Happy Memorial Day

Absolutely no training today. What a dreary day here at the lake. I had big plans for a 2000 meter open water swim and an hour and fifteen minutes on the trainer but it just didn't happen. I did try to get on the trainer while the family slept but it was short lived after they all woke up 15 minutes later. It is OK though because I had a lot of preparation and family time for our friends that came over for the BBQ.

It took a lot of discipline cooking the burgers and dogs today. I made fresh guacamole, hummas, and mango salsa. I grilled a foil pack of sqauash, onions, and snap beans and it was incredible. I also tried Tofurky beer brats for the first time and I must say it wasn't that bad. There were also a lot of yummy desserts that people brought that I did partake in. All in all everyone had a great time and the rain broke for bout an hour and all the kids got to go swimming.

I am going to hop on the trainer in the morning and hit the pool at lunch. This starts my quality training two weeks out from my next international triathlon and then a month after that it is on to Chattanooga. I am going to work hard and smart the next six weeks to hopefully be at my best.

Saturday Run and Jail Break Event

I got up this morning early and ran about 5.5 miles at a 144 average heart rate. I felt a little sluggish and conquered a few more hills than I normally do. I incorporated my pushes every 10 minutes and that felt good.

Then the we all went to the Jail Break 5K run/walk. Sheldon participated in the one mile fun run and finished. I don't think he really wanted to run and as usual he started out way to fast. He ended up finishing though and got through it. We walked and had a good time.

Then we all walked the 5k. This was very humbling to me and was nice to be able to participate and hang out with the family throughout the event. Usually Rebecca has to wait with the kids while I race and I think she enjoyed participating with me as well.

I am off to ride with the Brotherhood tomorrow morning. We usually ride about 30 miles out on Fort Jackson at a 15 to 16 mph pace. I will work it up the hills so I can get my workouts in for Chattanooga. I am looking forward to it. Then it is back home to get ready for the memorial day BBQ we will be having at the lake on Monday.

Update.....

The Lake Murray Triathlon podcast has been recorded without draft mode. Please check it out below in the archives. It is Friday and it has been a busy week. Yesterday I made it to the pool after a 45 minute push run. I have incorporated a 30 second plank, 15 push ups, and 10 squats at the beginning, end, and every ten minutes of most of my run workouts. This has proven to really strengthen my core and I can tell a difference.

At the pool yesterday the coach noticed I was sprinting my 50 meters. He explained how much distance I was losing because of not following through with my stroke. I have often wondered if you go fast do you lose form and I got my question answered. Even when I am swimming sprints I will concentrate on getting my reach and pull so that I am efficient and ultimately do less work and go further. Thanks coach!

I only rode on the trainer 30 minutes of my hour I was supposed to ride today. I didn't do it this morning because my back is bothering me and I didn't get to get on the trainer until around 9. I was worn out by then but at least I pushed through for 30 minutes.

I am going to the Jailbreak 5k race tomorrow. Originally I was going to run this race but it doesn't really fit in with my plan. My son is signed up for the fun run and my wife the walk. I am going to run about 6 miles before the race tomorrow morning and then run with my son in the fun run. After that we will all walk the 5k. It is real important to pick your priorities and right now my number one priority is sticking to my plan and getting ready for Chattanooga.

An update on my weight. Since I have been steering clear of meats and eating a lot cleaner fruits and vegetables I have seen a health decrease in my weight. When I first started out I didn't think I would be anywhere near the 179 I am supposed to weigh based on my height. I am down to 192 and a mere 13 pounds away. I would like to lose this before the Chattanooga race as long as it feels healthy. I need to lay down and I will update you later.

I am still here...

I am back and still training. It has been a couple of days but I have been keeping up with the plan. This morning it was rough getting my heart rate up to 135 during my one hour ride on the trainer. I blame it on the eggplant Parmesan I made last night. Not used to all of that cheese. It was really good but I can tell it affected my performance.

Last night my back right between my shoulder blades got real tight and started bothering me again. I went back to the chiropractor today I usually go about once a month. It is still bothering me so I am going to ice it down tonight.

I sipped on a green smoothie that I made this morning and i had a 27 gram protein shake this morning after my ride. Tonight I sauteed some squash made some Lima beans and had a piece of leftover eggplant minus the cheese for dinner. I am feeling pretty good but I am definitely welcoming the recovery week.

I am signed up for a 5k race this weekend. It doesn't fit in with my plan so I am going to run before the race lightly and walk the race with my wife and kids instead. I know she will appreciate that and my Chattanooga race is my number one priority right now. I don't want to risk injury at the moment.

It was good catching up. Festival of Flowers is a couple of weeks away and I am really excited about competing in my second international distance. Until later...

Festival of Flowers Rehersal

We went out to Lake Greenwood State Park today to check out the course for the Festival of Flowers International triathlon that is June 13. I went with a fellow triathlete I met at the pool and wanted to check out the course. Since I was free this weekend with the family away I thought it would be a great opportunity.

The course was right at 24 miles and there were some hills. We weren't riding really hard although I got carried away a couple of times. I think the course is going to be pretty nice. The first and last part of the course is extremely rough road but luckily it isn't too terribly long.

It was good to actually go and see the swim site, transition area, ride the course, and drive the run course. I am looking forward to this race as it will be my second international distance of the season.

I am resting the remainder of the day and will be back on the trainer early in the morning. I can not wait to see my family tomorrow night. I think next time I will try to schedule time to visit with them. I feel like I worked pretty hard this week and next week is a recovery week before I start my quality weeks. I am really getting excited about Chattanooga and looking forward to redeeming myself in the swim portion of Festival of Flowers from Langley. I will check in soon.

Bike, Bike, Bike

It was good to be able to exercise when I was away on business but it is interesting catching up on the bike portion of my workouts all back to back. This morning I went out and attacked some hills at Fort Jackson and rode a total of 50 miles. This felt pretty good and is only the second time I have ridden this far. A couple of the hills really got me so I think I will try to incorporate this ride at least once a week to get ready for Chattanooga.

Tomorrow I am going out to the Festival of Flowers course to ride it. I met up with a fellow triathlete at the pool on Friday that was going so we are going along with another person to feel it out. This will be helpful and I don't really do this often. At least I will know what to expect on the bike.

I am out at the lake and did some landscaping to get ready for next week's Memorial Day party we are having on Monday. I need to go thank my neighbor for cutting my grass for me. That is really a huge help. I will let you know how the ride goes tomorrow.

I made it back!

It has been a while since the last post because it has been a really busy week. I made it back to Columbia on Wednesday night and have been busy every since. I rode on my trainer Thursday morning for about an hour and a half at roughly a 130 bpm average heart rate.

I had my last soccer game of the season after work and the kids did great. I got them Village Idiot pizza as always and handed out trophies. Sheldon was missed very much and I am sure he missed the celebration as well.

The family is doing good in Connecticut and I can't wait to see them on Monday.

This morning I got up and rode pretty hard on the trainer for about a half hour. I went to the pool at lunch and swam 1000 meters and chatted with some fellow triathletes. Tonight I went on the Friday night "beer ride" at Cycle Center in Columbia. I have never really ridden with a large group before and it was pretty nice. I enjoyed it and we rode about 22 miles. Afterwards we went to a hole in the wall burrito place across the street and I had a nice bean, rice, guacamole, and tomatoe burrito.

Tomorrow I am going to venture out on a 50 mile ride that I am looking forward to. I need to get some rest. Looking forward to letting you know how that goes.

Back Cove

I had a busy day at work today. I went in at 6 am to meet with my shift and it was busy until lunch. I went back to the pool I found last night during lunch and had a great 2000 meter work out. There were a lot of people there so I shared the lane with two other people and we swam in circles. This was an experience but it didn't get in the way.

After lunch I had an afternoon class on a new software product and the day was over. I went to a place called Back Cove in downtown Portland. This is a cove with a 3.5 mile trail around the perimeter. There were lots of people walking and running. I did a push run of 45 minutes and ended up going a little over five and a half miles at a 151 bpm heart rate. This felt really good.

I am going to run for an hour in the morning before work and I might go to the pool again during lunch. It will depend on how busy I am. I will be heading back home tomorrow and will concentrate on my bike for the rest of the week.

Welcolme to Portland, ME

We woke up this morning about 4:30 and made it to the airport in time to catch our flight. I was heading to Portland, ME via Laguardia with the family and they were picked up by Rebecca's mom and taken back to Connecticut where they will visit for the next week or so. I sure miss those guys.

I got to Portland around 11:30 and went in to work. After work I made it to the Riverton Community pool and I must say I was pretty impressed. They had a great pool and a nice locker room and shower. I swam 1750 meters and felt pretty strong in the process. It was good getting out and utilizing the facilities in a different town. This is essential for triathletes or anyone who is serious about their training. It just takes a few clicks and a search on google to get you where you need to go.

I stopped by Maine Running Company and chatted to them as they were closing up. I was talking to one of the guys there about triathlon. He is younger and has done the Lake Placid IronMan I think the last three years. I tried on my first pair of Vibram Five Fingers and hopefully one day I can get a pair to work on my form. For now I am just trying to keep forward and off my heel.

Then to Whole Foods to buy my food for the next three days while I am here in Portland. I will be eating hummas and cucumber sandwiches, bananas, tomatoes, broccoli, almond butter, pears, and men's bread. I only spent right at $40 and I definatley couldn't have eaten 8 meals for that if I would have gone out and more importantely I won't get caught giving in and eating something I shouldn't.

I got back to the hotel and went for a 30 minute run that was nice and cool. I ate my dinner and did some work and now I am about ready to get some sleep and do it all again tomorrow. I am concentrating on my running and swimming while I am here and I will catch up on my riding when I get back home, especially this weekend.

Way to go Sheldon!

It is good to be back for a quick update. Yesterday my 4 year old participated in his second triathlon. This was held in Lexington at the Golden Hills golf club and they did a good job. It was hosted by Body Shop Athletics in Lexington.

At first Sheldon really didn't want to do it because of it being right around his nap time. He warmed up to it and finally got in a decent mood. They started out going across the pool which was supposed to be about 10 meters. Sheldon did good and really tried to get his breathing under control as he doggy paddled most of the way. He did get a little help from the life gaurds in the pool but basically got across the distance himself.

I helped him out of the pool and he ran to his bike and I was by his side. We got to the transition area and I slipped on his shoes and helped him with his helmet and sun glasses. Then it was a 1/10 of a mile uphill climb to the bike drop off. I ran with him and he held on pretty strong all the way to the top and powered through the top part of the hill.

He then got off the bike and ran 100 meters down to the finish and really finised strong. His official time was 4 minutes and 5 seconds and he finished second in the 3-5 male age group. We were very proud of him and he really enjoyed the race. The first thing out of his mouth was that he wanted to do it again, meaning right then.

I would sign him up for this race again because they did a great job coordinating it. Again, way to go Sheldon, you really did a great job.

I am back!

What a week so far. No more excuses, it just isn't feasible for me to update this every day. You should noticed that I finally got the podcast loaded for Lake Murray so if you get a chance, check it out.

I wasn't able to get back into my training until Tuesday and so far this week I have ridden on the trainer about 2.5 hours, swam 3250 meters, and ran 30 minutes. Everything seems to be going well and I have noticed on my run since I have been concentrating on my form and maintaining my heart rate my training pace has improved about 45 seconds per mile. That is based on a 4 mile run.

I feel like I am getting back into the groove of the workouts and overall I feel really good. I have been recovering with a protein shake, eating about 95% fruits and vegetables this week and I am taking my second green smoothie to work today for the week. I am starting to lose a little weight and I hope to get this down before Chattanooga in about 2 months. I am off to work so I will catch up some time later.

Lake Murray Sprint Triathlon

Awesome! This was a great race for me and I really feel like I have come a long way in a short time. Last year this was the first triathlon I ever attended when I was thinking about doing my first one. This year I placed 40th overall out of about 212 males.

It has been a busy day with the race and Mother's day so I will be updating this blog post with the details at a later date. Unfortunately my pre race podcast was deleted but I do have my post race and scoring information. Click below to listen.

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26:33:00 til Murray

Alright, that was a nice refreshing run. Four miles at an easy pace with a few sprints thrown in to wake my body up a little bit. When I finished I did a nice stretch routine for about fifteen minutes. I am as ready as I will get for the Lake Murray Sprint tomorrow. I will pack all of my things this morning so I can enjoy my day today.

I have a busy day planned and I get to take Cedar to his music class. I hear he loves it and I like music too so it should be a good time. I will then take both boys out for some Mother's Day business. Since I was inconsiderate enough not to check dates before I signed up for all of my races, I will need to make this a good one. My next blog will probably be about the race so until next time, adios...

Thursday Night

Alright, this morning I ran my Saturday run which was 50 minutes and almost 6 miles at a 145 bpm heart rate. Of course, this was a push run so I did 15 push ups and 10 squats every 10 minutes and it felt really good. I then made it to the pool and aside for the life guard being about 15 minutes late I had a nice 2000 meter work out.

I am looking forward to the race on Sunday. I will be taking tomorrow off from training although my plan calls for an easy 20 mile spin on the bike. I will run about 35 minutes easy on Saturday and do a nice stretch routine. Right now I am feeling strong and I have been loading up on veggies this week. To night is the Blue Cactus #2 which is the best Korean stirfry you can find in Columbia.

Happy Cinco de Mayo

One hour and fifteen minutes on the trainer this morning. This felt pretty good I stayed around a heart rate of 135 to 145 for quite some time and ended up averaging about 125 bpm.

I sipped on a green smoothie this morning before lunch and it was very good. Those really seem to give me a lot of energy. Tonight we had veggie quesadillas. I made fresh guacamole and mango tomato salsa, yum yum.

I am going to run my Saturday run tomorrow which is 50 minutes and go to the pool for 2000 meters. I am interested to see how well I do on Sunday since I am training through this race. I hope to do well to keep my points up in the series but my overall goal is to have fun.

Catching Up

Yesterday was a busy Monday so it looks like every other day might be a more reasonable blog update. The workout was an hour on the bike trainer at 121 bpm heart rate. I still find it harder to get the heart rate up to a higher average early in the morning but it was a good work out.

I then went to the pool to try out my new (smaller) wetsuit. I saw the swim coach and he asked me if I had ever swam there with the wet suit. When I told him no he told me to hurry up and get in the water. Evidently there is a health concern about wetsuits indoors after they have been used in open water but noone bothered me about it. I have never approached the wall so fast before than in the suit. I had a couple of 35 to 40 second laps so that was pretty neat to see the advantages of the suit. When I finished I felt like I didn't work hard at all. The race may or may not be wet suit legal on Saturday at Lake Murray because it has been so hot.

This morning I ran for 30 minutes at a 145 bpm heart rate average. This felt pretty good. I am off to the pool now for a 1500 meter work out. I am getting pretty excited about the race on Sunday but it is just a bump in the road to the Chattanooga Waterfront race so I am not tapering for this event. I will be interested to see how I do.

Spiders, Snakes, and Scrapes

It's Sunday and I wasn't able to update this blog yesterday. I figure that it is ok if I miss one or two. Yesterday I went for about a 50 minute push run at about a 140 BPM average heart rate and it felt pretty good.

We went to the USC baseball game and the kids had a blast. It was really hot and the Gamecocks ended up losing to Alabama 6-4.

This morning I got up at rode about a half hour at a 122 BPM average. Then after I took Sheldon to Sunday school a group of about 6 of us went on about a 30 mile easy ride at about a 16 mph average.

I really had a good time as I don't ride a lot with groups and it was good to chat with people with common interests. Along the ride on Fort Jackson, two of us were up ahead and about a 4 foot black snake came scooting across the road. This is something I am not really acustommed to see on a ride and it got me a little off balance. I almost ran into the guy I was riding beside but recovered. I did run off the rode but I didn't fall which was good.

We kept riding and encountered probably the biggest spider I've ever seen crossing the road as well. Luckily there weren't any more strange nature sitings and the rest of the ride finished up well. Well, I guess I should say it almost finished well. As we were chatting after the ride I pretty much started falling over from a stop and couldn't get my shoe out in time and fell over. I got a nice chunk of road rash out of my knee but my bike survived so I am ok. It was good to chat with everyone at different points in the rides as we all have different goals and it was good that we
could all come together on a common ride. I think we will try to do this more often.

I think I will take my new wetsuit to the pool tomorrow to try it out I was going to go today but it seems silly since I will be going in the morning anyway. Next Sunday is the Lake Murray Sprint so I am looking forward to it. I am going to go and enjoy the rest of the day so I will catch up later...