2010 in Review

360 days ago is when I signed up for my first triathlon. This time last year I had just finished reading Born to Run by Christopher McDougall and purchased my pair of vibram fivefingers. After reading the book I had gone back on my previous post-marathon beliefs that I was "not a runner", and I started to believe that I could in fact be an endurance athlete. It's hard to believe actually that I consider running to be my strength after such an awful first experience at the Philly marathon in 2009. I have to give a lot of that credit to the vff's. They taught me to run correctly. And once I started doing that, the rest was easy (or at least less painful). I'll probably blog one day in the future about how wonderful these things are and why anyone who struggles as a runner should get them, but not now.

Anyway, I first signed up for the Philly tri and then about 2 weeks later I signed up for the Providence half ironman. I didn't have a bike, I didn't have anywhere to swim and I hadn't done laps in a pool since my lifeguard test in high school. Nevertheless I set out to test myself. I started swimming in January. I ran continuously throughout the winter and into the spring because I didn't get my bike until May 1 - only 8 weeks before the Philly olympic tri and 10 before the Providence half. Thinking back on it I'm really amazed at how well I was able to do on the bike after logging so few hours. I averaged just under 21mph on the olympic distance race in June, just under 20mph on the half iron in July and then just OVER 21mph on the half iron I completed in September. This gives me confidence going into the training year ahead. I hope that starting early this year I'll really be able to make the bike a strength. I'll talk about my goals in another post though.

This year I competed in a cross country 5k (18:55), a 10 mile road race (67:42), an open water 1mile and 1.2 mile swim (26min and 32min), an olympic duathlon (2:19.21), 2 half ironman triathlons (5:55 and 4:59) and finally the Philly marathon (3:00.47). For my first year as a devoted endurance athlete I am pleased.

I also learned a TON! Most by trial and error (or cockyness and pain), but also a lot by reading and talking to different people. Every time I start to feel overly confident I get put in my place one way or another. I still have a lot to learn. And it's frustrating in a sport like triathlon (especially the distance stuff). In baseball if you can't hit a curveball you go and take lots of curves in batting practice. In basketball if you can't make free throws you go practice free throws. But in triathlon there is so much planning and preparation for just one race. Not only are the races long and brutal on the body, but they are also really expensive! I thought about trying to do IM Louisville or another late season ironman in case Lake Placid doesn't go as I plan, but they are too expensive! Not to mention they fill up a year in advance. Ok I'm off topic. Bottom line- I'm learning about this sport. I'm trying to learn balance, training, patience, and other things...

Sorry I'm all over the place tonight. There is a lot I want to talk about. I think I'll call it quits for now though. Maybe tomorrow I'll come back and edit a few more things in (so check back!), or maybe I'll just write a new post. Still coming, if not tomorrow some day soon, is my post on goals for 2011.
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Long lazy week...

The week leading up to Christmas started off well, but ended without a lot of emphasis on training. I had a wonderful time on Christmas Eve, Christmas and the days after spending time with family and friends so I think it's justified. I think the last training day I had was last Thursday... I got in an hour long run through some slush and snow yesterday so I've started back at it. Today will be difficult bc I'm headed up to my grandparents to help them clean the mold out of their basement. I'll try to get a run or ride on the trainer tonight. Maybe some cross training if I'm feeling ambitious this evening.

Coming later this week you can expect a reflection on 2010, goals for 2011 with some resolutions mixed in and I'll put up 2 links - one to my scheduled training program which I've been uploading to my google calendar and a link to my page of 201Ironman (they got back to me).

Hasta pronto!
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The trifecta!

I had a great Tuesday this week. I did a 1 hour swim this morning with a lot of speed sets. I had a nice healthy and home made lunch with Maddy. I rode outside for about 20 minutes and then on the trainer for 45. Then I went out tonight for a nice easy run and stair workout. I feel great! And just to cap the night off I'm enjoying some wine and a pasta dinner with Mad and our other roommate, Matt.

Life would be wonderfully easy if I didn't have to work everyday. It would probably be less rewarding, and of course I wouldn't have any money to do anything, but I would have SO much time to train! Amongst other things, I hope that the months of intense training that lay ahead teach me time management, the value of planning and that many things can be accomplished each day. I think that too often I end up being 'lazy' and as such inefficient. Sure, sometimes everyone needs to relax and be 'lazy', but I when I hear about the amazing stories of people who have become ironmen I feel almost ashamed at how much I play that card. I'll head off this subject for now though - after all, I had a pretty good day.

Tomorrow should be good too. I'm starting it off with a 10 mile morning run and I'll make sure to either swim or ride the bike tomorrow before the day is up. My shoulders are a little sore right now so I might try and give them a rest. Either way I'm on pace for my weekly goal. And I'm making progress in the pool. That's all I can blog about tonight. I'll check back in a day or two. Hopefully the workouts keep up in quality and intensity.


For those interested in other triathlon blogs - I found a site called 201Ironman. It's for those who want to blog and are competing in an ironman in 2011. I wrote in to them a couple days ago so that I can join their list of bloggers, but haven't heard back yet (inevitably due to the holidays). I'll post when I'm officially a member!

Getting faster

Week 2 of the timed 500 I clocked an 8:17. An improvement of 11 seconds from week 1 and knocking off a tad more than 2 seconds per 100yds. Definitely a good thing, although still lots of work to be done. I didn't think I would see any improvement this week because I woke up still sore this morning from Wednesday's workout. I also wasn't able to swim Thursday or Friday due to a Christmas party and then some car troubles yesterday. I think the sprints I've been doing are helping. I did 6 sets of 50's in around 40 seconds each after my 500 in the main set.

Only about 2000 yds this morning... I should have gone a little longer. And only 1 run this week. I should have done more. Next week will be big! I'm off work for Christmas break and want to get 6 swims, 2-3 runs and 2-3 spins on the bike trainer. There's work to be done! But not until after watching the IM World Championships today and partying in Hoboken tonight.
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Wednesday workout follow up

I set out as planned Wednesday for about 1200 yds of sprints in the pool and holy cow were/are my arms tired! I'm going to try and get these sprint sets in 2-3 times per week so I can build up my speed because although the first couple sets I did were right on pace, toward the end I was dead. There was an older woman in the lane next to me who I felt like I was racing against a couple times (and I didn't always come out the winner). And I don't even want to think about how badly Thomas was beating me. He was swimming butterfly and beating me consistently by 10+ seconds on the 100's. Given, he was a division 1 collegiate swimmer, but still - it's a shot to the ego.

I'll hop back in the pool today with a lot of focus on drills and form. I'll probably do a couple sprints too. Tomorrow is round 2 of my timed 500's. Hopefully I'll see an improvement already!

Also, for anyone not aware - IM WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2010 is on tv this weekend!!!

NBC from 4-6pm. Do yourself a favor and check it out.

Hopefully I'll get there some day....

2x Tuesday makes me tired...

I got home earlier enough yesterday to get in 2 workouts, a run and then a swim. The run went alright, despite being 27 degrees and windy, but man, was I tired during and after the swim. Part of it is that I haven't been getting as much sleep as I need to the past few days. Part of it is that I haven't been running much and did 5.5 miles at a 7:10 pace. And another part of it is that getting in 2 workouts a day is tough. I am off from school all next week so I'm going to try and have a very big training week of 2 workouts everyday. I need to prepare myself for the start of my IM training schedule during which I will have at least 2 double sessions per week.

Anyway, I'm heading to the pool for some sprints tonight. For my main set I think I'm going to do 5x50 on 45" then 5x100 on 1:35 and then 5x50 on 45". Even though that is crawling for some - it's not a bad pace for me. Hopefully I'll finish my 50's on around 36-38sec so I'll have 7-8sec of rest. And my 100's I'll finish around 1:25 for 10sec rest. The last thing before my cool down will be 2x100 as fast as possible. Depending how tired I am, I hope to go about 1:20.

Long day today....

Help! I'm cramping...

So I was getting in a decent swim last night when I started cramping like crazy! I was cooling down with some kicking drills and I actually had to cut my workout short by about 200yds. I still managed to get 2800 yds in, but I really wanted to hit 3000. My shoulders and my calf (where I was cramping) are sore today, but in a good way. Well, actually my shoulders kind of hurt because my form was horrendous toward the end of the last 250's I was doing (I did 6x250 for my main set on 30" rest).

Something I've been thinking about a decent amount recently in the pool...breathing. It's vital to be a good swimmer. The bottom line is if you aren't getting enough oxygen you get tired, lose your form and start to panic (not to mention your heart rate goes way up and you burn all those 'candles' you should be saving for later in a race). When I first started swimming, which was actually less than 1 year ago, all I kept reading was how important it is to be a bilateral breather - ie: alternate breathing on the right and left side. BUT, the more swimmers I talk to and the more I learn about swimming, I find that most competitive swimmers breath to one side! Why? Because by breathing to one side we can take a breath every other stroke instead of every 3 strokes which gives us more oxygen and more oxygen equals more energy. I watched a couple youtube clips last week of some of the best - Phelps and Ian the Thorpedo - they both breath to one side when racing. Two of the better swimmers that I know personally - Thomas and David (both around 23 minutes for the 1.2mile half IM swim) - breath to one side when racing. So what's with everyone trying to push bilateral breathing?? Sure, you should know how to do it, but when trying to go fast I don't think it makes sense. It creates a hypoxic (oxygen deficient) environment, which is exactly what we don't want when we're racing.

There are a few cons to breathing on one side... I've noticed that my stroke seems to be a little uneven. Since my body roll to the non breathing side is cut a little short each time I find myself almost constantly leaning a little. Imagine a boat that instead of being perpendicular to the water is just slightly tilted to one side... I don't know how bad this is necessarily, but I don't think it is a good thing that my body is uneven. To compensate I have been trying to alternate the side that I breath to every 1 or 2 laps. Meaning that going down the pool I'll only breath to my right side and coming back I'll only breath to my left.

That's what's on my mind... I think I'll do another pool cross-training workout tonight. Maybe a run if I have the energy and can stand the cold.

Falling off the wagon...

It's been a busy week and alas, I have been pretty lazy getting in some workouts. It's a shame because I started off the week well. I had an 8 day streak going with 5 good swims and 3 runs until Thursday when I spent the night cleaning the apartment for Maddy's bday party. Friday was Mad's actual birthday so we went out to dinner and relaxed. Saturday I got up and swam in the morning, but I was a little lazy and just didn't go after it the way I should have. And I've been too tired today to do anything. I'll have to get back at it tomorrow.

One thing that I've really noticed about my swim workouts is that when I take a couple extra minutes to plan something out, I make sure I finish it. When I just go and wing it, I end up getting a little lazy and tend not to push myself. I'm going to have to sit down and structure some workouts for the next couple weeks so I don't have to write one out minutes before I head to the pool. Something that will make that a little annoying is that I've recently had to downgrade to the free version of TrainingPeaks, which doesn't allow me to save future workouts (check out the 'TrainingPeaks link on the top right if you haven't already!). It's not expensive to use the premium version ($10/month), but I find it ridiculous to pay for something like that so I won't. Beginngertriathlete.com has a free training planner, but I like the structure of trainingpeaks a little bit more (and I can put a link to my workouts on the blog through trainingpeaks).

Anyway, the one productive thing I did this weekend was I started my timed swims so that I can chart my progress over the next couple months. I will swim a timed 500 every weekend in December and then I'll up it to a 1000 in January (maybe even a 1500 in February depending on how my training focus changes).

Week 1 (12/11)- 8:28 (1:41min/100yds pace)

Keep in mind my goal for the IM swim is about a 1:30min/100yd pace. There's work to be done!

Fun in the pool

Last night's workout went really well. I like the mix of cross training and swimming. I also found out that I can probably do quite a bit more than I actually scheduled! Not to say that yesterday was easy, but I think I can add a couple dryland sets and still be able to complete everything. The swim xt workouts will definitely be part of my weekly routine!

Maybe a run and easy swim tonight. Sprint sets in the pool tomorrow. This will be the first time I really test how fast I can go. I'm thinking of scheduling a timed 1000yds (maybe just a 500 though) every weekend to chart my progress.

Where's the weight gain?

So it's not a problem, but I was expecting to put on some pounds after I stopped running as much as I had been...and I haven't. I'm still right below 150. This isn't something that bothers me, but in my 'plan' for the year I was hoping for some off season weight gain in the form of muscle. I figure if I can put on about 5-8 pounds of muscle over the winter I should be able to really start generating some power on the bike and the swim. I know it has only been two and a half weeks since the marathon, but I would have thought I would be up a little higher than I am currently. Then once my real training gets underway in May/June, I would be able to slim back down and hit about 145 and race at that weight. Lighter is supposedly better for racing endurance sports (the "Triathlete's Training Bible" says that 1lb body weight adds 2minutes 30seconds to your IM distance race), but I am worried that if I don't beef up a little I won't be able to generate the power to push through the water at a good pace or hold a good speed on the bike. All things that are quite far away, but still on my mind.

I'm going to start incorporating some core workouts in with my swims. I think I'll start tonight actually. Last night I had a good workout and put in 2600 yds. Today I think I'll do a lot less yardage, but focus on drills and then for my main set I'll do get out of the water every 50yds to do a set of pushups or abs etc. I might have to look up some dryland exercises for swimmers.

That's all for now! If the workout goes well tonight, I'll report back tomorrow.

**check out the "TRAINING PEAKS" link to see the workout I have planned for tonight. It should be a good one!
(you need to check the box for 'show workouts' then hit 'submit' to see the workouts)

Swimming along

I had a great Saturday morning swim today! I put in a solid hour and 2700 yds. Days like today have me hopeful that my swimming will get to where I want it to be. I took a couple extra minutes before heading over and wrote up a workout for me to follow. Here it is:

Warm up: 500 free
Drills: 2x (100 drag drill, 100 free), 2x (100 side kick, 100 free)
200 kick
Main set: 100, 200, 300, 200, 100, 50 (sprint) - all on 10-15 seconds of rest
Cool down: 50 back, 50 free, 50 back, 50 free

I also had some company this morning. The swimming phenom, Thomas, joined me and gave me some great tips while we hammered the workout. He also let me borrow "The Swimming Drill Book" which should be helpful for making future workouts.

My shoulders will be sore tomorrow, but it was well worth it! Maddy, Matt and I are heading to an ugly sweater party tonight in Manayunk which should be a great time. I'll probably go for a medium distance run tomorrow (or maybe a spin on the trainer) and then get back in the pool Monday.

I've only run twice and ridden once in the past 7 days. I feel like I'm cheating my legs, but I'll have to get used to it if I'm going to focus on my swimming.

Last thing- if you want to check out my workouts, the 'Training Peaks' link on the right should be working now. And the link for 'Race Results' will show all the races that I've completed with my finishing times.

Swimming (hopes, problems, possible solutions)

Back in the pool and loving (and hating) it. I love the fact that I'm not just running everyday, but my form and endurance in the pool leaves me a little disappointed after each "workout". I hope to become comfortable and proud of my swimming skills after I focus on them over the next few months. For quite a while I have been happy with my running, but after focusing on it specifically for the 9 weeks leading up to the marathon I became very efficient and was proud of my running. I hope this is what happens to my swimming.

The problems I've been having so far have been primarily surrounding my form. Without being able to see myself, here are a couple problems I think I'm having.... I'm low in the water and unbalanced - my legs are dragging, my arms are swinging out too wide on my recovery and I'm reaching far too deep in the water on my pull. I'm also crossing over my center line which is causing me to lose my streamline and I'm not swimming straight. To make things worse there are probably some more things that I'm doing, but these are just the ones I can feel in the water.

Here is what I plan on doing to start feeling better in the water... I find that watching videos online (mostly youtube) are extremely helpful for me. Coaches are expensive and as you know, I am on a budget. Some good drills can be found here or some drills by one of the all time greats in ironman, Dave Scott, can be found here. For those familiar with swimming, I need to do some finger drag drills to work on keeping my elbow high and tight on the recovery. I also need to work on rotation quite a bit which will hopefully correct my problems with crossing my center line as well.

There is work to be done! I'll update again later this week. Also you can check out the new link I posted on the top right of my page which lets you view my training log on trainingpeaks.com. Hope it works!

Long time no blog

I got a couple runs in this week and it felt good to get out there with no stress of 'training'. I just went out nice and easy for the sake of running and nothing else. I like competing and racing, but the best part that is often overlooked or taken for granted is being in great shape. It feels really good to exercise when you're in shape. Going out and running to get the blood pumping through my body is invigorating. It clears my mind because when I run I can't think of anything - it's all just blank. I focus on my body; the motions, my muscles contracting, the strain on my legs and my heart beating. There is a group of monks in Japan known as the marathon monks (or more formally the tendai monks) that run ultramarathon distances to achieve their enlightenment. Some of these monks run 50 miles per day for 1000 days in order to find this enlightenment! Here is a cool article about them. I don't take it quite that far, but it does clear my mind.

I have a couple notes I'd like to send to the future me as advice before running my next marathon (which will probably be Boston 2012)....
-MORE LONG RUNS! Remember how awful you felt at mile 21 of Philly 2010.
-Read "Advanced Marathoning" by Pete Pfitzinger and Scott Douglas
-Toughen up your feet and soften your strike - more miles in VFF's
-Higher weekly mileage and more cross training on bike
-More hills
-Enjoy it as much as you enjoyed Philly


In other news, I got back in the pool today. It felt pretty terrible actually haha. My form was horrendous, my shoulders hurt and my breathing was off... Hopefully I can bring things around quickly or this winter is going to be miserable. But I have faith. I plan on swimming (almost) everyday for the next 2 months and the biggest part of swimming is being comfortable in the water. At the very least I'm ahead of where I was last year. On January 3, 2010 (my first day in the pool as a 'triathlete') I couldn't even swim 200yds without stopping. I put in about 1400 today with some drills and kicking mixed in. Hopefully my buddy Thomas, a swimming superstar, can help get me back in shape.


That's all for now. I'll have more reflections and insights into the future this week. I'm going to start signing up for races soon so I'll have a set race schedule. I'm very happy it's getting to be winter though! I love the cold and Maddy and I have some fun weekends coming up with parties, holidays and the like.

The day after

A good day yesterday. I'm very content with my marathon time. The final chip time was 3:00.47. I think I put down the best time I possibly could have on that day given my training. I pushed myself just hard enough that I didn't bonk and I didn't leave anything in the tank. By the end of the race I was dead which is the way it should be - I left it all out there.

I'm pretty sore today, but not as much my legs as my feet! By mile 18/19 every step felt like someone was slapping my feet with a baseball bat. I really need to toughen up my feet next time around. Great decision going with the trainers and not the racing flats though! I can't imagine how sore my feet would be if I had gone with the flats...

I also think I underestimated the power of the marathon. I was honestly thinking it would just be another day with a tough workout. Since doing the 70.3 ironmans, 3 hours doesn't seem like that long to work out. Cut to 5 minutes after I finished when I was laying on the ground shaking haha... I was ok eventually, but I needed to get some fluids and salts (and beers) in me before I really started to get back to normal.

Some thanks are in order to those that came out and cheered for me and all the other runners. Running the Philly marathon is really enjoyable because of all the support from the spectators. It can really carry you when you start feeling down and want to stop and walk. The volunteers are all amazing. And of course I couldn't do it all without my parents and Maddy. Thank you for all your support.

Here is the breakdown of my splits. The number in parenthesis is my heart rate.
1- 6.54(168) 
2- 6.57(170) 
3- 7.10(167) - mile marker off too long 
4- 6.20(172) - too short 
5- 6.48(171) 
6- 6.58(170) 
7- 6.41(170) 
8- 6.52(172) 
9- 6.46(171) 
10- 6.48(175) 
11- 6.36(169) 
12- 6.39(172) 
13- 6.51(173) 
------half------ 
14- 6.41(172) 
15- 6.48(171) 
16- 7.00(171) 
17- 6.45(172) 
18- 6.46(175) 
19- 6.48(174) 
20- 7.02(174) 
21- 7.05(173) 
22- 7.08(172) 
23- 7.12(172) 
24- 7.12(170) 
25- 7.13(171) 
26.2- 8.39(176)


I'll try and get back into the pool some time this week. Swim training begins!


Also, below you will see a picture of my shirt post race. The blood came from nipple chaffing...OUCH!

Bloody shirt

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Philly Marathon

3:00.51

I'll take a 49 minute PR! More to come later...
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Good reading

So I picked up a great book yesterday at Barnes and Nobles - Be Iron Fit by Don Fink. I was looking around online for some free IM programs and although I found a couple, they didn't get great reviews from people who had used them. Some people mentioned this book as an extremely valuable resource and for only $15, I figured I would go pick it up. It's great! I should definitely be able to make my own program based on what is in this book rather than paying upwards of $150 for a program with a coach. I still might ask a coach to look over the program and give me some feedback on it, but this will be much cheaper than having someone make a program from scratch for me. And I've been weary this whole time of whether or not I really need a coach. I think I am pretty in tune with my body and from research that I have done and will do, I feel like I can answer most of my own questions. Maybe I am being naive and underestimating the value of a good coach, but they are expensive and this is only my first race. I have to be realistic in that I am probably not going to qualify for Kona on my first attempt - especially at IM Lake Placid. So maybe some time down the line if I am really trying to qualify I can employ a coach, but for now I think a couple good books and a lot of training will get me there.

Not that I thought for a second it would be easy, but looking over the basics of the plan I'm about to build, it is really going to test me. The suggested 30 week program would start right around Jan. 1 to get me to July 24. I think I am going to do my own thing for a little bit of the 'building phase' and then pick up the more structured program around Feb. 1. It is really important that I get in some quality swimming over the winter. This is more a confidence thing than actually a training tactic. I want to make sure that I am capable of swimming the way I want to swim. I know I can bike. I know I can run. I have yet to see that I am capable of swimming at the level I should (in my mind) be able to.

To give a very rough overview of the program - I will be trying to squeeze in 10-12 workouts every week. During the spring I'll be averaging about 13 hours of training per week and then in June I'll be averaging 17-18 hours and peaking around 21. Fuck. Luckily I'll be out of school by then. There are a couple weeks where I am expected to ride for 10+ hours and run for 7+ hours. That is just going to cause some tired legs. Period.

And speaking of tired legs...I've been watching more clips of old Kona races. Here is an amazing one. 1982 when Julie Moss (who was leading the women's race) collapsed 100 yds from the finish line! And then she crawls across!! Absolutely incredible stuff. Julie Moss 1982

Some good clips

I've been watching a lot of youtube clips recently on various athletes that I like. Mark Allen put together a great compilation of clips for triathletes in training called "The 58 Second Series". Named after his legendary 58 second victory over Dave Scott in the 1989 Ironman Kona. It's the closest margin of victory ever in the IM distance. And Dave Scott had beaten Mark at that race for the previous 6 years! On his seventh attempt he found a way to beat Dave Scott and then started his 6x Kona win streak. Pretty amazing stuff. He set the marathon record that year with a time of 2:40!

Anyway, here is the link to Mark Allen's videos. 58 Second Series

And here is a clip of probably the most amazing race of all time - Kona 1989 Mark Allen vs Dave Scott 1989

Sunday Trails

After a good week I hit the trails this morning with a buddy (and possible future coach), David. The plan was originally to try and hold about a 7min/mile pace so I can replicate the tempo I'll be running next Sunday in the marathon. But we ended up putting down 11 miles in about 1:11 (~6.30min/mile). The trail is awesome and I'll definitely be running there a LOT more now that I know where it is. Plus there are a lot of little side trails that go off into the woods that could be fun to mess around on. Anyway, a great workout, just not what I had planned. Oh well. All the work I've done over the past 2 months is in the bank. There's not much I could do now that will help or hurt what I'll do in the marathon next Sunday. I'm glad it's so close and I think I'm prepared. Here are some stats...

Over the past 7 weeks I've run 320 miles over the course of 38 hours. I've spent only 3 hours on the bike (unknown mileage bc most was on the trainer) and I've done only 6 hours of gym workouts. This is a little shy of what I had originally set out to do, but again, it's all in the bank now so whatever has been done has been done.

To look at some yearly totals - I ran 785 miles. I biked about 1700 miles (tough to tell bc a lot on trainer). And I swam about 100k yards.

There's still time left in the year so these totals will go up a little more before Jan. 1, but I'm ok with all of this. It's a hell of a lifestyle change - and for the better. Not a bad first year of training.

This week coming up will be nice and easy. Probably a couple race pace runs with one medium distance in there. Philly Marathon - here I come!

A poor kid in a rich man's sport

To take a break from the running blog that I've been starting, I'll focus back on triathlon. I've been stressing about money a lot recently. There are some things that I want and some things that I (think I) need, but I just don't know how I'm going to pay for them. I used to think it was expensive to get a new baseball glove or bat or cleats... That is nothing compared to the cost of being a triathlete with decent gear! There are some crazy facts about how much the average triathlete makes and spends! (triathlete demographics) According to surveys done by usatriathlon.org, the AVERAGE income of a triathlete is $126,000!!! That's more than I make on my teacher's salary. And here is how much they are spending annually - $2,274 spent on bikes in past 12 months, $564 spent on race fees in past 12 months, $524 spent on bike equipment, $370 spent on training, running and athletic footwear, and $277 spent on nutritional supplements. That totals over $4,000! Per year. Now granted I won't spend (another) $2,000 on my bike this year, but signing up for my one ironman this year cost $600 - more than the $564 average. Plus I haven't signed up for any other races, yet. You can see why this is starting to stress me out. 

So here is a list of toys and races that I would buy/sign up for assuming I had a lot of money...(and keep in mind, this is the frugal way to go at the year - if I were one to spend frivolously, I could spend a lot more!)

Race wheels - $1000

Oakley jawbones - $200

Asics Gel Hyperspeed 4 Shoes - $60

Giro Prolite helmet - $140

Foam roller for my legs/back - $35

NJ Devilman half - $150

Jerseyman half - $180

4.4 Mile Bay swim - $40

IM Louisville or Chesapeakeman- $600/$250

Poconos 70.3 - $275

That totals $2680 if I do IM Louisville or $2320 if I do Chesapeakeman. I don't have that kind of money. And I didn't take into account any travel arrangements, nutritional needs, or any maintenance I might need on my bike or current clothing. Some of this stuff I will inevitably have to pay for, but the other stuff will probably just have to wait until next year...or the following.

So if you would like to make a contribution to the "Pete is too Poor to be a Triathlete Fund" please contact me and I will be glad to take your money. 

In other news, I had a nice 2.5 hour - 20 mile run on Wednesday. Besides some sore feet, I feel good. I think I've made the decision to wear the KSwiss for the marathon. I'm going to test it out Sunday with a race prep run. Tuesday and Thursday this week I didn't run. I just rode on the trainer for 30-45 minutes. It felt great. I'm looking forward to getting back on the bike as well as getting back in the pool. I think mixing up the workouts, although it can be stressful, is really much more enjoyable than focusing 100% on one discipline. 

Time for class!


A quick addendum since I have a couple extra minutes. This is the minimum I think I'll spend this year...


Bike tune ups - $100
Shoes - $80
Sunglasses - $75
Jerseyman half - $180
4.4 Bay Swim - $40
Poconos 70.3 - $275
Travel/Lodging - $400
Nutrition - $150


So I guess I need to find at least an extra $1300 lying around somewhere...

Long Sunday - Some worries starting to brew...

Yesterday was my long run. Ended up being a little shorter than it should have been - 17 miles. It was cold, I was tired, blah blah blah. I'm going to run about 10 today rather than take a day off to make sure my legs feel it. Yesterday wasn't bad, but I think that the lack of long runs over the past 3 weeks has definitely hurt me. Unfortunately I'll never know, but I think shooting for the 3:10 Boston qualifier will be a more difficult challenge than I originally thought. I'm going to try for one more long run this Wednesday and then it's taper time.

I'd like to try and go about 20-22 miles on Wednesday then an easy day Thursday, medium on Friday, Saturday maybe a long bike ride and next Sunday I'll do a test 10-13 miles at race pace. I'll wear what I plan on wearing for the race and try and simulate my race day warm up. I'm still up in the air about what to wear.... I have been very sensitive to cold this year for some reason so I've been doing all my running in quite a few layers. But for the race I am thinking of wearing a racing singlet, arm warmers, compression socks and my racing flats. We'll see how I feel running in this stuff. When I wear too many layers I sweat a lot and after about 2 hours the sweat gets very cold so I think I might be better off in less clothing. Also, I wore my racing flats yesterday just to see if I am going to be able to handle wearing them for 26 miles and what I've come up with is that I'm not sure. They give me no support and have a very low profile. They are extremely light, but every time I wear them for more than 8ish miles my feet are sore. I'm going to run in them the rest of the week and see if I can get used to them. If not, I'll be wearing my much more comfortable (and heavier) K Swiss trainers.

More to come later this week when I really have to make some decisions!

First 5k!

For the first time in a while, this week actually went how it was planned. I ran 50 miles in the past 6 days and I'll put in my long run today of 20-25 miles. I had to switch my long run over to Sunday because I ran in my first 5k yesterday at the New Castle County XC Championship. Tatnall was competing, but before the kids' race there was an 'old timers' race. I ran it in 18:55. It was a tough course that was hilly and had some pretty uneven terrain, but fun none the less. Of the 4 Tatnall coaches, I came in 4th haha. Those guys really know what they are doing. Looking back I think I could have run the race a little faster. I went out much too fast from the start. I passed mile 1 around 5:40 - WAY too fast of a pace for me to hold on to. Then the hills hit. I passed mile 2 around 11:54 and then just couldn't get my legs to turn over fast enough in the last 1.1 miles. I got passed by quite a few people in the last section which was disappointing, but I just couldn't get the energy to speed up.

Today will be an interesting one though. I'm a little hung over and I'm going to run in my racing flats just to see if my feet will be able to take the beating on race day. The race is exactly 2 weeks away. After the race I'm going to try to run a couple faster 5ks for fun I think. It's a cool distance bc you can't full out sprint, but if you want to put down a good time you really have to let it rip.

Enough for today. Happy birthday, Dad (the big 62 yesterday).

Season Vision 2011 (pre-thoughts)

This is just going to be a basic outline of what I want to do in 2011... I figure I should start getting things set up now so that I don't have to worry about registering too late. It should also do me some good to see it all laid out instead of just going over it in my head lots of times.

Phase 1 (December-February):
Focus- swimming 4-6 times per week. Use the pool for my workouts by doing aquatic exercises and hard swimming sets with land exercises in between. Develop strong stroke and comfort in water. Ideally work up to about 15K yds/week by the beginning of February.
Secondary- start back on the bike trainer to keep legs active. Occasional runs mostly in vibram five fingers to promote good form. Core exercises. Stretching.
Races- maybe a 5k or 10k just for fun. Probably no racing.

Phase 2 (February-April):
Focus- BIKE. Get fast and strong on the bike because it is where the most time can be won or lost in an IM. I now want to ride 4-6 times a week. Again, the focus will be on form and strength only starting to build endurance toward the end of April. Ideally work up to about 250 miles/week at the end of April.
Secondary- swim maintenance. Middle distance runs with speed work. Stretching.
Races- maybe 5k or 10k for fun. Probably no racing.

Phase 3 (April-May):
Focus- Building endurance. Bike/run heavy. Long runs and long rides. Less speed work and more focus on high weekly milage and training hours. Feel confident with swim.
Secondary- Bricks and transitions. Race situations will come through a couple early season 'B' races. Stretching.
Races- NJ Devilman half lite (?), Jerseyman half, mid distance running race, any open water swims, maybe Oly distance tri (?).

GAMETIME (June-July):
Focus- Bricks and open water swims. Mixing volume and speed work. Transition speed. Preparing for IM Lake Placid.
Secondary- Stretching. Diet.
Races- 70.3 mid June, any/all open water swims I can find. Lake Placid 7/24/11.

Life after (July-September):
Focus- enjoy the rest of the summer.
Secondary- maintain fitness for possible Chesapeakeman in September. Or early season marathon.
Races- Chesapeakeman (?), marathon (?), Oly tri to end season (?)


Keep in mind that I'll probably make some changes to this as the year progresses, but here are my first thoughts. I'll include more details about distances planned and actually completed as they happen. Good news- I finally ran again yesterday. 11 miles at a snails pace. My chest is still very congested, but I'm going to try and do it again today. Weather is a bit chilly, but beautiful.

Hopefully time off pays off

When I wrote in last Thursday morning I was pretty tired, stressed and sore from the workout I did last Wednesday. I ran Thursday afternoon for about 40 minutes and felt absolutely dead. My legs and respiratory system were in agony. It was more than fatigue - I was getting sick. Friday I was extremely tired and could barely talk. The same Saturday and Sunday. So I took those days completely off. Again this week I fell well short of my goal (which almost makes me wonder why I set goals if I never attain them...), but hopefully it won't hurt me too much. I'm still not feeling 100%, but I'm going to try and go nice and easy today. I'm not setting a milage goal. I'll just go out and see how I feel. Of course being 3 weeks away from the marathon, this should be my biggest volume week before I start tapering down and focusing on speed work, so that will be in the back of my mind. But with a chest cold I will be going at a nice easy pace. I think I have been getting overly ambitious with my running goals and the (little) amount of work I have put in. The BQ time of 3:10 should be my goal. Anything better is icing on the cake. I want to break 3 hours, but I just don't  know if that is in the cards this year.

I can't help looking forward now even though the marathon is still 3 weeks away. I'm excited to get back in the pool and learn a little from my friend Thomas. Plus all this running has made my upper body start to wither away (vanity kicking in). It will feel nice to get a little muscle back and start mixing up my workouts a little more. There will be a big focus on swimming during December and January. I want to build speed, comfort in the water, and endurance over the winter. Then in the spring there is a 4.4 mile ocean swim in the Chesapeake that I want to try and tackle. I figure if I can make it 4.4 miles, the IM 2.4 should feel like a cakewalk. Some time in the next couple days (maybe weeks if I get busy) I will outline my complete approach to 2011- training, races, tests, goals, etc. Stay posted!

Sidebar- Something that kills me is not knowing how much it is hurting me when I miss workouts. I'll never know how fast I could have run the marathon if I had actually completed all of my goals. I'll only know that what I put in produced what I end up doing. It is extremely frustrating because I don't know the actual value of any given workout. But then again, each workout probably depends on the workouts around it to determine a value. So one workout's value could change drastically based on what happens before and after it...

Stressors

I'm feeling stressed so I'm going to write about some of the stressors of training to hopefully make them go away. I'm starting to get sick, it's been a long week with a lot of grading at school, my body hurts, I haven't slept enough and I am trying to run 65 miles this week. It's difficult. Writing out a training plan is so easy, but when it comes down to actually making it a reality life often gets in the way. Teaching is a good job for someone in training because I really only 'work' from 8-3. But there is a ton of other stuff that goes along with teaching. The thing I hate most - grading. There's also lesson planning and everyday meeting the demands of the students. I teach 5 classes which essentially means I have to stand up in front of the class and give 5 presentations everyday. Of course I try to put as much of the work on the students as I can, but it's hard to be in charge of 70 pubescent kids who would rather be socializing and goofing around than trying to learn another language. There are also kids who need extra help that come to me during my prep periods and lunch so I get very little down time. Plus I commute 45 minutes each way to work. And don't forget that all I really want to do everyday is watch tv, have a couple beers and eat bar food. So why do I train? Why am I trying to do this stuff that is really unnecessary when it is obvious that I would be less stressed if I lived an easy life? I've been asking myself that too much lately... The answer is I want to see what I can do. I want to challenge myself. I like the challenge. I'm not one that is so competitive that I will constantly challenge myself to improve on what I have already done, but I do like to challenge myself to do new things. I want to compete in an ironman because it takes a lot of commitment and honestly I don't know if I have what it takes. I think I do. But I don't know. This year will tell me. I hope I can stay afloat, accomplish what I need to get done, do it well and maybe most importantly, not forget that this challenge for myself should not be an excuse to be selfish.

I think I use the 'I've had a long day' line a little too much sometimes. I don't have to run or bike or swim. I choose to. So I'll let this post be my bitching for the day.

I really struggled to get through a run last night. I warmed up then did (or tried to do) 10 miles a little above race pace and then cooled down. The first 8ish miles went well and were all between 6:35-6:52min/mile, but the 9th was in the 7's and the 10th was just shy of 8 minutes. My legs really fatigued fast. Not a good sign with the race 4 weeks away... Maybe I went out too fast. I might try it again next week on a day when I'm more rested and see how it goes. 30 miles down this week. 35 to go.

Keeping up

I fell quite a bit short of my goal last week of hitting 60 miles. I ended the week with just 45 miles and 1.5 hours of weights. Mad and I went up to the Poconos for the weekend which I'll partially blame for my laziness. Instead of going on a long run on Saturday as I had planned, I only went for about 4.5 miles. I am starting to get a cold in my chest and throat plus the lake where we stayed was beautiful so I my desire to spend 2+ hours running and then recovering was pretty low. Oh well. It is what it is. I'm still going to try and hit 65 miles this week and put in a solid 25 miles on Saturday.

In some cooler news, my coworker sent me a link to a pretty cool website that actually predicts how well you could do in a marathon based on your physiological make up! You do need to know your resting heart rate, but even if you don't you can put in different numbers and see what pops out. Check out the calculator here (Thanks Penny!). Since I have taken my resting heart rate before and know it to be about 51bpm I plugged in my info and my 'aggressive best marathon' is about a 2:20! Makes me feel like a chump for only shooting for a sub 3 hour goal... There are obviously a number of factors that don't get taken in to this calculator, but it's still fun to look at. It also says that my 'conservative best marathon' is a 3:23 so at least I'm pushing myself more than just being 'conservative'. The story behind the calculator and the scientific paper that was published can be found here (Avoid the bonk). I wonder if someone will ever be able to calculate something like this for an event like the ironman??

I'll quit there today. Although I'm feeling a busy week on the blog. My head has been buzzing about those topics I listed before. And good luck to Tatnall XC today in their conference championship meet!!

Tough getting to 60 miles...

As I said earlier this week, it's been a busy one. With the 11 mile tempo run Monday, an XC workout Tuesday and a double session Wednesday I was pretty dead yesterday. After my evening run on Wednesday (11 miles at just under 8min/mile) I was in pain. My legs ached from my quads and hammies down through my calves, achilles and feet. I decided to take yesterday off to let my legs recover a bit. I probably could have stretched and/or done some core work, but I just relaxed with Mad and watched the Phillies. I can't wait to get back to that lifestyle...but that's a different post for a different day. Anyway, I got up at 5am this morning to get in a morning run since Mad and I are headed up to the Poconos right after school today and I won't have time for a run this afternoon. I got in about 7 miles which puts me at 40 for the week. If I were staying in town this weekend I could pretty easily get to 60 miles, but since I'll be away it will be tough. I'm playing Saturday and Sunday by ear. Not sure how much time I'll have either day to run. Technically if I get about 10 in Saturday and another 10 Sunday I will have reached my 60 miles in 7 days. But I like to start my week on Sunday with an off day. So we'll see. Next week I'm really going to try to push through the no matter how tired I get and not take my off day until Friday. Then I'll try for around marathon distance next Saturday. Enough looking forward though. I'm excited to spend the weekend in the Poconos and living in the moment.

Things to come in future posts...1. Stresses of training 2. Desire to go back to normal life 3. Sports hernia and the possibility of surgery in the off season 4. Periodization of training during the off season 5. Season vision 2011. (not necessarily in that order)

Busy busy

Man, things are getting busy. Hopefully not too busy to keep up this blog, but is has been a week now since I last got in here. The 'recovery week' went well. I was able to put in 40 miles and a lot of interval work. I replaced my long Saturday run with a medium sized interval workout. I did 6 x 1 mile repeats with 1 minute rest in between (plus a 15 minute warm up and cool down). I was able to keep 4 of the 6 miles under 6 minutes and the last two were under 6:10. I think I went out a little hard bc the first 2 were under 5:50... If I had paced a little better I think I could have hit all of them at about the same pace. I will say that it was extremely windy last Saturday. My slowest mile came when I had to run the last 400m into a headwind that could legitimately have knocked me down... But none the less, I had a good workout. It feels good to go out hard like that once and a while.

After another great weekend, watching the Phillies and going apple picking with Mad, I've started off this week pretty strong. I was really tired Monday so didn't run until late in the evening, but I was able to do 11 miles in 1:17 (6:59min/mile). This gives me some confidence bc I felt strong, kept my heart rate in a good spot (average 166) and was actually below my race pace for the majority of the run. Miles 3-11 were probably done around a 6:54min/mile pace, but I started off a little slower than I would in a race to warm myself up. Yesterday I did an interval workout with the XC guys down here at school and managed to put down a pretty fast timed mile (5:33) at the end of the workout. Today I got up and ran for 30 minutes before school and I'll try and put in about 11 miles tonight. I've got to start getting a little more sleep if I want to be as productive as I need to be in the coming weeks, but getting up at 5:30 or earlier everyday this week has worn me down a bit. The next 3 weeks are big volume weeks for me. I would like to get 60+ miles in each of the next 3 weeks... We'll see how it goes!

Chocolate milk and toenails...

So I'm trying out a new recovery drink - chocolate milk. It tastes pretty good, is really cheap compared to the high end stuff like Endurox, and supposedly (according to this guy, fitness magazine and even CBS News!) is actually better at replenishing the body after a long workout. Now I am sometimes a lazy triathlete... Even though it only takes a few minutes, after a long workout I rarely take the time to stretch and rehydrate/eat. It needs to change and I'm starting now. Before I didn't feel like going out and spending $40+ on a recovery drink that I didn't know worked or blah blah blah, but now that all I need is some choco milk. I (should) have no excuse. The only part that I'm not too sure about is whether or not it has enough protein to repair the muscles. Typically weight lifters will try to get at least 20g of protein after a workout and although it's a different type of workout, the roughly 10g protein in choco milk seems a tad light. But we'll see. Anything is better than what I have been doing which is just ignoring the recovery.

I got in a great workout yesterday and had a nice tall glass when I finished though. I did an 11 mile loop with a ~2 mile warm up, 1.5 mile sprint in 8:48, 1/4 mile jog, 1 mile sprint 5:50, 1/2 mile jog, 1.5 mile sprint 9:05, 1/4 mile jog and a mile sprint 6:17 and then a 25 minute cool down. I'd like to keep my pace a little closer through all the intervals, but I was really pushing at the beginning and just couldn't go that fast by the end of it. I'll take an easy day today and some weights (maybe a couple beers to cap things off). Then tomorrow some shorter intervals, an easy Friday with more weights and Saturday I'm going to try to push myself on the track with some mile repeats on ~1 minute rest.

Oh yeah, and I think I'm going to lose my big toe nail any day now. When I do sprints my feet tend to slip around in my shoes a little bit and I feel like I always get at least one black toe nail which inevitably leads to it falling off. It's gross. I know. Why do we even have toenails?? And aside from wearing bigger shoes, which I don't like bc I like my running shoes to be snug, how can I avoid this? At least it's fall going into winter and I'll be wearing shoes for the next few months....

Feeling good

A wonderful past few days and a lot to look forward to this week. This past Friday I was really tired and took some down time instead of doing the easy 5 miles I had planned, but my legs were sore and I fell asleep almost as soon as I got home from school so I probably needed the rest. Saturday I slept in, ate a nice breakfast and then put in a 20 mile run. It was great.  My legs felt really strong. Last week when I ran 17 I didn't have my HR monitor on, but I could tell I was running a little harder than I maybe should have been. This week I kept my HR right at the threshold (average 163) and it took me about 2:34 (7:45ish pace). I know I could have gone faster, but I'm trying to keep my endurance up and make sure I stay out there for a long time. Although my HR went up toward the end of the run when I was holding the same pace, this is expected after 2 hours of running. I'll also have better/more nutrition when I'm trying to go at race pace. Something else amazing is that this week is a recovery week! YESS!!! I went for an easy 6 yesterday at a pretty good pace (7:15ish) and my legs felt strong as ever. It also helped that I got to sleep in again thanks to Chris Columbus and no school, but my fitness is pretty high right now. Much higher than it was last year at this time. I'm looking forward to a couple interval workouts this week and no long run. I talked with some running buddies from high school on Saturday night and they gave me a good workout that I think I'll try on Saturday - 5 x mile repeats with a minute rest and decreasing time for each one. That should get my legs going pretty good. And doing intervals Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday should still be a solid week despite not going too long.

Last weeks totals: 46 miles running, 30 minutes on the bike and 1 hour in the gym (weak - I know).

I can't skip over 2 other very important events that took place this weekend. First, my good friends Andy and Elizabeth got married on Saturday night. It was at a great spot down in olde city. Nice service, beautiful reception and plenty of food and booze. I think I put on about 5-6 pounds this weekend haha. The party was great and I love getting together with the HMHS crowd. The second event was the IM World Championships. Chris "Macca" McCormack won what seemed to be an awesome race. I can't wait to see it on Dec. 18 at 4pm on NBC. Possibly more shocking than the men's champion was the fact that Chrissie Wellington didn't race for the women. Which, of course, means that there was a new female champion crowned - Miranda Carfrae. I'd also like to wish congratulations to any and all that raced Kona this year. Maybe I'll get there some day...

A long one, but a good one...

That's what she said. Yea, I just did that. It has been a long one though. Some good workouts early in the week, the Phillies game (Halladay's no hitter) and parents night last night - I didn't get home until 10:45pm. And I ran 11 miles yesterday. Three of them as an interval workout with the xc team. My legs are pretty tired. I've put down some good milage although I've been slacking on the weights. I won't have any reprieve until next week either. Tomorrow I have a 19 mile run planned in the morning and then Andy and Elizabeth's wedding in the evening and into the night. I'm looking forward to it bc it will be an awesome time, but I might not be able to stand on Sunday. The good news is that next week is a recovery week AND in honor of Cristobol Colon (Chris Columbus), we have Monday off. YES!! I might get a little crazy and head over to the pool in the morning to celebrate. It's been a while since I've been in the water.

Also excited to see who wins Kona this year. Can Craig Alexander do it again?? Or will Macca come back? I like the Spaniard, Eneke Llanos and olympic swimmer, Andy Potts. God I can't wait to watch... On the women's side unless Chrissie Wellington crashes on the bike, she will dominate again. She's untouchable.

Maybe some day I'll get there...some day...

Interval workouts

I've been running a couple times a week with Tatnall's cross country team. They are fast. And for good reason. On Tuesdays and sometimes Thursdays they do interval workouts which are the key to speed, I'm finding out. A nice thing I'm finding is that I don't have to sacrifice distance when doing these workouts either. I probably put in around 7-7.5 miles yesterday and most of them were at near full exertion. We did 14x400m in around 80sec per rep with a minute break between. Plus a 20 minute warm up and timed 1 mile at the end (6:06). The other nice thing is that the path we followed was on grass and not flat so it gave me some cushioning and race like conditions with the hills. The only thing I don't like about working out with the team is that it takes forever to get the workout in. They spend a ton of time stretching (which I should do more of) and then warm up and then work out and then cool down... Their practices don't end until around 5:45 at which point I need to drive back to Phila. And if I were to just drive home after school and do the workout around the Schuykill river loop I would be all finished and home by 5:45 easily. But it is nice to see the kids outside of the classroom and have someone to push me as well as helping to push the kids.

Anyway, a good workout yesterday despite not hitting the weights as I had planned. Today I'm taking off to see the Phillies take on their Reds in the first post season game. Tomorrow I want to do some longer interval sets and I need to pump some iron. Although it's also back to school night...so we'll see what I can accomplish.

GO PHILS!