Getting back

Well the last few days have been spent trying to get my body back into racing shape. I had some vacation time left from last year so I took an hour and a half from the office and went for a 7-8 mile jaunt through Wolcott and the West end of Waterbury. It wasn't my normal old 8 mile town loop but it was still pretty decent. Last night I did a 30 minute session in the weight room before hitting the pool. Now given that I'm recovering from a head cold and my last swim was over a week, my form and fitness were pretty ugly. I mean snot rockets and gimped elbows ugly. My arms were already tight from 3 set of TRX Press ups with Kettlebell deadlifts in betwwen. Followed by squats, with push ups between sets with inclined dumbell fly presses, with triceps presses between. Round that off with 100 crunches/ situps and ball work and I had already put in a stellar workout. I managed to warm up with 600 swim 600 pull and 10x 50's drill swim with a 200 kick. My main set was a brutal 3x500's on 7:00 which was quickly bumped up to a 7:15 interval as I was coming in just over the 7 minute mark. Afterward I felt just utterly annihilated.
So today when my alarm rang at 5:30am I promptly countered with the snooze button. I decided to request some of my left over vacation time to try to get a run in while there was still day light. Since my parent's car is in the shop they borrowed mine to try to take care of some of their running around, hence I started my run from my parent's place. I managed to come up with a solid loop granted it was a little traffic heavy. I don't know what it is with running in Wolcott but it just seems different than running in Waterbury. It's not as congested, there's a little more space on some shoulders, not enough on others. While the city has some pros (sidewalks, streetlights.) there was something that made running in Wolcott just seem a little nicer ( granted nearly half my run was through the East End of Waterbury.) maybe it was that I was familiar with that side of town or the fact that the only people really out were other crazies like myself trying to get their runs or walks in before sunset. Regardless I managed to get it done in 1:12 which is making me think my route was closer to 8miles than 7.

Tonight I coached my swimmers at the Waterbury Y. Only Lori showed and I ran her through technique.She's bit the bullet and decided to do Timberman, so my goal is to fix her stroke and get her pool workouts to average between 2000-2500 yard. One of my swimmers from last year and her husband came down. She's currently going into her 5th month of pregnancy so killer workouts have been replaced with "however many laps I can get in." Since the rest of my crew wasn't there and Lori was done by 8:15PM, I decided to do a beat the clock 3000 yard workout. It wasn't too bad but it did make me realize how far I have to comeback. My main set of 10X100 yards on 1:25 was brutal in that from 100 #4-10 I was just coming in under the interval. I was pretty proud that I was able to finish the whole 3k in just over 45 minutes, as the pool was closing.

So fitness is starting to comeback and I'm trying to harness that "a day without a workout is a wasted day philosophy" that I had in 2008-09. Things are starting to comeback into place and hopefully after few weeks of steady solid training I'll start seeing some results.

Happy Training
R.D.

Learning to love the Dread...I mean Treadmill.

Well this winter has been probably one of the coldest and snowiest in New England in recent memory. We've already received our average yearly snowfall in the course of 20 days and even more is expected this week. We've gone in to our annual cold snap of like 4 days where the temperature will not get above 20F, in fact tomorrow's high will be a balmy 8F. ( note to self I really need to move to someplace warmer.)

Reading Claire's, Charisa's and Bree's Blogs really makes me jelaous of those people who live in climates where 40F with a slight breeze is considered an Artic Blast. I haven't run out side since the end of December so to cope with the ice the snow and temperatures that would have an eskimo shivering I've had to start using to the indoor training tools. Now I'm not one to give kudos for the treadmill. In fact I rather layer up and suck it up in the cold but with nearly 4 feet of snow clogging up the road sides the treadmill seems to be the safest running option. As a result my Thursday run session saw me running a 10 miler on the treadmill. Now for a short distance and speed work the treadmill is a valuable tool as it can test your fitness and hold you to your goal pace. On Monday I did a 5k at 7:30 pace on varying grades. Thursday's run wasn't anything special. I kept the grade at 0% and ran at 8:00/mile pace. As I gutted out the miles I kept thinking of one of Hillary Biscay's workouts where she talked about doing a treadmill marathon. Apparently getting over the tedium of running to nowhere is supposed to build mental toughness. After an an hour and twenty minutes on the minutes on the treadmill I could understand why. Most people will gut it out for 10-20 minutes, occassionaly some will go for 30 even fewer for 45 and only a hardcore few will go for an hour or more, and almost all of them will have ipods. So I did feel a little badass after my run. With more snow and icy cold temperatures predicted in the forecast it looks like I'll be trying to up my mileage on the machine. But despite the mental toughness factor and the fact that I sweat out more calories than a weightlifter in a sauna I can't wait to run outdoors again.

R.D.

Training like I used to.

The past few weeks have been good on the training front, especially in the pool. I'm back up to over 4000 yards per session, well ok I do a slacker workout ( 3000-3500) as a recovery workout.

I did attempt the Spinervals 2 hr. Base Builder on Monday only to give up 15 minutes into it. Sadly again the reason was not physical, it went down sort of like this:
Coach Troy: Alright let's kick it into the big ring 15 for 30 seconds.

I would try to shift and it would take nearly 30 seconds for it to get into the big ring. Not to mention the gears felt like they were slipping the entire time I was pedaling. The problem is I know my cassette and my chain are shot but I was hoping to change them in the spring, after Monday's Fail it looks like there is a trip to the bike shop in my future. ( So Santa if you can drop off an Ultegra 11-25 10 Speed Cassette and a 10 Speed Ultegra Chain, you would make Bobby Very Very Happy this year.)

The running has been a little lack luster due to the freezing temperature and the fact that I get out of work later at night. I did get a 11 mile run in on Sunday and I have been starting to use the treadmill for my shorter weekday runs inorder to throw in some tempo and speed work. I think I already mentioned my beastly 52 minute 7 mile workout.

So today since it's my last day off for the year I've got a long run on tap I'm hoping for 10-15 miles I'm debating if I should do it in Wolcott where the traffic is psycho or if I should move it to Middlebury where the roads are a little more peaceful. In either case there will be rubber hitting asphalt today.

Happy Training
R.D.

It's autumn in Connecticut

Which for Bobby means it's road race season. The run mileage has been increasing and my weekly mileage has gone up dramatically as I've gone from barely scraping out 20 miles per week to just over 30. Last week I only got a 10 miler in as I tried to add more yards in the pool. Today I decided to focus more on speed. I went down to the Cheshire rail trail and cranked out 5.6 miles on the flat and fast surface. In fact my last couple of runs have been on this rail trail as I could run after dark without having to worry about traffic, and if my reflective vest will keep me visible. So today since I know I have at least 2-3 road races on tap and they are more of the short distance variety I decided to really push speed over mileage. I managed to cover the 5.8 miles from the trail head to the Hamden border in 42:32. I began at a strong pace and in the middle sort of moderated especially at the cross walks. When I hit the Hamden border the sun was really beginning to set so I hustled the way back. My stride opened up and I really focused, getting my breathing back to race rate. I ended up slowing a little at the end as I tangoed with a cyclist. I stayed right and he zoomed around me like he was cutting off the trail then cut back on Cyclocross style came back on I cut left to give him room only to have him shout back " I'll go around on the right if you want me to." " Hey I didn't know where you were riding." " I didn't know where you were going either." he replied back. I made it back to my car and stretched. Tomorrow I'm hoping to get a longer run in as well as get back to the pool. I do have a trainer set up so this winter I'm going to train like I did the years I did Ironman New Zealand. I'm hoping to have a better 2011 than 2010 on many levels.

Likewise not to keep everything focused on training my friend Josie gave birth to her first child. Her daughter Amelia Kay was born at 1:30 this afternoon weighing in at 8lbs. 14 oz. At last check Mom and baby were doing fine.

On the lighter side of the news...Bob-o gets Spanked by an Old Guy.

Ok with the life changing earth shattering decision I announced in the last post I almost forgot to mention how the Time Trial went on Sunday. I showed up at the Plainville and tossed down my $4 coaching fee and made my way to the pool deck. Some of the HEAT regulars like Erica, Doug and Ray and Ray were there so were a few new faces and one who would become my "nemesis" for this TT. Coach Rich ( probably the most hysterical yet evil Portuguese Swim Coach on the Planet.)showed up with his freshly out of Grad school son and we jumped in for Warm up. After 300 yards it was out of the pool and we picked heats for the swim. I went in heat one. there were no counters but Ray assured me that he'd let me know when I had 50 to go. The other swimmers in my Heat were Doug and I believe Erica. Rich sent us off and away we went. Now the week prioor to this I had been running myself through torturous sets my most infamous 4x500 on 7:00. So I was pretty prepared for this. I didn't know if I'd be pulling 12:30 or lower like I did in my college days but if I could bust the 13:05 I pulled at East Lyme a couple years back I would be happy. The swim went well I was even amazed that my counting was on the money. I just missed breaking 13:00 but I was pretty impressed.I beat my closest competition by a minute. I managed to hold 1:19 100's on most of them so I was pretty stoked. Then the next heat came up Coach's son and Karl and Ray...reasons we'll remember Karl 1. Rebecca arrived late so she was warming up in the lane he was doing his time trial. 2. He told Ray his goal was to beat 12:00. Well as I started timing for him it became apparent this guy was a former collegiate stud. His opener was a 1:06 100. As he cruised along I had to recheck the watch at his 500 split a 5:55 "surely this guy's gonna blow up." I thought /hoped too myself. He didn't his splits stayed perfectly even 1:13's he just barely missed the 11:59 mark going a 12:00:50. Coach's son pulled a 12:45 ( granted I didn't feel as bad being upstarted by a 27 year old ex-college guy as I did by a 40 somethng year old ex-college guy....although it does make me hopeful that I can be pulling 11:00 Ironmans into my 60's.) Anyhoo I got taken to school. Well Played sir.
I could go into details of the set after the TT 10x100 on 1:45 thee fiirst 5 we cruised and apparently the second 5 we were supposed to sprint. Coach looked at us afterward and was like " the set was too easy." I was like "how can you tell?" to which he replied " You're smiling you're not supposed to be smiling you're supposed to be suffering." On that note I don't know if I'll be going to many more workouts...afterall I'm already pulling ridiculous yards during the week....but part of me wants to bust that 12:15 I did back at good ol' Fordham University ( pre-drinking and smoking. Seriously I was so dumb my first two years of school.) In either case I don't think my check book can handle it and my shoulders are rejoicing at that.

Today well I could go into the long brutal story seriously found out some stressful details hat might torpeedo my plans at a commission and any advancement in the civillian sector as well as some bad news for my brother.... the workout was the best part of the day. 8 miles on the dreadmill, a little lifting and core work, and 4200 in the pool after an unintentional 2 day rest.
So right now I'm just hoping and praying that I can get some stuff in order and move forward because quite frankly I'm getting tired of being stuck in this dive.

R.D.

Welcome to Hell...

That could best describe my swim workout. Last night I flaked to get some quality time in with my sis, so tonight I was determined to make myself suffer. I slept through my alarm so no doubles. I drove out to the Plainville Y after dinner and just made myself determined to throw down big yards at a ludicrous speed...yes that's right Mel Brooks Fans Ludicrous Speed! Plainville has a smaller pool than Waterbury (4 lanes instead of 6) and I ended up having to split mine most of the night. For the last half of my warm up I was splitting with a 10 year old who was cranking out laps at a surprisingly good clip seriously the girl had talent. And at the end of the night I was in with a newbie tri guy. A few of the Plainville tri club who had seen me before knew who I was ( one of my first nights there I got asked if I was a pro. Seriously I maybe fast in the water but once I transition to that bike ....it also led to me being that M-dot guy....seriously I must be having self esteem issues because I normally never mention my Ironmans unless someone happens to notice my inside out finisher's towel. And this year I've probably spouted off about it 20 times. seriously I've just got to hide it.) Alright but enough of all that my grand total for the night was 5400 yards. Except for a little tightness in the shoulder I felt pretty good. My main set was 4x500 on 7:00 I was finishing most of them on 6:35. I seriously felt smooth and invincible in the water for the first time in a while. HEAT is having a 1000 yard time trial and I might seriously do it. I need some competition.

Likewise one of the local tri clubs is running a free half marathon for members of HEAT, Shoreline Sharks and Team Mossman, and local invited runners. Last year HEAT swept the top three and the winner threw down a 1:22. It's at the end of March so I'm hoping with a little more training that I can throw down a sub 1:30 split because I mean if I'm cranking out 1:34 as a split in a full marathon 1:29's gotta be cake. So I have some competition to drive me. The swim challenge, the 1000 TT, and the half mary and all are the grand total of free....and I thought I wasn't going to race this year.

Getting pumped.
R.D.

Man on the run...reflections on why I do what I do...

Well for the first time in what seems like ages I managed to get more than 2 runs in, in one week. Today I went for my 3rd run in my new 769's and ironically enough it was my second run of the week over 7 miles. I did my normal hillolicious route through Wolcott. Passed by all the usual hotspots in this small town ran over the reservoir, up the long twisty curves of long meadow rode. Got my balls busted by one of my banking customers, as I darted ast his house. It was the typical slog. I have to say I was hay that the weather was above 40F for the first time in a while and I was abe to break out the shorts. Likewise due to there being less traffic than when I attempted this route on Thursday I was able to cut 3 minutes off the clock. I hoping the weather wil co-operate with me for the next few weeks so I can get my running back up to snuff and *gasp* maybe organize an outdoor ride.

I have to admit not having an early season Ironman to look forward to has killed some of my motivation, but sadly my mind sort of needed the reprieve. I'm still debating on what races I should do.

I'm talking to the Navy recruiter on Monday to find out more about the OCS application process and see roughly how long it should take. I know application processing takes roughly 6-8 weeks, not counting all the leg work I have to put into the application itself.
I managed to email the crew at Rev3 to findout if I get discount for volunteering at last year's event turns out I do so I might enter it if I'm not already in the grips of OCS.

I could go into more of the reasons why I'm considering joining but the biggest seems I'm just not that interested in the opportunities I'm finding in the civilian world, and maybe that's the reason I feel called to go into this. I want to be challenged, I want to give back, and I want to be able to say I've done things people have only dreamed of ( yes I want to go in as a pilot or NFO (read guy in the backseat of a fighter jet.), aviation battery and eye tests willing. )

Wouldn't mind if they paid for medschool while I'm in that was my intial goal (figure there are a lot of wounded Marines and civilans out there that need care.) but the more I look into it the more I'm seeing that if I'm going to put myself through the Hell that is OCS the more I want to do something that is going to push me to my limits. I have some friends and family members that say that's not me, but the thing is the only time I ever gain any sort off confidence in myself is not when I'm coddled and "atta-boyed" it's when I stripped to the very core of my soul and I have to realize that I am better than my current situation, that I can achieve the impossible, that essentialy I'm left with no option but success.

All last year I sat there and kept looking at my photos and race reports from both my Ironmans, I had to take a good long look in the mirror because I felt so far from the guy who's Doctor said "You should probably ask for a refund." after he got his injury prognosis then decided to race anyway. I had to ask myself alot was that really me that did all that stuff?, The guy who's been sitting in the perpetual gutter watching everything fll apart around him with dread and trepidtion. Was he the one that did two Ironmans? Is he th guy who's entered marathons on scant trining and PRed. Last summer my heart wasn't in my racing, there was too much crap clouding my vision. There's still alot of crap clouding my vision but I'm finally feeling I'm finding myself again. I'm the guy who likes to take on popular opinion and say "Bring it Bitch!" Whatever happens to me in 2010 I've got to stop being a whiner and be fighter because that's what I truly am.

R.D

Swimming like a mofo... mofo

Well in the last 3 days I've logged over 16,000 yards including 8300 today. Last night was an easy night my workout was only 3800 yards the main set consisting of 3x( 5x100) 1st set smooth Freestyle on 1:25 2nd set Pull on 1:25 and the 3rd set Swim on 1:20. I had a group of guys from the Plainville Y tri team looking at me and saying comments like "are you a pro?" I wish if only my bike split could get with the program and it will eventually.

Today I did double swim sessions a 3700 yard work out this morning main set 3x (500 on 7:00 100 Easy on 2:00) I did pretty well on the 500's and without even trying to I managed to descend the set. Doing a 6:40, 6:35, 6:30 respectively. Tonghts work out was 4600 but it wasn't as impressive as it sounds my main set was unoriginal 5x200 on 2:45 followed by 5x200 pull on the same interval. I felt kinda bad for the other guys in my lane because I felt like I was charging through as I was sprinting these things. So today's total was 8300 yards, giving me more Street cred in the HEAT virtual New Zealand swim competition.

I had wanted to run this afternoon but the cold and my sinuses sort of told me to think better of it. I'm out of work early tomorrow so hopefully I'll be able to put some more miles on those new running shoes. Likewise since I don't have a crazy early season Ironman to worry about, I can hit the weight room and I need to badly.

So that was today, also worked up the courage to talk to swim coach, it went pretty well except for the fact that I'm not really her type but she is always looking for friends outside of work so that works out well.

Happy Training
R.D.

The New Shoes

Yep I went out and bought myself a pair of New Balance 769's by mistake they were marked as $59.99 and as a result got them $30 cheaper than retail. To celebrate and vent off some life frustrations I went for a 9 miler to break them in. Yesterday was the infamous grad party..mainly my source of stress, I had mentioned it in passing to some of my friends none showed up granted I really haven't graduated...as I still wait for one grade so I can get my diploma. My sisters' friends showed and they had a good time so I guess it was worth the money I had to shell out for it. So no training went down. Today I got a call from Tony and so hauled out to Southington for an 11+ mile tempo run. We finished in 1:27. It was a good hard run that my legs sorely needed.The 769's worked like a charm as they felt like pillows on my feet. My base is strong from all the swimming and cycling so my cardio was fine, but the legs have needed more mileage. Tony and I have similar running pace but different strengths he tends to come on strong at the end and has a developed kick. I tend to go out like a house on fire to try to build a lead because I have absolutely no sprint speed. So the whole 11 miles we took turns pacing when I felt good I pace ahead and build a small lead, then when he felt good he'd come along side. And in the final sprint he kicked ahead. Tempo running with a training partner is defintley better than running alone as you tend to push harder when someone else is going hard with you. Today was a true test of my pacing and I feel confident going into to Patriot and Providence, that I can hold in the mid-7:00's.

Feelin' Fast
R.D.

The running man returneth....

Well Yesterday I couldn't enjoy the beautiful running weather we had...I was supposed to attend a women's empowerment meeting ( a law class project I have to go a sit in a place where I'm an "outsider".) but I couldn't find the group meeting place I left a message with the head honcho wait she's female so does that mean she' a head honcha? does that mean that this isn't a woman's empowerment group but a womyn's empowerment group. and got no response so there was half an hour I could have been running gone.. then I had a psychology class project ( ie we have to be research participants for grad student projects or write papers...I'm thinking the 10 minutes to fill out a questionnaire trumps having to sit and do research and type.) needless to say the grad student ran a little late so I went to class in my running shorts and I still hadn't run. Prof. let us out early. I was initially going to do campus loops then hit the pool but decided just to run instead and New Britain wasn't looking appealing without a training partner.So I drove back to Wolcott and went to the High School track and did 4 miles. The speed wasn't what I'd like I was averaging just under 8 min. miles, but my training hasn't really been what I'd like. So Last night has kicked off a mini run focus for me. Today 8 miles... and the pool. Saturday Ride then out to Newport and while I'm in RI dinner and a movie with a friend who just happens to be a girl... and I just so happen to be her date to her comencement ball. I figure a nice flat 8-10 miler on Sunday before hauling back to the C to the O to the double N.

Next pay check I need to haul out to Road and Track and pick up some new New Balance trainers for the 09 season, as my 768's are approaching the end of their service life...they have had a good run.. no pun intended...but they're at the end of their road and to continue to put prolonged mileage on them would result in injury. So that is the next major purchase on the equipment horizon. I wish I had some new and exciting stories but right now it's just the same drivel...that will change in about a month.

Enjoy the weather people it's finally spring! ( deepest apologies to my Southern Hemisphere readers where it's autumn.)
R.D.

Bob's got a coaching gig.

Well upon talking to my contact for an open coaching position at a tri camp in Lake Placid I just have to get confirmation on my weeks off, and renew my lifeguard& CPR certs. RockOn Adventures runs the camp and I'll be working either one week in July and One week in August or two weeks in August but I just have to check which races I'm doing and what weeks my co-workers are taking so there's no conflict. The camp is pretty barebones by a like in the woods in tents... for the former readers of the Angry Runner prepare for tales from the wood,but maybe it's what I need this summer after a self induced / family econ induced Hell last summer. Just two solid weeks surrounded by tri geeks, no flashy equipment ( granted my equipment ain't that flashy), no worrying about keeping the heart rate @ X beats per min for Y min, on a Z hour run, So you don't die horrific death Alpha on the Queen K, just the basics, swimming in a lake, riding on the road, running on trails, sport not Rocket Science...which has sort of been my simplistic high school runner/ college swimmer approach to the sport all along. ( nothing against guys and gals who heart rate train it is effective but I really hate staring at my wrists for prolonged periods of time other than taking my mile splits.) Also this gig means essentially getting paid to train and hang out with athletes....I like it.
Also if I come back refusing to drive, with long hair, a beard, munching granola, writing transcendentalist poetry, contemplating moving to Vermont and claiming I'm a level 5 vegan please do the following, drive my ass to SuperCuts and then the nearest decent steakhouse in the area, remind me how cold it gets in Vermont in winter ,and talk me into selling the poetry while making me watch Bloodsport, Chopper Reid, Wall Street and The Devil's Advocate, to get intouch with my violent capitalist roots. Or buy me a beret and a few copies of the communist manifesto and run me against Obama in the 2012 Democratic Primary.*

My job interview yesterday also snapped my ass out of a negative funk I'd been in for the last 2 days. Sunday night as I looked at the weather and my bills, my school circulum and it just seemed to be emotional overload... too cold to train out doors, bills well are bills, school well part of me is dreading the semester but the other part of me is like if I'm cramming knowlegde in my head maybe that will keep me form craming in doubt, anger, self pity, and other crap. Time is counting down stuff has to be gotten into order, my parents are preaching how I should have saved more for this, shouldn't have done this that and the other thing, and at the same time they're hesitiant to change their own position... I guess that's the thing that frustrates me most about my parents we're both hesitant to change... I need to cut back on spending settle my bills, become more independent, and get more streams of income, hopefully I'll graduate college and be able to find a better paying gig or at least fill the time I was in class with another job. The coaching gig was quick cash and maybe it's a sign of things to come..the coaching not living in a tent by a lake... So that's where I stand at the moment things are looking up, things are starting to fall in to place, granted I wish they would fall into place a little faster.

I managed to run for an hour and forty-five minutes, my Achilles hurts,but less than it did, definitely feels like IT band because my gastroc tightened before the tendon flared up. On the run it wasn't too bad considering I was decked out in more reflective clothing than any one person should own...if I got hit by a car and the driver exclaims they couldn't see me they need an eye exam,because my reflective crap is loud and obnoxious. Now I've got to mapmy run to see distance and pace as I try to work up to a 20 miler so I know my legs will survive this show on March 7.

The Artic Warrior.
R.D.

* Note I do not beleive that Obama or Democrats such as myself are Communists....but with the way the global economy is going...also my canidacy would be illegal until 2020.

My legs are not going to forgive me...

Well just because I might be racing in a marathon in the Central Connecticut Region along the I-91 corridor in about 2 weeks I decided that this weekend would be perfect to up the run mileage. Afterall the forecasts called for storms which meant no time logged on the bike for the third week in a row, so I might as well use the dreary conditions for what they are best for, logging ridiculous amounts of miles at an obsurd pace with my trusty New Balance 968's or are they 698's I forget but I know they're NB.



Saturday I got about 8.5 miles in I didn't log the time although it was just over 1:12. I had been suffering motivational breakdown, plus was regaining lost sleep from the semester. All in all it was a good run didn't feel thrashed, but I wasn't feeling my normal stomping shape either. I decided I was going to double up and follow with a 17 mile double loop the following day...just to build the lungs a tad bit.

Well my Sunday run began as my Saturday Run did after much procrastination. Then skies were blue it was hot and humid and I set up a make shift aid station, figuring I was going to refuel between loops. The first 6 miles went well but as I made my way up boundline road past the high school I noticed that the sky had suddenly turned and ominous gray, I figured I would extend the loop on to the back roads so that way I wouldn't be on main roads and potential road kill in the middle of a storm. Well long story short I ended up doing my extended loop in torrential down pour with no fluids. By the time I staggered home I was desperate for my Gatorade. I still managed to get about 13 miles in ( I'll double check via map my tri) in about 1:56. Not a world record but for running on empty not bad .

Tonight I have to make up some work, I might be able to get into the pool. Tuesday I might get a 10k loop of campus in or if I'm lucky an early morning 8 miler Wednesday, another pool session, and maybe a run and pool session on Thursday before locking myself in the library for the weekend, maybe enough time for a Saturday afternoon ride or a Sunday afternoon brick. I know not wise 2 weekends before the marathon, but I might not be doing it and I need to take advantage of warm weather while I can, afterall I will be racing in either March ( IM New Zealand) or April ( Collegiate Nationals ( school funded) and /or the Country Music Marathon.), and lets face it it's a good way to burn off the holiday fat.

Well that's all from me
R.D.

Edit #1: 9/30/ 2008 Well I cleared it with my boss..I've got October 11th off so now the debate is will it be the half or the whole enchillada. On a similar note it has been two days since the back to backers and my Calves ( Gastrocs) still feel like stone. I'm going to try to stretch at lunch and see if I can get a 10k in after class tonight.

A new type of threshold workout...

Well in following the Angry/ Speedy ideology war ( Angry going mostly speed /power work with a little distance, Speedy going mostly distance with a little speed.) Yesterday I decided to break my former track coach's #1 rule of speed work...go out easy and build, yesterday I went out hard and tried to hold it. My workout wasn't a long one by any standards 800 meter warm up followed by 5 x 1600m on 10:00. I did my torture de jour following an 11 mile long run on Sunday. Upon seeing the Wolcott Boys soccer team was dominating the field at the High School I went to my Alma Mater Holy Cross in Waterbury and decided to do this shit at my old black rubber stomping ground. The warm up went well the football players were finishing their scrimmage, and there was not a power walker in sight clear track for the first 1600. I did the first 1 on 6:42, I figured as long as I was going sub 7:10 ( Boston Marathon Qualifying pace.) I would be in good shape. The second didn't go as well as the flood of power walkers began to arrive. Now this particular group was mostly made up of kids that did a 100m walk 100m run 5 min. steretch/squat routine every lap. Also an older gentleman came down to do laps, apparently he must have run track in his younger pre- joint replacement days, as he decided to park himself in the inside lane, also known as the shortest way around, I didn't mind much as it brought back memories of when I was doing the 1600 and 3200 on this same piece of real estate back in the day. The second 1600 was slower a 6:46 but with having to weave in and out that could have easily cost me the 4 seconds. 1600 number 3 was slower still as the lactic acid was filling in my legs and I really had to pee. 6:55, after hitting the near by port-o-let within the confines of my break I cranked out #4 6:56. At least I was under 7 min. I started going on #5 as some teen age dude was running, with his i-pod. I decided that this runner in a sea of power walkers was going to be my target and I was going to chase him down like a gazelle on the savanah. Each lap the gap came down and finally on my last circut I went into Benard Lagat mode and sadly like the great Lagat came up short of my target. My last split was the fastest of the day 6:41. It was no "Michelle" style run, or a blazing fast Angry Sprint set. But I seemed happy with it. I might add it to the arsenal once I have more time to run, because as of September 2 my ass belongs to Central Connecticut State University.

This afternoon I just did a ride nothing major. As of Tuesday, my afternoon runs and rides will become limited as I have the class schedule of doom and gloom on tap.

Degree= more money and more time to train
R.D.

2 for 1 Ride for your life & I hate Mondays

Yesterday, my plans for a 60-80 mile ride got well..rained on quite literally. After watching the tour ( Damn you Carlos Sastre and Team CSC damn you! now everyone will be rushing out to buy Cervelo road bikes claiming they are the "world's best.") and making a quick run to stop and shop, for "nutrition" ( was going to try a candy bar regiment, just to break up the montony of gu, unfotunately my milky way melted.) it was off Middlebury to begin my ride. The begining was a little interesting as some gu2o must have spilled on my brakes and a wonderful squealing sound could be heard at the slightest tap thankfully that sharp down hill with a lovely stop at the bottom helpped burn it off and I was in business. I got out to Lake Waramaug and it was pretty uneventful except for a dead deer on someguy's lawn, attacking a crow buffet. After one loop of the lake I looked at the increasingly darkening sky and decided to high tail it back to Middlebury before I got caught in the approaching storm. As I rode back it began to sprinkle alright I can deal with a little rain, the wind kicked up ok I can deal with wind and rain, thunder rolled, shit, lightning struck Holy shit, I got into my biggest gears and rode a time trial Lance would be proud of. I aero stretched on the descents, as I out raced the increasingly violent storm back to Route 47. In my mind I was picturing my obituary, and being nominated for a darwin award, Cycle in a cyclone, man that would be the article title, and forever more I would be remebered for chlorinating my self out of the gene pool. I got to Woodbury and tree limbs and shit were falling around me, winds were blowing my accross the road and debris was hitting me square in the face, the rain began to belt down and finally I took shelter in some hole in the wall Biker bar on route 47. After a half hour I got back on my bike because the storm had let up and began riding up into Middlebury, I wasn't even half way up White deer rocks when the rain began puring down in buckets, I managed to make it back to my car in one piece but it was ugly. Total Distance 50 miles or 80k at an average of 17.4 miles per hour, not bad considering the hills and the weather.

Monday: Today after doing futher research on "the chain" I decided to add weights to my planned swim run double. Needless to say it did not go as well as I hoped, for starters I have forgotten how to do a Turkish get up, I did get some kettle bell snatch and cleans (or was it clean and jerks all I know is clean is some how involved in it) and I managed to screw that up I couldn't get my explosive little hop at the end, that and I don't think I kept neutral spine. I tried getting some pull-ups in a pathetic 7. 3 in the first go 4 in the second, my squats were equally disappointing but I managed to make up for lack of weight in reps and avoid injury. 3x8 reps at 95lbs. It was after this I said F**k this S**t! and went to the pool for 3000 yards. Main set 3x500 on 7:00. after all this I grabbed a gatorade and got a run in. Hauled out to Middlebury and ran the first 3 miles of the griskus bike loop, then back to my car so it was a little more than a 10k. Time was 55.26 slow barely cracking 9 min/miles but it is Monday and I did a lot previous. Irregardless, I need to work the weight room harder, I need to bring diagrams of the workouts I need to do and do them, I need power, I need speed, I need to break 5 hours in 2 months time.

I need more power!
R.D.

Finally training with Peeps. TDF /Cervelo Smack.

Well after Tuesday's Dash and splash, I was hoping to get another pool session in yesterday, but tightness in my legs, shoulders, and my impeccable knack for bull shitting, threw a wrench into that plan, so I just chilled in the hot tub for 15 min. loosening my tight legs. Anyhoo out of the deal I arranged a training session with my friend Justin, doing my Holy Cross Hop Brook loop of doom that I did on Tuesday. ( It's about nine miles if there are any takers in blogger land, ahem Angry Runner!). For me it's finally good to be training with some other people granted I do lose some training time in catching up, but having someone there to help push the pace and share in the suffering helps to make the monotony of a long run, ride, or swim workout from hell pass a little quicker. For the past couple of weeks I've sort of been a loner. Haven't really talked much to people as I attempt not to spend un-necessarily, or at least not too much. Sunday I met up with a few of the HEATsters, and it felt good being around people again, granted I felt socially awkward as I tried to mack it with 2 girls who after about 5 min. I realized they weren't intersted, well it's probably better that they weren't. I can't afford a girlfriend, at this point, granted if I keep using that excuse by the time I can afford one I'll be a wrinkled old fart and "Gold digger bait."
Irregardless, it's been nice to actually have human contact that doesn't involve money changing hands over the past couple days. It almost makes me feel normal again, for a while I was begining to think the customary response to " Hi, how are you?" was " Cash ,Large bills!"

Sunday I'm riding through Middlebury/ Woodbury /Washington Claire you're supposed to be tapering so no coming down this week end, put your feet up and watch Cadel Evans smash Team CSC/ Saxo Bank's hopes of a yellow jersey, and dash Cervelo's clever marketing campaign for 2009, granted Cancellara will most likely win the TT , but all that matters is the dude in the Yellow shirt rides for someone other than CSC/Saxo Bank, a rides something other than a Cervelo..ok TDF rant over

Well that's it for now, one day I will explain how I went from being a fan of cervelo, when they were the anti -trek to being a sworn cervelo hater, and the only rider on CSC who's heroics I respected only to watch him fall from grace.
until then
Vive Cadel!
R.D.

I haven't been this sore since High School / Return to the polls.

Well after a long day at the office and a quarterly meeting ( in which we wre told not to fear for our jobs, the bank is secure well capitalized and will survive for the time being, also stock went up a buck yesterday Yoo-hoo!) I had decided that morning to toss my running shorts and micro tee on under my work clothes and after the meeting in downtown Waterbury, pulled a Clark Kent and high tailed it to my Alma Mater, Holy Cross in the West Side of the dirty Water.

My plan was to run an old 7 mile route from my high school track and field days, the memories came flooding back as I left the parking lot to risk my life and limb on Oronoke Rd., after the rapid descent of Oronoke I took a right and entered Hop Brook State Park. The run was on asphalt for a majority, but I was able to mix in some trail goodness, after spitting out on the wrong exit I ended up tacking on an extra 2- 3 miles running up route 63 and country club rd. I'll say it was a 9 miler Total time: 1:20.15

After the run I had a bottle of GU2O and it was off to the Y for a 3000 yard work out, the intial plan was 1000 warm up with 10x 20 on 2:50 sprint every odd 200. That lasted until my sugar craving body bonked on #6 I still did 10x200 but I did 1-6 every other 200 sprint on 2:50 followed by 4x200 pull on 3:00 I managed to hold under 2:40 on the 3 sprints just made the interval on the rest ones and all 4 pulls were at 2:45 or lower, all in all it was a good night in the pool, although it might have been better had I eaten something more than the mini pasteries and fruit they had at the meeting. Needless to say, I woke up tis moring with tight Hams and quads the calves are tight but used to the punishment. Today I had a ride on tap, but I might swap for a swim due to the adverse weather in the forecast, I've decided to skip on the track workout tomorrow, figuring I'll use the next two weeks as a mild build phase then drop the hammer in August. I want to use the next 3 to 4 months of decent weather as base and build toward a possible early season Ironman in 09.


R.D.
Also
I have a poll up on should I do an Ironman in 09?

Option A Do Ironman NZ again: It'll only cost me $2600 due to the arrangements I have with some friends down there.

Option B Sign up for Arizona in November, It'll probably cost me about the same amount, maybe a little less. Only draw back is if I qualify for Kona 2010, as a 24 year old and I bump up to the 25-29 bracket in April 2010 does that make my slot null and void?

Option C Enter the Kona lotto if happens great! If not take it as sign from the Almighty that a 2009 IM is not in the cards and focus on 5 to 6 local races.

Option D Skip out on an IM in 09, finish school, pay off debt, find a higher paying position, Your health will always be there but the first steps entering the professional world are vital. Also focus on getting that 10k sub 40.

The Eagleman hotel swap... ( with music cues)

( Cue Benny Hill Music Here)

Well upon checking mapquest, I found that my Hotel reservaton in Prince Frederick, MD was actually 90 miles away from the race site ( apparently Marriott measures areial view instead of road routes. ) Irregardless, I went to Marriott.com, and after some quick distance comparisons found a hotel in Salisbury, about 35 miles away as the crow ...or I guess in this case the raven flies.

( switch music to Nirvana's " Rape Me" )

Sadly the hotel reservation was $169.00 for Saturday night but dropped to $84 for Sunday Night, can you say they saw this race coming and were like "Cash Cow!" anyhoo it turns out to be $30 more for the course of the trip but I figure the shorter commute is worth that alone in gas money and aggrevation, also it will not require me to get out of bed at 3AM and race fatigued.

(switch music to "Mony Mony")

Today I sell back my books hand in my papers and officially end this infernal semester. I don't know what the books are worth but if I can walk away with $30 to $50 it will be a welcome aid to the Escape from Debtopia/ Fuel Bob-o's ridiculous obesession fund. In any case things should be looking better after this trip is done and over with. All the rest of my races are somewhat local, 2 within cycling distance if I wanted to. The only two that worry me are Patriot and RI 70.3, my sisters might stay home for Patriot which means I might take up the homestay option extended to me earlier, and Melissa and Chrissie are staying with one of Melissa's friends in Providence, and I might have someone to split hotel with in Naragansett ( I plan on staying close to the Start, unless they are running shuttles to the State Beach from Providence, man that has to be a logistical nightmare.)

(switch music to " Eye of the Tiger")

The last 2 days I have started to get myself into post-exam training mode. While I did waste some gas money driving to the Lake on Saturday for my Brick, I have kept it close to home the last couple of days. Also on Monday night my sinuses thought this lovely little cold snap would be the perfect time to render my voice box useless. So on Monday I went for a 7.5 mile run ( 12k) and left most of the town of Wolcott covered in my snot....still I manged to get it done in 1hr. even...who's bad ass...I'm bad ass!

( switch music to Disturbed's "Down with the Sickness")

Monday night and last night I managed to crank out about 3100 yards in the pool each time. Monday was spent on getting my fast twitch muscles back in gear, and last night I attempted a set of 4x400 on 5:30, I made the first one the second one lost time because I miscounted so I waited a minute and did the last two barely making them on 5:25. My stamia is down, my stress level was high, and the little sinus infection was making my life hell, so as soon as I hit 3100 yards it was into the hot tub, to loosen up.

(Music off, unless you want to head bang.)

Well that's it. Someday I'll learn how to imbed from itunes, and I'll actually get that feature to work.

R.D.

The long and short.....

Well Today was pegged to be a long day, but confusion, a NDE involving me speeding through a light changing to RED and then the guy I cut off pulling me over and cussing me out..luckily that's all that it turned out to be becuase of the massive line of traffic behind him. Now seriously, I get pissed when I get cut off but I murmur my cusses to myself or to the windshield and carry on with my day....somehow in the grand scheme of things pulling the guy who cut me off over and beating the shit out of him isn't going to help anything....irregardless..I was at fault an deserved it.

So that led to me decideing to cut my ride plans short....after all if I couldn't focus at a traffic signal driving a 2000lbs car. There was no way I was going to trust myself going out for 4 hours 0n a 15lbs. bike getting fatigued and make stupid mistakes that could get me killed...dying at 23 is not in my game plan...unless of course it's after my heart explodes making up the 15 min swim gap on the pros and winning the Hawaii Ironman outright.....then I guess that's a good trade off.
Any way, I decided to drive up to Central to cash in some books only to find the bookstore had just closed...arrg...so I drove to Central Wheel to pick up some Shot Bloks ( sadly 2 packs I bought were hard as a rock.) and price out an Ultegra Cassette...it was $100 probike kit is offering the same at $50 but the shipping would kill me getting it from the UK... I'll check Newington on Monday, because they accept Trek Card and I need to conserve as much money as possible for Eagleman. After picking up my crap from Central Wheel..I drove out to the Lake and did 3 loops at ungodly time trial speed...if I wasn't going long then I was going hard. I did about 23 miles averaging the not too shabby pace of 20.8 mph...if I can hold that shit at Eagleman Kona might..might be a possibility.....but I digress. I did a quick shoe change and ran a loop of the lake, getting about 7.75 miles underfoot. While it wasn't the long day I was hoping for, but I felt rejuvinated at the end of it. Seriously for all the crap that's hit the fan in the last month, the stress motherlode that was finals week...shit got to email Dr. Adams my Anthro paper....even though she never responded to my emails...I seriously think I sent them to the wrong person, and now some Econ Professor is like "who the Hell is Rob and why is he emailing me?" In any case that was Saturday.
R.D.

Mad Fast Son.......

Last night, when I should have been diligently stressing out and writing my papers, pulling my hair out and smashing my head against the desk, for misplacing commas in Chicago citing, trying to find one more primary source, etc..etc...I took my burned out ass to the track and got in 5 miles 4 of them speed work/ aerobic threshold work. Seriously, sometimes it's peaceful just heading out to the track at a god forsaken hour (9PM...). The first mile was a warmup a surprisingly quick 8:16. Followed by streching. Then the repeats 4x1600m :60R between each descending. The first one wasn't too bad an 8:08.21...coach always said use the first one as a burn one..I learned that the hard way in High school...too many times I would attack the first repeat and would be shot by the end of the work out....especially with thresholds in which you are trying to gradually build up to race pace. The game plan was to try to descend 5-10 sec. off of each one So the second was a little harder. 7:36.75 what the Hell? Did I go too hard again. I push a little harder to hopefully make it a 7:30 on the third repeat...7:20.34.The Fourth I was going to Sprint Full bore I should break 7 if I'm lucky..... 6:47.03. It was a good night, note to self do squats at least once a week.

Speed Racer's site is back up...apparently someone reported it as Spam....but it's back up and going now....

Sorry for the lack of pictures, I've been blogging from work and occasionally at school to procrastinate.... I mean clear my head....so I will have some more colorful posts in a week or so.

Well that's all at this early hour....back to the grind.
RD

12 miles......

Today the weather regally sucked. I was going to get my Lance Armstrong on and tackle the Hills of Wolcott, Terryville, Thomaston and Litchfield, but opted instead for a long run, so as to save the Bitch Stomper potential road damage.
As I ran my usual cross town loop, I decided to experiment with orange GU2O. It surprisingly wasn't bad although my mom commented that it looked like "rusty well water." My run was 12 miles of basically hill work. Claire once asked me on a training ride how I did it on the run. How can a guy whom my track coach stated " had no natural ability" ( let's face it my parents were 2 pack a day smokers before I was a twinkle in my father's eye. So yes I would huff and puff even on my training runs desperately trying to keep pace.)crank out sub 2 hour half marathons and a sub 4 hour marathon in the Ironman. We talked about hill repeats and no lie when I started I used to run up and down the steepest hill in my general area 10 times frightening the Hell out of my neighbors. As I became a distance whore I had to find a way to combine hills along with high volume training...I discovered one of the only good things about living in the rough rocky area that is New England, there are no shortages of hills. So my long runs have also become my hill work...and are actually, at least for me, a better simulation of climbing than hill repeats. Afterall anyone can tackle hills knowing they've got their car parked next to the track/ball field but to run 20 miles and know you've got a mountain between you and home and it makes the experience of knowing you've got a hill at mile 25 of the marathon more realistic...I could go on about this for eons but I'll save it for another post.

On my 12 miler today, thoughts of Ken Glah and his epic Ironman Marathons of the early 90's popped into my head. Now some crazy shit started going through my head as I was racing, at just how remarkable some of those races were. I mean guys like Glah, Scott Tinley, Paul Kiru, Scott Molina....these guys were running on coca-cola, gatorade and half a banana, also their sun glasses could serve as a wind shield for a compact car. The other thing that popped into my head was his nickname.." The Beast From the East" sadly in this sport not too many of us from the East Coast really go far..Glah, Karen Smyers, maybe a few others Jordan Rapp, Some of us defect to the better weather and training culture of the West Coast...but again back to Glah, when he started in the 80's he would do IM New Zealand and he would train for it in PA, which meant he was training in a New England/ Mid-Atlantic Winter, before fancy things such as computrainers and spintervals ( granted life got easier when he married an Aussie and his in-laws moved to NZ and he could spend two months on the island preparing.) But anyway, I started thinking, if he started similar to me, just a guy going out there and cranking this shit out, could I be following in famous footsteps? Alright maybe that's dellusional grandeur, I haven't run anything near a 2:40 marathon, my cycling.....well...it's improving...and my swim forget it, I've left half the field in the last zip code...and I'm usually in no man's land waiting to get caught by the faster cyclists, who should just be tearing out of T-1 as I approach the 2 mile mark.....hubris aside...that was what was running through my head as I set down the miles. Does a stressed out , heavily indebted, no talent bum like me stand a shot of going pro? I have often been told I'm a better triathlete than I was a one sport athlete...I was an ok swimmer, an ok runner, and competent cyclist. The thing was I had a knack at being consistent ( granted my bike really needs improvement). I guess at the end of the day...it doesn't matter...the sport for me holds sort of a freedom, that for a few hours I can escape the office, the classes, the being a good wage slave/ son/ studying machine. That for at least a few miles, the man I am and the man I want to be meet up. Alright this is getting way to stream of conciousness on me.

I got the run in 1:50 not too bad, granted I want to get my mileage back up...I want to have Ironman style base and speed for my "Hell Week" in the beginning of July...because if I'm not going to Kona, I want a slot at Clearwater and damn it if I am going to either I would really like some of the prize money from the Patriot, to offset my travel, or a nice set of areo wheels.

The next " Beast From the East" ?
R.D.