Stitches

Today at lunch I hit the treadmill for another half hour run. I increased the pace to 7:13/mile which felt pretty comfortable, except for the fact I got a bit of a side stitch 25 minutes into the workout. It was nothing major, it just struck me as odd because I had not eaten anything for several hours. Boring blog post I know, but I had a few minutes on the way back from home and figured why not. It's freezing outside now, but this ferry bus is almost too warm. Now this post is getting truly random...

Textbook Training Week

Last week for various and sundry reasons (the primary one being sheer laziness) I only ran twice and did not lift weights at all. This week I vowed to be more disciplined, and managed to get three runs and two weightlifting sessions in. Two of the runs were at 7:18/mile pace, and today I dialed it back to 7:30 because I was running for the second day in a row (and the earlier runs were not as comfortable as I would have liked). I have become remarkably good at just blasting through half an hour treadmill runs without constantly staring at the elapsed time (which inevitably makes the workout go by much slower) -- just give me my ESPN and my headphones and I am set.

I have not been eating all that well the last couple of weeks, so I was not surprised to see I am back up to 183ish lbs. Not the end of the world, but my battle against sugar is clearly still ongoing. Nevertheless, I feel great about the fact I am already running in the low 7:xx/mile range and it is not even January yet! It will be kind of tough getting quality workouts in over the next couple of weeks with the holidays, but to I am just thrilled to have this type of base at this time of the year...

Thanksgiving Weekend Treat

O.K., as I mentioned two posts ago, I was not expecting to get any workouts in over Thanksgiving weekend, as my in-laws were in town. It turns out I was mistaken -- my brother in-law is kind of a serious runner, and wanted to get a couple of runs in around Hoboken. Needless to say, I was psyched! We did a little more than four mile run on Friday, followed by a pretty hard five miler on Saturday. The weather was brisk but bearable both days, which was nice. The Saturday run was at sub-7:30/mile pace, which is really fast for me with less than one months of training under my belt. I definitely had to slow down the last mile so that my brother in-law could keep up with me, which was a good feeling considering the pace of the first four miles. Combined with the two four mile treadmill runs that I did earlier in the week, I ran 17 miles last week, which is definitely a November record for me (excluding last year, in which I ran the NYC Marathon the first Sunday of November).

Given the strong weekend runs, I decided to skip my scheduled week of running at 7:36/mile pace and go directly to 7:30. My run today felt O.K., but not as easy as my previous ones, which makes me think I may have bitten off more than I can chew. I'll see how my other runs go this week and then decide what to do next week. Oh, and I'm down to 182 lbs. I also decided to forgo my usual lunchtime cookie for a bag of Sun Chips, which should help. I just need to stay away from that sugar...

Mobile Blogging

So I am actually typing this from my mobile phone, which is kind of convenient but also kind of pathetic. I am on a bus to the ferry, and traffic is really bad right now, so I figured why not. I had a great workout today at the gym -- back, biceps, and abs, and then another half hour on the treadmill. The run felt great -- it seemed like it went by so quickly, which is always a good sign for dreadmill runs. Completely off topic, but the woman next to me has been on her cell phone talking loudly for the last 40 minutes. God do I hate stuff like this -- do these people have any self awareness whatsoever? Sometimes I seriously wish that cell phones were never invented...

Happy Thanksgiving!

So tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and with the in-laws coming into town I am not going to be able to work out at all for the next few days. I know that I am getting more serious about my training, though, because I am still getting in four workouts this week (running on Monday, weights yesterday, and both today before I begin focusing on Thanksgiving dinner preparation). Monday I did a half an hour on the treadmill at 7:41/mile pace, which felt pretty relaxed. Yesterday I hit the weights, and on the way out had my body fat measured. I came in at 12%, which I am O.K. with given its late November. I would love to get that down below 10% by next summer -- we will see how that goes (got to cut down on the sweets!). I am still loving the fact I got an early jump on my training for next season...

Treadmill Malfunction

Today I ran for a half an hour at the gym at 7:47 per mile pace. It was fairly uneventful, aside from the fact that the first treadmill I was running on completely shut down about 21 minutes in (it was a bit herky-jerky prior to stopping, so it was not a complete surprise). I quickly switched to another treadmill and maybe stopped running for 20-30 seconds, so it was no big deal. Last week I managed to get my two runs in and lift weights -- I wanted to get another workout in over the weekend, but it did not happen. I was feeling a tad bit guilty until I remembered that I started training two months earlier than normal for this upcoming season -- that was enough to make me relax a bit...

Picking Up The Pace (A Little)

Yesterday I did a half hour on the treadmill at 7.6 MPH, or 7:54/mile pace. I really did not notice any difference from last week when I did my runs at 8:00/mile pace, which is good. I always start my run training by adding 0.1 MPH a week until I get down to low 7:00/mile pace (in really good years, sub-7:00), which I have found is a nice way to get my legs used to running again. I spent entirely too much time on http://www.slowtwitch.com/ today and found a lengthy forum thread about a guy who did the swim portion of Ironman Florida with fins -- needless to say, it was entertaining stuff. Oh, and I just got a bunch of new running tops -- four from UnderArmour and one from Nike. And no, I didn't get the cheesy supertight UnderArmour ones that you see people wearing at the gym. Here is a picture of one of the new tops -- WE MUST PROTECT THIS HOUSE (not sure how that is applicable to triathlons, but why not)...

2009 Training Starts Early

O.K., so I decided for the first time to start training for the 2009 triathlon season before the New Year. There are a few reasons driving this decision:

1. For the first time in a long time my season was done before Labor Day, so I have already had two months to rest and recuperate.
2. I am really not happy with my weight right now (185ish lbs., which is not terrible for this time of year, but I want to race next year at 170-175), and I simply burn more calories when I am training.
3. I want to try something different this year in my training plan -- I am going to concentrate on running for two months, biking for two months, and then swimming for a month before settling into a more conventional triathlon training schedule. Thus, starting early will give me plenty of time to build my base this way before jumping into a training routine that incoporates all three disciplines.

Yesterday I ran for 30 minutes at 8:00/mile pace (my first run since my last triathlon), and today I just did the elliptical machine for 30. I'm going to try and do a better job of keeping the blog updated this year, but I'm not promising anything...

2008 Accenture Chicago Race Report

On August 24th I competed in the Accenture Chicago Triathlon for the fifth time. I opted for the sprint distance primarily because of my limited training hours this year (plus you do not have to wait around as long for your start – which is important in a race with 8,600+ competitors). This race was unique for me because it was the first time I have ever really traveled to do a triathlon, as well as the first time I used someone else’s bike. All in all, I had a good time and was pretty happy with my performance.

Coming into the race, I truly did not know what to expect. On the one hand I felt pretty good (but not great) about my fitness level and was very familiar with the course having done this race before and lived and trained in Chicago for years. On the other hand my swim training has been virtually non-existent this year, I was using a friend’s bike (albeit, a really nice one), and spent most of the race weekend running around and reconnecting with old friends. My alarm went off at 3:50 A.M. race morning and I took a quick shower, collected all of my gear, and rode to transition. At 5:30 A.M. I had my transition area set up, met up with a couple of friends who were doing their first triathlon (they both finished – congratulations!), and headed to the starting line.

The swim was fairly uneventful. I lined up behind the first row of swimmers, and aside from the usual melee in the initial hundred yards or so, I avoided major contact with other triathletes. The one change that I made to my swim was to dramatically cut down on the amount of sighting that I usually do. My stroke is already marginal at best to begin with, and I have come to realize that I slow myself down even more with excessive sighting. The swim course is a straight shot north in Lake Michigan, so sighting was even less of an issue than in most other races. I just focused on keeping my head down and taking nice relaxed strokes, which seemed to work as I exited the water in just under 16 minutes. Not great, but considering the fact that I only swam six times all year, I was happy with it.

After completing the quarter mile run to the transition area (by far my least favorite part of this race), I had a fairly quick transition and was on the bike. As I mentioned, I borrowed my friend Tony’s Kestrel triathlon bike (thanks again!) Although we are about the same height, I had to raise the seat 4-5” and pull the aerobars forward 2-3”, but all in all I felt like the bike fit me fairly well. I also did not have my normal Profile Design aero drink, but was pretty good about downing most of the bottle of Gatordade I brought with me. While there was a bit of blocking here and there, most of the people I saw on the bike course seemed to be riding relatively clean, and any miscues seemed to be the result of inexperience rather than blatant cheating.

Heading north on Lake Shore Drive there was a decent headwind, but nothing compared to the gale force winds I have encountered in some previous Chicago Triathlons. I focused on staying aero as much as possible, although I did downshift and get out of the saddle to attack the few short uphills. I was maintaining a steady pace in the 19-20 MPH range, and while my heart rate was very high (180+ BPMs), from a perceived exertion level perspective I felt fine. When I hit the turnaround I knew my pace would pick up considerably with the wind at my back, and was I ever right – I rode much of the way back to the transition area at 25+ MPH! During the last couple of miles I deliberately dialed my pace back a bit in order to save some gas for the run.

I performed my usual “leave the shoes clipped to the pedals” flying dismount as I approached the transition area. I placed my bike back on the rack, grabbed my running shoes (I left the racing flats and quick tie laces at home) and was off on the run. My legs definitely felt a bit heavy, which I attribute to not being as consistent with my brick (bike/run) workouts as in past years. I did get a huge boost from seeing my friends Chad, Kim, and Ray cheering me on, as well as plenty of other spectators along the run course. I laughed out loud when Chad yelled “Come on, Anthony – there are people in front of you wearing COTTON!” (inside joke — when it comes to running I am a total wicking material snob). I forgot to press the split button on my watch in order to track my mile times, but felt like I was running around 7:15-7:20 pace – slower than normal, but completely expected given my erratic training this year. I grabbed a bit of Gatorade at each water stop, which kept me more than adequately hydrated. As I neared the finish line a spectator told me to smile because the race was almost over. I turned towards her and pointed at my exaggerated grin just before I began my final sprint.

I crossed the finish line in 1:22:08 feeling pretty good about my performance, particularly given all of the other “life events” (e.g., having my better half move in, getting married, buying a new condo, moving, etc.) that happened this year. But most importantly, after not doing any triathlons in 2007 and having my first ever DNF in the only other race I attempted in 2008, I truly feel like a TRIATHLETE again! Well, I am done with racing this season – it is time to relax, hit the weights a bit more, and start planning how I can get better (aside from more swim training, obviously) in 2009! Thanks for reading!

Race Splits
Swim: 18:16 (includes quarter mile run to the transition area, top 23%)
T1: 1:49
Bike: 38:01 (21.6 MPH, top 4%)
T2: 1:33
Run: 22:28 (7:14 per mile, top 7%)
Overall: 1:22:08 (top 5% overall, top 8% in M35-39 age group)

Great Week!

O.K., the blog posts are slowing down -- there simply are not enough hours in the day. I will post when I have time, and otherwise everyone (assuming anyone actually reads this ever) will just have to deal with it! Monday was unseasonably warm (in the low 60s), and with the day off from work I decided to ride my bike outside. I did a 20 mile out-and-back, most of which was on JFK Boulevard north of Hoboken. I discovered that if I just stay on JFK it seems to go on forever -- or at least 10 miles or so. It is a tough route, though -- super hilly and a ton of stop lights. I can tell that it will be a great strength-building workout, though. I also lifted weights that day -- back and biceps.

The rest of the week I got in two treadmill runs at 7:24/mile pace (which felt surprisingly easy -- I am really starting to think my running is going to be strong this year), another weights workout (chest and tris) and a spin class today at lunch. Six workouts in six days -- definitely a nice week, especially coming off last week when I was sick. Oh, and my weight is down to 182.5 lbs -- not a ton of progress, but definitely heading in the right direction! One last thing -- I have been seeing a podiatrist (trust me, you don't want to know why) and he recommended I get orthotics (I am extremely flat-footed). I figure it can only help, so I ordered them. They should get here in three weeks. It will be interesting to see how they affect me (if at all). Below are my training totals for this past week:

• Two runs (1 hour)
• One bike ride (20 miles)
• One spin class (45 minutes)
• Two weightlifting sessions (2 hours)