Tech-Tri

Is this how we sound?

2012-01-26T07:28:00.000-05:00

Member of my tri team posted this and thought it was funny.

1 week gone

2012-01-22T06:48:00.000-05:00

So I generally am able to work crazy hours, spend time with family and still get my workouts in but this week beat me down. I was flying to LA and back in the same day, working through the nights and came down with a cold at the same time which basically destroyed my entire week. I missed 4 workouts (all weekday) and then did a partial workout on Saturday.

Santa Monica Beach

My house this morning...#Fail

On Thursday I had to catch a morning flight out to LA and had to stip a workout. 6 hours later landed and rushed to an afternoon meeting. After the meeting checked out Santa Monica Beach since heck it was 68 degrees in Cali (So jealous), for literally a few minutes (and some coffee) and headed to another meeting. After that was dinner and back to airport to take red eye (11:40pm flight) back to NY to arrive around 8am and just in time to take taxi back to work. This was the kinda of week I had and combined with being sick lets just say workouts were doomed.

At this point last year I was so focused on Placid I had not missed not even 1% of my workouts and this year already has me missing tons...we are only in Jan. After we close our Series A I am sure things are only going to get harder so I need to start being more creative on how I get my workouts in and how I get more than 3-4 hours of sleep. I used to be able to wake up at 3am...that was my time and no one could interrupt it... except now I am sometimes not asleep yet to even wake up. I might try and take advantage of my new gym at work and see if I can get some mid day workouts done during the week. I also might adjust my schedule to basically get the bulk of the workouts on the weekend since that seems to be the only time.

Hoping to get back on Track today with a 3 hour ride on the lake placid course (Compu Trainer of course) but once again 3 hours on an indoor trainer SUCKS! With the snow every where getting outside for the ride is not really an option. Might follow up with a short transition run.

At least I get to watch the Giants game today!!!!

Convince yourself to step outside

2012-01-14T10:53:00.000-05:00

Lets set the stage:

Saturday Morning
5:00am Alarm goes off (I have 2 kids and a wife, I need to get workouts in early, even on weekends)
Temperature 26 degrees
Real Feel with the wind is 10
Workout for the day....the dreaded 2 hour run....

When you are in this situation or what ever is your situation (after work late, sick, just plain tired....maybe for you texans :) too hot) what do you use to get out there and get the workout in.

Under certain circumstances I would normally just say ok, too cold, I will do a treadmill workout...but 2 hours...not likely for me to last that long mentally.

I know there are people down south who do the hot thing and people above me who do the snow running thing...Just curious what you think of to get you out the door...looking to steal some ideas since mine don't always convince me. I am pretty good at getting out there. This also applies to my morning swims sometimes...but since I am not really swimming much now...not worried about that.

Is it too much to ask all my runs to be like this?

Something I found while researching the mental side of training:
What Mental Skills Ironman Triathletes Need and Want
http://www.zoneofexcellence.ca/Journal/Issue10/Mental_Skills_Ironman_Triathletes.pdf

Happy Training!

Training Week Summary

2012-01-08T16:32:00.000-05:00

Giants Win

I am writing this right after I saw the Giants really take care of business and am pumped to watch them make it another week. Their running game was amazing since I always feel like Jacobs should be running people over and most of the time he looks weak. He finally looked like the back he should be from a few years ago. Ok enough of that (since as a Giants fan I do not see how they get past Packers).

This January is different from last year. Last year this time I was doing Z1 training and long hours. Based on my schedule and limited training time over the next few months my coach changed things up a little and is trying to focus on shorter more intense workouts (Lactate threshold and above). One workout that I have already done twice this year is the following:

"Ride for between 90 mins @ primarily Z2 effort . During ride complete 3x10 mins @ 90% -just below functional threshold- with 5 min easy recovery between. Ride the remainder of time still in Z2"

cadence for the 3 intervals

The 10 minute intervals start to work their way up until about 3x 30 minute intervals and they get hard. My watts are suppose to get higher and higher each time and so far they have. I am doing about 215 the first, 225 the second and then 240+ on the last and final 10 minute interval. Those last 10 minutes are tough (you can see my cadence dying at the end) for me and I usually have some good music timed just for that last one to keep me going. Every once in a while I have almost blown it because my kids will come downstairs and want to say hi and start talking...these intervals are probably not the best time for me to respond to them. Nothing like going all out in the aero position dripping in sweat trying to tell your son "Thomas the Tank Engine didn't die"....

My back is getting much better and today I did a brick run (post 2 hour ride on the trainer :( IMLP Course) that did not hurt at all. I was suppose to run 20 minutes Z3/Tempo and the 20 minutes back in Z1.

garmin data here

Other than that I am very happy I have finally gotten an Ipad (ok well I bought my kids one :) which means I get one too) and have connected it to netflix for streaming videos. It has made my trainer rides awesome. Spending 2-3 hrs on the trainer is so tough sometimes...not sure how people do it. I do have a personal record of 4 hrs on a trainer!!!! It included warm up, 1 loop of lake placid and then a 20 minute cool down.

Ok back to work for me!

Sciatica issues

2012-01-05T19:00:00.000-05:00

Just finished another Chiropractic appointment and my sciatica is getting better.

What Is Sciatica?

Sciatica refers to back pain caused by a problem with the sciatic nerve. This is a largenerve that runs from the lower back down the back of each leg. When something injures or puts pressure on the sciatic nerve, it can cause pain in the lower back that spreads to the hip, buttocks, and leg. Up to 90% of people recover without surgery.

So my back pain and leg pain is slowly going away. I have had this for a long time and it comes and goes (thanks goodness during IMLP it was non existent....but that still did not help since the course beat me pretty bad with no excuses). I have been seeing a Chiropractor for the last month or so and the jury is out on the benefit of a Chiropractor. He puts some electric shock therapy...then cracks my back and that is is it till next visit. Yes my back is feeling better so I am not complaining.

Why is any of this important? Well coming from someone who never stretches, skips warmups and cool downs and basically does not do much other workouts to help my core...that needs to change. I read about everyone else doing core workouts, stretching, foam rollers and more....I need to start and take that more serious if I want to get healthy and stay healthy.

So where the heck do I start? My coach is the first place, but I would love to hear from everyone else that has had hamstring, back and more issues and the types of therapies that have worked for you. What products, services do you swear by? How much time do you dedicate to work outs other than swim/bike/run? Best stretches etc...Feel free to write it, send me to a URL or book...All will be appreciated!

Other than that training is going fine. I ice a lot post workout and intensity is very low so things are ok. But I want to be 100% before I actually start working out harder and I have a about 1-2 months for that.

I am doing IMLP (July) and Rev3 Quassy (Jun), I am looking for another half to get in. I would prefer a Rev3 since I love the series thus far and was looking for suggestions on that as well? What rev3 races are you doing?

Thanks!

Back Online

2011-12-31T09:25:00.000-05:00

No this is not actually me...but I feel like it :)

Not sure anyone noticed, but I am back online after basically taking off for a while. Work (prepping to close Series A), Back Injury (Therapy going on right now) and lots of family things made it difficult to get training, blogging and everything else triathlon related in. Heck I did not even write a race report for my last race in Oct (which by the way I took almost 3 mins yr over yr off and improved in all 3 disciplines in a sprint). But.......as of 1/1/2012 my coach has my schedule kicking off again for my prep for Ironman Lake Placid 2012!!!! I am calling this race "my revenge day" on a course that basically kicked my butt! Also the fact that I have a few friends and my brother doing the race is additional motivation to not come in last!

Snapshot of the 1st few weeks even though he tends to change things a lot as we go:

So over the last few weeks I have been looking at a few products (because I will never have all the triathlon products I want :) ), and there are a few that I want to throw out to the blogging community to see if anyone has tried them and get feedback. The main item I want feedback on are Saddles!

Saddles! I really want to get a new saddle based on a few things. Numbness, and damaged to the existing saddle (lets just say roof rack and low barrier above...barrier won and bike lost :(, good news is only saddle needs replacement).

I have been looking at the following one and was looking to get feedback on this one or any other one that people like:

ISM Adamo Ergonomical Racing Saddle

Time to get my training on!

Oh Yeah....HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Toughman and Toughkids Race Reports

2011-09-14T21:49:00.004-04:00

Last Year Medal on left this year on right

Toughman and Kids Race Report

What a weekend. I had so many highs and lows this weekend but nothing higher than seeing my daughter compete and finish in her very first triathlon. Just a side note, because I get weird looks every time I tell people she did one. I did not make her do this! She wanted to do it and asked to do it.

Unloading the bike

ToughKids

So the tough kids race was the same site as the Toughman 70.3 race. Toughkids on Saturday and Toughman 70.3 Sunday. My brother meet us up there, since he was also doing the Toughman and was checking in his bike. So we had lots of people to cheer on Emma. I am proud to say that Emma finish in the top 10! Actually Emma finished 9th in her age group out of 44 (4-6 yr.). She finished 20th out of a total of 96! The event was very fun to watch. Her distances were 25 meter swim, 1 mile bike and a 100 meter run. Everything was done very professionally, body markings, timing chips, transitions and all. It was actually a little overwhelming since my daughter has never done a transition or anything like that. We got her set up and checked in her bike and found out that there was like 400+ kids doing this race!!!! It happened to be a championship race for kids. They had an elite age group in the 4-6 group (my daughter is 6) and I was blown away by some of these kids. Some of these kids had tri bikes, race wheels clippless etc… Emma had her speedy bike with the basket in the front where I was tempted to put a water bottle :).

Ready to cheer!

So the only thing that did not go as well as Emma hoped was the swim…or lack of swim. The buoys where so close to the shore that when the horn went off, all the kids ran since it was shallow enough too. And since everyone was running you really could not swim. So I think she was a little disappointed she did not actually swim since she did practice that part.

They had to swim on the other side of the bouys

Almost time to swim

The transition to the bike was longer than the run portion of the race. She ran as fast as she could and made her way to T1. She spend over a minute cleaning each and every toe :) since she got mud on them. After that she got her sneakers on (sock-less :) ) and put on her race belt and helmet on, off she went. She rode the 1 mile ride very fast and had a look of determintation! After the bike she had a very fast T2 and was off on the run. The run was funny. It was so short that basically you ran from T2 to the final chute and it was over. After passing through she finally started to smile. I am just so proud she pushed so hard and she actually performed well. Her 20 of of 96 included the elites :)

FYI some of the older kids were blazing fast. I saw some of their times and they were avg 24MPH+ on the 5 mile bike ride.

Yes this is a kids bike with Zipp and all

Post race they had some food for the little triathletes and it was even closed off to the parents.

Race Videos thanks to David!

Toughman 70.3 (No Pics Yet but will post when they arrive)

So I knew the course since I did this race last year in 5:51 (70.3 PR), and I did an ironman this year…so I should smack this course up right??? Well basically this was the hardest race I have done to date. I never pushed so hard through pain and discomfort wanting to quit in every part of the race. I really feel liked I earned my finisher medal today. I had my worst race ever…and yet I was so proud of my results…go figure. I think it was because I pushed through a mental wall that I have not always been able to push through before. So this race including some PRs and some…opposite of PRs… :) This was the slowest swim and slowest run I have done so far in a HIM.

Swim:

53 min. swim…yikes. It was the hardest swim I have done. I kid you not, the IMLP swim was easier. It was not the water conditions (which kinda was dirty)…it was me…I took off and immediately had google issues with water getting in. This theme would exist the entire swim. I have never grabbed a kayak in my life…well today I grabbed 2. I tried numerous times to fix the googles and even swam with out googles (that was short lived) and nothing worked. It really killed me and even caused a slight panic attack to the point I had to hold the kayak and relax and tell myself…I did IMLP I can do this.. I tried to continue when I started to cramp as well and felt sharp pains in my legs. Good thing I do not kick in the swim but it still hurt bad. About the half way point 30 mins in….I had decided I was done but I would finish the swim. I figured I would not finish the race and jut finish the swim. I was so happy I made that decision!!! It actually made the last 20+ minutes go by faster with my blurry vision full of water and swimming all over the place. I finally reached land and it took about 1 minute before I gained vision in my right eye again.

As soon as I got out of the water I knew the cramp in my leg…was not a cramp…How the heck do you strain your hamstring in the water???? Well I did it. I started to walk and then ran to check my leg and just was thinking this is a disaster. I changed and before I knew it I was on the bike and then I asked myself….wait wasn't I suppose to stop after the swim??? Somehow I ended up riding and the legs felt pain but I could still pedal so I kept going.

Bike

After all I got new race wheels that I have never used…I have to ride a little bit or until I can't continue. About 30 minutes into the ride I realized I was done and I wished I had not started the bike. I kept going because I actually was not sure how to turn around and stop. I knew I was not going to be able to run so I actually pushed a little hard to start testing the leg pain and see exactly where it was…On one up hill I had to hope off and stretch my legs and really did not want to get back on. I did and continued and in a little while I found my brother on the course. Not sure what mile (since my garmin told me after 90 minutes I had gone 1.8 miles????) I was avg below 1 mile per hour lol. I ended up asking people throughout the ride what mile we were on since I was totally not sure. I saw my brother out there and told him how bad my swim was and how I was feeling and then just kept pushing along. In my mind my motivation was to finish this bike and call it a day….and that made me happy to think I was not doing the run. From mile 40 on I pretty much spun the wheels and struggled up each hill with the pain. This is the 2nd point in the race where I really questioned continuing at all and thinking I know they can drive me back. I also remember seeing the elevation and the 2nd half was mostly downhill…so I decided to push through the pain. I barely made it back to transition as was happy to end the race! I did PR the bike with a 3:03 so was happy with that given I did stop once and I felt I was not going that fast with the leg.

I hoped off the bike doing still a flying dismount… I do it so often that it is the only way I know how to get off now. I walked my bike into T2 and put on my sneakers. I left my gel and sunglasses since I figured I would not run and found the medic. He asked my what I want to do and I told him I am done. He asked me 3 times are you sure???are you sure.??? Then the worst thing happened…I remember my brother and what he said… We both have not been training over the last 3-4 weeks and he said that if it was not for the finisher medal he would not do this…and I realized I really wanted the medal..if I stop I get nothing for this…so I started going and headed out of T2.

Run

This was by far the hardest run of my life. It reminded my of Rhode Island 70.3 and the pain I experienced then. The only plus was we had shade compared to that race. By mile 1 I was already sitting on the side of the rode when my friend @multisportdad stopped to check in on me. I told him I was done and was going to walk back and he convinced me to just keep walking. I hate you @MultisportDad!!!! I listened to him and kept going. As I walked and jogged and run and then walked I realized somewhere around 3-4 that I was only 1-2 miles away form the half way point that I had no choice but to finish…I was actually upset I had gone that far. The run course is really amazing and it made it nice to get through. I pushed in some areas until I could not take it anymore and then I would be walking again. I did this the entire way…2:20 min run or something like that. I finally made it back about 1 mile from the finish and I begin the shuffle again. The last mile I ran the entire way…I think you can call it running even though I am sure someone walked by me and they were already done with the race. I pushed down the final stretch and was so happy I had completed something that I was planning on stopping in the swim! As soon as I crossed the finished the volunteer caught me and carried me to the medic tent. 30 minutes later with Ice on my legs I limped out.

Overall I know it sounds crazy but this race challenged me more than any other and I was so thankful to experience it and complete it! My worst times etc..but my best race mentally. Now if I can combine this mental part with a decent physical part I could actually put up some good times :)

hobbling

More Pain

Thanks for reading and congrats to my brother and @Multisportdad for laying down the smack down on the a tough course!

Yikes did that many weeks just pass by

2011-09-09T08:14:00.000-04:00

Yes I still had my lake Placid number on :)

So post Ironman Lake Placid I knew I would slow down a bit, so I made sure not to schedule any races in August, and my next race would be Toughman 70.3 on 9/11. I have enjoyed more family time, more work time :( and more house projects that piled up while I trained. I think I just blinked and the race is here. With about 4 days of training over the last 3-4 weeks I am hoping I can just get through this race. This race has over 2k climbing on the bike over 56 miles and another 1k of climbing on the run including about 5-6 of those miles being trail with switch backs and all. Maybe not the best idea to sign up for this race lol. One thing is for sure…I am tapered for this race :)

Since I have not been training and basically gaining weight (up 5lbs since IMLP) :) I figured I should try and compensate my training with upgrades lol :). I bought a rear Zipp 808 last year for a great price and few weeks ago I got a front 808 off ebay in great condition (I have never used the rear). So now I have a set of race wheels.

With my red pedals from my road bike

Zipp 808's tubular (I still not 100% sure I can change the tubular in the event of a flat). The only thing I am not too happy with is I will be riding without power for the first time in over 9 months. So it will be fun to do this off feeling and HR. At least the bike looks sweet to me! So I will be that guy in this race…nice bike…nice wheels…maybe even wearing the aero helmet…getting passed by everyone lol.

ToughKids!

In more exciting news my daughter has decided to do the kids race the day before! It is called tough kids. I promise everyone I did not force her to sign up. I am not one of those parents! When in lake placid I was shocked watching the kids race as parents dragged their kids down the street crying during the run. Poor kids was not having fun. My daughter actually is excited about it and since her trainer wheels recently came off we are giving it a shot. I signed her up and she is in the 4-6 age group. The funny thing when I went to sign her up was that even at her age she needed a USAT card (5 dollars for the yr so no big deal). The more shocking thing I discovered was when I registered her there were two categories in her 4-6 age group. Elite and non elite????? Seriously we have an Elite category for the 4-6 yr olds. This I got to see! I will try and get video of the tough kids race because I have a feeling it will be a blast…probably better than the adult race.

Her distances are a 25M swim in the lake, a 1 mile bike ride (little nervous about this one) and I think a 100 meter run. When I spoke to the lady she said everything is just like the adult race including the transitions (yikes, my daughter has never done a transition)…So I think the distances are perfect for her to have fun.

Advice time

I have had a terrible time waking up to do any workouts. I am not sure why the motivation level completely dropped post ironman. I knew it would drop a little and that I needed some time off but it has been a while. Also I am about to hit my 2 year anniversary in triathlons and I wonder if it is just the last 2 years I took on a lot. I think including this upcoming half I will be at 6 sprints, 1 Olympic, 4 70.3's and 1 full ironman over a 2 year period. Not to mention running races etc… I have 1 more sprint after this half in Oct. and then I really wanted to get back to prepping for 2012 Ironman Lake Placid but at this rate I will fail. So I would love some advice to get back into things. My coach said take 2 weeks off and do nothing…(I thought to myself I did lol). What else can I do…It is tough to get motivated lately and I am not sure why I hit that wall. Oh well let me know if anyone else exp this and was able to snap out of it. I am hoping racing this weekend does it for me.

Well that is it for now and hopefully I can put together a race report for my daughter and myself post this weekend….since I have a feeling my daughter will do better maybe I should skip mine :).

IMLP Race Report

2011-07-30T21:26:00.001-04:00

Finish Line Photo

This race had so many highs and lows, reading everyone's race reports brings me right back to the race. Looking at the pictures in everyone race reports is such a cool feeling, seeing and reliving the feelings and emotions of the race. Everyone wrote such great race reports so I will not even attempt such a feat. I decided to put it all in one post mostly because I am not a great writer (I am a tech guy :) ) and because of time constraints. So this race report really is broken up into 3 sections (and no it is not swim bike and run).

#1 Thanking everyone for allowing me to take part in such an amazing event.

#2 Remembering why I did this event in the first place

#3 The actual race report.

Thanks

I am so thankful for the awesome family that I have. For them to allow me to put in the time to complete such a task is just a testament to the love they have. Ironman really is such a selfish sport sometimes and my timing to get addicted to a sport like this made it that much harder. I started a business late last year, having my son diagnosed this year and having a 6 year old princess that begs me not to do run after I bike (and won sometimes) just because she wants me to play with her made this race/event even tougher overall. My wife did her best to hold things together and allow me to get the training I needed to complete this race...and all the 3am wake ups so I could be done with training before they wake up :). She supported me every step of the way and basically made this a possibility. I love you Nani! I also want to thank the supporting cast which included my brother and his family. My brother came down from CT just to join me in my triple brick during training periods. He even rode his bike while I tried to run during that triple brick just to give me company and keep me going. Race weekend he supported me out there on the course and helped with my family throughout what was a long 13hr+ day. David you are the best and next year when you are doing LP I hope to be there for you. My coach for taking a non runner, non swimmer, non biker with less than 2 years tri experience and turning me into an ironman. That was no easy task for him considering I was new (not even 2 years) to this sport. The training and words of wisdom you provided were invaluable throughout the day. The biggest advice I took away that helped me many times was "being as positive as possible, thank the volunteers, smile at people, look around and enjoy the moment. No matter how bad things get enjoy and be positive." That stuff really works. Even when changing my flat tire and when I began walking on the marathon I was happy! It made the entire experience awesome! And thanks to all the other friends and bloggers who and more who continued to inspire me and motivate me to attempt this. You all rock!

Why

First I mentioned in a previous post just a few years ago I always thought triathlon was an ironman. I never knew there was a sprint or shorter distances. My friend (@MultiSportDad) came to work and told me he did a tri over the weekend. I was blown away (keep in mind I think it is an ironman)! I asked him how was it etc... He said he was disappointed with the swim. He said it took him 12 minutes...I was shocked! 12 mins????? Finally I learned about shorter distances, sprints and more. within 2 weeks I was signed up doing my first triathlon! Back then I still thought Ironman was not a possible race for me. The distances were not possible...heck I never even ran a marathon and I thought that distance was crazy. So as I worked my way up the possibility became more and more achievable. While ramping up for this I met so many people and were touched by so many lives that were doing longer and longer distances for such great causes. I made it a point that this race would be for something bigger than me. After learning about my co-worker and friend's daughter being 6 and diagnosed with cancer, and having multiple friends close to me recently pass from cancer in such a short time I knew I wanted to do the race and dedicate it to her (Neshama). We raised so much money (donation site) and it felt great to be doing this for something bigger. It also helped me get out of bed at 3am when I did not want to.

Race Week

Race week went by so fast. It did not start great though. Without going into too much detail the drive over to lake placid included a speeding ticket 5 miles from mirror lake, hitting a structure that knocked my bike off the top of my car (only damaged the rear cage and seat) and a few other incidents. Once in Lake Placid things calmed down.

Blog Meet up at Emma's Icecream

Registration

Riding the run course the day before the race

Pre bike checkin

Cant wait to run through there

Relaxing on Mirror Lake at the Hotel

Bikes are being checked-in

I met more friends that I have only read about or follow on twitter! I enjoyed laying on the lake since our hotel was the golden arrow which is on Mirror lake.

All you can eat pancakes with the family

The night before the race my family gave me one last bit of motivation that would help carry me throughout the day.

I looked at my arms all day for inspiration!

Race Report

Best moment of the race for me

Swim
Estimated 1:40
Actual: 1:33
The swim was an amazing experience. The moments before the canon went off where the best moments of the entire race for me. There was a sense of calmness in the air. The crowd, the voices, when Reilly said "Are you ready to become Ironman today?", we gave our families a hand clap. It was just an amazing moment I will never forget. Once the canon went off it was go time. I made sure to start in the back right like the other 500+ people did. There was some punching, some kicking and mostly a lot of passing...NOT BY ME. The first loop felt great. I was not tired, stressed or even nervous. I actually enjoyed the entire lap and was surprised to be reaching the end. I got out of the water and saw 46 min and thought WOW, that is great for me. The 2nd lap was even more amazing. I made the turn around the dock and ended up on the line. I was able to follow the line the entire 2nd loop without any incident. I was kinda shocked. Then I reminded myself, since I am slow, makes sense everyone else is ahead :). I finished the swim and got out and saw 1:33 and was so happy to not only enjoy both loops but also do it a few minutes faster than estimated.

T1
Estimated: 15 min
Actual: 8 min

Transition Bags

The T1 was so cool with music, screaming families and more. I pointed at a wetsuit stripper and he quickly rip the sucker off. I thanked him and began my jog to T1 bags. I tried to jog slowly looking at the crowd and taking it all in. I found my brother along the way and high fived him as we both knew I was slightly ahead of schedule. Ran through the bag section grabbed my bike bag and entered a chaotic tent. Everyone was eating changing and more. I did not need to change...I just needed my helmet, shoes and socks. Within 10 seconds of opening my bag...it hit me...I must have screwed up and put my socks in the Run bag :(. Oh well 112 miles no socks here we go. So I quickly threw on the shoes and helmet and out the tent I went. I found a bathroom and peed and started running for the bike. One of my coaches was there and quickly saw me and yelled out my bib. By the time I started running down the bike section I realized my bike was being held by a volunteer all ready to go.

Bike
Estimated: 6:45
Actual: 6:57

Some Aero Position

The bike had a quick down hill and away we went out of town. I like most let a lot of people pass in the first few miles (more than I would like to admit). I drank, I ate, I spinned and enjoyed the entire first loop getting in nutrition and more. I did the first loop in 3:20 which was slightly faster than planned but barely. I continued to take it easy telling myself the race really begins on the road to wilmington. Somewhere around mile 80 I started to have to pee. And I still can not pee on the bike. I figured I was so close I would just hold it in. By mile 96 that was not an option. I found a spot on the rode with trees and left my mark. The only sad part about not holding it longer...FLAT tire on mile 102. I was actually not upset at all. I hopped off and change the rear tire. A few people riding by actually even offered assistance. I always look silly changing a rear tire. It took about 10 min (most of which was wasted getting the tools out of the bag. After the change I was back on my way with more energy because of the 10 min break.

Happy to be done with one loop

Climbing the last big climb was so cool with everyone cheering you on and more. Again the volunteers are insane!!!! in a good way :) I missed my goal time by about 13 minutes but overall I still felt good so I thought it was ok.

T2
Estimated: 10 min
Actual: 5 min

Leaving T2

T2 was just as fast as T1. What was cool about this transition was a volunteer actually sat me down and emptied my transition bag for me and handed me a glass of water. It was so cool. He asked me what do I need and I said socks :) with a big smile. I was so happy my feet only felt a little sore without the socks after biking 112. The face on the volunteer was priceless. He said I do not see any socks. I smiled and said oh boy...looks like I have to run 13.1 miles without socks....no problem. I grabbed my stuff and headed out thinking I will be happy to see the special needs bag for socks.

Run
Estimated: 4:30
Actual: 5:06

This was the big part of the race that I was nervous about. Not having run a marathon before I was not sure what to expect. I had a few strategies. Walk the aid stations and take it very slow or even walk any steep hills. I started out and felt great. In fact too great maybe. I ran my first loop avg 9:27 pace including walking the aid stations. I reached the special needs bags excited to get socks only to be disappointed when it was not there (So where were the socks???? I put 1 pair of socks in the special needs bag for the bike and the other somehow ended up on my green bag :(, I found this out later the next day).

Leaving for the 2nd lap I did some quick calculations and I was ahead of schedule. I decided to walk down the steep hill leaving town. MISTAKE #1 As soon as I started walking boy did it feel good. My body said "hey that is so much better why not do this longer"....So I did...too long.... I saw my brother at the bottom and told him uh oh this is not good. I am walking too much right now. He said no worries you look great you got this. He took a few pictures and I began running again for only about .75 miles. It is funny how strategies change...first walk the aid stations...then walk hills too....then walk any incline....before you know it just walk. The last 13.1 miles were a disaster. I probably walked about 6 miles of the 13. I pretty much could not convince myself to run more then a few minutes. I saw 70 yr olds passing me just shuffling their feet. I watched and said good by to my 13:30...I said well at least sub 14....then 5 minutes later...I said shoot I am not even sure 14hr is easy. I started running with someone else. It was their first as well and we did 5 min run then walk. We did this all the way back to the town. At the bottom of the last big hill my coached found me. He said you look great how do you feel. I look at him and smiled and said...I feel great, because I am walking :). when we neared the top of the hill He got me to start running and I finally started to push. I have about 20 minutes left and still more than 2 miles to go, I had to move. My last mile was at 7:50 until the final circle to end. That is where I slowed down to make sure Reilly called my name and did not skip me with the other people coming in. Running through the end was awesome...the crowd...the voices...and knowing I was done.

The Prize

I know you are not suppose to get caught up with the numbers but I have to say it took me a few days to finally get over it and be happy I completed it. I was so stuck on how long the marathon took and my overall time that I barely enjoyed the fact that I am an ironman....It is just the way I am I guess. I am finally over it and have realized that it is still an impressive accomplishment. I AM AN IRONMAN...plus since I am registered for 2012 I have a time to beat now! The one thing I Realized is that although the race was hard...the training and balancing work and family up to this point was so much harder for me. So overall it was true what they say...just getting to that starting line was the hardest part for me and I was so thankful my family let me get there.

What is next....who cares...Time to spend some time with my family!!!!

IMLP Video

2011-07-29T12:40:00.002-04:00

A reason to finish

2011-07-19T16:19:00.000-04:00

It's showtime! What did it take to get here? 6 months of 3am /4am wake ups to get my workouts done in time for me to get to work. Long Saturday and Sunday workouts making my family jump through hoops just to support my training. Giving up basketball my first passion. Tons of family time sacrificed. And much more.

Here is a short list of ways I knew I was training for an ironman:

When I ran out of space in the kitchen cabinets because of my new nutrition habits (EFS Gel, EFS powder, Protein shakes etc...) and bottles. and my wife threatens to throw them all away.
When I dedicated a separate room in the house to have all my gear and stuff and call it "The Tri Room".
When every time I have conversations at work (or anywhere) some how it always ends with us talking about triathlon.
When I actually do a half ironman just to use as prep...as if a half ironman is just a walk in the park.
When 3-4 hour workouts are a relief because it is a short day.
When ever pair of sneakers I own (regardless if I run in them) have speed laces....I am just not interested in tying my laces any more.
When I get home and change from my normal work clothes to more comfortable clothes and I rush as if I am in transition. Nothing like falling over taking off dress socks and my my looking at me like I am crazy.
When I am traveling for a race and I have more stuff packed in a bag that is tri gear than my actual luggage.
When every time I take off my shirt I have this weird sunburn right above my butt where the jersey meets the shorts. Darn aero position always causes the shirt to rise.
#1 way I knew, when my 6 year old daughter wakes up early to find me in the basement on the trainer and her first words out of her mouth are "Daddy are you running after this?" and I respond, "No just a bike today", and then she screams "YESSSSSSSSSS!". Even she doesn't like bricks :)

So as most of you have posted already how to track yourselves I will do the same. I am bib 1147 so you can track me on http://ironmanlive.com the day of the race. Other than that I will probably just post an overall result at the end on twitter.

Predictions:
So I spent some time talking with the coach and even though the goal is to finish we still have estimates. So I am putting them out there for good or for worse.

Section Time of Day Time
Swim 7:00am - 8:40am 1:40 (3k Mass start and me being pretty slow = long swim)
T1 8:40am - 8:55am 0:15 (long transition up a hill plus just not sure)
Bike 8:55am - 3:40pm 6:45 (Yikes...was hoping for better but coach and I agree)
T2 3:40pm - 3:50pm 0:10 (hoping I can walk after 6:45 on the bike)
Run 3:50pm - 8:20pm 4:30 (I have no idea...never ran a marathon lol)

So I am hoping I can shave a few minutes off Transitions. If I can grab special needs bag on the bike quickly and use the bathroom quickly hopefully I can save a few more minutes on the bike. Overall this puts me around 13hrs and 10 minutes. If I shave any time I will be gunning for sub 13...but if everything goes as planned above I will be more like hoping to stay under 13hrs 30 minutes. Once again It is really tough to predict and I can only hope.

Finally as you may have notice the picture on top of the beautiful little girl. Her name is Neshama and she is my friend and co-workers 6 year old daughter. About 6 months ago I dedicated this race to her and the family when I found out she was diagnosed with cancer. The details of her fight along with ways you can help can be found here:
http://mskcc.convio.net/site/TR/FredsTeamEvents/Freds_Team?px=1983815&pg=personal&fr_id=1430
She truly is an inspiration to me and my family and makes doing my workouts that much easier! Related to how you can help I am happy to report that we are trending top 3 in terms of fund raisers for special events. There are a few more donations that are coming through which will put us at #1!!!!! So I want to thank everyone who contributed!

Ok signing off for now and just want to say I look forward to seeing a lot of you up at Lake Placid prior, during and after the race!

We already did the hardest part! "The toughest part of doing an ironman, is not getting to the finish line, but getting to the start line"!!!!

2011 Lake Placid Athlete Guide

2011-07-07T11:36:00.001-04:00

Just got my email with the 2011 Lake Placid Athlete Guide.....Gulp.

I am Bib# 1147

That is all for now lol

Nutrition coming together

2011-06-27T13:42:00.002-04:00

So I just did some blog reading earlier today and some of the numbers you guys are putting up are really amazing! If you think training for an ironman is easy...check out Jon's last few days...

So this weekend was my first real test of EFS (hoping to solve some of the nutrition issues I have been having on my longer brick sessions (specifically the triple brick that killed me). Thanks To Jeff and my brother I finally made the switch and boy I am happy so far. I used the EFS Gel (Vanilla) and the mild grape as my drink on the ride and run and I felt great. I did a 3 and half hour ride followed by an 8 mile run and it felt easy (now this is kinda short compared to the triple brick but still a decent work out). I did another 2 hrs the next day of hill repeats and still felt great! Numbers here:

Brick Run:

Hill Repeats:

The real test will be this weekend. I am doing what my coach calls is a "metric ironman" which ends up being 1.5 mile swim, 67 mile ride and then a 16 mile run. This will be a great test for the nutrition. Happy training everyone. The numbers I am seeing everyone put up over the last few weeks are insane!

Less than 30 days

2011-06-24T10:22:00.002-04:00

I am starting to get nervous....excited...and everything else knowing I have 29 days left till Ironman Lake Placid. So to calm myself down what did I do?????

Watch more triathlon videos....but this time bloopers.... Someone once told me before I did my 1st race, if you want to have a good laugh, go to a mounting and dismounting line of a triathlon and just start recording....

Here are a few that made me laugh:

Good thing he had Zipp wheels...#Fail

At some point just maybe don't go clipless....

Good thing we have our pros to show us how

Not sure how this relates to ironman but it was funny when I watched it.

In other news I attended a swim clinic by total immersion and was totally blown away....more on that later.

Almost there

2011-06-20T15:32:00.002-04:00

Last few days of training have been rough... So I decided to watch some videos to get me motivated again. And now that I have been to Lake Placid because of my camp it was cool to watch the video and know the area!

The triple brick of 25 mile rides and 6 mile runs ended early with me skipping out on the last 6 mile run (So I rode 75 miles and ran 12 miles)...I started at 1pm in the hot weather and I was spent. thanks to my brother for doing some of the workout with me which included him riding his bike while I ran miles 6-12 :) and him doing the last of the 3 bikes rides when I was pretty much done already. I am taking the advice of my and a few other bloggers and trying some new nutrition on my next long ride (EFS) to see if the additional sodium helps me out.

Workouts are getting Tough

2011-06-15T09:23:00.002-04:00

The workouts are getting tougher and longer and becoming harder and harder and harder to fit into my daily schedule. I logged into training peaks this week to find one of my toughest weeks so far.

Last few weeks...

3 weeks ago - Lake Placid Camp - 112 mile ride Sat, 56 mile ride Sunday

2 weeks ago - Rev 3 with some tough workouts in the week since I was not tapering for this race

Last Weekend - 2.5 ride on Sat, 5 hr run Sunday with 1 hr brick run...

This weekend I get the joy of:

TRIPLE BRICK! 25 mile ride, 6 mile run X 3

Training Peaks Description:

"After WU, complete 3 sets of 25 miles biking and 6 miles running. 1st set is slower than race effort, 2nd set is at race effort, 3rd set is slightly faster than race effort. This workout will teach you pacing and patience. All transitions should be quick. Nutrition should be like race day. Watch your pace, particularly on the second run, to be able to finish strong."

I know I am not the only one kicking it into high gear so congrats to everyone getting closer to their goal!

All I can say.....This just got real! Some tells me I may not be talking to my bike after this weekend... IF anyone wants to join me on all or part of the triple brick you are more then welcomed since I will need the motivation going into the 2nd and third bricks and possible a pacer :).

Rev3 Race (training) report

2011-06-07T11:18:00.004-04:00

So where to begin...this race was awesome. It did everything I needed it to do in terms of my preparation for Lake Placid. I came in using this as a training race and I think it worked out perfect.

I had no real time goals but I did have a few other ones (some failed and some reached):

Test out full sleeve wetsuit again and hope my back holds up.
Maintain 180-190 watts for entire ride to simulate if I had to ride 2 loops for lake placid (which meant ignoring everyone that passed me on the bike :( ).
Work on nutrition on the bike and run.
Have fun and realize it is just a long training day...

Saturday
We arrive on Saturday and did the whole expo thing and bike check in and the process was fast and easy. Tons of pros...in fact it was some tough competition in the pro women division. While checking in, guess who I bumped into:

She was very friendly and we even talked about how she was visiting my team store on Monday.

Other than that the cool part about this race was while I was checking in and while I was racing the family got to spend time in the park doing some rides and games.

Bike Check-in Pics:

Had my name and everything

Swim

Pro section...they get pics of themselves :)

Random Bike Pics:

Sunday - Race Day

So thanks to my sister in-law we got a ride early to the transition area. Set up was straight forward and then it was bathroom time:

Here are the Pros setting up:

Race time

So no more camera at this point so only words...sorry

Swim

Still slow...does not matter how expensive my wetsuit is...and my back hurt the entire swim. to show you how slow I am swimming...out of 103 people in my division...I swam 93 :(

Time: 45:25 (6 minutes slower than my last half ironman swim - toughman was 39 min)

Uneventful, except I actually had trouble getting my wetsuit off...

Time: 2:32

Bike

This was one of my focus areas...Ride at my IM wattage and ignore what everyone else was doing...easier said than done. I focused on nutrition and keeping my cadence up and my wattage 180-190. I enjoyed the entire ride...the down hills were fast (reached 49 MPH) and the uphills were long but still enjoyable. The 1st 40 miles I was passed a lot...it was a little depressing but I knew what I had to do. The last 15 miles without changing effort level or anything I started to pass a lot of people. When I hit 55 miles miles the big question was answered....if I had to do this loop again right now how would I feel...the answer was PERFECT. I checked nutrition and I also felt I nailed that as I drank the amount I planned and ate the amount I planned.

Time: 3:13 (moved up from 92 to 77 in division) also 185 watts for entire ride.

Boring....did remove my feet from my shoes and left them on the bike for the dismount and basically grabbed my gear and was off.

Jon was so quick he was able to take 1st in his age group and then use his speed to head over and cheer us on at the race and get these awesome videos!

Thanks to Jon he was able to get me leaving transition:

Run

Mile 9 of Run:

So overall I had a game plan on the run as far as pacing goes but completely failed from the beginning. My goal was to hop off and run IM pace which seems to be around 9-9:15 min miles. I took off and felt so good form the bike and in combination with a down hill start I ended up going out to fast. My first 5 miles were at 8:46 pace. I knew I had to slow down and had no problem doing so...not because I controlled myself but because basically we hit a 1 mile uphill off road trail... my next 5 miles were at 9:02 pace which is perfect for where I want to be except that it really was not 9:02....numbers can be deceiving... I was actually hitting a wall from about mile 7-8 or somewhere around there....I was not drinking anything up till that point (I know I am stupid I actually felt so good I just kept going). So by the time I needed it and realized it it was too late... I was running like 8:30's....but then walking or slowly jogging which net was a 9:02... so not exactly what I wanted. the last 2 miles were brutal (10 min miles) and I ended up doing 1:59 for the entire 13.1. OVerall all I was dehydrated and falling apart at the end which I was happy to experience so that I never let that happen again. I am drinking form aid station #1 for the ironman and will make sure to not wait.

BEST part of the entire day!!!!!!! Thanks Jon!!!!

Overall Awesome race and great learning experience on the run. My overall time was 6:02:55. I would def recommend this race again. I think my legs did ok considering the weekend before I did my first 100 mile ride (112 on lake placid course) followed by another half ironman the next day on the lake placid course and then this race 1 week later. I need to work on nutrition on the run which I still have trouble eating and running...Also I found out I sweat more than I thought and need to start testing salt supplements. This weekend I have a 5 hour ride followed by a 1 hour run so....guess I will test it then :).

Also I got Mirinda to sign a magazine for me while she was at our store:

Mirinda Carfrae

2011-06-02T09:08:00.000-04:00

So my local triathlon team last year got Terenzo to come by to our shop to speak with us and answer some questions and it was a great time. This year our shops secured Mirinda Carfrae 2010 Ironman World Champ to come by!!!!! She is doing REV3 Quassy in CT as am I and as are many of you and then she will be swinging by Long Island to hang out at Sunrise Tri!. Last year I got a free shirt and other things they raffled off so if you are in the area come by and hang out and let me know if you plan on coming!

Here are the details:

Lake Placid Camp

2011-05-31T09:14:00.003-04:00

This past weekend was an eye opener. My triathlon team put on a camp for those doing Lake Placid this year and the schedule was packed. We had about 8 people plus a few coaches and tons of riding.

Here was the schedule:

Friday:

If you were able to arrive early enough the team swam 1-2 laps of mirror lake @ 7pm. The water was warm compared to Long Island (I think mid 50's). I did not make it in time as I arrived at the hotel around 7:15 (6.5 hour drive with the family and we had to stop a few times).

Saturday:

7am: Power Point Presentation Review of the course with tips pics and avg times over the last few years.

8am: 2 Laps of the bike course (112 miles)....(The most I have done is 85 miles up to this point!), followed by a 30 minute transition run

Sunday:

7am: Power point presentation Review of the run course, swim tips and mental toughness review.

8am: 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile ride (1 lap....1 day after 112 miles), 1:45-2:00 hr transition run.

Monday:

7am: 2 laps of Mirror lake (2.4 miles)

9am: ride the last 11 miles of the bike course backwards to really make sure we nail it and then ride it back (22 miles).

Saturday 2 Laps:

So I was a little sad to miss the first swim since that is by far my weakest area...and I bought my new wet suit which I still have not used...but nothing I can do. Saturday morning I woke up feeling good and ready to get my ride on. After reviewing the course and being told a million times take the first lap easy we were off. My goal was to neg split the laps and really start testing my nutrition. The group separated kinda quick since it was all different levels and before I knew it I was alone riding. I wanted to be @ 180 WATTS for the entire ride. The first lap the down hill section into Keene was amazing...I hit high 40's and I was riding the brake since it was raining on and off. The ride was supported by the coaches on their bikes and by their car. If anyone knows the course they know about the last 11 miles....boy those suck. The first lap I was trying to take it easy but even though I had it in the lowest gear it was tough....and I was on the first lap! After getting up the last 11 miles including mama bear, baby bear and papa bear I was relieved....I now had done 1 lap of the course! Before I knew it I was starting my second lap thinking, OK, I feel good and still on track with my nutrition. The second lap I tried to maintain the same wattage and leaving town was slightly tougher but I tried to take it easy. The down hills were a little drier so I pushed even harder and hit over 50 MPH. The middle of the ride was uneventful and just head down riding. There is a 1.5 mile climb after an out and back and that is when it hit me. That climb really started to put a beating on me. I tried to stayed focused and happy and even reminded myself that I had just reached my longest ride to date. I was eating cliff shot gels the entire ride with a banana at the halfway point. I also swapped out my normal drink for Ironman perform since that will be on the course.

The last 11 miles was the hardest thing I have done so far. Those last 11 miles felt so long and so slow. I was so done and wanted to get off the bike. Of course it started to down pour during those last 11 miles...but then I told myself, good...the harder it is now, maybe the better for the race...that thought lasted only a minute. I actually had to get off my bike because I had my cell phone on me and it was unprotected....I ended up putting it under my leg hoping that would keep it dry...it did. I was never so excited to see a big hill (papa bear)...since I knew I was finally at the end. I swam back to the hotel and as I pulled in I saw one of my other team mates leaving for the run....He is fast (will probably do 5:40 bike on race day) and he was laughing at me since I was soaked...and I told him see...another advantage of being fast...you missed the rain.

Bike Summary:

6hrs 40 minutes

5,800 ft of climbing

5,450 calories

Avg power: 176

Avg Cadence: 83

I did not neg split the course as the 2nd lap took almost 10 min longer :(

When I hopped off the bike my back was done...I was not sure if this was riding soreness or just messed up back soreness but either way it hurt. I have 3 slip disk but they have not given me trouble in a while...I did my transition run at a slugging 8:45 pace and was happy to fall on the floor in my hotel room as my kids jumped on my asking are you OK??? I iced my back the rest of the day just thinking...I did 112 miles on the actual course!

Recover...This included shopping in town with the wife and kids...lets just say my legs and back were done at this point.

Sunday (Half Ironman on the course):

So after a morning review of the priors days bike ride was complete, we did review of the swim and run course we were off to do a half Ironman.

We all warmed up in the lake and I was excited to try the new wetsuit but not happy my back was killing me. I had some sharp pains but I figured I would take it step by step. The swim was the most painful part of my entire trip. I could not swim with my back pain. The combination of a new wetsuit with sleeves (I have only wore sleeveless) and the back destroyed me. I barely made it through the 1.2 mile swim in a super slow 45:30 minute lap...that is 45 minutes with the 3k people missing that will be there race day, and I was able to swim a straight line following the yellow cable...so race day it will not be that easy. I walked back to the hotel since the hotel (Golden Arrow) is on the lake we did transitions in the hotel. I grabbed my bike and headed out onto the bike course for the 1 lap. My legs felt ok even though I did almost 7 hours the day before. I was happy the entire ride for one reason...we were only doing 1 lap lol. My back hurt but was ok I just could not get aero as much as I wanted. I ended up doing the lap in 3:20 (174 watts) which was ok since we were doing it at IM pace. I transitioned at the hotel again but this time I could feel the pain when I got off the bike. I got my sneakers and sun tan lotion and headed out. I ended up cutting the run short doing only 25 minutes out and 25 minute back for a total of 50 minutes due to the pain. My weekend was over at that point...sucked but I still felt I got a lot out of it.

Friday:

I skipped the swim and bike and focused on getting packed and heading home. I am planning on seeing a doctor Tuesday Evening to get the backed checked since I do have a race this weekend and would love to do it...but not at the expense of the Ironman. Currently it hurts to sit or do anything...needed my daughter to help me put on my shoes lol.

Overall great camp and great learning experience. The coaches were amazing providing aid stations along the routes and video and pictures of ourselves and more. I would def do this again. Even though everyone has told me this already it was just reinforced... take the first lap easier than you think...

Some random pics on the trip:

Video from hotel room:

Driving along the edges

Weekend Wrap

2011-05-09T10:20:00.000-04:00

Saturday
So this weekend was a good one on all fronts. Saturday morning started off with one of my better run on hills. I was able to get through 11 miles in 1hr 25 min and tackle about 825 feet of climbing. Click the details to see...well the details...

Once I came home I needed to rush to prepare for another big event....my pool opening!

Before

Covering about to come off

Almost there...

Water needs its chemicals!

Water fall on...time to clean it...

I need to allow chemicals and things to settle for a day or so before I can use it. currently the water temps are 52 degrees but that will change quickly. Although I have a heater I do not plan on turning it on yet because I plan on using this as my warm up swims with my new wet suit!

Sunday - Mother's Day

Did a 4 hr bike that felt great. 2 hours kinda easy avg 160 watts out and then 2 hrs a little hard @ 190+ watts returning home. avg about 18.5 MPH for the full 4 hours and then did a quick 45 min run @ 8:12 pace.

Also just found out from my coach while in the lake placid camp @ the end of the month I will be doing the full 112 mile ride (2 laps of the course) so I am pumped about that.

Congrats to all those that raced this weekend!!! which included brother, sister in-law and step father!

Happy Trainings!!

Secret...My first cycling jersey

2011-04-26T09:27:00.001-04:00

So believe it or not this is my first cycling jersey. Up till now I have only rode in tri tops or running shirts or anything to be honest. Never wanted to spend money on a jersey. I finally did a week ago at a bike sale where I snagged this for 60 bucks. Poor quality pics (camera phone). I feel kinda cool wearing it...like I am almost a real cyclist :)

Easter Weekend

2011-04-24T21:29:00.000-04:00

90 days remaining till IMLP!

Indoor 4 hr ride on the Compu Trainer

So this weekend started off with a nice 4hr ride and with the weather being a little crazy I decided to do something I have not done before...4hrs indoors on a trainer...I think I did like 3:40 minutes once and almost killed myself. I did a 10 min WU and then started the IMLP course using the real video mode. Did that for 56 miles and then did another 30 minutes of riding once that ended. The trainer ride did not go perfectly smooth.

After about 2 hrs of riding a sound started to get louder and louder. I jumped off the bike and checked for a flat??? nothing...I jumped on and then had to jump off again to finally track the source of the sound. I actually ripped the tire :( Thank God I had another tire if not my day was over. I realize I have tons of tubes....but only had 1 extra tire....(ordering more this week). The only good thing about this was once I changed the tire, my hr had dropped a bit so the rest of the ride went smooth. 1 cliff shot every 30 minutes and G2 every 15 minutes. I got off and did a 30 min transition run as well.

Easter Sunday was a great day to have off. Weather was perfect for easter egg hunting with the kids and even some hiking. We went over to Sunken Meadow Park and took advantage of the day. I think we all walked about 2 miles on the trails. Pics of the the park:

Hope everyone had a good training weekend! I saw tons of you riding some serious miles... and running them as well!

Less than 100 days till IMLP

2011-04-18T09:08:00.000-04:00

So with less than 100 days till IMLP things should start getting interesting. I see fellow bloggers racing already and the action is picking up.

This week I have a decent week of work:

It includes basically a 13hr workout week with 8 of those hours being on the bike. The 2 hour weekday workouts are tough since I work in the city...those mean I start my work outs by 4am to finish by 6am. which means I am up at 3:40..3:45am to actually be awake for my workout.

My company is still taking a good part of my time up...when you start your own company 7 days a week working is just part of the gig.

I am finalizing my Hotels for REV3 and for a training camp up in Lake Placid and really just looking at my costs...boy triathlon is def. not cheap... I have fallen in love with Amazon subscription services though. I get my protein powder and cliff shots gel delivered every 3-4weeks just when I am nearing the end. I do not even have to think about and they give an extra 15% off just to subscribe.

So quick questions to my fellow bloggers...I still have my orignal sleeveless wetsuit I rented for my first triathlon (75 bucks and then paid 100 more to keep it). It is worn, cheap and now that I have dropped a total of 30 pounds since that first race...I am in the market. Just looking to get opinions on a good wetsuit for Lake placid. It can be sleeveless or with sleeves I am not sure it matters for me since I am not that great of a swimmer anyway. TarheelFan....where did you say you got yours? You saved like 50% or something like that.

FYI if you are bored and have nothing to do feel free to help BETA test my new site. Just drop me a note and I will get you private beta access for noodle.org.

Happy trainings!!!!

Back again

2011-04-04T09:10:00.003-04:00

Well I never really left...but I have not been reading much blogs or updating my own for sure! I have been training and getting some good workouts in because IMLP is getting closer!

Why was I not reading/writing you ask?
I mentioned a little while back that I started my own company with a few friends of mine (quit the jobs and are taking a chance). We plan on launching 4/5/2011!!!! We finally are finishing up the web site and prepping for the BETA launch and this is the first time I have looked at a website other than the one I am building! I am the CTO and Co-Founder of Noodle Education and rather than explain what it is we do in text we, put together a video in prep for our BETA launch on Tuesday! It is 90 seconds so if you have a sec check it out.

Ok no more work talk...my next post is back to triathlon world to update everyone on the workouts and training in prep for IMLP. Also just catching up with a few other blogs and as usually you are all rocking it! Jeff you are superman! Awesome speed and your endurance is high...you will smoke your ironman! Caratunk Girl is riding in all kinds of weather not letting anything stop her prep for REV3/IMLP! I would call everyone here but it just happened to be Jeff's/Caratunk's blog first.

Logistics done back to training

2011-02-06T16:36:00.001-05:00

Lake Placid is now 167 days away!!! This week I got a lot done on many different levels.

First, I registered for a Lake Placid training camp being put on by my coach and his company. In case anyone else is interested it is May 27-May 30. "This Training Camp will be a fully supported recon of the swim, bike, and run courses spread out over the weekend with supplementary PowerPoint presentation/discussion to follow up. Our coaches have 7 IMLP finishes under their racebelts and wish to extend the lessons they've learned over the years to you." Here is the link in case it fits anyone elses schedule. So I am really excited about this since it will be the first time I will swim, bike and run on the actually course.

Second, I registered for REV3 Quassy 70.3. This will be my final test prior to Lake Placid. It will be used as a full dress rehearsal on all aspects including nutrition. It also is suppose to be a really really hard run course and should kick my butt in preparation.

Third, I booked my Lake Placid Hotel, which makes me officially broke (actual room pic above) since I decided to spend a little and get it on the actually lake where the swim is and it is a 5 min walk to the start and finish. I also paid the extra dollar to get a room with a private balcony overlooking the lake. So even though my wife will have front row seats to the swim start form the room (which was big for me since I have the 2 little ones), I doubt she will be able to pick me out of the 3k+ swimmers...but hey at least she can go back and forth to the room while I race all day...

Besides training one more thing has started to happen. I now for the first time in my life...started to try and eat right. This means I am working out like crazy...and eating right which equals a quick 5 lbs lost right away. Few things incorporated into my daily diet that my coach recommended:

1.  Ignite Naturals Adrenal Reboot - Your adrenals are responsible for secreting your human growth hormone which is what rebuilds your body after training stress as been introduced to it. It is also involved with handling your cortisol levels which can hinder your recovery when high. Stress (training or life) can cause cortisol to spike, and is a big reason why overstressed people gain weight. The Adrenal Reboot helps to recharge your adrenal glands. (http://ignitenaturals.com/adrenal-reboot.php)

2.  Ignite Naturals I.N. Extreme Energy - Cellular waste is a byproduct of endurance training. Endurance training (after a certain duration) can actually weaken the immune system, and create the potential for the athlete to become sick. This product enhances cellular reparation which means that you recover quicker, boost your immune system, and go into your next quality training session ready to perform. (http://ignitenaturals.com/in-extreme-energy.php)

3.  Garden of Life Perfect Food - Perfect Food is a daily supplement that is created for that type of person. I consume at least 2 green vegetable a day (usually spinach, asparagus, and romaine lettuce), and still use this product. (http://www.gardenoflife.com/ProductsforLife/SUPPLEMENTS/FoundationalNutrition/PerfectFoodsupsup/tabid/654/Default.aspx)

By the way....#3 is the worst tasting thing I have ever had!

FYI I will be putting my Zipp 808 rear tubular up for sale in case anyone is interested. Brand new, never even put a tube or tire on it and it is still in the box. So in case anyone is interested before I officially put it up for sale.

Happy Training training Everyone...GO STEELERS!