I Suck at Blogging

Ugh, I am a horrible blogger.  Actually, I'm not a bad blogger when I am blogging.  It's the getting to the blog and writing in the blog that I am not so good at lately.  The problems are stemming from the fact that I have very little time to blog about and have few blog-worthy activities to mention here.

I will sum up the past couple weeks here as succinctly as possible:

Hurricane Irene - I was luck in that my home escaped Irene with no damage what so ever.  Also, my parents managed only a few problems, flooding in their garage destroyed a refrigerator and cabinets and wind knocked out their hot water heater.  Yes, it cost money to fix/replace, but otherwise the house is OK.

Soccer - Both of my daughters are playing soccer and for the first time in three years I am not coaching either of their teams.  It is driving me crazy not being involved.  I am turning into "that Dad" who complains, etc.  I have decided that I am going to abstain from saying anything about the coaching and be a cheerleader for my girls and photographer.  Below is a picture of the the girls new cleats, very stylish, eh?

Surfing - Ugh, so many good waves between Labor Day and September 7th....and I suck at surfing.  I tried and even though I failed I was still out there.  I crashed more than I rode, but I was brave and tried to take of on a lot of waves.  I really want to get better at surfing next year.  Here are some pictures of sunrises from Labor Day weekend.

Pregnancy - Whew, my wife is big, and I mean that in a good way.  She is in her 31st week I think and the due date has been set for the third week in October.  I need to start banking sleep now because those first few months are going to be rough.  I suspect I will be getting back to doing my morning work-outs thanks to 4AM wake up calls.  A little tidbit of information about me:  When my wife was pregnant with our second daughter I weighed the most I have ever in my life....220 LBS!!!  I am not that heavy now, but I feel close to it.  Below is a picture of the first day of school for my girls.

Work - I have been all over Maryland and DC the past couple weeks and I am going to be down in Richmond and Virginia Beach soon as well.  I hope this travel turns into dollars for me!!!

Training - Nonexistent at this point.  I actually went ten days between runs recently.  TEN DAYS!!!  That is unacceptable.  I need to get out and run on the weekends, maybe even get out and ride my bike.  I think a gym/pool membership is much needed.  I need to set up my bike trainer in the basement and get back to my evening training sessions.  If I am going to be sitting around watching TV, I might as well be burning calories, right?

I hope to spruce things up here soon, maybe liven things up a bit.  Cheers!

Holy Hard Holiday Training

It is Tuesday morning and I am tired and I am sore.  It was a long weekend down at the Jersey Shore, with many activities going on and and many of them not conducive to Ironman training.  I suppose now is the time to start spilling the beans.

Saturday - The Long Bike, The Short Run, The Late Night
Instead of driving down to my 'rents house in Lavallette on Friday night, I suggested to my wife that I just ride my bike down and she could sleep in a bit and drive down a bit later, ideally coordinating our arrival for around the same time.  So I was up around 5:10AM and after my normal dilly-dallying around I finally hit the road at 5:50AM.  It was still dark out so I wore my headlamp for the first 30 minutes or so...I should have left a bit earlier to maximize the headlamp usage. 

I could go into all of the dynamics of my ride, but that would just be boring because there wasn't a whole lot going on.  It was a beautiful day, perfect weather, and no mechanical issues.  I would say up until around mile 70, everything was going according to plan.  Then, as I made my way over the Mantloking Bridge, my stomach started to get a bit queasy and I wasn't sure what I should do to make it go away.  My ride up to that point had been so solid, fast and smooth.  I kept drinking, but that didn't help.  I sucked it up and just toughed out the last 11 miles, grateful that I made it to my parents house without vomiting or succumbing to any other intestinal issues.  Ride stats:  82.15 miles, 4:02:00. 20.4MPH (had been up to 20.7MPH but slowed during the last 10 miles)

I had to hang around for about 30 minutes before I could head out for my run (my wife got down a bit later than planned) which had a negative impact on my performance.  I should have eaten something in the interim, Shot Bloks, bagel, something.  Instead I just sat around and waited.  When I finally headed out for my run I was toast.  The first mile was solid, then I ran out of gas.  I did a lot of walking and ended up only putting in 40 of my planned 45 minutes.  Live and learn I suppose, eh?

The rest of the day was spent at the beach and what a day it was.  My sister was there with her family (visiting from Utah), my cousin and their kids, and a bunch of others.  Me and my family had a really good time.  There was a bit of a drawback in that Hurricane Earl had kicked up the surf pretty good, so they weren't letting anyone in the water past their waist.  So what I had to do was wait until 6PM when the lifeguards left and head back up to get in some body boarding (it was too big for me to surf).  I was in the water for about an hour and had a blast, just getting barreled and worked all over the place.  Awesome way to end an epic day.

That night the party was on at my 'rents house and to quickly summarize the events:

• Played some games for a few hours (washers, etc.)
• I headed to bed at 1:15AM
• I was convinced to drive a bunch of inebriated individuals (5 total) to Seaside Heights to find "The Situation", Snooki, and the rest of the cast of Jersey Shore 
• Arrived at "Bamboo" at 1:45AM, lost my wife and other friend immediately, there was an incident, someone left with a black eye, we were on our way home by 2:45AM.
• Finally managed to get into bed at 3:15AM

Sunday - Long Run, Body Surfing, Sore Ride
Ugh, was I ever tired.  I dragged my sore and tired butt out of bed at 8:00AM.  I thought to myself that this is not the way one should be training for an Ironman, no, not at all.  I was recruited by all of the kids in the house to go on a donut run, so I took my youngest and my niece.  After the donut run I need to get in a my hour and a half run, so I rallied and made it happen.  All in all it didn't go all that badly, I started out easy and gradually increased my pace over the entire run.  Run stats:  10.88 miles, 1:31:30 (8:24/mile pace)

Another day spend at the beach and on this day we were able to get in and actually go body surfing!  I probably spent about two or three hours out in the water riding waves.  They were perfect, 3 - 5', hollow and breaking left to right (a lot of closeouts though).  Absolutely perfect day.

Later on that night I knew that I had to get in a ride, an easy one hour ride at 100+RPM.  I wasn't looking forward to it, especially when you consider everything I had done over the past 36 hours (long bike, short run, body boarding, late night, long run, body surfing, etc.).  Despite all of this I put my helmet and shoes on and got it done.  1:00:00, 17.0MPH.

Bedtime came early that night, I was asleep by 9:30PM

Monday - A Day of Rest

I did not thing on Labor Day, just slept in until 7:30AM, took my dog for a short walk, ate a good breakfast and then just chilled.  We did go out for a ride in my father's boat, heading down to the Barnegat Lighthouse.  Other than that we just chilled on the beach all day before eating dinner and then heading home at 8:00PM.  It was a really good weekend, I was able to spend some time my sister and her family (my nephew and two nieces), spend a lot of time at the beach (that last time until next year), and also spend some quality time with my wife and daughters. 

Not it is back to the normal routine, training every day, soccer Saturday's/Sunday's, dance Saturday's, and everything else that comes out way.  Cheers!

Surfing in Lavallette

First let me state that I am not a surfer.  I do go surfing on occasion, but for the most part I am an 38 year old guy that never had the opportunity to learn to surf as a young kid (opting for the much easier body/boogie boarding).  However, around 10 -- 15 years ago I decided to try to learn how to surf.  I have gotten OK at it, being able to stand up and ride waves of very small height with relative confidence.  I ride an 8'-6" "Farrelly by Gordon & Smith" long board that was left at my grandmothers house around 20 years ago by a friend of my cousin.  I make due with what I have.

So with all of that said, here are some pictures of me from this past Saturday night, surfing down in Lavallette on 2' - 3' waves.  It was some much fun getting out there and splashing around in the surf.  The fact that I was able to catch more than a few waves and go "back-side" was a revelation for me and got me totally stoked.  I vow to try and get out at least a few more times before the summer is over....I just hope there are waves when we go down.

Here I am going back-side on a "massive" two foot wave...I am concentrating so hard at this point.

Doing my best to go left and get into the "gaping" barrel of another 2' wave.

This is how most of rides end up, with me flailing helplessly as I go one way and my board goes the other.  Still fun none-the-less....plus my daughters like when I fall more than when I am actually surfing, they laugh hysterically at me.

Just a Tremendous Weekend

What a fantastic weekend!  I was down in Lavallette at my 'rents house, with my wife and daughters.  Training aside, we just had such a good time at the beach, in the ocean, and just hanging out.  I was able to get out and go surfing for bit on Saturday night and Sunday morning (more on that later) and I perked a bit of interest in my oldest daughter who now wants to surf.  Anyway, here's how the weekend went down....

Friday
After my horrific run in the scorching heat, I did some more work (gotta pay the bills) and then decided to head to Fanny Chapman Pool to get my 3,000 yd straight swim in.  I felt pretty good for the first 1,000 yds (18:00) and then everything started to slow down considerably after that.  I think my second 1,000 was around 19:00 and my last 1,000 was close to 20:00....yeah, very slow.  I think the hour run at noon might have contributed to my lack of speed and energy at the end of my swim.

Following the swim I had to do some driving, e.g. pick-up nutrition for my weekend training, pick up my girls from camp, etc.  Then it was home to pack up the car and head to the shore (it took around two hours for us to get down, so frustrating).  Me and the little ones were really happy to be there.

Saturday

I was up at 4:30AM and out the door riding by 5:15AM, despite the looming thunder and lightning to the south.  So which way did I head?  South of course, down to Island Beach State Park.  I rode from my 'rents house to the end of the park (~14.2 miles) and back, encountering a little rain, but nothing that would stop a ride.  With a little over 28 miles done, I headed north to Point Pleasant (~10 miles).  Once in Point Pleasant, riding along the boardwalk, the weather started to improve and the sun popped out from behind the early morning clouds (pic to the right).  It was here that I really started to enjoy the ride, the sun was visible, sky was clearing to a beautiful light blue, and I was relaxed and cruising at around 20 MPH towards home.  It was such a good feeling...not necessarily a smile on my face below, but definitely not a frown. 

I ended up putting in 48 miles in exactly 2:30:00, good for 19.2 MPH, with my average cadence right at 95 RPM.

Immediately following my ride I did a quick change into my running shorts and I headed out for my 15 minute run (transition was around three minutes....a mellow change).  I actually felt really good, and my pace was a solid 7:40/mile.  I wasn't trying to run "fast", but rather I was just going with how I felt and how my legs would carry me.  I finished around 1.9+ miles in 15 minutes.

After a cold shower and breakfast, it was time to head up to the beach with the family.  It was kind of an odd day in that my youngest daughter really didn't want to be at the beach.  In fact, around 11:00AM she told my wife she wanted to head home and take a nap (and the went home and she took a two hour nap).  I stayed up at the beach with my 'rents and my oldest.  We had a good time playing in the ocean (moderate sized surf), ducking under and floating over the waves.  I can't get over how confident my daughter is in the ocean, which is a good thing.  The one thing that I can say is that she is also learning to respect the ocean, as the current was a bit strong (very strong for a seven year old), and she would get whisked away pretty quickly when I wasn't holding on to her.  That got her attention quickly.

After heading home and chilling for a bit (including eating dinner), it was time for me to head back up to the beach for some sunset surfing (almost sunset).  I haven't been out riding waves in about two year, but I was excited to get out there.  The surf was only about 2 - 3 foot, but that was perfect for me and my 8' Gordon & Smith (Farrelly by Gordon & Smith).  I had a blast!  I forgot how much fun surfing is, even when wiping out, it is still fun (I hope to have pictures in the next day or two).  The highlight of the night though wasn't my surfing experience, but rather my friend Dan's son (Shane, 5 years old with bright blue eyes).  It was his first time trying to surf on a real surf board.  Dan would start him off and I would stay ahead of him should he wipe out or get caught under.  Shane stood up on his first wave and immediately fell in love with surfing.  He must have ridden six more waved before calling it a night (actually Dan called it a night).  The look on both of there faces were priceless, one beaming with pride (Dan), the other with pure joy and excitement (Shane).  Such a great way to end the night.  Oh, also, my oldest daughter was convinced that she would be learning to surf now as well (I was starting to beam with excitement).

Sunday

I was up and out of the house by 6:15AM for a 30 minute ride, down to Seaside Park and back, keeping my cadence up near 100 RPMs (10.2 miles in 33 minutes, 18,5 MPH).  My legs were a touch sore, but the ride loosened them up.  I rested for about five minutes following my ride, then headed out on my hour run.  I felt surprisingly good, my feet moved quickly, my legs didn't feel heavy.  I chose to just run the Lavallette boardwalk because there are water fountains every quarter mile or so, and I didn't want to carry water with me.  Not much to report, just ran the boardwalk, up and back, up and back.  Total run was 1:00:30, 7.25 miles, 8:20/mile pace....just a solid run (much better than my Friday afternoon run, whew that was bad). 

I took a quick shower, ate and then headed to the beach with my oldest to try to teach her to surf.  In short, the surf was a bit rougher than the night before, Dan and Shane didn't make it up, and the confidence that had been there disappeared.  There was not going to be an in-water surf lesson (just "popping" on the beach).  Regardless, we had fun up there until the rest of the clan showed up around 9:45AM.  I did manage to get out and ride a few waves before the lifeguards yelled at me to get out.

The rest of the day was spent at the beach, body surfing,  going in and out of the water with my 7-year old, "jumping the waves" with my 5-year old, and doing my best to rest in between.  Even though it was really friggin' hot out, we all had a great day.

Today

I woke up at 6AM and was sore all over.  The beach did me in.  My neck is still sore, although it is not debilitating.  I am considering heading over to my sports doc to have him fix it, something I should have done last week.  Time to get some work done....and try not to fall asleep.  NJ State Triathlon on Saturday, I am hoping to finish in the top 30.  Adios!