Golf and German Endurance Fest

It has been another long break from blogging.  Too much to really go into, other than it has just been crazy busy.  With three kids in sports, our annual golf outing on May 17, 2012, and training for another Ironman, I just have not had a ton of motivation to blog about why I am so busy and can’t blog.  Instead this post will be about our golf outing and my latest race.

Every year, the Abington Fitness Institute (my work) has its annual golf outing and raises money for Our Lady of Confidence Day School in Willow Grove, PA.   We had a great turnout and raised  $6,280.00 for OLC.  OLC is a school of special education serving children with Down Syndrome and other cognitive/physical impairments.  OLC has two locations serving children from ages 4.5-14 in Willow Grove, and 15-21 at Bishop McDevitt High School.  Our donation to Our Lady of Confidence will go directly to their Tuition Assistance Program, and will help many families.  The school is very appreciative of the support!  In seven years we have donated over $45,700.00 to their Tuition Assistance Program.

I wanted to offer a special thanks to the 50/50 winner who donated a portion of their winnings back to the event.  I also wanted to thank the staff and member volunteers of the Abington Fitness Institute for all their hard work in getting everyone checked in, making cookies for your bags, getting the gifts distributed, and for all their help in preparing for the day. 

Now, the latest race report. 

I competed in the Dirty German Endurance Fest (http://www.uberendurancesports.com/Dirtygerman.html) on May 20, 2012.  This event has a 25K, 50K, & 50 mile race distance.  I competed in the 25K (15.5 miles).  The race is run by the ÜBER ENDURANCE SPORTS Group.  This is the third race of theirs I have done.  They are awesome events that are a lot of fun, and not overly Type A’ish if you know what I mean.  Most of their races are trail runs, so the atmosphere is different.  Very competitive race, but a laid back event.  Lots of people dress up as German Beer Waitresses or in Lederhosen, so there are lots to look at.

The race itself was pretty good.  The start is a cattle shoot with everyone heading towards two 90 degree turns so you can hit the trails.  My plan was to try and carry an 8 minute pace on these trails, which would be pretty good.  Most of the race is single track, so passing is a little tough.  After the first 3 miles the crowd thinned and I settled in with a group of about 8 runners, 7 men and 1 women.  We were all around the same pace give or take the steepness of a hill, slipperiness of a rock, or depth of a creek crossing. 

We made a big loop, with a sort of figure 8 at one point.  Right around 7.75 miles I noticed it was just me the women together.  We were heading back to the start along a 2-mile section of paved bike path..nice and flat.  She had some support out there with her husband meeting her along the sections where the trail crossed a fire road, or the bike path.  I was slugging along, suffering from a few beers on Saturday night with Cathy and the Ellison Family. 

The last 4 miles are real technical, lots of switchbacks, tight single track.  No big deal other than the 50 mile participants are coming at you.  On one section I joked with three runners coming at me about a tight turn they would have and they needed a “blinker” so other runners could see them coming.  As soon as I said blinker, down I went right onto the shoulder I dislocated last year.  I thought I just ended my Ironman training, but I jumped up and the shoulder seemed ok.  Just some muscle soreness the next two days but no structural damage thank god.

When you get close to the finish line, about ½ mile out you can hear the German music and accordion, so you know you are coming down the stretch.  As we headed towards the finish I held back some so the lady in front of me could have her moment at the finish line area, she was in 2^nd place for women after all, and I could see her husband waiting.  Little did I know he was waiting because he had food for her 2^nd loop, she was doing the 50K.  I went on by and crossed at 2:01:13.  Good enough for 8^th overall and 2^nd in my age group.

Best Finisher Item!

2nd Age Group

This was my last stand alone run race, and now have Mooseman 70.3 in 10 days.  This weekend is my first BIG DAY training.  Saturday will call for 1 hour swim, 90-minute break; 5 hour bike ride, 90-minute break, and finally a 2 hour run.  Sunday will be recovery with a pool party at a friend’s house.  Gonna try and get back to the blog a little more, I think it helps to keep me motivated.

Long Strange Trip

Well it has been a long lapse in posting.  I don't have any good reason either.  EVERYONE is busy with their life.  I am no different.  I have three great kids, and they all started baseball/softball with some extra zest the past couple weeks.  This means the nights are crazy busy.

My oldest daughter Kristina, has practice 1 night a week, then games on Sunday late afternoon.  Emma has practice 2 days a week and games, sometimes 1 game, sometimes 2.  Conor has practice 1 night and games on Saturday mornings.  That leaves not much weeknight time for the family.  Thank god Emma's Girls Scouts are coming to a close.

Last year, the evenings were great in late Spring/Summer because I could train hard in the day time, and kickback at night.  Not this year.  I don't mind having the sports details, but I feel guilty if I just sit on the side like a bump on  a log and not interact with the other parents or coaches.

I'll give a quick Broad Street Run Report from 5/6/12.  The BSR is the largest 10 miler in the USA now, 38,000 registered runners and 33,977 finished.  It was a perfect day, cool in the AM and slight breeze at our back.  With 38,000 registered runners you can imagine the logistics.  From my perspective, everything went fine.  Easy drive to the finish area, easy parking at the stadium, easy ride up to the start on the subway, and easy to line up in the corrals.  The only problem I notices was the same I see at every race no matter the size...not enough port-potties.  That happens at every race!

I finished in 1:07:24 officially.  My Garmin said 1:06:30, I had to stop in a port potty along the way.  I was 791/33,977, or in the top 2.3%.  I was about 4 minutes slower than last year, which I am ok with.  I have not kicked the last 15lbs I am holding yet, so I figure it was like I ran with a Pot Roast with me.  I held a 6:44 pace which was part of my goal.

I felt pretty good with it overall and the course is awesome, straight slight downhill.  Nice tempo run training day is how I looked at it.

Crazy Busy

WOW has it been busy.  On the home front, three kids started spring baseball.  It's not easy keeping all the practices, games, and special events in sync.  Our calendar at home is like a rainbow with all the highlighted games and practices....not to mention races.

Emma getting a hit!

Kristina in action.

Since my last post I had another race...Mt Penn Mudfest 15 K Trail Run in Reading, PA.  The group that puts the race on in the Pagoda Pacers.  They are a fun bunch and put on great races.  It was a great/tough race, very technical.  The pre-race announcement advised us of a "boulder" climb, 4 water crossings, and two separate 40 yard long "rock" trails.  The only problem was, I twisted my right ankle three different times, one was really bad where I considered stopping and walking it in.  When I twisted it I actually thought "what the hell am I doing, I have an Ironman in July and I am out here going to break my ankle and miss it."

Once I finished and returned home, I realized how bad my right foot was.  By the end of Saturday I was limping pretty good, and already bruised.  Luckily I had vast experience with twisted ankles from all the years playing basketball in college and high school.  Sunday, after I rode the trainer for 3-hours and the ankle loosened up,  I felt good by the end.

Last week I managed 14.5 hours of training and did not miss a session.  I am actually starting to feel pretty good on the runs and comfortable in the pool.  I do know I need to have my bike looked at by the shop.  The tires are showing some wear and tear signs so I would rather get that looked at now rather then breakdown out on the road.

Over the weekend I did make a purchase for the race season.  I picked up a pair of Newton Running Shoes that I had been eyeing for some time.  I wanted to try this out to see how my feet would respond.  So far this week I have 10 miles in them and feel pretty good.  You are suppose to work into them and not jump right in.  I have tried to be more aware of my stride and forefoot landing, so Newton's are suppose to help with that.

Sore as hell!

Well, with all my years of fitness experience personal training I always tell clients that when we make a significant change to their workout routine it will hurt like hell if I do my job right.  Mind you, not in an injury hurt kind of way, but just a general muscles hurt when I move kind of way.  As I write this I can barely walk as my hamstrings and gluteus are killing me.

Last week was a nice 12:15 on the workout meeter.  Not bad considering I did no weight training as planned.  I wanted to give my body a break before I made a change in my program.  I was moving from general muscle adaptation/functional stuff to all tri specific/functional stuff, so I deleted my 3 sessions for the week.  I wanted my body to get a little rest this last week of Base Training.

I finished the week with a good 2.5 hour ride on Saturday and 16 mile run on Sunday.  On Saturday, Cathy and I had tickets to the Flyers game in the afternoon.  We love the afternoon games!  A 1pm start means home by 6pm after a day out for us.  I will admit I was a little tired, due to the trainer ride during the morning, in the first period of the game and so were the Flyers, down 3 goals after 1 period.  Cathy and I decided to check out the concourse beer selection and never went back to our seats.  We ran into an old college Basketball team mate during the next intermission.  So we stayed close to the beer stand.

Some how the Flyers came back in the 2nd and tied the game.  We decided to watch the final period from the recently opened Xfinity Live...http://xfinitylive.com/.  Its like a big German Beer hall with Bars off each side.  It was a good time and made the 3rd period fly by.  On our walk back to the car we met Bernie Parent, Flyer Legend..http://bernieparent.net/blog/!  It was great, he shook our hands and we thanked him for the Flyer Cup wins during the 70's!  It was awesome.

All the Saturday fun made the 16 miler on Sunday a little tough, but I looked at it as mental training.  This weekend, April 7, I have a 9 mile trail run coming so that will be nice.  Kids head for Easter break this week, so Cathy will be a little crazy by the end of next Monday.  I'll try not to mess the house up too much.

Right now, I can hardly walk.  I started a new weight training program yesterday and am really feeling it today.  I went for a swim at 5:30AM--yes AM today.  Then went to work and tried to run, but my legs were shot and my ass was sore.  Instead I stretched and did a core routine and moved my run to a BRICK for Wednesday.  I know that the first 48 hours are the worst time after a big change to your workout, so I just need to flush my legs on the trainer tonight and workout tomorrow morning.  I should be good to go.

First race down

Just a short note here.  I had my 2012 Race Debut at the Ocean Drive 10 Miler and Marathon, I did the 10 miler.  It was the same race I did last year.  I was a little slower, but am holding about 10 extra pounds from last year.  I finished in 1:12:56, or 23 out of 541 total.  I was 6 of 56 in my age group, so not too bad for a local race.

It was a pretty crappy weekend weather wise.  I had planned on Saturday doing a 3 hour ride outside, but it rained like hell so I did 2:15 on the trainer instead.  Looking forward to a 9 mile trail run coming up.

Like I said, short and sweet.

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.