New Year, news, and big changes

Well it's been two months since my last post, and a lot of things have transpired in that window, but instead of trying to catch you up on everything that I have been up to, I will just leave it that things have been good and busy. Not so busy in November, things accelerated into December, and now life is as busy as ever! The holiday season was very nice and Thanksgiving and Christmas very happy and joyous as they should be, training was very spotty throughout Nov/Dec, but then mid-way through December I got off my butt and started getting serious again. This probably all kicked off around December 18th, a busy triathlon themed day where first I (and just about every other triathlete in Pittsburgh!) attended a swim clinic with Sheila Taormina that was hosted by Team Pittsburgh Masters and Coach Jennifer at CMU. This clinic (old news by now in the blogosphere) was very informative and helpful, even for a "lifelong" swimmer such as myself. Sheila was teaching her style of swimming, which in my opinion is the best adult targeted and taught swimming method out there, which is characterized by a high stroke rate with a high elbow and protracted catch, and is more propulsive than gliding in nature. I picked up some good instruction and mental cues, and from this video that was taken of me, shows I need some work. Next up on the day was a tempo run with Chad afterward, and finally went out to a sportsbar in the North Hills and watched NBC's Kona Coverage. This day very effectively served to jumpstart my motivation and flip the switch in my head for 2011. After a longish two month offseason/transition period, it was time to get back to work.

The following Monday, I ventured out into the unknown and decided to take the leap and start out with a coach for the first time in my triathlon career. After much research, emailing, and interviewing potential coaches, I decided to go with Justin Trolle of Vanguard Triathlon, the coach of my good friend and teammate Kim. Kim had nothing but great things to say about Justin, his knowledge, teaching/training style, and of course results since working with him. In the previous 11 years of triathlon, I was self coached and self directed and while I am totally pleased with my results and progression, and never really had a setback to speak of, I just thought that if I was ever going to get a coach, now would be the time. Call it greed for speed, maybe an early mid-life crisis, who knows, but as I am knocking on the door of really taking it to the next level within triathlon, I thought I would entrust my development for the next year to someone more knowledgable than myself and perhaps more importantly, take me out of my comfort zone. So far things have been going very well and my fitness is coming back and progressing very rapidly. Look out, I have a feeling this is going to be another fun year!

Last Saturday (1/8) kicked off the season with indoor group trainer rides at TopGear, our local Pittsburgh area tri shop.
In attendance was of course Jocey, myself, Burrito Bill,
Matty Mo, and Lisa.
We got in a solid 2.5 hours on the CompuTrainers and the time just flew by. This past week there was more hard running and cycling, but the recovery was still where it needed to be and each session was still high quality. The one drawback was this darn cold that I have been fighting for the past few weeks, but it is somewhat manageable and it isn't really affecting my sessions at this time. Saturday (1/15) we were back at the Holderbaum's for the first time this seasom with Chad, Jen, Whitney, Lisa, Jocelyn, and myself, for a good strength focused 2:20 and then a great brunch, some laughs, and then an afternoon swim.

Today I woke up and did a tough 1.5 hour run with some quality and my legs are feeling a little trashed right now. Thank goodness I have nothing to do but relax for the rest of the day and an active recovery day tomorrow, so it can all begin once again for the new week. The year begins anew and the cycle of work, rest, repeat starts up in full effect!

In other big news, Team Ballou Skies has expanded its roster for 2011 and have added good friends and local rockstars Matt Mauclair, Jason Jacobs, Chad Holderbaum, and Beth Shutt. If you thought the Ballou Skies team was impressive last year, look out once again - 2011 is going to be a banner year for the charity and the team with a record amount of funds raised for the Ross Heart Clinic at OSU and amazing race results out on the triathlon circuit. Here's to a great 2011 for everyone out there and I hope you all are off to a great, consistent start with your training!

rainy weekend and Ballou Skies photo shoot

Last weekend started off on Friday night with Jocelyn and I hosting Kim at our master's practice. We had a longer than usual sprint night and then afterward we went with some teammates and family members to Pizza Roma for some carbs and brews. As usual, the service was insanely slow and we didn't get home terribly early to prep for next morning's workouts. I was holding out hope that maybe the rain wouldn't come in the overwhelming quantities that they were calling for, but after seeing about 10 straight hours forecasted with a 100% chance, I was preparing for another long indoor ride. Saturday morning came and Jocelyn and I took a drive out to Irwin to meet up with Chad, Jen, and Co. Kim and Matt were also in attendance, and a 4-4.25 hr ride was queued up. Matt, Jocelyn, Kim, Jen, and Chad (lt>rt) getting started below.
Kim, Jen, and Chad a couple hours in I think.
After the ride, the girls were the only ones to head out for a transition run as the rest of us grabbed a bite to eat and prepared for the afternoon swim. Emerging from Chad's, it looked as if it hadn't rained at all in Irwin during our whole 4 hour+ ride. Just our luck! We shot on over to the Greensburg Y and did 4000 yds, with a 30 x 100 main set. I felt surprisingly good for this, and came in under 1:20 for almost all of the 100's (only over for a handful that I did I.M.). Lovely ladies and Chad, pre-swim.
After the swim, a relaxing soak in the hot tub. Some would argue that this is not the best post-workout choice (inflammation), but I don't think its too bad after a bike and a swim. You wouldn't catch me in here after a long run though.
The rest of Saturday was spent relaxing at home with some sushi and wine despite some appeals from friends to go out for St Patty's Day. No thanks to lots of standing, smoky bars, and overpriced drinks. Sunday morning started with a long run with Joe, running a bit more than 16 miles as a progression run, building to a pretty solid clip by the end as I tried to crack my cyclist turned runner companion. He hung tough though and we rewarded ourselves with a breakfast buffet at Montecello's. I gorged for about a half hour, and then after a quick turnaround at home, Jocey and I were off to the South Side for a Pittsburgh Tri Club meeting at the Over the Bar Cafe. More Chad, Jen, and Kim, who was presenting on nutrition at the meeting, plus plenty of other friends like Ryan, Lisa, and Garvin, and then some new ones that were made. After a couple Fat Tire Ale's and East End Snow Melt's, it was up the hill for a BallouSkies photo shoot on top of Mt Washington. The whole team was there, and all together for the first time I believe, to take some team photos and promotional shots. We had race bikes, race kits, jerseys, Peanut Butter, everything on hand for a great photo shoot but the weather. The rain held off though and a great time was had by all, until we were too cold to stick around any longer in the sharkskin one pieces in damp, 50 degree conditions! Below, the team, from lt>rt: moi, Kevin, Ty, Kim, Ryan (foreground), Merett, Troy, Jocey, Joe, and Steve.
That pretty much wrapped up the weekend, and then a new week was underway, albeit one that was much darker in the morning and lighter in the evenings thanks to Daylight Savings Time. More typical training ensued, with sights set hopefully on better weather to come this weekend! Thanks for reading my hyperlink heavy post - I hope you enjoyed it, but now get ready for some more! Its time for action, check out BallouSkies online, join the group or cause on Facebook, and get involved in the fight against DMD!

the final push?

Could we now be in the final throes of winter here in Pittsburgh? Dare I say it, or would the mere utterance of this miraculous possibility jinx us all? Maybe there is reason to hope, after all spring is officially only about three weeks away, daylight savings time less than two weeks away, and according to Accuweather, my neighborhood has some temps forecasted in the FIFTIES within the next week.Maybe I should shut-up, lest I curse us all. My earlier, optimistic blog forecasting for the winter didn't turn out so well...

At the start of what I hope becomes the final push through winter, last week around the time of my last posts, I was quickly getting over my cold by way of massive ingestion of vitamin c, vitamin d, zinc, airborne, echinacea, green tea - anything I could get my hands on. You see I had planned on racing on Saturday (2/27) in the Spring Thaw to kick off my racing season and I wasn't going to sit this one out. Last Thursday night I did my "long ride" of the week by myself, as circumstance was conspiring against me to have any company for the ride. I built in intensity through three hours and by the last 30 min I was hanging on for dear life, suffering to Coach Troy and the Spinervals video he was dragging me through. I had planned to run then Friday morning as my running frequency was a little low last week, but with how my legs were feeling I decided to skip it and try to rest my legs for Saturday. I took Friday night's sprint swim workout easy and pulled and paddled quite a bit to rest the legs.

Saturday morning dawned, but not to as much snow as the weathermen were calling for. It seemed like the majority of the snow came earlier on Friday and hopefully the park staff at North Park could get the roads reasonably clear for the race. According to Elite's website the race was on and I set out with all of my gear, breakfast on the go, and Ballou Skies paraphernalia. I got to North Park and didn't have too much difficulty finding a reasonable place to park, met up with Joe, and proceeded to run a scattered two mile warmup between pre-race venues, even getting in about a quarter of a mile at open-marathon/~HIM run pace. Joe and I got our packets, timing chips, and met up with our other Ballou Skies teammate Kim, and recent/regular training partner Heidi. We had just about enough time to greet one another, pose for this picture, and then take our marks for the start.
I started the race a little too fast, as I seem to be prone to in pure running races, running the first mile in 5:50. I wasn't sure at all what I might be able to hold for this race, and I told myself that I would be happy with anything under 6:15 pace, but secretly I was hoping that it might be somewhere around my half-marathon pace (5:55). Time would tell where I was at and how well I might hold up, as I have really only run aerobically since Eagleman last June. This race would be a reintroduction to pain. The first three miles or so were pretty uncomfortable until I settled into my groove and started to adapt to the tempo effort. This would equate to about 5:53 pace and my heart rate was roaming through the mid-170's. This felt about right and I just tried to stay steady and run the tangents of the course while staying light on my forefeet with a quick turnover.
I came through the halfway point in 29:50. The second half of the race didn't seem that much more difficult, although I did remember a bit of a painful patch between miles 7-9 as I really tried to buckle down and surge away from a nearby runner. I think this picture was taken during this stretch. It looks worse than it felt, I promise.
I managed to come out of my funk as began to listen closely for the call of the finish line, and powered up the final hill on Pearce Mill road and let my heart rate climb over 180 for the first time of the day. I pushed down to the finish line and crossed in 9th place overall and 1st in the men's 30-34 division, for a second half of 30:08 and finishing time of 59:57 in the 10 miler. I liked what my garmin was telling me more than the official race timing, supposedly running 10.12 miles @ 5:55 pace.
All in all I was very satisfied with my performance, surprised that I ran so well with no speed or tempo running of any kind, but I guess this is just even more proof of the value of a good base and high volumes of aerobic training. Looking more closely, I think I still need to get tougher mentally and should have been running closer to HR 180 or above, but then again the capacity to do this only comes from more speed, tempo, and racing agonizingly short distances, rapidly. What to do? Do the Just a Short Run half marathon on March 27th, that's what.

Team Ballou Skies was represented very well in this first race of the 2010 campaign, with my aforementioned result, then Kim took 2nd overall woman just by a hair in a finishing sprint, and Joe taking 3rd in his age group in his leadup to Boston. Here is a shot of the team and most of our hardware (before Joe was awarded his medal)-
Heidi also did very well in the race, coming in third in her age group for the ten miler. After the race Kim, Joe, and I handed out some Ballou Skies bracelets and some informational cards, spreading the word about the charity, how to get involved and donate, and just making ourselves and the team known. Look for us again at future races and to be a major presence and player in events to come!

The rest of Saturday was all about relaxation, plus a little bike and gear shopping at the annual Trek of Pittsburgh V.I.P. warehouse sale. I got some sweet new tires for my mountain bike and I look forward to testing them in the slop this spring. And it's pretty much guaranteed that there will be plenty of that once all of this snow melts. Saturday evening Jocelyn and I decided to join Chad, Jen, and Co again at their place on Sunday for another long trainer workout. Having run the race the day before, I capped the day at a mere 3:15, but it was another good spin and definitely a challenge on tired and tight legs.From l to r: Chad (partial), Jen, Lisa, Ryan, Heidi (hidden behind my arm), and me. Jocelyn is shooting. Jocelyn, Jen, and Chad were going long again, and I just sat aside and watched the USA/Canada hockey match. Thanks for hosting once again guys, but hopefully that will be one of the last times and we will all be meeting up outdoors very shortly!

After the previous rough four days on the legs, yesterday's morning run and evening swim didn't feel so hot, so I just took it easy and then did the same this morning. Next up is another trainer ride this evening and then some much needed zzz's. The plan is to get through this week and hopefully to head outside Saturday for a long ride! As it stands now the forecast shows the weekend's temps approaching the historical averages for this time of year, and then even exceeding those averages next Monday and Tuesday. We're talking low to mid fifties! Keep hope alive, we're pushin' through.

Indoor winter training at its finest

The ten pound bag of almonds arrived last Friday to start my weekend off right.
It continued with the sprint masters practice that night and then a long day of training on Saturday. Saturday morning Jocelyn and I drove up north a little to Mark’s house to meet up with what is becoming a pretty regular group of Pittsburgh area Ironman nut jobs. Mark had us all setup in his very spacious basement for a three hour trainer ride to kick things off for the day. We managed to go through one Spinervals video, a Universal Sports broadcast of the 2009 Ironman Louisville race that two of the morning's riders raced, and then finished up with a little bit more of Coach Troy with an "On the Road" of Lake Placid. After the trainer ride we transitioned to a quick (and I mean quick) ~4 mi run from Mark’s house out to a turnaround in Troy Polamalu’s neighborhood. After the run Mark and his wife Jenene had a wonderful brunch prepared for us and we got in some much need calories and continued the stimulating conversation of the morning and good times. After leaving Mark’s place, Jocey, the Holderbaums and myself made the drive up a little further north to the closest YMCA available, Cranberry (vs Baierl), that would admit scurrilous Sewickley Y travelers, and got in the third and final workout of the day. This was finished up with some obligatory underwater camera fun, waterslide action, and of course my beloved tradition of post-swim steambathing.
Saturday night Jocelyn and I just relaxed at home and watched a movie while letting our legs begin to recover. Sunday morning dawned with more rainy conditions, and while Jocelyn went out to North Park to meet up with a friend for her 12 mi run, I slept in a little bit longer and then ventured over to the Montour Trail for my own slopfest twelve on a nasty, muddy, icy/crusty rail trail. I made fellow Pharaoh Hounds runner sightings out in the miserable conditions, seeing Eric and Jo toughing it out as well. Sunday closed out with some NFL viewing, a trainer ride, and a nice family dinner where we got the latest on my brother and fiance’s wedding deliberations. Finishing the training week out on Saturday, I jumped up over 13 hours for the week so things are continuing to build on the ever present numbers chase and fitness enhancement.

This week started very well on the training front, with a tough masters distance workout on Monday, doing such fun sets as 200s on the 2:30 and 100s leaving on 1:15, and then a solid aerobic bike effort on Tuesday night followed by getting back out on the road to run yesterday morning and this one. Here's a shot from my run this morning - I had a so so swim last night, as I was kinda playing it cool as I had been feeling a little “off” since Tuesday night. Had nothing to do with the bike effort, but probably an encroaching bug of some kind that Jocelyn likely transported home from her elementary school. So far so good though, and I hope to fight that off as well as the niggling right foot discomfort I had been feeling off and on since last week. This probably resulted in running too hard, on the too far left portion of some of the highly cambered local roads. I shouldn’t complain too much though, as I’ve been relatively problem free (knock on wood) since I went minimal on the running shoes. Caveman style is good for more than just eating! Good information on minimalistic running can be found here.

So tonight I will do another moderately long trainer ride and plan to run tomorrow AM and then swim in the evening. And then Saturday morning it is back with the Ironman crew for another marathon training session. This time I heard there is even a waiting list for the session! Happy training and eating everyone! Caveman up!