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!

Shoreline Biathlon Race Report

The day was finally here. After a morning or making sure I had everything I need, double and triple checking my list, I was off to the race. You couldn’t have asked for better weather clear skies, little wind and no humidity. I got to the race area around 10:00. The race didn’t start until 11:00 but I wanted to get there early. After check in, I set up my bike in transition and then walked around checking out all the other cool bikes. I went into this race with a few goals in mind. The first goal was to simply finish the race. Second would to finish the race in less than 2 hours and the third, to run the 5 miles in under 50 minutes. Before I knew it, it was 11:00 and the race was about to start. After some announcements and a picture we were off.

Like the other races before this one, I started in the back knowing that a lot of these people are much better runners then I was. As it turned out, I passed a few people and only couple passed me in the beginning. There were no mile markers on the course so I just went by my previous split times to figure out were I was on the course. So for the first mile or so I felt really good. I set a comfortable pace for myself and even passed 2 people, YEAH! Starting from the back you can really see how the group of runners really spread out over time and people settle into there runs. I was with the same group of people the whole 5 miles. A fellow blogger and future Triathlete Michelle ran past me just before mile 2. I tried to keep up, but she is definitely a much stronger runner then I am. There was a water station around the 2.5 mile mark which I decided before the race I was going to walk through. I grabbed 2 cups of water, downed both and I was off again. From there to the end I really didn’t keep track of my time. I was just trying to stay in my rhythm. Within the closing mile or so I focused in on a guy and a girl that was just in front of him. I wanted to pass them before transition, so I kicked my butt in gear and passed both of them right before the entrance into transition. 5 mile run – 47:32 Goal Complete!

Transition went fast. I sucked down a vanilla Cliff Shot gel, drank some nice ice cold water, put on my helmet and was off. The coolest thing happened when walking with my bike to the bike start, someone yelled “Go 157!” How cool was that! Someone was cheering for me. What a boost that was. I grabbed my bike and lifted it over the guard rail and was off. I did that because there was a huge puddle at the exit out of the parking lot and I didn’t want to have a big line of mud going up my back.

At the start of the bike ride my legs felt great. I was totally expecting them to be screaming in pain or really tight, but everything was good. Around the first mile, the girl I passed right before transition passed me and I didn’t see her for the rest of the race. Around the 2nd mile, the race leader blew past me like I was standing still as he was just starting his 2nd lap. I would have to say the bike portion of the race went by pretty fast in my mind. I was mostly alone for the 2 laps. I probably passed 2 or 3 people who were on mountain bikes. I told myself I would take it easy on the first lap and then try to kick it up on the second. Once I started my second lap, I could feel the energy slowly slipping away. I just kept thinking to myself, just finish under 2 hours, just finish under 2 hours. With a mile to go I gave it everything I had. Coming up to the finish line I saw Kim and Brady also Michelle and her husband Scott cheering. Its so cool hearing people cheer for you. 16 mile Bike – 58min 25sec, with a total race time of 1:47:37 including transition. Goals Completed!!!

I had nothing left after crossing the finish line. After my first 5K I felt like I could have run harder, but after this race, there was nothing. I left everything on the course. I came in 65th out of 80. Not bad for my first multi-sport race. There is room for improvement in both the run and bike which I will start working on ASAP.

It was a great race and I can’t wait to do it again next year. Next year – 1 hour 25 mins!

Race Complete!

Well I survived my first multi-sport race yesterday. It was awesome! I completed the race in 1 hour 47 mins. Guess thats my PR for that biathlon. I ran the 5 miles in 47 min 32secs, which I was hoping for under 50mins. The bike took a little longer then expected, 1 hour for 16 miles. I can see I really need improvement there. Anyways I will post a full race report tomorrow.

Ready for Race Day

After 4 months of training, which includes running a total 113 miles, biking 199 miles and two 5K races, I am ready for this biathlon. Back in May I could barely run a mile and didn't touch my bike in probably a year. Looking back it has been so amazing to see how far I have come. Now I just have to go out there on Sunday and give it everything I have, and to not only complete the race, but to have fun and celebrate this major accomplishment. Thanks to everyone who has supported me and I will post my results Sunday.

Bike Course

I took a ride on the biathlon's bike course today. I didn't want to go full out but I did push it a little. The course is a 8 mile loop that will be done twice. It is mostly flat with a few small hills but nothing major. I completed the 16 mile ride in 54mins 40sec. A good time for me. I figure I will be around the same time on sunday since I didn't run 5 miles before today's ride. I am going to shoot for 50mins on Sunday. So If I can run the 5 miles in 45 - 50 mins and bike the course in 50mins, I am looking good for a sub 2 hour total time.

So tomorrow I plan on a short 3 mile run just to stay loose and to give my legs a little rest. Saturday I will not run or bike so I will be ready to go on Sunday. 3 days to go!

Last Long Run Before the Race

Today I set out to run my last 5 miles before the big race this Sunday. I planned on just running an easy 5 miles with no goal in mind but to finish. After a few minutes of stretching and getting some water into me I was off and running. I had a little trouble getting into a good rhythm but it worked it self out quickly. After the first ½ mile I noticed that I was running a little faster then normal. How could this be? I wasn’t going any faster then I normally do, I think? First mile – 9mins 13sec. Pretty fast considering I still have 4 miles to go.

While running the second mile I began to think about my running form, specifically how my feet hit the ground while running. I have noticed in the past that most of the time I am a heel to toe type of person. And from what I have read, that could be a bad thing, especially when it comes to shin splints. So today I began to land more on the mid portion of my foot rather then the heal. Second mile – 9mins 30 sec. Wow another sub 10min mile, Nice! But would I regret it later in the run? I was running faster then normal and I can only think it was my new foot placement while running that made me run faster. Third mile – 8mins 02 sec – Holy Cow??? Still going along at a good pace and felt great. Fourth mile – 9mins 19sec. On the last mile and I started to feel tired and my breathing became very heavy. Looking at my watch I knew I had a chance to run 5 miles in 45mins. So I struggled to continue my fast pace and had to stop for a 20sec walk break to catch my breath and relax and then back off again and once I could see the mile marker I ran as fast as I could to come in at a time of 45mins 30secs. That was awesome! If only I can repeat the time this Sunday it would give me a huge boost in my confidence to finish the race in under 2hours. I just don’t want to drain all my energy on the run. So I will see how everything is shaping up on Sunday to determine how fast I am going to run.

I got my bike back from the shop I plan on taking a ride on the bike course tomorrow. That would give me a great sense of what is in store for me on Sunday.

Mock Biathlon

For today’s training I went to the bike path and did a 4 mile run and a 12 mile bike. I wanted to see how I would fare completing one right after another. The run was good. For once I found my rhythm right away. It normally takes about a mile or so to find my running stride and breathing. I ran the first mile in 9.41, Second – 10.03, third – 9.55 and fourth – 9.44 for a grand total of 39.24. This is a great time for me and I did not walk once.

The bike portion was a little slow considering all of the stop signs and cross walks I had to stop at. This was the first time riding the new bike. I put it together so I was a little nervous about really kicking it up and riding fast. But the bike was great. What a difference between riding a mountain bike and a road bike. After training I dropped my bike off at the bike shop for a tune up. I want everything to be ready for the race this weekend. As for the training, I did 12 miles in 50.30 on the bike for a grand total time for bike and run, 1 hour 29 mins (if my math is right).

What this showed me is that I have room for improvement in the run and bike, but I can definitely finish the race. Going into this weekend I have a goal of completing this race and a side goal in completing it in less than 2 hours. It would be really cool to finish under 2 hours, I mean it is a race and I should push myself to go as fast as I can and to finish strong!

5 Miles

Ran my first 5 miles today with a time of 53 mins 32 secs. Great run on the bike path. It was a little humid but there is a lot of shade on the path and there was a nice breeze which definately helped.

4 miles Down!

Since I have been training for the Shoreline Biathlon coming up in 2 weeks, I knew I would have to up my mileage on my runs. So last Saturday I went to the local bike path which is nicely measured out and ran 4 miles. It was a great run. It took my 40min 58 sec. to complete the run. I was definitely happy with that and knew after the run I could run the 5 miles in the biathlon.

Today I went for another 4 mile run. I went to the bike path again and set out to do an easy 4 miles. Just before I started my run, a lady ran passed me. Watching her stride, it looked like she was going about the same speed as I normally do. So I started running with the full intent of catching up to her and passing her. I figured it would be like a race setting where you find that one person in the pack that you want to pass. I caught up to her within the first mile! I still had 3 to go. So I started talking with her and we chit chatted about running and kids and stuff. Next thing I knew we were at the mile 1 marker, I looked down at my watch and it read 8:30! I never ran an 8:30 mile! So I asked her what her normal pace was and she replied around 8:30. This was cool. So we agreed to run with each other for awhile. We hit the 2 mile marker, which was the turn around point at 18:20. Wow what a great 2 mile time for me! I was still feeling good at the turn around and I thought that I might be able to finish the run without taking a walk break. We separated around mile 3. She started running a little faster then me and I didn’t try to keep up. I did end up walking for approx 30 seconds, but it was good to slow down and catch my breath. When I started running again I could see the girl that was running with me and decided to try and catch up to her again. Well I didn’t catch up to her but I did post an awesome 38:32 for my 4 mile time! It was so cool that I ran the 4 miles under 40 mins and blew away my previous 4 mile time by over 2 minutes!

So this leads to this weekend in which I WILL run 5 miles. I have no doubt that I will complete the 5 miles this weekend which will boost my confidence going into my last week of training.