Success!!!

I did it! I completed what I set out to do...complete my first triathlon. I had an absolute blast on Sunday. The course was awesome, the crowds were awesome, and my cheering section was the loudest of all! Big thanks to my wife, Heidi, my kids, and my great friends, Jon, Niki, and of course Elie!

As for my performance, I am very pleased. For my first triathlon, I placed 15th out of 81 in the Clydesdale division, with a time of 1:22:45. My splits were as follows: Swim - 16:54 (800 meters + 200 yard run up the beach), T-1 - 2:15, Bike - 35:55 (avg. 18.4 mph), Run - 27:43 (8:56 pace). I was really surprised by my swim time. When I looked down at my watch as I climbed out of the ocean, it read 14:27 and I could not believe it! I never came close to that in training, I guess the adrenaline really had an impact.

I knew I would fare well in the bike, but it was an especially fast, yet technical course. I realized you have to watch for flying water bottles coming from riders ahead of you; seems to be a common occurrence and can take you out if you are not careful. The run was tough man! It is very different than on fresh legs. I definitely felt slower on the run than I would have liked, but that just means I need more brick training!

I hope you have all enjoyed this journey with me, but now I am officially hooked on Tri. I am quickly becoming a Tri-geek, have another race scheduled for October 11 (A Day at the Beach in Hermosa) and I am planning on an Olympic Distance race in March or April of 2010. Look out Ironman...here I come!

The Journey is almost complete.

I just completed the last workout from the training plan, a short 1.5 mile run on the treadmill just to keep the legs loose. From here on out, it is time to rest up and visualize the race. I am not going to lie; I am slightly nervous, but I am equally as excited. This is really the beginning of a long journey for me. I know now, before I even complete my first race, that a Full Ironman is somewhere in my future. Some may call me crazy, but that's ok, because I am not doing it for anyone else, I am doing it for myself.

Who knows what any of us are truly capable of. The human body, and especially the human mind, are simply amazing creations and I am positive there is tremendous potential in all of us.

OK enough philosophy!!! It's time to kick ass in the Clydesdale division. Wish me luck my loyal friends and family, I am off to chase my destiny....

The Time is Nigh!!!

T minus three days and counting. I am happy to report I have continued the training program from start to finish. In addition to that, I completed the Amtrak century bike ride last Saturday with some of my closest friends. I am not sure how that will impact my race, but only time will tell.

Thanks to my friend and mentor, Tri-man (AKA Elie) for the introduction of "Brick" training to my regimen. It was definitely the missing piece of the puzzle. Brick training involves a bike and a run one after the other, so your legs can get used to the feeling of running right after getting off the bike. I can tell you it is a different feeling...it takes a little while for your legs to feel normal into the run.

My number one goal for Sunday is to "finish", but beyond that I would love to finish with a time under 90 minutes. That would put me somewhere in the middle of the Clydesdale group of about 60 competitors, at least based on last years results. Again, my goal is the finish and anything beyond that is gravy.

I still have two purchases to make before Sunday. I need a white cap or visor for the run to protect my balding head from the blazing sun and also a new pair of sunglasses, since my other pair broke on the century. (Goodbye $120) I need them though....its a must. Any donations from my loyal followers would be graciously accepted. :)

Long time, No blog!!!

I know it has been awhile, but I have been too busy training to update the log. (Yeah right...) I am pleased to report that my training continues to go well. I am setting modest goals each week and achieving some of them as I go. For example, I wanted to run three miles in under 27 minutes (faster than a 9 minute/mile pace) and I was able to achieve that last week at my daughter's Fun Run for Villa Park High School. Each year, the cross country team hosts several fun runs where the parents, friends, relatives can run along with the athletes in a three mile race around the school property. It is a fundraising effort and it really is a blast. I did not embarass my daughter too badly as I ran a 26:15 (8:45 pace), which I was pretty proud of. Of course, I felt like throwing up as I crossed the finish line, but no pain, no gain, right?

Also, one of my goals was to average at least 17 mph on the bike for the 11 mile ride as part of the race. On one of my training rides a couple of weeks ago, I averaged 18.3 mph for 11 miles as part of a 15 mile ride after work. I was pretty pleased with that, but I was spent and I know I cannot put out that kind of effort in the race, otherwise I will have nothing left for the run. I really am worried about dosing my effort out through the three events to make sure I finish that day. My number one goal is to finish and everything else after that is gravy.

Finally, this morning I was able to break the 18 minute barrier for the 800 meter swim, with a time of 17:47. I was very happy about this since swimming is definitely my biggest hurdle out of the three disciplines.

So far, so good! Keep motivating me with your words of encouragement. I really do appreciate it. T minus 19 days and counting!

7 weeks down!

That completes 7 weeks of training. I rode a 50 mile bike ride today with my good friends Paul and Jon. It was a beautiful ride down to HB, then over to Newport Beach to catch the Back Bay trail back home. The fun part of the ride was the climb up Jamboree for sure. I felt good and I think I will be well prepared for the Amtrak Century, hopefully without hurting my tri-training. I am guessing I will not sign up for the Amtrak next year, unless it clearly fits into my triathlon training plans at the time. If I am working on Olympic distances or 70.3 races by then (wishful thinking), then it might work, but only time will tell.

I purchased some necessary equipment this weekend for the race, including a pair of tri-shorts, which are very similar to biking shorts except without the chamois. It simply has a fleece liner which does not offer much cushion, but who needs that for a short 11 mile ride anyway... I also bought a tri-race shirt that I will wear throughout the swim, bike and run. It is a bit tight (I am still too fat), but it provides me some motivation when it comes to nutrition. I will really try to fit into this shirt before the training is done. I also got some sweet elastic speed laces for my running shoes, so that I can quickly and easily slide my shoes on in T-2 in a matter of seconds, without having to worry about tying them. I will have to run with them to test them out before the race...same goes for the clothing as well. You dont want the race day to be the first time for anything.

That's all for now!

Good Run!

Now that I am back in action in the training program, I will keep you all up to date with a little more detail. I had a short run this evening around the neighborhood. I ran 2 miles in 17:14, which is pretty good considering my run progress thus far.

I really enjoyed wearing my new Nike running shorts...wow what a difference from the other cotton shorts I have been wearing. These shorts are light weight and wick the sweat away as I run and it makes a difference, believe me. I am slowly learning that the gear is nearly as important as the training itself in some circumstances. For example, a good pair of goggles can make a swim workout much more enjoyable than a bad pair, which can actually ruin it.

Tomorrow, I have 20 minute swim scheduled and that should wrap up week number 6. 7 weeks until race day! I am starting to get excited. Next week, I have to purchase a wetsuit...Oh my gosh, what a decision. There is so much to learn about this sport....

Still Here!

Yes, I am still training. Weeks 5 and 6 were a blur since I was on our family vacation to Texas. But I only skipped 3 workouts out of the 12 for those two weeks and I am making those up currently. This past week, I added an extra swim and bike workout to start to make up the difference. I am getting ready for a short run before dinner.

I will start blogging more religiously now that we are home.

Wrapping up Week 4!

Today was the last workout of week number 4 and I am still going strong (at least I have not missed a workout). This morning, Lauren and I went on a run for 25 minutes around the subdivision of my parents' neighborhood. We got out there around 9 and it was already starting to get hot (probably the low 90s), but it was a good run with a good sweat to go with it. I am not sure of the distance, but it was a solid 26 minute run.

Tomorrow is the start of week 5 and a challenge to the workout schedule. I am supposed to do a swim and a bike ride tomorrow, but I actually have no venue for the swim. Sooooo, I am biking in the morning and rescheduling the swim for Wednesday, when we arrive at the campground in San Angelo, TX. We are camping at a lake, so I can practice my open water swimming as well. Should be fine and I will still get all of my workouts in for the week.

Still working

Even though I am on vacation, I am continuing to work out as best as I can. Yesterday, I was able to put in a one hour bike ride (avg 16.5 mph) and get in a 25 minute swim. Although the swim was much slower than I have been swimming, it was still a pretty good workout overall. Especially, since it was 105 degrees out and as soon as I got out of the pool, I was sweating profusely.

Today was a rest day and that worked out fine since we had an Italian cook off with my family and we ate like pigs the whole day. So one day off is fine and we will make up for it in the next few weeks. I still have not missed a workout to date...

Vacation!

Well, my vacation has started, but the training has not stopped, nor will it. I completed week three and got right into week four yesterday with a 20 minute swim, followed by a 30 minute bike in the morning. The only downside was I had to ride the stationary bike in the gym, since my road bike was already loaded on the motorhome for the trip.

I have a 25 minute run scheduled for tomorrow morning. My daughters tell me they are going to get up with me at 0600 to run with me around the campground...we will see about that one. I have to get out and do it early though since we are in New Mexico and temps can get pretty high very early in the day. The temp was about 105 as we drove in this afternoon, so I definitely need to run early. Plus, tomorrow we have another 400 miles to drive to Sonora, TX for our next campground. After that, we will be at my parent's house in Cibolo, TX (on the outskirts of San Antonio)

Don't worry people! I will not miss a workout. At least, I am not planning on it...

Week Three!

Well, I blinked my eyes and week three is almost in the books. I had a good, but tough week of training. All in all, my legs were weak and sore most of the time, yet my cardio continues to improve. I had some good runs, a good bike ride on Wednesday with my friend Jon. (Great to see him back on the bike) My best performance this week was my swim yesterday. I set a new best time in the 800 at 18:46 and I was "worked" after that performance. But I can feel my form getting better in the water everyday. I am hoping to go sub-18 minutes come race day, but we shall see.

Got my 45 minute bike ride tomorrow and then it's off to Texas on Tuesday to visit the Celano family. Don't worry....I have all of my workouts planned out along the way.

Peace!!!

Sub 20 Minutes!

OK, I am excited about this...even though I know it is not very fast relatively speaking. This morning, I was able to complete the 800 yard swim in 19:36, which for me is great. Considering a few short weeks ago, I could not swim 100 yards without having to catch my breath. My swimming is coming along nicely. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for the bike. Which is very surprising to me, since I have focused on cycling for so many years. Oh well, it will come around.

Week 3 is off and running!

Second Week Under the Belt!

Well, I have made it two whole weeks, without missing a workout and I am really starting to feel the momentum pushing me to work harder both during my workouts and when I am recovering.

Today, I finished off the second week with a bike ride. The training plan called for a 45 minute ride, with no specifics as to intensity or type of ride (flats, hills, etc). Since it is a beginner training plan, I am kind of making it up as I go. Somedays, I ride the flats, sometimes the hills. Today, I chose to ride to Irvine Park from my house, which is slightly uphill the entire way. Although I averaged 14.5 on the way there (first 7 miles), I did not feel good at all. It was a hot day today and I just felt like my legs were like two pieces of lead. My cardio was fine (which is a good sign), but I could not get my legs to make me work any harder.

I ended up with a 15 mile ride in roughly 58 minutes, for an average of 15.2 mph. Not very good, but I was still glad that I got out there and did it....and I have not skipped a workout. In the past, I found that these types of workouts, the ones you really have to force yourself to get up for, end up doing the most good for you afterwards. No pain, no gain, right?

This coming week is more of the same, but I plan on doing the Friday swim on the open water again with Elie. That is a blast....scary, but a blast!

Open Water

This morning was a milestone for me in my tri training program. I got the opportunity and privilege to swim with my mentor and friend, Elie. We went down to Alamitos Bay, in Belmont Shores, to swim 1000 yards in the 58 degree waters. Brrrrr. Trust me, the water is cold and it will be nice to get a wetsuit.

Elie gave me some good tips on my swimming form, but overall I am swimming well given my limited experience in the sport. For one thing, I need to kick more. I find myself just using my arms and dragging my feet along with me....not very efficient and something I need to work on. Also, not having that big black line to follow, like I have in the pool, makes navigating a straight line something of a challenge.

All in all, I was really glad that I did it. From everything I read on tris, you dont want to wait until race day for your first swim in the open water. So I will definitely include a few more of these swims in the coming weeks.

No Granny Gear!!!

I had a pretty good bike workout today at lunch. I was a bit worried since I thought it would be pretty hot out there, but it was actually not too bad. It was in the high 80's but there was a bit of a breeze which can make a huge difference on the bike.

I was impressed with this ride, not from a speed standpoint, since I only averaged 14.7 mph for the total 9 miles. But because of the fact that I stayed in the MIDDLE ring up the Newport grade and believe me....I wanted to use that granny gear so badly. I just need to switch from the comforting triple to the compact double gearing and be done with it.

The workout was supposed to be a 35 minute ride and it turned out to be pretty close. The total time was 36:59 and I was not exhausted at the end. The cycling strength seems to be coming back much faster than the swimming or the biking. But that does not surprise me since my heart has always been with cycling.

Which reminds me....IN a few days, we start Christmas in July! You cycling fans know exactly what I am talking about. Let's see if anyone that follows this blog can tell everyone what that means in a comment to this post.

Tomorrow, I am set to do the dreaded "High School" workout with a friend from work, in place of the run. It actually is a run, but has some upper body workouts interspersed in the middle. I will elaborate more in the next post.

Motivation

Check out the "Inspirational First Tri Story" I placed under the Tri Link section. This guy sounds like me, at least when he started training. I only hope I have the same level of success he had!

Start of Week 2

No, that's not the pool I swim in, however I would love it if it were. The pool I swim in is at the 24 hour fitness center in Anaheim Hills. It's a 25 meter pool that is half covered and half out in the open air. For the most part, it is not crowded, but sometimes I need to share a lane with someone. My only real issue with the pool is it needs to be cleaned more often. I sometimes see strange organisms floating in it as I swim by. Gross, I know!

This was the start of my second week of training and so far, so good. I must admit I was a bit sore (in the legs) on Monday when I did my swim in the morning and the run in the afternoon, after work. But I am glad I did it. For my swim, I was scheduled to do a 20 minute workout and I was dead-set on getting in 800 meters in that time. Well, I almost made it. 20.06 was my time. The good news is that is over two minutes faster than my 800 meter split time for the last swim workout. My form was a little sloppy, but I am working on it.

The run in the afternoon after work was hard to get myself up for...I was beat. But I forced myself to go down to the gym at work and run the 25 minutes on the treadmill. Once again, I was glad I did it. I started out at a 9:50 pace for the first 15 minutes, kicked it up to a 9:31 pace for 5 minutes and then to 9:13s for the last 5 minutes. I was sweating my a@# off by the end, but I felt good. A little soreness in my right hip tells me I need to pay Dr. Austin a visit (My Chiropractor, he's the best!)

That's all for now. Catch you later...

First Week Complete

I made it through my first week of training. It certainly did not help that I still had to complete my final paper and presentation for the Masters program, so I was running on little sleep. But I made it nonetheless. Although I am not happy with my level of fitness at this point, I know I can improve quickly under this training program.

Today, I rode the bike for 40 minutes, as the long ride of the week. I headed north(east) on the river trail and turned around at Yorba Regional Park (20 minute mark). I marked the time when I hit 11 miles (38:15), which is a 17.2 mph average. Not too great for such a short distance, but once again I was glad to complete it. The speed can come later.

Nutrition has been decent too. I have been eating less and cutting out the junk food. I did have a couple of Guiness last night, but it was a friend's birthday party....c'mon!

Tomorrow is the start of week 2 and two workouts in one day. A 20 minute swim and a 25 minute run. More to follow...

Good night.

Rest Day

Today is my second rest day of the week and I am enjoying the rest. Just to catch up, here is my last two training sessions:

Thursday, the 25th
Run on the treadmill for 20 minutes; I really did not feel like doing it. I got little sleep the night before and was heading to school from work that day. But I forced myself to go down to CB 34 and get in the run. I was really glad I did becauseit ended up a great workout. I started this time a bit slower (10 min/mile pace) and slowly accelerated through the 20 minutes, ending at a 9:13 pace.

Friday, the 26th

Once again, not much sleep. We decided to celebrate our FINAL class of the Masters program that night along with Brianna's birthday. I got to sleep around 3 am (This partying stuff is for the youngsters). SO, although I did not feel like it, I did drive over to the gym in the evening to get in my long swim of the week. (30 minutes). It turned out to be a pretty good workout. At the 800 meter mark, my split time was 22:50 and at 1000 meters, it was 28:39. Not very fast, but I am just starting. I marked the 800 meter time because that is the equivalent for a half mile, and will be the distance of the swim in the Long Beach Tri. So at least I know I can complete the swim at this point. From here, it is about improving my form and my speed.

That's all for now!!!

My First Bike Workout

You would think with all of my cycling experience, this should be the easiest of the three different workouts for me. Yet today during my first bike workout, it was not as easy as I thought. I rode for 30 minutes as my training program indicated, which I am not used to. Normally, I ride for distance but for triathlon training, its all about the time. I got just over 9 miles in for that time (actually 31 minutes and change) for an average speed of 16.4 mph. Not bad for not having ridden, but not that great either. I guess I have time to improve.

On another note, my nutrition is going well so far, but I have yet to have any beers. Once that happens, I may not be able to keep away from the nachos. :)

Day 1 of the program

Well, I did it! I actually started the training today. I started off with a 15 minute swim at the 24 hour Fitness in Anaheim Hills. The swim was fine. I completed 550 meters in that time, which is not too bad. I will be running for 20 minutes this afternoon as well. The picture here is of our Cabo San Lucas vacation a couple of years ago. This is my happy place that I go to when the workouts get tough, as I imagine they will in the future.

Training Begins Tomorrow

Well, the time is upon me now. I have officially signed up for the Long Beach Sprint Triathlon, which will take place on Sunday, September 20, 2009. Tomorrow is the first day of my 13 week training program. I got the training plan off of a great website called "BeginnerTriathlete.com" and it looks like a pretty good program. Tomorrow, for my first workout I will be swimming for 15 minutes and running for 20 minutes. I will most likely split the two up since its the first day and swim in the morning before work and go for a run after work in the evening. I will be logging all of my workouts in a training log....just not sure which one I will be using yet. The important thing is to write everything down....how much I weigh, what I eat and drink, how I feel during the workouts, and how much sleep I get.

My First Post

Hi everyone! I have decided to begin training for my first sprint triathlon and I thought blogging about the training process would be an excellent motivational tool. So welcome to my triathlon blog and check back early and often for updates on my progress. Wish me luck!