recent media coverage

Over the past month or so, Jocelyn, myself, and Ballou Skies have been featured quite a bit in local, and even national (October issue of Triathlete magazine), media. This media blitz was setup to help promote the charity and to coincide with our racing in Kona at the Ironman World Championships on October 9th. While both Jocelyn and I have found it a little novel and strange at times because we are both pretty humble, down to earth people, the response has been tremendous and I think this has only be viewed very positively amongst our friends, family, teammates, coworkers, and peers and fellow athletes. Most importantly, it has generated a lot of good publicity for BallouSkies. I suppose everything really got kicked off in the leadup to Kona on Pittsburgh's PCNC network's NightTalk on August 31st, but I don't have anything in terms of pictures or links to share in regard to that visit. Suffice it to say that that was an enjoyable visit and we had a good talk and a lot of fun with the host Ellis Cannon, and it definitely served as a warmup for the months to come!

One of the first pieces that we were featured in was an article written by the Pittsburgh Tribune Review's Karen Price. This writeup was in October 1st's newspaper and featured myself, Jocelyn, Beth Shutt, Chad Holderbaum, and Matt Mauclair. This was a cool experience for the five of us to get together with Karen and a photographer maybe a week prior at Schenley Park and to do an interview with her about our collective training experiences, road to Kona, and what we expected for our upcoming trip as five friends traveling to and racing together in Kona. This article can be found here.

The next "stop" on the world tour was an early morning call-in by Jocelyn and myself from Kona on 10/3 to KDKA radio's Black and Gold Sunday show, hosted by Rob Pratte. The podcast from the segment of that show can be found below, by clicking the play button on the embedded audio player.


Our next appearance came on a wonderfully produced video by our friend (and great friend of the charity) Ward Hobbs, that was a work in progress for many weeks as we tried to coordinate our schedules, plus with the interviewer and narrator, WPXI's Gordon Loesch. The video aired as part of WPXI's news broadcast I believe both on the night of 10/8 and then again the morning of the race, 10/9. This one probably generated the most excitement amongst our extended family and friends, whom weren't necessarily aware that this was going to be airing, but in some cases were surprised as they were going about their lives and just watching the news as always, and there it was! A link to the video can be found here.

The next bit of coverage was not really about Jocelyn and I, but we were mentioned, along with the rest of the "Pittsburgh Five", on the sidebar that ran adjacent to this article about another Pittsburgh area athlete and recounted our finishing statistics from the Big Dance in Kona. This article was published in October 29th's Pittsburgh Tribune Review and was written again by Karen Price.

The most recent bit of media attention came in a very nice article written by Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette in the November 1st edition. This piece very nicely illustrated Jocelyn's efforts in Kona and the incredible adversity she overcame, all while finding perspective about why we both do this sport and how fortunate we are, and also to be able to support BallouSkies. This article can be found here.

The last (or at least for now!) stop on the media tour will be tonight, when Jocelyn and I will again be guests on PCNC's NightTalk at around 8:30. If you live in the Pittsburgh television market area, tune in to hear about our race in Hawaii, BallouSkies, and what is new with us! Thanks for reading and for tolerating my condensed version of the last couple months of excitement!

Cooking with the Cornmans!

Earlier tonight, Jocelyn and I joined Gretchen McKay of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for her backyard and home-based cooking show, Cooking with Gretchen, that is to run online in the next couple of weeks. Jocelyn and I were her guests for this piece highlighting healthy, summertime meals, and we got to show off our non-existent cooking skills while talking about Ballouskies and Kona.

Gretchen, Jocelyn, and myself cooked up some Summer Salmon Pasta and some Hawaiian Chicken Kabobs, while Gretchen's associate Steve Mellon filmed it all and provided some creative direction.

This is the beginning of something of a media blitz that Ty setup in advance of Kona, whereby Jocelyn and I will be out promoting Ballouskies and our efforts at the Ironman World Championships! Next stop, NightTalk!

Ballou Skies video feature

Last Thursday (4/15), Jocelyn, myself, Kim, Steve, and the Ballou family met in a local park to get some video footage for Ballou Skies video feature that would run online at WPXI and in a condensed version during local television broadcasts. The resulting video and a related article can be found here. Check out the BallouSkies website, get involved online through Facebook, buy some peanut butter here or in your local Giant Eagle if you're a Western Pennsylvanian, and help us in the fight against Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy! 100% of the proceeds of the sale of the peanut butter go to the charity and the vital research that is being done at the Ohio State University Davis Heart & Lung Research Institute, as well as direct donations made to the charity. Help us in our race to extend lives and find a cure!

March into April, centuries and a swim meet

The last 3+ weeks have been very busy training and getting ready for the quickly approaching start of the 2010 season. With the exception of last weekend, the previous three weekends included a minimum of a century ride and then at least a sixteen mile run, with Easter weekend as the biggest of them all with a ~111 mile ride followed up with a 20+ miler. All of the rides and runs have been extremely solid for me, with HR's at a good IM to HIM intensity level, with high average speeds and paces considering the time of year. Not surprising though, considering the typical company. Three and a half weekends ago, the meeting place was at North Park on the day of the Just a Short Run races. Here I met up with Chad, Matty Mo, [Cousin] Nate, and Joe V. Here are the IM ladies, getting ready to start their own ride.
This Saturday started first with a 3000 yd swim, and then the guys and gals headed out separately, and in the end Chad and I got in about 101 rolling miles with a speedy transition run on Lake Shore Drive. This capped nearly a 7 hr training day. Below, Chad, Matt, and Nate cruising up a short climb just north of Evans City.
About a mile or so later, stopping to fix Nate's slow leak flat before bombing down 528 into Evans City.
Sunday we had about a 16.5 mile run with some solid ironman effort intervals at the Schenley Park oval, doing 5 X 5k descending with Joe and Chad. We started these at 7:20 pace and finished up at 6:40 pace, trying to force the legs to run long on tired legs as this is the name of the game. The following week saw a little mountain biking on my local trails in addition to normal training sessions, and here I am showing off my cycling affiliations of Sewickley and Ballou Skies as I am slowly covered in mud.
The next weekend (4/3) I met up with Joe on his 40th birthday for a speedy century into Ohio, West Virginia, and back into WPa.
Joe cruising down Quicksilver Rd in the Midway region,
And yours truly a couple miles later on North Branch Rd.
Stopping at the 100 mile mark for visual confirmation that Joe's ultimatum of 20mph or faster had been observed for his bday ride.
Checking in in my driveway, noticing that the avg speed appears correct, but that I missed some miles when navigating my way across the Sewickley Bridge and through all of the lights and traffic in town.
Map of the tri-state century, which was my fastest ever in training, and maybe even including races, to date. I can't wait to try that with the Zipps...
Easter Sunday started off with congregation at the Church of the Sunday Morning Long Run, doing 20+ miles on the Montour Trail and finishing off with a dip in the creek (Run).
Natural ice bath = free. Not paying for party ice = priceless. Creek slime/stink = I could have done without.
Joe suffering through the last couple minutes of his 20 minute soak.
Once I got home on Easter, finding my basket left by the Jocey bunny.
Crosstraining, walking my family's horses, or rather them walking us around the neighborhood.
From left to right, Jack (jiggy), Oakley (oaktown), and Nessie (brown-ass).

Last weekend was the first break in the Ironman base/build routine, for the annual AMYMSA League Championships. This was held at Clarion University and the Sewickley Y Masters had 9 swimmers attending, 8 men and 1 woman. This was the first time I think since I started swimming for the team that we had enough guys to field two relays. Here we are on Saturday (4/10), smoking the field and setting a new AMYMSA Top Ten record in the 200 Medley relay, 140-179 age group. Mark led off with back, then Bill did breast, I did fly, and Jimbo swam free to finish in 1:44.19. Video of the race, we're in lane 3 -


For the rest of Saturday I did the 100 Free (:54.18), 50 Free (:24.52), and 200 I.M. (2:14.60). My freestyle events were less than stellar, but I was pretty happy with my I.M. Here are all of the guys with the exception of Mark H, at the banquet dinner later that night. Bottom, l to r: Bill W, Bill G, Mark C; back: Jim, Dan, Ben, and me. Photo courtesy of Janine.
On Sunday, here is the same relay team but in the 200 Free relay, led off by Bill, me, Jim, and then Mark. We couldn't quite beat the old SEWY team of yore from 2003, but we posted the 2nd fastest time ever in the league's age group with a 1:33.56. Video below, once again in lane 3.


For the rest of the meet, I swam the 100 I.M. (1:00.30), 50 Fly (:26.43), 25 Free (:11.07), and the 100 Fly (:59.27). Very happy with the 100's, not so with the 50, and indifferent with the time in the 25. Here is video from my 100 Fly. I am in lane 5 with the yellow cap and Orca speedsuit. Bill and some of the other studs beat me pretty handily :(


Last weekend was great and the SEWY men came in 2nd in the team competition to the Cranberry Wave. Though with only 8 swimmers to their 11, winning was a mathematical impossibility, despite our noticeable dominance. We like to think that we were the true winners, if the meet were being scored with a points per swimmer or per capita scoring system. Next year. The weekend was a lot of fun though and the beginning of a taper for the triathlon race season to come. See you at the races!

sunny weekend and slow swim meet

Last weekend brought the rides and weather I had been waiting for since late November/early December of last year. Saturday morning (3/6) dawned cold, but brilliantly sunny. The day had promise. I waited for the temps to warm up a little before I ventured out solo at about 1pm. Some typical training partners had other events on the schedule or were out of town, but I was stoked and wasn't going to let the lack of company bring me down. Plus I had a new gadget to try out in my cadence sensor that was to be compatible with my Garmin Forerunner 305 and also a new water bottle cage that I was going to try out torpedo style between my aerobars. My steed pictured below, just pre-ride.
I set out on the surprisingly clear roads in about 34' sunny temps on a familiar route, starting first into Beaver county, then Butler, and finally back into good ol' Allegheny for a solid 4 hour, clockwise loop over some favorite roads (except route 68) that were just waiting to be cruised on again. Northbound on Spang Rd...
Self portrait on Spang, prior to the incredulous senior-citizens who pass me about 10 seconds later...
Cool view looking west out over some glistening farm plots abutting the PA Turnpike alongside Glen Eden Rd...
When it was all said and done I got in a very solid ride and sufficiently toasted my legs in preparation for the following day's swim meet. Sunday started with a radio interview with Ty, Ryan, and myself, speaking with Rob Pratte and Ted Arneault of KDKA Radio's Black and Gold Sunday. We gave them a great update on the work of Ballou Skies and the upcoming season for the tri team, and other projects that are in store. I did the interview from the parking lot of Cornell High School, and then in was inside for warmups for this last regular season AMYMSA swim meet. After getting in about 1000yds for warmup, it was time to prepare for my first event, the 100 free. Teammates Katherine, Bill, Bill (& coach), and Mark below...
Video from my 50 freestyle - I'm second from the right wearing the yellow cap and getting left in the dust coming out of the turn...

Teammates Bill (closest) and Ben (2nd from left) getting ready to start the 200 back...
Teammates Bill and Jim....
For the day, I did a 54.29 in the 100 free, 24.36 in the 50 free, a 2:18.66 in the 200 I.M., and a 12.01 in the 25 fly. Not too pleased with my sprint freestyle events, but I'm ok with the 200 IM. Training for ironman and sprint swim events is a difficult balance :)
Sunday afternoon I snuck back out on the bike for another 2 hours and brought the weekend to a close. Hypoglycemic here and acting goofy, Jocelyn said I looked like an elf...
This week has been going pretty well on the training front, getting up every morning to run before work and then swimming and cycling in the evenings. The weather has been awesome, but of course it had to be while trapped indoors and now the rains are supposed to come in earnest this weekend. Maybe that will melt away the last of this winter's snow. Train safe and I'll be back blogging soon, god willing and if the cricks don't rise...

IM Hawaii video

Just watched this and it gave me goosebumps and also got me insanely fired up for next year. Can someone please remind me that it's only November??