tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-92208722677254132332024-03-19T01:39:58.738-07:00Gettin' ChickedJZhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514132334376085930noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220872267725413233.post-59845184058233245452010-09-22T19:01:00.000-07:002010-09-22T20:21:21.658-07:00Rev3 Cedar Point Iron Man<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaJj8OKlPAh6v7-22F_h7D07cP8lk6pCQDY4xZ4NPVovszSb0MwmRJddvjPnf4B2TnGKNvwHaBGsixZ0NOvbPYZ0EnVz01PVUHQ8y5WCUJPTLhL92mPoreZZ2W5G9fY1dx2gFeYarbK6U/s1600/86.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaJj8OKlPAh6v7-22F_h7D07cP8lk6pCQDY4xZ4NPVovszSb0MwmRJddvjPnf4B2TnGKNvwHaBGsixZ0NOvbPYZ0EnVz01PVUHQ8y5WCUJPTLhL92mPoreZZ2W5G9fY1dx2gFeYarbK6U/s400/86.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519933109237840066" /></a><br /><br />This here is my race report from the Rev3 Cedar Point full triathlon on September 12th. It was an Ironman distance race--2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and a 26.2 mile run. Katie and I have been training hard for the race since January. This post is long, but I get paid to write long, boring, over-technical drivel and that habit is tough to shake.<br /><br />Leading up to the race.<br /><br />How the heck am I so calm before this race? That’s what I kept thinking to myself. The months leading up to the race had been a complete mess. Two bike wrecks in July, abnormally insane workload, and three days before the race I managed to catch a nasty cold. Complications from one of the bike wrecks kept me out of the pool for quite a while. I only swam four or five times in the five weeks leading up to the race. I should have been super nervous. But in a weird way, all of that stuff might have actually calmed my nerves. When the race weekend finally rolled around, I was so relieved just to make it there before the wheels rattled off completely that I didn’t get nervous. At all. And that’s strange for me. Even little sprint triathlons can make me a bit anxious.<br /><br />Pre-Race<br /><br />Katie and I went for a relatively short ride the day before the race, loaded up the car and then headed to Sandusky. We hit the expo, dropped off the bikes in transition, covered them with drop cloths to keep the rain off and then checked into our hotel. Then I got a call from a number I didn’t recognize. It was a Rev3 staffer. My rear tube had just exploded. It blew the tire bead off the rim and tore a big hole in the tarp. I feel like the Rev3 folks really went above and beyond. That call saved me a ton of stress on the morning of the race. <br /><br />That evening we went out to eat with our Bike Authority/Fleet Feet teammates at a crazy Italian restaurant. You had to ring a doorbell to get into the place like it was some sort of speakeasy. Katie’s mom and dad joined us and we all had a nice time. Before calling it a night, Katie and I caught up with some of our cheering section who had come up from Cleveland to watch us race. <br /><br />When we got back to the room, I took a Tylenol PM and laid down to read a bit before that stuff knocked me out. In the meantime, the wife was cracking me up. She bolted out of bed more than once to give the some folks in the hallway the stink eye. The nerve of those people! Gabbing in the hotel at the ghastly hour of 9pm. Next time, I’ll make sure to slip a Tylenol in Katie’s drink at dinner.<br /><br />Race Day<br />At 4:30, I woke up, ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and drank some Accelerade. Katie and I grabbed our transition and special needs bags and walked down the beach to the transition area. With everything set up there, it was time to head back to the hotel to grab the wetsuits and get ready to race.<br /><br />The swim. <br /><br />When the pros went off, ten minutes before us, it was the first time I felt any nerves at all. My warm up swim wasn’t great. I felt a little panicky in the water. It was colder than I imagined and I hadn’t swum for two weeks. In the chute, I lined up next to Katie about a quarter of the way back from the very front. The horn sounded and we took off into the water. I dolphin dived as much as I could in the crowd and started swimming as soon as it was deep enough to get a full pull in the water.<br /><br />It took me about a quarter mile to shake that little panicky feeling that I sometimes get in open water. My heart rate shoots through the roof and I feel like I can’t get enough air. Luckily all of that passed before the first turn and I settled into a nice and relaxed stroke. Stroke long and smooth and don’t take any risks is what I kept telling myself. Katie heard a good analogy from a friend that resonated with me throughout the whole day. He said, act as though you have a book of matches. Each time you stand up on the bike or go too hard during any part of the race, you burn a match. If you burn through all of them before the end of the race, you’ll shit the bed. 26.2 miles is an awfully long time to run with a bed you have already shat upon. Needless to say, I was determined not to burn any of those puppies in the swim.<br /><br />When I popped up out of the water after the first loop, I was right along side Brandon from the Cleveland Triathlon Club. We chatted a bit on the run to the second loop and got back in the water for the next 1.2 miles. At that point, we were a bit off of the lead swimmers, but had managed to get some distance on the main throng. That meant a lot less contact. No more people swimming halfway up my back or other idiots who randomly started breast stroke kicks whenever I tried to go around them.<br /><br />The second loop was over before I knew it and I ran out of the lake. That was easy. I couldn’t believe how good I felt. I didn’t exactly set the world on fire, but all in all, I wasn’t disappointed. The long point to point swims Katie and I did with some of our CTC buddies were absolutely key. I cannot recommend them enough for folks racing the longer races.<br /><br />T1<br /><br />I took my sweet time in transition. One of the awesome volunteers sprayed me sunscreen and helped me bag up my stuff. On the way out, I hit the port-a-potty then grabbed my bike. It took about six minutes. That’s pretty bad—even for me.<br /><br />Bike<br /><br />112 miles. Holy crap. This is going to be rough. Just don’t overcook it. If you bike too hard, you’ll beg for death during the run. Why am I passing so many people in the first few miles? Heart rate? It’s low, ok good. The only other long race I did this year, the Musselman half iron involved a lot of walking. I executed poorly and didn’t eat or drink enough on the bike. Repeat those mistakes and the wife will hunt you down and crush you with impunity.<br /><br />My goal for the bike was to average 20mph over the 112 miles. That’s not screaming fast, but respectable, at least as far as I am concerned. With the wind coming out of the west at a pretty good clip, I knew I would have to be fast for the first 40 miles or so before the wind starting working against me. I hit mile 40 averaging 21mph. I had lost a bit by mile 60, but I was still under the 3 hour mark. I saw the CTC/BAFF lunatics all over the course. Their yelling and screaming helped more than you can imagine. At about mile 50, teammate Steve Thompson screamed past me after saying hello. Steve rocked the half iron course. Dude is fast. Right about that time, I was starting to get a bit uncomfortable. I had been eating and drinking a ton and my stomach was starting to hurt. I backed off on the nutrition a bit by skipping one of my 30 minute feeding times and then went back to normal.<br /><br />Mile 80 I stood up on the bike to let some air out to help the old gut a bit. There wasn’t anybody around me, so no one would hear a thing and at that point I didn’t care anyway. Wait! Did I just mess my drawers? You idiot!!! I had 32 miles left to bike and then 26.2 miles to run. And no clean shorts to change into. How do you run a marathon in shitty drawers? I thought, “Maybe you didn’t—maybe you’re just sweaty. Maybe someone will have a hose I can use.” Messy or not, there wasn’t anything I could do about it now. So, I just pushed on.<br /><br />Those last 32 miles were right into the teeth of the wind. They were absolutely brutal. I watched my average speed drop like it was hot. 20.6…20.5…20.4…20.3…20.2…20.1. You get the picture. With about 20 miles to go, I got dropped by a group of riders. I knew a couple of them. It was a test. Do I stand up and run them down or stick to my plan and ride to run? I let them go. Sticking to the plan sucks. The final 4 miles of the bike took approximately 11 months and I wanted off of the bike. What sort of moron runs a marathon after this? If there had been a bridge near the transition area, I might have thrown my bike off it. I was having little daydreams about my running shoes, which is not like me at all. Normally, I love my bike. I keep it in the dining room, not in the garage with the mountain bike. But right now, I wanted it to disappear.<br /><br />As I got back into Cedar Point, I completely forgot to take my shoes off before I got to the transition. Once the race volunteer grabbed my bike for me, I ran to my bike to run bag in my bike cleats. Dummy. <br /><br />T2<br />Another slow transition. Sunscreen. Bathroom. Immodium. I can’t pee while I am swimming and I refuse to do it on my bike. Tons of people do, but like I said, I keep that thing in my dining room. That means I had to use the port a potty. That cost me a minute or two. And in case you’re wondering, I did not check the status of my drawers. I just didn’t want to know. After that, I grabbed my water bottle and I went out for a jog.<br /><br />Run<br /><br />I had never run more than 20 miles, so this ought to be interesting, I thought. My goal was to try to run the whole way and keep my heart rate in check. Hips out, shoulders back, feet landing underneath me. Run like you’re getting pulled by a rope around your waist. I’d be lying if I said that was how I expected it all to shake out, but that was the goal nonetheless. I started slow—more or less a trot. It wasn’t quite a shuffle, though that would come later. There were aid stations every mile and in the end that was crucial. It allowed me to break the race into manageable chunks. I ran from water stop from water stop. The race, they say, begins at mile 18. I just wanted to get there before I was out of gas and running on guts. Oh, and I wanted to get there before Katie ran me down. Seeing my family and friends spread throughout the course helped me too. They were spread out at three or four different points on the course and they gave me something to look forward to. Running that distance can give you a bunch of time to think about things like how bad your legs/feet/back/feelings hurt. They helped me avoid that.<br /><br />I ran with BAFF teammate Janet a couple times (she chicked me, by the way.) I ran with CTC teammate Brandon for a little while. He was running strong and smooth. I ran with the Masters swim coach who gave me some lessons this spring. Christian, my insane BAFF teammate who was volunteering that day, rode along side me on his bike for a couple of miles. He was playing inspirational ring tones on his phone for me. If that sounds ludicrous, that’s because it was. But it got my mind off the various body parts that were starting to hurt. You can’t put a price on that. Friends Erin and Patrick were volunteering at the water stop at miles 9 and 22. Those two are terrific athletes and were super encouraging. I loved seeing them out there. Katie’s family camped out near the start/turn-around/finish of the race. They were incredible with signs, balloons and Team Z t shirts. My friends Katie, Megan and Melissa were there too. Going nuts. Megan apparently got warned by a race official for running along side of Katie and me. They had some awesome signs. The best read “Josh runs like a girl.” That one made me laugh. If that means I run like my wife, then consider me flattered.<br /><br />At about mile five, I really started feeling like crap. Come on, Immodium. I ditched the rest of the Accelerade I had been drinking and switched to ice water. The week before the race, one of my best buds, Rocky, who is a pretty successful ultra runner, gave me some advice. If you run out of gas or hit the wall, just keep pressing as hard as you can manage. You will come out of it if you stick with it. At mile 9, I finally started to feel better and picked up the pace. Now I was back scorching the earth at a 10:00/mile pace. I’d quicken the pace even more as time went on. <br /><br />At about the halfway point, I started feeling a little emotional. I thought to myself that I had better start watching some football or something because I was turning into a sissy. A little later on, the burn in my hamstrings, calves and the vertical muscles in front of my hips erased those silly thoughts. Thank goodness.<br /><br />In the sun, it was starting to feel pretty hot. I topped off my bottle with water and ice every water stop and took my Gu and salt pills every 40 minutes just like I planned. I dumped cups of ice into the little pockets over my kidneys. After a while, the Gu started to taste like turkey buzzard vomit. Worse than onions. I kept on it though. At mile 20 I damn near puked after eating a Gu. That will be enough of that. I switched to drinking coke and eating grapes at the water stops in stead. Man they tasted great. At mile 22, I felt like I was home free and started to push a little. <br /><br />After a few minutes, I was back in Cedar Point. I can’t describe the feeling of finishing this race. I am still processing it now. It was unreal. I can definitely understand how people get hooked on it. I floated the last couple of miles. Nothing hurt. I finished in 11:40. Katie came across soon after and looked strong. What an awesome day. I stuck to the plan and didn’t beg for death even once. And those matches I mentioned earlier, I didn’t light any until the last few miles. <br /><br />In the week since, I have been thinking about ways I could have made the race even better. Maybe I should have biked a bit harder, or swam a little faster, or pushed a bit earlier in the run. That’s exactly what is so diabolical about this sport. You control almost everything but the course and the weather. You don’t have to worry about anyone else—just the clock. And that son of bitch is relentless.<br /><br />So now that I got that out of my system, what’s next? I don’t know. Maybe I’ll learn karate.JZhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514132334376085930noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220872267725413233.post-75106032255765367662010-02-16T10:23:00.000-08:002010-02-16T10:55:54.476-08:00Race Schedule Taking Shape: All This Stuff Seems Like a Good Idea to Me NowHere's what is on tap for 2010, thus far. I'll probably pick up a couple more road races and at least two or three more triathlons. We'll see how smart I feel when it's all said and done.<br /><br />Signed up and paid for:<br /><br />March 13 - St. Malachi's 5 miler (Cleveland)<br />April 24 - Hermes 10 Miler (Cleveland)<br />July 11 - Musselman Half Ironman (Geneva, NY)<br />August 8 - Greater Cleveland Triathlon, Olympic Distance (Mentor, OH)<br />September 12 - Rev3 Cedar Point 140.6 Ironman (Sandusky, OH)<br />October 22-23 - Bourbon Chase Relay, 200 mile 12 man relay (Bourbon County, KY)<br /><br />Races I'll almost certainly do:<br /><br />May 16 - Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon, Half Marathon (Cleveland)<br />July 10- Winking Lizard Shot In The Dark, 4 miler (Cleveland)<br />July 25 - Fairport Harbor Pirate Triathlon, Sprint (Fairport Harbor, OH)<br />August 22 - Bellfaire Biathlon, 5k run, 13mi bike (University Heights, OH)JZhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514132334376085930noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220872267725413233.post-54678765986355841642010-02-14T16:55:00.000-08:002010-02-14T17:11:41.885-08:00Week of February 8th -14th<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us/bike/images/tow1.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 257px; height: 193px;" src="http://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us/bike/images/tow1.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />I am sick of the winter. This week's totals:<br /><br />Swim - 5 miles. Maybe a little less. I had to cut one swim a bit short due to work crap.<br /><br />Bike - 4:10. I am definitely ready to ride outside, but I am not doing it in this weather. My trainer is sucking years off my life. <br /><br />Run - 15.5 miles. About 5.5mi of tempo and intervals on the treadmill earlier this week and then about ten outside today with the wife. Before this week, I hadn't done any higher heart stuff in quite a while. I was pretty anxious about it, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I repeated a bunch of quarter miles at a six minute mile pace. I repeated some half miles just before that at around a 6:30 pace. All with a heart rate of 170 or below-well, all except for the last one.<br /><br />Above is a photo of the trail we run on Sundays. It's white and frozen now though.JZhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514132334376085930noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220872267725413233.post-14660593310816454412010-02-11T19:37:00.000-08:002010-02-11T20:18:02.622-08:00Gettin' Multitasked<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogs.communication.utexas.edu/groups/thetimesofourlives/weblog/715f9/images/7c38b.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 296px; height: 398px;" src="https://blogs.communication.utexas.edu/groups/thetimesofourlives/weblog/715f9/images/7c38b.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Right after the bar exam, I practically lost my mind. All of the sudden I had more time than I knew what to do with. I went from working all day and then studying for 6-8 hours when I got home to coming home with nothing to do. It sucked. I didn't know what to do with my evenings. My parents got so sick of hearing "I'm bored" from me that they bought me a Playstation. I am a little worried that I'll feel the same way after this race in September.<br /><br />I have been hitting 10-12 hours of workouts per week pretty regularly. Those hours will be double that at the peak of the summer, but I have been picking up a bunch of other time commitments too. There has been a little legal work on the side for some friends. I just got elected to the board of directors of a community development corporation. Campaigning tied up a bunch of evenings. Thank goodness that's over. I've also been helping out with some family issues. Don't get me wrong, I like being busy. If there isn't a ton of stuff on my plate, I can be lazy. The amount of work we have to do always seems to expand to fill our hours. <br /><br />Workout summaries from the past three weeks:<br /><br />January 18-24<br /><br />Swam 5 miles<br />Biked 3:50<br />Ran 16+ miles<br /><br />January 25-31<br /><br />Swam 5 miles<br />Biked 3:40<br />Ran 12 miles<br />We went skiing in N.Y. over the weekend, so that wiped out some of my running over the course of the week. 7 hours of skiing.<br /><br />February 1-7<br /><br />Swam 5 miles<br />Biked 5:30<br />Ran about 21 miles<br /><br />This week will be a little lighter, but there is a bit more intensity. Tomorrow is my first day off in two weeks. I probably won't know what to do with myself.JZhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514132334376085930noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220872267725413233.post-43047739088153487402010-02-11T18:43:00.000-08:002010-02-11T20:21:00.567-08:00Runnin' Slow<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.cringel.com/files/images/adia-2007-11-26-DSC-1266-bowl-hot-sour-soup-tom-yam-goong-thailand-koh-samui-cringel.com.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 568px; height: 379px;" src="http://www.cringel.com/files/images/adia-2007-11-26-DSC-1266-bowl-hot-sour-soup-tom-yam-goong-thailand-koh-samui-cringel.com.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />This year I decided to get a bit more scientific with all this triathlon training crap. Last year was the first year that I actually planned some workouts in advance and kept what you might even consider to be a workout journal. Now I have a real plan. It's from the Internet, so it's awesome.<br /><br />Part of this training plan involves a lot more heart rate based training. I've had a heart rate monitor for a while and I had been wearing it. Problem is, up until now, I just kinda stared at the thing. It was a novelty--something to take my mind off the whistling noise my lungs make when I am gassed. Actually using the thing properly has been rough, and for the first month or so, I nearly stopped using it. I am teaching my body to do the same amount of work without letting my heart rate go through the roof. We're about half way through February and six weeks into my training plan, and I am finally starting to see some results. I have no idea whether this will mean jack during a race, but I am able to do a bit more with a lower heart rate than I could earlier. And that is what I think about when I am running like a chump to keep my hr down. At 60-65% of my maximum heart rate, I can bang out some screaming twelve minute miles. At 70%, I run world class nine to ten minute miles. I understand all that jive about training your body to use more fat than the sugars in your blood stream, but I am pretty sure I can eat a bowl of soup while running that freaking slow. At 75%, which is where I spend most of my time right now, I am finally getting my pace into the low eights. That's better, but I want at least another minute off of that. We'll see if that happens.JZhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514132334376085930noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220872267725413233.post-13434132555497992752010-01-21T19:14:00.000-08:002010-01-21T19:40:40.661-08:00Flip Turns and Junk<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.moderndogmagazine.com/files/imagecache/photoentry_popup/images/photoentries/dogPaddledays.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 389px; height: 504px;" src="http://www.moderndogmagazine.com/files/imagecache/photoentry_popup/images/photoentries/dogPaddledays.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Check this crap out. I've been doing flip turns. Ok, I've known how to do them since I was 12, but refused to do them out of principle. Until now. When I was a kid, I swam in a summer swim league. My folks kept me ridiculously busy when I wasn't in school. The goal, I'm guessing, was to keep me out of a youth home. Summer swim league was one of those activities. I liked it though. It gave me a new group of friends in the summers and it was pretty fun. I was a sprinter. My stroke sucked but I could muscle through it fast enough. When my coaches made me race anything over 50 meters, I took it as a personal affront to my liberty and well-being. No Joke. There was more than one occasion where I false started on purpose or was otherwise obnoxious to show my displeasure. I certainly didn't do flip turns on anything over 50 meters.<br /><br />Needless to say, I didn't like practicing either. That makes my new dedication to the pool seem a bit ironic. Here's a kid that used to get creative in thinking of ways to shorten his workouts. I don't do that any more. Some of my old Loyalsock Gators teammates would be shocked.<br /><br />I swam two miles today. With flip turns. WTF? It's Thursday night and that puts me at 5 miles on the week so far. Oh and get this, I taught myself how to breathe bilaterally too. Tomorrow is a day off. I am ready for it.JZhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514132334376085930noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220872267725413233.post-67553498796058828302010-01-21T18:31:00.000-08:002010-01-21T19:09:59.311-08:00My Two Months in Jail Sucked, But They're Over.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://nobmob.com/system/files/images/Fat%20Guy%20In%20Spandex.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 450px; height: 684px;" src="http://nobmob.com/system/files/images/Fat%20Guy%20In%20Spandex.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Alright, maybe I wasn't really in jail. Life's just been messing with this blog. We're now less than nine months out from the Rev3 Ironman this September. It's time to quit playing grab ass and buckle down a bit. That's what I've been doing. Kinda.<br /><br />When Katie and I got back from our honeymoon, I was doing pretty good with the weight. My fitness was a different story, but at least I hadn't porked up too bad. And that's in spite of all the wine and beer and crazy fried Spanish food we gorged on. So that was good. While it lasted. Between the middle of November and the New Year--well just look at my photo. <br /><br />The good news was that I was hitting the bike trainer pretty hard and running a good bit. Mostly, I was just trying to build a bit of a base before my 36 week IM training plan kicked in. So far, so good. Fat but somewhat fit, I'll take it this time of year. <br /><br />I haven't been training too much with Katie though. Anyone who knows us knows that Katie hates training with me. I won't mince words. She dogs it when we run or bike together. And the second I open my mouth about it, HOLY shit. I'll say something like "honey, I think you could pick up the pace just a smidge. You're doing great though. Keep up the good work." Katie's response is usually straight from Full Metal Jacket. That's exactly how it goes usually. Problem is, Katie can dog it all week and then still hammer it home when she decides to. Long story short, I got Katie a coach for Christmas. Now she doesn't have to train with me. And she probably won't yell at Coach Sean when he tells her to quit screwing around. What stinks about the whole deal though is that I probably sealed my own fate. I'll no doubt be getting chicked soon. Crap.<br /><br />Last weeks training summary:<br /><br />Swam--5700m<br />Biked--3:20<br />Ran--20miJZhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514132334376085930noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220872267725413233.post-88701004683597048202009-11-11T18:23:00.000-08:002009-11-11T19:34:45.458-08:00Top Ten Observations from My Honeymoon<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8fdYW701T_3KRZX2vJmDi-qQRQR1860oMql09XWF-qw0NGCEStn0axjjv_lDWzYfXd5ijMC2TL6MG_8EXWIR8eWKxMj9T8SACQeFJhb25e1IeRxQScdyN70QS6MUINJMlDY7bAm4ITFA/s1600-h/631.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8fdYW701T_3KRZX2vJmDi-qQRQR1860oMql09XWF-qw0NGCEStn0axjjv_lDWzYfXd5ijMC2TL6MG_8EXWIR8eWKxMj9T8SACQeFJhb25e1IeRxQScdyN70QS6MUINJMlDY7bAm4ITFA/s320/631.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403037610211405058" border="0" /></a>Ok, as both of my readers know, I just got married and went on a honeymoon. We spent four days in Paris and then ten days in Spain. Here's what I observed, learned and/or did on the trip with my new wife.<br /><br />1. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE seemed to know that I was American. Sometimes, folks knew before I opened my mouth. At first I thought it was because I was carrying a camera bag. But tons of people carry camera bags there, so I think that I must have a weird sort of aura that lights up like Vegas. Or maybe I smell like apple pie. All I know is that even the Asian tourists in Paris had me pegged. So much for trying to fit in. I bought a scarf in Paris to try to remedy the situation. It did not work.<br /><br />2. Katie has a gift for languages. Or something.<br /><br />3. I did not find the French rude or impolite in the least--quite the contrary. The people were friendly and funny. The Spaniards are a bit more reserved at first. Once I managed to break the ice, they were wonderful. I felt like most of the folks we interacted with in Spain would bend over backwards for us once we established a little bit of rapport.<br /><br />4. I experienced my first little taste of married life reality in Barcelona. Katie would not let me spend 130 Euros on a pair of blue suede shoes. I guess I knew this sort of stuff would happen eventually. What a bunch of b.s.<br /><br />5. We did tours in every city we stayed in. Three of them were bike tours. I cannot recommend them enough. It really helped us get our bearings and nail down the things we wanted to do in the cities. The guides always had interesting little pearls of wisdom. See No. 6, to learn some more.<br /><br />6. In Barcelona, it is legal to walk around completely nude. However, you will get arrested if you put on a shirt. Pants and no shirt = ok. No shirt and no pants = ok. Shirt and no pants = not ok. <br /><br />7. In Paris, we did a night bike tour on Halloween. Riding bikes in a group of 20 at night on the streets of Paris while being led by a complete lunatic was insane. The photo above is our guide for the evening. Yes, that is a plastic bag on his head. The tour lasted four hours and we never saw his actual face. He spent the night running red lights, leading us down bus only lanes and scaring pedestrians. I highly recommend Fat Tire Bike Tours. They do tours in Paris, London, Barcelona and Berlin. We hooked up with them in Barcelona too. It was just as good.<br /><br />8. Katie and I drank 127 gallons of Sangria and ate at least 50 pounds of calamari. I didn't realize it at the time, but the wife managed to work some calamari into the menu for each day in Spain. Don't order a margarita in Spain. Ever.<br /><br />9. I would move to Spain. We spent time in three very different cities there and a full afternoon in a fourth. Barcelona is the big city on the Med. Granada is about a quarter of the size, has a huge Moorish history and is in the mountains. Malaga is a 3000 year old city founded by the Phonecians and they can't till their gardens there without ending up with a huge archaelogical dig in their yards. Ronda is a tiny picturesque city perched on top of a gorge in Spanish olive country. I loved all of them. Barcelona is one of my top three favorite cities for sure. It tops Katie's list. All of the Americans and Canadians we met there seemed similarly enamored.<br /><br />10. When people ask about our trip, they all want to know how the food was. Paris and Spain both have great reputations for their food. The food was terrific, there's no doubt about that. But you know what? I kept thinking about how lucky we are here in Cleveland. The restaurants here are great, too. If you are in or around Cleveland and don't make an effort to enjoy them, you are really missing out.JZhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514132334376085930noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220872267725413233.post-3464391136236308632009-10-15T20:24:00.000-07:002009-10-15T20:46:22.149-07:002009 Race ResultsI'll hopefully come back to fill in the details this weekend, but here is what I did this year as far as the racing went. My training early in the year went pretty well. I ran a bit more than I am used to in the winter months and I spent a ton of time on the trainer with the rockin' bike that Katie got me for Christmas. Around the time of the first race, I noticed something was wrong. I ran the American Odyssey relay knowing that I was hurt, but I just didn't want to admit it to myself. It was a stress fracture in my shin. I don't ever want that shit again. I didn't run from the end of April until the second week of June. And when I finally started back up, the small amounts of time I could run were absolutely maddening. All in all I can't complain too much. I had some decent races towards the end of the summer and I still had fun doing it.<br /><br />St. Malachi Run--5mi 37:17<br /><br />American Odyssey Relay--202 miles with 11 other people. Total time--30:08:00<br /><br />NEO Kickoff Sprint Tri--I can't remember the time but it was bad. <br /><br />Milton Man Sprint Tri--2nd in my age group and 11th overall<br /><br />Cleveland Sprint Tri--3rd in my age group and 25th overall<br /><br />Fairport Harbor Tri--3rd in my age group and 18th overall (I think)<br /><br />Greater Cleveland Sprint Tri--2nd in my age group and 10th overall<br /><br />Bellefaire Biathlon--1st in my age group and 4th overallJZhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514132334376085930noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220872267725413233.post-17651765315029827262009-10-14T18:40:00.000-07:002009-10-14T19:17:14.555-07:00Two Weddings Down, One More To Go<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg22zfCOclBU5X71mTIUjp9BLRshDNqUfIjtFIYElxI6ME7_GZYI4oXGvjWlaQrsVvTj8SBPev564z-LW6fFKqlENQTc58KO9WaLjl5SHQ1EUL7P4bOda-EHmA6SMbtAuw_IL-w3rnpVrE/s1600-h/IMG_2637.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg22zfCOclBU5X71mTIUjp9BLRshDNqUfIjtFIYElxI6ME7_GZYI4oXGvjWlaQrsVvTj8SBPev564z-LW6fFKqlENQTc58KO9WaLjl5SHQ1EUL7P4bOda-EHmA6SMbtAuw_IL-w3rnpVrE/s320/IMG_2637.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392639170979301442" border="0" /></a><br />I feel like I have been out of town more than I have been home lately. I just got back from my third trip to California over the past few months. Two of those trips came in the last month. This time was for my buddy's wedding. He and I have known each other since we were 12 and there isn't anyone on the planet that I have gotten into more trouble with. It spans multiple continents. He got married in Santa Barbara and we rode tandem bikes into the ceremony. It sounds idiotic, but it worked out pretty awesome.<br /><br />The photo above is a winery in the Santa Ynez Valley--of Sideways fame. A huge group of us nabbed a limo and took a bit of a tour. The mountains were really rugged, but beautiful. Every time I go to California, I am always surprised at how brown it is.<br /><br />I suppose this is a triathlon training blog, so I'll mention that stuff. To be honest though, the training has been suffering as of late. It won't get better anytime soon either. The wedding is in ten days. After that, a couple weeks in Paris and then Spain. I have been managing to get some decent runs in though--at least 20 miles a week. Not great, but considering the jet lag, wedding planning, travel, and the seemingly endless bender, it isn't too bad. I got some open water swimming in too. That is, of course, if you count sprinting into the Pacific with minimal clothing, realizing how damn cold it was and then sprinting right back out.JZhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514132334376085930noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220872267725413233.post-19006919998610358512009-09-15T21:08:00.000-07:002009-09-15T21:31:03.089-07:00Running with Rodin<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.terragalleria.com/images/us-ca/usca30511.jpeg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 326px; height: 476px;" src="http://www.terragalleria.com/images/us-ca/usca30511.jpeg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />My first run in about a week was a good one. Katie and I were just in San Francisco and Palo Alto. At around 8am on Saturday, Katie got up and went for a swim in the hotel pool. It sucks trying to swim laps in a hotel pool, but it's better than nothing. It was probably only 12m long and with the two of us in there slapping about, it got to be like a bathtub. It might as well have been open water. There were no lines on the wall, so you never knew when you were going to slam into it. The waves were coming from every direction, so I was drinking water just like when I swim in Lake Erie.<br /><br />After the swim, we changed clothes and hopped in the car to head over to the Stanford campus. We rain for about 45 minutes all over. We stopped our watches a couple times to check some stuff out near the university chapel and again in the Rodin garden. Absolutely awesome. If you haven't seen it, the Gates of Hell sculpture is one of those things that will stick in your mind for a long time. It is a huge bronze set of doors with all sorts of 3D human figures getting sucked into what looks like a vertical lake of boiling oil on the gates. Every time I see it, I notice new stuff in it. The Gates, which are based on Dante's Inferno were commissioned for a French art museum that was never built.JZhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514132334376085930noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220872267725413233.post-39931236342130050502009-09-15T20:36:00.000-07:002009-09-15T21:08:02.372-07:00Life is F-ing with My Fitness<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijLRQ4B-ntZ43bczk8HPTrfM4Iow8n2zJ9aHZPPhJ2lSY8w2x5szW1Tp0ZK8YuqMxgFKb71qFikBwM1m26hyphenhyphen4tjh-ek6zIzhk2SyWuw68tEjAdnp2AnNTb0xztDz0d5JMfXm_iGsMzioA/s1600-h/100_1977.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijLRQ4B-ntZ43bczk8HPTrfM4Iow8n2zJ9aHZPPhJ2lSY8w2x5szW1Tp0ZK8YuqMxgFKb71qFikBwM1m26hyphenhyphen4tjh-ek6zIzhk2SyWuw68tEjAdnp2AnNTb0xztDz0d5JMfXm_iGsMzioA/s320/100_1977.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5381912049450152946" border="0" /></a><br />On October 24th, I am finally going to make Katie an honest woman. In the month and a half before our wedding, we will have been out to California for a couple of other weddings. Needless to say, it is going to be a busy fall. Sprinkle in some out of town guests here and there, a weekend of rafting in WV and a decent schedule of biking and running and there is pretty much no room for any curve balls.<br /><br />I should have knocked on wood. My dog has been having some issues for the past several months. Up until recently, antibiotics have been taking care of the problem. Or so we thought. After the last flare up, our vet gave us a referral to go get some further testing done. The new vet was not able to complete the tests because she thought she found a tumor on the dog's bladder and recommended that I get her to an oncologist ASAP. Holy shit. Bladder cancer in dogs is nasty. It is just a terrible, humiliating way for a dog to go. And it takes them quickly. Flannery is about six, lazy as hell, but she looks really young for a six year old dog.<br /><br />Basically, I lost my mind through the entire holiday weekend. How in the world would I be able to spend as much time with the dog and make her comfortable while we are going to be out of town so much in the next two months or so? I was panicked.<br /><br />Last Wednesday, we met with the oncologist. He gave the dog a nice brazilian wax (almost her entire underside is shaved) and then ran a bunch of tests. The poor dog had all sorts of stuff up her ass. No Cancer!!! Thank God. I was a freaking mess worrying about that dog. I'll worry about how much the past week cost later on, I guess.<br /><br />That's a really long way to say, that I didn't do a damn thing over the last week.JZhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514132334376085930noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220872267725413233.post-91386343691064199972009-09-06T08:00:00.000-07:002009-09-06T08:55:42.528-07:00Fall in ClevelandFall in Cleveland can make you forget about how just how awful the winters here can be. This morning was just about perfect. And I needed it. Yesterday got pear-shaped right out of the gate and I wasn't able to get a ride in like I had hoped. Sometimes life just piles up a great big shit sandwich for those you care about. I figured a nice long run this morning would help beat things back a bit and get me a little bit of perspective. I am not so sure it did that, but I do feel better.<br /><br />Katie and I got up fairly early, shook out the cobwebs and went for a pretty good run down to the lake and back. It was about 65 degrees, sunny and calm. Perfect. The airshow is down on the lakefront this weekend, so downtown was a little busier than normal. People were heading down to Burke Lakefront before 9am. We saw a couple pilots grabbing their morning coffee and the usual crowd of folks shuffling off to church.<br /><br />When we left the house, we ran along the perimeter of Tremont, out to Lorain Ave and then over the bridge to downtown. We run up 9th past the Rock Hall and then down through the warehouse district to the Detroit Superior bridge. On W. 25th, I think Katie was trying to blow me up. That kind of crap just makes the title of the blog that much more apropos. About a mile and a half from home we were inches away from getting hit by a cab. I guess a left hand turn had the rightaway to people running in the crosswalk this morning. I slapped her back window pretty hard as she buzzed us and then gave her a piece of my mind when we caught her at a stoplight. Katie was a little less polite. <br /><br />All told, we ran 8.9 miles in 1:07 (7:35/mi). I'll take it. 1200 calories in the hole before breakfast=a bunch of beer this afternoon. This afternoon we'll watch the Thunderbirds from a rooftop party downtown. Cleveland can be a pretty cool place.<br /><br />Heres the run from this morning:<br />http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3164530JZhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514132334376085930noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220872267725413233.post-49776675949181654722009-09-02T20:12:00.000-07:002009-09-15T20:35:40.535-07:00I know a bunch of folks who just finished their first Ironman. That got me thinking that maybe I should do one too. My fiancee must have been thinking the same thing because we both signed up for the Rev3 140.6 at Cedar Point on September 12, 2010. I don't get accused of being smart all that often, which probably explains a lot for me. As for Katie, I have no idea what her excuse might be. Our buddy Greg went ahead and signed up too. I suppose stupidity is contagious and we all caught it.<br /><br />So, I guess this blog is going to help me chronicle how I go about ruining the next year or so of my life getting ready for this race. I might throw some other random crap up here too. With any luck, some of this might be entertaining for a person or two besides myself. There are several local and national athletes who blog pretty regularly. I'll no doubt copy off of them quite a bit.JZhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514132334376085930noreply@blogger.com0