Sweetness

I decided several weeks ago to give up baked sweets and dessert type stuff until the end of the year. I made it through Halloween with all the tasty candy. I made it through Thanksgiving with all the pies. The magnificent, flavor pies. I even made it past the chocolate covered pretzels I had ordered from a friend at work as a fund raiser for his choral group but forgot about until they showed up on my desk after I already made the decision. I didn't eat a single one of the dark chocolate, or the milk chocolate, and not even any of the white chocolate, which happen to be my favorite. I managed to resist the chocolate chip cookie bars my wife made, and the weekly Friday donuts at work. I've been so good. It hasn't even been that hard But now, a pumpkin pie in the fridge and home made chocolate chip cookies on the counter are taunting and teasing me everytime I walk in the kitchen. Aaaaaasrrrrrrgggggg!

13.1, done!

Ran the half distance at the Philly Marathon yesterday. Finished in 1:57. Not my best HM time, not my worst. Not too bad though, when you consider that I've only run 22 mile in the entire past 2 months.

Pick up the packet, uh huh!

Not quite AWB, but still fun nonetheless. Picked up my race packet this morning for the Philadelphia marathon. As I've mentioned, I'm registered for the full but plan on doing the half only. I injured my left Achilles tendon several weeks ago, most likely due to overuse in building run volume too quickly after IM recovery. I took a week off, ran once, then took 4 weeks off. Started running again 3 weeks ago and a half marathon tomorrow will be more mileage in one day than I've had in any of the last 3 weeks so it's best not to attempt the full. I've done that distance and may do it again, but no need to risk further injury. I'm not even approaching the half like a race; it will just be a long training run for me. Of course I don't want crappy race times sitting on the Interwebs for the rest of time, but oh well.

BOOM!!!! (that was my head exploding)

I used to be the President of a youth football organization. When I first started coaching in that program, the business meetings consisted of beer, wings, and fist fights. When I stepped down years later we were one of the most respected organizations in our area. I am very proud of the work I did to change the mindset of that community. One of the things I did was build a web site where all sorts of information could be communicated, forms could be downloaded, contact information was available, by-laws were published and we even started online registrations. I still check in every now and then on that web site. Today I noticed this:

If your interested in the league glick here


That was when my head exploded

Wednesday Weigh In (on Thursday)

Weighed in at 165.8 yesterday, Wednesday, 11/16/11. I was about 157 when I raced Ironman Lake Placid 7/24/11; eight pounds gained in 4 months. Not too terrible I guess, but I was hoping to drop below the 157 after Ironman. I had dropped weight prior to starting full on training and wanted to get back to weight loss after the race. I knew it was foolish to try to lose weight while building fitness for such a grueling endurance event but figured I could just pick right up with where I left off. Oh, I picked right up; I picked up food. I kept my caloric intake pretty much the same but my training volume dropped significantly. So, I'm getting back at it. I'll be weighing in every Wednesday.

I decided a few weeks ago to stop eating sweets and dessert type stuff through the end of the year. No cookies, no candy, no cakes, no pies, no ice cream none of the stuff my wife bakes so well and I love so much. Now I need to get the workouts cranked back up and reduce the caloric intake a bit more. No more second helpings or two lunches ;) I'd like to get down to 155, but am more concerned about body composition that the actual number. I want to be leaner and lose the spare tire and fat deposits around the midsection

I have a half marathon race this Sunday, and then I intend to get back to a balanced SBR regimen of 3x ea per week, with 2 strength training session. I am pretty excited about the strength training because I am going to be working out with my son. He's certified in Crossfit and is working on some sort of Olympic weight lifting certification. I've got 3 weeks left of 2x per week with Dominic (the trainer I've been working with once a week for years) then I am turning myself over to Tim. Should be fun. And painful. I'll keep you posted.

What, not why

I've been really off my game since finishing Ironman. Training has been sporadic, nutrition in the crapper, putting on weight, losing fitness. and not doing a damn thing about it. I get stuck sometimes wondering why I'm in this place but knowing why is of little value really. The better question is what am I going to do about it. I started running again after 4 week off to rest the Achilles, but I have juggled things around and blown off a couple workouts and haven't run since Monday. Did I mention I am scheduled for the Philadelphia Marathon on 11/20? I think I will be able to at least do the half, but am still considering the full. Maybe that's the what I need to get my mojo back.

I thought I had recommitted myself to training, but the proof is in the pudding. It was a wish, a weak brab at an idea, not a commitment. What will it take?

Getting back at it

Ran three times this week after a 4 week layoff to heal up the left Achilles. Feeling pretty good in that regard.

Going mobile

Blogger app for iPhone? What the hell, why not! Maybe I'll blog more. Maybe I'll become annoyingly active on here.

Dude, long time no long board

I took my long board out for a ride today. I haven't skated much in years, opting to avoid the chance of injury while working towards Ironman. I set aside a few things while working towards that goal; skating, coaching football, and theatre. I miss them all, and the easiest one to just go out and do is skate. So I did. I've been seeing local kids on their boards since we moved in here but lately there's a crew with long boards and that really got me excited. There are a couple of longish hills and one has no stop signs to worry about and is wide enough to do some decent carving. Neither are super fast but they are close by. I'd really like to find a wide steep parking lot for the long board. I've always had my eye on one hotel parking lot up near Valley Forge. You can see it right of Rt. 422 and I think it's the Valley Forge Conference Center. Anyway, it was fun today.

Once more, with feeling

Yeah, so, I haven't been here for a while. I wonder how many blog posts start with some variation on that same theme. I actually have been here, but haven't been posting. I like to click on the interests in my profile and see who else put those same things. Or I come here to get to blogs I'm following. Sometimes I'l just click through "Next Blog" until I find something interesting. What I always find are outdated blogs and posts that start of with this same I-haven't-posted-in-a-while theme. So, here I am, just another one of "them"

What the good Doctor wanted to write.

The road to hell

Yeah, so I've totally dropped the ball on the whole 90 in 90 thing. It seemed so easy at the time; just post once a day for there months. How hard can that be? Apparently very hard. I had good intentions, but as "they" say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Part of it (part?) is due to my personal nuttiness. I don't like typing on the lap top, I don't want to spend too much time blogging at work, and I don't make the time to get on the desktop computer upstairs. So, I don't do it at all. Not that anyone really noticed which begs the question, "Why am I blogging to begin with?". I don't really know except that I enjoy writing. Does something written need to be read?

Compassion

Noun: sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it.

It has been suggested in some quarters that I take a more compassionate approach to step parenting. On one level, being more compassionate won't be too hard. If I am brutally honest, I have little sympathy at all for K, so there's plenty of room for being more conscious of her suffering and desiring to alleviate it. The hard part for me is to get past the visceral disdain she has for me, and her sheer disgust at my presence.

On another level I have been very compassionate, though my desire to alleviate her suffering through order and discipline is clearly not working. I cannot break her defiant spirit to reveal the loving child. The walls of anger need to chipped away at with a sculptors chisel rather than smashed with a wrecking ball. Time to get on with sculpting and leave the wrecking behind.

It is not me, but the Father within, who does the work.

Cake

I know, you're all wondering where I've been. I promise you 90 posts in 90 days and I don't even make it a full week. Just remember, I told you up front I may miss a day or two here and there and double up. So have no fear, faithful readers, I will complete my 90 in 90. I know how much it means to all of you... [insert chirping crickets here]

On to cake. It's quite timely that this past Sunday Scribblings prompt was"Cake"; my son and I went to see the band Cake in concert a few weekends ago. I enjoy their music very much and one song in particular, The Distance. The refrain of "He's going the distance, he's going for speed" is relevant for me as I think about triathlon. I got into this sport with a very specific goal of doing an Ironman while I'm 50 years old. I've been working at this for over three years. Longer really, if you factor in that first moment many moons ago when I thought, "I'd like to do that someday." "Someday" will be July 24 2011, and while working towards that goal I've trained and raced my way to longer distance and faster finishes.

Now, here's where distance and speed get really interesting. My last triathlon was a smallish sprint distance race where I took 3rd place in my age group, qualifying me for an award. The competitive side of me (yeah, ok, that's every side of me) is very excited by this and sees the potential for actually taking 1st place in my age group in some of these shorter races. I doubt I could ever finish that well in longer distances but I think I can go pretty fast in a short race for a guy my age. So there's where the gotcha is; do I go for distance or do I go for speed? Of course I'm 100% focused on and committed to Ironman, but after that's done.......

It can't really be that hard

Here's your warning; I'm going to rant a bit.

What the hell is wrong with the guys at the gym who can't figure out what hook to use in the showers? There is one hook for every stall and they are located on the "far" side of each stall. By far side I mean furthest from the entrance to the shower area, or closest to the back wall. When guys use the wrong hook it just messes up the entire order of the Universe, not to mention that it can create an uncomfortable situation where there is an open stall but no open hook.

You see, I believe in order. Order makes sense, it creates harmony, it helps the natural flow of energy. Unfortunately, I am all too aware when things are out of order. It hurts my soul when I witness things like roads where two lanes merge into one and people violate the every other car rule, or when I'm cycling and well meaning motorists will yield the right of way when I have timed my gearing and/or my unclipping to my expectation of them following the orderly flow of traffic (and the law too, but let's not quibble). It gnaws at my very being when people start to line up at each individual self check out at the grocery store when clearly there is a single line where we all wait in an orderly manner for the next available check out.

What bothers me the most is when I'm driving and other drivers simply ignore the rules of the road; they jump the light to make a left, they pull out of a driveway into my lane just to drive slowly, or they have no freaking idea how to navigate a four way stop and pull out in front of me when it's my turn to go. Some day I am going to buy a big old Buick. I am going to reinforce the frame with steel I beams, and replace the bumper with rail road ties. Then, when the next guy makes a left turn in front of me when I have the green light I am just going to plow right into him. Oops, so sorry. Did I hit you when you turned right in front of me? My bad. Gee, did you fail to yield the right of way and I plowed your nice new BMW? Oh well.

In the mean time, I will continue to "nicely suggest" to others that they follow along in an orderly manner. We'll all be better off.

NFL draft

I guess I'd cry too if I just got drafted into the NFL as a 22 year old kid. These guys are instant millionaires. I miss coaching football.

Oops I did it again

Left the jammers at home and swam in running shorts. Again. Not that big a deal in the grand scheme, except that I had a time trial and I came in with a 1:42 average over 1000 yards. I went pretty hard and was expecting to see a better average. Oh well.

Fuck

Fucking, fuck, fuck.

If it's Tuesday

This must be... um... wait... I know this one..... Belgium! Well, since I don't see Suzanne Pleshette around maybe that's not right this time.

Ok, so here's the deal; my workout schedule is pretty random. I used to know day to day what I'd be doing because I did the same disciplines on the same days every week. With this 20 week intermediate IM plan, not so much. Today I ran at lunch and I have a swim after work. I swam yesterday too, but that was because I moved my Sunday swim to Monday. I've biked 3 days in a row and have a bike tomorrow too. Guess what I have in my gym bag. Better stated, guess what I don't have. Swim jammers. Once again (this is the third time since starting this plan) I will be swimming in running shorts. Good times!

100 mile weekend

Saturday found me running a local 5 mile race in the pouring rain. What fun! I have done this race 3 years in a row now since moving into our house. How can I not; it goes right down our street! This year though, I was determined to make it a Zone1 - Zone2 heart rate run since my plan called for that anyway. It was hard to not "race" but I was s a bit sore from the race the weekend before and the added bike volume following the race, plus I had about 6 hours of cycling over the weekend staring me in the face. I did pretty well managin the HR. Crept up a bit on the hills, and I hammered the last few hundred yards to the finish. I was keeping pace with a female runner and she kept looking over her shoulder at me and speeding up. When we rounded the last turn she glanced over at me again and started her kick. Well, that was all I needed. I dropped her like a bad habit. I really didn't care one way or another at first but she kept looking at me and speeding up. Guess she didn't want to get beat by the old guy. Oh well.

After the race I recovered a bit and then bundled up (it was rainy and chilly) for a 2:20 ride. I took the Specialized since it was really wet out and I figured I'd be on the hoods for handling purposes much of the ride. Besides, I didn't want to drown The Mistress. Got in 37.72 miles in 2:25:07 for a 15.9 mph avg. A bit slow, but it was wet and I did seek out some hills.

Yesterday was the polar opposite weather; sunny and beautiful and I went way out past Phoenixville. Next time I go out that way I'll get on Rt 23 instead of staying on 724. Too much traffic and a horrible shoulder. Totals for the day were 3:32:30, 60.95 miles, and a 17.2 average. Ended up with a farmers tan on my arms and a white band on my ankle from my Road ID.

So, 5 mile road race, 37 mile ride, and a 60 mile ride equals 102 miles.

Hey, half of 100 is 50, and then the 2. 52!

Ninety in ninety

Here we are, 90 days out from Lake Placid, and I've decided to do 90 blogs posts in 90 days. That's one a day essentially but it may happen that I'll miss a day and then double up. Or I'll double up anyway if I have extra goodness to share, 'cause, you know, I blog so much as it is.

Today was Eastern, and Max's birthday so we had some family over for dinner and that was nice. Good food, good company; always nice. Got in a 60 mile ride in the beautiful sunshine but had to put off a swim until tomorrow. Took some time this morning to work through some angst on the home front, but it's all for the good. I love my family :)

Hey, how's it going?

Yup, it's been a while. So much for regular blogging. Of course once or twice a month is a form of regular, right? Good stuff going on around here; losing weight each week, training is picking up and I'm getting in some nice workouts. Snow is happening again, which is not so good as it puts a cramp in my style. For instance, today I am scheduled for a 75 minute run. It is snowing and raining and yucky out. I could do it on the treadmill, but that is like torture to me. Factor in work, the commute in the snow, etc. and I don't know when I'll get it in. I did get up early and went to the gym for a long swim so that's good. I have a couple of things to get done here, then may head home early and see what the conditions are like for an outdoor run. I'd rather do it here in NJ 'cause it's flatter, but we'll have to see how it goes.

Headed in the right direction

Did I mention I am trying to drop some weight? I'd like to get down to 150 by the time I start my 20 week IM plan. I realize that's just a number, but based on my body composition and my current weight I think it's a good target. Tuesday is my weigh in day, and after 1 week of no change, one week of adding .4 lbs, this morning I registered a .8 lb loss at 164.0. This was after my largest training volume week in months, and only slightly reducing caloric intake. I haven't been counting calories at all, just focusing on smarter choices and not over eating. I may start the counting but we'll see how I do in the next couple of weeks. I was a bit disappointed that the third digit was still a 4 but I am headed in the right direction.

The Weather Outside is Frightful

Ok, maybe not frightful, but it's snowing and cold and windy. I'm scheduled to do a FTP running test today and I don't think I'll be able to do it outdoors. Poop! I'd really hate to have to do it on a treadmill. Not even sure I could do it accurately that way, though if you are getting VO2 Max or lactate threshold testing done professionally that is done on a treadmill, but under supervised conditions.

What's an FTP test you ask? This is:

After 10 minute warm up, you are going to run for 30 minutes as hard as you can for the entire 30 minutes. After starting the run, hit your 'Lap' button so you record the average HR over the last 20 minutes. This can be run on track or measured course (flat). Record the time and get a 10 minute cool down.

It's designed to help you calculate heart rate zones for running workouts. It can also be done on the bike. When done right, it's no fun at all :) I did it in the spring but my plan calls for it today. I would like to see where I stand since the last test.

The rest of it

Today is the first day of my 8 Week Run Focused Winter Maintenance plan from BeginnerTriathlete.com. Day 1 is a rest day. Woo hoo!!!

1111

If you know binary, you'll know that essentially 1 is "on" and 0 is"off". Today is 1/1/11; that's a lot of ones. Oh yeah, it's on big time for 2011.

This in the year of Ironman
This is the year of deeper spiritual growth
This is the year of an even stronger partnership with my wife
This is the year of professional growth
This is the year of dreams coming true
This is THE year!


It's on!