Happy Monday!

I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend. Ours was filled with candy, easter egg hunts, family and tons of food! The kids enjoyed the easter egg hunts loved their special easter baskets from the easter bunny. Now Kim and I just need to survive sugar rushes!

Today was the first day of a training schedule that I have developed for the next month. It is just a general schedule filled with running, spinning, swimming and weight training. For the past few months I have really battled with working out and weight control and today I am taking control and going to bust my butt to get back to where I was in December. My mile run on the treadmill felt great! Again no pain. But my ankle was a little sore after I got home. Today's swim was a killer. Has anyone else had those days in the pool were you just felt like a brick and no matter how hard you tried you just couldn't stay afloat or even move forward? I had one of those days. The lifeguard asked how my swim was and I told her I felt like I was carrying a load of bricks while swimming against a rip current. Hopefully that will change on Wednesday. Tomorrow I will be spinning for 20 mins and then jumping on the Elliptical for 20 mins along with some weight training. Oh yeah, I signed up for my spin class orientation on Thursday. I can't wait to try that out!

Friday!!

Not much to report. Had a great time in Florida. I didn't get much sleep, but who does on vacation. I will write more about it next week. I got one work out in this week. It took me a few days to get my butt in gear. So I ran for 10 minutes on the treadmill and rode 20 mins on the stationary bike. I have spent the last few days tweaking my training schedule for the next month. I am very optimistic that I will be ready for my first race of the season, a 5K on April 27th. After yesterday's workout my ankle was a little sore, but my achilles felt fine. I guess I need to work on that ankle a little more. Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter!

Off to Florida

I am off to Florida for a few days. My brother and I are driving my parent's car down for them. On the way down we are stopping off at my dad's house and going to the NHRA Drag race in Gainesville, FL. It is just awesome watching these cars do over 300 MPH!

On the training side, this week I ran 1 mile twice with no pain!! YES!!! I will continue to the take it slow next week and just run a mile and then slowy build after that. Swimming has been great! And I am just starting to get some miles on the stationary bike at the Y. I figure something is better then nothing.

Have a great weekend!

Tagged, Update and Aero-bars!

To start off I complete my 7 random things since I was tagged by IronMin the other day.

1. I served in the U.S. Navy for 4 years. It was a great experience and I am glad I did it.

2. My favorite ice cream is Chocolate and just love the Chocolate Chip ice cream from a little restaurant called Shady Glen’s in Manchester, CT.

3. I was born and raised in Rhode Island. A lot of tourists come to RI for vacations and whatever. So when I was a teenager I would wear a shirt that said “I am not a tourist. I live here and I don’t answer questions.” I didn’t like tourists back then.

4. I have 2 cats, Oreo and Fluffy. Oreo of course is black and white and my other cat Fluffy is an orange tabby. When Fluffy was a little kitten he was really fluffy, hence the name.

5. While stationed in Florida for the Navy I started inline skating and joined an aggressive inline skate team. We would do demo’s and host a clinic every Tuesday night for those who wanted to learn how to rollerblade. I miss those days, but I don’t miss the injuries.

6. For my first job I was a bagger at Stop and Shop.

7. Also while living in Florida a couple of friends and I auditioned for a Techno/Rave dance show at a club in Jacksonville called Club 5. We made the cut, but they only filmed one show that never aired.

So I will pass the Tag to the following peeps:
Moonpie
Chad in the desert
Jennifer – Runnergirl
Michelle
Chris

Onto other things. My ankle is coming along nicely. I hope to begin light jogging by the end of this week or beginning of next week. My physical therapist has been awesome! He also is a runner so he knows I want to get back out there and run ASAP! But he also knows that I need to take my time and start off slowly. I have had no pain for the past 2 weeks which is an awesome sign! I actually hit the Elliptical last week for 10 mins at a really slow pace and felt no discomfort. I will jump on that again a few times this week and start riding the stationary bike as well.

And to finish off I would like to say thank you to Tri-John for picking me to receive a set of Airstryke Aero-bars. Tri-John won these bars from Tri-Geeks Dream website. They wanted to give the bars to a newbie Triathlete. So Tri-John left a comment on why he should get the bars and WON! So this year Tri-John decided to offer the same bars to another Tri-newbie. So I left a comment and over the weekend Tri-John’s wife picked my name out of a hat to win the bars (there was only 2 of us who left comments so pulling a name out of the hat was the best way to decided)! So thank you very much John for the bars. I will definitely put them to good use and after this season I will pass them to another Tri-Newbie.

Tuesday

This will be a short post. Nothing much has been going on. I have gone to PT a few times and I can definitely feel a difference. I think it is a combination of PT and the new sneakers. I have felt little to no pain for the past week which is very encouraging. I can't wait to start running again. I really miss it.

On Monday I went to the Y to hit the weights and pool. It was my first real workout in a few weeks and it felt really good. Tomorrow I plan on trying out the stationary bike. My PT guy said I should use little to no resistance and I should be ok.

Anyone else in the Northeast ready for Spring and Summer?

Retrocalcaneal Bursitis

Thats what the PT guy said I have. Not Achilles Tendinitis, but Retrocalcaneal Bursitis or Achilles Tendon Bursitis. Most likly caused by my over pronation and low arch. So he gave me a few stretches to do and told me to ice it for 7 mins 2X a day. Also, he said I should get new running sneakers, motion control running sneakers. So I went to the local shoe shop and picked up a pair of Brooks Addiction™ 7. I have been wearing them all day and what a differance! These shoes are awesome and my left ankle has not hurt at all since I put them on (KNock on wood). I go back to PT tomorrow. I want to see this guy (David) as much as I can since his specialty is running mechanics. Tomorrow I hope to get to the pool and swim a few laps. I am feeling much better and should get my butt back to the Y!

Recovery

I have been deathly ill since last Wednesday. It just hit me like a ton of bricks. Not a good way to spend a long weekend. Today was the first time I felt better. I still have a cough but it is definately going away.

Since I was sick I missed my PT for my ankle/Achilles tendon. So I will be going tomorrow for my first appointment. I really can't wait to get started. It hurts just as much now then it did a month ago. I really miss running and I hope to be back on the road soon.

Lets Just Go Swimming

Update on my achilles: Nothing has really changed. It is still sore, but not as much. I have been using the arch supports and I guess they are working. I just can't wait to go the PT on Thursday. So in the mean time I will be hitting the pool and bike.

I have been really enjoying my time in the pool lately. I met this other guy in the pool last week who is also training for his first Sprint Tri this year. We have been talking about about drills and breathing and other swim related stuff. It is really cool when you find someone that you can relate with you. Today I did another 1500 meters. I think next week I am going to add another 300 meters to the workout.

I have a question for everyone out there, while running, how much money have you found? I know it is kinda of a wierd question, but I was thinking about how much I have found since I started running outdoors last May. I have found a total $66. A break down of three 20 dollar bills, one 5 dollar bill and a dollar. Now when I run, not recently, I find myself looking for money on the ground. Kinda keeps my mind away from the pain of running and stuff. Just curious.

Achilles Tendonitis

The Doctor said I have a minor case of Achilles Tendonitis which was probably brought on by my low arches and running form. I guess from what he said I should run heel-toe to decrease the stress on my tendon. I have always thought that was not good form, but I will go with what the doc says. I will be attending physical therapy 2 to 3 times a week. He also told me to pick up a pair of arch supports to help relieve stress on the tendon. I asked about biking and swimming and he said I can do both...YES! So for the next few weeks I will be hitting the stationary bike and pool.

Today before the Doctor's appointment I completed 1500 meters in the pool. I have been using the pull buoy alot since my tendon injury, so today I wanted to see how fast I could do 50 meters with the pull buoy, 50 meters - 52 secs. Ok for some of you out there the can swim like a fish, that doesn't seem to fast, but for me, it is my fastest 50 meter time ever! So I figure that if I can go that fast without using my legs, what if I used them, 50 meters - 52 secs. What does that tell me? I am still having problems keeping my body straight, head to high in the water which lowers my legs creating drag.....an endless list of possible things to correct. I will just keep moving forward and correct as much as I can.

Tomorrow I plan on riding the stationary bike for 30 mins and then hitting the pool for another 1500 meters.

Good day everyone!

Hello

Well it seems like I need to have a Dr. check out my ankle. Last week it was feeling much better, but then on Saturday I put on a differant pair of shoes ( I have been wearing my running sneakers for the past 2 weeks) and that night my achilles tendon and surrounding area was very sore. I will be contacting a local Dr. that actually completed Kona this year. I would think he would know something about running injuries.

I went down to check out the Super 5K road race this past Sunday. I really wanted to run that race. Actually the last time I ran was on that course. It was such a beautiful day for a race. I got there around 20 mins after the race started so I hung around to see Michelle set an PR of 23.30! WTG Michelle! Hopefully I will be able to run the 27th Annual CLAMDIGGER 5 mile race in April.

I really have been slacking lately becuase of the injury. I gained a few pounds also. That will all change this week. I jumped on the stationary bike today to see if there would be any pain. I didn't feel any but I am wondering if I should do that. So I figure it will be mostly pool and circuit workouts until I see the Doc.

Congrats to the Giants. I didn't think they would get it done. All the props to them. Bring on the Red Sox!!!

Weekend and Injury Report

I will start with the weekend. We really didn't do to much over the weekend. On Saturday we went up to Boston and went to the Museum of Science. I haven't been there in years, probably since High School. I knew Brady would have a good time and he did. He loved the big dinosaurs and all of the other interactive things they had there. I wanted to see the lightning show, but I thought it would be to loud for the kids. In all it was really fun! We wanted to hit Chinatown and go to Kim's favorite restaurant, Grand Chow Chow, but the kids look like they really needed a nap and Reese practically fell asleep before we even left the parking garage. That was probably the highlight of the weekend. Next weekend will be a different story. We have Kim's birthday and we also get to watch the Patriots win their 4th Superbowl! Sorry Giant fans, your team will not win this one. Better luck next time.

As for my left ankle. I went to the Y today and did a 10 min test run on the treadmill and everything seemed fine. There was no pain so I am very happy about that. After my run I jumped on the stationary bike for a quick 15 min ride and then jumped in the pool for 1200 meters. I will test out my ankle again on Wednesday. The temps will be in the mid 40's on Wednesday, so I will take a short run outside.

Happy Monday!!!!

Sharing the Lane

I went to the Y today to get some laps done since I have been slacking lately. I walk in and check out the pool. Only 1 person in the lap lane, cool. So I jump in and start doing my warm up laps. Oh yeah, the adult swim excersise class started the same time I did, so I had to deal with the strong "Lap Lane Current" or LLC again. It seemed a bit stronger then normal. I guess they had more people in the group today. Anyways, I am doing my laps when a 3rd person joins the lane. Ok I can do circles. So I try to stay kinda fast with my laps since I couldn't look slow. Just as I started to do my last set of drills, 2 more people join the swim. Ok has anyone shared 1 lane with 5 people before??? This was totally new to me. But I did get the chance to feel what a draft felt like. Pretty cool. I skipped the kick board drill and added another 100 to my pull drill. It was very interesting to say the least. Total Swim today: 1200 meters.

Mystery Injury

I know I mentioned in my last post that my ankle was feeling better, well its not. I am getting worried that I might have really messed something up so I will be looking to a find a local Doc to take a look at it. I have looked on tons of differant websites and I can not pinpoint what is going on. From reading it doesn't sound like Achilles tendonitis or Plantar fasciitis. I can walk for about 5 mins before it starts to hurt, then I would move my foot around a bit walk for another 1 min and the pain would go away. Tell me thats not crazy. I guess I will have to leave this one to the Professionals.

I have really be slacking lately becuase of my foot. I know it is ok to swim and it the weights, but I guess I am just being over cautious. So tomorrow I plan on getting some laps done in the pool.

Have a great Tuesday!

Update and Stuff

I woke up this morning feeling better then I have in a couple of days. I have been dealing with a cold that just won't go away. On top of that, I must have slept wrong a couple of nights ago and I woke up with a very sore back. Also I have been dealing with this foot/ankle/tendon pain for the past 4 or 5 days. But I am happy to report that my back is feeling better, the cold is gone and my ankle/foot/tendon is feeling much better. I still plan on taking it easy on my foot and not run for a few more days. I will probably test it out this weekend sometime.

Onto the swim today. Since I am a beginner swimmer, I don't know if I am should stretch before I jump in the pool. I do stretch my arms, shoulders and back alittle, but thats it. Should I do more? There is this one guy in the pool that all I see him do is swing his arms around and hit them against his legs. Apperantly he is the master swim coach for the Y so I guess he knows what he is doing. So I jump in the pool today and I had the lane to myself, oh wait here comes another swimmer, guess I'll have to share. At this time of the day, around 10:30 AM there is 1 lap lane, 1 swim excersise area and an open swim area. At 10:30 on Monday, Wednesday and Friday there is an older adult excersise class in one of the open areas. Today there was probably 18 people in the class. I started to do my warmup 50's and the class started their warmup group circle walk. Well let me tell you, that if you want to practice swimming in currents, come swim at 10:30 at the Y in Wakefield, RI. When they start walking in the circle, it creates a whirlpool effect in the entire pool. So for instance my first 25 meters down was really fast and then on the way back, at a certain point it felt like I wasn't going anywhere. The swimmer sharing the lane with me noticed the same thing and I told her it only lasts about 5 minutes. I was done with my warmup laps and decided to hold off on my drills until after the water calmed down a little. The one cool thing about swimming during the class time is the the instructor has music going which is great to listen too while doing a long set.

The whole swimming thing is getting better every time I swim. I was reading Ironmin's blog yesterday and she scheduled tests this week in all 3 sports to set benchmarks for herself and to look back months from now and see how much she has improved. Well I decided to do the same thing but only for swimming today. I figured I would set a mark for 250 meters since thats about the distance for the 8th Annual Triathlon by the Sea swim, time - 5mins 35 secs. I think I left myself some room for improvement. That is really slow compared to some of the times I have seen from last year race. I also did an all out 50 meter swim, Time - 57secs. So these are my marks that I will break in the coming weeks and months. I will test myself once a month just to see how things are going.

Happy Hump Day!

Hello Monday

I will not be running for another week. I guess I some how hurt my achilles tendon on my left foot. Right now it feels ok, but as soon as I put weight on my left foot, in a certain way it hurts. So I will back off for a week and then go from there. I hit the pool today for 1500 meters which included some kick board drills and it felt fine. So for the week I will be spending most of my time in the pool and hitting the weights in the fitness center.

Thats about it. A nice and short post.

Enjoy the week!

Another Nice Day

It was another great day outside and I took advantage of the nice weather and went down to the Narragansett Pier to run the Super 5K course. It was great to have company for the run. Fellow South Kingstown resident and awesome runner, Chris joined me for the run. Thanks Chris for putting up with my 9:50 min mile pace. After running the course, I could definately see a PR being set for this race, as long as it is not snowing with 30 mph winds!

I also got a chance to use the 305 for the first time. I didn't have the heart rate monitor going but just to see what my pace was and how far I have gone is just awesome. I can't wait to really get into all the functions of the 305. As for a review of the 305, I will have to use it for a few months to get a good feel for this product. So far so good!

On my way home from the run, my left foot felt a little soar and when I got out of the car, it hurt to put weight on it. This was very weird since I didn't feel anything during the run. It doesn't hurt all the time, just when I put my weight on a certain area of the foot. Really crazy. So I will not take any chances and stay away from running for the next few days. So this means more swimming and spinning, which is fine with me.

Happy Thursday!

Finally!

Finally after a few months of waiting, looking for the best deal and just simply trying to figure out which one I wanted, my Garmin Forerunner 305 came in the mail today. I bought it on ebay last week. I was a little nervous buying this on Ebay but I got a really good deal and couldn't pass it up. So I can't wait to try it out tomorrow!

Hit the gym today and rode the stationary bike for 10 miles and then jumped in the pool for 1200 meters. Definately need to keep doing swim drills. Especially the finger drag and fist drills. I just can't hold my form doing those, but I guess after awhile I will get the hang of them. So the pool was jammed today with people. Ever tried doing drills while sharing the lane with 2 other people? And you know I am not MR. Speedy when it comes to swimming in general, let alone trying to finish up my kickboard drill. Thursdays are a little slower in the pool.

Another Day in the 60's

I could definately get use to 60 degree days in January. But I know it will be short lived. Tomorrow will be in the 50's and by the weekend it will be back to normal high 30's low 40's. I am still waiting for that one major snow storm. I bought a snow blower when we moved into our new house a couple of years ago and probably only used it 8 times. Plus snow is really fun when you have kids.

As for my workouts today, I ran 3 miles around town and did 1000 meters in the pool. I wanted to go longer on the run and swim, but I needed to be home at a certain time so I had to fit what I could in a short time.

So in the pool today I started working on drills. Drills are definately hard, but I managed to get through them. I noticed that when I used the pull bouy, that I actually was swimming faster, by a good 6 seconds per 50 meters. I thought that was a little crazy. So when I was doing my cool down laps I just tried to relax my body and allow myself to just float in the water instead of fighting to stay afloat and it felt like I was moving through the water better then before. Does that sound right? Or am I just way off on this whole swimming thing. Also, I felt like a snail when I was using the kick board. I guess thats normal, well at least Moonpie thinks so. I am really thinking about joining a Masters swim class. But I need to find one that is held on the weekend because I work 2nd shift. So I will be checking that out.

Is it May Already?

So, I know it is January 7th, but when I came out of the Y today I thought it was May. It was so nice and warm. The temps were close to 60! IN JANUARY! Tomorrow and Wednesday will also be warm. So I was thinking about jumping on the bike and getting a nice 15 mile ride in either tomorrow or Wednesday.

Yesterday I went for a 5.5 mile run around town. It was a little cool out and I definately over dressed for the run. By the time I got home I was soaked in sweat. I completed the run in a little over 55 mins. Kinda slow, but there is always room for improvement. I really was not prepared for the run. I did not drink enough water earlier in the day and I really didn't eat all that well for lunch, so that sat in my stomach like a brick for the whole run. So I need to be a smart runner and prepare my body before I head out.

As for today, since my legs were soar from the run, I decided to hit the nautilus machines and then jumped in the pool for 1200 meters. Swimming is definately coming around for me. Talking with a local triathalon coach, he said that I need to incorporate some drills into my swims and not just focus on distance. Becuase if I just work on distance with poor technique, I am just hurting myself in the long run. So starting tomorrow or when ever I am in the pool next I am going to start doing some drills. I actually stayed in the pool area after I was done to watch one the swimmers complete his drill work. I was watching this one guy who just glides through the water. His swimming seemed effortless and fast. Come to find out he is the Masters swim coach for the Y. So I will have to introduce myself the next time I see him.

Happy Monday!

Taking A Look Back at 2007

I am trying to figure out how I want to put my 2007 season into words. Guess I will start from the beginning.

In the beginning of the year I was already on a weight loss program. In May, after talking with my old Navy buddy Moonpie, I decided to train for a 5K we plan on running in August while we where in Las Vegas. I also I decided to sign up for the Shoreline Biathlon which was held in September. This was a 5 mile run followed by a 16 mile bike. Since I couldn’t swim if my life depended on it, I decided a biathlon would be a great way to jump into multi-sport racing. So along with the running I dusted the cobwebs off of my mountain bike and started riding.

The training went well and decided to run the Celebrate Summer 5k in July. I finished the race in a time of 31:03. I was very excited about completing my first 5K and couldn’t wait for the Vegas trip in August and to run the Midsummer Nights Dream 5K.

The Vegas trip was awesome. I completed the Midsummer Nights Dream 5K in a time of 32:09. Slower then my previous race, but I would attribute the slow race to the 102 degree heat and the drinking and lack of sleep from the night before. Moonpie had a good run and we both decided that we will never run another 5K in Vegas again.

After the Vegas trip my focus was on the Shoreline Biathlon. I was running and biking as much as I could. I went out and bought a cheap road bike for the race. I really didn’t want to use the mountain bike because I thought it would slow me down and I really didn’t want to look like a newbie out on the race course, I did anyways.

The day came for the race and I was very nervous. First of all the run was 5 miles. I only ran 5 miles twice before the race and I was hoping that I would have enough in the tank to complete the 16 mile bike. Well I managed to pull off my first multi-sport event. I completed the race in 1:47:37. It was a great accomplishment for me. I was really excited and used this event to push me into training for my first triathlon in 2008.

After the race I completed a few more 5k races. I was setting a PR for every race. The last race of the season, Mews Gear and Beer 5K, I had no intention on setting a PR with the course containing a lot of hills, but I did with a time of 27:43. Awesome way to end my racing season.

Towards the end of September I started swimming. Boy it took awhile for me to feel comfortable in the water. It also seemed like it took forever to learn how to breathe. Practice makes perfect.

Going into 2008, I just can’t wait to complete my first Triathlon. I am still trying to figure out my race schedule for the year but my plans are to do a couple of sprints in the beginning of the season, throw in some 5ks, a 5 mile and a 10 mile road race, and end the season with an Olympic Tri and possibly a Half Marathon. We will see how the season progresses but I am really excited for this year. I hopefully will be heading to Lake Placid to cheer on my Bloggers Peeps and Moonpie as he goes for his first Ironman distance race.

So lets hear it for 2007!!!! Woot!! WOOT!

2008 WILL be better!