The Recap

Time seems to be flying by, especially the past two months or so.  So much has been going on recently and I have been remiss to write it all here.  The reasons are few:  lack of time, desire to keep some things private, disappointed in training, busy at work, etc.  I guess the best thing to do is a quick recap of the past few days and a bit of the past few months....here I go:

Tuesday - Thursday

I was in Pittsburgh on business Tuesday night through Thursday.  It was my first time in western PA and all in all it was a good trip.  I managed to line up a ton of meetings, was able to get out on three runs around the city (along the rivers), and even managed to take in a Pirates game.

Last Friday
I had off from work last Friday, the reason being my daughters had what is called "Fanny Fun Day" at our pool (where they take swimming lessons). What was also included was a mini-swim meet for all of the swimmers in advanced lessons, which meant my oldest would be able to take part in her first ever swim meet.  She took part in four events (the max one could compete):  25 yd free, 25 yd breast, 25 yd back, 50 yd free.  I was so proud of her, she was swimming as hard as she could and did so well.  I was so bummed that she didn't come in the top eight for any of the events (they all received special ribbons); the look on her face just broke my heart.  I had to explain to her that this was her first ever meet and she was one of the youngest girls there.  We left there with her wanting to try and get on the swim team next year which I think is a great thing, meaning that she wasn't too bummed and she really wants to get better. 

After the swim meet it was all about watching my little one take part in the fun of Fanny Fun Day.  She has come so far since the first day of swim evaluation when she wouldn't even put her head under the water.  She is a regular torpedo now.  Both girls had so much fun, and it just made my day being able to watch the two of them.

Saturday

Born to Tri triathlon in Asbury Park, NJ.  See race report from the other day.  I spent the remainder of the day at the beach with my family.  It was a beautiful out and I was on my feet the whole day, whether it was building a sand volcano for my youngest, playing catch with my oldest or getting tossed around in the ocean.  I just love the beach and am so lucky that my parents live there.  Just a great day.

Sunday

Sunday was a big day for me....I turned 40 years old.  Officially I have moved up an Age Group (one of the more competitive ones out there).  I planned to head out at 6:00AM to do a 40 mile ride to celebrate my 40 years on this earth (cliche, I know).  Well, just as I was about to head out the door, the skies opened up and the rain came a pourin' down.  The ride would have to wait until later on that day.  Thankfully my wife and kids gave me the green light to go for a ride around 11AM when the rain stopped for a short time, although I was only able to get in 28+ miles, albeit with an average speed of 20.3MPH.  I was thrilled to get out and just fly through Island Beach State Park....I don't look 40, do I?

Oh, I went crabbing with my girls for the first time. My wife, my mother and I took the little ones to one of the Lavallette piers to try and catch some crabs.  It was awesome to see how excited the girls were at seeing the crabs that all of the other folks had caught.  We didn't manage to catch any keepers but that didn't matter to the girls.  Below is a picture with the first crab they ever caught.

Monday - Wednesday
I have been home alone this week; my wife and kids are at my in-laws for the week.  The reason is that I have a job to do, I have to paint our "guest room" and my wife likes to have the girls out of the house when I am painting.  There are a bunch of reasons for this, the possible paint fumes, the mess that goes along with painting, and their insistence on wanting to "help".  Why am I being charged with painting the room?  Well, take a look at the picture below and guess:

In case you can't tell what color the room is, it is PINK!  Maybe not the correct shade that my wife picked out, but definitely the correct "color".  Why would we paint the room such a color?  Well, I am officially announcing to whoever reads this blog that we are expecting our third child on November 13th.  Yup, I just turned 40 and I am going to be a Dad for the third time around.  I can't wait for the middle of the night feedings, stinky diaper changes and shirts riddle with spit-up.  Seriously, we are all very excited and preparations are in full swing to get the house ready for the new arrival.

So there you have it, a quick recap of the goings on with me over the past week or so.  I have a busy weekend ahead as I am heading to the shore for the day on Saturday to see friends/family I haven't seen in a while and then my daughters first triathlon on Sunday.  So exciting!!!  Peace out!

Early Friday

Quick update....I wasn't able to get in my planned swim last night, but I did head to the pool with my family when I got home from work.  I had the privilege of playing with my two daughters in the pool and having them show me everything that they are learning in their daily swim lessons.  My youngest who we had to bribe just to go under water last summer is now a full on fish, swimming underwater with a vengeance.  My oldest already knows more strokes than I do (she is learning butterfly now....I can not do butterfly) and is learning a flip turn.  I too am trying to learn how to do a flip turn...I am sure she will learn how quicker than I can.  It is really awesome to see my girls learning how to swim at such a young age.  I am hoping that next year my 8 yr old (and maybe 6 yr old) will join the swim team, something I wish I had done as a youngster.

The rest of night, at least after eating dinner, was spent kicking the soccer ball around our back yard.  It is something that my Dad and I used to do when I was young and it really helped me to become a good player.  I hope that I can help my girls out the same way that he helped me.  I was trying to show my oldest some skill moves which she started to pick up pretty quickly.  It is so cool to be able to do things with my kids that my parents used to do with me.

So, I didn't get my planned ride in last night, there was just too much to do after the girls fell asleep (at 10PM....my wife and I are bad parents).  I had to do laundry and then pack for the beach weekend.  I wasn't going to be getting on my bike to ride at 10:30/11:00PM, that's just too late.  Instead I got up at 5:10AM this morning and put in 45 minutes on the trainer before anyone was awake in my house (even my dog).  I do kind of miss getting my training done before most everyone I know is awake.  It was great to have a solid ride under my belt and be out of the house on my way to work by 6:40AM.

Tonight I am hoping, after arriving at my 'rents place down in Lavallette, to get in the ocean and swim a bit.  I haven't done an open water swim since November and I have my first triathlon coming up in a week.  I think it is a good idea for me to get at least one open water swim in, right? 

That's it for now.  Have a great weekend everyone!  I am going to try and take some picture during my rides/runs this weekend and post here.  I haven't been so good with pictures lately.  Cheer!

A Good Day....Flights Booked for Arizona

What a load off of my mind....my flight and the rest of my family's flights have been booked as of about 11:00AM today.  I have to give me wife some serious props as she has been checking on flight for the better part of the past two weeks, constantly checking to see if the cost of the flights would come down.  Well, today it paid off and round trip airfare from Newark to Phoenix on Continental finally dropped, so much so that we were able to use points/miles to get not one but TWO tickets.  Partner that with the drop in price from ~$400/ticket down to under $340/ticket and we are looking at my wife saving us a significant chunk of change.  So to my wife, GREAT JOB, TREMENDOUS JOB, STELLAR JOB!!! 

It feels so good knowing that we have that the flights out of the way and don't have to keep worrying about it.  Now I can focus on the task at hand which is getting training, training and more training.

Tuesday
Whew, I slept in a bit, till about 6:00AM and didn't have a workout in the morning.  I just got up and went to work.  I toyed with the idea of doing my run workout in the morning but thought getting a good nights sleep would be more beneficial.  Flash forward to 11:45AM and sleeping was looking like a bad idea as the temps were at 90F+ and the humidity so high.  I ran the beginning of my hour run with my work friend Scott, we both bitched to each other about work, family and anything else that came to mind.  It was a good time.  He bolted after two miles and I soldiered on, preparing myself for the speed work I had before me (5 x 3 minutes @ 1 min jog).  That 20 minutes of speed work absolutely killed me, I was so tired and so wished I had done it at 5:30AM when it was cooler out.  Ah, I am stronger for it, right?  All in all I was happy with my run and was even more thrilled to take a nice cold shower afterwards.  Run stats:  1:00:15, 7.2 miles

Following work I went to our pool club to do my swim workout, a nice outdoor 25 yd pool that is usually empty and can only be used by adults.  It was no different last night, only two other people swimming there is was perfect.  I wish I could say that my swimming was perfect, ugh, I am so not a good swimmer.  Regardless, I did my prescribed session (500yd warm up, 8 x 50 drills, 200-300-400-500yd @45 sec, 8 x 50, 300yd cool down), and I felt pretty good doing it.  I was able to maintain an average of about 1:45/100yds for the main set which I will definitely take...of course I wish I were faster, but heck don't we all wish that?  Swim stats:  3,000 yds, 53:00

I was starving after the swim and I came home to pasta and bread, courtesy of my awesome wife.  I ate so much.  Then it was up to our bedroom to paint some more. 

Today
I was up and out of bed at 5:20AM, a tad later than I wanted, but no worries.  Headed to the basement to get in my 45 minute session on the trainer while watching the 2005 Ironman World Championships.  The ride was atrocious, I was just not feeling it and I was tired.  I pedaled and pedaled until I was done, then ran upstairs, put my running shoes on and did a 30 minute Zone 2 run.  Again, just didn't feel that great, maybe it was the heat or the humidity, I really don't know.  I think I averaged around 8:15/mile for the run, not a stellar effort.

Tonight is looking like another full night of painting (my oldest daughters room) which I LOVE (not really).  My wife has promised me that we can get ice cream when we are done, at least it is some sort of motivation to get the job done.  Have a great day out there!

AH.....Rest Day

First off, I am back to 100%.  Whatever it was that I had last week is gone, and I had a no lingering effects this past weekend.  It seems that once every season I get hit with some illness that wrecks me for a couple days and then I am OK.  I'm glad that it was only two days worth of misery and not something that lasted longer.

I guess it is time to recap the past few days, not that it has been all that interesting....well maybe a touch (but not really).

Friday
I was up around 5:30AM and out on the road for an hour long run.  Ugh, I was miserable for the entire thing.  I forgot to use my inhaler before heading out which didn't bode well for me.  I was tired and had some breathing issues the entire run.  I couldn't get over hour hot it was already at that hour and also how humid it was.  I should also note here that I have never been a good early morning runner.  My body just doesn't do well in the early morning.  The fact that I put in an hour on the trainer the night before (from 5:00PM - 6:00PM) most definitely didn't help either, nor did my staying up until around 11:00PM help in the slightest.  So just starting the run I already had numerous factors going against me and things just didn't turn around at all.  I am going to say that I averaged a very sloth-like 8:50/mile on my one hour, 6.75 mile morning run.

The only positive I had going for me was that I was going to be out playing golf with my father and some of his friends in an outing later on that morning.  We had a really good time and I played remarkable well, especially considering that I had only played twice over the past year.  I was crushing my drives (around 280 yds most holes) and putting well.  Heck my first shot of the day, a par-3, I put within 5' of the pin.  The day though was great because I got to spend time with my father.

Saturday
I was up at 5:00AM and on the road by 5:40AM for my two hour and 45 minute ride.  I wanted to get out early so that I wouldn't be home too late.  It was actually a bit cool out and I was wishing that I had some arm warmers (my next purchase I think) to throw on until it warmed up a bit.  As usual, I headed down to the river, across the bridge into New Jersey and headed north from there.  I had an idea that I would ride up to Frenchtown or Milford, cross back into Pennsylvania, and then make my way to Ringing Rocks County Park. 

Well, the one thing that I never checked when planning out my route was the elevation profile.  I know that heading up and away from the river is always going to be hilly, but I had no clue that Bridgeton Hill Rd. was going to be so tough.  It is about two miles of climbing, with the first mile hitting 16% grade, so not fun on a tri bike (or any bike for that matter).  I was not happy about my choice of route, but once to the top of the climb I was happy I had done it because it will only make me stronger on the bike. 

I proceeded to keep progressing west away from the river and eventually ran into Nockamixon State Park, site of the Steelman Triathlon (I've done it the past two years, but won't be doing it this year).  The rest of the ride was like a roller coaster, fast descents and equally slow climbs as I made my way back home.  All in all a good day of riding, 50.28 miles in 2:46, average speed of 18.1...not bad considering the all of the hills.

The rest of Saturday was spend doing the final sanding of the swing set, then heading over to Fanny Chapman Pool for about three hours.  NOTE:  I tried my first one and a half off the diving board and it ended up being a one and a quarter.....holy face plant....not good.  Still a fun day.

Sunday
The good - I slept until 7:30AM, meaning I got 9 1/2 hours of sleep!!!  The bad - I was so sore and achy from the previous day's ride, sanding and pool.  I was not going to be running early this morning.  Instead, I got out and washed the cars and sprayed the girls with the hose for a while.  After that I helped my wife with some chores before I decided it was time to get my run over with.  Of course this meant that I would be going for a noon time run in the 90F+ heat.  Yeah, I'm smart like that...NOT!!!  Here it is, short and sweet, I was slow, it was hot, but I got it done.  8.75 miles in 1:45 (~8:30/mile).  I would have liked to have gone a bit faster, but the heat and my rationing of water just wouldn't allow me to do that.  Frankly, I was just happy to have it over and done with.

The rest of Sunday was a pool day.  My oldest ran into a friend of hers so she was pretty much on her own most of the day, and my youngest was all about just jumping into the pool over and over again.  Now, if only she would dunk her head under the water and realize it isn't such a big deal.  I hope she gets it soon.

Today
I am going to be taking it easy today.  I feel pretty good, but am a bit sore, but nothing that I can't handle.  This is a pretty standard week of training, with the weekend getting a bit tougher (three hour bike on Saturday and 1:30 run on Sunday).  Then next week I move into Phase Two of the training with BRICK workouts becoming the norm and speed work being introduced.  Oh, I bump up to 3,000M in the pool also.  Looks like the honeymoon is over!

Sayonara!

Back to Work & Back to Training

My weeks vacation spend with my little girls is over and I am back at work. It was a great week that could have only been made better if my wife had been off as well. Unfortunately she couldn't take off and I played Mr. Mom for the week, taking the girls on errands with me, then to the pool for three or four hours at a clip, and then getting them home and showered before starting dinner. Dang, I was a busy guy this past week.

As sad as I am to have the my weeks vacation end, I am excited to get back to work and back to training. I did step back into it a bit this past weekend by getting out for a decent run (6.5 miles on Saturday) and a brief but tough ride (17 miles on Sunday). Not included in these numbers are the countless times I launched myself off of the 1-meter diving board at the pool over the weekend, crashing into the pool and then swimming to the ladder only to climb out and head back over the board to do it all over again. This probably tired me out more than my run and bike sessions.

So here is what my week is looking like:

Monday: 3 - 4 mile run at lunch (easy); 1,000 - 1,500 yard swim after work

Tuesday: 30 mile bike home from work; swim???

Wednesday: 30 mile bike to work (5:30am); 4 - 5 mile run at lunch

Thursday: 4 mile run at lunch; 1,750 yard swim after work

Friday: Not sure yet, but I hope to get a run and/or a swim in.

Saturday: 7 - 8 mile run

Sunday: 25 - 30 mile bike

Well, there you have it....I am getting back into the training this week. Not the same that I was doing this time last year when I was tapering for my half-iron distance triathlon, but solid training none-the-less. I will probably post pictures from the Steelman Triathlon later today or tomorrow.