Stepping out of the comfort zone

As many of you know, Genine goes to Yoga, Kickboxing and IntenSati each week with our instructor/friend Tiffany. She has a great time with it. I've considered going many times but it's tough to make it fit the schedule. My train doesn't get me home in time for Kickboxing Wednesday night. IntenSati is on Saturday mornings and for the longest time that was when Todd and I would run. Also weekends are also when I usually do at least 2 workouts already. Then of course there is the fact I just haven't taken group fitness classes. Also intensati doesn't include swimming, biking or running, would I even be coordinated enough to do this?

Genine and Tiffany were going to Equinox in Manhattan Friday night to attend a special IntenSati event. Workout schedule wise for me, I had been planning to take Saturday off before the Sunday race. Tiffany had offered a ticket for me to go. I had to decide if I wanted to go to an 80 person workout with the Inventor of IntenSati, whom Genine thinks is just fantastic. I decided to give it a shot.

I had teased Tiffany that I was going to show up wearing a T-shirt ripped 80's style, leg warmers with matching headband and wristbands. This was not a joke being made about the workout I was about to do. I knew going in that there was a very good chance I was going to be hurting the next day.
The studio filled up. It was going to be tight. Patricia first talked about what inspired her to write the workout we were about to do. She explains where she is/was and how she had to work on removing certain fears from her subconscious in order to become the person she wanted/needed to be. Then we began the workout.
The music starts rockin and she shows us the first couple moves that we are going to do. Once we started moving we didn't stop for 75 minutes. What started as a 2 moves she continually added to until we had 19 different moves we were doing. Everyone was into it. Nobody was slacking. There were people that had to take breaks but you could tell that everyone there was giving it 100% and in some cases more. (seriously)
The other day I joked about the splash zone at yoga. It would seem I posted that joke too soon. As I had said the room was packed, I eventually became the splash zone I joked about. Maybe the headband and wristbands would have been a good idea after all.

This video gives you an idea of what the workout is like.

After the class, Patricia invited people up to the mic if they had anything they wanted to share with the class. The first woman to speak told of how she wanted to meet the man she would marry and be engaged within the year. Which was going to be quite difficult seeing how she hardly ever dated anyone her entire life. She credited Patricia/Intensati and gave an assist to Lou Gramm of Foreigner with her success. (She would rock out to "I want to know what love is"). I suppose to some of you reading this, that sounds pretty cheesy. Yet if you think about it, it really isn't at all. During the intensati workout, Patricia asks you to think about what you want in your life, then tells you to focus on it, and is building your confidence in yourself and your ability to succeed. At the very least, during that workout is an hour a week where you are thinking about yourself and who you want to be. I couldn't help but think of how it's the exact opposite of why many people go to workout. There are many people that go to workout because it is an escape. Perhaps they are putting off something they don't want to do or just gets them away from a situation they don't want to be in. While they are training they are in a zone and free from those problems for a short time. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with doing that. I'm just saying that I see how intensati is much more than a physical workout.

I learned a few other things as well. I found out that Genine knows how to throw a punch whereas me? Well not so much. Maybe it's just because Genine was rocking those sequences and I knew I wasn't matching her intensity. Genine always tells me her definition in her back and arms is because of the punches during her workouts. Now I see why.

I also expected this class would show me where some of my weaknesses are. Much in the same way yoga does for me except this is kinetic rather than static. Sure enough here I am the next morning and how am I sore? Glutes and Hamstrings, nothing new there. The class definitely would be good cross training for me for those two things alone. Doing 100's of squats and lunges during this class would be more enjoyable than standing in the basement doing 100's of squats and lunges. (which is why I don't ever seem to get around to doing them at all)

So the barrier has been broken. I've taken IntenSati. Tiffany may have to come to class prepared to mark off a splash zone for me from time to time. I'll be sure to take some punching lessons from Genine before I go. ;-)

Pro Photo

Here is the action photo of me going into the finish line at last weekend's 4 mile Haiti Run.
Photo link.

I think you will like this

Shawn you could have a webpage like this if you design your swim gear cheats for the Tango.
Check this out. Kona on a Fixie, a heavy one at that. Here is the link.

4 miler, take 2 / Florida / Fundraiser #3

I went up to the NYRR office to pickup our race numbers and timing bands today. It was a mess out there. It was dropping big wet snowflakes on us non-stop all day long. I witnessed quite a few businessmen wiping out as they were trying to walk down the street. They weren't very happy about it. Guess they need some yaktrax for those fancy shoes.
I'm #42 this Sunday and Genine is #4561. I'm hoping the course is clear and race-able.

The Florida trip triathlon isn't going to happen. The bike rental was going to be $140 and it's just too far away to be considered convenient. I found a Plan B. I'll be running a 5k or 15k trail run instead, weather permitting.

I also sent in the necessary paperwork for our (3rd annual) fundraiser today. I've been talking with them the last few days. One cool feature that they've added (mainly because of our group) is a team fundraiser site. The last couple years, everyone would direct their friends to our fundraising page. Now they've designed the system so that each person on our team can create their own personal page. I haven't seen it yet but I think the total money raised will be shown collectively on each page. They were excited to tell me about it.
They also had said there were new guidelines that had to be followed. I was beginning to worry that they were going to raise the amount needed to allocate funds specifically. Fortunately that hasn't changed. The goal again this year is to raise $10,000 or more so that every cent of that goes directly to Dr Guinan at Boston's Children's Hospital for her cancer research. I'll post more about this as it moves ahead.

Swim Video Analysis / Mooseman Crew / Dreadmill / Yoga

Genine and I are on Coach Q’s schedule for a swim video analysis on March 20^th. I’ve wanted to do this for a long time now. Although I think up until very recently most of the feedback I would have received would have been about body position as that was (maybe still is) my biggest problem. Now I’m hoping there will be more feedback about what I’m doing wrong with my left arm. I still feel that I’m not pulling properly on that side. Well actually, I’m not sure I pull properly on either side. I’m also hoping this video session might be a step towards learning what I need to change so that I’m using my lats more when I swim.

To follow up the video session, Genine and I are signed up for 5 lessons, 1 per week, with Coach Q. Not only am I excited to see if he can bump me up another step like he did last year. I’m very confident that he is going to help Genine move her swim up to the next level. It’s going to be fun.

The other fun news I got yesterday is that our friend Steve is going to join us at Mooseman this year. Genine and I were definitely disappointed when they dropped the relay division. That eliminated 6 or more of our friends from going up and competing. Not to mention any entourage they may have brought along with them as a support group. So weren’t sure what to expect this year in terms of our “party”. So far we have Maija, Amy and Steve racing with us. The Farmhouse is filling up! You know that house prefers to be full.

This morning it was raining. Jim’s going to think I’m a wimp but I have a tough time getting inspired to run by myself in a 35 degree rain. I’ve wanted to start interval training. So I decided to try out the treadmill. I’m not sure I can remember the last time I’ve run on the treadmill. I certainly didn’t have a clue as to what speeds I was going to attempt or how many. I was thinking 6 ¼ mile intervals. I warm up, slowly increasing the pace. It always seems to take a bit to remember how to treadmill run without running off the front of the track. Once I was warmed up I started to increase the speed to find out what my top speed was going to be this morning. It ended up being just shy of a 7-minute mile. I’m not sure I’ve ever run on this thing that fast. Certainly a long way from that first 10-minute mile 5K I celebrated 3 years ago. I managed to do 5 ¼ mile intervals with 1/8^th mile recoveries. Aerobically more was possible, I was just trying to play it smart for a change. Speed work has a way of beating up my adductors and hip flexors and I was feeling the adductors on the 5^th interval. So I cooled down and stretched out.

You know what? That was actually tolerable, not dreadmill like at all. Obviously I don’t want to do much of my running on a treadmill but I think I’m going to be doing that again soon.

Yoga: I’m sure to look at me doing yoga, many people would think “why does he bother? He’s never going to be good at this” I know one of the reasons is that I now know how to stretch myself out much better than in previous years. There are stretches/poses that I’d never have thought of, or know how to do to stretch something out. That right there is worth the price of admission. Not to mention it’s a fun group. Last night Shaun and his wife Brie joined the class, our friend Alexis has already been a regular for awhile now. The joke last night was that they would paint a red box around my yoga mat and put a sign up that read “splash zone, you will get wet”, like they have at those Sea World Shows. It was a full class last night with plenty of splash zone potential. I wasn't too bad this week tho'. I'm guessing because I didn't bike before class, or maybe because Tiffany had the A/C on for longer than she typically would. (probably the A/C).

Racing again Sunday

Genine and I are both registered for the NYRR Al Gordon Classic 4 miler in Prospect Park Brooklyn next Sunday. This is a capped race, meaning there won't be 9000 people at this one. I'm sure it will be sold out but it will be raceable as long as I get myself placed into the right corral.
It's a bit early to give the weather forecast much reliability but currently it looks promising.

I seem to remember this park having more hills than the central park run. The only time I've run here was at the end of my first half marathon in 2008. Genine didn't like hearing me say that but I honestly can't remember much about the course. I guess I'll find out next weekend.

It will be a fun weekend. We will be visiting with Kevin and Lara in Bay Ridge on Saturday. I thought Kevin might run it with me but it seems the course is 22.2 miles too short for him. ;-)

Goin' to Florida

I booked a flight to go visit my dad in Florida for 5 days in March. The weather down there hasn't been all that great this winter. Colder and a ton of rain. I'm hoping that will all change by the time I get there.

My last trip down there was 2008 and there was a local sprint triathlon that I decided to race while I was there. The one where I decided I'd wear my jeans during the bike because it was so cold. (I was on a hybrid bike anyhow).
I wasn't really thinking about racing when I was down there this time, then my dad asked me if there were any events. So I went looking. There is an Olympic distance race about 90 minutes away on Sunday morning. I'm not sure it's going to work out but I'll consider it. I'm going to contact a bike shop down there about renting a bike. I'd prefer not to ride 40k on a hybrid that doesn't fit me very well.

Even if I don't end up racing, it will be fun to be down there. If I were smart I'd get to the driving range a couple times before going. I'm sure we will be out on the course at least once... a day. Haha. No not that often, maybe if I were a better golfer that would be true.

It will definitely be a run focus week in Florida if I don't race. Swimming isn't very convenient and I won't have a bike unless I decide to race. I looked at my run graph from the race 2 years ago. I haven't been charting my runs lately but I'm guessing that chart there would look awfully similar to my 4 mile run today. (without the push at the end) I'm not sure what to make of that. I should probably be further along with my running? Maybe all the NYRR races will get me in speed mode for a change. I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed not to be able to "race" yesterday. There is just something about race day, it just puts me in a different frame of mind. Which is really strange considering I'm not going to make the podium. It's still really fun to be out there.

Run For Haiti Results 4mi Central Park NYC

Here is the link to the results page.

Genine's class with Tiffany was canceled for Saturday morning so she went into the city with me this morning. Wahoo!
We left the house about 7AM. We were on central park west by 8AM. We looked for parking until 8:40AM! Parking in a lot was going to cost at least $30. I really didn't feel like doing that. You could park on 72nd street starting at 9AM. So at 8:40ish Genine said she would sit with the car until it was legal to park there and then head over. So I jog over towards the start. I was thankful the portajohns didn't have pre-triathlon size lines. Then I headed to the start line, that's when I realized that this was going to be a slow run. I was directed to file in where you can. Well I was in the 11 minute mile corral which was just in front of the walkers. Only there wasn't really anyone in the walker corral. I call Genine to tell her she's not going to miss much by waiting with the car. There are 1000's of runners ahead of me, I'm not going to be able to race this.
So I've got my cell with me. I don't typically have anything with me when I run. So what do I do with it now? I decide my best solution is to tuck in into my sleeve along my forearm and hope for the best.
The starting horn goes off. People cheer. We stand and wait. And wait... eventually we shuffle.. then wait. I should have looked to see how closely to 9AM the horn went off. I got to the start line at 9:20. At which point I hear the announcer say there are over 10,000 runners. I'm fairly certain I'm in the last 1000 to cross the start line. If they started the race right at 9AM, the winner finished 20 seconds after I crossed the starting line.
Fortunately I didn't come into this race with high hopes of putting up a good time. Although the weather couldn't be any more perfect for a good run. 40 degrees and sunny.
The good news is I remembered to wear my polar watch today. Bad news is the Battery in my HR Strap died on me before I got to the start line. (not a big deal). So I kept track of my mile splits along the way.
Mile 1: 8:58 LOL! I think to myself, maybe it will open up later in the race. (really?)
Mile 2: 7:53 There was a decent stretch where I ran tight to the curb and up on the grass when necessary.
Mile 3: 8:39 I think this is because of a bottle neck in the course. It got tight and you couldn't bob and weave.
Mile 4: 7:32 This is because people were on a down hill and people were yelling "you're almost there!" to them. I'm not sure all those people considered a half mile to go as "almost there" as quite a few of them would be pushing hard and then slow to a walk.
I'll admit that I also stopped my watch before crossing the finish line. In my defense it was because I couldn't get to the finish line. I was at a complete stop about 15 yards from the finishing gate.
My watch time was 33:02.
I walk over the finish. Pull my phone out and call Genine. I ask where she is. She says she's just in front of the finish line and she's upset that she didn't even see me. Then my phone died. Have I ever mentioned how much I sweat? Fortunately she had given me a clue as to where she was before that happened.
My official race time 33:21. 8:20 pace.
Overall 2256, Gender 1657, Age 329
I didn't bother to see out of how many people for each category. It doesn't matter. It was a nice day to run in central park and raise money for Haiti. All the entry fee money was donated. So I guess they raised over $400,000. I'm sure it was much more than this with the extra donations.

Hopefully they don't look at this race result to place me into corrals in future races.
My biggest concern? I hope that I don't have this much trouble finding parking for future races.

Here is a picture of me after the race.


Update: phone dried out and is working again. Whew!

Follow up on Diet vs Training

So I was curious as to just how much faster I'd be on the bike if I weighed 10-15 pounds less.
I found a "bike calculator" that helps answer that question. Of course I haven't a clue what kind of power I can push but I played around with it a bit to see what happens.

Here is a link to the Mooseman Bike course if you want to try and estimate some distances and elevations. Turn on Elevations from the menus on the left side of the screen.

Enter in 190lbs. 4 mile hill. pushing 150W. 300ft climb. Then change to 170lbs. It looks to be about 45 seconds faster or .5 mph faster. Which doesn't sound like much, but if you visualize that 45 seconds as him cresting the hill 45 seconds ahead of you...

I seem to choose races that have hills so I may as well try to make the job easier for myself. Although I'm starting to think I need to choose one flat course this summer.
NJ State perhaps. It's about 25 minutes away and the swim is a non-wetsuit swim which I am fine with.

Low Fuel

It was a long day yesterday. Started out swimming at 6AM with Maija.
500m warmup.
2x150m race pace.
6x100 on 1:40. Which meant I'd get about one breath before I had to start again. After the 2nd one I was on 1:45.
100m easy
12x50 on :50. Again almost no break for me I ended up doing mostly :55's
100m easy.
Then I had to catch my train.
I don't think I've pushed myself to try and make intervals like that in quite awhile. It may not have been my best swimming technique but it was fun.

At lunch I went up to the NYRR office to pick up race numbers. I was in and out of the NYRR office in less than 5 minutes. The trip on the subway from 23rd street to 89th street is something I'm not looking forward to doing 7 more times. Yes I took the Subway from Brooklyn to Manhattan for 6-7 years, but as impressive as the NYC subway system is, I don't miss it.

After work, I figured I had better run, seeing how I haven't done that much lately. I ran 5k. I didn't take my watch or HR monitor. I just wanted to focus on perceived effort/feel more than anything. I was hoping to get some speedwork in, but my legs were in disagreement. I took about a 30 min break, and then I hopped on the bike. This is where I really got to feel just how shot my legs were. I ended up just spinning somewhat easy for 30 minutes.
I'd guess half of my weakness is from the diet. Meaning my lack of calories. The weight is dropping, which is good, but I'll admit when I'm having a weak training session, I wonder if it's worth it. I'm sure it is though. I've dropped 8 pounds and I'm still not to my average weight from last summer (ugh!) and I'd like to try and be lighter than that. Power to weight ratio!

Today is an off day, from training, not the diet. I'll be curious to find out how well the legs are recovered for Saturday morning's race. It looks like I'll be going it alone. I'm hopeful that I manage a good race morning and am able to push hard. I think it would be a good measure of where I am and help me get my run training plan put together.

107 Call Out

We started scheduling our official Spring 2010 fundraiser luncheon calendar at work this week. Which of course means...Greek Lunch!! Which of course means...Mooseman 2010 is around the corner...107 days to be exact. And that of course means it is soon time to kick-off our 2010 fundraising campaign for Dr.Guinan. It's hard to believe that is is almost upon us. While it is such a big effort for both Matt and me, it is quite possibly the most rewarding.

OK, let me make the call out official.... Who's in for Mooseman 2010? Matt & I are already registered along with our friend Amy. That still leaves plenty of room at the house. (hint-hint) There are still race slots open, but don't delay. They will surely fill soon. Our C5 and Bloomie's teams will not be competing due to the elimination of the relay division :-( , but everyone is welcome to make the trip to hang out, cheer, relax and of course EAT!!

So how about it Venerable Companions?? It's time for a 3-pete don't you think?

Race Prep

The "Run for Haiti" 4 miler in Central Park is Saturday morning. Todd is also signed up but isn't sure if he's going to go or not. Well I'm going, the question is will I race or pace? I'm leaving this as a last minute decision. If I get a good warm-up and get myself into the race day zone, then I'll test out the leg speed. Otherwise it's just another step towards guaranteed entry for the 2011 NYC Marathon.
I also realized we are under 100 days until the Columbia Triathlon, so I made my hotel reservation. Hopefully I don't repeat last year and have to cancel it. I also hope they have better weather for the race this year.

When we were in Warren back in January, Jerry stopped by. He's been doing the P90X workouts and has been enjoying them. Seeing how long Jerry has been working out, for him to say it's a good program says a lot to me. He ran us through the Ab Ripper X routine. It's 25 reps of each move and it takes about 15 minutes. This is the ab workout I'm trying to do 3 times a week. I feel like I have a long way to go. I'd be happy with feeling average at that workout at the end of 3 months.

We went swimming tonight, 8:30 start. That's kind of rough but we were looking for a shorter workout anyhow. Alexis and Shawn showed up as well so we had a good group swim. We got 2000m in. Decent mix of pace and race. Shawn is a really good sprinter. He pushed me to really kick hard on those races. He still beat me. It was a good time.

Good day off (of work)

I figured I'd be up early go run hills, then head to the pool. Instead, I had to move stuff for the guys working on the baseboard trim in our house. I think we might be in the final week of playing the tile puzzle game with all of our belongings in every room. We relocated so much of our stuff it's getting tough to find anything.
So I got out the door for my run around noon. 4 miles of the hill loop. It was good to be out running, it's been about 10 days. I've been curious to see if my foot pain improves if I don't run. It doesn't seem to make much of a difference.
I then went to the Y to swim but the kids swim meet had already begun. So much for that idea. Back to the house then off to run errands.
Home Depot to order blinds: After 20 minutes, it was determined there was nobody that could help me. The person is on lunch and return time unknowable.
Auto Zone to get engine code read: 10 minute wait, 3 people were working, but only one guy doing anything. After 10 minutes I decided it wasn't going to happen for at least another 10 minutes. So I drove to the garage instead. Of course he's doesn't have time until Thursday.
Not a very productive outing. I guess I should have waited at one of those places, at least something might be off the list.
Genine calls, she's on her way home. She figures we will have time for an hour on the bike trainer before going to Yoga. I'm not sure how good of an idea that is (biking before yoga) but I'm going to give it a shot.
We do a base builder workout. I'm supposed to stay in zone 2, it kinda turned into high zone 3, 4ish. For whatever reason, with the new bike position I just seem to be pushing higher heart rates. I'm going to have to learn to dial it back if I'm going to bike anything longer than an hour. We finish with less than an hour before we have to leave to get to yoga.
Tiffany begins Yoga by telling us that it's going to be a tough session and that you can go into Downward Dog or Child's Pose at any point to take a break. This is going to be interesting. Surprisingly enough I was feeling strong, but I heated up and was drenched within' ten minutes of the class starting. That was not surprising to me of course but I was good for some comic relief for the rest of the class. Nothing new there either. I guess I should show up with a mop to class next week.
(by the way, I figure the others aren't sweating because they are slackin')

It was pointed out to me that the NYRR Run this Saturday will count for 2 races towards the 9+1 I need to do for the 2011 NYC Marathon. Wahoo!

Bit of a break.

Here is my Feb so far. I guess I forgot how to run. I have tomorrow off, so I'll make sure I get out there. I have a long to do list as well I'm going to have to pace myself. Speaking of pacing, I'm racing a 4 miler in Central park next Saturday morning. It won't be fast. Hopefully it will inspire me to start working on my run speed.

Feb 1st: 2500m swim 6AM. Terrible swim. I’m going to blame the tough weekend of workouts. Maybe Monday AM swim is a bad idea.
Yoga in the Evening
Feb 2nd: AM Bike 17.5 miles before work. Legs are tired.
PM Swim w/ Genine and Alexis 2550. Good swim 6x100 1:38s-1:40s
Feb 3rd: PM Run 4 miles. Petsmart run. Easy.
Feb 4th: PM Abs… sort of, my core needs work.
Feb 5th: AM Swim w/ Maija 2400m. Good swim. Not awesome but good.
Feb 6th: Day off. Meant to do Abs at some point. Painted all day tho’.
Feb 7th: Day off. More painting.
Feb 8th: AM Swim 2200m. PM Yoga
Feb 9th: Bike Fit
Feb 10th: Snowstorm, Paint 2 rooms in the house
Feb 11th: PM Bike 15.5 miles trainer. New setup became uncomfortable at about 45 min.
Feb 12th: ABS. Not sure I should call this a workout day. They need the work.
Feb 13th: Swim 3000m. Mostly 100’s.
Feb 14th: Swim 2500m. Mostly pull. Was going to bike ended up doing ABS.


Totals:
Swim: 15,150m
Bike: 33 miles
Run: 4 Miles
Abs: 3
Yoga: 1

The good news is things are coming together on the interior of the house.
The addition of some core work is also a bonus.

Time on the trainer

Had the day off Wednesday because of the snowstorm. We ended up painting 2 of the rooms that day and never got a workout in. Although a full day of painting may be worth something?
I finally got an hour in on the trainer tonight. I have been very curious to see how I was going to adapt to the new bike setup. Here is what I experienced.
1: Higher heart rate to achieve cadence in same gear ratios.
2: I have never had this smooth of a spin before. Before my fit, I always had to focus on creating a smooth spin. Now it just seems to happen.
3: I was hopeful that my back/hip "pain" would be diminished. Didn't happen, Guess I keep working on strength and sretching.
4: Aerobar pad position may be too far back. When I stand up I'm concerned my knees will hit them.

I've got to build up some new muscles it would seem. Glad that I've got a few months to do that.

Matt's Retul Bike Fit.

2006 Trek 2200 Road bike with Profile Design clip on aerobars.

In my previous post, I had said I felt confident about my decision to spend the money to do this because of the person that was going to work on my fit. Well he wasn’t going to be doing my fit. Not a big deal. It’s not a problem until it is a problem.

So Elliot Kalmus was in charge of fitting me today. The first order of business was setting the cleats on my shoes. I had told him that my left side seemed alright. So he matched that up on the right side before I even got on the bike. Then we put the bike up on the trainer, attached all the “dots” for the Retul computer and I started to pedal. Before he even started to capture data, he listed off 3 adjustments he could see. Saddle Height was going to go up. Aerobar pad position would be wider and pushed back. The saddle was likely to move forward as well.

Next we captured some data to get a baseline. Once that was done, he started by moving my saddle higher. He’d make a quick measurement using a goniometer. Then we’d spin again and make another capture on the computer and compare the numbers to the “ideal” Tri Bike fit numbers.

It was about this time that I was introduced to John Kameen (I’m pretty sure I got his last name right). He’s the regional sales rep for Cervelo. It didn’t take long to see that this is a guy who really enjoys his job. So now I’ve basically got 2 people helping me dial in my bike fit.

Rather than give you the play by play, I’ll just list some of the things I found interesting.

Bike Cleat positioning. As I mentioned before, I was having a tough time positioning my delta clip on to my right shoe. I just couldn’t seem to figure out how to match the left cleat, which seemed to be comfortable. Here is the trick. Find a level edge with a lip and hang the shoes from the cleats so that the heel is hanging towards the floor. With the shoes hanging side by side, you should be able to eye up or measure the fore/aft position of the cleat. The other thing this allows you to do is see the outward/inward angle the cleat is placing your foot when clipped in. When I stand neutral my toes point away from center as do most people’s. So we put a bit of this into the cleat position.

For aerobar position, we moved the elbow pads wider and back. The bars moved forward and turned in for a more relaxed grip. They now look more like those aerobars that are all one piece in a diamond shape up front.

With all that setup the measured angles were much closer to the “Tri Fit” range. Next it was time to find out how aggressive we could get with my aero position. Which basically meant how low could we go with the bars. With a regular bike fit, I think this is where they would make adjustments and then say “that’s a better angle, how does it feel for you?” Well in my case, so much has changed everything felt strange. Fortunately the Retul software offered them better feedback than I was providing them.

The one measurement that came to their attention was how my knee was tracking during the pedal stroke. Keep in mind this is taking into account whether my knee moves outward or inward during the stroke as well. The numbers showed that I had quite a bit of travel to the outside. Which points to the cleat position again. My cleats were placing my feet too closely to my bike. They set up a laser line to view my foot position compared to my knee position. We adjusted them so that they were tight to the inside of the shoe, moving my shoe/foot further from the bike. The numbers improved significantly. There was also a graphic for this measurement. You could see the shape of every pedal stroke superimposed on top of each other. So you saw how the range of motion tightened up and also that there was much less variation.

This measurement played a part in determining how low I could go with my bars. We kept removing spacers, lowering my position until I would end up moving myself out of position somehow to compensate for the “too low” position. It was pretty incredible because all of the numbers were so repeatable. Meaning once we’d gone too far, we’d back up a step and all the numbers would fall right back into place.

I know I’m accused of writing really long posts but this really is the abbreviated version. We were making adjustments for nearly 3 hours! I can see how you can really spend a ton of time perfecting a setup when you have the right tools.

At one point I mentioned my concern about whether my bike was the right size and my issue of being 5’10 with a 30” inseam (short legs). They said that unless you can’t stand over the top tube the standover height isn’t nearly as important as the top tube length. The height of your fit can be adjusted in a very big way. Whereas you are somewhat limited to how far forward or back they can move you. Yes you can get a long stem but you start running into bike handling issues. That made a ton of sense to me. Place your upper body measurement higher in priority than your standover.

John (Cervelo Rep) then mentioned that when I buy a triathlon bike I’d likely never go back. My build is such that a tri bike would fit me better. He then said gauging by the numbers we just got from the Retul session, that a Cervelo P2 56cm would likely fit me better than a P3. Something about the headstack I believe. My guess is the P3 would be more aggressive aero position? I haven’t looked yet.

If you haven’t guessed, I left feeling like that was money well spent.

Now that I’ve got my fit, I think I’ve got some serious adjusting to do. Enough has changed that I have an odd feeling of being weaker on the bike. They said I’d likely feel settled in after 4-6 rides. (keep in mind that they made big changes).

I’ll let you know how it all feels after I get on the trainer later today.

Edit:

I forgot to mention when working on the adjustment to keep my knee from travelling in odd directions. They got some big tie wraps and pulled the front part of my Adamo ISM saddle a bit more closely together.

Pre Bike Fit Thoughts

I'm a couple hours from going in for my Retul bike fit. I went back and forth quite a bit trying to decide if this was worth the money. It's not like I'm ever going to get money back from this investment. The whole thing for me is injury prevention.
As you might remember last year, I had that trouble spot just below my right knee. After my runs, I was having to ice down and I had 24 hours of trouble. Heck when Jim saw it he really figured something was disconnected or damaged. Initially I thought this was a run injury, seeing how my knee popped that one morning during a run. I'm not positive it was exclusively a running injury. It's really difficult to be positive about anything when you are training three different sports. I am positive about one thing though. My right hip/lower back hated being on the bike for more than an hour all of last year. So there are 2 things from last season that I'd like to try to fix.
Then of course I have a new saddle and my new cleats and pedals. My right ankle and knee has not been happy with this change at all. I'm not sure what's up. I'm not sure I can even describe it well to someone so that they can offer suggestions. My current fit is bad enough that I've taken a week off the bike going into this fit because I don't want to get used to my current bad setup. I also didn't want my ankle and knee to be injured.
All that is probably more than enough reason to want help getting a bike fit. Now the next part of the equation. Trusting the person fitting you.
Laurel Wassner recommended Drew at Ridgewood Cycle Shop to me. There is a big +1. Pros are happy with their fit. Next, I wanted to find out more about this guy. Well he's finished 4 ironman races. Another +, he's a triathlete. I say that because if he was a road biker, he might not be knowledgeable to the finer points of a triathlon fit. (especially me with my clip-on areobars). Alright, I'm definitely feeling confident about my choice.
So what's in the back of my mind right now? The fact that every bike shop I go into, when they eye me up to get a bike size they peg me for a 56cm and I'm on a 54cm. My legs are so short I can't stand over a 56cm top tube. I'm definitely curious to see what types of adjustments they will be making. Heck, maybe this bike is just all wrong for me and I should buy a properly sized Cervelo. ;-) I'm joking. I'd be really surprised if they tell me I'm on the wrong frame. I'm not going to be surprised if we have to swap out stems or seat posts tho'.
I'm sure there is more, but I feel this is just a rambling post at this point. I'm excited. Looking forward to fixing this problem with my right side, then getting back to training. Only 103 days until the Columbia Triathlon!

PS: I had to smile when I saw that Laurel has the picture I took of her at Uberman up on their new homepage.

Get Lean! Losing the final 10 pounds.

Whole bunch of advice on how to lose those final 10 pounds. I was kind of surprised at some of the suggestions. I'm not sure how accurate some of the scientific / biology / nutrition statements are. I just figured it was a good collection of ideas.
Check it out here.

(yes I realize I have more than 10 pounds to lose)

Serious eating.

Well after many failed attempts to get on track in January with our eating, Genine and I are officially back on track. It's not that we were eating junk, it's just that we couldn't get ourselves into that calorie deficit mode.
(I take that back, I did have a bad habit of grabbing a Luna bar or Clif Bar pre or post workout. I have no need for that type of thing right now. That problem is now in check)
I was having a heck of a time trying to figure out exactly how I was going to get this thing going. It wasn't like I had bad stuff I needed to cut out. I just had to eat less. So I had to make less. It's funny how you get in the habit of say, 3 slices of toast, 2 eggs, 2 whites, 8 oz glass of juice. It's just routine. So now it's 2 slices, 1 egg, 3 whites, 6 oz of juice. Apply that thinking to 5 meals a day and I've achieved my deficit.
The last 3 days I've had major deficit going on and yet I'm not feeling any of the usual "symptoms". The other day I biked 17.5 miles in the morning, then swam 2500 at night and only had 1800 calories. All I can think is that it's because I'm not doing speed work. Long Slow Distances and I'm just burning the fat. Burn baby burn!

Dangerous Snack

Almonds. Eh.. I can take em or leave em.
Then I had these. Blue Diamond Salt and Vinegar Almonds.

These are awesome.
Just thought I'd should share the love that is going on with this product here at our house.

a little less grey

I have decided to track my training miles this year for the first time. I'm just using a calendar program on my computer. Nothing fancy, but it easily keeps an accurate record for me to look back at. Today, as I was tallying up my January totals, Matt showed me how to assign a color to each activity to make it easy to read on the calendar. Cool! So of course I spent entirely too much time going back thru January to update my colors! (yes, I'm a nerd that way...no big surprise.) I assigned blue to swim (duh), orange to bike (love orange), green to run (green=outside), red to inten-sati (the color of my face at the end of class), etc. I assigned grey to my days off or missed days because it's a blah/nothing color. I feel good about January. I'm gradually getting back into a good routine. But after looking at the whole month on the page, I decided that my goal for February is to have a few less grey days.

January totals look like this:
Swim= 17miles
Bike= 102miles
Run=20miles
Inten-Sati= 4x
Kickboxing= 3x
Yoga= 2x
Strength training= 1x

Just for fun I looked up my USAT ranking from 2009. Not sure that it means much to me. It is what it is. I was #1126 out of a total of 1994 in my age group.

Matt's January workouts and Totals

Jan 1st. 5.5 miles on the original hills loop.
Jan 2nd. 2750m Muscle Builder workout from the book.
Jan 3rd. 2650m workout from the book. 50m short ran out of time.
Jan 4th Yoga
Jan 5th Hockey and Beer
Jan 6th Masters 2200m
Jan 7th 6.25 miles Ballpark loop
Jan 8th Day off
Jan 9th 3200m Force workout from the book.
9 miles on the bike trainer
Jan 10th. 2700m at the pool. Maija’s workout + pushups abs and tricep press
11 miles on the bike trainer
Jan 11th Yoga was canceled. Day off
Jan 12th Bike 9 miles in the morning. Run 4 miles (petsmart loop) 2 easy, 2 hard.
Jan 13th Master Swimming 2750m
Jan 14th 16.5 mile bike in the AM. 6.25 mile run 8:20 avg pace after work.
Jan 15th Day off
Jan 16th 9 miles big hill loop modified to remove big downhills. Then went directly to the pool. 3500m much of that was pull.
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3415217
Jan 17th 3200m from the book. 20 mile bike Spinervals ~1:15:00
Jan 18th Yoga in the evening
Jan 19th 5 mile ballpark run. New Sole inserts. Legs felt dead. Managed 8:16 avg
Jan 20th Missed Swim had to move stuff for contractor
Jan 21st. Morning swim 2500m, Work on bike shoe adjustment 30 min.
Jan 22nd After work Train Delay kept us from swimming. Ended up in Princeton
Jan 23rd Drive to Fredonia
Jan 24th. Run 4 miles w/ Jim in Warren. Swim 1700m
Jan 25th Swim 2300m Drive back to NJ
Jan 26th Bike 18 miles on trainer. Right shoe cleat still not set properly…
Jan 27th masters swimming 2700m
Jan 28th 17 miles bike trainer w/ Genine. I think I finally got the right cleat set.
Jan 29th Movie Night: Gran Torino
Jan 30th Bike 24 miles on trainer. Swim 3050m
Jan 31st Run 5 miles. 5 loops of the hill + a bit. My lungs fogged over once I stopped running. Hate that. Bike 18 miles on the trainer. Right Cleat still doesn’t feel right.


Totals to Jan 31th
Swim Total: 35,200m or 21.87 miles
Bike Total: 122.5 miles
Run Total: 45 miles
Yoga: 2

USAT Rankings

Obviously I'm not checking to see if I've attained Elite Status. I was curious to see how they measured my improvement.
These are the unofficial results. The pros are still mixed in with the age groupers so the overall rank is going to change. I don't think that my "points" are going to change though.
2008 I had a score of 70.644.
2009 I had a score of 76.63.
Here is the breakdown of my 4 scored races.


I found it interesting that I ranked so similarly at both Mooseman and the Washington DC race. I would have guessed I would have ranked lower at Mooseman.
Yes, I would have liked to known what my Timberman rank would have been without the 6 minute flat repair.

Here is the link to see how they calculate the rank.
Here is the link to the 2009 Unofficial rankings.

News from WV

I purchased lots of stuff. Timing belt, accessory belts, water pump, thermostat, ignition coils, and a gallon of radiator fluid for a 1999 Toyota Van (boy, I wish it had been recalled).

I did get Perfect Pushup stands. I should be on week 4 of 100 pushups, but car work in the cold derailed me. Still on week 3 this week. Love the stands, easier on wrists.

Bike trainer is my need/want. Haven't plunged due to above items, time more than money. Of course maybe I can upgrade the trainer with the "Dear, look how much I saved doing the car work myself" arguement. Doesn't usually work, even though I try it alot. I alos wished I had paid the extra for someone else to do it, I was bushed after that job.

I did go cross country skiing with the kids a week ago Saturday. Had a great day. Kids loved it. It made up for all that shoveling.

Where is the update Craig?

I keep waiting to hear about an equipment purchase Craig. What's the news from WV?

Jim's swim watch

I went to the Warren Y on Monday with Jim's new swim watch. The swimovate, pool-mate swim computer. We had run on Sunday and he was curious to see what the results of the watch would be when I swim. So I had picked out a workout that I thought would be interesting to see the results.
warmup 300m, then paused the watch for 8x75 kick, drill, swim, watch back on for 300m.
4x50 race pace 15 second rest.
600m swim 30 sec rest
4x100 race pace 15 second rest.
Then I got booted out of the pool the next class was starting.
So I went to the locker room. Got the directions out for the watch to see how it did. I did see that it accurately counted the number of laps. Then when I tried to get other information, I ended up deleting the workout.... Maybe I really didn't get the menu structure. If not, it seems to me the design of the software needs to be modified a bit. First off I don't think the Erase workout should be the first menu that shows up when you hit the mode button. Second, how about an "are you sure you want to delete your workout" warning. I may be being too quick to judge here. I'm guessing once you know how to use it, you wouldn't make this mistake.
It's really too bad. I should have stuck with my original plan, which was: Give the watch to Jim with the workout saved and let him tell me the other details. Sorry Jim. It did count the laps perfectly. It also seemed to be doing a good job with stroke count, which is what I was so curious to look at... :-/

Marathon Results

I finished! I ended up running a 4:27:52 to finish 118th of 186. Felt much better than the results, but I was really happy to finish and feel pretty decent.

It did stay dry for the first half of the race and then like a switch, ...it rained almost the entire last 13.1 miles. I wanted to changed to a lighter shirt at the halfway point and was unable. About 2 miles later I was very thankful I hadn't but also wish I had a jacket. I ran 1:52 for the first half marathon and shortly thereafter began my mental struggles. As a result, I had several thoughts of quittting ( mostly fears from the last marathon re-surfacing). Then I'd convince myslef I was in good shape and I'd run 8:30 for a mile. I ran the 19th mile in 8:15 and felt great physically. But, I would still have to alternate running/walking the rest of the way in because of the head games I was playing.

So, ultimately I'm very happy to have made this step and did it while feeling pretty good. I ran 2 miles 2 days later and felt a little heavy but ran about 8:30 per mile. This made my 17th completed marathon in 13 states!!

Bike Gear

Picked up my new bike shoes on Saturday. 2009 Specialized Trivents size 44. I didn't order from this place. I bought them at Wheel Life Cycle on US 206. They are light. The person that sold them to me said when he took the box off the shelf, he actually looked inside to make sure there were 2 shoes in the box. :-)
I was able to remove the old pedals easily enough. Saved me from buying a pedal wrench. I now have the Shimano PD 6700 Ultegra SPD-SL pedals and SM-SH11 Clips. I've got to mess with the clip placement on the shoe. I did 20 miles on them last night and my right ankle wasn't very happy about it. I'll make sure I spend some time adjusting before starting another training ride.

It was a good weekend of workouts. 6700m swimming. 9 miles of hill running. 20 miles on the bike trainer.
Looking at my swimming progress, basically I'm finally going the same speed with or without my pull buoy. Which means the next step seems clear to me. I need to work on creating a propulsive kick. I'll probably go back and get a few lessons from Coach Q and see what he thinks.

Off Topic.

I’ve been reading Steven Erikson’s “The Malazan Book of the Fallen” Series. It’s definitely Epic Fantasy. I believe it’s going to be a 10 book series each being around 800 pages.
As I read through the second book I dog-eared pages when I came across something worth revisiting. I’m not sure how well they will read out of context but here they are.

“Strange how the mind’s eye can travel so far and so fast, yet return in an instant.
With that eye you might explore the entire world. With that eye you might escape it.”

Regarding your personal memories
“You dream that with memories will come knowledge, and from knowledge, understanding. But for every answer you find a thousand new questions arise. All that we were has led us to where we are, but tells us little of where we’re going. Memories are a weight you can never shrug off.”

Talking about the comfort of familiarity and reluctance to change.
“The tracks we have walked in for so long become our lives, in themselves a prison.”

Talking about your place in the universe.
“We are lone souls. It pays to know humility, lest the delusion of control, of mastery overwhelms. And indeed, we seem a species prone to that delusion, again and ever again…”

There you have it. I've really enjoyed the first two books. I'm glad I have 8 more ahead of me. It may take me through all of 2010.

Run Course

If I run from my house, I really only run variations in distance on the same 3.1 mile out and back. I'm sure many people would find running the same road over and over incredibly boring. Yes, it can be but has been a very safe run route for me. I thought tonight was going to be the end of that streak. About a half mile from the house, a dog started barking and running right for me. It was dark and I couldn't see the dog very well. The owner was yelling to me "she doesn't bite!!" It was a sizable dog headed my way. I decide I'd better stop running and get ready to tell the dog to "go home!". I wonder if I would have had the nerve to do that had it been light out and had seen that it was a pit bull headed my way. Fortunately the dog stopped in it's tracks when I shouted "go home" at it. The owner grabbed the dog and I headed off. I think the owner lucked out, if I had reacted differently towards the dog, that could have been a bad situation. I think Craig wrote on this blog about the yelling "go home" at the dog trick. Thanks for that Craig.
Oddly enough 2 miles later. I'm running across the vacant ballpark parking lot and a fox goes running along "beside me" 30-40 yards away.
Then another mile later I just about jumped out of my shoes when I hear an explosion behind me. I was about 300 or so yards away from Interstate 287's overpass when a tire blew out on a tractor trailer. I wish I had my software setup to download my HR data from my watch. I'm sure you'd be able to spot exactly when it happened.
Other than the bit of adventure on what is typically my boring run course, it was a great night for a run. It was 28 degrees with zero wind.

Haven't had much time

Here is what's been going on.

Jan 1^st. 5.5 miles on the original hills loop. 5 loops was 1 too many.

Jan 2^nd. 2750m Muscle Builder workout from the book.

Jan 3^rd. 2650m workout from the book. 50m short ran out of time.

Jan 4^th Yoga

Jan 5^th Hockey and Beer

Jan 6^th Masters 2200m

Jan 7^th 6.25 miles Ballpark loop nice easy run

Jan 8^th Day off

Jan 9^th 3200m Force workout from the book.

9 miles on the bike trainer. Wow my bike legs are gone.

Jan 10^th. 2700m at the pool. Maija’s workout + pushups abs and tricep press

11 miles on the bike trainer

Jan 11^th Yoga was canceled. Day off :-(

Jan 12^th Bike 9 miles in the morning. Run 4 miles (petsmart loop) 2 easy, 2 fast.

Jan 13^th Master Swimming 2750m. Last set was 5x100 20 sec rest. 1:39, 1:39, 1:38, 1:38, 1:37. I think that's a first for me, all 5 being under 1:40. I wasn't too far behind Bob. I think I may have benefited from a bit of his wake.

I'm really light on the run miles. Maybe it's good that the Half Marathon I wanted to do on the 24th is sold out.
I am doing better about waking up at 5AM for morning workouts. Also the eating plan is starting to feel like it's on track.

I need this house project to be done and out of the way. I think their job will be done in 4-5 weeks. Then it's up to us to paint and stain.
I'd like to plan some different fundraising events this year. I need to get to work on that soon. More about those ideas later.

Go Jim Go!

Countdown is on!

Well, three days until my marathon. I'm excited and nervous. The DNF in Delaware 1.5 years ago still leaves trepidation for this. I know I'm in shape for it, just bad memories at this distance.


Well, hopefully I'll post good news after Saturday. It is a small marathon, so I do not believe they have an athlete tracking available.

In separate news, ...I've been swimming. 700 meters yesterday which is good for me. I bought a new "swim watch" which I haven't received yet but might keep me excited enough to swim. It is the Swimovate Pool-mate. I hope it works like it says!

Anything is Possible

Rather than decide upon resolutions that most often end up being broken thus resulting in disappointment, I've decided to adopt this mode of thinking for 2010. After all, it's really true. I honestly believe that the only thing stopping us short of achieving our dreams is ourselves. If you want something...REALLY want something and pursue it with passion anything is possible. I mean who would have thought that I could ever swim a mile in a lake?! But I wanted to race Mooseman bad enough to overcome my fear of swimming and pain from running to make it across the finish line last June. So now I'm thinking to myself, "What are my dreams for 2010?"..."What do I REALLY want?"..."What is possible?"

Aside from the goals I have for home & work (which are many), I have a few racing goals that are running through my mind. The one race I know for certain, of course, is Mooseman. I am already registered. I need to look at my results from last year to see what I will set my goal times at. I'm looking forward to improved swim & run times for certain. Tango is also on the calendar, I'm just not sure what legs I will be doing. More to come on that.

Ok, if you are not already, now is a good time to sit down. I am about to make public my crazy, "out there" dream for 2010......... Timberman Half-Iron. What?!?! (I told you it was crazy!) I am confident that I can do the swim and the bike. Yes, I just stated that I believe I can swim 1.2 miles. That alone is amazing to me. I've already done the bike course with Matt last year and loved it (which is the catalyst behind this whole thought process for me). It all comes down to the run....hmmmm. I can say that I made significant improvements on my run throughout the season last year. But enough to complete 13 miles...after 56 miles on the bike? Can I train wisely enough over the next 8 months to build my distance without breaking my hips? Can this dream become a reality? I would like to think that I can. After all, anything is possible.....if I really want it. Right???

Pareto principle

Ah the new year. Time for goals and resolutions and reflecting on the year or decade past.
2009 was an enlightening year for me. I read some really good stuff which really helped me learn about myself. In some there were suggestions as to how to improve yourself. (can't say I was too successful at making those changes, ah well...)
Well I came across this article the other day. Jack of all trades. That is definitely where I live, so I found the article to be really interesting. Of course, I think part of my job requires me to do a ton of stuff well. I can't just do one thing perfectly and that's it. Anyhow, I was thinking about how this could apply to our training as well.
Give it a read. Let me know what you think.

Happy New Year, y'all...and Say what?

Best wishes on the new year everyone! This is the time that some of us write up a list with all the things we're going to do this year that will improve our lives and those of our loved ones. For me, it means I relist all the things I did not do last year but should have.
I wish you luck with your new year lists should you feel compelled to make them.


 For instance, of course the top priority for me is RUN, RUN and RUN again. All that running around helped me drop 1 dress size (hurrah!) and THE summer race is around the corner (SGK 5k) . That's my number one along with my number two which is DIET (meaning eat better, healthier and much less)

And now for something completely different, I want to post the MRI results that for some reason were mailed to me instead of my ortho dude.
He's on vacation so I have to wait until next week to find out what in the world it all means, perhaps one of you can shed the light. I found it terribly amusing, that after 30+ years of living in the US, I thought I actually understood English but after reading the letter I realized that I don't.

This letter came from NYU imaging (the folks who did my MRI on my aching knee)

"Findings:
There is focal full thickness cartilage defect measuring 5mm along the tibial surface of the medial compartment with exposure of the underlying subchondral plate associated with marrow edema. There is a patellar fissuring at the median patellar ridge with exposure of the underlying subchondral plate and associate marrow edema. There is nonspecific heterogenity of bone marrow signal intensity most consistent with red marrow reconversion. There's a small partially ruptured popliteal cyst."

eh?  what? It doesn't sound good. Especially the word "ruptured" but this could explain why it hurts to run for any distance longer than 1 mile and to walk up stairs.  My PT forbid me to run for some time, a restriction that I found not too hard to keep, I even dropped my running class (BIG L on my forehead). But I've also been feeling discomfort in my not rigorous swims (not that I ever did rigorous swims)
WTF?

Using Web MD (dangerous in my hands) I think I figured out some of the things...I'm thinking that 5mm thing must be the Osteoarthritis rearing its ugly head, but don't know what the other stuff means. Nor could I find out what the treatment was.  Any of this sound familiar to you?  Man, I want new knees. Maybe Santa will oblige next Christmas!

Happy, Healthy lives, y'all.

Bike Tech

When I ran with Chris and Jim last weekend, Chris mentioned buying a new bike. Then immediately stripping off all the Shimano Stuff and installing Campagnolo. I'll admit it. I don't have the guts to do that work myself. Especially on a new carbon frame bike. So I'm feeling a bit like a chump writing this post...
I think I've mentioned before that my bike had been shifting poorly. Then when I put my extra wheel on for the trainer, it was even worse. So I put a post up on a forum asking advice. Some were suggesting that my chain was stretched. Others said to adjust the High and Low limit of the rear derailleur. So I went to check it out.
Sheldon Brown's website of course was the first stop. Plenty of good info there. Nice pictures showing how a stretched chain will wear your cogs and all that but not exactly what I was looking for. I was looking for an easy measurement to determine if my chain was stretched. I found my answer here. I measured 12 link pairs which should have been 12 inches. It was definitely 12 and 1/16th maybe a bit more. Just to be sure that I was looking at this right, I measured the chain on Genine's bike. She was right on 12 inches. Alright, good to know. I bought the bike in June 2007, it's time for a new chain.
I don't have a pin tool to do this myself. I looked up the prices for some tools. Range from 10-45 dollars. Then I decided I would take a stab at doing some of the derailleur adjustments. This reminded me that my front derailleur cable is frayed and needs to be replaced. My rear brake cable is also shot, it's actually rusty. So I start looking into how to do all that work myself.
I definitely think I'd enjoy working towards being a better bike tech, but I bailed. The bike is at the shop right now being worked on.
I haven't given up tho'. I think my brother said he's been given a couple older road bikes. Maybe one of those will be the "project" bike. Troll ebay for cheap parts and go from there.
Once the bike is back. I've gotta get comfortable with the new saddle. Then in a few weeks I think we will both go to get a bike fit.

Getting Fatter

Not really, just feels that way, Christmas was very very good to me, not my waist line. Training is way off any competition stage, but feel good about maintaining some pushups and situps through the start of winter. The recent shoveling helped.

I have been all over the place about what to do this year. Focus on a doing a couple of international tri's, or focus on some sprints, or Xterra point series sounds fun, or try to achieve a cometitive 1/2 marathon.

Then Bam! a little blurb on iplayoutside.com showed a bike race that last year only started 3 miles from the house. It is back on again this year. Then it mentioned a points series with three of the races being in my county or a county away.

http://www.abraracing.com/Schedule.html

Road races close to the house, less than an hours drive from ABRA racing:

April 3, 2010

Morgantown Road Race

(this is the one close to the house, it really is mostly in PA, only goes about 25% in WV)

June 5, 2010

Tour of Tucker County Road Race

June 26 , 2010

Hilly Billy Roubiax

August 21, 2010

Appalachia Visited Road Race

September 18, 2010

WV State Time Trial Championship

This sounds good to me. I would love to do some bike races. All of these races except the Time trial are 40 to 50 miles. So, this is a committment, starting now!

Genine was hitting me hard to go to Mooseman, so that is in the mix for now too.

Hope all had a great Christmas.

Jim is focused

Christmas day I get back "home" around 10PM. I check my cell. 1 message, from Jim. "Running 20 tomorrow morning. Meet me on the trail around 9:10 to run the last 10 with me".
I had eaten 10,000+ calories on Christmas day so it sounded like a good idea.
My alarm goes off in the morning. I look out the window and it pouring rain. Genine says "I'm not running". I fall back asleep. Alarm goes off a few more times... Alright. I'm up. Only excuse I have for not running is the weather and that's a lame excuse. I have 10 minutes to go and meet him. So I go for it. Best case scenario, I get to play Guitar Hero or Rock Band for awhile.... No such luck. I see a couple runners on the road. They tell me to meet them at the house.
Jim has finished 10, Chris 5. Jim changes into dry clothes and we are out the door.
My first 5 miles feel terrible but it goes by quickly. Running with others really helps the time go by. The 2nd 5 miles feel better but I think Jim said we were running an 8:30 min/mile. Ugh! The New Year's diet can't get here soon enough.
I got 10 miles in. Chris got 12 in. The best news is that Jim was going strong finishing 20 miles. He should have some confidence going into his marathon next month.

I got about 5 hours off. Now Genine and I are heading for the pool. Our "Group Swim" kinda fell apart on us. (who would have guessed?) I'm looking forward to it. Also looking forward to catching up with everyone else later tonight. Quick trip. Gotta keep moving to fit it all in.

Jim thanks again for getting me out the door this morning.

I'm trying....

to get into the Christmas spirit. Yesterday on my home I decided to make a shift and not let my "inner scrooge" win. I feel like I've been so grumbly these past few weeks between the aggravation of the house renovations, the chaos of retail in December (ok...really since September) and all the extra "holiday stuff" to do, etc.

We haven't put up a Christmas tree in probably 5 years. Not that I don't want to. I actually really enjoy decorating the house. It just seems like so much (after dealing with the holidays at work for months) to do for a few weeks and then we aren't even home for Christmas Day. So, I have forgone the interior decorating for awhile now. But I have always decorated the outside of the house. It is so beautiful driving through town at night in December. I love Christmas lights! I am very traditional...white lights, real pine garland & wreaths, red bows, candles in the windows. I even put a wreath on the garage. But with the construction still lingering, the outside of the house is still undone and the interior...well, let's not go there. I kept telling myself that I would decorate when the outside projects were complete. That still hasn't happened.

So last night on my way home I decided that I was putting up lights on the dogwood tree in the front yard! I had 45 minutes between when I arrived home and had to pick up Matt at the train station. So still in my work clothes, I dug lights out of the storage closet behind the futon, extension cords from the basement and ladder from the garage. I literally flung the strings of lights over my head on to the tree, wrapped them around the trunk, ran the extension cords to the back of the house and plugged it in. Aaahhh....... I was so happy! Something as small as a few strands of lights put a smile on my face. Perfect. I made fudge & cupcakes on Sunday and tonight I'm wrapping gifts. Maybe this holiday stuff isn't so bad after all!

Merry Christmas Little Tree!

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha

Watch this.

I got to the pool this afternoon. I think the coffee I made today was not decaf. As a result I was feeling kind of agitated . Or maybe that was because I had to make a punch list for the contractor because he's never here to know what's been done...
Anyhow, I had to go to the pool to burn off that edge. Genine stayed home to bake all sorts of good stuff. She had picked a workout though. Anaerobic Threshold. I think it was something like this.
Warmup:
300 swim.
8x75 pull
300 kick
Main Set:
500 easy
3x75 fast
1x75 easy
2x75 fast
1x75 easy
1x75 fast
1x75 easy
Cool Down 100m

It was a good workout. I'm starting to get the Lat Pull that's supposed to happen along with the rotation. It's nowhere near 100% but I'm very aware of it and I'm excited about where this is headed. My shoulders are going to be very happy that I'm not relying on them so much.
The only downside of the swim. My skin is so dry I want to scratch the skin off my legs!

Potpourri!

Haven't posted nor commented in some time.... time catch up with miscellany and brevity....
1. Talked with Michelle and Jerry today for a while. I suggested that anyone dealing with a sports injury go to a sports medicine doctor/fellow trained. Primary care docs and surgeons usually do not give the same treatment plan nor suggestions. Here is a local one I'd suggest: WCA Sports Medicine Center at (716) 664-8604. Dr. Mitchell is a great Doc.

2. Upcoming plans:

Signed up for GA marathon on January 16th, 2010

If the marathon goes well, or at least not terrible, I may try to redeem myself for the 1/2 ironman. I would possibly go back to the Lake Tupper Tinman on June 26th.

20 pull-ups update- Was doing great until my right handed developed some pain. I was in week 6 of the plan. I started at 6 pull-ups and can now do 13!! Doesn't matter which way the hands are positioned. I need to get back at this and finish the goal!!

That's enough big plans for now. I've been running 4 days a week and 1 day of either bike or swimming. Which is the best I've done in quite a while.

Of course Tango is on the list too.

What do the rest of you have brewing for 2010?

Get out and run before it's too late!

I ran 5 miles on Friday late afternoon and 6+ on Saturday morning before the snow hit. I can't remember the last time I've run on a dreadmill. I'm hoping the roads clear before Tuesday. I'm afraid that if I run on the dreadmill in a nice warm house, I might not go outside the rest of the winter!
As I was running Saturday, I figured we would swim around 5PM. So I got home showered, ate some oatmeal and Genine says we are swimming with Maija in less than an hour. This will be interesting.
Genine is the keeper of the swim workout book. So when I get out to the pool deck, she's already there with book flipped open to today's workout. I think it was called Force 10 and it had a ton of pulling. (proving Genine really does love me). My legs were very happy about this.
The main set looked like this 3x (2x200 pull, 4x50 pull fast) then 4x50 with hand paddles. Genine and Maija both hate the pull buoy as much as I hate a kick board. So they modified. Initially I thought I was going to be able to pull the whole time but eventually my shoulders needed a break. I'm guessing I did 75% with the buoy and got 2500-2700 meters in.
It was another good swim for me. I think that's about 5 in a row. Hopefully the pool is open tomorrow and I can make it 6.
The snow started to fall as we were walking into the pool. On the way out there was already a couple inches on the ground and the roads were covered. We drove to the grocery store and picked up ingredients Genine wanted for baking. We were both getting very hungry, I'm surprised we didn't start opening stuff to eat as we were shopping. The soy crisps made it out to the car before being opened. Then when I got home it was recovery food time. I shovel the snow off to make room for the grill. I roll out the grill from the garage, got it warmed up. Broke out a bag of shrimp and trimmed up the steaks and headed back outside to grill. My neighbors must think I'm nuts... Standing out there in a snow storm grilling, but it's so worth it.

Oh I almost forgot. I think I posted the other day that I ran and it felt like my shins were cramping up on me. Terrible run. Well I figured out why that happened and it's plenty stupid. Today at the start of my run only one shin was bothering me. It's because I over tightened the laces on the one shoe. Once I adjusted it, I was fine. It would seem that I've forgotten how to tie my running shoes. The elastic laces "crutch" has crippled me.... at least mentally. I gotta get those normal laces outta there.
And there you have it.

Swim Groove / Bike Seat/ Training Wheel

I almost hate to say anything as I might jinx myself. It's just that I feel that I might be taking one of those steps forward and I'm digging it. I swam a 1:35 100m very comfortably tonight. I would have been interested to see how many 100's I could have done on short rest. I'm hoping I keep it rolling and I'll try it out this weekend.

I also put my new saddle on the bike the other day. It's not love at first ride. I'm not sure any saddle is. Is it? It seems to me any change is going to feel off for awhile. I was hoping to get an hour in Tuesday night. Unfortunately I was also having trouble with my gears.
I have a spare wheel with the exact same SRAM 9 speed cog set. So I put that on and it's fine when I'm on 26,23,21,19.. Then after that the gears hit the chain so off center that it just can't be right. I spent a ton of time trying to adjust the derailleur but there doesn't seem to be a fix. I may have to take it to a bike shop and let them adjust it. Or perhaps I've built something incompatible somehow??
Any ideas?

Greek Food and Green Lightning

For some reason that I can't seem to figure out, all of my joints and muscles have been tired, tight and achy the past 2 days....more than normal that is. Not sure why. I'm sure I am in need of some good stretching, heat and some foam rolling. Hopefully if I whine enough, Santa will leave some gift certificates for massages under the tree! ;-)

At any rate, Matt & I got to the pool both days this weekend. Good swims. The rest of the weekend was spent trying to clean and reassemble the rooms in our house that FINALLY will not be having any more construction happening in them. Matt installed the new exterior light fixtures on the house. They look great! Still no date of completion for the house projects. All I can say is that we may be getting close. I wish I could say with some certainty, but I can not. ::sigh::

There were 2 highlights from this weekend:
Friday night Matt and I were invited to my friend Eleftheria's house for dinner. It was a small gathering- just her & her husband Niko, and Mary & Christin from work. Eleftheria is my "Greek Godess"....my savior at work when I need to escape or vent. She has a wonderful way of making you instantly feel comfortable in her home. And as I have mentioned before, she is also an AMAZING cook. Dinner was fantastic...delicious Greek favorites complete with waaay too much wine & cheese. Mmmmm..... But the best part of the night was getting to spend a little time outside of work with these special people. One of the few true rewards from the retail insanity I work in is the handful of honest and truly good people that have become a part of my life. What a blessing they are...and for that I am thankful.

And.....check out my new bike trainer! I love the lime green color!


Matt & I are almost ready for our side-by-side showdowns in the basement! woo-hoo! Can you tell that I'm trying to psych myself up for indoor bike season? It should be good. I need to get my ipod loaded with some new tunes and hope Santa comes through with the new spinervals dvd's on my wish list. It's also rumored that we are going to have tv and dvr connections down there. Man, we are living the high life!

Cedar Point

If only there was an option for half iron.
Rev3 Cedar Point Triathlon

Got to the pool both days this weekend. I've been feeling good in the pool recently. (Probably because I haven't been sharing a lane with Bob this week).

My run mileage really dropped last week. Guess that was my recovery week. I'll try to get on track this week.
Bike is on the trainer ready to go. Next I've gotta get my ipod loaded, put the new saddle on and find new shoes. I'll put the new pedals and cleats on when I get new shoes.

Yoga tomorrow night.

I'm not even going to bother giving an update on the house renovation.

A new trend????

So tonight at masters was the third swim in a week that has felt improved to me. I don't necessarily feel faster, but it feels smoother, stronger pull and....I think I may be rotating (a little more). Shocking! I haven't kept track of times yet. At the very least it leaves me feeling hopeful about what the future holds for my swimming. We'll see...... I'm also not afraid to say that I have enjoyed masters the last few weeks. Swimming has been solid, 25m races, diving off the blocks for fun and practicing flip turns. Coach Elana even said that she's trying to get permission to allow us to use the diving boards! I see fun times at masters ahead. Although, Coach Elana also told me last week that she was going to stuff my goggles with paper towels so I would have to practice swimming "blind" to overcome my fear of not being able to see in murky water during races. Hmmm...ok maybe not all fun.

Work is finally starting to chill out a tiny bit for me.....whew....big sigh of relief. Despite the toll the past few months has taken on my training and fitness level, I am hopeful as I look forward to the new year. I'm ready to set new goals and plans to achieve them. Even though it seems like a long way off, I'm excited to be able to race again and to cheer on my friends as they race toward achieving their goals. I'm eager to start training. Our bikes have made it from the garage to the basement. One step closer the rocking it out on side by side trainers!
Fun times ahead indeed.......

Knees

Knees seem to be the topic lately. I came across this in the NY Times today.
FYI, I typically not a fan of their health articles. They never seem to have a conclusion. It's always just food for thought. Here it is anyhow.

NY Times Article on Knees

Busy

Quick update just to get something on here.

I seem to be managing at least one workout a day.
Running 3 or 4 times a week.
Swimming 2-3 times a week.
My bike... is locked in the garage, thanks to my contractor. (there is no key, I'll have to break something to get in)

My left foot pain is being managed best with a tennis ball massage every night.
My low back pain is being managed best by doing 20 minutes of stretching as soon as I roll out of bed.
I've started doing the pullups again. Underhand only so far. So far the bicep has been good.
The weight loss has been a disaster. The renovation has destroyed our living space and has made it difficult to cook at home. (the grill is also locked in the garage with the bikes)
My speedwork run workout plan has been sabotaged by whomever decided to fix the fence where we used to sneak through to get to the track. Funny how we were disappointed by that. Most people would find that to be a relief!

I've ordered a new saddle for my bike. I'm hopeful that this will be a huge upgrade in terms of comfort. The Adamo Racing Saddle.
Now to find some new bike shoes!

I've heard reports from both Ruth and Michelle regarding their MRIs. I love that both of them are on a mission and don't plan on letting something like a knee stop them.

It was a great visit to Warren last week. Looking forward to the Xmas break. It will be another quick trip tho. Thursday to Sunday is my guess.

That's the news.