Race as well.

I think I would like something in July. Black Fly Tri would fit. Philly or Morgantown in late June is on the radar as well.

There are always a number of local races here in NJ starting in September. I was kind of bummed that I was going to miss Skylands and Buckman again this year. (because the marathon training is more than enough post Shingles). As it turns out, Skylands became a Run, Bike, Run. Which is not a triathlon in my book. It’s tough, don’t get me wrong. It’s just that the swim is what makes it fun for me. So that took the sting out of missing that one.

Buckman is this weekend and I just got an update saying that they are still without power from the hurricane rains a few weeks back. They may have to reschedule that event as well to October 8^th. That is yet to be determined. This weekend I’m scheduled to run 17 miles. That weekend in October, I’m scheduled to run 19 miles. It’s not going to happen this year. I’m over it.

Here is the update on my recovery. In terms of pain, my #1 problem is probably my shoulder. I knew I landed on that shoulder pretty hard at the Tango. I wouldn’t have guessed it would still be so sore almost 5 weeks later. I’ve got to figure out some sort of therapy for it.

#2 I would say is my right heel. I’m guessing this is carry over from my ankle problem last year. My feet are going into the ice bath after every run. It’s making a huge difference but I would love to find a therapist that could tell me if there is something I could be doing to bring that foot back around. Maybe I’ll get lucky and all the massages I have scheduled will help that foot more than I expect it will.

#3 goes to the shingles. I can’t figure out what triggers that nerve to become irritated but it still makes its presence known from time to time. Also I still feel that I’m more fatigued than I should be. I’ve been sleeping as late as possible and I’ve been getting to sleep early as well. Which is why there has been no cross training. I’ve been limiting myself to 3 runs a week. (soon to be 4).

For the record, getting ready for this marathon has been much more tough on my legs than all my triathlon training was leading up to July. The 5 weeks of no training is definitely a factor. Also to be fair to that tri schedule, I wasn’t able to complete as much of the build/hard stuff on there as I would have liked, back in June & July. Either way, I find it odd that by having the sore muscles I “feel” stronger. This must go back to all the time I spent in the weight room back in high school. No pain no gain and all that. Fortunately I realize that I have to recover in a big way after every run if I have any hopes of staying on schedule and making the starting line of the Marathon. So after my run on Sunday, I did my first ever ice bath. (which is worth doing). Monday I had a massage (also worth doing). Tuesday my quads still felt like junk, so instead of running 4, I stretched and rolled them out on the foam roller and the stick. They felt great after that. I don’t think I’ve ever noticed such a drastic difference in my legs after just rolling them out before. Skipping the run for this was definitely the right thing to do. (this week anyhow).

As I mentioned earlier, I’ve got 17 on my schedule this weekend. I’ve got to practice my nutrition and fluid intake. I’ve been deficient the last couple weeks. I’m hoping that I have someone to run with, at least for the 2^nd half of the run. I seem to do alright running for 90 minutes or so. After that I start getting bored. I don’t run with music. I don’t like to be that disconnected with the world when I’m out there. If I’m on my own this weekend I think I’ll have to put together a playlist and be ready to use it if/when I start to lose it.

Then the next 2 weekends I should be fine. I’ve got an 18 mile “race” in central park, then a 13 miler in central park the weekend after that. I’m behind schedule with my 9 NYRR races this year. I thought I had done 5 but only 4 of them counted towards my 9. That will be a good motivator for my 18 miler. I’ve got to pace it right so that I finish and get the credit towards the 2012 Marathon.

long run and a nice ice bath

2011-09-12T09:19:00.003-04:00

I’m about to start week 3 of my 11 week marathon schedule. I really doubt 11 weeks is going to be enough time to put together a very good marathon time. I am hoping that it will be enough for me to complete it without feeling like I walked most of the time tho'.

I was having some serious doubts over the last week. Last weekend’s 12 miler was a sufferfest as was my mid week 7 miler. My brain was into it and I got them done, but it was a challenge.

Yesterday, Genine, Todd and I went out to the High Bridge trail to hopefully run 14 miles. The trail is 7 miles long so out and back would cover it. Except that would mean no hydration past what you could carry. Also it would mean if I couldn’t manage it. It could be a 7 mile walk back to the car. So I suggested we run out 3.5 miles then return to the car, rehydrate and fill up to do a 2^nd run.

So we headed out. I was feeling much better than I did the other day. It was a nice cool day for running. A cool humidity, which was kind of odd but all in all, good running conditions.

I was definitely running faster than I should have been but everything was moving so well, I didn’t want to change anything. Even my foot strikes were feeling better than they had for a long while. When we reached about 3 miles. I suggested we switch to 4.5 out for the first “loop”. That way we’d have 9 down and 5 to go when we got back to the car. Everyone was on board with that plan.

When we turned to head back. Genine dropped to a pace I probably should have been running at, Todd and I ran ahead. I hadn’t run this trail in awhile and had forgotten how long the “hills” were. They aren’t steep but it’s enough to be noticeable. We got back to the car it what felt like a very short time. 9 down 5 to go. Genine thought she was a long way behind but she arrived very soon after us. She said she was done for the day tho’.

Todd and I headed back out. It was a climb to start, so there wasn’t much talking. About a mile in, I think I started to ask Todd how far we’d gone. (he had the gps). We kept moving. Just get it done. We walked for a short bit at 2.5. Then headed back. My legs were tight and I started to think about recovery from this. With about a mile left to go we spot Genine walking. She ran back to the car with us. It was kind of funny to see the high school kids running at us doing mile repeats.

We got back to the car and even tho’ I’d used body glide. I knew that what I was wearing today would not be what I’d wear for any other long runs. (ouch)

My massage is scheduled for Monday night. I think I may have to start scheduling those for Sunday night. On the way home, we stopped at a store to pick up 2 bags of ice. It was time for me to start doing this right.

Even putting my feet into an ice bath is a tough challenge but I’d heard of a trick of how to do this ice bath thing. You get into the tub when it’s just cold water from the tap. Then you add the ice in once you are in. Soooo much easier. And yes, the ice bath is very much worth the time and effort.

Hoping to get some help for my right foot at the massage tonight. That seems to be the weak link right now.

Anyhow, I’m much more hopeful about the marathon today than I was on Friday. I’ve got 17 miles on the schedule next weekend. I’m going to have to slow it down and really work on the salt tab, gel and hydration intake. I would love to finish 17 miles feeling positive. That would match my longest run ever and it's also the run that ended my training for 2 months last year. That's not going to happen this year.

2012 Triathlon Schedule possiblities

2011-09-10T08:36:00.005-04:00

Yep, It's that time already. Time to start signing up for next year's events. I'm really glad that I received a Facebook update about there being a Mooseman/Timberman Combo pack discount, because that got me thinking about next year. Which lead me to check on Columbia's signup. It typically fills very quickly and I found that it was already open! So I immediately signed up for that race. Why? Well I know I can do better than I did this year, (would be nice to finish without a flat). More importantly, I also have enough friends in the area down there that I probably wouldn't see otherwise if I didn't race this event. That makes it a must do.

Back to this Mooseman and Timberman notice. It turns out that if we register for both events before the 14th, we get a pretty nice discount. Its' enough that if we are going to do both of them we should sign up now. The thing is, Genine has been talking about going to the new Rev3 race up in Maine instead of Timberman. Which makes sense to me, except that Timberman is cheap for us because we don't have to get a hotel or eat meals out. Also I can see where Genine would want to move on, it's tough to top her Timberman Experience this year. I on the other hand have not had the race I'd like to have on that course yet. So it's still pulling me in. No decision has been made, we have a few days. Maybe we will do both! Meaning I race Timberman, Genine races Rev3 OOB. If we worked that schedule, there would be a lot more race photos. Ha!

One step earlier in our schedule next year is the Tango. Fortunately, we don't have to make a decision about how much of that race we are going to do any time soon. As always, there is talk about doing as little as one event, to doing the entire thing together. Genine has done everything but the 13.1 in that race. I haven't biked or run the 4.5. Relay is probably the most likely as I'm really unsure about how long it would take to recover from a full tango and be ready to race a half iron 15 days later.

Next step earlier was an empty July schedule this past year. Black Fly Tri in NH continues to be an event I'd like to do. Visions of doing the whole "Lord of the Flies" thing where you do every race that weekend. To just going over to compete in the bike time trial, as I've never done a straight up time trial before.

Before that is Mooseman. I've been thinking about doing the 70.3 next year. My main reason was because the Olympic event was so poorly attended this past year. It just lacked "big race" feel. The 70.3 didn't have that problem. Again, it's been tough to beat our prior years when we've had a bunch of our friends up for the weekend and they would race as a relay team. Well.... I am stunned. They brought back the relay team category to both Mooseman and Timberman!! That makes it more difficult for me to decide on the 70.3. If there is going to be a bunch of people post race partying from the Olympic on Saturday, it's going to be really hard to get sleep that night to wake up for a 70.3 on Sunday. The good news is, I still love the Olympic distance course and I would love to have a really fast day on it.

I have a couple days to think on all this. There are so many other events that we'd love to do. Mont-Tremblant 70.3 in late June for example. Or Rev3 Costa Rica. Or LavaMan. Or Boulder 70.3 to visit family and friends there.... You get the idea. There is plenty to do out there and I don't think there are many bad decisions on that list.

What do you have planned?

2011 Timberman 70.3: A Step toward my Destiny. A Day of Giving Thanks. Genine’s Race Report&Prelude to Race Day

2011-09-05T19:07:00.019-04:00

For many of you out there reading this, completing a half-ironman has become a regular part of your race season. For me, however, it was anything but common. So if you will indulge me for a few moments, I would like to start with a prelude to my Timberman 70.3 race report. I will try to be brief, but no guarantees. Actually, you may want to get a cup of coffee before starting to read.

For the past 3+ years I had been working in a high stress retail environment, commuting over 100 miles each day (driving), suffering from insomnia and eating poorly – all while trying to live the healthy lifestyle of a triathlete. I felt as if I was living a lie and the life was being sucked out of me. By fall of last year I had reached my limit. I could not physically, mentally or emotionally continue on my current path. I approached my supervisors at work, explained my situation, crossed my fingers that I wasn’t committing career suicide and respectfully asked to be transferred to a store closer to home. In January of this year, I was granted the chance to change jobs and gain my life back. I felt like I could breathe again. It was the first step in changing my direction toward being happy.

In the months between when I asked for the transfer and it was finally granted, I made a promise to myself- a promise that I would make the most of this opportunity if it were given to me. I would not waste the chance to take the next big step toward my destiny. I needed a new goal – a BIG goal – to keep me motivated. Signing up for a half-iron seemed like the perfect idea. Achievable, but not without a lot of work. The day I accepted the offer to start my new job I went on line and registered for Timberman. There was no going back. Scared or not, I was going to do it!

I began my new job (now less than 5 miles from home!) in February. I had such lofty expectations of what the next 6 months of training would look like. Since our race schedule was very much the same, I was shadowing Matt’s coached training plan. It felt good knowing I had a plan to follow. Next was getting my eating back on track- story of my life. (I have always wished that I were one of those people that stopped eating when they are stressed. Unfortunately I am the exact opposite. I can’t seem to stop eating). Over the course of about 2 years, I had gained back 15lbs of the 40lbs I had lost when we first started triathlon in 2008. Back to Fit Day and tracking the calories. (::sigh::) The first 2-3 months brought only a slight drop in weight (still wasn’t in a place to wrap my brain around the eating part) and some good progress in getting back to a regular workout schedule. I was especially proud of my gains in my run training. I ran in two 5k’s and at the end of April I completed my first 15k. I finished right on my goal time of 1:30 (a few seconds under in fact). Wahoo! And yes, race reports are still needed for these run races.

Now it was May- only 1 month to Mooseman- my first A race of the season. The couple pounds that I had lost came back (grrrr…) and I was finding that the schedule of 14 workouts per week was harder to fit in around work and life than I thought. And since I tend to be an “all or nothing” person, I was skipping or post-poning workouts that I didn’t have time to complete as written (so dumb). On May 14^th, I raced in the Jersey Shore Kick-Off (a small, nicely run sprint tri- close to home). It was a great warm-up race for Mooseman. My swim was a bit rough, but my bike and run felt improved. Overall I was happy with my times and actually won my age group! That was a first! (still need to write that race report! Ha!)

I went into Mooseman with the attitude of “it will be what it will be”. I was hoping to have been at a better place in my training/level of fitness. And I was certainly not happy with the extra pounds that were still lingering. But regardless, race day is always fun…especially on my favorite course EVER! All 3 of my splits that day were within seconds or minute of my 2009 splits. Kind of ironic and a bit depressing, but I didn’t dwell. Time to focus forward. I had 10 weeks to Timberman. Time to kick my own butt!

I had made a commitment that when I returned home after Mooseman, my eating would make a drastic change for the better. And it did. My biggest obstacle has always been my sugar addiction. Yep! I’m an addict… full-fledged, card-holding sugar addict. So I decided to go cold turkey and kick it once and for all. Through my Inten-Sati instructors, I discovered a diet cleanse that looked like something I could handle because I was able to eat solid foods – as opposed to only drinking smoothies or juice. I made the mind shift and began the 14 day Be Well Cleanse by Dr. Frank Lipman. Basically, this cleanse is 3 shakes a day, supplements and 2-3 meals daily that you choose from the “approved” food list. And the food list was plentiful. This 14day cleanse removes all possible food allergies from your diet- no sugar, no dairy, no gluten, no caffeine and all organic. Tough? Yes. Impossible? No way. I was determined! No more excuses. By the end of the 2 weeks, I had dropped 10 pounds just by changing what I was putting in my mouth- no counting calories – no fake “sugar-free” gimmicks. I felt lean, my energy levels began to even out and my clothes were fitting better - all the incentive I needed to continue with this new way of eating. I was also feeling some momentum in my training. Things were moving in the right direction! Mentally I had made a shift to knowing I was on the right path to get me to race day…and beyond. Even though I recite the words every week during my warm-up in Inten-Sati- “As above so is below. This is what I know.”- I sometimes forget how true it really is. What you put out in the world is what you get back. What you choose to focus on shapes the path of your life. What you give is what you get. It was mid-June when I came across this post from Big Daddy Diesel- a blog of a triathlete that I follow. It struck me so profoundly, that I have to share it with you.

Destiny

So often hear that word thrown around. Many feel that we’re all predestined for this or that fate, predetermined to live this life or that life. Somehow, someway, mystically “meant to be”. I’m too wise to spit in the face of the cosmos or to second guess the presence of a higher power, but I don’t buy that laissez-faire, hands-off-the-wheel crap for a second. Yeah, I believe, elementally and fundamentally in my destiny and my dreams, but because I put that future in place. I set that goal, I fixed my gaze on that faraway destination, and if I’m ever going to have a puncher’s chance of getting there, that is ultimately up to me and only me. I don’t have the luxury of passing this buck to the whims of divine providence or to blame the great bogeyman on my fears or the miserable lot of life in the working class. The only “man holding me down”, the only force holding me back, is me. I don’t read my horoscope or heed the dictates of a zodiac sign or birthstone. Instead I’ve committed my life to willing my stars to order themselves as I demand. I refuse to be a passenger on my own journey or a bystander standing idly by, cheering from the sidelines in my own game. I’ll own my upshot, I’ll face my odds. I’m not following somebody else’s path or building according to a preset blueprint. If I’ll ever have a future worth telling, it won’t be read by some psychic reading my palm. It will be told in a story of blood, sweat, pain, and tears, in dark days of doubt and long nights of toil. Wielding this heavy hammer. Banging away. Framing and molding. Conceiving and creating. Intent on being the architect of my own destiny.

Wow! This was exactly what I needed to hear (well…read) at that moment, and I have read this post hundreds of times since then. I knew that if I was going to reach the starting line of Timberman (and hopefully the finish line, too!), I must not waver. No -way.

Several lessons were learned during the month of July. One: Traveling to PA or NH every other weekend to see family, while fun, is not conducive to sticking to a heavy workout schedule. Two: I need to take salt tabs on long bike/run bricks in 95+degree heat. (Go figure!) Because of our hectic vacation travel, most of the weekends we were home, I was working. I manuevered my schedule the best I could, but I felt like I still was missed many of my long bike rides. But I did the best with the time I had available. Swimming and running, for the most part, were getting done. Our NH vacation in mid-July made for great practice for hot & humid race day conditions. It was an oven most days, but we used that to our advantage to practice our nutrition & hydration…and learning that salt tablets are necessary for me to make it through these longer distances on hot & humid days. It was a tough go, but we put in the miles and got it done. Very satisfying!

The first weekend in August was the Kinzua Country Tango adventure race in our hometown of Warren, PA. It is one of my favorite races and weekends of the summer. So many friends come home for this race, so it is always a good time. When we decided to join forces to form a co-ed high school relay team (WAHS Class of 88), I volunteered to do the 2.5mile swim. I needed a new goal for this race. I needed to prove to myself that I could it. (And it would be good practice for Timberman). I completed the swim in 1 hour 5mins (still need to write a race report for this, too!) I was feeling good and was hopeful going into the final weeks to Timberman.

However, somewhere in the those last few weeks, I felt like I was starting to second guess myself. I was procrastinating over workouts and/or missing them totally. Putting the blame on “work” or “too much to do” or maybe I was having sympathy pains for Matt & his battle with shingles. Lame excuses, right? Maybe it was nerves or my own subconscious working against me. Don’t know why. Just was. How ironic that Tiffany’s Inten-Sati series for August zeroed in on whatever was going on in my brain at that time. This is the series. These are the words that got me thru to race day.

August Series
I am the change I want to see
I am done complaining
I set myself free!
MY life is on fire!
I am bursting at the seams
with PASSION, LOVE,
APPRECIATION, DESIRE!
I have the will to BELIEVE
I have the will to be STRONG
I have the will to be EXCEED
All excuses are GONE!
I have the courage and confidence to be
the warrior I am meant to be.
I have the power, strength to see my beauty and divinity.

And so I stopped complaining, stopped my pity parties, stopped being self-deprecating and began accepting where I was. And being grateful for the opportunity that lay before me. Was my training 100% according to plan or what I had envisioned it to be back in February? No. I guess a person doesn’t become super human in 6 months! But, I had made significant improvements in my endurance (maybe a tiny bit of speed- relative to where I was) and overall fitness. I was feeling HEALTHY and was anticipating what I could do on the racecourse. For the first time in a very long while, I really had no idea what to expect. Both nerve racking and exciting!

The Wednesday before the race, I worked a half-day and went home to pack. The goal was to leave Thursday morning. As I was scurrying around the house, I turned the corner from the living room to go upstairs. Midway thru the turn, I caught the little toe of my right foot on the corner of the baseboard on the wall. I fell on to the stairs, screaming in pain! SON OF A B@*#H!! After sitting for a minute, I refused to believe that it was anything more than a stubbed toe. It will be fine. Continue packing. It will be fine. And so I did…hobbling along ignoring the pain. It wasn’t until we were getting ready to meet a friend for dinner that night that I glanced down and did a double take of my right foot. It was noticeably swollen and rapidly turning purple & blue. Still refusing to acknowledge that there may be a problem, I put on my flip-flops and we went to dinner. When we got home, I decided I had better check it out further. I got my running shoe and attempted to put my foot into it. Painful, but I got it in. That’s all I needed to know. We were good to go!

My toe in the car on the way to NH. Made it thru the race. Still hurts now tho.

The Timberman in Cannan, NH. Very appropriate, right?

Thursday we drove up to NH, arriving at the farm in the early evening and got to share a game of cards and some delicious homemade berry pie with Matt’s cousin Abby and her friend Melissa. I slept well Thursday night. Abby, Melissa & kids left Friday morning. Matt and I got a bike ride and short run in, went to the grocery store and then relaxed for the rest of the day. I slept well Friday night and awoke Saturday morning not to an alarm, but to the sun shining on the red barn. Aahh. Saturday was a super quick pre-race swim, bike, run- prep race gear and then it was into the car to drive to Gunstock for packet pick-up and Ellacoya Park for bike drop off. I was super excited to have a purple swim cap (whew! No pink!) and that my bib was # 500! That seemed like a lucky number! We got our packets, walked thru the expo and then went to drop off bikes. I was in the middle of a row, but easy to find by the tree with the big dead branch above my rack. Perfect! Time to head back to the house to meet my mom, sister & nephews (arriving from PA) and Matt’s brother & nephew for dinner. I wanted to be in bed by 8:00, then it was 9:00. I made it in bed with lights out at 10:00pm. Typical. It wasn’t a good sleep, but not a bad sleep either. Also typical.

Sunday – Race Day! The alarm went off a 2:15am. I was able to easily eat my oatmeal. I packed a PBJ, Hammer Bar and bananas for the car. It was still a long time until my 7:20am start. We left the house around 3:15am and arrived at Ellacoya at 4:00am when the park opened. We parked easily and Matt immediately fell back to sleep in the car. I tried to sleep, but it just wasn’t happening. I remained quiet, trying not to disturb Matt. Times like this are when I love my Iphone! I passed some time posting on FB and reviewing the day’s weather. In the hour+ before transition opened, while Matt slept soundly, I was out of the car 3 times to go to the porta-potties. Might as well take advantage of clean potties with no lines early in the morning! I also put to good use my new head lamp. It’s dark in the potties at 4:30am! Best $12 spent at L.L.Bean!

Early morning photo of my WARRIOR arm for race day.

5:30am arrived. Matt got up and we headed to transition to set up. I am always amazed at how quickly this time before race start goes. It FLYS!! Before I knew it, we were at the beach in line for one last pee stop and getting ready to start. My wave started ahead of Matt’s, so he stood with me until my wave was called. He gave me a kiss, wished me luck and promised me that he would take it easy out there today- not to worry. (I still worried). The water was calm & a nice temp. This was the first time that I felt any nerves. We were running just late enough to the start that we missed swim warm-ups. Was this bad or would it not matter? I was about to find out!

There were 125 women in my wave. I decided to start on the inside close to the buoys, but a little further back. The gun went off and I soon found myself in a washing machine of swimmers. Typically this would freak me out and I would end up in a panic. Today- all it did was make me aggravated! A small victory for me already! After about 200m of bumping, kicking and grabbing feet, I escaped to the left a bit and found some space. From there on out, I found a groove and swam. I felt good, the water was clear to see other swimmers and also the safety kayaks. Which was a good thing because even though I felt great swimming, I am sure that I swam the course on a zig-zag. It seemed like I swam from a buoy to a kayak- back & forth- the entire time! A bit frustrating, but over all I was very happy with my swim time. The swim seemed to be over in no time!

I have never used wetsuit strippers because I have never had any issues getting out of my wetsuit…until today. It wasn’t anything catastrophic, but just annoying. At one point a guy in the row beside me offered to help get the last leg of my wetsuit off in exchange for helping him get the back of his bike jersey pulled down over his back. Deal! Then it was time to bike. YES!!

I felt confident on this bike course. It was fresh in my mind from our practice ride the month prior. My only strategy for today was to not go out too hard, aim to maintain a 90 cadence, get my nutrition in and hydrate. Oh! And to have fun! Since there was only 1 wave of women that started ahead of me, I got to pass a lot of guys on the bike to start, but soon the fast guys & girls from the later waves were in the mix. It was crowded at times and a bit challenging at the beginning of the course, but once I was out onto the highway (Rt 106), it was fun riding. I kept expecting to have Matt pass me at some point as his wave started only 10 minutes behind me. It wasn’t until I had made the half-way turnaround that I saw him on the other side of the highway. I shouted and waved. He waved back. I was relieved to see him and know he was doing ok. I was also excited to see that I had made it to the turnaround in 1 hour 30mins! I was pacing to possibly finish my bike around 3 hours! I had figured closer to 3 hours 30mins, so I was thrilled. I kept on moving along feeling excited and hopeful! The only down side to my bike was that I had forgot to put my Cliff Shot Blocks in my bento box. Luckily I had taped 2 GU’s to my top tube the night before…just in case. Even though the shot blocks sit better in my stomach, I used both GU’s. They gave me the pep I needed, but my stomach was starting to revolt. And by the last 5 miles of my ride, so were my quads. Big time. In the last downhill (no passing zone) into the park, I stood on my pedals to stretch my legs. They immediately began to seize! Terrified of my legs freezing while clipped into my pedals going 20mph, I instinctively sat and coasted into the park.

T2 was painful. My quads were on the verge of seizing and my stomach was on the verge of puking. And it was time to start the toughest part of my race – the run. I took my time in transition, remembered my shot blocks this time, taped the back of my ankles, grabbed my hat & fuel belt palm bottle and calmly talked myself thru my plan of how I was going to get through the next 13.1 miles. I had never run 13.1 miles before. I figured today was a good day to do it! I decided to walk out of transition & talk my legs into working for me. I started to run when I hit the timing mat. Ouch! I kept going. I have to admit, part of me was hoping that Matt would soon be right behind me and we could run this together. But he didn’t show. He stopped his race after his bike. I was on my own. I needed to get to the mile 1 aid station so I could get some Coke in me to help calm my stomach. And so I did. Around mile2, I looked up to see a woman in a blue race kit with “Race with Passion” on the back. I knew immediately who it was. So I yelled, “Hey Frayed Laces! You’re looking good there! I am a big fan of your blog!” She asked my name and we had a quick exchange. She wished me good luck on my first half and off she went. (BTW- She PR’d this race. Congrats, Laura! You are awesome!) Then I got to see the pro women coming back on their last 2 miles to the finish. I yelled to Chrissie (as everyone was doing). So awesome to see athletes of that caliber! Meanwhile, I continued to run aid station to aid station- grabbing water & Coke at each one. Little by little, my stomach seemed to cooperate as did my legs. Now mind you, none of this was pretty. But I was doing it! I repeated to myself, “No more complaining!” and “I CAN do this!” over and over again. I looked at the WARRIOR on my arm. Oh YES! I am a warrior! This was the toughest mental battle of my life and I was winning!

Finishing my first loop of the run.

As I was approaching the park for the turnaround loop, I heard Matt yelling my name, but I couldn’t see him. In my mind I was still looking for his yellow tri top. Obviously he had changed! Don’t worry, I found him! He told me I was looking good. I said, “This is painful, but I’m going to finish!” As I started out of the park for lap 2, Matt was there again. It was so nice to see him and have him there cheering for me! I thought the second loop would be torture, but I have to say that miles 7-10 were the best feeling of the day. I just kept my pace, walked the aid stations, got my nutrition in me and focused on the beautiful scenery. Oh! Have I mentioned how much I loved the ice cubes in my sports bra and the snow balls (crushed ice) that the local high school hockey team was handing out on the course? Heaven!

When I started approaching the park for the finish, I switched from “I can do this” to “I AM doing this! I am going to FINISH!!” As I was running down the chute to the finish line, I was elated! Bursting with pride! I saw Matt and Kryste with Danny in the backpack. I was so thankful that they were there for this moment! But as I crossed the finish line and Chrissie Wellington handed me my medal (Yes! I finished in time to get my medal from Chrissie!), I felt my stomach revolt. I pushed the kid getting ready to take my timing chip aside as I frantically searched for a garbage can. I didn’t find one. I ended up throwing up (just a little!) in the corner of the tent were the very kind woman was handing our cold bottles of water to finishers. I apologized and assured her I was ok. She was very sweet and said not to worry. Once I gathered my composure again, I went to the side of the fence where Matt was telling me that Chrissie was autographing people’s medals, jerseys, etc. There was a bit of a gap, so I went walked back to the finish line and asked Chrissie if she would sign my medal. She graciously said yes. I didn’t say much, but thanked her and told her she is AMAZING! She was so sincere and grateful. What an incredible gift to receive as a keepsake from my first 70.3!

Chrissie Wellington signing my medal!

Happy to be done and showing off my bling!

With my autographed medal in hand, I made my way out the back of the finishing chute to meet up with Matt, Kryste and Danny. As I weaved my way through the crowd, my eyes welled up with tears. In that quiet moment alone, it hit me. I did it. I really did it. Wow. I wonder what else is possible. What is the next step toward my destiny? And then I decided now was not the time to wonder. Now was the time to celebrate!

I found Matt, Kryste and Danny. We went to get some post race food and relax. As we were sitting in the grass eating, I got a text from my friend Jeff. He, Debbie and Zoe were arriving at the park! Hooray! It was so good to see them. But within a half hour, the storm started brewing. And it was a BIG one! We decided to pack it up and head back to the farm. I am glad we escaped when we did. Matt & I drove Kryste & Danny back to Gunstock to get their car as the line to take the shuttle bus was GIGANTIC and filled with sweaty athletes, bikes, gear, families, etc. There was pouring rain on the drive back. When I called my mom to tell here we were heading home, she said the electric was out. Matt & I stopped to pick up pizza & salads at the B.H.O.P. for dinner and visited back at the house. After Jeff, Debbie and Zoe left, I was more than ready for a hot shower! Matt reminded me that no power = no water pump. Rats! So in the car and to Newfound Lake we went for a post race ice bath! Not ideal, but the water wasn’t too chilly and it got the stink off! And with that the day was done.

It was a day that will live in my memory as one of my best. Not only did I achieve my goal, I surpassed it. I finished in 6 hours 18mins and1 sec.(Swim= 38:36 Bike= 3:01:08 Run= 2:27:15) But best of all, I spent my entire day saying, “Thank You!” It felt so good, too! I made sure to say thank you to as many people as I could- all day long!. The guys parking cars at 4:00am, volunteers on the bike course, police officers, people handing out water, high school kids at the aid stations, the guys picking up sponges and empty cups from the run course, other athletes, the woman serving clam chowder in the food tent and on and on. But my most special Thank You’s of the day went to Matt (my AMAZING husband!)and Kryste & Danny. To Jeff, Debbie and Zoe. To my mom and Ian when she called after the race. To my Dad in PA when he called after the race. To my friends and family who checked in via text, email or FB. Thank you for always being in my corner and supporting me! With love and gratitude…..

My family at our house in NH.

(Mom, Ian, Kryste and Danny. Matt and me.)

Not so much..

2011-09-04T12:59:00.002-04:00

My last post was "Back in business". I was hopeful but it wasn't to be.
Friday morning when I woke up, I moved my neck and it popped. (never a good sign). A muscle on the right side of my neck that connected on my back, opposite of my collar bone, was as tight as a piano string. So I couldn't turn my neck very far. Even looking up and down was a challenge. I knew I should just get to a chiropractor. I couldn't see missing work tho.
So I headed into the city. Carrying my backpack caused that muscle to spasm a couple times. Sitting at work, I was tilting my shoulders and back in all sorts of strange ways trying to keep off that nerve in my neck. I knew I had to get to a chiropractor ASAP. My NYC chrio was already gone for the weekend. I made an appointment near home and had to leave work early.

The chiropractor figures this is simply a result of my weeks of back spasms from the shingles, then the additional lack of motion from the right shoulder I fell on. He couldn't believe how little movement I could manage tho'. He started me off with electro-stim to try and fatigue the muscle to the point it couldn't hold the cramp. Then a bunch of stretches. He had to physically push my head around to get that muscle to extend. Eventually he felt like he could attempt to align my neck. I'm not typically nervous about that adjustment but it was definitely a concern today. He adjusted it easily. Then he put me back on to the electro-stim to really try and exhaust that muscle.

I had already scheduled a massage that night. I was hoping it was going to be for my legs. My attempt at keeping them loose and ready to take on my running schedule. Instead, he spent nearly the entire time working on my back and shoulder. Deep Tissue. You know, the painful stuff. I left feeling as if I had a bit more range of motion in my neck but it was still very sore. And my brain felt like i had poison running through my veins. They always suggest to hydrate well after deep tissue to flush the toxins. I don't think I've ever felt it this dramatically tho'.

The next morning it was back to the chiropractor for another round. Same routine as the previous day. Which meant I was there for probably 45 min to an hour again.

So instead of working out, I've been hanging out at home. We did go see the Harry Potter movie. We left feeling underwhelmed once again. I guess the good news is that's the end of them. If I want to relive the experience, I'll read the books again, with the exception of Azkaban, that film was pretty good.

I've also been working on my iTunes library and updating my photo software. The photo software update looks like it might take 12+ hours of just the computer doing its thing. After that I plan on trying a new backup scheme. That will take some time as well. I'm guessing that when I finish creating this system, they will give up on the software and I'll be stuck with something useless. (This has happened once before). Although I'm using an Apple product, so maybe I'll be alright for awhile.

Sorry for the lack of Triathlon or Marathon updates.

Back in business... I hope.

2011-08-31T14:02:00.003-04:00

We fared rather well with Hurricane Irene because of a bit of luck. Our power never went out. Had our power gone out, we would have had to pull the floor drain in the basement and mop the water towards it all night. With power, we were up all night running the Wet Vac just keeping everything in check.

It’s been awhile since I’ve pulled an all nighter. You then face the decision of how to handle Sunday. I think I took two one hour naps. So Sunday wasn’t very productive for me.

I woke up Monday planning to go to our NJ recording stage. Only I heard on the radio some of the key highways to get there were still problematic. Going to the city wasn’t an option because the trains were not running at all. So I got a couple extra hours of sleep. It still didn’t feel like enough, but I’ve been feeling tired for weeks now because of the shingles.

I really wanted to start workouts again tho’. It’s been over 5 weeks now. There are times I can still feel the nerve through my right shoulder blade. It just keeps everything more tense than it should be and I have a faint feeling that I want to itch it. Then there is my right shoulder that I fell on during the tango race. It still feels bruised and has bad range of motion. During Timberman weekend I found out that it seemed to feel better after a few days of swimming. So I went over to the pool after lunch, only to find that I had everything in my swim bag but a swimsuit.

I ended up going to the pool that evening with Genine. I didn’t follow a workout. I just wanted to get that shoulder moving. I did time myself on a couple of 100’s with the pull buoy and without. I’ve regressed to being faster with the pull buoy again. Why would I even bother looking at the clock? Well my pace at Timberman was disturbing to me. I was relieved to see my pace with a pull buoy was :20+ faster per 100 than what I did at Timberman. So it’s just a matter of building up endurance again.

On the way home from the pool, we found out just how lucky we were the night of the Hurricane. Starting on the other side of Main Street (half a block from our house). The entire neighborhood was still without power. (Time to buy a Generator).

Tuesday I had to start my Marathon training schedule. I was hoping to be starting this schedule with Half Iron fitness. Instead I’m probably going to modify the schedule to allow for a slower build in the distance of the long runs. Although it can’t be too slow, I’ve got an 18 mile “race” in just over 4 weeks.

Part of me doesn’t really want to do the Marathon at this point. Once again, it’s a race I’m going to be at the start line with less preparation than I would like. Also I may have to consider dropping out partway through the race. So why bother? Well I find that having something on the schedule, that is going to be a big challenge, helps keep me focused on my training schedule. So it stays on the schedule. Who knows? Maybe it will turn out better than I think.

So I ran 4 miles last night with Genine. Initially I started out watching my HR making sure I stayed aerobic. On the way back, there is a long steady climb. Well I was kind of tired of jogging this section because my HR would never stay in zone otherwise. So I just kept pushing. My stride feels so much better running the faster pace anyhow. It was a decent run but I should have iced my right foot when I finished. That right foot is still striking oddly or something. It doesn’t bother me while I’m running, it hurts the next day.

I’m planning on getting massages frequently this fall in an attempt to get to the marathon start line and maybe it will also help this foot problem. (I think it starts in the calf muscles).

I know it sounds like I complain about all sorts of aches and pains. I know one thing for sure. I’d rather have the aches and pains from workouts, than the aches and pains from not being active.

Matt's Race Report Timberman 2011

2011-08-23T10:07:00.003-04:00

Go to this post to read about my dealing with shingles and my training for the last 4 weeks.

Night before the race: I just can’t fall asleep and when I do, I’m sleeping so lightly that every bump is waking me up. That was annoying.

We wake up in the middle of the night to drive to the park. I recline the seat and fall asleep. Which was a huge bonus for me. I probably didn’t wake up quite soon enough to really get through all my pre-race stuff very well. I felt a bit rushed and I had forgotten a few things. I guess the fact that I had extra things on the list. I was trying to decide how/where to keep camera stuff so that I could switch to photographer mode if I’m unable to finish the race. Or if I finish ahead of Genine, I can get some pictures of her finish.

Swim: We were not at the water early enough to get a warmup swim. My fault for sleeping too long. I prefer a warm up I if I can get one.

I really didn’t know where to line up for this start. I had a feeling I would start out strong but would lose power mid-swim and be pretty average from there on out. Of course if my shoulder hurts from that fall, then it’s going to be ugly from start to finish.

I decide middle of the pack to the right side. Starting on the right kept me corralled in so I didn’t drift left but it was a bit of a brawl in terms of contact. I was watching very carefully in front of me to avoid being kicked in the face. When I would slow to avoid the feet, I would be climbed over from behind. I need to get back into swim shape so I can get up on the front line, that was a mess.

Eventually everything settled. Water clarity was excellent and my goggles never fogged. I drafted off of at least 3 different people for a considerable time. Unfortunately, it was 3 people because as I lost power, I was dropped. I didn’t allow this to frustrate me. I knew it was going to be a tough go. The funny thing is, I actually enjoyed this swim much more than my Mooseman swim even tho’ I was considerably slower than my time 2 years ago.

Finished 1.2 miles in 38:53

Wetsuit strippers: My advice is to always go to an adult. Or to someone you may have seen just successfully remove another’s wetsuit. To not have it done right is a waste of time. The guy that pulled my wetsuit from me had it off so quickly, I’m surprised the momentum of the suit didn’t carry him out into transition. (would probably make for some funny high speed camera / slo-mo videos)

Bike: Alright, here we go. 4 weeks ago, I biked this course in 95+ degree heat and humidity and it was great. It’s in the 70’s but warming up today. Should be a great morning to ride.

I head out of the park. There is a long easy incline to start the ride. I was in the 8^th swim wave of 17 waves. So there is going to be plenty of action out on the course and it started right away. I didn’t even reach the top of the first hill and the woman that had passed me like I was standing still a moment ago is down on the pavement with 3 other bikers. I ended up riding through the middle of the 4 of them. Wasn’t what I wanted to do but given the other bikers and cars beside me and behind me, it was the safest route.

Once I was passed that, I got my HR watch moved around so I could see how my HR was doing. High 150’s to 160. Umm. Higher that I expected it to be. I focused on my 90 RPM and finding a comfortable gear. When I got to the big hill, I was thinking about how well I climbed this a month ago. Then just sat back and eased my way up. The downhill after that climb is the safest “bomb the downhill” on the course. I didn’t push it tho’. I really wanted to keep out of the way for the people that were really ready to race today. So if there was a pass to be made and someone was somewhat close to passing me. I’d hit the brakes and wait.

As I made the left onto the connecting road to 107, the super fast girl passed me again and she kept looking at her left elbow, which had a good bit of road rash on it.

Then I saw a woman off her bike, I slowed to ask if she needed help. I guess she wasn’t ready for someone to offer help because I was by her before she responded and I had slowed wayyyy down, expecting to stop. (Channeling Craig’s goodwill here). She said something about her chain dropping to the inside. That sounds like an easy fix, so I didn’t feel too badly for not stopping.

I completely forgot that the first aid station was right after getting onto 107. I didn’t stop for anything.

On to the climb up 107, I was feeling good but stayed right more often than I should have, again to keep out of the way of the speedsters.

The connecting roads to 106 are some good roller hills. Not having to stop for the stop sign makes it a much easier ride because you can carry your momentum.

Then finally onto 106, the first (mile?) has some sketchy pavement but there was very little traffic, so it was very simple to avoid. It just required riding further out into the road than what is necessary for the majority of 106.

Before I knew it, there was the 2^nd aid station. I’m not sure why (too many others already there? Or too short of a zone?) but I decided I was going to swing wide of this aid station.

It was probably just after this that I started to wonder if I was going to catch up with Genine today. She had a 10 minute lead with her swim wave. I expected she would open up another 3-5 minutes on my swim time. So I had to make up 15 minutes over 56 miles. 4 weeks ago, no problem. Today, I was thinking it was going to take the majority of the 56 miles. Which could be cool. Maybe we could run together!

I was thinking I had 2 things really going well for me on the outbound stretch of 106. First I was surprised at how well I was staying in aero. Second, I had been eating, taking in electrolyte capsules and drinking water and my stomach felt very agreeable. That was until I ran out of water. Which meant I had consumed 35oz or so and I wasn’t too far from the turn around, so really not a big deal.

I had started to watch the inbound bikers trying to spot Genine. If we are going to cross paths, it should happen soon. Sure enough, as I was approaching the turn off of 106 at the far end before the turn around, there was a bunch of traffic. Yet Genine spotted me and started cheering for me. I shouted back (she didn’t hear me). It could be because I was approaching my 2^nd bike crash of the day. Right at that turn off. It must have been a bad one. There were ambulances, never a good sign. I kept my eyes on the turn and got by without a problem.

I’ll admit I went back to thinking about Genine almost immediately. The fact that I hadn’t caught up with her by the turn around meant that she was way ahead of her expectations. I knew she wasn’t going to be on the bike for 3:30-3:45. I even got a little choked up thinking about how psyched she was going to be with her ride time.

I then went back to thinking about when I was going to catch her. I didn’t think to look at my watch to see how many minutes behind I was from when she yelled at me. Not that it mattered, I’m not going to push any harder than I already am.

I get to the aid station at the turn around. I slow down enough to make sure I get all of the water into my speedfil. Then toss the bottle before leaving the zone. Back onto 106 inbound, first thing is a pretty rough bump on/near the bridge. I wonder how many people flatted out right there. I wonder if they should have had bike support set up shop right there. Made me think about my choice of not riding the HED 3 tubulars today. (I didn’t ride them because I couldn’t imagine having that kind of gear with the slow bike split I was going to turn in today, stupid? Maybe.) Anyhow, I’d have been bummed to have to deal with a tubular change this year, I feel like I’ve had enough troubles already.

So I’m on the way back, things are looking good. The only thing that’s starting to bug me are my shoulders from being in areo for so long. Not a big deal tho’. Then a light blue jersey goes flying by me. That would be Chad from team Ballou Skies passing me like I’m standing still. Seriously. No chance of saying hey as he went by.

Then I got to a place where some people were not staying to the right and I was really concerned about passing them safely. They weren’t even holding their line well. I checked over my shoulder and saw that I had time to make the pass but more speed was approaching. So I put a bit of a burst into my pass and as I was doing that, the insides of both quads got so so close to cramping up really badly on me. That, has never happened to me on the bike. Calf cramps I expect, this was not a good sign. I had to really reduce my effort immediately. So the people I just passed were going to go right back by me. As they went by they asked if I was okay. I assured them I was fine, just leg cramps. I checked the mileage. 37. 19 to go.

Alright, this is not a lack of electrolyte. This is because I’ve obviously pushed myself too hard after doing nearly nothing for 4 weeks. I have a few more “easy” miles on 106. Maybe this isn’t such a big deal, I just have to keep an easy effort and I’ll be alright.

I’m being passed by so many people, that I just put myself as far right on the pavement as I can. Eventually, I reach the juke off of 106 that when it turns back towards 106 has a short climb but it’s steep. I am very concerned about how this is going to turn out. (I now really wish I would have swapped to my 12-26 cassette).

I tried to move as slowly and evenly up that hill as I could. My quads were ready to lock up at any given moment under this effort. (I really didn’t want to be lying on the road clipped onto my bike with my legs cramped up). I was thrilled when I made it but I knew there were more hills on the way.

Finally off of 106, the rollers back to 107…. Yeah, I was pedaling so cautiously. Oddly enough there was someone right on my back wheel on that climb. My legs were going to go at any second. I called out “I’m going to stop!”. The guy said “thanks for the warning”, as I successfully clipped out and just stood. Then I decided I’d walk the bike to the top of the hill. There was no way I was going to be able to start on an incline. When I reached the top. I leaned on my bike and watched for an opening to try and get rolling again. So many people asked if everything was alright.

Finally, I see a gap and I hop onto my bike and give it a go. I manage to get to 107. Now this can be a very fast downhill but the pavement isn’t great and there are turns, so you can’t be certain you’ve got a clear roadway. This is where I see accident #3 and a person is on a stretcher. Oh man. I’m having a bad day but this puts it into perspective. I sit up in the saddle completely and focus on just making it down safely.

Now to climb back over to Rt 11, I just went really easy. The pavement here is not so good, I rolled though a bunch of it because I didn’t want to be on the better pavement moving so slowly.

One big climb left. Again super easy effort, but it’s a long climb and I finally had to get off and stand to keep my quads from locking up. Not much room here, so I stepped off the road with my bike and watched people roll by again. Eventually I watched for a gap to jump back in.

When I made it to the top, I knew I should be able to manage the rest of the way back in. Starting with the big downhill, but again, it’s not the safest place to fly, it ends in a no passing zone for bikers.

2 more turns and I’m rolling along the road to the entrance to the park. I know I’m not even going to try and run. If I allow my legs to actually cramp as hard as they are wanting to right now. It would take days for them to feel better again. I’d rather go get some pictures of Genine racing. So I look at my watch. I realize I might have a chance to get a picture of Chrissie finishing her race, it’s going to be soon tho’. I say to the woman ahead of me that if we hurry, we can make it onto the run course before Chrissie finishes her run. She laughs and said something back. Then as I got to the next incline, she passes me back and says “come on, we can do this”. I told her this is everything I’ve got and wished her luck.

I went into transition. Handed my chip to the person there. They asked if I needed to get my stuff out of transition. I said there was no need.

BIKE: 18.05mph on the way out, 16.8mph on the way back. 3:13:15 total time. 17.39mph Avg.

I racked my bike. Went back to the car. Grabbed my camera and went into photographer mode. Unfortunately by the time I made it over to the finish line. I think all the pros were in.

I then realized I had better call Genine’s family to tell them that Genine was going to be finishing much earlier than what she had told them. (almost an hour faster). I also called and texted friends/family to let them know I wasn’t going to run. So they didn’t have to worry about me.

Typically I take photos of almost everyone when I’m at a race. Well, today I was a little tired. I took some practice shots shortly before I figured Genine would be finishing her first lap. I also took some pictures for people standing around me that were only going to get a photo using their cell phone. (I hope they remember how to find my flickr site).

Genine came running in finishing her first lap right about when I thought she would. She was looking good. I’m going to let Genine cover the details of her race in her own report which will be posted here soon. Her post will have the pictures I took of her.

I’m glad that I tried to race. This was the A race after all. I would have always been wondering what I had in me if I decided to just photograph Genine’s day instead. Obviously my race wasn’t anything special but I was having fun up until mile 37 of the bike. Sometimes you have to take what you can get and be happy with it.

Going into a 70.3 with an extreme taper

2011-08-20T21:23:00.002-04:00

I got shingles 4 weeks ago. Am I over it? The last day and a half, that nerve through my back has been pretty good, so I'm going to race Timberman tomorrow.

I've swam 3 times this week for about 20-30 min each. Only swim workouts in last 4 weeks.
Bike: 1 hour ride 2 days ago. 15 minute ride today. Only bike workouts in last 4 weeks.
Run: Tango prep hike. The Tango 7 mile run. 10 minute jog today. Only runs in last 4 weeks.

I'm carrying an extra 5 pound around the middle. Tough to turn off the eating habit when you get sick during the biggest two weeks of training all year. Then to not exercise at all.

I'm wondering if I can race smartly enough so that I can actually finish the run. That is the challenge tomorrow. I may be over estimating what I'm going to be able to do. Guess I'll find out soon.

I'm really looking forward to seeing Genine out there. Her Wave starts 10 minutes ahead of me. It will be interesting to see if/when I catch her.
This is her first half iron. She was looking forward to buying a Timberman 70.3 bike jersey today, unfortunately there weren't any to buy. What's up with that?

I'd better ZZZ..

Oh Genine is #500
I'm #816 (I think)

Kinzua Country Tango 2011 Race Report

2011-08-11T22:05:00.005-04:00

Genine and I arrived in Warren a few days before the event. I have been dealing with shingles for about 2 weeks. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to race on Saturday. I did hike around on Thursday and I felt pretty good. I kept thinking about recovering for Timberman 70.3 tho’. Would running for 90+ minutes set me back in my recovery? I really wanted to participate with this team. Everyone had been training consistently and was ready to go.

I think what made my decision to race was this. My Timberman race is already going to be much less than it should have been because of the shingles. I might end up only doing the swim leg at Timberman. The tango has suddenly become my A race for the year. I haven’t had a really good orienteering split yet. This was my best chance to post a good time, as I was only doing the one event.

13.1: We all arrived at the Y in the morning to see Jim start the day off with the 13.1 mile run. It had been raining and there is more rain on the way. Jim had sent a note earlier in the week that his hip flexor had been giving him trouble. He had been hoping to break his previous time of 1:32:00 but now he was telling us he would take what he would get, but he was hopeful.

The rest of us drove up to the dam to wait for him. At the 9 mile mark he was the 9^th runner to pass. I wasn’t sure what divisions the other people were in, but he was on pace and looking strong. We then headed to the beach.

Jim arrived at the beach in 1:32:xx tying his run from last year. We were off to a good start. (Turned out to be 4^th of 42 in our division)

Bike 20 miles: Craig started his ride and we all knew he had work to do. It had been raining and more was on the way. Craig wanted some revenge on this course and got a really rough day of weather to try and make it happen in. The rest of us traveled over to the boat launch to wait for Craig and to get Genine and Michelle ready for the swim. It really started to rain hard towards the end of Craig’s ride. Craig rolled in with a time of 1:34:xx. He wasn’t happy with it but I had a feeling he wouldn’t be the only one unhappy with their ride today. (Turned out to be 29^th of 42 in our division. I’d be curious how many of those ahead of him were on cyclocross bikes. The percentage of Cyclocross vs Mountain bikes has gone way up in the last couple years)

Swim 2.5 miles: The first trick for Genine, was to not fall on the slippery stairs leading down to the docks as it was pouring down rain. Michelle was already in the kayak. She said the rain was rolling off her visor like a waterfall. The rest of us head back to the beach, I had a feeling that Genine might go under the hour mark for this swim and I wanted to jog around a bit before having to run up the hill.

Genine finished the swim in 1:04:xx. One minute slower than my best time, but 5 minutes faster than my time last year. (16 people were faster and one person tied her time in our division of 42)

Orienteering 7 miles 5 points: Genine tags us and they hand us the map. We had seen many people run out towards the road to start their run. Now I know why. The first point was on the other side of Rt 59. After seeing where the other points were, we decided not to go in order. So we went into the woods instead of onto the road.

As we were running up the hillside, we passed a group of 20-30 kids with supervision. Many of them cheered us on as we ran by which was cool. It’s not often you get spectators during the orienteering! I was just glad that they weren’t on the narrow stairway when we were trying to go up! (There is only room for one).

As we were heading towards our 2^nd point, there was a team directly behind us. I was hoping to put some distance between us as I didn’t want to lead them to the next point. We reached the open field and I was hoping to make it into the trees on the far side before they got to the clearing. Unfortunately that field had some rather large holes in it. I saw the first two and had warned Jerry about them. I didn’t see the third one tho’! I fell over hard but managed to land on my right shoulder. Thankfully there wasn’t a rock where my head hit, or else I probably would have been knocked out cold. Instead I hopped back up, Jerry picked up the bottles that fell out of my fuel belt and kept going. When I looked back, we didn’t get to the woods before the other team could see where we entered. Ah well…

We got to our 2^nd point and then we were off to the races. We were now trail running to find the next couple points. I’m guessing we ran 2 miles or so along the trails. I felt pretty good about this section seeing how we were either leading or keeping up with a couple of kids that were obvious runners from college or High School. Unfortunately that changed when they got onto the pavement, they dropped us quickly. After we found the last point all that was left to do was run down 59 back to the beach. Running downhill is never fun for me. I had trail shoes one that were feeling like 5 pound weights on each foot and then my left calf started to cramp. (why didn’t I take salt tabs before the run?). Jerry wanted to catch the group ahead of us, I did too but I had to shorten my stride because of the impending cramp. We were still making decent time tho’. By the time we reached transition. Jerry tagged Todd before the other team. Todd had to wait a couple more seconds for me to tag up. We finished in 1:18:xx. (This turned out to be 2^nd of 42 in our division, 5^th overall) Obviously, I’m more than satisfied with this result. I’m so glad I raced today, despite dealing with shingles.

4.5 mile run: Todd has been ready to run this for at least a month. We have all been waiting to see all his hard work pay off. There were people out on the road ahead of him and he was on a mission. I hopped into the car and pulled out the camera. I turned on the hazard lights a few times as I slowed to snap some pictures along the way. I was fortunate enough to catch up to him just as he was passing 2 people and another one was just ahead. He was definitely having fun.

I got to the next transition and waited with the rest of the team. Todd came blazing down the trail and finished the run in 31:xx. (4 people beat him, 3 people tied him of 42 in our division) About a 6:53 pace. Awesome.

Canoe 8.5 miles: Craig and Jerry got into the canoe 6 hours into our race. I know some of us had been hoping to break 7 hours. The longer orienteering leg this year kind of stole that possibility for us I think. They had people out on the river to catch tho. Every minute still counted and they were digging.

They finished in 1:18:xx (This is the 7^th fastest canoe split in our division of 42) Which put our team at the finish line 6^th in the open relay division 8^th place overall.

I have to say I’m really proud to have been part of this team. Not many people will know our story of the Class of 88 and how well we did last weekend, but I will never forget it.

Full Results can be found here

Some Tango Photos

2011-08-09T20:49:00.008-04:00

Never sure when we will get the full tango results. I'd like to have those before writing my race report. Having the dry erase board at the finish is great. I wish they would do that at the finish of each event. Even if it's just the finish time of each team. Then at the end of the day they could take a picture of all of the boards and post them to the facebook group so we have an idea of how everyone did in their events.
I know when I go to work tomorrow people will ask how I did. I'll have to say that I have no idea. They probably won't ask a second time.... Anyhow.

Jim Running the 13.1

Craig starting the bike:

Genine tagged to start the swim:

Genine finishing the swim:

Jerry and I finishing the Orienteering, Michelle telling us to hurry it up!

Todd knocking out the competition:

Craig and Jerry finish the day out with the canoe:

Team R-143. AKA "WAHS '88"

Kinzua Country Tango '11 Photos

2011-08-08T15:52:00.002-04:00

Here is the link to the photos that we took of other people during the race.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/catmarlson/sets/72157627386974978/

I hope to write up a race report sooner than later. I put photo editing ahead of writing. Sadly there were probably a 1000 bad pictures that I left out because it was such a dark and rainy day.

The good news is that our team had a terrific day of racing. Results aren't posted yet but it looks like our team (R-143) took 8th overall and 6th in our division. (Outside our division, One High School Relay beat us and one College Complete team beat us).

I'm more than impressed with my teammates' dedication to training. The hard work paid off.
I never look too closely at our competition but I'm not sure that I would have guessed we'd have climbed 4 spots from last year's team.
I'm looking forward to seeing the full results.

Race Report with our pictures from our team will be posted... soon?

Tango Time

2011-08-04T20:24:00.003-04:00

I know, the posts have been very sparse. It's just that nothing has been happening. Once I was told I had shingles, I stayed home and did nothing for 3 days.
Then I did 2 half days of work, I've got to keep the place going.
Then we packed up and headed for PA. It was an easy trip.
I still can't go to the pool because of the blisters on my skin. So I haven't had a swim in 11 days.
I don't think I've biked for 10 days.
9 days since my last run.

So the big question is will I do the Tango orienteering on Saturday or not? I had this afternoon entirely to myself today, so I figured I'd better just head up to Kinzua Beach and see how I'd feel if I hiked up and around rim rock. I took it really easy and walked most of the time but my hike ended up being about two and half hours. I had the place to myself and it was amazing all the birds I flushed along the trails.
I had put this capsaicin cream on the shingles blisters on my ankles. Initially it was kind of warm but once I started to break a sweat. WOW! I can't believe anything survived the fire, I couldn't wait to wash that stuff off.
Anyhow, if I get good rest the next two nights, I think I'll be fine to do the orienteering on Saturday. The good rest thing can be tricky. Last night around 3:30 AM I woke up because that nerve in my back was so itchy I couldn't sleep. Itching it doesn't really satisfy the situation. Fortunately we've found that putting an ice pack on that area seems to work for awhile. Then I wake up again when that ice pack is warm and I go get another one. Doesn't make for a very restful night. Hopefully this stuff goes away soon.

Ouch. Bad timing.

2011-07-29T10:56:00.002-04:00

As I had mentioned in my previous post, I've been dealing with some bad bites on my back at times they feel like they are on fire. Also my upper back muscles have been in knots for well over a week. I figured the beds up in NH had crippled me.
Well the muscle pain was bad enough Thursday that I left work early to go to a chiropractor (different Dr from my Tuesday visit). I also scheduled an appointment with a medical doctor on Friday AM to see about how to get these bites to chill out.
Well my chiropractor takes a look at my back and tells me that there is a chance that those aren't bug bites. Those might be the result of shingles. Suddenly it all makes sense. I've never had shingles before but I know about them and all the aches and pains I've been having fit the description perfectly.
Sure enough, my doctor this morning confirmed it. I'll be picking up a prescription soon and I'm hoping that it will be fast acting (really hard to know, it could take weeks). I have the Tango race a week from Tomorrow and Timberman 70.3 in 3 weeks. Can I race with this? Probably. It's really quite painful and uncomfortable at times tho'. Not exactly what you want to deal with for your A race for 2011.
I would LOVE a back massage right now but the doc says not until the skin clears, same for swimming. (we will see about that one).

I sure didn't expect this.... Ah well. This is painful and uncomfortable but there are worse problems to have.

NH Vacation

2011-07-27T19:16:00.001-04:00

The NH vacation was great. Did we get to everything that we had hoped? No way, but we had a really good time.

I’m going to summarize the triathlon side of the trip.

Swimming: Started off badly, I was really wasting a ton of energy with a bad stroke. Even with the wetsuit on I was unhappy with my swim. Fortunately I was in the water enough that I eventually corrected the problem. By the end of the trip, I could have swam for miles with or without a wetsuit. I’m really hoping my form sticks around for Timberman. I’m not sure it’s going to be faster but it should be an easy start to the race. My biggest concern is my sighting. I drift left when I get tired. (I don’t think I should be tired after 1.2 miles).

Biking: We biked over 56 miles a couple of times. We were carrying over 100 oz of water with us at the start of those rides and we both became familiar with taking salt tabs. We also ate along the way, testing out what we were planning for race day.

I think I’ve determined water with salt tabs is much easier on my stomach than Gatorade. So I’m going to stick with water on race day. Also I’m going to stay with bars for the first half of the ride. I will have GU but those don’t seem to sit well initially. On both the rides, during the 2^nd half, the GU was definitely the boost I needed.

I didn’t ride the Hed 3’s at all this trip. I’m really glad I didn’t for the Timberman course ride, there were some wind gusts that were really giving me trouble with my standard wheels. There are also a couple of rough sections of road. I’ll admit I’ll be nervous on race day if I decide to got with the Hed 3’s. A flat on the tubulars could really mess up my day.

I’m definitely a 90+ RPM rider now. It’s definitely made a difference. Going long is much easier and the legs are feeling much better at the finish. (ready to run). It’s unfortunate that I haven’t been spinning 90RPM since last November because I don’t think I’m going to be able to hold the HR zone I would like for 56 miles. I just haven’t had enough time spinning this speed. I didn’t track my speeds during my rides, I didn’t want to be caught up trying to push using the wrong gauge. My bike split for Timberman is going to be a surprise. (It may very well be slower than last time).

I’m really happy with my biking tho’. I haven’t been having the low back pain I have had in previous years. I’ve also put much more training time on the bike, most of it on a trainer. (sadly). The extra time has paid off and I feel that I will continue to improve. I almost wish I Timberman was in September so I’d have a bit more time to work in this 90RPM with more speed.

Running: I am still way behind on my speed workouts. It’s really unfortunate, as there is no catching up now. I’m not too upset by it tho’, because I feel like I’ve been dealing with some issues which feel like they could be an injury if I pushed it too hard.

After the 60 mile bike at the Timberman course we ran for 30 minutes. I was moving along feeling pretty good. I started to get some stitches in my lower abs, right above the belt line. Cramping is always a concern of mine. If it’s a warm day I’ll be downing many salt tabs hoping that it will help.

My run split is going to be a mystery also. Although I’m fairly confident that this is the one split that will improve over my time 2 years ago. (2:09:54)

Now that we are home, I ran last night and my legs felt horrible the last 20 minutes. I really need a massage. Driving 5-6 hours really gives me troubles it seems. I guess if I go for a massage, I’ll have to have them just work on my legs even tho’ my upper back is killing me. Why? Well I’ve got a bunch of bites on my back from either a spider or mosquitoes. They itch like crazy and they aren’t going away. I don’t think they’d want to deal with that. I know… Gross.

That’s all I’ve got time for. Time to hop on the bike trainer.

Race updates

2011-07-23T21:13:00.002-04:00

Tupper Lake 1/2 Iron- Great race for me (really not a race, but a personal challenge). Swam 1 hour for 1.2 miles, ....took 22 minutes off my time from 11 years ago. The bike- rained a little during but when it did, it hurt! Bike 3:30 hours for 56 miles- a 45 minute improvement. Legs started burning at 45 miles. Run went well for three miles then decent the rest of the way 2 hour 5 minutes for the 1/2 marathon. 5 minutes slower than 11 years ago. Bottom line- 1hour faster and finished in 6:44 and felt better after the finish than I usually do following a marathon. So in September,... I'm signing up for this race.

Butler Triathlon- 2 weeks later. Swam my faster 1/4 mile ever- 9:13. The water was significantly warmer than tupper. Bike was tough and crowded, but I was pleased. The run was fantastic. I ran 21:15 for the 5k and negative split the run course. Finished 80th of 242. A good showing for me.

Today- Oil city Firemen's 5k- Marty and I ran 12 miles total as we are now training for the green mountain marathon in vermont (Oct 16). I ran 5:58, 6:00, 6:07, :29. Felt like a million bucks. Total 18:36 and placed 10th of 199. My best 5k in several years and the course it certified!! I was nervous about the tango run coming up. Now I feel like I should be able to run as fast as last year.

I look forward to seeing you all soon

Got to have a good Tango

2011-07-19T23:19:00.002-04:00

So today Genine and I ran for a little more than an hour in afternoon heat. We figure it's likely that's what we are going to be running in for Timberman so we'd better get used to it. I took the fuel belt again and am doing a much better job keeping hydrated on the run.
Later we were at the lake, we both put our wetsuits on but Genine added fins for Tango training. As she passed me I thought, "I'll just draft off of her", ummm... nope, I have no chance of keeping up. She is a totally different swimmer with fins. I hope the reservoir is calm on race day. I'm really curious to see just how fast she's going to go on race day.
I also read that Craig continued his bike workout through the crazy rains in WV Monday night. Sheesh! My teammates are serious! I really have to hope I manage a good orienteering split this year everyone is working so hard, it would be nice if our overall time shows all the hard work.

Never bored

2011-07-19T09:58:00.002-04:00

Posts are infrequent because we've been vacationing. I don't have that 2.5 hours of sitting on a train commuting to work, to write my blog posts. I also think there are less hours in a day when you are on vacation.

I'm in the heaviest part of my training schedule. Swimming hasn't been happening much, nor has the weight lifting. Which is a shame but what can you do? I think the swimming will pick up this week. I plan on being in my wetsuit for most of those swims, hopefully that will help.

I biked a double loop of the Mooseman Int. course the other day. First loop was done at an easy pace and yet when I got to devil's hill the 2nd time, my bike felt like it was made of lead. I was odd how heavy that climb felt. Once I got out of the hills I made a point of taking a couple GU packs to make sure my calories were good. That may have helped, the rest of the ride was pretty good. It was also a hot day, so I was carrying 60 oz of fluid and I was taking salt tabs often. I think that was successful as well.

Knocked out a 2 hour run the other day too. Took a fuel belt and made a stop at the hour mark to reload. If it is crazy hot/humid on raceday, I may consider the fuel belt.

Mini Vacation

2011-07-13T14:50:00.000-04:00

We had a few days off in addition to last weekend. We went back to Warren to spend time with family and friends and to do some workouts (of course).

I think we did the friends and family thing well but in terms of Half Iron preparation, well I’d give that a C+.

We got an A for running tho’. We ran with Todd and Jerry for 60 minutes one night. Picked them up along the way of our 1:40:00 run another night. That run was probably the slowest they’ve ever run but it was what Genine and I needed to do and we were glad for the company.

Genine and I went up to do some biking along the reservoir. I don’t think we were prepared for the course. It was all climbing and descending. We didn’t mind the climbing but not knowing the roads well enough we had to take it easy on the descents. Some descents were long enough that we probably could have set new PRs on max speed.

Then came Tango training day. Initially I thought I would swim the 2.2 miles with Genine but it seemed like a better plan to do the 4.5 mile run with Todd and Jerry. This test swim for Genine was more about testing her nerves regarding swimming in the reservoir. It’s a big swim but she gets to use fins and has Michelle beside her in the kayak. (this is also the situation on race day). Once she got herself in the water she was fine and she did great. I think it’s very likely that she will post the best swim split of any of our previous years, or very close.

Todd, Jerry and I ran from the beach to the tail waters. We timed it but there was no warmup. The first mile or so was the warmup. None of us have run this course before and everyone has told us how awful it is, so we held back. Along the way I tried to give them every bit of advice I could that might help on race day. It turned out to be a pretty solid run. Once we were warmed up things started to pickup and I was running what would probably be close to my 10K race pace. Then when it got to the last mile… Well Todd opened it up and I had to give it nearly everything I had. I probably should have let up when we hit the off road section. That could have ended badly for me if I twisted an ankle or something but I wanted to be able to stop my watch when he reached the finish. The time was good and there is a good amount of free time to be taken off at the beginning of that run.

I think everyone left the weekend feeling pretty good about our Tango team. It’s going to be fun to see if we can beat our time from last year.

Timberman Goal

2011-07-05T18:47:00.002-04:00

Chrissie just posted that she will be racing Timberman again this year.
She has a history of handing out finisher's medals for awhile at the end of the race.
The goal (perhaps wish is more appropriate): Get to the finish while she's still there.

It's been crazy busy between work and workouts so not much time to post.

I've become a walking injury. Rather than talking about it, I'm just doing what I can and that's that. I'm taking it all in and hoping to improve the plan moving forward.

5 Miler Central Park Race Report 2011

2011-06-26T12:11:00.002-04:00

Achilles Hope & Possibility Results
Beautiful morning for a race. It's going to be a warm one but not a scorcher.
I biked 58 miles yesterday so it was hard for me to know what I was going to get out of my legs this morning.
The warmup was decent but when I tried to do the striders there wasn't much pep to them. Nothing new there I suppose. I just knew I would have to run a solid pace run today rather than go for a PR.
I got to the corral early but made the mistake of not moving up further. There was plenty of room, I just had in my head that I shoudn't get in the way. It was a very congested first mile+. The fact there was some uphill also had the mass moving a bit slower than I had expected. Not a big deal.
I forgot my watch today, so no splits. I was going to go by perceived effort and try not to be too lazy. Once the course opened up a bit, I decided to find someone that looked to be running a pace that I should be pushing and then go with them. I'm glad I did. I think we negative split every mile by a little bit.
I passed all the aid stations because once again my stomach was a mess. (not sure why this is happening so often lately). My pacer went over to the last water station, that's when I was on my own again. It was a downhill with a mile to go. I tried to open it up as much as I could. My pacer pulled along side of me at one point but I was bursting at times to break through the people that run downhill poorly. Towards the end of that mile, I was hurting a bit more that I thought I would be but I guess that's a good way to finish.
I knew I was under 8 min miles but wasn't positive of my time until I got home and checked online.

37:58 7:36 min/mile.
390th of 3327 Overall
345 of 1684 men
46 of 212 Age Group.

That time is a bit slower than it probably should have been. The long bike the day before definitely played a part. I'm alright with it. Glad to be out there runnin'.
I don't think I'm going to make it to another NYRR race until September maybe October. I shouldn't have a problem getting my 9 races in. Today was my 5th of the year.

I think I need to challenge myself to setting some PRs at these races next year. This year I had to learn how the coaching thing for triathlon was going to play out. Next year I should be able to plan out which run races I should make goal races to get me ready for the Triathlon season.
I'm interested in doing this now, but with a Half Iron and a marathon ahead of me, I need to think distance not speed.

RPMs

2011-06-25T20:56:00.000-04:00

This is the 2^nd weekend in a row where I’ve put in a 56+ mile bike day. Between the 2 rides I got a bit of an adjustment from the coaches. I mentioned that I feel pretty comfortable in the 82-85 zone for my cadence. Well, that’s not good enough. I guess we need to see a 9 as the first number.

Other years I’d try 90+ RPM and I think my HR would go too high and my legs would fatigue as well. That was before, I figure I’d better give it a shot with my current conditioning.

First thing is I think I requires a bit more warmup for me to get into 90 rpm mode. Once I got there, I think I accepted that as the tempo and didn’t find myself drifting lower. I definitely spent more time shifting. That should improve with a couple more rides.

I’m very interested to see how my legs feel running off the bike with this cadence. I have a brick scheduled next weekend, should be interesting.

My other big concern is hydration and nutrition. Both of these long ride I had a disaster for a stomach and I didn’t drink enough fluid. I’m going to have to start practicing race day breakfasts before these rides because I think it’s what I’m eating before I ride that’s causing me trouble. I also think I need to get my watch to beep at me every X:XX minutes to remind me to drink. It’s been hot the last couple rides but I’ve been comfortable as long as I’m in motion. The lack of fluid will kill my run tho’, so I’ve got to get that taken care of.

AC Joint

2011-06-25T14:35:00.001-04:00

So I went to the chiropractor this morning. I was very curious to find out what he could tell me about my shoulder. To figure out what is wrong, you do a bunch of resistance tests, pushing and resisting with your arm in various positions. I guess I should have counted how many different tests we did. I think it was about 8. It doesn’t take very long to go through them, probably 2 minutes. After each one he’d ask “Any pain?”. No.

So that was good news, except that I was thinking it had to be something. I know it’s feeling better but it’s not perfect. He wasn’t done with me yet. He has me lie down on the table and then we do a test where he’s pushing on my shoulder. I grimaced as he did this one. “There it is, that would be an AC joint sprain”.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acromioclavicular_joint

http://www.athleticadvisor.com/injuries/ue/shoulder/a_-_c_sprain.htm

Always good to know what we are dealing with so we treat it properly. I should have been icing it. Not swimming was the right call. (easy call, it was painful to even try). It is much better already tho’. Hard to say how much longer I should rest it. It’s basically day to day. Maybe Monday? Hopefully.

Try as I might…

2011-06-23T21:41:00.001-04:00

The other day I was very close to posting a few things but I didn’t want to jinx myself.

Those things were:

The tendonitis in my left elbow seems to be gone after 5 months.

My tight right hamstring seems to have given up it’s fight. (started in April I think)

Because of the hamstring, I think my right foot might finally be tracking properly.

Fantastic! Really I was psyched because my 8 weeks of intense training had arrived.

I mentioned my core workouts and how cautious I have been in choosing my exercises to avoid injury. So far so good there, I’ve also been very careful with my weight lifting. Sadly, still not enough. Instead of pullups, I’ve been doing negatives. (simply lowering myself from the pullup bar). Wednesday night, that was the first thing on my list. As soon as I lifted my feet from the ground, my right shoulder tweaked. Seriously?!!? You’ve got to be kidding. So I bailed on the negatives. Only to find out I couldn’t do a number of the other exercises now either. (not happy).

Then we went to the pool. I knew I wasn’t likely I was going to be able to do much but I had to find out. Sure enough, swimming was not going to happen either.

Went home and soaked it in icy/hot for the night. It didn’t help. All day today if I move my arm a certain way it’s painful. I’ve got a chiropractor appointment on Saturday morning. Maybe he can adjust it and get it to heal up a bit quicker.

I guess if it’s going to happen, now is as good of a time as any. I just hope this problem doesn’t stick around as long as that list up above did.

If this was a twitter post I'd add something like this right? #madeofglass

Sleep/Train/Work/Train: repeat

2011-06-19T22:02:00.002-04:00

Yep, I’m still around. It’s just been very busy, mostly a fun busy so I’m not complaining.

All sorts of stuff is running through my head. I know I don’t have time to organize a good post so I’m just going to throw a bunch of stuff down here.

Racing Columbia and Mooseman 13 days apart: I just wanted to note that physically I was recovered from the first race. At my current fitness level, racing 2 Olympic distance events that close together is definitely doable.

Things I would change for next year:

I need to make Mooseman or Columbia an A race and peak for that event. This will build speedwork into my workouts earlier_.

I also have to spend more time running hills. I’m not exactly sure what the balance is, but I know that my standard run course isn’t good enough to prepare for Columbia’s run course.

For Mooseman I’m wondering, if I lose the clip-on aero bars on my road bike and get fit for road position, would that make for a faster ride for me than my tribike? I definitely need to look into this after Timberman this year.

Ironman Events: The other day was signup for two new Ironman venues. The one up in Quebec in late August looks like my kind of venue. I also think that it’s probably at the right time of year in terms of having time for outdoor training. Genine asked me if I was thinking of signing up. I said no.

Some may argue it’s not many more hours than I’m training now, so what’s the difference? Well I think the big thing is this. I don’t think I want to be an ironman enough and I think that it’s a pretty big key to being successful. That may change in the future. Heck, if a bunch of my friends called me and said they were signing up, I’d probably jump in pretty quickly. Of course it would be nice if they were local and we could train together but we’ve trained “together” through this blog before, so I know that’s pretty good motivation as well.

A couple of minor injuries (if that’s what they are), also have me concerned that even a half iron may be too much. (so far so good tho). My right foot is still not striking properly when I run. Which is likely cause or effect of my right hamstring being tight. I definitely got some relief with chiropractic and massage but I’m not cured. Dealing with this is definitely impacting my outlook.

Motivation is still good. It might even be better than it has been in quite some time. I actually was up at 5AM and completed a morning workout Mon-Thurs this week. So I haven’t had to brick workouts at night like I had been doing from time to time.

The two mornings that I ran this week I had my HR monitor on. As I was standing in the kitchen getting ready to go, I noticed my HR was hanging around 53. That seems lower than previous years. I’m not sure I get that same reading in the evening.

My swimming speed has been below average. Really odd how the week before Mooseman I had such a great workout, since then it’s been pretty awful. Frustrating but not surprising. Same as it ever was…

I’ve been getting better about building core strength. I’m really taking my time with it. In other years I’d tried pull up plans and push up plans. They were too aggressive and I paid the price. I think I’ve finally learned my lesson. Make a plan that goes slow and steady, then stick to the plan. So far so good with the core plan.

Looking at my training schedule, it doesn’t get much more difficult than what I did this past week. I survived it, but as you can tell by my lack of posts, I don’t have much free time as a result.

I set a new PR for distance on the bike this Saturday. 62 miles. I’ve finally done more than 56 miles. Maybe that means I’ll be better prepared for Timberman this time around. I had to run after those 62 miles, I found out that I was somewhat dehydrated. It didn’t feel like it on the bike, but it was obvious on the run. That is something I need to focus on in the future.

The next day, I swam 5000m then ran for about 10-11 miles. The swim was slow but consistent. The run, perhaps a bit dehydrated again. I had my fuelbelt on but indigestion was pretty much in play the entire run. Ah well. I got it done.

There are many other things I’d like to ramble on about but once again I’m out of time and I’ve been working on this post almost all week. (sad I know). Sorry my posting is so infrequent and for my lack of comments on other’s blogs. I’m just having a heck of a time finding the time.

Hope everyone is fit and injury free!

Photos I get...

2011-06-08T22:03:00.003-04:00

So you've seen the photos I've taken of other people racing. Well here is the set I get to choose from.
Race Photos
At least the bike picture shows the jacket I chose to wear that morning, which is kind of funny.

My race number was kind of on my hip during the run. So my annual moose antlers picture during the run can be found in the lost and found section. Sort by male runners and look for my yellow jersey.

I think Genine had better luck with her pictures.

Mooseman 70.3 Photos Age Groupers

2011-06-08T15:59:00.002-04:00

Here is a link to the pictures I took of the Age Groupers on Sunday.
Mooseman 2011 70.3 Photos Age Group

Ironman NYC 2012

2011-06-07T13:07:00.000-04:00

Looks like it's a go. Here's the link.

Matt's RR Mooseman 2011

2011-06-07T12:37:00.003-04:00

37 degrees on the way to transition. 59 degree water.

I've been at this beach probably 35 of 41 summers of my life. I could only be more familiar with the area if I lived there. (and then it probably wouldn't feel as special).

I get to the swim start with a swim PR on my mind. I swim for about a minute. Massive face freeze pain. I take a short break to let that subside. Then continue to warm up. Better to deal with that pre-race than during the first 200m. (or at least that's what I think).
I line up right of center. I have a tendency to swim to the left when things aren't going well. This is the perfect lake for drafting. You can see everything. After about 200m I start to search for someone to follow. Unfortunately, I've limited my options because I'm pulling so far left. I'm right on the buoy line. I spend the next 300-400m trying to get into a groove but every time I look up I'm directly between buoys and everyone else is to the right of me. At the turn, heading for the beach, I caught feet for about 150m, then that guy flipped into a back stroke. I never got comfortable on the swim and knew I missed another chance to PR a swim this year. In T1 I look at my watch and see 29:xx. Disappointing. It was a 28:29 swim. 83 Overall I believe.

I took my time in T1. I toweled dry. Put socks on to try and keep a bit warmer and also pulled on a jacket. Not a bike jacket but it was close enough. I really wanted to keep from freezing up. I know this course very well. I decided I'd keep it fairly easy to start in hopes that when I got to the "devil's hill" I'd be ready to climb and my legs wouldn't cramp from the cold as they have other years.
When I got to Devil's Hill, there was a guy crashed out in the middle of the road unable to clip out. Someone was walking over to help him. At the same time a car is passing me in the other lane to my left and cars are approaching in the other direction.... I get around the downed cyclist and then can only climb as fast as the cyclists in front of the car that is now ahead of me. That, kind of ruined that experience. Just bad luck.
I make the turn onto 3A and that's when figure I'm warmed up and it's time to roll. I leap frog with a guy from the 50AG for awhile. He was a 70rpm'er. I probably would have been with him the entire course but he stopped to help a guy with a flat.
Other than devils hill and the descent into Bristol. I felt the course was wide open to me. I knew I wasn't breaking any records tho. I roll in at 1:27:14. 18.7mph. 128th overall.

Starting out on the run. One of the runners near me yells "I can't feel my feet!" Yeah, it's definitely a strange feeling. In fact I was almost certain that I must have left one of my running socks in my right shoe, because the toes on that foot feel like they had something in there with them. I had my GU in there this morning but I'm pretty sure I took it out. I kept running. (there was nothing in there, my feet were just numb)
It's pretty flat for 2 miles and SUNNY. Yes! HEAT! Mile 1 8:10, Mile 2 7:50, Mile 3 hills 8:00. Seeing 8:00 for the 3rd mile gave me a boost, I thought it was going to be worse than that. Not to mention my HR has been about 10bpm slower than my typical race pace. I was just having trouble getting my legs to move.
Back up the short steep hill and then it's on. I was able to get myself moving finally. I started passing people and I don't remember being passed. I missed taking my splits but my 10K was completed in 48:21, 7:48 pace, 103rd overall. (of 800? I wish I knew) Edit: 440 participants.

They finally sent us our results today (Tuesday) but it's only Age Group. It doesn't break down Split placement. Nor does it give us our T1 or T2 times. Second year in a row where this is all they've provided to us. Many people are upset by it. I now have a better understanding of why people call the Ironman brand, the WalMart of Triathlon.

I ended up 17th of 65 in my AG.

Here is the odd thing. I've raced this 4 times. Only 2 have been unaltered races. One was shortened swim, the other no swim and short bike. Here is how I match up.
This year I'm :39 seconds slower than my combined S/B/R splits in 2009.
This year I'm :01 second faster on my Bike/Run splits in 2008 when the shortened the swim
I'm certain I couldn't finish within a minute of my time if I actually tried.

It was fun. I love this course. We will be back up there in July to vacation and train.
To be honest, I wanted to make some nice improvements at this race because I'd like to move up to the 70.3 at some point. But I'd really like to rock the International Course at least once before I do that. Maybe next year.

Mooseman 2011- Genine's Race Report

2011-06-06T18:55:00.009-04:00

Where to begin… I’ve been telling Matt I need to post something for months now. I have 3 run races and a sprint tri that I haven’t reported on as well as some other things worth noting, but for some reason I haven’t made it a priority. For now I’ll fill you in on my Mooseman weekend. Maybe that will inspire me to write what else is on my mind and share my other race experiences. We will see. Not that it is anything particularly exciting, but I would like to keep an account for my own recollection.

Mooseman for us this year was, well… dare I say…relaxed. Unlike the previous 3 years, it was only 1 other friend racing beside Matt and I. There was very little in terms of preparation, no big meals to host and only 1 night of overnight guests. While I missed the fun and excitement of having a big group up at the farm, it made for a lot less to think about. So going into the race on Saturday, I was quite at ease.

Wednesday Matt & I arrived in NH. It was sunny and in the low 80’s. We unloaded everything at the house, and went straight down to the lake for an evening swim. Aahhh….. how I love Newfound! So beautiful and perfect. When we drove in the park entrance, Ironman trucks and crew nearly filled the parking lots, but once we were on the beach we were among only a handful of people there. So peaceful. There was 1 other swimmer doing laps. Matt and I put on our wetsuits and very easily got in the water. We swam for about 30minutes. The water was quite comfortable. Cold, yes, but not crazy. After we got out of the water, we parked at the trailhead lot and rode our bikes out from there for a quick ride. As I went to put my front tire on my bike, I noticed my aerobar pads were missing. I asked Matt if he had taken them off before putting the bike on top of the car to travel. Nope. My aerobar pads were somewhere along a highway between NJ and NH! Ah well. We did our practice ride and decided we would McGiver something for the race. After posting on Tri-Fuel, we went with the suggestion of using computer mouse pads.

Thursday was a day for cooking, race prep and a 30min practice run followed by some good stretching and yoga to relieve my aching lower back and pinch in the left side of my neck. I was a bit of a wreck after the car ride up. After checking with the local bike shop in Plymouth for aero pads (which they didn’t have), we set out to find mouse pads, rubber cement and Velcro tabs. We found all of the required items, made a stop at the grocery store and then headed back to the house. First I had some cooking to do. Just because we didn’t have a big crowd, you didn’t think I wouldn’t be cooking did you?? I made a spinach pie, chicken parm with baked ziti and black bean/sweet potato skillet over whole wheat couscous and black bean & corn salsa. Just some of our favorites. Oh…. and brownies and blueberry scones. In between cook times, I began making my aero pads. I used Matt’s pads as a template- tracing them on to the mouse pads. I cut out 2 layers of mouse pads and rubber cemented them together- letting them dry sandwiched between 2 heavy books. Once they were dry, I attached them to my aero bars using the heavy duty Velcro pads. Worked like a dream!

My 30minute run felt pretty good. Matt & I ran the beginning part of the course from the beach to the ledges, then looped to the bridge by Fowler River and back. I was hoping to feel like this on Saturday.

Friday brought final race prep, packet pickup, easy 30min bike/15min run brick, and Eric & Ryan (Matt’s brother & nephew) arrived in time for dinner. I felt very relaxed all day as thing came together simply. Matt & I went down to the beach around 3:00pm to get our race packets and do our last pre-race workout. We biked away from the commotion at the park toward Alexandria & then found a little residential loop by the lake for the run. All was good. Set, packed and ready to race. We had a small dinner & chatted with Eric, then headed up to bed around 10:00pm. Alarm set for 4:00am.

Race Day: Alarm goes off at 4:00am. Out of bed by 4:10. Breakfast of 2 pieces of whole wheat toast with PB&J, Kashi biscuits with almond milk, apple and tea went down easy. We were out the door by 5:00am and parked about a 1/2mile from the park at 5:15am. (Love being so close to the race site!) We got packs and bikes and started walking. The walk was a welcome warm-up as it was only 37 degrees!!! Yep, it was a freezer! I was actually looking forward to putting on my wetsuit and getting in the water. Getting OUT of the water was a different story. Transition went together quickly.

Here I am in my spacious transition spot thanks to the stump at the end of my rack! :-)

Matt and I had time to stand in the sun on the beach an enjoy a view of the lake while I ate a bar and a banana and stretched.

Matt and I pre-race. The only photo of us all day.

Then it was time to take off the warm clothes and get ready to RACE! Wetsuit on and walking down the beach to the swim start, the sand was so cold & wet that is seemed to pull all of the heat out of my feet. Matt pointed out that is was actually warmer to walk in the water, so we did.

Beautiful, calm Newfound Lake on race morning.

Once we got close to the start, Matt did his warm-up (literally) swim. He swam out and quickly came back with an ice cream head-ache face freeze. He said it hurt, but after a few more minutes, it subsided. Matt’s wave started 12 minutes ahead of mine, so once he left to start his race, I began my warm up. The water felt fine, but the face freeze was brutal! I’m glad to get that shock out of my system before the race began. I swam short laps for about 8 minutes and then stood up to walk out of the water & get with my wave start. No sooner did I get out of the water, the shakes started. I was that cold. So back in the water I went as I waited for my wave start, got out to walk over the timing mat and got right back in the water. Perfect plan!

Swim: I always have butterflies right before the gun goes off. The swim, especially the start, makes me anxious even when I otherwise feel relaxed. Newfound, “our lake”, always eases this a bit. I lined up in the middle of the pack, knowing I was faster than many, but didn’t want to get in the way of those faster than me. The gun goes off and I quickly work to claim my space. I pass several people, work my way to the inside and find a pocket and a pair of feet for the next 200-300m. That person veers to the right, but I just keep swimming on the inside, passing close to each buoy and avoiding most contact. The swim felt good and I felt confident. The first half of the swim went by quickly, but by the end I was ready to be out of the water.

T1: Even though hands and feet were a bit numb from the cold, my wetsuit came off easily, bike gear on easily and I layered on a long-sleeve tech shirt over my tri top to bike in to help with the chill factor. Very glad I did.

Bike: Not sure what to think to think of this. My legs were soooo cold & tight- try as I might to spin and warm up. They were bricks most of the ride as was my lower back. So bad at times that I felt my legs had no power. But I chugged along doing the best I could, managing to hold my position among the riders around me and eventually passing a few.

T2: Matt and I have commented to each other how much we miss having the rows in transition posted with a letter at the end of each row. It makes your spot so easy to find. Well, today as I ran down the wrong row, I yelled, “where are the darn letters!!” and ducked under an empty rack with my bike lifted on it’s side to get to my correct row. Grrrr… Bike racked, run shoes on my still numb feet, grab hat and Fuel Belt Sprint palm holder and out on to the run course like a herd of turtles!

Run: I started out this run feeling quietly confident. I was hopeful. I had run a solid 5k and 10k race in the past 6 weeks- meeting my goal times in both races. Today, I just wanted to finish in under 1 hour. That’s all. Not too much to ask, right? Apparently it was. My quads, hamstrings, calves & lower back were having no part of running hills – not to mention my numb feet. Pick a ~~reason~~ excuse in the book. I did walk part of the first big hill (not sure I would have run faster anyway) and the short hill back onto the road after the turn around point. There were some good points though. Pretty sure I negative split my run, and my stomach cooperated allowing me to push at the end. And I was happy to see Matt and get a high-five on my way out around mile 2 when he was on his way back. :-)

Post race thoughts:

1. I LOVE my new Cervelo P2-SL! Fun- Fun- Fun!!

2.Nutrition worked well today. Both pre-race and the Nuun & Gu Chomps on the bike & run. I didn’t use any gels and my stomach seemed to be quite a bit happier.

3.My heart rate training appears to be paying off. While my results (all 3 splits) from a time standpoint are within a minute of 2009 :sigh::- my average heart rate for the race this year was 149. I don’t have a record of what it was prior, but I know for certain it was higher than that.

4.Depsite some of the changes that have happened to this race over the past 2 years with the involvement of Ironman, it remains, in my heart, our hometown race. Newfound Lake and the surrounding area is hallowed ground. It tugs at my heartstrings – reminding me of Matt’s mom, Judy, and her beautiful spirit. It will always be my favorite race course!

5. Racing with Matt is the BEST! We make a good team. I am so thankful for his his support and that we share a love for this crazy sport.

6. Sunday we spent the day as spectators and photographers for our friend, Ed, as he raced the half-iron. It was a beautiful day and he had a GREAT race. Plus I had fun doing some pro-triathlete ~~stalking~~ watching. Good times all around!

7. LOTS of work to do to feel prepared for Timberman. (My FIRST 70.3!!) But I am focused & ready to take it on. It’s going to be a transformational 10 weeks. Aside from dropping a few extra lbs (story of my life), I know for sure that I need to focus mostly on my run. Especially my run off the bike, hills and speed work (ok - Pretty much everything!). Not to mention the farthest I have run to date is 9 miles. Eh…what’s another 4.1 after that…right? Bring – it – ON!

FUNDRAISER FYI: For those of you that may be wondering, Matt and I have decided to run our annual Leukemia Fundraiser (thru Dana Farber Cancer Institute/The Jimmy Fund) in conjunction with our Timberman 70.3 this year. Historically we have run this fundraiser with Mooseman. This year we figured that it would be a good incentive for me (and Matt) as I train toward my first Half Ironman. More details to follow.

And I will leave you with my Mooseman 2011 finish.

Mooseman 70.3 Photos

2011-06-05T20:48:00.002-04:00

Here is a link to pictures I took of the Pros today at Mooseman 70.3
Mooseman 70.3 2011 Pro Athletes Set

Look for:
Paul Ambrose #2
Matt Mangen #17
Raynard Tissink #1
Nick Waninger #13
Zach Ruble #5
Jesse Vondracek #8
Tim Snow #12
Moises Torres #7
Ryan Kelly #9
Tom Lowe #4
Caitlin Snow #21
Jerome Bresson #15
Amber Ferreira #24
Melanie McQuaid #22
Logan Franks #14
Annie Gervais #25
Erin Spitler #26
Maxim Kriat #3
Raymond Botelho #11
Lesley Paterson #23
Dave Harju #16

Mooseman International 2011 Results

2011-06-05T20:22:00.006-04:00

I really wanted to get good pictures of the unofficial results posted at the race. Unfortunately the pages weren't lined up well, it was crowded and the camera didn't focus too well.
But here is the link to the pictures I took of the posted results.
Photos of Results that were posted at the race site.

Link to Official Results

Ha! They changed the results page again. I'm guessing people would like to see both Overall and AG breakdowns.

Link to Results Order of Finish.
Link to Results By Age Group

Quick Mooseman Result Update

2011-06-05T17:27:00.002-04:00

Unofficial Results

Matt's Swim: 28:29 83rd place 1:21 Slower than in 2009 (modified swim 2008)
Matt's Bike: 1:27:14 128th place 1:42 slower than in 2009 3:05 slower than 2008
Matt's Run 48:21 103rd place 2:24 faster than in 2009 3:06 faster than 2008

2010 was no swim, a modified bike and normal run so I didn't even bother with this.

:39 seconds slower than in 2009.
:01 faster than 2008 on the combined bike/run

Amazing right? 3 years with nearly the exact same total race. S/B/R splits.

Now my transitions are all over the place. This year after my swim, I toweled down, put on socks and a jacket to ride in. (which I could say slowed me down on the course, but who knows).
Full Report later.

Genine: 31:10 swim, 1:33:02 Bike, 1:01:03 Run
She will provide commentary regarding her race later.

Genine is a Superfan

2011-06-02T22:39:00.002-04:00

So she's perusing the entry list for the 70.3 Mooseman. Making sure we know the who's who for the race. She come across the name Tom Lowe, looks up at me and says. "Tom Lowe is Chrissie W's boyfriend right?" We then wonder what the chances are that Chrissie is going to be around as well. We also think it was kind of dumb that we didn't offer up our place to host a pro this year, we have the room and we are very close to the race site.
If the weather is decent, we will be all over the course with the camera Sunday. Maybe if Chrissie is around she will want ride along to be a superfan like us. At the very least, we will do our best to get some good action shots of Tom for her. Ha!

The other thing we found out is that, Maxim Kriat will be back. I think he holds the course record and the best bike split.

Raynard Tissink, 5th last year at Kona, his 3rd time in the top ten there. Is also competing.

I'm glad she's so into it. I get to take advantage of her Triathlon knowledge on weekends like this.
I really hope it turns out to be a better day than what's forecast!

Update from NH

2011-06-02T21:20:00.003-04:00

Doing a terrible job posting lately. Too many events too quickly I suppose, not much down time.

Genine and I went to the Y Sunday and we both were swimming very well. We both left hoping that type of swim will happen for us up at Mooseman.

Monday was spent at the Tour of Somerville Bike race and then just getting stuff ready for our trip to NH. I had decided that I wanted to swap the roof racks on the cars. Our old Saris roof rack has a great locking system that the new Thule system doesn’t. It has cables that you can run through your frames and tires then lock them at the bar ends of the roof rack. It also gives me peace of mind that if something were to break free, it wouldn’t make it off of the roof. So I spent quite a bit of time changing our rack equipment around. The Saris was not compatible with the forks on our Cervelos. I had to take the Thule Domestique bike mounts and install them onto the Saris bars. I also bought LocTite to put on the bolts. It doesn’t seem to hold together without it. When I finished I had it set up to carry 5 bikes fork mounted and 2 wheels AND I’d be able to lock it all down with 2 cables. Only I couldn’t find the cables. We hadn’t used them since August of last year but we both remember seeing them recently. I looked everywhere. I had to give it up for the night and move on.

Tuesday: One day work week. My brain is on Mooseman. I get home and start packing. It all came together easily enough, except for those cables for the roof rack. I look everywhere again as does Genine.

Wednesday: Packing up the car, there is a small compartment on each side of the car in the back. I know I looked in the right one probably 3x now, but did I look in the left one? I open it up and there they both are! Sheesh, I’m guessing I wasted 2-3 hours looking for these things.

Our trip to NH was at least an hour longer than usual due to construction zones along the way. We’ve dealt with worse, I guess we were hoping for an easy mid-week trip is all. Then when we are in Massachusetts we start hearing about tornado watches. Fortunately all we drove through was some light rain once we crossed into Vermont.

When we arrived, we quickly unloaded some stuff from the car and headed down to the lake for a swim.

This was parked in the lot.

It was a hot day, which is odd for NH this early in the year. It made for a really nice swim. The lake was amazing. The surface temp of the water was rippled. Comfortable and then Freezing constantly changing your entire swim. I love it! Incredibly refreshing. Saw many 12-14" fish out there during the swim as well. I worked hard to get my balance and stroke together with the wetsuit on. I would love to have a PR swim on Saturday.

We also wanted to get a bit of a bike ride in. Just to move our legs after such a long trip. I pull Genine’s bike off the top of the car, she looks at it and asks, “Where did you put my aerobar pads?” Uh oh. Yep, they were blown off the bars somewhere between NH an NJ. We’ve never had that happen before so we never thought of removing them for the trip. Now we know.

We biked for all of 30 minutes. Then as it was nearing dusk the bugs came out. In a BIG BIG way! I felt like I needed a face shield on my helmet. Bugs were stuck all over, arms, legs, hair… Fortunately we weren’t far from the car.

Then we had to go buy groceries and get water from the spring. Got back to the house around 10. Long day.

Thursday: It’s no longer hot, in fact it’s cold and windy. It was a pretty relaxing day for us. Ran some errands, got a 30 minute easy run in and did some bike tech stuff. When I went to put my rear wheel on yesterday, I noticed it didn’t want to sit square. I ended up having to lock it into position, holding it just so. Well upon closer inspection today, the set screws were completely uneven. So I got those set back correctly. Those set screws seem too loose tho’. I’ll have to take a close look at this once we are back home.

Genine on the other hand has a more entertaining project. Building home made aerobar pads. Sponges may be the most comfortable option until they get wet or sweaty. So we bought a couple mouse pads and she is building them out of those. They aren’t as thick as we were hoping, so she’s doubling up. It will be interesting to see the final product.

I feel like I’m going into Saturday’s race, overly tapered. That’s fine, I usually do well when that happens. It’s just that I feel like I haven’t worked out since Sunday. My biggest frustration tho’ is my right hamstring. I still feel a pull or something along one of the muscles up near my glute. I’ve been dealing with this for awhile. I’m a little concerned as to what’s going to happen there as I do more speedwork.

Speaking of speedwork. I did my first bit last Saturday morning. Wow I am not built for speed right now. I realize I haven’t done much/any speedwork but I guess I wasn’t expecting those muscles to feel THAT out of shape. I guess the good news there is that things should continue to get better (somewhat easily) over the next couple of months.

More Tour of Somerville Pictures

2011-06-02T18:53:00.004-04:00

Here is the full set of pictures / photos. I think some of my rejects actually made it into the set but I don't have time to worry about that now. I should probably regroup the sets into the different races as well. Maybe someday when I have more time.

Here's the link.
Tour Of Somerville Pictures 2011, lightly edited.
Link to Sets that are grouped by race. Click here.

The set includes the Cat 3 race. I took quite a few of this one.
The Cat 2 race I think we took some shots and then ended up going in for a bite to eat and to cool off.
The Masters Race: We caught the 2nd half of that.
Women's Race: Caught all of that race
Pros: Caught the first 5 laps and headed for home.

Tour of Somerville '11 Photos

2011-05-31T15:12:00.002-04:00

Here is a teaser set of some of my favorite shots from Monday's races.
Tour of Somerville '11 Favorite Photos
I'll post more later in the week.

Gluing a Tubular

2011-05-27T20:19:00.003-04:00

I had planned on dropping of my wheel and having the shop and having them glue on a new tire for me. Unfortunately I couldn't get it there until Thursday night. Normally not a big deal but it's a holiday weekend AND I needed to pick it up on Tuesday. They said they could do it but I shouldn't ride it until Thursday.
Well I took that as my cue that I should do this myself. Typically I live near a bike shop that can do this stuff for me but there will come a time I would need to be able to do this myself.

So here are the steps I'm following:

Pre-Stretch tire on the wheel, for 24 hours. Some say more is better. Some say not at all.
Gluing the Wheel. 1st coat 24 hours dry time, 2nd coat 12 hours min dry time, 3rd coat about 20-30 minutes before mounting the tire? (Mount the tire when this 3rd coat's glue, pulls strands when you touch and pull away).

Gluing the tire: With tire filled enough to give it shape. 1st coat 24 hours. 2nd coat 24 hours. Mount tire to wheel, when 3rd coat of wheel glue is "stranding".

I also watched a bunch of the how to videos on this website.

The first layer of glue is on the tire and wheel. I'm hopeful all of this will go well because I have to say, I'm starting to like the whole tubular thing. I don't think it's as difficult as everyone makes it out to be, but maybe I should wait a few more months before making that statement.

Edit: Here are the video's that I found to be the best.
Removing Glue from wheel.
Video #1 All the steps in one video
Video #2 part 1 of 4. More discussion going on in these videos.
Video #3 Part 2 of 4
Video #4 part 3 of 4
Video #5 part 4 of 4
Video #2

Jersey Shore Kick Off Triathlon 2011 Pictures

2011-05-27T14:15:00.002-04:00

Here is the link to the pictures I took that morning.
Jersey Shore Kick Off 2011

This is one of my favorites of the day. This is The 2010 Duathalon Champion, Dave Slavinski towards the end of his run.
Dave Slavinski

Bike Stuff / Columbia Triathlon Pictures

2011-05-25T19:47:00.003-04:00

So I finally had a chance to check out that flat front tire. There is a tiny bit of sidewall damage. Instead of pumping in a can of fix-a-flat. I decided I may as well figure out how to pull the tire off and mount the spare as if it were race day.
I think the glue on this wheel is quite old. It's not very tacky. But I went through the process of mounting the spare anyhow. I had to use a tire lever but it wasn't too difficult. (The orange trainer tire was/is worse).
I'm now leaving that tire on to let it stretch. I have a feeling I'll be buying a new tire and having it glued on. This one will go back into the spare bag and I now have a bit more confidence that I could use it if I had to.

Training wise I'm in a weird spot. I get a couple good workouts, then I taper for Mooseman, which is a week from Saturday. If weather cooperates, I should be able to get some wetsuit swim practice before the race. Maybe that will help me break out from this 26 minute swim. The other thing going for me is that you can definitely see feet for a draft at Mooseman. (super clear). The trick is getting on the right pair.

Here is a link to the pictures Genine took at the Columbia Triathlon.
2011 Columbia Triathlon Pictures

Jogging with Jordon 5k

2011-05-25T11:24:00.003-04:00

http://www.joggin-with-jordan.org/

In Warren Saturday May 21. I walked. My new, I am under trained, don't want to hurt myself, don't want to look bad, default event. I did walk it to win it.

I didn't win. Took 4th overall walker. 1st in 40-49 age group male. I told Tamara I thought I needed to go 36 to even think about winning. I went 37:20. The winner went 35:48. I knew I was right on the time, I just couldn't do it.

But who cares about me. Levi, Maddy, and Eleanor walked. Dinah rode in front of Maddy. Levi was 11th overall and 2nd in the 19 and under category. Yea! Maddy, Eleanor and Dinah back a ways.

But here is the exciting news, because I know they wouldn't post it for themselves. Jerry Johnson and Todd Olson were there. They ran. Jerry was third, that is right third in the 40-45 male category with a time of 22:08. Todd was fifth in same category with a 24:13.

Both these guys were very happy with these times. I thought they were awesome. This race had about 450 people between walkers and runners big race.

Hope all are well. Will try to post more or at least come up with comments.

Columbia Triathlon 2011 Race Report

2011-05-24T11:29:00.009-04:00

A bit of pre-race story first.

I haven’t raced my bike in 50 weeks, so my race day toolbox was a mess. This is also my first race on the tri bike and hopefully riding the Hed3 Tubulars that Todd loaned me. So there are additional items that are required: Right angle adaptor for the air pump, spare tire, and fix-a-flat. As I was sorting through stuff I came across batteries, small ones like the ones that go into my HR monitor. These were the wrong model for my HR monitor tho’. So they were left behind.

You check in your bike the day before at this race. So after packet pickup, we head down to the park. I wanted to do a short ride if possible. The weather looks like it’s going to be nice so I commit to using the Hed 3s. The rear wheel magnet for my bike computer is in a different place on the Hed 3s. So instead of using my wired computer, I had mounted the front fork wireless sensor for my polar watch the other week. My speed isn’t so important to me during the race but sometimes knowing the distance travelled is. Well, it would seem that the battery for my polar speed sensor is dead. Yep, the spares are the ones that I left at home. (like there wasn’t room in the toolbox for this tiny item). I just couldn’t remember what it was for. Now I know.

Well if it’s not working, it’s not staying on the bike. I cut the front sensor off the fork and decide that I’m going to reposition the rear sensor so I can place the magnet onto the rear tire and it should work with my wired cateye computer. Everything checked out. Time for that short ride.

It turned out to be really short. The traffic was very heavy and there wasn’t much room at the side of the road. Maybe if I got further down the course it would have been better. I wasn’t comfortable with it and decided it wasn’t worth it. I had considered packing our bike trainer so I could spin in the parking lot. I guess that would have been the better choice for me today. I roll the bike into transition and head back to the hotel.

Should I do a short run? My legs feel fine, not tight and our dinner plans are fast approaching. No run. No worries.

I slept well. Easy wakeup and we are out the door on schedule.

I head down to transition to set up my bike and run gear. A nice upgrade to the transition area this year, they added letter signs at the racks. (Keith Jordan Style). My bike rack is the first rack in when running in from the water. Basically the same location as the pros. It’s the longest run to the bike in/out but that isn’t a big deal. I don’t have a problem running with my bike in this transition area with my bike shoes on. When it’s pavement or sand, that’s when I wish I would start with my shoes on the bike. I check everything over. Wheels and brakes are set properly, computers are working, chain is in the proper gearing and moving well and so on. One big decision to make, the spare tire (not the 10 extra pounds around my waist). I have a spare tubular but I don’t think it’s pre-stretched and I’ve never put a tubular on before. I decide that the fix-a-flat goop is going to have to be enough, I take the spare tire back to the car with me.

Back at the car I finish up applying body glide and all that in preparation of the swim. Then head for the swim start. I think my wave was 40 minutes after the pro start so I waited quite awhile before pulling the wetsuit on. I stood with Genine down the swim course, away from the start while she was snapping pictures. Oscar was there as well. I think being away from all the nervous people hanging around the swim start allowed me to be much more calm. When our group was called, I walked up to the front and swam as much as possible to get warmed up. Unfortunately, that meant I was not in the front row at the start because there were a bunch of us in this wave. 215 of us I think.

This is my first wetsuit swim since the Tango back in August of last year. I’m a big fan of the wetsuit swim but I sure felt like I was getting nowhere fast. I knew from last year that the swim is congested until you start swimming back towards the finish. That makes sighting simple but every time I looked up, I felt like I was seeing 200 of my swim wave ahead of me. I just felt SLOW. Nothing to do but to keep on pushing the pace and focus on form.

I have no way of knowing for sure but I felt that I stayed on line as well as I ever have during a swim.

Exited the water looked at my watch, it didn’t start or it turned off. Well that’s one way to keep from being disappointed in your swim time.

Turns out I finished in 26:16 65 AG/ 320 Male. That’s 11 seconds faster than last year but still that 1:45/ 100 meter pace I know so well.

T1 2:21 :26 faster than last year.

As I’m running up towards transition, I hear someone cheering for me. It’s Oscar. Genine captures my reaction to Oscar’s cheer.

(click to enlarge)

I have a pretty good transition HR seems to be well under control. As I get to the mount line, I see people struggling a bit getting started. I decide to step ahead of them. Fortunately I clip in very quickly and I’m off. Genine is there cheering me on and taking pictures.

(click to enlarge)

Alright this should be interesting, last year the course was wet and I played it safe at times. I’ve got a dry course, a tri bike, race wheels and a good training plan. I figured I’m going to break 20mph avg on the course today. At the same time, I’m hoping to pace myself well enough that I improve my run as well. My watch is showing HR, my computer is showing cadence and distance. My HR is definitely higher than I expect but it feels right so I guess I’ll go with it. About 7 miles in I look down to check my cadence and it’s not registering. I slide the computer forward and then lock it back into place and we are back in business. Around the half way mark, I move from my bullhorns to my aero position and when I make this move I drag my forearm across my bike computer. It breaks free and is gone. It was at a manned “intersection”, I’m guessing someone there picked it up. It’s odd that this happened, this has never been an issue. I guess I’m just moving differently with the race day intensity. So I’m without cadence and distance now. All I’ve got is HR. Not a big deal. Although if I had the spare battery my watch would have had speed and distance for me. I guess what made the whole thing even more comical to me was as we got to about 5 miles left to go, faster bikers from later waves would pull up along side me and ask how much further we had to go. I wonder if they believed me when I said that I didn’t know. (it kind of killed me how fast they would drop me).

When I finished the final climb, I looked at my stopwatch and saw that my goal of 1:15:00 was a reality but I was going to have to stay on the gas to make it happen. I was feeling great and was passing quite a few people and then. PFFFFFFFFFT. My front tire goes flat with about 1.5-2 miles to go. I have no idea why. I didn’t hit anything… My options were to stop and try the fix a flat goop or ride it in flat. I decided it would probably just as fast to ride it in slowly on the flat. Also I knew I’d be finished rather than finding out the goop doesn’t work and then I ride it in flat anyhow. So I sit up and pedal it in easy. The first guy to pass me is a guy I just flew by. He asks if I’m alright, he probably thinks something must be wrong with me physically since I’m still riding the bike. I tell him I’m fine and he keeps rolling. I’m guessing 20 or so people go by me as I ride back into transition. Without the computer data, I can only guess if 20mph was really going to happen today. Genine and Chris cheer for me as I ride into transition.

(click to enlarge)

One other thing, I thought the speedfil was great. I was never messing around with bike bottles.

Bike 1:18:21 19.5mph 92 AG/ 368 Male. That’s 1:53 faster than last year.

T2: 1:41. 28 Seconds faster than last year.

Now for the run: Last year I was dying on this run course. I walked a number of times. It was a tough mental battle. It’s a tough course. I really wanted to have a good run today. I pulled socks on in transition. I didn’t need blisters today. I also tried to turn on my foot pod for pace. Once again, I was unsuccessful. I could have stopped at any point to turn it on but it just didn’t matter to me. I figured I’d just take my splits along the way. Well there were no mile markers. Maybe that was a good thing. It’s tough seeing those slow splits for the first 3-4 miles. The most uncomfortable part outside of the hills was the fact that my abs were cramping. I guess running hills after a tough bike will do that to you. The good news is that mentally I did not give up at any time. There was no walking. I was thrilled when I got back to the ball fields. I guess it’s about 1.5 miles to go and no hills to speak of. Finally, I am running and I’m passing people. I definitely moved up within my age group during this final 1.5. I’m getting into the final turn and I hear someone call out my name. There is Chris he was the first of the high fives on the way into the finish. I make the turn and I hear Genine cheering. The little kids are lined up at the sides waiting for high 5’s. This always makes me smile. It’s better than a sign or a cowbell in my opinion.

(click to enlarge)

Run : 49:25 7:58 min/mile 48 AG/ 256 Male. That’s :55 faster than last year.

So AG Results S/B/R 65/92/48 landed me in 59^th place of 215 finishers. (yes of course I looked, 3 minutes faster would placed me at 49^th, 23%)

Male Results S/B/R 320/368/256 landed me in 276^th of 1064 finishers. (3 minutes faster on the bike would have me in 227^th and about 21%)

I’m happy with the results. I don’t feel that I’ve done anything spectacular with my training that would have led me to believe that I should have done better. The one difference I keep noticing at all of my races this year compared to last is the mental battle. Last year during races my brain was constantly pleading with me to stop and rest. This year it seems to be asking the legs for more and the leg speed/strength just isn’t there. The other thing is that I can now see how I might change my training program next year if I keep the same schedule. My schedule is built with one purpose this year, the half iron in August. I haven’t had any scheduled speed workouts yet. They actually start this week. Next year maybe I’ll build two peaks into my schedule. Then I would expect more improvement from myself.

Please don't cancel the swim.

2011-05-19T18:51:00.002-04:00

Really found my stride Tuesday night on my hour run. I had to stop a few times to stretch my hamstrings out but the legs felt great. It’s been awhile since I’ve felt like that during a run. It’s probably because I missed a few workouts over the weekend and they were more recovered than I typically am. Or maybe it’s because I switched back to running in Brooks Adrenaline? (joking… sort of).

I hadn’t raced a triathlon in so long. (about 50 weeks and the swim was canceled). That I didn’t have a pair of run shoes laced up with stretch laces. I took care of that problem but I don’t think I can run in these shoes sockless without blistering. I have some other ideas on how to address this problem but I haven’t tried them. I think I’ve run out of time in terms of trying new things tho’.

I did some weight lifting after my run. That also went well. Tuesday turned out to be a good day.

Wednesday morning I went to the pool early. It wasn’t pretty. Anytime I lift the night before a morning swim, I know I’m not going to be happy with the times I see on the clock. It’s not race day, just knock out the distance and move along.

After work I was a trainer ride. I made a point of making this a really good session. Steady effort the entire way. There are times where I really would like a power meter. Tonight was one of those nights. I couldn’t help but wonder if I was actually doing a bit too much considering I’ll be racing Sunday. Not a big deal, it’s just where my brain went while spinning.

Thursday, back in the pool in the morning. Shorter set today, I really wanted things to fall in to place. It took awhile but I think I pieced the stroke together into something I felt good about. I guess it’s good that I had to think about my fixes. I’ll just keep those things in mind on race day and work on staying focused on them.

I think one of my problems when I swim is that my “easy” stroke is not anywhere as good as my focused/fast stroke. I think I turn easy into lazy, which means I’ll practice bad habits. Something to work on, for sure.

I just saw an update about Sunday's race on Facebook (Columbia Tri). They are concerned about the bacteria levels in the lake. I really hope we get to swim. I can bike and run outdoors anytime. I don’t get to open water swim often tho’. It’s always my strongest event in terms of placing. (not that it gives me much of a lead). But more importantly, without the swim it’s just not a triathlon. Obviously I’ll deal with whatever happens but I really want to swim.

Tri season is officially started for us.

2011-05-16T20:29:00.001-04:00

Genine raced down at the Jersey Shore on Saturday morning with our friend Alexis. So we got a bit of a reminder of how much goes into getting ready for race day. Here were some of the surprises for us this time.

Wetsuit: It hasn’t been used in a year so we pre-soak it to give it some flexibility before putting it on. Well even before we soaked it, Genine noticed her suit had separated at one of the seams. Fortunately, we still had some wetsuit glue around and it was a simple fix.

Bike: Genine’s bike has 650cc wheels on it. Which means not many people are going to have a spare tube or tire for her if she needs it on race day. Fortunately we had a spare tube in her bike bag because when she went to inflate the one tire, it ripped the tube right at the stem. This was the first tube change for this bike, keep in mind this was “new” to us this winter but it’s a 2008. That tube was stuck into that tire in a big way. I’m really glad this didn’t happen during a race. It took much longer than normal to make that change. We also know that we need to pull the other tube, just to free it from the tire before the next race.

Of course the other problem is that she just used her spare and the one we pulled I can’t patch. I need to work on a better race day toolbox for the car. Having the extras in the basement at home isn’t helpful.

It was predicted to be a bad weekend of weather. Fortunately, other than a wind off of the ocean it turned out to be a decent morning. Which meant I got to run around with the good camera and have fun. I’ll leave the race report to Genine.

By the time we got home, cleaned up, got something to eat and looked through pictures, we found ourselves totally exhausted. The 3AM wakeup had caught up with us. I had a number of workouts I should have been doing, especially considering that Sunday was much more likely to rain with lightning. Next thing you know, 3 hour nap. Ah well, you can only do so much. Today was spectator day and it was fun.

Sunday: If I was really inspired (and if I believed the weather wasn’t going to cancel the event), I could have gone to an early morning open water swim practice (40 min away). I really wanted to go but didn’t want to take another 2-3 hours out of my weekend on a chance that it would be canceled. So I slept in. The key workout I wanted to do this weekend was the bike. I really needed to put some more miles onto those Hed3 wheels to determine if I am comfortable enough on them to race them next weekend.

Genine was off running a 5K (Susan G Komen) with friends from work. When she finished, she had some lunch, then we headed out to ride 2-3 hours. The roads were wet but it was never raining on us. I had on my full race gear for next weekend just to make sure everything was comfortable.

There was one new piece of gear this week. This was a purchase that took me awhile to finally decide to do. I got a good deal on a pair of Oakley Jawbones. I’ve got a solid pair of polarized lenses and I also have the vented yellow lenses. My review? They are fantastic! The yellow lenses on a rainy day like Sunday really brightened everything up. Super sharp and clear. It was also a good day to test the venting. They definitely fogged over on some of the climbs but once there was some airflow as you sped up they cleared off really well. With my other glasses I’d have to move the glasses down my nose to create that airflow behind the lenses to get them to clear. I’m very happy with my purchase. Now I have to make sure I don’t lose em!

The road was wet but it never really rained on us beyond a bit of mist. Last week I said the Hed3 braking was pulsing and I was very uncomfortable with them. I think between the fact that it was a little wet and that the brake pads were worn in a bit (Swiss Stop Carbon pads), I really was feeling better about riding on them. (no 15 minute descent like last weekend either tho). So the 2^nd lap/hour, I decided I had to let it fly on the descents, just like I was racing. It went well, I was 41-42 mph on the one descent. Feeling good about the wheels. Now I’ve got to pickup some of that Pit Stop goop or foam to use in case I flat.

The other exciting moment on the 2^nd lap was during one of the descents going about 30mph or more a deer runs out and crosses the road not too far ahead of me. I hop on the brakes. Where there is one, more are likely to follow. Then something shoots out towards my front tire, now I’m really jamming the brakes. I thought it was a rabbit at first but it was a squirrel. I was as close to running over that squirrel as you can get without actually hitting it. We are both lucky he didn’t decide to get caught up in the trispoke wheels. I look up and that deer runs back across the road to the other side. Alright, I get it, I’ll slow down for a few minutes.

We completed 2 hours or riding and Genine was done. So we headed home, cleaned up the bikes and that was the weekend.

I missed a few workouts last week. I’m not that concerned about it. I feel like I got the important ones done. I also know that after the long runs my heel was hurting the next day. I don’t need to get into the problems I had last year with my feet.

Less than a week out from Columbia, what do I think?

Swim: Will probably be the same ole 1:45/100m (26:30ish) I always swim if all goes well. Of course I’d like to think I’d do better than that but I’m not sure that’s realistic. I do feel that I’ll come out of the water comfortably and ready to ride.

Bike: I feel that that this is where I have the most potential to improve over last year. (not that I was disappointed with last year’s results 1:20:14, 19mph). I very may well have cooked myself on the bike last year, so if my time ends up close to the same, I won’t be disappointed.

Run: 50:20/ 8:07 pace last year. I don’t know. I really don’t. I missed run races each of the last 2 weekends that would have given me a clue as to where I am and maybe some confidence. I’ve got some ideas in my head as to how I’m going to try and get through the first half of the run course (hills) and I’m hoping I finally let it fly once the course becomes a bit more friendly.

We will see how it all plays out on Sunday. I’m looking forward to the whole weekend. Not only do I get to race but I’m going to catch up with 4 other “groups” of friends that aren’t racing. It’s going to be busy but it really makes the trip that much more enjoyable.

I’m sure there are a ton of other things I want to post but I’m just not finding the time lately. I’ll post up the randomness as I think of it.

Possible bike setup

2011-05-09T12:10:00.001-04:00

Finally!

As you know, last weekend I had to ride my road bike because of technical issues with my tri bike. Well some of those issues were the result of making changes so that my bike could look like this.

Nice right? These wheels are part of the reason I never bought a power meter this year. I was going back and forth as to what I was going to do about all that and then my friend Todd offered me his HED 3’s to use for the season. I couldn’t pass that up. This “demo” will help me make decisions about what I buy in the future. (if anything).

So I finally got them on the bike with the proper brake pads and all that this weekend. The ride I chose to do this weekend was pretty generic tho’. I decided I’d do a hill climb that was about 30 minutes up 10 minutes back down, a few times. Obviously this doesn’t allow much in terms of getting a feel for the wheels… except for the descending. The descending run can be crazy fast but with the gusting wind, and my lack of feel for the braking on these wheels, I had to take it slow. This wheelset has some serious pulsing when braking, that made it impossible for me to just “let it fly” down the hill. I also have to say that I was much more confident riding in the drops on my road bike on a descent of this kind, than I am riding the bullhorns of my tribike.

Next weekend I should be on a much more “triathlon-like” course, there I’ll be able to get a better feel for the wheelset. The first race is in 2 weeks. I’m running out of time! Seriously tho’. It’s not that big of a deal if I don’t use them. It’s definitely cool to try out different gear. You can look at stats and prices all you want but the test ride is key.

On a flat course, I’d definitely be racing these wheels. Columbia, I remember there being at least one good descent. I will try to drive the course prior to race day.

Mooseman not only am I concerned about the descents but road conditions are a factor. I have a feeling there may be sections of Mooseman that will be rough. Ye, these are tubular tires which are less likely to pinch flat but if I do flat, I’m uncertain of my chances of repairing and getting back on the road.

In other news, my brick run felt awful this weekend. I’ll admit that thoughts of another bad run at Columbia entered my head. I’ll also admit that I feel I want to sign up for a flat race somewhere, just so I’ll have a race where the numbers look nice. Not sure that’s going to happen, so I’d better give it my all one the hilly courses!

Hot/Cold

2011-05-05T11:06:00.002-04:00

Every time I go to the pool, I always go in thinking that it’s going to go well. I don’t let the workout intimidate me, meaning I don’t take it easy because I know what the next set is going to be brutal. Never the less, my swim technique is far from consistent, which causes significant variation in my pace and feel.

Certain drills and warm-ups may be a factor. I don’t get to use the pull buoy much in my workouts but it’s been in the mix lately and I think it may play a part in getting me into a good groove. I’ve fixed a number of problems with Coach Q’s help over the last couple months. Using a pull buoy allows me to focus completely on my stroke. By having a pull set early in the workout, I seem to correct some of my bad habits because the feel is so much more pronounced for me. Currently the 3 things I’m aware of doing poorly are:

Right arm wants to pull underneath my body.

If I’m going for speed, sometimes I’ll actually crunch on my right side during that pull, which really changes my body line and I’ll fishtail down the lane.

On the left my biggest issue is my reach to the catch. I think it’s still too high which doesn’t allow me roll to that side very well.

At my last lesson with Coach Q we worked on finding my cadence. To get faster, at some point you need to have a faster cadence. Although, a couple years ago leading into Timberman we found out a couple of interesting things while playing with the metronome. There was a window where I was very efficient. This was also very comfortable. As we increased from there even tho’ the cadence was faster, I cheated the stroke, was slower and more tired aerobically. As we moved higher, eventually it became a flailing effort as the form just fell apart.

That was two years ago, there have been many changes since then. So we are back to playing around with the metronome again. My first attempt at finding comfortable with speed isn’t far off from where I was two years ago. At which point my coach basically challenged me to work this out. He feels there are much faster times in me. I get glimpses of these from time to time. (Typically, at the coaching sessions).

So I’ve been doing my homework, looking for clues as to how I need to change my stroke or perhaps how I approach my swim. This past weekend was the Wildflower Triathlon. I came across this video.

(also if you watch the video to the end, it appears the winner runs with a metronome, I'm pretty sure that's what she turns off and puts back into her shirt)

When the showed the swim splits, I then googled the top swimmer’s name and came up with this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiNkAMU8syI

The thing that struck me was the fact that her “all day stroke” was 90 strokes per minute. Doubtful that I’ll get there but I’m often only 60 per minute. So there is plenty of room to work with. The other part that interested me was the part about “dead spots” in the stroke. I swam a 3000m workout last night and it was my tempo swim. When I reached the mainset, I got aggressive and really thought about how much water I was catching and how early. It went well. I knocked out a 1000m set on very little rest, it felt good and my times were pretty good too. I left thinking about how that is exactly how I’d like to feel on race day. Which is only a few weeks away now!! That hasn’t sunk in completely yet, I’m curious when it’s finally going to hit me.

Speaking of race days. This weekend was supposed to be a 1.2 mile Swim Race Saturday and 4 mile Run on Sunday. Those 2 races aren’t going to happen. There is a chance another event might sneak in. Time will tell, I’ve got much to do this weekend.

Crazy Busy Weekend

2011-05-03T16:45:00.002-04:00

Before getting rolling on the subject of this post, I just wanted to mention how amazing it is to me that people can think chiropractic is quackery. I spent 2 weeks with a hamstring that was basically partially cramped. I thought I had damaged it by over training. Nope, it was a pinched nerve in my lower back. One quick adjustment and it was immediately better. Within a few hours I wanted to run. The next day it was as if I never had a problem. Whew! I was starting to change my expectations for my upcoming races because of that hamstring. Now my biggest concern is allergies. Generic Claritin 24/7 and the netipot are my main weapons. Hopefully that is enough.

The big weekend:

I hate to say it, but the summer rush has begun. Last weekend was PACKED full, very little time to rest. Looking forward it pretty much stays like that until the fall. So what was going on that kept me/us so busy?

Saturday morning: Genine has a 15K race about 20 minutes away. This would be her longest run ever. Most people would make sure they are tapered and ready to take on the longest run they have ever done. Genine? Well she did a 3 hour bike and 30 minute run the day before! Her run went well. She is looking forward to getting faster but she hit her goal time and best of all, felt good after the run. Gronsky’s Pancakes for brunch following with friends is always a nice bonus. Then Genine had to go to work.

I on the other hand had some bike tech work to do. I wanted to make some changes before going out on my ride/run. This meant stealing some components from my road bike. Things did not go as planned. Something very simple stopped me dead in my tracks. I was swapping out the front brake and the cable had one bad wire in the wrap. When I cut the crimp off the end of the wire, that one thread unraveled all the way up and through the brake cable housing. Not a big deal, except I didn’t have another cable. Well there are 3 bike shops within 5 minutes of my house, I’ll just call and see if they can fix this for me so I can go do my ride before it gets too late. 3 calls, 3 strikes…. I guess I’m going out on my road bike. Only I had to swap saddles, pull pedals, put a brake back on and replace the broken areobar pad on the clip-on areobars, before it would be ready to ride. Not the bike tech job I was hoping to be talking about on the blog today. Ah well, I learned some good lessons.
I finally arrived at my bike course at 4PM. 3 laps around the Buckman bike course. That might sound boring to some people but I feel this is probably the best use of my time. The road bike felt foreign to me for about 30-40 minutes. The saddle was too low for the entire first lap. That causes huge low back problems for me, fortunately once I adjusted it up my back became agreeable again. I was surprised at how much slower I was riding that course on my road bike. Yes I was pacing myself for 3 laps but I also think that because I was trying to stay in aero, I was often in the wrong gear longer than I should have been. This is a course where I am shifting constantly. For the road bike to be as fast as my tri bike on this course, I’d have to do without the aerobars.

I should also mention that I missed having my speedfil during the ride. I do a much better job with hydration using that system than with bottles on the down tube.

I was riding with my new Adamo Podium saddle. I adjusted it after each lap, it definitely felt the best during the 3^rd lap. Just over 3 hours of riding.

After my ride I had to run, first brick of the year. It wasn’t very special. I couldn’t make my legs move quickly. I was 15 minutes into the run before things started to feel decent and my speed and HR started to rise. That’s not a good sign for the Olympic distance events that are fast approaching. Of course I won’t be on the bike that long before my run. Or at least I hope not. All in all a good bit of training tho’. Now it was time to EAT! (as in the Time to Eat Diner).

When Genine got home from work we flipped through the photos I took at the race that morning. Next think you know it’s after midnight.

Sunday: Up early to head to the NJ Marathon. Jim and some other friends from my hometown were racing today. I had figured we would talk on Saturday to plan how to meet up and all that. Well that never happened. I knew Jim’s goal pace, so I drew up a timeline and took a course map and headed for Long Branch. I had no idea of what to expect for parking or traffic. Fortunately, the drive down was simple. I had about 20 minutes to find parking and get to the course before they pass by. I luck out and find good parking right around mile 10. I walk over to the course and right on time (a bit early actually). There is Jim. I start cheering for him, but he was not expecting hear anyone on the course cheering for him. So it takes a bit before he looks over and sees me.

Shortly after that, I spot Chris and then Marty. Chris also eventually realized someone was yelling for him and saw me. Marty was with a pace group that was pretty thick and didn’t see me.

Well now I guess I’ve got a couple hours to kill before the finish. The half marathoners started to show up in the mix. I spot Bridget, one of Genine’s friends. We will surprise her with a bunch of race photos, I guess.

Fortunately it was a beautiful day. So I just stood along side the finish chute and cheered people along for a couple hours. Because the half marathon was finishing before the marathoners (well some of them did anyhow), when the escort for the marathon winner passed through the crowd of half marathoners, I never spotted him.

When it got to the time that Jim was hoping to finish in, I tried not to be distracted by the other spectators. (fascinating who you meet at these things, a set builder from manhattan, Mooseman athletes…) Anyhow, I’m watching for Jim and then I spot Chris. My first reaction is, DID I MISS JIM?!! But then I see he’s running right beside Chris. Ha! Not far off their goal pace either.

We eventually meet up at the finish and I go back to my car. Along the way I spot one of the guys from our old Masters Swimming group. He’s doing the Mooseman half and then Lake Placid. It’s funny to me to actually see people that I know considering the small percentage of people I do know in this area.

We went out to Cheesecake Factory for dinner. If ever you should be allowed to eat their dessert it would be today right? Well everyone talked about which cake they were going to get at the start of dinner, then nobody got one. Kind of funny.

It was great catching up with everyone.

Monday: Electricians working at my house so I stayed home to manage that. Then I had a 4000m swim workout, the mainset being 30x100 with :15 break after each. That was a big swim, it went well, the breaks seemed to get shorter and shorter along the way. The last 25 of each felt longer and longer as well.

Then I figured I’d head to the bike shop to get that cable fixed. Because it’s now bike season, it was busy. Fortunately I was able to get it fixed without leaving it for a couple days. More about the bike fixes next weekend.

Now it’s Tuesday and I don’t know if it’s allergies or my weekend, but I feel very very tired. I need to make sleep a priority.

Hamstring issue.

2011-04-29T22:34:00.005-04:00

I haven’t been finding much time to post anything up here lately. Typically I’d write up a post during my commute, I’m guessing 80% of my commute time has been spent sleeping the last few weeks. I’ve definitely been physically tired lately. Motivation is still good tho’. That’s always a good thing.

I’ve been dealing with a really frustrating hamstring problem the last couple weeks. The massage helped it for less than a day. The worst thing about it is that it’s tight all the time. So my runs are awkward feeling, although not as awkward as walking. I’ve been back to my typical complaint of my foot not landing properly and all that. I wouldn’t call it a limp. It’s just awkward and wrong.

The other day I realized that there were times during the day where it was perfectly fine. Then like a switch, everything would get tight again. That was the clue I needed. I’ve been treating this thing as if it was inflammation or a muscular issue. That’s not the source of the problem. This is a nerve in my lower back being pinched. That causes my hamstring muscle to spasm. Hold that spasm long enough and of course the muscles will hurt.

So I went to the chiropractor today. It’s been awhile. I think this is only my 2^nd visit of the year. (that’s very few for me). On the walk over I was thinking that I should probably skip my run tonight and just swim. Well here it is a few hours after my adjustment and things are looking up. I’m walking normally again and now I can’t wait to run. I think because they’ve been so miserable the last couple weeks that I just want to feel that normal running stride again, just to know it’s there. I’ve got a brick tomorrow, so I’ll probably be smart and skip tonight’s run, it was the shortest run of the week, so not a big deal.

Sunday I’ll be going down to the Jersey Shore to watch Jim and his gang run the NJ Marathon. I’m not at all familiar with the area, so being a spectator will be an adventure. I’ve looked at the course map and realistically seeing them at 3 points on the course is probably as well as I’m going to do.

A follow up on my swimming: I had a few miserable swims. My coach was planning on using bands around my ankles to keep my feet from getting out of control at the next lesson. Well, I got to the next lesson and I had already fixed most of that problem. Actually a ton of stuff has improved and I'm in a good place... for now. Maybe it will stick around for awhile this time....maybe.

Odd scheduling week

2011-04-24T20:38:00.003-04:00

11 workouts is tough to fit into a 6 day week. Well I complicated things by adding the Massage on Monday night. Which caused me to take Tuesday off. Then I took Friday off as well. Fortunately, the weather changed for us Sunday and I got to do my 2.5 hour ride outside. I got rained on during the evening run but it was warm enough that it didn't matter.

There were some good moments this week. Wednesday night I ran 10 miles. The first 5 were miserable. I stopped often to try and keep my hamstring stretched out. At some point after 5 miles everything fell into place. I felt like I was running with good form. HR was low and my hamstring chilled out. It was a slow run but I felt good about it because I really thought my hamstring was going to force me to cut the run short. The weather was perfect for running which is why I moved my long run to this day.

Saturday: 90 minutes on the trainer. I spent a bunch of time trying different cleat positions. I was making drastic moves so that I could feel how the different positions felt. I think I'm in a better setup than when I started. I'm half tempted to get no float cleats. I think if they were locked in, I'd have an easier time finding what the neutral position should be. Next up, saddle position. I kept changing the height higher and higher until I finally felt that my right leg was no longer falling out of position. I think this may be the cause of my right hip/IT/hamstring.... problems. I can't figure out why the left didn't have the same trouble. When I'd do single leg drills, my right would have trouble going over the top. The left never had an issue. Once I got the saddle high enough both felt like they were circling evenly. My 90 minute ride was very comfortable. (low intensity)

Then off to the pool. There is something to be said about swimming when you are rested/recovered. I hit the water and my position felt great. So I decided to try and maintain that rather than hammer for speed. It was a great swim. Not my fastest but there was a ton of good stuff going on.

Best part of the week: I've started on my my tan lines. It was supposed to rain all weekend. Instead Saturday turned out to be awesome until about 4PM. We got to the lot and started taking the bikes off the car and Genine said "we should have brought sunscreen". Sure enough 2.5 hours later my arms are a bit red. A good reminder for next time.

Ugly swim / Deep Tissue Massage

2011-04-20T11:38:00.003-04:00

My last two swims have been awful. AWFUL! I’m talking :10-:20 difference per 100 bad. I would be really upset if not for the fact that the one before those two was fantastic. AND I’m very aware of why I’m swimming poorly. We determined this at my lesson last week. My legs are the biggest problem. Not only do I have a problem keeping them high in the water, I also go too wide randomly as well. When I go wide, that often throws off my balance, then I try to correct my balance with my stroke. So things get ugly in a hurry.

You would think that because I’m aware of these things, I shouldn’t have these problems. Unfortunately that’s not how it is. It’s reminding me of learning how to play the piano. It’s one thing to read the music and hear it in your head, and a completely different step to make your hands do what you are thinking. Also swimming, just like piano, if you practice a mistake long enough, it is really hard to change that pattern.

I suppose the good part of my bad technique is that it’s as if I’m wearing a drag suit all the time. So it’s a good strength builder. When I put the wetsuit on, I should be flying. (Should be. We will see).

Sunday I ran the 4 mile race in Central Park, then went out for a 2 hour bike that afternoon. My right leg was not happy with me. During the bike, I kept feeling like I had the most awkward pedal stroke ever. It felt as if I was pushing only using the muscles on the outside of my leg.

Monday morning my ankle was tight. Kind of in the same way that it was last year during my aborted marathon training. Not a good sign. I stretched a bit, then went to the pool. I was really hopeful that the swim would stretch things out a bit. That didn’t really happen. I was not walking normally on that right foot. It didn’t hurt but it wasn’t right.

Fortunately, in preparation for the Marathon last year, I had signed up with a Massage place. Once I was injured, I stopped going. So I now have a bunch of massages that are already paid for at that place. So I call to find out if they have someone available for a deep tissue massage. (I’ve never had the same person twice). They said they did and the person they named I think is the person that had Genine nearly in tears. It’s been awhile, so maybe it’s not the same guy.

It was the same guy. Oh man. It was 60 minutes and all he worked on was the back of my legs. I really thought my right hamstring was going to be the most painful part but I was wrong. When he got to my right calf, he found a knot. He worked on it like crazy. It was intense. I was sweating because it hurt so badly. The bad news is that it never released. Which means I should go back again sooner than later.

Even tho’ that muscle still has a knot, I’m flexible enough that I’m able to walk normally again. Even though both my calves and my IT bands feel like they are bruised.

Overall I was feeling pretty funky on Tuesday, probably from the massage, so I took the day off. That may mean I miss a couple workouts this week but I think it was a good thing to do.

I guess it’s good to figure out how long it takes to recover from a massage. That way if you feel you need one before a race, you will know when to schedule it.

I would like to think that if you have fewer problems going into the massage. It won’t be as painful. I’m not sure that’s the case. I guess I’ll find out the hard way. If I’m smart, I should go back in again next week. Ugh.

Race Report, NYRR Run for the Parks 2011

2011-04-17T11:35:00.002-04:00

Results

http://web2.nyrrc.org/cgi-bin/start.cgi/aes-programs/results/startup.html?result.id=b10417&result.year=2011

We didn’t find parking as quickly as we had hoped. We jogged over to the race as part of our warmup. My legs felt like lead. We check a bag and had about 10 minutes before race start.

We tried to squeeze in a warmup with some speed. It didn’t really happen. Todd is in the 1^st corral I’m in the 2^nd. I’m late enough that I put myself at the very back of the 2^nd corral and just stay there.

I’m really surprised at how uninspired my legs are feeling. Yesterday was a complete day off for me. I took pictures at the 5K race Genine ran. (She did really well BTW, I’ll let her report on that).

Today’s run should probably be a hard effort. It would fit the training plan nicely if that happened. So I make an effort to stay in this mentally. The shorter the distance the greater the suffer. The goal is to run at a pace that is just a touch slower than the point where my brain starts thinking “I really want to stop”, over and over again.

Horn sounds and we are off, and we are walking, jogging….. walking….. jogging… Crossing the start line barely jogging, great. This typically doesn’t happen, I wonder what the hold up is. I’m off to a slow start. I guess the back of the corral was a bad idea. Not a big deal, I’m just weaving around more often than I typically do. Unfortunately, there is no race day rush mentally. The one thing on my mind is still the fact that my legs are feeling like junk. I’m pushing tho’.

Mile 1: 7:30 min/mile HR 170-178

Not bad considering the congestion at the start. I’ve gotta get my mind off of my legs. Time to start picking people to chase down. This works fairly well. By the end of mile 2 I feel like I’m in my pace group, I’m not gaining much ground on anyone.

Mile 2: 7:14 min/mile HR 178-180

I decide to pick people that seem to be running this pace easily, figuring they will pace well for the next 2 miles. I’ve got a hill to climb in mile 3. I’m reminded that I no longer pass people on the climbs. That’s unfortunate. I’m staying close to my targets, I’m not letting them get away.

Mile 3: 7:34 min/mile HR 180-185

Alright the toughest part of the course is behind me. I’d like to say I turned it up into high gear for the final mile. I don’t think that’s the case here. I think I took advantage of the downhill and maintained the effort I’d already been pushing.

Mile 4: 7:07 min/mile HR 181-189.

Finish time: 29:28 which puts me in at a 7:22 min/mile.

I’m happy with that result. The way my legs were feeling today, I easily could have decided to jog the course for a training run. Instead, I got to find out that even when the legs feel lousy, that doesn’t mean they can’t race. It’s funny tho’, my 15K race a few weeks ago was a slower pace than today but felt faster.

It was a beautiful morning in Central Park with the trees flowering and it was warm enough to consider shorts and T-shirt, for the run. As we drove out of the city we saw people gathered for the Lincoln Tunnel run. You run the tube under the Hudson from NJ to NY. That might be a good run in the middle of the winter but certainly not today.

Data, the numbers game.

2011-04-14T09:34:00.003-04:00

I don’t consider myself an extremely competitive person when it comes to triathlon. It’s not often that I go looking at other people’s results and find that to be something that motivates me. I think I’m more about self-improvement. I definitely will look at my past results and work towards beating my previous self.

I’ve done very little looking at the numbers for the last 4-5 months. I haven’t totaled my distances in anything on a monthly basis. Nor have I added up the hours I’ve spent training. Not knowing these numbers has made it easy to read other athletes blogs and not get sucked into thinking I need to do more, because they are.

I've been downloading data from my Polar watch but I'm not spending much time looking at that either. I'm saving it because I think it could be interesting to look at a year from now.

It’s getting closer to race season tho’ and I’ve started to do some things that have given me an idea of where I am with my speed and fitness. (the 5K & 15K and some timed swims at my lessons).

Last weekend, I biked around Round Valley. Which is the Buckman bike course. (less the bit from the parking lot). I have always had trouble knowing where I am with my biking. (Maybe because I was riding with friends more often than not?) Well, after the ride last weekend, I looked up my race times from the Buckman from a couple years ago. My ride the other day wasn’t too far off from that result. (I need to look at my watch again to remember just how far off). Of course I didn’t swim before my ride the other day, but I also wasn’t pushing nearly as hard in terms of effort. That is encouraging. I really want to get it into my head that I can dial back the effort during the bike leg on race day and still have a respectable time. That should help setup a better run. I already know the battle on race day is going to be to stay dialed back. I have a tendency to redline during a race.

Anyhow, I’m already looking forward to the race days. Hopefully we will have better luck in terms of weather on race days. This will be my 4th year at Mooseman. Of the previous 3 years, weather has altered the event twice. That's a bad average, let's get that back to 50%!!

Gearing Up for the Tri season

2011-04-11T09:20:00.009-04:00

It’s been a spendy few weeks. I guess I didn’t post on here about the new roof rack for the bikes that we bought. After almost losing my bike off the top of the car, I ordered up a Thule rack for the car. It’s definitely a very good rack and I worked at it over two days to come up with a configuration that would hold 4 bikes, fork mounted and 2 wheels.

I had wanted to buy a new helmet but have really been having trouble with spending 170-210 for it. So I’ve been watching out for deals. Bike Nashbar got my attention early last week with a big coupon for 21% on any single item. I went to their site to see if they had either of the helmets I liked. Sure enough, there is the Bell Volt. It’s an older model (does it matter?) and is not the color I would choose if I had to pick from a selection of colors (Metallic Sepia/Copper) but I couldn’t pass up the price. $89.99. I already know that it fits, its comfortable and well vented so it was an easy decision.

While I was on the site I also decided to check out what shoes they had. I’ve been really been unhappy with the ones I’ve been using. Some days are better than others but they need to go. I’m not sure why it’s taken me so long to realize that they are too narrow.

They had a pair of Shimano Tri shoes. I was happy with the Shimano shoes I had previously. I can return these if I don’t like them for just the cost of shipping. So I ordered these up as well.

Until they get scuffed up a bit, Genine will constantly tease me about them looking like tap shoes.

For the record, I did to a bit of research trying to find a better shoe. The one that was most interesting to me was a shoe by Northwave.

The fit was pretty good for someone with a bit wider foot or looking for a larger toe box. I may have bought them if they didn’t have to special order them for me, or if they had a guarantee of some sort. There were a couple things about the build that was odd to me that made me question their durability. I asked around the forums trying to get some feedback about the brand and didn’t get much.

Because the scheduled bike workout keep getting longer. I realized it is time to try out saddles again. There are other saddles out there that I want to try, it’s just tough to find a bike shop that has them. Then you need to find a shop that has the time and interest to allow you to put it on your bike for a test ride, either on the trainer or outdoors. I thought the Adamo Race saddle that I used last year was pretty good but over the winter I set that up on Genine’s bike. I don’t think I’m going to get that one back.

I definitely want a saddle with a cutout so I checked out the demo programs online. I rented 2 saddles from Trisports.com. The Adamo Podium and the Selle SanMarco Mantra. I tried both of them on the trainer before Saturday’s 2.5 hour ride. I put the Adamo on 2^nd and so that was what stayed on my bike to start the ride. I figured I’d switch after the first hour. Well that didn’t happen. I didn’t want to take the break to swap saddles, so the Adamo got a 2.5 hour test ride. I liked it. It’s not perfect but it’s much better than everything I’ve used this winter. Monday night I’ll probably swap for the Adamo Race saddle from Genine’s bike. That way she can try the Podium and I can remember what the race version was like. There isn’t much difference but only one way to be sure. I have to send the Demo saddles back Thursday. I have a feeling an Adamo will be on my bike again this season.

Here are the 5 saddles I've tried.

This weekend’s workouts were good. Genine rode on her day off Friday. 36+ miles in the cold rain. She’s much tougher than I am when it comes to the weather. I did my 2500m swim Saturday morning while Genine was at Intensati. Then when she left for work, I drove over to the Round Valley loop to do my 2.5 hours. My goal here was to stay in my HR zone of course but to also think about my pacing. I need to start to get a feel for what kind of effort I can hold over certain lengths of time.

I’ve always considered this loop to be a perfect training ride for the Mooseman course but I’d never really looked to see how they match up. After 40 miles, I started to think that maybe this course is actually tougher than Mooseman’s Olympic course. Here are the profiles from Map my ride, I think they must be guessing on some of the elevation on the Round Valley loop as the start and finish aren’t at the same elevation.

Round Valley:

Mooseman

Columbia:

I'm not very good at looking at these graphs and deciding the difficulty. The big climb at Round Valley does seem to be a good approximation of the big climb at Mooseman tho'.

Sunday I was supposed to go into NYC to run a 10K with Todd. I wasn’t planning on racing this one but it was going to be another run to towards the 9+1 for the 2012 NYC Marathon. Unfortunately, Todd wasn’t going to be able to go. I decided that it wasn’t worth waking up early, gas and toll money plus the extra hours out of my day just for a training run in Central Park. Instead I ran my hour with Genine and some friends.

As I said before, the volume is starting to build. The good part about this is I can see that I’ve got a good chance at losing more weight before Timberman in August. That is if I can keep my eating in check. I found myself really loading up the calories in preparation for the bike ride and that continued after the ride as well. Sunday wasn’t much different. Seems that I was tired enough that I kept on munching on carbs. I need to put some serious effort into tracking my food intake and figure out what’s going to work.

Last week, I didn't wake up to do any morning workouts. Not enough sleep and I never caught up. As a result a couple of days I did my run in the evening with a short break before biking on the trainer. Not my ideal plan for an evening. So this morning I was in the pool at 5:30 and got my 3500m out of the way. So far so good this week.

Ramble

2011-04-06T16:39:00.001-04:00

I have a feeling my blog posts are going to be poorly edited for quite some time. Most of these are written on the train during my commute. Trouble is, I’ll write for 5 minutes, then fall asleep. I’ll apologize for the lack of flow in advance.

I now have the next 12 weeks of my workout schedule. Initially I only had 6 weeks. Just looking at those 6 made me realize that it’s going to get tough. As I looked at the 6 after that, I laughed out loud. Just like that, my feelings about it went from being a bit anxious about it, to thinking it’s somewhat absurd. (I’m so glad that I’m only doing half iron and not full iron this year).

Now that I’ve had some time to digest what lies ahead of me, I’m psyched up about it. In 8-12 weeks I should be able to manage those big workouts, I just have to stick to the plan and stay healthy.

I think the bike volume is what concerns me the most. I have never put enough time in on the bike. Simply proven by seeing that my longest rides ever have both been on the Timberman course. Once as a training ride and once during the race, which was in 2009. Obviously, that is going to change this year.

Biking has been my least favorite part of triathlon, here is why.

Lack of comfort: If I go long, I hate my saddle. Once you are uncomfortable on your saddle, you are done for. I haven’t found a way to make it better. So I am on a mission to find the right saddle. More on this soon.

The other comfort issue is that often my back/hip on my right side becomes problematic. I’m curious if my right side is doing more than it’s share of the work. I’ve been focusing on my left side, trying to make sure it stays involved.

I also have a tendency to push too hard at the beginning of every bike workout. I think these harder efforts are putting extra stress on that hip as well. I need to dial it back and find a better pace. The last few years I think I got through the bike using intensity in my training. This year will be more about volume. I need to learn how to pace for volume.

I’m really not sure what to think about Columbia and Mooseman tho’. I may have messed up by not giving myself more of a build into those races. I’m not saying that I’m not going to do well there. I’m just saying I’m learning how this system works along the way, and I might have done things differently now that I have a better understanding of it. I probably could have had a build into these 2 early races, then another schedule leading into Timberman, two peaks instead of just one. Not a big deal, just something to consider going forward.

I’ve been at the pool twice since my last lesson. I guess I’d forgotten how tough it is mentally to work on technique, rather than just hammering out the laps. I’m not swimming as hard as I had been because I’m so focused on trying to make the changes Coach Q gave me. I’m convinced that working on this is worth it, even during my build schedule. If I can change the rhythm of my recovery stroke and correct my right arm pull, I think that I’ll be headed towards the next level. Maybe not the next level in terms of speed right away but efficiency should improve and that alone is worth it.

I think I’ve made some progress with this already. I swam 3000 the other night and stayed focused on this the entire time. It took awhile to dial it in. At first I wasn’t able to manage the changes without messing up my body position. Which made it so I had zero glide time. I kept adjusting and eventually got into a decent rhythm and I felt that I had incorporated many of the fixes. Next lesson is Tuesday. I’ve got a couple more swim workouts before then. Hopefully I’ll have it dialed in by then so I can get some good feedback. Because you know this works, you change one thing and it affects everything else… I’m sure he will pick up on some of the new funkiness I’m feeling, if not I’ve got some questions. Fortunately, he will have answers.

Swim Lesson

2011-04-01T11:21:00.003-04:00

Genine was unable to make it to the lesson. When the Coach Q found this out, he gives me an option. Do I want him to coach me through a workout. Or do we continue with tweaking my technique. I wish the answer wasn’t so simple. Even tho’ I haven’t had a coached swim workout in 9 months or so, I had to stick with the technique help. He agreed but then added that he was going to have me race a 300, then a 200, then a 100 at the end of the hour and he was going take my splits.

I swim 100. I get to the wall and he asks which is my stronger arm. I say my right and mention the fact my left has some tendonitis. So I wouldn’t be at all surprised if my left is doing something crazy to compensate. Oddly enough, he tells me my left side is my good side! It’s entering wide, catching properly and staying wide through the pull, maybe not finishing. He says my right side, being the stronger arm, looks to be trying to power its way through the stroke rather than go with the flow. The result: A bit of a crossover in front, a pull that is underneath me, which leaves me nowhere to finish.

All this time I thought my left was a problem, turns out it could be in pain because it’s doing most of the work! (it never hurts during the swim by the way. It’s when I’m not swimming that I notice it)

Back to corrections: He has me put on hand paddles to give me huge feedback on how my hand travels. First I’m supposed to work on keeping the hand wide. Which I do quickly, then that turns into not enough depth. Still not enough depth because I’m entering too far out in front, keep the entry closer. (my brain is now on overload trying to do 3 things). He has me swim a bit like this while he goes and changes into his suit because we are going to add more.

He hops into the pool and watches from underwater. He spots even more cheating from my right arm. My left side has a decent high elbow. The right side collapses almost immediately. The list is now. Width, Depth, Entry, High Elbow.

I get this one rather quickly too, I just focus on reaching over a barrel.

(I now realize why I couldn’t count laps when I first started to swim. I had too many other things I was thinking about!!!)

The coach comments about how quickly I’m able to make these changes. I’d like to think it’s something I’m doing but really I think it’s because he describes the feel of each thing so well. I just make the adjustment and think about his description. I think my feel for the water is good, the trouble has always been figuring out what the goal is.

Because I’m picking these things up rather quickly, (Getting them to stick around is going to be the hard part, that’s why I’m writing all this down.) he’s going to add more. I’m finishing my stroke at my waist and I also push up on the water (some) instead of back. So we drill a bit where I hesitate at the finish before starting recovery.

Speaking of recovery… He mentions that if he were only to look at my stroke from above the water, he wouldn’t think I was much of a swimmer. My recovery is rushed whereas my stroke is actually quite smooth. He explains how my rushed recovery is forcing me to do more work with my shoulders because it’s leading the rotation. BOOM! (the sound of my mind blowing up) This might be the biggest comment of the night for me. I know that I end up leading with my shoulders the majority of the time, I just never had any idea of how to break myself of it. My recovery makes it nearly impossible to do otherwise! I could go on and on here about how much sense this makes. I can now think of the days when I’m really swimming smooth and I can picture how my recovery stroke on those days was much smoother. Heck I do this better every time I swim with a pull buoy!!

Wow… I LOVE when I get something like this. (By get, I mean understand, and get meaning receive. This makes the money spent well worth it).

We work on this a bit. I have a feeling that I’m going to be asking him about improving my recovery every time now.

Obviously there is quite a list of stuff to be worked on. Yet he still wanted to see how I pace myself, so he didn’t let me escape from doing the 300, 200, 100.

The 300 he just let me do my own thing. My first 50 was faster than all the others but the rest of the 50’s were basically the same. (I honestly don’t remember what the splits were). He seemed to think it was pretty good. I was happy that I wasn’t falling further behind every 50.

The 200 he told me to think negative split. That didn’t mean sandbag the first 100. That meant push through the second 100 fighting against the fatigue. I finished that a second faster than he had expected. (sorry no numbers again).

Now to the 100, he had a metronome and played the cadence I was swimming for the 300 and 200. He tells me for the second 50, he wants me to up the cadence to push for the negative split. The first 50 felt pretty good, as I push off for the final 50 I notice he’s pushing off as well and swimming along in the next lane… effortlessly (or so it seemed). He was watching to see how much of all the tweaks we worked on were still there during a sprint. This 100 was 3 seconds slower than a few weeks ago. 1:24. I’m not surprised, the other time I focused hard on finishing every stroke. This time I was focused on faster turnover and I was not in my rhythm. He still thought the time was good. His point was this, to get faster, I will need to work on increasing my turnover.

We’ve created quite a to do list. It’s unfortunate that I don’t have a coach to remind me of what I’m doing wrong during my workouts. The challenge will be to stay focused on these things constantly during my swim workouts. If I do them right for a few weeks they should start to become automatic. My swim volume goes up starting Monday. I’ll dial back the intensity a bit and focus on this stuff. Fortunately my next lesson is less than two weeks away.

Side note: Bob was at the pool Wednesday morning. He joined in on my workout... and crushed it. Some things never change.

A bit of recovery before the fun begins

2011-03-29T21:49:00.002-04:00

As I said in the previous post, I really wasn't supposed to race that 15K on Sunday. I really wasn't trained for the volume or the intensity of that run. I'm glad that I did it but now I have to be smart and recover from it. (because I can definitely feel it)
I skipped the bike I was supposed to do later in the day Sunday. Monday was an hour easy spin on the bike then stretch. That made a big difference. Tuesday was a 45 min easy run. The run definitely let me know that the hamstrings are still recovering. Overall, I'm still feeling good.

I built my 20 week training schedule to prepare for Timberman 70.3. It starts on Monday. I guess it's happening at just the right time. I feel like I've become quite comfortable with the plan I had been following.
As I looked over the first 6 weeks, I kind of took in a big breath and thought, "Here we go". It looks like a bunch. I'm going to have to adjust my sleep schedule to make this happen.
I had been arriving at the pool at 6AM twice during the week. I think I'm going to have to start at 5:30 now.
I may have to start running before work twice a week as well. I'll be glad to do this once summer hits and the morning is the coolest part of the day. But right now, I'm just thinking how I've enjoyed only waking up early twice a week. I'll definitely have to start going to sleep earlier.

As the volume picks up, maybe I'll be glad I still have this extra 10 pounds to burn off before August? I keep reading about people that have this extra weight at the start, as part of their plan. I missed my "ideal weight" goal but I lost 10 pounds in about 18 weeks. I'll just have to do that again over the next 20.

NYRR 15K Colon Cancer Challenge / Lazy Sunday

2011-03-28T11:00:00.004-04:00

Results Page

I didn’t write anything about running this race this weekend because I had planned it to be a training run. Meaning 146 max HR. So it just wasn’t going to be anything worth mentioning. Also I wasn’t sure I was going until late Thursday.

The race was an 11:15 start, much later than normal. We knew parking was going to be an issue so I had printed some coupons for parking garages (Side story to this)*. We had time to cruise for street parking but we were having no luck. So we headed for the garage, half a block from the garage someone pulled out. Nice!

It’s a cool morning for late March, I think it was low 40’s with just a bit of wind. We had time for a short warmup with some striders. I was feeling good. Now I had to make a decision. HR Training run, Max 146. Jog/run/cooldown, 5K each. Or pace it?

What pace tho? I haven’t run 15K since early December. My only speed run was the 5K a few weeks ago. I decide to go for an 8 minute mile and see what happens.

I’m in the 2^nd corral and it’s not too crowded, so when the gun goes off I go with the flow.

1st mile: I’m not dodging around trying to find space. Everything is feeling good. I click my watch at the first mile. 7:49. Alright, that works, but I notice that my watch calibration is off and had me at an 8:10. So my instantaneous pace information was going to be worthless. Not a big deal. I do need to fix that soon tho'.

2^nd mile: well there were 2 of them because there was the 4 miler earlier. So initially my split was a 6:50 or something like that, which I knew was wrong. Then shortly after was our mile 2 mark and I was in at 7:20 (down hill help). Still I’m sure that’s faster than I should go for 9 miles so I dial back a bit.

3^rd mile. 8:26 Up Hill and a bit of an overcorrection on my dialing it back.

4^th mile: I’m rather familiar with the course but I make a point of watching for a “GO” point as this will be the end of the run. There is one short incline then a good descent into the finish. Mile 4 was a 7:36, back on track.

5^th mile: So my watch isn’t giving me my pace accurately and I know that I’ll be ascending over the next few miles. I don’t want a repeat of mile 3. So I start to pick out people to reel in. I’ll gauge my effort by my breathing pattern, I don’t want to get going too fast. I just don’t want to fall off. 7:49 for mile 5.

6^th mile: Eat my 2nd GU. Heading back into the starting area. I’ve passed a couple people and have a girl with a large red headband as my next target. 7:50 for mile 6

7^th mile: I have not gained a single step on this girl with the red headband. I run down hill better than she does, she runs uphill better than I do. 7:39 for mile 7.

8^th mile: 2 years ago I ran this race hard and I cramped up at about this time. Funny how that was on my mind, I didn’t stop for water anywhere I shouldn’t need it but I was thinking about it. This girl with the red headband is still leading the way. I’ve got to keep close, I should be able to make the pass on the downhill next mile. 7:51 for mile 8.

9^th mile: Really feeling good, it’s been a very comfortable run. I spot my “GO” mark and I turn it up. I’m past the red headband (thanks for the pace!) and am now just focused on holding this quicker tempo. Probably less than a mile to the finish and a nice downhill to speed the way. 7:15 for mile 9.

.3 to the finish: Within this stretch, there are quite a few coaches walking along the side of the race here. One shouts, “Choose your victim and GO!” She wasn’t talking to me but I wasn’t going to be anyone’s victim, so I open it up the rest of the way. (why wasn’t I running all out already?) To add to the sprint push, they call my name over the loudspeakers as I’m in the finish chute. The last bit I ran in 2:17 or a 7:07 pace.

I finished in 1:11:55 a 7:44 min/mile average. Not a PR but I wasn’t expecting one.

Once again, I am more than a little surprised that I had this good of a race in me. I don’t think I’ve run over 10K since early December. (My last 15K “race”.)

2 years ago I raced this 15k and finished in 1:09:01, I had done a ton of running that winter. That was a great race for me and I had a very good tri season. The difference this year is I feel like I haven’t been training hard yet. I’m very interested to see how I respond to the build/speed training.

I meet up with Todd, he’s not as happy with his run. He said it started well but then felt like the brake was dragging on the wheel and he just lost power throughout the entire run. (he still beat me by just over a minute). Then he says, “I probably shouldn’t have run 8 miles yesterday… Or stayed out until 2AM with friends… Yep, that’s a terrible race alright..

So we head back to the car. We get within’ half a block and I say, “I did not notice that on the way TO the park.” As I point to the store on the corner. He looks and has no idea what the place is. But I know that Genine would be disappointed if I was this close to the place and didn’t buy something for her.

Ah yes! Magnolia Bakery, thus the Lazy Sunday in the title. If you are unfamiliar with this reference. You need to go to this link and watch.

*Printer side story:

My home printer stopped working a couple weeks ago. I finally decided I should try to fix it so I could print out these parking coupons. The network card was the bad card. $35 on ebay but it that would take a few days. Search the forums for any additional help. This is what I find. "remove plastic face plate, preheat oven at 350 degrees. Place the card in the oven in such a way that it is suspended and flat. (I used toothpicks, hoped they wouldn't burn at 350) 8 minutes in the oven, 30 minute cool down and install it back into the printer. It worked. Ha!

NYRR Volunteering / Aches and Pains / Cool Video

2011-03-19T22:27:00.003-04:00

Friday afternoon I went to the NYRR NYC Half Marathon Expo and I handed out bib numbers to the racers. This gives me credit towards my 9+1 entry for the 2012 NYC Marathon.

When I first saw just how many bibs there were to hand out, I was thinking it was going to get crazy busy once everyone got out of work at 5-6PM. There was a bit of a rush hour but there were more than enough people handing out numbers. I don’t think that the line was more than three people deep at any point.

The time went by very quickly because it wasn’t very often that you weren’t helping someone. I also think it was enjoyable because there were so many people there that were not from the metro area. Many people were using their passports as their ID to get their race number. I wish I had kept track of how many different countries I helped.

They were excited to be there. They had all sorts of questions. The most concerning of them being. “This looks to be the 3^rd corral. Am I going to have to run through slow people?” These people were serious. I had them check with the info desk to verify the pace of the corral. I’m guessing they were in the right spot. They just might not be used to there being so many people that are faster than them.

Many of them couldn’t help but tell us just how long it had been since they’ve run in Central Park, or how long it’s been since they’ve moved away from the city. Fortunately, as I said we were never swamped, so we were more than happy to listen.

The most difficult thing about the race logistics seems to be where their families should be during the race. (the start and finish are not close to each other). Fortunately not too many people asked for help with this issue. (so maybe it’s not an issue?)

I’d say the NYC Half Marathon looks to be turning into a great “destination race”. Which is great for the city and great for NYRR. (Maybe not so great for me, because getting in via the lottery is going to be tough.)

Aches and Pains:

I’ve just finished 20 weeks of “maintenance” training.

I’ve got 2 weeks until I start my 20 week build for the Timberman Half Iron.

So? What to do for the next 2 weeks? The plan was just to continue with the maintenance. The trouble is this. I’ve got a few aches and pains that I don’t think I should have at this point in time. It’s become a bit of a checklist.

Left forearm: Tendonitis, not a big deal. Just annoying.

Upper Back and Ribs: The trip to the chiropractor made a huge difference. Now I’ve become hyper aware of just how much I hunch at my desk all day. Also concerned that it could be related to my posture on the bike as well.

Right Calf: Stiff and sore at times. I’ve been working hard at gaining some flexibility here. Guess I’ve got a long ways to go.

Left Hip: This one concerns me the most. Every now and again I get apain that really zaps me. It’s so quick that I have a hard time figuring out where it’s from. I keep thinking it’s in the socket. (that would be bad) Yet it only seems to happen when I’m tight, usually later in the day following a run. Which makes me think that it’s muscles/tendons, not bone/cartilage.

I’m going to email the coaches and see what they think.

I’m figuring I should just drop to 2 bikes and 2 runs a week and make them low intensity. I’ll keep the 3 swims a week but again, low intensity.

I also plan on plenty of stretching, along with a massage in there some time too.

I need to work on getting more sleep as well. I’ve started falling asleep on the train during my commute the last week or so. That’s as easy of a signal to read as there is.

I’ll admit all of this just makes me think that I’m old and I’d better get used to the aches and pains. If that’s the case, then what can you do? I just don’t want to miss my races this year, so I’m going to try like crazy to keep stuff like this in check. I’d rather race slower than not at all.

Now the cool video.

VCA 2010 RACE RUN from changoman on Vimeo.

Random

2011-03-16T15:52:00.001-04:00

Last week my blog post about the 5K was tweeted by NYRR.

You would think that would inspire met to write more insightful posts. Instead you get the following bunch of random stuff that I’ve been meaning to work into a post but I haven’t had the time.

Ultra-runners:

Diet Stuff:

We all read all sorts of things regarding what we should or shouldn’t eat. All too often it’s backed up by some pretty flimsy research. So when I come across something that is from a reliable source or is written without too many assumptions that leave you wondering, I make note of them. Here are a few things I’ve come across lately. Plenty of other good stuff on these sites as well.

Soy products and breast cancer.

http://www.dana-farber.org/pat/support/nutrition/ask-the-nutritionist.html#number43

Gluten Free?

http://www.acefitness.org/blog/1242/does-a-gluten-free-diet-improve-athletic

Diet vs Changing your eating habits forever

http://www.acefitness.org/blog/1253/why-is-it-so-hard-to-lose-the-last-10-pounds

I suppose I should own up to the fact that I completely stalled on the diet. I’m not sure what happened exactly. Just got into a funk about a week ago. Fortunately the funk seems to be fading and I’m falling back into line.