Running in the cold rain

I was going to get a 10 mile run in today, rain or shine, squall or sun. The weather wound up being in the low 50s and drizzly, which is not too bad. Steffen met me and we trudged out a 10 miler in Umstead. There were only a handful of other intrepid souls in the park.

Tomorrow I'll meet an OSB athlete for 9 more miles, then get an easy ride in the afternoon.

I'm pretty motivated for 2010 racing if you haven't picked up on that, and am going to do the NC Triple T as my season finale next year. The Triple T is a weekend of racing - 4 races that add up to the Ironman distance. Sprint on Friday, 2 international distance races on Saturday, and a half-Iron distance on Sunday.

The plan will be to stick to mostly sprint style training & 1 long ride per week through July, then bang out 2 months of dedicated long course training in August and September.

Our summer vacation next year is going to be the Erie Canal Bike Tour the week of July 11-18.

Don't forget about the Florida Winter training camp in late February.

Raleigh Weekend Camp and the Nuclear Swim

We had a busy three days here in North Carolina.

On Wednesday, the Nuclear Swim at Harris Lake reached max capacity.

On Friday, we started our three day Raleigh weekend training camp. Friday consisted of:
-master's swim practice
-breakfast
-31 or 56 mile bike ride
-lunch & lecture
-2.5 hour break
-40 minute or 1 hour run
-dinner/sleep

Saturday:
-7AM long run 8 to 10 miles
-breakfast
-2 hour easy bike ride
-lunch
-run packet pick up for the Nuclear swim
-swim practice
-lecture on nutrition
-dinner
-bed

Sunday:
-Logistics/race direction for the Nuclear Swim. 250 folks signed up and most showed up on race day. We had 9 watercraft and 3 boat patrols in the water to make sure there were no problems. I ran a short clinic/demo and then set up on my 7'6 surfboard in the water as a starting point for an in water start. The race went well, everyone finished safely or exited safely. There are a few things we will fix for next year but no major issues.
-Run awards while Bri ran with campers
-Brunch with campers
-BIG NAP!

I would post a couple pictures but left my camera at the race site.

a good weekend

I had a good weekend, as is evidenced by the title of this post.

The Lake Norman YMCA sprint tri went well. Like Bri said, it was sad AND inspiring to hear the gentlemen with ALS speak to us. A lot of the crowd in the back was talking as they didn't realize the seriousness of the moment but we had a front row seat - this was probably this man's final goodbye to most of us, and his words were deep, meaningful, and inspirational. I apologize that I don't recall his name at the moment - someone email me if you know him - in summary he stated that life is a beautiful gift and we should all do our best to live a life filled with purpose, in the grace of a higher power, and a good heart. He had been doing triathlons for 20+ years, last year he raced Lake Norman and this year he could not move without a wheelchair.

As my man Ferris Bueller said:

"Life comes at you fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

I had a good race and finished 4th (3rd after Rob F got a penalty for equipment or something), with a solid 20:00 run which is great for me at the moment - I have had too many 22 minute 5ks lately and this was a hilly, longish 5k.

Today (Sunday August 23 2009) me and two buddies left Cary at 6AM to head to Topsail Island for Surf City and an all day surf session. It was a blast, sets of waves were head high and breaking fairly clean (meaning fun and not too much work to get on them for you non-surfers), and we had good guy talk about life, the universe, and everything. We missed the really big waves set off by Hurricane Bill, but these were good for us.

Then I came home and had dinner with my two favorite ladies.

A good weekend.

Weekend update

Bri and I had a nice weekend together. She is a fun, happy, uncomplicated woman and I am a lucky guy. But if you're reading this, you already know that!

On Saturday we hosted one of our Powerstroke swim/triathlon clinics. We usually have 8-15 people, but this time we had 20, 8 of whom signed up in the last week. This is a relatively large group for a swimming instruction clinic, but it worked out well. I tried to bring in a third coach to help us out for the day, but no one was available at the last minute. Things went smooth and I spoke for 5 hours straight, which is a bit of a challenge for a natural introvert. After hosting 15 of these clinics though, I have entirely overcome any trepidation of public speaking, at least on subject matters where I am fairly knowledgeable.

After the clinic, we shot home to feed and pet our dog Tassie, and then headed up to watch the Durham Bulls. We were able to gather a group of our friends for this, and it was an absolute blast. The stadium is top notch, the crowd is family friendly, it was a beautiful night, and the beer was not too overpriced. After the game a few of us went to Tyler's Tap Room for a nightcap, then we headed home.

Today we got up late, drank a bunch of coffee, then headed out for a very leisurely bike ride. Watched the movie Twilight after that, which I thought would be overdone with teen angst, but was actually not bad. I might be a total geek and read the books. I can add them to my Harry Potter collection, and put them next to my framed poster of Gandalf the White, while I play Dungeons & Dragons online.

Dork.

Training this week was not bad:
swim 6,500 with a 3,500m workout
ride 3 x for 5 hours total
run: 27 miles which is getting better, 5 days I think
1 kung fu session
100+ pushups and situps
total 12-13 hours

Weekend update

We had a nice weekend here. On Friday my Dad and I went fishing for striper bass on Jordan Lake. We didn't catch a thing but it was a gorgeous day and we had a great time. On Saturday we bummed around a bit and then held a poker game here at the house. I lost. But that's how it goes. On Sunday Bri and I were going to head out for a long run in Umstead, but her calf was bothering her. So instead we went home, grabbed Tassie, and took her for a nice walk around Bond Park. The leaves are changing color and it was a nice time. Then we had dinner at our friend Dan's house. Very busy weekend.

The Philly marathon is coming up in just a couple weeks. I am overweight and undertrained, but plan to finish without any drama.

Afternoon update: Due to my general indifference and Bri's current calf/achilles issues, we may bag the seven hour drive to Philly. If that's the case I'll run in the Thunderbolt Marathon over in Charlotte on 12/13. This weekend I am doing the Old Reliable 10k. With a run to downtown that'll be 16 miles or so.

Looking at next year's racing schedule and plan to be more competitive than this season. Here's the 2009 plan right now:

Gasparilla 15k
Azalea sprint
St Anthonys
White Lake half
random summer sprints & 5ks
Duke Liver Center

That is all.

whew!

Whew. That sums up how I'm feeling tonight after all of our antics over the weekend. Had a nice swim on a gorgeous Saturday morning in Wrightsville Beach for the Pier 2 Pier swim. I got out with the lead pack and hung on...for about three minutes. :P then realized that I needed to slow down or roll over and go belly up. Found a nice rhythm and finished in about 40 minutes flat, which put me 6.5 minutes behind the men's winner, a fella named Chas Peterson, who swims for UNC Chapel Hill and apparently was 13th at the Olympic trials for the 10k open water swim. So, OK.

To translate that into running terms, you could say that the winner is a guy who can run a 28 minute 10k, so as a training race he might run 29 or 30 - being 6 minutes behind that time is still a respectable 35 or 36 minute 10k run. Not bad, right? I will optionally neglect to mention the dozens of teenage girls who also soundly whipped me out there. It was fun either way, saw a bunch of folks we know, and I got 3rd in the M35-39 age group.

Drove home, packed up, picked up Bri, and then we headed off to VA Beach. Visited the Final Kick Sports shop to pick up our packets for the Sandman Triathlon; it is a nice tri-shop with shoes, wetsuits, bikes, and all the other stuff.

Had dinner with one of my athletes and then we headed to Sis-in-law's house to crash.

Back up early, off to the beach to do the Sandman Tri. I wound up having a good race - 3rd in the swim, moved to the front on the bike and held the lead until the end when Brad Pigage caught me; held 2nd until mile 2 when another fella passed me - almost finished 3rd but a strong runner came from way down and put 30 seconds into me in the last half-mile. My swim was good, bike was better than expected - run was about where I thought (painful, uncomfortable, belly flab flabbing about) but the heat really zapped me. Also think the run was a little long. Wound up being 5th overall (an ager beat me by 3 secs) which makes me happy after having a less than competitive 2008 season.

And more importantly, I beat Bri in the 1st annual showdown or throwdown competition. She was 1.5 minutes faster on the run, and won the women's division, but she didn't beat me. :) Just kidding honey, great job.

That's it - coach tomorrow AM, swim tomorrow PM. I may look into doing one more local tri since I feel good.

Weekend update

This weekend I'm pulling an old maneuver, back-to-back races. In the old days I might have won one of them and been top five in the other; now I'm just looking to finish both without having a stroke. But seriously folks...

The Pier 2 Pier swim on Saturday is 1.7 miles at Wrightsville Beach,NC. Conditions should be relatively mild. I haven't done an all out swim race since 2006 so we'll see how it pans out. We're allowed to use swim skins like the PointZero3, which I will. Not much surf predicted so I probably won't take my board down.

On Sunday Bri and I are having a bloody battle royale (with cheese) at the Sandman Triathlon in Virginia Beach, VA. I am going to hammer the swim and bike and then try not to lose too much ground to her on the run. There are some fast guys racing so chances of me being in the money are minimal. Cash purse is $300-$200-$100. Running a 20 minute 5k doesn't hold up against dudes who're running 16-17. Maybe next year. Bri will be gunning for some rent money. Baby's dadda needs food.

Have yourself a good weekend!