24 Days off, X-Rays & MRI's

To say that the last month has been difficult is being nice. Since the 1/2 marathon & Placid ride I started to suffer some serious knee pain. It had been nagging for a while but knowing what my future plans are "Get to the IM Lake Placid starting line healthy" I decided to go to the doctor and get my knee checked. I hate doctors I had not been in six years and they told me they were eliminating me from the practice if I did not make an check-up appointment.

Needless to say I now have a scheduled physical.

As for the knee, x-rays were negative which I figured. So I continue to not exercise until I had my MRI and had it read. Those results also came back negative not tears, or strains Praise God!!

So on day 24 of no exercise I decided to test out the knee. On Saturday I ran 3 miles and it felt good no pain just some tightness. Then on our 60 degree Sunday I went for a bike ride I rode 17.2 miles absolutely pain free.

So we will see how things go, I start PT on Wednesday and hopefully it is just A IT Band problem that can be fixed.

With all that said I must keep in mind the Goal of coming to the start line healthy!!

The Loop

In mid October I had the opportunity to make a venture out the the land of miracles and ride the loop. So in english I went to Lake Placid and rode one 56 mile loop of the Ironman course. I was quickly reminded why I love Placid as the leaves were beautiful. However I was quickly reminded that The LOOP is no joke and there will be a lot of time spent on a trainer this winter preparing for the 112 miles.

This ride was a great reminder or Motivator of the work that needs to be done!!

Fulton 1/2 Marathon

On Oct. 16 I ran the Fulton 1/2 Marathon I ran this race last year and went 1:50. I wanted to break 1:45 all year and i have not been able to put that perfect race together. So going into Fulton I thought lets give it another shot. However it would be difficult as the day before I would spend 8 hours in a car and 6 hours at a wedding. Oh did I mange to say I went to bed at 1:30 am and had to get up at 4:45 am for the race. So I was working on just over 3 hours of sleep.

My goal was just go out and get in a long run. I was wearing a GPS for the first time so I had planned to run 8:10's for the first 6 miles and then go from there.

This plan did not work out at all.

I ran the first 4 miles on 32 minutes. which is 8 min miles

At mile 4 I met up with a women and we ran from mile 4 to 11 together she paced me to 7:55 miles and I ran miles 11 to 12 and 12 to 13 at 7:20 pace.

I ran a 1:43:11 My best 1/2 marathon time in 11 years and only 3 minutes off of were I was before Ironman Florida.

This race was a good step forward.

DeRuyter Triathlon

Yesterday I raced the DeRuyter Triathlon, This race consisted of a 1/2 mile swim 16 mile bike and a 3 mile run.

I was using this race as and of season race to go out and have some fun!! And thats exactly what I did. I went into the race hoping to place in the top 5 overall based on the past years results.

It has been said that you can not win a race during the swim but you can lose one. Well I proved that theory wrong. I took first place overall solely due to out swimming the field.

I swam 15:20

Biked 44:10 = 21.6 mph

Ran 21:40

to finish in 1:22

I had the race I wanted to have!! However I never knew i was winning because I started in the 3rd swim wave and was chasing people the whole race. The guy who took 2nd started in the 1st wave 10 minutes before me and the 3rd place finisher started 5 minutes ahead of me so they both finished ahead of me so i had thought I placed 4th or 5th. Needless to say I was very delighted with todays performance. I rode my new Cannondale and had a good ride but still need to work some kinks out. I was very pleased with my Swim, run and transitions today they made all the difference.

How it is a month of running focus hoping to build mileage up to 17 or 18 miles by Nov. 1st

The Speed Baby!!!

I received my first big investment of my Ironman experience. I bought a new speed machine!! I got a unreal deal on a brand new from the factory Cannondale Slice 3. This bike was said to climb like a charm and after two rides on it I can say that the reviews are correct. Considering that I will be spending between 6 and 7 hours on my bike during race day I felt it would be good to get a new speed machine.

Big George~~~

Last Sunday I competed in my first 1/2 Ironman since 2000. This is a distance I wanted to step into to prepare for IM Lake Placid in 2012. I took all summer to focus on this race and it paid off!! I did have to take some training time off due to a knee injury so my fitness may have been lacking a little bit. I set some simple goals for this race and hopped to meet them all.

Distances for the race were 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run

Goals

Overall Time - Under 6 hours

Swim Time - Under 40 mins

Bike Time - Under 3 hours

Run Time - Under 2 hours

Big George is a first year 1/2 IM race located in Lake George, NY.

The course was absolutely beautiful, and hilly

My swim went as planned I got a little beat up at the start but then settled into a nice pace and swam 38:03 for what was most likely 1.4 miles so I was happy with that, the swim was long.

I got out on my bike and tried to get settled in as quickly as possible but that was hard to do because the first 5 miles of the bike course are all up hill. After this first climb I finally got racing. I had a great ride however I did not take in enough calories due to my gel flask which was 550 calories falling off my bike after hitting a bump. I would end up paying for this later.

I continued on the bike course and paced myself rather well my average Heart rate for the ride was 149 bpm. I finished the bike course in 2:55 which for 56 miles is 19.1 mph however the bike course measured 58 miles so that 19.1 mph turned into 19.8 which I was really happy with for such a hilly course.

The run started out well, I only wish it could have finished the same way. I felt good for the first 6.5 miles right on pace mile 7 I started to hit the wall. I had to walk one hill and then began running again. I was holding my 9 min per mile pace through 8 miles and then I started to shatter. This is where I needed those 550 calories that I did not get on the bike due to losing my gels. I made it through the miles and suffered. I ran the 13.1 miles in 2 hours 11 mins.

I finished 71 of 250 racers and 17 of 35 in my age group. I met all my goals for the day except finishing my run under 2 hours so that gives me something to focus on. Overall a good day of racing. This is just the beginning of so much more fun to come.

Great Day

With one week to go before the Big George 1/2 IM I had a great ride. I went out this afternoon for a 22 mile ride I have not been putting up the greatest bike times lately but today I rode 22.3 miles in 1:01:51 which is an average of 21.6 mph. This was the ride I needed to build my confidence before a tough bike course in Lake George!!

Getting ready for July 22, 2012 has already started I have started blocking out key training blocks on the family calendar to ensure no conflicts. It seems like the UPS or FedEx man it at our house every day dropping off some sort of new gear that I bought for the race which is still 11 months away.

I am doing this all to be called a IM finisher and to receive a simple medal.

Training

With 51 weeks to go I have decided to finish the rest of my planed season a and then revisit my training schedule the 2nd week of Oct. after I race the Fulton 1/2 Marathon on Oct. 9th.

Race schedule as planned right now:

Sept. 4, 2011 - Big George 1/2 IM

Sept. 24, 2011 - DeRuyter Triathlon - Sprint

Oct. 9, 2011 - Fulton 1/2 Marathon

Training is going well as my fitness levels are improving and I am feeling better each and every day.

Today I did a 42 mile ride to Hinkley Dam 1:12 on the way out the first 21 miles averaged 17.5 mph, 56 mins on the way back averaged 22.5 mph needless to say going out is an uphill battle.

Living the Dream!!

On July 25, 2011 my family and myself made a decision that will effect me for the next 52 weeks, 365 days, or 36,524 hours. I was able to get into the 2012 Lake Placid Ironman Triathlon which will be held on July 22, 1012.