Insanity P90X 26.2 70.3

Training Setback

The setback was planned but how long it’s taking me to get back wasn’t.  Let me explain, I went in last Friday for planned minor surgery which would put me out of commission for 5-7 days, honestly it came at a good time since training and the sprint triathlon have taken a toll on my mind and muscles.  The doctor told me that I can start working out if I feel good, so yesterday (day 6 from surgery) I felt good enough for a 6 mile run on the treadmill.  It was a nice easy run with the hopes of felling good enough to attempt a 10 mile run this morning and then a 30-40 mile bike ride tomorrow.  Well I woke up this morning with some unexpected discomfort which means I may shut everything down until Monday.   

As I type there is 71 days, 21 hours, 30 minutes and 56 seconds until the Pocono Half Ironman, using the next three days to rest will give me just under 10 weeks of training left which is ample enough time for me to be ready come October 2nd.  I’d rather take this route and not risk any further setbacks just to get these couple workouts in this weekend.  Three days off sounds much better than three weeks right?  I’d have to say that the hardest thing is mentally being on the sidelines right now compared to planning my workouts during my busy lifestyle. 

Till next time, I run do you?

First Triathlon

For those of you following I competed in my first ever triathlon Sunday at the Randolph Lake Triathlon which consisted of .5 mile lake swim, 16.4 mile bike & 3.1 mile run, for more details click here.  I really didn’t know what to expect, was I going to panic during the swim with 90 other swimmers around me?  Get a flat on the bike course? Not have enough energy for the run?  Well the answer is NO to all of these.  Let me break down the day for you and hopefully for those that are looking to do their first triathlon this will be of help.

The event started at 8 am and only 15 minutes from my house so instead of rushing around I woke up at 5 am in order to allow myself enough time to eat (bagel and banana) and use the little boys room in the comfort of my own home.  My cousin Will came up from DC was at my house just before 6 am and off we went.  Just one piece of advice here, make sure you pack the night before and go over everything one last time before you leave for the event.  I half packed since most of my stuff was in the car because I’ve been training out of it over the last three months.   

I was registered, body marked, and transitioned set up by 7 o’clock which allowed me time to relax and spend some time with my friends Kevin and Jimmy who also competed.  The water temperature was 79 degrees so if you were to compete for prizes you couldn’t wear a wetsuit.  I was attempting to place in the top three in the Clydesdale division (male athlete over 200 lbs.) so I decided not to wear the wetsuit, I’ll get into this a bit later.

Let’s get into the start, normally from what I’ve seen the gun goes off and you run into the water to start your swim, this tri was a little different in that you jumped off a dock into the lake and wadded for about 3-4 minutes before the gun went off and then the swim began.  At the start I stayed back and let the faster swimmers go ahead of me since I really wanted to concentrate on saving energy and not get bullied around in the water.  About halfway through was when I started to have a little anxiety so I went to the breaststroke for about a minute just to ease my mind, this was very helpful.  Towards the very end I was getting tired but not in the sense of losing my breath but I felt my legs dragging, if I was wearing the wetsuit I’m sure the extra buoyancy would’ve helped.  Nevertheless I came out of the water in 17 minutes and was pleasantly surprised.

T1 was very easy since I had everything laid out nicely, the only thing I decided not to wear were my sunglasses since they fogged up.  The only thing that was weird was running to the bike mounting zone with my bike shoes on, definitely not comfortable but luckily it was only 50 yards or so. 

Since I felt great coming out of the water my goal was to really push it on the bike course and that’s exactly what I did.  My approach was very simple, look at the bike in front of you and overtake it, try and pass as many people as you can.  I’m not going to lie I was passed by riders but honestly I think I passed more and those that did pass me looked like they were pretty elite.  I wanted to average 20 mph on the bike but fell just shy as you will see below when I post my times.

Again the transition off the bike and into the run was fairly simple, T2 was much quicker since all I had to do was transition into my running shoes.  The brick feeling in the legs wasn’t that bad going into the run, at this point is was time to leave it all on the course.  Anything around 8 minute mile average was my goal, I crushed it even though the run felt a lot longer than 3.1 miles.  Here are my splits and official time:

• Swim- 17:12
• T1- 2:38
• Bike- 49:53
• T2- 1:35
• Run- 22:54
• Official Finish- 1:34:15 Placed 2nd in Clydesdale

Congrats go out to my buddy Kevin, Jimmy and my cousin Will who all finished strong. 

I learned a lot and now realize what it is I need to concentrate on before I attempt the Pocono Half Ironman on Oct. 2nd.  First is swim, I need to go longer and stronger every time I hit the water, a lesson or two wouldn’t hurt either.  Second is bike/run brick workouts.  Even though my legs weren’t that bad after the bike/run transition I know there is room for improvement especially since we are talking about a 13.1 mile run after a 56 mile bike and not a 3.1 mile run after a 16.4 bike, big difference. 

The experience was great, weather was perfect and having my family there was even better.  Next stop Pocono, I hope my experience will be just as great come Oct. 2nd.

Till next time, I run do you?

Sick Of Working Out

Well not really it’s more like working out when sick.  Last week was going great until Friday evening when I came down with a fever, chills, headache, stomach issues (I’ll spare you specific details) you name it, even my hair hurt.  Timing was absolutely horrible considering I was planning on riding the 56 mile Pocono Half Ironman bike course that next morning, needless to say that didn’t happen and I’m kind of glad I missed it considering my training partners had to call it quits at mile 30 due to numerous flat tires. 

So my last workout was that Friday morning when I took my 2 year old daughter in the jogging stroller on an 8 mile run, both of us had a blast and overall it was a great workout averaging 8:32 pace, not bad pushing a double stroller.  The next 4 days I didn’t do or even think of working out, well not exactly true, I got up yesterday morning planning to ride 2 hours with my training partner Kevin until the stomach issues hit me again at 4:30 am, there was no way I was going to sit on a bike for 2 hours with stomach pains and who knows how many ”pit stops” I would’ve had to make. 

That leads me to today, I planned on running 7 miles but my body just wouldn’t respond after taking 4 days off, I had to call it quits at 6.  I know it’s not lose of fitness it doesn’t happen that fast but more along the lines that I’m still not 100% and my body needs time to start back up again.  I guess the best example I can give is your lawnmower won’t start on the first pull after a harsh winter, it needs a couple pulls, your body need a couple of pulls/days before you can get back into the groove, I hope that’s the case, my first ever triathlon is coming up on Sunday.  For a quick read on lose of fitness click here and here.

Here is how the rest of the week looks:

• Thursday- 2 hour bike ride
• Friday- attempt 13 mile run AM, 60 minute swim PM
• Saturday- off
• Sunday- Triathlon, .50 swim, 17 mile bike, 3.1 run

One last thing, if anything good came out of being that sick it was I lost 5 lbs. I see 200 in my sights again.

Till next time, I run do you?