Well as I was doing my 7 mile run this weekend I sort of had an epiphany of how I'm going to treat the 2010 racing season...and that is exactly like the 2007 racing season.
Just racing for the hell of it.
No worrying about Kona, no trying to attract sponsors, no whining about how I don't have the shiniest bike, or the best equipment, or coaching. I'm going to try to put off OCS until September so I can enjoy one last summer of racing like a champ before doing the pilot thing.
I'm going to drink gas station gatorade, I'm going to wolf down frozen snickers bars.
I'm not going to bitch about being 70 sec. away from a Kona slot a million years ( well ok it feels like it.) ago. Essentially I'm going every race this season to the point they've got to haul my busted broken down arse out on a stretcher. I want to go out with a bang and since I know I'm going to have to devote sometime to lifting I want to use it in my racing before I have to use it to survive the DI. So 2010 is going to be the year of working like a dog, beating my guts out and having fun with it like I used to. Because with the line of work I'm looking to go into there might not be a next season. So in the words of a famous warrior poet "I'm going to live in the moment ." because that's all I've got.
Living for the fight.
R.D.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
The 8th Annual Shoreline Sharks Half Marathon
Well for the first time since Thanksgiving I dusted off the racing belt and flats and hauled ass.
I met up with Josie (who had signed up to volunteer as her little bundle but he kibosh on racing.) and we made our way down to West Haven for the Shoreline Sharks invitational Half Marathon.
The crowd wasn't bad 50 entrants all members of Connecticut's three biggest tri clubs ( Shoreline Sharks out of Old Saybrook, HEAT out of Hartford and Team Mossman out of Norwalk.) The race was low key, our waiver of liability was the race director saying you do not have police support, please use common sense, don't cause any fights with motorists ( as you do not have police support.) and please don't sue me literally 5 seconds before the start.
The race got underway at 8:05 and I decided to take it from the gun. I lead the field from the start line around the parking lot and down the beach bike path. I felt pretty baller as I didn't hear anyone gaining on me for almost 3/4 of a mile then Roy Krouse ( a fellow HEAT runner )went around me then Kevin from shore line and Chouckri ( yet another HEAT guy.) at the 1 mile mark. 
Things had been pretty good for the brief time I was at the front but it was odd feeling for me to have the lead bike infront of me. I think my biggest mistake was trying to pace off it Never a good idea. About mile 2 my side developed a stitch and began to settle into a reasonable rhythm letting the top 3 fade away. Miro from HEAT and another shoreliner came along side about mile 3. I held with them until the hill at mile 4 and then they too disappeared into the distance. At mile 5 I got into the group that I would duke it out with for the rest of the race trying to hold on to a top 10 placing. 2 guys from shoreline and a dude from Mossman. Two shoreliners got around me and I surged to reel them in then repassed until another climb at mile 8 the dude from mossman and two shoreliners again went around I caught one of the shoreliners a young guy about my age.) and was reeling in the other as he walked the last quarter of a massive hill at mile 9 but as he hit the summit he regrouped and pulled away. At mile 10 an older shoreline guy got around me and was gone before I could figure out who it was. By mile 11 I was in no man's land. I hit mile 12 and the young guy from shoreline was a little ways back. I figured ok I can coast a little right...wrong. As I approached the finish line could hear the clapping of feet against asphalt and the distinct sound of someone in full sprint. I didn't look back I found my racing gear and managed just to nip him out for a hard earned top 10 in 1:37:31 the guy behind me was clocked officially at 1:37:32 but like the Pauli Kiuru/ Ken Glah Ironman Sprint the gap was definitely closer than the official timing.
Things had been pretty good for the brief time I was at the front but it was odd feeling for me to have the lead bike infront of me. I think my biggest mistake was trying to pace off it Never a good idea. About mile 2 my side developed a stitch and began to settle into a reasonable rhythm letting the top 3 fade away. Miro from HEAT and another shoreliner came along side about mile 3. I held with them until the hill at mile 4 and then they too disappeared into the distance. At mile 5 I got into the group that I would duke it out with for the rest of the race trying to hold on to a top 10 placing. 2 guys from shoreline and a dude from Mossman. Two shoreliners got around me and I surged to reel them in then repassed until another climb at mile 8 the dude from mossman and two shoreliners again went around I caught one of the shoreliners a young guy about my age.) and was reeling in the other as he walked the last quarter of a massive hill at mile 9 but as he hit the summit he regrouped and pulled away. At mile 10 an older shoreline guy got around me and was gone before I could figure out who it was. By mile 11 I was in no man's land. I hit mile 12 and the young guy from shoreline was a little ways back. I figured ok I can coast a little right...wrong. As I approached the finish line could hear the clapping of feet against asphalt and the distinct sound of someone in full sprint. I didn't look back I found my racing gear and managed just to nip him out for a hard earned top 10 in 1:37:31 the guy behind me was clocked officially at 1:37:32 but like the Pauli Kiuru/ Ken Glah Ironman Sprint the gap was definitely closer than the official timing. 
All in all it was a great race and it was a good way to start the season.
R.D.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Did I Mention I'm not liking this no internet thing...oh yeah I've got a Half Marathon tomorrow...
WARNING RANT !please scroll down if you want to get to the good stuff.
Well I finally broke down and went to the library to put up some blog posts. I know what most people are going to say "Bob it's 2010, you have a lap top there's no excuse you shouldn't have access to the net." Well sadly my computer is a circa 2003 Dell that was around at the time Dell's were still good and a wireless card was one of those fancy add on thingies. Considering that most cheap lap tops have a wireless card I probably should invest but right now I've got bigger things to worry about (like the car payment, cellphone, gas, insurance,taking a chunk out of my hugundo debt, race entries) The pay raise kicks in next check so I won't be struggling as bad and maybe by mid April I'll have my race plans figured out and if I'm lucky throwdown for a $300 best buy special just so I can get some writing and finish up my Navy App. OK all that out of the way....
Here's the good stuff.
Well way back in February I signed up for the Shoreline Sharks (FREE) Half Marathon. Well I've only managed about 2 to 3 weeks of hodge podge training so I'm hoping my legs will hold up. I've done a couple of long runs over the last two weeks and did a 4 and 5 miler back to back on Thursday and last night. The weather's actually been good for the past week and I'm hoping it holds so I can get my self ready for my somewhat limited racing schedule this season. I'm feeling confident that I can break the 1:30 barrier tomorrow but if not I know it will be close. After this little half mary I've got one race as a certain on the calendar The Patriot Half ( yeah I guess since WTC started branding every thing as 70.3 they can call them halves again.) I'm going to try my hand in the elite corral again because my swimming is at the point I think I'll be able to lead out of the water , my running is coming back nicely, and I just need to work the bike the rest of the spring. I'm up in the air about Rev3 part of me wants to do it because it's the home town race and since I'm going to be OCS bound in July or August, (hence graduating in November) there's no real point to try to qualify for Kona or Clearwater this year. The other thing is do I really want to spend $250 on a race entry? The Griskus Sprint I'm not going to be able to make a decision on until May because that's when I'll know if and when I'm shipping out. If I'm not out until August I might sign up for it, if I'm out in July then it's a no go. I want to get back into Ironman but I won't know when I'll be able to. The coming months hold all the keys to my professional and athletic future. Also on the training for the first time since 2006 I'll be training solo. Bjoern is down in NYC and Josie's pregnant ( which sucks for her Ironman Lake Placid plans for 2010 but hey there's always 2011 and they always say mothers are the firecest competitors.
So that's all that's going down here.
Running toward the future.
R.D.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Half Marathon Sunday.
Well last week I started my gig at the company call center ( more hours and a raise, hey a guy's got to eat before he goes to OCS.) and unfortuately I caught the head cold that was going around so I spent most of the week laid up after my commute home. Today since the weather was in the mid to upper 50's I went for a run. Normally I do my little rink a dink 7 miler but today since I hadn't accomplished much and I've got a half marathon that I have to haul major ass at in two weeks, I decided to push the pain envelope a little. I cranked out a 13 miler in 1:38 on my route of death.
Why is it called the route of death you might ask? Let's just say this there is a 3 mile section on a winding narrow and BUSY road with no shoulder. I managed to survive pretty well even though I was sort of spaced out for most of it. I've had a lot on my mind. First the New job, then the Navy, my family's moving at the end of the month, one of my training partners is done for the season and it's not for anything bad, and I'm still thinking about some girl half a world away like every other thought.
Also this weekend was Ironman New Zealand so I was following Bonzzone's attempt to foil Cam Brown at my work station before relying on texts from friends to keep me in the loop. Likewise the women's race this year was a wire to wire battle as Jo Lawn reclaimed her title from Gina Crawford. (oh yeah and for the first time in 3 years it was sunny with no rain. I guess I really am the rain man.)
Alright so back to this 13 miler it didn't really hurt so I'm pretty confident that I might be able to crack 1:30 in 2 weeks, now it's just getting the mileage back up and blowing the dust off the stomper and starting to ride once again.
With the Navy thing my recruiter wanted to have me ready for March 15 so I could get into an earlier review board, but I'm shooting for April 15 so I can get a May review board which means I would be shipping out at the end of July beginning of August. Which means I get to race a little this season as well as graduate before Christmas. But the main reason is so I can study for my ASTB ( Aviation Selection Test Battery). Essentially this is the GRE for flight school. It has math, navigation and basic knowledge and mechanical physics in 5 neat little packages. I need to score at least 4 out of 10 on each section to become a pilot so let the studying like I'm in college again begin.
So that's all that's going on here.
R.D.
Why is it called the route of death you might ask? Let's just say this there is a 3 mile section on a winding narrow and BUSY road with no shoulder. I managed to survive pretty well even though I was sort of spaced out for most of it. I've had a lot on my mind. First the New job, then the Navy, my family's moving at the end of the month, one of my training partners is done for the season and it's not for anything bad, and I'm still thinking about some girl half a world away like every other thought.
Also this weekend was Ironman New Zealand so I was following Bonzzone's attempt to foil Cam Brown at my work station before relying on texts from friends to keep me in the loop. Likewise the women's race this year was a wire to wire battle as Jo Lawn reclaimed her title from Gina Crawford. (oh yeah and for the first time in 3 years it was sunny with no rain. I guess I really am the rain man.)
Alright so back to this 13 miler it didn't really hurt so I'm pretty confident that I might be able to crack 1:30 in 2 weeks, now it's just getting the mileage back up and blowing the dust off the stomper and starting to ride once again.
With the Navy thing my recruiter wanted to have me ready for March 15 so I could get into an earlier review board, but I'm shooting for April 15 so I can get a May review board which means I would be shipping out at the end of July beginning of August. Which means I get to race a little this season as well as graduate before Christmas. But the main reason is so I can study for my ASTB ( Aviation Selection Test Battery). Essentially this is the GRE for flight school. It has math, navigation and basic knowledge and mechanical physics in 5 neat little packages. I need to score at least 4 out of 10 on each section to become a pilot so let the studying like I'm in college again begin.
So that's all that's going on here.
R.D.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
My internet is down again and other tales....
well to explain my lack of postage my home internet has been down for the last 3 weeks, so i'm sorry for the shortage of blogging. In the short version here's what's happended in the last month
1. I joined the Navy
2. I started lifiting
3. I started running again.
4. I almost told one special lady what I really feel about here. Granted I think she knows.
5. I started writing a pretty awful murder mystery to take up the time I'm not working or training.
6. I got myself a promotion at my current gig.
Well the Navy thing everyone sort of knew was coming I'm in the process of filling out my application for officer canidate school (OCS) and getting myself in shape. I should be shipping out for officer canidate school in July ( allowing me to keep my perfect streak alive at Patriot.) Hopefully I'll be as good at shoe polishing and bed making as I am at running and I'll be commissioned in October and off to flight school. I'll be taking my ASTB (Armed Services Test Battery) and my physical exams in the next couple of weeks so hopefully I'll score high enough for pilot. Also on a side bar my recruiter was sort of shocked when she heard about the amount of yards I was cranking out in the pool. In her words, "are you sure you don't want to be a SEAL?"
On the lifting , in order to get my self back in shape I've been hitting the gym. I will say this I am weak. For my physical I have to be able to crank out at least 40 push ups and 100 situps in 2 minutes. Well my core needs some definite strengthing. I manged to crank out 68 sit ups in my last 2 minute test so I've started a warm up circut of 2x 30 push ups and 100 sit ups to start my lifing session. This is then followed by lat pull, bench press, pec flys, over head press, GTU's sad attempts at pulls ups, squats and more pushups. I'm happy that my bench is getting better but I still have a long way to go.
Running well the running part of my physical is a joke (1.5 miles in 12 minutes) but I do have a half marathon coming up in March so the last week I've cranked out 21+ miles on the roads I'm hoping to bring that number up as the weather improves and you know we get humane hours of daylight.
Swimming status quo...
On work I got a promotion to my company's call center which means more hours and a pay raise which will allow to catch up on bills and get my self back into a manageable position. I know the Navy's not going to happen until July so that gives me some time to put in some hours to my employer and get some much needed green into my budget.
So that's all that's going on in the world of Bob-o
A gentleman hopefully an officer
R.D.
1. I joined the Navy
2. I started lifiting
3. I started running again.
4. I almost told one special lady what I really feel about here. Granted I think she knows.
5. I started writing a pretty awful murder mystery to take up the time I'm not working or training.
6. I got myself a promotion at my current gig.
Well the Navy thing everyone sort of knew was coming I'm in the process of filling out my application for officer canidate school (OCS) and getting myself in shape. I should be shipping out for officer canidate school in July ( allowing me to keep my perfect streak alive at Patriot.) Hopefully I'll be as good at shoe polishing and bed making as I am at running and I'll be commissioned in October and off to flight school. I'll be taking my ASTB (Armed Services Test Battery) and my physical exams in the next couple of weeks so hopefully I'll score high enough for pilot. Also on a side bar my recruiter was sort of shocked when she heard about the amount of yards I was cranking out in the pool. In her words, "are you sure you don't want to be a SEAL?"
On the lifting , in order to get my self back in shape I've been hitting the gym. I will say this I am weak. For my physical I have to be able to crank out at least 40 push ups and 100 situps in 2 minutes. Well my core needs some definite strengthing. I manged to crank out 68 sit ups in my last 2 minute test so I've started a warm up circut of 2x 30 push ups and 100 sit ups to start my lifing session. This is then followed by lat pull, bench press, pec flys, over head press, GTU's sad attempts at pulls ups, squats and more pushups. I'm happy that my bench is getting better but I still have a long way to go.
Running well the running part of my physical is a joke (1.5 miles in 12 minutes) but I do have a half marathon coming up in March so the last week I've cranked out 21+ miles on the roads I'm hoping to bring that number up as the weather improves and you know we get humane hours of daylight.
Swimming status quo...
On work I got a promotion to my company's call center which means more hours and a pay raise which will allow to catch up on bills and get my self back into a manageable position. I know the Navy's not going to happen until July so that gives me some time to put in some hours to my employer and get some much needed green into my budget.
So that's all that's going on in the world of Bob-o
A gentleman hopefully an officer
R.D.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
It wasn't supposed to be a rest week....
Well this week wasn't really banner on thhe training front. I got to the pool 3 times and managed to eek out 10k I was going to try this afternoon but I just took the day off. Running only 8 miles for the week but I've really wanted to get out. I could use the excuse of the frigid...ok to my Canadian readers...slightly less than tropical weather of 15-20F with a 10F windchill have kept me indoors. So essentially I'm calling this a rest week and will get back to cranking out ridiculous miles and yards next week. Starting tomorrow. On the plus side I did hit the weight room and cranked out sets of Push ups, pull ups and over head presses to try to get my flappy forearms back in shape, with some TGUs added in for good measure.
R.D.
R.D.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
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.
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.
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