My goals for 2008 updated.

Well,

I got into the NYC Triathlon

I was probably one of the first 100 or so people. I signed up at 12:01 AM. They sent me a dri-fit tee from Accelerade, which is one of my favorite performance drinks.

Now for the Marathon, I have to do some very cold running for the next five weeks. I need four races to guarantee a place in the NYC Marathon.

Today I ran the God Loves, we deliver race in Central park, with a respectable, but not outstanding 8:56 per mile run. I can't shake this cough for the last month, so I'm not going to have any PR's anytime soon. 8000 runners and Joan Rivers playing emcee, making fun of Katie Holmes I believe like this.
"Katie Holmes is in the crowd to run this race"
"She's with a chinese baby and a midget"



In the next three weeks I have to run a 15K, 10K, and a 4 miler. With that, I will have two out of three goals acquired.

The NYC Half will be an open lottery. If I don't get in, I will have to substitute a local half marathon to replace the marquee race.

Keep on Runnin' with Alli(Trademarked)

208 pounds - 3 pounds lost

Some updates.

Okay, so my wife points out that I can be rather cheap in weird ways. I tend to blow off things that seem expensive, but for the most part are locks to be good products.

I was considering NutriSystem. Then when I priced out the food, I got a serious case of sticker shock.

So, what to do? Well, Alli(I don't know the keystroke for trademark) to the rescue.
has become my new dieting tool.

Simply put, so far it works. Read up on some of the treatment effects that can occur if you deviate from the rather bland diet with some fatty foods.

The treatment effects are essentially the "no no no you bad man" cop when you decide to go off your diet.

The diet itself is fairly vanilla, low fat, low calorie, but let me stress, the low fat must be adhered to. If not, the Alli product will make you pay for it.

I will weigh myself next Friday to see how I do.

My goal for 2008 updated

A quick note.

I got into the NYC Triathlon. I signed up for it at 12:01 AM on November 1st. That's one down and two to go.

For the full marathon, I have four races left to run this year for my automatic berth into the event. I just did a pre-2007 marathon race that was a five miler last week. I have one race in two Saturday's that is also a charity event. Plus three in December. Those are going to be cold races.

For the Half Marathon, I have to cross my fingers for luck in the lottery or join a charity for a defined spot. That lottery will occur in May 2008.

I didn't get to weigh myself today (oh darn, too bad) but I will before I post next.

It truly sucks to get old at times.

Weight 211.


I can run an 8 minute mile. I can do a triathlon. I cannot seem to get under 200 pounds. At 39 years old, I find that I cannot lose a damn pound unless I'm nearly starving myself.

So, I'm going to embarrass myself to do it. I'm going to start a regimented diet, and I'm considering some of the more known diets like Weightwatchers or NutriSystem.

Either way, every time I post I will be posting the current weight. My ideal goal for the short term is 12 pounds by December 31st. So that will level off to about 1.5 pounds of weight loss per week.

So if I post my weight and in the slim chance that someone actually reads this blog, I will have the incentive to lose a bit of weight because someone will call me on the carpet if I don't.

40 and fit is now my goal for 2008

I had been basically slowing down these last couple of weeks since the Triathlon. I have been working out maybe three times a week, and nothing really heavy involved.

What I do not want to happen is to lose the gains that I've made. But, to be honest, it's a tough thing to keep yourself motivated when all you want to to is "stay in shape". The holidays, work, family, can easily derail you.

For me, I think I found my set of goals for 2008. Now that I've been officially bitten by the Tri bug, I knew one of my goals was to do the NYC Triathlon. So much so, I found a cable recap of the event on SNY TV and watched it. Brenda groaned when she saw what was on, but I didn't care.

But what else? Well, I am a member of NY Roadrunners. and I've always wanted to do the Marathon, so there is goal number 2. And since I had a great time at the NYC Half Marathon why not put that on the list as well? I am starting to see a pattern.

So in short, there's my goals, but I don't want to schlub my way through each event. I want to do well. So the best effort includes best preparation, I decided to set the bar of each event as follows:

NYC TRI: 2:40
NYC Half Marathon: 1:50
NYC Marathon: 3:50

I will be doing other events like some of the local runs and maybe a few other Tri's, but those are my "must do" events. And to hit those times I need to really get in gear and get in shape for them.

Too much for my 40th year of existence? I know that the midlife crisis is when a guy is supposed to go out and get hair plugs, a sports car, and a new set of threads, but in those respective categories I have too much hair (back especially) I already have the sports car, but I could use some new clothes. So hopefully all this working out will allow me to get some new duds for work and home.

More on how I plan to do this in an upcoming post.

Finished!

On September 23rd 2007 I participated and finished the Walt Disney World Triathlon in a not record breaking time of 4:23 minutes. The biggest hurdle that day was to overcome cramps and some really steamy temperatures. While it was the hardest thing I ever had to do physically, I don't regret a single minute of it.

Before I get to the triathlon details I want to thank all the people that sponsored me as a Team in Training participant. I am truly overwhelmed by the generosity of the people in my personal and professional network and I am grateful for your support. With your help (and some from my employer) we donated 6500.00 to help the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society fight blood cancers. Meeting with survivors of these diseases the night before the tri was enough to remind me that whatever I faced in the race was absolutely nothing to what people with these diseases go through. It honestly kept me going on a miserably hot day. I actually used the thought "This beats Chemotherapy" many times, when I wanted to quit. Also, I was participating with a group of over 300 L&LS participants, the event raised 1.1 millon dollars which was truly inspiring.

Now onto some of the nitty gritty for anyone who ever wants to "tri" this. I am hooked and will do some more tri's next year.

The "Geez, I wish I did this better" thoughts.

I wish I actually watched what I ate. Someone had told me, have a blast, you are working out burning calories so you can eat almost anything you want. REALITY: I did eat almost anything I wanted, but, I'm 39 years old and my body will not willfully allow me to lose weight eating the things that I ate during my training period. So, I'm going to start a serious diet on Monday. I didn't gain weight, but I certainly didn't drop thirty pounds either. Life sucks when you like to eat and you're body does what you don't want it to do with that food.

I wish I can learn to take a punch. In the swim I actually did worse than I expected, mainly because I didn't want to get kicked in the face. I took a cautious (read slowwwww) approach to the swim and wished that I had a little more guts to get into the fray. I think I could have cut out about 5 to 8 minutes off my time. I realize I will never be a fast swimmer, but I don't need to be as slow as a leaf meandering down a stream. I will take a chance the next time.

I wish I got myself truly "fitted" for my bike. While I improved on my form I probably could have used some more tuning by a real professional bike fitter. 36 miles of continuous riding and you start to notice that your seat isn't ideally placed, and that your legs could use an inch or more extension. A proper fitting could have cut out the massive cramping that I had around mile 23-25. That cost me about 10 minutes as I had to stop and walk off the charley horses ripping me from calf to 'ahem' crotch.

By the way, I met God on that road, and asked him why he/she was making my leg straighten like a 2x4 with horrific cramps that I never experienced in my life. Sadly, God did not respond with any encouragement, so I let the pain subside and continued on.

I wish I did more torturous hot weather running! Dammit. Now the focus of this event was to raise funds, have a good time, and enjoy the moments created. All that was accomplished, but heck, I wanted to break four hours at least! The run was probably the hardest thing I had to go through, even worse than the bike. (The bike generates a breeze after all)
The run was situated on a mix of shade and sunny paths that were 90-95 degrees with a relative humidity of oh 90 percent or so. It was brutal. I love running and can usually do a six mile run in 49-55 minutes. When I finally got over the golf ball sized cramps above both knees and one calf, and could run continuously, the heat just drove me back down to a walk. So the final leg was a run-walk-run-walk-run that took me 77 minutes. What was I thinking, this is Florida!! It's HOT! Next time I won't avoid training outside during a typical NY summer day.

I should have ordered a larger (much) size. These outfits are tight. Really tight. 10 pounds in a five pound bag tight. Enough said.

Sounds ugly right? Well, yes, When it was over, I wanted nothing more than to find the nearest industrial strength 10 gallon water bucket and do a swan dive into it. But there is an upside.

Why I will do this again.

Triathlons are a lot more interesting than plain old working out. You are doing something different almost everytime you train. If you hate the gym, give triathlon workouts a try. You won't be bored, because it changes. Swim one day, run the next, through some weights in, and follow up with a bike around town. And don't do what I did, throw a sensible diet into the mix and it's a sure fire bet to get into great shape.

The comraderie with your fellow particpants is fantastic. Face it, this is a competitive sport, but it's mainly a sport where you are competing against your own limits. The people you compete with are supportive and most likely will give you advice if you ask for it. In fact, I don't recall any "trash talking" throughout the entire event. At the start of the swim, there were call outs from all of the other people in my 'wave' of "good luck" "enjoy the day" and "let's have fun". Granted, you are getting these kind words from guys in tight lycra and rubber suits, but there's nothing wrong with that!

Doing it for a charity will allow you a good deed every year. While as a consultant, I didn't participate in these events because it took time away from what I thought I needed to do (work) and as a consultant, you don't ask your clients to kick in a few for a good cause.
As an employee, well, I'm still working, but I have a great employer that will do matching of funds that I collected. It's one of those perks of larger companies that not many people take advantage of. I will do this again, and feel good about doing it. I have to say that philanthropy has bitten me also, and I would like to be involved in more events like this as volunteer and participant.


All in all, this was an event that I will never forget for the above reasons and because my family was there to see me through it. Which leads me to thanking my wife Brenda and my in laws Tom and Geri in coming down with me. I also want to thank my wife for putting up with these crazy workout schedules that I was trying to fit in with work and school. I promise I will get up early in the morning from now on to get my workouts in. She's a saint and puts up with too much of my behavior quirks. Plus both my sons were there, and while there was the event, we were in Disney after all. Seeing my children as happy as I have ever seen them while meeting the Disney characters was worth every cramp that I felt on that day. We took this picture after our day at Disney was done. The boys let every scheduled nap slide and had a blast. The just caught up at the end.

Thanks again everyone.

It's all about the shoes-food-pedals and it's not cheap!

About a week away from the event and everything is getting down to the wire.

One part of the event is the bike, and to be competitive (read finish in under several hours) your bicycle needs to be at a certain level. I had bought a road bike last year, while in it's current form was perfectly fine, but doing 38 miles, it could use some improvement.

Without getting into detail, I had to upgrade the pedals, the seat, and some extra hydration storage. I'll explain each in some detail below:

Pedals: I had a casual set of cage pedals. To be fast(er) the pedals of choice are the ones that require your shoes to connect to them. Spent 250.00 for pedals and shoes.

Seat: I think I made a mistake here. I made mention that I was doing a Triathlon and that my current seat really isn't comfortable. The attendant at Ridgewood Cycle recommended a seat by Profile Design that is made for Triathlons. Well, after riding it, yes, it's made for Triathlons, but it certainly isn't that much more comfortable. I guess professional triathletes do not have nerves in their posteriors. I'll stick it out on this seat. Cost 92.00.

Hydration and Food: Hey, swimming a mile, riding 38 miles, and running 6 miles means that you are burning through some serious energy. So I purchased another hydration cannister that attaches to the handlebars. As I'm riding, I can bend forward and get fluids out of a long straw. The other item I purchased is called a Bento Box. This is a small container that can hold a couple of power bars and energy gells. It's attached to the handlebar stems and provides easy access to foods. Total costs 50.00 for both items. Both were from Profile Design.

Now, do I expect to be the next Lance, rocketing along at 25 miles per hour? Nah, I just want to finish!

Ride and Splash Workout for Sunday

I am writing this right before I jump in for my long swim of the day.

Today my early workout was a 60 plus mile trip to Hammonton New Jersey and back. The route runs through Bass River State Forest, Walden State Forest, and towns like Sweetwater. Towns in this part of New Jersey are usually made up of about 100 residents and as slow as I ride, if I blink twice, I'd miss the town.

I mapped it out as best as I could, I made some weird turns, which I didn't map. All in all, I gauged that I did a total of 65 miles.

My swim will be out of the in laws backyard. I might cut that short though, the water feels a bit cold!

Thursday Double Workout - Bike/Swim

Will be going shortly to New York Sports Club for a cycling session. followed up by yet another trip to NYSC tonight for a swim session.

Combine that with a couple of visits to DayCare Centers for the boys. We will now be a two income household again with my wife getting a job offer from a big four.(five, six?)

Saturday Blood and Guts workout.

Four more weeks left, so I have to start making my weekend workouts more of the blood and guts variety.

To that end, I decided a long ride on Route 9 in South New Jersey would suit me fine.

Sunday Workout day - Swim, run, weights

I have been thoroughly up to my eyes in work related and school related items. My training this week absolutely stunk. I swam twice, ran once and one weight training session. So today is the day for redemption. Off to www.nysc.com in Livingston.

There is a pool, treadmills and a weight circuit. Three hours of my life consumed.

After that, home and more homework.

Philanthropy can be quite hard when balancing your life.

It's gotta be the shoes...

In my earlier post about my first sprint Triathlon, I noted that I was a dweeb on the bike, with regular pedals with cages and my sneakers as my setup.

Now I'm in the process of bidding on some Specialized Carbon bike shoes, my size (10.5). I will hopefully get those and some clip on pedals by next week to get myself that one mph faster out of my rig.

On another note, I did a two a day yesterday, 5 mile run in CP and a 8PM swim training focusing on intervals in the pool. I'm beat.

The NYC Half Marathon - Done, Dusted, and got the Hand Towels?

Getting there:

I woke up on Sunday August 5th at 4:45 AM.

I got dressed, kissed my very sleepy wife, jumped into the car, and took off for Hoboken (Hoboken I'm dyyinnnnggg!)

Parked in an all night Central Parking Systems lot three blocks from the Path.

The sun still hadn't risen as I entered into the PATH station to take the next train into 33rd street.

As I got down into the platform, there was about two dozen other runners waiting for the same train. And now the comraderie builds. People nodded to each other in appreciation of the shared lunacy in waking up before six AM to punish yourself by running 13 miles.

I made a quick friend with a guy named Rick. We both commented that this should be a good race since the weather was much more agreeable than it was for the whole week. It wasn't muggy, it wasn't going to be in the 90's, and it wasn't going to rain. All in all, a good temperate day to run.

When the PATH pulled up to 33rd street, we all filed off to either the stairs to the street or the stairs to the N, R, W lines to catch a train to Central Park. Time now, 6:15 AM.

After 10 minutes and no train, I suggested to Rick that we head up to the street and share a cab. We caught one quickly and were on our way. But now the clock is ticking. All runners are supposed to be in the corrals by 6:15, otherwise you get sent to the back.

Well, we got sent to the back. I personally didn't mind, I was happy to be there and hopefully finish. My new friend vanished in the attempt to get closer to the front.

The scene:

This is my fifth or sixth race in Central Park. It never ceases to amaze me how the drive paths are much smaller when there are several thousand runners on them. It is literally wall to wall people in assorted states of workout or running gear. There are teams for charity, running clubs, individuals, all kinds of people. All with one goal in mind, run around Central Park, leave the park, run down Times Square and make a right to the West Side Highway to finish.

The start:

Speakers are placed throughout the starting corrals as the start line is probably a quarter mile away at minimum from the end of the runners. You hear the warmup speech, the national anthem, the horn going off, and then, nothing.....

Five minutes or so later you start walking towards the start line.

Ten minutes later your chip on your shoe is registered as you pass the start line.

15 minutes later you're starting to get up to your pace. (Make note: if you want a personal record, don't do it in a big event in Central Park, unless you are in the front with the elite professionals)

The race itself:

Central Park is hilly. There is little opportunities to pass people amicably, instead you have to jostle and elbow your way around slower runners (if you're actually trying to be faster) . One hour later I'm out of the park.

Getting out of the park was probably for me the most fun. There were hundreds of people screaming, stamping and shouting you on. It gave me an inspiration to finish strong. I kind of whooped with the crowd, eliciting other whoopers from runners to my immediate right.

Note: You know you're not in the NYC Marathon because in the full Marathon the hundreds is replaced by thousands. Well it is a new event, so maybe next year there will be more onlookers.

Running through Times Square is an absolute thrill. Spectators on both sides, the neon and signs brightly lit, and the stompings of runners being serenaded by bands set up along the course. See the picture? Don't I look like I'm having fun?

The logistics of the race still amaze me. New York City allowed one of it's most critical arteries, 7th avenue to be blocked free from traffic from 57th street to 42nd street. Then one half of 4nd street to the West Side Highway was blocked off. Then on top of that, the West Side Highway was blocked off to Battery Park! That is literally cutting the midtown area in half with no ability to go through.

I guess this is the reason why the race is capped at 3 hours. If you're not done in that time you're swept off the course.

42nd Street - Straight shot to the West side lot's of people on one side of the road, with the other side fenced off with a traffic jam of epic proportions. Drivers were outside of their cars watching the race.

The West Side Highway - This was the home stretch, although there was still 4 miles to go. Here I picked up my pace, figuring it was now or never to gain some respectable time. I stopped at every water stop to get a quick drink and a quick dunk. That kept me strong until....

The finish:

- All I can say is that it was CROWDED. I didn't as much run across the finish as I fast walked. You were ushered into a cattle drive to pick up some water and fruit, and take some pictures by the finish stand, plus you get a medal. I conned my way into getting two medals one for each of my sons. Also, the interesting give away were wet ice cold towels. I took two, put on on my head, one on my neck, and walked out of the chute towards the bag pickup.

The aftermath - I'm sore. No ands ifs or buts about it. I took off Monday to recoup a bit, plus I'm laying off any heavy running until Thursday.

Now that I've finished this, I'm ready to get myself even more ready for Disney.

NYC Half Marathon This Sunday August 5th 2007

I'm doing the NYC Half Marathon sponsored by Nike this Sunday.

All runners are expected to pick up their packet and timing chip at Niketown on 57th street. There, the sponsors setup kiosks to see your run gait, pick up free sunscreen, Gatorade, and advice on how to hydrate during what is going to be a a very hot race.

It seems that Nike learned from some it's mistakes last year. The map shows many more water stops and a couple of spots where Gatorade will be given out.

My plan is to take it slow. Although my hamstring isn't really hurting as much, there is no reason to trip myself by injury, which will really kill my training for the Tri.

This event is just that, an event. It's a run through New York City, and most people except maybe the elite athletes aren't going to be setting their personal best records on this course. There are too many factors that work against that thinking like:

It's starting in Central Park, which by nature isn't a fast course.
It's going to be hot.
It's going to be humid.
There's lot's of people (over 15,000 runners) to get in your way.

So, why fight it? I'm going to just relax and enjoy. It's a painful, sweaty, breath gasping sort of enjoyment, but I'll have fun nonetheless.

After this, no more events until the actual Tri. I may dabble in another sprint tri just to see if I can improve on certain aspects of my performance, but nothing bigger than that.

Good luck to all NYC Half runners this Sunday!

Bike Ride nothing major Kids playtime more important

I did my local loop 3 times last night totalling out about 15 miles. It got dark out so I forsaked the fourth loop.

Before I went out though, I played with the boys. My oldest, Brady, is becoming more of a sharing person, offering up his cars to his younger brother. Unfortunately, Griffin still tends to smash all of Brady's neatly parked cars, which usually sends Brady into a fit that requires a "Naughty Step" moment.

These are the times that I value and crave the most. With work, school, and training, I'm sacrificing my time with them and Brenda.

I have to balance my training better, and force myself into an early morning training schedule. The problem being of course, I'm not a morning person.

Thankfully my current job isn't the hardest I've had. It's actually rather routine, and I rarely have a need to work after hours at home. I had to retrain myself in that regards because usually I am an after hours worker.

In summary, more training completed, not enough time with family.

Two a day workouts.

Nothing screams "No life" like a two a day workout schedule.

But it's necessary for me as I found out this past weekend, my swimming is abysmal.

So, to that end, I'm going create a training program that will incorporate two workouts a day for at least 3 days a week.

I figure it will go something like this:

Monday - Run/Swim
Tuesday - Bike/Weights
Wednesday - Run
Thursday - Bike(Spin)/ Swim
Friday - Off
Saturday Swim/Bike Long for both
Sunday Long Run

I'm going to fiddle with this, I want to see if I can add another weight training to this, but it's hard with juggling everything else I have going on.

Although the benefit is definitely worth it. If I stick to this, I should drop probably close to 20 pounds over the next seven weeks.

Then, maybe I will consider the swimwear that shall go nameless(Speedo) for my actual race.

Nahhh.....

Either way, I'll post this up when I figure it out.

I officially did my first Triathlon

So, my first Tri, I'm pretty happy that I did it, although it wasn't the same distance of the one I will be doing in Disney in September. This is a sprint, which is usually half of what I'm expected to do in September.

The Port Republic Genesis Sprint Triathlon was held on Saturday 28 2007 starting at 8 AM. The weather was hot and muggy, but the water was warm. I finished in the back of the pack, 203 place out of 254 people, so this was not a Rocky-esque story of training to beat the champ or in this case come in the top twenty. I made some very rookie mistakes, most notably my swimming.

The race start is done in waves, where age groups go in five minute sequences. Since I was in the prime age group of 30-39 (well this year anyway) we started first. At the sound of the horn we strode quickly in and dived when it was deep enough, and off we go. We were supposed to follow a set of buoys to the end and circle around and come back the same way. Well, we did, minus me. Hence rookie mistake number 1.

The group went generally left following the buoys, me, well, I kept my head down and heartily swam to the right. Only when did the guy in the canoe yell "YOU'RE GOING THE WRONG WAY" did I poke my head up. Well, nothing like adding about 4 minutes to your time to correct your mistakes. The more embarrassing part was the fact that the waves which didn't start were passing me at a fairly good clip. So, in short, I'm going to double up on my swimming practice to improve my rather tepid pace. And I used to be on the swim team in high school.

Lesson learned: Get your head up out of the water once in a while to see where you're going.

So 19 minutes and 22 seconds later I came out of the water and ran up the beach. I got on my shirt and sneakers, sucked down some Gatorade and off I went. What became evident fairly early on is that I have decent leg power but my seat was a bit lower than it needed to be, which made it harder to go fast. Rookie mistake #2. Make sure you're biking equipment is set up properly. 16 miles and 50 minutes later I was in the second transition to the run.

As a side note, I was using my sneakers on my bike with pedals with foot cages . Many of the more serious racers had separate bike shoes which clipped into the pedals which generate more power with less effort. Optional rookie mistake 2.a: I gotta get me some of these.

The final leg of this was a 4 mile run. Now on most days a 4 mile run is no big deal for me, I can do it. Well, after 1 hour and 15 minutes of constant exercise, what was easy, well not so much anymore. I pushed myself in my normal pace in the beginning and was sucking wind by the first mile. Only when I was starting to see God did I remember that someone told me to start slow and finish strong, so I can finish in the first place. Plus, it was now about 90 degrees and blazing sun. Rookie Mistake #3, don't kill yourself to the point where you can't finish. Dial it down to where you can manage forward progression.

Total time to finish my first Tri 1:49.25. Someone said for a first time that was very good. Well, to be honest, I'm competitive. I am already planning what I want to do in my next one. I can easily achieve 189th place the next time.

It's Sunday and I'm taking it easy. I wanted to swim today but the pool wasn't open. Damn kids today, no sense of responsibility. I'm only assuming they didn't show up because of the torrential downpour that soaked the Tri-State area.

You can find my results here..remember 203rd place, way down on the bottom:
My Tri results

Remember to keep on donating, I'm almost at 1000.00 dollars now only 9k more to go:
My Team in Training Donation Page

Rest Day Today - Sprint Tri tomorrow.

Rest.

I can never get enough of it. I love sleep, but with the growing family and responsiblities I don't have much time for naps these days. I can't even remember the last one I had.

But, for training purposes, I'm going to take today off. Every body needs a break.


Tomorrow I'm planning to (read haven't signed up yet, but can if I want to) do a sprint Triathalon in Port Republic NJ.

A sprint Tri is the shortest one that an athlete can do. Typically it's a half mile swim, followed by a 15-17 mile bike ride and either a 3.1 or 4 mile run. The really good tri athletes can get this done in about an hour and a half. I'm shooting for two, with no expectations to get it done in that amount of time.

The charity Tri that I'm doing in Disney is a one mile swim, followed with a 37 mile bike ride, and a 6 mile run. In the hot Florida sun, I'm just hoping I finish....

Spin Class - Going fast, going nowhere

You know you can't get out on a bike or a run every day, so you have to find a suitable substitute.

For me it's turned into spin class as a substitute for cycling. By the time I get home, and help with the family chores, I'm too beat to go out for a loop or four. So my mid-day training is a 1 hour class at NY Sports Club.

Spin is a great workout to strengthen legs and build some climbing power, it's definitely not mistaken for a easy time.

Tomorrow another Central Park Run, swim at night (hopefully) and the Port Republic Tri on Saturday.

Central Park Run - Now on Map

My friend Joe Lee told me about a great site to map your runs and share the torture with friends. www.mapmyrun.com.

Since my NikePlus has been on the fritz and not accurate, I decided to try this out and get a handle on my running mileage since I need to know if I'm pushing myself towards finishing the NYC Half in a decent time.

Tuesday and Thursdays have been set up as my training runs with Gene. We are now up to a full loop around the park with one to two rest stops.

See the map to the right. The loop is a total of 6.27 miles. I feel good.

I have to learn how to sleep after a swim

Last night I did a training swim. I didn't do too badly, about a mile and half.

But, I made a fatal mistake. I was thirsty and stopped at Dunkin Donuts for an ice coffee. I literally sucked that down within five minutes of leaving the parking lot.

I got home and was absolutely WIRED. By the time I fell asleep it was 1:20 AM.

Lesson learned, get decaf the next time.

Weekend Wrap up - No workout Saturday - Two a day Sunday

As I sat on a VERY crowded 2 platform, I had a chance to reflect on this past weekend's training.

On Saturday I did zilch. Sesame Place was absolutely draining. Myself, Brenda, and Brady got back to the hotel at 3PM and rested up for a dinner at the always elegant Outback Steakhouse. We had our meals in relative ease and got back to the hotel at 7:15. Brenda bathed and dressed Brady and placed him in the wayy to small hotel crib.

This was the point where I would run to the gym to do work on its only treadmill. But, since we had a room and not a separate suite, we both had to "go to bed" so Brady will fall asleep.

Well, guess what? I fell asleep. The plus side is we did get 11 hours of rest.

Sunday started with a four mile slow run on the treadmill. It should appear on my NikePlus monitor. I showered up, met Brenda and Brady for breakfast and then went to Sesame Place for day two.

We left the park after two shows, some more rides, and one little boy yakking up his entire days meals (two many spinning rides). We got home in about one hour. We reunited the boys at my inlaws house and I left to start a bike run.

My bike run goes around the town of Rutherford totallying about 5 miles.

I plan to go around the route four times in the mornings which will equate to a 20 mile ride.

Not a bad workout day.

NYC Half Marathon 2 weeks away Elmo likes it!

The NYC Half Marathon is coming up on August 5th 2007. 13 miles in 75-80 degree weather.

I had to lay off some long runs due to a cranky right hamstring. For the most part it is much better, but now my thoughts of breaking 1:50 is going to "let's just finish and be happy that you can" mentality.

I will be doing a speed workout tomorrow of 10 400's at at 9:00 minute pace. Then afterwards myself, Brenda, and Brady will be off to (drumroll please) Sesame Place! The hotel we will be staying at has a small gym, so my Sunday will be a long run on a treadmill, which is less painful than a cement long run. When we return home, I'll be doing a master swim in the local YMCA.

It never ends...

See you on Monday!

Central Park Run - Too muggy

Met Gene in front of the Apple store at 7:35 this morning. Stretched and started off on the path.

Today was a bit humid, due to the excessive rain that we have had the last couple of days. So by mile 2 Gene requested a walk break, which was fine because I was having a bit of a go with my breathing. There was a young woman with a mixed German Shepard that was very friendly (the dog, not the woman). We petted and scratched (again the dog) and went on our merry way.

Took a picture while on the West Side of the loop. It's turning out to be a nice day.

Work is painful as I write this, I went to bed last night at 12:30 and I'm paying the price at 10:15 AM. Ugh this will be a lonnnnggg day.

Water torture (or how I was hot swimming in a pool)

Have you ever gotten to the point during a cardio workout when you know you hit the top of your body's capacity to produce? Your heart is racing, you muscles are pumped, and you're sweating and overheated?

Well, I was all that. Even the sweat.

The workout that Chuck gave us was intense. So intense that my body was hot from exertion. It's a weird feeling, sweating and overheated while you're in a pool. That lasted for twenty minutes after the workout was over.

I did approximately about the same amount of distance on Sunday, but I was not even tired. It is all about the intensity.

Total distance last night was 1600 meters.

Today is a run in Central Park, mid afternoon.

Training Tri-Fecta!!

My son has been going potty this week. Brenda has been working hard to recognize the signs of "potty time" and putting him on the potty. Then late this week, he pulled my wife's shirt and said "I have to go potty Mommy!" Lo and behold, she took him to the potty and hooray, he did it without any prompting or cajoling.

My son's expression said it all, he had a huge feeling of accomplishment. He did it all by himself!

I'm sure that people over the age of 80 have that same feeling by the way!

Why on earth am I talking about this? Well, today I did three, yes count em', three separate workouts. There is an expression in football training "two a day", which signifies two workouts a day. I did three! Yippeee, I did it all by myself!

Tri training needs to be intense, you're doing three distinctly different things that can absolutely drain every ounce of energy from you. You don't have the luxury of doing the swim one day and the bike and run tomorrow. So for me, doing all three in one day is a huge step.

Now I didn't do them back to back. I saddled up and did a forty mile ride in the morning which approximately was an hour and half. Since I train in South Jersey and stay at my in-laws shore house, I had to help my wife pack her car with clothes and the kids. I kissed them goodbye and went to my parents, who are also in the same area, and promptly jumped into their canal, which in South NJ is called a "lagoon". I swam there for about one hour and racked up a mile or so of long laps. I ate at my mom's (thanks again!) left and drove two hours in beach traffic back to our house.

Then I played with the kids, went to a pizza dinner, helped them to tub and bed. I then went to the running track in Rutherford and pounded out a 7 mile run. Approximate rest time in between was five hours.

All in all, there was some space between each workout. Ideally I want to start shrinking that rest time to something closer to what I would experience in an event. I have in my estimation approximately eight more Tri-fecta workouts before September.

Oh and I'm sunburned to all heck. My back is warmer than 3 mile island on it's anniversary.

Central Park Run today

I plan to do a late lunch CP run today around 2PM or so. Weather should be accomodating, it's not muggy at all.

I drove in today. I'm going to Queens later on (Shout out to the old 'hood!) to do some work for a my friend Mike's plumbing business. Traffice wasn't so bad, so I took a pic (yes, this is fairly lame, but I got inspired by the lack of traffic)

I will be training tomorrow and Sunday with some swims and long rides.

Three weeks to go before the NYC Half Marathon. I'm not ready but what the heck I'll do it anyway.

Central Park Run - 4.5 miles

I've raced in Central Park about a half a dozen times or so. It's a challenge depending on the race as there are several decent inclines and long flats.

My friend Gene and I decided to meet in front of the Apple store on 5th ave and 59th to do a casual run. Gene has a great giving streak in him as he's involved in several charities including Ronald McDonald house. Gene is going to participate in the NY Marathon this year and while assisting a wheel chair bound participant. Essentially he will be pushing the wheelchair 26 miles. I wish him well, that to me is a bit much of a challenge.

He and I decided to start running casually around the park, a six mile loop. It was a cool, crisp morning, definitely better than the weather we have been having which has been hot and muggy.

I have to say Central Park is a much different place in the morning. It truly is a beautiful place to run. I'm going to post some pictures later in the day from the CP loop where Gene and I ran.

Note: My right hamstring is barking like a whipped dog. I may have to curtail my running to shorter distances to keep myself upright. This is going to stink because I'm set to do the NYC Half Marathon sponsored by Nike.

Miles to go before I sleep.

I normally am not a cell phone camera guy, I took this picture in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE in South New Jersey as I'm riding 30 miles on one of my training rides.

You never know how tough this sort of training is until you really really get into it. I know that I can ride 30 miles, I can swim a mile (badly), and run 6 miles slowly, but I am definitely not sure I can do this all in one sitting.

This ride was especially tough. It was over 93 degrees, muggy, and the ride was absolutely filled with bugs. I kind of think I'm a camel (not built like one) where I can go without water for a bit of time. I had to the find at least four places that had at minimum a water hose. Now most of my ride looked the road above, so finding the water stops were few and very far in between.

Note to self: Bring a camelback with at least a gallon of water.

Next ride is a 50 mile treck between Washington Township and Mays Landing New Jersey.