I am writing this on one of my few free nights, but I am not sure if I will finish it tonight (not that you will know anyways, it will all show up at the same time).
I began listening to the GYGO podcast last night before I went out to run some errands, I did not get that far through it, and I was only halfway paying attention, until I heard Iron Wil exclaim something about flashing. I will have to spend some extra time to listen all at once.
In other news, my youngest sister's graduation is Saturday morning at my old Alma Mater, the University of Georgia. I cannot believe that she is already graduating. She has a job already lined up in the fall, and will be moving to Atlanta in the late summer.
Also, I might not have mentioned in previous posts, but I have found some fraternity brothers (whom have moved back to Atlanta since graduation) that are participating in endurance and multisport events. It seems at this time that our schedules conflict, but I hope to be able to trian and maybe even complete a few races with them.
Ok, now on to business (right....).
Since my last race and the bike tour last weekend, I have been working on a plan for the rest of the year. It involves only 2-3 races later in the summer and is spread out through October. I have only signed up for one of them, due to selling out early, and the fact that I have made a point to complete the race every year (Tri - PTC). The rest of the races I am going to completely play by ear, so that if I don't want to do them or can't, it will make no big difference.
It is a 20 week program, and I have about 2-3 weeks before it begins, and hopefully will culminate in either a Oly or Half Iron distance race at the end of the 20 weeks. I am also trying to get some sort of consistent schedule going with my second job (if that is possible) so that planning my training on a week to week basis is not so screwed up. Usually I do not find out my schedule until around Friday afternoon for the following week. I am also planning to take a full week off of my second job before I start this whole "PLAN", so that I can make sure I have all the little things taken care of (I need to get caught up on some stuff anyways.
When I look at last year as compared to this year, I see many differences in what was/is going on in my life, but one major difference is that I had some sort of gameplan to take me throughout the entire year. This time around (2007) I just decided to wing it. Fast forward to today, and I can see now how that just was doomed for failure, combined with what all is going on.
Another certanity is that I will promise to use and rely on the support of my family, friends, bloggers, (i.e. anyone) who is willing to help me with this small cause in my life, as well as all other aspects of my life. As some other people have stated in their blogs (and i whole heartedly agree with them), this is a loner sport at times, and you tend to become selfish, self-sufficient, and/or individual-centered due to that fact. There are some ways around it, such as joining a club/team, masters swim programs, yet at the end of the day it will be the course and yourself. Because of this I have unconsciously shunned the support of my family and friends who have wanted to provide support that would most ultimately lead to my own personal success and betterment (not just in triathlon, but in general).
This week I have tried to put everything in perspective (including your comments) and I have greater positive mental attitude about things than in previous weeks. Happy Andy is back :-) (not that he ever really left...).
The Picture Nazi (he he he, just could not help myself J, sorry!) still has not let loose on her death grip of the pictures from the last two weeks, but I promise that I will get them out there as soon as possible (she distracted me last night by making me replace the fixed tire back on her Jeep).
I am going to take some of you up on that open water swimming offer here in the next few weeks if I can find out when I get some free time on the weekends. I still owe Wes a ride on the SCT, or I need to get up on Kennesaw and ride around the mountain with him.
Mutha out...
Friday, May 11, 2007
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
30th New York Bike Tour - May 6th, 2007
Hello All,
First off, thanks for all the responses and support after my last post. I think I am stressing out over nothing, but I just need to focus where I am at in my life right now, and adjust accordingly.
I hope that everyone got a great start to their week. I just got in late tonight from my trip back from NY/NJ where I completed a bike tour with Jackie and her Uncle Les. Here is the story...
Friday
Left for NY at 5:00am - Nice ride until we got to VA. It takes forever to get through VA. We stopped there for lunch in Petersburg at around 1:30p. Just being off the freeway for that short period of time scared me. No one in VA knows how to drive (at least off of the freeway)!!! It was plainly crazy. Not knowing how to yield at a 4 way stop, not knowing how to properly merge, etc...
Hit rush hour in both DC and Baltimore. We got in to Red Bank about 9:30 to meet up with a fraternity brother for dinner and coffee. We would have went out for drinks if we would have had more time, but it was late and we only got 3 hours of sleep the night before.
Saturday
Visited both sides of Jackie's family with her uncle, and then picked up some bike gear which Uncle Les was nice enough to get on his dime (I appreciated it very much if you read about race day). That evening before bed we set up all our gear, portioned out our nutrition and bottles, and then went to bed around 10:30-11:00p.
Sunday - Tour Day!!!
Did I tell you that this was the NY Bike Tour, or the NY Bike/Walk/Stand Tour? Well it was more of the latter. We parked at South Beach on Staten Island at around 6:00am and I had a banana (for those of you who know the NY area) and then biked five miles to the ferry. Oh and that light windbreaker that I got the day before ... I wore that on top of a long sleeve tee and a bike shirt, regular bike shorts, summer gloves, and the wind chill was 33 degrees. How about them apples? The ride to the ferry was a warmup, but then we waited about 20-30 minutes to get on the ferry since there was a crowd of cyclists that filled the car ramp. After we got on the ferry I used the facilites, took some pictures and then we arrived in lower Manhattan. Got off and went about 2 blocks north before we stopped dead with all the rest of the people waiting to start... We would walk and then stop, repeated the process until around 9:00 where we were up to the world trade center area, and then we were able to get on our bikes and slowly ride to the start line. We passed the official start at around 9:20am. Felt numb at that point but excited abou the ride.
Somewhere between miles 2-3...
We stopped!!! What, stop you ask? How could you possibly stop during a bike tour. Well here is your answer. Have one in the Greater New York City area. For some reason (later to find out there was one street where the police and race marshalls had to let traffic and pedestrians bleed through a particularly heavily traveled street (somewhere between 51st and 55th Street on 6th Ave). It took us almost an hour to complete a 5K. We then again got on our bikes and traveled north to Central Park only to be stopped again dead in our tracks. This time the bottleneck was due to the fact of 1)pedestrians trying to get to and from Central Park and 2) they were splitting the riders into two different parts of central park (later to be merged again), which caused us to have to stop again.
Central Park ...
We rode through a quater of a mile of Central park and then again had to dismount and walk another half mile or so before we could start biking again. We got through Central Park and it was almost 12:00p. At this point it began to thin out.
Bridges, Bridges, and Freeways Oh my!
I think the best part about the ride other than the sightseeing portion, was the ability to go on roads, bridges, and freeways that on the other 364 days of the year, are for the most part a no-no for riders.
We had multiple stops for me (it seems that if I get too much potassium in my diet in the morning with a combo of hydration, I need to make frequent stops), and witnessed some really bad accidents, which in some places were kinda crazy since it was uphill or somewhere where riders were going really slowly.
THINGS OF NOTE...
This also brings about the point of the casual rider. Those of us who have decided to take the next step and make riding more serious in our lives (at whatever level, cycling, triathlons, etc) have taken the time to figure out riding etiquette, tips and tricks of cycling, etc. Those of whom are of the more casual rider alone on their street, or some large park, do not know what in the heck they are doing when they get on a tour or race.
1) I saw more weaving by sober cyclists than drunk drivers leaving a Falcons Football game. How hard is it to ride straight when you are able?
2) Certain bikes should not be allowed on tours/races. These include tandem bikes, the kid add on bike to the back of yours, tandem with the kid add on the back, and seated two wheel bikes. Oh wait and those kid carrier 3 wheel ones you hook to the back of your bike. I personally witnessed these devices wreaking havoc on other cyclists!
3) Do not bring kids younger than a certain age to ride, or kids that have not learned how to ride in large groups. I saw one kid get plowed because he wanted to take a break and just stopped right in front of this guy that was 6'2" and riding about 15mph. Was not pretty.
4) DO NOT STOP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD FOR ANY REASON OTHER THAN EMEREGENCY!!! If you were riding where I was on the tour, and you decided that you needed to stop for some reason, did it not enter your head that there might be about, oh a combined 15-20,000 more riders coming up behind you collectively? There was an asain guy who wanted to stop for some reason, and literally stopped fast (in the middle of the street) and a 15 year old girl slammed right into him, almost endoed over her handlebars.
Other than all the previous stuff written, both good and bad, I had a wonderful time!
The whole entire ride (standing and walking) took just under 5 hours. I have not looked to see any stats, just due to the fact that this was not really a race in nature, so what is the point in analyzing the data when there is really nothing to analyze. I know that I did not push that hard due to the pace we were going, and I am fine with that.
POST RACE
Then there was the 5 mile ride back from the Staten Island Park (not too far away from the Varazano Bridge (?), which was the home stretch of the ride) to South beach where the truck was to take us home. I am glad that we did not park in Manhattan, since there was a 45 min wait to get on the ferry to get back to Manhattan.
However, I did sleep for almost 12 hours Sunday night!!! I was just plain worn out! Which is really funny considering that I felt I did not do much of anything. Post race pizza and beer was great (compliments of Jackie's uncle). I think I had 8 slices of pizza. Still did not feel full when I was done with those, but I knew better than to continue. That was to make up for all the actual food that I did not eat during the race.
That is all for now. Someone has the camera hostage right now, which has prevented me from posting any pictures from either event. I will remedy that as soon as possible. Bye for now...
Murtha...
First off, thanks for all the responses and support after my last post. I think I am stressing out over nothing, but I just need to focus where I am at in my life right now, and adjust accordingly.
I hope that everyone got a great start to their week. I just got in late tonight from my trip back from NY/NJ where I completed a bike tour with Jackie and her Uncle Les. Here is the story...
Friday
Left for NY at 5:00am - Nice ride until we got to VA. It takes forever to get through VA. We stopped there for lunch in Petersburg at around 1:30p. Just being off the freeway for that short period of time scared me. No one in VA knows how to drive (at least off of the freeway)!!! It was plainly crazy. Not knowing how to yield at a 4 way stop, not knowing how to properly merge, etc...
Hit rush hour in both DC and Baltimore. We got in to Red Bank about 9:30 to meet up with a fraternity brother for dinner and coffee. We would have went out for drinks if we would have had more time, but it was late and we only got 3 hours of sleep the night before.
Saturday
Visited both sides of Jackie's family with her uncle, and then picked up some bike gear which Uncle Les was nice enough to get on his dime (I appreciated it very much if you read about race day). That evening before bed we set up all our gear, portioned out our nutrition and bottles, and then went to bed around 10:30-11:00p.
Sunday - Tour Day!!!
Did I tell you that this was the NY Bike Tour, or the NY Bike/Walk/Stand Tour? Well it was more of the latter. We parked at South Beach on Staten Island at around 6:00am and I had a banana (for those of you who know the NY area) and then biked five miles to the ferry. Oh and that light windbreaker that I got the day before ... I wore that on top of a long sleeve tee and a bike shirt, regular bike shorts, summer gloves, and the wind chill was 33 degrees. How about them apples? The ride to the ferry was a warmup, but then we waited about 20-30 minutes to get on the ferry since there was a crowd of cyclists that filled the car ramp. After we got on the ferry I used the facilites, took some pictures and then we arrived in lower Manhattan. Got off and went about 2 blocks north before we stopped dead with all the rest of the people waiting to start... We would walk and then stop, repeated the process until around 9:00 where we were up to the world trade center area, and then we were able to get on our bikes and slowly ride to the start line. We passed the official start at around 9:20am. Felt numb at that point but excited abou the ride.
Somewhere between miles 2-3...
We stopped!!! What, stop you ask? How could you possibly stop during a bike tour. Well here is your answer. Have one in the Greater New York City area. For some reason (later to find out there was one street where the police and race marshalls had to let traffic and pedestrians bleed through a particularly heavily traveled street (somewhere between 51st and 55th Street on 6th Ave). It took us almost an hour to complete a 5K. We then again got on our bikes and traveled north to Central Park only to be stopped again dead in our tracks. This time the bottleneck was due to the fact of 1)pedestrians trying to get to and from Central Park and 2) they were splitting the riders into two different parts of central park (later to be merged again), which caused us to have to stop again.
Central Park ...
We rode through a quater of a mile of Central park and then again had to dismount and walk another half mile or so before we could start biking again. We got through Central Park and it was almost 12:00p. At this point it began to thin out.
Bridges, Bridges, and Freeways Oh my!
I think the best part about the ride other than the sightseeing portion, was the ability to go on roads, bridges, and freeways that on the other 364 days of the year, are for the most part a no-no for riders.
We had multiple stops for me (it seems that if I get too much potassium in my diet in the morning with a combo of hydration, I need to make frequent stops), and witnessed some really bad accidents, which in some places were kinda crazy since it was uphill or somewhere where riders were going really slowly.
THINGS OF NOTE...
This also brings about the point of the casual rider. Those of us who have decided to take the next step and make riding more serious in our lives (at whatever level, cycling, triathlons, etc) have taken the time to figure out riding etiquette, tips and tricks of cycling, etc. Those of whom are of the more casual rider alone on their street, or some large park, do not know what in the heck they are doing when they get on a tour or race.
1) I saw more weaving by sober cyclists than drunk drivers leaving a Falcons Football game. How hard is it to ride straight when you are able?
2) Certain bikes should not be allowed on tours/races. These include tandem bikes, the kid add on bike to the back of yours, tandem with the kid add on the back, and seated two wheel bikes. Oh wait and those kid carrier 3 wheel ones you hook to the back of your bike. I personally witnessed these devices wreaking havoc on other cyclists!
3) Do not bring kids younger than a certain age to ride, or kids that have not learned how to ride in large groups. I saw one kid get plowed because he wanted to take a break and just stopped right in front of this guy that was 6'2" and riding about 15mph. Was not pretty.
4) DO NOT STOP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD FOR ANY REASON OTHER THAN EMEREGENCY!!! If you were riding where I was on the tour, and you decided that you needed to stop for some reason, did it not enter your head that there might be about, oh a combined 15-20,000 more riders coming up behind you collectively? There was an asain guy who wanted to stop for some reason, and literally stopped fast (in the middle of the street) and a 15 year old girl slammed right into him, almost endoed over her handlebars.
Other than all the previous stuff written, both good and bad, I had a wonderful time!
The whole entire ride (standing and walking) took just under 5 hours. I have not looked to see any stats, just due to the fact that this was not really a race in nature, so what is the point in analyzing the data when there is really nothing to analyze. I know that I did not push that hard due to the pace we were going, and I am fine with that.
POST RACE
Then there was the 5 mile ride back from the Staten Island Park (not too far away from the Varazano Bridge (?), which was the home stretch of the ride) to South beach where the truck was to take us home. I am glad that we did not park in Manhattan, since there was a 45 min wait to get on the ferry to get back to Manhattan.
However, I did sleep for almost 12 hours Sunday night!!! I was just plain worn out! Which is really funny considering that I felt I did not do much of anything. Post race pizza and beer was great (compliments of Jackie's uncle). I think I had 8 slices of pizza. Still did not feel full when I was done with those, but I knew better than to continue. That was to make up for all the actual food that I did not eat during the race.
That is all for now. Someone has the camera hostage right now, which has prevented me from posting any pictures from either event. I will remedy that as soon as possible. Bye for now...
Murtha...
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Ford Ironman Florida 70.3...........NO MORE
Hello Everyone,
So I told you that I would have an announcement to make pending an email that I was supposed to be receiving. Well, I never received the email from NA Sports, so I decided that I would go ahead anyway, and inform all of you what is going on.
During the last mile of my race this past Saturday, I realized that if I was completing the Ironman Florida 70.3, I would have to do what I was doing then 4 more times (to equal the 70.3 distance, roughly). I then thought to myself, "Andy, if you really drive your butt all the way down to Orlando and attempt to do this upcoming race, you are either a) going to be in the medical tent DNF with multiple IVs in you, b) in one of Orlando's finest Hospitals, or c) possibly worse than the first two."
Nice positive mental attitude while attempting to finish a race, eh? I thought so too. On the car drive home, I told Jackie of my intentions, and she was in full support of me no matter what I decided. On Sunday I composed an email and sent it to NA Sports (after reviewing their NEW cancellation policy), and my heart sunk just a bit further knowing there would be NO REFUND, and most likely NO RACE TRANSFER. I have yet to hear from NA Sports concering this matter.
I have now had plenty of time to let this marinate in my head. I know I made the right decision, but it has led me to view my 3rd year in the sport as uncertain. Just yesterday there was an incident at work that prevented me from getting in my afternoon workout (on top of the fact I did not get up early enough to go swimming), and then my other job called me to try and pick up a shift someone dropped. Being the nice guy (sucker) I am, I said yes instead of going home and "taking care of business."
Training is spotty, motivation is not there everyday, etc...
I have seen a few other posts from people's blogs having this same situation occur. I would like to see how they panned out.
I am still going to complete the NY Bike Tour this weekend (due to the fact that I will probably be riding 12-15 mph for 42 miles will not be a problem for me), but the rest of the season is really up for grabs. I still want to do the South Carolina HIM in October, but I am not sure about my race schedule for the rest of 2007, and if I do complete any other races, they will probably only be sprint races to save my sanity.
One phrase, mental turmoil, describes it all.
One person cannot do it all, and like the prelude to my race report in my previous post, triathlon has definately not been my priority of any sort this year.
I am working on a schedule (about 22 weeks to South Carolina HIM) that should have me ready for the race, but the problem can and will most likely be the execution.
Now I am just ranting... I will leave this subject for now, I know it is a downer for the rest of you and I want this blog, as well for all you reading it, to be a most enjoyable reading experience. And while reading both the ups and downs are great, it seems as of late there have been more downs than ups.
Good Luck training/racing,
Murtha...
So I told you that I would have an announcement to make pending an email that I was supposed to be receiving. Well, I never received the email from NA Sports, so I decided that I would go ahead anyway, and inform all of you what is going on.
During the last mile of my race this past Saturday, I realized that if I was completing the Ironman Florida 70.3, I would have to do what I was doing then 4 more times (to equal the 70.3 distance, roughly). I then thought to myself, "Andy, if you really drive your butt all the way down to Orlando and attempt to do this upcoming race, you are either a) going to be in the medical tent DNF with multiple IVs in you, b) in one of Orlando's finest Hospitals, or c) possibly worse than the first two."
Nice positive mental attitude while attempting to finish a race, eh? I thought so too. On the car drive home, I told Jackie of my intentions, and she was in full support of me no matter what I decided. On Sunday I composed an email and sent it to NA Sports (after reviewing their NEW cancellation policy), and my heart sunk just a bit further knowing there would be NO REFUND, and most likely NO RACE TRANSFER. I have yet to hear from NA Sports concering this matter.
I have now had plenty of time to let this marinate in my head. I know I made the right decision, but it has led me to view my 3rd year in the sport as uncertain. Just yesterday there was an incident at work that prevented me from getting in my afternoon workout (on top of the fact I did not get up early enough to go swimming), and then my other job called me to try and pick up a shift someone dropped. Being the nice guy (sucker) I am, I said yes instead of going home and "taking care of business."
Training is spotty, motivation is not there everyday, etc...
I have seen a few other posts from people's blogs having this same situation occur. I would like to see how they panned out.
I am still going to complete the NY Bike Tour this weekend (due to the fact that I will probably be riding 12-15 mph for 42 miles will not be a problem for me), but the rest of the season is really up for grabs. I still want to do the South Carolina HIM in October, but I am not sure about my race schedule for the rest of 2007, and if I do complete any other races, they will probably only be sprint races to save my sanity.
One phrase, mental turmoil, describes it all.
One person cannot do it all, and like the prelude to my race report in my previous post, triathlon has definately not been my priority of any sort this year.
I am working on a schedule (about 22 weeks to South Carolina HIM) that should have me ready for the race, but the problem can and will most likely be the execution.
Now I am just ranting... I will leave this subject for now, I know it is a downer for the rest of you and I want this blog, as well for all you reading it, to be a most enjoyable reading experience. And while reading both the ups and downs are great, it seems as of late there have been more downs than ups.
Good Luck training/racing,
Murtha...
Monday, April 30, 2007
2007 Tri The Parks, John Tanner State Park Race Report
04/28/2007
Tri the Parks, John Tanner State Park
600 M Swim, 11.2 mi Bike, 3.1 mi Run
Prelude...
As most of you know, I am employed both with Regions Bank and Wolfgang Puck Express in Atlanta. This has caused havoc on my season thus far this year, but you have to place priorities in life. This year triathlon has not been near the top. And again this past weekend, it was close, but not quite there.
I was scheduled for both jobs on Friday, and my boss at Wolfgang had the genius idea to schedule me to come in immediately after I finished my first job. So 8am-11:45pm on Friday, and then home to pack my transition bag, etc... Did not get to bed until about 2am.
4:30am came, and I thought I woke up late. 5 min later I laughed at myself due to freaking out when I woke up. I got ready and called Jackie to make sure she was on time to come and pick me up. Got there at 5:29am (there is a reason that I put that exact time, I told her to be there between 5 and 5:30, so she technically was...). I racked my bike left my extra water bottle on the back of the Jeep (it was still on the street when I got back home), and off we were.
I wanted some snackage and coffee on the way, so first we stopped at Starbucks (closed, not open till 6am on Sat), then the McDonald's in Austell (closed, not open till 6am on Sat). MISERABLE.
Finally we were about 15-20min away from the park via I-20, and we stopped at a McDonald's there. Southern Style Chicken biscuit (forgot the coffee). Back on the Freeway, we passed two construction LED signs that said something about local traffic right, all other traffic left... We ignored it, much to our surmise.
The split then came, we both freaked out (exit 11 was in about a mile or so) and we went left since we were already in the left lane. BIG MISTAKE!!! The left lane went across the median to the other side of the divided freeway, and we were stuck there for the next 12 miles (passed our exit) until we got to Alabama to turn around and come back.
Once we finally got all the way back to our exit (this is why you should ALWAYS leave early for your event if you are traveling the morning of), we got off and headed to the park. There was a line at the gate, and we both looked at each other and said, "WTF???" They were CHARGING athletes for ENTRY!!! Now normally I do not have a problem with paying an entry fee for a park, but that should have been included in our entry fee so that when we got there on race day, all I would have to do is show my number and then drive through. I have no problem with non-race vehicles having to pay. This happened at Emerald Pointe last year and all you had to do was show your race number, and you were in (funny it was the same entry fee too!).
Parked and then took my stuff to transition. YES!!!! I got an end spot on the rack! I love those because you can spread out a bit more. Got labeled, and then went to the bathroom. Jackie and I then went down to the beach where I stretched a bit, and then checked out the water. MMMmmmm 70 degrees. But wait, the air temp was like 54 degrees. I quickly calculated that this would be miserable in T1 and the first five minutes on the bike. Our local USAT ref was there giving us instructions on the course (the bike was an open course this time) and then we were ready to go.
Swim: 600M, 17:01.1
It was miserable. Let me preface by stating if you read the first paragraph in the prelude you can probably assume I have not spent enough time in the pool, and there is NO where around me for open water swimming. (Any of you local bloggers who know about any local open water swims in Atlanta or Georgia in general, please let me know. I would probably go out of my way to do these if I have the time.) I think I need new goggles, or I need to tighten them because after about 200 yards, my right goggle began leaking water. I made it through the first 200 alright, although I was breathing every two strokes rather than three (the cold took the air right out of my lungs.). I turned on my back to fix the problem and when I rolled back over someone kicked about a gallon of water into my lungs. Almost lost all the water plus my McDonald's at that point. I breast stroked at that point for another 150 M until I was somewhat composed again and tried to freestyle the rest. Probably my worst swim ever!!!
T1: 1:54.8
The distance to get from water to my station to the bike exit was kinda long. I was still not feeling right from the swim and the water still in my lungs (had trouble breathing) so I sat down while I put my socks and cleats on. Other than that, not too much to say about T1.
Bike: 11.2 mi, 37:27.0, 17.9mph
I got on the bike and tried to get my breathing under control. There were a few small uphill rollers on the way out, and there were some people that did not want to push hard, so to avoid drafting penalties, I just stayed behind them until we got clear of that area, then I passed them. I did not want to blow my wad in the first mile of the bike. There were no serious elevation changes again until after about 4 miles. I did gear down, but not as much as I normally do. There were a bunch of people who "granny geared" most of the uphill elevation, and I was suprised. From mile 6 to about mile 9, I passed a bunch of people just staying in 1-2 higher gears than what I normally would do. And of course, I used the big ring as much as I could on the rest of the course. The last mile to 1.5 miles, I picked up the pace and was averaging 22-23 mph. As I was coming into T2, there was a guy who was picking up his bike perpendicular to the flow of the bike traffic I almost ran into. Turns out he pulled the perfect endo trying to avoid something/someone as he was attempting to dismount.
T2: 1:13.2
Again, you had to run a good distance to get from bike entry to run exit. I could have been down in the 50's or better, but i was really in an, "I don't care" mood at this point. Needed to have a better positive mental attitude, but did not.
Run: 3.1 mi, 27:24.9, 8:50 min/mi
The first mile or so of the run looped around the lake we swam in at the park and then went off on some driving trails out the back of the park to the road. around 1.75 miles I had a mini bonk going up a hill, and was jogging slow enough that it appeard to be at a speed walk. Luckily there were just as many down hills as there were up hills (that may sound stupid, but if you have done as many point to point road races as I have, then you will know that this situation is not always the case). There was a guy about 100M away from the finish that I came next to, and we looked at each other and gave each other the "look." Then we sprinted. I won. Small victory for me!!!
Finish
16/20 in Age group (M 25-29)
(Company did not have overall times broken down)
1:25:00.9
Post race stuff and thoughts...
This is my first race of the year. Despite all that I have gone through since November, I feel that I did ok. I know that my aerobic and physical indurance has improved, since I know I was not in top form and I was within one minute of my very first race time that I trained for and busted my butt (exhausted) to finish.
I think that Tri the Parks series could do some things different, and I will send an email of constructive criticism to hopefully help them improve future races.
I did get to eat Oreos, oranges, and bluberry bagels post race, they were good.
In the last mile of the run, I had an epiphany, and it will be the topic of my next post, which will be a very big announcement. I am waiting on an email for final confirmation before I say/post anything to my blog.
I began working on the rest of my season as far as training and races go. I did not get too far, but got started and that is what really matters. I am also working on a schedule as well.
GARMIN was awsome! I did not hit the split times right due to how their timing mats were set up really weird, but the end times came up the exact same as my overall time posted by the race officials. And that is what matters. Garmin also loves sprint distance water. But don't expect it to tell you how far you swam since it does not track under water.
Pictures for the race will be coming soon, both from Jackie and from the picture company for the race.
More to come from my announcement later...
Murtha...
Tri the Parks, John Tanner State Park
600 M Swim, 11.2 mi Bike, 3.1 mi Run
Prelude...
As most of you know, I am employed both with Regions Bank and Wolfgang Puck Express in Atlanta. This has caused havoc on my season thus far this year, but you have to place priorities in life. This year triathlon has not been near the top. And again this past weekend, it was close, but not quite there.
I was scheduled for both jobs on Friday, and my boss at Wolfgang had the genius idea to schedule me to come in immediately after I finished my first job. So 8am-11:45pm on Friday, and then home to pack my transition bag, etc... Did not get to bed until about 2am.
4:30am came, and I thought I woke up late. 5 min later I laughed at myself due to freaking out when I woke up. I got ready and called Jackie to make sure she was on time to come and pick me up. Got there at 5:29am (there is a reason that I put that exact time, I told her to be there between 5 and 5:30, so she technically was...). I racked my bike left my extra water bottle on the back of the Jeep (it was still on the street when I got back home), and off we were.
I wanted some snackage and coffee on the way, so first we stopped at Starbucks (closed, not open till 6am on Sat), then the McDonald's in Austell (closed, not open till 6am on Sat). MISERABLE.
Finally we were about 15-20min away from the park via I-20, and we stopped at a McDonald's there. Southern Style Chicken biscuit (forgot the coffee). Back on the Freeway, we passed two construction LED signs that said something about local traffic right, all other traffic left... We ignored it, much to our surmise.
The split then came, we both freaked out (exit 11 was in about a mile or so) and we went left since we were already in the left lane. BIG MISTAKE!!! The left lane went across the median to the other side of the divided freeway, and we were stuck there for the next 12 miles (passed our exit) until we got to Alabama to turn around and come back.
Once we finally got all the way back to our exit (this is why you should ALWAYS leave early for your event if you are traveling the morning of), we got off and headed to the park. There was a line at the gate, and we both looked at each other and said, "WTF???" They were CHARGING athletes for ENTRY!!! Now normally I do not have a problem with paying an entry fee for a park, but that should have been included in our entry fee so that when we got there on race day, all I would have to do is show my number and then drive through. I have no problem with non-race vehicles having to pay. This happened at Emerald Pointe last year and all you had to do was show your race number, and you were in (funny it was the same entry fee too!).
Parked and then took my stuff to transition. YES!!!! I got an end spot on the rack! I love those because you can spread out a bit more. Got labeled, and then went to the bathroom. Jackie and I then went down to the beach where I stretched a bit, and then checked out the water. MMMmmmm 70 degrees. But wait, the air temp was like 54 degrees. I quickly calculated that this would be miserable in T1 and the first five minutes on the bike. Our local USAT ref was there giving us instructions on the course (the bike was an open course this time) and then we were ready to go.
Swim: 600M, 17:01.1
It was miserable. Let me preface by stating if you read the first paragraph in the prelude you can probably assume I have not spent enough time in the pool, and there is NO where around me for open water swimming. (Any of you local bloggers who know about any local open water swims in Atlanta or Georgia in general, please let me know. I would probably go out of my way to do these if I have the time.) I think I need new goggles, or I need to tighten them because after about 200 yards, my right goggle began leaking water. I made it through the first 200 alright, although I was breathing every two strokes rather than three (the cold took the air right out of my lungs.). I turned on my back to fix the problem and when I rolled back over someone kicked about a gallon of water into my lungs. Almost lost all the water plus my McDonald's at that point. I breast stroked at that point for another 150 M until I was somewhat composed again and tried to freestyle the rest. Probably my worst swim ever!!!
T1: 1:54.8
The distance to get from water to my station to the bike exit was kinda long. I was still not feeling right from the swim and the water still in my lungs (had trouble breathing) so I sat down while I put my socks and cleats on. Other than that, not too much to say about T1.
Bike: 11.2 mi, 37:27.0, 17.9mph
I got on the bike and tried to get my breathing under control. There were a few small uphill rollers on the way out, and there were some people that did not want to push hard, so to avoid drafting penalties, I just stayed behind them until we got clear of that area, then I passed them. I did not want to blow my wad in the first mile of the bike. There were no serious elevation changes again until after about 4 miles. I did gear down, but not as much as I normally do. There were a bunch of people who "granny geared" most of the uphill elevation, and I was suprised. From mile 6 to about mile 9, I passed a bunch of people just staying in 1-2 higher gears than what I normally would do. And of course, I used the big ring as much as I could on the rest of the course. The last mile to 1.5 miles, I picked up the pace and was averaging 22-23 mph. As I was coming into T2, there was a guy who was picking up his bike perpendicular to the flow of the bike traffic I almost ran into. Turns out he pulled the perfect endo trying to avoid something/someone as he was attempting to dismount.
T2: 1:13.2
Again, you had to run a good distance to get from bike entry to run exit. I could have been down in the 50's or better, but i was really in an, "I don't care" mood at this point. Needed to have a better positive mental attitude, but did not.
Run: 3.1 mi, 27:24.9, 8:50 min/mi
The first mile or so of the run looped around the lake we swam in at the park and then went off on some driving trails out the back of the park to the road. around 1.75 miles I had a mini bonk going up a hill, and was jogging slow enough that it appeard to be at a speed walk. Luckily there were just as many down hills as there were up hills (that may sound stupid, but if you have done as many point to point road races as I have, then you will know that this situation is not always the case). There was a guy about 100M away from the finish that I came next to, and we looked at each other and gave each other the "look." Then we sprinted. I won. Small victory for me!!!
Finish
16/20 in Age group (M 25-29)
(Company did not have overall times broken down)
1:25:00.9
Post race stuff and thoughts...
This is my first race of the year. Despite all that I have gone through since November, I feel that I did ok. I know that my aerobic and physical indurance has improved, since I know I was not in top form and I was within one minute of my very first race time that I trained for and busted my butt (exhausted) to finish.
I think that Tri the Parks series could do some things different, and I will send an email of constructive criticism to hopefully help them improve future races.
I did get to eat Oreos, oranges, and bluberry bagels post race, they were good.
In the last mile of the run, I had an epiphany, and it will be the topic of my next post, which will be a very big announcement. I am waiting on an email for final confirmation before I say/post anything to my blog.
I began working on the rest of my season as far as training and races go. I did not get too far, but got started and that is what really matters. I am also working on a schedule as well.
GARMIN was awsome! I did not hit the split times right due to how their timing mats were set up really weird, but the end times came up the exact same as my overall time posted by the race officials. And that is what matters. Garmin also loves sprint distance water. But don't expect it to tell you how far you swam since it does not track under water.
Pictures for the race will be coming soon, both from Jackie and from the picture company for the race.
More to come from my announcement later...
Murtha...
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
My comings, goings, new teams, new gear, and upcoming races...
Hello Again!
I hope everyone is having a wonderful week! The weather in Georgia is great again, and my training is probably at about 70-80% of being normal again. I will not bore you like previous posts and try to update all of my workouts since my last post on March 26 (not that there has been a workout every day, but there have been enough to make it long and boring).
My first race of the year is this Saturday morning at 8:00am at John Tanner State Park in Carrolton, GA. It is a sprint race and is part of the Tri the Parks Series in GA. There are about 20-21 people in my age group, and I am not planning to try and podium after the year I have had thus far.
The following weekend is the 5 Burrow's Bike Tour in New York. If any of you are going to be in it, please email or post to my blog to let me know. It is a 42 mile bike ride beginning in Manhattan and ending on Staten Island. It will be fun, since we will be riding with her uncle, as well as meeting some more of her family and also probably going to see 1 or 2 of my fraternity brothers whilst I am there. And oh, I have NEVER been to New York before (other than sitting in JFK for three hours).
Then two weeks later it is................ Ironman FLORIDA 70.3. I am really exicted. Again, due to training, I am not expecting anything, although I would like to at least match last year's time, if not beat it by 1-2 minutes. What I am excited about is that it is a real sanctioned Ironman event. So hopefully I will get a small taste of what I am up for in 2008 with a full Ironman (except for the distance part!!!) I completed the Gulf Coast Triathlon last year (which is a great race and copies most of the bike and all of the swim and run for the Ironman FL course every November), and I know what I did wrong there. This year I have had lots of trouble with training and getting my act together, but since I am not trying to break any records, I should be ok.
And.........................Say hello to my new friend, Garmin!!!
Garmin Forerunner 305 to be exact (with speed/cadence sensor on the bike, of course)
I still have not hooked up the bike sensor yet, and I have not installed the computer software, but I THINK that this is the last gadget I will ever need with respect to a HRM or stopwatch, etc.
The only drawback is that I have read a couple of reviews that it does not do too well in water, and Garmin says that you should only wear it in water for no longer than 30-40 minutes (my half iron swim is 45 min). I would think they would have fixed this problem. Splashing water ok, swim, the jury is still out with me.
I also would not trust the calorie burning monitoring unless you are running or riding at slower speeds. When you get up fast enough at long distances it tends to skew it (I dunno, can you possibly burn 4100 calories riding 56 miles averaging 18.5mph for a 27yr old male???)
I would not even consider the calorie thing as a drawback, since that is not why you are purchasing the garmin in the first place, and if you are dedicated enough, you will probably know how many calories you burn per hour anyways.
I could probably write for an hour about all the cool features for the forerunner 305, but I will let you buy one from Amazon.com for really, really cheap (over $100 off) and experience it for yourself.
In other news.....
I am officially on the Javelin (amateur) triathlon team!!! For those of us who cannot be on a real triathlon team (other than my beloved team raceAthlete, you are my favorite!!!)
Above is the 2007 official race outfit. The only thing I had to do other than a small fee is to make sure I wear it at all my 2007 triathlon races. And I really do not have a problem doing so, since almost everything I wear is Sugoi, and I am very comfortable with the brand.
Jackie got a new suit for my birthday for me, and when I get some pictures together I will post them for you. Be looking next week early for some pictures of this weekend's triathlon. I should have results of the race by then as well, but do not look for me to be breaking any records. I should be a bit faster on the swim and the bike, but I am not sure how I am going to do bricking all three sports together with my broken training (am I beginning to sound like a broken record with this year's training, just let me know).
That is about all I have for now, be looking for something early next week, and hopefully after the next 25 days I will be closer to 100% back on track for this year.
Murtha Out....
Monday, March 26, 2007
Congratulations!!! Two Tri-Geeks Unite!!!
I thought you might like this. It happened on Feb 20th, 2007, a day after it was scheduled to happen. Needless to say my Tri-partner in crime was very suprised!!! I had to ask her twice, since she did not believe me the first time. See if you can guess where it is at.... I will give you a hint at the end of the post.
Hint: One of the final scene's from Ocean's Eleven.
Murtha out....
What is interval swimming again...
Got to my second job tonight. Very few nights do I have an attitude (not negative) that says, I really am not in the mood to be here today. We have been very slow for the last two weeks, and I elected that if anyone go home early, it be me. 7:00p came, and the Manager on Duty, said "get outta here!!!" Don't have to tell me twice!
Wait that means I have time to actually workout! Yeah!! (And the peasents rejoiced)
Here is the workout...
03/26/2007
Workout: Interval Swim
Breakdown;
100M Warmup
2x100M Paddles (no legs)
100M Freestyle
Intervals;
10 x 50M Freestyle
01: 00:55.6
02: 00:53.5
03: 00:53.0
04: 00:55.5
05: 00:53.1
06: 00:52.6
07: 00:52.7
08: 00:51.5
09: 00:52.2
10: 00:50.5
100M Arms Only
100M Cool Down
RPE: 4-8
Definately did not leave everything on the table, but as many workouts I am dropping due to jobs and other obligations, the last thing I need to do is pull something. Oh and I lightly sprained my ankle this weekend in the dark going across a street that was two different levels due to paving.
More to come later....
Wait that means I have time to actually workout! Yeah!! (And the peasents rejoiced)
Here is the workout...
03/26/2007
Workout: Interval Swim
Breakdown;
100M Warmup
2x100M Paddles (no legs)
100M Freestyle
Intervals;
10 x 50M Freestyle
01: 00:55.6
02: 00:53.5
03: 00:53.0
04: 00:55.5
05: 00:53.1
06: 00:52.6
07: 00:52.7
08: 00:51.5
09: 00:52.2
10: 00:50.5
100M Arms Only
100M Cool Down
RPE: 4-8
Definately did not leave everything on the table, but as many workouts I am dropping due to jobs and other obligations, the last thing I need to do is pull something. Oh and I lightly sprained my ankle this weekend in the dark going across a street that was two different levels due to paving.
More to come later....
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Non-posted workout logs...
Hey Again,
Some workouts that I completed but had not posted. I was on vacation from Feb 18th - Feb 22nd. Other than that I have been a complete slackass. With two jobs it has been really hard to fit in workouts, my life, and sleep. Oh wait, do not forget about eating! I love to do that.
I am kind of worried about my races, so I have decided to change my goals for my first few races of the year so that I am just compelting them, and not trying to break any world records, and break my body instead.
02/13/2007
Workout - Run
Distance: 2.75 miles
Time: 30 minutes
Pace: 10min 54 sec/mile
RPE: 3-4
This was base run just to get some miles under my belt for the day. Nothing too serious, and I did not want to strain anything.
02/15/2007
Workout - Swim
Distance: 1050M
Time: ???
Pace: ???
RPE: 6
This was base swimming for distance purposes. I felt really good when I completed this distance, although my legs just felt a bit wobbly.
02/18/2007
Workout - Run
Distance: ~3 miles
Time: 23:21.60
Pace: 7min 47sec/mile
RPE: 6-7
Running in the hills of Henderson, NV is just great!!! especially on a Sunday morning when no one is up yet, it is very quiet.
03/04/2007 (Sunday)
Workout - Bike
Distance: ~22 miles
Time: ~1hr 30min
Avg Speed: 14.67mph
Max Speed: ???
RPE: 5 with low to mid gears.
Easy Day, was fairly cold and really windy. Took it easy considering the situation. C'mon! The faster I pedaled, the colder it got, how miserable is that. I also forgot to take my bike computer with me, I felt naked without it. Hmmm naked and cold, how miserable?!?!
03/11/2007 (Sunday)
Workout - Bike
Distance: 33.88 miles
Time: 1:56:21.00
Speed: 17.4mph (Average)
SpeedMax: 28.5mph (Max speed, and this was on flat road!!!)
RPE: 6-9
I got pulled one time and pulled two separate people one time each. I think the average of each pull was somewhere around 24mph, and the 2nd pull that I did was somewhere between 22-24mph. How about that Max Speed on the flats!!! I looked down at my computer and was like, "OMG!!!"
I felt really good on this ride and made one important change. I was aero almost the whole time AND I was in the big ring almost the whole ride. I cannot believe how much big of a difference it makes when you are in the big ring for long periods of time. In my defense I will have to say that for the longest time I went on rides that had large hills, so I needed to gear down every time I went up one of these hills. My average speed was low due to the fact it took me a while to get going (I had a long week and it was the Sunday morning of the time change), but when I got going I was easily averaging over 20mph on the way back.
03/12/2007 (Monday)
Workout - Swim Drills
Total Time: 13:43.80
1 x 50M Warmup
2 x 100M Arms (W/ hand paddles)
1 x 400M freestyle: 9:15.40
2 x 100M freestyle: 2:16.00
2:12.40
1 x 50M Cooldown
Nothing really to say here other than I was not at the top of my game that night.
03/13/2007 (Tuesday)
Workout - Run/Bike
Run (WARMUP)
Time: 12:27.10
Distance: 1.??? miles
Bike (Spin Class)
Time: 58:29.40
RPE: 4-8
Class was great. Instructor felt really bad and thought that she was not interesting, but I told her I welcomed the change of riding in a straight line over and over again.
03/19/2007 (Monday)
Workout: Run
Time: 1:00:00.00
Distance: 6.1 mi
RPE: 5-7
(Indoor - Treadmill)
Stretched 5 min prior
Stretched 5 min post workout
03/24/2007 (Saturday)
Workout: Bike - Part of 3 Gap, Dahlonega, GA
Distance: 11.15 mi
Time: 47:58.00
Max Spd: 39.3 mph
Avg Spd: 13.9 mph
RPE: 6-10
3 Gap is 50 miles total, and half of the full 6 Gap which also follows some of the same course. Elevation change of 3 Gap if you finish all of it is almost a mile. Let's just put it this way
Round 1: 3 Gap - 1, Andy - 0
I have honestly not done any serious hills in quiet some time, and while riding on the Silver Comet has helped increase my overall average speed, it has not at all helped my endurance with real world courses (exempting of course Ironman FL in Panama City Beach, that is really flat).
I want to definately try again, but I need to do some hill drills before then.
That is all I have for now.
Murtha out...
Some workouts that I completed but had not posted. I was on vacation from Feb 18th - Feb 22nd. Other than that I have been a complete slackass. With two jobs it has been really hard to fit in workouts, my life, and sleep. Oh wait, do not forget about eating! I love to do that.
I am kind of worried about my races, so I have decided to change my goals for my first few races of the year so that I am just compelting them, and not trying to break any world records, and break my body instead.
02/13/2007
Workout - Run
Distance: 2.75 miles
Time: 30 minutes
Pace: 10min 54 sec/mile
RPE: 3-4
This was base run just to get some miles under my belt for the day. Nothing too serious, and I did not want to strain anything.
02/15/2007
Workout - Swim
Distance: 1050M
Time: ???
Pace: ???
RPE: 6
This was base swimming for distance purposes. I felt really good when I completed this distance, although my legs just felt a bit wobbly.
02/18/2007
Workout - Run
Distance: ~3 miles
Time: 23:21.60
Pace: 7min 47sec/mile
RPE: 6-7
Running in the hills of Henderson, NV is just great!!! especially on a Sunday morning when no one is up yet, it is very quiet.
03/04/2007 (Sunday)
Workout - Bike
Distance: ~22 miles
Time: ~1hr 30min
Avg Speed: 14.67mph
Max Speed: ???
RPE: 5 with low to mid gears.
Easy Day, was fairly cold and really windy. Took it easy considering the situation. C'mon! The faster I pedaled, the colder it got, how miserable is that. I also forgot to take my bike computer with me, I felt naked without it. Hmmm naked and cold, how miserable?!?!
03/11/2007 (Sunday)
Workout - Bike
Distance: 33.88 miles
Time: 1:56:21.00
Speed: 17.4mph (Average)
SpeedMax: 28.5mph (Max speed, and this was on flat road!!!)
RPE: 6-9
I got pulled one time and pulled two separate people one time each. I think the average of each pull was somewhere around 24mph, and the 2nd pull that I did was somewhere between 22-24mph. How about that Max Speed on the flats!!! I looked down at my computer and was like, "OMG!!!"
I felt really good on this ride and made one important change. I was aero almost the whole time AND I was in the big ring almost the whole ride. I cannot believe how much big of a difference it makes when you are in the big ring for long periods of time. In my defense I will have to say that for the longest time I went on rides that had large hills, so I needed to gear down every time I went up one of these hills. My average speed was low due to the fact it took me a while to get going (I had a long week and it was the Sunday morning of the time change), but when I got going I was easily averaging over 20mph on the way back.
03/12/2007 (Monday)
Workout - Swim Drills
Total Time: 13:43.80
1 x 50M Warmup
2 x 100M Arms (W/ hand paddles)
1 x 400M freestyle: 9:15.40
2 x 100M freestyle: 2:16.00
2:12.40
1 x 50M Cooldown
Nothing really to say here other than I was not at the top of my game that night.
03/13/2007 (Tuesday)
Workout - Run/Bike
Run (WARMUP)
Time: 12:27.10
Distance: 1.??? miles
Bike (Spin Class)
Time: 58:29.40
RPE: 4-8
Class was great. Instructor felt really bad and thought that she was not interesting, but I told her I welcomed the change of riding in a straight line over and over again.
03/19/2007 (Monday)
Workout: Run
Time: 1:00:00.00
Distance: 6.1 mi
RPE: 5-7
(Indoor - Treadmill)
Stretched 5 min prior
Stretched 5 min post workout
03/24/2007 (Saturday)
Workout: Bike - Part of 3 Gap, Dahlonega, GA
Distance: 11.15 mi
Time: 47:58.00
Max Spd: 39.3 mph
Avg Spd: 13.9 mph
RPE: 6-10
3 Gap is 50 miles total, and half of the full 6 Gap which also follows some of the same course. Elevation change of 3 Gap if you finish all of it is almost a mile. Let's just put it this way
Round 1: 3 Gap - 1, Andy - 0
I have honestly not done any serious hills in quiet some time, and while riding on the Silver Comet has helped increase my overall average speed, it has not at all helped my endurance with real world courses (exempting of course Ironman FL in Panama City Beach, that is really flat).
I want to definately try again, but I need to do some hill drills before then.
That is all I have for now.
Murtha out...
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Ironman Florida 70.3!!!
Registrations for this year have finally begun!!
I decided that I would get some more motivation over the past weekend by actually signing up for some of my races. I looked at my calendar, looked at my work schedule, days off, etc, and came up with my first couple of races for the year.
I am going to have to update my blog for my 2007 schedule, as well as my time countdown clock.
Here we go
Tri the Parks (Georgia) Series Race #1 - John Tanner State Park, Carollton, GA
April 28th
Ironman Florida 70.3 - Orlando, FL
May 20th
I still have one more race to sign up for in this timeline, and that is the "5 boroughs bike tour" in New York. This is May6th. You might be asking if that is too close to IMFL 70.3? Maybe but it is not a serious race. It is a leisurely 42 mile bike ride through all the 5 boroughs, and it is not supposed to be a race unless you are in the pro race circut. I have never actually been to New York before, so I thought it would be a good experience.
My next leg for the year will be completing the Peachtree Road race (assuming I get signed up for it) on July 4th. I will schedule no races during this time so I get about two months off until my next set of races that will run me from August until the South Carolina Half Ironman in October.
This will set me up for my 2008 season, where I will actually complete an Ironman! I will have to sign up for the event in 2007 due to the popularity of the Ironman North America series. I mean, this is Kentucky's first year, and they sold out fast. IMFL sold out in an hour. I really do not want to wait until late in the year in 2008 (i.e. IMFL) to complete a full Ironman, so I will have to look to other races to complete. Maybe Arizona! I could go hang with the Commodore if he completes it in 2008, and my family would only be a 3 hour drive away from the event, and my grandparents would be in Mesa.
Also, I know I am jumping the gun here, but depending on how far down the top 8-10 slots for my age group in IMFL 70.3 go, there is a slight chance I could qualify for Clearwater (IM 70.3 championships) in October. I am not going to be in the top 10 in my age group, but the other issue is that not everyone that finishes the race before me will want to (or have the money to) go to Clearwater. Last year it got all the way down to 5 hours and 40 minutes in my age group before the last person took the final slot.
If this happens, then obviously I will be sub'ing Clearwater for the South Carolina HIM. We shall see.....
Murtha...
I decided that I would get some more motivation over the past weekend by actually signing up for some of my races. I looked at my calendar, looked at my work schedule, days off, etc, and came up with my first couple of races for the year.
I am going to have to update my blog for my 2007 schedule, as well as my time countdown clock.
Here we go
Tri the Parks (Georgia) Series Race #1 - John Tanner State Park, Carollton, GA
April 28th
Ironman Florida 70.3 - Orlando, FL
May 20th
I still have one more race to sign up for in this timeline, and that is the "5 boroughs bike tour" in New York. This is May6th. You might be asking if that is too close to IMFL 70.3? Maybe but it is not a serious race. It is a leisurely 42 mile bike ride through all the 5 boroughs, and it is not supposed to be a race unless you are in the pro race circut. I have never actually been to New York before, so I thought it would be a good experience.
My next leg for the year will be completing the Peachtree Road race (assuming I get signed up for it) on July 4th. I will schedule no races during this time so I get about two months off until my next set of races that will run me from August until the South Carolina Half Ironman in October.
This will set me up for my 2008 season, where I will actually complete an Ironman! I will have to sign up for the event in 2007 due to the popularity of the Ironman North America series. I mean, this is Kentucky's first year, and they sold out fast. IMFL sold out in an hour. I really do not want to wait until late in the year in 2008 (i.e. IMFL) to complete a full Ironman, so I will have to look to other races to complete. Maybe Arizona! I could go hang with the Commodore if he completes it in 2008, and my family would only be a 3 hour drive away from the event, and my grandparents would be in Mesa.
Also, I know I am jumping the gun here, but depending on how far down the top 8-10 slots for my age group in IMFL 70.3 go, there is a slight chance I could qualify for Clearwater (IM 70.3 championships) in October. I am not going to be in the top 10 in my age group, but the other issue is that not everyone that finishes the race before me will want to (or have the money to) go to Clearwater. Last year it got all the way down to 5 hours and 40 minutes in my age group before the last person took the final slot.
If this happens, then obviously I will be sub'ing Clearwater for the South Carolina HIM. We shall see.....
Murtha...
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Saturday Workout...
Good Morning...
Yesterday morning my plans got cancelled. While that totally freed up my day to do "whatever" I wanted to do, I have to reschedule it yet again. Now that I am working two jobs (oh yeah, I am also now working at Wolfgang Puck Express cicra Christmas week for some extra money), it is really hard when you have something to do, finally get it scheduled in to your life, and then it gets cancelled.
In lieu of all this, I decided to go for a run. Chattahooche river run in Marietta. It was about 37 degrees out there, so it took most of the run before my hands finally warmed up
01/27/2007
Workout - Run
Distance: 2.25 miles (5K total)
Time: ~19 minutes (+ the other 15 minutes from walking, explained below)
Pace: 8min 26sec/mile
RPE: 4-5
Jackie and one of her friends said that they would be there walking about 6 miles or so. I got there much later, so I ran until I saw them on the backside of the 5K loop, and then I walked with them (it was a pretty good pace walk) until we got back to the cars.
Group of older male runners (prob 50's) drinking beer in the parking lot post run. Must be for that carb recovery....... Oh wait Andy, didn't you just say that you were running in a state park? Isn't drinking there illegal? Why yes it is! But did I care, heck no! I would have asked him for one acutally....
Going to get out there and do something here in a little while. I have not ridden my bike since I have put the aerobars on it (Yes I know! I still owe you guys pictures!! If I can set up a pic account online today, then I will post them). I know it is only 40 degrees out there or something, but I think I can handle putting some "base miles" in (i.e. meaning slow ones so I do not feel any colder).
Went to all3sports yesterday and picked up some more nutrition! For all of you raceAthlete members out there, I hope you will be happy, I am going to try some NuuN!!! I got the citrus flavor.
I also have a little announcement to make, but I will do so in another post. I feel it deserves one.
Murtha...
Yesterday morning my plans got cancelled. While that totally freed up my day to do "whatever" I wanted to do, I have to reschedule it yet again. Now that I am working two jobs (oh yeah, I am also now working at Wolfgang Puck Express cicra Christmas week for some extra money), it is really hard when you have something to do, finally get it scheduled in to your life, and then it gets cancelled.
In lieu of all this, I decided to go for a run. Chattahooche river run in Marietta. It was about 37 degrees out there, so it took most of the run before my hands finally warmed up
01/27/2007
Workout - Run
Distance: 2.25 miles (5K total)
Time: ~19 minutes (+ the other 15 minutes from walking, explained below)
Pace: 8min 26sec/mile
RPE: 4-5
Jackie and one of her friends said that they would be there walking about 6 miles or so. I got there much later, so I ran until I saw them on the backside of the 5K loop, and then I walked with them (it was a pretty good pace walk) until we got back to the cars.
Group of older male runners (prob 50's) drinking beer in the parking lot post run. Must be for that carb recovery....... Oh wait Andy, didn't you just say that you were running in a state park? Isn't drinking there illegal? Why yes it is! But did I care, heck no! I would have asked him for one acutally....
Going to get out there and do something here in a little while. I have not ridden my bike since I have put the aerobars on it (Yes I know! I still owe you guys pictures!! If I can set up a pic account online today, then I will post them). I know it is only 40 degrees out there or something, but I think I can handle putting some "base miles" in (i.e. meaning slow ones so I do not feel any colder).
Went to all3sports yesterday and picked up some more nutrition! For all of you raceAthlete members out there, I hope you will be happy, I am going to try some NuuN!!! I got the citrus flavor.
I also have a little announcement to make, but I will do so in another post. I feel it deserves one.
Murtha...
Friday, January 26, 2007
Wednedsay Workout...
Hello,
They let me go from work early on Wednesday night, so I hurried home, for me that is about 30 minutes, and went to the gym. Did a run on the treadmill and a bit of stretching before the gym closed.
01/24/2007
Workout - Run
Time: 32.29 (5K only)
Distance: 5K then 2min cooldown
Avg Pace: ~10min 28 sec
Avg Speed:5.7 on treadmill (started at 5, moved up to 7.5 by the end of workout.)
RPE: ranged from 4 at the beginning of the workout to 7-7.5 at the end.
Basically the last half mile or so I increased my speed every 15 seconds.
At my new gym location you can see the pool from the cardio area upstairs, and i saw that they had fixed the lane bouy already from the other night. If I see those two kids, I am definately turning them in.
I have some prior obligations to attend to Saturday during the day, so no outside workouts for me, I will have to get to the gym before it closes at eight. I will most likely swim, and then ride during the day on Sunday.
That is about all for now.
Murtha...
They let me go from work early on Wednesday night, so I hurried home, for me that is about 30 minutes, and went to the gym. Did a run on the treadmill and a bit of stretching before the gym closed.
01/24/2007
Workout - Run
Time: 32.29 (5K only)
Distance: 5K then 2min cooldown
Avg Pace: ~10min 28 sec
Avg Speed:5.7 on treadmill (started at 5, moved up to 7.5 by the end of workout.)
RPE: ranged from 4 at the beginning of the workout to 7-7.5 at the end.
Basically the last half mile or so I increased my speed every 15 seconds.
At my new gym location you can see the pool from the cardio area upstairs, and i saw that they had fixed the lane bouy already from the other night. If I see those two kids, I am definately turning them in.
I have some prior obligations to attend to Saturday during the day, so no outside workouts for me, I will have to get to the gym before it closes at eight. I will most likely swim, and then ride during the day on Sunday.
That is about all for now.
Murtha...
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
New Blogger Everyone!!!
(dee dee d d dee dee dee d d d......that news music thing you used to hear on SNL)
Breaking news!!!
Jackie now has her own blog!!! She will now be able to comment on everyone's (specifically Jessica's blog) blog and have her own posts. The blog is currently under construction by your's truly, and then she will begin posting. If you want the link, or you want to hyperlink it on your page,
krawczyktri.blogspot.com
Gotta love those Polish last names!!!
Breaking news!!!
Jackie now has her own blog!!! She will now be able to comment on everyone's (specifically Jessica's blog) blog and have her own posts. The blog is currently under construction by your's truly, and then she will begin posting. If you want the link, or you want to hyperlink it on your page,
krawczyktri.blogspot.com
Gotta love those Polish last names!!!
Isn't there supposed to be a lane bouy there?....Wait! Hey you f'ing kids!!!
Late night (or early morning depending on what type of person you are)...
Had trouble sleeping tonight.
Anyways,
First my workout. Nothing special other than swimming.
01/23/2007
Total Time: Aboout 30 minutes (off and on)
Workout: 100 and 200 M intervals. Mostly freestyle, and tried working on my technique
a bit. Mostly trying to hit the "10 and 2" spots on my entry, and my pull
(which still is not that great, but better than the old windmill moves).
Now onto my post title. So I get to the gym around 8:20p and change. I get out to the pool area and there are two hispanics just hanging out in the first lane, and there are two kids who look to be putting the lane bouy back in place to separate the 2nd and 3rd lane. I then noticed that the pieces that fit on the line to keep the thing bouyant were all over the pool. One of the kids (there were two) was trying to put it back together, and the other kid was sitting on the steps in the first lane trying to get the other guy to leave. Oh, and there was someone in the spa (which is important).
They get out and leave and I start bitching about how people break stuff. I have everything on in the pool and about to take off (thank god for lane lines), when the person from the spa comes over to inform me that the two teenagers that were in the pool attempting to fix the lane bouy (is that what they call it?) were the ones that broke it!!! Supposedly they had been horsing around in the pool, cannonballs, etc... and one of them laid on or landed on the line and broke it at the connection. I later found out from mgmt that it was going to cost $400 to fix. The wire line snapped at the connection. Nice to know that my monthly gym fee is going towards something.
Mgmt did say though that they water aerobics class would love it since that is one less lane bouy that they would have to take out and put back in the pool.
Great! Thanks a whole bunch spa guy..... Don't go tell any of the mgmt or sales team about it, don't yell at them for doing something wrong, just wait and tell me after they leave the building and I get in the pool so none of us can do anything about it.
I told the management about it after I left for the evening, and I told them I would be on the lookout for them if I saw either of them again. By the way this is a well renowned adult gym (LA Fitness), not some fly by night outfit for immature teens to play at. I am sure that their parents are paying for the membership, and will never find out about this (unless I catch them, and I will).
I will have some pictures for you posted tomorrow of my new gear (aerobars and some cool bike socks I could not be without!!!). If anyone has any suggestions on one of these free picture sites, please let me know so that i can get one going.
I have seen flickr as well as the blogger pic site. I also want to do a big overhaul of my blog, to catch up with all the big fish (i.e. banner, pics, opinion polls, etc) to make it more appealing. I think it is just the natural evolution of things. You get started with something and then feel accomplished, and after awhile just doing it is not good enough, you want to do better. Hmmm, that quote might work well in triathlon as well as in life in general.........
Murtha...
Had trouble sleeping tonight.
Anyways,
First my workout. Nothing special other than swimming.
01/23/2007
Total Time: Aboout 30 minutes (off and on)
Workout: 100 and 200 M intervals. Mostly freestyle, and tried working on my technique
a bit. Mostly trying to hit the "10 and 2" spots on my entry, and my pull
(which still is not that great, but better than the old windmill moves).
Now onto my post title. So I get to the gym around 8:20p and change. I get out to the pool area and there are two hispanics just hanging out in the first lane, and there are two kids who look to be putting the lane bouy back in place to separate the 2nd and 3rd lane. I then noticed that the pieces that fit on the line to keep the thing bouyant were all over the pool. One of the kids (there were two) was trying to put it back together, and the other kid was sitting on the steps in the first lane trying to get the other guy to leave. Oh, and there was someone in the spa (which is important).
They get out and leave and I start bitching about how people break stuff. I have everything on in the pool and about to take off (thank god for lane lines), when the person from the spa comes over to inform me that the two teenagers that were in the pool attempting to fix the lane bouy (is that what they call it?) were the ones that broke it!!! Supposedly they had been horsing around in the pool, cannonballs, etc... and one of them laid on or landed on the line and broke it at the connection. I later found out from mgmt that it was going to cost $400 to fix. The wire line snapped at the connection. Nice to know that my monthly gym fee is going towards something.
Mgmt did say though that they water aerobics class would love it since that is one less lane bouy that they would have to take out and put back in the pool.
Great! Thanks a whole bunch spa guy..... Don't go tell any of the mgmt or sales team about it, don't yell at them for doing something wrong, just wait and tell me after they leave the building and I get in the pool so none of us can do anything about it.
I told the management about it after I left for the evening, and I told them I would be on the lookout for them if I saw either of them again. By the way this is a well renowned adult gym (LA Fitness), not some fly by night outfit for immature teens to play at. I am sure that their parents are paying for the membership, and will never find out about this (unless I catch them, and I will).
I will have some pictures for you posted tomorrow of my new gear (aerobars and some cool bike socks I could not be without!!!). If anyone has any suggestions on one of these free picture sites, please let me know so that i can get one going.
I have seen flickr as well as the blogger pic site. I also want to do a big overhaul of my blog, to catch up with all the big fish (i.e. banner, pics, opinion polls, etc) to make it more appealing. I think it is just the natural evolution of things. You get started with something and then feel accomplished, and after awhile just doing it is not good enough, you want to do better. Hmmm, that quote might work well in triathlon as well as in life in general.........
Murtha...
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Last Weekend of Summer (During Winter!!!)
Hey!!!
Andy got his groove back!!! This is my first official week into the 2007 season (although about 10 weeks late). I don't consider this a big deal though, since as amateur triathletes, we can make our own race schedule. I don't think it is really going to affect my race schedule that much, but we shall see.
Yesterday was beautiful here in Georgia. Flowers are in bloom, it was almost 70 degrees, you would think it was spring time with the Masters around the corner in Augusta. Nope. It was January 13th. I'll take it. I hate riding in cold weather so much, that I acutally do not do it. I then go inside to spinning classes.
Here are my stats for yesterday
Location: SCTrail, Georiga
Time: 1 hr, 17 min 6 sec
Distance: 22.6 miles
Avg Speed: 17.5 mph
Max Speed: 25.4 mph
I had one section where I was pulling about 22mph for at least two miles. It was a very slight downhill, kind of a false flat but going down rather than up. Completely rocked some guy with a carbon Quintanna Roo with Zipp 404's yesterday, but to give him credit, he was probably on a light training ride whilst I was busting my butt.
I don't know if I will be out today or not, since I have plans with my best friend and his wife for the afternoon. I have tomorrow off for MLK Day (I love bank holidays), and I will get out there in the morning, it should be fairly quiet since some people still work on the Holiday.
It's great to finally be back, now I just need to see what all the rest of you are up to. It seems now I look at so many blogs/podcasts, that I am burning at least 10 hours a week looking at them. It is well worth it!
Murtha...
Andy got his groove back!!! This is my first official week into the 2007 season (although about 10 weeks late). I don't consider this a big deal though, since as amateur triathletes, we can make our own race schedule. I don't think it is really going to affect my race schedule that much, but we shall see.
Yesterday was beautiful here in Georgia. Flowers are in bloom, it was almost 70 degrees, you would think it was spring time with the Masters around the corner in Augusta. Nope. It was January 13th. I'll take it. I hate riding in cold weather so much, that I acutally do not do it. I then go inside to spinning classes.
Here are my stats for yesterday
Location: SCTrail, Georiga
Time: 1 hr, 17 min 6 sec
Distance: 22.6 miles
Avg Speed: 17.5 mph
Max Speed: 25.4 mph
I had one section where I was pulling about 22mph for at least two miles. It was a very slight downhill, kind of a false flat but going down rather than up. Completely rocked some guy with a carbon Quintanna Roo with Zipp 404's yesterday, but to give him credit, he was probably on a light training ride whilst I was busting my butt.
I don't know if I will be out today or not, since I have plans with my best friend and his wife for the afternoon. I have tomorrow off for MLK Day (I love bank holidays), and I will get out there in the morning, it should be fairly quiet since some people still work on the Holiday.
It's great to finally be back, now I just need to see what all the rest of you are up to. It seems now I look at so many blogs/podcasts, that I am burning at least 10 hours a week looking at them. It is well worth it!
Murtha...
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
I turned to the Dark (USAT) Side!!!
Ok,
So today I sat down and look at my potential schedule for my 3rd triathlon season, and saw how many races that I wanted to attempt to complete...
It's that $9 fee!!! The previous two years, I have only done just enough races for it to economically not make sense to sign up with the USAT. At this point in time, joining the USAT is only for economic reasons, up until the time that the organization actually has something to contribute, OR, I become a semi-pro/pro athlete where being in the points system to qualify for nationals and/or worlds would be worth it. If you look at my blog, I am planning to do 6 races, and possibly more. That would pay for my entry fee about 1.5 times in saving $9 per race.
Its Official!!! For the first time (and probably not the last) in my now 3rd season of being a triathlete, I am an official member of USA Triathlon. I am granted all the rights and responsibilities that come along with being a member of USAT.
More to follow.....
So today I sat down and look at my potential schedule for my 3rd triathlon season, and saw how many races that I wanted to attempt to complete...
It's that $9 fee!!! The previous two years, I have only done just enough races for it to economically not make sense to sign up with the USAT. At this point in time, joining the USAT is only for economic reasons, up until the time that the organization actually has something to contribute, OR, I become a semi-pro/pro athlete where being in the points system to qualify for nationals and/or worlds would be worth it. If you look at my blog, I am planning to do 6 races, and possibly more. That would pay for my entry fee about 1.5 times in saving $9 per race.
Its Official!!! For the first time (and probably not the last) in my now 3rd season of being a triathlete, I am an official member of USA Triathlon. I am granted all the rights and responsibilities that come along with being a member of USAT.
More to follow.....
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
OK, My posting (and training) has become ridiculous
Hi Everyone,
So after I have told everyone I am back on the posting (and training) bandwagon, I suck it up once again. Last actual day of training was December 23rd, which was around the last time of my posting.
I was going to go and swim tonight, but I really wanted to watch the Orange Bowl, and I am listening to the Tri Geek Dreams Podcast right now (most recent one). After last night's football game, I am all about some football where teams come from nowhere (Louisville, Wake Forest, Boise State).
So here are my stats from December 23rd. I was out with Kevin (GA Tech Cycling team), and it was really, really windy, but our average came out better than expected.
Course: Silver Comet Trail - Georgia
Time: 1:12:25
Distance: 20.86mi
Avg Speed: 17.2 mph
Max Speed: 25.3 mph (this was on flat ground actually, don't ask me how this happened in windy weather, because I do not remember).
Yes, I am the biggest slack ass you guys (and gals) know. I have been thinking, I am going to try working on my training schedule the rest of the week, and then (FINALLY, LAZY BUTT!) start my 2007 season (officially) over the weekend.
I really need to get my schedule and training under control, and then I will be able to better execute when I actually have a plan. (See I am now writing the rest of this a day later).
Alright I am going to bed now, worked both jobs today.
Murtha...
So after I have told everyone I am back on the posting (and training) bandwagon, I suck it up once again. Last actual day of training was December 23rd, which was around the last time of my posting.
I was going to go and swim tonight, but I really wanted to watch the Orange Bowl, and I am listening to the Tri Geek Dreams Podcast right now (most recent one). After last night's football game, I am all about some football where teams come from nowhere (Louisville, Wake Forest, Boise State).
So here are my stats from December 23rd. I was out with Kevin (GA Tech Cycling team), and it was really, really windy, but our average came out better than expected.
Course: Silver Comet Trail - Georgia
Time: 1:12:25
Distance: 20.86mi
Avg Speed: 17.2 mph
Max Speed: 25.3 mph (this was on flat ground actually, don't ask me how this happened in windy weather, because I do not remember).
Yes, I am the biggest slack ass you guys (and gals) know. I have been thinking, I am going to try working on my training schedule the rest of the week, and then (FINALLY, LAZY BUTT!) start my 2007 season (officially) over the weekend.
I really need to get my schedule and training under control, and then I will be able to better execute when I actually have a plan. (See I am now writing the rest of this a day later).
Alright I am going to bed now, worked both jobs today.
Murtha...
Saturday, December 23, 2006
A little inspiration...
Good Morning,
Yes, I have been a slacker this week. Between Christmas parties, Christmas shopping, and whatever else I was doing at the time, it kept me from working out. No, that is not an excuse.
I am going out for a ride with my Georgia Tech cycling buddy today. Weather is nice it is going to be about 65 degrees this afternoon.
I have had a post that I have been wanting to put up on both my sites, due to the fact it is both sports related and a good post in general. For some reason I never got around to doing it. Since it is slow today, I thought it appropriate.
My best friend Matt is a Police officer with the Peachtree City (GA) Police Department. I have known him for about 12 years now, longer than any other friend I have known AND kept in touch with. We have always been there for each other, and inspired each other with lots we have done. When it comes to sports, Matt was very involved with martial arts when he was younger, and is still involved with weightlifting, although not at the same intensity that he used to. Due to the physical problems that have developed from weightlifting, he does not really get involved in sports where there is a lot of running or long term physcial stressors involved (unless their are breaks, timeouts, etc...). I on the other hand, have been doing some sort of physical sport, whether organized or personal, since I was about eight. The triathlon phase of my life (which I hope will now continue until I die) has now been in full swing for almost two years now, and he has seen me and supported my efforts. I always nag him, that he should get involved in running or triathlons, but he always says he could not make it the first mile. Whenever we used to work out at the same gym, I would sometimes get there just a bit earlier so I could run for a longer period of time than him, before we worked out. Recently his wife has gotten involved with running and has now completed a couple of 5K road races that were local ones in Peachtree City.
Weeks ago, I was working on Saturday morning, and I got a phone call on my cell around 10:30a or so. I called Matt back on my work phone and asked him what was going on. Right now he works the night shift, so he usually does not call me in the morning unless it is something semi-important. He called to tell me that he had just completed his first 5K event! He did admit that he walked and ran the event, but that he finished. It also happened to be the weekend when it was 18 degrees outside that Saturday morning. For those of you who have never lived in the SE United States, 18 degrees is damn cold for us. But he completed the event anyways. He said it was a really good experience, and that he would like to repeat so that maybe one day we could both run together in one.
I do not know all of his reasons for completing this event, whether it was solely for health reasons, wanting to do one with his wife, etc..., but I would like to think I had some small part in him completing his first event. Needless to say that I am very proud of him, that he was motivated enough to complete something he did not think he could do, and did anyways.
I will post some more later today with my bike stats for the day, so I am not quite done yet...
Yes, I have been a slacker this week. Between Christmas parties, Christmas shopping, and whatever else I was doing at the time, it kept me from working out. No, that is not an excuse.
I am going out for a ride with my Georgia Tech cycling buddy today. Weather is nice it is going to be about 65 degrees this afternoon.
I have had a post that I have been wanting to put up on both my sites, due to the fact it is both sports related and a good post in general. For some reason I never got around to doing it. Since it is slow today, I thought it appropriate.
My best friend Matt is a Police officer with the Peachtree City (GA) Police Department. I have known him for about 12 years now, longer than any other friend I have known AND kept in touch with. We have always been there for each other, and inspired each other with lots we have done. When it comes to sports, Matt was very involved with martial arts when he was younger, and is still involved with weightlifting, although not at the same intensity that he used to. Due to the physical problems that have developed from weightlifting, he does not really get involved in sports where there is a lot of running or long term physcial stressors involved (unless their are breaks, timeouts, etc...). I on the other hand, have been doing some sort of physical sport, whether organized or personal, since I was about eight. The triathlon phase of my life (which I hope will now continue until I die) has now been in full swing for almost two years now, and he has seen me and supported my efforts. I always nag him, that he should get involved in running or triathlons, but he always says he could not make it the first mile. Whenever we used to work out at the same gym, I would sometimes get there just a bit earlier so I could run for a longer period of time than him, before we worked out. Recently his wife has gotten involved with running and has now completed a couple of 5K road races that were local ones in Peachtree City.
Weeks ago, I was working on Saturday morning, and I got a phone call on my cell around 10:30a or so. I called Matt back on my work phone and asked him what was going on. Right now he works the night shift, so he usually does not call me in the morning unless it is something semi-important. He called to tell me that he had just completed his first 5K event! He did admit that he walked and ran the event, but that he finished. It also happened to be the weekend when it was 18 degrees outside that Saturday morning. For those of you who have never lived in the SE United States, 18 degrees is damn cold for us. But he completed the event anyways. He said it was a really good experience, and that he would like to repeat so that maybe one day we could both run together in one.
I do not know all of his reasons for completing this event, whether it was solely for health reasons, wanting to do one with his wife, etc..., but I would like to think I had some small part in him completing his first event. Needless to say that I am very proud of him, that he was motivated enough to complete something he did not think he could do, and did anyways.
I will post some more later today with my bike stats for the day, so I am not quite done yet...
Saturday, December 16, 2006
NO!!!!! NOT THE BIKE!!!!! OH THE AGONY!!!!
Hello All,
Well Wednesday night I went for another swim, and saw a few of the guys I had met on Monday night there. I kind of kept track this time. I know you guys (and girls) are saying I need a set training schedule, but I really need to get back on the ball before I can "do any tricks." I basically did a warmup, and then a 400M free main set, and then a 8 X 50M free sprint set. I finished up by sitting in the hot tub.
Friday I was going to work out, but I had some community service to complete. Don't ask. Long story. The weather has been nice here in Atlanta, and my community service for the day was to rake leaves at one of the cemetaries in downtown Atlanta. I raked leaves all day long, and I swear I raked at least an acre by myself. It actually got warm enough yesterday that I could have work shorts there (but it was cold in the morning). I burned so many calories doing that, when I finally got home and took a shower I did not want to do anything else. So Friday's workout was 8 hours of raking and bagging leaves. There is your CROSS TRAINING for you!
I am thinking about hitting the pool again today here in a little while. Jackie and I are going to ride the Silver Comet trail tomorrow for some base riding. Oh, and her sister totally hit her bike with the car when coming in from downtown late last night, and I will have to plug CYCLEWORKS big time for this one. Jackie was devastated when she saw what happened, since she was going to ride today. So she took the bike to Cycleworks where she bought it and they fixed the whole thing for FREE! And it was not even the store's fault. They kick ass.
Well I hope everyone is having a productive workout weekend, as the weather here in the SE United States kicks butt this weekend.
Murtha...
Well Wednesday night I went for another swim, and saw a few of the guys I had met on Monday night there. I kind of kept track this time. I know you guys (and girls) are saying I need a set training schedule, but I really need to get back on the ball before I can "do any tricks." I basically did a warmup, and then a 400M free main set, and then a 8 X 50M free sprint set. I finished up by sitting in the hot tub.
Friday I was going to work out, but I had some community service to complete. Don't ask. Long story. The weather has been nice here in Atlanta, and my community service for the day was to rake leaves at one of the cemetaries in downtown Atlanta. I raked leaves all day long, and I swear I raked at least an acre by myself. It actually got warm enough yesterday that I could have work shorts there (but it was cold in the morning). I burned so many calories doing that, when I finally got home and took a shower I did not want to do anything else. So Friday's workout was 8 hours of raking and bagging leaves. There is your CROSS TRAINING for you!
I am thinking about hitting the pool again today here in a little while. Jackie and I are going to ride the Silver Comet trail tomorrow for some base riding. Oh, and her sister totally hit her bike with the car when coming in from downtown late last night, and I will have to plug CYCLEWORKS big time for this one. Jackie was devastated when she saw what happened, since she was going to ride today. So she took the bike to Cycleworks where she bought it and they fixed the whole thing for FREE! And it was not even the store's fault. They kick ass.
Well I hope everyone is having a productive workout weekend, as the weather here in the SE United States kicks butt this weekend.
Murtha...
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Slowly but Steady...
Hi Folks,
I am getting there, I promise you. I really want to update my blog for next year as well, so we will see if I can create some kind of banner and maybe some other cool stuff. If you have any idea how to create all that cool stuff you see on these other blogs, or you went to some website and paid to have it done, just let me know how you did it. Thank you.
I eluded to Saturday's run in my last post. By the way, even though the post says December 2nd, I finally finished it on December 9th. Here is how it panned out.
Distance: ~3 miles (do not have a pedometer or Garmin, and where I live I have not measured it out by car yet)
Time: ~31 minutes
Pace: 10:20/mi
I was really taking it easy, seeing as how the last time I ran was when??? Oh yeah, long time ago.
Monday night I went swimming for the first time since October 8th. Ok, yes you can scold me now. I spent about 30 minutes in the pool, although I was not swimming the enitre time. I am going to the gym in about 15 minutes and I am going to run on the treadmill for a little warmup, and then I am going to spend a bit more time in the pool tonight.
I am going to have a bit of free time, oh wait, no I am not. Well I will FIND some time this weekend to get a full schedule going, with weight training.
If you have not seen my post on raceAthlete.com about weight training, check it out here.
Speaking of raceAthlete.com, I just have been trying to get caught up on everyone's blogs, and I saw the new cycling Jersey for 2007 for team raceAthlete. I definately want to get one.
Oh well, it is off to the gym for me, and hopefully this will finally be the start of my 2007 season!!!
Here we go.......
Murtha...
I am getting there, I promise you. I really want to update my blog for next year as well, so we will see if I can create some kind of banner and maybe some other cool stuff. If you have any idea how to create all that cool stuff you see on these other blogs, or you went to some website and paid to have it done, just let me know how you did it. Thank you.
I eluded to Saturday's run in my last post. By the way, even though the post says December 2nd, I finally finished it on December 9th. Here is how it panned out.
Distance: ~3 miles (do not have a pedometer or Garmin, and where I live I have not measured it out by car yet)
Time: ~31 minutes
Pace: 10:20/mi
I was really taking it easy, seeing as how the last time I ran was when??? Oh yeah, long time ago.
Monday night I went swimming for the first time since October 8th. Ok, yes you can scold me now. I spent about 30 minutes in the pool, although I was not swimming the enitre time. I am going to the gym in about 15 minutes and I am going to run on the treadmill for a little warmup, and then I am going to spend a bit more time in the pool tonight.
I am going to have a bit of free time, oh wait, no I am not. Well I will FIND some time this weekend to get a full schedule going, with weight training.
If you have not seen my post on raceAthlete.com about weight training, check it out here.
Speaking of raceAthlete.com, I just have been trying to get caught up on everyone's blogs, and I saw the new cycling Jersey for 2007 for team raceAthlete. I definately want to get one.
Oh well, it is off to the gym for me, and hopefully this will finally be the start of my 2007 season!!!
Here we go.......
Murtha...
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Here I am!!!
Hi All,
Yes, I am alive. If you look at my last post below, I will have to say I did not get better (finally) until about the 26th-27th. Since this thing was viral, my body had to fight it, and it had a real problem getting rid of this sinus cold or whatever the hell I had. I did OJ, Odwalla Citrus C Monster, Chicken Soup, Sleep, Rest, Not going out, basically everything you are supposed to do. I was able to get out last weekend (two days in a row!) and ride on the Silver Comet Trail. Here are the stats;
11/18/2006
Distance: 20 miles
Time ??? (I really did not care, Jackie and I were taking it easy that day)
Avg Speed ???
11/19/2006
Distance: 36 miles
Time: ~2 hours
Avg Speed: ~18mph
11/26/2006
Distance: 33.29 miles
Time: 1:55:50
Avg Speed: 17.2 mph
Max Speed: 25.8 mph
(There was a hell of a lot of wind this day. Real big pain in the ass. Made have a bit more appreciation for people who have been on the Queen K.)
So I am about four weeks behind (I am finishing this post on 12/09/2006) in my "2007 Triathlon Season." I am not too worried, since I was getting started extra early. I was trying to get "ahead of the game" so I would not have to worry about sickness, proper taper before first race, etc. Well I blew my wad with the sickness deal. I did get a few emails from a couple of you wondering where in the heck I was. I appreciate it.
I am also trying to get a second job to pay down some debt and get some money saved in the bank. I have had a stacked schedule like this in college at one time, but I was not training for triathlons. So I will have to see how this whole thing is going to work out. I think I am going to have to do fewer, but more quality workouts each week. I know from experience that the minute you try to do too much, your body is going to break down and you are going to have problems (i.e. pneumonia, acute sinusitus, etc... basically stuff I have gotten from overdoing it).
I went out running today for about three miles I think (I will have to measure it when I take my bike out next time). It was at the Silver Comet Trail. The temperature was about 49 degrees. I was a bit bundled up, but I ended up leaving most of it in the car, and I was just fine. It is that first few minutes of stretching and getting ready to run that kills me in the cold.
I hope all of you have had a great past 3-4 weeks with the holidays and your off season training. I am going to try and get caught up on some of your older posts, so don't be suprised if you see me commenting on something that you don't remember writing about the previous day.
Going to cut down my Christmas tree tomorrow. Have a great weekend!
Murtha...
Yes, I am alive. If you look at my last post below, I will have to say I did not get better (finally) until about the 26th-27th. Since this thing was viral, my body had to fight it, and it had a real problem getting rid of this sinus cold or whatever the hell I had. I did OJ, Odwalla Citrus C Monster, Chicken Soup, Sleep, Rest, Not going out, basically everything you are supposed to do. I was able to get out last weekend (two days in a row!) and ride on the Silver Comet Trail. Here are the stats;
11/18/2006
Distance: 20 miles
Time ??? (I really did not care, Jackie and I were taking it easy that day)
Avg Speed ???
11/19/2006
Distance: 36 miles
Time: ~2 hours
Avg Speed: ~18mph
11/26/2006
Distance: 33.29 miles
Time: 1:55:50
Avg Speed: 17.2 mph
Max Speed: 25.8 mph
(There was a hell of a lot of wind this day. Real big pain in the ass. Made have a bit more appreciation for people who have been on the Queen K.)
So I am about four weeks behind (I am finishing this post on 12/09/2006) in my "2007 Triathlon Season." I am not too worried, since I was getting started extra early. I was trying to get "ahead of the game" so I would not have to worry about sickness, proper taper before first race, etc. Well I blew my wad with the sickness deal. I did get a few emails from a couple of you wondering where in the heck I was. I appreciate it.
I am also trying to get a second job to pay down some debt and get some money saved in the bank. I have had a stacked schedule like this in college at one time, but I was not training for triathlons. So I will have to see how this whole thing is going to work out. I think I am going to have to do fewer, but more quality workouts each week. I know from experience that the minute you try to do too much, your body is going to break down and you are going to have problems (i.e. pneumonia, acute sinusitus, etc... basically stuff I have gotten from overdoing it).
I went out running today for about three miles I think (I will have to measure it when I take my bike out next time). It was at the Silver Comet Trail. The temperature was about 49 degrees. I was a bit bundled up, but I ended up leaving most of it in the car, and I was just fine. It is that first few minutes of stretching and getting ready to run that kills me in the cold.
I hope all of you have had a great past 3-4 weeks with the holidays and your off season training. I am going to try and get caught up on some of your older posts, so don't be suprised if you see me commenting on something that you don't remember writing about the previous day.
Going to cut down my Christmas tree tomorrow. Have a great weekend!
Murtha...
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