Taper Report

I was a little worried that I wasn't going to get up this morning since I was up so late watching the Gamecocks win the National Championship baseball game, but I did manage to get up and get it in. I hit a nice 60 minutes on the trainer this morning and kept my heart rate up above 145 and into 155 bpm. I am doing pretty good with nutrition this week and staying on target with what I need to be eating.

The photo above is the finish of the Festival of Flowers triathlon. I might as well be laying down I am bent over so much. I was actually running hard and battling with the person beside me. If I would have stood up I probably would have done a little better because my form looks pretty slack. I was beat and it is good to see the photo to help me with what not to do.

I am looking forward to going to the beach for the weekend tomorrow night and getting some relaxing time in with the family. Until next time...Push on!

Long Ride

I went on a 40 plus mile ride today with lots of hills. I was able to record a little while I was riding and I think it came out pretty good. The podcast is below. I did my hour walk today behind a lawnmower. You have to get it in somehow. Push on!

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Thoughts on Volunteering

I have said before how I like to give back to the sport of Triathlon and today I feel like I was really able to do that in a direct way. I have included a short pod cast on the day and what a good experience Sheldon (my 4.5 year old pictured above) and I had giving our time to help the athletes that raced today. Congratulations to all the finishers of the Tri The Midlands Sprint, you all did a great job. Push on!

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Quick Update

I found out I may have a way to record some podcasts on my trainer and possible on the road. I had my iPod Nano on the arm band while on my trainer and recorded a quick test. I think it sounds pretty decent so I will try it later when I get some notes together. Click the podcast below to listen.

I had a pretty light training day today which is nice. I am just hanging out with the boys while Rebecca is at the mall. I am making veggie taco's tonight which should be pretty yummy. I will prepare some ground turkey for the boys and Rebecca as well.

Looking forward to helping out at the race tomorrow and I hope to get a podcast out of it. To all those racing Tri the Midlands...Push on!

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Reflecting on Today's Work

Here is a reminder of my last race. This is the start of the Festival of Flowers International Triathlon. This was my second international distance race but it brought a lot of firsts. First disappointing swim time (they say this was a long 1500), first awesome bike split at 22.5 mph, first thoughts of walking through the run, and first big race with very little taper and overall satisfaction with results. See the race report blog below for a podcast of the race.

This morning I had a nice warm half hour push run followed by a nice hard 2500 meter pool workout. I feel great this week and I am looking forward to my easy bike workout in the morning. I will hit the road real early for an hour run prior to my volunteering Saturday morning early at the Tri the Midlands Triathlon and finish off the week with a nice 40 mile hill workout at Fort Jackson on Sunday.

It is getting late and I still need to get my son to bed. Carolina has some work to do to win this baseball game to night. Until next time.....Push On!

My Thoughts on Chattanooga and In General

Enjoy my first youtube publication. This was this morning about 5:30. I know it is a little late for me to be starting my workout. This was eight minutes of my 30 minute warm up and then I did 6 6 minute hard by 2 minutes easy with a cool down. Tomorrow is the last swim quality workout before Chattanooga in 2.5 weeks.

Happy Father's Day

Great ride this morning out to Fort Jackson. I rode close to 40 miles and was anxious to get back for the kids' Father's day treats. I really worked some hills and I feel great. One more heavy week to go before my taper starts for Chattanooga. I am making some changes to this site and I signed up on Twitter today. Push on!

Push Run

Trying something a little different today. I did a nice one hour push run in more than one sense of the term. I was pushing Cedar in the stroller and doing my push ups, squats, and planks every ten minutes. I included a pod cast that is a little noisy and I am clearly out of breath but thought I would share. At the end I say that I hear thunder and Cedar and I did manage to get caught in quite the rain shower. We found shelter for the hard rain and then ran it on back to the house. The rain was actually a welcome cool down. Push on!

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Still Warm in Columbia

Yesterday the plan called for a quality swim and half hour run. I did a push run and then headed to the pool. I had a nice quality swim that felt really good. My foot is still bothering me a bit but didn't really impact my workouts yesterday.

This morning I skipped my run and hung out with Rebecca which was nice then took my Dad to breakfast with the family for Father's day. I am going to try and do my push run with Cedar this afternoon if the heat isn't too intense for us. I added a counter to my blog to see what kind of traffic I am getting so that will be interesting to find out.

Planning a 40 mile bike ride on Father's day tomorrow morning early and looking forward to it. Push on!

Feeling Strong But Foot is Hurting

I got up this morning and did my quality workout on the trainer. I did a half hour easy then 6 5 hard and 2 easy sets with about a 20 minute cool down.This felt pretty good Evidently I did something to my foot last night on my run. Seems like the dreaded plantar fasciitis is acting up. I am icing this right now and I hope to be able to go for a quick run tomorrow and then tackle my quality swim workout.

I get to go to Sheldon's school for father's day breakfast in the morning and I am excited about that. I need to run. Push on!

Hot Hot Hot

Three days after my last race and I am doing pretty good on my training. Of course Monday didn't work out so I started my week on Tuesday. Rode for a little over an hour on the trainer and then went to the pool for a 2000 meter workout. While I was there I talked to a fellow masters swimmer that did the Festival of Flowers race with me. He said that he got off course a little as well but was right on my feet coming out of the water. Unfortunately he had a bad time with cramps in the run and I know it had a lot to do with the heat.

This morning it was downpouring when I was going to run and I was going to go to the pool but Cedar woke up and I had to tend to him. Then Sheldon got up and I laid down with him and fell back asleep. I went to the pool at lunch and had a decent 2500 meter workout. It felt pretty good but I swear I am gettign slower. I know it has a lot to do with going in the middle of the day and such a long work out but I will just keep working at it.

I just got back from my run. Now I left the house about a quarter after eight and I think I lost all the water in my body in the first mile and a half to the stretch point. Then I did a quality workout of 5 880's about 10 beats over my top aerobic heart rate followed by a 440 easy and a one minute walk. I finished it off with what was supposed to be another mile and a half jog but I ended up cutting it about a half mile short and walked about a quarter of a mile of it. I should have taken some water. If all goes well I will be up and on the trainer tomorrow morning early for that quality work out. Until next time.....Push on!

Festival of Flowers International Triathlon June 13, 2010

Please enjoy the race report podcast. Sheldon added his report as well. This was a great race to finish because the run was brutal. It was very hot and I think I over did it on the bike portion. Overall I am pretty pleased with everything except the swim. No time to ponder I am back on track in the morning to finish getting ready for Chattanooga. Push on!

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Two Days Later

I am as excited as I was about this the first few weeks when I updated it every day. I am just prioritizing which warrants a blog not being updated daily. I don't know if I have mentioned it on here yet but we are expecting our third child in December of this year and we couldn't be happier. This proves to be challenging with all of the attention for Rebecca, Sheldon, and Cedar. It is easy for the training plan to slip by or life in general to get very stressfull. I feel like I am handling everything well and giving attention where it needs to be most.

Yesterday I had my quality bike on the trainer which consisted of a 30 minute warm up and 6 4 by 2's and then a 30 minute cool down. This was a great work out and I could really feel it in my legs.

I got up this morning and did a 30 minute push run followed by a quality swim set of 2300 meters. I chatted with the coach a bit and got some pointers on my work out. He said I looked good and I really felt efficient and strong today. I will take tomorrow off and may work on my transitions or go for a decent easy bike on Saturday. Sunday is my second international distance at Festival of Flowers and I am really looking forward to it.

My nutrition has been alright the last couple of weeks. Not perfect, but OK. I had a green smoothie today which really hits the spot and tomorrow I am headed for some more Blue Cactus Veggies. It is late and I need to go. I am looking forward to the weekend and I will update soon. Push on!

Great Day!

The stars aligned correctly as far as my training went today. I just wanted to comment briefly so I can get some sleep and start over in the morning. I started the day with my quality run and it was a great workout that felt really strong.

I made it to the pool and had a great 2500 meter set. What was so great? I did a new drill that the Master's coach suggested which was a one arm freestyle. I did 500 meters of this and switched arms every 25 meters. It took a little getting used to but the consistency of the kick really helped my balance and seemed to strengthen my core.

After my workout I was hungry and swung by this little hole in the wall I have been wanting to try and it was incredible. The place is called Lamb's Bread Vegan Cafe. I had a lunch special which was "mock chicken" (soy product in wonderful spices) with a side of baby limas and squash and onions that was to die for. I will definately be going there again.

I am facing my quality bike workout in the morning so I need to get some rest. Push on!

Festival of Flowers Up Next

I had a great ride on Sunday. I started out about 5 am and rode 20 miles to Saluda and back to the lake. I had a strong head wind going and decent hills the entire ride. I think it was a pretty good work out. I managed almost 20 mph and about 130 bpm heart rate. I also have a new metric to report in my cadence on the bike which averaged 67.

When I got back I cut the back yard and then went for a quick 400 meter open water swim in my tri-suit just to get the feel since I am pretty sure the race will not be wetsuit legal. It felt pretty good.

This morning I hopped on the trainer and rode about 23.5 miles at about 127 bpm heart rate which was a little low and this happens to me sometimes early in the morning. I was supposed to swim 2000 meters today but with a hectic work schedule and not wanting to swim in the lake alone this morning I let it go. That was easier said than done but I am sure the rest won't hurt and missing 2000 meters this close to the race won't hurt my performance.

I am looking forward to my quality run tomorrow and I am trying to stay focused. Festival of Flowers is on Sunday and I am excited about it. A little nervous, but excited. I have been feeling a little flat lately but I don't really know what I am basing that on. I don't think I have lost any fitness so I am just going to keep it up. I hope to make it to the pool tomorrow for a 2500 meter work out in during lunch. I will update when I can. Push on!

Saturday Run

I had a pretty good run today. About six and a half miles at a 145 bpm average heart rate. This was a push run so every ten minutes I did a 30 second plank, 15 push ups, and 10 squats. All in all I felt pretty strong.

I am going to try to swim in the open water today at the lake if time permits. I will be going to watch my oldest niece graduate high school today. It seems like yesterday I was graduating high school when she was born. Best of Luck Britney!

I will go on a long ride early tomorrow. I will try to find a hilly ride out near the lake so I can get ready for Chattanooga. Next Sunday is my second International distance at the Festival of Flowers. It will be interesting to see how I do since I will be training through and not tapering for this race.

Push on!

I am pushing through my workouts. I went to the pool this morning and really wasn't feeling it. I got there late so I shortened my workout by 500 meters. It was a quality workout and I did some pretty hard 100's and overall I felt good I just feel flat.

I am going to hopefully have a great run tomorrow for about an hour and maybe I will make into the lake over the weekend. I feel really good and my weight is staying down. I think I just need to watch my fuel and keep my veggie intake up. I am not getting discouraged I have just been working hard. Until next time.....

Quality Update

I am struggling this week. I mentioned that I was disciplined enough to stay away from the bar-b-que on Memorial Day. I did however eat a half a burger the next and it really had me hurting.

I missed my bike ride on Tuesday but I did make it to the pool during lunch. I think I will be able to let the bike go. This week I start my quality workouts for each discipline on different days. Today was the run and I did a mile and a half warm up, five minute stretch and then 3 three sets of 880's at about 160 bpm, followed by a 440 easy and one minute walk.

I then made it to the pool and did only 1300 meters of my 2500 meter workout. The coach told me that I was still not getting everything out of my stroke that I once did and not following through. When I went back around lunch I concentrated on this and I think I have it back. I need to get back and have him watch me to make sure I am as efficient as I once was.

I am looking forward to my quatlity workout on the bike trainer in the morning. I was given a cadence sensor for my Garmin 405 today and I am going to try to put it on tonight so I can try it out.

I need to make it back to Earth Fare so I can get my green smoothie in. I miss those. I will update soon.