Iron Will

Unbreakable

2011-10-24T12:52:00.009-04:00

What a weekend! With our first cool front of the fall season coming through South Florida, I decided Saturday to stretch my long run from the prior weekend's 10 miles up to 16 miles. The first 9 miles went fine, but during the last 7 my feet started to ache and I wondered if my energy would last through the entire run. I got through it, but ended up wondering if I'll ever hit that easy glide through a long run that I've felt in training for other marathons and long distance triathlons. Have I crossed some fitness/age hump where I'll never hit that "I feel I can run all day" stride? Or am I simply level jumping in my long runs and not getting enough base mileage under my belt? I hope to know the answer to that in the next couple of weeks.

The big event of the weekend, however, occurred on Sunday morning's ride. When I head over to our groups usual meeting place at Downtown Bicycles, I notice some storm clouds over the beach. When I get to the strip mall, only Helen, a strong triathlete, has shown up. Helen tells me she is only riding 30 miles since she has the Miami 70.3 triathlon coming up next weekend. She is riding north on A1a to join the G-2 riding group that is starting at Atlantic Blvd. at 7:30 AM. As I think the group ride may be at too aggressive a pace given my 16 mile run the day before, I tell Helen I'm going to ride solo, and I leave her at Atlantic and A-1a.

My ride north is fairly uneventful, but for the various puddles I need to go around from prior earlier rain. I make it to my planned turn around at Spanish River Park and turn to head back south. However, as I near the Hillsboro Bridge, a light rain starts to fall that picks up to a fairly crummy rain that pretty much soaks me. "Oh well," I think, "You can only get so wet." As I ride through Lauderdale-By-the-Sea, the rain has stopped, but the roads and my bike are still pretty wet. This stretch of A-1a has a lot of condominiums and small motels along the road where a lot of out of town tourists stay. I'm always a little concerned about this area since a lot of older drivers live in the condos and the out of towners are less aware that bicyclists ride through this area on weekends.

Sure enough, a small red pickup truck facing the road, pulls into the road about one car length ahead of me without the driver noticing me. He pulls onto the road and I feel like I just dodged a bullet. I've always told my riding buddies that the problem is that these drivers just don't notice a bicyclist. We have too small a profile than they are used to looking for before pulling onto the street. I thank God the guy didn't run into me as he pulled onto the road. Little do I know, however, that I'm not through with this driver. Without hitting his breaks or putting on his turn signal, he starts a right hand turn back into the hotel parking lot...IMMEDIATELY IN FRONT OF ME!!!

I jam on my somewhat damp breaks and try turning right into the parking lot, but realize I'm screwed. I smash hard into the side of the truck's cab and am on the ground stunned before I can process what happened. A driver coming up behind us pulls off the side of the road ahead of us, jumps out of his car over to where I'm laying on the ground and asks, "Are you OK?"

"I have no idea," I say. "Let me see if I can get up." The second before I hit the truck, I was sure I was going to be severely injured. I shudder even now as I think about how badly I thought I was going to be hurt. I'm thinking broken teeth, broken bones or worse. As I pick myself up off the ground and start checking myself of broken bones or bleeding, I'm amazed. While I'm a little sore in the left shoulder and thigh, I find I'm not only not bleeding anywhere, but that I'm able to fully move my left shoulder and leg. The driver of the truck is an black guy who appears to be in his late 50s who has his wife in the truck with him. He's busy apologizing while the driver of the other vehicle tells him that you've got to look out for bicyclists along A-1a. While these two are busy talking to each other, I check my bike. Other than the front break being knocked out of alignment, my bike also appears to be OK. Not that I can ride the last 4 miles home with the break rubbing against the carbon wheel. Not to mention that I'm kind of stunned from slamming into the side of the truck. In any event, I decide against calling the police to report an accident and accept an offer of a ride home by the driver of the other vehicle.

My unfortunate take away from this incident is that I no longer feel that I can ride the open roads of A-1a. This was the second incident this year in which I'm nearly in a major accident due to a driver coming out of a parking lot onto A-1a. In the prior incident in February, a driver pulled quickly up to the rode from a big lot. Instead of breaking at the end of the lot, he pulls all the way though the bike path and up to the line that separates the bike path from the road. As the parking lot was hidden by a ficus hedge, I didn't see the car coming. I was able to slam on my breaks just in time to avoid hitting the car, but it all happened so quickly, I was unable to shout out to my wife Salome, riding behind me, that I was breaking. Our bikes collided, but we miraculously do not fall. Other biker who witnessed the incident, yelled at the driver as they rode by, but the driver took off either oblivious to what he'd done or not wanting to face our wrath. Salome gave up riding on A-1a that day and has stuck to riding our spin bike in our home gym since then.

For me, Sunday's incident was strike number three. For those that read my prior blog, you know that I was hit by a 89 year old lady during a ride in Clermont, Florida two years ago. When I think about how badly I could have been hurt in each of these incidents, I feel like Bruce Willis in the film Unbreakable in which unbeknownst to himself, he is a superhero who goes without a scratch in the various accidents he's been in throughout his life. Well, I know I'm no superhero. I may be quick to figure how to roll with the physics of a situation to minimize the impact of an unavoidable collision, or I may just be damn lucky. In any event, I've decided that too many people in my life depend on me to continue taking the risk of serious injury. While I love riding along A-1a, I no longer feel it is responsible for me to do so. I know too many people who have gotten hit and hurt to keep taking chances of a serious injury.

I can use my spin bike at home or go to spin class to keep my riding skills up for triathlons. Besides, I read that some of the professional triathletes do the bulk of their bike training indoors. I'll still ride where outdoors where I can ride without the large amount of traffic we have in South Florida, but I bid A1a goodbye. The problem with South Florida bicycling isn't that the streets are too crowded with cars. The problem is that the drivers of the cars are just not that good at driving. Too my friends who I know will continue to ride A-1a: "Let's be careful out there."

"Scotty, I Need More Power!"

2011-10-17T17:17:00.004-04:00

Ironman friend and riding buddy Maria had turned the big 5-0 a few weeks back and decided to celebrate with a 50 mile bike ride this Sunday. How could I say no to a group ride followed by a brunch? Knowing I had this ride set for Sunday, I co-ordinate with training buddy John to do a 12 to 14 mile on run on Saturday with the group that leaves out of Holiday Park at 6:30 AM.

About 8 runners gathered Saturday morning, and we start off on our run. I'm fine through about the 5 mile mark of the run, when my energy level just drops severely. As I drop off the back of the pack, I'm wondering if I'm relapsing from the cold I was getting over, am under-trained, or I'm overheating from the humidity level. As my only symptom is feeling like a limp rag, I figure I'm just short of energy. Unfortunately, I had run out of goo packs and have no way to jump start the energy stores. While I always carry cab fare in case I can't complete a long run, I decide that as I'm at the mid-point of a 10 mile loop, I should just run the next 5 miles slow and get the mileage in.

Nothing sucks worse than a long run when you don't feel the energy to complete the run. I'm not running that much slower, but the perceived effort makes it feel a lot slower. As I come to about the nine and a half mile mark, I come across John going back out for another 3 mile loop. "Turn around," John says as he passes me. "No, I've got no energy," I reply. I feel so bad about my run that I tell the other runners hanging out back at the park to let John know that I wasn't feeling well and am going home. No need for an after run, breakfast analysis of a crummy run. That afternoon, I make sure to stop by the running store and get a new case of Hammer Gels.

The next morning, as I pack my bike in my car, I wonder if I'm going to bonk on the ride. I hadn't been on a ride since before I left for Europe. This could be trouble. To make matters worse, a storm front was stationed off of the coast and the winds were predicted at 15 to 20 miles per hour. Oh well, I can't miss the "50 for 50" ride.

About 8 riders show up at Maria and we're met by 4 more as we reach A-1a. Being a bit cautious, I stay mid pack on the outbound, but take my turn pulling on the into the wind outbound ride. I'm holding my own, but wonder if I'll run out of gas again today. As we start our return ride, the wind is somewhat at our backs. I take the lead and feel pretty good about myself. Unfortunately, I'm feeling a little too good and start to drop some riders. I realize I'm a crummy lead rider, which is why I like the solo riding of triathlons. I pull back to a consistent pace and share the lead with other riders. At about mile 45, I start to lose steam and drop off the back of the pack. OK, so the dreaded energy drop off didn't occur until near the end of the ride. I glad that I was able to complete the full 50 miles. Brunch afterwards at Maria's house was fabulous.

I'm not sure what the drop in energy level was all about on Saturday, but I'm glad it didn't effect Sunday's ride. I just hope it was a fluke and I'm back on track for my next long run.

Resurfacing

2011-10-13T12:11:00.010-04:00

When you go scuba diving with friends on a boat, you take turns diving and staying on the boat. The team stays on the boat has some idea of how long the dive team will be under water diving based on an estimation of the depth of the dive and the amount of air in the tank. When a diver doesn't surface in the estimated time, the guys on the boat start to wonder. Did we miscalculate the amount of down time the divers had? Did they drift away from the boat and we need to start looking for them drifting away from the boat, but on the surface? Or worse, did they run out of air? Are they still alive?

Well, I've been away from blogging for almost six weeks. I now resurface. No worries, I'm OK. I'm still training for the Philly Marathon in late November, but I did get side tracked for awhile. First, my wife & I went on a 10 day trip to Europe stopping in Budapest, Vienna and Prague. It was connected to a Florida Bar Conference. It was a good time traveling with good friends. My only problem was that there was so much history, art and architecture to absorb that after a while, the sponge that is my brain had trouble absorbing all the information. Thus starts a new phase in which I've ordered history books on the areas which should occupy my free reading time for months, if not years to come.

I did manage to get in a run tours of both Budapest and Prague, but had to take a rain-check in running in Vienna as it was literally raining and windy the days we were in Vienna. Salome & I managed to see an opera at the state opera house in Vienna, a string quartet in Prague, and a choral concert in Prague. All in all, a great trip.

My only problem with trips to Europe is the return flights home. I seem to get over the pond OK, but after about 6 hours of flight time on the return, my respiratory and immune systems start to loose the battle of recirculated air and onslaught attack of the germs from the communal cesspool they call bathrooms in coach. By the time we make it to our connecting flight in New York for the last leg flight to Ft. Lauderdale, my throat is scratchy and my eyes are itchy. Sure enough, I come down with some Euro-virus and am out of training for 10 day.

I been back to training for the last couple of weeks and hope to be ready to roll in for the Philly Marathon. I'll try to surface more regularly just to give the "OK" signal.

28 and Counting

2011-09-01T11:30:00.005-04:00

How many marathons have you run? Most runners keep track of this number. It usually comes up in conversation when you discuss your running with runners and non-runners alike. It's hard to keep a count of the various half-marathons, 10Ks and 5Ks I've run. The same holds true for sprint and Olympic distance triathlons. However, I do keep a count of the 70.3s and the one Ironman event I've done.

It was easy to keep track of the number of marathons I ran when I could rattle them off in order and could tick them off on my fingers. As the number got larger, however, it got harder to keep count. After awhile, I kept an Excel spreadsheet with times and dates of my marathons. While the time trend-line is no longer getting shorter, I've had some great travel experiences over the years. Today, that number stands at 28. My wife thinks I should count the run portion of my Ironman in my marathon count, but I feel that's cheating. It wasn't a marathon; it was the run portion of an Ironman. In any event, I don't count it and the number stands at 28.

Several years ago, I was diagnosed with deteriorating cartilage in the big toe of my left foot. As my doctor told me, I've got arthritis. It's probably genetically based , but exasperated by over-use by running. My doc gave me the additional good news that the arthritis would start to gravitate to other parts of my body. Sure enough, in the last few years the aches have spread to both feet and my knees. When I tore the medial meniscus of my right knee late last year, the writing was on the wall. Either I stop doing long endurance events, or I face a future of less functional leg and feet joints in my later years. Currently, I can still handle distance runs, but the Aleve after a long run is more necessary these days and sometimes less effective than in the past.

As I contemplate how many more marathons I want to risk, that total number looms large. As my son Alex points out, 26 would have been a cool number to have stopped at given the marathon is a 26 mile event. I've countered that if I'd done that, I would have missed running the Paris and London Marathons. Both of these I wouldn't have missed for both the travel adventure and the beauty of each of those courses. Thus, the number stands at 28.

I have several friends that have run 30 plus marathons before they gave up the distance. That seems like a cool number to have reached. It seems to say that one has had a long and complete history of running the marathon distance. Sure, there are runners that do all 50 States; some who've run 100 marathons. That clearly will not be me. I know my marathon days are numbered, but I feel I should be able to knock off two more to get to that next plateau of 30.

With this in mind, I registered for the Philadelphia Marathon on November 20th, 2011. I've run the Philly Distance Classic, a half marathon in September, which I liked a lot. The course for the first half of the marathon is that same course. I've always had the Philly Marathon on my radar as it was always promoted as a good race at which one could achieve a Boston Qualifier. While I no longer concern myself with qualifying for Boston, I still would like to include Philly in my list of marathons I've run. As my wife, Salome grew up in Delaware, we will use it to tour both Philadelphia and her former neighborhoods in Delaware with our son Alex. If any of my marathon buddies would like to join in, let me know. Registration is still open. The more the merrier I always say.

After that, who knows. Perhaps I'll extend my Miami Half Marathon registration in January to the full marathon event. It would be my 4th Miami Marathon, which is one of my favorite local races. Either that, or I could be tempted by my other marathon buddies to run a foreign marathon in Europe or Asia. But after hitting number 30, I'll probably start to focus on half marathons, 10 milers or 10K races with national reputations. One thing is for sure: I'm coming to towards the end of the line for my marathon career.

Team RWB

2011-08-28T11:58:00.001-04:00

If there was one word I could used to describe my friend Mandy Miller it would be "dedicated." Mandy is a multiple Ironman Triathlete, Marathoner, Ultra-marathoner and even an Ultra-Ironman. She's done the Marathon De Sables, a six day marathon across the Sahara Desert in Morocco. She's done Kona, Ironman France and ultra marathon's of varying distances. The list goes on and on, just like her. She keeps going and going like the Energizer rabbit.

Mandy recently dedicated herself to being co-race director for a series of running events being put on by Team RWB, which stands for Team Red, White & Blue. Team RWB is a 501(c)(3) charity that does fund raising through sponsorship of athletes at marathons, triathlons and other endurance events in a fashion similar to Team-In-Training or the Lance Armstrong Foundation. The mission of Team RWB is to to transform the way wounded veterans are reintegrated into society when they return from combat. Here is a link to the charities web-site: http://teamrwb.com/

In any event, Mandy decided to dedicate her efforts to a series of runs that will memorialize the victims of the 9/11 tragedies in New York City, Washington DC and rural Pennsylvania. Mandy will be the race director and a runner at the run in Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania event will contain a 9.11 mile and a 5K memorial run to honor those who lost their lives on 9/11/01 on Flight 93 in Shanksville, PA. The 9.11 mile loop will pass through the Flight 93 National Memorial.

This last Saturday, Mandy and some friends hosted a fundraiser for these runs at the Parrot Lounge on Fort Lauderdale Beach. Many of Mandy's friends from the triathlon and running community turned out in support of Mandy's efforts to raise awareness of the needs of returning veterans and to promote these memorial running events. All I can say is that I'm proud of my friend Mandy and was happy to give my support to her worthy efforts. The fund raiser was a fun event.

Best of luck to Mandy and other runners raising funds to run these 9/11 memorial events. Anyone wishing to join in any of the runs or wishing to donate to the entity can get race information at the Team RWB web-site listed above.

Gererantion Next

2011-08-17T11:09:00.008-04:00

One of the gifts that we can give to the next generation is sharing our interests with them. In doing so, they learn to enjoy and appreciate the things that we enjoy and appreciate. This was brought home to me yesterday by two incidents. First, my son Alex was looking to do a fun activity before he started middle school on Wednesday. I suggested the Florida History Museum in Miami. I had taken his older brother, John to this museum when he was about the same age as Alex and remembered it as a good history museum. Sure enough, Alex loved the two hours spent at the museum. With the exhibits featuring Spanish explorers, Caribbean pirates, Seminole Wars, Key West salvagers, Cuban cigar makers, and the Flagler railroad, this Florida history museum captured a lot of what he had covered in his social studies classes over the last few years. I'm a bit of a history buff, and particularly enjoy Florida history. It was gratifying to see my son show similar appreciation for this small, but very interesting history museum.

The second instance of sharing an interest with the next generation was my training buddy, John Clidas showing his nephew Andrew the ropes of triathlon training. Andrew, a 17 year old going into his senior year in high school, was visiting Fort Lauderdale from Washington State. John took him to the Lauderdale Yacht Club to work on his swim skills and had him do several swim workouts. He also showed him the ropes of riding a road bike and got him used to riding with clip on bike shoes. On Sunday, I accompanied John and Andrew on a 30 mile ride and did my best to give him tips on riding in groups. It all culminated on Tuesday, when John had Andrew do a self scheduled sprint triathlon. As I e-mailed John after his e-mail about their workout, I've heard of the Grateful Dead song "Uncle John's Band," but I wasn't aware that there was an event called "Uncle John's Sprint Triathlon." Andrew seems to have enjoyed the training and doing "Uncle John's Sprint Triathlon." I think we've recruited another participant to our sport. Below is a reprint of Uncle John's e-mail:

How 'bout a quick shout-out to nephew Andrew for completing his first "un-official sprint triathlon" this morning. We need to encourage our up and comer triathletes --- right? Can any of you remember when you first got started in this crazy sport??

7 days ago, Andrew was a "survival only" swimmer. With the help of Sandy Clobus and her expert coaching this past week, this morning, Andrew completed the first leg of "Uncle John's un-official Sprint Tri" with an approx. 1/2 mile swim at the LYC pool (about 26 minutes in the water). 7 days ago, Andrew had never ridden on a road bike and had never ridden in "clip-in" pedals. This morning, after exiting the pool and being held back by Uncle John's slow 6min 30 sec. T-1, Andrew completed a 12.09 mile bike ride in just under 50 minutes (gross time -- we were stopped by lights and traffic quite a few times). By the way --- Andrew also completed 3 thirty mile bike rides during the week. Lastly, after a complicated T-2 of 5min and 27 seconds (we had to bring the bikes back up and into my condo), Andrew completed a 5K in 25:34 (8:13/mile pace).

Total time --- 1:52:40 for Uncle John's Un-Official Sprint Tri (1/2, 12, 5K).

Well, needless to say -- not only was I impressed with Andrew's tenacity and perseverance this week, I was also incredibly proud of him and look forward to hearing about his first official sprint triathlon experience back home in Olympia, WA.

Way to go Andrew!!!

John

9/11 Remeberance

2011-08-02T11:07:00.001-04:00

A few months ago, I saw a request on the Runners' World web-site seeking stories from runners whose running was impacted by the events of 9/11. I immediately thought of my Ironman training buddy, John Clidas. When I first met John in 2000, we were both serving on our church's governing council. At the time, I was running pretty much solely for fitness other than an annual Thanksgiving 10K that my brother Dave and I ran in remembrance of our brother Jim, a biker/runner/triathlete who had of cancer. In the summer of 2001, I noted that John had lost some weight and was looking pretty fit. I asked him what his workout regime was that got him in such good shape. "I'm training for the New York City Marathon," he replied. Having always talked of one day running a marathon, I was both impressed and a little envious.

In the uncertain and somewhat scary world immediately after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, John was uncertain whether the NYC Marathon would be held that year, and if it was held, whether he should risk going and participating in the event. As you may recall, in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, many wondered whether terrorists would try to launch another attack on US soil, and New York City, being the financial capital of the world, loomed large as a potential target for another terrorist strike. John ultimately decided to go on the trip and run the marathon. I always felt his telling of his experience running the NYC Marathon was moving. Thus, when I saw the Runners' World request for stories related to 9/11, I called John and suggested he submit his story to Runners' World. The editors chose his story as one of several to publish in the magazine's September issue marking the 10 year anniversary of that tragic day. I've told John how ironic I find it that I've been knocking out blog entries for several years to little acclaim, while he gets published in Runners' World on his first submission. Of course, I offer my whole-hearted congratulations to John on his getting published. I also feel a bit of pride in recognizing a good story and encouraging him to write and submit it for publication. Way to go John!

For those of you who subscribe to Runner's World, check out page 75 of the September issue to see running buddy John Clidas' recollection of running the NYC Marathon after the 9/11 terrorists attacks. If you're not a subscriber, check out the article on-line at the Runners' World web-site link by clicking here.

That's the Brakes

2011-07-31T21:22:00.000-04:00

I did the Huntington's Disease Sprint Triathlon this weekend at the Miami Marine Stadium. This is my favorite venue for triathlons in South Florida due to its protected bay swim and its tree shaded partial trail run. I hadn't done an event there yet this year. In fact, other than the the Florida 70.3 in mid-May, I hadn't participated in any athletic event this summer. It was time to get back into action.

Knowing I hadn't focused on swimming recently, I knew I had to get back in the pool. I tried to get together earlier in the week with a training buddy, but we couldn't coordinate a workout until Thursday. I spent a total of 30 minutes doing laps that morning. On Friday, my back was a little sore from the swim, which told me I wasn't in ideal swim shape. While I chastised myself for ignoring the pool, I figured it was better than going into Sunday morning's swim cold.

Sunday morning, I pick up my friend Jerry and we head down to Miami. We pick up our numbers, set up in transition and await the start. The Olympic athletes go off first, then those of us in the sprint waves. Buddy Tony Whittaker is also in my wave. I start the swim and try my best to find my own space. I'm that comfortable with my breathing, but tell myself to simply focus on my technique. As I make the turn around the last buoy to had back to shore, I notice Tony off to my side. Either my form is not as bad as I feared, or we are both off of our game.

As I ride my bike, I don't seem to be able to maintain a decent average speed. I seem slower than usual, but keep plugging away. As I come back to transition I think that I must be off my game due to lack of longer rides.

On the run, I start to feel better about myself. I seem to be picking up speed as the run went on. I see my friends Jerry and Tony well ahead of me on the run and know that there is no catching up with them. Both Tony & Jerry had been riding long and hard over the summer months. I figured they killed me on the bike. After crossing the finish line, we find out that Jerry took an age group award. Another friend Helen placed first in her age group in the Olympic. Thus, we stick around for the awards in the hot sun.

After packing up and driving back home, I start to unpack my bike and gear from my SUV. As I check out my bike, I note that the front break is rubbing on the carbon fiber hub. Aha! So that's the culprit. Either that or I need to get back to a spin class.

Ode to the Tour

2011-07-28T16:14:00.005-04:00

My wife Salome turned to me Monday evening and announced, "I miss the Tour." "Yeah, me too," I replied. It hasn't been a week since the Tour de France is over and we're experiencing withdrawal already.

We started following the Tour during a Summer vacation to Greece in 2000. Our young son, Alex was six months old. We'd awake in each morning and turn on the Tour as a way to start our mornings. It was Lance Armstrong's first year defending his title. It was a year in which Lance battled Jan Ullrich and Marco "the Pirate" Pantani. Lance appears to let Pantani take a win atop Mont Ventoux, which upsets Pantani to no end. We were hooked. We've watched the Tour every year since.

This year, my son Alex, now age 11, finally started absorbing the rules, rolls and games that go on the fight for the yellow, green and poke-a-dot jerseys. He listened to Phil Liggett & Paul Sherwen comment on the personalities and strategies, and started to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the various riders and teams. He started appreciating the beauty of the HTC train getting ready to launch Mark Cavendish on his sprint for the finish line. He understood how much effort Thomas Voeckler gave in trying to keep the yellow jersey for yet another unexpected day. He caught how the Schleck brothers worked as a team in the Alps, how Alberto Contador recruited Sammy Sanchez to work together while being from different teams, and how alone Cadel Evans was at the front of the Peleton as he tried to reel in Andy Schleck on Stage 17 in the Alps.

And, oh the crashes this year. It had me referring to this years' Tour as "The Year of the Wreck." While the number of crashes may not have been more than in other years, they were particularly horrifying to see on the screen. Many team leaders ending their tours on wet windy roads that dump them head over heals into ravines or worse.

In the end, Cadel Evans road a spectacular time trail on Saturday and was a worthy winner of this years tours. Seeing team HTC once again lead out Mark Cavendish for one last time on the Champs-Élysées was icing on the cake. No doubt Andy Schleck will one day win the Tour, and no doubt Contandor will win additional grand tours if the powers that be don't kick him out of cycling for a while. But to see 34 year old Cadel Evans, an old guy in this sport, win the Tour was very satisfying.

As for this old guy, I've got a sprint triathlon set up for this weekend. As I've told my friends, it's just too hot to go much longer at this time of year.

In other triathlon news, my Alaskan buddy, Mark Schroeder did his first 70.3 event, the Vineman 70.3 in Sonoma, California. When I looked up his results, I decided to compare them to my results from doing Vineman 70.3 last summer. While I was quicker on the bike and he was quicker on the run, we came in at the exact same time. To the second. Of course, I've now challenged him to a head to head event to break the tie. Congratulations to Mark and his wife Stephanie on their completing the Vineman 70.3 course.

Congratulations too go out to buddy Maria Price on completing Ironman Frankfort this last Sunday in 12 hours and change. Winds, rain, and intestinal discomfort could not stop this Ironman. Way to go Maria. I can't wait to hear your stories in person.

Life's Too Fast....And Too Short

2011-07-21T11:26:00.011-04:00

Sometimes life gets so busy, with so much happening, that it all becomes impossible to chronicle in a blog. That is what has happened to me this past month. A regular reader of my blog asked me why I haven't posted in such a long while, so here is my effort to catch up.

On the training/athletic event front, I was in limbo. My friends Jerry and Miranda were off to do Ironman Coeur d'Alene, which I had pulled myself from based on doctor's orders and how my knee felt at Florida 70.3 in mid-May. Buddy John Clidas was off to Kenya to do the Safari Marathon and climb Mount Kilimanjaro. Feeling a little left out and it being too hot to go long outside, I retreated to my gym and started doing speed work on the treadmill. I figured it I wasn't going long, I'd try to go faster.

I figured wrong. I was doing great for a couple of speed sessions. On my third session, I decided to kick it up a notch. I was feeling fine until I felt a twinge in my left ham string. I knew I'd blown it. I slowed as quickly as I could, but the damage was done. I'd pulled the my hamstring. I spent the next week feeling foolish and following my friends Ironman events on-line. Then, my mother-in-law Kiki suddenly passed away.

Kiki lived with my wife Salome & I. She was a poet, an amazing cook, and like a second mother to me. Kiki had lived with us since her husband John died from cancer in 2003. She helped raise our young son Alex and was intricately woven into our daily lives. While 78 at her passing, she never had what you would consider an old age. She loved to do gardening and was re-planting a bonsai tree the morning she died. We'll miss her greatly.

In the aftershock of Kiki's passing, I started watching this year's Tour de France. This appears to be the year of the wreck. While there are always crashes in the first week of the Tour, this years wrecks seemed more dangerous and seemed to take out more team leaders than in past years. The car swerving into the group of 5 breakaway riders throwing one of them into a barbed wire fence was particularly scary to watch.

After watching a week of crashes, I get an e-mail picture from buddy Tony Whitaker showing off his road rash from his Saturday morning ride. It rained pretty good on Friday night, and the Boca Raton bridge was still slick. He ended up fishtailing and going down hard, taking a nice chunk out of his helmet. More scary was our friend Jerry coming up behind him. Jerry ended up doing a flip over the top of Tony. One of my friends could have been seriously hurt.

The next morning, I was suiting up to go out for a ride with friends. However, before exiting my closet, I started to have a bit of an anxiety attack. With the unexpected death of my mother-in-law, the week of wrecks at the Tour, and my friends' crash the day before, I suddenly felt that it wasn't safe to go out on the road. I realized this was all coincidence, but I just didn't feel safe going out. I decided to stay indoors and do my spin bike.

The next weekend, I returned to the road with my riding buddies. After watching the Tour for a second week and watching Thomas Voeckler give his heart and soul to defending the yellow jersey, I had to get back out on the road. It felt good to be on the road with my buddies again. I also came across a rider who is originally from France named Laurent. We spoke of the Tour and how we each thought the various riders were doing.

My hamstring felt mostly recovered and I returned to running. I made it safely through a 5K run and decided it was time to sign up for an event. Not being involved in an athletic contest since mid-May, I felt like I was falling away from my athletic lifestyle. I needed to get back in the game. Thus, this week I signed up for the Huntington's Disease sprint triathlon for July 31st.
Several of my tri friends also signed up, so it looks like we'll have a fun time.

Balancing Act

2011-06-13T13:30:00.005-04:00

As I touted my wisdom of doing shorter, more intense workouts in my last blog post, I quickly learned a valuable lesson. You can't go short and fast for too long and expect to be able to go long.

A buddy is about to leave on a trip to Africa to do the Safaricom Marathon in Kenya with Marathon Tours. Saturday morning was his last long run before departing on the trip. I agreed to accompany him on his last long run along A1a. I hadn't run long since the half marathon run as part of Florida 70.3 on May 15th. Not so long ago, I figured. With the treadmill speed work I been doing, I figured I was good to go. I ended up running about 12.5 miles. We ran at a reasonable 9 to 9 1/2 minute per mile pace. While I was feeling a little gassed the last mile or so, I made it through feeling fine.

Well, the next day, I slept in. I had insomnia the night before the run, so I figured I was making up for lost sleep. However, as the day wore on, I realized my leg muscles were sore. My legs needed some recovery time from that long run. It was like going from lifting 50 pound weights to lifting 100 pound weights. There is a price to be paid the day after a step up in effort. Thus, I may have to tweak my summer training schedule to keep within striking distance of a long run. Perhaps an occasional mid week 10K run to keep the long runs within reach. Meanwhile, I'll try to keep doing some faster stuff on the treadmill. The experiment of one continues.

Going Shorter

2011-06-09T11:07:00.010-04:00

I read with interest Runner's World editor Amby Burfoot's post about his mistake in boosting his training mileage by 300%. Amby is both a better runner and writer than I'll ever be. He won the Boston Marathon in 1968, has run more miles and races than I could ever hope to run, and is a professional writer. Me, I'm a age group runner turned triathlete competing against my buddies and my prior times. As for writing, this blog is about as far as it goes. What we do share in common is both of us tearing in the meniscus in our knees. In deciding whether to have surgery or allow the meniscus to heal itself, I read Amby's prior from last summer about his knee surgery. Amby went in for the surgery, I opted to allow the meniscus to heal naturally.

Both of us had to take time off of our training, and both of us had to be careful in coming back into race shape. I was forced into six to eight week layoff of training before trying to quickly ramp up to marathon shape for the London Marathon the third week of April. I then had to quickly ramp up to 70.3 triathlon shape for the Florida 70.3 in mid-May. The comeback was a fine balance of pushing myself to the limit of my abilities without pushing so hard that I blew out my rehabilitating knee.

During these two events, I did feel some knee pain and it caused me to keep from doing either event full-bore. Since then, I've decided to ease up in my mileage to give the knee adequate time to fully recover. As endurance athletes, I believe we tend to keep adding to the work load, going longer and longer in our training. It is the old "what doesn't kill me, makes me stronger" mentality. With an injury, I think it best to take time to heal, then slowly build back up. That's where I am now. With no events that I'm scheduled for until October, I've backed off mileage and am doing 5K treadmill workouts for a little more speed. Last Sunday, with most of my friends either doing killer long rides for an Ironman event or out of town, I decided to do a sprint brick. It felt good to keep it shorter and a bit quicker.

From reading Amby's post, it looks like he went the other way. He tripled his weekly training mileage from 25 mile per week up to 75 miles per week. While his knee was fine for the first 6 weeks, it started to bother him. His meniscus appears fine, but the area surrounding the knee hurt. He began to hobble through his runs and now regrets breaking the 10% rule that says to only increase your mileage by 10% per week of training. I think Amby has relearned an old rule the hard way. I too noted after my knee recovery that it wasn't the meniscus that bothered me; it was the area above and below the knee that got sore. I think there may be a compensating fatigue in the area surrounding a healing injury.

In any event, Amby's blog entry reaffirms to me that I'm doing the right thing in backing off and keeping my workouts shorter for these summer months. I'm hoping that this approach brings the knee back fully for the fall. With the focus away from endurance and more on quickness, perhaps I'll get a little faster. That's the hope anyway.

Driftin' & Dreamin'

2011-06-03T14:51:00.006-04:00

"Compass card is spinning, helm is swinging to and fro. Oh, where is the dog star, oh, where's the moon. You're a lost sailor, been away too long at sea." Lost Sailor - The Grateful Dead

With the decision to forgo Ironman Coeur d'Alene, I've become adrift in my training. I never realized how much I depend on scheduled events to dictate my workouts and training until I had nothing on the books. My next scheduled event is Austin 70.3 on October 23; but that's it, and that's a long way off. It's getting a bit too toasty here in South Florida to go too long if you don't have an event forcing you to go long. Thus, I've kept my weekend long rides under 40 miles and my long runs under 10 miles. Meanwhile, a good number of my friends are training for marathons, Ironman events, or ultra events. While I feel a little guilty that I'm not training long, I don't feel guilty enough to train long in the heat.

After a couple of weeks adrift, the wandering mind starts to ponder the summer and fall possibilities. Our local summer triathlon series of sprint & Olympic distance events sponsored by Mack Cycle announced that they are moving the series from Crandon Park on Key Biscayne to Miami Marine Stadium. While the bike ride is essentially the same, I consider this a brilliant move. Miami Marine Stadium's swim area is in a protected bay, which keeps the water fairly calm even on a rough surf day. Also, the run is on a tree shaded trail. Thus, I think I'll sign up for one or two of these events to give me a focus for the Summer.

The mind then turns to the fall. Should I sign up for a fall marathon? NYC and Marine Corps sold out, but Philly in late November is still open. My doctor would like to see me give up marathons completely, but I'm not sure I'm ready to hang up the running shoes just yet.

Then the mind turns to the spring of 2012. I've had the Rome Marathon in mid-March penciled in for the last couple of years. However, as registration for going with Marathon Tours is now open, I'm not sure how long of a trip to plan. My wife, Salome, has never been to Rome. Do I plan a week trip including a side trip to Florence? Or do I make it a longer trip and include the Amalfi coast and maybe Venice? Any of my running friends have an interest in coordinating a trip? Let me know.

Recovery Weekend

2011-05-23T10:29:00.011-04:00

Given that I was coming off last weekend's 70.3, I didn't do much during the week. My only workout was Thursday, in which I did my spin bike for 15 minutes, followed by 2 miles on the treadmill.

Saturday, was a planned group ride. A couple of riders were going 80 miles, so they started early and did a loop south on A1a. I got to Sunrise & A1a at 6:50 AM and waited on everyone to arrive. Runners were warming up for a 5K event set to go off at 7 AM, which I jokingly referred to as the "Rapture Day 5K." Our group arrived and I rode 40 of their 80 miles. Sunday, finding that the world had not in fact ended, I got out for a 10K run. The right knee was still a little sore from last weekend's race, but nothing to complain about.

Since I don't think my knee can handle a full Ironman, I canceled my scheduled appearance at Ironman Coeur d'Alene. Thus, my schedule now stands open for the summer. While several of my friends are hard at training for Coeur d'Alene or a summer marathon, for the first time in years I have no real training schedule. Perhaps it's time to simply ride, run and swim for the enjoyment of the exercise itself. Of course, I'm sure this will last all of a week or so before I find another event to sign up to do.

I watched 2 mountain stages of the Giro d'Italia this weekend. All I can say is Alberto Contador is going to be hard to beat at this year's Tour de France. The dude is killing the other climbers in the mountains. I tried to watch a little of the Tour of California, but I guess I'm a traditionalist. There is nothing like seeing riders battle it out in the Alps. Although, I think these mountains were the Dolomites. In any event, it was Europe. I can't wait until July.

Florida 70.3 Race Report

2011-05-16T10:01:00.015-04:00

Going into Florida 70.3 in Orlando, I knew two things. The race has a reputation for a very hot run course, and that I was not ideally trained for the event. I had come off a knee injury which kept me out of training for 6 weeks in January and February; had to ramp up first for the London Marathon the third week of April, and then had to switch over to triathlon training. Not ideal.

Pre-race. My buddy Jerry and I drove up to Orlando early Saturday morning. We didn't figure in the extra time that it takes to be bussed over to the race site and so ended up spending most of Saturday afternoon getting signed in, shopping at the expo, and getting our bikes into the transition area. What normally takes a couple of hours took about 4 1/2 hours. We finally checked into our hotel at about 5:30 PM and were able to meet with our friend Maria for a pasta dinner around 7 PM. Then it was back to the hotel for pre-race preparation and off to bed.

We awoke Sunday morning to ski filling thunder and lightning. A front was moving through the area. We turned on the local weather forecast. It looked like it would just clear by the time the transition area would close. Not wanting to stand around in the rain, we delayed our depart for the parking area a bit. By the time we drove, parked and got bused over to the staging area, time was getting tight. We got body marked and headed to our bikes. I lose sight of Jerry and don't end up seeing him until after the race. Unfortunately, the race organizers decided to stick to their schedule, and I found myself barely able to set up my transition area before the call to leave the transition area goes out. I am able to pump my back tire, but I'm having trouble getting a reading on my front tire. I pump, but the needle swings wildly, letting me know the pump is not adequately connected to the tube valve. I try to reconnect and re-pump with the same result. At this point, I'm being told to leave the transition area. I put the pump in some nearby bushes and hoped I had enough air in the front tube.

Swim. I meet up with buddy John, who is in the same wave as me. Having hit the port-o-potties just beforehand, we don't have long before our wave is off. Because it was on a lake, it was calm and should have been a piece of cake. But because I didn't get enough swim practice in before the event, my time wasn't what it should have been. I probably cost myself an extra 10 minutes on this leg.

T1. As I enter transition, I hit was I think is the lap button to switch over to timing the transition. It turns out I hit the stop/start button instead. I get to my bike and decide I'd better recheck the front tire. Good thing too, as when I find my pump and attach the valve, I note that I only had 80 pounds of pressure in the tire. I pump to 120, gear up and head to the bike out. As I'm ready to hit the lap button for the bike leg, I realize my goof. I start the watch and double click the lap button to get to the bike leg timing.

Bike. The winds from the front that blew through that morning gave us a nice head wind for the first 5 miles or so. For some reason, my legs were tight early on anyway, so it didn't make for a great start of the bike. At an out and back turn around, I think I spot my buddy John Clidas about a half mile ahead of me. I shout out his name, but get no response. After a while, my legs get warmed up and I start enjoying the ride. However, as I didn't get in as many long rides before the event as I probably should have, my neck starts to get sore during the second half of the ride. I'm also getting sore being in the saddle. By the time I completed the ride, I was dying to get off the bike.

T2. As I rack my bike and start to change, I note that my socks are dry and comfortable, so I skip a planned sock change. I get on my running shoes, restock my nutrition supplies, and head out for the run.

Run: As I started the run, I was surprised at how good my feet felt in my running shoes. I don't know why this was, but they just felt comfortable and the socks felt good. My feeling good was not to last. The first mile, which is supposed to feel awkward, felt find. However, between mile 2 and 3, I began to feel resistance and soreness in my right knee-cap. By the end of mile three, I begin to worry that I could re-injure the knee. I give very serious consideration to dropping out of the race. Since the 3 loop course are about 4 1/4 miles each, I decide to ease up on the pace and take walk breaks at both the aid stations and the mile markers. This seems to ease the discomfort. By the time I get back to the transition area, I think that I can make a second lap if I'm careful. Near the end of the second lap, I spot my buddy John on a turn around. As I'm about a half mile ahead of him, I assume he's on his 3rd lap and I'm way behind. I see him at about the same place again on the 3rd lap and realize I probably got ahead of him in T2. Long story short, the knee holds up, but is not happy. I finish a couple of minutes ahead of John and get to see him and another racer bolt for the finish line in final kicks of mutual encouragement.

We all meet up after the finish and congratulate each other on our finishes. Our friend Maria took 4th in her age group, so we were excited for her. I ran into another tri-buddy, Eric Levy, who also did a stellar job. Jerry did well, but wanted to do slightly better. He was doing the event as a step up IM Coeur D'Alene. This was also supposed to be a training event for me to do Coeur D'Alene, but that was before the knee injury. At this point, I was happy to just finish the course.

Lessons Learned. I learned a couple of lessons from this course. First, if you don't put in sufficient training, you can finish, but you'll have more aches along the way. Second, my knee can no longer handle the stress of a long ride followed by a long run. Thus, IM Coeur D'Alene is out of the question. In fact, if I want to avoid re-injuring my knee, 70.3 events are a bad idea. Thus, I'll probably stick to sprint and Olympic distances in the future. Who knows, maybe I'll get in more interval and speed work and actually get faster at these shorter distances.

Ooooh....My Aching Back

2011-05-10T11:54:00.005-04:00

Many of my fellow triathletes are fond of saying that swim fitness comes fastest with the least amount of training. While I tend to agree with this sentiment, I may have put this off for too long to get comfortable for this weekend's 70.3 in Orlando. "Comfortable" being the operative word.

As I stated in a previous post, I'm just barely getting into shape for a 70.3. Coming off a knee injury in the early part of the year, I had to devote most of my training time to getting back to marathon level fitness for the late April London Marathon. Coming back from London with a virus, I wasn't able to get back to training until a couple of weekends ago. While I got in a couple of 60 mile rides and some runs, I kept failing to get back to the swim. I hate lap swimming, preferring open water swims. On the days that I was healthy and planned a swim, the ocean was just too rough. When offered a pool swim last Sunday, I couldn't pull myself away from the Heat-Celtics game. Finally, this Sunday, I agreed to a pool swim with a couple of buddies.

I decided to swim for 45 minutes, about the time I figured I'd be in the water this coming Sunday for the 1.2 mile lake swim. Not having seriously swam since last October's Miami 70.3, it took me a few laps to find my form. Soon, I felt like I hadn't dropped off swimming. I finished my 45 minutes and felt good about myself. That is until Monday.

When you lift weights or do another activity that you haven't done in a while, there is a tendency to be sore the next day. Monday, my back muscles kept reminding me that I haven't been doing that freestyle arm motion on a regular basis. Ouch! I took the day off from my scheduled long run, opting to simply rest up from Sunday's ride and swim.

I was going to hit the open water this morning, but South Florida was covered in smoke from an Everglades lightning strike fire. I figured an indoor treadmill speed workout was preferable to smoke inhalation. A shame too, as the ocean was calm this morning. I can only hope the ocean remains calm the next couple of mornings, so I can get in another 45 minute swim before Sunday's event. OK, lesson learned. Don't give the swim short shrift.

Is Running Long Sunday A Bad Idea?

2011-05-04T11:37:00.009-04:00

I scan the Active.com Triathlete e-mails that pop up in my in-box for occasionally interesting articles. A recent entry caught my eye entitled "Why You Should Stop Running Long on Sundays." The article by Rich Strauss, a coach with Endurance Nation, suggested that a long run on Sunday following a long Saturday ride is a bad idea. While Rich acknowledges that many, if not most, triathletes follow this weekend warrior pattern, he argues that it is bad training. The argument goes that after two consecutive days of long workouts, the next few days are spent recovering from the hard weekend and we lose quality training days during the first half of the week.

I've trained both ways. When I train for longer events, I tend to ride long on the weekend, then do my long run mid week. However, for shorter training, I tend to bunch the long workouts in on the weekend. Its usually simply a matter of the weekends being the most convenient time to do these longer workouts. There is probably a lot to be said for this separation of long workouts. I think I'll try to put this in practice. Anyone else doing this, or do most of us bunch up the long workouts on the weekend because it is most convenience from a work schedule standpoint?

I have the same question about brick workouts. No doubt a mile run after a long ride helps us train for transitions, but do longer brick runs after a ride do much for our overall fitness. I do them, but I wonder if they make me fitter, or simply more fatigued during the following days. Would I be better off holding off the run for the next day or two and do it faster?

2 + 2 = 70.3

2011-05-02T09:48:00.007-04:00

When I was scheduling my Spring events, I figured the I'd gear up for the London Marathon, then come home to hammer on the bike and swim in preparation for Florida 70.3 on May 15th. The theory is that training for one endurance event will get you to a fitness plateau that you can then use as a base to train for the next event. This worked well for me last year, when I came back from doing the Paris Marathon and did the St. Anthony's Triathlon two weeks later.

Well, great plans have a way of coming undone. Coming back from London for the London Marathon, I brought back a nice little virus/flu that had me feeling weak and tired for 2 weeks. As I was sitting in my office last Wednesday still feeling wiped out, I thought: "There's no way I can get ready for this half-ironman." I called my buddy Jerry who I'd planned to ride up to Orlando with and share a room and told him not to count on me. I left a voice mail with another buddy John, also signed up for the event, and said I was likely to pull myself from the event. I spoke with John later and said I would try to get some workouts in over the weekend to see if I could salvage the situation.

As the weekend approached, the e-mail announcing our usual group ride failed to appear. When I sent out an e-mail to find out who was riding Saturday morning, I got back varying responses that indicated everyone was doing something different. I was on my own for a Saturday ride. That turned out to be a blessing. By riding solo, I not only was able to warm up at my own pace, but I was able to get back in the groove of the solo ride of a triathlon event. On my outbound ride, I felt like my fitness was off. I was averaging between 17.5 to 18 at best. To my pleasant surprise, I'd been fighting a headwind and was able to ride from 20 to 23 on the return route.

Sunday morning, my alarm went off at 6 AM. I awoke feeling tired and a little sore from Saturday's ride. I decided to go back to bed and slept until 9:30 AM. I cut the lawn and swam with my son, Alex in our pool. Later in the day, I made tentative plans to do a pool swim with buddy John at 4:30 PM. He was supposed to call and confirm. He didn't call until 5:30 PM, in the middle of the 3rd quarter of the Heat-Celtics game. I bowed out and wished him a good swim. I did go out for a run at 7 PM to make up for my sleep in that morning. A bit of a slog of a run in the evening humidity, but I completed the 10 miles I'd planned for the morning.

With only one more weekend to get in long training, It's still a question as to whether I can get race ready in such a short period. I'm hoping to get in an open water swim or two before the event. I'll also try to get in shorter workouts during the next two weeks. I hope my energy level continues to improve and two long workouts on two consecutive weekends is enough for me to at least complete a 70.3.

London Marathon Race Report

2011-04-25T09:05:00.013-04:00

Sorry it's taken me so long to post a race report on the London Marathon. I came home with a virus that kept me lethargic for a week. Anyway, here goes:

Friday. Salome & I arrived in London Friday morning, got to our hotel, the Crown Plaza St. James, near Buckingham Palace, and called our friends Bob & Melissa from Akron. We arranged to go to the Expo that afternoon. I love a big race expo for the sheer excitement of the crowd of pre-race runners. Not to mention all the race gear for sale. Both Salome & I dropped quite a few pounds on London Marathon gear. The Expo had on display some of the wildest costumes from prior years runners on display. The London Marathon is the biggest fund raising marathon in the world with most British runners raising funds for some charity. The most unusual costume on display was the deep sea diving suit complete with lead boots. Of course, the guy running in the suit took over 5 days to complete the course.

After the Expo, we hurried back to the hotel for the Marathon Tours cocktail party. In addition to Bob & Melissa, we reconnected with our friends Jerry, Lupe & Maggie from Albuquerque, and Linda Mueller from Chicago, and met several other fun and interesting people from around the US who traveled to London for the marathon. Like me, Linda was completing her tour of the World Marathon Majors. We also got to spend some time talking to our Marathon Tours guides Scott Guillemette and Jacqui Kaufman.

Saturday. Saturday morning I went for a 4 mile run with Bob & Melissa to shake the legs out. I always love doing a run of a city to get the lay of the land. After breakfast, Salome & I went for a walk around London with Bob & Melissa. We made it to the London Eye, but the line to get on the ride looked way too long, so we walked back across the Thames and towards Trafalgar Square for lunch at a pub. We returned to the hotel in the early afternoon and ate an early dinner at the hotel's restaurant. Then, it was off to bed.

Race Day. Race morning, Salome & I got dressed into our costumes. Salome was dressing up as a Hawaiian hula girl and I dressed up in my Wayne's World get up from last year's Paris Marathon run. However, without buddy Jacques "Garth" Watters to accompany me, my heart wasn't into the spirit of the get up. I did get into the spirit of fun in the lobby as we gathered with other runners to load onto the buses for the start. At the start area, we hung out with Bob & Melissa; however, since Bob was in a corral ahead of us, Salome, Melissa & I huddled together at the start. Our friend Linda from Chicago had a connection with a friend involved in race organization, and were given race committee vests that allowed them "backstage access" to wherever they wanted to go at the start. Little did they know that he had slotted them to walk the pro men to the start line. Thus, they got to see the elites start from a very nice viewing area.

As we stood in our corral, I offered to try to pace Melissa to a sub 4 hour marathon. As she didn't want to hinder my run, she declined the offer. This was a blessing as I thought I might be writing a check my body couldn't cover. As we stood waiting for the starting pistol to fire, I became too warm in my flannel shirt. Thus, just before the start pistol fired, I removed the shirt and threw it to the side.

Once the race started, it took us about 2 minutes to cross the start line. Not bad considering the size of the crowd. London splits the start into 3 groups starting on 3 different roads. Thus, the start isn't too much of a problem given that there are about 40,000 runners in the marathon. However, the crowd of runners was quite thick and the roads were fairly narrow, causing surges and slow downs as the various start groups converged at different points along the first 5 miles of the course.

By mile 1, I tossed my blow up guitar as being a nuisance to carry. Around mile 3, I found the wig was getting too hot, so off it went. I thought I'd keep the Wayne's World cap on, but found that it also made my head sweat too much. So near mile 4, I went to the side of the road and gave it to a young spectator cheering us on. Speaking of spectators, the entire course was lined at least 3 people deep the entire 26.2 miles of the course. If you like a good cheering audience, then London is the marathon for you.

Coming off my knee injury, I'd planned to take short walk breaks at every mile. However, with the severe crowding of the course, it wasn't safe to try to take a walk break. I didn't dare try until mile 8 for fear of being run over. From there on I did take walk breaks, but it was a risky proposition until the last 6 miles of the course. I'd have to say that as far as the size of a marathon goes, I think London reaches a tipping point where the size is simply too big. With so many runners on the course, you find it difficult to run your desired pace and are constantly being jostled by other runners.

My second thought about the race was that the first half in southern London could have been in almost any major European city. There didn't appear to be anything special about running in the neighborhoods in London south of the Thames. It wasn't until I approached the Tower Bridge just before the half-marathon point that I started to get excited and enjoy the course. However, crossing Tower Bridge was exhilarating. As you looked left, you realized you were running by the Tower of London. However, as I hit the half marathon mark, I noticed that I was a couple of minutes over the 2 hour mark. Knowing that I've never done a negative split in a marathon, I knew then it was unlikely that I would break the 4 hour mark. Thus, I decided at that point to pull back on my effort somewhat and try to make sure that my knee would not give me trouble for the second half of the race. From miles 14 to 16, you could look across the street to see the leaders coming on the return route of the out and back portion of the course. As all the guys that I saw were pasty-white Englishmen, I was pretty sure I'd missed the lead Kenyan and Ethiopian runners.

Meanwhile, a few miles back, wife Salome was having the time of her life running in her hula girl outfit. Her goal was to try to break 6 hours and thoroughly enjoy the crowds. She received many shout outs from the crowd yelling "Go Hula Girl!" and gave away some of her leis along the route to spectators. She even stopped to give a lei to a bobby doing crowd control along the course. Being further back in the crowd of runners, she saw more of the costumed runners who tend to run slower in their elaborate get-ups. She saw two guys running with a surf board and ran along with them to make the Hawaiian theme even larger. Of course, they declined her request to let her ride the board for a mile or two as they carried it as they ran.

Back up to where I was running at about mile 17, I was enjoying the running through the business district of London. I enjoy running through the business district, which reminded me somewhat of running through downtown Chicago during the Chicago marathon. On my return trip back towards Tower Bridge, I looked across to see if I could spot Salome on her outbound portion of the out & back loop. No such luck. In fact, at this point the only runners still on the outbound section of the course were runners in elaborate and most likely hot costumes.

The final miles along the Thames River heading towards Buckingham Palace were a jam of 5 to 6 deep crowds of spectators cheering wildly for all the runners. Given that most of the runners are local Londoners running for fund-raising causes, I'd have to say that the people of London support their runners in grand fashion. As I passed Buckingham Palace and headed the last couple of hundred yards to the finish line, I couldn't help but tear up a bit. As I said to a fellow runner after crossing the finish line in 4:20: "The only thing better than running a marathon is finishing a marathon."

Salome crossed in 5:48, a time with which she was thrilled. Since she had some issues in finishing her long training runs, she had doubts as to whether she would be able to run the last six miles. Fortunately, with the fun of interacting with the crowds as "Hula Girl," she kept a positive attitude and was able to run the entire course. While she had declared prior to the race that London was her last marathon, she has let the euphoria of her London finish cause her to rethink that decision. Rome next March anyone?

Post-Race. The biggest problem after crossing the finish line was winding your way the mile or so through St. James Park to get back to the hotel. As I walked though the park, runners were sprawled everywhere laying on the ground. While I was very tempted to join them, I knew that laying down meant that I would not get up for a couple of hours, so I kept doing my hobbled walk though the crowd of resting runners.

As I returned to our hotel lobby, I came across our friends Jerry & Lupe. Jerry had crossed the finish just a couple of minutes ahead of me. Jerry, who works for Intel, had volunteered to fly to Tokyo to help with post tsunami recovery work and had to quickly shower, change and get to the airport to fly out to Tokyo. Now, that's dedication to your work. Way to go Jerry!

Salome & I spent the next couple of days touring London, hitting a lot of the usual sights. With the royal wedding approaching, the line to get into Westminster Abby was long, but we had to go in. We hit several of museums and caught the Queen Rock-Opera "We Will Rock You" on our last night. All in all, a great visit. Salome is ordering her race photos, so I'll do a subsequent blog post to post some of her race pictures and some of our trip pictures.

Me, I'm just thrilled that my knee held up. I had no post-race swelling or soreness in the right knee, so I think the tear in my medial meniscus is healed. My biggest concern now is whether I've got sufficient time to gear up for Florida 70.3 on May 15th. With this virus, I lost this last weekend to train. Hopefully, I'll be fully recovered by this coming weekend and can hit the swim and bike hard enough to at least show up in Orlando in three weeks.

Run Rabbit Run

2011-04-11T10:07:00.005-04:00

This being the weekend before a marathon, it was a chill weekend. Don't do too much, watch some sports, and rest up for next Sunday. So, Saturday was an easy 10 miler. The last long run. The goal: don't do anything that risks injury. Salome & I got out the door at 6:30 AM, ran the 10 easy and were both back by 8:30 AM.

Most of my friends were out for long rides getting geared up for May 15th's Florida 70.3. I put off my ride until Sunday, not wanting to get coaxed out for a longer ride. I did a semi-causal 30 ride Sunday with 3 friends. Just enough to keep the cycling muscle memory intact, until after the marathon. Then it was onto chilling for the rest of Sunday.

First up, watching the Miami Heat dominate the Boston Celtics in a game that should give the Heat the #2 spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs. That's good for an additional home game in the second round of the playoffs that should be against the Celtics. After 3 previous poor showings against the Celts, this game gave me hope for Miami in that future rematch.

Finally, I tuned into the Paris-Roubaix cycling race on the Vs. Network. Ah, the joy of hearing Phil Ligget and Paul Sherwin comment on a bike race. Paris-Roubaix is one of the "Spring Classics" of bike racing in Europe. It's a brutal 160 mile course, much of it over narrow cobblestone streets, called pave, starting outside Paris and ending in a velodrome in Roubaix northeast of Paris. In most races, the favorites let an early group of unknown rabbits go off the front to keep the pace honest. This keeps races from becoming slow tactical races by the best riders. If the best riders screw around with each other, one of the unknowns in the breakaway can end up stealing a race title. This is what happened Sunday.

Fabian Cancellara, the race favorite, had won both the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix last year by such large margins that European sports writers started a crazy speculation that Cancellara had a small motor inserted into the frame of his bike that helped him accelerate so well. A totally bogus speculation, but showing just how good Cancellara was last year. In last weeks Tour of Flanders, the other riders were keying off Cancellara so much, that he tried to break away too early and ended up burning out and being beaten for 1st place. This weekend, the other riders again keyed off Fabian to such an extent, making him do all the work up front during the last 20 miles of the race, that they ignored the unknown rabbits out front. Belgian, Johan Van Summeren, took advantage, and took the race, by riding for his life to a win. Cancellara held on for second. Knowing life wouldn't get any better than this, the lucy Belgian proposed to his girlfriend at the finish line. Nice touch. Fabian Cancellara later joked with the press that the other riders were keying off of him so much that if he had stopped at a cafe for a cup of coffee, the whole race would have stopped with him. The race had me looking forward to July's Tour de France.

In other sports news, I read this morning that Chrissie Wellington once again broke the women's world record for the Ironman distance at this weekend's Ironman South Africa. She lowered her own record set at last November's Arizona Ironman by 2 and 1/2 minutes to 8:33:56. The next women came in at 9:08 and 9:20. So, 2 world records after missing Kona in October due to a stomach virus. The rest of the Pro woman better hope Chrissie doesn't get sick again. She comes back way too strong.

Congratulations to Chloe of Running with a Bottle of Wine, who took 1st place in her age group this weekend at a local triathlon. She also did a great post about keeping your transitions quick and simple. It's worth a read. I'll put her advice to practice after this weekend's marathon.

I also see where a running buddy, Bob Bowker, pulled himself off the course of the St. Louis Marathon this weekend at mile 8. It was too hot, Bob knew he was off pace, and that to finish would have been a brutal and senseless self punishment. He walked off the course, which saves his training for another day. It takes a wise runner to pull himself from a race when it's clear the race is not going well. We can all learn from Bob's experience. I just hope I don't learn that lesson next weekend.

London Calling

2011-04-08T10:15:00.016-04:00

A week from now, I'll be in London getting ready to go to the expo to pick up my race number. I've got to say, I'm pretty excited. Given that I was on crutches for 3 weeks in January with a slight tear of the media meniscus of my right knee, I almost have to pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming.

Running the London Marathon will complete my running of the 5 marathons that make up the World Marathon Majors (Boston, Chicago, New York, Berlin & London). These are the 5 marathons where the best runners in the world show up to compete and world records get set.

When I first started running marathons in 2002 and I started paying attention to the pros again, the men's world record was set in London by Khalid Khannouchi in 2:05:38. The next year, 2003, the women's world record was set by Brit, Paula Radcliffe in 2:15:25. Each year in April, the world's elite marathon runners are running either London or Boston. While Boston is always an interesting race, the world record doesn't get set their due to the hilly nature of that historic course. London is one of those sweet spots of marathon running that race directors like to advertise: its flat and fast.

Not that I'll be fast. Coming off recovery of the meniscus tear, I've had to ramp up my distance in quick fashion. In order to avoid the risk of re-injury, I avoided the speed work necessary to get into PR shape. In fact, to quickly ramp up to the marathon distance, I utilized the Jeff Galloway run/walk system in which I took a short walk breaks of 30 to 60 seconds each mile. This conservative approach seems to have worked.

Yesterday, I went for a last pre-race checkup with my doctor to have my right knee examined. While my doctor thinks marathon running is a bad idea in general, he was impressed with my recovery. He indicated that my heart rate was back to a sub 50 bpm resting rate, indicating that I was back in marathon shape. Having done a race pace 10K run that morning and feeling great, I could have told him that without the heart rate reading. He checked the knee for mobility and any residual water retention. It all looks good and I'm cleared to run, so long as I don't try for a fast time.

The other thing that the London Marathon is known for is runners in costume. London has the largest number of runners of all marathons and is a big charity fundraiser for a lot of London runners. To increase the amount of funds raised, a bunch of the runners dress up in costume. Some of them are outlandish. Like the guy who ran, more likely walked, one year in a full Knights armour. I think it took him over a day to complete the event. In any event, since we can be fast, my wife Salome & I have decided to make it fun. I'll be reprising my "Wayne's World" costume from last year's Paris Marathon. Salome is going with an Hawaiian theme with a grass skirt and lei. Not the most complicated costumes, but something to have some fun with pre-race and along the course.

We've got several friends that we've met at other travel marathons over the years who are also running London. Thus, it should be a good time to reconnect, have a good run, and drink some warm English beer. I can't wait.

Top Ten List

2011-04-05T15:04:00.014-04:00

I received a bit of a shock today when I received an e-mail informing me that this blog made a top ten list of Triathlon & Fitness blogs. Now, I'm not familiar with this web-site or have any affiliation with NewToTri.com, but I'm honored that someone even gave this blog consideration in such a list. As is stated in the posting, there are thousands of triathlon & fitness blogs on the web and it’s very much a case of personal preference. I've followed a cuuple of those that made the list.

It's kind of ironic in that I was coming off an injury in January and was seriously considering stopping the whole athletic blog experience. However, as I had already committed to and paid for a trip to London for the London Marathon, I kept at my recovery and training. In the past few weeks things went well enough that I felt the urge to start posting again.

If the top ten listing caused you to check out this blog, know that I'm a bit wordy and tend to write in a bit longer essay type format. I'm an age grouper, who tries to do the best that I can given the limitations that a busy life puts on my training. I love the sport of triathlon and the fitness and travel experiences I get as a dividend. We've got an active triathlon and running community in South Florida and I love living down here in Paradise. I'm not sure I'll be making that same statement as I train in the hot summer months.

If you like my style, be sure to check out my prior posts from last year at this blog and from my prior blogs. My listing of public followers isn't large, but I link my posts to my Facebook page which gives me a somewhat larger readership, at least amongst my friends. If you do like my postings, I'd ask that you follow the blog publicly so I can get a feel for whether anyone is reading my posts. Supportive comments are welcome. For any of my Facebook friends who would like to publicly follow my blog, you can do so by going to my blog at this link. Simply scroll down the right hand side of the blog and click on the "Follow" button, then follow the directions for publicly following the blog. Again, it gives me a feel for whether people read and like my blog. Nothing more. No e-mails or spam results from following a blog.

My upcoming schedule after the London Marathon is Florida 70.3 in mid-May. I'm registered for Ironman Coeur d’Alene in late June, but my participation in that event will be contingent on my continued recovery and ramp up in training for these first 2 events. I'll do some sprint and olympic distances over the summer, and finish the season in October with the Austin 70.3.

In any event, I am honored by mention in this top 10 list. I just hope my future posts are good enough to keep me off of a Letterman Top Ten List.

Nice Day for a Run Along the Beach

2011-04-04T12:36:00.010-04:00

That was Sunday morning's caption for a picture of a couple running along A1a Saturday morning. It captured my feelings about having done my last long run before the London Marathon on Saturday morning along A1a with my wife, Salome. We started around 6 AM with Salome intending to run 12 miles and I planning on 15. A mile and change into our run, we come across our friend Miranda doing interval work with a running buddy in the dark along A1a near Sunrise Blvd. It takes us almost being face to face to recognize each other in the dark. As we get another mile south along A1a, we spot another friend, Chris Howard heading north in the dark on his bike to get to an early morning group ride. I think how it's only the very serious athletes that get out well before sunrise to start their workouts.

A1a curves toward the west to become the 17th Street Causeway. As we get closer to the Runner's Depot Store on 17th Street, we start coming cross more runner who are now getting out for a group run from the store. After we hit our 6 mile turnaround, it's light enough out for Salome to give me permission to go ahead at my own pace. As I run east and start heading up the 17th Street Bridge, I'm somewhat blinded by the rising sun, which causes me to pull my hat down low over my eyes to allow me to use the hat's bill as a shade. As I climb the bridge, I can only see the silhouette of runners climbing or descending the bridge. With the bright early morning sun, I can only make out distant dark shapes of runners in motion. It's looks like a work of art. As I descend the bridge I can make out some familiar faces of runners from a group that starts out of Holiday Park that I sometimes run with on Saturday mornings. As I come around the curve where 17th Street becomes A1a, I get a honk from a car that I believe is Miranda's. I wave back, wondering what she's got going on so early in the morning to have gotten home, showered and be driving down the road so quickly. Must be an after workout breakfast date.

As I head further north along A1a, I note how different the sidewalks look now. With the early morning sun above the horizon, the sidewalks are much fuller with runners doing shorter mileage and walkers out for a couple miles. Groups of cyclists ride by heading north for various lengths rides. The street and sidewalks are now a beehive of activity compared to the sparse singles and couples running in the predawn hours.

I cross paths with an old friend, Abe who lives in the condominium we lived in several years back. Abe is one of those fixtures in our running community who one inevitably comes to recognize along A1a because he runs it almost every day of the year. Everybody who runs near dawn either knows him or recognizes him. We high five each other for the third time in a week as we once again cross paths while running.

I get to the turn around of my northern loop near Oakland Park and head back south through a beachfront neighborhood where some of our other friends live. I cut through on the beach side of the Palm's Condominium to run the soft boardwalk that takes you along the beachfront. Coming north are our friends Manda and Andy out with their two dogs. "I see the dogs have decided to take you guys for a walk this morning," I say as I pass. "You got that right," they respond. The both have on bike jerseys having completed their early morning workouts before the dogs take them for a cool down walk.

As I hit the open beach road and into the unshaded portion of A1a just north of my Sunrise Blvd. turnoff, I decided that I feel so good this morning, that I'll run an extra few miles in the tree lined shade Birch State Park. As I start this 2.5 loop, I note a charity fund-raising walk about to start. "How nice," I think. I know that for many of these walkers this charity event will be their first steps into a more active lifestyle. As I hit the outward end of the park and circle around to the west side of the park, I can see my house across the inter-coastal waterway. It's always at this point in a run that I wonder if I couldn't just swim the half mile to my home instead of running the 2 miles that it will take me to leave the park, cross the Sunrise bridge and run back north along Bayview Drive to get home. Of course, it's a totally ridiculous thought that only comes to mind late in a long run. I finish the park loop, come out onto Sunrise Blvd. and cross the bridge to the mainland. In another mile, I'm almost home. Just before turning on my street for my last couple hundred yards, my Garmin beeps off my 18th mile.

Yes, it's taper time. Next weekend, I'll only run between 8 to 10 miles. I had no real reason to run as much as 18 miles this weekend, but the weather wasn't too hot and I came across a lot of my friends. I suppose part of it was just hitting my stride again in training and feeling good. Part of it was the realization that I love the shared experience of all the early morning athletes along A1a getting in their long runs and rides before the weekend's activities sends us all in different directions. Besides, it was just a nice day for a run along the beach.

The Long Run

2011-03-28T09:45:00.000-04:00

"I used to hurry a lot, I used to worry a lot, I used to stay out till the break of day. Oh, that didn't get it, It was high time I quit it, I just couldn't carry on that way. Oh, I did some damage, I know it's true; didn't know I was so lonely, till I found you. You can go the distance, we'll find out, in the long run." The Long Run - The Eagles

Salome & I had our longest long run in preparation for the London Marathon planned for this past Saturday morning. As we were getting ready to get to bed on Friday night, we went through our usual long run ritual. I set my watch alarm for what I think is an appropriate time to get up and get ready to get out the door in order to get an early enough start; she suggests a much later time, then we compromise. It's the dark side of being married to another lawyer: everything is a negotiation. Who am I kidding? It's probably true about all couples.

I set my alarm for 4:30 AM. Salome suggests a 6 AM alarm. After a discussion for distance, pace, and the hourly projected temperatures from weather.com, we compromise on a 5:15 AM alarm. As I turn in bed and start drifting off, Salome says: "I'll probably wake up before that anyway." "Fine," I say, "Wake me if you do." I quickly drift off into a deep sleep.

In the middle of the night, I sense activity in our bedroom, some lights being turned on, bathroom water flowing. But I'm still pretty deep into my sleep and not feeling like getting up. Before I know what's going on, Salome is talking to me. "What's your credit card number?" "Huh?" "I'm downloading a GPS mileage app on iTunes and the credit card you have listed on the account has expired." Man, she' not only awake, she's wide awake and talking a mile a minute. Turns out she awoke at 3:30 AM; it's about 4:15 AM at this point. I decide I'd better get up. Salome reminds me of my agreement to be awoken if she got up early. I thank the Lord she didn't take me too literally and wake me at 3:30 AM.

As I'm about 15 minutes of prep time behind her, Salome gets out the door before me. Fine, I think, she runs slower than me. I catch her in a few miles. After I get started, I find that it takes me over 5 miles to catch up with her. As I run along A1a, I note people lining up for the start of the Palm 100 Mile Relay run that is starting that morning. As Salome & I make our way back along the 17th Street Causeway, we note the first runners heading out towards US-1. We will come across these runners for the rest of our long run.

As we come into South Beach Park, we spot our Aussie friend Deb Mrky with her running buddies doing their long run in preparation for the Boston Marathon. I mention to Deb that Boston will be the day after the London Marathon and I hope to watch it as I recoup from my run. She mentions that, like us, she and her mates are doing 22 miles this morning. I don't bother to mention that Salome is only planning to run 18 and I'm only doing 20.

As the sun starts coming up around 7:30 AM and we're at about mile 12, Salome give me permission to go ahead at my own pace. I take the pace up a bit and go ahead on my own. I stop off at a gas station to refuel, and end up talking a couple of minutes with a relay team running the Palm 100. With a new bottle of Gatorade, I finish my northbound loop and head home. That last couple mile stretch along a sun exposed A1a is always interesting. However, I'm feeling pretty solid with no major issues. I end up doing a fairly strong last mile. As I hit the home stretch, I come across Salome finishing her 18. We've made it. Now, the next 2 weeks long runs will be shorter and shorter.

I've noticed these last couple of weeks that the long runs don't seem harder, but that I'm more tired the rest of the day than in years past. I chalk this up to age. Salome chalks it up to a lower overall mileage and a shorter training period. I've had to do a fairly quick ramp up coming off my knee issue, so she's probably correct. Heck, I was on crutches in January and a six mile run in mid-February was painful. So my weekend long runs were as follows: 6 miles, a 5 mile race, up to 12, up to 16, down to 15, then up to 20. That's about as truncated a build up as I can handle. In any event, it looks like we're a "go" for London. As the song goes: "You can go the distance; we'll find out, in the long run."

Spring Training in DC

2011-03-23T10:55:00.017-04:00

I tried to stay away from "Blog Land." I really did. When I signed off a month ago today, I thought: "That's it. I'm in recovery and things don't look good." Doing the London Marathon looked doubtful. Future events? Who knew. It would depend on whether I could run London, but frankly, I wasn't hopeful for my future athletic endeavors.

Well, recovery and training have gone better than expected. I've been able to slowly build up to 15 to 16 mile runs, and have slowly built up my weekend long rides up to the 45 mile range. There has not been any swelling of the knee after any of these runs or rides. Thus, I believe the slight tear in the medial meniscus of my right knee is healed. However, the MRI on my right knee also showed a lot of wear and tear of the cartilage in the right knee. After my long runs, I do feel slight knee pain in the front lower inside part of my knee. I'm wearing a knee brace on my long runs to give additional stability to the knee based on advice from my doctor. Whether this makes a difference is anyone's guess. Thus, I don't know how many more long events I will be able to do. I'll have to take it one event at at time. However, as long as I'm still in the game, it looks like I'm back to the occasional blog entry. Besides, blogging is a great repository of the stuff that kicks around in my head during long training runs and rides.

Last weekend was my son, Alex's spring break. We decided to visit our friends, Kate and Jim in Arlington, VA and hit the museums in DC. When we last visited the area 2 summer's back, we were only able to spend about an hour in the Museum of Natural History. Alex felt a bit jipped, so we spend most of a day in that museum. We also visited the National Building Museum, which currently has a display of famous buildings of the world made out of Legos. As Alex is a Lego fan, we had to see that exhibit. We also spent part of 2 days visiting the Newseum, a museum covering all aspects of journalism. They currently have exhibits of the coverage of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Hurricane Katrina, and coverage of cases solved by the FBI. My favorite part of this museum was looking at historic newspapers going back throughout American History and further back into European history as far back as newspapers were in existence. Cool stuff.

On Saturday, my wife Salome & I got in our long run by doing a 15 mile running tour of the monuments. We started out in Arlington, making a stop at the Iwo Jima Memorial. This brought back memories of my running the Marine Corp Marathon back in 2003. We ran by Arlington National Cemetery, crossed Memorial Bridge, stopped at the Lincoln Memorial, up to the Washington Monument, north around the White House, east up to Union Station, South by the Capital building and the Supreme Court, west over the soft paths of the national mall, then south for a loop around the Jefferson Memorial and the Tidal Basin, before heading back over Memorial Bridge back into Arlington. It was a cool morning in the lower 50s, but a little breezy. The cherry blossoms were budding, but only a couple of trees were in bloom. I imagine they will look spectacular in the next week or two.

We had a wonderful time with our friends Kate and Jim. I really enjoyed catching up with their boys, David and Sean. We've periodically visited these friends over the years and its interesting to see this bright young boys grow and get interested in a variety of sports and other interests. Kate and Jim wrapped up our visit with one of their famous night car tours of DC. The monuments at night look spectacular. All in all, a great trip.

So, things are looking up as far as training for London. This weekend will be my 20 miler. If all goes well, I should be able to complete the London Marathon. Don't know what kind of time I'll run, but this is one the will be for enjoying the views and the costumes of the charity runners. London has a reputation of runners either setting world records or dressing up for fun. I think I may have to reprise my "Wayne's World" costume from last year's Paris Marathon. Too bad Jacques "Garth" Watters is not signed up for this one. Then again, he did bandit Paris. "Hey Garth, you still got that AC/DC tee-shirt hanging around?"

Near Wreck, Race Reports, and the End of this Blog

2011-02-23T16:24:00.011-05:00

It was an interesting weekend. Salome & I went for a bike ride and nearly got taken out by a stupid driver pulling out of a parking lot into the bike lane from behind a hedge without looking. I hit the brakes and had to swerve to the left without time to shout out to Salome who was hugging my wheel. Fortunately, the driver of the car hit his breaks too. Meanwhile, Salome is forced to swerve left of me and we bump hard into each other. I felt certain we were both going down. We both held firm to our bikes, however, and neither of us fell. Good thing too, as Salome was to appear in a charity fashion show that afternoon. Road rash would not have been a good fashion accessory.

On Sunday, we decided to run the 3 miles from our house to the finish line of the A1a Marathon & Half Marathon. Our friend Jen Jones was running in defense of her overall woman's win in last year's half marathon. Jen not only defended her title, but hit a PR in 1:26:40. We met up and congratulated Jen on her repeat victory. Check out her husband Matt's fine video work of her finish at her blog Yeah, I Run Like a Girl ... We also met up with Aussie, Deb Mrky and her running buddy Scott, who were running the half marathon as a training run for April's Boston Marathon. After mingling for a while, we ran the 3 miles home.

That night, I once again felt knee pain. It stayed sore for a couple of days. As I had only recently gotten back to running 2 miles on the treadmill, perhaps it was too much, too soon. But to be honest, I'm concerned that I may ultimately need that arthroscopic knee surgery. I'm also doubting whether I can get back into running shape for the London Marathon in late April. Thus, I'm bummed about my near running future, not to mention tri events. While I can ride and swim, I doubt I can participate in much more than a sprint tri in the coming season.

Added to that happy thought was the report of training buddy and fellow triathlete Tony Whittaker. He and several friends were scheduled to run the Austin Marathon. It was to be Tony's first full marathon. His foot had been bothering him, so he finally went to his doctor to have it examined. He report's back that he has almost no cartilage in his foot. He started Austin, but ended up having to stop after 3 miles due to foot pain. Training friend Miranda didn't even start due to a nagging muscle injury. Our other friends John, Bernadette, and Melissa all finished between 4:30 and 4:45. Buddy Bob Kazar finished in 3:45. Congratulations to all finishers. Condolences to Tony and Miranda. I feel your pain.

Given my situation, I've decided to pull the plug on this blog. I feel an athletic blog should be about the trials and tribulations of training leading up to race reports. I just don't feel like reporting on my setbacks and efforts to get back to a base level. I'll keep training and get necessary treatment or surgery to get back to this great sport, but I'll be doing it in private. I'll still check in on my fellow bloggers from time to time, so keep your training posts and race reports coming. When I feel I can come back with something more noteworthy, I'll consider blogging again. But for now, I am out of here. Thanks for reading. Bill

Slowly, But Surely

2011-02-15T12:41:00.002-05:00

I've been on the spin bike several times over the past week and today finally got on the treadmill for a mile run. Everything seems OK. I've got the Riverwalk 5 Miler/5K coming up in 12 days. I'll probably roll back from the 5 Mile event to the 5K. I don't want push my luck.

Meanwhile, I've got a number of friends heading out to Austin this weekend for the Austin Marathon. Buddy Tony Whitakker is off to try his hand at the full marathon distance for the first time. Buddy John Clidas is going along as his pacer to keep him from going out too hard early on. Best of luck to Tony in getting that first one under his belt. Best of luck to the rest of you running Austin this weekend.

And stop calling me Shirley.

3 Weeks of Recovery and All's Well...So Far

2011-02-02T11:39:00.007-05:00

Yesterday marks 3 weeks since my knee was drained. I spent 2 weeks on crutches and a week putting partial weight on the knee. I am now crutch free and passed my medical exam with flying colors. Now for rehab. I'm allowed to swim and start using that new spin bike I bought for myself as a birthday present. Who knew it was a lay-away plan?

In the meantime, I got to hear a bunch of stories regarding rest vs. arthroscopic surgery for a slight tear in the medial meniscus. It seems about half the people swear by knee surgery and the other half curse them as a worthless waist of time. Given that things are going well for my recovery, I'm glad to have taken the more conservative approach. As my doctor said, "You can always have the surgery if rest doesn't cure the tear. So far, so good.

I've had to watch several events go by without participating and watch my race registrations go to waste. I was scheduled for a New Year's Resolution 5K, the Disney Goofy (Half Marathon & Marathon) during my birthday weekend, and the Miami Half Marathon this past Sunday.

Oh yeah, and a ski trip to Snowmass, Colorado with friends that was scheduled for last week. My wife and friends had encouraged me to go with them and hang around the fireplace drinking hot chocolate, but I knew there was no way I could be that close to the slopes and not ski. So I listened to my head and not my heart, knowing that I had to do the right thing to get healed. It was tough, however, as Salome kept texting me pictures from the ski slopes during what looked like a gorgeous week in Snowmass. Thanks for sharing honey.

With Salome also registered for the Miami Half, I went down with her as an athletic supporter. Having run it the past 8 years, it was an odd sensation to watch as a spectator for 20 minutes as all of the approximately 20,000 participants crossed the start line. I had time for a nice breakfast at Bayside before going to the finish area grandstands to try to find my friends crossing the finish line for the half. With several friend running it, I only managed to spot my wife coming to the finish line. She had some knee swelling of her own from a solid week of skiing and so ran it slow. I hope knee issues aren't contagious.

Anyway, its a slow return to cardio activity for me. Spin bike for a couple of weeks, then the elliptical machine, and then running. Let's hope all continues to go well.

Birthday

2011-01-10T07:00:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was my birthday. It was a lovely day surrounded by family in which my young son Alex made me breakfast, tossed the football around with me, and washed my car. I received many well wishes by phone and Facebook. All in all, a great day. However, it was somewhat tempered by the fact that it was the weekend of my scrubbed Goofy race and a half at Disney World. The weather was lovely this weekend and it would have been great for running.

Being in injury recovery and banned from running for 8 weeks by my doctor, I had to do something positive for my situation and my birthday. So last week, based on the recommendation of tri buddy and spin instructor Tony Whittaker, I ordered a Keiser M3 Indoor Cycle for spinning. I've tried indoor trainers, but do not like them. I done spinning classes and appreciate the benefit of this indoor workout, particularly when its too cold, dark or windy outside.

The bike arrived on Friday and Tony graciously came by my house on Saturday to set it up with me. After putting it together and adjusting the seat position, I gave it a trial run. All I can say is I think I am going to love this indoor bike. It should give me good cross training and keep me from totally vegging out during my prohibition from high impact activity. A public thank you to Tony for both the recommendation and the assistance in set up.

Benched

2011-01-04T17:25:00.004-05:00

Well, I overdid it again this weekend and ended up back at my doctor's office with my knee bothering me again. I'm now on doctor's orders to not run for 8 weeks. I'm also scheduled for an MRI. I can bike, but am told to go no longer than about an hour. I've ordered an exercise bike as a birthday present to myself, but this is not the way I'd hoped to start out 2011.

As my race schedule is now uncertain, I'll wait to post a 2011 schedule until I know more about my recovery and rehab. Regardless of what I'm able to do this year, I'll go to London and support my wife Salome in the London Marathon. It's just looking very unlikely that I'll have adequate time to train for it myself. I'll just have to soak up the atmosphere and some warm beer.

I'll be posting a lot less, or maybe not at all, until I know more about my prognosis, rehab and recovery. I'll still be reading my fellow blogger's posts. Just because I may be silent, will not mean I have nothing to say. I'm sure I'll be commenting on my favorite blogs.

Looking Back, Looking Forward

2010-12-31T08:36:00.000-05:00

I love the Chris Rock bit from years back when he talks about a girlfriend who he's given gifts and money to, only to have her say: "Sure, you've done a lot for me; but, what have you done for me lately?" In other words, its not about what you've done in the past, but what you will do in the future that matters. I view my athletic accomplishments this way.

I have friends that have little display areas of their medals from various marathons and triathlons. I'm not big on public displays of my accomplishments. I keep most of my medals in a box that I'll look at once in a blue moon. However, each year I hang my medals from the current year on a tie rack post in my closet. Its a daily reminder during the year of what I've accomplished. By the end of the year, I've got six to ten medals dangling in my closet. I'll look at them and think about the good times had at these events and think that its been a good year. But come the new year, those medals come down. Sure, I've done a lot to keep fit, but that was last year. What have I done for me lately?

I'll enjoy this years medals for a couple of more days. As I take them down to go into the box with other past years reminders of past achievements, I'll take a moment to reminisce about the events I participated in during 2010. But then, I'll look to the new year and the new race season. I'll soon post my schedule for 2011. Fortunately, I have an event scheduled for late January, so the tie post will not stay empty for long. But it will be a reminder to look forward to the new year of training and getting ready for new accomplishments.

In Good Company

2010-12-30T08:05:00.003-05:00

Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong won’t compete in a New Zealand triathlon next month because of a sore left knee.

Armstrong's entry into the Eves Blue Lake Multisport Festival caused the sprint-distance event to sell out. The event was likely the beginning of his testing the waters again at triathlon in his rumored attempt to eventually compete at Kono for the Ironman World Championship. However, Armstrong recently tweeted: “Unfortunately can’t make the tri in Rotorua. Dealing (again) with some knee issues and unable to run for now.” The injury does not interfere with his cycling. Armstrong will still compete as scheduled in the Tour Down Under cycling race in Australia that runs Jan. 16-23.

So it looks like I've got company in the sore knee department. Like Lance, I've got a sore knee that is keeping me from running. Also like Lance, I can still ride and will continue to train on the bike. However, I will not be competing in the Tour Down Under. Sorry to disappoint anyone.

Water On The Knee

2010-12-27T09:24:00.001-05:00

That's the diagnosis of what I thought was a pulled hamstring ligament. The good news is that my hamstring is fine. In fact, my doctor checked out my knee ligaments to make sure I didn't have a tendon issue. His opinion is that my ligaments are strong. Thus, this is not an injury that should stop me from exercising.

The bad news is that the cause of this stiffness and pain is that my right knee joint is aging. As I've been running marathons for almost 10 years, and triathlons for the last 3 years, the knee joint has taken a beating. It's pure physics. I'm a middle weight guy (175 to 185 depending on the training) and try to run in a non-pounding, foot rolling manner. But, the miles take their toll, and we each have a different genetic useful life of our various body parts. The body responds to knee joint stress by adding fluid. The added fluid caused the stiffness and soreness.

The good news is that after resting it for a week, it feels fine. I can continue exercising. I did a 12 mile ride Christmas day without any negative effects. I've been told to wear a light knee brace and take an anti-inflammatory before a long run. I've been told I don't have to give up doing the marathons, but to take them easier. I'll see how that goes in London in April before deciding whether I can still handle the distance.

For now, I finally scratched myself from doing the Goofy in Disney in two weeks. I haven't been able to train and I'm pretty sure doing a half marathon and a full marathon on consecutive days would re-aggravate the knee. Next up is a ski trip to Snowmass in late January, followed by the Miami Half Marathon at the end of January. I've ordered an exercise bike to help with these next two months of winter when its too cold or windy to get outside. My plan is to do more bike work and treadmill work to give less stress to the knee. Hopefully easing back in will allow the knee joint to keep from swelling. Time will tell.

Tis the Season

2010-12-22T15:44:00.005-05:00

I've read several triathlon blogs recently which run along the same theme: its a busy time of year; I'm eating too much; and I'm not getting enough (or any) workouts in. Well, I've come to terms with this downside to the holidays. Its call perspective. We come off of triathlon season and it won't be time to be fully back in the swim, bike, run habit until March. Of course, we'll all get in runs, indoor or outdoor bike training depending on your local weather, and some heated pool swims. But, on the whole, most of us are not getting a lot of training done during the holidays. Here is my response to Flatout Buddy!!!, who was looking for a quot of inspiration to easy his holiday training blues:

Realize its a crazy time of year, try to get in a short treadmill or stationary bike workout indoors, and enjoy the season. As for sayings, I can’t do better than Ecclesiastes in Seasons: “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven...a time to plant, and a time to reap that which is planted...a time to break down, and a time to build up...A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance...a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing...A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence and a time to speak...A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.”

Now is the time to rest from last season in preparation of next season. In the meantime, take the season to appreciate what you did over the last year, and start planning for next year. But be sure to enjoy those you love, sing some Christmas songs, dance if you feel the urge, and have a cheerful drink with friends. Or as the song goes: “Tis the season to be Jolly.”

We can worry about getting back into our regular training routine starting in January. After all, isn't that what New Year's Resolutions are all about? Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

Oops!... I Did It Again

2010-12-21T09:39:00.003-05:00

As athletes, we are eternal optimists. We sign up for these long endurance events as much as a year ahead of time knowing that there will be obstacles thrown in our path, that the training will be long and demanding, and that during the events we will have ups and downs before reaching our goal of crossing the finish line.

Sometimes we are so optimistic, we bite off more than we can chew. For instance, my buddy Tony is signed up for his first marathon, the Austin Marathon in February. I attempted to assist Tony in his first go at a marathon in this years Miami Marathon, but he had to bow out due to an injury. I admired his decision to give the marathon another go when he announced he intended to do Austin. However, he one ups himself this weekend by registering for the 2011 Ironman Louisville. I love the optimism to sign up for an event containing a marathon before you know you can complete a marathon. I know Tony can do this: he's done a couple of half ironman events and is a strong cyclist. But to sign up for a full ironman before knowing you can handle the marathon distance? That level of optimism makes me smile.

Then there is optimism to the point of being stupid. That would be me. I'm coming back from what I think is a overextended hamstring, I'm slowly increasing my long run from 3 to 6 to 7 miles. All is going well. I start to rethink that I can do the Goofy Race & a Half at Disney in early January. I decide to do a 10 mile run. Oops! Too much, too soon. For the next 3 days, my right knee is again sore and I'm limping. Boy, that was stupid.

So, Goofy is again scratched. Its time to make an appointment with my doctor and try to figure this thing out. I only hope its something that does not require surgery and can be healed with rest.

P.S. "Oops" wasn't the first word that came to mind when I realized I'd re-aggravated my injury.

Holiday "Bonk" Training

2010-12-17T11:50:00.007-05:00

God knows this is a hard time of the year to keep fit. We are inundated with holiday parties, gift baskets and baked goods at the office and at home. Its also a colder time of year making going outdoors to exercise less inviting. Fortunately, there is a simple way to help keep us from gaining too much weight during these trying, but fun, times. Exercise before breakfast.

An article in Wednesday's New York Times entitled "The Benefits of Exercise Before Breakfast" discussed a study that shows that exercising in the morning, before eating, seems to significantly lessen the ill effects of all this excessive holiday eating. The study seems to indicate that by running or biking intensely before eating or drinking exercise drinks helps to keep us from putting on as many holiday pounds or becoming more insulin resistant.

I found a comment from a reader who referred to the weight loss benefits of “exercising in a fasted state”as “bonk training”. The commenter mentioned a September 2002 Bicycling magazine article that outlined the following "Bonk Training" workout:

HOW TO BONK TRAIN
1. Upon waking, drink 2-3 cups of coffee, up to 45 minutes before cycling. Don’t eat.
2. Ride at endurance pace- 60-70% of your max heart rate, or a casual pace that doesn’t make you pant when you talk.
3. Keep it up for 20-90 minutes.
4. You can do this on consecutive days, but mix in at least one normal breakfast per week.
5. Eat your typical breakfast as soon as the ride ends.
6 . Watch the blubber ignite!!

I don't usually eat much before a run anyway, but I've always been told to eat before a ride to avoid the bonk. I guess that's flipped on its head for shorter sessions. I don't think I could stomach 2 to 3 cups of coffee before a ride, but one cup along with only water in my water bottle is something I could handle. I don't think I would do this on a very long run or ride, but I can see it on a short to intermediate workout. I think I'll give this a try. Just to try to keep off those extra holiday pounds.

Maybe I Am Goofy

2010-12-16T11:38:00.004-05:00

If you've kept up with my blog, you know I've been coming back from a right leg hamstring tendon issue suffered in the brutal 8 bridge crossing at Miami 70.3 in late October. I'd previously signed up for the January 8th & 9th "Goofy Race and a Half" at Disney World (1/2 marathon Sat./full marathon Sun.). I was pretty sure this raced was scratched from my early 2011 schedule.

Now, I feel there is a glimmer of hope that I can complete this event. I gave my leg proper rest and have eased back into running with no problems. I ran 7 miles last Sunday, a 5K speed workout on Tuesday, and today I ran 10 miles. So far, no soreness in the hamstring. Thus, I'm faced with a very short time to ramp up to the full marathon distance. I figure I can go for 13 on Sunday, 15 the following week, and 18 the weekend before the event. Ideal training? Hardly. My approach will be to take it easy, no need for speed, and see if I can complete this event. Given that I will not have done the traditional 20 mile run, I plan on doing the Galloway run/walk method. I've done many marathons (27), so I'm counting a bit on muscle memory, and treating it like a training run.

This decision is based somewhat on the fact that all seems to be OK with my hamstring. The other factor is that the good folks at Disney will not allow for a deferral. So, what say you, fellow marathoners and triathletes, is this a good idea, or am I Goofy?

Treadmill Speed Workout...Yes!!!

2010-12-14T11:23:00.000-05:00

Having successfully run a 7 mile run on Sunday without post hamstring tendon soreness, I was able to try a treadmill speed workout this morning for the first time. Normally, I don't really like to get on the treadmill. I enjoy the outdoors. I usually reserve the treadmill for when its just too damn hot out during the summer months. But I've got a 5K coming up the day after Christmas. So it was back to the treadmill. I started off at a 9:30 minute/mile pace and took it up another half minute per mile pace every half a mile. I ended up doing a 6:30 minute/mile pace for the last tenth of a mile.

It felt good to try to go somewhat fast again. So far, no post workout stiffening of the hamstring. I may recovered. I'll slowly start to go longer again. I don't want to relapse. But its looking good. You don't realize how much you love to workout, until you aren't allowed to workout. Its good to be back.

Holiday Shopping

2010-12-13T11:40:00.000-05:00

Its the time of the season for Holiday shopping. Being a 21st century man, I don't think I've stepped into a mall so far this season. On-line shopping seems to allow for the most training, football viewing, and other leisure time. I've also been inundated with pretty good prices on the on-line sites I usually purchase goods from: Amazon.com for books, CDs, and DVDs; Lego.com for my son Alex's most favored toys; and Performance Bicycle and Bike Nashbar for things for my bike.

In any event, I've been thinking about getting carbon wheels for the last year or so, but spending over $2,000.00 on a pair of Zipp Wheels? Let's just say that I didn't feel I was good enough to justify spending that kind of money on a set of wheels. I'm too cheap and I didn't feel I'd get enough performance bang out of those bucks. But Performance Bicycle offered a pretty good discount on a Reynolds carbon fiber wheel set, and my Cervelo tri bike has been very good to me this year. So, I pulled the trigger and ordered the new wheels. I hope my bike will be happy on Christmas morning.

To Thine Own Self Be True

2010-12-07T10:00:00.000-05:00

"This above all: to thine own self be true. And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man."

This piece of advice from Polonius to his son Laertes in Shakespear's Hamlet seemed appropriate to me this last weekend. Several of my triathlon group were doing the Jiggle Bell 5K this last Saturday morning and encouraging me to join in on this festive holiday run. I knew that in recovering from my hamstring injury, it was probably best to skip this event. However, I got the classic peer pressure call to come out and run it easy. My buddy Tony suggested I do a fun run 10 minute mile pace.

I have to say, I was tempted. It's a fun event, with people dressed in reindeer antlers, Santa hats, and other jingle bells on their running shoes. I place a call to buddy John seeking his advice, which I get late Friday night before the event. He suggests that I come out and join the fun, if I think I can do it as a slow fun run.

Who am I kidding? I've never run a 5K race at anything other than near puke speed. Isn't that what 5K events are for: to see if you can go so hard that you feel like you're gonna puke? I've never actually puked after a race, but I've felt like it a couple of times. I find it hard enough to keep the horses in the barn at the start of a marathon. I'm going to go out and jog a 5K? I don't think so. Knowing myself, I knew I wouldn't be able to take it easy in a 5K. So, I took a pass and did an easy 5K treadmill run at home with that 10 minute mile pace dialed in. Not as fun, but the smart thing to do as I'm coming back to running.

The good news is that I've done a couple of these 5K runs, and so far, so good. I've got enough faith in doing my recovery smart, that I've registered for our New Year's Resolution 5K run on December 26th. I think I'll be ready in time for that. Who knows, maybe I'll puke after crossing the finish line? Not that that's my New Year's Resolution. My New Year's Resolution is to run the Jingle Bell Jog and some other fast 5K races in 2011.

The Road to Wellville

2010-11-27T09:53:00.001-05:00

Dr. Tim Nokakes, the author of the bible on running, "Lore of Running," gives running injuries 4 grades based on the severity of the injury. A grade 4 is an injury so severe it prevents you from running. Grade 3 is an injury causing pain to the point that it limits your training and impacts race performance. A grade 2 injury causes discomfort, but not pain, while running. A grade 1 injury causes pain only after running and is often only felt some hours after running. The trick is to catch an injury at a stage 1 or 2 and treat it before it becomes a stage 3 or 4 injury.

I've got a stage 1 injury. I feel fine while running, but end up with soreness and stiffness behind the knee several hours after running. I believe I know the cause of the injury: over-striding coming down those 8 bridge crossings at the Miami 70.3. A running friend, Jen, from "Yeah, I Run Like A Girl..." blog, was able to give me the diagnosis the hard way: she's coming back from the same injury. Jen ignored the grade 1 signs of the injury until it became a stage 4, forcing her to take several months off from training. Jen's diagnosis: an injured hamstring tendon.

The trick is treat an injury properly in order to get back to normal training. First step, rest and and relaxation. Easier said than done. As regular endurance athletes, it's very hard for us to give up our regular training routine and sit on the sidelines/couch while our regular training buddies participate in events or text you to join in the next workout. Not only are up a bundle of pepped up energy with no outlet, but you have to keep reminding your buddies that you are coming back from an injury and can't join them. This makes you sound like your looking for sympathy, which you are not. You want nothing more than to get back out on the road with your buddies to bike and run. Thus, it takes discipline to do the right thing and rest.

After taking what you think and hope is enough pure down time, you start slowly returning to the road. You go for short distances and don't push the pace. Well, I gave it 10 days of pure rest. Hopefully, with my stage 1 injury, this is enough pure rest. I've started back with an easy 10 mile ride. I did an easy 3 mile run, a 20 mile ride, and today a 6 mile run. On my return run, I stopped by St. Bart's cafe, a sidewalk cafe on A1a near the Swimming Hall of Fame popular with a lot of our training group. Buddy Tony is sitting having a coffee. Having seen me on the outbound run, he ordered me up a class of ice-water. As I stop to chat, Tony asks if I feel better. I tell him: "I'll know this evening if it stiffens up."

Anyway, so far so good. I hope I stay on the road to Wellville and don't end up in the ditch by doing too much too soon or going too hard. I hope everyone is enjoying the long holiday weekend and training just enough to balance out all the good eating going on.

Giving Thanks

2010-11-24T10:00:00.000-05:00

Given that Thanksgiving is upon us, I thought I'd list some of the things I'm thankful for over the past year related to triathlon and running:

I am thankful that it didn't get any warmer or more humid during January's Miami Marathon. The heat and humidity of those last 3 miles made me ask to my friends on finishing: "Remind me, why do we run these things?"

I am thankful for the great venue that is Miami Marine Stadium, where I did two Olympic distance evens and one sprint. With its protected bay for swimming and shaded run path, there isn't a better venue in South Florida for triathlons.

I am thankful for the company of good friends Wayne Crayton, Bob Bowker, and Jacques & Christine Watters who were part of the Paris Marathon trip in April. That was a wonderful adventure shared with good friends.

I am thankful to Marathon Tours for putting together these international marathon trips. They not only make your foreign marathon trip easy and fun, but they create an environment where you get to know other interesting athletes from around the U.S.

I am thankful that ultrarunner Bill Andrews allowed me to crew for him at the Keys 100 in May. During the course of this event, Bill taught me a lot about both crewing and running an ultra.

I am thankful that buddy Tony Whittaker, out of all my tri buddies, decided to join Salome & me on the Vineman 70.3 trip to Sonoma Valley. Not only could I not have found a more enthusiastic fellow athlete for the event, but he brought along his expertise in wine and fine dining.

I am thankful for TriBike Transport for once again allowing me to travel across the country without the hassle of a giant bike box. While they charge a pretty penny to transport your bike, they do it professionally and with a smile on their faces.

I am thankful for the water stations, well stocked with water and ice, at the Miami 70.3. These well placed stations a quarter mile on both sides of the Port of Miami Bridge made an impossible task of 8 crossings over this beast of a bridge tolerable torture instead of life threatening.

I am thankful for my virtual training buddy and coach, John Clidas, for his keeping me focused on my workouts even though they were mostly separate workouts during his busy work travel year in which he was imitating the George Clooney character from "Up in the Air."

I am thankful for my spin instructor, Dorota Porazinska for getting me to break out of my habit of a steady pace and learn to change it up. It was enormous help help in the hills of Sonoma Valley and all of the turns in Miami.

I am thankful for my trainer, Penn Ivanov for both strengthening my core and upper body, but also for his sound advice in balancing aerobic training with weight training.

I am thankful for all of my training buddies and friends that give me a reason to keep the training social and fun, provide mutual encouragement at events, and give me a reason to follow an event over the internet as they do events at out of the area "away games."

I am thankful for my fellow bloggers who read my entries and write good blogs of their own to keep me both interested and amused. I get more from these blogs than I ever get from magazines devoted to the sport.

I am thankful for any of my Facebook friends that read my blog entries, especial those that leave comments or click the "Like" button. Sometimes its the only way I know anyone reads these posts.

I am thankful for my sons, Alex and John, who keep me feeling younger than my years by making me play like a 10 year old and socialize with a bunch of college aged young adults.

I am thankful to my mother in law, Kiki, for her fabulous cooking, the care and devotion she gives to my son Alex, and constant concern she expresses that my wife & I may be overdoing it with all these athletic events.

I am most thankful for my wife, Salome, who not only understands and puts up with my passions for running and triathlon events, but also participates in them herself. I can't think of a better formula to stay young at heart than to go jaunting around together to various athletic events.

Congratulations Bob & Melissa...and Tom &Chrissie

2010-11-21T20:10:00.001-05:00

Ironman events take a long time. Watching large parts of Ironman Arizona today was the first time I watched the live feed from the WTC. My impressions in watching online are that it's great to watch the mass swim start, the pros coming into and out of transitions, and of course the finish. Of course, seeing your friends finish is very cool. Other than that, WTC does a good job of keeping it interesting by having other pro athletes talk about the competitors and how the pros handle these events. Thus, you could spend a full 10 hours that they have commentary, but that's a long time. So, I caught the start, transitions, the finishes, and some chunks in between. All in all, very interesting. I picked up some tips and got to know some of the background of some of the leaders. I also did chores around the house and stepped out to Home Depot for some supplies too.

As for the event, a few of us that know Bob & Melissa followed them throughout the day. As we expected, they did well on a challenging day that included rain, wind and cold. Not exactly what they expected for a race in Tempe Arizona. Congratulations to both Bob & Melissa. Bob finished in 12:44; Melissa in 13:03. Way to go guys! It was great to watch you cross the finish line.

Other than following our friends, it also was an exciting day to follow Chrissie Wellington and her boyfriend Tom Lowe. Tom was running his first Ironman event having done three 70.3 events previously. Tom comes in third overall in 8:11,with the fastest marathon time of 2:41. Not bad for a first timer. Chrissie, 3 time Kona Champion from 2007 through 2009 had to miss this year's Kona due to a virus. In order to not let her season end in a scratched race, she decided to do IMAZ. She absolutely killed the course. Not only is she the first woman, she breaks the woman's world record in Ironman by 11 minutes by finishing in 8:36. Congratulations to Tom & Chrissie. Nice way to end the season.

Go Bob & Melissa!!!

2010-11-21T06:33:00.000-05:00

It's always fun to have a rooting interest in an IM. Today, I'll be following two of my friends, Bob Kazar (#1932) & Melissa Johnson (#2494) as they compete in Ironman Arizona. I met this couple from Akron, Ohio when I did the Dublin Marathon in October, 2007. It was probably Bob & Melissa that got me to think that I could do an Ironman event. During our first meeting at a pub social mixer for the Marathon Tours running group, Bob & Melissa talked enthusiastically about their past Ironman experiences. "Don't you need a tri bike?" I asked. "No, just put some aerobars on your road bike," they replied. The rest, they say, is history. The next summer, Salome, buddy John & I did our first sprint triathlon, followed that fall by our first half ironman, and culminating in my first (and to date, only) Ironman event, last year's Ironman Arizona.

What goes around, comes around, I guess. In following buddy John's and my progress, Bob & Melissa got excited enough to sign up the next morning for this year's Ironman Arizona. I'm glad that we could return the inspiration that this couple gave to us to get involved in this great big ball of fun that is "triathlon." I'm sure these strong athletes will once again inspire me with their efforts today.

By the way, Happy Ironman Anniversary to tri buddy John Clidas. He was my partner in crime last year in training for and completing Ironman Arizona. John has already completed his second Ironman event, having done Ironman Florida earlier this month. As for me, once I give this hamstring injury a couple of weeks to heal, I'll start slowly gearing up to Ironman Coeur d'Arlene in late June, 2011. The circle of inspiration continues.

Meanwhile, I've bookmarked the live feed from Ironman Arizona and will be watching my friends on-line throughout the day. Go Bob & Melissa!!!

Down & Out In South Florida

2010-11-10T11:16:00.000-05:00

I think those 8 bridge runs during Miami 70.3 took their toll on me. I don't think it was the heart rate killing uphills that did me harm, but the recovery runs on the downhills. Not having trained for hills, I think all that downhill over-striding left me with ligament damage in the back of my right knee.

Of course, like most injuries, you're not even aware you've injured your self during the event. In fact, I took it easy that week and only did an easy 5 mile jog the following Friday. It was only after a Sunday 10 mile run, that I felt soreness in the evening. So, I take the next week off of running. Saturday, I go with my group for an easy 30 mile ride. No problem. Sunday, Salome & I do an easy run out on A1a along with the runners finishing the Ft. Lauderdale 13.1. Thus, we ran 3 miles, hung out at the finish, then ran 3 mile home. All run at a comfortable, easy pace. That afternoon, after sitting for about an hour during lunch, the back of the right knee was stiff again. Yesterday afternoon, getting up from my desk at work, the knee was very tight again.

OK, I am forced to admit it to myself. I'm injured. Of course, now that I know I'm off the road for a couple of weeks, my friends are texting me to do speed work. As I get more messages, I make more calls explaining that I'm injured and out of the workout loop for a while. It's almost like admitting you're addicted to something. First, you have to acknowledge to yourself that you've got a problem. Then, you've got to announce your problem to your friends. After I'm recovered, I guess I'll have to make amends to my friends that I had to skip workouts with by making up workouts with them. It's like a freaking 12 step program.

The shame is that we Florida athletes are entering our sweet spot in training. All of our Northern friends will start to put away their bikes, swim suits and running shoes until the spring. We Floridians get to keep training in what is the coolest, driest time of the year. Worse still, I'm signed up for the Goofy (1/2 on Saturday, full marathon Sunday) at Disney the second weekend of January. If this injury doesn't heal in the next couple of weeks, I may have to scratch that event. :(

Say What? Free Entry Into a 70.3 Event

2010-11-03T12:47:00.000-04:00

Apparently, I was not the only one to voice complaints and criticism about Saturday's Miami 70.3. Another tri blogger, Courtney of Speedy CB's Ironman Journey, left a comment agreeing with my criticisms. When I later read her race report on the event, she did an even more thorough dressing down of the race organizers. Then, tri buddy, Jerry Busbee, e-mails me a link to a race report by an elite female competitor that again goes over similar criticisms of the race organization.

Well, the folks at WTC must have been inundated with complaints and criticisms about the event. Late last night, the WTC issued a press release acknowledging the race set up was a problem, distancing themselves from the race organization, vowing to take over the race for next year. In addition, they announced a complimentary race entry into any of the 70.3 races in 2011 listed below:

Ironman 70.3 Texas, Ironman 70.3 New Orleans, Ironman 70.3 Florida, Ironman 70.3 Hawaii, Ironman 70.3 Mooseman, Ironman 70.3 Boise, Ironman 70.3 Kansas, Ironman 70.3 Muncie,
Ironman 70.3 Rhode Island, Ironman 70.3 Racine, Ironman 70.3 Boulder, Ironman 70.3 Steelhead, Ironman 70.3 Lake Stevens, Ironman 70.3 Timberman, Ironman 70.3 Branson,
Ironman 70.3 Syracuse, Ironman 70.3 Augusta, Ironman 70.3 Austin, or Ironman 70.3 Miami.

This was probably a good face saving thing to do. I know I feel somewhat better about the whole thing. Now, I've got to decide which race to do. Of course, I have to keep in mind that with travel costs, a free entry is like offering me an opportunity to spend that entry fee several times over if I go to an event outside of Florida. So there is no free lunch as they say.

I'm already registered for Ironman 70.3 Florida in mid-May as a step up to IMCDL in late June. Texas and New Orleans are out due to the fact that I'm running the London Marathon the 3rd week of April. Hawaii, Mooseman, Boise, Kansas, Muncie, Rhode Island, and Racine are all out of the question due to their close proximity to IMCDL. I really can't see doing Miami a second time unless they redesign that run course. So that leaves Boulder, Steelhead, Lake Stevens, Timberman, Branson, Syracuse, Augusta and Austin.

Which one should I do? Anyone who has done any of these events that would highly recommend one of these over the others. Or should I simply finish the WTC events I'm signed up for and walk away from a free entry? You thoughts are appreciated.

Miami 70.3 Race Report

2010-11-01T12:08:00.000-04:00

Well, the inaugural Miami 70.3 has come and gone. Boy, am I pooped. Thumbnail sketch: the swim seemed overly long, the bike was a joy, and the run was like doing hill repeats in Dante's Inferno. Following is my race report.

Friday Expo: Tri buddy Jerry and I arrive at the Miami Hilton around 11:45 AM for our number pickup at the Expo. While this is a first time event, WTC should have their act more together for registration. I end up waiting in a line for about 45 minutes before I'm told that this was the line for participants without USAT cards. Worse, there appears to be no line for people with USAT cards. Then, you have to go through 3 lines to get your number, pick up your bib, then get your chip. Kind of ridiculous. In any event, Jerry needed to pay his $10 for his temporary license, so I would have wasted the time anyway.

While waiting in line, I start up a conversation with a guy named Ricardo. It turns out he is also from Fort Lauderdale. As we chat, up walks another couple of tri buddies, Ellen Itzler and her friend David. Turns out Ellen and Ricardo are training buddies. Small world. Ellen tells us the manditory pre-race lecture didn't reveal much other than the fact that the revised run now calls for 8, yes 8, bridge crossings over the road to the Port of Miami.

After getting our numbers, I buy a "Miami 70.3" bike jersey and decide on the spot to wear it for the bike and run portions of the race. Jerry & I listen in on the course review, then head over to drop our bikes at transition. My spot is right under a large tree and I wonder if this will be a hassle in transitions. Jerry, who got his race entry through a buddy whose company was one of the event sponsors, has a sweet spot near the front of the swim in/run out entry/exit with a spectacular view of the fountain and waterfront. After dropping the bikes, we grab a quick bite for lunch at Bayside.

Race Day: I pick up Jerry at 4:55 AM and we have an uneventful drive down to Miami. After parking at Bayside, and getting by the security at the Bike Out gate, we set up our transition areas. Knowing it was unlikely to be wetsuit legal, we left our wetsuits in the SUV. My area under the tree becomes less crowded as other competitors decide they don't like begin crowded by the tree and relocate. Great, now my transition area has plenty of room. After pumping our tires and doing the Port-O-Potty thing, Jerry & I chill on a bench in transition until just before swim time. As I'm in the 4th wave, I head over to the dock we will jump off of ahead of Jerry.

At the dock area, I spot Ellen and give her last good wishes. She is off in the wave ahead of me. Since it's her first 70.3 event, I wonder if I'll see her again before the finish. I get in line in the group of 50 and older age group. Of course, the race organizers once again give us the silver/gray caps. They must think this is so funny. Before I know it, it is time to jump off the dock. When I hit the water, I go fairly deep. As I finally surface, I get hit by another competitor being pushed into the water by the organizers. Hey guys, no need to injure us before the event.

The Swim: As the gun sounds for my wave, the water feels good. It's still dark out, but I can see the first buoy up ahead. The current, which I can't feel is with us, so I get to the first buoy with ease. Thus, I think the swim will not be so bad. However, after that first turn, I can't see the second buoy. It feels like I swim for long periods without making the headway I believe I should. Apparently, the current is more than I can feel. It seems to take forever to reach the second buoy. Likewise, on the next leg, it seems to take much longer than I expect to sight and get to the third turn. Worse, I think that the 3rd turn must be the finish as I've been in the water 45 minutes already. Nope, there is another leg to complete. I come out of the water in 1:06. My worse time at this distance ever. Not sure if the course was long, the current was worse than it felt, or I was under-trained for the swim. Probably a bit of each.

T1: As I run to transition somewhat dispirited, I take solace in the fact that the bike is next. As I fumble getting on my socks, shoes, bike shirt, helmet and arm bands (I need the sun protection), the announcer tells the spectators to watch the athletes in transition. He comments that "Some athletes go through transition like a Swiss Watch, other like Swiss Cheese." I look up at a female athlete who is waiting nearby as part of a relay team and say, "I guess that makes me Swiss Cheese." T1 time: a pedestrian 7:15.

The Bike: The bike is my favorite portion of long triathlon events. You're on the bike for a long time, and you're still pretty fresh. This was no different. I felt good on the ride, except for the fact that some of the streets were pretty narrow and it got a little dicey when large groups of fast riders with Zip Wheels came by en-mass. While I imagine it's hard to get separation in the early miles on the bike, these groups of 6 to 10 riders were clearly and massively violation the "No Draft" rules. I saw one rider who was drafting so technically beautiful off of another rider that I admired his drafting technique. The lead rider was not going to get separation from this guy hugging his wheel. It reminded me of some of the climbs up Alp Duez in the Tour de France. They lead guy would cross to get the guy off his wheel, but this rider (#2025) countered his every move. As I noted that most of these guys were in their mid 30s to mid 40s, I decided it didn't effect my "old guy" age group ranking, so I should stop worrying about these mass "No Draft" violations. With the narrow streets, there was no room for any course monitors to ride a motor-cycle. I just can't figure out whether the violations are intentional or not.

There are lot of turns on this course, so there was a lot of braking and accelerating work to be done coming out of the turns. My biggest concern was running out of fluids. My stomach doesn't handle Gatorade well in long endurance events. I brought two water bottles with a mix of Heed, which my stomach does handle. I left my third water bottle position open for hand-offs at the 3 aid stations on the course. When I got to the first station, they only had Gatorade. I grabbed it and noticed that the plastic wrap was still on the bottle top. After failing to pry it off with my hand and my teeth, I tossed the bottle away as too much trouble. The second station was so small, I blew by it before I noticed it. After the turn around, I realized I was getting to the end of my second water bottle of Heed. By the time I got to the last aid station, I'm borderline dehydrated. I grab what they have, which is again Gatorade. I drink some and note that the stomach will not be handling this well. However, as I have no choice, I keep the bottle and take small swigs when I can.

As an aside, my friend Ellen apparently did dehydrate on the bike course. She apparently stopped at an medical station and was given 2, yes 2, IVs and was advised to go to the hospital in an ambulance. She somehow got back on her bike and completed the race. I've got to arrange a luncheon this week to hear her complete story. I later saw Ellen on the bridge and she looked fine. Way to hang in there Ellen!

The winds were supposed to be around 13 mph out of the NE, so I thought the return portion of the ride would be a struggle. Luckily, it was more of a cross wind most of the way and I was able to ride in the mid 18s most of the way. My ride time was 3:02:24 and an average of 18.4 mph.

T2: T2 was pretty uneventful and a lot quicker, given that I only had to change shoes and restock energy gels. T2 time: 2:44.

The Run: When I originally signed up for this event, the run was supposed to be 2 loops over the MacArthur Causeway. Thus, I knew there would be 4 uphill bridge runs. I didn't know until the week of before the race that the run course was redesigned to go over the Port of Miami bridge 8 times. While a slightly shorter and less high bridge, it's not that much shorter. I don't think anyone looked forward to this run. While I was able to run the flat parts of the run, I and just about everyone else had to walk at least part of the uphill of the bridge. I ended up running until my heart rate couldn't handle it, I'd walk a bit, then run, then walk again until I reached the top. I would recover on the down slop side of the bridge, but every time I had to go up that bridge, I'd wonder if I could finish the race. I felt like I was bonking on each climb. To make matters worse, the bridge was totally exposed to the sun and it was hot. To the race organizer's credit, they had well stocked water/ice stations about a 1/3 mile after the bridge on each side. Thus, it was a battle to keep hydrated and from overheating on each climb. As I said in my summery, it was like running through Dante's Inferno. I saw most of my friends on some portion of the bridge climbs, and we cheered each other on. But it was not fun. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I think a half ironman events are crazy because you end up running in the heat of the day. This event reaffirmed that belief. I just had no idea I had signed up for a hill workout to boot.

Once I was finally done with my 8th bridge run, I knew I was home free. I zipped up my bike jersey, took a last water cup about a 1/3 mile before the finish and was able to pick up pace for the finish. Just before the finish, I hear buddies John and Tony on the sideline and reach out to high five them before I finish. Run time: 2:33:18, Final overall time: 6:52:10. Not my best, but not my worst half ironman event. It is in the books and my triathlon season is over for 2010. Not sure I'd recommend this event based on the 8 bridge repeats, but otherwise it was a good event. I'd hoped for cooler weather this late in the season, but it is South Florida.

Now, I get to sit back and watch my tri buddies, both local and in blog land, do their Ironman events. Count me as one who will be glad to be a spectator for a while. Best of luck to John, Bob, and Chloe in IMFL this weekend. Best wishes also to Bob & Melissa in IMAZ later this month. I'll be following all of you via computer.

The Excitement of Anticipation

2010-10-26T11:36:00.000-04:00

Being 4 days out from race day, I'm starting to get excited about Miami 70.3. I'm getting a little concerned about these wind that keep blowing pretty steadily, but there's time for them to die down. Die down winds!

I'm also hoping the surf will calm a bit in order for me to do one last open water swim in my wet suit. I'm not a huge fan of wet suits. I don't like the constriction in the chest. I get over it after about 5 minutes in the water, but I am not a fan of that feeling.

Expo and bike drop are on Friday, which shortens the work week a bit. I love an expo. I proposed to tri buddy Jerry that we head down earlier in the day to avoid the Friday afternoon rush hour on the drive back to Ft. Lauderdale. Jerry expressed concerns about shopping time. I assured him that will be no problem. I love a good expo and I'm ready to shop.

I'm also starting to obsess a little about the run course. They changed it and I'm not sure how many laps we run on this winding downtown course. Thus, I'm getting excited about the mandatory course review session on Friday.

Finally, I'm excited about tonight's Miami Heat season opener at Boston. Check out LeBron's commentary on the whole summer controversy in his new Nike commercial. I love the Don Johnson/Miami Vice bit. Very funny.

I can't wait until tonight's game! I can't wait until Friday's expo! I can't wait until Saturday's race! OK, I think I may be coming down with a slight case of Taper Madness.

Less is More

2010-10-25T10:21:00.000-04:00

Taper time is a funny time in the training cycle. You come off a week of your longest training, and suddenly you are training short distances. You know it's the right thing to do in order to show up on race day with fresh legs, but you feel like you should be doing more. As this weekend was the last weekend before Miami 70.3, I had planned an Olympic brink (25 mile bike/6.2 mile run) for Saturday. As I spoke with tri-buddy John Clidas Friday evening, he jokingly said that I may want to consider dropping back to a sprint brick. I chuckled. He then said, "If I told you to do less, you'd probably agree." After we got off the phone, I thought that even though he was kidding, he was actually spot on. In the last week before an even, less is more.

Now, I've always been an advocate of doing something during the week leading up to an event. You just want to keep it light and easy so that you go into your event rested and ready to go. But did I really need to do an Olympic brick the weekend before a half-ironman? Clearly, it's not going to improve my performance. Any training effect is in the bag. I don't advocate total rest in that you don't want to de-train (if that's a word). I like to get out on the bike to ride to get the legs turning over, run a couple of times from 3 to 4 miles, and swim a short distance. But this is mainly to keep the muscle memory going.

So, when I got up Saturday morning, I decided to make it a sprint brick. I rode 10 miles, transitioned over to running shoes, and ran a 5K. I had just enough time to get home and shower before heading out with son Alex for his soccer game. I felt good and fairly fresh. I followed that up with a nice, slightly brisk 4 mile run this morning. Again, I feel I got good leg turnover, but little fatigue. (By the way, the boys kicked butt against a very good team.)

I'll do a short bike and 30 minute swim over the next couple of days. After that, I'll probably go for a light 2 mile run. That's it. Yes, I'm starting to get that build up of excess energy from being underutilized over the last few days, but I hope to be fresh and ready to go on Saturday. Hopefully buddy John takes some of his own advice as he heads into his last weekend before IMFL. To all of you getting ready for either Miami 70.3 or IMFL, remember: less is more.

Happy taper everyone.

Homecoming

2010-10-18T12:22:00.001-04:00

We spent the weekend up in Gainesville visiting our son John for Homecoming. Being on both the homecoming and Gator Growl committees, John got us into several events including breakfast with the President of UF. After that, Salome & I ran with young son Alex in the 2 mile Gator Gallop, a fun run on the homecoming parade route. The picture is of us after the run in front of the D.U. house awaiting the parade. For the uninitiated, we're doing the "Gator Chomp."

Gator Growl, the homecoming show, was a fun event with 3 comedians headlining. Lots of laughs and a good time. There were some great student skits. Here's a link to one called "Facebook Down" to give you a feel for these fun student produced skits. Unfortunately, the football team just couldn't put together enough offense to win the game. Oh well, the team has had several good years under Tim Tebow. A rebuilding year should be somewhat expected.

As for preparations for Miami 70.3, I took advantage of the cooler Gainesville weather to knock out my 13.1 mile run for the weekend. I postponed my long ride until this morning, but it was a strong 58 miler. I hit a groove several times on the ride where I just felt great hitting a 21 mph average. Some days the training feels like a chore; other days you hit that groove where you happy to be training. Today's ride was the latter. Felt great. I think I'm ready for Miami.

Salome & I had lunch yesterday with our friend Ellen Itzler to review our preparations for Miami 70.3. Ellen did Escape to Miami a few weeks back and had some stomach issues during her run. Miami will be Ellen's first 70.3, so she's a bit concerned about a repeat of stomach issues. Thus, we talked about race strategy and proper hydration and nutrition during the race. I think she's going to do fine. But, as most of us know, when you step up to a new level for the first time, you're a bundle of nerves.

Miami will be my fourth half ironman and, as a local event, a sort of homecoming. Another tri buddy, Jerry Busbee is also doing Miami. Jerry is also signed up for IMCDL as part of our group tackling that event next June. He is also a pretty strong triathlete. I'm hoping he can take my picture as I cross the finish line well after him. We've coordinated bike drop off on Friday and will try to get in an open water swim workout or two before next Saturday's event. This weekend's run and today's ride were my last long workouts, so it's officially taper time. Yeah!!!

The Boys of October

2010-10-11T11:46:00.000-04:00

Well, we're well into October and it's busy out there. With just a few weeks left until Miami 70.3, I did a Saturday morning 13.1 run. Being slightly cooler and being full into the fall marathon training period, A1a was full of runners out getting ready for various races. This is the time of year it starts feeling really good to be doing a long run. You feel just so much better running when the temperatures are just 5 to 10 degrees cooler. I finished feeling so much stronger and fresher than the prior weekend 12 mile long run. I felt so good that after coaching my son's soccer game, we all went the beach and I swam 1.2 miles. I finally feel good to go in all three disciplines for the upcoming half ironman. Sunday, I ended up riding solo, but got in my 60 miles. As I say, I feel good to go.

My son Alex has caught baseball fever, so we spent a lot of Sunday watching the various series. With my football teams not doing so well this year, it was a nice change of focus. October is a very busy sports month, with baseball in the play-offs, football in full-season, and hockey and basketball staring up. I've enjoyed watching a couple of pre-season Heat games, and look forward to an exciting first season with the Three Kings.

Congratulations go out to friends Lupe, Maggie and Jerry on their Chicago Marathons races on Sunday. They look great in their post-race photo posted on Facebook. That says a lot as it sounds like it was another hot year in Chicago for the marathon. Way to go guys. See you in London in April.

Pac-Man Gobbles Up More M-Dots

2010-10-07T12:32:00.000-04:00

The World Triathlon Corporation, owner of the "Ironman" and "Ironman 70.3" labeled events just announced a series of Olympic distance triathlons to be held under the moniker "5150." Why they chose 5010 as opposed to 50.1 is beyond me. I guess they figure it sounds grander and cooler. In addition to adding a number of new events and an annual championship in Clearwater similar to the Ironman 70.3 series, they also incorporated several well established Olympic races into the series. Some of the existing Olympic races included are as follows: Miami International Triathlon (Miami, Fla.) in mid-March; St. Anthony’s Triathlon (St. Petersburg, Fla.) in late April/early May; Washington D.C. Triathlon in mid-June; and Nautica NYC Triathlon in early August.

There are others, and I assume that these were successful established races on their own. I note that there are also several new events that are listed specifically as 5150 events. Thus, WTC is clearly bringing more to the table than simply gobbling up other successful races. However, it feels like a Pac-Man game to me. I'm sure that this will excite the professional athletes as it will give them more opportunities to win more prize money. I also bet that the companies owning the acquired events are also thrilled. I often think that this is the formula for a lot of triathlon and marathon events. Get big and successful in the hopes that a larger entity will come buy you out at a profit. It's the American way. The Rock n' Roll Marathon series comes to mind.

However, I'm not sure this is in the best interests of the average athlete. A series in which big prize money has to be gathered to pay the pros usually means higher entry fees for the rest of us. It also seems to take away from the local feel of an event. Locally owned, locally operated events create local pride. I'm not sure we'll lose the local pride in these events, but they will no longer be simply local events. They will be WTC events.

Now, I've done several WTC events. They put on top notch events. They make great official gear that we as athletes and consumers of such goods like: hats, shirts, mugs, jackets. You name it, they've got it to sell to us. But I always tried to balance out my WTC and non-WTC events. I like the feel of a locally run event. Whether its a big city marathon like Chicago, New York, or Boston, or a small local race like everyone's home town 4th of July or Thanksgiving Day races. These events feel like they belong to these cities and our local towns. Yes, I know those big city marathons are like corporate giants themselves, but they are not all owned by the same company. They still feel like they reflect the spirit of the locale.

I'm not sure that ownership or association with WTC will kill that sense of the local for these existing events; but deep down inside, I don't trust a growing monopoly in any field. I hope in gobbling up all the class events in the sport, that WTC doesn't unintentionally eat its young. This sport is expensive enough as it is. Will race fees jump to pay for the "Ironman" label? Will new entrants to the sport shy away from these series events with higher fees? Only time will tell if, overall, this is good for the sport.

Nice Weather Down Here

2010-10-07T10:33:00.000-04:00

I went for a 7 mile run this morning. Man was the weather beautiful. It was in the low 70s with low humidity. I'm sure this will not last, but man was it sweat. This is why I like to train for a winter marathon in South Florida. The weather doesn't get marathon training great until about now. The late fall and winter in South Florida are the best running days of the year. I look forward to gearing up for the Goofy race at Disney in early January.

A shout out to running friends Jerry, Lupe and Maggie doing Chicago this weekend. Have a great race guys. Also kudos to local Chicago marathoner Linda Mueller who will work the race. It's always good to give back to the running community by volunteering at a race.

Wide Awake In America

2010-10-06T11:43:00.000-04:00

"I'm wide awake. Wide awake!
I'm not sleeping. Oh, no, no, no." Bad - U2

I suffer from occasional insomnia. It's not a big problem unless I've got a group training event scheduled for the next morning. Actually, the mere fact that I have an early morning group training event planned tends to cause me to sleep less soundly. It's like the night before a major endurance event where you have to get up at 4 AM. I tend to sleep lighter and awaken a couple of times during the night to check how much time I have left to sleep. Screwy, I know, but it's how my mind/body works.

Sometimes, I just inject too much caffeine during the day without realizing it, and I get the payoff when I lay down to sleep. Last night was one of those nights. I had a 7 mile group run scheduled with a couple of other runners for 5:45 AM. Not too early, but early enough. I tried to go to sleep at 10 PM, but it was a "no go" situation. After laying in bed for a hour, I got up, watched some late night talk shows, and putzed around on the internet. I try to get back to sleep again around midnight, but again, I can't buy shuteye. Around 1:30 AM, I e-mail my buddies that I'm not making the early run, take a sleep aid and await the kick-in of sleep. I awake around 8 AM and hustle off to get in a portion of my weight training session with my trainer. I'll get in the missed run this evening, but I sure hate the unwanted night owl status.

On the plus side, I had a good training weekend. A 12 mile run on Saturday morning; a 60 mile ride with triathletes Mandy and Miranda at a good pace on Sunday; and an open water swim on Monday. I think I'm back on track to give Miami 70.3 a decent effort at the end of October.

As for my running buddies this morning, I can only offer my sincere apologies and vow to more closely monitor my caffeine intake.

Mid-Stream Trainning

2010-09-27T10:45:00.000-04:00

After a nice, but wet Thursday morning return to brick workouts, I decided to focus on going long over the weekend. I got up early Saturday morning for a 10 mile long run, followed by coaching "The Ducks" to another win in youth soccer. The practice on corner kick set ups and passing to the open player seems to be paying off.

Another long ride Sunday (58 miles) with buddy Tony. A little residual hamstring fatigue on the ride from Saturday's run, but after warming up, all felt good. Still acclimating to the longer stuff. A bit hard to maintain the pace on the return leg of the ride. I finished up with a 10K run this morning before work. With any luck, I will join buddy John for a swim workout in the pool this evening.

Other than that, it was watching football and following up on friend's results in their various races. Good results by Mandy Miller, winning the woman's overall sprint division of the Escape to Miami Triathlon. It looks like buddy Bob Becker had another tough year making the time cut off at the Spartathlon. I'm sure Bob will one day complete this monster of a race.

P.S. I realize this isn't the most interesting post, but it's what I had to work with. I don't know if it's just that I'm midstream in training for the end of October or I just have not got much interesting to write about.

The Body Will Do Only What You Ask It to Do

2010-09-22T11:17:00.000-04:00

The last week, I returned to cycling after a couple week's layoff. I ramped up for a 10 miler, then 12, and 13 miles during the week. I surprisingly felt sore after the first couple of rides. However, knowing I've got to ramp up for the Miami 70.3 at the end of October, I decided to go long Sunday. The long ride wasn't bad. Not knowing how long I was in condition to handle, I did a 45 mile out and back going north along A1a. I felt so good, I added another loop going south to make it 56 miles, the full HIM ride distance. It felt good to go long.

I slept well Sunday night and awoke feeling good and energetic. My leg muscles felt somewhat tighter and in place. It made me think about how our muscles react both to exercise and to extended periods of rest. When I go on an extended break from working out, after about 7 to 10 days, the leg muscles seem to relax and unwind. When returning to regular workouts it takes about a week before the leg muscles seem to adjust back to a tighter, more athletic compactness. It's like the body will do what is asked of it. If we're working out regularly, the body stays in the condition it need to be in to handle that load. When we don't ask it to handle regular physical activity, the body slowly goes to a more relaxed looser shape. I guess that's the concept of resistance training: stress the body in a workout, adapt in recovery. It just feels good to feel the body making the adaptation to a higher level of fitness. More energy, a firmer body. It's no wonder we love to train for and do triathlons and other endurance events. It feels so good to be able to go these distances. Maybe not during those last miles of a marathon or a full Ironman, but otherwise it sure feels good.

I do believe in training cycles. Over-training can run the body into the ground. However, it sure does feel good to have the body in that "ready to roll" athletic firmness. This morning, I returned to working out with weights at my trainer's gym. I can't wait for this weekend's long run. Be sure to keep asking your body to do more. It will only do what you ask of it to do.

Ultra Marathons

2010-09-10T12:37:00.000-04:00

While I'm still in recovery and out of the workout loop, I'm thought I'd write about something I have little business writing about: ultra marathons.

I have several friends who run ultra marathons. One of these friends, Bob Becker, is the race director for the Keys 100 Ultra Marathon, a 100 mile ultra marathon from Key Largo to Key West that takes place in May. The event also contains a 50 mile ultra from Marathon Key to Key West that I may attempt one of these years. I crewed for a 100 mile runner, Bill Andrews, this last year and found the experience interesting and rewarding.

Bob is an experienced ultra runner, having run Badwater, Marathon des Sables and many others. Later this month, Bob is going to Greece to give a second go at running the Spartathlon, a 153 mile race from Athens to Sparta, a run based on the theoretical route that Pheidippides ran in seeking the Spartan's assistance in the Athenian's battle against the Persian empire on the plane of Marathon. Bob tells me this is a very hard ultra marathon in that there are cut off times throughout the course. If you fail to get to a particular race station in sufficient time, your race is over. This will be Bob's second try at this event. This year is the 2,500 year anniversary of Pheidippides' run, so it has special meaning. The race is September 24-25. Don't you just love a race that lists multiple days for it's occurrence?

Another ultra runner friend, Mandy Miller, has started a website call Ultras 4 Mortals. The site is dedicated to all things ultra running. Like Bob, Mandy has an impressive resume in both ultra running and triathlons. If you are an ultra runner, or like me, interested in attempting an ultra one day, check out her website. As Mandy points out, while "ultra" means far beyond the norm, those that run ultras are normal runners that go the extra miles to do the extraordinary. There are already some interesting posts up on the website. Be sure to check it out.

On the Sidelines

2010-09-08T11:55:00.000-04:00

Three weeks ago, I returned from my summer vacation with what I thought was a head cold. It came with a nice case of laryngitis. When I got back in town, I went to see my doctor. As we are both of the philosophy of not abusing antibiotics, we decided to let my body fight what we thought was a virus. A week later and the things still around, so I'm put on 5 days of antibiotics. The next weekend I do a sprint triathlon. I get through the thing, but felt I was better prepared for a half-sprint triathlon. Each leg felt about half the distance too far. I knew I wasn't 100%, but we athletes hate being taken out of the game.

In all honesty, other than the two weeks of laryngitis, the symptoms haven't been that severe. Headache, sore throat, ear ache, and slight nasal congestion. The real problem is that I've felt sluggish and easily tired when attempting a swim or short ride. As I knew my doctor was going away for the weekend, I called him Thursday to let him know "the gunk" was still hanging around. We scheduled a follow up appointment for yesterday. Turns out, it's simply a stubborn sinus infection and I'm on another round of antibiotics.

I feel like a football player sidelined with an injury. I'm dying to get back in the game. We endurance athletes just don't transition well to a sedentary lifestyle. I want this thing over however, so I'll follow my doctor's orders to a tee. I'm told I can ride and swim. A side effect of the antibiotic I'm on can be Achilles tendinitis, so I'm not supposed to run at all. I'm hoping this downtime doesn't tube my Miami 70.3 for the end of October.

In the meantime, youth soccer season is upon us and I've once again volunteered to be one of the coaches for my son, Alex's team. We had our first practice last night, so I got to work the vocal cords a bit. Still a little rasp in the voice, but the kids look good. With all the kids having seen the World Cup games this summer, they seem extra eager to play. We had a great first scrimmage last night. So, although I'm temporarily stuck on the sidelines, at least I'm coaching.

After the Deluge: Miami Nice Race Report

2010-08-30T10:22:00.000-04:00

As mentioned in a previous post, in preparing for the Miami Nice Sprint Triathlon, I was coming off a cold that came with a bout of laryngitis. I'd managed only a 13 mile bike ride on Thursday, a 5K run on Friday and a 20 minute swim Saturday morning. On each of these workouts, I felt like I was pushing the envelope and possibly coming back too soon. In addition, my mother-law-law, Kiki, kept harping in my ear that I wasn't resting enough and jumping back into exercise too soon. However, this was my wife Salome's only other schedule triathlon for this season and I wanted to support her. My plan was to start the event, take it easy, and if I felt overtaxed, to drop out.

Preparation Sunday morning went fine, until just before the race. There were some ominous dark clouds coming in from the east. As the announcer started the first couple of waves, it started lightly raining. As the rain was chilling, Salome, buddy Tony & I got into the water near the start as Tony had indicted the water was quite warm. It felt good to be submerged to our necks and in fact it was warmer in the water than being exposed to the rain. The rained picked up and soon visibility was about 3 feet. The winds picked up and waves started forming on the bay waters. It felt like I was getting a message from God to cease this foolish venture and go home.

I turned to Salome & Tony and said: "If this keep up, I'm not racing. This could be dangerous not only on the ride, but if anyone got into trouble on the swim, the guys in the rescue canoes may not see the troubled swimmer." That's about the time, lightening struck. OK, I'm outta here. The 30 or so of us warming ourselves in the water quickly exited the bay. The swimmers already swimming were called back. As we headed for the expo tent, I turned to Salome and said: "Let's get our bikes and go home." To give you an idea of the scene, here is a picture of a friend's daughters before it got too sever. Note the 3 inches of ground water and the swimmer trying to shield her eyes in the background.

The race officials let racers into the transition area to check on their gear, but held off in letting anyone take their bikes out of transition. The transition area looked like Minnesota, a land of a thousand lakes. Helmets was floating in giant puddles here and there, and everything was completely soaked. But like a lot of rains in South Florida, this storm passed in about 40 minutes.

While the ground was still covered with many large puddles, the race organizers decided to restart the race. The race contained both an Olympic and a Sprint division. In order to keep within allotted traffic closure times, the organizers shortened the swim and bike portions of the Olympic event to the sprint distances; only the run would be different. We decided to stay and do the event.

My race report is pretty simple. With each leg, I was fine for the first half of the swim, bike and run, but felt tried for the second half of each leg. I was clearly returning to the fold about a week too early, but never felt that I couldn't complete any of the legs of the event. If only they had a half sprint event, I would have felt great. As far as my times, they weren't too far off what I'd have done fully recovered. All in all, I felt good about participating.

After finishing, I circled back a few hundred yards from the finish to watch Salome come through the finish line. She looked in good form. After clearing our gear out of the transition area and getting some post race food, we headed toward the results postings. As we approached the results board, a couple of friends congratulated Salome on her first place age group finish. Salome thought they were pulling her leg, but sure enough, there her name was atop the listings for her age group. Needless to say, she was thrilled.

Another buddy, Andy Wiener placed in my age division (I came in 5th), so we had much to cheer about in the awards presentations. We sure are glad we stuck around for the race. As Salome said: "It's important to finish what you start." Here are our victors at the awards ceremony.

On the Ironman front, buddies Miranda and Michael did fantastic in Ironman Canada on Sunday. Miranda's race went as follows: Swim- 1:15:26; T1- 7:30; Bike-6:29:10; T2- 5:26; Run- 3:50:38, for an overall finish of 11:48:10. Micheal's results were as follows: Swim- 1:11:26; T1- 7:30; Bike-6:45:16; T2- 7:59; Run- 4:18:37, for an overall finish of 12:32:54. Just spectacular results in my book. Congratulations to both Miranda and Michael on great races.

Miami Nice Indeed!

2010-08-29T13:49:00.001-04:00

The short version: Salome won 1st place in her age division in the Sprint division of the Miami Nice Triathlon today. As I always say: "Any day you get an age division award is a good day." I guess I have to add: "Any day you get 1st place in your age division is a very special day." A full report to follow soon.

Now I've got to start tracking my friends Miranda and Michael as they compete in Ironman Canada today.

Ready or Not....

2010-08-24T12:58:00.000-04:00

Before I left on our family vacation, I signed up for the Miami Nice Sprint Triathlon. My wife Salome was signed up for the Olympic distance event as part of a "two-fer" registration for the early June race put on by the same folks. Salome subsequently downgraded to the sprint for this late August triathlon after I explained how the June Olympic event almost put me in heat stroke by the end of the run. Thus, as we left South Florida for the Northeast and Canada a couple of weeks ago, we were both signed up for this weekend's sprint tri.

Little did I know I'd come back from that trip with a head cold that would also give me laryngitis. This cold has hung around a little longer than I'd hoped or expected. I do try to follow doctor's orders and so I've been resting the last week trying to get over this bug. Fortunately, it stayed out of the chest, so I should be good to go once this is over. The bad thing is, I've only got a few more days to train for Sunday's event. So, ready or not, here it comes.

At least it's only a sprint. Buddies Miranda and Michael leave tomorrow for Ironman Canada. The climbs on the bike course look tough, but M & M have trained for the hills. I wish them well on their races. In comparison, my sprint should be a cake walk. If only my voice fully returns and I get in a couple of workouts.

Been Travelling

2010-08-20T13:00:00.000-04:00

I got back from a family trip to the Northeast US and Canada on Monday. Our college aged son, John, was out of summer session with a week to spare before getting back to Gainesville to prepare for his fraternity's fall rush. Prior to leaving, I got in one last run with buddy John, a 10 miler, while attending a Florida Bar conference in Palm Beach.

The trip started with the Newport Jazz Festival on Sunday. Our flight had gotten delayed and we only made the last two performances, but they were good ones. Herbie Hancock played from his new album. The set contained jazz versions of John Lennon's "Imagine" and Bob Marley's "Exodus." Chris Botti closed the evening with several special performers. All in all, a great afternoon of jazz. I'd like to do more of these live jazz festivals. I think you never appreciate jazz more than hearing it live and watching the musicians play their instruments. Not sure why that is, but it seems to be the case.

We traveled up to Maine, staying with some friends who have had a place up there for decades. The views of the water during the day and the skies at night were spectacular. You know you're away from light pollution when you can actually see the Milky Way. I love just gazing into the night sky's when you can see countless stars in the night sky. We toured Acadia National Park, as our son John wanted to do this for years. We did some hiking and rock climbing. At one point, the Bob Marley's "Exodus" came up on my iPod and young son, Alex, sang along to the music. I guess he got something out of Newport Jazz too.

Next up, we drove through Maine and up to Quebec City, Quebec, an unexpected pleasure in several ways. As we checked into our hotel, we were informed that Cirque de Soleil had a free performance at a nearby open air performance center at 9 PM. We grabbed a quick bite and then caught the show. Like most Cirque shows, the story line was somewhat vague and in French, but was marvelous. The next day we caught the changing of the guard and toured the Citadel, ate lunch at a sidewalk cafe, hiked a nearby waterfall park, and ended the evening in the Port area. All we unexpected pleasures in that we originally didn't plan to visit Quebec City. However, it was also in Quebec City that I came down with a pretty bad head cold.

The next couple of days were spent in Montreal. Our hotel was newly renovated in a modern style. Very luxurious. We visited the Montreal Art Museum, toured Old Town, and walked the gardens next to the Olympic Stadium. Meanwhile, my cold got worse. By Sunday morning, I developed laryngitis, which I'm just getting over now. Salome & the boys kept joking that they liked me better this way.

Sunday afternoon, we drove to visit our friends Guy and Noami, who have a summer home in Vermont. Their home has a lovely view of seven mountain ranges going from Vermont into New Hampshire. Guy & Naomi had some neighbors and friends over for an evening barbecue. We ended the evening watching an open pit fire burn. It was nice getting together with a couple we really enjoy, but don't see often enough. Our sons also connected nicely with their two boys.

As we were making our plans for the drive back to Providence for our flight back home on Monday, I noted that we could drive through Springfield, Massachusetts, home of the Basketball Hall of Fame. I'd been floating the idea of a trip to several of the sports halls of fame, but the family has never signed onto that idea. When I mentioned that we could knock off one of the halls of fame, they eagerly agreed to add this new stop to our travels. I'm not sure whether they were trying to please me, or were just eager to knock one of these things off the list. In any event, all of us enjoyed touring the Basketball Hall of Fame and learned a lot about the early history of the game in addition to seeing our favorites. To top it off, Scottie Pippen was recently inducted. Scottie's son was on my son Alex's team this last year and Scottie occasionally coached the kids. Thus, it was nice that Alex had a personal connection to one of the hall of famers.

Other than the 10 mile run with John, the only workout I got in was a 30 minute run up Mount Real in Montreal. Otherwise, I've been off the grid workout wise. This cold had me down, but I'm just about over it. I'll try to get some workouts in this weekend and next week in preparation for next weekend's Miami Nice Sprint Triathlon. It will probably be more for completion and getting back on the horse, than for time. Besides, I don't know if you've noticed, it's pretty hot out there in these dog days of August.

New Thinking

2010-07-29T17:22:00.000-04:00

Today in the mail, I received my rejection from the JFK 50 Mile Run. Participation in this event is by lottery. Having a passing interest in doing an ultra, I applied for this event. I figured if I got into this event late November event, I would pick a 50K race sometime in October as a step up to JFK. Coming off Vineman 10 days ago, however, I was not looking forward to stepping up longer runs for the next several months. It's hard to do long runs in South Florida in the months of August, September and October. I keep relearning that lesson every time I schedule a fall marathon. This lesson was reinforced in training for Ironman Arizona last November. However, I decided to apply for JFK and let fate decide. I'm kind of relieved by the rejection.

I realize that I need to have an off-season to allow my body to cycle down on training before cycling back up for another season. Thus, I've given serious thought to blocking certain times of year for recovery, base training, and then events. Given my local climate, the best time for marathon and half marathon running is in the winter and early spring. Triathlon season tends to get going in March. You can train to go long through about June, so July is about the latest I should schedule an Ironman or Half Ironman event. Therefore, I'm going to use late April or early May as my cutoff for marathons, and July as my cutoff for long triathlons. That will give me August, September and October to do other things that South Florida has to offer: swimming, diving and fishing. I'll use the fall to ramp back up for the winter marathon season and transition over to triathlon training in the spring.

My buddy Tony, who did Vineman with me, was eager to sign up for a sprint triathlon this weekend. For me, I just want to roll back on the intensity of training and not compete at the sprint distance. I've still got Miami 70.3 on the books for October 30th, so I've still got to train for endurance in the fall (at least this year). Thus, I'll still train, but more to maintain general conditioning for the next 4 to 6 weeks. I start back training more seriously in mid September.

Anyway, that's my new way of thinking. I've been at these long endurance events pretty much straight throughout the year since the summer of 2002. Maybe this new cyclical/seasonal approach is a sign of me getting older and wanting a break from continuous training. Perhaps it means I getting wiser. I've always heard about periodization in training. Let's see if it works.

Since I use this blog primarily for training entries, I'll post less frequently, if at all, for the next 6 weeks. I'll still check out my fellow bloggers now and then, but you may not need to check in with my blog until mid September or so. Enjoy the rest of your summer. I plan on enjoying mine.

Vineman Race Report

2010-07-23T11:28:00.001-04:00

This was a trip that I and buddy Tony Whittaker signed up to do. My wife Salome came along as support and for the wine touring. We arrived in San Francisco early Friday afternoon via a lovely direct flight out of Fort Lauderdale on Virgin America. We picked up the van, packed Tony's bike and headed up to our hotel in Windsor. Instead of going to the pasta feed in Windsor, we had stopped on the way up for our only pre-race wine tasting at Buena Vista Carneros outside of the City of Sonoma, then ate dinner at "The Girl and the Fig" restaurant in Sonoma. Like most of our eating experiences on this trip, it was gourmet all the way.

Saturday Course Preview

After picking up my bike and gear bag from Tribike Transport on Saturday around noon, we drove out to the swim start at Johnson's Beach. The river looked much calmer than I imagined it would. It looked like it would be similar to swimming in a lake while camping. After stopping by the refreshment stand to thank the beach owner, Gail, for letting the use of his beach for the event, we drove the first part of the bike course to survey it. We were glad we did, as the turn at mile 5 off of Westside Road onto Sunset Ave. was a severe right and downward turn. We were later warned at the pre-race race director's lecture to take this turn slow as riders often wreck coming down this steep embankment.

We cut across the course to the latter section of the course that contains the biggest climb of the bike course: Chalk Hill. Tony & I got on our bikes and rode about 5 miles leading up to the climb and 5 miles afterward. Salome acted as driver of the sag wagon and photographer. In riding the rolling hills, I knew I would enjoy the bike section of the race. Living in flat South Florida, this kind of riding makes cycling truly fun. Of course, when we got to Chalk Hill, I did get out of the saddle to complete the climb. Not the Tourmalet, mind you, but a good 3/4 of a mile climb. That night, we ate at Baci, an Italian restaurant in Healdsburg. Tony had one glass of wine with dinner, but I stuck with my pre-race glass of water.

Race Day

The race director had indicated that racers in later starts didn't need to get to the start too much before their wave since they didn't close the bike transition area. Bad advice. Since Tony's wave didn't go off until 7:10 and I didn't start until 7:26, we showed up on race morning at Johnson's Beach around 6:30 AM to find total chaos. The beach is a little tight to hold the approximate 2,000 racers with the bike transition area and the Port O Potty area taking up the entire beach. Apparently, no one else took the race director's advice to heart and it was a little hard finding a position in the now crowded bike racks to set up our bikes. After finally finding a spot to squeeze my bike into on the racks, I headed over to the Port O Potty lines to take care of urgent business. While in the longish Port O Potty line, I hear buddy Tony's wave called out and started. I thought: "I hope he made it down to the water in time." He did. So much for being able to cheer your buddy on at the start.

The Swim

As I went down to the beachfront to do a swim warm up, I noted the eerie fog floating over the river. The water felt warm enough to swim without a wet suit, but when it's a wet-suit legal swim, who wants to be at a competitive disadvantage to everyone else in a wet suit. As my wave of 50 to 54 is called to get into the water, the common theme of the jokes passed around is about being the "old guys" in these events. At age 51, I think how I should have gotten into the tri scene about a decade or so earlier. To add insult to injury, the race directors always give my age group either a grey or white swim cap. Today is white, which just makes us look older than our age. I always think that the race organizers must have a good laugh when they decide the swim cap colors. Fortunately, most race directors are around my age, so it may all be a bit of self deprecating humor.

As the announcer counts down from 10 and the gun goes off for my wave, I notice the strangest sight I've ever seen at a triathlon: some of the participants start walking the swim course. The river is shallow enough to stand up in and at some points gets shallow enough to be only knee deep. With about 10 percent of the "swimmers" walking up the river covered in fog, it looks like a scene from either "Apocalypse Now" or "Platoon." The only thing missing is guys carrying rifles over their heads as they wade up the river.

Being a triathlon however, I refuse to take this easy way out. I'm here to swim, so I swim. For the first few hundred yards, I get that restrictive/constrictive feeling in my chest. With the water so warm in Fort Lauderdale, I haven't had the chance to practice swimming in my wet suit. I realize I haven't swam in my wet suit since April at St. Anthony's Triathlon. So I start my swim feeling awkward and wishing I had chosen to swim without a wet suit. I briefly consider stripping out of my wet suit, but realize I would then be hampered with swimming and carrying a wet suit. I continue swimming, but don't get into the groove on the outward swim against the current. Of course, seeing guys walking in the river at about the same speed that I'm swimming doesn't help me feel good about my swim. Once I make the turn and am swimming with the current, I get into a better swim groove. However, as I get out of the water, I think: "I'm glad that's over." Swim time: 48 minutes. Nothing to blog home about.

The other thing I dislike about wet suits is that I am not very efficient in transition trying to get out of these things. It always seems to take me an inordinate amount of time to get my feet out of those last feet of the wet suit. In addition to that I decided to wear UV protection sleeves which turn out to be hard to slide on my arms when my arms are wet. It also takes a little extra time to put my wet suit into the transition bag. T1 time: a whopping 6:28. Oh well, at least I'm starting the bike portion of the event.

The Bike

Getting up the beach to the road is a little tricky as you have a steep climb with no run up to the climb to get up to the main road. However, once onto River Road, I feel great. The first 5 miles is on a fairly main road and I just try to get my legs used to spinning at a good pace. I slow for the crazy sharp turn onto Sunset Ave. and get ready for the short steep climb coming out of this little subdivision. From here on, it's rolling hills.

What can I say about the ride other than it was a blast to ride. Rolling hills and beautiful views of vineyards was why I signed up for this event. While I'm not used to climbs, I felt I held my own for being a Floridian. My average was 17.1, but I have no way to know if this is good or bad. Buddy Tony rode an average of 20.1, but biking is his strong suit. I think he told me he topped over 40 mph on one of the descents. I also had to make one pit stop at a Port O Potty, so my average was probably slightly higher as I probably lost 5 to 7 minutes waiting in line. Oh well, when you've got to go, you've got to go.

I enjoyed working the climbs. I had started taking spin class about a month earlier with our friend Dorota, so I felt a little more prepared for climbing. I simply loved accelerating on the downhills. It made me feel like a kid again flying downhill on his bike. I was glad we had done reconnaissance on Chalk Hill as it allowed me to climb more aggressively than other riders since I knew the hill. I must have passed around 15 riders by the time I crested the top of the climb. By pushing up that climb, I had a clear run down the other side and just flew. A few miles down the road, however, served as a reminder of the risks involved in fast descents and sharp turns.

At about mile 50, a rider had fallen just before a turn and a car was blocking the road for him as he awaited the EMT guys. I think the guy was OK, but it made me glad that the descents were behind us. As we headed into town and towards the Windsor High School transition area, I tried to spin a good cadence to get the legs ready for the run. My T2 time was 3:54 primarily due to the long run into and out of transition.

The Run

As I start my run out of transition, I check my watch and think that I might be able to get close to a 6:15 finish time. However, after the third mile, I realize the run course is also hilly. When I approach a steep hill that rose sharply and swung to the right, I realized this was going to be a challenging run course. I decided to walk a portion of the uphills and try to run the downhills. At least that what my ultra running friends advise. This strategy seems to work. There are some shaded areas on the run, which gave some respite from what was becoming a hot mid-day. I feel alright at the turn around point at the La Crema vineyard, but soon realize on the return that I'm going to have a hard time getting to the finish.

I start to take more frequent walk breaks and can feel time slipping by. Many other runners are feeling the same, so I take some solace in that fact. I now adjust my expectations and think that a 6:30 to 6:35 finish would be swell. It's on this return run through Hell that I start thinking what a fool I am to have signed up a couple of weeks back for Ironman Coeur d'Arlene. I think about my thoughts of running an ultra. How am I going to get through something like that? I then pull back from the edge of the mental abyss and realize I've just got to take it easy and click off each mile. I start trying to pace and pass other runners. I also start to chat with other runners and we give each other encouragement as we go.

As I go by the last water station at the 1 mile mark, I think I'm good to go for that 6:35. About a quarter mile later, my right hamstring cramps and will not unwind. I'm forced to an immediate dead stop to try to massage the cramp out. I'm stuck in place with less than a mile to go. I try to walk, but the cramp will not allow me to move. I stand on the side of the road and massage the ham for 5 to 7 minutes. It finally loosens. I begin a slow jog and finally am able to run again. However, I now know I've got to be careful not to push too hard as the ham keeps threatening to tweak out again. I come across Salome on the sidewalk about 1/2 mile from the finish. She tries to take my picture, but the camera is malfunctioning. As I see she is on the verge of tears, I tell her to forget about it. It's all good. I just want to cross that finish line.
At the finish line, buddy Tony, who crossed in 6:09, has chatted up a couple of women and provides me with a personal cheering section. I veer right and over to high-five Tony before heading under the finish line. My final time: 6:43. Afterward, Tony tells me that he too had moments on the return run where he was thinking about posting his Cervelo P3 for sale on Craig's List and chucking the whole triathlon scene. We soon both return to our senses after meeting back up with Salome and sitting under a tent eating fruit. Tony's time was also a PR, but he wishes his Garmin watch hadn't died. Since there were no clocks on the run course, he had no idea he was so close to a sub 6 hour finish.

Post Race Wine Touring

The next couple of days were spent wine touring and eating at fantastic restaurants. The vineyards we visited were as follows: Geyser Peak, Robert Young, and Alexander Valley on Monday; and Chalk Hill and Gundlach Bundschu on Tuesday. The restaurants were as follows: The Girl & the Fig and The Swiss Hotel Garden Cafe in Sonoma; Baci, Costeaux French Bakery, and Dry Creek Kitchen in Healdsburg; and Stark's Steakhouse in Santa Rosa the night after the half-ironman. It was all incredible, with each bit of food and sip of wine a pleasure to pass over the tongue. It was a pleasure to have Tony along, as the guy can detect and distinguish flavors and hints of flavors that the average man (me) has trouble discerning. He definitely raised my wine game. It always pays to travel with a foodie. All in all, it was a very pleasant way to spend our time recovering from the race.

We finished up our trip with an evening on Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. I love eating the fresh oyster's and octopus from the outdoor vendors along the pier. By the time we sat down for dinner at a sea food restaurant, however, my appetite had been satiated. There was no way even the freshest fish could top the two days of gourmet eating and wine tasting we had just completed. I almost couldn't finish my snapper, and I love snapper.

Evaluation of Vineman

Both Tony & I feel that this was a fun, but tough course. It was hot and hilly on that run. We probably should have done more hill running work in preparation for this event. We also could have used some heat training runs to acclimate ourselves to running at noon. Even though it's less humid in California, it still gets hot at mid day. We see room for improvement by improving our training and nutrition. Thus, it looks like we'll be doing this triathlon stuff for a few more years. Tony's already trying to talk me into a sprint tri in a couple of weeks. Me, I've got Miami 70.3 lined up for the end of October. I'm going to take it easy for the next week or so, then it's back to training.

End of an Era

2010-07-12T13:04:00.001-04:00

Watching the bad luck of Lance Armstrong in yesterday's Alpine Stage 8 of the Tour de France, I felt bad for him. Past 5 time champions typically kept at the Tour de France until they had a tour like Lance is having now. When he broke that record and retired at the top of his game with 7 wins, it felt right. He was a unique champion and had the unique opportunity to walk away without that final fall from being at the top of his game.

Of course, as a fellow older athlete, I was as excited as the next guy to see him come back last year and surprise us all by staying in contention and reaching the podium in 3rd. The return of Lance and the ensuing controversy with Contador brought a whole new level of excitement and interest back to the Tour. But this year, Lance has to be the most unlucky rider in the peloton. First, losing time with a tire puncture on the pave in Stage 3, now three crashes in one hot and critical day in the French Alps. You could see his disgust and resignation in slowly pulling his bike out of that last slow motion wreck caused by a couple of Tour rookies from Euskatel who couldn't handle a simple feed bag hand-off. I can only wonder what he would have said to these guys if the TV cameras weren't focused on him.

A class act, Armstrong refused to complain about the other riders or his bad luck. He simply acknowledged that his chances for the overall lead were over. I can only hope that he will rebound after this rest day and dedicate his efforts in support of fellow American and faithful teammate Levi Leipheimer, the Team Radioshack member with the best chance to reach the podium this year. Who knows, perhaps Lance can still win a stage and give the spectators a chance to cheer and hail this great champion one last time as he finishes his last Tour de France.

Last night at 11:00 PM, I watched a replay of an old Alpine stage from 2001. It felt good to see this younger and stronger Lance dance on the peddles pulling away from Jan Ullrich and Joseba Beloki after looking around as if to ask "Is anyone coming with me?" All I could think of was "Wow, this guy was truly great."

My wife & I recalled following our first Tour coverage during a trip to Greece in 2000. I was loosely aware of each year's Tour, having an older cyclist brother, who had me following the Tour in newspapers way back when Eddy Merckx was the defending champion. But it was in getting up each morning in Greece and watching Lance in the 2000 Tour that I became hooked on the sport. I've followed it ever since.

It also occurs to me that one day will be my last marathon, ironman, or other long endurance event. At 51, I wonder how many more of these longer endurance events I can or want to have to gear up to do. I'll keep at it for now, but I can feel the time coming when I'll be doing these events less often and probably start doing shorter events closer to home. Hopefully, that day is a long way off, but you just don't know when your time will be over.

They say that Eddy Merckx was despised for dominating cycling during his reign at the top. Today, he is beloved by both the peloton and cycling sports fans. I hope that now that Lance is out of contention for the overall lead, the other riders and the fans show him some love and respect as he finishes his last Tour. All I can say is "Thanks Lance. It's been an amazing ride."

Will Taper For Wine

2010-07-08T14:47:00.000-04:00

With Vineman 70.3 a little over a week away, it's time to taper. I want to show up in Sonoma with fresh legs, so it time to do less and less. I finished off the weekend with my last 60 miler ride on Saturday, followed by hill work/bridge repeats on Sunday. Monday was a 30 minute pool session, Tuesday a 10K run at moderately strong pace; Wednesday, weight training with our trainer; and today, a 5K treadmill speed workout. I'll be shortening the workouts even more so this weekend and next.

I dropped my bike at a Miami bike shop on Monday for transport out to the race site. Thus, I'm bikeless until race weekend. Perhaps I'll borrow my wife's bike during the weekend for a short easy ride, or go to our friend Dorota's spin class on Monday. You know, just to keep the "bike legs" feel. With the Tour de France on, I don't know whether it makes me want to ride more or less. All those crashes this week reinforces my desire to ride either solo or in small groups. Scary stuff. Then again, nothing inspires me to ride more than seeing the pros go at it during the Tour. I'm hoping Lance can chip away to the leaders during the next couple of weeks.

In the meantime, I'm starting to research wineries in Sonoma County for our 2 days of wine touring after Vineman on Sunday, 7/18. Wine touring is one of the main reasons we chose this event. Suggested wineries anyone?

July Humidity

2010-07-01T11:03:00.000-04:00

I knew we had reached July when I went out for my 13 mile long run early this morning. I felt good, dare I say "strong," on the outbound portion of my run. Of course, this is before the sun hit the horizon. By mile 11, I'm starting to wilt in the sun much like my lawn in the late afternoon. By my last mile, I'm doing a forced run/walk method and feel like a limp rag doll. My calves start to tighten and let me know they just might cramp. When I get home, I get in the pool for a cool down and swim. The water is so warm, there is little to no cool down effect.

This contrasts with the same run last week in which I completed the run without the wilting effect. What a difference a week makes in the summer. July is the month the humidity finally forces me indoors to treadmill training for my running. I'll still get out for rides, but will start to shorten them a bit after Vineman.

July also means the Tour de France!!! I love this event. I know that Alberto Contador is the overwhelming favorite, but the Schleck brothers should give him a run for his money. You can also never count out the race savvy Armstrong. If he sees an opportunity to go with a break away or take advantage of a miscalculation from Alberto, look for Lance to take full advantage. I guess I'm OK with July after all. Sure, I'll be forced into more indoor workouts. At least I'll have the Tour on TV to keep me company.

Ironman 2: The Sequel

2010-06-28T15:34:00.000-04:00

OK, I did it. I registered for next year's Ironman Coeur D'Alene. I was waffling the last few days. Do I want to train at the Ironman level again? It didn't help that tri-friend and temptor Miranda & I failed to meet up for our Saturday bike ride. She is in training for IM Cananda in August and planned to ride 80 miles. I'm getting ready for Vineman 70.3 and was planning on 60, but would up it to 80 for Miranda's training schedule. She was running late and I took off after a 5 minute grace period. I ended up doing my needed 60 miles. In the text exchange that followed, she indicated that she rode 112. I'm not sure if that was in miles or kilometers. But it got me remembering getting off the bike after 112 miles in Tempe, AZ and thinking I've got 26 miles to run. Signing up for these events is no light undertaking.

That being said, I ended up registering. I feel slightly light headed and giddy. Like a kid that just opened a new toy at Christmas. I'll calm down in a day or so. I'm sure the reality of the training I've just signed up for will also sink in over the next week or so. But I've got at least two local training buddies also registered and another friend who signed up for IM Germany in early July, 2011. So there will be others to train with for this event. I think that was what was the deciding factor. It always helps to have others share in your training burdens. Miranda, Jerry, and Maria: I look forward to many training sessions out on the road, in the pool and in the ocean. Anyone else want in?

The Suck Zone

2010-06-24T09:53:00.000-04:00

"The Suck Zone". It's the point basically when the twister... sucks you up. That's not the technical term for it, obviously.

- Quot by the character Dusty from the movie "Twister"

At mile 10 of my 13 mile long run this morning, I came across friends Tony, Miranda and Michael having coffee at the St. Bart's sidewalk cafe along A1a. They had been doing bike hill repeat on the 17th Street bridge, our only real hill in flat as a pancake Fort Lauderdale. It was only polite to stop, talk and have a cup of Joe. After we talked about Miranda and Michael's trip to Paris and our respective upcoming tri events, talk turned to upcoming registrations. As most of you know, Ironman events sell out fast and you have to consider signing up a year in advance. You pretty much have to do so the day after the current year's event, which is when registration opens for the following year.

Miranda is signed up for IM Canada in August. Miranda is a strong 30 something triathlete in her prime. She had tried to get me to sign up for IM Cananda for this year, but registration had closed out. Like me, Miranda likes to get a group going to athletic events to make a good time even more fun. So the conversation turned to IM Coeur d'Alene. Registration opens on Monday, July 28th. Miranda and another IM friend Jerry had pitched Coeur d'Alene previously at a Memorial Day BBQ at Tony's. As we left the cafe, we wished each other good luck on our respective events. Miranda and Michael are doing the Vancouver Half IM on July 4th. I mentioned that I love Vancouver and would like to do another event in that city. Miranda then tries to sweeten the IM Coeur d'Alene registration pot by saying: "You know, Coeur d'Alene is not far from the Canadian boarder. We could make a side trip." Man, is she good.

Another friend, Maria had pitched signing up for IM Frankfurt, which takes place in early July. This all just got me looking at the IM events calender on the IM website. IM Switerland in late July has always caught my eye. I mentioned both Maria's plans and IM Switerland as counter proposals to Miranda. I explained that I like the idea of an event in Europe. I've done several marathons in Europe and find combining an athletic event with touring to be fun.

Later at work, I get an e-mail from our friend Carrie, who recently relocated to Austin, TX. Turns out the IM organization just announced IM Texas, a new IM event just outside of Houston, TX in an area called "The Woodlands" set for next May 21st. Registration opens tomorrow. Great. Even more options to consider.

Perhaps I can do some horse trading and get some of my friends to consider signing up for the JFK 50 miler in November and the October 2nd Rock Creek Stump Jump 50K I'm considering doing as a run up to the 50 miler.

In any event, I'm feeling the pull of my friends various registration plans. I'm in the "Suck Zone" and will most likely be pulled into registering for another full IM in the next couple of weeks. I don't know whether I should try to run away from these forces, or just let the winds take me. The pull is just too strong.

Time Loses Meaning

2010-06-21T10:28:00.000-04:00

On Saturday, I volunteered at the Paralympic National Championships in Miramar, Florida as part of my "pay it back/pay it forward" philosophy. My ultra running friend, Mandy had gotten several of us together to help out in the games. To see these athletes with various forms of disabilities compete in the most effective ways they are able, made me realize that their times and distances didn't mean as much as the fact that they were giving it their all. Time and distance lost its meaning to me. These athletes were all worthy Olympiads in my mind, regardless of where in the race they finished. I was glad I was able to help out.

The next morning, I was going out for my long ride. Having had a fairly demanding workout schedule the prior week, my legs felt tired and a little sluggish. Moreover, it had rained hard Saturday night and I was going out solo for 60 miles. It took about 10 miles before I really warmed up. Once warmed up, however, I let my mind drift and the miles melted away. I was in the zone, keeping it hard and steady. Time kind of slipped away, and before I knew it, I was at my turn around point at mile 30.

On my return trip, I thought about it being Father's Day. The prior afternoon, my wife and kids asked me what I wanted to do for Father's Day. I told them that after my morning ride, I'd like to go to church with them and go to lunch afterward. My older son, John was home from summer college for the week, so we all talked about summer vacation plans. It was just nice to have him home around us again.

As I rode back home, my thoughts turned to my father, who is in a rehabilitation facility after being in the hospital for a couple of weeks with various health issues. I thought about various memories I had of doing things with my father, that I now do with my own sons. Again, time lost meaning as my mind drifted both backward and forward between the times I had with my father and those with my own sons. It was a good feeling and a good ride.

We went to church and later went to Sweat Tomatoes for lunch (my young son Alex's healthy choice). In the afternoon, I called my Dad to wish him a Happy Father's Day. I put each of my sons on the phone with him so they could catch him up on what is going on in their lives. At night, we played a family game of Scrabble. All in all, a lovely day. I hope all of you had a good Father's Day either touching base with your father or remembering the good times you had together.

Learning to Crawl

2010-06-14T10:13:00.000-04:00

I came to triathlon from a running background. Like most things that I've gotten myself into, my wife, Salome has often been the instigator to a new activity. She was the one several years ago who, while doing her Saturday morning long run, came across the Fort Lauderdale Sprint Triathlon in progress and said, "I bet we could do that." Like a lot of things that she initiates, I went much more hardcore into the sport.

One of the things we noted early on was that we were not in the top half of the swimming results. I always considered myself an OK swimmer, but Salome was consistently near the back of her start wave. She eventually contacted a local swim coach Gary Fahey, who goes by the moniker of "The Stroke Doctor." Unfortunately, Salome started her lessons in the dead of winter. She went to a couple of lessons, but didn't practice much due to the cold weather. She eventually postponed the remaining lessons she had paid for until after winter.

After coming in dead last out of the water in last weekend's Miami Nice sprint triathlon, Salome called Gary and arranged to have him meet us at a pool this morning. While I knew that my technique probably needed some tweaking, I had no idea that I was swimming wrong for the last 43 some odd years. Turns out I was doing a sort of balanced windmill action with my arms instead of proper arm rotation. Thus, I'm learning to crawl all over again at age 51. My only regret is that I didn't suck enough to get help sooner.

Yesterday, I rode 65 miles along A1a. It's funny how we can continue to screw ourselves on the outbound ride. How is it that we keep forgetting that an easy fast pace on the outbound probably means we are getting a wind assist that we have to pay for on the ride home. Oh, yeah, and that it gets hotter as the morning wears on.

Clearwater

2010-06-11T14:36:00.000-04:00

As I swam in the Atlantic Ocean off Fort Lauderdale this morning, I noted the clear and clean the water. It was so clear that it reminded me of growing up in my hometown of Clearwater, Florida on the Gulf Coast near Tampa. You may know Clearwater as the setting for the annual Half Ironman National Championship.

It was in the Gulf waters off the white sandy beaches of Clearwater that I swam my first mile swim at about age 8 in order to complete the 10th level of the American Red Cross Swim Course. It was my memory of doing that mile swim in the Gulf that let me know that I could swim the long open water swim portions of HIMs and the full Ironman.

The Gulf Coast Beaches are beautiful beaches. They draw thousands of tourists throughout the year for swimming and sunning on their shores. The Gulf waters draw additional tourist to its waters for sports fishing and Scuba diving. This doesn't begin to address the large numbers of people that make their living from commercial fishing from the Gulf waters.

I was never one of those people who chanted "Drill baby drill." I wasn't a protester against Gulf drilling either. I felt that we need to pursue all avenues of energy development to reduce our dependency on oil. If that included some additional nuclear power plants and drilling, so be it. However, I don't think we, the American public, were let in on the lack of safety regulation and contingency plans for a Gulf Oil rig accident. I think we all kind of assumed that oil rig engineers were smart people that knew what they were doing and didn't take stupid risks with our commonly owned natural resources. Who knew that BP had no plan for dealing with this kind of contingency? Who knew we were taking these kind of risk?

It kills me to think of the damage that is occurring to our sea life, from the fish and reefs to the birds and sea turtles. The economic devastation to those working in the commercial and sports fishing industry is almost incalculable. To think that these giant clouds of underwater oil can drift along the Northern and Western Gulf shores down into the Florida Keys and up the East Coast of Florida and beyond is just mind boggling. Clearly, the calculus of the risks and costs were not accurately figured. Yes, BP will pay a big price for its mistakes, but it won't restore our beaches and wildlife. I wonder if the Clearwater Half Ironman Championship and IMFL in Pensacola are at risk for this year and maybe beyond. As I swam my open water mile this morning, I wondered: Will this too be at risk in the next several months? Will swimming and diving in the Keys and off Fort Lauderdale be ruined by this mess.

As I ran back along the sand to my starting point, I came across a guy pulling a dead sea turtle away from the surf. It's doubtful that this turtle was impacted by the spill, but will I be seeing this more often in the future? Will the oil still be spewing out of this hole in the Gulf six months from now? A year? Have we killed the Gulf or is it a wound that can heal? Will history judge us as foolish to allow the possibility of what has come to pass? We, as a people, may have a lot to answer for to future generations.

Miami Nice Triathlon

2010-06-07T16:45:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, my wife Salome & I did the Miami Nice Triathlon. Salome was signed up to do the sprint and I was registered for the Olympic distance. On our way south on I-95 from Fort Lauderdale to Miami at 5:00 AM, we came across the strange sight of a car doing a U-turn on the interstate. Since the highway is separated from Northbound traffic by a concrete barrier, we knew something was amiss. I was in the second lane from the left most lane, which turned out to be a lucky thing. About 100 yards further up the road was an SUV facing our direction about to make a U-turn right into our lane. Worse yet, there was a car in that left most lane heading toward the SUV. Our hearts jumped into our throats, I swerved slightly to the right and avoided the SUV. The car in the left lane hit it's brakes and was able to avoid a collision.

Once our hearts stopped racing and we could speak, I told my wife that this is the risk of early morning triathlon starts. We end up on the road at the same time that the most drunk Saturday night drivers are heading home. I figure the first car and the SUV entered the wrong way on the highway, realized their mistake, and were trying to turn around to get off the Interstate. Fortunately, no one was hurt. "It's a successful day no matter how we do in the triathlon," I say. "We survived the drunks on the way to the event."

As we are setting up our transition areas, we meet up with several friends. We are surprised to find our friend Ellen bringing her bike into transition as we didn't know she was racing. Turns out she had just got a new bike and decided last minute on Saturday to see if there were any slots open. Given that her new bike had a different gearing system, we talked her into using her old bike which she also had with her. As we help her with her set up and I inflate her tires, she mentions that the strangest thing happened to her on the drive down. It turns out she was the other vehicle heading towards the wrong-facing SUV. Wow, talk about a scary coincidence.

As we await the start of our waves, I run into a buddy, Eric, who had just completed his first Ironman event last month in St. George. As we are talking about his experience, I look at my watch and realize my heat is about to go off. I hustle through the gate area, cross the mate and the gun goes off. No time to get nervous, I run into the water and dive in. With all that rush to get to the start, I amazingly calm. I guess after the adrenaline dump of the almost car pile up, a late start isn't going to phase me.

I do my usual middle of the road swim, and exit the water in 38 minutes. I'm pretty efficient getting through transition and am out on Rickenbacker Causeway and climbing the Powell Bridge before I know it. While I expect a hot day, the self generated breeze of the bike keep things relatively good. While this course is my favorite tri course, there are a lot of newbies in the field that don't seem to know to get out of the left part of the road after a pass. I hate to sound like a course official or a know it all, but if I pass a biker on the right, we can both get penalties. I politely ask riders to pull right.

About 10 miles into the 25 mile ride, I find another example of bad riding. A rider is laying on the road next to a police car. As I ride by, I realize it's my friend Eric that I was talking with just before the start. Apparently, another rider cut too close in front of him and took him out. As I come back on the road after a turn around, I shout out his name as I pass back by. Eric, who is now sitting up turns his head on hearing his name. I then know he is mostly OK. On my second loop of the bike course, he and the police car are gone, so I know he is being given assistance.

As I drop the bike and head out for the run out of T2, I start to notice the heat. Not too bad, but I'm noticing that it's pretty toasty. Fortunately, the run course around Miami Marine Stadium is mostly a tree covered trail run, but there is about a 400 yard space that is uncovered. As I do my first of two 5K loops, I see our friend Tracey and then wife Salome on the run leg of their sprint tri. I also see another friend, Mandy, who is doing the Olympic distance. Knowing the heat index is supposed to be over 100 degrees, I take 2 cups of water at each water stop. One to drink and one to pour over my head to keep from overheating.

By the second lap, I'm really feeling the heat. On the return portion of the out and back leg, the water stations run out of cups. The volunteers allow us to pour water over our head and into our mouths directly from water jugs. As I make my way towards the finish, I think that it's a good thing this isn't a HIM. A hundred yards from the finish, Salome, Tracey and other friends are sitting under a shade tree and give me cheer. I do my best to give them a wave and a fist pump, but I really just want to get over that finish line. I cross an agonizing 10 seconds over 3 hours. Oh well, the heat had it's impact.

After crossing the finish line, I sit in the message tent and a volunteer pours a cup of water over my head. As I thank her, she asks if I'd like a massage. Normally, I wouldn't wait around for a massage as there is usually a long line waiting their turn. However, my angle of a volunteer directs me over to an open massage table and a minute later I'm getting a leg massage. Sweet end to a hot run. I thank both the masseur and the volunteer before leaving the tent.

After I meet up with Salome, we find out that our friend Ellen won 1st in her age division in the sprint. We stick around to watch Ellen get her award and cheer her as she walks to the podium for her award. Later that afternoon, I read on Facebook that buddy Eric is OK, except for some road rash. He posts that more importantly, his bike is OK. Thus, it was a hot and strange morning, but not one got too hurt. Congratulations to Ellen on her award. Eric, I hope your road rash heals quickly and you get back on the road soon.

Friend Ellen Itzler getting her 1st in age group award

Congratulations also go out to young Hannah Crayton, who participated in her first triathlon this Sunday in Anchorage Alaska as the swim leg of a relay team. Her friend Will had to do both the bike and run portions of the relay as the third member of the team had to bow out due to a soccer playoff. It looks like there might be another "Iron Will" in the making. Way to go Will!

Memorial Day BBQ

2010-06-01T12:43:00.000-04:00

Last evening at a Memorial Day BBQ, I was asked by my buddy John whether I was signed up for the JFK 50 Mile Run that I had talked about doing in November. I explained that entry into JFK was by a lottery that opens in early July. "Well, what are you signed up for?" he asked. "At this point, after this weekend's Miami Nice Olympic tri and Vineman 70.3 in July, the only event I'm signed up for is Miami 70.3 in November."

The BBQ was in part a going away party for our friend Carrie, who is relocating back to Austin. I expressed how I like Austin and that our gang would have to come and do the Austin Marathon or Longhorn 70.3.

Later in the evening, Ironman friends Jerry and Miranda started pitching getting ready to sign up for Ironman Coeur d'Alene in June 2011. As most of you know, Ironman events open up registration for the following year the day after the event is held and they fill up fast. You need to be ready to pull the trigger on registration a whole year ahead of time. Jerry and Miranda were doing their best to get a group of us to commit to 2011. An idea I liked a lot.

A cyclist I spoke with told me about her bicycle trip through Spain last month. I've always wanted to do some bike touring and was fascinated by the details of how she and a friend toured for 3 weeks through the mountains and valleys of northern Spain.

Finally, I spoke with my ultra running friend Mandy. In asking her what she had scheduled, she mentioned that she was going to do the Lean Horse 100 Mile Run in South Dakota in late August. She also mentioned that they have a 50 mile run as part of that weekend. Why not see Mount Rushmore and give a 50 miler a go several months earlier than I had planned? Another very tempting offer.

As I lay in bed last night, my head was spinning. What were my options, and what had I committed to do? That night I dreamt that I was in the middle of running a 50 mile race. I somehow got sidetracked around mile 28 and was trying to get some food and water and get running again. I awoke realizing it was an anxiety dream like the ones where you are in school and realize you forgot to study for an exam. I've been hit with a tidal wave of options for future events. They all sounded like fun; however, with so many options, it started to feel like being pulled out to sea by a strong tide that will drown me.

Thus, I decided to take a step back and chill out. I'll defer on committing to future events and focus on those I've already registered to do. Other than that, I'm going to try to slow it down a little and enjoy life. I'll continue to work out, but I'm going to try to space the events out a bit.

Comrades Marathon

2010-05-30T12:58:00.000-04:00

The Comrades Marathon is the world's oldest and largest ultra marathon run over a distance of approximately 90 km (55.9 mi) between Pietermaritzburg and the coastal city of Durban in South Africa. The direction of the race alternates each year between the up run starting from Durban and the down run starting from Pietermaritzburg. This year was the down run and I had three friends running it this year: Bob Kazar and Melissa Johnson from Ohio, and Scott Cohen from NYC.

I'd met Bob & Melissa while participating in the Dublin Marathon in October, 2007. It was Bob & Melissa that inspired me to do an Ironman event. These strong athletes have done many marathons, several Ironman events and some pretty interesting travel running adventures. When they informed me that they were doing Comrades this year, I got excited. This is my dream event to do one day. This winter, I met Scott while he and his girlfriend ran along A1a on a Saturday morning. Scott is a triathlete and a runner. When he told me his plans to run Comrades, I made sure to connect him to Bob & Melissa. Recently, I read on the Runner's World website that Bart Yasso also planned to run Comrades, so I now had several runners in the event to cheer.

Comrades is hard race with many rolling hills. The main goal is to finish before the 12 hour cut off. I am happy to report that all my comrades finished Comrades. I have yet to get more than a preliminary e-mail that they finished, but I'm looking forward to a lengthy report.

Me, I'm back on track for Vineman 70.3. I ran 13.1 miles in Tampa on Saturday while at a Florida Bar section convention. The run was along Bay Shore Drive. This area along Tampa Bay is an ideal place to run and is a part of the Tampa Marathon course. If you are ever in Tampa, I highly recommend this waterfront course.

Sunday, I rode 60 miles solo to reinforce within my psyche that I can ride long solo in the aero position. With these two days of running and biking, I now feel good about ramping back up to half iron shape. This weekend I'm doing the Miami Nice Olympic Triathlon as a kind of extended brick workout.

Back to Training

2010-05-25T09:49:00.000-04:00

It's funny how we can slip out of training in a couple of weeks. I'm not sure how it happened. I think life just got in the way. I was healing from a bike spill; another weekend got eaten up crewing for a runner in the Keys; and attending a conference in Orlando last week in Orlando didn't help. Too much delicious food and wine at evening buffets made me feel like a bloated pig. As I drove back to Fort Lauderdale Saturday afternoon, I was going to stop by Singer Island and late register for a sprint triathlon, but missed the expo times. Oh well, I thought, I'll just go for a long ride early Sunday morning. Instead, I end up staying up late Saturday night and sleeping in Sunday morning.

OK, I admit it. I fell of the training wagon. When I hit the ground, I kind of just lay there. Perhaps it's all just a natural breather from a pretty crowded race schedule from the Miami Marathon in January through St. Anthony's Triathlon in late April. It was a solid Winter and Spring. So, I'm not going to beat myself up. I'm just going to get back to the workout grind and gear back up for the summer schedule.

I did treadmill speed workouts on both Sunday and Monday mornings. I actually felt stronger on the Monday workout, so that's a good sign. This morning I got back out on the bike for 20 miles before work. I can tell I've been away from the bike a while because I can feel it in my neck when I'm in the aero position for a while. While I've got another conference coming up at the end of this week, I'm going to go to the hotel gym and at least hit the treadmill. Sunday, it's back to long riding. Even during my down time, I did get in a nice open water swim.

I've got an Olympic tri in Miami coming up in a couple of weeks. Then, Vineman 70.3 is on July 18th. So, it's back to the regular workout regime for me.

Crewing the Keys 100

2010-05-17T11:42:00.000-04:00

This weekend was the Keys 100 Mile Run from Key Largo to Key West. The race director Bob Becker is a friend who hooked me up with a very experienced ultra runner named Bill Andrews. I met Bill and his girlfriend Molly at their hotel in Key Largo on Friday afternoon to go over supplies and my duties as Bill's support crew.

Most ultra runners have a support crew for their races to provide drink, nutrition and clothing change supplies along the course. Usually the crews will have more than one person to help share the duties and allow crew members to pace with the racer late at night. While I had some nibbles to my pitches to friends to join me in this venture, no one ultimately agreed to join me. Thus, I would be a solo crew for my runner. The event also allowed for un-crewed runners for this 100 mile run. Molly would be running without a crew. The Keys 100 also contains a relay division and a 50 mile race division. I had friends running in the relay and another friend doing the 50 mile race.

Race start was at 6 A.M. Initially, Bill had me meet him every 4 miles, but as the day wore on into the hotter afternoon hours, we shortened the meet up points down to every 2 miles. At most stops, I would trade off his Camel-Bac for a fresh one with water and ice, and replace his goos. He carried his electrolyte tablets with him. Other than that, the main duty was to set up a chair and towel for sock and shoe changes whenever he felt the need to switch off.

The main problem with a race of this distance in our hot and humid South Florida weather is foot moister. Foot moister equals blistering at some point. Bill had duct-taped his feet the night before, but still had issues over the day. My main problem was that about 10 AM, my car blew a fuse that killed the electricity to the driver's door. Thus, for the rest of the event, my driver's side window was stuck complete open and the door was locked. AT every stop, I had to climb over to the front passenger door to get out of the SUV. I didn't mention this to my runner until after the event was over as I didn't want to cause him any more concern than he already had in trying to figure out his own needs as a runner.

About 1 PM, I picked up a crew member from another crew who had gotten separated from his runner. I figured we may be able to get him reconnected with his group during one of my drives up the road to the next supply stop for my runner. Unfortunately, his runner got so far ahead of us, that I could never reconnect him. After about 3 hours, I managed to connect him with a relay teams support car which were advancing at a somewhat faster pace than individual runner's support cars. It was nice to have company for those hot hours. Sean from NJ, if you happen to read this, I've got a pair of your prescription glasses that you left behind in my SUV.

Another nice aspect of crewing was that kept coming across the same runners and support crews during the day. I gave some assistance to some self supported runners where I could. I met a lot of very nice support crews and tough runners from around the country. I can see how this whole ultra scene gets to feel like a club. Everybody knew other runners and crews from other ultra events that they'd done in the past. A very social and friendly bunch.

My runner Bill is a genetic scientist who is working on research to try to cure aging of our genes. He is an advocate of vigorous exercise and has research to back up his claims that exercise keeps up biologically younger. He gave a lecture at the Race Expo about his research. As you can imagine, Bill is very intelligent. He is also very focused. While I tend to like to talk and joke occasionally during long endurance events, Bill didn't want extraneous chat during his resupply or sock/shoe changes. I took no offense and once I figured out his approach, we worked well together. Instead of going through a list of what his needs might be, I waited for him to tell me what he needed.

Four miles after the 50 mile check in, we got to the beginning of the 7 Mile Bridge that connects Marathon Key to Duck Key. During this 7 mile stretch, the day went from dusk to darkness. During the daylight hours it was easy to know about went Bill would show up based on the runners coming in just ahead of him. However, in the dark, it was harder to make out who the runners were that pasted by. In addition to that, I discovered that Bill ran better the farther he got into the race. For the second half of the race, Bill continually passed runners that had kept ahead of him during the daylight hours. He appeared to get stronger as the night wore on.

As I waited for Bill to come across the 7 Mile Bridge, I called his girlfriend Molly. She had gotten to the 50 mile check-in tent. She was having supply problems and blistering issues. She decided that the event was too difficult to do as an unsupported run. She decided to pull out of the race. Molly was later able to catch a ride and connect up with us at the 75 mile check in station. Thus, for the last 25 miles we were a support crew of 2.

With the cooler night air, Bill was not consuming water at the same rate. He started to have us stretch the support stops to every 5 miles down the road. On the first such stop, both Molly & I fell immediately asleep for a solid 45 minute nap. Good thing I set my watch alarm or we might have missed Bill as he ran by.

At about the 85 mile mark at about 4 AM, I started pace running behind Bill in the dark. Apparently, in these late night hours, sleep deprived ultra runners can start to get slight hallucinations and need a second set of eyes to warn them if they start to veer into oncoming headlights of cars. While Bill never wavered from his steady forward line, it felt good to be able to run with him for a while after being in the support vehicle for so many hours. The last 4 miles, Molly & I switched off and she paced with him for 3 miles. We left Bill a mile from the finish and set up to take his picture crossing the finish line. He crossed at 26:01 in 15th place out of the approximate 110 runners who started the 100 miles. A great finish in my book, particularly given the hot conditions during the day. About 2/3rds of the field simply could not finish.

In crewing a runner, I feel I've given back to the community which supported my efforts to compete, whether as race directors, volunteers, or friends and spectators cheering me on. I learned a boat-load of information and strategies for competing in an ultra marathon. I hope to run the JFK 50 Mile Run in late November, so it was good to see what it takes to get through an ultra event. I don't know whether I'll ever take on a 100 mile event, but I've seen that with the right preparation, good hydration, nutrition and foot care, it can be done. Congratulations to my runner Bill. I hope I made your life a little easier along the way.

Why We Go Long

2010-05-13T10:56:00.000-04:00

A triathlete friend asked me on FB about how much time I put in training for my ironman. I think he was looking for a hard number of hours per week. Here is my response:

It would be tough for me to guess the hours training. The key was to get an alternate workout in almost every day. I'd try to get a long run in mid-week and ride long on the weekends to separate the longest workouts. Other than that, it was trying to swim 2X during the week with a long open water swim on the weekend on the off bike day. The other days were 10K runs and 25 mile rides. Rest days thrown in where needed. I liked the Olympic brick as the occasional test of fitness level. I also scheduled a HIM about 2 months before my IM as a gut check and a forced fitness training level to jump up to the full IM training. I only did two 20 mile training runs and 2 century rides, scheduling them in alternate weeks. This may all have been overkill, but I was afraid of being under prepared.

I realize that's not a direct answer to your question. As for time training, it eats up most of your free time. You can still do some socializing, but I found myself excusing myself from parties early for next day workouts and missing most of my son's soccer season. It's not a balanced life, but with an understanding and supportive spouse, plus good workout buddies, its doable. In fact, knowing the goal you are striving towards, the training is enjoyable. I often describe triathlon training as a lifestyle; IM training is just more so. This much I can assure you: you will be in the best shape of your life.

This weekend I'm scheduled to act as support crew for a guy running the Keys 100 Race, a running event from Key Largo to Key West. I volunteered for this duty based on my desire to give back to the sport where I've benefited from the help of so many others in supporting events that I've participated in over the years. The whole "Pay It Forward" concept. That, and the fact that I'm contemplating doing a 50 mile ultra run as my foray into these beyond the marathon events. I figured the crewing would be a learning experience for me to understand what ultra running is about.

In any event, I was in loose contact with my runner for the last month. His name happens to be Bill also. Sunday night, as I lay in bed, it hits me: This is a major undertaking; both for the runner, and for me in support. It's best to have at least 2 people as part of a support crew for an ultra runner. One person to drive; one person to jump out and take care of the runner. I inquired around and tried to recruit a second crew member, but it looks like this will be a solo crewing effort.

As I started thinking about my duties and the supplies I'll need to help support my runner, I was thinking about how extreme a 100 mile run seems to me. While it will be a bit of a marathon event for me keeping awake and assisting my runner for from 20 to 22 hours (his own predicted finish time), it's going to be a Herculean event for him. As I thought about the night running involved in a 100 miler, I started wondering: Isn't a 5K or a sprint triathlon enough of a workout? Why do we keep upping the ante to the half marathon, the marathon, the HIM and the IM distances? Why on earth do people do ultra running events? Why do we go long?

In answering my triathlon buddy's inquiry, I think I answered my own question. It's in the dedication of training for an event so long that not everybody is willing to make the sacrifices needed to make these longer events a possibility. It's about the planning and execution of the training plan to achieve the goal on race day. It's also about the anticipation and nervousness as race day approaches. And it's ultimately about crossing the finish line of an event that you know took months of preparation to make that crossing a reality.

Circular reasoning perhaps, but in answering my friend's inquiry about IM training, I renewed my sense of excitement and joy in the dedication and training it took to achieve the IM distance.
Why do we go long? Because it's hard, but we are up to the task.

Mother's Day Ride

2010-05-10T11:15:00.001-04:00

Over lunch last week with another attorney couple, Salome & I set up a ride for Sunday morning. They are both cyclist and the wife, Ellen is a triathlete. Ellen suggested that she'd like nothing better than to go riding on Mother's day. Her husband Peter & I were happy to oblige. Thus, Sunday morning we go off for a 45 mile ride.

Salome & Ellen decided to keep it conversational, while Pete & I got permission to ride ahead. As I was coming off a cold, my lung capacity was a little off. I was able to maintain around 20 to 22 mph, but when we stopped to let the girls catch up, I got a little dizzy and nauseous. That will teach me to act as if I'm 100% when I know I'm not. Anyway, I was good while riding and it was a pleasant ride.

On our return home, our 10 year old son, Alex, made some delicious scrambled eggs for Mom and the rest of us. Our older son John was home for the week from Gainesville, but left again Sunday for summer school at UF. Of course, this was after several nights of quasi parties with his buddies at our house. It's funny how few Mexicans you find at a Cinco de Mayo party.

Next week, I crew for an Ultra runner doing the Keys 100 Ultra Marathon. I had hoped to recruit a friend to join me in crewing, but so far no real interest. Thus, it may end up being a bit of an ultra crewing experience for me. Anyone want to join me in the Keys to help a guy run 100 miles in around 24 hours?

MacGruber

2010-05-03T13:47:00.000-04:00

" 'Cause he's living in some B-movie, the lines they are so clearly drawn. In black and white life is so easy, and we're all coming along, on this one... Angels wings are icing over. McDonnell-Douglas olive drab. They bear the names of our sweethearts. And the captain smiles, as we crash... Everything is fine. Sweethearts - Camper Van Beethoven

I've often noted the difference between runners and bikers. Runners tend to train solo, but will run in groups for long runs for social purposes. But to get better at running, you most often do a lot of your speed work and tempo runs solo.

Bikers seem to predominantly ride in groups. The argument in favor of the group ride is that you get better faster riding with others. There is also the "safety in numbers" argument that you are less visible to cars while riding solo. Unfortunately, a form of group think can enter into group bike rides that can make them more dangerous. So long as everyone in the ride abides by the same set of safety rules, all is well. But get in a large group and have someone cross a wheel and riders can go down like dominoes.

"Group Think" as defined at Wikipedia, is a type of thought within a deeply cohesive in-group whose members try to minimize conflict and reach consensus without critically analyzing ideas. My experience is that when you get together with an experienced group, the most experienced or skilled person tends to start calling the shots. Seeing no reason to object, other riders fall in line. The "shot callers" are usually people so skilled that they start to act either a little too aggressively, or they start to ignore basic safety rules. Those slightly less skilled or fast tend to let these team leaders get away with violations of safety etiquette thinking that the more skilled person wouldn't take a risk that would put the somewhat lesser experience participants at risk.

A non-biking example of this phenomena occurred to me years ago while scuba diving with some friends. I'm diving with 2 friends that had many more hours in the water than I had logged. We were doing a wreck dive at about 100 foot depth. Now, one of the safety rules of diving is that you are always supposed to come to the surface when your air gauge reads only 500 pounds of air pressure remains. After a lovely dive, we ascend to the surface. At the surface, my dive buddy turns to me with a big smile and says: "I sucked my air down to zero!" It was almost a gleeful brag. Now, you may say, "Well, that's stupid for him, but how does it effect you?" Well, as a dive buddy, I've got to rescue and buddy breathe my more experienced, but risk taking friend to the surface. More importantly, if something had gone wrong with my equipment, I'm counting on my buddy to have enough air to buddy breathe me back to the surface. My dive buddy thought he was so good at the sport that he could start ignoring basic safety rules. I stopped diving with these guys. Their riskier behavior, could one day effect me in a very negative way. Any yet, they were more experienced and skilled divers than me.

I guess that's the comedic crux of the Saturday Night Live character "MacGruber" played by Will Forte. Based on the MacGyver TV show in which a secret agent is so skilled and resourceful that he is able to solve almost any problem with his ever-present Swiss Army Knife and assorted wire and string. The MacGruber character is so overconfident, that he waists time with petty discussions, thus failing to disarm the ever present ticking time-bomb before it goes off.

Which brings us to this Saturday's ride. Long story short, a more experienced rider friend may have cut in front of my wheel forcing me into a curb. I went down. Fortunately, I'm OK other than the usual road rash. Who knows, perhaps it was totally my fault. My point is that you can sometime get in trouble when you ride with more experienced riders. They may take risks you can't afford.

In any event, I'll probably be doing fewer rides with the MacGrubers of the world. Who knows, I may get better riding with more conservative riders or riding solo. I'll be sure to bring along my Swiss Army Knife, some duct tape and string in my repair kit.

St. Anthony's Triathlon Report

2010-04-26T17:15:00.000-04:00

I got egged into signing up for this Olympic distance triathlon back in December by a friend. I had the Paris Marathon scheduled for 2 weeks prior and didn't think I should do an event so soon afterward. Given that the prior year's event turned into a duathlon with the swim portion canceled due to rough surf, however, I did feel a strong desire to return to complete the whole course. In the end, I'm glad I did.

The Swim

The surf in the pre-dawn hour before the start of the race looked fairly calm. However, having grown up in the area, I knew the Tampa Bay waters near the Pier in downtown St. Petersburg can get pretty choppy. Being a very popular race, there were a total of 32 waves. I was in wave #23 which was scheduled to go off at 8:31 AM. It was a little frustrating to have to watch so many athletes start and just hang around waiting for my wave. I did get to see a couple of friends go off in their waves, and finally put on my wet suit about 20 minutes before my wave. The water felt warm and calm near the shore. Once my wave went off and I'm swimming the outbound leg of the swim, however, I note that there are steady rolling waves coming out of the south. On turning north for the cross leg, these rollers actually lifted and assisted the swim north. It did take a little longer to get the buoy sighting as I had to sometimes wait for a roller to subside in order to see the next buoy.

The real surprise came once I turned west for the return to shore leg of the swim. Those once helpful rollers kept trying to pull swimmers north while the buoy markings required swimmers to angle in a SSW direction. I tried to hug the buoy line tight, but the extra effort going against the current made me wonder if I was making progress. At one point, I turned around just to make sure that I was indeed moving up the line toward the shore. I think whatever wave assistance time I gained on the cross leg was lost on the return leg. I come out not knowing whether that was a good or bad swim, but note it took me 39 minutes for the 1500 meters.

T1

Getting out of the water, I accidentally hit the stop button on my Garmin watch instead of the lap button for T1. When I get to my bike I also had some trouble getting out of my wet suit. It bunched at my left leg where my chip strap was around my ankle. I missed having the wet suit strippers (sounds more exotic than it is) that helped me at IMAZ. On exiting the transition area, I realize my Garmin mistake. I hit the start button and hit the lap button twice to get it on the bike leg, but now have no idea what time I spent in T1.

The Bike

The bike was interesting in that there were some winds that seemed to blow out of the west and the south at different times. I think they were a net neutral as I did slow some into the wind and got some decent speed when the wind was at my back or backside. I did manage to pass a good number of other riders in both instances, so psychologically I felt strong. In these events the head and the heart are very interconnected. Your perceptions are almost more important than reality in that your mood effects your output. In any event, my bike felt good. T2 was a little over 2 minutes, and I was off on the run.

The Run

I had feared the run due to the late wave start. I knew that the sun can get hot pretty quickly this late in April in St. Pete. Fortunately, the wind kept it feeling somewhat cooler and the course winds through partially shaded neighborhoods. At each water station, I took a couple of sips of Gatorade, and tossed a cup of water over my head. Additionally, there were some locals with their hoses out on the course offering to mist runners as they ran by. Thank you misters. I made sure to get misted by everyone offering a spritz.

In past years, I often would get cramps in my hamstrings on the second half of the run, but since learning to take electrolyte tablets for the ironman distance, I seem to have this problem licked. Not only did I not cramp, but I felt good and strong. Instead of being hindered by having run the Paris Marathon 2 weeks prior, I think my conditioning for the run was better than in past years. I felt strong and started passing runners on the return leg of the run. My final time was 2:58. This is my second sub 3 hour Olypmic tri without cramping issues. So now I will focus on improving the swim and bike to move that number down.

After the race, it was time for the after party! The St. Anthony's organizers do it right. Beer, fresh fruit, pizza, and a live band. What more can you want?

Meanwhile, over in Madrid, buddy Wayne completed his 3rd European marathon in 5 weeks. Crazy? Yes, but he's having a great time touring. Heading Westward, buddy John and his friend Carl participated in the Long Horn 70.3 event in Galveston, Texas. John told me afterward that they also had some wave action in their swim and it got quite hot on the half marathon. But they finished and are both in good shape today. Me, I'm a little sore. Perhaps that's the carryover from the marathon. If so, I accept the consequence and will rest up this week before getting back into training.

Weekend Weather Report

2010-04-23T10:31:00.000-04:00

When it comes to my workouts and athletic events, I'm a Weather Channel junkie. I go to the on-line sight, search for the event city and study the hour by hour predictions like a gypsy reading tea leaves. Here is the hour by hour forecast for St. Petersburg, Florida, the sight of the St. Anthony's Triathlon for this Sunday morning:

Sunrise 6:56 am

7 am: Temp 75°F, Mostly Cloudy, Feels like: 75°F, Chance of Rain:10%, Humidity: 84%, Winds: From SSE @ 16 mph

8 am: Temp 75°F. Mostly Cloudy, Feels like: 75°F, Chance of Rain:10%, Humidity: 84%, Winds: From SSE @ 16 mph

9 am: Temp 76°F, Mostly Cloudy, Feels like: 80°F, Chance of Rain:10%, Humidity: 82%, Winds: From SSE @ 16 mph

10 am: Temp 77°F, Mostly Cloudy, Feels like: 77°F, Chance of Rain:10%, Humidity: 79%, Winds: From SSE @ 17 mph

11 am: Temp 78°F, Mostly Cloudy, Feels like: 78°F, Chance of Rain: 20%, Humidity: 76% Winds: From S 17 mph

I ran this search after a couple of other friends doing the event sent out the frightening statement that isolated thunderstorms were predicted for Sunday. Amateurs! They made the rookie mistake of simply checking the overall weekend forecast.

So, it looks like we may get some cloud coverage (a good thing), but no thunder storms (that would be a very bad thing). I'm not sure what to make about those winds. That's a bit breezy for the bike, but it may end up being neutral in that you sometimes have the wind with you, sometimes against you. Oh well, we can't control the weather.

Good luck to all my friends doing the event this weekend. Hope to run into all of you at the race. Be sure to save me some of the beer and food please. I'm in the 50+ wave and we don't start until about 8:30 AM. You'd think they would give us old guys a head start instead of making us wait until after the Clydesdales start. Me, I plan on passing some fat dudes on the bike and run courses.

Best wishes to buddy Wayne, running his 3rd marathon in 5 weeks in Europe this Sunday at the Madrid Marathon. Also, best wishes to buddy John, who is doing the Long Horn 70.3 this weekend in Galveston, TX. I guess an Olympic distance triathlon isn't long enough for Iron John.

I like what Ryan Hall said on Monday about his Boston Marathon strategy. "My goal was to have fun out there and to run free. Joy and freedom, that's what I wanted." So, my parting words to everyone doing events this weekend is just that: Have fun! Swim, ride and run with joy and a sense of freedom.

A Period of Transition

2010-04-19T12:19:00.001-04:00

Much going on after returning from Paris. First off, following the exploits of my friends left behind as they dealt with the airport shutdowns due to the volcanic ash coming out of Iceland. Salome & I flew out on Wednesday, the day before the eruption. My running partner Jacques a/k/a Garth and his wife Christine lucked out as they flew out on an afternoon Delta flight that was one of the only flights to get out of Paris on Friday when a short window of clear skies opened up.

Not so lucky were buddies Wayne and Bob, who had taken a train up to the Normandy coast. On their return to Paris, both of their Saturday flights were canceled. Wayne had booked a flight to Madrid and Bob was to fly back to the US. Of course, all trains to Spain got booked up quickly as the southern airports were the only ones operating in Europe. Wayne will get the high speed train on Tuesday and Bob on Thursday to Madrid. Best wishes to Wayne for next Sunday's Madrid Marathon and to Bob just getting on a flight back.

Me, I needed to switch gears in preparation for next weekends St. Anthony's Olympic tri. I wanted to get out on the bike before the weekend, but South Florida experienced 15 mph winds from Thursday through Saturday. I got out for a 35 mile ride on Sunday and came across the Spanish River Park Sprint Triathlon in progress. I got the police officer's permission to slip into the flow of the bike riders. I picked up pace and did some passing of other riders. It was good practice for next weekend. I still need to get in a couple of swims this week.

Sunday night, we had a gathering at our house to reconnect with friends and drink French wines and eat French cheeses. Several of us are doing St. Anthony's and buddy John is off to Galveston for the Lone Star 70.3. A group of us gathered in my garage for an instructional packing of John's bike in a bike case. In spite of the rainy and windy evening outside, we managed to have a good time.

Finally, I spent $4.99 to catch the Boston Marathon online with Universal Sports. Several of my friends are running and I'm tracking their progress. Once again, US hopes for the ever elusive win at Boston rested on our 2 best marathoners, Ryan Hall and Meb Keflezighi. Ryan ran the fastest Boston time ever for an American in 2:08:41. Unfortunately, that time was only good for a 4th place finish, as Robert Cheruiyot, the younger, ran a course record of 2:05:51. Meb came in in 5th place in 2:09:25. Both Meb & Ryan's time are world class and I'm proud of these amazing American runners. It's just a tough course with some of the best in the world at Boston. Perhaps next year.

A Moveable Feast: The Paris Marathon Race Report

2010-04-16T08:04:00.000-04:00

“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.” Ernest Hemingway

Before I left for the Paris Marathon, I knew this would be a memorable trip. I traveled to Paris over a summer in law school and have visited several time since. The ostensible reason for doing the Paris Marathon was to join in on buddy Wayne Crayton's Trampathon Abroad, a 3 European Marathon trip. Wayne and his buddy Bob had done Rome 3 weeks earlier.

Who was I kidding. I love Paris. I love the food, the wine, the monuments and museums. I love the simple, yet elegant style of Paris women. I love a good French wine with a reasonable price. It was also an opportunity to reconnect with good friend, running buddy and fellow triathlete Jacques Watters and his wife Christine. They had moved from Fort Lauderdale to North Carolina about six months ago. Jacques had decided to join in on the trip. He also proposed that we run in related costumes. After kicking around a few ideas, we came up with Wayne and Garth from "Wayne's World." I knew then that this would be a fun run and not a race for a PR.

It was all for the best as there were 31,566 runners at the start in front of the Arch de Triumph on Sunday morning. The temperatures at the start were in the low 50s and most runners wore the white plastic bags given out at the Expo for that purpose. My wife Salome wore a plastic bag and made it look good. Jacques & I wore flannel shirts both for warmth and to fit the Wayne's World rolls. Many people got the get ups and we acted the part. We did impromptu bits for those around us, until the loudspeakers started playing Black Eye Peas' "Tonight's Gonna Be a Good Night." As we approach the starting line, we step over heaps of discarded clothes, plastic bags and water bottles full of what appears to be the end product of drinking too much fluid before the race. I guess those plastic bags provided more cover than just protection from the wind. Salome started the marathon with us, but stopped at a Port o' Potty near the starting line. So much for keeping the group together. Wayne and Bob were a couple of corrals back, so we were pretty sure we would not see them until the finish.

The course down the Champs-Élysées was crowded but exhilarating. Just before we got to the Place de la Concorde, Jacques and I noticed several runners pulled over in the park peeing on the evenly placed trees. As we pulled over to also take advantage of nature's urinals, I noted that any other time of the year, the French police would beat us for peeing outdoors in this location.

The course through the streets of Paris was beautiful. When we got to the Place de Bastille, we met up with Jacques' wife and his Uncle Roger, a Frenchman who lives outside of Paris. While we ran the Paris Marathon, Christine and Roger ran the Marathon de Metro trying to get on and off at subway stops along the course to see us run by at 4 stops. I told Christine afterward that she should organize run supporters and sell shirts that say, "I ran the Marathon de Metro." All I ask is a 10% cut in this venture.

At about mile 10, Jacques mentioned he'd need to use a Port o' Potty. As we happened to be running in a large park on the east side of Paris, I notice that several people had simply gone behind the bushes. Luckily, Jacques brought along a small bit of his own toilet paper.

The costumes lasted until about mile 9 1/2 when the shirts and wigs become too hot. When Jacques handed me his flannel shirt to toss to the side of the road, it was heavy with sweat. I tried to toss it quickly. Jacques still got many shout outs along the course as part of his costume was an AC/DC tee shirt. I guess the French love AC/DC. On the other hand, who doesn't love AC/DC?

At mile 12, Jacques got jostled by anther runner and I watched him fall in what felt like slow motion. There was nothing I could do to stop his fall. All I could think of as he fell was that our day could be over. If he got hurt, I would most likely have to accompany him to the hospital. Luckily, he falls well. While hitting his knee and scrapping his hands, there was no bleeding. I felt the need to make him feel better and gave him a handful of electrolyte jellybeans. Unfortunately, the jellybeans bunched together in his mouth, almost choking him in the process. OK, so maybe the jellybeans weren't such a good idea.

Along the course, we stopped off and danced beside with some women dancing with an African drum group, drank red wine being offered around the 30K mark, and met up with Christine and Roger a couple more times. We passed the Eiffel Tower and the small Statue of Liberty. At one point, we ran under a bridge near the Seine River. The crowd started a shouting wave behind us that went from the back of the mile long tunnel towards us at the far end of the tunnel. It was a little spooky as it sounded like a train coming up behind us.

Around mile 17, we get passed by a guy who is walking the race on stilts. With his long stride, he was making about 3 strikes with each leg forward. It hardly seems fair. I told Jacques I had half a mind to kick out one of those stilts. After the race, a lot of the other runners from the Marathon Tours group also had seen this guy pass them during the course of the marathon. I mean, come on, the guy passed most of us during the course of the marathon....and he is walking! Yup, someone should definitely have kicked out one of those stilts.

At mile 20 there was a stand giving out white wine. How could we resist. We stopped and toasted our hosts and each other.

Jacques started dropping off pace the second half of the race. It was fine with me as we were not running for time and were having a blast together on the course. I thought we had a chance to beat 4:45, but we end up crossing the finish in 4:50. Shortly thereafter, Salome crosses in 5:07. She was feeling great through 26 miles, but fell apart a bit for the last 2/10ths of a mile. Luckily, a nice French runner assisted her for those last yards. We meet up with Christine and Roger for post race pictures and each headed for our respective hotels. Salome & I meet up later at our hotel with Wayne and Bob who were not far behind us on the course.

That night we drank Champagne and continued with wine at dinner. The rest of the trip was touring and long dinners in the evening. I highly recommend this marathon to anyone who likes a beautiful run. Just be sure to run it for the view. It's too crowded to run it for time, particularly if you stop for wine.

On the right side of this blog is a slide show of both our touring and the marathon. If you're viewing this on Facebook, the pictures are also loaded up under my photo albums.

We all had such a great time on this trip that we agreed that we should do one of these European Marathons each year. Probably not a realistic goal, but who wants to argue with such a great idea when you are deep into your post race wine and fromage?

Pictures from the Paris Marathon

2010-04-15T05:07:00.000-04:00

I'm back home. Paris was a blast. We all ran in support of our buddy Wayne Crayton's Trampathon Abroad, a 3 marathons in 5 weeks trip through Europe. Jacques & I ran as Wayne & Garth of Wayne's World (costumes lasted through 15k). Great temperatures (mid 50s) and sunny on a beautiful course. Everyone made it through the course safely. Well, that's if you don't count the header Jacques took after being jostled by another runner at mile 12. Once I dig out of the pile at work, I'll get a full post up. In the meantime here are some photos from the race of me, Jacques, Salome, Wayne and Bob. "Party On!, Excellent!"

Bound For Paris

2010-04-06T12:46:00.000-04:00

There is nothing like getting ready to go on a trip to Europe to cause your client's to suddenly need work done ASAP. Getting ready to leave for Paris is no exception. While I've had the chance over the weekend to do my last 10 mile run on Saturday and a 40 mile ride on Sunday, the rest of my time has been spent trying to clear the work front to be able to leave for Paris.

My Saturday was filled with work. Easter Sunday we had an absolute feast at my son's Godparent's house. Nick & Anna do the best Greek Easter festivities I've ever witnessed. An open fire lamb on the spit, spinach pie, lamb soup, grilled vegetables, fine wine and lots of delicious desserts. I may have put back on in one day that 5 pounds I lost from that stomach virus.

I been so busy, I can hardly get to do a blog post or Facebook status update. It hasn't kept me from looking daily to catch buddy Wayne's fabulous pictures from his travels through Italy. I'm not sure if I'm more impressed with the pictures from Florence, coastal Italy, or Venice. They are all so beautiful, that I will probably have to do a marathon in Italy one of these years.

My other running buddy Jacques decided that we would dress in costume for the run. Based on a text where I responded to his half marathon time a couple of weeks back with "Party On," we decided to go with a Wayne's World theme. I found a Wayne's World hat on eBay and purchased it, but I fear it may not arrive in time. I did get a black coolmax shirt, a black running hat and a black wig, so I'll do the best I can. That wig may not make it through the entire race if it gets hot. However, it appears that the weather in Paris will be cool for Sunday's marathon (low to mid 50s). As you can tell, this will be a "fun" run in which I'm not looking to PR or burn up the course. You've gotta have fun sometimes, right?

I'm working on my French for the run. "Excusez moi, oú sons les toilettes?" "Je cherche la ligne d'arrivée." "Appellez un docteur!" Hopefully, I will not need to use these phrases and can instead simply go with: "Party on!" "Excellent!" and "Schwing!"

I haven't been in the water since MIT on March 14th. I've managed to fit in 2 rides a week with all the run training for this marathon. With St. Anthony's only 2 weeks after Paris, it might get ugly. Oh, well. Se la vie. I'll check in on my return. Until then, its wine, cheese and running in Paris. Au revoir!

Return to the Desert

2010-03-31T11:16:00.000-04:00

My wife, Salome, planned a long weekend trip to Scottsdale, AZ for my young son, Alex's spring break. We stayed at our friends' house near Carefree in the Northeast part of the Phoenix megalopolis. Our friends' son, Mike is our son Alex's best friend who moved out to Arizona last summer. The two were inseparable for the four days we visited.

Saturday morning Salome & I drove down to Tempe, the sight of my Ironman last November, to do a long run in preparation for the Paris Marathon. The Muscular Dystrophy Association was holding a 5K walk around Tempe Lake that morning, so there was some maneuvering around the crowd of walkers at some points. I ran as much of the marathon course around Lake Tempe as I could remember. The course twists and turns through some neighborhoods and crosses over the Lake at the midpoint. A little confusing. In any event, Salome ran 13 miles and I ran 15 miles. The temperatures were cool and the course brought back some memories of my Ironman experience.

On Sunday, we drove up to Flagstaff and went skiing for the day at the Snowbowl Ski Resort. While Snowbowl is a fairly modest ski resort, it was nice to get in a day of skiing. We normally like to ski the moguls, but kept off the bumps due to their steepness and iciness. Neither one of us wanted to risk an injury and blow our Paris trip. It was Spring skiing conditions, so I wore my light AZ Ironman jacket. Both stylish and right for the conditions. Having missed ski season completely last year with the full ironman training schedule, it was nice to get back to the slopes.

Early Monday morning, we ran the roads heading west from Carefree towards Tonto National Forest. Salome turned to make a 5 mile run. I kept going to make it a 10 miler. Running these beautiful desert roads, I decided that, at least during the cool months, there may be no better place to run.

In addition to the runs and skiing, we did several hikes with the kids. I also managed a dinner Monday with my sister and brother. All in all, a fun long weekend. Of course, Tuesday was a total loss with the return flight to Ft. Lauderdale.

This morning, I woke early to mid 50s temperatures. I decided to skip my planned group ride and got in a 12 mile run. Thus, my long runs over the last 2 weeks were: 20, 7, 7, 15, 10 and 12 miles. Not the best marathon prep, but not bad for coming off a stomach virus induced hiatus from training. Hopefully its enough to get me through the Paris Marathon 10 days from now. Buddies Wayne and Bob have been posting lots of pictures on Facebook of their travels through Italy since running the Rome Marathon 10 days ago. It looks like they are living the good life. I can't wait to join them next week in Paris.

More Body Blows

2010-03-21T12:33:00.000-04:00

In the clearing stands a boxer, and a fighter by his trade,
And he carries the reminders of every glove that laid him down,
Or cut him till he cried out, in his anger and his shame:
"I am leaving, I am leaving," but the fighter still remains. The Boxer - Simon & Garfunkel

Last weekend, my nephew and his family flew down from Alaska and spent the weekend with us. Unfortunately, someone on the last leg of their several flights must have been sick with the Norovirus. This is the highly contagious stomach virus you occasionally hear about infecting passengers on cruise ships. It's only a stomach virus that hits you in about 24 hours from contact with an infected person, but man it packs a punch. As explained at Wikipedia: "The disease is usually self-limiting, and characterized by nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain; and in some cases, loss of taste. General lethargy, weakness, muscle aches, headache, and low-grade fever may occur." Yep, that about sums it up.

From Sunday night and throughout the week, it was Gatorade and chicken soup for me and the rest of my family. Feeling weak and feverish throughout the week, workouts were out of the question. My planned running cram course in preparation for the Paris Marathon was dealt yet another severe blow. As this was the scheduled weekend for our 20 mile training run, however, Salome & I decided to give the long run a go Saturday morning.

We did the Galloway method, walking for around a minute for every mile run. At about mile 10, I felt about done for the day. However, we picked a distracting route through the tree shaded Rio Vista neighborhood and finished with some laps around the also tree shaded Birch State Park. My calves ached and started cramping about mile 17, and my hips felt sore the last 8 miles or so. But, ignoring the pain and discomfort the best we could, we got it done. It wasn't pretty, but it wasn't overly horrible either. Thank God the cooler weather persisted through this weekend.

Of course, Sunday was a much needed day of recovery. Leg joints and muscles were pretty sore. More so than they usually are the day after a 20 miler. Given that I was coming off my second de-conditioning sickness forced layoff in less than a month, the soreness is no surprise. I feel like a boxer that got knocked down in the last two rounds of a fight. I keep getting up off the mat, but I'm beginning to feel the body blows. I weighed myself yesterday and I'm down to 175. A good fighting (and running) weight for me, but getting sick is not the ideal way to lose weight. So, if you are suffering from a cold or some highly contagious skunk virus, please keep your distance from me for the next 3 weeks. I'm not sure I could get back up off the canvas if I get knocked off my feet again.

Buddy Wayne Crayton and his travel buddy Bob Bowker ran the Rome Marathon on Sunday morning. They looked good in the post-race picture Wayne posted on Facebook Sunday evening. As I commented on their post, they've now earned 3 weeks of vacation in Italy. Not a bad reward for running a marathon. Come to think of it, I'll earn a short vacation in France after running the Paris Marathon on April 11th. Sweet motivation indeed!

Pulling It Off: The MIT Report

2010-03-16T19:06:00.000-04:00

The week before the Miami International Triathlon, I knew I was behind the 8 ball in training. I had gotten my wife's cold and was unable to train at all for about 10 days. I had decided to cram for my preparation. My workouts the week before the event were as follows: Saturday, a weak 10K run, Sunday, a 25 mile ride; Monday, rest; Tuesday, a 25 mile ride; Wednesday, a 10K run; Thursday a 30 minute pool swim, and Friday, a 5K treadmill speed workout. I hoped this was enough to allow me to finish.

Conditions at the Expo, bike drop and number pick-up at the Miami Marine Stadium site did not look promising. While the swim takes place in a somewhat protected bay, the surf looked pretty choppy. It was also pretty windy along Key Biscayne. This should have been enough to scare me off, but just being on the site of a triathlon transition area got me excited about the sport again.

Long story short: on race day, I felt crappy on the swim, not having done an open water swim with a wetsuit in over a month. It was pretty windy on Rickenbacker Causeway making the bike difficult. End result: a PR in 2:58. Why? Because I didn't cramp up and break down in the run. This may be due in part to this being my first Olympic distance race using the tri bike and this saved my quads for the run. Another possibility is the cooler temperatures kept me from dehydrating and cramping. I suspect it's a little of both. In any event, I was able to cram for this event and finish. It may not be an impressive time for other triathletes, but I was previously frustrated in my inability to break the 3 hour mark at this distance. As I always say: any day you get a PR is a great day. Thus, I give myself an A- for the event. The A for the PR; the minus for the poor swim and the fact that I know I can do better on the bike.

Hopefully, I'll be able to pull off the same cramming stunt for the Paris Marathon in a little less than a month. Time to ramp up the running. My buddy Wayne, whose 3 marathons over a 6 week Trampathon Abroad I'm joining for the Paris portion, left Anchorage yesterday to visit his mom in New Jersey. Tomorrow, he is off to Rome. Best of luck in Sunday's Rome Marathon Wayne. See you in a little over 3 weeks.

Cramming for Finals

2010-03-10T10:18:00.000-05:00

During a dinner with friends Monday night, our friends relate a story of their son Josh, who is in his 4th year of college studying engineering. According to our friends, late every term they receive nervous calls from Josh. Course demands, end of term projects and reports are all coming at him. The last day to drop a course is approaching and Josh is seriously considering dropping a course in order to avoid a feared failing grade. The advice Josh's parents consistently give him is to not drop the course, but buckle down and get the work done. Josh then buckles down, skips out on some of the fun his fellow students are partaking in, and pulls out decent grades.

It reminds me of my undergrad days taking a cost accounting course. The class was taught by a tough professor. The mid-term exam was brutal. I remember sitting with 15 minutes left in that exam thinking: "Well, that's all I can do. This is going to be ugly." I think I ended up with a C-, not my normal A. I clearly had not mastered the material. Lots of my classmates did the same or worse. Many dropped the class, opting to take the class again with an easier professor. Not me. I used the fear factor to motive myself to try harder to master the material for the final. I went into the final fearing that I could fail the class. However, the redoubled efforts allowed me to pulled out a B for the course.

What both I and Josh learned from these experiences is that you can drop out of a difficult situation, or stick with the task at hand. The end results almost never turn out as bad as you fear. It is perhaps the fear factor that makes us focus and give the extra effort to succeed.

If you follow this blog, you know I'm coming off a cold and my training has been sub-par to date. I gave serious consideration to simply dropping out of the MIT Olympic Triathlon this coming Sunday. However, I've decided to cram for this event and hope the results will not be failure. I've run or ridden each day since Saturday. I'm trying to do interval work and speed work in both my running and riding. I'll take Saturday off so as to be somewhat rested for Sunday's event. I may only get a C effort out of myself; I may fail to complete the course; however, I've decided against dropping out. Here's hoping you can cram for an Olympic triathlon final.

Things Fall Apart

2010-03-08T15:19:00.001-05:00

The problem with setting up a race schedule with events about every two to four weeks is that your workout/race/recovery schedule simply falls apart if you get sidelined with an illness. Coming off of my late January marathon in Miami,, I found it hard to get emotionally psyched up for February's A-1a Half Marathon in my hometown of Fort Lauderdale. However, I managed to focus on race day, concentrated on my running form, and ran a (for me) respectable 1:43. Then, the wife got sick.

Salome ran A1a with the cold and felt the effects in the second half of the race. Worse, she passed the cold over to me. Not only did the cold make me achy and tired, but I got a double dip of this cold where it started on the left side of my nasal passages for 4 days before migrating to the right side of my head.

By Friday evening, I finally felt like I'm getting past this thing. However, now I've got the MIT Olympic tri in Miami next weekend and the Paris Marathon coming up fast on April 11th. I should have been running the first of two 20 mile runs this weekend, but only have the energy to run a 10K at about a 12 minute/mile pace on Saturday. I decide I'd better bag the idea of even an Olympic bike/run brick for the weekend. Instead, I rolled back to simply getting out on Sunday for a 25 mile ride. I get it done, but the energy level is not back to normal. I was able to do a 5K treadmill run this morning, but I'm a little sluggish this afternoon. If the energy level doesn't bounce back during the week, it could get ugly on Sunday. So, what should I do: show up and treat the event as a long triathlon workout, or scratch myself and focus on my long runs for Paris in April?

Note: Training buddy John Clidas was scheduled to run the Antarctic Marathon yesterday. No word yet as to how he did. All I can say is: "burr," and "no, thanks." I hope he had a good run, saw some penguins, and did not freeze any body parts.

Fricking Cold!

2010-03-02T20:41:00.000-05:00

Note: It seems the California state assembly passed a resolution last Thursday that would establish the first week of March as "Cuss Free Week" throughout the state. A news clip on the TV showed state legislators with empty cursing jars for fines next to their desks. In light of this well intended initiative, I will try to follow suit.

I wish these dang cold fronts would get the heck out of town. It's now officially March and I'm literally sick and tired of these winter cold fronts. I live in South Florida. We usually have a cold front or two in late December and early January. Other than that, we are supposed to be a refuge of warm pleasant weather during the winter season that the rest of you can come down and visit to get away from the months of snow and ice. Well, mother nature has not cooperated this year. We've had cold front after cold front, one following the other, pretty much all winter long. While this worked out well for my run training, it totally mucked up my early season triathlon training.

Wife Salome & I signed up for an early season triathlon, the Miami International Triathlon to be held March 14th. This was to be Salome's first Olympic distance triathlon. When we signed up for this event last November, we figured we would have a mild February to swim and bike ourselves into early season shape. Salome signed up for swim instructions and expected to be able to practice her swimming at a local outdoor pool and in the open water. Well, fiddlesticks! The weather has been too rainy, windy and/or cold; open water conditions have been mostly rough. Neither one of us has had much chance to ride or swim. Yes, we've done both a few times, but not enough to feel ready for an Olympic distance tri in less than 2 weeks.

On top of the weather, Salome came down with a fricking cold a week ago that tubed the week for her workouts. She returned to training in full this weekend, but not before passing the cold over to me. While fortunately not a chest cold, this virus from "H-e-double hockey sticks" made me feel weak and achy for the past 4 days. Starting with a vise like headache Friday afternoon, I had to bag my long run and long ride for the weekend. I did get on the trucking Fred-mill this morning for a 5K run, but the energy level wasn't back to normal.

Not having gotten sufficient swim time in, Salome decided to pull herself from MIT. She'll focus on her run training for the Paris Marathon in April. I'm not at that point yet. I'm hoping this schnitzel of a cold is on its way out and I'll have the energy to do an Olympic brick by this weekend. Hopefully, my sinuses will clear enough to allow me to get back in the pool. Either way, MIT may end up an event done for "completion."

I can't wait to hear the follow up story to the California legislature's week of civility. My guess is those sons of biscuits will pass a proclamation naming the first business day back in session "Blue Monday."