Gettin' Multitasked

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.

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.

Workout summaries from the past three weeks:

January 18-24

Swam 5 miles
Biked 3:50
Ran 16+ miles

January 25-31

Swam 5 miles
Biked 3:40
Ran 12 miles
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.

February 1-7

Swam 5 miles
Biked 5:30
Ran about 21 miles

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.

Runnin' Slow

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.

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.

Flip Turns and Junk

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.

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.

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.

My Two Months in Jail Sucked, But They're Over.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Last weeks training summary:

Swam--5700m
Biked--3:20
Ran--20mi

Top Ten Observations from My Honeymoon

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.

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.

2. Katie has a gift for languages. Or something.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

2009 Race Results

I'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.

St. Malachi Run--5mi 37:17

American Odyssey Relay--202 miles with 11 other people. Total time--30:08:00

NEO Kickoff Sprint Tri--I can't remember the time but it was bad.

Milton Man Sprint Tri--2nd in my age group and 11th overall

Cleveland Sprint Tri--3rd in my age group and 25th overall

Fairport Harbor Tri--3rd in my age group and 18th overall (I think)

Greater Cleveland Sprint Tri--2nd in my age group and 10th overall

Bellefaire Biathlon--1st in my age group and 4th overall

Two Weddings Down, One More To Go

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.

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.

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.