2009 Father's Day Ohio Wine Country Tour

After much hinting at, I'm finally proud to present a visual documentation of how we spent Father's Day 2009.

We began our Northeast Ohio wine country tour at the Old Firehouse Winery in Geneva-On-The-Lake.

Located on the beautiful shores of Lake Erie.

Since we were going to order lunch, Heather decided to get the dry and premium wine sampler.

No, they're not Jello shots. They're 1 oz. tastings, 10 per tray. I have the sweet wines!

Bailey took the time to show me Canada.

I was sorry to inform him that we couldn't quite see Canada from there.

So he just climbed aboard the fire truck and was content.

Stop #2 was the Laurello Vineyards in Geneva. (Which isn't on the lake!)

I was very happy here as I switched back to dry reds. I just can't drink those really sweet wines the way I used to.

Heather was driving today, so she stayed with only small servings.

Bailey had his Nintendo and wasn't as bored as he looked here.

I wasn't bored at all!

Stop #3 was the South River Winery. It's in an old church building. It's WINE CHURCH!

Wine Church is cool!

I had a few samples before deciding on a glass.

The vines were very picturesque.

I guess I was becoming picturesque too.

Bailey was giving me "the look".

Heather was enjoying my picturesque-ness.

The grounds at South River Winery were amazing.

These two were waiting for me up front.

We really need to return here again.

Stop #4 was Virant Vineyards. But it wasn't open so it doesn't matter.

But they had the absolute coolest flowers out front!

Stop #5 was Debbone Vineyards. Or as Heather likes to call it, De Bone!

I was starving, so I dug into the food.

It was succulent!

Bailey didn't want to try my mini sandwich.

Heather was amused again.

Our 6th and final stop was the Grand River Cellars.

They had directions to all the other wineries in the area.

And more really cool flowers!

Heather and Bailey made a good picture.

I made for a good picture with a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon. And I was done after this one.

No orange barrels here! Just the nice oak kind.

And so ends our Father's Day trip. Stay tuned though. I plan to post photos from our Mother's Day trip to the zoo. And what a zoo it was that day!

Fat Rabbit Results

The official race results have been posted, and they're pretty nice. Here are the main points:

- I finished 2nd of 5 in my age group, less than 3 minutes behind the winner.

- My time was good enough for 6th overall, just 5 minutes behind the overall winner. I'm very happy with this as it's probably the highest overall duathlon finish I've had.

- My run 1 time was 13:17 for two miles, a 6:39 pace, and the 5th fastest split.

- My bike time was 39:21 for 12.? miles, an 18.9 mph average, and the 18th fastest split. Good for me, but not great. Still in the top half of the field though.

- My run 2 time was 20:49 for 5K, a 6:43 pace, and the 4th fastest run split. This is the part that's amazing to me. Run 2 used to be my downfall. I would have a good run 1 and a decent bike, only to run a 25 or 26 minute 5K for run 2.

I'm very pleased to have the running thing down finally. Now I need to work on the bike and the swim. I think the swim is going to simply require time in the water to get better. That, and becoming more comfortable in the open water. There is a huge difference between the pool and a lake. As for the bike, improvements to the engine (me) should be the primary focus. They will be the least costly upgrades I can make. A tri-specific bike is another option, though extremely costly and not in the realm of possibilities right now. I am curious however, as to how much faster I could ride on a better quality bike. I would be interested in renting or borrowing one for a race just to find out if a carbon frame and different positioning would give me mph. Until then, engine work is my only option.

2009 Fat Rabbit International, Sprint Duathlon

I just finished cleaning two bikes (including chains), two pairs of running shoes, one pair of cycling cleats, two helmets, two water bottles, and various other racing paraphernalia. My hands are so dry I can feel the skin stretch on the palms and fingers when I spread them out. I think the Starbucks is finally wearing off and the Elliot Ness is starting to kick in. I'm tired.

Mrs. P and I raced the Sprint Duathlon at the Fat Rabbit International Multi-sport Festival this morning at Alum Creek. We both did very well. The official results have yet to be posted online, but there was a post-race awards ceremony during which we found out that she finished third in her AG while I finished second in mine. My unofficial time was 1:15 and some change, which is nearly two minutes faster than last year.

The day started out early (as usual for race day) with my alarm going off at 3:30 AM. It took the second alarm to get me out of bed five minutes later. After a quick shower, it was time for breakfast: a peanut butter and jelly sandwich I had made the day before. I usually eat PB&J toast at home so this wasn't too far a departure. I was trying some new peanut butter though, JIF Natural PB. It's not as natural as Smucker's, but requires no refrigeration. Some of the extra ingredients are palm oil, sugar, and molasses. I still prefer just peanuts and salt. A quick check of the Weather Channel showed no signs of rain until later in the day, so I was optimistic about having a good race day.

We arrived at Alum Creek early, and though it was very much still dark, I was surprised to see how many people had arrived already. After picking up our race packets and chips, we went back to the Jeep to prep the bikes to be taken over to transition. Body marking was taking place just outside of the transition area and I must say that the woman who marked me had wonderful penmanship. Her number formations were spot on! Thanks for making me look good Marker Lady! Once inside transition, we found our racking spots easily enough. Fat Rabbit uses long racks and your spot coincides with your race number. Since we registered together, we were consecutive numbers and racked next to each other. I also noticed

the duathletes were all grouped together in our area on rack E.

Now that the most important pre-race item was completed (transition was to close at 6:30), it was time for the second most important item, finding a toilet! The first restroom I tried was full. There wasn't a line yet, but I wasn't keen on waiting when there were other locations to try. I did a warm-up run down the parking lot to the north end where there is another restroom. And since there was no one parked in the vicinity yet, I thought my chances would be good for finding it less inhabited. My instinct was correct and I had a happy restroom visit.

Finally ready to race, I jogged back to the Jeep where we took some pre-race photos.

Notice the textbook number

formation.

You can't see Mrs. P's body marking, but that's OK because it all wore off anyway!

As we were waiting, I was looking around at the clouds and noticing how dark they were getting.I distinctly recalled no rain in the forecast for the morning, but I'm beginning to become more than a little skeptical. Not five minutes after that the first raindrops began to fall. They were followed by many more!

It was all umbrellas and scrambling

for the tents for a while.

My offerings to the rain gods during training were not enough to stave of race day rain.

There was enough rain to get the grass pretty wet and soak everything in transition. But, when given rain, make rainbows right? Not! Just be prepared to get wet and have soggy socks. So with that in mind it was time to head over to the start.

I was struck by two things upon reaching the starting area. One, how many triathletes there were. I mean, it seemed like there were more than normal. And two, how few duathletes were there. I don't think I've seen a smaller duathlon field. Maybe the tri field was so large because people were switching over? (Like what I'm doing this season.)

I ceded myself towards the front and by the time we reached the end of the beach and turned into the woods for a short trail section, the field had strung out. I was running fifth heading onto the trail and maintained it to the turn around point one mile out. Even though I was hearing footsteps behind me, I was able to finish the first run in fifth place. Transition went smoothly as I had no problem finding the correct rack (E for Epcot) and locating my bike. Shoes off. Cleats on. Helmet on. And I was heading for transition exit.

I felt really good on the first few miles of the bike. A little too good? Possibly. I was pushing harder than I normally would. This race is so short and as it's the only duathlon I'm doing this season I wanted to push hard and see what would happen. I was still feeling good until about half way across a bridge crossing Alum Creek Reservoir. We were heading east and had a direct headwind. I knew when I was seeing fewer 19's and 20's for speed and more 16's and 17's that I was losing steam. But I pressed on, not worrying about the people passing me, but about going faster than I did one year ago. After all, that was my goal, to beat 1:16:56.

My bike leg was decent, with an average speed a little over 18.5 mph. The course was slightly rolling with a good climb towards the end. The wind was there, but it could have been worse. There were a few stinky roadkill areas, but nothing horrific. My biggest beef was with the people drafting. It wasn't everyone, but the one's who were doing it were working together to illegally decrease their bike time. That's a time penalty if you get caught. I hope they got caught. But I doubt they did.

Rolling into T2, I was ready to make a statement on the run. Racked the bike. Helmet off. Cleats off. Shoes back on. And I was motoring out of transition. I mean I was cruising. It was like a Tuesday night speed session. I knew I couldn't maintain that kind of crazy pace so I backed off eventually. There weren't a lot of people ahead of me but I passed one on the sidewalk at the beach and another on the trail section. A few more back out on the road. I was beginning to wonder if I would have a repeat of Wendy's where I would not be passed on the run. With about a mile or so to go I heard footsteps again. This fellow was behind me heading out of transition and had been pacing off of me to that point. Then he put a pass on me. "Go get 'em," I shouted. He responded by yelling for me to keep up with him. I didn't think that was going to happen so I let him go. For a little bit. The run headed back into the park, around a bend, and into the parking lot. I had got my breath back and was soon pulling him back in. But not quick enough. He finished about 15 seconds ahead of me. No big loss though as he was a sprint tri competitor and wouldn't affect my overall placing.

We chatted for a bit outside the finish area, then he was off to find his wife who was a spectator somewhere, and I was off to find mine, who was an athlete out on the course somewhere. I jogged and walked backward along the run course for a little over a mile before I saw her coming around a bend. She did NOT have her happy face on. Her knee was giving her problems again and she was in a lot of pain. But with just a couple walking breaks, she pushed through to the finish, beating her time from last year by nearly 15 minutes. That's huge! Completing endurance events is great for those who are physically gifted and have an easy time doing it. The true inspiration comes from the people who don't have such an easy time getting from the start line to the finish line. Congratulations to Mrs. P for gritting it out and whooping her time from last year like a red headed step-child. (No offense intended to red headed step children.)

After packing up and attending the awards presentation, it was time for some post-race photos.

I think I'll call this one "Self Portrait For Two From the Hood of a Car."

Mrs. P showcasing her plaque like a Price is Right model!

Sorry for the long post but I felt like being meticulous in my recounting. Hopefully I'll follow this up soon with the official results once their posted.

Erie Marathon News

I just entered the 2009 Erie Marathon at Presque Isle, PA. This is a mid-September race and I'm hoping to use it as a tune-up for Columbus five weeks later. That being said, if all systems are go that morning, I may push it and see what happens, as it is a Boston qualifier and is flatter than Columbus. A 3:40 or quicker finish would be just fine with me, as I'm still planning on saving everything for October 18, to the extant that I may even join the 3:10 pace group. Now there's some optimism!

Rite Aid Marathon Photos

Here are some nice series of photos from this year's Rite Aid Marathon for your viewing enjoyment. Now that I've figured out how to post multiple images, expect to see much more of this in the future!

The first three images are of Ladd and me somewhere in the early part of the marathon. It's somewhere after mile 4 and before mile 11, because Ladd has already handed off his top shirt layer to Marsha, and I still have my long sleeves on.

Contrary to appearances, we weren't talking that much while running. We were pushing much too hard to hold any conversations!

The next four photos were shot somewhere after mile 11, which is where I was able to hand off my long sleeve layer, also to Marsha. Judging by the curve in the road, I would guess somewhere around Cleveland Browns Stadium or Burke Lakefront Airport.

No, I wasn't pulling away from Ladd yet. He must have slowed for a gel or something.

The next two photos are after mile 17 by my estimate. We're climbing a hill heading south on East Blvd. I'm not hurting really bad yet, but I'm getting close. The guy in the tie-dye shirt will eventually pass me, I will pass him back, and he'll pass me again for good.

The next two photos are between miles 19 and 21, heading north on Martin Luther King Dr. I am in serious pain at this point, as my face will clearly show. Full leg muscle cramps are now in progress.

This is the kind of pain that makes people ask me why I run. My answer? Because it feels really good when the pain stops!


I'm not at all sure where this next photo was taken. There are no landmarks to help me and I can't place it from memory. And there's no one else around to help me judge where it's at.



Finally at the finish. I'm hurting, but only physically. The guy in the background got tripped up by a traffic cone and went down hard in front of me. So not only was he hurting physically, but mentally too. He lost time and wiped out in front of everybody. Not to mention it being announced on the loud speaker!



3:22:45


Here's a couple photos of Heather finishing her first (running) half marathon.

She looks like a boxer!

She's very tense looking when she runs.

Well that's all for now. I'm still working on a Father's Day post, but that may take a couple more days to get up.

First Run of Summer

Last night's speed work was my first run this summer. And boy did it feel like summer! I think I even made that observation while we were running. It was HOT. Like 85 degrees, not a cloud in the sky, humid hot. Our workout was a little shorter due to the heat, but our times were still on the nice side. 8oo and 1200 meter repeats were on order with splits of: 3:09 / 4:59 / 3:06 / 5:01 / and 2:58. Add nearly 2.5 miles of warm-up (was a warm-up really necessary yesterday?) and just over a mile cool-down for a total of 7.8 miles. Good, solid heat miles. Those will come in handy later in the summer.

We had a great turnout too. Tons of people. Some I've never met before. I hope it stays like that all the way into the fall. A nice turnout helps keep motivation up while training for fall marathons. Did I say marathons? I guess I did. I'm considering adding the Erie Marathon in mid-September to my schedule as a tune-up for Columbus in mid-October. I'll be sure to update when I make a decision.

Swim, Bike, Run

That's the racing order, so that's the order I practiced them. Just not on the same day!

Friday I hit the pool after work for a planned 1.5 mile swim. I was able to complete the "planned" distance just fine. The "unplanned" part was completing the distance quicker than I expected. My mile split was 50 minutes. 50 minutes! That's the fastest I've ever been able to do in the pool. And it may have been quicker too, because I lost track of laps at some point and erred on the side of caution. My 1.25 mile split was 1:05. That's amazing too. That means I can potentially finish my Steelhead swim in under an hour. How that swim unfolds will be very interesting.

Saturday morning I joined Scott, the father of a boy who played soccer with Bailey for a couple seasons, and his cycling group for some time out on the Twin Sizzler race course. Since we were starting and finishing just down the street from my house, how could I refuse? I'm not sure how, but maybe I should have because we rode in the rain. I wrote about running in the rain last week and how nice it was. Riding in the rain sucks. There's no other way around it. It's cold and it hurts. You can't see where your going and traction and braking ability are reduced. It felt like longer than 31 miles, but it wasn't. I covered that in just under two hours at an average pace of 15.6 mph. I rode most of the time with a fellow named Bob who was taking a brand new Scott road bike out for a spin. He broke it in pretty good too! Although the others were pretty far ahead of us, we did have a great stretch on the way back in to town with a direct tailwind. I think we may have even made up some time. The only thing to do on a wet ride like that is to finish as best as you can, then go change for a run!

Arriving at home completely soaked and covered in road grime, I changed into dry clothes, grabbed my running gear, and headed back out the door. I didn't know how far I was planning, but I had my Fuelbelt and it was full, so I could go pretty far. Or so I thought. The rain, at this point, was now gone, leaving only an incredible mugginess, a wind that wasn't helping cool things off, and an overcast sky that was beginning to break up adding heat from the sun to the mix. To call this run uncomfortable would be an understatement. It was bad. More than a couple times I thought about just going home. But I got the number 10 into my head and decided that would be my goal distance. I made it. It was hard and it took awhile, but I made it. I don't think Heather realized how out of it I was when she got home from the store. Fortunately I was recovered within a couple hours and was able to get to some chores. That 10 mile run took me 1:24, which is slow. Very slow. But at times, it was all I could manage just to keep moving forward. No cramping, just very tired and very hot. The sweat was just gushing down my face and my shirt was as soaked as my cycling jersey was from the rain. My primary concern was getting enough fluids in to prevent heat stroke. That wouldn't have been fun.

So, a tough mental as much as physical workout this weekend, but that was just to prepare me for Sunday. Our Father's Day doings were fun and will be along shortly. Lots of pictures to go through first!

2009 Wendy's International Triathlon

I can finally call myself a triathlete. My first triathlon finish time was 1:48:42. However, it was not my first triathlon start. The first triathlon I ever attempted was at this same race back in 1993. I don't remember exactly what happened, but I inhaled a lungful of water, began coughing and hacking uncontrollably, and made a bee-line for the beach. DNF. I was pissed at myself for dropping out of that race so quickly. That event helped to reinforce my fear of deep water even more. Fast forward to 2009.

We drove down to Columbus in the early afternoon on Saturday so that I could stop at Alum Creek and try out my new wetsuit. I've never worn one before and didn't know what to expect. All my training has been in a clean pool with semi-normal swimwear. Imagine my utter surprise to discover that wetsuits add so much buoyancy I would call them the next best thing to a life preserver. What did that mean to me? Instant confidence in the water. Something I've never had before. So with that confidence I set out for the outer buoys do try it out. You just hug the surface of the water in one of those. It's amazing. I had zero fear of sinking. With that under my belt the only other thing I had to come to grips with was zero visibility. That's going to be something I still need to work on.

This is the walk down the beach toward the swim start. The Majority of people were walking closer to the parking lot to the left side of the image.

Even though we arrived back at Alum Creek early Sunday morning, I didn't have enough time to get set up in transition and into the water for a warm-up swim. By the time the pre-race meeting was over with, it was time to head down and get started. As you can kind of see in the above photo, Alum Creek State Park has the longest inland beach in the state. The 1/2 mile swim starts at the north end and finishes at the south. A nice straight line. The morning was low 50's and calm, water temperature was 68 degrees and calm. At least for now.

Preparing to head into the water for at least a little warm-up.

Mrs. P sure did take some nice photos!

Waiting around for the start of my wave. Wave G, 35 - 39 year old's. One of the larger age groups.

Wave G start. I'm in there somewhere towards the right of the photo, but not in the front.

We're off!

With the wetsuit on, I had no problem venturing out a little farther than I normally would. I didn't have a preference as to where I would swim so long as it wasn't in the center surrounded by everyone else. So I went left and behind the others, thinking that most people would stay to the inside of the course, which would be the shortest distance.

Once underway, I gave it my best shot, but the surface of the water was churned up much more than I anticipated. I found it difficult to breathe and the wetsuit had me bobbing up and down with the waves made by 50 people starting at once. I was having a hard time finding the breathing rhythm that would allow me to maintain a front crawl stroke for any length of time. My heart rate went up and stayed up. I hyperventilated and couldn't get it under control. I switched to the breaststroke hoping it would help level things out, but it didn't work the way it does in the pool. I felt like I couldn't catch my breath out there.

I made my way from the outside lanes to the inside where I could stand up if I needed to. Fortunately it didn't come to standing up. I just breast stroked most of the way with patches of front crawl. It was hard to judge how much farther I had to go and I could hear when someone was approaching from behind. But the surprising part was that I passed people. I wasn't going to have the slowest swim split this day. I had never been able to swim a half mile in the pool in much less than 30 minutes. Imagine my surprise to find out I swam that distance in around 20 minutes. My split, including running from the beach to the transition area, was 22:53.

Exiting the water.

Now that the swim, my weakest event, was over. It was time to start making up time and passing people.

Heading out on the bike.

I'm a decent cyclist. I have a hard time on the hills, but other than that I'm alright. Not the fastest but not the slowest either. The bike leg was 18.6 miles. I rode it in a little over an hour. Something I've never seen in a race before happened as we were exiting the beach area onto the main road. The deputies were stopping US to let car traffic by. Not emergency vehicles, but normal everyday people. I was actually flabbergasted, and it takes a lot to do that. Once out on the road I felt good. I've been doing some long rides the last few weeks so I just settled into my rhythm. I pushed hard, but not too hard. I didn't want to blow out my legs before the run. Once into the second half of the ride I realized something I forgot. When I was removing my wetsuit I first took off my timing chip which tied around my ankle with a Velcro strap. It dawned on me that I hadn't put it back on. Oh well. No transition or bike splits for me this day. I just needed to remember to put it back on before heading out on the run.

Heading into T-2. Note the bare left ankle where the timing chip should have been!

Heading out on the run. I was feeling good!

Running is what I've focused on this season. And the third discipline was definitely my strong suit. Once I was on my way out of T-2 I was feeling strong. Really strong. I've never felt that good coming off the bike. I was tired but not fatigued. And I was passing people. Lots of people. As many people as I could. And no one passed me on the run. I was taking note of the wave groups I was passing. A few from my own. Even more from earlier waves. It was nice! And the amazing thing was I wasn't going all out. I could have gone faster. That would have meant risking cramping up, but I had reserves. When I  passed it was with authority. I didn't want anyone even thinking about keeping up with me.

As it turns out, I did have a fast 5K. 21:40 to be exact. Out of 439 people, my run split was 25th fastest. Don't be mislead about running off the bike. It's hard. I don't know what I've been able to do training or conditioning wise, but so far this season, I've taken my run to the next level. Not to the top, but better than I've ever been.

Rounding the final turn, just meters from the finish line.

A triathlete. Finally.

I had fun at this race. I know what I need to work on with my swim. I know I still need to get stronger on the bike. The next two triathlons are longer than this one. I won't be thinking so much about racing them as just finishing them. But I don't have the apprehension I had even on Saturday morning. The swim is my weak spot, but it's stronger than it was just two days ago. I'm looking forward to doing more tri's than du's. Duathlons hurt because I have to race them. Triathlons are more relaxing and enjoyable because I don't have the pressure to try to place well within my age group. And I thing longer is going to be better than short too. With my plans, that's probably a good thing.

A special thanks to Mrs. P for taking loads of great photos!

Wendy's Triathlon Results

The results are up for Wendy's yesterday. I plan on making a full race report soon, but for now here's the bottom line.

1/2 mile swim, 18.6 mile bike, and a 5K run in 1:48:42.

The swim was tough. The bike was pretty good. And the run was awesome. I was 27th of 49 in my age group and 175th overall.

More exciting details and commentary coming soon!

Rain Run

I somehow missed the Thursday night trail group last night. Arriving right at 6:00 I saw the cars, but not the runners. There was a lady getting her horse out of a trailer, but she doesn't count. I would have been there sooner but the rain slowed traffic just enough to slow me a couple minutes. So I was faced with a dilemma. I could run the trails by myself (because Ladd canceled last minute due to the rain) or I could park at a different spot and run the paved path. But as I only had my trail shoes to run in, the paved idea was out. Into the woods (great musical!) I went!

The temperature was around 70 degrees, maybe a couple degrees either direction, so the rain was not at all bad. And when you plan on getting wet, it's not a big deal. The first thing I noticed running by myself was how quiet it was once surrounded by the trees. There were no voices, no conversations. The second thing I noticed was how loud the rain falling through the trees was. I kept a look out for wildlife crossing the path because I wouldn't have been able to hear them. I had no intention of going on any single track by myself so I kept to the wide horse and hiking trails.

The others that had started before me were now behind me somewhere on single track. I had a decision to make. Which direction to go. One direction climbs a steep path up the ledges, the other has to come down them. I decided going up them would be easier in the rain, so clockwise around the lake I went. If the others reversed direction from last week, I would meet them at some point. If they chose to climb the ledges rather than descend them, I wouldn't see them. It turns out I wouldn't see them. But I left a message scuffed in the gravel at one point, "Dan was here." It's probably still there. I hope I was allowed to do that...

The amazing thing about running in Hinckley in "poor" weather conditions is that all the fair-weather people are gone. And that's a lot of people. I saw a total of 8 people last night. Three kids in a canoe, the lady with her horse, a couple walking their dog, and two young ladies I startled by passing them without letting them know I was approaching. Sorry about that. The humans were gone, but the animals were still there. The only things missing were the buzzards. They must have traded their power line stanchion for something in the trees.

While it was a peaceful run, I was constantly wondering what I would do if I ran around a turn and met some wildlife I couldn't handle. Without going through specifics, I determined that unless I was dragged from the trail, someone would come across my body eventually. That, and I can run REALLY fast when I need to! And I had a cell phone. And there were lots of large tree branches around to use as a club. And I just wasn't going to worry about it too much.

I was moving pretty good last night. I estimate a total of 12.5 miles in 1:37. That's a 7:45-ish pace. I could be wrong, though. I could have been going faster. It felt like I was going faster. But that sounds about right. It was 58:48 from the parking lot, around the lake and up the ledges, to the Parker Rd. entrance to the trail. Then it was 38:12 from the trail head back to the parking lot, which is around 5 miles. Not too shabby.

Lots to do before the race Sunday:

-I need to pick up a second pair of goggles and some ear plugs. I get dizzy with water in my ears.
-I need to get a replacement water filter for the refrigerator.
-The grass needs to be cut today.
-I need to clean Bella (yes I've officially named my bike) including the chain.
-I need to cut my hair.
-I'm finally going to give the legs a shave.
-I need to pack. Not just my stuff but the dog's stuff as she goes to the kennel tomorrow.
-It would be nice to wash the car. Not that I will, but it would be a nice thing to do.
-I need to move my elastic laces from one pair of shoes to the pair I will be racing in.
-And countless other things I can't think of right now.

But the one MAJOR item I can't forget is this: We're getting Plank's Pizza for dinner Saturday night! Bratwurst and pepperoni, here I come!

Orca Man

Orca Man is what Heather is now calling me whenever I don my brand spanking new wetsuit. It just arrived yesterday and I squeezed into it as soon as I could. I'm glad I fit! It's a little snug, but I think that's how they're supposed to be. I think it's going to take some getting used to. And I haven't even been in the water with it yet. That's on tap for Saturday, the day before Wendy's. I plan on hitting the water at Alum Creek the day before the race to try it out and decide if I want to wear it on race day. I was able to get out of it rather easily, so that would only add a bit of time to my T-1. I'm really curious about how it's going to feel in the water. Because I'm such a slow swimmer, if it can shave some time off my swim, that would compensate for a longer transition. If it shaves off time AND gives me confidence in the water, then the mental advantage outweighs any slowdowns in transition.

I was able to get in the pool last night for the full Steelhead distance, 1.25 miles. That would be 80 lengths in our 25 meter pool. I did it in 1:17, which is of course horrible. But being horrible means I have lots of room to improve. Right? Here are some splits:

First 1/4 mile - 16:19
Second 1/4 mile - 15:56

That would give me a 32:16 for 1/2 mile, which is what the distance is for Wendy's.

Third 1/4 mile - 14:24
Fourth 1/4 mile - 14:38

That would be a 29:02 for the second 1/2 mile. Much better than the first half, but nowhere near the splits that everyone else seems to get.

Final 1/4 mile - 15:46

I could tell I was getting faster. I was messing around with my stroke a little. I felt quicker and more efficient. I wasn't getting out of breath as easily, thereby reducing the amount of rest time at the wall. I'm still getting phlegmy discharge from my lungs, but I don't think there's anything I can do about that. I have to cough it up from time to time because it starts affecting how much air I can breathe in.

We'll be hitting the trails again tonight and I'm looking forward to it. It's always fun to get off the pavement into the quiet of nature to do some running. Thursday nights have become my weekly long runs now that bricks have taken over my weekends. I can't say that I mind too much either.

4 Days and Counting

Wendy's has really snuck up on me. I can't believe Tri number one is this weekend. So for a final week of preparation I hit the pool Monday night for a half mile with a short warm-up and even shorter cool-down. The summer hours at the Rec. are bad. Where I would have had up to two hours of pool time available, I only have one with the new hours. Oh well, I do what I can do. It went alright, for me anyway. I think my swimming ability is OK, but my breathing messes everything up. I'm going to try to work on that when I head back up there tonight.

I'm also awaiting delivery (I hope) of my wetsuit today. I need to check in on the UPS page to make sure it's still on time.

Last night was speed work night and what a turnout we had. That may have been the biggest showing since I started going last June. We ended up breaking into two groups. I think it worked out well. Our group did alternating 200 and 400 meter repeats. It was hot and humid and a tough workout. My splits were: :38 / 1:28 / :39 / 1:28 / :38 / 1:27 / :38 / 1:21 / :35. The 200 meter recovery between each repeat offered just enough time to catch my breath. We were pushing pretty hard! I could barely muster any strength at all for the cool down even. I was done. What a great workout! 6 miles total with warm-up and cool-down.

It should be a busy end of the week with hopefully 2 more trips to the pool, some trail running, getting the bike ready, getting the new wetsuit, and packing everything up to head down to Columbus this weekend.

13.1 in a Brick

Man, I need to get caught up again. Just when I thought I had these updates taken care of, a week goes by and I'm behind again. So, here goes.

I'll start off with today. I had a very successful training day. VERY successful! I had another bike/run brick scheduled for this morning. But as opposed to the previous two weeks' events, I had no intention of raising my cycling mileage. The 52 miles I did last week were long enough. I wanted to do a run focused brick. So with that in mind I again rode from Strongsville to Brecksville and back. That's a 30 mile out and back route which is simple and light on traffic. And it has hills. I need to work on hills. And when I say hills, I mean HILLS! I mean, it's not everywhere in Ohio that you can find 600 feet of elevation change. There are some very nice hills located in the Brecksville Reservation of the Metroparks.

I ended up riding 30.6 miles in a little over two hours. That's a 14.9 mph avg. Which isn't good unless you consider I wasn't riding flats today. Some of those hills hurt bad!

Once back at the parking lot, I loaded up the bike, packed my fluids, and set off on my run. I headed towards Berea today for something different. Three miles out and back gave me six, so two more out the other directions would give me an even ten. But I felt good today and decided to go all the way to Rt. 82. By the time I reached the parking lot again I was just into mile 12. But I had told myself that if I reached 12, I would just do laps around the park until I hit the half marathon distance of 13.1. And that's what I did. It took me 1:43 and some change to do it, but I completed my longest run after biking ever. And that's as far as I need to go this year. I felt good pretty much the entire run which was great. I was worried about how I would feel running that far with tired legs. I'm beginning to thing that won't be too much of a problem.

The problem is going to be that swim. And swimming is what I did Friday afternoon. I did the full 1.25 miles of Steelhead in 1:14. That certainly is not good in comparison to good swimmers, but it would have me done with the swim before it gets cut off. I won't be racing other athletes that day, I'll be racing the clock.

Thursday night Ladd and I hit the trails in Hinckley with the regular trail runners for another 15 mile loop. We did a lot more single track trails than normal, which was nice. But we really picked up the pace when we got on the larger gravel paths. That hurt. I was more tired than usual that night. We did the circuit in 2:45 with only minor stops along the way. What a terrific opportunity for a mid-week long run.

That's all for today. I'm still very tired from this morning and will probably hit the hay early tonight. Well wishes to those I know who are currently vacationing in exotic locations such as Hawaii and the Canadian Rockies. We still need to wait till August for our break from real life. But I'm sure it will arrive sooner than we think it will.

Back to the Track

I finally made it back to the track last night after missing two weeks in a row. And it didn't hurt as much as I expected it to. I actually felt pretty good during a couple of the repeats. But not the last one.

After running 1.5 miles to the track, I joined the warm-up, already in progress, for nearly a mile more. Then it was time for 1,000 meter repeats with 200 meters recovery. The splits were: 3:57 / 4:02 / 4:01 / 3:58 / 3:48 / 3:44. I felt really good on the 5th repeat, finishing fast after a slow first lap. But that caught up to me on the final repeat, where I felt horrible but still managed to come in a little faster. My cool-down was running back home, another 1.5 miles. All told I logged 8.3 miles for the night. Which is good because now that I'm concentrating on bike/run bricks on the weekends, my long runs are going to have to come during the week.

Only 11 days until Wendy's!

Busy Weekend

Lots of things happened this past weekend. I shall put them in list form:

1. Left work Friday and went to the muffler shop to get the car looked at just like I planned.

2. However, unlike I had planned, muffler shop shows me that there's nothing wrong with exhaust system. It's the engine. A re-build or a replacement and I had no intention of dropping more into the Grand Prix than it was worth.

3. Went for a swim after leaving the muffler shop. I took my new Ironman watch with me to get better timing. After a 25o meter warm-up I swam my half mile in 29:18. I know that's a horrible time, but I wasn't feeling comfortable at all in the water. The only thing I could think about was what to do about the car and I was lucky to keep my head above water a couple times.

4. Friday night we went over the neighbor's house for dinner and wine. Maybe a little too much wine. Well not TOO much, but more than was necessary. We did find out about an extraordinary red that slips my mind right now. Food included pizza, a pasta salad, a cheese dip, and key lime pie for dessert.

5. Saturday morning Heather ran in the Runstrong for Livestrong 5K while I played the part of race photographer while keeping Bailey company. This was the first year for this race and was created by an eighth grader from Root Middle School where the race began and ended. It was great weather for a run and it looked like everyone had a good time. Heather set herself a new PR by over a minute!

6. After scouring the Saturday car ads and looking online, we headed out to the local Honda dealership to peruse their wares. We test drove both the Fit and the Civic. They were both decent cars, but the Fit was just a little too small for us, although Bailey liked it because of all the cup holders. We ended up leasing a Civic and may end up going back there in November when the lease on the Jeep is up.

7. I was up early on Sunday to get in another bike/run brick. Parking at Bonnie Park in Strongsville, I headed east this time to the Brecksville Reservation. Lots of hills there and I wanted to get them out of the way early. I'm just not strong on the bike anymore. Those hills made me hurt! The descents were fun though. It was a chilly day and I kept a beanie on under my helmet, two pairs of gloves, and a wind proof running jacket on over a base layer, long sleeve, and jersey. Passing back through Strongsville I headed toward Rocky River, turning around somewhere before the golf courses down there. All told I rode 52.6 miles in three and a half hours. My 14.8 mph average is a little misleading as I was really slow going up some of those long climbs. I tried to take it easy and not hammer and I'm happy with the result.

After the bike it was time to run. I did the same out and back course as last week, but the Garmin gave me a different distance reading. That leads me to believe the trees are interfering a bit. So it looked like 6.6 miles in 51:29 which is a 7:48 per mile pace. Not bad considering the 50 mile ride beforehand. And it was a nearly 4 1/2 hour training session which is ultimately the important part.

8. After refueling and taking a short nap, we were off to see Up. We walked over and it wasn't crowded at all. It was there I learned other showings were offering 3-D screenings. Maybe that's where all the people were? It was a nice little movie. A little sad, OK, maybe a lot sad, but nice. I would recommend it if that means anything.

So a busy weekend. I'm sore and worn out today. I should hit the pool again tonight, but I don't know if I will. I guess I could just go easy and log laps. There are now only 13 days until my first triathlon. I should try to get as much pool time as possible.