Draft 2008 Schedule

For the past few weeks I have been thinking about what I want to accomplish in 2008. Right off the bat I knew I wanted to complete my first Triathlon. So I started looking for my "A" race. During that time I decided, basically today I decided, to make my "A" race an Olympic distance Triathlon toward the end of the summer next year. I think the amount of time between now and the end of the 2008 summer is enough for me to train for that distance. So I searched for an Oly Tri in the area and found Park City Mossman Triathlon that will be held on August 10, 2008. The Tri is a 1500 meters swim, 24.9 miles bike and a 6.2 miles run. I think the swim and bike distance is a little short of an true Oly distance, but this is close enough. So the next step is to register for this event. Hopefully it isn't sold out. That would suck!!!.

So on top of my "A" race, I am going to do a Sprint Tri toward the beggining of the summer. I ws thinking somewhere around the first of June. The Sprint Tri will be a warm up for the Oly Tri. Also in 2008 I will be running a few 5ks and 1 10 miler (The Blessing of the Fleet Road Race).
So I just need to find the Sprint tri for June and I will be ready to go for 2008.

As for today, I went to the Y and busted out 4.75 miles on the Elliptical in 30 minutes and swam 500 meters in the pool. Great workouts!!!!

Until tomorrow.....!!!!!!!!

Power Week

Ok thats the only name I can come up with. I am not good with my daily blog titles. I have been lagging behind on my weight loss for the THROUGH TH3 WALL Off-Season Shape-Up Challenge. I have lost 6lbs but I know I can do much better then 6lbs in 1 month. So this week I am going to increase my workouts. By the end of the week I want to run a total of 20 miles, swim 1700 meters and 20 miles on the elliptical machine. That might not seem like alot for some people, but it is to me. Along with that I want to shed another 4lbs. So let the POWER WEEK begin!!!

So for today I went on a new 4.5 mile running route through town. Basically took me all through town and a few minutes on the bike path. Great run! Then after the run I jumped in the pool for 500 meters. Straight freestyle swimming. Today was another break through day in the pool. I swam 100 meters before stopping. I didn't think I was going to pull it off, but everytime I would struggle getting a breath, I just relaxed and took it one stroke at a time. IT was great and I was very happy.

Tomorrow I will put in 4 miles on the elliptical, and circuit workout and some more time in the pool.

Halloween Report

Last night was great. After I worked 1st shift last yesterday so I could be home to take the kids trick or treating. It has been tradition for my family that we have Chinese food on Halloween. I was really looking forward on eating general tso chicken and Singapore mei fun. As we did last Halloween, we invited our friends over Chris and Andrea and their 2 kids Mark and Quinn to partake in the Chinese and to trick or Treat in our neighborhood. My neighborhood is any trick or treater’s dream. It is a wonderful place to live and there are tons of kids here. Plus in several of the houses I think the parents enjoy Halloween more then the kids do and go all out on decorations and dress up themselves. The trick or treaters started showing up around 6:15 last night, just as we were finishing up dinner. We got the kids ready and headed out into the neighborhood. Reese was a butterfly and Brady was Diego from Dora the Explorer. Both were very cute as you can see from the pictures. Reese wanted to walk the whole time. She did a great job saying trick or treat and grabbing 1 piece of candy, sometimes sneaking up and taking another. Brady was an old pro remembering from last year. He loved it and had such a good time. Everyone was wiped out by the time we got home. Talking with the neighbor, they said they went through 15 bags of candy. That’s a lot of kids. Both Reese and Brady made out pretty well. All in all it was a great night and lots of fun for everyone.

Today was the day to get back on track. After I dropped the kids off at daycare I went to the Y and started my work out for the day. I started off with stretching, then moved onto the stationary bike for a quick 5 mile warmup. After the bike I went for a 3.5 mile run. The past few times I have ran it seems like it is getting a little easier each time. I feel so comfortable running and I am not tired. Of course I get winded and have to slow my pace down or take a 30 sec walk break but it just seems easy. Maybe I should push my speed up a little more. I have a 5 mile run planned on Saturday so we will see how that goes I guess. After the run I jumped in the pool for 400 meters. Today was the first time I actually swam full laps. Normally I swim ½ laps and stop, rest and then continue. Not today, I was swimming 1 lap (50meters) and then stopping. A great accomplishment and I was really excited. I am just taking things slow and easy and I know I will be swimming multiple laps soon.

Ironman 70.3 Rhode Island

Ironman 70.3 Rhode Island coming to my home state on July 13, 2008. I was really excited to see that Ironman 70.3 is coming here. Unfortunately I will not be participating in the inaugural race but this will be my goal race for 2009. I will sign up to be a volunteer. How could I not!!!
I look forward to see if anyone out there in Blogger land will sign up for this race. Feel free to drop me an email if anyone has any questions about where to stay, go to eat....

Anyways, today was a busy day. Went and got my flu shot today. Then went out for a 3 mile run. Not a very exciting day. At least Kim and the kids were home today.

Have a good night everyone!

WORLD CHAMPION BOSTON RED SOX

Congrats to the Boston Redsox on sweeping the Rockies to win the World Series. It was an awesome year and hopefully they can do it again next year.

So I spent the most of the weekend in my bed. Friday I came down with some sort of virus and by 9:00 friday night I had a 101.5 temp and felt dizzy any time I would stand up. By Saturday I still had a fever and was very weak. I can't remember the last time I felt like this. I don't get sick very often, maybe once a year if that. By Sunday morning I was feeling much better and my fever was gone. Still, I didn't push it and basically stayed home and did nothing except watch football and play with the kids. Go PATRIOTS!!!

Today I was so busy there was no time to get any workouts in. I really wanted to at least get a run I, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to give myself an extra day of rest. Brady had his first dentist appointment today. He did an awesome job. Kim and I were thinking that he would maybe sit in the chair and have the dentist count his teeth and that would be it. Nope, he sat in the chair for an entire cleaning. I was so proud of him. He got a toy and a new Shrek tooth brush. Good job Brady!!!

Weekend Recovery and Then Some

I took a few days off from working out to let my sore back recover. It was a good move on my part. By Monday my back felt great and I was ready to get back at it.

As for the weekend, I had a lot of fun. Saturday night Kim and I attended a dinner party over a friend’s house. We have a core group of friends that get together every 6 weeks or so and we all take turns holding the dinner party at each other’s house. So for this party Kim and I made stuffed artichokes and some type of spinach and orzo dish. I hate spinach and don’t care of artichokes either so I guess Kim made both dishes. The hosts, Tara and Randy, made tenderloin and served some sort of Cosmos which were really good and the other couple, Mary and Jeremy, brought over a cheese spread with bread crisps and smashed potatoes. The hosts invited another couple who were their neighbors, but they didn’t bring anything to eat. During dinner we were invaded by more neighbors who brought along the lady’s sisters from Scotland. The night just got crazy from there. The dinner party turned into a drinking party. We played drinking Jenga and ended the night with a well played game of Asshole. But the best part of the night is watching the Red Sox take game 6 of the ALCS. Got home at 1:00AM. Fun night.

The next day I woke up at 6:15AM so I can meet Jeremy at his house so that we can drive down to New Jersey to see the Giants vs. the 49ers football game. I am not a fan of either team but I never been to a professional football game. I was a little hung over from the night before but not too bad. Tailgating was great. We had steak tips and hot wings. I couldn’t fathom drinking a beer so I just drank water and sodas. It was a great game. Giants kicked the 49ers ass. But I really enjoyed watching the out of town score board where I saw the Patriots dominate over Miami. After the long drive home I tried to stay up and watch the Game 7 of the ALCS, but just couldn’t keep my eyes open. I woke up the next morning and the Sox won the game and are now heading to the World Series!
GO SOX.

On Monday I started to get back into the swing of things. I went out for a short 3.2 mile run and then hit the pool. A couple of laps into my swim I lost my left eye contact. Oh man what do I do, keep going and chance losing the other one or just get out now while I still have one good eye. I decided to get out. I didn’t want to risk losing the other one and driving home.

Today I planned a 1.5 hour bike ride but chickened out when I saw that it was very windy outside. So I just went to the Y and cranked out 4 miles on the Elliptical, a couple of circuits on the Nautilus equipment and swam 500 meters (I brought an extra pair of contacts with me today, just in case). Depending on the weather I will try and get in the bike ride from today. If not I will hit the Y again.

Thursday, October 18

After 5 hours of sleep last night I was considering just going back to bed after I dropped the kids off at daycare. But I didn't so I grabbed my stuff and set off for the Y. I dropped my stuff off in a locker and went to stretch before the run. The run was good. The first outdoor run since the 5K a few weeks ago. I was alittle concerned about my ankle, but it felt great for the entire run. I was scheduled for a 4 mile run, but the new route was only 3.8 miles, I guess I can live with that. During the run I was thinking about if I should do a few laps in the pool. I figured it wouldn't hurt and I brought all my stuff with me so why not. I changed and jumped into the pool. Boy was I tired from the run. I did manage to bust of 350 meters. Not bad for me and I actually swam 1 lap without stopping. That is huge for me. Things are coming together since I don't have to concentrate on breathing.

Tomorrow I have a scheduled 1 hour bike, 500 meter swim and circuit training. hopefully I will be able to do all of it without falling asleep. I can't wait for the weekend.

Swim, Bike, Circuit Train

I was singing that this morning with Brady. Swim, Bike, Circuit train. While I was singing, I was also doing the motions for each one. Then Brady picked it up and started to sang and do the motions with me. It was really cute.

I created a new training schedule for myself that last through the end of the month. The schedule focuses on swimming, running, biking and circuit training. For today I have a 60 min bike followed by 450 meters in the pool and a circuit on the nautilus machines. So I stuff all my gear into my backpack and rode to the Y to drop off my stuff in the locker. Then I continued my ride through town and onto the bike path. I was going to ride back to the Y but I decided to ride home instead and drive back to the Y. Bike ride – 13.3 miles in 56 min.

I open my locker and pull out my shorts and towel from my back pack, but I couldn’t find my goggles. I must have not put them in the bag. So I just decided to do the swim without them. I get in the pool and just floated around for a few minutes and decided to drive home and get my goggles. Out of the pool, dry off, throw some shorts on, drive home, find the goggles, drive back, put on cold wet shorts and then back in the pool. After a few stretches I was off and swimming. Today for some reason everything clicked. I had my best swim by far today. Breathing just came naturally with every 3rd stroke. At the time there were only 2 lap lanes open and I did a few laps by myself and then a lady came into my lane and asked if she can join me. I said sure but watch out, I was a beginner. She laughed and said no problem. So after a few more laps, I was leaning against the wall catching my breath and the lady came up to me and said, “Don’t tell anyone you’re a beginner, you don’t look like it.” That made my day. I was really excited that she said that. 3 weeks of practicing has started to pay off. Swim – 450 meters in 30 mins.
After the swim I jumped on the nautilus machines for 30 mins and then home for some lunch. Great workout day. Tomorrow I have just a 4 mile run schedule, but I might squeeze in a swim. But it all depends on the time, I need to mow the lawn, priorities.

Weekend Report

Didn't do to much on the fitness front during the weekend. Both my mother and father were up from Florida and wanted to spend some time with them. Saturday morning I met up with my father, brother and his family and my sister and her family down at the beach for some early morning surf casting. My father comes up from Florida every year at this time to catch the Hot Surfcast fishing. Its the last run of the year for Bluefish and Stripped Bass. This Saturday morning was probably the best fishing we had in a long time. There were fish everywhere. They were so close I could have just walked into the water and grabbed one. Everyone caught a fish and my brother's son caught 4! Its always a good time fishing, but getting up at 5:00 am is a little hard. I will post some pics later.

Sunday was a normal Sunday. We went to the Fantastic Umbella FActory in Charlestown and met up with some friends. Just to clarify there are no Umbellas at the place, just a few little shops and some farm animals for the kids. Besides the animals, the best thing about the place is store that has penny candy. Even though they are running alittle low since it is the end of the tourist season, there was plenty for us to grab. After that we went home and Kim started on her homemade sauce and I defrosted some chopped meat for meatballs. 4:00 came around and we all watched the Patriots defeat the Cowboys (very happy about that). My mother came over and had some pasta with us and stayed the night. She goes back to Florida on Tuesday.

Today I went to the Y after Brady's 3 year check up. I had a good swim workout. It seems to be getting easier, but still struggle with the breathing. Just need more practice. After that I did a circuit on the Nautilus equipment. I was going to hit the bike path for a 3 mile run, but I was convinced by my mother to have lunch with her. She put on the guilt trip about her leaving tomorrow and stuff, so I couldn't say no.

Tomorrow will have to be my off day since I have to work 1st shift and will have the kids at night while Kim goes away for business. I might try to see if the kids want to go to the Y, but Reese doesn't like going to the daycare they have. Brady could care less, but Reese just doesn't like it for some reason. Oh well.

Rain Rain Go Away!

Before I start I just want to say how much of a pain in the A#@ it is to come up with titles for every post.

Ok, I planned on taking a 4 mile run today but after I looked outside and saw the rain, I went to the Y and ran on the treadmill. My ankle felt really good for the 3 miles. So I was thinking that on Saturday I will be going for a 5 mile run. Also I jumped on the Elliptical for a quick 2 miles before I hit the pool. Thursdays are great for the pool. It is really quiet and I had a full lane to myself. During my swim today I felt like I have made great progress in the past weeks with my breathing. I felt more comfortable in the pool today then I ever have. I did notice that once I get tired and I lose focus and start breathing heavy and start losing my form. So I just flipped over onto my back and kept moving until my breathing slows down and then I would start over again. I guess this is all normal for a beginner. Good thing is that I have all winter and spring to improve and bring it to the next level.

Tomorrow will be a busy day. I bring my son to the Dr's office for a check up, then hit the Y and after that go out to lunch with my mom who is up from Florida. I'll need to be mindful of what I eat for lunch tomorrow. I have lost 2lbs already for this challenge and I don't need to take any steps backwards.

TTW Off-Season Shape-Up Challenge

Ok so I have taken up the THROUGH TH3 WALL Off-Season Shape-Up Challenge. Basically the challenge will "track measurements, weight, workouts and whatnot all winter, and the person who makes the most overall progress by January 1, 2008 will win a Podiumquest Duel Chamber Hydration System from NUUN and 9 tubes of NUUN to go with it. I was excited to sign myself up for this challenge. Superhero Ben from Buckeye Outdoors set up a website to track everyones progress. So let the challenge begin. I will be posting a Before picture shortly.
Here are my stats as of October 09, 2007:

• Weight: 234.5lbs (gained a little over the past few months)


• Body Fat %: 18.79% (Rough Estimate. I will obtain a better measurement shortly)


• Goal: Lose 34.5 lbs by January 1, 2008 (Even 200lbs sounds good!)

I will be using this challenge to not only lose weight, but to get myself into better shape for the upcoming race season. Winter time is not the time to be slacking. Just becuase it gets darker earlier in the day and the temp drops below 40 degrees does not warrant a trip to McDonalds or Taco Bell. If anyone else is interested click on the link above and COMMIT.

As for the St. Francis 5K, it was a great race and was very happy to set a PR. Halfway thru the race I didn't think I was going to PR since my ankle started to hurt and I walked for 30secs. But some how I pulled it off. I got a huge boost during the race when I saw Kim, Brady and Reese at the top of one of the hills with a cup of cold water. Brady ran out and gave it to me. The water was ice cold and seeing my family there gave me that little extra energy needed to finish the race. After the race, the church had apple crisp for everyone and lots of prizes to hand out from local resturants and stores. It was a great event and will definately add it to my race calendar next year.

My ankle is feeling better. I have not been running lately becuase I want to give it a few more days. I did run on the treadmill at the Y yesterday for 2 miles and it felt fine. Maybe tomorrow I will run 3 miles on the bike path and see how it is. I don't want to push it. Running is a big factor on my weight loss.

Good luck to everyone in the challenge!!!!!

New PR!!!!

St. Francis Fall Festival 5k Road Race & Walk - 28 mins 11 sec. New PR!!!!!
Great race!!!

5K Tomorrow

Tomorrow I will be starting my 4th 5K of the year. If I was going to set a PR, this will be the race to do it. It is a fairly flat course with a few small hills and the last mile is completely flat. I have run the route a few times so I know it very well. I am glad I rested my ankle this week. It feels really good so I should be all set for the race. I will do a warm up run in the morning just to see how the ankle will hold up.

After this race I have one more 5K and that will be it for the season. I probably won't do as many 5Ks next since I will be concentrating on my long distance running (Blessing of the Fleet 10 mile race) and hopefully at least 2 sprint triathlons and the Shoreline Biathlon. I am really looking forward to next season already. I just wish they would post the 2008 schedule so I can start planning my training schedule.

Sox Take the First Game!!!!

Lets hear it for the Redsox!!! That was a nice win against the Angels last night. Beckett was awesome! Hopefully Daisuke can pitch just as well on Friday.

Spent another 30 minutes in the pool today. I felt a little better with my breathing but still not comfortable with it. I actually made it down to the end of the pool without stopping for air, which is a huge accomplishment for me. I can't wait to read this a couple of months now when I can swim laps to the moon and remember how hard it was just to breath correctly. Untill then I will keep practicing.

Other then that it was a pretty uneventful day. After the swim I jumped on the elliptical for 3 miles and did a few ab workouts.

Swimming is Hard

Went to the Y today and did 4 miles on the Elliptical and 2 sets around the circuit. Then I jumped in the pool for more practice on form and breathing. This stuff is hard. While in the pool today I was thinking that I don't feel comfortable in the water yet. Maybe I am just thinking about too much while swimming. If I didn't have to breath I could probably swim forever. I will just continue to get the time in the pool and I am sure everything will come together.

My ankle feels better today. I was thinking about running tomorrow but I told myself not to push it. I'll just take a little warm-up run on saturday morning before the race. No matter what, I am still going to finish the race, running or walking.

Baseball playoffs started today. Good luck to everyone's favorite team and LETS GO SOX!

Office Olympics and Going Forward

So last Thursday my company held their first Annual Office Olympics. I was the captain of team Green Eggs and Cham, don’t ask about the name. There were various events such as compact discus, rubber band archery, stress ball dodge ball, and memo relay. So our team was doing very well and it was time to do the memo relay. For this event we needed to run around a portion of the office building one time and hand off a memo to the next person. Well I thought I would show off my running abilities and go really fast for my leg of the relay. There were a few tricky corners to get around. After my run I felt a little discomfort in my left ankle, but it went away after a while. I woke up on Friday and my ankle hurt. At times it was hard to put any weight on it. I had a long run planned for Saturday morning, but that was out of the question. Today I went to the Y to test out the ankle and I went .35 miles on the treadmill before I had to stop. So I am going to take it easy for the next few days and test it again on Wednesday or Thursday. I don’t want to push it and hopefully everything will be better by the 5k race on Saturday.

As for working out, since I couldn’t run on the treadmill, I thought I would test it out on the elliptical. BINGO! My ankle didn’t hurt so I did 4 miles in 30 mins. Before the elliptical I did a circuit on the nautilus machines. I drove home and grabbed my swim gear, went back to the Y and spent the better part of 30 mins practicing my breathing and swim technique for a distance of 400 meters.

Last Friday was Brady's 3rd birthday. Reese was in daycare for the day so Brady had special time with Mom and Dad. We had alot of fun going to Toys R Us were he proceded to ride whatever bike he could find around the store. Then we were off to Chuck e Cheese for some games and then too Cold Stone for his free birthday ice cream.

Here is Brady making his birthday cake!!!!

This week I will be going back into weight loss mode. I am going to bring down my running distance to 2 – 3 miles a day and bring back the elliptical and more strength training, and also swimming. I need to focus on my weight loss since I haven’t really been thinking about it for the past couple of months. Since August 1st I gained 5 lbs and now stand at 233. I don’t want to go backwards anymore. Lets Go!

A Little Faster

Yesterday's run was great! I ran 3.4 miles in 31mins which is a 9:08 pace. My fastest so far this year. As the end of my 5K race season comes to an end, I would like to go out on a high note and set my goal at 3.1 miles in 28mins. If I could hit that, I would be very happy. My first shot comes in 2 weeks. The St. Francis Fall Festival 5k is a local and the race route is almost the same one I run at least once a week. I know in race conditions I can bust out a little over 9 min mile. Lets just hope and see.

Salve Regina's 5K Mansion Run

Last minute 5K race.
Salve Regina's 5K Mansion Run - PR!!!! 29:02 - 9.21 pace.

2 Days in a Row

Well I learned a valuable lesson today, don't run 2 days in a row. Yesterday I ran a little over 4 miles and today I thought I could go out and do another 4, nope. Around mile 2 my legs tightened up and were very sore. I did manage to make it to the 3 mile marker but I had to walk the last mile back to my car. I don't think I will do that again.

Tomorrow will be an easy day. I will bike to the Y and hit the cross trainer for 30 mins, and then jump in the pool for a few training laps. I need to practice breathing!!!! I am going to take every opportunity I can to get in the pool and practice.

Back to Normal

It was back to normal today after taking a few days off. Went to the YMCA, did a quick nautilus circuit and then out for a 4 mile run. I tried to add some speed to my run today. I ran the first mile in just over 8 minutes. After that I settled into my normal pace and finished out the run with conquering the hill from hell. I decided that I can't be a hill wimp anymore. So from now on I will be running up that hill, even if it kills me.

At the Y I checked out the pool schedule to see when they had all lanes available. I figured since I am not really focusing on any events for the next several months that I should at least start swimming. There were 5 lanes available at noon, so I went home for an hour changed into my bathing suit (what do people wear at the pool? The only thing I have is my board shorts. I guess that will do until I get a few pairs of Tri shorts) and I was off to the Y again. Got to the pool and there was an empty lane, YES! I jumped into the pool and the water felt great. I put my swim goggles on and thought about what I wanted to accomplish today. Basically just get in the water and try to swim a few laps practicing my breathing and my arm positions. Everything about the swim today was great except for the breathing. I had alot of trouble with the whole breathing out in the water and breathing in from one side or another. I could not get a rythum down and choked on alot of water. In all I swam 250meters. I didn't feel tired at all. My body felt great, I just need to work on breathing and I should be good to go!