Finish the week strong

Well, its been a pretty good week so far.  The training has been going along on par from last year.  The only real difference is I am still heavier from last year at this time by about 10 lbs.  I am hovering around 190 give or take.  Last year I was around 180 at this point.  Considering that my race schedule starts Sunday March 25 with a 10 miler I am feeling ok.  I know let year, once the weather broke and I got outside, the weight fell off.

For the week through Friday I did not miss any sessions, which was a bonus since softball started for one little lady in my house, and its been in the 70's all week.  I have logged lots of playground nights recently so it is worth it.  Work is a little slow right now, so I don't have a ton of stress from that area.

On Friday, I had  a busy day.  My plan was to do my trainer session at home, started around 530am.  Once I completed that, I headed to the Northeast YMCA for 45 minutes of weight training.  Headed back home to shower then return to the Y for a Board of Directors Meeting.  I have been on the Board since November 2011.  After that morning I headed to work.  On my way to work I received a call from a contractor who did work at my house last year.  The short story is he made a major error with cement, didn't fix it, so I hired someone else, then filed the paperwork for small claims court to get my money back.  Anyway, he called Friday and I met him so he could pay me the money back for the repairs.  I thought this was going to be a great end of the week before I headed to the shore for a mini-training camp weekend with a race on Sunday.

When I returned to work, a guest came into use our showers.  One of my employees, Nish, came in to make sure it was ok for the guy to just shower.  He had a special, national gym membership through his insurance, and we are a participating location.  It was all good, he only had to fill out our guest pass.  As he was filling it out, I noticed he lived in California.  I asked hime a few questions, which led to 20 minutes of talking about running, training, and marathons.  He was scheduled to run 101 this year...YES 101 Marathons just this year. He figured he would cross 1,000 next year.   Little did I know I was talking to an underground celebrity in the running community.  Jim Simpson was in my gym showering before he was going to run TWO marathons this weekend! One of them was the race I am doing on Sunday.   I won't bore you with all the details of our conversations, my drooling, or showing off my office nicknamed "The Sportsman's Paradise."  His camper was parked outside and he just need to shower.  I did give hime a I Tri 4 Downs T-shirt as a momento of his visit to the AFI.

Here is a link to the Runners World Article that did a feature on him.  He is living a dream!
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-243-297--13059-0,00.html

St Patty's week means no Green Beer! Well maybe one.

This week started off great.  I nailed 12 workouts from Monday through Friday and had 2 long sessions planned for the weekend.  It was a crazy week with Emma's softball starting, so need to be Mr. Ironman Dad and get her to the practices.  Its tough sitting for 90 minutes while she practices, but I want to be there to support her.  Plus I got my Campus Quilt (http://www.campusquilt.com/) in the mail.  It has 20 t-shirts on it, some from races, and some from my kids.  It really nice and comfy.

Everything was going great all week and I was looking forward to a nice quite St Patty's weekend with no real plans.  I figured Cathy and I could have some QT time with each other.  Then my friend Brian called on Wednesday night and reminded me that I had agreed to help him this weekend.  I did remember once he jogged my memory.  Not a real big deal, what are friends for.  Then I realized what I needed to help him with.  Wax his parents 40' house boat on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay in Rock Hall Maryland.

We planned on leaving at 730am from his parents house on Saturday morning.  So if I wanted to get my run done on Saturday, I would need to get up at 4am, start the run by 430am, finish by 630am, get showered and eat by 650 am, then leave for his parents by 7am.  Well I guess the week caught up to me on Friday night.  I was asleep by 830pm while watching TV with Conor.  When my alarm went off at 4am, I must have hit the snooze a few times then finally turned it off.  I did get up around 615am, so I did not over sleep for the waxing.  Needless to say I skipped the Saturday workout since I did not even get home until 930pm and was beat!  Here is Brian working his magic.

 

While I was in Rock Hall, Brian and I did have a chance to hang out and solve all the problems of the word while waxing a 40' boat.  Oh yeah, while we were doing that, his parents are in Key West, FL.  How does that happen?  Once we finished waxing, we stopped at a local bar and planned on eating before we headed home.  Thankfully they had some green spirits for us.

When I returned home Saturday night I had this letter waiting for me from one of the organizations we donated money to from the Ironman fundraiser .  It makes all the sacrifices, all the miles and all the training worth it.

Sunday finally came and I made my long run, 14 miles, and 3 hour trainer session.  The trainer session was not my best, but I got it in.  The weather has been awesome, so my run was in shorts and a t-shirt.  The trainer session was ok just because it is so nice out and I was on the trainer inside.  The only saving grace is that its March Madness so I watched 2 games while on the trainer.  I spent the latter part of the afternoon with Conor and Kristina out shopping and running some errands.

Getting Back on Track

Well, I am starting to feel better from the oral surgery finally.  This past week was pretty busy for us.  Softball and Baseball started for Emma and Conor, so that adds to the mayhem of our schedule.  I finished IMLP training at 8:45 for the total.  Not a very good week and only a little off from what I needed.  Just 2 weeks ago I was at 12:25.  This week I should get back on track as I hit Base II Training Block.

The I Tri 4 Downs Beef and Beer was last weekend.   It was our first fundraiser of the year and we had a great night.  We raised $1,350 from the night.  It was a fun night with 47 thirsty/hungry people attending.  We had a 3 hour set drink menu along with a buffet of food.  We offered a 50/50 raffle and had some nice prize baskets.  The best part of the night was the winner of the 50/50, Dave, donated the money back to us...all $250.00.  It was a very nice gesture from a really nice Philly Fireman.  Below are some of the festivities.

Below are Leah, Nish, Jane, Tom, & Brian

Below is a picture of Dave(on the left) the 50/50 winner and 

Brian(on the right).  Brian is on the I Tri 4 Downs, Inc. Board.  Cathy is in the foreground up close.

Valarie and Jackie(my sister) with Dave and Joker in the background.

It wound up being a great night, but very late for Cathy and I.  With the time change we seemed to only get about 3 hours sleep...I know Training Payne get less than that and still trains like mad (http://workandtrainingpayne.blogspot.com/), but its tough for me.  I choose to take Sunday as a recovery day.  What a chicken ass I was for that, but I was beat.

My first race of the year is in 2-weeks.  A nice flat 10 miler at the beach near my parents house.  I'll take the kids and my bike with me for the weekend and treat it as a mini-camp.  Now I'll just have to stay out of the local water holes when I am there.

Wisdom Teeth out and a 12th Birthday!

This was an interesting week this week.  I had a scheduled oral surgery procedure to remove my four wisdom teeth this week.  I had planned on taking Thursday and Friday off because I was not sure how I would respond to the surgery.  Since I really dislike the dentist..sorry any dentist...I dislike an oral surgeon more.  Monday through Wednesday I did all my planned workouts and was able to get ahead at work so I would not be behind on March 5 when I return.

All in all I had no issues with the surgery.  Apparently, when they gave me the IV drugs and asked me about my Eagleman 70.3 Ironman t-shirt, I answered and fell asleep.  The next thing I remember is waking up with the big gauze pads in my mouth.  I spent most of Thursday resting and sleeping.  Friday I felt better but was still banned from any exercise since I was still slightly bleeding in my mouth.  Once Saturday came I was pretty good.  I got back on the bike for an easy 90-minute session with no ill-effects.  Sunday I made it out for a 12 mile run.  So far no set backs other than being tired.  I'll hit it back to work Monday the 5th, and expect to resume my normal sessions.

The other big part of my week is that Kristina turns 12 years old.  She has made it 12 years longer than they told us she would make it.  Other than Down Syndrome, she is a normal 12 year old sports nut.  She had a great birthday, spending a few days with her Mommom and Pop while I was recovering.  She also became a women this week, which was very traumatic for me.  Having my oldest girl hitting maturity is weird.  It was bad enough when she had to get a training bra and stuff.  Now shopping in the feminine hygiene section of Target or Giant is going to be rough.

Our first fundraiser of the year is coming this next weekend, March 10, 2012.  A $25.00 Beef and Beer at The Bayou Bar and Grill.  Hopefully we have a good turnout and can get a jump start on making 2012 even better than last year for the kids.

Another Good Week

Well it seems like I am back on the horse.  I got in a total of 12:25 hours of Base Training this week.  I needed it since this week coming I am having my Wisdom Teeth removed on March 1 and will miss a few sessions.

This week has been good on the training front.  I was able to get in all the pre-determined workouts and increase my time in the pool.  It is still the Base 1 phase, so I am trying to just get my body used to the increased time.  My weight is slowly dropping and I need to desperately clean up the diet with the soda intake.

Also I got the fundraiser t-shirts in this week, so its been a good week.  We also have our 1st Annual Beef and Beer coming up on March 10, 2012.  That should keep me busy the next few weeks.

The long trainer ride went by pretty fast since I was referee at the Wii again and I also was watching Hoosiers on my iPod...made the time go as fast as my legs felt.

Are you Ready?

I found this picture on multiple we blogs and links and thought I would also post it.  I have a cope hanging in my office at work.  It has been a nice conversation starter.

Well I just finished the first week of Ironman Lake Placid Base I training.  Up to this point my plan has only been to get my body ready to train.  I spent the last week getting the bike on the trainer, cleaning it up, and securing it away from my kids.

Here is what the Prep to Base trend looked like:

3-weeks ago 5:55 total time

2-weeks ago 6:41 total time

Last week 7:28 total time

This week 12:40 total time

The week was pretty easy to get into a grove with.  I have written many time that I have great support at work.  My boss encourages me to workout and get outside to train.  How many working age groupers can say that.  I was noticeably tired as the week went along.  Cathy even commented that I am getting back to my Iron-bed time of 9pm already.  

I am still working through the frustration of being a little heavy and slow on the run.  I did some research of the same time last year and noticed I am only slightly slower(:15 sec per mile) at the same point in the training program.  As my year went along, I did PR a 10 miler twice, so I am not that discouraged yet.  As the weeks move forward and my intensity and volume goes up I know the weight will come down.  I know when the weight starts to come down, my speed will increase.  My first race is at the end of March, 10 miler at the beach, and I will be shooting for a 1:10 in that one.

I did get some encouraging news about Mooseman 70.3.  I have a client who comes into my gym.  She has a son who lives 5 minutes from the race start.  She let him know I was doing the race and he said I can crash at his place for the race.  Saves me some $$ on a room for the weekend. 

Long ride on the trainer today was 2 hours.  It was a pretty easy 2 hours because my kids were playing Wii during my ride.  So between being referee, judge, jury, and participant...the time flew by.

Now it Begins!!!

Well the long slow un-motivating time of the year is OVER!

I just finished 4 weeks of prep time in Ironman training.  It is a nice 4 week block...only about 8 hours a week of training time.  I needed that to ease into full IM training.  Since IM Lake Placid last summer, my motivation has been way down.

I have felt slow when I have worked out, which has made me even more un-motivated.  I know I am slower because of the extra 20-25 lbs I am lugging around right now.  I know that this going to be my number 1 goal....clean up the diet and get serious about getting the weight off.  I know when that happens my speed on the run will increase.  I do better when I am training for a goal.  Since IMLP I really did not have a goal or "A" race to look forward to.  So my workouts/diet/and training were lacking.

This spring I have a few different types of races from last year.  A few trail runs, along with road runs.  I am still looking for a May Olympic of Half Iron distance race close to home.  Once I find those I will be set.  I have not listed any race after LP, but have some ideas.  I think it all depends on what happens with Kona and NYC Marathon Lottery's.  I will keep my fingers crossed for Kona and say a few rosaries.

I'll try to stay motivated and happy this year, just like last year.....with out the bike crash in June I hope.