Finally Did It!

Well here is the proof.

No backing out now. I am actually really excited about this. I have been waiting for over a year to get the chance to participate in a Triathlon. On August 17th I will!!!!!

Now I just need to get my butt in the water and get some swims in!

Hot Day

Went out for a run today during lunch and it was hot! Days like today people would just want to stay in the air conditioning and not come out until winter! I did manage 2.25 miles in a time of 26 mins. I am getting there. I am still finding that the first mile or so is really tough and seems to get easier as the run goes on. I am trying to figure out a way to bring my bike to work so I can ride on the days that I am not running. I would just ride my bike to work, but I have to drop the kids off at daycare at 8:30 and I need to be at work by 9:00. So thats not going to work. Maybe I will just put the bike on the rack and bring it inside with me during the day. That might work. I really need to get on the bike. The family went camping this past weekend and at the camp ground is a really nice pond. The water was so warm, almost the same temp as my pool. I swam around for a few minutes and it felt great. I am glad I brought my goggles with me. I asked the life guard if I could go beyond the rope marker, but she said no. Oh well.

Congrats to all those who participated in Ironman 70.3 Rhode Island. I heard it went very well.

Happy Monday!!!

Good Luck to All

Just wanted to say good luck to all of those who will be participating in the Ironman 70.3 Rhode Island. I hope everyone has a really good time in my home state and will come back next year. Maybe I will tri for it next year...you never know! I also want to say good luck to my buddy Mark who is running a 15K this weekend!

With all of the advice my blogger peeps have given me, I will do the Wild Dog Triathlon in Bristol, Rhode Island. As blogger Sherry pointed out the race could be a very positive and beneficial experience leading up to my tri in September. So all I need to do now is register and get my butt in gear and train for this race!

Have a good weekend everyone!

Could I be ready for a Sprint Tri in August?

Since I have started running again I have been thinking about what races I could do in the next few months. I know I want to do the 3rd Annual Ocean Community YMCA Triathlon in September, but I also think I can be ready to do the Wild Dog Triathlon on August 17th. Not that any Triathlon is easy, but this one would probably rank as the easiest around. Its a .25 mile swim, 10 mile bike and a 3 mile run. So in my mind I could run during the week and then on the weekends hit the pool and get some bike rides in until August 1st. Then after I am done with these crazy 80 hour work weeks, I can add a little more swimming and biking into my training. Am I crazy? Probably, but I really want to do this Tri. These past few months have been so crazy and most of my goals have been washed down the drain due to injuries and job related stuff. So if I can complete 2 sprint triathlons this summer I would be very excited! Wish me luck and would love some words of encouragement...I'll need it!!!!!

Update!

So I have been away from blogging for awhile. I needed to take a break from the running and training to see how my body would hold up to working 80 hours a week, yeap 80 hours. The company I am working for on 2nd shift is closing down and moving to a different state. So I found a job and I decided to work both jobs for the next 6 weeks so I can receive the severance and bonus package from the company that is closing. The first week was a little rough. But last week wasn't too bad. So at the end of last week I decided to start running again and slowly bring the swimming and biking back as well. It helps when the new company I am working for has locker rooms and showers and a few people that go running during lunch time.

Anyways things are going well. I took it slow and ran only a mile today. I will be building distance over the next few weeks and on the weekends hit the bike and pool. Then in the beginning of August (Thats when I will be on a normal 9 - 5 work schedule) I will be increasing my swim and bike training in hopes to be ready for the 3rd Annual Ocean Community YMCA Triathlon. I don't want to go through this year without completing a TRi. That was my goal at the first of the year and I don't want to loose site of it. As for my ankle, I have not seen a Dr. about it and I just took some advil before my run today and it was fine and didn't hurt at all today. Hopefully it will be fine.

Happy Monday!!!!

6 weeks

For the next 6 weeks I probably will not be posting much of anything on this blog. I will be spending a lot of time working. So much so that I will be putting my exercising and training aside. I will explain more after the 6 weeks. I am going to be missing a lot during the next 6 weeks. I will not be able to attend and cheer on my peeps at Lake Placid ( I am really bummed about that one) and I will be missing 3 races. If all goes well, I will get back into training the first week of August, with the hopes of completing a sprint Tri in September. I also will take the time to figure out what is really wrong with my ankle.

Good luck to those who will be participating in the race at Lake Placid. You all have worked so hard and I know by the end of the day you will have accomplished something that is just so amazing and rewarding. For those racing...make sure you are Locked and Loaded for a long day and that Moonpies = good fuel for that long marathon run!!!

Until August.....

If its not one thing its another

Ever since I started running after my Retrocalcaneal Bursitis was healed, I have had pain in other areas of my ankle. I just thought it was from not running for almost 3 months and it would go away with time. BUT....it hasn't. I went for a run the other day and had to turn around after a mile and walk back to my car. There are days I can run 3 or 4 miles with hardly any pain, and others when I can't even finish 1 mile. It has been like this for the past 2 months and I am getting very frustrated with the whole thing. Before the 5K race a few weeks ago, I took 3 advil just in case it hurt during the race. I guess that's sort of a bad thing to do. I have been very down lately because of this mystery ankle pain. I don't even feel like working out anymore. The other day it was so nice out I wanted to go for a bike ride, but didn't. Is it a mental thing...maybe, but I need to do something about this ankle before I just give up on the whole triathlon thing all together. So tomorrow I am going to call the Doctor's office and set up an appointment to have it checked out. What I really want is to have xrays or an MRI done. My guess is that they will tell me get one anyways. The pain only comes on when I run or move my ankle from side to side, and I know it is not tendinitis, my achililes feels great!

I will keep everyone up to date.

4 Mile Run

Today I went for my first 4 mile run since January 1st! I was only planning on a 3 miles, but I was running on the nice and flat bike path and at the turn around point I decided to keep going since my ankle felt fine. I ran the 4 miles in 41 minutes. I was surprised on the time since I did take 2 walk breaks. After the run I felt great! I do have a long way to go before I am ready for the 10 mile blessing of the Fleet run, but I have have 2 months to get ready. On another note, I am part of the Hornet Juice Challenge so before my run today I drank some of the magic elixir and I really didn't feel any different during or after my run. I have a good 2 week supply of the stuff, so I will continue to use it and hopefully I will notice any sort of difference.

I am on the hunt for Tri shorts for my upcoming races this year and I am wondering if anyone has any recommendations on what shorts are the best? Keep in mind that I am a Clyde and skin tight shorts is not really the thing for me. Is there lose fitting Tri shorts out there? Any help would be great!

HAppy Hump day!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

This weekend is the official start of the summer. I don't know about the rest of the country, but Rhode Island will have some great weather this weekend! Everyone have a fun and safe weekend. And on Monday, please take a moment to remember those who gave their lives for the freedoms we enjoy today.

First Race of the Year

Yesterday's A Race to Grow 5k race a... lets just say a beggining of the race season for me. I knew going into the race that I was not going for a PR, just wanted to get back into racing, hangin out with other runners and enjoying the race itself. The day before I didn't know if I could even run the race. While working in the yard I twisted my ankle, yeap the bad one, yeap the same one from last weekend. So I took care of it and it felt fine Sunday morning. I took a few advil before the race just in case. My ankle felt great during my pre-run so I knew it would not be a factor. I normally like to start up front and to the side in the race, but I knew I was going to be slow right out of the gate so I stuck to the back (actually there were only about 75 people running so I wasn't far from the start). The gun went off and I started at a nice slow pace. I had set my Garmin 305 to alert me if I was going over 6.5 MPH and if I was going slower then 5.8 MPH. So for much of the first mile the Garmin was beeping at me to slow down. As you know, for the past few weeks I have been dealing with a wall that creeps up around mile 1.5 and lasts until mile 2, well I must have missed the wall because I didn't hit it at all during the race. I was really excited about that. Run time - 30min 44 secs for a 9:54 mile. I wasn't expecting any better. My next 5k race is Celebrate Summer 5k on July 19th (that's if I am not going to cheer on my peeps at IMUSA!).

A BIG CONGRATS goes out to Michelle who at the last minute decided to run and placed 3rd in her AG!!!!! WTG!!!!!

So what did I learn at this race? There is no wall, Its all in my head, I know I am faster then 30min 44secs, Take a couple advil before the race, Smile for the camera guy, and I have a long way to go before I am ready for the Blessing of the FLeet 10 miler.

Happy Monday!

Quick Upate

This is a quick update. I hit the pool the other day for the first time in close to a month. Yeah I know I have been slacking on that. I completed 1000m and I felt really good. Everything felt really smooth. I did a TT for 50m, which I set a new best time of 51sec. Running has been pretty good too. Over the weekend I rolled my left ankle on a rock while walking on a path through the woods with Brady on my shoulders. Thank goodness I didn't fall. First thing I thought of was, "Oh crap not that ankle...I have a race coming up this weekend." But I walked it off and the ankle felt fine. Thank goodness for that one. I had a nice run through town today. Still really slow, but I know my speed will increase with time. As for the 5K race this weekend, I really don't plan on going for a PR or any time for that matter. I just want to get out there and race again. Nothing like lining up and running 3 miles with a bunch of people. It is so fun.

Ok, thats my quick update!

Finally Coming Together

I had a decent run today. I was kinda excited about it. I started off doing some Nautilus machines and then a quick 10 minutes on the Elliptical before my run. I figured that should be a good warm up before my run. The first mile of the run was great. Then probably around 1.5 miles I hit a wall. I stopped and walked for about 30 secs and then started running again. Then I hit the wall again 4 minutes later. So again I walked for about 30 secs and then started running. From that point on I felt great! Breathing was awesome and my body felt great. I think I will stop trying to understand how fix this "Wall" thing. I am just going to keep running and I think it will work itself out. I plan on running again tomorrow. I normally don't do back to back running days so I will probably keep it under 3 miles, probably 2.

My first 5K of the year is coming up in 2 weeks. I am kinda excited about running a race again. My last one was back in November. If I didn't have my 3 month layoff from running due to my injury I think I would be setting a new PR in 2 weeks. But I am taking it slow for this race and hopefully I will not be hitting any walls. I have been averaging a little over 10 min miles on my runs lately. Pretty slow compared to where I was back in November. My running will come back and I know I will be better then ever!

Busy Week

This week has been very busy. We are having a party for Reese's 2nd birthday on Saturday so I have been going crazy getting the house ready, doing yard work and shopping. At least I squeezed in a 3 mile run yesterday.

Same thing happened during yesterday's run. I used my Garmin 305 to make sure I wasn't running to fast. I figured keep it at a steady 6.0mph. I still felt like crap until mile 2. Then for the last mile I was running around 7.0mph with no problem. I even sprinted up the death hill leading up to the Y!!! I just can't figure it out. Some one at work thought I might be catching my "2nd Wind". Is there such a thing? I felt like I could have ran another couple of miles. But I am still taking things slow with running. I have felt no pain for the past few weeks so I am good to go and will probably start increasing the mileage.

Happy May everyone!

Running and Other Wonderful stuff

Ok so I went running the other and part of my new pre-run routine includes lots of stretching. On some days I will hit the stationary bike for 10 mins to warm up. Anyways, I started my run and everything felt great. But I could not get into a comfortable pace until mile 1.5 and my breathing didn't settle down until mile 2. Did I not warmup long enough? Should I go longer on the bike? Should I do 2 miles on the elliptical before my run? Or am I just crazy and let my body figure out that I am running again and let everything fall into place. I will probably do the latter. Another thing I noticed is that I seem to be running faster toward the end of my run. I don't feel like I am holding anything back in the beginning of the run, so where is this energy come from? Running is weird, fun but weird.

So for the past week I have been working on a big wooden playset for my kids. We picked up all the parts last weekend and my father-in-law and I spent the past week putting it together. It was not hard at all, just takes allot of time. Here are a few pics.

I still have a few minor things to complete on the playset, but it is pretty much done. The kids enjoy going down the slide and using the swings.

Happy Monday!

New Priorities

I have been holding back some awesome news from all you peeps out there. Today is the day I can tell all of you that my wife is expecting are 3rd child. We are so excited! We have always talked about having 3 and now it is becoming reality. We do want to find out what it is and will keep everyone posted!

There have been other developments that I have been struggling with the past month or so. The company I work for is now downsizing and moving to Grand Rapids, Michigan on or around July 1 (which just happens to be my birthday). I was offered a position there, but I will not leave Rhode Island or the Northeast. Nothing against Michigan, but there is nothing like New England. With that said, I have decided to alter my training and race schedule since my top priority right now is to find a new job. If all goes well my first triathlon will be the 3rd Annual Ocean Community YMCA Triathlon in September. I still plan on a few 5Ks and the Blessing of the Fleet 10 Mile Road Race in July.

So that’s it in a nutshell. Congrats to all of those who completed the Boston Marathon today!

Happy Monday!

Spring Time!

The weather has been awesome lately! Today was in the 60's and with a slight cool breeze made for an awesome run today. I went for a nice 2.66 mile run. Only averaged 10 min miles but I knew if I wanted to go further then 2 miles I would have to keep it slow. It has been a slow process getting back into the swing of running but I have to learn to be patient, which I don't want to! The run went well except for the little pain I felt in my ankles. I think it's because I haven't ran much. I will probably keep the run every other day for now and when I feel better about my running, make it an every day thing. I actually need to get my butt on the bike. I really have been slacking on that.

For the past few days I have been battling some sort of stomach virus. The virus has been winning so far. But I am going to kick it's little butt soon. The only good thing about the past few days is that I was able to drop a few pounds! Talking with my brother last night I told him that this virus was probably a good thing. It has givin me a good chance to cleanse my body of unwanted crap.

Anyways, you peeps up here in the Northeast....Winter is over!!!!!!!

Bike Path Run

Went out for a 20 min run today on the South County Bike Path. It was such a nice day I couldn't pass up the chance. There were a few bikers on the path which made me want to break out the bike from the basement and hit the road, which I might do tomorrow. I ran a little under 2 miles in the 20 mins. Still really slow from where I was at before, but I guess I can't just jump back into running 8:30 miles after not running for 3 months.

So for tomorrow I might ride the bike to the Y, jump in the pool for 1500 meters and then decided if I want to take the Spin class tomorrow or on Friday. Guess we will see.

First Outdoor Run!

I went outside for my first run since recovering from my ankle injury. I ran a little over 1.5 miles. It just felt so good running outside and not on the treadmill. The whole time I was running I was concentrating on my left ankle. Every time my left foot hit the ground I was evaluating if it hurt or not. It was almost to the point were I was concentrating on my foot then where I was going. I am sure that will go away when I get more confident with my ankle. Anyways It was awesome to get out and run!

I signed up for my first 5K of the season, A Race to Grow 5k in May. I can't wait. There is another race at the end of April that I might run, but I will have to see how my running is progressing before I make my decision.

Have a great weekend!

Group Cycle

Today was my first taste of Group cycle or what everyone calls it, Spinning. The instructor told us for the next month the classes will be beginner classes that last 30 minutes long. I liked it alot. I will be attending a class every week now. There were only 3 other people in the class, so I think Wednesdays at 1:00 is a good time. The instructor really didn't work us hard, but she said in the coming weeks she will push us a little more.

Tomorrow I am planning on taking a 1 mile run outside. I really want to start running outside again. I just feel so slow on the treadmill and that feeling of not going anywhere really bugs me. I like running around town and seeing differant things. So I am only planning on 1 mile. All goes well I will do it again on Friday.

Weekend Fun

This past weekend the family and some friends headed into Connecticut for the 2008 Mystic Connecticut's Saint Patrick's Day Parade. We all had a great time and the kids just loved seeing the fire trucks. The highlight of the parade this year were the budweiser clydesdales! Those are some big horses!

And you got to love those Shriner's on their little cars!

Happy Monday!